- 
 
" 'It's an honest regulation, friend, which says, Mind your own busi- 
 ness.' " The Prairie, page 19. 
 
THE PRAIRIE 
 
 BY 
 
 J. FENIMORE COOPER 
 
 Author of "The Last of the Mohicans,' 1 ' 1 "The Deerslayer," "The Pioneers," 
 "The Pathfinder," "The Pilot," etc., etc. 
 
 "Mark his condition, and th' event ; then tell me 
 If this might be a brother." Tempest 
 
 NEW YORK 
 JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 
 
 150 WORTH STREET, CORNER MISSION PLACE 
 
TROW8 
 
 D BOOKBINDING COHPA.W, 
 NEW YORK. 
 
PS 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ftl 
 
 W 
 
 THE geological formation of that portion of the Ameri- 
 can Union which lies between the Alleghanies and the 
 Rocky Mountains, has given rise to many ingenious theor- 
 ies. Virtually, the whole of this immense region is a plain. 
 For a distance extending nearly fifteen hundred miles 
 east and west, and six hundred north and south, there is 
 scarcely an elevation worthy to be called a mountain. 
 Even hills are not common, though a good deal of the face 
 of the country has more or less of that " rolling " character 
 which is described in the opening pages of this work. 
 
 There is much reason to believe that the territory that 
 now composes Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and a 
 large portion of the country west of the Mississippi, lay 
 formerly under water. The soil of all the former States 
 has the appearance of an alluvial deposit ; and isolated 
 rocks have been found, of a nature and in situations which 
 render it difficult to refute the opinion that they have been 
 transferred to their present beds by floating ice. This 
 theory assumes that the Great Lakes were the deep pools 
 of one immense body of fresh water, which lay too low to 
 be drained by the irruption that lay bare the land. 
 
 It will be remembered that the French, when masters 
 of the Canadas and Louisiana, claimed the whole of the 
 territory in question. Their hunters and advanced troops 
 held the first communications with the savage occupants, 
 and the earliest written accounts we possess of these vast 
 regions are from the pens of their missionaries. Many 
 French words have, consequently, become cf local use in 
 this quarter of America, and not a few names given in that 
 language have been perpetuated. When the adventurers 
 who first penetrated these wilds met, in the centre of the 
 forests, immense plains covered with rich verdure or rank 
 grasses, they naturally gave them the appellation of mead- 
 ows. As the English succeeded the French, and found a 
 
4 INTRODUCTION^ 7 . 
 
 peculiarity of Nature, differing from all they had yet seen 
 on the continent, already distinguished by a word that did 
 not express anything in their own language, they left these 
 natural meadows in possession of their title of convention. 
 In this manner has the word " prairie " been adopted into 
 the English tongue. 
 
 The American prairies are of two kinds. Those which 
 lie east of the Mississippi are comparatively small, are ex^ 
 ceedingly fertile, and are always surrounded by forests. 
 They are susceptible of high cultivation, and are fast be- 
 coming settled/ They abound in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, 
 and Indiana. They labor under the disadvantages of a 
 scarcity of wood and water evils of a serious character, 
 until art has had time to supply the deficiencies of Nature. 
 As coal is said to abound in all that region, and wells are 
 generally successful, the enterprise of the immigrants is 
 gradually prevailing against these difficulties. 
 
 The second description of these natural meadows lies 
 west of the Mississippi, at a distance of a few hundred 
 miles from that river, and is called the Great Prairies. 
 They resemble the steppes of Tartary more than any other 
 known portion of the world ; being, in fact, a vast coun- 
 try, incapable of sustaining a dense population, in the 
 absence of the two great necessaries already named. Riv- 
 ers abound, it is true ; but this region is nearly destitute 
 of brooks and the smaller water-courses, which tend so 
 much to comfort and fertility. 
 
 The origin and date of the Great American Prairies 
 form one of Nature's most majestic mysteries. The gen- 
 eral character of the United States, of the Canadas, and of 
 Mexico, is that of luxuriant fertility. It would be difficult 
 to find another portion of the world, of the same extent, 
 which has so little useless land as the inhabited parts of 
 the American Union. Most of the mountains are arable ; 
 and even the prairies, in this section of the republic, are 
 of deep alluvion. The same is true between the Rocky 
 Mountains and the Pacific. Between the two lies the 
 broad belt of comparative desert, which is the scene of this 
 tale, appearing to interpose a barrier to the progress of 
 the American people westward. Since the original pub- 
 lication of the book, however, the boundaries of the re- 
 public have been carried to the Pacific, and " the settler," 
 preceded by the " trapper," has already established him* 
 self on the shores of that vast sea. 
 
INTRODUCTION. $ 
 
 The Great Prairies appear to be the final gathering* 
 place of the red men. The remnants of the Mohicans and 
 the Delawares, of the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees, 
 are destined to fulfil their time on these vast plains. The 
 entire number of the Indians within the Union is different- 
 ly computed at between one arid five hundred thousand 
 souls. Most of them inhabit the country west of the Mis- 
 sissippi. At the period of the tale, they dwelt in open 
 hostility, national feuds passing from generation to gener- 
 ation. The power of the republic has done much to restore 
 peace to these wild scenes, and it is now possible to travel 
 in security where civilized man did not dare to pass unpro- 
 tected five-and-twenty years ago. 
 
 Recent events have brought the Grand Prairies into fa- 
 miliar notice, and we now read of journeys across them as, 
 half a century since, we perused the narrative of the emi- 
 grants to Ohio and Louisiana. It is a singular commentary 
 on the times that places for railroads across these vast 
 plains are in active discussion, and that men have ceased 
 to regard the project as chimerical. 
 
 This book closes the career of Leather-Stocking. Pressed 
 upon by time, he had ceased to be the hunter and the war- 
 rior, and has become a trapper of the Great West. The 
 sound of the axe has driven him from his beloved forests 
 to seek refuge, by a species of desperate resignation, on 
 the denuded plains that stretch to the Rocky Mountains. 
 Here he passes the few closing years of his life, dying as 
 he had lived, a philosopher of the wilderness, with few of 
 the failings, none of the vices, and all the nature and truth 
 of his position. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " I pray thee, shepherd, if that love, or gold, 
 Can in this desert place buy entertainment, 
 Bring us where we may rest ourselves and feed." 
 
 As You LIKE IT. 
 
 MUCH was said and written, at the time, concerning the 
 policy of adding the vast regions of "Louisiana to the already 
 immense and but half-tenanted territories of the United 
 States. As the warmth of controversy, however, subsided, 
 and party considerations gave place to more liberal views, 
 the wisdom of the measure began to be generally con- 
 ceded. It soon became apparent to the meanest capacity 
 that, while Nature had placed a barrier of desert to the ex- 
 tension of our population in the West, the measure had 
 made us the masters of a belt of fertile country, which, in 
 the revolutions of the day, might have become the property 
 of a rival nation. It gave us the sole command of the great 
 thoroughfare of the interior, and placed the countless 
 tribes of savages, who lay along our borders, entirely with- 
 in our control ; it reconciled conflicting rights, and quieted 
 national distrusts ; it opened a thousand avenues to the 
 inland trade, and to the waters of the Pacific ; and, if ever 
 time or necessity shall require a peaceful division of this 
 vast empire, it assures us of a neighbor that will possess 
 our language, our religion, our institutions, and, it is also 
 to be hoped, our sense of political justice. 
 
 Although the purchase was made in 1803, the spring of 
 the succeeding year was permitted to open before the offi- 
 cial prudence of the Spaniard, who held the province for 
 his European master, admitted the authority or even the 
 
S THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 entrance of its new proprietors. But the forms of the 
 transfer were no sooner completed, arid the new govern- 
 ment acknowledged, than swarms of that restless people 
 which is ever found hovering on the skirts of American 
 society, plunged into the thickets that fringed the right 
 bank of the Mississippi, with the same careless hardihood 
 chat had already sustained so many of them in their toil- 
 some progress from the Atlantic States to the eastern 
 shores of the " Father of Rivers." * 
 
 Time was necessary to blend the numerous and affluent 
 colonists of the lower province with their new compatriots ; 
 but the thinner and more humble population above was 
 almost immediately swallowed in the vortex which attended 
 the tide of instant emigration. The inroad from the East 
 was a new and sudden outbreaking of a people who had 
 endured a momentary restraint, after having been rendered 
 nearly resistless by success. The toils and hazards of for- 
 mer undertakings were forgotten, as these endless and un- 
 explored regions, with all their fancied as well as real 
 advantages, were laid open to their enterprise. The con- 
 sequences were such as might easily have been anticipated 
 Irom so tempting an offering, placed as it was before the 
 eyes of a race long trained in adventure, and nurtured in 
 difficulties. 
 
 Thousands of the elders, of what were then called the 
 new States,! broke up from the enjoyment of their hard- 
 earned indulgences, and were to be seen leading long files 
 of descendants, born and reared in the forests of Ohio and 
 Kentucky, deeper into the land, in quest of that which 
 might be termed, without the aid of poetry, their natural 
 and more congenial atmosphere. The distinguished and 
 resolute forester who first penetrated the wilds of the lat- 
 ter State, was of the number. This adventurous and ven- 
 erable patriarch was now seen making his last remove ; 
 placing the endless river between him and the multitude 
 his own success had drawn around him, and seeking for 
 
 * The Mississippi is thus termed in several of the Indian languages. 
 The reader will gain a more just idea of the importance of this stream if he 
 recalls to mind the fact that the Missouri and the Mississippi are properly 
 the same river. Their united lengths cannot be greatly short of four thou- 
 sand miles. 
 
 \ All the States admitted to the American Union since the Revolution 
 are called new States, with the exception of Vermont ; that had claims be- 
 fore the war, which were not, however, admitted until a later day. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. g 
 
 the renewal of enjoyments which were rendered worthless 
 in his eyes when trammelled by the forms of human in- 
 stitutions.* 
 
 In the pursuit of adventures such as these, men are or- 
 dinarily governed by their habits or deluded by their 
 wishes. A few, led by the phantoms of hope and ambi- 
 tious of sudden affluence, sought the mines of the virgin 
 territory ; but by far the greater portion of the emigrants 
 were satisfied to establish themselves along the margins 
 of the larger water-courses, content with the rich returns 
 that the generous, alluvial bottoms of the rivers never fail 
 to bestow on the most desultory industry. In this man- 
 ner were communities formed with magical rapidity ; and 
 most of those who witnessed the purchase .of the empty 
 empire have lived to see already a populous and sovereign 
 State parcelled from its inhabitants, and received into the 
 bosom of the national Union on terms of political equality. 
 
 The incidents and scenes which are connected with this 
 legend occurred in the earliest periods of the enterprises 
 which have led to so great and so speedy a result. 
 
 The harvest of the first year of our possession had long 
 been passed, and the fading foliage of a few scattered 
 trees was already beginning to exhibit the hues and tints 
 of autumn, when a train of wagons issued from the bed of 
 a dry rivulet, to pursue its course across the undulating 
 surface of what, in the language of the country of which 
 we write, is called a "rolling prairie." The vehicles, 
 loaded with household goods and implements of hus- 
 bandry, the few straggling sheep and cattle that were 
 herded in the rear, and the rugged appearance and care* 
 less mien of the sturdy men who loitered at the sides of 
 the lingering teams, united to announce a band of emi- 
 grants seeking for the El Dorado of the West. Contrary 
 to the usual practice of the men of their caste, this party 
 had left the fertile bottoms of the low country, and had 
 found its way, by means only known to such adventurers, 
 across glen and torrent, over deep morasses and arid 
 wastes, to a point far beyond the usual limits of civilized 
 habitations. In their front were stretched those broad 
 plains which extend, with so little diversity of character, 
 
 * Colonel Boone, the patriarch of Kentucky. This venerable and hardy 
 pioneer of civilization emigrated to an estate three hundred miles west of 
 the Mississippi, in his ninety-second year, because he found a population 
 of ten to the square mile inconveniently crowded I 
 
io THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 to the bases of the Rocky Mountains; and, many long 
 and dreary miles in their rear, foamed the swift and turbid 
 waters of La Platte. 
 
 The appearance of such a train in that bleak and sol- 
 itary place was rendered the more remarkable by the fact 
 that the surrounding country offered so little that was 
 tempting to the cupidity of speculation, and, if possible, 
 still less that was flattering to the hopes of an ordinary 
 settler of new lands. 
 
 The meagre herbage of the prairie promised nothing in 
 favor of a hard and unyielding soil, over which the wheels 
 of the vehicles rattled as lightly as if they travelled on a 
 beaten road ; neither wagons nor beasts making any 
 deeper impression than to mark that bruised and with- 
 ered grass which the cattle plucked from time to time, 
 and as often rejected as food too sour for even hunger to 
 render palatable. 
 
 Whatever might be the final destination of these adven- 
 turers, or the secret causes of their apparent security in 
 so remote and unprotected a situation, there was no vis- 
 ible sign of uneasiness, uncertainty, or alarm among them. 
 Including both sexes, and every age, the number of the 
 party exceeded twenty. 
 
 At some little distance in front of the whole, marched 
 the individual who, by his position and air, appeared to 
 be the leader of the band. He was a tall, sunburnt man, 
 past the middle age, of a dull countenance and listless 
 manner. His frame appeared loose and flexible ; but it 
 was vast, and in reality of prodigious power. It was only 
 at moments, however, as some slight impediment opposed 
 itself to his loitering progress, that his person, which in 
 its ordinary gait seemed so lounging and nerveless, dis- 
 played any of those energies which lay latent in his 
 system, like the slumbering and unwieldy, but terrible, 
 strength of the elephant. The inferior lineaments of his 
 countenance were coarse, extended, and vacant ; while 
 the superior, or those nobler parts which are thought to 
 affect the intellectual being, were low, receding and mean. 
 
 The dress of this individual was a mixture of the coarsest 
 vestments of a husbandman, with the leathern garments 
 that fashion as well as use had in some degree rendered 
 necessary to one engaged in his present pursuits. There 
 was, however, a singular and wild display of prodigal and 
 ill-judged ornaments blended with his motley attire. In 
 
THE PRAIRIE. It 
 
 place of the usual deerskin belt, he wore around his body 
 a tarnished silken sash of the most gaudy colors ; the buck- 
 horn haft of his knife was profusely decorated with plates 
 of silver ; the marten's fur of his cap was of a fineness and 
 shadowing that a queen might covet ; the buttons of his 
 rude and soiled blanket-coat were of the glittering coinage 
 of Mexico ; the stock of his rifle was of beautiful mahog- 
 any, riveted and banded with the same precious metal ; 
 and the trinkets of no less than three worthless watches 
 dangled from different parts of his person. In addition 
 to the pack and the rifle which were slung at his back, to- 
 gether with the well-filled and carefully guarded pouch 
 and horn, he had carelessly cast a keen and bright wood- 
 axe across his shoulder, sustaining the weight of the 
 whole with as much apparent ease as if he moved unfet- 
 tered in limb, and free from encumbrance. 
 
 A short distance in the rear of this man came a group 
 of youths very similarly attired, and bearing sufficient re- 
 semblance to each other, and to their leader, to distinguish 
 them as the children of one family. Though the youngest 
 of their number could not much have passed the period 
 that, in the nicer judgment of the law, is called the age of 
 discretion, he had proved himself so far worthy of his pro- 
 genitors as to have reared already his aspiring person to 
 the standard height of his race. There were one or two 
 others, of different mould, whose descriptions must, how- 
 ever, be referred to the regular course of the narrative. 
 
 Of the females, there were but two who had arrived at 
 womanhood ; though several white-headed, olive-skinned 
 faces were peering out of the foremost wagon of the train, 
 with eyes of lively curiosity and characteristic animation. 
 The elder of the two adults was the sallow and wrinkled 
 mother of most of the party ; and the younger was a 
 sprightly, active girl of eighteen, who, in figure, dress, 
 and mien, seemed to belong to a station in society several 
 gradations above that of any one of her visible associates. 
 The second vehicle was covered with a top of a cloth so 
 tightly drawn as to conceal its contents with the nicest 
 care. The remaining wagons were loaded with such rude 
 furniture and other personal effects as might be supposed 
 to belong to one ready at any moment to change his 
 abode, without reference to season or distance. 
 
 Perhaps there was little in this train, or in the appear- 
 ance of its proprietors, that is not daily to be encountered 
 
12 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 on the highways of this changeable and moving country. 
 But the solitary and peculiar scenery in which it was so 
 unexpectedly exhibited, gave to the party a marked char- 
 acter of wildness and adventure. 
 
 In the little valleys which, in the regular formation of 
 the land, occurred at every mile of their progress, the 
 view was bounded on two of the sides by the gradual 
 and low elevations which give name to the description 
 of prairie we have mentioned ; while on the others the 
 meagre prospect ran off in long, narrow, barren per- 
 spectives, but slightly relieved by a pitiful show of coarse, 
 though somewhat luxuriant vegetation. From the sum- 
 mits of the swells, the eye became fatigued with the same- 
 ness and chilling dreariness of the landscape. The earth 
 was not unlike the ocean, when its restless waters are 
 heaving heavily, after the agitation and fury of the tempest 
 have begun to lessen. There was the same waving 
 and regular surface, the same absence of foreign ob- 
 jects, and the same boundless extent to the view. In- 
 deed, so very striking was the resemblance between the 
 water and the land, that, however much the geologist 
 might sneer at so simple a theory, it would have been 
 difficult for a poet not to have felt that the formation of 
 the one had been produced by the subsiding dominion 
 of the other. Here and there a tall tree rose out of the 
 bottoms, stretching its naked branches abroad, like some 
 solitary vessel ; and, to strengthen the delusion, far in the 
 distance appeared two or three rounded thickets, looming 
 in the misty horizon like islands resting on the waters. It 
 is unnecessary to warn the practised reader that the same- 
 ness of the surface, and the low stands of the spectators, 
 exaggerated the distances ; but, as swell appeared after 
 swell, and island succeeded island, there was a dishearten- 
 ing assurance that long and seemingly interminable tracts 
 of territory must be passed before the wishes of the hum- 
 blest agriculturist could be realized. 
 
 Still the leader of the emigrants steadily pursued his 
 way, with no other guide than the sun, turning his back 
 resolutely on the abodes of civilization, and plunging at 
 each step more deeply, if not irretrievably, into the haunts 
 of the barbarous and savage occupants of the country. As 
 the day drew nigher to a close, however, his mind, which 
 was, perhaps, incapable of maturing any connected system 
 of forethought, beyond that which related to the interests 
 
THE PRAIRIE. ! 3 
 
 <z>f the present moment, became in some slight degree 
 troubled with the care of providing for the wants of the 
 hours of darkness. 
 
 On reaching the crest of a swell that was a little highei 
 than the usual elevations, he lingered a minute, and cast 
 a half-curious eye on either hand, in quest of those well- 
 known signs which might indicate a place where the three 
 grand requisites of water, fuel, and fodder, were to be ob- 
 tained in conjunction. 
 
 It would seem that his search was fruitless ; for after a 
 few moments of indolent and listless examination, he suf- 
 fered his huge frame to descend the gentle declivity, in 
 the same sluggish manner that an over-fatted beast would 
 have yielded to the downward pressure. 
 
 His example was silently followed by those who suc- 
 ceeded him, though not until the young men had mani- 
 fested much more of interest, if not of concern, in the 
 brief inquiry which each in his turn made on gaining the 
 same lookout. It was now evident, by the tardy move- 
 ments both of beasts and men, that the time of necessary 
 rest was not far distant. The matted grass of the lower 
 land presented obstacles which fatigue began to render 
 formidable, and the whip was becoming necessary to urge 
 the lingering teams to their labor. At this moment, when a 
 with the exception of the principal individual, a general 
 lassitude was getting the mastery of the travellers, and 
 every eye was cast, by a sort of common impulse, wistfully 
 forward, the whole party was brought to a halt, by a spec- 
 tacle as sudden as it was unexpected. 
 
 The sun had fallen below the crest of the nearest wav& 
 of the prairie, leaving the usual rich and glowing train OK 
 its track. In the centre of this flood of fiery light a human 
 form appeared, drawn against the gilded background as 
 distinctly, and seemingly as palpable, as though it would 
 come within the grasp of any extended hand. The figure 
 was colossal ; the attitude musing and melancholy ; and 
 the situation directly in the route of the travellers. But 
 embedded, as it was, in its setting of garish light, it was 
 impossible to distinguish its just proportions or ti ue char- 
 acter. 
 
 The effect of such a spectacle was instantaneous and 
 powerful. The man in front of the emigrants came to a 
 stand and remained gazing at the mysterious object with a 
 dull interest, that soon quickened into superstitious awe. 
 
24 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 His sons, so soon as the first emotions of surprise had a 
 little abated, drew slowly around him, and as they who gov- 
 erned the teams gradually followed their example, the 
 whole party was soon condensed in one silent and wonder- 
 ing group. Notwithstanding the impression of a super- 
 natural agency was very general among the travellers, the 
 ticking of gun-locks was heard, and one or two of the 
 bolder youths cast their rifles forward, in readiness for ser- 
 vice. 
 
 " Send the boys off to the right," exclaimed the resolute 
 wife and mother, in a sharp, dissonant voice ; " I warrant 
 me Asa or Abner will give some account of the creature!" 
 
 " It-may be well enough to try the rifle," muttered a 
 dull-looking man, whose features, both in outline and ex- 
 pression, bore no small resemblance to the first speaker, 
 and who loosened the stock of his piece and brought it 
 dexterously to the front, while delivering this opinion ; 
 "the Pawnee Loups are said to be hunting by hundreds 
 in the plains ; if so, they'll never miss a single man from 
 their tribe." 
 
 " Stay ! " exclaimed a soft-toned but alarmed female vc ^ce, 
 which was easily to be traced to the trembling lips oi the 
 younger of the two women ; " we are not all together ; it 
 may be a friend ! " 
 
 " Who is scouting now ? " demanded the father, scan- 
 ning, at the same time, the cluster of his stout sons wi*h a 
 displeased and sullen eye. " Put by the piece, put by the 
 piece," he continued, diverting the other's aim with the 
 finger of a giant, and with the air of one it might be dan- 
 gerous to deny. "My job is not yet ended ; let us firish 
 the little that remains in peace." 
 
 The man who had manifested so hostile an intention ap- 
 peared to understand the other's allusion, and suffered him- 
 self to be diverted from his object. The sons turned tl;eir 
 inquiring looks on the girl who had so eagerly spoken, to 
 require an explanation ; but, as if content with the respite 
 she had obtained for the stranger, she sank back in her 
 seat, and chose to affect a maidenly silence. 
 
 In the meantime the hues of the heavens had offen 
 changed. In place of the brightness that had dazzled the 
 eye, a gray and more sober light had succeeded, and, as 
 the setting lost its brilliancy, the proportions of the fanci- 
 ful form became less exaggerated, and finally distinct. 
 Ashamed to hesitate, now that the truth was no longer 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 15 
 
 doubtful, the leader of tlie party resumed his journey, 
 using the precaution, as he ascended the slight acclivity, 
 to release his own riiie from the strap, and to cast it into 
 a situation more convenient for sudden use. 
 
 There was little apparent necessity, however, for such 
 watchfulness. From the moment when it had thus unac- 
 countably appeared, as it were, between the heavens and 
 the earth, the stranger's figure had neither moved nor given 
 the smallest evidence of hostility. Had he harbored any 
 such evil intention, the individual who now came plainly 
 into view seemed but little qualified to execute them. 
 
 A frame that had endured the hardships of more than 
 eighty seasons was not qualified to awaken apprehension 
 in the breast of one as powerful as the emigrant. Not- 
 withstanding his years, and his look of emaciation, if not 
 of suffering, there was that about this solitary being, how- 
 ever, which said that Time, and not disease, had laid his 
 hand heavily on him. His form had withered, but it was 
 not wasted. The sinews and muscles, which had once de- 
 noted great strength, though shrunken, were still visible ; 
 and his whole figure had attained an appearance of indur- 
 ation which, if it were not for the well-known frailty of 
 humanity, would have seemed to bid defiance to the further 
 approaches of decay. His dress was chiefly of skins, worn 
 with the hair to the weather ; a pouch and horn were sus- 
 pended from his shoulders ; and he leaned on a rifle of un- 
 common length, but which, like its owner, exhibited the 
 wesff of long and hard service. 
 
 As the party drew nigher to this solitary being, and came 
 within a distance to be heard, a low growl issued from the 
 grass at his feet, and then a tall, gaunt, toothless hound 
 arose lazily from his lair, and, shaking himself, made some 
 show of resisting the nearer approach of the travellers. 
 
 "Down, Hector, down," said his master, in a voice that 
 was a little tremulous and hollow with age. "What have 
 ye to do, pup, with men who journey on their lawful call- 
 ings ? " 
 
 " Stranger, if you are much acquainted in this country," 
 said the leader of the emigrants, " can you tell a traveller 
 where he may find necessaries for the night ? " 
 
 " Is the land filled on the oth<r side of the Big River?" 
 demanded the old man, solemnly, and without appearing 
 to hearken to the other's question ; " or why do I see a 
 sight I had i.ever thought to behold again ? " 
 
1 6 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " Why, there is country left, it is true, for such as have 
 money, and ar' not particular in the choice," returned the 
 emigrant ; " but to my taste it is getting crowdy. What 
 may a man call the distance from this place to the nighest 
 point on the main river?" 
 
 " A hunted deer could not cool his sides in the Missis- 
 sippi, without travelling a weary five hundred miles." 
 
 "And what may you name the district hereaway ?" 
 
 "By what name," returned the old man, pointing sig- 
 nificantly upward, " would you call the spot where you see 
 yonder cloud ?" 
 
 The emigrant looked at the other like one who did not 
 comprehend his meaning, and who half suspected he was 
 trifled with ; but he contented himself by saying : 
 
 " You ar' but a new inhabitant, like myself, I reckon, 
 stranger, or otherwise you would not be backward in help- 
 ing a traveller to some advice ; words cost but little, and 
 sometimes lead to friendships." 
 
 " Advice is not a gift, but a debt that the old owe to the 
 young. What would you wish to know ? " 
 
 " Where I may camp for the night. I'm no great diffi- 
 culty-maker as to bed and board ; but all old journeyers 
 like myself know the virtue of sweet water, and a good 
 browse for the cattle." 
 
 " Come, then, with me, and you shall be master of both ; 
 and little more is it that I can offer on this hungry prairie." 
 
 As the old man was speaking, he raised his heavy rifle 
 to his shoulder with a facility a little remarkable f orchis 
 years and appearance, and without further words led the 
 way over the acclivity to the adjacent bottom. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Up with my tent : here will I lie to-night, 
 But where to-morrow? Well, all's one for that." 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 
 THE travellers soon discovered the usual and unerring 
 evidences that the several articles necessary to their situa- 
 tion w T ere not far distant. A clear and gurgling spring 
 burst out of the side of the declivity, and, joining its waters 
 to those of other similar little fountains in its vicinity, 
 their united contributions formed a run, which was easily 
 
THE PRAIRIE. I 7 
 
 to be traced for miles along the prairie, by the scattering 
 foliage and verdure which occasionally grew within the 
 influence of its moisture. Hither, then, the stranger held 
 his way, eagerly followed by the willing teams, whose in- 
 stinct gave them a prescience of refreshment and rest. 
 
 On reaching what he deemed a suitable spot, the old 
 man halted, and with an inquiring look, he seemed to de- 
 mand if it possessed the needed conveniences. The leader 
 of the emigrants cast his eye understandingly about him, 
 and examined the place with the keenness of one compe- 
 tent to judge of so nice a question, though in that dilatory 
 and heavy manner which rarely permitted him to betray 
 precipitation. 
 
 "Ay, this may do," he said, when satisfied with his 
 scrutiny. "Boys, you have seen the last of the sun ; be 
 stirring." 
 
 The young men manifested a characteristic obedience. 
 The order, for such in tone and manner it was, in truth, 
 was received with respect ; but the utmost movement was 
 the falling of an ax or two from the shoulder to the ground, 
 while their owners continued to regard the place with list- 
 less and incurious eyes. In the meantime, the elder trav- 
 eller, as if familiar with the nature of the impulses by 
 which his children were governed, disencumbered himself 
 of his pack and rifle, and, assisted by the man already 
 mentioned as disposed to appeal so promptly to the rifle, 
 he quietly proceeded to release the cattle from the gears. 
 
 At length the eldest of the sons stepped heavily forward, 
 and, without any apparent effort, he buried his axe to the 
 eye in the soft body of a cotton-wood tree. He stood a 
 moment regarding the effect of the blow, with that sort of 
 contempt with which a giant might be supposed to con- 
 template the puny resistance of a dwarf, and then, flourish- 
 ing the implement above his head, with the grace and dex- 
 terity with which a master of the art of offence would wield 
 his nobler though less useful weapon, he quickly severed 
 the trunk of the'tree, bringing its tall top crashing to the 
 earth in submission to his prowess. His companions re- 
 garded the operation with indolent curiosity, until they saw 
 the prostrate trunk stretched on the ground, when, as if a 
 signal for a general attack had been given, they advanced 
 in a body to the work ; and in a space of time, and with a 
 neatness of execution, that would have astonished an ig- 
 norant spectator, they stripped a small but suitable spot 
 
1 8 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 of its burden of forest, as effectually, and almost as 
 promptly, as if a whirlwind had passed along the place. 
 
 The stranger had been a silent but attentive observer of 
 their progress. As tree after tree came whistling down, 
 he cast his eyes upward at the vacancies they left in the 
 heavens, with a melancholy gaze, and finally turned away, 
 muttering to himself with a bitter smile, like one who dis- 
 dained giving a more audible utterance to his discontent. 
 Pressing through the group of active and busy children 
 who had already lighted a cheerful fire, the attention of 
 the old man became next fixed on the movements of the 
 leader of the emigrants -and of his savage-looking assistant. 
 
 These two had already liberated the cattle, which were 
 eagerly browsing the grateful and nutritious extremities 
 of the fallen trees, and were now employed about the 
 wagon, which has been described as having its contents 
 concealed with so much apparent care. Notwithstanding 
 this particular conveyance appeared to be as silent and as 
 tenaritless as the rest of the vehicles, the men applied their 
 strength to its wheels and rolled it, apart from the others, 
 to a dry and elevated spot near the edge of the thicket. 
 Here they brought certain poles, which had seemingly 
 been long employed in such a service, and fastening their 
 larger ends firmly in the ground, the smaller were atcached 
 to the hoops that supported the covering of the wagon. 
 Large folds of cloth were next drawn out of the vehicle, 
 and, after being spread around the whole, were pegged to 
 the earth in such a manner as to form a tolerably capa- 
 cious and an exceedingly convenient tent. After survey- 
 ing their work with inquisitive and perhaps jealous eyes, 
 arranging a fold here, and driving a peg more firmly there, 
 the men once more applied their strength to the wagon, 
 pulling it by its projecting tongue from the centre of the 
 canopy until it appeared in the open air, deprived of its 
 covering, and destitute of any other freight than a few 
 light articles of furniture. The latter were immediately 
 removed by the traveller into the tent with his own hands, 
 as though to enter it were a privilege to which even his 
 bosom companion was not entitled. 
 
 Curiosity is a passion that is rather quickened than de- 
 stroyed by seclusion, and the old inhabitant of the prairies 
 did not view these precautionary and mysterious move- 
 ments without experiencing some of its impulses. He 
 approached the tent, and was about to sever two of its 
 
THE PRAIRIE. r g 
 
 folds, with the very obvious intention of examining more 
 closely into the nature of its contents, when the man who 
 had once already placed his life in jeopardy, seized him by 
 the arm, and with a rude exercise of his strength threw 
 him from the spot he had selected as the one most con- 
 venient for his object. 
 
 " It's an honest regulation, friend," the fellow dryly 
 observed, though with an eye that threatened volumes, 
 " and sometimes it is a safe one, which says, 'Mind your 
 own business.' " 
 
 " Men seldom bring anything to be concealed into these 
 deserts," returned the old man, as i willing and yet a little 
 ignorant how to apologize for the liberty he had been about 
 to take, " and I had hoped no offence in examining your 
 comforts." 
 
 " They seldom bring themselves, I reckon. Though this 
 has the look of an old county, to my eye it seems not to 
 be overly peopled." 
 
 " The land is as aged as the rest of the works of the 
 Lord, I believe ; but you say true concerning its inhab- 
 itants. Many months have passed since I have laid eyes on 
 a face of my own color before your own. I say again, friend, 
 I meant no harm ; I did not know but there was some- 
 thing behind the cloth that might bring former days to my 
 mind." 
 
 As the stranger ended his simple explanation he walked 
 meekly away, like one who felt the deepest sense of tht; 
 right which every man has to the quiet enjoyment of his; 
 own, without any troublesome interference on the part of 
 his neighbor ; a wholesome and a just principle that he 
 had also most probably imbibed from the habits of his 
 secluded life. As he passed toward the little encamp- 
 ment of the emigrants, for such the place had now become, 
 he heard the voice of the leader calling aloud in its hoarse 
 tones, the name of 
 
 " Ellen Wade ! " 
 
 The girl who has been already introduced to the reader, 
 and who was occupied with the others of her sex around 
 the fires, sprang willingly forward at this summons ; and, 
 passing the stranger with the activity of a young antelope, 
 she was instantly lost behind the forbidden folds of the 
 tent. Neither her sudden disappearance, nor any of the 
 arrangements we have mentioned, seemed, however, to 
 excite the smallest surprise among the remainder of ths 
 
20 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 party. The young men, who had already completed their 
 tasks with the axe, were all engaged, after their lounging 
 and listless manner, some in bestowing equitable por- 
 tions of the fodder among the different animals ; others in 
 plying the heavy pestle of a movable hominy-mortar ; * 
 and one or two in wheeling the remainder of the wagons 
 aside, and arranging them in such a manner as to form 
 n sort of outwork for their otherwise defenceless bivouac. 
 
 These several duties were soon performed, and, as 
 darkness now began to conceal the objects on the sur- 
 rounding prairie, the shrill-toned termagant, whose voice 
 since the halt had been diligently exercised among her 
 idle and drowsy offspring, announced, in tones that might 
 have been heard at a dangerous distance, that the evening 
 meal waited only for the approach of those who were to 
 consume it. Whatever may be the other qualities of a 
 border-man, he is seldom deficient in the virtue of hos- 
 pitality. The emigrant no sooner heard the sharp call of 
 his wife, than he cast his eyes about him in quest of the 
 stranger, in order to offer him the place of distinction in 
 the rude entertainment to w 7 hich they were so uncere- 
 moniously summoned. 
 
 " I thank you, friend," the old man replied to the rough 
 invitation to take a seat nigh the smoking kettle ; "you 
 have my hearty thanks ; but I have eaten for the day, and 
 am not one of them who dig their graves with their teeth. 
 Well, as you wish it, I will take a place, for it is 
 long sin' I have seen people of my color eating their 
 daily bread." 
 
 "You ar' an old settler in these districts, then ? " the emi- 
 grant rather remarked than inquired, with his mouth filled 
 nearly to overflowing with the delicious hominy, prepared 
 by his skilful though repulsive spouse. " They told us 
 below we should find settlers something thinish here- 
 away, and I must say the report was mainly true ; for, un- 
 less \ve count the Canada traders on the big river, you ar' 
 the first white face I have met in a good five hun- 
 dred miles ; that is, calculating according to your own 
 reckoning." 
 
 " Though I have spent some years in this quarter, I can 
 hardly be called a settler, seeing that I have no regular 
 abode, and seldom pass more than a month at a time on 
 the same range." 
 
 * Hominy is a dish composed chiefly of cracked corn, or maize. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 21 
 
 "A hunter, I reckon?" the other continued, glancing 
 his eyes aside, as if to examine the equipments of his new 
 acquaintance : "yourfixen seem none of the best for such 
 a calling." 
 
 "They are old, and nearly ready to be laid aside, like 
 their master," said the old man, regarding his rifle with a 
 look in which affection and regret were singularly blended ? 
 " and I may say they are but little needed, too. You are 
 mistaken, friend, in calling me a hunter ; I am nothing 
 better than a trapper." * 
 
 " If you ar' much of the one, I'm bold to say you ar f 
 something of the other ; for the two callings go mainly to- 
 gether in these districts." 
 
 " To the shame of the man who is able to follow the first 
 be it said ! " returned the trapper, whom in future we shall 
 choose to designate by his pursuit ; " for more than fifty 
 years did I carry my rifle in the wilderness, without so 
 much as setting a snare for even a bird that flies the heav- 
 ens ; much less a beast that has nothing but legs for its 
 gifts." 
 
 " I see but little difference whether a man gets his pel- 
 try by the rifle or by the trap," said the ill-looking com- 
 panion of the emigrant, in his rough manner. "The 'arth 
 was made for our comfort ; and, for that matter, so ar' its 
 creator's. " 
 
 ''You seem to have but little plunder, f stranger, for 
 one who is far abroad," bluntly interrupted the emigrant, 
 as if he had a reason for wishing to change the conversa- 
 tion. " I hope you ar' better off for skins." 
 
 <l I make but little use of either," the trapper quietly re- 
 plied. " At my time of life, food and clothing be all that 
 is needed ; and I have little occasion for what you call 
 plunder, unless it may be now and then to barter for a 
 horn of powder or a bar of lead." 
 
 " You ar' not, then, of these parts by natur' friend," the 
 
 * It is scarcely necessary to say that this American word means one who 
 takes his game in a trap. It is of general use on the frontiers. The 
 beaver, an animal too sagacious to be easily killed, is oftener taken in this 
 way than in any other. 
 
 f The cant word for luggage in the Western States of America is " plun- 
 der. ' The term might easily mislead one as to the character of the people, 
 who, notwithstanding their pleasant use of so expressive a word, are, like 
 the inhabitants of all new settlements, hospitable and honest. Knavery 
 of the description conveyed by "plunder" is chiefly found in regions mor 
 civilized. 
 
22 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 emigrant continued, having in his mind the exception 
 which the other had taken to the very equivocal word, 
 which he himself, according to the custom of the country, 
 had used for " baggage," or "effects." 
 
 " I was born on the sea-shore, though most of my life 
 has been passed in the woods." 
 
 The whole party now looked up at him, as men are apt 
 to turn their eyes on some unexpected object of general 
 interest. 
 
 One or two of the young men repeated the words " sea- 
 shore ; " and the woman tendered him one of those civil- 
 ities with which, uncouth as they were, she was little ac- 
 customed to grace her hospitality, as if in deference to 
 the travelled dignity of her guest. After a long and 
 seemingly a meditating silence, the emigrant, who had, 
 however, seen no apparent necessity to suspend the func- 
 tions of his masticating powers, again resumed the dis- 
 course. 
 
 " It is a long road, as I have heard, from the waters of 
 the West to the shores of the main sea." 
 
 " It is a weary path, indeed, friend ; and much have I 
 seen, and something have I suffered, in journeying over 
 it." 
 
 " A man would see a good deal of hard travel in going 
 its length." 
 
 " Seventy-and-five years have I been upon the road ; 
 and there are not half that number of leagues in the whole 
 distance, after you leave the Hudson, on which I have not 
 tasted venison of my own killing. But this is vain boast- 
 ing. Of what use are former deeds, when time draws to 
 an end ?" 
 
 " I once met a man that had boasted on the river he 
 names," observed the eldest son, speaking in a low tone of 
 voice, like one who distrusted his knowledge, and deemed 
 it prudent to assume a becoming diffidence in the presence 
 of a man who had seen so much ; " from his tell, it must 
 be a considerable stream, and deep enough for a keel-boat 
 from top to bottom." 
 
 " It is a wide and deep water-course, and many sightly 
 towns are there growing on its banks," returned the trap- 
 
 Eer ; "and yet it is but a brook to the waters of the end* 
 jss river ! " 
 
 " I call nothing a stream that a man can travel round," 
 exclaimed the ill-looking associate of the emigrant \ "a 
 
THE PRAIRIE. ^ 
 
 real river must be crossed, not headed, like a bear in q 
 county hunt." * 
 
 " Have you been far toward the sundown, friend ? " in- 
 terrupted the emigrant, as if he desired to keep his rough 
 companion as much as possible out of the discourse. " I 
 find it is a wide tract of clearing this, into which I have 
 fallen." 
 
 " You may travel weeks and you will see it the same. I 
 often think the Lord has placed this barren belt of prairie 
 behind the States, to warn men to what their folly may yet 
 bring the land ! Aye, weeks, if not months, may you jour- 
 ney in these open fields, in which there is neither dwelling 
 nor habitation for man or beast. Even the savage animals 
 travel miles on miles to seek their dens ; and yet the wind 
 seldom blows from the east, but I conceit the sound of 
 axes and the crash of falling trees are in my ears." 
 
 As the old man spoke with the seriousness .and dignity 
 that age seldom fails to communicate, even to less striking 
 sentiments, his auditors were deeply attentive, and as silent 
 as the grave. Indeed, the trapper was left to renew the 
 dialogue himself, which he soon did by asking a question, 
 in the indirect manner so much in use by the border in- 
 habitants. 
 
 "You found it no easy matter to ford the water-courses, 
 and to make your way so deep into the prairies, friend, 
 with teams of horses and herds of horned beasts ? " 
 
 " I kept the left bank of the main river," the emigrant 
 replied, "until I found the stream leading too much to the 
 north, when we rafted ourselves across without any great 
 suffering. The woman lost a fleece or two from the next 
 year's shearing, and the girls had one cow less to their 
 dairy. Since then, we have done bravely, by bridging a 
 creek every day or two." 
 
 " It is likely you will continue west until you come to 
 land more suitable for a settlement ?" 
 
 " Until I see reason to stop, or to turn ag'in," the emi- 
 grant bluntly answered, rising at the same time, and cut- 
 ting short the dialogue by the suddenness of the move- 
 ment. His example was followed by the trapper, as well 
 
 * There is a practice in the new countries to assemble the men of a large 
 district, sometimes of an entire county, to exterminate the beasts of prey. 
 They form themselves into a circle of several miles in extent, and gradually 
 draw nearer, killing all before them. The allusion is to this custom, in 
 which the hunted beast is turned from one to another. 
 
24 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 as the rest of the party ; and then, without much deferenc< 
 to the presence of their guests, the travellers proceeded to 
 make their dispositions to pass the night. Several little 
 bowers, or rather huts, had already been formed of the 
 tops of trees, blankets of coarse country manufacture, and 
 the skins of buffaloes, united without much reference to 
 any other object than temporary comfort. Into these 
 covers the children, with their mother, soon drew them- 
 selves, where, it is more than possible, they were all speed 
 ily lost in the oblivion of sleep. Before the men, however, 
 could seek their rest, they had sundry little duties to per- 
 form ; such as completing their works of defence, carefully 
 concealing the fires, replenishing the fodder of their cattle, 
 and setting the watch that was to protect the party in the 
 approaching hours of night. 
 
 The former was effected by dragging the trunks of a 
 few trees into the intervals left by the wagons, and along 
 the open space between the vehicles and the thicket, on 
 which, in military language, the encampment would be 
 said to have rested : thus forming a sort of chevaux de frist 
 on three sides of the position. Within these narrow lim- 
 its (with the exception of what the tent contained), both 
 man and beast were now collected ; the latter being far 
 too happy in resting their weary limbs to give any undue 
 annoyance to their scarcely more intelligent associates, 
 Two of the young men took their rifles ; and, first renew- 
 ing their priming, and examining the flints with the ut- 
 most care, they proceeded, the one to the extreme right, 
 and the other to the left of the encampment, where they 
 posted themselves within the shadows of the thicket, but 
 in such positions as enabled each to overlook a portion oi 
 the prairie. 
 
 The trapper loitered about the place, declining to share 
 the straw of the emigrant, until the whole arrangement 
 was completed ; and then, without the ceremony of an 
 adieu, he slowly retired from the spot. 
 
 It was now in the first watch of the night, and the pale,, 
 quivering, and deceptive light from a new moon was play- 
 ing over the endless waves of the prairie, tipping the 
 swells with gleams of brightness, and leaving the interval 
 land in deep shadow. Accustomed to scenes of solitude 
 like the present, the old man, as he left the encampment, 
 proceeded alone into the waste, like a bold vessel leaving 
 its haven to enter on the trackless field of the ocean. He 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 25 
 
 Appeared to move for some time without object, or, indeed, 
 without any apparent consciousness whither his limbs 
 were carrying him. At length, on reaching the rise of 
 one of the undulations, he came to a stand, and, for the 
 first time since leaving the band who had caused such a 
 flood of reflections and recollections to crowd upon his 
 mind, the old man became aware of his present situation. 
 Throwing one end of his rifle to the earth, he stood leaning 
 mi the other, again lost in deep contemplation for several 
 minutes, during which time his hound came and crouched 
 ?it his feet. A deep, menacing growl from the faithful 
 Unimal aroused him from his musing. 
 
 " What now, dog ? " he said, looking down at his com- 
 panion, as if he addressed a being of an intelligence equal 
 to his own, and speaking in a voice of great affection. 
 " What is it, pup ? ha ! Hector ; what is it nosing now ? 
 It won't do, dog, it won't do ; the very fa'ans play in open 
 view of us, without minding so worn-out curs as you and 
 I. Instinct is their gift, Hector, and they have found out 
 how little we are to be feared, they have." 
 
 The dog stretched his head upward and responded to 
 the words of his master by a long and plaintive whine, 
 winch he even continued after he had again buried his 
 head in the grass, as if he held an intelligent communica- 
 tion with one who so well knew how to interpret dumb 
 Discourse. 
 
 " This is a manifest warning, Hector ! " the trapper con- 
 tinued, dropping his voice to the tones of caution and 
 looking warily about him. " What is it, pup ? speak plainer, 
 dog ; what is it ?" 
 
 The hound had, however, already laid his nose to the 
 earth, and was silent, appearing to slumber. But the keen, 
 quick glances of his master soon caught a glimpse of a dis- 
 tant figure, which seemed, through the deceptive light, 
 floating along the very elevation on which he had placed 
 himself. Presently its proportions became more distinct, 
 and then an airy female form appeared to hesitate, as if 
 considering whether it would be prudent to advance. 
 Though the eyes of the dog were now to be seen glancing 
 in the rays of the moon, opening and shutting lazily, he 
 gave no further signs of displeasure. 
 
 " Come nigher ; we are friends," said the trapper, asso- 
 ciating himself with his companion by long use, and prob- 
 ably through the strength of the secret tie that connected 
 
26 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 them together ; " we are your friends ; none will harm 
 you." 
 
 Encouraged by the mild tones of his voice, and perhaps 
 led on by the earnestness of her purpose, the female ap- 
 proached until she stood at his side ; when the old man 
 perceived his visitor to be the young woman with whom 
 the reader has already become acquainted by the name of 
 "Ellen Wade." 
 
 " I had thought you were gone," she said, looking tim- 
 idly and anxiously around. " They said you were gone, 
 and that we should never see you again. I did not think 
 it was you ! " 
 
 "Men are no common objects in these empty fields," re- 
 turned the trapper, "and I humbly hope, though I have 
 so long consorted with the beasts of the wilderness, that I 
 have not yet lost the look of my kind." 
 
 " Oh ! I knew you to be a man, and I thought I knew 
 the whine of the hound too," she answered hastily, as if 
 willing to explain she knew not what, and then checking 
 herself, like one fearful of having already said too much. 
 
 "I saw no dogs among the teams of your father," the 
 trapper remarked. 
 
 "Father!" exclaimed the girl, feelingly, "I have no 
 father! I had nearly said no friend." 
 
 The old man turned toward her with a look of kindness 
 and interest that was even more conciliating than the or- 
 dinary upright and benevolent expression of his weather- 
 beaten countenance. 
 
 " Why then do you venture in a place where none but 
 the strong should come ?" he demanded. "Did you not 
 know that when you crossed the big river you left a friend 
 behind you that is always bound to look to the young and 
 feeble like yourself? " 
 
 " Of whom do you speak ?" 
 
 " The law 'tis bad to have it, but I sometimes think it is 
 worse to be entirely without it. Age and weakness has 
 brought me to feel such weakness at times. Yes yes, the 
 law is needed when such as have not the gifts of strength 
 and wisdom are to be taken care of. I hope, young wo- 
 man, if you have no father, you have at least a brother." 
 
 The maiden felt the tacit reproach conveyed in this 
 covert question, and for a moment she remained in an em- 
 barrassed silence. But, catching a glimpse of the mild and 
 serious features of her companion as he continued to gaze 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 27 
 
 at* ner wltn a look of interest, she replied firmly and in a 
 manner tnat left no doubt she comprehended his meaning : 
 
 '-rieav^n rorbid that any such as you have seen should 
 be a brother of mine, or anything else near or dear to me ! 
 But, teli me, do you then actually live alone in this desert 
 district, old man ; is there really none here besides your- 
 self ?" 
 
 " There are hundreds, nay, thousands of the rightful 
 owners of the country, roving about the plains ; but few of 
 our own color." 
 
 " And have you then met none who are white but us ?" 
 interrupted the girl, like one too impatient to await the 
 tardy explanations of age and deliberation. 
 
 " Not in many days. Hush, Hector, hush ! " he added, 
 in reply to a low and nearly inaudible growl from his 
 hound. " The dog scenes mischief in the wind. The black 
 bears from the mountains sometimes make their way even 
 lower than this. The pup is not apt to complain of the 
 harmless game. I am not so ready and true with the piece 
 as I used-to-could-be, yet i have struck even the fiercest 
 animals of the prairie in my time ; so you have little rea- 
 son for fear, young woman." 
 
 The girl raised her eyes in that peculiar manner which 
 is so often practised by her sex when they commence their 
 glances, by examining the earth at their feet, and termi- 
 nate them by noting everything within the power of human 
 vision ; but she rather manifested the quality of impatience 
 than any feeling of alarm. 
 
 A short bark from the dog, however, soon gave a new 
 direction to the looks of both, and then the real object of 
 his second warning became dimly visible. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy ; and 
 .s soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved." ROMEO 
 A.ND JULIET. 
 
 THOUGH the trapper manifested some surprise when he 
 perceived that another human figure was approaching him, 
 and that, too, from a direction opposite to the place where 
 the emigrant had made his encampment, it was with the 
 steadiness of one long accustomed to scenes of danger. 
 
28 TIIF. PRAIRIE. 
 
 "This is a man," he said ; " and one who has white blood 
 in his veins, or his step would be lighter. It will be well 
 to be ready for the worst, as the half-and-halfs * that one 
 meets in these distant districts, are altogether more bar- 
 barous than the real savage." 
 
 He raised his rifle while he spoke, and assured himself 
 of the state of its flint, as well as of the priming, by man- 
 ual examination. But his arm was arrested, while in the 
 act of throwing forward the muzzle of the piece, by the 
 eager and trembling hands of his companion. 
 
 " For God's sake be not too hasty," she said ; " it may 
 be a friend an acquaintance a neighbor ! " 
 
 " A friend ! " the old man repeated, deliberately releas- 
 ing himself at the same time from her grasp. " Friendr, 
 are rare in any land, and less in this, perhaps, than in an- 
 other : and the neighborhood is too thinly settled to make 
 it likely that he who comes toward us is even an acquaint- 
 ance." 
 
 " But, though a stranger, you would not seek his blood ! " 
 
 The trapper earnestly regarded her anxious and fright- 
 ened features, and then he dropped the butt of his rifle 
 on the ground, like one whose purpose had undergone a 
 sudden change. 
 
 " No," he said, speaking rather to himself than to his 
 companion, "she is right ; blood is not to be spilt to save 
 the life of one so useless, and so near his time. Let him 
 come on ; my skins, my traps, and even my rifle, shall be 
 his if he sees fit to demand them." 
 
 " He will ask for neither : he wants neither," returned 
 the girl : " if he be an honest man, he will surely be con- 
 tent with his own, and ask for nothing that is the property 
 of another." 
 
 The trapper had not time to express the surprise he 
 felt at this incoherent and contradictory language, for the 
 man who was advancing, was already within fifty feet of 
 the place where they stood. In the meantime Hector 
 had not been an indifferent witness of what was passing. 
 At the sound of the distant footsteps, he had risen from his 
 warm bed at the feet of his master ; and now, as the stran- 
 ger appeared in open view, he stalked slowly toward him, 
 crouching to the earth like a panther about to take his 
 leap. 
 
 * Half-breeds : men born of Indian women by white fathers. The race 
 ias much of the depravity of civilization, without the virtues of the savage. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 29 
 
 " Call in your dog," said a firm, deep, manly voice, in 
 tones of friendship rather than of menace ; " I love a 
 bound, and should be sorry to do an injury to the ani- 
 mal." 
 
 "You hear what is said about you, pup i" the trapper 
 answered ; " come hither, fool. His growl and his bark 
 are all that is left of him now ; you may come on, friend ; 
 the hound is toothless." 
 
 The stranger profited by the intelligence. He sprang 
 eagerly forward, and at the next instant stood at the side 
 of Ellen Wade. After assuring himself of the identity of 
 the latter by a hasty but keen glance, he turned his atten- 
 tion, with a quickness and impatience that proved the in- 
 terest he took in the result, to a similar examination of 
 her companion. 
 
 " From what cloud have you fallen, my good old man ? " 
 he said, in a careless, off-hand, heedless manner, that 
 seemed too natural to be assumed ; "or do you actually 
 live, hereaway, in the prairies ? " 
 
 " I have been long on earth, and never I hope nigher to 
 heaven than I am at this moment," returned the trapper; 
 " my dwelling, if dwelling I may be said to have, is not 
 far distant. Now, may I take the liberty with you, that 
 you are so willing to take with others ? Whence do you 
 come, and where is your home?" 
 
 " Softly, softly when I have done with my catechism, 
 it will be time to begin with yours. What sport is this 
 you follow by moonlight ? You are not dodging the buffa- 
 loes at such an hour ! " 
 
 " I am, as you see, going from an encampment of trav- 
 ellers, which lies over yonder swell in the land, to my own 
 wigwam ; in doing so, I wrong no man." 
 
 " All fair and true. And you got this young woman to 
 show you the way, because she knows it so well, and you 
 know so little about it yourself ! " 
 
 " I met her, as I have met you, by accident. For ten 
 tiresome years have I dwelt on these open fields, and 
 never, before to-night, have I found human beings with 
 white skins on them, at this hour. If my presence here 
 gives offence, I am sorry, and will go my way. It is more 
 than likely that, when your young friend has told her 
 story, you will be better given to believe mine." 
 
 " Friend ! " said the youth, lifting a cap of skins from 
 his head, and running his fingers leisurely through a dense 
 
30 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 mass of black and shaggy locks, " if I have ever laid eyes 
 on the girl before to-night, may I " 
 
 "You've said enough, Paul," interrupted the female, 
 laying her hand on his mouth, with a familiarity that gave 
 something very like the lie direct to his intended assever- 
 ation. " Our secret will be safe with this honest old man 
 I know it by his looks and kind words." 
 
 "Our secret. Ellen, have you forgot 
 
 " Nothing. I have not forgotten anything I should re* 
 member. But still I say we are safe with this honest 
 trapper." 
 
 " Trapper ! is he then a trapper ? Give me your hand, 
 father; our trades should bring us acquainted." 
 
 " There is little call for handicraft in this region," re- 
 turned the other, examining the athletic and active form 
 of the youth, as he leaned carelessly and not ungracefully 
 on his rifle ; " the art of taking the creatur's of God in 
 traps and nets is one that needs more cunning than man- 
 hood ; and yet am I brought to practise it in my age ! 
 But it would be quite as seemly in one like you to follow 
 a pursuit better becoming your years and courage." 
 
 " I ! I never took even a slinking mink or a paddling 
 musk rat in a cage ; though I admit having peppered a few 
 of the dark-skin'd devils, when I had much better have 
 kept my powder in the horn and the lead in its pouch. 
 Not I, old man ; nothing that crawls the earth is for my 
 sport." 
 
 11 What, then, may you do for a living, friend ? for little 
 profit is to be made in these districts, if a man denies him- 
 self his lawful right in the beasts of the fields." 
 
 " I deny myself nothing. If a bear crosses my path, he 
 is soon the mere ghost of Bruin. The deer begin to nose 
 me ; and as for the buffalo, I have killed more beef, old 
 stranger, than the largest butcher in all Kentuck." 
 
 "You can shoot, then?" demanded the trapper, with a 
 glow of latent fire glimmering about his eyes ; "is your 
 hand true and your look quick ? " 
 
 " The first is like a steel trap, and the last nimbler than 
 a buckshot. I wish it was hot noon now, grand'ther ; and 
 that there was an acre or two of your white swans or of 
 black-feathered ducks going south, over our heads ; you ot 
 Ellen here might set your heart on the finest in the flock, 
 and my character against a horn of powder, that the bird 
 would be hanging head downward in five minutes, and that 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 31 
 
 too with a single ball. I scorn a shot-gun ! No man can 
 say he ever knew me to carry one a rod." 
 
 "The lad has good in him ! I see it plainly by his man- 
 ner," said the trapper, turning to Ellen with an encourag- 
 ing air. " I will take it on myself to say that you are not 
 unwise in meeting him as you do. Tell me, lad ; did you 
 ever strike a leaping buck atwixt the antlers? Hector; 
 quiet, pup ; quiet ! The very name of venison quickens 
 the blood of the cur. Did you ever take an animal in that 
 fashion on the long leap ? " 
 
 "You might just as well ask me, 'Did you ever eat?* 
 There is no fashion, old stranger, that a deer has not been 
 touched by my hand, unless it was when asleep." 
 
 " Ay, ay ; you have a long and a happy ay, and an hon- 
 est life afore you ! I am old, and, I suppose I might also 
 say, worn out and useless ; but if it was given me to choose 
 my time and place again as such things are not and ought 
 not ever to be given to the will of man though if such a 
 gift was to be given me, I would say, twenty and the wil- 
 derness ? But tell me ; how do you part with the peltry ? " 
 
 "With my pelts! I never took a skin from a buck nor 
 a quill from a goose in my life ? I knock them over now 
 and then for a meal, -and sometimes to keep my linger true 
 to the touch ; but when hunger is satisfied the prairie 
 wolves get the remainder. No no I keep to my call- 
 ing ; which pays me better than all the fur I could sell on 
 the other side of the big river." 
 
 The old man appeared to ponder a little ; but shaking 
 his head, he soon continued : 
 
 " I know of but one business that can be followed here 
 with profit " 
 
 He was interrupted by the youth, who raised a small 
 cup of tin which dangled at his neck before the other's 
 eyes, and, springing its lid, the delicious odor of the finest 
 flavored honey diffused itself over the organs of the trapper. 
 
 " A hee-hunter ! " observed the latter, with a readiness 
 that proved he understood the nature of the occupation, 
 though not without some little surprise at discovering one 
 of the other's spirited mien engaged in so humble a pur- 
 suit. " It pays well in the skirts of the settlements, but I 
 should call it a doubtful trade in more open districts." 
 
 " You think a tree is wanting for a swarm to settle in ! 
 But I know differently : and so I have stretched out a few 
 hundred miles farther west than common to taste your 
 

 3 2 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 honey. And now I have bated your curiosity, stranger e 
 you will just move aside while I tell the remainder of my 
 story to this young woman." 
 
 " It is not necessary, I'm sure it is not necessary that he 
 should leave us," said Ellen, with a haste that implied 
 some little consciousness of the singularity, if not of the 
 impropriety, of the request. " You can have nothing to 
 say that the whole world might not hear." 
 
 " No ! well, may I be stung to death by drones if I un- 
 derstand the buzzings of a woman's mind ! For my part, 
 Ellen, I care for nothing nor anybody ; and am just as 
 ready to go down to the place where your uncle, if uncle 
 you can call one who I'll swear is no relation, has hoppled 
 his teams, and tell the old man my mind now, as I shall 
 be a year hence. You have only to say a single word, and 
 the thing is done ; let him like it or not." 
 
 " You are ever so hasty and rash, Paul Hover, that I 
 seldom know when I am safe with you. How can you, 
 who know the danger of our being seen together, speak 
 of going before my uncle and his sons ? " 
 
 " Has he done that of which he has reason to be 
 ashamed ? " demanded the trapper, who had not moved an 
 inch from the place he first occupied. 
 
 " Heaven forbid ! But there are reasons why he should 
 not be seen just now, that could do him no harm if known, 
 but which may not yet be told. And so if you will wait, 
 father, near yonder willow-bush, until I have heard what 
 Paul can possibly have to say, I shall be sure to come and 
 wish you good-night before I return to the camp." 
 
 The trapper drew slowly aside, as if satisfied with the 
 somewhat incoherent reason Ellen had given why he 
 should retire. When completely out of ear-shot of the 
 earnest and hurried dialogue that instantly commenced 
 between the two he had left, the old man again paused, 
 and patiently awaited the moment when he might renew 
 his conversation with beings in whom he felt a growing 
 interest, no less from the mysterious character of their 
 intercourse than from a natural sympathy in the welfare 
 of a pair so young, and who, as in the simplicity of his 
 heart he was also fain to believe, were also so deserving. 
 He was accompanied by his indolent but attached dog, 
 who once more made his bed at the feet of his master, 
 and soon lay slumbering as usual, with his head nearly 
 buried in the dense fog of the prairie-grass. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 33 
 
 It was a spectacle so unusual to see the human form 
 amid the solitude in which he dwelt that the trapper bent 
 his eyes on the dim figures of his new acquaintances with 
 sensations to which he had long been a stranger. Their 
 presence awakened recollections and emotions to which 
 his sturdy but honest nature had latterly paid but little 
 homage, and his thoughts began to wander over the varied 
 scenes of a life of hardships that had been strangely 
 blended with scenes of wild and peculiar enjoyment. The 
 train taken by his thoughts had already conducted him in 
 imagination far into an ideal world, when he was once 
 more suddenly recalled to the reality of his situation by 
 the movements of the faithful hound. 
 
 The dog who, in submission to his years and infirmities, 
 had manifested such a decided propensity to sleep, now 
 arose and stalked from out the shadow cast by the tall 
 person of his master, and looked abroad into the prairie, 
 as if his instinct apprised him of the presence of still 
 another visitor. Then seemingly content with his exam- 
 ination, he returned to his comfortable post, and disposed 
 of his weary limbs with the deliberation and care of one 
 who was no novice in the art of self-preservation. 
 
 "What, again, Hector ?" said the trapper, in a soothing 
 voice, which he had the caution, however, to utter in an 
 undertone ; "what is it, dog ? tell it all to his master, pup ; 
 what is it?" 
 
 Hector answered with another growl, but was content to 
 continue in his lair.. These were evidences of intelligence 
 and distrust to which one as practised as the trapper could 
 not turn an inattentive ear. He again spoke to the dog, 
 encouraging him to watchfulness by a low, guarded whistle. 
 The animal, however, as if conscious of having already 
 discharged his duty, obstinately refused to raise his head 
 from the grass. 
 
 '* A hint from such a friend is far better than man's ad- 
 vice ! " muttered the trapper, as he slowly moved toward 
 the couple who were yet too earnestly and abstractedly 
 engaged in their own discourse to notice his approach ; 
 "and none but a conceited settler would hear it and not 
 respect it as he ought. Children," he added, when nigh 
 enough to address his companions; "we are not alone in 
 these dreary fields ; thers are others stirring, and therefore, 
 to the shame of our kind be it said, danger is nigh." 
 
 ' If one of the lazy sons of Skirting Ishmael is prowling 
 
34 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 out of his camp to-night," said the young bee-hunter, with 
 great vivacity, and in tones that might easily have been 
 excited to a menace, " he may have an end put to his 
 journey sooner than either he or his father is dreaming! " 
 
 "My life on it they are all with the teams," hurriedly 
 answered the girl. "I saw the whole of them asleep my- 
 self, except the two on watch ; and their natures have 
 greatly changed if they too are not dreaming of a turkey- 
 hunt or a court-house fight at this very moment." 
 
 " Some beast with a strong scent has passed between 
 the wind and the hound, father, and it makes him uneasy ; 
 or perhaps he too is dreaming. I had a pup of my own in 
 Kentuck, that would start upon a long chase from a deep 
 sleep, and all upon the fancy of some dream. Go to him 
 and pinch his ear, that the beast may feel the life within 
 him." 
 
 " Not so not so," returned the trapper, shaking his 
 head as one who better understood the qualities of his dog. 
 "Youth sleeps, ay, and dreams too ; but age is awake and 
 watchful. The pup is never false with his nose, and long 
 experience tells me to heed his warnings." 
 
 "Did you ever run him upon the trail of carrion ?" 
 
 "Why, I must say that the ravenous beasts have some- 
 times tempted me to let him loose, for they are as greedy 
 as men after the venison, in its season ; but then I know 
 the reason of the dog woulfl tell him the object ! No no, 
 Hector is an animal known in the ways of man, and will 
 never strike a false trail when a true one is to be followed ! " 
 
 "Ay, ay, the secret is out! you have run the hound on 
 the track of a wolf, and his nose has a better memory than 
 his master ! " said the bee-hunter, laughing. 
 
 " I have seen the creatur' sleep for hours with pack 
 after pack in open view. A wolf might eat out of his tray 
 without a snarl, unless there was a scarcity ; then, indeed, 
 'Hector would be apt to claim his own." 
 
 " There are panthers down from the mountains ; I saw 
 one make a leap at a sick deer, as the sun was setting. 
 Go go you back to the dog, and tell him the truth 
 father ; in a minute, I " 
 
 He was interrupted by a long, loud, and piteous howl 
 from the hound, which rose on the air of the evening, like 
 the wailing of some spirit of the place, and passed off intG 
 the prairie, in cadences that rose and fell like its own un 
 dulating surface. The trapper was impressively silent^ 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 35 
 
 listening intently. Even the reckless bee-hunter was 
 struck with the wailing wildness of the sounds. After a 
 short pause the former whistled the dog to his side, and, 
 turning to his companions, he said with the seriousness 
 which in his opinion the occasion demanded : 
 
 " They who think man enjoys all the knowledge of the 
 creatur's of God, will live to be disappointed, if they reach, 
 as I have done, the age of fourscore years. I will not take 
 upon myself to say what mischief is brewing, nor will I 
 vouch that even the hound himself knows so much ; but, 
 that evil is nigh, and that wisdom invites us to avoid it, I 
 have heard from the mouth of one who never lies. I did 
 think the pup had become unused to the footsteps of man, 
 and that your presence made him uneasy ; but his nose 
 has been on a long scent the whole evening, and what I 
 mistook as a notice of your coming has been intended for 
 something more serious. If the advice of an old man is, 
 then, worth hearkening to, children, you will quickly go 
 different ways to your places of shelter and safety." 
 
 " If I quit Ellen at such a moment," exclaimed the youth, 
 " may I " 
 
 " You've said enough ! " the girl interrupted by again 
 interposing a hand that might, both by its delicacy and 
 color, have graced a far more elevated station in life ; "my 
 time is out, and we must part at all events so good-night, 
 Paul father good- night. ' ' 
 
 " Hist ! " said the youth, seizing her arm, as she was in 
 the very act of tripping from his side. . " Hist ! do you 
 hear nothing ? There are buffaloes playing their pranks 
 at no great distance. That sound beats the earth like a 
 herd of the mad, scampering devils ! " 
 
 His two companions listened, as people in their situation 
 would be apt to lend their faculties to discover the mean- 
 ing of any doubtful noises, especially when heard after so 
 many and such startling warnings. The unusual sounds 
 were unequivocally, though still faintly audible. The 
 youth and his female companion had made several hurried 
 and vacillating conjectures concerning their nature, when 
 a current of the night air brought the rush of trampling 
 footsteps too sensible to their ears to render mistake any 
 longer possible. 
 
 " I am right ! " said the bee-hunter ; "a panther is driv- 
 ing; a herd before him ; or, maybe, there is a battle among 
 the beasts." 
 
3 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 "Your ears are cheats," returned the old man, who, 
 from the moment his own organs had been able to catch 
 the distant sounds, stood like a statue made to represent 
 deep attention ; " the leaps are too long for the buffalo, 
 and too regular for terror. Hist ! now they are in a bot. 
 torn where the grass is high, and the sound is deadened! 
 Ay, there they go on the hard earth ! and now they como 
 up the swell, dead upon us ; they will be here afore you 
 can find cover ! " 
 
 "Come, Ellen," cried the youth, seizing his companion 
 by the hand, "let us make a trail for the encampment." 
 
 " Too late ! too late ! " exclaimed the trapper, " for thus 
 creatur's are in open view ; and a bloody band of accursed 
 Siouxes they are, by their thieving look, and the random 
 fashion in which they ride ! " 
 
 " Siouxes or devils, they shall find us men ! " said the 
 bee-hunter, with a mien as fierce as if he led a party oi 
 superior strength, and of a courage equal to his own. 
 "You have a piece, old man, and will pull a trigger in be. 
 half of a helpless Christian girl ? " 
 
 " Down, down into the grass down with ye both ! " 
 whispered the trapper, intimating to them to turn aside to 
 the tall weeds, which grew in a denser body than common 
 near the place where they stood. "You've not the time 
 to fly, nor the numbers to fight, foolish boy. Down into 
 the grass, if you prize the young woman, or value the gift 
 of life!" 
 
 His remonstrance, seconded as it was by a prompt, ener- 
 getic action, did not fail to produce the submission to hi* 
 order which the occasion seemed, indeed, imperiously to 
 require. The moon had fallen behind a sheet of thin, 
 fleecy clouds, which skirted the horizon, leaving just 
 enough of its faint and fluctuating light to render objects 
 visible, dimly revealing their forms and proportions. The 
 trapper, by exercising that species of influence over his 
 companions which experience and decision usually assert 
 in cases of emergency, had effectually succeeded in con- 
 cealing them in the grass ; and, by the aid of the feeble 
 rays of the luminary, he was enabled to scan the disorderly 
 party which was riding, like so many madmen, directly 
 upon them. 
 
 A band of beings, who resembled demons rather thaiv 
 men, sporting in their nightly revels across the bieak plain, 
 was in truth approaching at a fearful rate, and in a direo 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 37 
 
 tion to leave little hope that some one among them, at 
 least, would not pass over the spot where the trapper and 
 his companions lay. At intervals, the clattering of hoofs 
 was borne along by the night wind, quite audibly in their 
 front, and then again their progress through the fog of the 
 autumnal grass was swift and silent ; adding to the unearth- 
 ly appearance of the spectacle. The trapper, who had called 
 in his hound, and bidden him crouch at his side, now 
 kneeled in the cover also, and kept a keen and watchful 
 eye on the route of the band, soothing the fears of the 
 girl, and restraining the impatience of the youth in the 
 same breath. 
 
 " If there's one, there's thirty of the miscreants ! " he 
 said, in a sort of episode to his whispered comments. " Ay, 
 ay ; thoy are edging toward the river. Peace, pup, peace. 
 No, here they come this way again the thieves don't 
 seem to know their own errand ! If there were just six of 
 us, lad, what a beautiful ambushment we might make upon 
 them, from this very spot ! it won't do, it won't do, boy ; 
 keep yourself closer, or your head will be seen besides, 
 I'm not altogether strong in the opinion it would be law- 
 ful, as they have done us no harm. There they bend 
 again to the river no ; here they come up the swell. 
 Now is the moment to be as still as if the breath had done 
 its duty, and departed the body." 
 
 The old man sank into the grass while he was speaking, 
 as if the final separation to which he alluded had in his 
 own case actually occurred ; and, at the next instant, a 
 band of wild horsemen whirled by them, with the noise- 
 less rapidity in which it might be imagined a troop of 
 spectres would pass. The dark and fleeting forms were 
 already vanished, when the trapper ventured to raise his 
 head to a level with the top of the bending herbage, mo- 
 tioning at the same time to his companions to maintain 
 their positions and their silence. 
 
 " They are going down the swell toward the encamp- 
 ment," he continued, in his former guarded tones ; " no, 
 they halt in the bottom, and are clustering together like 
 deer in council. By the Lord, they are turning again, and 
 we are not yet done with the reptiles ! " 
 
 Once more he sought his friendly cover, and at the next 
 instant the dark troop were to be seen riding, in a dis- 
 orderly manner, on the very summit of the little elevation 
 on which the trapper and his companions lay. It wasnoW 
 
3 8 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 soon apparent that they had returned to avail themselves 
 of the height of the ground, in order to examine the dim 
 horizon. 
 
 Some dismounted, while others rode to and fro, like 
 men engaged in a local inquiry of much interest Hap- 
 pily for the hidden party, the grass in which they were 
 concealed not only served to screen them from the eyes 
 of the savages, but opposed an obstacle to prevent their 
 horses, which w r ere no less rude and untrained than their 
 riders, from trampling on them, in their irregular and 
 wild paces. 
 
 At length an athletic and dark-looking Indian, who, by 
 his air of authority, would seem to be the leader, sum- 
 moned his chiefs about him, to a consultation, which was 
 held mounted. This body was collected on the very mar- 
 gin of that mass of herbage in which the trapper and his 
 companions were hid. As the young man looked up and 
 saw the fierce aspect of the group, which was increasing 
 at each instant by the accession of some countenance and 
 figure apparently more forbidding than any which had 
 
 E receded it, he drew his rifle, by a very natural impulse, 
 rom beneath him, and commenced putting it in a state 
 for service. The female at his side buried her face in the 
 grass, by a feeling that was, possibly, quite as natural to 
 her sex and habits, leaving him to follow the impulses of 
 his hot blood ; but his aged and more prudent adviser 
 whispered sternly in his ear : 
 
 " The tick of the lock is as well known to the knaves as 
 the blast of a trumpet to a soldier ! lay down the piece 
 lay down the piece should the moon touch the barrel, it 
 could not fail to be seen by the devils, whose eyes are 
 keener than the blackest snake's ! The smallest motion, 
 now, would be sure to bring an arrow among us." 
 
 The bee-hunter so far obeyed as to continue immovable 
 and silent. But there was still sufficient light to convince 
 his companion, by the contracted brow and threatening 
 eye of the young man, that a discovery would not bestow 
 a bloodless victory on the savages. Finding his advice 
 disregarded, the trapper took his measures accordingly, 
 and awaited the result with a resignation and calmness 
 that were characteristic of the individual. 
 
 In the meantime, the Sioux (for the sagacity of the old 
 man was not deceived in the character of his dangerous 
 Yieighbors) had terminated their council, and were again 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 35 
 
 dispersed along the ridge of land as if they sought some 
 hidden object. 
 
 " The imps have heard the hound ! " whispered the trap* 
 per, " and their ears are too true to be cheated in the dis- 
 tance. Keep close, lad, keep close ; down with your head 
 to the very earth, like a dog that sleeps ! " 
 
 " Let us rather take to our feet, and trust to manhood," 
 returned his impatient companion. 
 
 He would have proceeded ; but feeling a hand laid rude- 
 ly on his shoulder, he turned his eyes upward, and beheld 
 the dark and savage countenance of an Indian gleaming 
 full upon him. Notwithstanding the surprise and the dis- 
 advantage of his attitude, the youth was not disposed to 
 become a captive so easily. Quicker than a flash of his 
 own gun, he sprang upon his feet, and was throttling his 
 opponent with a power that would soon have terminated 
 the contest, when he felt the arms of the trapper thrown 
 around his body, confining his exertions by a strength very 
 little inferior to his own. Before he had time to reproach 
 his comrade for this apparent treachery, a dozen Sioux 
 were around them, and the whole party were compelled to 
 yield themselves as prisoners. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " With much more dismay 
 I view the fight than those who make the fray." 
 
 MERCHANT OF VENICE. 
 
 THE unfortunate bee-hunter and his companions had be- 
 come the captives of a people who might, without exagger- 
 ation, be called the Ishmaelites of the American deserts. 
 From time immemorial the hands of the Sioux had been 
 turned against their neighbors of the prairies ; and even 
 at this day, when the influence and authority of a civilized 
 government are beginning to be felt around them, they 
 are considered a treacherous and dangerous race. At the 
 period of our tale, the case was far worse ; few white men 
 trusting themselves in the remote and unprotected regions 
 where so false a tribe was known to dwell. 
 
 Notwithstanding the peaceable submission of the trap- 
 per, he was quite aware of the character of the band inti 
 vhose hands he had fallen. It would have been difficult, 
 
t O 77/yt PRAIRIE. 
 
 however, for the nicest judge to have determined whether 
 fear, policy, or resignation formed the secret motive of the 
 old man, in permitting himself to be plundered as he did, 
 without a murmur. So far from opposing any remon- 
 strance to the rude and violent manner in which his con- 
 querors performed the customary office, he even antici- 
 pated their cupidity, by tendering to the chiefs such arti- 
 cles as he thought might prove the most acceptable. On 
 the other hand, Paul Hover, who had been literally a con- 
 quered man, manifested the strongest repugnance to sub- 
 mit to the violent liberties that were taken with his per- 
 son and property. Fie even gave several exceedingly un- 
 equivocal demonstrations of his displeasure during the 
 summary process, and would, more than once, have broken 
 out in open and desperate resistance, but for the admoni- 
 tions and entreaties of the trembling girl, who clung to his 
 side in a manner so dependent as to show the youth that 
 her hopes were now placed no less on his discretion than 
 on his disposition to serve her. 
 
 The Indians had, however, no sooner deprived the cap- 
 tives of their arms and ammunition, and stripped them of 
 a few articles of dress of little use, and perhaps of les? 
 value, than they appeared disposed to grant them a respite. 
 Business of greater moment pressed on their hands, and 
 required their attention. Another consultation of the 
 chiefs was convened, and it was apparent, by the earnest 
 and vehement manner of the few who spoke, that the war- 
 riors conceived their success as yet to be far from com- 
 plete. 
 
 "It will be well," whispered the trapper, who knew 
 enough of the language he heard to comprehend perfectly 
 the subject of the discussion, "if the travellers who lie near 
 the willow-brake are not awoke out of their sleep by a 
 visit from these miscreants. They are too cunning to be- 
 lieve that a woman of the ' pale-faces ' is to be found so 
 far from the settlements, without having a white man's in- 
 ventions and comforts at hand." 
 
 " If they will carry the tribe of wandering Ishmael to the 
 Rocky Mountains," said the young bee-hunter, laughing 
 in his vexation with a sort of bitter merriment, " I may 
 forgive the rascals." 
 
 " Paul ! Paul ! " exclaimed his companion, in a tone oJ 
 reproach, "you forget all ! Think of the dreadful con.se 
 ^uences ! " 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 41 
 
 " Ay, it was thinking of what you call consequences, Eller^ 
 that prevented me from putting the matter, at once, to 
 yonder red-devil, and making it a real knock-down and drag- 
 out ! Old trapper, the sin of this cowardly business lies 
 on your shoulders ! But it is no more than your daily call- 
 ing, I reckon, to take men, as well as beasts, in snares." 
 
 "I implore you, Paul, to be calm to be patient." 
 
 "Well, since it is your wish, Ellen," returned the youth, 
 endeavoring to swallow his spleen, " I will make the trial ; 
 though, as you ought to know, it is part of the religion of 
 a Kentuckian to fret himself a little at a mischance." 
 
 " I fear your friends in the other bottom will not es- 
 cape the eyes of the imps ! " continued the trapper, as 
 coolly as though he had not heard a syllable of the inter- 
 vening discourse. " They scent plunder ; and it would be 
 as hard to drive a hound from his game as to throw the 
 varmints from its trail." 
 
 " Is there nothing to be done ? " asked Ellen, in an im- 
 ploring manner, which proved the sincerity of her con- 
 cern. 
 
 " It would be an easy matter to call out in so loud a 
 Voice as to make old Ishmael dream that the wolves were 
 among his flock," Paul replied ; " I can make myself heard 
 a mile in these open fields, and his camp is but a short 
 quarter from us." 
 
 " And get knocked on the head for your pains," returned 
 the trappen " No, no ; cunning must match cunning, or 
 the hounds will murder the whole family." 
 
 " Murder ! no no murder. Ishmael loves travel so well, 
 there would be ho harm in his having a look at the other 
 sea, but the old fellow is in a bad condition to take the 
 long journey ! I would try a lock myself before he should 
 be quite murdered." 
 
 " His party is strong in number, and well armed ; do 
 you think it will fight ? " 
 
 "Look here, old trapper: few men love Ishmael Bush 
 and his seven sledge-hammer sons less than one Paul Hover ; 
 but I scorn to slander even a Tennessee shot-gun. There? 
 is as much of the true stand-up courage among them as 
 there is in any family that was ever raised in Kentuck it. 
 self. They are a long-sided and a double-jointed breed ; 
 and let me tell you that he who takes the measure of one 
 of them on the ground, must be a workman at a hug." 
 
 " Hist ! the savages have done their talk, and are about 
 
42 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 to set their accursed devices in motion. Let us be patient, 
 something may yet offer in favor of your friends." 
 
 " Friends ! call none of the race a friend of mine, trap- 
 per, if you have the smallest regard for my affection. What 
 I say in their favor is less from love than honesty." 
 
 " I did not know but the young woman was of the kin," 
 returned the other, a little dryly " but no offence should 
 be taken where none was intended." 
 
 The mouth of Paul was again stopped by the hand of 
 Ellen, who took upon herself to reply, in her conciliating 
 tones : " We should be all of a family, when it is in our 
 power to serve each other. We depend entirely on your 
 experience, honest old man, to discover the means to ap- 
 prise our friends of their danger." 
 
 " There will be a real time of it," muttered the bee-hunter, 
 laughing, " if the boys get at work, in good earnest, with 
 these red-skins ! " 
 
 He was interrupted by a general movement which took 
 place among the band. The Indians dismounted to a man, 
 giving their horses in charge to three or four of the party, 
 who were also entrusted with the safe keeping of the 
 prisoners. They then formed themselves into a circle 
 around a warrior who appeared to possess the chief au- 
 thority ; and at a given signal the whole array moved 
 slowly and cautiously from the centre in straight and con 
 sequently in diverging lines. Most of their dark forms 
 were soon blended with the brown covering of the prairie ; 
 though the captives, who watched the slightest movement 
 of their enemies with vigilant eyes, were now and then 
 enabled to discern a human figure drawn against the 
 horizon, as some one, more eager than the rest, rose to his 
 greatest height in order to extend the limits of his view. 
 But it was not long before even these fugitive glimpses of 
 the moving and constantly increasing circle were lost, and 
 uncertainty and conjecture were added to apprehension. 
 In this manner passed many anxious and weary minutes, 
 during the close of which the listeners expected at each 
 moment to hear the whoop of the assailants and the 
 shrieks of the assailed, rising together on the stillness of 
 the night. But it would seem that the search, which was 
 so evidently making, was without a sufficient object ; for 
 at the expiration of half an hour the different individuals 
 of the band began to return singly, gloomy arid sullen^ 
 like men who were disappointed. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 4 j 
 
 ' Our time is at hand," observed the trapper, who noted 
 the smallest incident, or the slightest indication of hostility 
 among the savages ; "we are now to be questioned ; and, 
 if I know anything of the policy of our case, I should say 
 it would be wise to choose one among us to hold the diS' 
 course, in order that our testimony may agree. And, 
 furthermore, if an opinion from one as old and as worth- 
 less as a hunter of fourscore is to be regarded, I would 
 just venture to say, that man should be the one most 
 skilled in the natur' of an Indian, and that he should also 
 know something of their language. Are you acquainted 
 with the tongue of the Siouxes, friend?" 
 
 "Swarm your own hive," returned the discontented bee- 
 hunter. " You are good at buzzing, old trapper, if you 
 are good at nothing else." 
 
 "'Tis the gift of youth to be rash and heady," the 
 trapper calmly retorted. " The day has been, boy, when 
 my blood was like your own, too swift and too hot to run 
 quietly in my veins. But what will it profit to talk of silly 
 risks and foolish acts at this time of life ? A gray head 
 should cover a brain of reason, and not the tongue of a 
 boaster." 
 
 "True, true," whispered Ellen; "and we have other 
 things to attend to now ! Here comes the Indian to put 
 his questions." 
 
 The girl, whose apprehensions had quickened her 
 senses, was not deceived. She was yet speaking when a 
 tall, half-naked savage approached the spot where they 
 stood, and after examining the whole party as closely as 
 the dim light permitted, for more than a minute in perfect 
 stillness, he gave the usual salutation in the harsh and 
 guttural tones of his own language. The trapper replied 
 as well as he could, which it seems was sufficiently well to 
 be understood. In order to escape the imputation of 
 pedantry, we shall render the substance, and, so far as it is 
 possible, the form of the dialogue that succeeded, into the 
 English tongue. 
 
 " Have the pale-faces eaten their own buffaloes, and 
 taken the skins from all their own beavers," continued the 
 savage, allowing the usual moment of decorum to elapse, 
 after the words of greeting, before he again spoke, " that 
 they come to count how many are left among the Paw- 
 nees?" 
 
 " Some of us are here to buy, and some to sell," returned 
 
44 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 the trapper ; " but none will follow, if they hear it is not 
 safe to come nigh the lodge of a Sioux." 
 
 " The Siouxes are thieves, and they live among the 
 snow ; why do we talk of a people who are so far, when 
 we are in the country of the Pawnees ? " 
 
 " If the Pawnees are owners of this land, then white 
 and red are here by equal right." 
 
 " Have not the pale-faces stolen enough from the red 
 men, that you come so far to carry a lie ? I have said 
 that this is a hunting ground of my tribe." 
 
 " My right to be here is equal to your own," the trapper 
 rejoined, with undisturbed coolness ; " I do not speak as 
 I might it is better to be silent. The Pawnees and the 
 white men are brothers, but a Sioux dare not show his 
 face in the village of the Loups." 
 
 "The Dahcotahs are men!" exclaimed the savage, 
 fiercely ; forgetting in his anger to maintain the char- 
 acter he had assumed, and using the appellation of which 
 his nation was most proud ; " the Dahcotahs have no fear! 
 Speak what brings you so far from the villages of the 
 pale-faces ? " 
 
 " I have seen the sun rise and set on many councils, 
 and have heard the words of wise men. Let your chiefs 
 come, and my mouth shall not be shut." 
 
 " I am a great chief ! " said the savage, affecting an air 
 of offended dignity. " Do you take rne for an Assiniboine ? 
 Weucha is a warrior often named, and much believed ! " 
 
 "Am I a fool not to know a burnt-wood Teton?" de- 
 manded the trapper, with a steadiness that did great credit 
 to his nerves. " Go ; it is dark, and you do not see that 
 my head is gray ! " 
 
 The Indian now appeared convinced that he had adopt- 
 ed too shallow an artifice to deceive one so practised as 
 the man he addressed, and he was deliberating what fiction 
 he should next invent, in order to obtain his real object, 
 when a slight commotion among the band put an end at 
 once to all his schemes. Casting his eyes behind him, as 
 if fearful of a speedy interruption, he said, in tones much 
 less pretending than those he had first resorted to : 
 
 " Give Weucha the milk of the Long-knives, and he will 
 sing your name in the ears of the great men of his tribe." 
 
 "Go," repeated the trapper, motioning him away, with 
 strong disgust. "Your young men are speaking of Mali* 
 toree. My words are for the ears of a chief/' 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 45 
 
 The savage cast a look on the other, which notwith- 
 standing the dim light, was sufficiently indicative of im- 
 placable hostility. He then stole away among his fellows, 
 anxious to conceal the counterfeit he had attempted to 
 practise, no less than the treachery he had contemplated 
 against a fair division of the spoils, from the man named 
 by the trapper, whom he now also knew to be approach- 
 ing, by the manner in which his name passed from one to 
 another in the band. He had hardly disappeared before 
 a warrior of powerful frame advanced out of the dark cir- 
 cle and placed himself before the captives, with that high 
 and proud bearing for which a distinguished Indian chief 
 is ever so remarkable. He was followed by all the party, 
 who arranged themselves around his person in a deep and 
 respectful silence. 
 
 11 The earth is very large," the chief commenced, after a 
 pause of that true dignity which his counterfeit had so 
 miserably affected ; " why can the children of my great 
 white father never find room on it ?" 
 
 " Some among them have heard that their friends in the 
 prairies are in want of many things," returned the trapper; 
 "and they have come to see if it be true. Some want, in 
 their turns, what the red men are willing to sell, and they 
 some to make their friends rich with powder and blankets." 
 
 " Do traders cross the big river with empty hands ? " 
 
 " Our hands are empty because your young men thought 
 we were tired, and they have lightened us of our load. 
 They were mistaken ; I am old, but I am still strong." 
 
 " It cannot be. Your load has fallen in the prairies. 
 Show my young men the place, that they may pick it up 
 before the Pawnees find it." 
 
 " The path to the spot is crooked, and it is night. The 
 hour is come for sleep," said the trapper, with perfect com- 
 posure. " Bid your warriors go over yonder hill ; there is 
 water and there is wood ; let them light their fires and 
 sleep with warm feet. When the sun comes again I will 
 speak to you." 
 
 A low murmur, but one that was clearly indicative of 
 dissatisfaction, passed among the attentive listeners, and 
 served to inform the old man that he had not been suffi- 
 ciently wary in proposing a measure that he intended 
 should notify the travellers in the brake of the presence of 
 their dangerous neighbors. Mahtoree, however, without 
 betraying in the slightest degree the excitement which was 
 
*6 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 so strongly exhibited by his companions, continued the 
 discourse in the same lofty manner as before. 
 
 "I know that my friend is rich," he said ; " that he has 
 many warriors not far off, and that horses are plenties 
 with him than dogs among the red-skins." 
 
 " You see my warriors and my horses." 
 
 " What ! has the woman the feet of a Dahcotah, that she 
 can walk for thirty nights in the prairies, and not fall ? I 
 know the red men of the woods make long marches on 
 foot, but we, who live where the eye cannot see from one 
 lodge to another, love our horses." 
 
 The trapper now hesitated, in his turn. He was per- 
 fectly aware that deception, if detected, might prove dan- 
 gerous ; and, for one of his pursuits and character, he was 
 strongly troubled with an unaccommodating regard for the 
 truth. But recollecting that he controlled the fate of 
 others as well as of himself, he determined to let things 
 take their course, and to permit the Dahcotah chief to de- 
 ceive himself, if he would. 
 
 " The women of the Siouxes and of the white men are 
 not of the same wigwam," he answered, evasively. " Would 
 a Teton warrior make his wife greater than himself? I 
 know he would not ; and yet my ears have heard that there 
 are lands where the councils are held by squaws." 
 
 Another slight movement in the dark circle apprised the 
 trapper that his declaration was not received without sur- 
 prise, if entirely without distrust. The chief alone seemed 
 unmoved ; nor was he disposed to relax from the loftiness 
 and high dignity of his air. 
 
 " My white fathers who live in the great lakes have de- 
 clared," he said, "that their brothers toward the rising sun 
 are not men ; and now I know they did not lie ! Go ! 
 what is a nation whose chief is a squaw ? Are you the dog 
 and not the husband of this woman ?" 
 
 " I am neither. Never did I see her face before this 
 day. She came into the prairies because they had told 
 her a great and generous nation called the Dahcotahs 
 lived there, and she wished to look on men. The women 
 of the pale-faces, like the women of the Siouxes, open their 
 eyes to see things that are new ; but she is poor, like my- 
 self, and she will want corn and buffaloes, if you take 
 away the little that she and her friend still have." 
 
 " My ears listen to many wicked' lies ! " exclaimed the 
 Teton warrior, in a voice so stern that it startled even his 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 47 
 
 red auditors. "Am I a woman? Has not a Dahcotah 
 eyes ? Tell me, white hunter, who are the men of your 
 color that sleep near the fallen trees ? " 
 
 As he spoke the indignant chief pointed in the direction 
 of Ishmael's encampment, leaving the trapper no reason 
 to doubt that the superior industry and sagacity of this 
 man had effected a discovery which had eluded the search 
 of the rest of his party. Notwithstanding his regret at an 
 event that might prove fatal to the sleepers, and some 
 little vexation at having been so completely outwitted in 
 the dialogue just related, the old man continued to main- 
 tain his air of inflexible composure. 
 
 " It may be true," he answered, "that white men are 
 sleeping in the prairie. If my brother says it, it is true ; 
 but what men thus trust to the generosity of the Tetons, 
 I cannot tell. If there be strangers asleep, send your 
 young men to wake them up, and let them say why they 
 are here ; every pale-face has a tongue." 
 
 The chief shook his head with a wild and fierce smile, 
 answering abruptly, as he turned away to put an end to 
 the conference : 
 
 " The Dahcotahs are a wise race, and Mahtoree is their 
 chief ! He will not call to the strangers, that they may 
 rise and speak to him with their carabines. He will whis- 
 per softly in their ears. When this is done, let the men 
 of their own color come and awake them." 
 
 As he uttered these words, and turned on his heel, a low 
 and approving laugh passed around the dark circle, which 
 instantly broke its order, and followed him to a little dis- 
 tance from the stand of the captives, where those who 
 might presume to mingle opinions with so great a warrior 
 again gathered about him in consultation. Weucha prof- 
 ited by this occasion to renew his importunities ; but the 
 trapper, who had discovered how great a counterfeit he 
 was, shook him off in displeasure. An end was, however, 
 more effectually put to the annoyance of this malignant 
 savage by a mandate for the whole party, including men 
 and beasts, to change their positions. The movement was 
 made in dead silence, and with an order that would have 
 done credit to more enlightened beings. A halt, however, 
 was soon made ; and when the captives had time to look 
 about them, they found they were in view of the low, dark 
 outline of the copse near which lay the slumbering party 
 of Ishmael. 
 
48 THE PRAJRtR. 
 
 Here another short but grave and deliberate consulta- 
 tion was held. 
 
 The beasts, which seemed trained to such covert and 
 silent attacks, were once more placed under the care of 
 keepers, who, as before, were charged with the duty of 
 watching the prisoners. The mind of the trapper was in 
 no degree relieved from the uneasiness which was at each 
 instant getting a stronger possession of him, when he found 
 Weucha was placed nearest to his own person, and, as it 
 appeared by the air of triumph and authority he assumed, 
 at the head of the guard also. The savage, however, who 
 doubtless had his secret instructions, was content, for the 
 present, with making a significant gesture with his toma- 
 hawk, which menaced death to Ellen. After admonishing 
 in this expressive manner his male captives of the fate 
 that would instantly attend their female companion on the 
 slightest alarm proceeding from any of the party, he was 
 content to maintain a rigid silence. This unexpected 
 forbearance on the part of Weucha enabled the trapper 
 and his two associates to give their undivided attention to 
 the little that might be seen of the interesting movements 
 which were passing in their front. 
 
 Mahtoree took the entire disposition of the arrangements 
 on himself. He pointed out the precise situation he 
 wished each individual to occupy, like one intimately ac- 
 quainted with the qualifications of his respective followers, 
 and he was obeyed with the deference and promptitude 
 with which an Indian warrior is wont to submit to the in- 
 structions of his chief in moments of trial. Some he dis- 
 patched to the right, and others to the left. Each man 
 departed with the noiseless and quick step peculiar to the 
 race, until all had assumed their allotted stations, with 
 the exception of two chosen warriors, who remained 
 nigh the person of their leader. When the rest had dis- 
 appeared, Mahtoree turned to these select companions, 
 and intimated by a sign that the critical moment had ar- 
 rived when the enterprise he contemplated was to be put 
 in execution. 
 
 Each man laid aside the light fowling piece which, un- 
 der the name of a carabine, he carried in virtue of his rank ; 
 and, divesting himself of every article of exterior or heavy 
 clothing, he stood resembling a dark and fierce-looking 
 statue, in the attitude, and nearly in the garb, of nature 
 Mahtoree assured himself of the right position of his tormj 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 49 
 
 hawk, felt that his knife was secure in its sheath of skin, 
 tightened his girdle of wampum, and saw that the lacing 
 of his fringed and ornamented leggings was secure, and 
 likely to offer no impediment to his exertions. Thus pre- 
 pared at all points, and ready for his desperate undertaking 
 the Teton gave the signal to proceed. 
 
 The three advanced in a line with the encampment oi 
 the travellers, until, in the dim light by which they were 
 seen, their dusky forms were nearly lost to the eyes of the 
 prisoners. Here they paused, looking around them like 
 men who deliberate and ponder long on the consequences 
 before they take a desperate leap. Then, sinking together, 
 they became lost in the grass of the prairie. 
 
 It is not difficult to imagine the distress and anxiety of 
 the different spectators of these threatening movements. 
 Whatever might be the reasons of Ellen for entertaining 
 BO strong attachment to the family in which she has first 
 been seen by the reader, the feelings of her sex, and, per- 
 haps, some lingering seeds of kindness, predominated. 
 More than once she felt tempted to brave the awful and 
 instant danger that awaited such an offence, and to raise 
 her feeble, and, in truth, impotent voice in warning. So 
 strong, indeed, and so very natural was the inclination, 
 that she would most probably have put it into execution, 
 but for the often-repeated though whispered remonstrances 
 of Paul Hover. In the breast of the young bee-hunter 
 himself there was a singular union of emotion. His first 
 nnd chiefest solicitude was certainly in behalf of his gentle 
 and dependent companion ; but the sense of her danger 
 was mingled, in the breast of the reckless woodsman, with 
 a consciousness of a high and wild, and by no means an 
 unpleasant excitement. Though united to the emigrants 
 by ties still less binding than those of Ellen, he longed to 
 hear the crack of their rifles, and, had occasion offered, he 
 would gladly have been among the first to rush to their 
 rescue. There were, in truth, moments when he felt in 
 his turn an impulse that was nearly resistless, to spring 
 forward and awake the unconscious sleepers ; but a glance 
 at Ellen would serve to recall his tottering prudence, and 
 to admonish him of the consequences. The trapper alone 
 remained calm and observant, as if nothing that involved 
 his personal comfort or safety had occurred. His ever- 
 moving, vigilant eyes watched the smallest change, with 
 f .he composure of one too long inured to scenes of danger 
 
 A 
 
50 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 to be easily moved, and with an expression of cool deteN 
 mination which denoted the intention he actually har- 
 bored, of profiting by the smallest oversight on the part 
 of the captors. 
 
 In the meantime the Teton warriors had not been idle. 
 Profiting by the high fog which grew in the bottoms, they 
 had wormed their way through the matted grass, like so 
 many treacherous serpents stealing on their prey, until the 
 point was gained where an extraordinary caution became 
 necessary to their further advance. Mahtoree alone had 
 occasionally elevated his dark grim countenance above 
 the herbage, straining his eyeballs to penetrate the gloom 
 which skirted the border of the brake. In these momen- 
 tary glances he gained sufficient knowledge, added to that 
 he had obtained in his former search, to be the perfect 
 master of the position of his intended victims, though he 
 was still profoundly ignorant of their number and of their 
 means of defence. 
 
 His efforts to possess himself of the requisite knowledge 
 concerning these two latter arid essential points were, how- 
 ever, completely baffled by the stillness of the camp, which 
 lay in a quiet as deep as if it were literally a place of the 
 dead. Too wary and distrustful to rely, in circumstances 
 of so much doubt on the discretion of any less firm and 
 crafty than himself, the Dahcotah bade his companions 
 remain where they lay, and pursued the adventure alone. 
 
 The progress of Mahtoree was now slow, and, to one 
 less accustomed to such a species of exercise, it would have 
 proved painfully laborious. But the advance of the wily 
 snake itself is not more certain or noiseless than was his 
 approach. He drew his form, foot by foot, through the 
 bending grass, pausing at each movement to catch the 
 smallest sound that might betray any knowledge, on the 
 part of the travellers, of his proximity. He succeeded, at 
 length, in dragging himself out of the sickly light of the 
 moon into the shadows of the brake, where not only his 
 own dark person was much less liable to be seen, but where 
 the surrounding objects became more distinctly visible to 
 his keen and active glances. 
 
 Here the Teton paused long and warily to make his ob- 
 servations before he ventured further. His position en- 
 abled him to bring the whole encampment, with its tent, 
 wagons, and lodges, into a dark but clearly marked profile; 
 furnishing a clue by which the practised warrior was led 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 1 
 
 to a tolerably accurate estimate of the force he was about 
 to encounter. Still an unnatural silence pervaded the 
 spot, as if men suppressed even the quiet breathings of 
 sleep, in order to render the appearance of their confidence 
 more evident. The chief bent his head to the earth and 
 listened intently. He was about to raise it again, in dis- 
 appointment, when the long-drawn and trembling respira- 
 tion of one who slumbered imperfectly met his ear. The 
 Indian was too well skilled in all the means of deception 
 to become himself the victim of any common artifice. He 
 knew the sound to be natural, by its peculiar quivering, 
 and he hesitated no longer. 
 
 A man of nerves less tried than those of the fierce and 
 conquering Mahtoree would have been keenly sensible of 
 all the hazard he incurred. The reputation of those hardy 
 and powerful white adventurers who so often penetrated 
 the wilds inhabited by his people, was well known to him ; 
 but while he drew nigher, with the respect and caution 
 that a brave enemy never fails to inspire, it was with the 
 vindictive animosity of a red man, jealous and resentful of 
 the inroads of the stranger. 
 
 Turning from the line of his former route, the Teton 
 dragged himself directly toward the margin of the thicket. 
 When this material object was effected in safety, he rose 
 to his seat, and took a better survey of his situation. A 
 single moment served to apprise him of the place where 
 the unsuspecting traveller lay. The reader will readily 
 anticipate that the savage had succeeded in gaining a dan- 
 gerous proximity to one of those slothful sons of Ishmael 
 who were deputed to watch over the isolated encampment 
 of the travellers. 
 
 When certain that he was undiscovered, the Dahcotah 
 raised his person again, and, bending forward, he moved 
 his dark visage above the face of the sleeper, in that sort 
 of wanton and subtle manner with which the reptile is 
 seen to play about its victim before it strikes. Satisfied 
 at length, not only of the condition but of the character of 
 the stranger, Mahtoree was in the act of withdrawing his 
 head when a slight movement of the sleeper announced 
 the symptoms of reviving consciousness. The savage 
 seized the knife which hung at his girdle, and in an in- 
 stant it was poised above the breast of the young emigrant. 
 Then changing his purpose, with an action as rapid as his 
 own flashing thoughts, he sank back behind the trunk of 
 
5 2 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 the fallen tree against which the other reclined, and lay in 
 its shadow, as dark, as motionless, and apparently as in- 
 sensible, as the wood itself. 
 
 The slothful sentinel opened his heavy eyes, and, gazing 
 upward for a moment at the hazy heavens, he made an 
 extraordinary exertion, and raised his powerful frame from 
 ihe support of the log. Then he looked about him, with 
 an air of something like watchfulness, suffering his dull 
 glances to run over the misty objects of the encampment 
 until they finally settled on the distant and dim field of the 
 open prairie. Meeting with nothing more attractive than 
 the same faint outlines of swell and interval which every- 
 where rose before his drowsy eyes, he changed his posi- 
 tion so as completely to turn his back on his dangerous 
 neighbor, and suffered his person to sink sluggishly down 
 into its former recumbent attitude. A long, and, on the 
 part of the Teton, an anxious and painful silence succeeded, 
 before the deep breathing of the traveller again announced 
 that he was indulging in his slumbers. The savage was, 
 however, far too jealous of a counterfeit to trust to the 
 first appearance of sleep. But the fatigues of a day of 
 unusual toil lay too heavy on the sentinel to leave the 
 other long in doubt. Still the motion with which Mah- 
 toree again raised himself to his knees was so noiseless and 
 guarded, that even a vigilant observer might have hesitated 
 to believe he stirred. The change was, however, at length 
 effected, and the Dahcotah chief then bent again over his 
 enemy, without having produced a noise louder than that 
 of the cotton-wood leaf which fluttered at his side in the 
 currents of the passing air. 
 
 Mahtoree now felt himself master of the sleeper's fate. 
 At the same time that he scanned the vast proportions and 
 athletic limbs of the youth, in that sort of admiration which 
 physical excellence seldom fails to excite in the breast of 
 a savage, he coolly prepared to extinguish the principle 
 of vitality which could alone render them formidable. 
 After making himself sure of the seat of life by gently 
 removing the folds of the intervening cloth, he raised his 
 keen weapon, and was about to unite his strength and 
 skill in the impending blow, when the young man threw 
 his brawny arm carelessly backward, exhibiting in the ac- 
 tion the vast volume of its muscles. 
 
 The sagacious and wary Teton paused. It struck his 
 acute faculties that sleep was less dangerous to him, at that 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 53 
 
 moment, that even death itself might prove. The smallest 
 noise, the agony of struggling, with which such a frame 
 would probably relinquish its hold of life, suggested them- 
 selves to his rapid thoughts, and were all present to his 
 experienced senses. He looked back into the encampment, 
 turned his head into the thicket, and glanced his glowing 
 eyes abroad into the wild and silent prairies. Bending 
 once more over the respited victim, he assured himself that 
 he was sleeping heavily, and then abandoned his immedi- 
 ate purpose in obedience alone to the suggestions of a 
 more crafty policy. 
 
 The retreat of Mahtoree was as still and guarded as had 
 been his approach. He now took the direction of the en- 
 campment, stealing along the margin of the brake, as a 
 cover into which he might easily plunge at the smallest 
 alarm. The drapery of the solitary hut attracted his notice 
 in passing. After examining the whole of its exterior, and 
 listening with painful intensity, in order to gather counsel 
 from his ears, the savage ventured to raise the cloth at the 
 bottom, and to thrust his dark visage beneath. It might 
 have been a minute before the Teton chief drew back, and 
 seated himself with the whole of his form without the linen 
 tenement. Here he sat, seemingly brooding over his dis- 
 covery, for many moments, in rigid inaction. Then he 
 resumed his crouching attitude, and once more projected 
 his visage beyond the covering of the tent. His second 
 visit to the interior was longer, and, if possible, more 
 ominous than the first. But it had, like everything else, 
 its termination, and the savage again withdrew his glaring 
 eyes from the secrets of the place. 
 
 Mahtoree had drawn his person many yards from the 
 spot in his slow progress toward the cluster of objects 
 which pointed out the centre of the position, before he 
 again stopped. He made another pause, and looked back 
 at the solitary little dwelling he had left, as if doubtful 
 whether he should not return. But the chevaux de frise of 
 branches now lay within reach of his arm, and the very 
 appearance of precaution it presented as it announced the 
 value of the effects it encircled, tempted his cupidity, and 
 induced him to proceed. 
 
 The passage of the savage, through the tender and brit. 
 tie limbs of the cotton-wood, could be likened only to the 
 sinuous and noiseless winding of the reptiles which he 
 fonitated. When he had effected his object, and had taken 
 
54 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 an instant to become acquainted with the nature of the 
 localities within the enclosure, the Teton used the precau- 
 tion to open a way through which he might make a swift 
 retreat. Then, raising himself on his feet, he stalked 
 through the encampment, like the master of evil, seeking 
 whom and what he should first devote to his fell purposes. 
 He had already ascertained the contents of the lodge in 
 which were collected the woman and her young children, 
 and had passed several gigantic frames, stretched on dif- 
 ferent piles of brush, which happily for him lay in uncon- 
 scious helplessness, when he reached the spot occupied by 
 Ishmael in person. It could not escape the sagacity of 
 one like Mahtoree, that he had now within his power the 
 principal man among the travellers. He stood long hover- 
 ing above the recumbent and Herculean form of the emi- 
 grant, keenly debating in his own mind the chances of his 
 enterprise, and the most effectual means of reaping its 
 richest harvest. 
 
 He sheathed the knife, which, under the hasty and burn- 
 ing impulse of his thoughts, he had been tempted to draw, 
 and was passing on, when Ishmael turned in his lair, and 
 demanded roughly who was moving before his half-opened 
 eyes. Nothing short of the readiness and cunning of a 
 savage could have evaded the crisis. Imitating the gruff 
 tones and nearly unintelligble sounds he heard, Mahtoree 
 threw his body heavily on the earth, and appeared to dis- 
 pose himself to sleep. Though the whole movement was 
 seen by Ishmael, in a sort of stupid observation, the arti- 
 fice was too bold and too admirably executed to fail. The 
 drowsy father closed his eyes, and slept heavily, with his 
 treacherous inmate in the very bosom of his family. 
 
 It was necessary for the Teton to maintain the position 
 he had taken for many long and weary minutes, in order 
 to make sure that he was no longer watched. Though his 
 body lay so motionless, his active mind was not idle. He 
 profited by the delay to mature a plan which he intended 
 should put the whole encampment, including both its ef- 
 fects and their proprietors, entirely at his mercy. The in- 
 stant he could do so with safety, the indefatigable savage 
 was again in motion. He took his way toward the slight 
 pen which contained the domestic animals, worming him- 
 self along the ground in his former subtle and guarded 
 manner. 
 
 The first animal he encountered among the beasts occa- 
 
THE PRAJRIL. 55 
 
 sloned a long and hazardous delay. The wary creature, 
 perhaps conscious, through its secret instinct, that in the 
 endless wastes of the prairies its surest protector was to 
 be found in man, was so exceedingly docile as quietly to 
 submit to the close examination it was doomed to undergo. 
 The hand of the wandering Teton passed over the downy 
 coat, the meek countenance, and the slender limbs of the 
 gentle creature, with untiring curiosity ; but he finally 
 abandoned the prize, as useless in his predatory expedi 
 tions, and offering too little temptation to the appetite. 
 As soon, however, as he found himself among the beasts 
 of burden, his gratification was extreme, and it was with 
 difficulty that he restrained the customary ejaculations of 
 pleasure that were more than once on the point of bursting 
 from his lips. Here he lost sight of the hazards by which 
 he had gained access to his dangerous position ; and the 
 watchfulness of the wary and long-practised warrior was 
 momentarily forgotten in the exultation of the savage. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "Why, worthy father, what have we to lose ? 
 
 The law 
 
 Protects us not. Then why should we be tender 
 To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us ! 
 Play judge and executioner." CYMBELINE. 
 
 WHILE the Teton thus enacted his subtle and charac- 
 teristic part, not a sound broke the stillness of the sur- 
 rounding prairie. The whole band lay at their several 
 posts, waiting with the well-known patience of the natives 
 for the signal which was to summon them to action. 
 To the eyes of the anxious spectators who occupied the 
 little eminence, already described as the position of the 
 captives, the scene presented the broad, solemn view of a 
 waste, dimly lighted by the glimmering rays of a clouded 
 moon. The place of the encampment was marked by a 
 gloom deeper than that which faintly shadowed out the 
 courses of the bottoms, and here and there a brighter 
 streak tinged the rolling summits of the ridges. As for the 
 rest, it was the deep, imposing quiet of a desert. 
 
 But to those who so well knew how much was brooding 
 beneath this mantle of stillness and night, it was a scene 
 
56 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 of high and wild excitement. Their anxiety gradually in. 
 creased, as minute after minute passed away, and not the 
 smallest sound of life arose out of the calm and darkness 
 which enveloped the brake. The breathing of Paul grew 
 louder and deeper, and more than once Ellen trembled at 
 she knew not what, as she felt the quivering of his active 
 frame, while she leaned dependently on his arm for sup 
 port. 
 
 The shallow honesty, as well as the besetting infirmity 
 of Weucha, had alre'ady been exhibited. The reader, 
 therefore, will not be surprised to learn that he was the 
 first to forget the regulations he had himself imposed. If 
 was at the precise moment when we left Mahtoree yield- 
 ing to his nearly ungovernable delight, as he surveyed the 
 number and quality of Ishmael's beasts of burden, that the 
 man he had selected to watch his captives chose to indulge 
 in the malignant pleasure of tormenting those it was his 
 duty to protect. Bending his head nigh the ear of the 
 trapper, the savage rather muttered than whispered : 
 
 " If the Tetons lose their great chief by the hands of the 
 Long-knives,* old shall die as well as young ! " 
 
 " Life is the gift of the Wahcondah," was the unmoved 
 reply. "The burnt-wood warrior must submit to his laws, 
 as well as his other children. Men only die when ffi 
 chooses ; and no Dahcotah can change the hour." 
 
 " Look ! " returned the savage, thrusting the blade oi 
 his knife before the face of his captive. " Weucha is the 
 Wahcondah of a dog." 
 
 The old man raised his eyes to the fierce visage of his 
 keeper, and, for a moment, a gleam of honest and power 
 ful disgust shot from their deep cells ; but it instantly 
 passed away, leaving in its place an expression of com- 
 miseration, if not of sorrow. 
 
 " Why should one made in the real image of God suffer 
 his natur' to be provoked by a mere effigy of reason ? " he 
 said in English, and in tones much louder than those in 
 which Weucha had chosen to pitch the conversation. The 
 latter profited by the unintentional offence of his captive, 
 and, seizing him by the thin, gray locks that fell from be- 
 neath his cap, was on the point of passing the blade of 
 his knife in malignant triumph around their roots, when a 
 long shrill yell rent the air, and was instantly echoed from 
 
 * The whites are so called by the Indians, from their swords. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 57 
 
 Me surrounding waste, as if a thousand demons opened 
 their throats in common at the summons. Weucha relin- 
 quished his grasp, and uttered a cry of exultation. 
 
 " Now ! " shouted Paul, unable to control his impatience 
 any longer, "now, old Ishmael, is the time to show the 
 native blood of Kentucky ! Fire low, boys level into the 
 swales, for the red skins are settling to the very earth ! " 
 
 His voice was, however, lost, or rather unheeded, in the 
 midst of the shrieks, shouts, and yells that were, by this 
 time, bursting from fifty mouths on every side of him. 
 The guards still maintained their posts at the side of the 
 captives, but it was with that sort of difficulty with which 
 steeds are restrained at the starting-post, when expecting 
 the signal to commence the trial of speed. They tossed 
 their arms wildly in the air, leaping up and down more 
 like exulting children than sober men, and continued to 
 utter the most frantic cries. 
 
 In the midst of this tumultuous disorder a rushing sound 
 was heard, similar to that which might be expected to 
 precede the passage of a flight of buffaloes, and then came 
 the flocks and cattle of Ishmaei in one confused and fright- 
 ened drove. 
 
 " They have robbed the squatter of his beasts ! " said 
 the attentive trapper. "The reptiles have left him as 
 hoofless as a beaver ! " He was yet speaking, when the 
 whole body of the terrified animals rose the little acclivity, 
 and swept by the place where he stood, followed by a band 
 of dusky and demon-like-looking figures, who pressed 
 madly on their rear. 
 
 The impulse was communicated to the Teton horses, 
 long accustomed to sympathize in the untutored passions 
 of the owners, and it was with difficulty that tho keepers 
 were enabled to restrain their impatience. At this mo- 
 ment, when all eyes were directed to the passing whirl- 
 wind of men and beasts, the trapper caught the knife from 
 the hands of his inattentive keeper, with a power that his 
 age would have seemed to contradict, and, at a single 
 blow, severed the thong of hide which connected the whole 
 of the drove. The wild animals snorted with joy and ter- 
 ror, and, tearing the earth with their heels, they dashed 
 away into the broad prairies, in a dozen different directions. 
 
 Weucha turned upon his assailant with the ferocity and 
 agility of a tiger. He felt for the weapon of which he 
 had been so suddenly deprived, fumbled witb impotent 
 
58 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 haste for the handle of his tomahawk, and at the same 
 moment glanced his eyes after the flying cattle, with the 
 longings of a Western Indian. The struggle between thirst 
 for vengeance and cupidity was severe but short. The 
 latter quickly predominated in the bosom of one whose 
 passions were proverbially grovelling ; and scarcely a 
 moment intervened between the flight of the animals 
 and the swift pursuit of the guards. The trapper had 
 continued calmly facing his foe, during the instant of 
 suspense that succeeded his hardy act ; and now that 
 Weucha was seen following his companions, he pointed 
 after the dark train, saying, with his deep and nearly in- 
 audible laugh : 
 
 "Red-natur* is red-natur', let it show itself on a prairie 
 or in a forest ! A knock on the head would be the small- 
 est reward to him who would take such a liberty with a 
 Christian sentinel ; but there goes the Teton after his 
 horses as if he thought two legs as good as four in such a 
 race ! And yet the imps will have every hoof of them 
 afore the day sets in, because it's reason ag'in instinct. 
 Poor reason, I allow ; but still there is a great deal of the 
 man in the Indian. Ah's me ! your Delawares were the 
 red-skins of which America might boast ; but few and 
 scattered is that mighty people, now ! Well ! the traveller 
 may just make his pitch where he is ; he has plenty of 
 water, though Natur' has cheated him of the pleasure of 
 stripping the'arth.of its lawful trees. He has seen the 
 last of his four-footed creatures, or I am but little skilled 
 in Sioux cunning." 
 
 " Had we not better join the party of Ishmael ?" said 
 the bee-hunter. ''There will be a regular fight about this 
 matter, or the old fellow has suddenly grown chicken- 
 hearted." 
 
 " No no no ! " hastily exclaimed Ellen. 
 
 She was stopped by the trapper, who laid his hand gently 
 on her mouth as he answered : 
 
 " Hist ! hist ! the sound of voices might bring us into 
 danger. Is your friend," he added, turning to Paul, " a 
 man of spirit enough ?" 
 
 "Don't call the squatter a friend of mine ! " interrupted 
 the youth. " I never yet harbored with one who could not 
 show hand and seal for the land which fed him." 
 
 "Well well. Let it then be acquaintance. Is he a man 
 to maintain his own stoutly, by dint of powder and lead." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 59 
 
 ' His own ! ay, and that which is not his own, too ! Can 
 you tell me, old trapper, who held the rifle that did the 
 deed for the sheriff's deputy, that thought to rout the un- 
 lawful settlers who had gathered nigh the Buffalo lick in 
 old Kentucky ? I had lined a beautiful swarm that very day 
 into the hollow of a dead beech, and there lay the people's 
 officer at its roots, with a hole directly through the * grace 
 of God which he carried in his jacket pocket covering 
 his heart, as if he thought a bit of sheepskin was a breast- 
 plate against a squatter's bullet ! Now, Ellen, you needn't 
 be troubled ; for it never strictly was brought home to 
 him ; and there were fifty others who had pitched in that 
 neighborhood with just the same authority from the law." 
 
 The poor girl shuddered, struggling powerfully to sup- 
 press the sigh which arose in spite of her efforts, as if from 
 the very bottom of her heart. 
 
 Thoroughly satisfied that he understood the character 
 of the emigrants, by the short but comprehensive descrip- 
 tion conveyed in Paul's reply, the old man raised no 
 further question concerning the readiness of Ishmael to 
 revenge his wrongs, but rather followed the train of 
 thought which was suggested to his experience by the oc- 
 casion : 
 
 " Each one knows the ties which bind him to his fellow- 
 creatures best," he answered. " Though it is greatly to 
 be mourned that color, and property, and tongue, and 
 Taming, should make so wide a difference in those who, 
 after all, are but the children of one Father ! How- 
 somever," he continued, by a transition not a little char- 
 acteristic of the pursuits and feelings of the man, "as this 
 is a business in which there is much more likelihood of a 
 fight than need for a sermon, it is best to be prepared for 
 what may follow. Hush ! there is a movement below ; it 
 is an equal chance that we are seen." 
 
 " The family is stirring," cried Ellen, with a tremor that 
 announced nearly as much terror at the approach of her 
 friends, as she had before manifested at the presence of 
 her enemies. " Go, Paul, leave me. You, at least, must not 
 be seen ! " 
 
 " If I leave you, Ellen, in this desert, before I see you 
 safe in the care of old Ishmael at least, may I never hear 
 the hum of another bee, or, what is worse, fail in sight to 
 line him to his hive I " 
 
 " You forget this good old man. He will not leave me, 
 
60 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 Though I am sure, Paul, we have parted before, where 
 there has been more of a desert than this." 
 
 " Never ! These Indians may come whooping back, 
 and then where are you? Half-way to the Rocky Moun* 
 tains before a man can fairly strike the line of your flight. 
 What think you, old trapper ? How long may it be be- 
 fore these Tetons, as you call them, will be coming for the 
 rest of old Ishmael's goods and chattels ? " 
 
 "No fear of them," returned the old man, laughing in 
 his own peculiar and silent manner : " I warrant me the 
 devils will be scampering after their beasts these six hours 
 yet ! Listen ! you may hear them in the willow-bottoms 
 at this very moment ; ay, your real Sioux cattle will run 
 like so many long-legged elks. Hist ! crouch again into 
 the grass, down with ye both ; as I'm a miserable piece of 
 clay, I heard the clicking of a gunlock ! " 
 
 The trapper did not allow his companions time to hesi- 
 tate, but, dragging them both after him, he nearly buried 
 his own person in the fog of the prairie, while he was 
 speaking. It was fortunate that the senses of the aged 
 hunter remained so acute, and that he had lost none of his 
 readiness of action. The three were scarcely bowed to the 
 ground, when their ears were saluted with the well-known, 
 sharp, short reports of the Western rifle, and instantly the 
 whizzing of the ragged lead was heard, buzzing within 
 dangerous proximity of their heads. 
 
 "Well done, young chips! well done, old block!" 
 whispered Paul, whose spirits no danger nor situation 
 could entirely depress. " As pretty a volley as one would 
 wish to hear on the wrong end of a rifle ! What d'ye say, 
 trapper ! here is likely to be a three-cornered war. Shall 
 I give 'em as good as they send ?" 
 
 " Give them nothing but fair words," returned the other, 
 hastily, " or you are both lost." 
 
 " I'm not certain it would much mend the matter, if I 
 were to speak with my tongue instead of the piece," said 
 Paul, in a tone half jocular, half bitter. 
 
 " For the sake of heaven, do not let them hear you ! " 
 cried Ellen. " Go, Paul, go ! you can easily quit us now." 
 
 Several shots in quick succession, each sending its dan- 
 gerous messenger still nearer than the preceding discharge. 
 cut short her speech, no less in prudence than in terror. 
 
 " Tkis must end," said the trapper, rising with the dig- 
 nity of one bent only on the importance of his object. " I 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 61 
 
 know not what need ye may have, children, to fear those 
 you should both love and honor, but something must be 
 done to save your lives. A few hours more or less can 
 never be missed from the time of one who has already 
 numbered so many days ; therefore, I will advance. Here 
 is a clear space around you. Profit by it as you need, arid 
 may God bless and prosper each of you, as ye deserve ! " 
 
 Without waiting for any reply the trapper walked boldly 
 down the declivity in his front, taking the direction of the 
 encampment, neither quickening his pace in trepidation 
 nor suffering it to be retarded by fear. The light of the 
 moon fell brighter for a moment on his tall, gaunt form, 
 and served to warn the emigrants of his approach. In- 
 different, however, to this unfavorable circumstance, he 
 held his way silently and steadily toward the copse, until 
 a threatening voice met him with the challenge of, 
 
 " Who comes friend or foe ? " 
 
 " Friend," was the reply ; " one who has lived too long 
 to disturb the close of life with quarrels." 
 
 ** But not so long as to forget the tricks of his youth," 
 said Ishmael, rearing his huge frame from beneath the 
 slight covering of a low bush, and meeting the trapper face 
 to face. " Old man, you have brought this tribe of red devils 
 upon us, and to-morrow you will be sharing the booty." 
 
 "What have you lost ?" calmly demanded the trapper. 
 
 " Eight as good mares as ever travelled in gears, besides 
 a foal that is worth thirty of the brightest Mexicans that 
 bear the face of the King of Spain. Then the woman has 
 not a cloven hoof for her dairy or her loom, and I believe 
 even the grunters, foot-sore as they be, are ploughing the 
 prairie. And now, stranger," he added, dropping the butt 
 of his rifle on the hard earth, with a violence and a clatter 
 that would have intimidated one less firm than the man he 
 addressed, " how many of these creatures may fall to your 
 lot ? " 
 
 ' ; Horses have I never craved, nor even used ; though 
 few have journeyed over more of the wide lands of Amer- 
 ica than myself, old and feeble as I seem. But little use 
 is there for a horse among the hills and woods of York 
 that is, as York was, but as I greatly fear York is no longer. 
 As for woollen covering and cow's-milk, I covet no such 
 womanly fashions ! The beasts of the field give me food 
 and raiment. No, I crave no cloth better than the skin of 
 a deer, nor any meat richer than its flesh," 
 
6 a THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 The sincere manner of the trappe/, as he uttered this 
 simple vindication, was not entirely thrown away on the 
 emigrant, whose dull nature was gradually quickening 
 into a flame that might speedily have burst forth with dan- 
 gerous violence. He listened like one who doubted, 
 though not entirely convinced ; and he muttered between 
 his teeth the denunciation, with which a moment before 
 he intended to precede the summary vengeance he had 
 certainly meditated. 
 
 "This is brave talking," he at length grumbled ; "but, 
 to my judgment, too lawyer-like, for a straightforward, 
 fair-weather and foul-weather hunter." 
 
 " I claim to be no better than a trapper," the other meek- 
 ly answered. 
 
 " Hunter or trapper there is little difference. I have 
 come, old man, into these districts, because I found the 
 law sitting too tight upon me, and am not over-fond of 
 neighbors who can't settle a dispute without troubling a 
 justice arid twelve men ; but I didn't come to be robbed 
 of my plunder, and then to say thank'ee to the man who 
 did it ! " 
 
 " He who ventures far into the prairie must abide by the 
 ways of its owners." 
 
 "Owners!" echoed the squatter! "I am as rightful 
 an owner of the land I stand on as any governor of the 
 States ! Can you tell me, stranger, where the law or the 
 reason is to be found, which says that one man shall have 
 a section, or a town, or perhaps a county to his use, and 
 another have to beg for earth to make his grave in ? This 
 is not nature, and I deny that it is law ! that is, your legal 
 law." 
 
 " I cannot say that you are wrong," returned the trapper, 
 whose opinions on this important topic, though drawn 
 from very different premises, were in singular accordance 
 with those of his companion, " and I have often thought 
 and said as much, when and where I have believed my 
 voice could be heard. But your beasts are stolen by 
 them who claim to be masters of all they find in the des- 
 erts." 
 
 " They had better not dispute that matter with a man 
 who knows better," said the other, in a portentous voice, 
 though it seemed deep and sluggish as he who spoke. " I 
 call myself a fair trader, and one who gives to his chaps 
 as good as he receives, ^ou saw the Indians ? " 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 63 
 
 " I did they held me a prisoner, while they stole into 
 your camp." 
 
 " It would have been more like a white man and a 
 Christian to let me have known as much in better season," 
 retorted Ishmael, casting another ominous, sidelong glance 
 at the trapper, as if still meditating evil. " I am not much 
 given to call every man I fall in with cousin, but color 
 should be something, when Christians meet in such a place 
 as this. But what is done, is done, and cannot be mended 
 by words. Come out of your ambush, boys ; here is no 
 one but the old man ; he has eaten of my bread, and should 
 be our friend, though there is such good reason to suspect 
 him of harboring with our enemies." 
 
 The trapper made no reply to the harsh suspicion which 
 the other did not scruple to utter without the smallest del- 
 icacy, notwithstanding the explanations and denials to 
 which he had just listened. The summons of the unnur- 
 tured squatter brought an immediate accession to their 
 party. Four or five of his sons made their appearance 
 from beneath as many covers, where they had been posted, 
 under the impression that the figures they had seen, on 
 the swell of the prairie, were a part of the Sioux band. 
 As each man approached and dropped his rifle into the 
 hollow of his arm, he cast an indolent but inquiring glance 
 at the stranger, though none of them expressed the least 
 curiosity to know whence he had come or why he was 
 there. This forbearance, however, proceeded only in part 
 from the sluggishness of their common temper ; for long 
 and frequent experience in scenes of a similar character 
 had taught them the virtue of discretion. The trapper en- 
 dured their sullen scrutiny with the steadiness of one as 
 practised as themselves, and with the entire composure of 
 innocence. Content with the momentary examination he 
 had made, the eldest of the group, who was in truth the 
 delinquent sentinel by whose remissness the wily Mahtoree 
 had so well profited, turned toward his father, and said, 
 bluntly : 
 
 " If this man is all that is left of the party I saw on the 
 upland yonder, we haven't altogether thrown away our 
 ammunition." 
 
 "Asa, you are right," said the father, turning suddenly 
 on the trapper, a lost idea being recalled by the hint of 
 his son " How is it, stranger ? there were three of you 
 Juat now, or there is no virtue in moonlight." 
 
64 TIIK PRAIRIE, 
 
 " If you had seen the Tetons racing across the prairies, 
 like so many black-looking evil ones, on the heels of your 
 cattle, my friend, it would have been an easy matter to 
 have fancied them a thousand." 
 
 " Ay, for a town-bred boy or a skeary woman ; though, 
 for that matter, there is old Esther ; she has no more fear 
 of a red-skin than of a sucking cub or of a wolf-pup. I'll 
 warrant ye, had your thievish devils made their push by 
 the light of the sun, the good woman would have been 
 smartly at work among them, and the Siouxes would have 
 found she was not given to part with her cheese and her 
 butter without a price. But there'll come a time, stranger, 
 right soon, when justice will have its dues, and that, too, 
 without the help of what is called the law. We ar' of a slow 
 breed, it may be said, and it is often said of us ; but slow 
 is sure ; and there ar' few men living who can say they 
 ever struck a blow that they did not get one as hard in 
 return from Ishmael Bush." 
 
 " Then has Ishmael Bush followed the instinct of the 
 beasts, rather than the principle which ought to belong 
 to his kind," returned, the stubborn trapper. "I have 
 struck many a blow myself, but never have I felt the same 
 ease of mind that of right belongs to a man who follows 
 his reason, after slaying even a fawn when there was no 
 call for his meat or hide, as I have felt at leaving a Mingo 
 unburied in the woods, when following the trade of open 
 and honest warfare." 
 
 " What ! you have been a soldier, have you, trapper ? I 
 made a forage or two among the Cherokees, when I was a 
 lad, myself, and I followed Mad Anthony,* one season, 
 through the beeches ; but there was altogether too much 
 tattooing and regulating among his troops for me ; so I 
 left him, without calling on the paymaster to settle my arrear- 
 ages. Though, as Esther afterward boasted, she had made 
 such use of the pay-ticket that the States gained no great 
 sum by the oversight. You have heard of such a man as 
 Mad Anthony, if you tarried long among the soldiers." 
 
 " I fou't my last battle, as I hope, under his orders," re- 
 turned the trapper, a gleam of sunshine shooting from his 
 
 * Anthony Wayne, a Pennsylvanian distinguished in the war of the Rev- 
 olution, and subsequently against the Indians of the West, for his daring 
 as a general, by which he gained from his followers the title of Mad An- 
 thony. General Wayne was the son of the person mentioned in the life of 
 West as commanding the regiment which excited his military ardor. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 65 
 
 dim eyes, as if the event was recollected with pleasure, and 
 then a sudden shade of sorrow succeeding, as though he 
 felt a secret admonition against dwelling on the violent 
 scenes in which he had so often been an actor. " I was 
 passing from the States on the sea-shore into these far re- 
 gions, when I crossed the trail of his army, and I fell in, on his 
 rear, just as a looker-on ; but when they got to blows, the 
 crack of my rifle was heard among the rest, though, to my 
 shame it may be said, I never knew the right of the quar- 
 rel, as well as a man of three score and ten should know 
 the reason of his acts afore he takes mortal life, which is a 
 gift he never can return ! " 
 
 "Come, stranger," said the emigrant, his rugged nature 
 a good deal softened when he found that they had fought 
 on the same side in the wild warfare of the West, " it is of 
 small account what may be the ground-work of the dis- 
 turbance, when it's a Christian ag'in a savage. We shall 
 hear more of this horse-stealing to-morrow ; to-night we 
 can do no wiser or safer thing than to sleep." 
 
 So saying, Ishmael deliberately led the way back toward 
 his rifled encampment, and ushered the man, whose life a 
 few minutes before had been in real jeopardy from his re- 
 sentment, into the presence of his family. Here, with a 
 very few words of explanation, mingled with scarce but 
 ominous denunciations against the plunderers, he made his 
 wife acquainted with the state of things on the prairie, and 
 announced his own determination to compensate himself 
 for his broken rest, by devoting the remainder of the night 
 to sleep. 
 
 The trapper gave his ready assent to the measure, and 
 adjusted his gaunt form on the pile of brush that was of- 
 fered him, with as much composure as a sovereign could 
 resign himself to sleep, in the security of his capital, and 
 surrounded by his armed protectors. The old man did not 
 close his eyes, however, until he had assured himself that 
 Ellen Wade was among the females of the family, and that 
 her relation, or lover, whichever he might be, had observed 
 the caution of keeping himself out of view ; after which he 
 slept, though with the peculiar watchfulness of one long 
 accustomed to vigilance, even in the hours of deepest night 
 
 5 
 
66 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 *' He is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, 
 As it were too peregrinate, as I may call it." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE Anglo-American is apt to boast, and not without 
 reason, that his nation may claim a descent more truly 
 honorable than that of any other people whose history is 
 to be credited. Whatever might have been the weaknesses 
 of the original colonists, their virtues have rarely been dis- 
 puted. If they were superstitious, they were sincerely 
 pious, and consequently honest. The descendants of these 
 simple and single-minded provincials have been content 
 to reject the ordinary and artificial means by which honors 
 have been perpetuated in families, and have substituted a 
 standard which brings the individual himself to the ordeal 
 of the public estimation, paying as little deference as may 
 be to those who have gone before him. This forbearance, 
 self-denial, or common-sense, or by whatever term it may be 
 thought proper to distinguish the measure, has subjected 
 the nation to the imputation of having an ignoble origin. 
 Were it worth the inquiry, it would be found that more 
 than a just proportion of the renowned names of the 
 mother-country are, at this hour, to be found in her ci-devant 
 colonies ; and it is a fact well known to the few who have 
 wasted sufficient time to become the masters of so unim- 
 portant a subject, that the direct descendants of many a 
 failing line, which the policy of England has seen fit to 
 sustain by collateral supporters, are now discharging the 
 simple duties of citizens in the bosom of this republic. 
 The hive has remained stationary, and they who flutter 
 around the venerable straw are wont to claim the empty 
 distinction of antiquity, regardless alike of the frailty of 
 their tenement and of the enjoyments of the numerous and 
 vigorous swarms that are culling the fresher sweets of a 
 virgin world. But, as this is a subject which belongs rather 
 to the politician and historian than to the humble narrator 
 of the home-bred incidents we are about to reveal, we must 
 confine our reflections to such matters as have an immediate 
 relation to the subject of the tale. 
 
 Although the citizen of the United States may claim so 
 just an ancestry, he is far from being exempt from the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 67 
 
 penalties of his fallen race. Like causes are well known 
 to produce like effects. That tribute, which it would seem 
 nations must ever pay, by way of a weary probation, 
 around the shrine of Ceres, before they can be indulged 
 in her fullest favors, is in some measure exacted, in 
 America, from the descendant instead of the ancestor. 
 The march of civilization with us has a strong analogy to 
 that of all coming events, which are known to " cast their 
 shadows before." The gradations of society, from that 
 state which is called refined to that which approaches as 
 near barbarity as connection with an intelligent people 
 will readily allow, are to be traced from the bosom of the 
 States, where wealth, luxury, and the arts are beginning 
 to seat themselves, to those distant and ever-receding 
 borders which mark the skirts and announce the approach 
 of the nation, as moving mists precede the signs of the 
 day. 
 
 Here, and here only, is to be found that widely spread 
 though far from numerous class which may be at all 
 likened to those who have paved the way for the intel- 
 lectual progress of nations in the Old World. The re- 
 semblance between the American borderer and his Eu- 
 ropean prototype is singular, though not always uniform. 
 Both might be called without restraint the one being- 
 above, the other beyond the reach of the law brave, be- 
 cause they were inured to danger proud, because they 
 were independent and vindictive, because each was the 
 avenger of his own wrongs. It would be unjust to the bor- 
 derer to pursue the parallel much further. He is irreligious, 
 because he has inherited the knowledge that religion does 
 not exist in forms, and his reason rejects mockery. He is 
 not a knight, because he has not the power to bestow 
 distinction ; and he has not the power, because he is the 
 offspring and not the parent of a system. In what manner 
 these several qualities are exhibited, in some of the most 
 strongly marked of the latter class, will be seen in the 
 course of the ensuing narrative. 
 
 Ishmael Bush had passed the whole of a life of more than 
 fifty years on the skirts of society. He boasted that he 
 had never dwelt where he might not safely fell every tree 
 he could view from his own threshold ; that the law had 
 rarely been known to enter his clearing ; and that his ears 
 had never willingly admitted the sound of a church-belJ. 
 His exertions seldom exceeded his wants, which were pe 
 
68 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 culiar to his class, and rarely failed of being supplied. Hft 
 had no respect for any learning, except that of the leech ; 
 because he was ignorant of the application of any other 
 intelligence than such as met the senses. His deference 
 to this particular branch of science had induced him to 
 listen to the application of a medical man, whose thirst 
 for natural history had led him to the desire of profiting 
 by the migratory propensities of the squatter. This gen- 
 tleman he had cordially received into his family, or rather 
 under his protection, and they had journeyed together 
 thus far through the prairies, in perfect harmony ; Ishmael 
 often felicitating his wife on the possession of a com- 
 panion, who would be so serviceable in their new abode, 
 wherever it might chance to be, until the family were 
 thoroughly " acclimated." The pursuits of the naturalist 
 frequently led him, however, for days at a time, from the 
 direct line of the route of the squatter, who rarely seemed 
 to have any other guide than the sun. Most men would 
 have deemed themselves fortunate to have been absent on 
 the perilous occasion of the Sioux inroad, as was Obed 
 Bat (or, as he was fond of hearing himself called, Battius), 
 M.D., and fellow of several cisatlantic learned societies 
 the adventurous gentleman in question. 
 
 Although the sluggish nature of Ishmael was not actual- 
 ly awakened, it was sorely pricked by the liberties which 
 had just been taken with his property. He slept, however, 
 for it was the hour he had allotted to that refreshment, and 
 because he knew how impotent any exertions to recover 
 his eifects must prove in the darkness of midnight. He 
 also knew the danger of his present position too well to 
 hazard what was left in pursuit of that which was lost. 
 Much as the inhabitants of the prairie were known to love 
 horses, their attachment to many other articles, still in the 
 possession of the travellers, was equally Avell understood. 
 It was a common artifice to scatter the herds, and to profit 
 by the confusion. But Mahtoree had, as it would seem, in 
 this particular, undervalued the acuteness of the man he 
 had assailed. The phlegm with which the squatter learned 
 his loss, has already been seen ; and it now remains to ex- 
 hibit the results of his more matured determinations. 
 
 Though the encampment contained many an eye that 
 was long unclosed, and many an ear that listened greedily 
 to catch the faintest evidence of any new alarm, it lay in 
 deep quiet during the remainder of the night. Silence 
 
THE PRAIRIE, 6g 
 
 and fatigue finally performed their accustomed offices, and 
 before morning all but the sentinels were again buried in 
 sleep. How well these indolent watchers discharged their 
 duties after the assault has never been known, inasmuch as 
 nothing occurred to confirm or to disprove their subse 
 quent vigilance. 
 
 Just as day, however, began to dawn, and a gray light 
 was falling from the heavens on the dusky objects of the 
 plain, the half-startled, anxious, and yet blooming counte- 
 nance of Ellen Wade was reared above the confused mass 
 of children, among whom he had clustered on her stolen 
 return to camp. Arising warily, she stepped lightly across 
 the recumbent bodies, and proceeded with the same cau- 
 tion to the utmost limits of the defences of Ishmael. Here 
 she listened, as if doubting the propriety of venturing fur- 
 ther. The pause was only momentary, however ; and long 
 before the drowsy eyes of the sentinel, who overlooked the 
 spot where she stood, had time to catch a glimpse of her 
 active form, it had glided along the bottom, and stood on 
 the summit of the nearest eminence. 
 
 Ellen now listened intently, anxious to catch some other 
 sound than the breathings of the morning air, which faint- 
 ly rustled the herbage at her feet. She was about to turn 
 in disappointment from the inquiry, when the tread of hu- 
 man feet making their way through the matted grass met 
 her ear. Springing eagerly forward, she soon beheld the 
 outlines of a figure advancing up the eminence, on the 
 side opposite to the camp. She had already uttered the 
 name of Paul, and was beginning to speak in the hurried 
 and eager voice with which female affection is apt to greet 
 a friend, when, drawing back, the disappointed girl closed 
 her salutation by coldly adding : 
 
 " I did not expect, doctor, to meet you at this unusual 
 hour." 
 
 "All hours and all seasons are alike, my good Ellen, to 
 the genuine lover of Nature," returned a small, slightly 
 made, but exceedingly active man, dressed in an odd mix- 
 ture of cloth and skins, a little past the middle age, and 
 who advanced directly to her side, with the familiarity of 
 an old acquaintance ; " and he who does not know how to 
 find things to admire by this gray light, is ignorant of a 
 large portion of the blessings he enjoys." 
 
 "Very true," said Ellen, suddenly recollecting the ne- 
 cessity of accounting for her own appearance abroad at 
 
7 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 that unseasonable hour ; " I know many who think the 
 earth has a pleasanter look in the night than when seen by 
 the brightest sunshine." 
 
 " Ah ! Their organs of sight must be too convex ! But 
 the man who wishes to study the active habits of the feline 
 race, or the variety of the albinos, must indeed be stirring 
 at this hour. I dare say there are men who prefer even 
 looking at objects by twilight, for the simple reason that 
 they see better at that time of the day." 
 
 " And is this the cause why you are so much abroad in 
 the night ?" 
 
 " I am abroad at night, my good girl, because the earth 
 in its diurnal revolutions leaves the light of the sun but 
 half the time on any given meridian, and because what I 
 have to do cannot be performed in twelve or fifteen con- 
 secutive hours. Now have I been off two days from the 
 family in search of a plant that is known to exist on the 
 tributaries of La Platte, without seeing even a blade of 
 grass that is not already enumerated and classed." 
 
 "You have been unfortunate, doctor, but 
 
 " Unfortunate ! " echoed the little man, sidling nlgher 
 to his companion, and producing his tablets with an air in 
 which exultation struggled strangely with an affectation 
 of self-abasement. "No, no, Ellen ; I am anything but 
 unfortunate ! Unless, indeed, a man may be so called 
 whose fortune is made, whose fame may be said to be es- 
 tablished forever, whose name will go down to posterity 
 with that of Buffon Buffon ! a mere compiler ; one who 
 flourishes on the foundation of other men's labors. No ; 
 pari passu with Solander, who bought his knowledge 
 with pain and privations." 
 
 " Have you discovered a mine, Dr. Bat ? " 
 
 " More than a mine ; a treasure coined, and fit for in- 
 stant use, girl. Listen ! I was making the angle necessary 
 to intersect the line of your uncle's march after my fruit- 
 less search, when I heard sounds like the explosion pro- 
 duced by fire-arms- 
 
 " Yes," exclaimed Ellen, eagerly, " we had an alarm- 
 
 11 And thought I was lost," continued the man of science, 
 too much bent on his own ideas to understand her inter- 
 ruption. " Little danger of that ! I made my own base, 
 knew the length of the perpendicular by calculation, and 
 to draw the hypothenuse had nothing to do but to work 
 my angle. I supposed the guns were fired for my benefit 
 
THE PRAIRIE. >j\ 
 
 and changed my course for the sounds not that I think 
 the senses more accurate, or even as accurate, as a mathe- 
 matical calculation, but I feared that some of the children 
 might need my services." 
 
 " They are all happily 
 
 " Listen," interrupted the other, already forgetting his 
 affected anxiety for his patients, in the greater importance 
 of the present subject. " I had crossed a large tract of 
 prairie for sound is conveyed far where there is little ob- 
 struction when I heard the trampling of feet, as if bisons 
 were beating the earth. Then I caught a distant view of 
 a herd of quadrupeds, rushing up and down the swells 
 animals which would have still remained unknown and 
 undescribed, had it not been for a most felicitous accident \ 
 One, and he a noble specimen of the whole, was running 
 a little apart from the rest. The herd made an inclination 
 in my direction, in which the solitary animal coincided, 
 and this brought him within fifty yards of the spot where 
 I stood. I profited by the opportunity, and, by the aid of 
 steel and taper, I wrote his description on the spot. I 
 would have given a thousand dollars, Ellen, for a single 
 shot from the rifle of one of the boys ! " 
 
 "You carry a pistol, doctor, why didn't you use it?" 
 said the half-inattentive girl, anxiously examining the 
 prairie, but still lingering where she stood, quite willing 
 to be detained. 
 
 " Ay, but it carries nothing but the most minute parti- 
 cles of lead, adapted to the destruction of the larger in- 
 sects and reptiles. No, I did better than to attempt wag- 
 ing a war in which I could not be the victor. I recorded 
 the event ; noting each particular with the precision nec- 
 essary to science. You shall hear, Ellen, for you are a 
 good and improving girl ; arid by retaining what you learn 
 in this way may be yet of great service to learning, should 
 any accident occur to me. Indeed, my worthy Ellen, mine 
 is a pursuit which has its dangers as well as that of the 
 warrior. This very night," he continued, glancing his 
 eyes behind him, " this awful night, has the principle of 
 life itself been in great danger of extinction ! " 
 
 " By what ? " 
 
 " By the monster I have discovered. It approached me 
 often, and, ever as I receded, it continued to advance. 
 I believe nothing but the little lamp I carried was my 
 protector. I kept it between us while I wrote, making it 
 
7 2 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 serve the double purpose of luminary and shield. But 
 you shall hear the character of the beast, and you may 
 then judge of the risks we promoters of science run in be 
 half of mankind." 
 
 The naturalist raised his tablets to the heavens, and dis 
 posed himself to read as well as he could, by the dim light 
 they yet shed upon the plain, premising with saying : 
 
 "Listen, girl, and you shall hear with what a treasure 
 it has been my happy lot to enrich the pages of natural 
 history ! " 
 
 " Is it then a creature of your forming? " said Ellen, 
 turning away from her fruitless examination, with a sud- 
 den lighting of her sprightly blue eyes, that showed she 
 knew how to play with the foible of her learned compan- 
 ion. 
 
 " Is the power to give life to inanimate matter the gift 
 of man ? I would it were ! You should speedily see an 
 Historia Naturalis Americana that would put the sneering 
 imitators of the Frenchman, De Buffon. to shame ! A great 
 improvement might be made in the formation of all quad- 
 rupeds ; especially those in which velocity is a virtue. 
 Two of the inferior limbs should be on the principle of the 
 lever ; wheels perhaps as they are now formed ; though I 
 have not yet determined whether the improvement might 
 better be applied to the anterior or posterior members, 
 inasmuch as I am yet to learn whether dragging or shov- 
 ing requires the greatest muscular exertion. A natural 
 exudation of the animal might assist in overcoming the 
 friction, and a powerful momentum be obtained. But all 
 this is hopeless at least for the present," he added, rais- 
 ing his tablets again to the light, and reading aloud : " Oc- 
 tober 6, 1805, that's merely the date, which I dare say you 
 know better than I mem. Quadruped ; seen by the star- 
 light, and by the aid of a pocket-lamp, in the prairies of 
 North America see journal for latitude and meridian. 
 Genus unknown ; therefore named after the discoverer, 
 and from the happy coincidence of having been seen in the 
 evening VespertiKo horribilis Americanus. Dimensions (by 
 estimation) Greatest length, eleven feet ; height, six feet ; 
 head, erect ; nostrils, expansive ; eyes, expressive and fierce ; 
 teeth, serrated and abundant ; tail, horizontal, waving, and 
 slightly feline ; feet, large and hairy ; talons, long, curvated 
 dangerous ; ears, inconspicuous ; horns, elongated, diverg^ 
 ing, and formidable ; color, plumbeous-ashy with fierjr 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 73 
 
 spots ; voice, sonorous, martial, and appalling ; habits, greg 
 arious, carnivorous, fierce, and fearless. There," exclaimed 
 Obed, when he had ended this sententious but compre- 
 hensive description, " there is an animal, which will be 
 likely to dispute with the lion his title to be called the 
 king of the beasts ! " 
 
 " I know not the meaning of all you have said, Dr. Bat- 
 tius," returned the quick-witted girl, who understood the 
 weakness of the philosopher, and often indulged him with 
 a title he loved so well to hear ; "but I shall think it dan- 
 gerous to venture far from the camp if such monsters are 
 prowling over the prairies." 
 
 " You may well call it prowling," returned the natural- 
 ist, nestling closer to her side, and dropping his voice to 
 such low and undignified tones of confidence as conveyed 
 a meaning still more pointed than he had intended. " I 
 have never before experienced such a trial of the nervous 
 system ; there was a moment, I acknowledge, when the /<?;-- 
 titer in re faltered before so terrible an enemy ; but the 
 love of natural science bore me up, and brought me off in 
 triumph." 
 
 "You speak a language so different from what w r e use 
 in Tennessee," said Ellen, struggling to conceal her laugh- 
 ter, a that I hardly know whether I understand your 
 meaning. If I am right, you wish to say you were chicken* 
 hearted." 
 
 " An absurd simile drawn from the ignoranceof the for- 
 mation of the biped. The heart of a chicken has a just 
 proportion to its other organs, and the domestic fowl is, 
 in a state of nature, a gallant bird. Ellen," he added, with 
 a countenance so solemn as to produce an impression on 
 the attentive girl, " I was pursued, hunted, and in a danger 
 that I scorn to dwell on what's that ? " 
 
 Ellen started, for the earnestness and simple sincerity 
 of her companion's manner had produced a certain degree 
 of credulity even on her buoyant mind. Looking in the 
 direction indicated by the doctor, she beheld, in fact, a 
 beast coursing over the prairie, and making a straight and 
 rapid approach to the spot they occupied. The day was 
 not yet sufficiently advanced to enable her to distinguish 
 its form and character, though enough was discernible to 
 induce her to imagine it a fierce and savage animal. 
 
 "It comes ! it comes ! " exclaimed the doctor, fumbling, 
 by a sort of instinct, for his tablets, while he fairly tottered 
 
74 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 on his feet under the powerful efforts he made to maintain 
 his ground. " Now, Ellen, has fortune given me an op- 
 portunity to correct the errors made by starlight hold 
 ashy-plumbeous no ears horns, excessive." His voice 
 and hand were both arrested by a roar, or rather a shriek, 
 from the beast, that was sufficiently terrific to appal even 
 a stouter heart than that of the naturalist. The cries of 
 the animal passed over the prairie in strange cadences, 
 and then succeeded a deep and solemn silence, that was 
 only broken by an uncontrolled fit of merriment from the 
 more musical voice of Ellen Wade. In the meantime the 
 naturalist stood like a statue of amazement, permitting a 
 well-grown ass, against whose approach he no longer 
 offered his boasted shield of light, to smell about his per- 
 son, without comment or hindrance. 
 
 "It is your own ass," cried Ellen, the instant she found 
 breath for words; "your own patient, hard-working 
 hack!" 
 
 The doctor rolled his eyes from the beast to the speaker, 
 and from the speaker to the. beast ; but gave no audible 
 expression of his wonder. 
 
 "Do you refuse to know an animal that has labored so 
 long in your service ?" continued the laughing girl. " A 
 beast that I have heard you say, a thousand times, has 
 served you well, and whom you loved like a brother ? " 
 
 " Asinus domesticus ! " ejaculated the doctor, drawing his 
 breath like one who had been near suffocation. " There is 
 no doubt of the genus ; and I will always maintain that 
 the animal is not of the species Equus. This is undeniably 
 Asinus himself, Ellen Wade ; but this is not the Vespertilio 
 hornbilis of the prairie ! Very different animals I can as- 
 sure you, young woman, and differently characterized in 
 every important particular. That, carnivorous," he con- 
 tinued, glancing his eye at the open page of his tablets ; 
 " this granivorous ; habits, fierce, dangerous ; habits, patient, 
 abstemious ; ears, inconspicuous ; ears, elongated ; horns, 
 diverging, etc., horns, none ! " 
 
 He was interrupted by another burst of merriment from 
 Ellen, which served in some measure to recall him to his 
 recollection. 
 
 "The image of the Vespertilio was on the retina," the 
 astounded inquirer into the secrets of Nature observed, in 
 a manner that seemed a little apologetic, "and I was silly 
 enough to mistake my own faithful beast for the monster 
 
T.fE PRAIRIE. 7| 
 
 Though even now I greatly marvel to see this animal run 
 ning at, large." 
 
 Ellen then proceeded to explain the history of the attack 
 and its results. She described, with an accuracy that 
 might have raised suspicions of her own movements in the 
 mind of one less simple than her auditor, the manner in 
 which the beasts burst out of the encampment, and the 
 headlong speed with which they had dispersed themselves 
 over the open plain. Although she forbore to say as much 
 in terms, she so managed as to present before the eyes of 
 her listener the strong probability of having mistaken the 
 frightened drove for savage beasts, and then terminated 
 her account by a lamentation for their loss, and some very 
 natural remarks on the helpless condition in which it had 
 left the family. The naturalist listened in silent wonder, 
 neither interrupting her narrative, nor suffering a single 
 exclamation of surprise to escape him. The keen-eyed 
 girl, however, saw that, as she proceeded, the important 
 leaf was torn from the tablets, in a manner which showed 
 that their owner had got rid of his delusion at the same 
 instant. From that moment the world has heard no more 
 of the Vespertilio horribilis Americanns, and the natural 
 sciences have irretrievably lost an important link in that 
 great animated chain which is said to connect earth and 
 heaven, and in which man is thought to be so familiarly 
 complicated with the monkey. 
 
 When Dr. Bat was put in full possession of all the cir- 
 cumstances of the inroad, his concern immediately took a 
 different direction. He had left sundry folios, and certain 
 boxes well stored with botanical specimens and defunct 
 animals, under the good keeping of Ishmael, and it im- 
 mediately struck his acute mind that marauders as subtle 
 as the Sioux would never neglect the opportunity to de- 
 spoil him of these treasures. Nothing that Ellen could 
 say to the contrary served to appease his apprehensions, 
 and consequently they separated he to relieve his doubts 
 and fears together, and she to glide, as swiftly and silently 
 as she had just before passed it, into the still and solitary 
 tent. 
 
76 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " What ! fifty of my followers, at a clap ! " KING LEAR. 
 
 
 
 THE day had now fairly opened on the seemingly inter- 
 nimable waste of the prairie. The entrance of Obed at 
 such a moment into the camp, accompanied as it was by 
 vociferous lamentations over his anticipated loss, did not 
 tail to rouse the drowsy family of the squatter. Ishmael 
 and his sons, together with the forbidding-looking brother 
 of his wife, were all speedily afoot, and then, as the sun 
 began to shed his light on the place, they became gradual- 
 ly apprised of the extent of their loss. 
 
 Ishmael looked round upon the motionless and heavily- 
 loaded vehicles, with his teeth firmly compressed, cast a 
 glance at the amazed and helpless group of children, which 
 clustered around their sullen but desponding mother, and 
 walked out upon the open land, as if he found the air of the 
 encampment too confined. He was followed by several of 
 the men, who were attentive observers, watching the dark 
 expression of his eyes as the index of their own future 
 movements. The whole proceeded in profound and moody 
 silence to the summit of the nearest swell, whence they 
 could command an almost boundless view of the naked 
 plains. Here nothing was visible but a solitary buifalo, 
 that gleaned a meagre subsistence from the decaying herb- 
 age, at no great distance, and the ass of the physician, who 
 profited by his freedom to enjoy a meal richer than com- 
 mon. 
 
 " Yonder is one of the creatures left by the villains to 
 mock us," said Ishmael, glancing his eye toward the latter, 
 "and that the meanest of the stock. This is a hard coun- 
 try to make a crop in, boys ; and yet food must be found 
 to fill many hungry mouths ! " 
 
 " The rifle is better than the hoe in such a place as this,* 
 returned the eldest of his sons, kicking the hard and thirsty 
 soil on which he stood, with an air of contempt. " It is 
 good for such as they who make their dinner better on 
 beggars' beans than hominy. A crow would shed tears ii 
 obliged by its errand to fly across the district." 
 
 " What say you, trapper ? " returned the father, showing 
 the slight impression his powerful heel had made on the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 77 
 
 Compact earth, and laughing with frightful ferocity. " Is 
 this the quality of land a man would choose who never 
 troubles the county clerk with title-deeds ? " 
 
 " There is richer soil in the bottoms," returned the old 
 man calmly, "and you have passed millions of acres to get 
 to this dreary spot, where he who loves to till the 'arth might 
 iiave received bushels in return for pints and, that, too, 
 at the cost of no very grievous labor. If you have come 
 in search of land, you have journeyed hundreds of miles 
 too far, or as many leagues too little." 
 
 " There is, then, a better choice toward the other ocean ?" 
 demanded the squatter, pointing in the direction of the 
 Pacific. 
 
 " There is, and I have seen it all," was f he answer of the 
 other, who dropped his rifle to the earth, and stood lean- 
 ing on its barrel, like one who recalled the scenes he had 
 witnessed with melancholy pleasure. " I have seen the 
 waters of the two seas ! On one of them I was born, and 
 raised to be a lad like yonder tumbling boy. America has 
 grown, my men, since the days of my youth, to be a coun- 
 try larger than I once had thought the world itself to 
 be. Near seventy years I dwelt in York, province and State 
 together. You've been in York, 'tis like ? " 
 
 "Not I not I; I never visited the towns; but often 
 have heard the place you speak of named. 'Tis a wide 
 clearing there, I reckon." 
 
 "Too wide ! too wide ! They scourge the very 'arth 
 with their axes. Such hills and hunting-grounds as I have 
 seen stripped of the gifts of the Lord, without remorse or 
 chame ! I tarried till the mouths of my hounds were deaf- 
 en'ed by the blows of the chopper, and then I came West 
 in search of quiet. It was a grievous journey that I made ; 
 a grievous toil to pass through falling timber, and to 
 breathe the thick air of smoky clearings week after week, 
 as I did ! 'Tis a far country too, that State of York, from 
 this ! " 
 
 " It lies ag'in the outer edge of old Kentuck, I reckon ; 
 though what the distance may be I never knew." 
 
 "A gull would have to fan a thousand miles of air to 
 find the Eastern sea. And yet it is no mighty reach to 
 hunt across, when shade and game are plenty ! The time 
 has been when I followed the deer in the mountains of the 
 Delaware and Hudson, and took the beaver on the streams 
 of the upper lakes, in the same season ; but my eye wa? 
 
y THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 quick and certain at that day, and my limbs were like the 
 legs of a moose ! The dam of Hector," dropping his look 
 kindly to the aged hound that crouched at his feet, "was 
 then a pup, and apt to open on the game the moment she 
 struck the scent. She gave me a deal of trouble, that slut, 
 she did ! " 
 
 " Your hound is old, stranger, and a rap on the head 
 would prove a mercy to the beast." 
 
 " The dog is like his master," returned the trapper, with 
 out appearing to heed the brutal advice the other gave, 
 " and will number his days when his work among the game 
 is over, and not before. To my eye things seem ordered 
 to meet each other in this creation. 'Tis not the swiftest 
 running deer that always throws off the hounds, nor the 
 biggest arm that holds the truest rifle. Look around 
 you, men ; what will the Yankee choppers say, when they 
 have cut their path from the Eastern to the Western waters, 
 and find that a hand, which can lay the 'arth bare at a 
 blow, has been here and swept the country, in very mockery 
 of their wickedness ? They will turn on their tracks like 
 a fox that doubles, and then the rank smell of their own 
 footsteps will show them the madness of their waste. 
 Howsomever, these are thoughts that are more likely to 
 rise in him who has seen the folly of eighty seasons, than 
 to Ueach wisdom to men still bent on the pleasures of their 
 kind ! You have need, yet, of a stirring time, if you think 
 to escape the craft and hatred of the burnt-wood Indians. 
 They claim to be the lawful owners of this country, and 
 seldom leave a white more than the skin he boasts of when 
 once they get the power, as they always have the will, to 
 do him harm." 
 
 "Old man," said Ishmael, sternly, " to which people do 
 you belong ? You have the color and speech of a Chris- 
 tian, while it seems that your heart is with the red-skins." 
 
 "To rne there is little difference in nations. The peo- 
 ple I loved most are scattered as the sands of the dry river- 
 beds fly before the fall hurricanes, and life is too short to 
 make use and custom with strangers as one can do with 
 such as he has dwelt among for years. Still I am a man 
 without the cross of Indian blood ; and what is due from 
 a warrior to his nation, is owing by me to the people of 
 the States ; though little need have they, with their militU 
 and their armed boats, of help from a single arm of four- 
 score." 
 
THE PkAIRlE. 79 
 
 " Since you own your kin, I may ask a simple question. 
 Where are the Siouxes who have stolen my cattle ? " 
 
 " Where is the herd of buffaloes, which was chased by 
 the panther across this plain no later than the morning 
 of yesterday ! It is as hard 
 
 "Friend," said Dr. Battius, who had hitherto been an at- 
 tentive listener, but who now felt a sudden impulse to min- 
 gle in the discourse, " I am grieved when I find a venator 
 or hunter of your experience and observation following 
 the current of vulgar error. The animal you describe is 
 in truth a species of the Bos ferus (or Bos sylvestris, as he 
 has been happily called by the poets) ; but, though of 
 close affinity, it is altogether distinct from the common 
 bubulus. Bison is the better word ; and I would suggest the 
 necessity of adopting it in the future, when you shall have 
 occasion to allude to the species." 
 
 " Bison or buffalo, it makes but little matter. The crea- 
 ture is the same, call it by what name you w r ill, and 
 
 " Pardon me, venerable venator ; as classification is 
 the very soul of natural sciences, the animal or vegetable 
 must of necessity be characterized by the peculiarities of 
 its species, which is always indicated by the name ' 
 
 " Friend," said the trapper, a little positively, "would 
 the tail of a beaver make the worse dinner for calling 
 it a mink ; or could you eat of the wolf with relish, be- 
 cause some bookish man had given it the name of veni- 
 son ?" 
 
 As these questions were put with no little earnestness 
 and some spirit, there was every probability that a hot 
 discussion would have succeeded between two men, of 
 whom one was so purely practical and the other so much 
 given to theory, had not Ishmael seen fit to terminate the 
 dispute, by bringing into view a subject that was much 
 more important to his own immediate interests. 
 
 " Beavers' tails and minks' flesh may do to talk about 
 before a maple fire and a quiet hearth," interrupted the 
 squatter, without the smallest deference to the interested 
 feelings of the disputants; "but something more than 
 foreign words, or words of any sort, is now needed. Tell 
 me, trapper, where are your Siouxes skulking ? " 
 
 " It would be as easy to tell you the colors of the hawk 
 that is floating beneath yonder white cloud ! When a red- 
 skin strikes his blow, he is not apt to wait until he is paid 
 for the evil deed in lead." 
 
8o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 11 Will the beggarly savages believe they have enough 
 when they find themselves masters of all the stock ? " 
 
 " Natur' is much the same, let it be covered by what 
 skin it may. Do you ever find your longings after riches 
 less when you have made a good crop than before you 
 were master of a kernel of corn ? If you do, you differ 
 from what the experience of a long life tells me is the com- 
 mon cravings of man." 
 
 " Speak plainly, old stranger," said the squatter, strik- 
 ing the butt of his rifle heavily on the earth, his dull ca- 
 pacity finding no pleasure in a discourse that was conducted 
 in so obscure allusions ; "I have asked a simple question, 
 and one I know well that you can answer." 
 
 "You are right, you are right. I can answer, for I have 
 too often seen the disposition of my kind to mistake it, 
 when evil is stirring. When the Siouxes have gathered in 
 the beasts, and have made sure that you are not upon their 
 heels, they will be back nibbling like hungry wolves to 
 take the bait they have left ; or, it may be, they'll show 
 the temper of the great bears that are found at the falls 
 of the Long River, and strike at once with the paw, with 
 out stopping to nose their prey." 
 
 "You have then seen the animals you mention!" ex- 
 claimed Dr. Battius, who had now been thrown out of the 
 conversation quite as long as his impatience could well 
 brook, and who approached the subject with his tablets 
 ready opened, as a book of reference. " Can you tell me 
 if what you encountered was of the species Ursus horribilis 
 with the ears rounded -front, arquated <?)tfj, destitute of 
 the remarkable supplemental lid with six incisores, one 
 false, and four perfect molares " 
 
 "Trapper, go on, for we are engaged in reasonable dis- 
 course," interrupted Ishmael. "You believe we shall see 
 more of the robbers ? " 
 
 " Nay, nay ; I do not call them robbers, for it is the 
 usage of their people, and what may be called the prairie 
 law." 
 
 " I have come five hundred miles to find a place where 
 no man can ding the words of the law in my ears," said 
 Ishmael, fiercely, "and I am not in a humor to stand 
 quietly at a bar while a red-skin sits in judgment I tel] 
 you, trapper, if another Sioux is seen prowling around my 
 camp, wherever it may be, he shall feel the contents of old 
 Kcntuck," slapping his rifle in a manner that could not 
 
THF PRAIRIE. Si 
 
 be easily misconstrued, "though he wore the medal oi 
 Washington* himself. I call the man a robber who takes 
 that which is not his own." 
 
 "The Teton, and the Pawnee, and the Konza, and men 
 of a dozen other tribes claim to own these naked fields." 
 
 " Natur' gives them the lie in their teeth. The air, the 
 water, and the ground are free gifts to man, and no one has 
 the power to portion them out in parcels. Man must 
 drink, and breathe, and walk and therefore each has a 
 right to his share of 'arth. Why do not the surveyors of 
 trie States set their compasses and run their lines over our 
 heads as well as beneath our feet ? Why do they not 
 cover their shining sheep-skins with big words, giving to 
 the landholder, or perhaps he should be called airholder, 
 so many rods of heaven, with the use of such a star for a 
 boundary-mark and such a cloud to turn a mill?" 
 
 As the squatter uttered his wild conceit, he laughed 
 from the very bottom of his chest in scorn. The deriding 
 but frightful merriment passed from the mouth of one of 
 his ponderous sons to that of the other, until it had made 
 the circuit of the whole family. 
 
 " Come, trapper," continued Ishmael, in a tone of better 
 humor, like a man who feels that he has triumphed, 
 " neither of us, I reckon, has ever had much to do with 
 title-deeds, or county clerks, or blazed trees, therefore we 
 tvill not waste words on fooleries. You are a man that has 
 tarried long in this clearing ; and now I ask your opinion, 
 face to face without fear or favor, if you had the lead in 
 my business, what would you do ? " 
 
 The old man hesitated, and seemed to give the required 
 advice with deep reluctance. As every eye, however, was 
 fastened on him, and, whichever way he turned his face, 
 he encountered a look riveted on the lineaments of his 
 own working countenance, he answered in a low, melan- 
 choly tone : 
 
 < I have seen too much mortal blood poured out in 
 empty quarrels to wish even to hear an angry rifle again. 
 Ten weary years have I sojourned alone on these naked 
 plains, waiting for my hour, and not a blow have I struck 
 ag'in an enemy more humanized than the grizzly bear." 
 
 " Ursus horribilis" muttered the doctor. 
 
 * The American Government creates chiefs among the Western tribes, 
 *nd decorates them with silver medals bearing the impression of the dif- 
 ferent President?, That of Washington is the most prized. 
 
52 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 The speaker paused at the sound of the other's voice, 
 but. perceiving it was no more than a sort of mental ejac- 
 uiation, he continued in the same strain : 
 
 " More humanized than the grizzly bear, or the panther 
 of the Rocky Mountains, unless the beaver, which is a 
 wise and knowing animal, may be so reckoned. What 
 would I advise ? Even the female buffalo will fight for 
 her young ! " 
 
 " It never, then, shall be said that Ishmael Bush has 
 less kindness for his children than the bear for her cubs ! " 
 
 " And yet this is but a naked spot for a dozen men to 
 make head in, ag'in five hundred." 
 
 "Ay, it is so," returned the squatter, glancing his eye 
 toward his humble camp ; " but something might be done 
 with the wagons and the cotton-wood." 
 
 The trapper shook his head incredulously, and pointed 
 across the rolling plain in the direction of the west, as he 
 answered : 
 
 " A rifle would send a bullet from these hills into your 
 very sleeping-cabins ; nay, arrows from the thicket in your 
 rear would keep you all burrowed, like so many prairie- 
 dogs ; it wouldn't do, it wouldn't do. Three long miles 
 from this spot is a place where, as I have often thought in 
 passing across the desert, a stand might be made for days 
 and weeks together, if there were hearts and hands ready 
 to engage in the bloody work." 
 
 Another low, deriding laugh passed among the young 
 men, announcing, in a manner sufficiently intelligible, their 
 readiness to undertake a task even more arduous. The 
 squatter himself eagerly seized the hint which had been 
 so reluctantly extorted from the trapper, who, by some 
 singular process of reasoning had evidently persuaded 
 himself that it was his duty to be strictly neutral. A few 
 direct and pertinent inquiries served to obtain the little 
 additional information that was necessary, in order to make 
 the contemplated movement ; and then Ishmael, who was, 
 f>n emergencies, as terrifically energetic as he was sluggish 
 in common, set about effecting his object without delay. 
 
 Notwithstanding the industry and zeal of all engaged, 
 the task was one of great labor and difficulty. The loaded 
 vehicles were to be drawn by hand across a wide distance 
 of plain, without track, or guide of any sort, expect that 
 which the trapper had furnished by communicating his 
 Knowledge of the cardinal points of the compass. Ir ao 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 83 
 
 complishing this object, the gigantic strength of the men 
 was taxed to the utmost, nor were the females or the chil- 
 dren spared a heavy proportion of the toil. While the 
 sons distributed themselves about the heavily loaded wag- 
 ons, and drew them by main strength up the neighboring 
 swell, their mother and Ellen, surrounded by the amazed 
 group of little ones, followed slowly in the rear, bending 
 under the weight of such different articles as were suited 
 to their several strengths. 
 
 Ishmael himself superintended and directed the whole, 
 occasionally applying his colossal shoulder to some lag- 
 ging vehicle until he saw that the chief difficulty, that of 
 gaining the level of their intended route, was accomplished. 
 Then he pointed out the required course, cautioning his 
 sons to proceed in such a manner that they should not 
 lose the advantage they had with so much labor obtained, . 
 and, beckoning to the brother of his wife, they returned 
 together to the empty camp. 
 
 Throughout the whole of this movement, which occu- 
 pied an hour of time, the trapper had stood apart, leaning 
 on his rifle, with the aged hound slumbering at his feet, a 
 silent but attentive observer of all that passed. Occasion- 
 ally a smile lighted his hard, muscular, but wasted features 
 like a gleam of sunshine flitting across a ragged ruin, and 
 betrayed the momentary pleasure he found in witnessing 
 from time to time the vast power the youths discovered. 
 Then, as the train drew slowly up the ascent, a cloud of 
 thought and sorrow threw all into the shade again, leaving 
 the expression of his countenance in its usual state of quiet 
 melancholy. As vehicle after vehicle left the place of the 
 encampment, he noted the change with increasing atten- 
 tion ; seldom failing to cast an inquiring look at the little 
 neglected tent, which, with its proper wagon, still re^ 
 mained as before, solitary and apparently forgotten. The 
 summons of Ishmael to his gloomy associate had, however, 
 as it would now seem, this hitherto neglected portion of 
 his effects for its object. 
 
 First casting a cautious and suspicious glance on every 
 side of him, the squatter and his companion advanced to 
 the little wagon, and caused it to enter within the folds of 
 the cloth much in the manner that it had been extricated 
 the preceding evening. They both then disappeared be- 
 hind the drapery, and many moments of suspense suc- 
 ceeded, during which the old man, secretly urged by a 
 
l$4 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 burning desire to know the meaning of so much mystery, 
 insensibly drew nigh to the place, until he stood within a 
 few yards of the proscribed spot. The agitation of the 
 cloth betrayed the nature of the occupation of those whom 
 it concealed, though their work was conducted in rigid si- 
 lence. It would appear that long practice had made each 
 of the two acquainted with his particular duty ; for neither 
 sign nor direction of any sort was necessary from Ishmael, 
 in order to apprise his surly associate of the manner in 
 which he was to proceed. In less time than has been con- 
 sumed in relating it, the interior portion of the arrange- 
 ment was completed, when the men reappeared without 
 the tent. Too busy with his occupation to heed the pre- 
 sence of the trapper, Ishmael began to release the folds 
 of the cloth from the ground, and to dispose of them in 
 such a manner around the vehicle as to form a sweeping 
 train to the new form the little pavilion had now as- 
 sumed. The arched roof trembled with the occasional 
 movement of the light vehicle which, it was apparent, 
 once more supported its secret burden. Just as the work 
 was ended, the scowling eye of Ishmaoi's assistant caught 
 a glimpse of the figure of the attentive observer of their 
 movements. Dropping the shaft, which he had already 
 lifted from the ground, preparatory to occupying the place 
 that was usually filled by an animal less reasoning and per- 
 haps less dangerous than himself, he bluntly exclaimed : 
 
 " I am a fool, as you often say. But look for yourself. 
 If that man is not an enemy, I will disgrace father and 
 mother, call myself an Indian, and go hunt with the 
 Siouxes ! " 
 
 The cloud, as it is about to discharge the subtile light- 
 ning, is not more dark nor threatening than the look with 
 which Ishmael greeted the intruder. He turned his head 
 on every side of him, as if seeking some engine sufficiently 
 terrible to annihilate the offending trapper at a blow ; and 
 then, possibly recollecting the further occasion he might 
 have for his counsel, he forced himself to say, with an 
 appearance of moderation that nearly choked him : 
 
 " Stranger, I did believe this prying into the concerns of 
 others was the business of women in the towns and set- 
 tlements, and not the manner in which men, who are used to 
 live where each has room for himself, deal with the secrets 
 of their neighbors. To what lawyer or sheriff do you cal- 
 culate to sell your news * " 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 85 
 
 "I hold but little discourse, except with one, and then 
 chiefly of ray own affairs," returned the old man, without 
 the least observable apprehension, and pointing impos- 
 ingly upward ; " a Judge and Judge of all. Little does 
 he need knowledge from my hands, and but little will 
 your wish to keep anything secret from him profit you, 
 even in this desert." 
 
 The mounting tempers of his untutored listeners were 
 rebuked by the simple, solemn manner of the trapper. 
 Ishmael stood sullen and thoughtful ; while his companion 
 stole a furtive and involuntary glance at the placid sky, 
 which spread so wide and blue above his head, as if he ex- 
 pected to see the Almighty eye itself beaming from the 
 heavenly vault. But impressions of a serious character 
 are seldom lasting on minds long indulged in forgetful- 
 ness. The hesitation of the squatter was consequently of 
 short duration. The language, however, as well as the 
 firm and collected air of the speaker, were the means of 
 preventing much subsequent abuse, if not violence. 
 
 " It would be showing more of the kindness of a 
 friend and comrade," Ishmael returned, in a tone suffi- 
 ciently sullen to betray his humor, though it was no longer 
 threatening, " had your shoulder been put to the wheel of 
 one of yonder wagons, instead of edging itself in here, 
 where none are wanted but such as are invited." 
 
 "I can put the little strength that is left me," returned 
 lie trapper, "to this, as well as to another of your loads." 
 
 "Do you take us for boys?" exclaimed Ishmael, laugh- 
 ing half in ferocity and half in derision, applying his 
 powerful strength at the same time to the little vehicle, 
 which rolled over the grass with as much seeming facility 
 as if it were drawn by its usual team. 
 
 The trapper paused, and followed the departing wagon 
 with his eye, marvelling greatly as to the nature of its 
 concealed contents, until it had also gained the summit of 
 the eminence, and in its turn disappeared behind the swell 
 of the land. Then he turned to gaze at the desolation of 
 the scene around him. The absence of human forms 
 would have scarce created a sensation in the bosom of one 
 so long accustomed to solitude, had not the site of the de- 
 serted camp furnished such strong memorial of its recent 
 visitors, and, as the old man was quick to detect, of their 
 waste also. He cast his eye upward, with a shake of the 
 head, at the vacant spot in the heavens which had so lately 
 
86 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 been filled by the branches of those trees that now lay 
 stripped of their verdure, worthless and deserted logs at 
 his feet. 
 
 "Ay," he muttered to himself, "I might have know'd 
 it ! Often have I seen the same before ; and yet I brought 
 them to the spot myself, and have now sent them to the 
 only neighborhood of their kind within many long leagues 
 of the spot where I now stand. This is man's wish, and 
 pride, and waste, and sinfulness ! He tames the beasts of 
 the field to feed his idle wants, and having robbed the 
 brutes of their natural food, he teaches them to strip the 
 'arth of its trees to quiet their hunger." 
 
 A rustling in the low bushes which still grew, for some 
 distance, along the swale that formed the thicket on which 
 the camp of Ishmael had rested, caught his ear at the mo- 
 ment, and cut short the soliloquy. The habits of so many 
 years spent in the wilderness caused the old man to bring his 
 rifle to a poise, with something like the activity and prompt- 
 itude of his youth ; but, suddenly recovering his recollec- 
 tion, he dropped it into the hollow of his arm again, and 
 resumed his air of melancholy resignation. 
 
 " Come forth, come forth ! " he said aloud ; "be ye bird 
 or be ye beast, ye are safe from these old hands. I have 
 eaten and I have drunk : why should I take life, when my 
 wants call for no sacrifice ? It would not be long afore 
 the birds will peck at eyes that shall not see them, and 
 perhaps light on my very bones ; for if things like these 
 are only made to perish, why am I to expect to live for- 
 ever ? Come forth, come forth ; you are safe from harm 
 at these weak hands." 
 
 " Thank you for the good word, old trapper ! " cried 
 Paul Hover, springing actively forward from his place of 
 concealment. " There was an air about you, when you 
 threw forward the muzzle of your piece, that I did not like ; 
 for it seemed to say that you were master of all the rest 
 of the motions." 
 
 " You are right, you are right ! " cried the trapper, 
 laughing with inward self-complacency at the recollection 
 of his former skill. "The day has been when few men 
 knew the virtues of a long rifle, like this I carry, better 
 than myself, old and useless as I now seem. You are 
 right, young man ; and the time was when it was danger- 
 ous to move a leaf within ear-shot of my stand ; or," he 
 added, dropping his voice and looking serious, " for a red 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 87 
 
 Mingo to show an eyeball from his ambushment. You 
 have heard of the red Mingoes ? " 
 
 "I have heard of minks," said Paul, taking the old man 
 by the arm, and gently urging him toward the thicket as 
 he spoke ; while at the same time he cast quick and un- 
 easy glances behind him in order to make sure that he 
 was not observed " of your common black minks, but 
 none of any other color." 
 
 " Lord ! Lord ! " continued the trapper, shaking his 
 head, and still laughing in his deep but quiet manner ; 
 "the boy mistakes a brute for a man ! Though a Mingo 
 is little better than a beast ; or, for that matter, he is worse 
 when rum and opportunity are placed before his eyes. 
 There was that accursed Huron from the upper lakes, that 
 I knocked from his perch among the rocks in the hills, 
 back of the Hori " 
 
 His voice was lost in the thicket, into which he had suf- 
 fered himself to be led by Paul while speaking, too much 
 occupied by thoughts which dwelt on scenes and acts that 
 had taken place half a century earlier in the history of the 
 country, to offer the smallest resistance. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go look on. That 
 dissembling abominable varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy, doting, 
 foolish young knave in his helm." TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. 
 
 IT is necessary, in order that the thread of the narra- 
 tive should not be spun to a length which might fatigue 
 the reader, that he should imagine a week to have inter- 
 vened between the scene with which the preceding chap- 
 ter closed and the events with which it is our intention to 
 resume its relation in this. The season was on the point 
 of changing its character : the verdure of summer giving 
 place more rapidly to the brown and party-colored livery 
 of the fall.* The heavens were clothed in driving clouds, 
 piled in vast masses one above the other, which whirled 
 violently in the gusts ; opening, occasionally, to admit 
 transient glimpses of the bright and glorious sight of the 
 
 * The Americans call the autumn the "fall," from the fall of the leaf. 
 
88 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 heavens dwelling in a magnificence by far too grand and 
 durable to be disturbed by the fitful efforts of the lowei 
 world. Beneath, the wind swept across the wild and 
 naked prairies with a violence that is seldom witnessed in 
 any section of the continent less open. It would have 
 been easy to have imagined, in the ages of fable, that the 
 god of the winds had permitted his subordinate agents to 
 escape from their den, and that they now rioted in wan- 
 tonness across wastes where neither tree, nor work of 
 man, nor mountain, nor obstacle of any sort, opposed it- 
 self to their gambols. 
 
 Though nakedness might, as usual, be given as the per- 
 vading character of the spot whither it is now necessary 
 to transfer the scene of the tale, it was not entirely with- 
 out the signs of human life. Amid the monotonous rolling 
 of the prairie, a single naked and ragged rock arose on 
 the margin of a little water-course which found its way, 
 after winding a vast distance through the plains, into one 
 of the numerous tributaries of the Father of Rivers. A 
 swale of low land lay near the base of the eminence, and, 
 as it was still fringed with a thicket of alders and sumach, 
 it bore the signs of having once nurtured a feeble growth 
 of wood. The trees themselves had been transferred, 
 however, to the summit and crags of the neighboring 
 rocks. On this elevation the signs of man, to which the 
 allusion just made applies, were to be found. 
 
 Seen from beneath, there were visible a breastwork of 
 logs and stones, intermingled in such a manner as to save 
 all unnecessary labor, a few low roofs made of bark and 
 boughs of trees, an occasional barrier, constructed like the 
 defences on the summit, and placed on such points of the 
 acclivity as were easier of approach than the general face 
 of the eminence ; and a little dwelMng of cloth, perched on 
 the apex of a small pyramid that shot up on one angle of 
 the rock, the white covering ot which glimmered from a 
 distance like a spot of snow, or, to make the simile more 
 suitable to the rest of the subject, like a spotless and care- 
 fully guarded standard, which was to be protected by the 
 dearest blood of those who defended the cifndel beneath. 
 It is hardly necessary to add that this rude and character- 
 istic fortress was the place where Ishmael Bush had taken 
 refuge, after the robbery of his flocks and herds. 
 
 On the day to which the narrative is advanced, the 
 squatter was standing near the base of the rocks, leaning 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 8g 
 
 on his rifle, and regarding the sterile soil that supported 
 him with a look in which contempt and disappointment 
 were strongly blended. 
 
 u Tis time to change our natur's," he observed to the 
 brother of his wife, who was rarely far from his elbow ; 
 "and to become ruminators, instead of people used to the 
 fare of Christians and free men. I reckon, Abiram, you 
 could glean a living among the grasshoppers ; you ar' an 
 active man, and might out-run the nimblest skipper of 
 them all." 
 
 "The country will never do," returned the other, who 
 relished but little the forced humor of his kinsman ; "and 
 it is well to remember that a lazy traveller makes a long 
 journey." 
 
 " Would you have me draw a cart at my heels, across 
 this desert, for weeks ay, months?" retorted Ishmael, 
 who, like all of his class, could labor with incredible efforts 
 on emergencies, but who too seldom exerted continued in- 
 dustry on any occasion to brook a proposal that offered so 
 little repose. " It may do for your people, who live in 
 settlements, to hasten on to their houses ; but, thank 
 Heaven ! my farm is too big for its owner ever to want a 
 resting-place." 
 
 " Since you like the plantation, then, you have only to 
 make your crop." 
 
 " That is easier said than done, on this corner of the es- 
 tate. I tell you, Abiram, there is need of moving, for 
 more reasons than one. You know I'm a man that very 
 seldom enters into a bargain, but who always fulfils his 
 agreements better than your dealers in wordy contracts, 
 written on rags of paper. If there's one mile, there ar' a 
 hundred still needed to make up the distance for which 
 you have my honor." 
 
 As he spoke, the squatter glanced his eye upward at the 
 little tenement of cloth, which crowned the summit of his 
 ragged fortress. The look was understood and answered 
 by the other ; and by some secret influence, which op- 
 erated either through their interests or feelings, it served 
 to re-establish that harmony between them which had just 
 been threatened with something like a momentary breach. 
 
 " I know it and feel it in every bone of my body. But 
 I remember the reason why I have set myself on this ac- 
 cursed journey too well, to forget the distance between me 
 and the end. Neither you nor I will ever be the better 
 
90 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 for what we have done, unless we thoroughly finish what 
 is so well begun. Ay, that is the doctrine of the whole 
 world, I judge ; I heard a travelling preacher, who was 
 skirting it down the Ohio, a time since, say, if a man 
 should live up to the faith for a hundred years, and then 
 fall from his work a single day, he would find the settle- 
 ment was to be made for the finishing blow that he had 
 put to his job, and that all the bad, and none of the good l 
 would come into the final account." 
 
 "And you believed the hungry hypocrite ?" 
 
 "Who said that I believed it ?" retorted Abiram, with a 
 bullying look, that betrayed how much his fears had dwelt 
 on the subject he affected to despise. " Is it believing to 
 
 tell what a roguish ? And yet, Ishmael, the man might 
 
 have been honest after all ! He told us that the world 
 was, in truth, no better than a desert, and there was but 
 one hand that could lead the most learned man through 
 all its crooked windings. Now, if this be true of the whole, 
 it may be true of a part." 
 
 " Abiram, out with your grievances like a man," inter- 
 rupted the squatter, with a hoarse laugh. "You want to 
 pray ! But of what use will it be, according to your own 
 doctrine, to serve God five minutes and the devil an hour? 
 Harkee, friend ; I'm not much of a husbandman, but this 
 I know to my cost : that to make a right good crop, even 
 on the richest bottom, there must be hard labor ; and your 
 snufBers liken the 'arth to a field of corn, and the men 
 who live on it to its yield. Now I tell you, Abiram, that 
 you are no better than a thistle or a mullein ; yea, ye ar' a 
 wood of too open a pore to be good even to burn." 
 
 The malign glance which shot from the scowling eye of 
 Abiram announced the angry character of his feelings ; 
 but, as the furtive look quailed immediately before the un- 
 moved, steady countenance of the squatter, it also betrayed 
 how much the bolder spirit of the latter had obtained the 
 mastery over his craven nature. 
 
 Content with his ascendency, which was too apparent, 
 and had been often exerted on similar occasions, to leave 
 him in any doubt of its extent, Ishmael coolly continued 
 the discourse, by adverting more directly to his future 
 plans. 
 
 " You will own the justice of paying every one in kind," 
 he said. " I have been robbed of my stock, and I have 3 
 scheme to make myself as good as before, by taking hoof 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 91 
 
 for hoof ; or, for that matter, when a man is put to the 
 trouble of bargaining for both sides, he is a fool if he don't 
 pay himself something in the way of commission." 
 
 As the squatter made this declaration, in a tone which 
 was a little excited by the humor of the moment, four or 
 five of his lounging sons, who had been leaning against 
 the foot of the rock, came forward with the indolent step 
 so common to the family. 
 
 " I have been calling Ellen Wade, who is on the rock 
 keeping the lookout, to know if there is anything to be 
 seen," observed the eldest of the young men ; " and she 
 shakes her head, for an answer. Ellen is sparing of her 
 words for a woman, and might be taught manners, at least, 
 without spoiling her good looks." 
 
 Ishmael cast his eyes upward to the place where the 
 offending but unconscious girl was holding her anxious 
 watch. She was seated at the edge of the uppermost crag, 
 by the side of the little tent, and at least two hundred feet 
 above the level of the plain. Little else was to be distin- 
 guished, at that distance, but the outline of her form, her 
 fair hair streaming in the gusts beyond her shoulders, and 
 the steady and seemingly unchangeable look that she riv- 
 eted on some remote point of the prairie. 
 
 " What is it, Nell ? " cried Ishmael, lifting his powerful 
 voice a little above the rushing of the element. " Have 
 you got a glimpse of anything bigger than a burrowing 
 barker ? " 
 
 The lips of the attentive Ellen parted ; she rose to the 
 utmost height her small stature admitted, seeming still to 
 regard the unknown object ; but her voice, if she spoke at 
 all, was not sufficiently loud to be heard amid the wind. 
 
 " It ar' a fact that the child sees something more un- 
 common than a buffalo or a prairie-dog!" continued 
 Ishmael : " Why, Nell, girl, ar' ye deaf ? Nell, I say ! 
 I hope it is an army of red-skins she has in her eye ; for I 
 should relish the chance to pay them for their kindness, 
 under the favor of these logs and rocks ! " 
 
 As the squatter accompanied his vaunt with correspond- 
 ing gestures, and directed his eyes to the circle of his 
 equally confident sons while speaking, he drew their gaze 
 from Ellen to himself ; but now, when they turned to- 
 gether to note the succeeding movements of their female 
 sentinel, the place which had so lately been occupied by 
 her form was vacant. 
 
9 2 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " As I am a sinner," exclaimed Asa, usually one of the 
 most phlegmatic of the youths, " the girl is blown away by 
 the wind ! " 
 
 Something like a sensation was exhibited among them, 
 which might have denoted that the influence of the laugh- 
 ing blue eyes, flaxen hair, and glowing cheeks of Ellen, 
 had not been lost on the dull natures of the young men, 
 and looks of amazement, mingled slightly with concern, 
 passed from one to the other as they gazed, in dull wonder, 
 at the point of the naked rock. 
 
 " It might well be ! " added another ; " she sat on a 
 slivered stone, and I have been thinking of telling her she 
 was in danger for more than an hour." 
 
 " Is that a ribbon of the child, dangling from the corner 
 of the hill below ?" cried Ishmael ; " ha ! who is moving 
 about the tent ? Have I not told you all " 
 
 " Ellen ! 'tis Ellen ! " interrupted the whole body of his 
 sons in a breath, and at that instant she reappeared, to put 
 an end to their different surmises, and to relieve more than 
 one sluggish nature from its unwonted excitement. As 
 Ellen issued from beneath the folds of the tent, she ad- 
 vanced with a light and fearless step to her former giddy 
 stand, and pointed toward the prairie, appearing to speak 
 in an eager and rapid voice to some invisible auditor. 
 
 " Nell is mad ! " said Asa, half in contempt, and yet not 
 a little in concern. " The girl is dreaming with her eyes 
 open ; and thinks she sees some of them fierce creatur's, 
 with hard names, with which the doctor fills her ears." 
 
 " Can it be that the child has found a scout of the 
 Siouxes?" said Ishmael, bending his look toward the 
 plain ; but a low, significant whisper from Abiram drew 
 his eyes quickly upward again, where they were turned 
 just in time to perceive that the cloth of the tent was 
 agitated by a motion very evidently different from the 
 quivering occasioned by the wind. " Let her, if she 
 dare ! " the squatter muttered in his teeth. "Abiram, they 
 know my temper too well to play the prank with me ! " 
 
 " Look for yourself ! If the curtain is not lifted, I can 
 see no better than the owl by daylight." 
 
 Ishmael struck the breech of his rifle violently on the 
 earth, and shouted, in a voice that might easily have been 
 heard by Ellen, had not her attention still continued rapt 
 on the object which so unaccountably attracted her eyes in 
 ihe distance. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 93 
 
 " Nell ! " continued the squatter, " away with you, fool ; 
 Will you bring down punishment on your own head ? 
 Why, Nell ! She has forgotten her native speech ; let us 
 see if she can understand another language." 
 
 Ishmael threw his rifle to his shoulder, and at the next 
 moment it was pointed upward at the summit of the rock. 
 Before time was given for a word of remonstrance, it had 
 sent forth its contents, in its usual streak of bright flame. 
 Ellen started like the frightened chamois, and, uttering a 
 piercing scream, she darted into the tent with a swiftness 
 that left it uncertain whether terror or actual injury had 
 been the penalty of her offence. 
 
 The action of the squatter was too sudden and unex- 
 pected to admit of prevention ; but, the instant it was 
 done, his sons manifested, in an unequivocal manner, the 
 temper with which they witnessed the desperate measure. 
 Angry and fierce glances were interchanged, and a 
 murmur of disapprobation was uttered by the whole in 
 common. 
 
 " What has Ellen done, father," said Asa, with a degree 
 of spirit which was the more striking from being unusual, 
 " that she should be shot at like a straggling deer or a 
 hungry wolf ? " 
 
 " Mischief," deliberately returned the squatter ; but with 
 a cool expression of defiance in his eye, that showed how 
 little he was moved by the ill-concealed humor of his chil- 
 dren. "Mischief, boy mischief! Take you heed that 
 the disorder don't spread ! " 
 
 " It would need a different treatment in a man than in 
 yon screaming girl." 
 
 " Asa, you ar' a man> as you have often boasted ; but 
 remember, I am your father, and your better." 
 
 " I know it well ; and what sort of a father ? " 
 
 " Harkee. boy ; I more than half believe that your 
 drowsy head let in the Siouxes. Be modest in speech, 
 my watchful son, or you may hav^ to answer yet for the 
 mischief your own bad conduct has brought upon us." 
 
 " I'll stay no longer, to be hectored Mke a child in petti- 
 coats. You talk of law, as if you knew of none, and yet 
 you keep me down as though I had not life and wants of 
 my own. I'll stay no longer to be treated like one of your 
 meanest cattle ! " 
 
 " The world is wide, my gallant boy, and there's many a 
 noble plantation on it, without a tenant. Go ; you have 
 
94 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 title-deeds signed and sealed to your hand. Few fathers 
 portion their children better than Ishmael Bush ; you will 
 say that for me at least, when you get to be a wealthy 
 landholder." 
 
 " Look ! father, look ! " exclaimed several voices at once, 
 seizing with avidity an opportunity to interrupt a dialogue 
 which threatened to become more violent. 
 
 " Look ! " repeated Abiram, in a voice which sounded 
 hollow and warning ; " if you have time for anything but 
 quarrels, Ishmael, look ! " 
 
 The squatter turned slowly from his offending son, 
 and cast an eye that still lowered with deep resentment 
 upward ; but which, the instant it caught a view of the 
 object that now attracted the attention of all around him, 
 changed its expression to one of astonishment and dis- 
 may. 
 
 A female stood on the spot from which Ellen had been 
 so fearfully expelled. Her person was of the smallest 
 size that is believed to comport with beauty, and which 
 poets and artists have chosen as the beau ideal of female 
 loveliness. Her dress was of a dark and glossy silk, and 
 fluttered like gossamer around her form. Long, flowing, 
 and curling tresses of hair, still blacker and more shining 
 than her robe, fell at times about her shoulders, complete- 
 ly enveloping the whole of her delicate bust in their ring- 
 lets ; or at others streaming in the wind. The elevation 
 at which she stood prevented a close examination of the 
 lineaments of a countenance which, however, it might be 
 seen was youthful, and, at the moment of her unlooked- 
 for appearance, eloquent with feeling. So young, indeed, 
 did this fair and fragile being appear, that it might be 
 doubted whether the age of childhood was entirely passed. 
 One small and exquisitely moulded hand was pressed on 
 her heart, while with the other she made an impressive 
 gesture, which seemed to invite Ishmael, if further vio- 
 lence was meditated, to direct it against her bosom. 
 
 The silent wonder with which the group of borderers 
 gazed upward at so extraordinary a spectacle was only 
 interrupted as the person of Ellen was seen emerging with 
 timidity from the tent, as if equally urged by apprehen- 
 sions in behalf of herself, and the fears which she felt on 
 account of her companion, to remain concealed and to 
 advance. She spoke, but her words were unheard by those 
 below, and unheeded by her to whom they were addressed 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 95 
 
 The latter, however, as if content with the offer she had 
 made of herself as a victim to the resentment of Ishmael, 
 now calmly retired, and the spot she had so lately occupied 
 became vacant, leaving a sort of stupid impression on the 
 spectators beneath, not unlike that which it might be sup- 
 posed would have been created had they just been gazing 
 at some supernatural vision. 
 
 More than a minute of profound silence succeeded, dur- 
 ing which the sons of Ishmael still continued gazing at the 
 naked rock in stupid wonder. Then, as eye met eye, an 
 expression of novel intelligence passed from one to the 
 other, indicating that to them, at least, the appearance of 
 this extraordinary tenant of the pavilion was as unexpected 
 as it was incomprehensible. At length Asa, in right of 
 his years, and moved by the rankling impulse of the recent 
 quarrel, took on himself the office of interrogator. Instead, 
 however, of braving the resentment of his father, of whose 
 fierce nature, when aroused, he had had too frequent evi- 
 dence to excite it wantonly, he turned upon the cowering 
 person of Abiram, observing with a sneer : 
 
 " This, then, is the beast you were bringing into the 
 prairies for a decoy ! I know you to be a man who seldom 
 troubles truth when anything worse may answer, but I 
 never knew you to outdo yourself so thoroughly before. 
 The newspapers of Kentuck have called you a dealer in 
 black flesh a hundred times, but little did they reckon that 
 you drove the trade into white families." 
 
 " Who is a kidnapper ? " demanded Abiram, with a blus- 
 tering show of resentment. " Am I to be called to account 
 for every lie they put in print throughout the States ? 
 Look to your own family, boy ; look to yourselves. The 
 very stumps of Kentucky and Tennessee cry out agin ye. 
 Ay, my tonguey gentleman, I have seen father and mother 
 and three children, yourself for one, published on the logs 
 and stubs of the settlements, with dollars enough for re- 
 ward to have made an honest man rich, for 
 
 He was interrupted by a back-handed but violent blow 
 on the mouth that caused -him to totter, and which left the 
 impression of its weight in the starting blood and swell- 
 ing lips. 
 
 " Asa," said the father, advancing with a portion of that 
 dignity with which the hand of Nature seems to have in- 
 vested the parental character, " you have struck the brother 
 of your mother ! " 
 
96 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 "I have struck the abuserof the whole family," returned 
 the angry youth ; " and, unless he teaches his tongue a 
 wiser language, he had better part with it altogether as the 
 unruly member. I'm no great performer with the knife, 
 but on an occasion could make out, myself, to cut off a 
 slande " 
 
 " Boy, twice have you forgotten yourself to-day. Be 
 careful that it does not happen the third time. When the 
 law of the land is weak, it is right the law of Nature should 
 be strong. You understand me, Asa ; and you know me. 
 As for you, Abiram, the child has done you wrong, and it 
 is my place to see you righted. Remember, I tell you 
 justice shall be done; it is enough. But you have said 
 hard things ag'in me and my family. If the hounds of the 
 law have put their bills on the trees and stumps of the 
 clearing, it was for no act of dishonesty, as you know, but 
 because we maintain the rule that 'arth is common prop- 
 erty. No, Abiram ; could I wash my hands of things done 
 by your advice, as easily as I can of the things done by the 
 whisperings of the devil, my sleep would be quieter at 
 night, and none who bear my name need blush to hear it 
 mentioned. Peace, Asa, and you too, man ; enough has 
 been said. Let us all think well before anything is added 
 that may make what is already so bad still more bitter." 
 
 Ishmael waved his hand with authority, as he ended, 
 and turned away with the air of one who felt assured that 
 those he had addressed would not have the temerity to 
 dispute his commands. Asa evidently struggled with him- 
 self to compel the required obedience, but his heavy na- 
 ture quietly sank into its ordinary repose, and he soon ap- 
 peared again the being he really was dangerous only at 
 moments, and one whose passions were too sluggish to be 
 long maintained at the point of ferocity. Not so with 
 Abiram. While there was an appearance of a personal 
 conflict between him and his colossal nephew, his mien 
 had expressed the infallible evidences of engrossix> appre- 
 hension ; but now that the authority as well 2.5 gigantic 
 strength of the father were interposed between him and 
 his assailant, his countenance changed from paleness to a 
 livid hue, that bespoke how deeply the injury he had re- 
 ceived rankled in his breast. Like Asa. however, he ac- 
 quiesced in the decision of the squatter ; and the appear- 
 ance, at least, of harmony was restored again among a set 
 of beings who were restrained by no obligations more 
 
JHE PRAIRIE. 97 
 
 powerful than the frail web of authority with which Ish- 
 mael had been able to envelop his children. 
 
 One effect of the quarrel had been to divert the thoughts 
 of the young men from their recent visitor. With the dis- 
 pute that succeeded the disappearance of the fair stranger, 
 all recollection of her existence appeared to have vanished. 
 A few ominous and secret conferences, it is true, were held 
 apart, during which the direction of the eyes of the dif- 
 ferent speakers betrayed their subject ; but these threaten- 
 ing symptoms soon disappeared, and the whole party was 
 again seen broken into its usual listless, silent, and loung- 
 ing groups. 
 
 " I will go upon the rocks, boys, and look abroad for 
 the savages," said Ishmael, shortly after, advancing toward 
 them with a mien which he intended should be conciliat- 
 ing at the same time that it was authoritative. " If there is 
 nothing to fear, we will go out on the plain ; the day is 
 too good to be lost in words, like women in the towns 
 wrangling over their tea and sugared cakes." 
 
 Without waiting for approbation or dissent, the squatter 
 advanced to the base of the rock, which formed a sort of 
 perpendicular wall, nearly twenty feet high, around the 
 whole'acclivity. Ishmael, however, directed his footsteps 
 to a point where an ascent might be made through a nar- 
 row cleft, which he had. taken the precaution to fortify 
 with a breastwork of cotton-wood logs, and which, in its 
 turn, was defended by a chevaux-de frise of the branches 
 of the same tree. Here an armed man was usually kept, 
 as at the key of the whole position, and here one of the 
 young men now stood, indolently leaning against the rock, 
 ready to protect the pass, if it should prove necessary, 
 until the whole party could be mustered at the several 
 points of defence. 
 
 From this place the squatter found the ascent still dif- 
 ficult, partly by nature, and partly by artificial impediments, 
 until he reached a sort of terrace, or, to speak more prop- 
 erly, the plain of the elevation, where he had established 
 the huts in which the whole family dwelt. These tene- 
 ments were, as already mentioned, of that class which are 
 so often seen on the borders, and such as belonged to the 
 infancy of architecture ; being simply formed of logs, bark, 
 and poles. The area on which they stood contained sev- 
 eral hundred square feet, and was sufficiently elevated 
 above the plain greatly to lessen, if not to remove, all dan- 
 
9 3 THE PR A 1X1 fr. 
 
 ger from Indian missiles. Here Ishmael believed he might 
 leave his infants in comparative security, under the pro- 
 tection of their spirited mother ; and here he now found 
 Esther engaged at her ordinary domestic employments, 
 surrounded by her daughters, and lifting her voice, in de- 
 clamatory censure, as one or another of the idle fry in- 
 curred her displeasure, and far too much engrossed with 
 the tempest of her own conversation to know anything of 
 the violent scene which had been passing below. 
 
 " A fine windy place you have chosen for the camp, Ish- 
 mael ! " she commenced, or rather continued, by merely 
 diverting the attack from a sobbing girl of ten, at her elbow, 
 to her husband. " My word ! if I haven't to count the 
 young ones every ten minutes, to see they are not flying 
 away among the buzzards or the ducks. Why do ye all 
 keep hovering round the rock, like lolloping reptiles in 
 the spring, when the heavens are beginning to be alive 
 with birds, man ? D'ye think mouths can be filled, and 
 hunger satisfied, by laziness and sleep ? " 
 
 "You'll have your say, Esther," said the husband, using 
 the provincial pronunciation of America for the name, and 
 regarding his noisy companions with a look of habitual 
 tolerance rather than of affection. "But the birds you 
 shall have, if your own tongue don't frighten them to take 
 too high a flight. Ay, woman," he continued, standing on 
 the very spot whence he had so rudely banished Ellen, 
 which he had by this time gained, " and buffalo, too, if my 
 eye can tell the animal at the distance of a Spanish league." 
 
 " Come down ; come down, and be doing, instead of talk- 
 ing. A talking man is no better than a barking dog. 
 Nell shall hang out the cloth, if any of the red-skins show 
 themselves, in time to give you notice. But, Ishmael, 
 what have you been killing, my man ? for it was your 
 rifle I heard a few minutes agone, unless I have lost my 
 skill in sounds." 
 
 " Pooh ! 'twas to frighten the hawk you see sailing 
 above the rock." 
 
 " Hawk, indeed ! at your time of day to be shooting at 
 hawks and buzzards, with eighteen open mouths to feed. 
 Look at the bee, and at the beaver, my good man, and learn 
 to be a provider. Why, Ishmael ! I believe my soul," she 
 continued, dropping the tow she was twisting on a distaff, 
 " the man is in that tent ag'in ! More than half his time 
 is spent about the worthless, good-for-nothine 
 
THE PRAIRIE. -ft 
 
 The sudden reappearance of her husband closed the 
 mouth of the wife, and, as the former descended to the 
 place where Esther had resumed her employment, she was 
 content to grumble forth her dissatisfaction, instead of ex- 
 pressing it in more audible terms. 
 
 The dialogue that now took place between the affec- 
 tionate pair was sufficiently succinct and expressive. The 
 woman was at first a little brief and sullen in her answers, 
 but care for her family soon rendered her more complai- 
 sant. As the purport of the conversation was merely an 
 engagement to hunt during the remainder of the day, in 
 order to provide the chief necessary of life, we shall not 
 stop to record it. 
 
 With this resolution, then, the squatter descended to the 
 plain and divided his forces into two parts, one of which 
 was to remain as a guard with the fortress, and the other to 
 accompany him to the field. He warily included Asa and 
 Abiram in his own party, well knowing that no authority 
 short of his own was competent to repress the fierce dis- 
 position of his headlong son, if fairly awakened. When 
 these arrangements were completed, the hunters sallied 
 forth, separating at no great distance from the rock, in 
 order to form a circle about the distant hereof buffaloes. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " Priscian a little scratched ; 
 'Twill serve." LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST. 
 
 HAVING made the reader acquainted with the manner in 
 which Ishmael Bush had disposed of his family, under 
 circumstances that might have proved so embarrassing to 
 most other men, we shall again shift the scene a few short 
 miles from the place last described, preserving, however, 
 the due and natural succession of time. At the very mo- 
 ment that the squatter and his sons departed in the man- 
 ner mentioned in the preceding chapter, two men were 
 intently occupied in a swale that lay along the borders of 
 a little run, just out of cannon-shot from the encampment, 
 discussing the merits of a savory bison's hump, that had 
 been prepared tor their palates with the utmost attention 
 to the particular merits of that description of food. The 
 
ioo THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 choice morsel had been judiciously separated from tha 
 adjoining and less worthy parts of the beast, and, enve- 
 loped in the hairy coating provided by Nature, it had duly 
 undergone the heat of the customary subterraneous oven, 
 and was now laid before its proprietors in all the culinary 
 glory of the prairies. So far as richness, delicacy, and 
 wildness of flavor, and substantial nourishment were corf- 
 cerned, the viand might well have claimed a decided supe 
 riority over the meretricious cookery and labored com. 
 pounds of the most renowned artist ; though the service 
 of the dainty was certainly achieved in a manner far from 
 artificial. It would appear that the two fortunate mortals, 
 to whose happy lot it fell to enjoy a meal in which health 
 and appetite lent so keen a relish to the exquisite food of 
 the American deserts, were far from being insensible of 
 the advantage they possessed. 
 
 The one to whose knowledge in the culinary art the 
 other was indebted for his banquet, seemed the least dis- 
 posed of the two to profit by his own skill. He ate, it is 
 true, and with a relish ; but it was always with the moder- 
 ation with which age is apt to temper the appetite. No 
 such restraint, however, was imposed on the inclination 
 of his companion. In the very flower of his days and in 
 the vigor of manhood, the homage that he paid to the 
 work of his more aged friend's hands was of the most pro- 
 found and engrossing character. As one delicious morsel 
 succeeded another he rolled his eyes toward his companion, 
 and seemed to express that gratitude which he had not 
 speech to utter, in looks of the most benignant nature. 
 
 "Cut more into the heart of it, lad," said the trapper, 
 for it was the venerable inhabitant of those vast wastes who 
 had served the bee-hunter with the banquet in question ; 
 " cut more into the centre of the piece ; there you will 
 find the genuine riches of natur' ; and that without need 
 from spices, or any of your biting mustard, to give it a 
 foreign relish." 
 
 " If I had but a cup of metheglin," said Paul, stopping 
 to perform the necessary operation of breathing, " I should 
 swear this was the strongest meal that was ever placed be- 
 fore the mouth of man ! " 
 
 "Ay, ay, well you may call it strong!" returned the 
 other laughing after his peculiar manner, in pure satis- 
 faction at witnessing the infinite contentment of his com- 
 panion " strong it is, and string it makes him who eats 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 101 
 
 it ! Here, Hector," tossing the patient hound, who was 
 watching his eye with a wistful look, a portion of the meat, 
 " you have need of strength, my friend, in your old days 
 as well as your master. Now, lad, there is a dog that has 
 eaten and slept wiser and better, ay, and that of richer 
 food, than any king of them all, and why ? because he has 
 used and not abused the gifts of his Maker. He was made 
 a hound, and like a hound has he feasted. Them did He 
 create men ; but they have eaten like famished wolves ! A 
 
 food and prudent dog has Hector proved, and never have 
 found one of his breed false in nose or friendship. Do 
 you know the difference between the cookery of the wil- 
 derness and that which is found in the settlements ? No ! 
 I see plainly you don't, by your appetite ; then I will tell 
 you. The one follows men, the other Natur'. One thinks 
 he can add to the gifts of the Creator, while the other is 
 humble enough to enjoy them ; therein lies the secret." 
 
 " I tell you, trapper," said Paul, who was very little edi- 
 fied by the morality with which his associate saw fit to 
 season their repast, "that every day while we are in this 
 place, and they are likely to be many, I will shoot a buffalo 
 and you shall cook his hump ! " 
 
 " I cannot say that, I cannot say that. The beast is 
 good, take him in what part you will, and it was to be food 
 for man that he was fashioned ; but I cannot say that I 
 will be a witness and a helper to the waste of killing one 
 daily." 
 
 " The devil a bit of waste shall there be, old man. If 
 they all turn out as good as this, I will engage to eat them 
 clean myself, even to the hoofs. How now, who comes 
 here ! some one with a long nose, I will answer ; and one 
 that has led him on a true scent, if he is following the trail 
 of a dinner." 
 
 The individual who interrupted the conversation, and 
 who had elicited the foregoing remark of Paul, was seen 
 advancing along the margin of the run with a deliberate 
 pace, in a direct line for the two revellers. As there was 
 nothing formidable nor hostile in his appearance, the bee 
 hunter, instead of suspending his operations, rather in- 
 creased his efforts, in a manner which would seem to imply 
 that he doubted whether the hump would suffice for the 
 proper entertainment of all who were now likely to par- 
 take of the delicious morsel. With the trapper, however, 
 the case was different. His more tempered appetite was 
 
102 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 already satisfied, and he faced the new-comer with a look 
 of cordiality that plainly evinced how very opportune he 
 considered his arrival. 
 
 " Come on, friend," he said, waving his hand, as he ob- 
 served the stranger to pause a moment, apparently in 
 doubt. " Come on, I say ; if hunger be your guide, it 
 has led you to a fitting place. Here is meat, and this 
 youth can give you corn, parched till it be whiter than 
 the upland snow ; come on, without fear. We are not 
 ravenous beasts, eating of each other, but Christian men, 
 receiving thankfully that which the Lord hath seen fit to 
 give." 
 
 " Venerable hunter," returned the doctor, for it was no 
 other than the naturalist on one of his daily exploring ex- 
 peditions, " I rejoice greatly at this happy meeting ; we 
 are lovers of the same pursuits, and should be friends." 
 
 " Lord, Lord ! " said the old man, laughing, without 
 much deference to the rules of decorum, in the philoso- 
 phers face, " it is the man who wanted to make me believe 
 that a name could change the natur' of a beast ! Come, 
 friend, you are welcome, though your notions are a little 
 blinded with reading too many books. Sit ye down, and, 
 after eating of this morsel, tell me, if you can, the name 
 of the creatur' that has bestowed on you its flesh for a 
 meal?" 
 
 The eyes of Dr. Battius (for we deem it decorous to give 
 the good man the appellation he most preferred) the eyes 
 of Dr. Battius sufficiently denoted the satisfaction with 
 which he listened to this proposal. The exercise he had 
 taken, and the sharpness of the wind, proved excellent 
 stimulants ; and Paul himself had hardly been in better 
 plight to do credit to the trapper's cookery, than was the 
 lover of nature, when the grateful invitation met his ears. 
 Indulging in a small laugh, which his exertions to repress 
 reduced nearly to a simper, he took the indicated seat by 
 the old man's side, and made the customary dispositions to 
 commence his meal without further ceremony. 
 
 " I should be ashamed of my profession," he said, swal- 
 lowing a morsel of the hump with evident delight, slyly 
 endeavoring at the same time to distinguish the peculiar- 
 ities of the singed and defaced skin, " I ought to be 
 ashamed of my profession, were there beast or bird, on the 
 continent of America, that I could not tell by some one of 
 the many evidences which science has enlisted in her cause* 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 103 
 
 This then the food is nutritious and savory a mouth- 
 ful of your corn, friend, if you please ? " 
 
 Paul, who continued eating with increasing industry, 
 looking askant not unlike a dog when engaged in the same 
 agreeable pursuit, threw him his pouch, without deeming 
 it at all necessary to suspend his own labors. 
 
 " You were saying, friend, that you have many ways of 
 telling the creatur' ? " observed the attentive trapper. 
 
 " Many many and infallible. Now, the animals that 
 ^re carnivorous are known by their incisores." 
 
 " Their what ? " demanded the trapper. 
 
 "The teeth with which Nature has furnished them for 
 defence, and in order to tear their food. Again 
 
 "Look you then for the teeth of this creatur'/' inter- 
 rupted the trapper, who was bent on convicting a man who 
 had presumed to enter into competition with himself, in 
 matters pertaining to the wilds, of gross ignorance ; "turn 
 the piece round and find your insideovers." 
 
 The doctor complied, and of course without success : 
 though he profited by the occasion to take another fruit- 
 less glance at the wrinkled hide. 
 
 " Well, friend, do you find the things you need, before 
 you can pronounce the creatur' a duck or a salmon ? " 
 
 " I apprehend the entire animal is not here ?" 
 
 " You may well say as much," cried Paul, who was now 
 compelled to pause from pure repletion ; "I will answer 
 for some pounds of the fellow, weighed by the truest steel- 
 yards west of the Alleghanies. Still you make out to keep 
 soul and body together with what is left," reluctantly eying 
 a piece large enough to feed twenty men, but which he felt 
 compelled to abandon from satiety ; " cut in nigher to the 
 heart, as the old man says, and you will find the riches of 
 the piece." 
 
 "The heart ! " exclaimed the doctor, inwardly delighted 
 to learn there was a distinct organ to be submitted to his 
 inspection. " Ay, let me see the heart it will at once de- 
 termine the character of the animal certes this is not the 
 cor ay, sure enough it is the animal must be of the 
 order Bellwz, from its obese habits ! " 
 
 He was interrupted by a long and hearty, but still a 
 noiseless fit of merriment from the trapper, which was 
 considered so ill-timed by the offended naturalist, as to 
 produce an instant cessation of speech, if not a stagnation 
 of ideas. 
 
104 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " Listen to his beasts' habits and belly orders," said th& 
 old man, delighted with the evident embarrassment of his 
 rival ; " and then he says it is not the core ! Why, man, 
 you are further from the truth than you are from the set- 
 tlements, with all your bookish laming and hard words, 
 w T hich I have, once for all, said cannot be understood by 
 any tribe or nation east of the Rocky Mountains. Beastly 
 habits or no beastly habits, the creatur's are to be seen 
 cropping the prairies by tens of thousands, and the piece 
 in your hand is the core of as juicy a buffalo-hump as 
 stomach need crave ! " 
 
 11 My aged companion," said Obed, struggling to keep 
 down a rising irascibility that he conceived would ill com- 
 port with the dignity of his character, " your system is er- 
 roneous, from the premises to the conclusion ; and your 
 classification so faulty, as to confound the distinctions of 
 science. The buffalo is not gifted with a hump at all ; nor 
 is his flesh savory and wholesome, as I must acknowledge 
 it would seem the subject before us may well be character- 
 ized " 
 
 " There I'm dead against you, and clearly with the trap- 
 per," interrupted Paul Hover. " The man who denies 
 that buffalo-beef is good, should scorn to eat it ! " * 
 
 The doctor, whose observation of the bee-hunter had 
 hitherto been exceedingly cursory, stared at the new 
 speaker with a look which denoted something like recog- 
 nition. 
 
 *' The principal characteristics of your countenance, 
 friend," he said, "are familiar ; either you, or some other 
 specimen of your class, is known to me." 
 
 "I am the man you met in the woods east of the big 
 river, and whom you tried to persuade to line a yellow 
 hornet to his nest ; as if my eye was not too true to mis- 
 take any other animal for a honey-bee, in a clear day ? We 
 tarried together a week, as you may remember ; you at 
 your toads and lizards, and I at my high holes and hollow 
 trees ; and a good job we made of it between us ! I filled 
 my tubs with the sweetest honey I ever sent to the settle- 
 ments, besides housing a dozen hives ; and your bag was 
 near bursting with a crawling museum. I never was bold 
 
 * It is scarcely necessary to tell the reader that the animal so often al- 
 luded to in this book, and which is vulgarly called the buffalo, is in truth 
 the bison ; hence so many contrc-temps between the men of the prairiei 
 and the men of science. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 105 
 
 enough to put the question to your face, stranger, but I 
 reckon you are a keeper of curiosities ? " * 
 
 " Ay ! that is another of their wanton wickednesses ! " ex 
 claimed the trapper. " They slay the buck and the moose, 
 and the wild-cat, and all the beasts that range the woods, 
 and stuffing them with worthless rags, and placing eyes o{ 
 glass into their heads, they set them up to be stared at, 
 and call them the creatur's of the Lord ; as if any mortal 
 effigy could equal the works of His hand ! " 
 
 " I know you well ! " returned the doctor, on whom the 
 plaint of the old man produced no visible impression. " I 
 know you," offering his hand cordially to Paul ; " it was a 
 prolific week, as my herbal and catalogues shall one day 
 prove. Ay, I remember you well, young man. You are 
 of the class, mammalia ; order, primates ; genus, homo ; 
 species, Kentucky." Pausing to smile at his own humor, 
 the naturalist proceeded : " Since our separation, I have 
 journeyed far, having entered into a compactum or agree- 
 ment with a certain man named Ishmael " 
 
 " Bush ! " interrupted the impatient and reckless Paul. 
 " By the Lord, trapper, this is the very bloodletter that 
 .Ellen told me of ! " 
 
 " Then Nelly has not done me credit for what I trust I 
 deserve," returned the single-minded doctor, " for I am 
 not of the phlebotomizing school at all ; greatly preferring 
 the practice which purifies the blood instead of abstract- 
 ing it." 
 
 "It was a blunder of mine, good stranger; the girl 
 called you a skilful man." 
 
 " Therein she may have exceeded my merits," Dr. 
 Battius continued, bowing with sufficient meekness. " But 
 Ellen is a good, and a kind, and a spirited girl, too. 
 A kind and a sweet girl I have ever found Nelly Wade 
 to be ! " 
 
 "The devil you have ! " cried Paul, dropping the morsel 
 he was sucking, from, sheer reluctance to abandon the 
 
 * The pursuit of a bee-hunter is not uncommon on the skirts of Ameri- 
 can society, though it is a little embellished here. When the bees are 
 seen sucking the flowers, their pursuer contrives to capture one or two. 
 He then chooses a proper spot, and, suffering one to escape, the insect in- 
 variably takes its flight toward the hive. Changing his ground to a greater 
 or less distance, according to circumstances, the bee-hunter then permits 
 another to escape. Having watched the courses of the bees, which is tech 
 nically called lining, he is enabled to calculate the intersecting angle of the 
 two lines, which is the hive. 
 
106 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 hump, and casting a fierce and direct look into the verj 
 teeth of the unconscious physician. " I reckon, stranger, 
 you have a mind to bag Ellen, too ! " 
 
 " The riches of the whole vegetable and animal world 
 would not tempt me to harm a hair of her head ! I love the 
 childe, with what may be called amor naturalis or rather 
 pater nus the affection of a father." 
 
 " Ay that, indeed, is more befitting the difference in 
 your years," Paul coolly rejoined, stretching forth his 
 hand to regain the rejected morsel. "You would be no 
 better than a drone, at your time of day, with a young 
 hive to feed and swarm." 
 
 " Yes, there is reason, because there is natur', in what 
 he says," observed the trapper ; "but, friend, you have 
 said you were a dweller in the camp of one Ishmael 
 Bush?" 
 
 " True ; it is in virtue of a compactum " 
 
 " I know but little of the virtue of packing, though I 
 follow trapping, in my old age, for a livelihood. They tell 
 me that skins are well kept in the new fashion ; but it is 
 long since I have left off killing more than I need for food 
 and garments. I was an eye-witness, myself, of the mail' 
 ner in which the Siouxes broke into your encampment, 
 and drove off the cattle ; stripping the poor man you call 
 Ishmael of his smallest hoofs, counting even the cloven 
 feet." 
 
 " A sinus excepted," muttered the doctor, who by this 
 time was discussing his portion of the hump, in utter for- 
 getf ulness of all its scientific attributes "asinus domesticus 
 Americanus excepted." 
 
 " I am glad to hear that so many of them are saved, 
 though I know not the value of the animals you name ; 
 which is nothing uncommon, seeing how long it is that I 
 have been out of the settlements. But can you tell me 
 friend, what the traveller carries under the white cloth he 
 guards with teeth as sharp as a wolf that quarrels for the 
 carcass the hunter has left ?" 
 
 " You've heard of it ! " exclaimed the other, dropping 
 the morsel he was conveying to his mouth in manifest 
 surprise. 
 
 " Nay, I have heard nothing ; but I have seen the cloth, 
 and had like to have been bitten for no greater crime than 
 wishing to know what it covered." 
 
 " Bitten ! then, after all, the animal must be carnivor- 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 107 
 
 oust It is too tranquil for the Ur'sus hortidus ; if it were 
 the Cants 'latrans, the voice would betray it. Nor would 
 Nelly Wade be so familiar with any of the genus Fera. 
 Venerable hunter ! the solitary animal confined in that 
 wagon by day, and in the tent at night, has occasioned me 
 more perplexity of mind than the whole catalogue of 
 quadrupeds besides ; and for this plain reason : I did not 
 know how to class it." 
 
 " You think it a ravenous beast ? " 
 
 " I know it to be a quadruped : your own danger proves 
 it to be carnivorous." 
 
 During this broken explanation Paul Hover had sat 
 silent and thoughtful, regarding each speaker with deep 
 attention. But, suddenly moved by the manner of the 
 doctor, the latter had scarcely time to utter his positive 
 assertion, before the young man bluntly demanded : 
 
 "And pray, friend, what may you call a quadruped ?" 
 
 " A vagary of Nature, wherein she has displayed less of 
 her infinite wisdom than is usual ? Could rotary levers 
 be substituted for two of the limbs, agreeably to the im- 
 provement in my new order of phalangacrura, which 
 might be rendered into the vernacular as lever-legged, 
 there would be a delightful protection and harmony in the 
 construction. But as the quadruped is now formed, I 
 call it a mere vagary of Nature ; no other than a vagary." 
 
 " Harkee, stranger! in Kentucky we are but small 
 dealers in dictionaries. Vagary is as hard a word to turn 
 into English as quadruped." 
 
 " A quadruped is an animal with four legs a beast." 
 
 "A beast! Do you then reckon that Ishmael Bush 
 travels with a beast caged in that wagon ? " 
 
 " I know it ; and lend me your ear not literally, friend," 
 observing Paul to start and look surprised ; "but figura- 
 tively through its functions, and you shall hear. I have 
 already made known that, in virtue of a compactum, I 
 journey with the aforesaid Ishmael Bush ; but though I 
 am bound to perform certain duties while the journey 
 lasts, there is no condition which says that the journey 
 shall be sempiternum, or eternal. Now, though this re- 
 gion may scarcely be said to be wedded to science, being 
 to all intents a virgin territory as respects the inquirer 
 into natural history, still it is greatly destitute of the treas- 
 ures of the vegetable kingdom. I should, therefore, have 
 tarried some hundreds of miles more to the eastward, were 
 
lo8 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 it not for the inward propensity that I feel to have the 
 beast in question inspected and suitably described and 
 classed. For that matter," he continued, dropping his 
 voice like one who imparts an important secret, "I am not 
 without hopes of persuading Ishmael to let me dissect it." 
 
 "You have seen the creature ?" 
 
 " Not with the organs of sight ; but with much more in 
 fallible instruments of vision ; the conclusions of reason, 
 and the deductions of scientific premises. I have watched 
 the habits of the animal, young man, and can fearlessly 
 pronounce, by evidence that would be thrown away on or- 
 dinary observers, that it is of vast dimensions, inactive, 
 possibly torpid, of voracious appetite, and, as it now ap- 
 pears by the direct testimony of this venerable hunter, 
 ferocious and carnivorous ! " 
 
 "I should be better pleased, stranger," said Paul, on 
 whom the doctor's description was making a very sensible 
 impression, "to be sure the creature was a beast at all." 
 
 " As to that, if I wanted evidence of a fact which is abun- 
 dantly apparent by the habits of the animal, I have the 
 word of Ishmael himself. A reason can be given for my 
 smallest deductions. I am not troubled, young man, with 
 a vulgar and idle curiosity, but all my aspirations after 
 knowledge, as I humbly believe, are, first, for the advance- 
 ment of learning, and, secondly, for the benefit of my 
 fellow-creatures. I pined greatly in secret to know the 
 contents of the tent, which Ishmael guarded so carefully, 
 and which he had covenanted that I should swear (jurare 
 per deos) not to approach nigher than a defined number of 
 cubits for a definite period of time. Your jusjurandum, 
 or oath, is a serious matter, and not to be dealt in lightly . 
 but as my expedition depended on complying, I consented 
 to the act, reserving to myself at all times the power ol 
 distant observation. It is now some ten days since Ish- 
 mael, pitying the state in which he saw me, a humble 
 lover of science, imparted the fact that the vehicle con- 
 tained a beast, which he was carrying into the prairies as 
 a decoy, by which he intends to entrap others of the same 
 genus, or perhaps species. Since then my task has been 
 reduced simply to watch the habits of the animal, and to 
 record the results. When we reach a certain distance, 
 where these beasts are said to abound, I am to have the 
 liberal examination of the specimen." 
 
 Paul continued to listen, in the most profound silence; 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 109 
 
 <int : J df. ,/,ctor concluded his singular but characteristic 
 explanation ; then the incredulous bee-hunter shook his 
 head, and saw fit to reply by saying : 
 
 " Stranger, old Ishmael has burrowed you in the very 
 bottom of a hollow tree, where your eyes will be of no 
 more use than the sting of a drone. I, too, know some- 
 thing of that very wagon, and I may say that I have lined 
 the squatter down into a flat lie. Harkee, friend ; do you 
 think a girl like Ellen Wade would become the companion 
 of a wild beast ? " 
 
 " Why, not ? why not ? " repeated the naturalist ; " Nelly 
 has a taste, and often listens with pleasure to the treasures 
 that I am sometimes compelled to scatter in this desert. 
 Why should she not study the habits of any animal, even 
 though it were a rhinoceros ? " 
 
 "Softly, softly," returned the equally positive, and, 
 though less scientific, certainly on this subject better in- 
 structed bee-hunter ; " Ellen is a girl of spirit, and one, 
 too, that knows her own mind, or I'm much mistaken ; but, 
 with all her courage and brave looks, she is no better than 
 a woman after all. Haven't I often had the girl crying " 
 
 " You are an acquaintance, then, of Nelly's ? " 
 
 " The devil a bit. But I know woman is woman ; and 
 all the books in Kentucky couldn't make Ellen Wade go 
 into a tent alone with a ravenous beast ! " 
 
 "It seems to me," the trapper calmly observed, "that 
 there is something dark and hidden in this matter. I am 
 a witness that the traveller likes none to look into the tenf, 
 and I have proof more sure than what either of you can 
 lay claim to, that the wagon does not carry the cage of a 
 beast. Here is Hector, come of a breed with noses as 
 true and faithful as a hand that is all-powerful has 
 made any of their kind, and, had there been a beast in 
 the place, the hound would long since have told it to his 
 master." 
 
 " Do you pretend to oppose a dog to a man ? brutality 
 to learning ? instinct to reason ? " exclaimed the doctor, in 
 some heat. " In what manner, pray, can a hound distin- 
 guish the habits, species, or even the genus of an animal, 
 like reasoning, learned, scientific, triumphant man ? " 
 
 " In what manner ! " coolly repeated the veteran woods- 
 man. " Listen ; and if you believe that a schoolmaster 
 can make a quicker wit than the Lord, you shall be made 
 to see how much you're mistaken. Do you not hear some- 
 
llo THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 thing move in the brake ? it has been cracking the twigs 
 these five minutes. Now tell me what the creatur' is ? " 
 
 " I hope nothing ferocious ! " exclaimed the Doctor, 
 who still retained a lively impression of his rencontre with 
 the Vespertilio horribilis. " You have rifles, friends ; would 
 it not be prudent to prime them ? for this fowling-piece of 
 mine is little to be depended on." 
 
 " There may be reason in what he says," returned the 
 trapper, so far complying as to take his piece from the place 
 where it had lain during the repast, and raising its muzzle 
 in the air. "Now tell me the name of the creatur' ! " 
 
 " It exceeds the limits of earthly knowledge ! Buffon 
 himself could not tell whether the animal was a quadruped, 
 or of the order serpens ! a sheep, or a tiger ! " 
 
 " Then was your Buffon a fool to my Hector! Here, 
 pup ! What is it, dog ? shall we run it down, pup, or shall 
 we let it pass ? " 
 
 The hound, which had already manifested to the ex- 
 perienced trapper, by the tremulous motion of his ears, 
 his consciousness of the proximity of a strange animal, 
 lifted his head from his forepaws and slightly parted his 
 lips, as if about to show the remnants of his teeth. But, 
 suddenly abandoning his hostile purpose, he snuffed the 
 air a moment, gaped heavily, shook himself, and peaceably 
 resumed his recumbent attitude. 
 
 " Now, Doctor," cried the trapper, triumphantly, " I am 
 well convinced there is neither game nor ravenous beast in 
 the thicket ; and that I call substantial knowledge'to a man 
 who is too old to be a spendthrift of his strength, and yet 
 who would not wish to be a meal for a panther ! " 
 
 The dog interrupted his master by a growl, but still kept 
 his head crouched to the earth. 
 
 "It is a man ! " exclaimed the trapper, rising. "It is a 
 man, if I am a judge of the creatur's ways. There is but 
 little said atwixt the hound and me, but we seldom mis- 
 take each other's meaning ! " 
 
 Paul Hover sprang to his feet like lightning ; and, throw- 
 ing forward his rifle, he cried in a voice of menace : 
 
 " Come forward if a friend ; if an enemy, stand ready 
 for the worst ! " 
 
 * 4 A friend, a white man, and, I hope, a Christian," re- 
 turned a voice from the thicket ; which opened at the same 
 instant, and at the next the speaker made his appearance 
 
THE PRAIRIE. m 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "Go apart, Adam, and thou shall hear 
 
 How he will shake me up." As You LIKE IT. 
 
 IT is well known that, even long before the immense 
 regions of Louisiana changed their masters for the second, 
 and, it is hoped, to be for the last time, its unguarded 
 territory was by no means safe from the inroads of white 
 adventurers. The semi-barbarous hunters from the Canadas, 
 the same description of population, a little more enlight- 
 ened, from the States, and the metifs or half-breeds, who 
 claimed to be ranked in the class of white men, were scat- 
 tered among the different Indian tribes, or gleaned a scanty 
 livelihood in solitude, amid the haunts of the beaver and 
 the bison ; or, to adopt the popular nomenclature of the 
 country of the buffalo.* 
 
 It was, therefore, no unusual thing for strangers to 
 encounter each other in the endless wastes of the west. 
 By signs which an unpractised eye would pass unobserved, 
 a borderer knew when one of his fellows was in his vicinity, 
 and he avoided or approached the intruder as best com- 
 ported with his feelings or his interests. Generally these 
 interviews were pacific ; for the whites had a common 
 enemy to dread, in the ancient and perhaps more lawful 
 occupants of the country ; but instances were not rare in 
 which jealousy and cupidity had caused them to termi- 
 nate in scenes of the most violent and ruthless treachery. 
 The meeting of two hunters on the American Desert, as 
 we find it convenient sometimes to call this region, was 
 consequently somewhat in the suspicious and wary man- 
 ner in which two vessels draw together in a sea that is 
 known to be infested with pirates. While neither party 
 is willing to betray its weakness by exhibiting distrust, 
 neither is disposed to commit itself by any acts of con.fi- 
 dence, from which it may be difficult to recede. 
 
 Such was, in some degree, the character of the present 
 
 * In addition to the scientific distinctions which mark the two species, 
 it may be added, with due reference to Dr. Battius, that a much more im- 
 portant particular is the fact that, while the former of these animals ii 
 delicious and nourishing food, the latter is scarcely edible. 
 
112 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 interview. The stranger drew nigh deliberate 1y ; keeping 
 his eyes steadily fastened on the movements of the other 
 party, while he purposely created little difficulties to im- 
 pede an approach which might prove too hasty. On the 
 other hand, Paul stood playing with the lock of his rifle, 
 too proud to let it appear that three men could manifest 
 any apprehension of a solitary individual, and yet too pru- 
 dent to omit, entirely, the customary precautions. The 
 principal reason of the marked difference which the two 
 legitimate proprietors of the banquet made in the recep- 
 tions of their guests, was to be explained by the entire 
 difference which existed in their respective appearances. 
 
 While the exterior of the naturalist was decidedly pa- 
 cific, not to say abstracted, that of the newcomer was distin- 
 guished by an air of vigor, and a front and step which it 
 would not have been difficult to have at once pronounced 
 to be military. 
 
 He wore a forage-cap of fine blue cloth, from which de- 
 pended a soiled tassel in gold, and which was nearly buried 
 in a mass of exuberant, curling, jet-black hair. Around 
 his throat he had negligently fastened a stock of black silk. 
 His body was enveloped in a hunting-shirt of dark green, 
 trimmed with the yellow fringes and ornaments that were 
 sometimes seen among the border-troops of the Confed^ 
 eracy. Beneath this, however, were visible the collar and 
 lappels of a jacket, similar in color and cloth to the cap. 
 His lower limbs were protected by buckskin leggings, and 
 his feet by the ordinary Indian moccasins. A richly orna- 
 mented and exceedingly dangerous straight dirk was stuck 
 in a sash of red silk net-work ; another girdle, or rather 
 belt, of uncolored leather contained a pair of the smallest- 
 sized pistols, in holsters nicely made to fit, and across his 
 shoulder was thrown a short, heavy military rifle ; its horn 
 and pouch occupying the usual places beneath his arms. 
 At his back he bore a knapsack, marked by the well-known 
 initials that have since gained for the Government of the 
 United States the good-humored and quaint appellation 
 of -Uncle Sam. 
 
 " I come in amity," the stranger said, like one too much 
 accustomed to the sight of arms to be startled at the ludb 
 crously belligerent attitude which Dr. Battius had seen fit 
 to assume " I come as a friend ; and am one whose pur- 
 suits and wishes will not at all interfere with your own." 
 
 " Harkee, stranger," said Paul Hover, bluntly; "do 
 
THh PRAIRIE. 113 
 
 you understand lining a bee from this open place into a 
 wood, distant, perhaps a dozen miles ? " 
 
 " The bee is a bird I have never been compelled to seek," 
 returned the other, laughing ; " though I have, too, been 
 something of a fowler in my time." 
 
 " I thought as much," exclaimed Paul, thrusting forth 
 nis hand frankly, and with the true freedom of manner 
 that marks an American borderer. " Let us cross fingers. 
 You and I will never quarrel about the comb, since you 
 set so little store by the honey. And now, if your stomach 
 has an empty corner, and you know how to relish a genu- 
 ine dew-drop when it falls into your very mouth, there 
 lies the exact morsel to put into it. Try it, stranger ; and 
 having tried it, if you don't call it as snug a fit as you have 
 
 made since How long are you from the settlements, 
 
 pray ? " 
 
 " 'Tis many weeks, and I fear it may be as many more 
 before I can return. I will, however, gladly profit by 
 your invitation, for I have fasted since the rising of yester- 
 day's sun, and I know too well the merits of a bison's 
 hump to reject the food." 
 
 " Ah ! you are acquainted with the dish. Well, therein 
 you have the start of me, in setting out, though I think I 
 may say we could now start on equal ground. I should 
 be the happiest fellow between Kentucky and the Rocky 
 Mountains, if I had a snug cabin, near some old wood that 
 was filled with hollow trees, just stich a hump every day 
 as that for dinner, a load of fresh straw for hives, and 
 little El " 
 
 "Little what?" demanded the stranger, evidently 
 amused with the communicative and frank disposition of 
 the bee-hunter. 
 
 " Something that I shall have one day, and which con- 
 cerns nobody so much as myself," returned Paul, picking 
 the flint of his rifle, and beginning very cavalierly to 
 whistle an air well known on the waters of the Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
 During this preliminary discourse the stranger had taken 
 his seat by the side of the hump, and was already making 
 a serious inroad on its relics. Dr. Battius, however, 
 watched his movements with a jealousy still more striking 
 than the cordial reception which the open-hearted Paul 
 had just exhibited. 
 
 But the doubts, or rather apprehensions, of the natural- 
 8 
 
H4 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 list were of a character altogether different from the con- 
 fidence of the bee-hunter. He had been struck with the. 
 stranger's using the legitimate instead of the perverted 
 name of the animal off which he was making his repast ; 
 and, as he had been among the foremost himself to profit 
 by the removal of the impediments which the policy of 
 Spain had placed in the way of all explorers of her trans- 
 atlantic dominions, whether bent on the purposes of com- 
 merce, or, like himself, on the more laudable pursuits of 
 science, he had a sufficiency of every-day philosophy to 
 feel that the same motives which had so powerfully urged 
 himself to his present undertaking might produce a like 
 result on the mind of some other student of Nature. Here, 
 then, was the prospect of an alarming rivalry, which bade 
 fair to strip him of at least a moiety of the just rewards of 
 all his labors, privations, and dangers. Under these views 
 of his character, therefore, it is not at all surprising that 
 the native meekness of the naturalist's disposition was a 
 little disturbed, arid that he watched the proceedings of 
 the other with such a degree of vigilance as he believed 
 best suited to detect his sinister designs. 
 
 "This is truly a delicious repast," observed the uncon- 
 scious young stranger, for both young and handsome he 
 was fairly entitled to be considered ; " either hunger has 
 given a peculiar relish to the viand or the bison may lay 
 claim to be the finest of the ox family ! " 
 
 " Naturalists, sir, are apt, when they speak familiarly, 
 to give the cow the credit of the genus," said Dr. Battius, 
 swelling with secret distrust, and clearing his throat before 
 speaking, much in the manner that a duellist examines the 
 point of the weapon he is about to plunge into the body of 
 his foe. " The figure is more perfect ; as the bos, meaning 
 the ox, is unable to perpetuate his kind ; and the bos, in 
 its most extended meaning, or vacca, is altogether the noble 
 animal of the two." 
 
 The doctor uttered this opinion with a certain air, that 
 he intended should express his readiness to come, at once, 
 to any of the numerous points of difference which he 
 doubted not existed between them ; and he now awaited 
 the blow of his antagonist, intending that his next thrust 
 should be still more vigorous. But the young stranger 
 appeared much better disposed to partake of the gooa 
 cheer with which he had been providentially provided, 
 than to take up the cudgels of argument on this or am; 
 
THE PRAIRIE. lij 
 
 other of the knotty points which are so apt to tarnish the 
 'lovers of science with the materials of a mental joust. 
 
 " I dare say you are very right, sir," he replied, with 
 A most provoking indifference to the importance of the 
 points he conceded. " I dare say you are quite right ; and 
 that vacca would have been the better word." 
 
 " Pardon me, sir ; you are*giving a very wrong construc- 
 tion to my language, if you suppose I include, without 
 many and particular qualifications, the Bibulus Americanus 
 in the family of the vacca. For, as you well know, sir or, 
 as I presume I should say, doctor you have the medical 
 diploma, no doubt ? " 
 
 "You give me credit for an honor I cannot claim," in 
 terrupted the other. 
 
 " An under-graduate ! or perhaps your degrees have 
 been taken in some other of the liberal sciences ?" 
 
 "Still wrong, I do assure you." 
 
 " Surely, young man, you have not entered on this im- 
 portant I may say, this awful service, without some evi- 
 dence of your fitness for the task ! some commission by 
 which you can assert an authority to proceed, or by which 
 you may claim an affinity and a communion with your fel- 
 low-workers in the same beneficent pursuits ! " 
 
 " I know not by what means, or for what purposes, you 
 have made yourself master of my objects!" exclaimed 
 the youth, reddening and rising with a quickness which 
 manifested how little he regarded the grosser appetites, 
 when a subject nearer his heart was approached " Still, 
 sir, your language is incomprehensible. That pursuit, 
 which in another might perhaps be justly called beneficent, 
 is, in me, a dear and cherished duty ; though why a com- 
 mission should be demanded or needed is, I confess, no 
 Jess a subject of surprise." 
 
 " It is customary to be provided with such a document," 
 returned the doctor, gravely ; " and on all suitable occa- 
 sions, to produce it, in order that congenial and friendly 
 minds may at once reject unworthy suspicions, and, step- 
 ping over what may be called the elements of discourse, 
 come at once to those points which are desiderata to both." 
 
 "It is a strange request ! " the youth muttered, turning 
 his frowning eye from one to the other, as if examining the 
 characters of his companions, with a view to' weigh their 
 physical powers. Then, putting his hand into his bosom, 
 tie drew forth a small box, and, extending it with an air of 
 
Ii6 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 dignity toward the doctor, lie continued : " You will find 
 by this, sir, that I have some right to travel in a country 
 which is now the property of the American States." 
 
 " What have we here ? " exclaimed the naturalist, open- 
 ing the folds of a large parchment. " Why, this is the 
 sign-manual of the philosopher Jefferson ! The seal of 
 state ! Countersigned by the minister of war ! Why, this 
 is a commission creating Duncan Uncas Middleton a cap- 
 tain of artillery ! " 
 
 " Of whom ? of whom ? " repeated the trapper, who had 
 sat regarding the stranger, during the whole discourse, with 
 eyes that seemed greedily to devour each lineament. How 
 is the name ? did you call him Uncas ? Uncas ! Was it 
 Uncas ? " 
 
 " Such is my name," returned the youth, a little haughti- 
 ly. " It is the appellation of a native chief, that both my 
 uncle and myself bear with pride ; for it is the memorial 
 of an important service done my family by a warrior in the 
 old wars of the provinces." 
 
 " Uncas ! did ye call him Uncas ? " repeated the trapper, 
 approaching the youth and parting the dark curls which 
 clustered over his brow without the slightest resistance on 
 the part of their wondering owner. " Ah ! my eyes are 
 old, and not so keen as when I was a warrior myself ; but 
 I can see the look of the father in the son ! I saw it when 
 he first came nigh ; but, so many things have since passed 
 before my failing sight, that I could not name the place 
 where I had met his likeness ! Tell me, lad, by what name 
 is your father known ? " 
 
 " He was an officer of the States in the war of the Revo- 
 lution, and of my own name of course ; my mother's 
 brother was called Duncan Uncas Heyward." 
 
 " Still Uncas ! still Uncas ! " echoed the other, trembling 
 with eagerness. " And his father ? " 
 
 " Was called the same, without the appellation of the 
 native chief. It was to him and to my grandmother, that 
 the service of which I have just spoken was rendered." 
 
 "I know'd it ! I know'd it ! " shouted the old man, in 
 his tremulous voice, his rigid features working powerfully 
 as if the names the other mentioned awakened some long- 
 dormant emotions connected with the events of an anteri- 
 or age. ** I know'd it ! son or grandson, it is all the same 
 it is the blood, and 'tis the look ! Tell me, is he they caU 
 Duncan, without the Uncas is he living ? " 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 117 
 
 The young man shook his head sorrowfully, as he re* 
 plied in the negative. 
 
 " He died full of days and honors. Beloved, happy, and 
 bestowing happiness ! " 
 
 " Full of days ! " repeated the trapper, looking down at 
 his own meagre but still rmiscular hands. " Ah ! he lived 
 in the settlements, and was wise only after their fashions. 
 But you have often seen him ; and you have heard him dis- 
 course of Uncas, and of the wilderness ?" 
 
 " Often ! he was then an officer of the king ; but, when 
 the war took place between the crown and her colonies, 
 my grandfather did not forget his birthplace, but threw off 
 the empty allegiance of names, and was true to his proper 
 country ; he fought on the side of liberty." 
 
 ''There was reason in it, and, what is better, there was 
 natur' ! Come, sit ye down, and tell me what your grand'- 
 ther used to speak when his mind dwelt on the wonders 
 of the wilderness." 
 
 The youth smiled, no less at the importunity than at the 
 interest manifested by the old man ; but, as he found there 
 was no longer the least appearance of any violence being 
 contemplated, he unhesitatingly complied. 
 
 " Give it all to the trapper, by rule, and by figures of 
 speech," said Paul, very coolly taking his seat on the other 
 side of the young soldier. " It is the fashion of old age to 
 relish these ancient traditions, and for that matter I can 
 say that I don't dislike to listen to them myself." 
 
 Middleton smiled again, and perhaps with a slight air of 
 derision ; but, good-naturedly turning to the trapper, he 
 continued : 
 
 " It is a long, and might prove a painful story. Blood- 
 shed and all the horrors of Indian cruelty and of Indian 
 warfare are fearfully mingled in the narrative." 
 
 " Ay, give it all to us, stranger," continued Paul ; "we 
 are used to these matters in Kentuck, and I must say I 
 think a story none the worse for having a few scalps 
 in it." 
 
 " But he told you of Uncas, did he ? " resumed the trap- 
 per, without regarding the slight interruption of the bee- 
 hunter, which amounted to no more than a sort of by-play 
 " And what thought he and said he of the lad, in his par* 
 lor, with the comforts and ease of the settlements at his 
 elbow ? " 
 
 " I doubt not he used a language similar to that he would 
 
n8 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 have adopted in the woods, and had he stood face to faca 
 with his friend " 
 
 " Did he call the savage his friend ; the poor, naked, 
 painted warrior ? He was not too proud, then, to call the 
 Indian his friend ? " 
 
 "He even boasted of the connection ; and, as you have 
 already heard, bestowed a name on his first-born, which is 
 likely to be handed down as an heirloom among the rest 
 of his descendants." 
 
 "It was well done ! like a man ; ay ! and like a Christian, 
 too ! He used to say the Delaware was swift of foot did 
 he remember that ? " 
 
 " As the antelope ! Indeed, he often spoke of him by the 
 appellation of Le Cerf Agile, a name he had obtained by 
 his activity." 
 
 " And bold, and fearless, lad ! " continued the trapper, 
 looking into the eyes of his companion, with a wistfulness 
 that bespoke the delight he received in listening to the 
 praises of one whom it was so very evident he had once 
 tenderly loved. 
 
 " Brave as a blooded hound ! Without fear. He always 
 quoted Uncas and his father, who from his wisdom was 
 called the Great Serpent, as models of heroism and con- 
 stancy." 
 
 " He did them justice ! he did them justice ! Truer men 
 were not to be found in tribe or nation, be their skins of 
 what color they might. I see your grand'ther was just, and 
 did his duty, too, by his offspring ! 'Twas a perilous time 
 he had of it, among them hills, and nobly did he play his 
 own part ! Tell me, lad, or officer, I should say since of- 
 ficer you be was this all ?" 
 
 " Certainly not ; it was, as I have said, a fearful tale, full 
 of moving incidents and the memories both of my grand- 
 father and my grandmother " 
 
 "Ah !" exclaimed the trapper, tossing a hand into the 
 air as his whole countenance lighted with the recollections 
 the name revived. " They called her Alice ! Elsie or 
 Alice ; 'tis all the same. A laughing, playful child she was, 
 when happy ; and tender and weeping in her misery ! Her 
 hair was shining and yellow, as the coat of the young fawn, 
 and her skin clearer than the purest water that drips from 
 the rock. Well do I remember her ! I remember her 
 right well ! " 
 
 The lip of the youth slightly curled, and he regarded the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 11$ 
 
 old man with an expression which might easily have been 
 construed into a declaration that such were not his own 
 recollections of his venerable and revered ancestor, though 
 it would seem he did not think it necessary to say as much 
 in words. He was content to answer : 
 
 " They both retained impressions of the dangers they had 
 passed by, far too vivid easily to lose the recollection ot 
 any of their fellow-actors." 
 
 The trapper looked aside, and seemed to struggle with 
 some deeply innate feeling ; then, turning again toward 
 his companion, though his honest eyes no longer dwelt 
 with the same open interest as before, on the countenance 
 of the other, he continued : 
 
 " Did he tell you of them all? Were they all red-skins, 
 but himself and the daughters of Munroe ?" 
 
 " No. There was a white man associated with the Dela- 
 wares. A scout of the English army, but a native of the 
 provinces." 
 
 "A drunken, worthless vagabond, like most of his color 
 who harbor with the savages, I warrant you ! " 
 
 "Old man, your gray hairs should caution you against 
 slander. The man I speak of was of great simplicity of 
 mind, but of sterling worth. Unlike most of those who 
 live a border life, he united the better instead of the worst 
 qualities of the two people. He was a man endowed with 
 the choicest and perhaps rarest gift of Nature that of 
 distinguishing good from evil. His virtues were those of 
 simplicity, because such were the fruits of his habits, as 
 were indeed his very prejudices. In courage he was the 
 equal of his red associates ; in warlike skill, being better 
 instructed, their superior. ' In short, he was a noble shoot 
 from the stock of human nature, which never could attain 
 its proper elevation and importance, for no other reason 
 than because it grew in the forest ; ' such, old hunter, were 
 the very words of my grandfather, when speaking of the 
 man you imagine so worthless ! " 
 
 The eyes of the trapper had sunk to the earth, as the 
 stranger delivered this character in the ardent tones of 
 
 fenerous youth. He played with the ears of his hound, 
 ngered his own rustic garment, and opened and shut the 
 pan of his rifle, with hands that trembled in a manner that 
 tyould have implied their total unfitness to wield the 
 weapon. When the other had concluded, he hoarsely 
 added : 
 
120 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " Your grand'ther didn't, then, entirely forget the white 
 man ? " 
 
 " So far from that, there are already three among us who 
 have also names derived from that scout." 
 
 "A name, did you say?" exclaimed the old man, start- 
 ing ; "what, the name of the solitary, unl'arned hunter? 
 Do the great, and the rich, and the honored, and, what is 
 better still, the just, do they bear his very, actual name ?" 
 
 " It is borne by my brother, and by two of my cousins, 
 whatever may be their titles to be described by the terms 
 you have mentioned." 
 
 11 Do you mean the actual name itself; spelt with the 
 very same letters, beginning with an N and ending with 
 an L?" 
 
 " Exactly the same," the youth smilingly replied. " No. 
 no, we have forgotten nothing that was his. I have at 
 this moment a dog brushing a deer, not far from this, who 
 is come of a hound that very scout sent as a present after 
 his friends, and which was of the stock he always used 
 himself ; a truer breed, in nose and foot, is not to be 
 found in the wide Union." 
 
 " Hector ! " said the old man, struggling to conquer an 
 emotion that nearly suffocated him ; and speaking to his 
 hound in the sort of tones he would have used to a child, 
 "do you hear that, pup ! your kin and blood are in the 
 prairies ! A name it is wonderful ! very wonderful ! " 
 
 Nature could endure no more. Overcome by a flood of 
 unusual and extraordinary sensations, and stimulated by 
 tender and long-dormant recollections, strangely and un. 
 expectedly revived, the old man had just self-command 
 enough to add, in a voice that was hollow and unnatural, 
 through the efforts he made to command it : 
 
 " Boy, I am that scout ; a warrior once, a miserable 
 trapper now ! " when the tears broke over his wasted 
 cheeks, out of fountains that had long been dried, and 
 sinking his face between his knees, he covered it decently 
 with his buckskin garment, and sobbed aloud. 
 
 The spectacle produced correspondent emotions in his 
 companions. Paul Hover had actually swallowed each 
 syllable of the discourse as they fell alternately from the 
 different speakers, his feelings keeping equal pace with 
 the increasing interest of the scene. Unused to such 
 strange sensations, he was turning his face on every side 
 of him, to avoid he knew not what, until he saw the tears 
 
THE PRAIRIE. I2i 
 
 and heard the sobs of the old man, when he sprang to his 
 feet, and grappling his guest fiercely by the throat, he de- 
 manded by what authority he had made his aged com- 
 panion weep. A flash of recollection crossing his brain at 
 the same instant, he released his hold, and, stretching 
 forth an arm in the very wantonness of gratification, he 
 seized the doctor by the hair, which instantly revealed its 
 artificial formation, by cleaving to his hand, leaving the 
 white and shining poll of the naturalist with a covering no 
 Warmer than the skin. 
 
 " What think you of that, Mr. Bug-gatherer ? " he 
 rather shouted than cried ; " is not this a strange bee to 
 line into his hole ? " 
 
 " 'Tis remarkable ! wonderful ! edifying ?" returned the 
 lover of Nature, good-humoredly recovering his wig, with 
 twinkling eyes and a husky voice. "'Tis rare and com- 
 mendable ! Though I doubt not in the exact order of 
 causes and effects." 
 
 With this sudden outbreaking, however, the commotion 
 instantly subsided, the three spectators clustering around 
 the trapper with a species of awe at beholding the tears of 
 tme so aged. 
 
 " It must be so, or how could he be so familiar with a 
 history that is little known beyond my own family," at 
 length the youth observed, not ashamed to acknowledge 
 how much he had been affected by unequivocally drying 
 his own eyes. 
 
 "True ! " echoed Paul ; "if you want any more evidence 
 I will swear to it ! I know every word of it myself to be 
 true as the gospel ! " 
 
 "And yet we had long supposed him dead ! " continued 
 the soldier. " My grandfather had filled his days with 
 honor, and he had believed himself the junior of the two." 
 
 " It is not often that youth has an opportunity of thus 
 looking down on the weakness of age ! " the trapper ob- 
 served, raising his head, and looking around him with 
 composure and dignity. " That I am still here, young 
 man, is the pleasure of the Lord, who has spared me until 
 I have seen fourscore long and laborious years, for his 
 own secret ends. That I am the man I say, you need not 
 doubt ; for why should I go to my grave with so cheap a 
 lie in my mouth ?" 
 
 " I do not hesitate to believe ; I only marvel that n 
 ghould be so ! But why do I find you, venerable and ex- 
 
122 THE PR A TRIE. 
 
 cellent friend of my parents, in these wastes, so far from 
 the comforts and safety of the lower country ?" 
 
 " I have come into these plains to escape the sound of 
 the ax ; for here, surely, the chopper can never follow ! 
 But I may put the like question to yourself. Are you of 
 the party which the States have sent into their new pur- 
 chase, to look after the natur' of the bargain they have 
 made ? " 
 
 "I am not. Lewis is making his way .up the river, some 
 hundreds of miles from this. I come on a private advent- 
 ure." 
 
 " Though it is no cause of wonder that a man whose 
 strength and eyes have failed him as a hunter, should be 
 seen nigh the haunts of the beaver, using a trap instead of 
 a rifle, it is strange that one so young and prosperous, and 
 bearing the commission of the Great Father, should be 
 moving among the prairies, without even a camp-colorman 
 to do his biddings! " 
 
 " You would think my reasons sufficient did you know 
 them, as know them you shall, if you are disposed to listen 
 to my story. I think you all honest, and men who would 
 rather aid than betray one bent on a worthy object." 
 
 " Come, then, and tell us at your leisure," said the trap- 
 per, seating himself, and beckoning to the youth to follow 
 his example. The latter willingly complied ; and, after 
 Paul and the doctor had disposed of themselves to their 
 several likings, the new-comer entered into a narrative of 
 the singular reasons which had led him so far into the 
 deserts. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 "So foul a sky clears not without a storm." KING JOHN. 
 
 IN the meantime the industrious and irreclaimable 
 hours continued their labors. The sun, which had been 
 struggling through such masses of vapor throughout the 
 day, fell slowly into a streak of clear sky, and thence sank 
 gloriously into the gloomy wastes, as he is wont to settle 
 into the waters of the ocean. The vast herds which had 
 been grazing among the wild pastures of the prairies 
 gradually disappeared, and the endless flocks of aquatic 
 
THE PRAIRIE. iaj 
 
 birds, that were pursuing their customary annual journey 
 from the virgin lakes of the north toward the Gulf of 
 Mexico, ceased to fan that air which had now become 
 loaded with dew and vapor. In short, the shadows of 
 night fell upon the rock, adding the mantle of darkness to 
 the other dreary accomplishments of the place. 
 
 As the light began to fail, Esther collected her younger 
 children at her side, and placing herself on a projecting 
 point of her insulated fortress, she sat patiently awaiting 
 the return of the hunters. Ellen Wade was at no great 
 distance, seeming to keep a little aloof from the anxious 
 circle, as if willing to mark the distinction which existed 
 in their characters. 
 
 " Your uncle is, and always will be, a dull calculator, 
 Nell," observed the mother, after a long pause in a conver- 
 sation that had turned on the labors of the day ; " a lazy 
 hand at figures and foreknowledge is that said Ishmael 
 Bush ! Here he sat lolloping about the rock from light till 
 noon, doing nothing but scheme scheme scheme with 
 seven as noble boys at his elbows as woman ever gave to 
 man ; and what's the upshot ? Why, night is setting in, 
 and his needful work not yet ended." 
 
 " It is not prudent, certainly, aunt," Ellen replied, with 
 a vacancy in her air that proved how little she knew what 
 she was saying ; " and it is setting a very bad example to 
 his sons." 
 
 " Hoity toity, girl ! who has reared you up as a judge 
 over your elders, ay, and your betters, too ! I should like 
 to see the man on the whole frontier who sets a more 
 honest example to his children than this same Ishmael 
 Bush ! Show me if you can, Miss Fault-finder, but not 
 fault-mender, a set of boys who will, on occasion, sooner 
 chop a piece of logging and dress it for the crop, than my 
 own children ; though I say it myself, who, perhaps, should 
 be silent ; or a cradler that knows better how to lead a 
 gang of hands through a field of wheat, leaving a cleanei 
 stubble in his track, than my own good man ! Then, as a 
 father, he is as generous as a lord ; for his sons have only 
 to name the spot where they would like to pitch, and he 
 gives 'em a deed of the plantation, and no charge for papers 
 is ever made ! " 
 
 As the wife of the squatter concluded, she raised a hoi- 
 Jow, taunting laugh, that was echoed from the mouths of 
 several juvenile imitators, whom she was training to a life 
 
*24 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 as shiftless and lawless as her own ; but which, notwith- 
 standing its uncertainty, was not without its secret charms. 
 
 " Holloa ! old Eester," shouted the well-known voice of 
 her husband, from the plain beneath ; ar' you keeping 
 your junkets, while we are finding you in venison and 
 buffalo-beef ? Come down come down, old girl, with all 
 your young, and lend us a hand to carry up the meat ; 
 why, what a frolic you ar' in, woman ! Come down, come 
 down, for the boys are at hand, and we have work here for 
 double your number." 
 
 Ishmael might have spared his lungs more than a moiety 
 of the effort they were compelled to make in order that he 
 should be heard. He had hardly uttered the name of his 
 wife, before the whole of the crouching circle rose in a 
 body, and, tumbling over each other, they precipitated 
 themselves down the dangerous passes of the rock with 
 ungovernable impatience. Esther followed the young fry 
 with a more measured gait ; nor did Ellen deem it wise, 
 or rather discreet, to remain behind. Consequently the 
 whole were soon assembled at the base of the. citadel, on 
 the open plain. 
 
 Here the squatter was found, staggering under the 
 weight of a fine, fat buck, attended by one or two of his 
 younger sons. Abiram quickly appeared, and before many 
 minutes had elapsed, most of the hunters dropped in, singly 
 and in pairs, each man bringing with him some fruits of 
 his prowess in the field. 
 
 "The plain is free from redskins, to-night, at least," 
 said Ishmael, after the bustle of reception had a little sub 
 sided ; " for I have scoured the prairie for many long 
 miles, on my own feet, and I call myself a judge of the 
 print of an Indian moccasin. So, old woman, you can give 
 us a few steaks of the venison, and then we will sleep on 
 the day's work." 
 
 " I'll not swear there are no savages near us," said 
 Abiram. " I, too, know something of the trail of a red- 
 skin ; and, unless my eyes have lost some of their sight, I 
 would swear boldly that there ar' Indians at hand. But 
 wait till Asa comes in. He passed the spot where I found 
 the marks, and the boy knows something of such matters, 
 too." 
 
 "Ay, the boy knows too much of many things," returned 
 Ishmael, gloomily. " It will be better for him when he 
 thinks he knows less. But what matters it, Hetty, if aU 
 
THE PRAIRTE. T2 
 
 the Sioux tribes west of the big river are within a mile oi 
 us ; they will find it no easy matter to scale this rock in 
 the teeth of ten bold men." 
 
 "Call 'em twelve at once, Ishmael ; call 'em twelve!" 
 cried his termagant assistant. " For if your moth-gather- 
 ing, bug-hunting friend can be counted a man, I beg you 
 will set me down as two. I will not turn my back to him 
 with the rifle or the shot-gun ; and for courage ! the yearl- 
 ing heifer, that them skulking devils the Tetons stole, was 
 the biggest coward among us all, and after her came your 
 drivelling doctor. Ah ! Ishmael, you rarely attempt a reg- 
 ular trade but you come out the loser ; and this man, I 
 reckon, is the hardest bargain among them all ! Would 
 you think it, the fellow ordered me a blister around my 
 mouth, because I complained of a pain in the foot ?" 
 
 " It is a pity, Esther," the husband coolly answered, 
 " that you did not take it ; I reckon that it would have 
 done considerable good. But, boys, if it should turn out 
 as Abiram thinks, that there are Indians near us, we may 
 have to scamper up the rock, and lose our suppers, aftei 
 all ; therefore, we will make sure of the game, and talk 
 over the performances of the doctor when we have noth- 
 ing better to do." 
 
 The hint was taken ; and in a few minutes the exposed 
 situation in which the family was collected was exchanged 
 for the more secure elevation of the rock. Here Esther 
 busied herself, working and scolding with equal industry, 
 until the repast was prepared ; when she summoned her 
 husband to his meal in a voice as sonorous as that in which 
 the imaum reminds the faithful of a more important duty. 
 
 When each had assumed his proper and customary 
 place around the smoking viands, the squatter set the ex- 
 ample by beginning to partake of a delicious venison- 
 steak, prepared like the hump of the bison, with a skill that 
 rather increased than concealed its natural properties. A 
 painter would gladly have seized the moment to transfer 
 the wild and characteristic scene to the canvas. 
 
 The reader will remember that the citadel of Ishmael 
 stood insulated, lofty, ragged, and nearly inaccessible. A 
 bright, flashy fire that was burning on the centre of its 
 summit, and around which the busy group was clustered, 
 lent it the appearance of some tall Pharos placed in the 
 centre of the deserts, to light such adventurers as wan* 
 dered through their broad wastes. The flashing flame 
 
*2G THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 gleamed from one sunburnt countenance to another, ex- 
 hibiting every variety of expression, from the juvenile 
 simplicity of the children, mingled, as it was, with a shade 
 of the wildness peculiar to their semi-barbarous lives, to 
 the dull and immovable apathy that dwelt on the features 
 of the squatter when unexcited. Occasionally a gust of 
 Wind would fan the embers ; and, as a brighter light shot 
 apward, the little solitary tent was seen as it were sus- 
 pended in the gloom of the upper air. All beyond was 
 enveloped, as usual at that hour, in an impenetrable body 
 of darkness. 
 
 u It is unaccountable that Asa should choose to be out 
 of the way at such a time as this," Esther pettishly ob- 
 served. " When all is finished and to rights, we shall have 
 the boy coming up, grumbling for his meal, and hungry as 
 a bear after his winter's nap. His stomach is as true as 
 the best clock in Kentucky, and seldom wants winding up 
 to tell the time whether of day or night. A desperate 
 eater is Asa, when a-hungered by a little work ?" 
 
 Ishmael looked sternly around the circle of his silent 
 sons, as if to see whether any among them would presume 
 to say ought in favor of the absent delinquent. But now, 
 when no exciting causes existed to rouse their slumbering 
 tempers, it seemed to be too great an effort to enter on the 
 defence of their rebellious brother. Abiram, however, 
 who, since the pacification, either felt or affected to feel 
 a more generous interest in his late adversary, saw fit to 
 express an anxiety to which the others were strangers : 
 
 " It will be well if the boy escaped the Tetons ! " he 
 muttered. " I should be sorry to have Asa, who is one of 
 the stoutest of our party, both in heart and hand, fall into 
 the power of the red devils." 
 
 " Look to yourself, Abiram ; and spare your breath, if 
 you can use it only to frighten the woman and her hud- 
 dling girls. You have whitened the face of Ellen Wade, 
 already ; who looks as pale as if she was staring to-day at 
 the very Indians you name, when I was forced to speak to 
 her through the rifle, because I couldn't reach her ears 
 with my tongue. How was it, Nell ? you have never given 
 the reason of your deafness ? " 
 
 The color of Ellen's cheek changed as suddenly as the 
 squatter's piece had flashed on the occasion to which he 
 alluded, the burning glow suffusing her features, until it 
 even mantled her throat with its fine, healthful tinge. Sha 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 12 j 
 
 hung her head, abashed, but did not seem to think it need* 
 ful to reply. 
 
 Ishmael, too sluggish to pursue the subject, or content 
 with the pointed allusion he had just made, rose from his 
 seat on the rock, and, stretching his heavy frame, like a 
 well-fed and fattened ox, he announced his intention to 
 sleep. Among a race who lived chiefly for the indulgence 
 of the natural wants, such a declaration could not fail of 
 meeting with sympathetic dispositions. One after another 
 disappeared, each seeking his or her rude dormitory ; and, 
 before many minutes, Esther, who by this time had scolded 
 ^he younger fry to sleep, found herself, if we except the 
 usual watchman below, in solitary possession of the naked 
 rock. 
 
 Whatever less valuable fruits had been produced in this 
 uneducated woman by her migratory habits, the great 
 principle of female nature was too deeply rooted ever to 
 be entirely eradicated. Of a powerful, not to say fierce 
 temperament, her passions were violent and difficult to be 
 smothered. But, however she might and did abuse the 
 accidental prerogatives of her situation, love for her off- 
 spring, while it often slumbered, could never be said to 
 become extinct. She liked not the protracted absence of 
 Asa. Too fearless herself to have hesitated an instant on 
 her own account about crossing the dark abyss, into which 
 she now sat looking with longing eyes, her busy imagina- 
 tion, in obedience to this inextinguishable sentiment, be- 
 gan to conjure nameless evils on account of her son. It 
 might be true, as Abiram had hinted, that he had become 
 a captive to some of the tribes who were hunting the buf- 
 falo in that vicinity, or even a still more dreadful calamity 
 might have befallen. So thought the mother, while si- 
 lence and darkness lent their aid to the secret impulses of 
 nature. 
 
 Agitated by these reflections, which put sleep at defiance, 
 Esther continued at her post, listening with that sort of 
 acuteness which is termed instinct in the animals a few 
 degrees below her in the scale of intelligence, for any of 
 those noises which might indicate the approach of foot- 
 steps. At length, her wishes had an appearance of being 
 realized, for the long-desired sounds were distinctly audi- 
 ble, and presently she distinguished the dim form of a man 
 at the base of the rock. 
 
 " Now Asa, richly do you deserve to be left with a 
 
123 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 earthen bed this blessed night ! " the woman began to 
 mutter, with a revolution in her feelings that will not be 
 surprising to those who have made the contradictions that 
 give variety to the human character a study. "And a 
 haid one I've a mind it shall be! Why, Abner ! Abner; 
 you Abner ! do you sleep ? Let me not see you dare to 
 open the hole till I get down. I will know who it is that 
 wishes to disturb a peaceable, ay, and an honest family, 
 too, at such a time in the night as this ! " 
 
 "Woman ! " exclaimed a voice, that intended to bluster, 
 while the speaker was manifestly a little apprehensive of 
 the consequences " woman, I forbid you on pain of the 
 law to project any of your infernal missiles. I am a citi- 
 zen, and a freeholder, and a graduate of two universities ; 
 and I stand upon my rights ! Beware of malice prepense, 
 of chance-medley, and of manslaughter. It is I your 
 amicus ; a friend and inmate. I Dr. Obed Battius." 
 
 "Who?" demanded Esther, in a- voice that nearly re- 
 fused to convey her words to the ears of the anxious lis- 
 tener beneath. " Did you say it was not Asa ? " 
 
 " Nay, I am neither Asa, nor Absalom, nor any of the 
 Hebrew princes, but Obed, the root and stock of them all. 
 Have I not said, woman, that you keep one in attendance 
 who is entitled to a peaceful as well as an honorable ad- 
 mission ? Do you take me for an animal of the class am- 
 phibia, and that I can play with my lungs as a blacksmith 
 does with his bellows ? " 
 
 The naturalist might have expended his breath much 
 longer without producing any desirable result, had Esther 
 been his only auditor. Disappointed and alarmed the 
 woman had already sought her pallet, and was already pre. 
 paring, with a sort of desperate indifference, to compose 
 herself to sleep. Abner, the sentinel below, however, had 
 been aroused from an exceedingly equivocal situation by 
 the outcry ; and, as he had now regained sufficient con- 
 sciousness to recognizo the voice f the physician, the lat- 
 ter was admitted with the least possible delay. Dr. Batv 
 tius bustled through the narrow entrance with an air of 
 singular impatience, and was already beginning to mount 
 the difficult ascent, when catching a view of the porter 
 he paused to observe, with an air that he intended should 
 be impressively admonitory : 
 
 "Abner, there are dangerous symptoms of somnolency 
 about thee ! It is sufficiently exhibited in the tendency to 
 
THE PRAIRIE. I2j 
 
 hiation, and may prove dangerous not only to yourself, 
 but to all thy father's family." 
 
 " You never made a greater mistake, doctor," returned 
 the youth, gaping like an indolent lion ; " I haven't a 
 symptom, as you call it, about any part of me ; and as to 
 father and the children, I reckon the small-pox and the 
 measles have been thoroughly through the breed these 
 many months ago." 
 
 Content with his brief admonition, the naturalist had 
 surmounted half the difficulties of the ascent before the 
 deliberate Abner ended his justification. On the summit, 
 Obed fully expected to ^n^ounter Esther, of whose lingu- 
 acious powers he had too often been furnished with the 
 most sinister proofs, an4 of which he stood in an awe too 
 salutary to covet a repetition of the attacks. The reader 
 can foresee that he was to be agreeably disappointed. 
 Treading lightly, and looking timidly over his shoulder, 
 as if he apprehended a shower of something even more 
 formidable than words, the doctor proceeded to the place 
 which had been allotted to himself in the general disposi- 
 tion of the dormitories. 
 
 Instead of sleeping, the worthy naturalist sat ruminating 
 over what he had both seen and heard that day, until the 
 tossing and mutterings which proceeded from the cabin of 
 Esther, who was his nearest neighbor, advertised him of 
 the wakeful situation of its inmate. Perceiving the nec- 
 essity of doing something to disarm this female Cerberus, 
 before his own purpose could be accomplished, the doctor, 
 reluctant as he was to encounter her tongue, found him- 
 self compelled to invite a colloquial communication. 
 
 " You appear not to sleep, my very kind and worthy 
 Mrs. Bush," he said, determined to commence his applica- 
 tions with a piaster that was usually found to adhere ; 
 "you appear to rest badly, my excellent hostess; can I 
 administer to your ailings ?" 
 
 "What would you give me, man?" grumbled Esther: 
 *a blaster to make me sleep ? " 
 
 " Say rather a cataplasm. But if you are in pain, here 
 are some cordial drops, which, taken in a glass of my own 
 cognac, will give you rest, if I know aught of the materia 
 medica." 
 
 The doctor, as he very well knew, had assailed Esther 
 on her weak side ; and, as he doubted not of the accept- 
 able quality of his prescription, he set himself at work 
 
j 3 o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 without unnecessary delay, to prepare it. When he made 
 his offering, it was received in a snappish and threatening 
 manner, but swallowed with a facility that sufficiently pro- 
 claimed how much it was relished. The woman muttered 
 her thanks, and her leech reseated himself in silence, to 
 await the operation of the dose. In less than half an hour 
 the breathing of Esther became so profound, and, as the 
 doctor himself might have termed it, so very abstracted, 
 that, had he not known how easy it was to ascribe this new 
 instance of somnolency to the powerful dose of opium with 
 which he had garnished the brandy, he might have seen rea- 
 son to distrust his own prescription. With the sleep of the 
 restless woman, the stillness became profound and general. 
 
 Then Dr. Battius saw fit to arise, with the silence and 
 caution of the midnight robber, and to steal out of his 
 own cabin, or rather kennel, for it deserves no better 
 name, toward the adjoining dormitories. Here he took 
 time to assure himself that all his neighbors were buried 
 in deep sleep. Once advised of this important fact, he 
 hesitated no longer, but commenced the difficult ascent 
 which led to the pinnacle of the rock. His advance, 
 though abundantly guarded, was not entirely noiseless ; 
 but while he was felicitating himself on having success- 
 fully effected his object, and he was in the very act of 
 placing his foot on the highest ledge, a hand was laid 
 upon the skirts of his coat, which as effectually put an 
 end to his advance as if the gigantic strength of Ishmael 
 himself had pinned him to the earth. 
 
 ''Is there sickness in the tent," whispered a soft voice 
 in his very ear, " that Dr. Battius is called to visit it at 
 such an hour ? " 
 
 So soon as the heart of the naturalist had returned from 
 its hasty expedition into his throat, as one less skilled 
 than Dr. Battius in the formation of the animal would 
 have been apt to have accounted for the extraordinary sen< 
 sation with which he received this unlooked-for interrup- 
 tion, he found resolution to reply ; using, as much in ter- 
 ror as in prudence, the same precaution in the indulgence 
 of his voice. 
 
 " My worthy Nelly ! I am greatly rejoiced to find it is 
 no other than thee. Hist, child, hist ! Should Ishmael 
 gain a knowledge of our plans, he would not hesitate to 
 cast us both from this rock, upon the plain beneath. 
 Nelly, hist ! " 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 13! 
 
 As the doctor delivered his injunctions between the in- 
 tervals of his ascent, by the time they were concluded, 
 both he and his auditor had gained the upper level. 
 
 "And now, Dr. Battius," the girl gravely demanded, 
 "may I know the reason why you have run so great a risk 
 of flying from this place, without wings, and at the cer- 
 tain expense of your neck ? " 
 
 " Nothing shall be concealed from thee, worthy and 
 trusty Nelly but are you certain that Ishmael will not 
 awake ? " 
 
 " No fear of him ; he will sleep until the sun scorches 
 his eyelids. The danger is from my aunt." 
 
 " Esther sleepeth ! " the doctor sententiously replied. 
 " Ellen, you have been watching on this rock to-day ? " 
 
 " I was ordered to do so." 
 
 "And you have seen the bison, and the antelope, and 
 the wolf, and the deer, as usual ; animals of the orders 
 Pecora, Pellulce, and Fer&" 
 
 " I have seen the creatures you named in English, but I 
 know nothing of the Indian languages." 
 
 " There is still an order that I have not named, which 
 you have also seen. The primates is it not true ?" 
 
 " I cannot say, I know no animal by that name." 
 
 " Nay, Ellen, you confer with a friend. Of the genus 
 Homo, child ? " 
 
 " Whatever else I may have had in view, I have not seen 
 the Vesper tilio horribi 
 
 " Hush, Nelly, thy vivacity will betray us ! Tell me, girl, 
 have you not seen certain bipeds, called men, wandering 
 about the prairies ?" 
 
 " Surely. My uncle and his sons have been hunting the 
 buffalo, since the sun began to fall." 
 
 " I must speak in the vernacular, to be comprehended. 
 Ellen, I would say of the species Kentucky." 
 
 Though Ellen reddened like the rose, her blushes were 
 concealed by the darkness. She hesitated an instant, and 
 then summoned sufficient spirit to say decidedly : 
 
 " If you wish to speak in parables, Dr. Battius, you 
 must find another listener. Put your questions plainly in 
 English, and I will answer them honestly in the same 
 tongue." 
 
 " I have been journeying in this desert, asthou knowest, 
 Nelly, in quest of animals that have been hidden from the 
 eyes of science until now. Among others, I have dis- 
 
<32 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 covered a primates, the genus Homo ; species, Kentucky, 
 which I term Paul " 
 
 " Hist, for the sake of mercy ! " said Ellen ; " speak lower, 
 doctor, or we shall be ruined." 
 
 " Hover ; by profession a collector of the apes, or bee," 
 continued the other. " Do I use the vernacular now am 
 I understood ? " 
 
 " Perfectly, perfectly," returned the girl, breathing with 
 difficulty, in her surprise. " But what of him ? did he tell 
 you to mount this rock ? he knows nothing, himself ; for 
 the oath I gave my uncle has shut my mouth." 
 
 " Ay, but there is one that has taken no oath, who has 
 revealed all. I would that the mantle which is wrapped 
 around the mysteries of Nature were as effectually with- 
 drawn from its hidden treasures ! Ellen ! Ellen ! the man 
 with whom I have unwittingly formed a compactum, or 
 agreement, is sadly forgetful of the obligations of honesty ! 
 Thy uncle, child." 
 
 " You mean Ishmael Bush, my father's brother's widow's 
 husband," returned the offended girl, a little proudly. 
 " Indeed, indeed, it is cruel to reproach me with a tie that 
 chance has formed, and which I would rejoice so much to 
 break forever ! " 
 
 The humbled Ellen could utter no more, but, sinking 
 on a projection of the rock, she began to sob in a manner 
 that rendered their situation doubly critical. The doctor 
 muttered a few words, which he intended as an apologetic 
 explanation, but, before he had time to complete his la 
 bored vindication, she arose and said with decision : 
 
 " I did not come here to pass my time in foolish tears, 
 nor you to try to stop them. What then, has brought yot 
 thither ? " 
 
 " I must see the inmate of that tent." 
 
 " You know what it contains ? " 
 
 " I am taught to believe I do ; and I bear a letter which 1 
 must deliver with my own hands. If the animal prove a quad' 
 ruped, Ishmael is a true man if a biped, fledged or unfledg* 
 ed, I care not, he is false, and our compactum at an end ! " 
 
 Ellen made a sign for the doctor to remain where he 
 was, and to be silent. She then glided into the tent, where 
 she continued many minutes, that proved exceedingly 
 weary and anxious to the expectant without ; but, the in- 
 stant she returned, she took him by the arm, and together 
 they entered beneath the folds of the mysterious cloth. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 * Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself ! " KING HENRY VL 
 
 THE mustering of the borderers on the following morn* 
 ing was silent, sullen, and gloomy. The repast of that 
 hour was wanting in the inharmonious accompaniment 
 with which Esther ordinarily enlivened their meals ; for 
 the effects of the powerful opiate the doctor had adminis- 
 tered still muddled her intellect. The young men brooded 
 over the absence of their elder brother ; and the brows of 
 Ishmael himself were knit, as he cast his scowling eyes 
 from one to the other, like a man preparing to meet and to 
 repel an expected assault on his authority. In the midst 
 of this family distrust, Ellen and her midnight confederate, 
 the naturalist, took their usual place among the children, 
 without awakening suspicion or exciting comment. The 
 only apparent fruits of the adventure in which they had 
 been engaged were occasional upliftings of the eyes, on 
 the part of the doctor, which were mistaken by the observ* 
 ers for some of his scientific contemplations of the heavens, 
 but which, in reality, were no other than furtive glances 
 at the fluttering walls of the proscribed tent. 
 
 At length the squatter, who had w r aited in vain for some 
 decided manifestation of the expected rising among his 
 sons, resolved to make a demonstration of his own inten- 
 tions. 
 
 "Asa shall account to me for his undutiful conduct," he 
 observed. "Here has the livelong night gone by, and he 
 outlying on the prairie, when his hand and his rifle might 
 both have been wanted in a brush with the Siouxes, for 
 any right he had to know the contrary." 
 
 " Spare your breath, good man," retorted his wife ! "be 
 saving your breath ; for you may have to call long enough 
 for the boy before he will answer!" 
 
 " It ar' a fact that some men be so womanish as to let thg 
 young master the old ! But you, old Eester, should know 
 better to think such will ever be the nature of things in 
 the family of Ishmael Bush." 
 
 " Ah ! you are a hectorer with the boys when need calls! 
 I know it well, Ishmael ; and one of your sons have you 
 
*34 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 driven from you by your temper ; and that, too, at a tima 
 when he is most wanted." 
 
 " Father," said Abner, whose sluggish nature had gradu* 
 ally been stimulating itself to the exertion of taking so 
 bold a stand, " the boys and I have pretty generally con- 
 eluded to go out on the search of Asa. We are disagree- 
 able about his camping on the prairie, instead of coming 
 into his own bed, as we all know he would like to do." 
 
 "Pshaw!" muttered Abiram ; "the boy has killed a 
 buck ; or perhaps a buffalo ; and he is sleeping by the 
 carcass to keep off the wolves till day ; we shall soon see 
 him, or hear him bawling for help to bring in his load." 
 
 ""Pis little help that a son of mine will call for, to 
 shoulder a buck or to quarter your wild beef," returned 
 the mother. "And you, Abiram, to say so uncertain a 
 thing ! you who said yourself that the red-skins had been 
 prowling around this place no later than yesterday " 
 
 " I ! " exclaimed her brother, hastily, as if anxious to re- 
 tract an error ; " I said it then, and I say it now ; and so 
 you will find it to be. The Tetons are in our neighbor* 
 hood, and happy will it prove for the boy if he is well 
 shut of them." 
 
 " It seems to me," sa-id Dr. Battius, speaking with the 
 sort of deliberation and dignity one is apt to use after 
 having thoroughly ripened his opinions by sufficient re- 
 flection " it seems to me a man but little skilled in the 
 signs and tokens of Indian warfare, especially as practised 
 in these remote plains, but one who, I may say without 
 vanity, has some insight into the mysteries of Nature it 
 seems, then, to me, thus humbly qualified, that when 
 doubts exist in a matter of moment, it would always be 
 the wisest course to appease them," 
 
 " No more of your doctoring for me ! " cried the grum 
 Esther ; " no more of your quiddities in a healthy family, 
 say I ! Here was I doing well, only a little out of sorts 
 with over-instructing the young, and you dosed me with a 
 drug that hangs about my tongue lik^ a pound-weight on 
 a humnv.ng-bird's wing ! " 
 
 " Is the medicine out?" dryly demanded Ishmael ; "it 
 must be a rare dose that gives a heavy feel tc the tongue 
 of old Eester ! " 
 
 " Friend," continued the doctor, waving his hand for the 
 a*igry wife to maintain the peace, " that it cannot perform 
 9 '1 that is said of it the very charge of good Mr? 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 135 
 
 a sufficient proof. But to speak of the absent Asa. Thers, 
 is doubt as to his fate, and there is a proposition to solve 
 it. Now, in the natural sciences truth is always a de- 
 sideratum ; and I confess it would seem to be equally so 
 in the present case of domestic uncertainty, which may be 
 called a vacuum, where, according to the laws of physic, there 
 should exist some pretty palpable proofs of materiality." 
 
 " Don't mind him, don't mind him," cried Esther, ob- 
 serving that the rest of his auditors listened with an at- 
 tention which might proceed equally from acquiescence in 
 his proposal, or ignorance of its meaning. " There is a 
 drug in every word he utters." 
 
 " Dr. Battius wishes to say," Ellen modestly interposed, 
 "that as some of us think Asa is in danger, and some 
 think otherwise, the whole family might pass an hour or 
 two in looking for him." 
 
 " Does he?" interrupted the woman ; "then Dr. Battius 
 has more sense in him than I believed ! She is right, 
 Ishmael ; and what she says shall be done. I will shoulder 
 a rifle myself, and woe betide the red-skin that crosses my 
 path ! I have pulled a trigger before to-day ; ay, and heard 
 an Indian yell, too, to my sorrow." 
 
 The spirit of Esther diffused itself, like the stimulus 
 which attends a war-cry, among her sons. They arose in 
 a body, and declared their determination to second so bold 
 a resolution. Ishmael prudently yielded to an impulse he 
 could not resist, and in a few minutes the woman ap- 
 peared, shouldering her arms, prepared to lead forth, in 
 person, such of her descendants as chose to follow. 
 
 "Let them stay with the children that please," she said, 
 " and then follow me who are not chicken-hearted ! " 
 
 " Abiram, it will not do to leave the huts without some 
 guard," Ishmael whispered, glancing his eye upward. 
 
 The man whom he addressed started, and betrayed ex- 
 traordinary eagerness in his reply. 
 
 " I will tarry and watch the camp." 
 
 A dozen voices were instantly raised in objection to this 
 proposal. He was wanted to point out the places where 
 the hostile tracks had been seen, and his termagant sister 
 openly scouted at the idea, as unworthy of his manhood. 
 The reluctant Abiram was compelled to yield, and Ishmael 
 made anew disposition for the defence of the place ; which 
 was admitted by every one to be all-important to theil 
 security and comfort 
 
/36 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 He offered the post of commandant to Dr. Battius, who, 
 however, peremptorily and somewhat haughtily declined 
 the doubtful honor, exchanging looks of intelligence with 
 Ellen as he did so. In this dilemma the squatter was 
 obliged to constitute the girl herself castellan, taking care, 
 however, in deputing this important trust, to omit no 
 words of caution and instruction. When this preliminary 
 point was settled the young men proceeded to arrange 
 certain means of defence and signals of alarm that were 
 adapted to the weakness and character of the garrison. 
 Several masses of rocks were drawn to the edge of the up- 
 per level, and so placed as to leave it at the discretion of 
 the feeble Ellen and her associates to cast them or not, 
 as they might choose, on the heads of any invaders, who 
 would of necessity be obliged to mount the eminence 
 by the difficult and narrow passage already so often men- 
 tioned. In addition to this formidable obstruction, the 
 barriers were strengthened and rendered nearly impass- 
 able. Smaller missiles that might be hurled even by the 
 hands of the younger children, but which would prove, 
 from the elevation of the place, exceeding dangerous, were 
 provided in profusion. A pile of dried leaves and splin- 
 ters was placed, as a beacon, on the upper rock, and then, 
 even in the jealous judgment of the squatter, the post was 
 deemed competent to maintain a creditable siege. 
 
 The moment the rock was thought to be in a state of 
 sufficient security the party who composed what might 
 be called the sortie sallied forth on their anxious expedi- 
 tion. The advance was led by Esther in person, who, at- 
 tired in a dress half masculine, and bearing a weapon like 
 the rest, seemed no unfit leader for the group of wildly- 
 clad frontier-men that followed in her rear. 
 
 " Now, Abiram ! " cried the Amazon, in a voice that was 
 cracked and harsh, for the simple reason of being used 
 too often on a strained and unnatural key, " now, Abiram, 
 run with your nose low ; show yourself a hound of the 
 true breed, and do some credit to your training. You it 
 was that saw the prints of the Indian moccasin, and it be- 
 hooves you to let others be as wise as yourself. Come ; 
 come to the front, man, and give us a bold lead." 
 
 The brother, who appeared at all times to stand in awe 
 of his sister's authority, complied ; though it was with a 
 reluctance so evident as to excite sneers even among the 
 unobservant and indolent sons of the squatter. Jshmael, 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 137 
 
 himself, moved among his tall children like one who ex- 
 pected nothing from the search, and who was indifferent 
 alike to its success or failure. In this manner the party 
 proceeded until their distant fortress had sunk so low as 
 to present an object no larger nor more distinct than a 
 hazy point on the margin of the prairie. Hitherto their 
 progress had been silent and somewhat rapid, for as swell 
 after swell was mounted and passed, without varying, or 
 discovering a living object to enliven the monotony of the 
 view, even the tongue of Esther was hushed to increasing 
 anxiety. Here, however, Ishmael chose to pause, and 
 casting the butt of his rifle from his shoulder to the 
 ground, he observed : 
 
 "This is enough. Buffalo-signs and deer-signs are 
 plenty ; but where are thy Indian footsteps, Abiram ?" 
 
 " Still farther west," returned the other, pointing in the 
 direction he named. " This was the spot where I struck 
 the tracks of the buck ; it was after I took the deer that 
 I fell upon the Teton trail." 
 
 "And a bloody piece of work you made of it, man," 
 cried the squatter, pointing tauntingly to the soiled gar- 
 ments of his kinsman, and then directing the attention of 
 the spectators to his own, by the way of a triumphant con- 
 trast. "Here have I cut the throats of two lively does, 
 and a scampering fawn, without spot or stain ; while you, 
 blundering dog that you are, have made as much work for 
 Eester and her girls, as though butchering was your regu- 
 lar calling. Come, boys it is enough. I am too old not 
 to know the signs of the frontiers ; no Indian has been 
 here since the last fall of water. Follow me ; and I will 
 make a turn that shall give us at least the beef of a fallow 
 cow for our trouble." 
 
 "Follow me!" echoed Esther, stepping undauntedly 
 forward. " I am leader to-day, and I will be followed. 
 Who so proper, let me know, as a mother, to lead a search 
 for her own lost child ? " 
 
 Ishmael regarded his intractable mate with a smile of 
 indulgent pity. Observing that she had already struck out 
 a path for herself, different both from that of Abiram and 
 the one he had seen fit to choose, and, being unwilling to 
 draw the cord of authority too tight just at that moment, he 
 submitted to her will. But Dr. Battius, who had hitherto 
 been a silent and thoughtful attendant on the woman, now 
 saw fit to raise his feeble voice in the way of remonstrance, 
 
138 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " I agree with thy partner in life, worthy and gentle 
 Mrs. Bush," he said, "in believing that some ignis fatuus of 
 the imagination has deceived Abiram, in the signs or 
 symptoms of which he has spoken." 
 
 ''Symptoms, yourself!" interrupted the termagant 
 "This is no time for bookish words, nor is this a place to 
 stop and swallow medicines. If you are a-leg-weary, say 
 so, as a plain-speaking man should ; then seat yourself on 
 the prairie, like a hound that is foot-sore, and take your 
 natural rest." 
 
 " I accord with your opinion," the naturalist calmly re- 
 plied, complying literally with the opinion of the deriding 
 Esther, by taking his seat very coolly by the side of an in- 
 digenous shrub, the examination of which he commenced 
 on the instant, in order that science might not lose any of 
 its just and important dues. " I honor your excellent ad- 
 vice, Mistress Esther, as you may perceive. Go thou in 
 quest of thy offspring, while I tarry here, in pursuit of that 
 Which is better, viz., an insight into the arcana of Nature's 
 volume." 
 
 The woman answered with a hollow, unnatural, and 
 scornful laugh ; and even her heavy sons, as they slowly 
 passed the seat of the already abstracted naturalist, did not 
 disdain to manifest their contempt in smiles. In a few 
 minutes the train mounted the nearest eminence, and, as 
 it turned the rounded acclivity, the doctor was left to pur- 
 Rue his profitable investigation in entire solitude. 
 
 Another half-hour passed, during which Esther con- 
 tinued to advance on her seemingly fruitless search. Her 
 pauses, however, were becoming frequent, and her looks 
 wandering and uncertain, when footsteps were heard clat- 
 tering through the bottom, and at the next instant a buck 
 was seen to bound up the ascent, ^and to dart from before 
 their eyes, in the direction of the naturalist. So sudden 
 and unlocked for had been the passage of the animal, and 
 so much had he been favored by the shape of the ground, 
 that, before any one of the foresters had time to bring his 
 rifle to his shoulder, it was already beyond the range of a 
 bullet. 
 
 " Look out for the wolf !" shouted Abner, shaking his 
 head in vexation, at being a single moment too late." "A 
 wolf's skin will be no bad gift in a winter's night ; ay, yon- 
 der the hungry devil comes ! " 
 
 " Hold ! " cried Ishmael, knocking up the levelled wea 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 139 
 
 pon of his too eager son. " 'Tis not a wolf, but a hound of 
 thorough blood and bottom. Ha ! we have hunters nigh : 
 there ar' two of them." 
 
 He was still speaking, when the animals in question 
 came leaping on the track of the deer, striving with noble 
 ardor to outdo each other. One was an aged dog, whose 
 strength seemed to be sustained purely by generous emu- 
 lation, and the other a pup, that gambolled even while he 
 pressed most warmly on the chase. They both ran, how- 
 ever, with clean and powerful leaps, carrying their noses 
 high, like animals of the most keen and subtile scent. 
 They had passed ; and in another minute they would have 
 been running open-mouthed with the deer in view, had 
 not the younger dog suddenly bounded from the course, 
 and uttered a cry of surprise. His aged companion stopped 
 also, and returned panting and exhausted to the place 
 where the other was whirling around in swift and appar- 
 ently in mad evolutions, circling the spot in his own foot- 
 steps, and continuing his outcry, in a short, snappish bark- 
 ing. But, when the elder hound had reached the spot, he 
 seated himself, and, lifting his nose high into the air, he 
 raised a long, loud, and wailing howl. - 
 
 " It must be a strong scent," said Abner, who had been, 
 with the rest of the family, an admiring observer of the 
 movements of the dogs, "that can break off two such crea- 
 tur's so suddenly from their trail." 
 
 " Murder them ! " cried Abiram ; " I'll swear to the old 
 hound ; 'tis the dog of the trapper, whom we now know 
 to be our mortal enemy." 
 
 Though the brother of Esther gave so hostile advice, 
 he appeared in no way ready to put it in execution him- 
 self. The surprise which had taken possession of the whole 
 party, exhibited itself in his own vacant, wondering stare, 
 as strongly as in any of the admiring visages by whom he 
 was surrounded. His denunciation, therefore, notwith- 
 standing its dire import, was disregarded ; and the dogs 
 were left to obey the impulses of their mysterious instinct, 
 without let or hinderance. 
 
 It was long before any of the spectators broke the si- 
 lence ; but the squatter at length so far recollected his 
 authority as to take on himself the right to control the 
 movements of his children. 
 
 "Come away, boys ; come away, and leave the hounds 
 to sing their tunes for their own amusement," Ishmael said, 
 
140 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 in his coldest manner. " I scorn to take the life of a beast; 
 because its master has pitched himself too nigh my clear, 
 ing ; come away, boys, come away ; we have enough ol 
 our own work before us, without turning aside to do that 
 of the whole neighborhood." 
 
 " Come not away ! " cried Esther, in tones that sounded 
 like the admonitions of some sibyl. " I say, come not away, 
 my children. There is a meaning and a warning in this ; 
 and as I am a woman and a mother, will I know the truth 
 of it all." 
 
 So saying, the awakened wife brandished her weapon, 
 with an air that was not without its wild and secret in- 
 fluence, and led the way toward the spot where the dogs 
 still remained, filling the air with their long-drawn and 
 piteous complaints. The whole party followed in her 
 steps, some too indolent to oppose, others obedient to her 
 will, and all more or less excited by the uncommon char- 
 acter of the scene. 
 
 " Tell me, you Abner Abiram Ishmael ! " the woman 
 cried, standing over a spot where the earth was trampled 
 and beaten, and plainly sprinkled with blood ; " tell me, 
 you who ar' hunters ! what sort of animal has here met 
 his death ? Speak ! Ye ar' men, and used to the signs of 
 the plains ; is it the blood of wolf or panther?" 
 
 <k A buffalo and a noble and powerful creatur' has it 
 been!" returned the squatter, who looked down calmly 
 on the fatal signs which so strangely affected his wife. 
 " Here are the marks of the spot where he has struck his 
 hoofs into the earth, in the death struggle ; and yonder 
 he has plunged and torn the ground with his horns. Ay, 
 a buffalo-bull of wonderful strength and courage has ha 
 been !" 
 
 "And who has slain him ?" continued Esther ; "man ! 
 where are the offals ? Wolves ! They devour not the 
 hide ! Tell me, ye men and hunters, is this the blood of a 
 beast ? " 
 
 " The creatur' has plunged over the hillock," said Abner, 
 who had proceeded a short distance beyond the rest of the 
 party. " Ah ! there you will find it, in yon swale of alders. 
 Look ! a thousand carrion-birds ar' hovering above the 
 carcass." 
 
 " The animal has still life in him," returned the squat- 
 ter, " or the buzzards would settle upon their prey! By 
 the action of the dogs it must be something ravenous : I 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 141 
 
 reckon it is the white bear from the upper falls. They are 
 said to cling desperately to life ! " 
 
 " Let us go back," said Abiram ; " there may be danger, 
 and there can be no good in attacking a ravenous beast. 
 Remember, Ishmael, 'twill be a risky job, and one of small 
 profit ! " 
 
 The young men smiled at this new proof of the well- 
 known pusillanimity of their uncle. The oldest even pro- 
 ceeded so far as to express his contempt, by bluntly say- 
 ing : 
 
 " It will do to cage with the other animal we carry ; 
 then we may go back double-handed into the settlements, 
 and set up for showmen, around the court-houses and jails 
 of Kentucky." 
 
 The threatening frown which gathered on the brow of 
 his father admonished the young man to forbear. Ex- 
 changing looks that were half rebellious with his brethren, 
 he saw fit to be silent. But instead of observing the cau- 
 tion recommended by Abiram, they proceeded in a body, 
 until they again came to a halt within a few yards of the 
 matted cover of the thicket. 
 
 The scene had now, indeed, become wild and striking 
 enough to have produced a powerful effect on minds better 
 prepared, than those of the unnurtured family of the 
 squatter, to resist the impressions of so exciting a specta- 
 cle. The heavens were, as usual at the season, covered 
 with dark, driving clouds, beneath which interminable 
 flocks of aquatic birds were again on the wing, holding 
 their toilsome and heavy way toward the distant waters of 
 the South. The wind had risen, and was once more sweep- 
 ing over the prairie in gusts, which it was often vain to op- 
 pose ; and then again the blasts would seem to mount into 
 the upper air, as if to sport with the drifting vapor, whirl- 
 ing and rolling vast masses of the dusky and ragged vol- 
 umes over each other, in a terrific and yet grand disorder. 
 Above the little brake, the flocks of birds still held their 
 flight, circling with heavy wings about the spot, struggling 
 at times against the torrent of wind, and then, favored by 
 their position and height, making bold swoops upon the 
 thicket, away from which, however, they never failed to 
 sail, screaming in terror, as if apprised, either by sight or 
 instinct, that the hour of their voracious dominion had not 
 yet fully arrived. 
 
 Ishmael stood for many minutes, with his wife and 
 
142 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 children clustered together, in an amazement, with which 
 awe was singularly mingled, gazing in death-like stillness 
 on the sight. The voice of Esther at length broke the 
 charm, and reminded the spectators of the necessity of re- 
 solving their doubts in some manner more worthy of their 
 manhood than by dull and inactive observation. 
 
 " Call in the dogs ! " she said ; "call in the hounds, and 
 put them into the thicket ; there ar' men enough of ye, if 
 ye have not lost the spirit with which I know ye were 
 born, to tame the tempers of all the bears west of the big 
 river. Call in the dogs, I say, you Enoch ! Abner ! 
 Gabriel ! has wonder made ye deaf ? " 
 
 One of the young men complied ; and, having succeeded 
 in detaching the hounds from the place, around which, 
 until then, they had not ceased to hover, he led them down 
 to the margin of the thicket. 
 
 " Put them in, boy ; put them in," continued the woman ; 
 "and you, Ishmael and Abiram, if anything wicked or 
 hurtful comes forth, show them the use of your rifles, like 
 frontier-men. If ye ar' wanting in spirit, before the eyes 
 of my children I will put ye both to shame ! " 
 
 The youths who, until now, had detained the hounds, 
 let slip the thongs of skin by which they had been held, 
 and urged them to the attack with their voices. But it 
 would seem that the elder dog was restrained by some ex- 
 traordinary sensation, or that he was much too experienced 
 to attempt the rash adventure. After proceeding a few 
 yards to the verge of the brake, he made a sudden pause, 
 and stood trembling in all his aged limbs, apparently as 
 unable to recede as to advance. The encouraging calls of 
 the young men were disregarded, or only answered by a 
 low and plaintive whining. For a minute the pup also 
 was similarly affected ; but less sage, or more easily excited, 
 he was induced at length to leap forward, and finally to 
 dash into the cover. An alarmed and startling howl was 
 heard, and at the next minute, he broke out of the thicket, 
 and commenced circling the spot, in the same w T ild and 
 unsteady manner as before. 
 
 " Have I a man among my children ? " demanded Esther. 
 " Give me a truer piece than a childish shot-gun, and I 
 will show ye what the courage of a frontier-woman can 
 do!" 
 
 " Stay, mother," exclaimed Abner and Enoch ; " if you 
 see the creatur', let us drive it into view." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 143 
 
 This was quite as much as the youths were accustomed 
 to utter, even on more important occasions ; but, having 
 given a pledge of their intentions, they were far from being 
 backward in redeeming it. Preparing their arms with the 
 utmost care, they advanced with steadiness to the brake. 
 Nerves less often tried than those of the young borderers 
 might have shrunk before the dangers of so uncertain an 
 undertaking. As they proceeded, the howls of the dogs 
 became more shrill and plaintive. The vultures and buz- 
 zards settled so low as to flap the bushes with their heavy 
 wings, and the wind came hoarsely sweeping along the 
 naked prairie, as if the spirits of the air had also descended 
 to witness the approaching development. 
 
 There was a breathless moment, when the blood of the 
 undaunted Esther flowed backward to her heart, as she 
 saw her sons push aside the matted branches of the thicket, 
 and bury themselves in its labyrinth. A deep and solemn 
 pause succeeded. Then arose two loud and piercing cries, 
 in quick succession, which were followed by a quiet still 
 more awful and appalling. 
 
 " Come back, come back, my children ! " cried the 
 woman, the feelings of a mother getting the ascendency. 
 
 But her voice was hushed, and every faculty seemed 
 frozen with horror, as at that instant the bushes once more 
 parted, and the two adventurers reappeared, pale and 
 nearly insensible themselves, and laid at her feet the stiff 
 and motionless body of the lost Asa, with the marks of a 
 violent death but too plainly stamped on every pallid lin- 
 eament. 
 
 The dogs uttered a long and closing howl, and then, 
 breaking off together, they disappeared on the forsaken 
 trail of the deer. The flight of birds wheeled upward into 
 the heavens, filling the air with their complaints at having 
 been robbed of a victim which, frightful and disgusting as 
 it was, still bore too much of the impression of humanity 
 to become the prey of their obscene appetites. 
 
144 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "A pickaxe, and a spade, a spade, 
 
 For and a shrouding sheet ; 
 O, a pit of clay for to be made 
 
 For such a guest is meet." SONG IN HAMLET. 
 
 " STAND back ! stand off, the whole of ye ! " said Esther, 
 hoarsely, to the crowd, which pressed too closely on the 
 corpse ; "I am his mother, and my right is better than 
 that of ye all ! Who has done this ? Tell me, Ishmael, 
 Abiram, Abner ! open your mouths and your hearts, and 
 let God's truth and no other issue from them. Who has 
 done this bloody deed ? " 
 
 Her husband made no reply, but stood, leaning on his 
 rifle, looking sadly, but with an unaltered eye, at the man* 
 gled remains of his son. Not so the mother ; she threw 
 herself on the earth, and, receiving the cold and ghastly 
 head into her lap, she sat contemplating those muscular 
 features, on which the death-agony was still horribly im- 
 pressed, in a silence far more expressive than any language 
 of lamentation could have proved. 
 
 The voice of the- woman was frozen in grief. In vain 
 Ishmael attempted a few words of rude consolation ; she 
 neither listened nor answered. Her sons gathered about 
 her in a circle, and expressed, after their uncouth manner, 
 their sympathy in her sorrow, as well as their sense of 
 their own loss ; but she motioned them away, impatiently, 
 with her hand. At times her fingers played in the matted 
 hair of the dead, and at others they lightly attempted to 
 smooth the painfully expressive muscles of its ghastly vis- 
 age, as the hand of the mother is seen lingering fondly 
 about the features of her sleeping child. Then, starting 
 from their revolting office, her hands would flutter around 
 her, and seem to seek some fruitless remedy against the 
 violent blow which had thus suddenly destroyed the child 
 in whom she had not only placed her greatest hopes, but 
 so much of her maternal pride. While engaged in the 
 latter incomprehensible manner, the lethargic Abner 
 turned aside, and swallowing the unwonted emotions 
 which were rising in his own throat, he observed : 
 
 " Mother means that we should look for the signs, that 
 we may know in what manner Asa has come by his end." 
 
 " We owe it to the accursed Siouxes ! " answered Ish- 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 145 
 
 mael ; " twice have they -put me deeply in their debt ! 
 The third time the score shall be cleared ! " 
 
 But, not content with this plausible explanation, and 
 perhaps secretly glad to avert their eyes from a spectacle 
 which awakened so extraordinary and unusual sensations 
 in their sluggish bosoms, the sons of the squatter turned 
 away in a body from their mother and the corpse, and 
 proceeded to make the inquiries which they fancied the 
 former had so repeatedly demanded. Ishmael made no 
 objections ; but, though he accompanied his children while 
 they proceeded in the investigation, it was more with the 
 appearance of complying with their wishes, at a time when 
 resistance might not be seemly, than with any visible in- 
 terest in the result. As the borderers, notwithstanding 
 their usual dulness, were well instructed in most things 
 connected with their habits of life, an inquiry, the success 
 of which depended so much on signs and evidences that 
 bore so strong a resemblance to a forest-trail, was likely 
 to be conducted with skill and acuteness. Accordingly, 
 they proceeded to the melancholy task with great readi- 
 ness and intelligence. 
 
 Abner and Enoch agreed in their accounts as to the 
 position in which they had found the body. It was seated 
 nearly upright, the back supported by a mass of matted 
 brush, and one hand still grasping a broken twig of the 
 alders. It was most probably owing to the former cir- 
 cumstance that the body had escaped the rapacity of the 
 carrion-birds which had been seen hovering above the 
 thicket, and the latter proved that life had not yet en- 
 tirely abandoned the hapless victim when he entered the 
 brake. The opinion now became general that the youth 
 had received his death-wound in the open prairie, and had 
 dragged his enfeebled form into the cover of the thicket 
 for the purpose of concealment. A trail through the 
 bushes confirmed this opinion. It also appeared, on exam- 
 ination, that a desperate struggle had taken place on the 
 very margin of the thicket. This was sufficiently apparent 
 by the trodden branches, the deep impressions on the 
 Inoist ground, and the lavish flow of blood. 
 
 " He has been shot in the open ground and come here 
 for a cover," said Abiram ; "these marks would clearly 
 prove it. The boy has been set upon by the savages in a 
 body, and has fou't like a hero as he was, until they have 
 mastered his strength, and then drawn him to the bushes." 
 
 10 
 
f4 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 To this probable opinion there was now but one dissent- 
 ing voice, that of the slow-minded Ishmael, who demanded 
 that the corpse itself should be examined in order to ob- 
 tain a more accurate knowledge of its injuries. On exami- 
 nation, it appeared that a rifle-bullet had passed directly 
 through the body of the deceased, entering beneath one of 
 his brawny shoulders, and making its exit by the breast. 
 It required some knowledge in gunshot-wounds to decide 
 this delicate point, but the experience of the borderers 
 was quite equal to the scrutiny ; and a smile of wild and 
 certainly of singular satisfaction passed among the sons of 
 Ishmael, when Abner confidently announced that the ene- 
 mies of Asa had assailed him in the rear. 
 
 " It must be so," said the gloomy but attentive squatter. 
 "He was of too good a stock, and too well trained, know- 
 ingly to turn the weak side to man or beast ! Remember, 
 boys, that while the front of manhood is to your enemy, 
 let him be who or what he may, you ar' safe from coward- 
 ly surprise. Why, Eester, woman ! you ar' getting beside 
 yourself with picking at the hair and the garments of the 
 child ! Little good can you do him now, old girl." 
 
 "See!" interrupted Enoch, extricating from the frag- 
 ments of cloth the morsel of lead which had prostrated the 
 strength of one so powerful ; " here is the very bullet ! " 
 
 Ishmael took it in his hand and eyed it long and closely. 
 
 " There's no mistake," at length he muttered, through 
 his compressed teeth. " It is from the pouch of that ac- 
 cursed trapper. Like many of the hunters, he has a mark 
 in his mould, in order to know the work his rifle performs ; 
 and here you see it plainly six little holes laid crossways." 
 
 " I'll swear to it," cried Abiram, triumphantly. " He 
 showed me his private mark himself, and boasted of the 
 number of deer he had laid upon the prairies with these 
 very bullets. Now, Ishmael, will you believe me when I 
 tell you the old knave is a spy of the red-skins ? " 
 
 The lead passed from the hand of one to that of another ; 
 and, unfortunately for the reputation of the old man, sev- 
 eral among them remembered also to have seen the afore- 
 said private bullet marks during the curious examination 
 which all had made of his accoutrements. In addition to 
 this wound, however, were many others of a less danger- 
 ous nature, all of which were deemed to confirm the sup- 
 posed guilt of the trapper. 
 
 The traces of many different struggles were to be seen 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 147 
 
 between the spot where the first blood was spilt and the 
 thicket to which it was now generally believed Asa had 
 retreated as a place of refuge. These were interpreted 
 into so many proofs of the weakness of the murderer, who 
 would have sooner dispatched his victim, had not even 
 the dying strength of the youth rendered him formidable 
 to the infirmities of one so old. The danger of drawing 
 some others of the hunters to the spot, by repeated firing t 
 was deemed a sufficient reason for not again resorting tc 
 the rifle after it had performed the important duty of dis- 
 abling the victim. The weapon of the dead man was not 
 to be found, and had, doubtless, together with many other 
 less valuable and lighter articles that he was accustomed 
 to carry about his person, become a prize to his destroyer. 
 
 But what, in addition to the tell-tale bullet, appeared to 
 fix the ruthless deed with peculiar certainty on the trapper 
 was the accumulated evidence furnished by the trail ; 
 which proved, notwithstanding his deadly hurt, that the 
 wounded man had still been able to make a long and des- 
 perate resistance to the subsequent efforts of his murderer. 
 Ishmael seemed to press this proof with a singular mixt- 
 ure of sorrow and pride ; sorrow at the loss of a son whom, 
 in their moments of amity, he highly valued ; and pride at 
 the courage and power he had manifested to his last and 
 weakest breath. 
 
 " He died as a son of mine should die," said the squatter, 
 gleaning a hollow consolation from so unnatural an exul- 
 tation "a dread to his enemy to the last, and without 
 help from the law ? Come, children ; we have the grave 
 to make, and then to hunt his murderer." 
 
 The sons of the squatter set about their melancholy 
 office in silence and in sadness. An excavation was made 
 in the hard earth at a great expense of toil and time, and 
 the body was wrapped in such spare vestments as could be 
 collected among the laborers. When these arrangements 
 were completed, Ishmael approached the seemingly un- 
 conscious Esther, and announced his intention to inter the 
 dead. She heard him, and quietly relinquished her grasp 
 of the corpse, rising in silence to follow it to its narrow 
 resting place. Here she seated herself again at the head 
 of the grave, watching each movement of the youths with 
 eager and jealous eyes. When a sufficiency of earth was 
 laid upon the senseless clay of Asa to protect it from 
 injury, Enoch and Abner entered the cavity and trod it 
 
I 4 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 into a solid mass by the weight of their huge frames, with 
 an appearance of a strange, not to say savage, mixture of 
 care and indifference. This well-known precaution was 
 adopted to prevent the speedy exhumation of the body by 
 some of the carnivorous beasts of the prairie, whose" in- 
 stinct was sure to guide them to the spot. Even the rapa- 
 cious birds appeared to comprehend the nature of the 
 ceremony, for, mysteriously apprised that the miserable 
 victim was now about to be abandoned by the human race, 
 they once more began to make their airy circuits above 
 the place, screaming as if to frighten the kinsmen from 
 their labor of caution and love. 
 
 Ishmael stood, with folded arms, steadily watching the 
 manner in which this necessary duty was performed, and 
 when the whole was completed, he lifted his cap to his 
 sons, to thank them for their services, with a dignity that 
 would have become one much better nurtured. Through- 
 out the whole of a ceremony which is ever solemn and ad- 
 monitory, the squatter had maintained a grave and serious 
 deportment. His vast features were visibly stamped with 
 an expression of deep concern ; but at no time did they 
 falter, until he turned his back, as he believed forever, on 
 the grave of his first-born. Nature was then stirring 
 powerfully within him, and the muscles of his stern visage 
 began to work perceptibly. His children fastened their 
 eyes on his, as if to seek a direction to the strange emo- 
 tions which were moving their own heavy natures, when 
 the struggle in the bosom of the squatter suddenly ceased, 
 and taking his wife by the arm, he raised her to her feet 
 as if she had been an infant, saying in a voice that was 
 perfectly steady, though a nice observer would have dis- 
 covered that it was kinder than usual : 
 
 " Eester, we have now done all that man and woman can 
 do. We raised the boy, and made him such as few others 
 were like, on the frontiers of America ; and we have given 
 him a grave. Let us go our way." 
 
 The woman turned her eyes slowly from the fresh earth, 
 and laying her hands on the shoulders of her husband, 
 stood, looking him anxiously in the eyes. 
 
 ''Ishmael! Ishmael!" she said, "you parted from the 
 boy in your wrath ? " 
 
 "May the Lord pardon his sins as freely as I have for- 
 given his worst misdeeds !" calmly returned the squatter. 
 " Woman, go you back to the rock and read your Bihle ; 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 149 
 
 a chapter in that book always does you good. You can 
 read, Eester, which is a privilege I never did enjoy." 
 
 " Yes, yes," muttered the woman, yielding to his strength, 
 and suffering herself to be led, though with strong reluc- 
 tance, from the spot. "I can read; and how have I used 
 the knowledge! But he, Ishmael, he has not the sin of 
 wasted Taming to answer for. We have spared him that, 
 at least ! whether it be in mercy or in cruelty I know not." 
 
 Her husband made no reply, but continued steadily to 
 lead her in the direction of their temporary abode. When 
 they reached the summit of the swell of land, which they 
 knew was the last spot from which the situation of the 
 grave of Asa could be seen, they all turned, as by common 
 concurrence, to take a farewell view of the place. The 
 little mound itself was not visible ; but it was frightfully 
 indicated by the flock of screaming birds which hovered 
 above. In the opposite direction a low, blue hillock, in 
 the skirts of the horizon, pointed out the place where 
 Esther had left the rest of her young, and served as an 
 attraction to draw her reluctant steps from the last abode 
 of her eldest born. Nature quickened in the bosom of 
 the mother at the sight ; and she finally yielded the rights 
 of the dead to the more urgent claims of the living. 
 
 The foregoing occurrences had struck a spark from the 
 stern tempers of a set of beings so singularly moulded in 
 the habits of their uncultivated lives, which served to keep 
 alive among them the dying embers of family affection. 
 United to their parents by ties no stronger than those 
 which use had created, there had been great danger, as 
 Ishmael had foreseen, that the overloaded hive would 
 swarm, and leave him saddled with the difficulties of a 
 young and helpless brood, unsupported by the exertions 
 of those whom he had already brought to a state of matu- 
 rity. The spirit of insubordination which emanated from 
 the unfortunate Asa, had spread among his juniors ; and 
 the squatter had been made painfully to remember the 
 time when, in the wantonness of his youth and vigor, he 
 had, reversing the order of the brutes, cast off his own 
 aged and failing parents, to enter into the world un- 
 shackled and free. But the danger had now abated, for a 
 time at least ; and, if his authority was not restored with 
 all its former influence, it was admitted to exist, and to 
 maintain its ascendency a little longer. 
 
 It is true that his slow-minded sons, even while they 
 
)5<1 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 submitted to the impressions of the recent event, had glim* 
 merings of terrible distrust as to the manner in which 
 their elder brother had met with his death. There were 
 faint and indistinct images in the minds of two or three of 
 the oldest, which portrayed the father himself as ready to 
 imitate the example of Abraham, without the justification 
 of the sacred authority which commanded the holy man to 
 attempt the revolting office. But then these images were 
 so transient, and so much obscured in intellectual mists, 
 as to leave no very strong impressions ; and the tendency 
 of the whole transaction, as we have already said, was 
 rather to strengthen than to weaken the authority of Ish- 
 mael. 
 
 In this disposition of mind the party continued their 
 route toward the place whence they had that morning 
 issued on a search which had been crowned with so melan- 
 choly a success. 
 
 The long and fruitless march which they had made un- 
 der the direction of Abiram, the discovery of the body and 
 its subsequent interment, had so far consumed the day, 
 that, by the time their steps were retraced across the broad 
 tract of waste which lay between the grave of Asa and the 
 rock, the sun had fallen far below his meridian altitude. 
 The hill had gradually risen as they approached, like some 
 tower emerging from the bosom of the sea, and, when 
 within a mile, the minuter objects that crowned its height 
 came dimly into view. 
 
 "It will be a sad meeting for the girls! " said Ishmael, 
 who, from time to time, did not cease to utter something 
 which he intended should be consolatory to the bruised 
 spirit of his partner. " Asa was much regarded by all the 
 young, and seldom failed to bring in from his hunts some- 
 thing that they loved." 
 
 "He did, he did," murmured Esther; "the boy was the 
 pride of the family. My other children are as nothing to 
 him ! " 
 
 "Say not so, good woman," returned the father glan- 
 cing his eye a little proudly at the athletic train which 
 followed at no great distance in the rear. " Say not so, 
 old Eester ; for few fathers and mothers have greater rea 
 son to be boastful than ourselves." 
 
 " Thankful, thankful," muttered the humble woman 
 "ye mean thankful, Ishmael!" 
 
 " Then thankful let it be, if you like the word better 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 151 
 
 my good girl but what has become of Nelly and the 
 young ? The child has forgotten the charge I gave her, 
 and has not only suffered the children to sleep, but I war- 
 rant you is dreaming of the fields of Tennessee at this very 
 moment. Th^ mind of your niece is mainly fixed on the 
 settlements, I reckon." 
 
 " Ay, she is not for us ; I said it, and thought it, when I 
 took her, because death had stripped her of all other 
 friends. Death is a sad worker in the bosom of families, 
 Ishmael ! Asa had a kind feeling to the child, and they 
 might have come one day into our places had things been 
 so ordered." 
 
 " Nay, she is not gifted for a frontier wife, if this is the 
 manner she is to keep house while the husband is on the 
 hunt. Abner, let off your rifle, that they may know we 
 ar' coming. I fear Nelly and the young ar' asleep." 
 
 The young man complied with an alacrity that mani- 
 fested how gladly he would see the rounded, active figure 
 of Ellen enlivening the ragged summit of the rock. But 
 the report was succeeded by neither signal nor answer of 
 any sort. For a moment the whole party stood in sus- 
 pense, awaiting the result, and then a simultaneous im- 
 pulse caused the whole to let off their pieces at the same 
 instant, producing a noise which might not fail to reach 
 the ears of all within so short a distance. 
 
 "Ah ! there they come at last ?" cried Abiram, who was 
 usually among the first to seize on any circumstance which 
 promised relief from disagreeable apprehensions. 
 
 " It is a petticoat fluttering on the line/' said Esther; 
 "I put it there myself." 
 
 " You are right ; but now she comes ; the jade has been 
 taking her comfort in the tent ! " 
 
 " It is not so," said Ishmael, whose usually inflexible 
 features were beginning to manifest the uneasiness he felt. 
 " It is the tent itself blowing about loosely in the wind. 
 They have loosened the bottom, like silly children as they 
 ar', and, unless care is had, the whole will come down ! " 
 
 The words were scarcely uttered before a rushing blast 
 of wind swept by the spot where they stood, raising the 
 dust in little eddies, in its progress ; and then, as if guided 
 by a master-hand, it quitted the earth, and mounted to 
 the precise spot on which all eyes were just then riveted. 
 The loosened linen felt its influence and tottered ; but re- 
 gained its poise, and for a moment it became tranquil 
 
l?2 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 The cloud of leaves next played in circling revolution* 
 around the place and then descended with the velocity of 
 a swooping hawk, and sailed away into the prairie in 
 long straight lines, like a flight of swallows resting on 
 their expanded wings. They were followed for some dis- 
 tance by the snow-white tent, which, howeVer, soon fell 
 behind the rock, leaving its highest peak as naked a 
 when it lay in the entire solitude of the desert. 
 
 " The murderers have been here ! " moaned Esther. 
 " My babes ! my babes ! " 
 
 For a moment even Ishmael faltered before the weight 
 of so unexpected a blow. But, shaking himself like an 
 awakened lion, he sprang forward, and pushing aside th<3 
 impediments of the barrier as if they had been feathers, 
 he rushed up the ascent with an impetuosity which proved 
 how formidable a sluggish nature may become when 
 thoroughly aroused. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " Whose party does the townsmen next admit ? " KING JOHN. 
 
 IN order to preserve an even pace between the incidentt 
 of the tale, it becomes necessary to revert to such eventt 
 as occurred during the ward of Ellen Wade. 
 
 For the first few hours the cares of the honest and warm- 
 hearted girl were confined to the simple offices of satis- 
 fying the often-repeated demands which her younger as- 
 sociates made on her time and patience, under the pre- 
 tences of hunger, thirst, and all the other ceaseless wants 
 of captious and inconsiderate childhood. She had seized 
 a moment from their importunities to steal into the tent, 
 where she was administering to the comforts of one far 
 more deserving of her tenderness, when an outcry among 
 the children recalled her to the duties she had momen- 
 tarily forgotten. 
 
 " See, Nelly, see! " exclaimed half a dozen eager voices : 
 "yonder ar' men; and Phoebe says that they ar' Siou^ 
 Indians ! " 
 
 Ellen turned her eyes in the direction in which so manj 
 arms were already extended, and to her consternation be? 
 held several men advancing manifestly and swiftly in ? 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 153 
 
 straight line toward the rock. She counted four, but was 
 Unable to make out anything concerning their characters, 
 except that they were not any of those who of right were 
 entitled to admission into the fortress. It was a fear- 
 ful moment for Ellen. Looking around at the juvenile 
 and frightened flock that pressed upon the skirts of her gar- 
 ments, she endeavored to recall to her confused faculties 
 some one of the many tales of female heroism with which 
 the history of the Western frontier abounded. In one a 
 stockade had been successfully defended by a single man, 
 supported by three or four women, for days against the as- 
 sault of a hundred enemies. In another, the women alone 
 had been able to protect the children and the less valu- 
 able effects of their absent husbands ; and a third was not 
 Wanting in which a solitary female had destroyed her 
 sleeping captors and given liberty not only to herself, but 
 to a brood of helpless young. This was the case most 
 nearly assimilated to the situation in which Ellen now 
 found herself ; and, with flushing cheeks and kindling 
 eyes, the girl began to consider and to prepare her slen- 
 rter means of defence. 
 
 She posted the larger girls at the levers that were to 
 tfast the rocks on the assailants ; the smaller were to be 
 used more for show than any positive service they could 
 perform ; while, like any other leader, she reserved her own 
 person as a superintendent and encourager of the whole. 
 When these dispositions were made she endeavored to 
 await the issue with an air of composure that she intended 
 should inspire her assistants with the confidence necessary 
 to insure success. 
 
 Although Ellen was vastly their superior in that spirit 
 which emanates from moral qualities, she was by no 
 means the equal of the two eldest daughters of Esther in 
 the important military property of insensibility to dan- 
 ger. Reared in the hardihood of a migrating life on the 
 skirts of society, where they had become familiarized to the 
 sights and dangers of the wilderness, these girls promised 
 fairly to become, at some future day, no less distinguished 
 than their mother for daring, and for that singular mix- 
 ture of good and evil which, in a wide sphere of action, 
 would probably have enabled the wife of a squatter to en- 
 roll her name among the remarkable females of her time. 
 Esther had already, on one occasion, made good the log 
 tenement of Ishmael against an inroad of savages ; and, 
 
I 5 i THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 on anothei she had been left for dead by her enemies, 
 after a defence that, with a more civilized foe, would have 
 entitled her to the honors of a liberal capitulation. These 
 facts, and sundry others of a similar nature, had often been 
 recapitulated with suitable exultation in the presence of 
 her daughters, and the bosoms of the young amazons were 
 now strangely fluctuating between natural terror and the 
 ambitious wish to do something that might render them 
 worthy of being the children of such a mother. It ap- 
 peared that the opportunity for distinction of this wild 
 character was no longer to be denied them. 
 
 The party of strangers was already within a hundred 
 rods of the rock. Either consulting their usual wary 
 method of advancing, or admonished by the threatening atti- 
 tude of two figures, who had thrust forth the barrels of as 
 many old muskets from behind the stone intrenchment, 
 the new-comers halted, under favor of an inequality in 
 the ground, where a growth of grass thicker than com- 
 mon offered the advantage of concealment. From this 
 spot they reconnoitred the fortress for several anxious 
 and, to Ellen, interminable minutes. Then one advanced 
 singly, and apparently more in the character of a herald 
 than of an assailant. 
 
 " Phcebe, do you fire," and " No, Hetty,jjw/," were begin- 
 ning to be heard between the half-frightened and yet eager 
 daughters of the squatter, when Ellen probably saved the 
 advancing stranger from some imminent alarm, if from no 
 greater danger, by exclaiming : 
 
 " Lay down the muskets ; it is Dr. Battius ! " 
 
 Her subordinates so far complied as to withdraw their 
 hands from the locks, though the threatening barrels still 
 maintained the portentous levels. The naturalist, who 
 had advanced with sufficient deliberation to note the small- 
 est hostile demonstration of the garrison, now raised a 
 white handkerchief on the end of his fusee, and came with- 
 in speaking distance of the fortress. Then, assuming what 
 he intended should be an imposing and dignified semblance 
 of authority, he blustered forth, in a voice that might have 
 been heard at a much greater distance : 
 
 "What ho ! I summon ye all, in the name of the Con 
 federacy of the United Sovereign States of North America, 
 to submit yourselves to the laws." 
 
 " Doctor or no doctor, he is an enemy, Nellie. Heal 
 him ! hear him ! He talks of the law." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 155 
 
 " Stop ! stay till I hear his answer ! " said the nearly 
 breathless Ellen, pushing aside the dangerous weapons 
 which were again pointed in the direction of the shrinking 
 person of the herald. 
 
 " I admonish and forewarn ye all," continued the startled 
 doctor, "that I am a peaceful citizen of the before-named 
 Confederacy, or, to speak with greater accuracy, Union, a 
 supporter of the social compact, and a lover of good order 
 and amity ;" then, perceiving that the danger was at least 
 temporarily removed, he once more raised his voice to the 
 hostile pitch : "I charge ye all, therefore, to submit to the 
 laws." 
 
 " I thought you were a friend," Ellen replied, "and that 
 you travelled with my uncle, in virtue of an agreement " 
 
 " It is void ! I have been deceived in the very premises, 
 and I hereby pronounce a certain compactum, entered into 
 and concluded between Ishmael Bush, squatter, and Obed 
 Battius, M.D., to be incontinently null and of non effect. 
 Nay, children, to be null is merely a negative property, and 
 is fraught with no evil to your worthy parent ; so lay aside 
 the fire-arms, and listen to the admonitions of reason. I 
 declare it vicious null abrogated. As for thee, Nelly, 
 my feelings toward thee are not at all given to hostility ; 
 therefore listen to that which I have to utter, nor turn 
 away thine ears in the wantonness of security. Thou know- 
 est the character of the man with whom thou dwellest, young 
 woman, and thou also knowest the danger of being found 
 in evil company. Abandon, then, the trifling advantages 
 of thy situation,' and yield the rock peaceably to the will of 
 those who accompany me a legion, young woman I do 
 assure you, an invincible and powerful legion. Render, 
 therefore, the effects .of this lawless and wicked squat- 
 ter nay, children, such disregard of human life is fright- 
 ful in those who have so recently received the gift, in their 
 own persons ! Point those dangerous weapons aside, I 
 entreat of you ; more for your own sakes than for mine. 
 Hetty, hast thou forgotten who appeased thine anguish 
 when thy auricular nerves were tortured by the colds and 
 damps of the naked earth ? And thou, Phcebe, ungrateful 
 and forgetful Phcebe ! but for this very arm,, which you 
 would prostrate with an endless paralysis, thy incisors 
 would still be giving thee pain and sorrow ! Lay, then, 
 aside thy weapons, and hearken to the advice of one who 
 has always been thy friend. And now, young woman," 
 
156 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 still keeping a jealous eye on the muskets, whbh the gir 1 , 
 had suffered to be diverted a little from their aim, "and 
 now, young woman, for the last and therefore the most 
 solemn asking : I demand of thee the surrender of this 
 rock, without delay or resistance, in the joint names of 
 
 power, of justice, and of the " law, he would have 
 
 added ; but recollecting that this ominous word would 
 again provoke the hostility of the squatter's children, he 
 succeeded in swallowing it in good season, and concluded 
 with the less dangerous and more convertible term of 
 1 'reason." 
 
 This extraordinary summons failed, however, of pro- 
 ducing the desired effect. It proved utterly unintelligible 
 to his younger listeners, with the exception of the few 
 offensive terms, already sufficiently distinguished ; and 
 though Ellen better comprehended the meaning of the 
 herald, she appeared as little moved by his rhetoric as her 
 companions. At those passages which he intended should 
 be tender and affecting, the intelligent girl, though tor- 
 tured by painful feelings, had even manifested a disposi- 
 tion to laugh, while to the threats she turned an utterly 
 insensible ear. 
 
 "I know not the meaning of all you wish to say, Dr. 
 Battius," she quietly replied, when he had ended ; " but I 
 am sure, if it would teach me to betray my trust, it is what 
 I ought not to hear. I caution you to attempt no violence, 
 for, let my wishes be what they may, you see I am sur- 
 rounded by a force that can easily put me down, and you 
 know, or ought to know, too well the temper of this fam* 
 ily, to trifle in such a matter with any of its members, let 
 them be of what sex or age they may." 
 
 " I am not entirely ignorant of human character," re- 
 turned the naturalist, prudently receding a little from the 
 position which he had until now stoutly maintained at the 
 very base of the hill. " But here comes one who may know 
 its secret windings still better than I." 
 
 " Ellen ! Ellen Wade ! " cried Paul Hover, who had ad- 
 vanced to his elbow, without betraying any of that sensi- 
 tiveness which had so manifestly discomposed the doctor; 
 " I didn't expect to find an enemy in you ! " 
 
 " Nor shall you, when you ask that which I can grant 
 without treachery. You know that my uncle has trusted 
 his family to my care, and shall I so far betray the trust 
 as to let in his bitterest enemies to murder his children^ 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 157 
 
 perhaps, and to rob him of the little which the Indians 
 bave left ? " 
 
 " Am I a murderer is this old man this officer of the 
 States," pointing to the trapper and his newly discovered 
 friend, both of whom by this time stood at his side, " is 
 either of these likely to do the things you name ? " 
 
 " What is it then you ask of me ? " said Ellen, wringing 
 her hands, in excessive doubt. 
 
 " The beast ! nothing more nor less than the squatter's 
 hidden, ravenous, dangerous beast ! " 
 
 " Excellent young woman," commenced the young 
 stranger, who had so lately joined himself to the party 
 on the prairie but his mouth was immediately stopped 
 by a significant sign from the trapper, who whispered in 
 his ear : 
 
 "Let the lad be our spokesman. Natur' will work in 
 the bosom of the child, and we shall gain our object in 
 good time." 
 
 'The whole truth is out, Ellen," Paul continued, "and 
 we have lined the squatter into his most secret misdoings. 
 We have come to right the wronged and to free the im- 
 prisoned. Now, if you are the girl of a true heart, as I have 
 always believed, so far from throwing straws in our way, 
 you will join in the general swarming, and leave old Ish- 
 mael and his hive to the bees of his own breed." 
 
 " I have sworn a solemn oath " 
 
 " A compactum which is entered into through ignorance 
 or in duresse is null in the sight of all good moralists," 
 cried the doctor. 
 
 " Hush, hush ! " again the trapper whispered ; "leave it 
 all to Natur' and the lad." 
 
 " I have sworn in the sight and by the name of Him 
 who is the founder and ruler of all that is good, whether 
 it be in morals or in religion," Ellen continued, " neither 
 to reveal the contents of that tent nor to help its prisoner 
 to escape. We are both solemnly, terribly sworn ; our 
 lives perhaps have been the gift we received for the prom- 
 ises. It is true you are masters of the secret, but not 
 through any means of ours, nor do I know that I can 
 justify myself for even being neutral, while you attempt to 
 invade the dwelling of my uncle in this hostile manner." 
 
 " I can prove beyond the power of refutation," the nat- 
 uralist eagerly exclaimed, " by Paley, Berkeley, aye, evei? 
 by the immortal Binkershoeck, that a compactum, 
 
158 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 eluded while one of the parties, be it a state or be it an 
 individual, is in durance " 
 
 " You will ruffle the temper of the child with your abus- 
 ive language," said the cautious trapper, " while the lad, 
 if left to human feelings, will bring her down to the meek- 
 ness of a fawn. Ah ! you are like myself, little knowing 
 in the natur' of hidden kindnesses ! " 
 
 "Is this the only vow you have taken, Ellen ?" Paul 
 continued, in a tone which, for the gay, light-hearted bee- 
 hunter, sounded dolorous and reproachful. " Have you 
 sworn only to this ? are the words which the squatter says 
 to be as honey in your mouth, and all other promises like 
 so much useless comb ?" 
 
 The paleness which had taken possession of the usually 
 cheerful countenance of Ellen was hid in a bright glow 
 that was plainly visible even at the distance at which she 
 stood. She hesitated a moment, as if struggling to repress 
 something very like resentment, before she answered with 
 all her native spirit : 
 
 " I know not what right any one has to question me 
 about oaths and promises, which can only concern her 
 who has made them, if, indeed, any of the sort you men- 
 tion have ever been made at all. I shall hold no further 
 discourse with one who thinks so much of himself, and 
 takes advice merely of his own feelings." 
 
 " Now, old trapper, do you hear that?" said the un- 
 sophisticated bee-hunter, turning abruptly to his aged 
 friend. " The meanest insect That skims the heavens, 
 when it has got its load, flies straight and honestly to its 
 nest or hive, according to its kind ; but the ways of a 
 woman's mind are as knotty as a gnarled oak, and more 
 crooked than the windings of the Mississippi ! " 
 
 "Nay, nay, child," said the trapper, good-naturedly in- 
 terfering in behalf of the offending Paul, " you are to con- 
 sider that youth is hasty, and not overgiven to thought 
 But then a promise is a promise, and not to be thrown 
 aside and forgotten, like the hoofs and horns of a buffalo." 
 
 " I thank you for reminding me of my oath," said the 
 still resentful Ellen, biting her pretty nether lip with vexa- 
 tion ; " I might else have proved forgetful ! " 
 
 "Ah! female natur' is awakened in her," said the old 
 man, shaking his head in a manner to show how much he 
 was disappointed in the result ; " but it manifests itself 
 against the true spirit." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 159 
 
 "Ellen ! " cried the young stranger, who until now had 
 been an attentive listener to the parley, " since Ellen is 
 the name by which you are known " 
 
 " They often add it to another. I am sometimes called 
 by the name of my father." 
 
 " Call her Nelly Wade at once," muttered Paul ; " it is 
 her rightful name, and I care not if she keeps it forever ! " 
 
 " Wade, I should have added," continued the youth. 
 " You will acknowledge that, though bound by no oath 
 myself, I at least have known how to respect those of 
 others. You are a witness yourself that I have forborne 
 to utter a single call, while I am certain it could reach 
 those ears it would gladden so much. Permit me, then, 
 to ascend the rock singly ; I promise a perfect indemnity 
 to your kinsman against any injury his effects may sus- 
 tain." 
 
 Ellen seemed to hesitate, but catching a glimpse of 
 Paul, who stood leaning proudly on his rifle, whistling, 
 with an appearance of the utmost indifference, the air of a 
 boating-song, she recovered her recollection in time to 
 answer : 
 
 "I have been left the captain of the rock while my un- 
 cle and his sons hunt, and captain will I remain till he re- 
 turns to receive back the charge." 
 
 " This is wasting moments that will not soon return, and 
 neglecting an opportunity that may never occur again," 
 the young soldier gravely remarked. " The sun is begin- 
 ning to fall already, and many minutes cannot elapse before 
 the squatter and his savage brood will be returning to 
 their huts." 
 
 Dr. Battius cast a glance behind him, and took up the 
 discourse by saying : 
 
 " Perfection is always found in maturity, whether it be 
 in the animal or in the intellectual world. Reflection 
 is the mother of wisdom, and wisdom the parent of 
 success. I propose that we retire to a discreet distance 
 from this impregnable position, and there hold a convoca- 
 tion, or council, to deliberate on what manner we may sit 
 down regularly before the place ; or, perhaps, by post- 
 poning the siege to another season, gain the aid of auxil- 
 iaries from the inhabited countries, and thus secure the 
 dignity of the laws from any danger of a repulse." 
 
 " A storm would be better," the soldier smilingly an- 
 swered, measuring the height and scanning all its diffi- 
 
1 5o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 culties with a deliberate eye ; " 'twould be but a broken 
 arm or a bruised head at the worst." 
 
 " Then have at it ! " shouted the impetuous bee-hunter, 
 making a spring that at once put him out of danger from 
 shot, by carrying him beneath the projecting ledge on 
 which the garrison was posted. " Now do your worst, 
 young devils of a wicked breed ; you have but a moment 
 to work your mischief ! " 
 
 "Paul! rash Paul!" shrieked Ellen; "another step 
 and the rocks will crush you ! they hang but by a thread, 
 and these girls are ready and willing to let them fall ! " 
 
 " Then drive the accursed swarm from the hive ; for 
 scale the rock I will, though I find it covered with hor- 
 nets." 
 
 " Let her if she dare ! " tauntingly cried the eldest of 
 the girls, brandishing a musket with a mien and resolu- 
 tion that would have done credit to her Amazonian dam. 
 " I know you, Nelly Wade ; you are with the lawyers in 
 your heart, and if you come a foot nigheryou shall have 
 frontier punishment. Put in another pry, girls ; in with 
 it ! I should like to see the man of them that dare come 
 up into the camp of Ishmael Bush without asking leave 
 of his children ! " 
 
 " Stir not, Paul ; for your life keep beneath the rock ! " 
 
 Ellen was interrupted by the same bright vision which 
 on the preceding day had stayed another scarcely less 
 portentous tumult by exhibiting itself on the same giddy 
 height where it was now seen. 
 
 " In the name of Him who commandeth all, I implore 
 you to pause both you, who so madly incur the risk, and 
 you, who so rashly offer to take that which you never can 
 return 1" said a voice, in a slightly foreign accent, that in- 
 stantly drew all eyes upward. 
 
 "Inez ! " cried the officer, " do I again see you ? Mine 
 shall you now be, though a million devils were posted on 
 this rock. Push up, brave woodsman, and give room for 
 another." 
 
 The sudden appearance of the figure from the tent had 
 created a momentary stupor among the defenders of the 
 rock, which might, with suitable forbearance, have been 
 happily improved ; but startled by the voice of Middleton, 
 the surprised Phcebe discharged her musket at the female, 
 scarcely knowing whether she aimed at the life of a mortal 
 or at some being which belonged to another world. Ellen 
 
THE PRAIRIE. i6> 
 
 uttered a cry of horror, and then sprang after her alarmed 
 or wounded friend, she knew not which, into the tent. 
 
 During this moment of dangerous by-play, the sounds 
 of a serious attack were very distinctly audible beneath. 
 Paul had profited by the commotion over his head to 
 change his place so far as to make room for Middleton. 
 The latter was followed by the naturalist, who, in a state of 
 mental aberration, produced by the report of the musket, 
 had instinctively rushed toward the rocks for cover. The 
 trapper remained where he was last seen, an unmoved but 
 close observer of the several proceedings. Though averse 
 to enter into actual hostilities, the old man was, however, 
 far from being useless. Favored by his position, he was 
 enabled to apprise his friends of the movements of those 
 who plotted their destruction above, and to advise and 
 control their advance accordingly. 
 
 In the meantime, the children of Esther were true to the 
 spirit they had inherited from their redoubtable mother. 
 The instant they found themselves delivered from the 
 presence of Ellen and her unknown companion, they be- 
 stowed an undivided attention on their more masculine 
 ind certainly more dangerous assailants, who by this time 
 had made a complete lodgment among the crags of the 
 citadel. The repeated summons to surrender, which Paul 
 uttered in a voice that he intended should strike terror 
 into their young bosoms, were as little heeded as were the 
 calls of the trapper to abandon a resistance which might 
 prove fatal to some among them, without offering the 
 smallest probability of eventual success. Encouraging 
 each other to persevere, they poised the fragments of 
 rocks, prepared the lighter missiles for immediate service, 
 and thrust forward the barrels of the muskets with a busi- 
 ness-like air and a coolness that would have done credit 
 to men practised in warfare. 
 
 " Keep under the ledge," said the trapper, pointing out 
 to Paul the manner in which he should proceed ; " keep in 
 your foot more, lad ah ! you see the warning was not 
 amiss ! had the stone struck it the bees would have had the 
 prairies to themselves. Now, namesake of my friend Un- 
 cas in name and spirit ! now, if you have the activity of Le 
 Cerf Agile, you may make a fair leap to the right and 
 gain twenty feet without danger. Beware the bush be- 
 ware the bush ! 'twill prove a treacherous hold ! Ah ' he 
 has done it ; safely and bravely has he done it ! You' 
 ii 
 
1 62 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 turn comes next, friend, that follows the fruits of Natur'. 
 Push you to the left, and divide the attention of the chil. 
 dren. Nay, girls, fire my old ears are used to the whist- 
 ling of lead ; and little reason have I to prove a doe-heart, 
 with fourscore years on my back." He shook his head 
 with a melancholy smile, but without flinching in a mus- 
 cle, as the bullet which the exasperated Hetty fired passed 
 innocently at no great distance from the spot where he 
 stood. " It is safer keeping in yourtrack than dodging when 
 a weak finger pulls the trigger," he continued ; " but it is a 
 solemn sight to witness how much human natur' is in- 
 clined to evil in one so young! Well done, my man of 
 beasts and plants ! Another such leap, and you may 
 laugh at all the squatter's bars and walls. The doctor has 
 got his temper up ! I see it in his eyes, and something 
 good will come of him ! Keep closer, man keep closer." 
 The trapper, though he was not deceived as to the state 
 of Dr. Battius's mind, was, however, greatly in error as to 
 the exciting cause. While imitating the movements of his 
 companions, and toiling his way upward with the utmost 
 caution, and not without great inward tribulation, the eye 
 of the naturalist had caught a glimpse of an unknown 
 plant a few yards above his head, and in a situation more 
 than commonly exposed to the missiles which the girls 
 were unceasingly hurling in the direction of the assailants. 
 Forgetting in an instant everything but the glory of being 
 the first to give this jewel to the catalogues of science, he 
 sprang upward at the prize with the avidity with which 
 the sparrow darts upon the butterfly. The rocks which 
 instantly came thundering down announced that he was 
 seen ; and for a moment, while his form was concealed in 
 the cloud of dust and fragments which followed the furious 
 descent, the trapper gave him up for lost ; but the next 
 instant he was seen safely seated in a cavity, formed by 
 some of the projecting stones which had yielded to the 
 shock, holding triumphantly in his hand the captured 
 stem, which he was already devouring with delighted and 
 certainly not unskilful eyes. Paul profited by the oppor- 
 tunity. Turning his course, with the quickness of thought 
 he sprang to the post which Obed thus securely occupied, 
 and unceremoniously making a footstool of his shoulder 
 as the latter stooped over his treasure, he bounded 
 through the breach left by the fallen rock and gained the 
 level. He was followed by Middleton, who joined him in 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 163 
 
 seizing and disarming the girls. In this manner a blood- 
 less and complete victory was obtained over that citadel 
 which Ishmael had vainly flattered himself might prove 
 impregnable. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " So smile the heavens upon this holy act, 
 That after hours of sorrow chide us not ! " SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 IT is proper that the course of the narrative should be 
 stayed while we revert to those causes which have brought 
 in their train of consequences the singular contest just re- 
 lated. The interruption must necessarily be as brief as we 
 hope it may prove satisfactory to that class of readers who 
 require that no gap should be left, by those who assume the 
 office of historians, for their own fertile imaginations to fill. 
 
 Among the troops sent by the Government of the 
 United States to take possession of its newly acquired 
 territory in the West, was a detachment led by the young 
 soldier who has become so busy an actor in the scenes of 
 our legend. The mild and indolent descendants of the 
 ancient colonists received their new compatriots without 
 distrust, well knowing that the transfer raised them from 
 the condition of subjects to the more enviable distinction 
 of citizens in a government of laws. The new rulers ex- 
 ercised their functions with discretion, and wielded their 
 delegated authority without offence. In such a novel 
 intermixture, however, of men born and nurtured in free- 
 dom, and the compliant minions of absolute power, the 
 Catholic and the Protestant, the active and the indolent, 
 some little time was necessary to blend the discrepant ele- 
 ments of society. In attaining so desirable an end, woman 
 was made to perform her accustomed and grateful office. 
 The barriers of prejudice and religion were broken through 
 by the irresistible power of the master-passion ; and family 
 unions, ere long, began to cement the political tie which 
 had made a forced conjunction between people so opposite 
 in their habits, their educations, and their opinions. 
 
 Middleton was among the first of the new possessors of 
 the soil who became captive to the charms of a Louisian- 
 ian lady. In the immediate vicinity of the post he had 
 
164 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 been directed to occupy, dwelt the chief of one of those 
 ancient colonial families which had been content to slum- 
 ber for ages amid the ease, indolence, and wealth of the 
 Spanish provinces. He was an officer of the crown, and 
 had been induced to remove from the Floridas, among the 
 French of an adjoining province, by a rich succession of 
 which he had become the inheritor. The name of Don 
 Augustin de Certavollos was scarcely known beyond the 
 limits of the little town in which he resided, though he 
 found a secret pleasure himself in pointing it out, in large 
 scrolls of musty documents, to an only child, as enrolled 
 among the former heroes and grandees of Old and New 
 Spain. This fact, so important to himself and of so little 
 moment to anybody else, was the principal reason that, 
 while his more vivacious Gallic neighbors were not slow 
 to open a frank communion with their visitors, he chosi 
 to keep aloof, seemingly content with the society of his 
 daughter, who was a girl just emerging from the con- 
 dition of childhood into that of a woman. 
 
 The curiosity of the youthful Inez, however, was not so 
 inactive. She had not heard the martial music of the gar* 
 rison melting on the evening air, nor seen the strange 
 banner which fluttered over the heights that rose at no 
 great distance from her father's extensive grounds, without 
 experiencing some of those secret impulses which are 
 thought to distinguish the sex. Natural timidity, and that 
 retiring and perhaps peculiar lassitude which forms the 
 very groundwork of female fascination in the tropical prov- 
 inces of Spain, held her in their seemingly indissoluble 
 bonds ; and it is more than probable that, had an .accident 
 occurred in which Middleton was of some personal ser- 
 vice to her father, so long a time would have elapsed be- 
 fore they met, that another direction might have been 
 given to the wishes of one who was just of an age to be 
 alive to all the power of youth and beauty. 
 
 Providence or, if that imposing word is too just to be 
 classical, fate had otherwise decreed. The haughty and 
 reserved Don Augustin was by far too observant of the 
 forms of that station on which he so much valued himself 
 to forget the duties of a gentleman. Gratitude for the 
 kindness of Middleton induced him to open his doors to 
 the officers of the garrison, and to admit of a guarded but 
 polite intercourse. Reserve gradually gave way before 
 the propriety and candor of their spirited young leader, 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 165 
 
 and it was not long ere the affluent planter rejoiced as 
 much as his daughter whenever the well-known signal at 
 the gate announced one of these agreeable visits from, the 
 commander of the post. 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell on the impression which the 
 charms of Inez produced on the soldier, to delay the tale 
 in order to write a wire-drawn account of the progressive 
 influence that elegance of deportment, manly beauty, and 
 undivided assiduity and intelligence were likely to pro- 
 duce on the sensitive mind of a romantic, warm-hearted, 
 and secluded girl of sixteen. It is sufficient for our pur- 
 pose to say that they loved, that the youth was not back- 
 ward to declare his feelings, that he prevailed with some 
 facility over the scruples of the maiden, and with no little 
 difficulty over the objections of her father, and that, before 
 the province of Louisiana had been six months in the pos- 
 session of the States, the officer of the latter was the affi- 
 anced husband of the richest heiress on the banks of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Although we have presumed the reader to be acquainted 
 with the manner in which such results are commonly at- 
 tained, it is not to be supposed that the triumph of Mid- 
 dleton, either over the prejudices of the father or over 
 those of the daughter, was achieved without difficulty. 
 Religion formed a stubborn and nearly irremovable ob- 
 stacle with both. The devoted young man patiently sub- 
 mitted to a formidable essay which Father Ignatius was 
 deputed to make in order to convert him to the true faith. 
 The effort on the part of the worthy priest was systematic, 
 vigorous, and long sustained. A dozen times (it was at 
 those moments when glimpses of the light, sylph-like form 
 of Inez flitted like some fairy being past the scene of their 
 conferences) the good father fancied he was on the eve of 
 a glorious triumph over infidelity ; but all his hopes were 
 frustrated by some unlooked-for opposition on the part of 
 the subject of his pious labors. So long as the assault on 
 his faith was distant and feeble, Middleton, who was no 
 great proficient in polemics, submitted to its effects with 
 the patience and humility of a martyr ; but the moment 
 the good father, who felt such concern in his future happi- 
 ness, was tempted to improve his vantage-ground by call- 
 ! lng in the aid of some of the peculiar subtilties of his own 
 rreed, the young man was too good a soldier not to make 
 head against the hot attack. He came to the contest, it is 
 
Ibb THE PRA2RI&, 
 
 true, with no weapons more formidable than common, 
 sense and some little knowledge of the habits of his coun 
 try as contrasted with that of his adversary ; but with these 
 home-bred implements he never failed to repulse the 
 father with something of the power with which a nervous 
 cudgel-player would deal with a skilful master of the ra- 
 pier, setting at naught his passados by the direct and un- 
 answerable arguments of a broken head and a shivered 
 weapon. 
 
 Before the controversy was terminated, an inroad of 
 Protestants had come to aid the soldier. The reckless 
 freedom of such among them as thought only of this life, 
 and the consistent and tempered piety of others, caused 
 the honest priest to look about him in concern. The in- 
 fluence of example on the one hand, and the contamina- 
 tion of too free an intercourse on the other, began to 
 manifest themselves even in that portion of his own flock 
 which he had supposed to be too thoroughly folded in 
 spiritual government ever to stray. It was time to turn 
 his thoughts from the offensive, and to prepare his follow- 
 ers to resist the lawless deluge of opinion which threatened 
 to break down the barriers of their faith. Like a wise 
 commander who finds he has occupied too much ground 
 for the amount of his force, he began to curtail his out- 
 works. The relics were concealed from profane eyes ; 
 his people were admonished not to speak of miracles be- 
 fore a race that not only denied their existence, but who 
 had even the desperate hardihood to challenge their 
 proofs ; and even the Bible itself was prohibited with ter- 
 rible denunciations, for the triumphant reason that it was 
 liable to be misinterpreted. 
 
 In the meantime it became necessary to report to Don 
 Augustin the effects his arguments and prayers had pro- 
 duced on the heretical disposition of the young soldier. 
 No man is prone to confess his weakness at the very mo- 
 ment when circumstances demand the utmost efforts of 
 his strength. By a species of pious fraud, for which no 
 doubt the worthy priest found his absolution in the purity 
 of his motives, he declared that, while no positive change 
 was actually wrought in the mind of Middleton, there was 
 every reason to hope the entering wedge of argument had 
 been driven to its head, and that in consequence an open- 
 ing was left through which it might rationally be hoped the 
 blessed seeds of a religious fructification would find then 
 
THE PRAIRIE. i6j 
 
 way, especially if the subject was left uninterruptedly to 
 enjoy the advantage of Catholic communion. 
 
 Don Augustin himself was now seized with the desire of 
 proselyting. Even the soft and amiable Inez thought it 
 would be a glorious consummation of her wishes to be a 
 humble instrument of bringing her lover into the bosom of 
 the true church. The offers of Middleton were promptly 
 accepted ; and, while the father looked forward impatient- 
 ly to the day assigned for the nuptials as to the pledge of 
 his own success, the daughter thought of it with feelings 
 in which the holy emotions of her faith xvere blended with 
 the softer sensations of her years and situation. 
 
 The sun rose, the morning of her nuptials, on a day so 
 bright and cloudless that Inez hailed it as a harbinger of 
 future happiness. Father Ignatius performed the office of 
 the Church in a little chapel attached to the estate of Don 
 Augustin ; and, long ere the sun had begun to fall, Mid- 
 dleton pressed the blushing and timid young Creole to his 
 bosom, his acknowledged and unalienable wife. It had 
 pleased the parties to pass the day of the wedding in re- 
 tirement, dedicating it solely to the best and purest affec- 
 tions, aloof from the noisy and heartless rejoicings of a 
 compelled festivity. 
 
 Middleton was returning through the grounds of Don 
 Augustin, from a visit of duty to his encampment, at that 
 hour in which the light of the sun begins to melt into the 
 shadows of evening, when a glimpse of a robe similar to 
 that in which Inez had accompanied him to the altar, 
 caught his eye through the foliage of a retired arbor. He 
 approached the spot with a delicacy that was rather in- 
 creased than diminished by the claim she had perhaps given 
 him to intrude on her private moments ; but the sounds 
 of her soft voice, which was offering up prayers in which 
 he heard himself named by the dearest of all appellations, 
 overcame his scruples, and induced him to take a position 
 where he might listen without fear of detection. It was 
 certainly grateful to the feelings of a husband to be able 
 in this manner to lay bare the spotless soul of his wife, 
 and to find that his own image lay enshrined amid 'us 
 purest and holiest aspirations. His self-esteem was too 
 much flattered not to induce him to overlook the imme- 
 diate object of the petitioner. While she prayed that she 
 might become the humble instrument of bringing him into 
 the flock of the faithful, she petitioned for forgiveness OD 
 
168 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 her own behalf, if presumption or indifference to the coun. 
 sel of the Church had caused her to set too high a value 
 on her influence, and led her into the dangerous error of 
 hazarding her own soul by espousing a heretic. There was 
 so much of fervent piety mingled with so strong a burst 
 of natural feeling, so much of the woman blended with 
 the angel in her prayers, that Middleton could have for- 
 given her had she termed him a pagan, for the sweetness 
 and interest with which she petitioned in his favor. 
 
 The young man waited until his bride arose from her 
 knees, and then he joined her, as if entirely ignorant of 
 what had occurred. 
 
 "It is getting late, my Inez," he said, "and Don Augus- 
 tin would be apt to reproach you with inattention to your 
 health, in being abroad at such an hour. What, then, am 
 I to do, who am charged with all his authority and twice 
 his love ? " 
 
 " Be like him in every thing," she answered, looking up 
 in his face, with tears in her eyes, and speaking with em- 
 phasis ; " in every thing. Imitate my father, Middleton, 
 and I can ask no more of you." 
 
 " Nor y<w me, Inez ? I doubt not that I should be all 
 you can wish, were I to become as good as the worthy and 
 respectable Don Augustin. But you are to make some 
 allowances for the infirmities and habits of a soldier. 
 Now let us go and join this excellent father." 
 
 "Not yet," said his bride, gently extricating herself 
 from the arm that he had thrown around her slight form, 
 while he urged her from the place. " I have still another 
 duty to perform, before I can submit so implicitly to your 
 orders, soldier though you are. I promised the worthy 
 Inesella, my faithful nurse, she who, as you heard, has so 
 long been a mother to me, Middleton. I promised her a 
 visit at this hour. It is the last, as she thinks, that she 
 can receive from her own child, and I cannot disappoint 
 her. Go you, then, to Don Augustin ; in one short hour I 
 will rejoin you." 
 
 " Remember it is but an hour." 
 
 " One hour," repeated Inez, and she kissed her hand to 
 him ; and then blushing, ashamed at her own boldness, 
 she darted from the arbor, and was seen for an instant 
 gliding toward the cottage of her nurse, in which at the 
 next moment she disappeared. 
 
 Middleton returned slowly and thoughtfully to the house; 
 
THE PRAIRIE. i6c> 
 
 often bending his eyes in the direction in which he had 
 last seen his wife, as if he would fain trace her lovely 
 form, in the gloom of the evening, still floating through 
 the vacant space. Don Augustin received him with 
 warmth, and for many minutes his mind was amused by 
 relating to his new kinsman plans for the future. The ex- 
 clusive old Spanrard listened to his glowing but true ac* 
 count of the prosperity and happiness of those States of 
 which he had been an ignorant neighbor half his life, 
 partly in wonder and partly with that sort of incredulity 
 with which one attends to what he fancies are the exag- 
 gerated descriptions of a too partial friendship. 
 
 In this manner the hour for which Inez had conditioned 
 passed away much sooner than her husband could have 
 thought possible, in her absence. At length his looks be- 
 gan to wander to the clock, and then the minutes were 
 counted, as one rolled by after another, and Inez did not 
 appear. The hand had already made half of another cir. 
 cuit around the face of the dial, when Middleton arose 
 and announced his determination to go and offer himself 
 as an escort to the absentee. He found the night dark 
 and the heavens charged with threatening vapor, which in 
 that climate was the infallible forerunner of a gust. 
 Stimulated no less by the unpropitious aspect of the skies 
 than by his secret uneasiness, he quickened his pace, mak- 
 ing long and rapid strides in the direction of the cottage 
 of Inesella. Twenty times he stopped, fancying that he 
 caught glimpses of the fairy form of Inez, tripping across 
 the grounds on her return to the mansion-house, and as 
 often he was obliged to resume his course in disappoint- 
 ment. He reached the gate of the cottage, knocked, 
 opened the door, entered, and even stood in the presence 
 of the aged nurse, without meeting the person of her he 
 sought. She had already left the place on her return to 
 her father's house ! Believing that he must have passed 
 her in the darkness, Middleton retraced his steps to meet 
 with another disappointment. Inez had not been seen. 
 Without communicating his intention to any one, the 
 bridegroom proceeded with a palpitating heart to the little 
 sequestered arbor, where he had overheard his bride of- 
 fering up those petitions for his happiness and conversion. 
 Here, too, he was disappointed ; and then all was afloat in 
 the painful incertitude of doubt and conjecture. 
 
 For many hours a secret distrust of the motives of his 
 
r;o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 wife caused Middleton to proceed in the search with del 
 icacy and caution. But as day dawned, without restoring 
 her to the arms of her father or her husband, reserve was 
 thrown aside, and her unaccountable absence was loudly 
 proclaimed. The inquiries after the lost Inez were now 
 direct and open ; but they proved equally fruitless. No 
 one had seen her or heard of her, from -the moment that 
 she left the cottage of her nurse. 
 
 Day succeeded day, and still no tidings rewarded the 
 search that was immediately instituted, until she was fi- 
 nally given over by most of her relations and friends, as 
 irretrievably lost. 
 
 An event of so extraordinary a character was not likely 
 to be soon forgotten. It excited speculation, gave rise to 
 an infinity of rumors, and not a few inventions. The 
 prevalent opinion among such of those immigrants who 
 were overrunning the country, as had time in the multi- 
 tude of their employments to think of any foreign con- 
 cerns, was the simple and direct conclusion that the absent 
 bride was no more nor less than sifelo de se. Father Igna- 
 tius had many doubts and much secret compunction of 
 conscience ; but, like a wise chief, he endeavored to turn 
 the sad event to some account in the impending warfare of 
 faith. Changing his battery, he whispered in the ears of 
 a few of his oldest parishioners that he had been deceived 
 in the state of Middleton's mind, which he was now com- 
 pelled to believe was completely stranded on the quick- 
 sands of heresy. He began to show his relics again, and 
 was even heard to allude once more to the delicate and 
 nearly forgotten subject of modern miracles. In conse- 
 quence of these demonstrations on the part of the vener- 
 able priest, it came to be whispered among the faithful, and 
 finally it was adopted as part of the parish creed, that Inez 
 had been translated to heaven. 
 
 Don Augustin had all the feelings of a father, but they 
 were smothered in the lassitude of a Creole. Like his spir- 
 itual governor, he began to think that they had been wrong 
 in consigning one so pure, so young, so lovely, and above 
 all so pious, to the arms of a heretic ; and he was fain to 
 believe that the calamity which had befallen his age was a 
 judgment on his presumption and want of adherence to 
 established forms. It is true that, as the whispers of the 
 congregation came to his ears, he found present consola* 
 tion in their belief ; but then Nature was too powerful, 
 
THE FRAIRII?. 171 
 
 and had too strong a hold of the old man's heart, not to 
 give rise to the rebellious thought that the succession of 
 his daughter to the heavenly inheritance was a little pre- 
 mature. 
 
 But Middleton, the lover, the husband, the bridegroom 
 Middleton was nearly crushed by the weight of the un- 
 expected and terrible blow. Educated himself under the 
 dominion of a simple and rational faith, in which nothing 
 is attempted to be concealed from the believers, he could 
 have no other apprehensions for the fate of Inez than such 
 as grew out of his knowledge of the superstitious opinions 
 she entertained of his own Church. It is needless to dwell 
 on the mental tortures that he endured, or all the various 
 surmises, hopes, and disappointments that he was fated to 
 experience in the first few weeks of his misery A jeal- 
 ous distrust of the motives of Inez, and a secret, lingering 
 hope that he should yet find her, had tempered his inquir- 
 ies, without, however, causing him to abandon them en- 
 tirely. But time was beginning to deprive him even of 
 the mortifying reflection that he was intentionally though 
 perhaps temporarily deserted, and he was gradually yield- 
 ing to the more painful conviction that she was dead, when 
 ms hopes were suddenly revived in a new and singular 
 manner. 
 
 The young commander was slowly and sorrowfully re- 
 turning from an evening parade of his troops to his own 
 quarters, which stood at some little distance from the 
 place of the encampment, and on the same high bluff of 
 land, when his vacant eyes fell on the figure of a man, who 
 by the regulations of the place was not entitled to be there 
 at that forbidden hour. The stranger was meanly dressed, 
 with every appearance about his person and countenance 
 of squalid poverty and of the most dissolute habits. Sor- 
 row had softened the military pride of Middleton, and, as 
 he passed the crouching form of the intruder, he said, in 
 tones of great mildness, or rather of kindness : 
 
 " You will be given a night in the guard-house, friend, 
 should the patrof find you here ; there is a dollar go and 
 get a better place to sleep in and something to eat." 
 
 "I swallow all my food, captain, without chewing," re- 
 turned the vagabond, with the low exultation of an accom- 
 plished villain, as he eagerly seized the silver. "Make 
 this Mexican twenty, and I will sell you a secret." 
 
 " Go, pro" said the other, with a little of a soldier's sev- 
 
 * d " 7 
 
1 72 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 erity returning to his manner. " Go, before I orde/ th 
 guard to seize you." 
 
 " Well, go I will ; but if I do go, captain, I shall tako 
 my knowledge with me ; and then you may live a widowe* 
 bewitched till the tattoo of life is beat off." 
 
 "What mean you, fellow ?" exclaimed Middleton, turn- 
 ing quickly toward the wretch, who was already dragging 
 his diseased limbs from the place. 
 
 " I mean to have the value of this dollar in Spanish 
 brandy, and then come back and sell you my secret for 
 enough to buy a barrel." 
 
 "If you have anything to say, speak now," continued 
 Middleton, restraining with difficulty the impatience tha<- 
 urged him to betray his feelings. 
 
 " I am a-dry, and I can never talk with elegance when 
 my throat is husky, captain. How much will you give to 
 know what I can tell you ? Let it be something handsome 
 such as one gentleman can offer to another." 
 
 " I believe it would be better justice to order the drum- 
 mer to pay you a visit, fellow. To what does your boasted 
 secret relate ? " 
 
 " Matrimony a wife and no wife ; a pretty face and a 
 rich bride. Do I speak plain now, captain ? " 
 
 " If you know anything relating to my wife, say it at 
 once ; you need not fear for your reward." 
 
 " Ay, captain, I have drove many a bargain in my time r 
 and sometimes I have been paid in money, and sometimes 
 I have been paid in promises ; now the last are what I call 
 pinching food." 
 
 " Name your price." 
 
 " Twenty no, damn it, it's worth thirty dollars, if it's 
 worth a cent ! " 
 
 " Here, then, is your money ; but remember, if you tell 
 me nothing worth knowing, I have a force that can easily 
 deprive you of it again, and punish your insolence into the* 
 bargain." 
 
 The fellow examined the bank bills he received with a 
 jealous eye, and then pocketed them, apparently well sat- 
 isfied of their being genuine. 
 
 " I like a Northern note," he said, very coolly ; "they 
 have a character to lose like myself. No fear of me, captain \ 
 I am a man of honor, and I shall not tell you a word more 
 nor a word less than I know of my own knowledge to be 
 true." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 173 
 
 " Proceed then without further delay, or I may repent^ 
 <tnd order you to be deprived of all your gains ; the silver as 
 well as the notes." 
 
 " Honor, if you die for it ! " returned the miscreant, 
 holding up his hand in affected horror at so treacherous a 
 threat. " Well, captain, you must know that gentlemen 
 don't all live by the same calling ; some keep what they've 
 got, and some get what they can." 
 
 " You have been a thief." 
 
 " I scorn the word. I have been a humanity-hunter. 
 Do you know what that means ? Ay, it has many inter- 
 pretations. Some people think the woolly-heads are mis- 
 erable, working on hot plantations under a broiling sun 
 and all such sorts of inconveniences. Well, captain, I 
 have been, in my time, a man who has been willing to give 
 them the pleasure of variety, at least, by changing the 
 scene for them. You understand me ? " 
 
 "You are, in plain language, a kidnapper." 
 
 " Have* been, my worthy captain have been ; but just 
 now a little reduced, like a merchant who leaves off selling 
 tobacco by the hogshead to deal in it by the yard. I have 
 been a soldier, too, in my day. What is said to be the 
 great secret of our trade, can you tell me that? " 
 
 " I know not," said Middleton, beginning to tire of the 
 fellow's trifling " courage ? " 
 
 " No, legs legs to fight with and legs to run away with ; 
 and therein you see my two callings agreed. My legs are 
 none of the best just now, and without legs a kidnapper 
 would carry on *a losing trade ; but then there are men 
 enough left, better provided than I am." 
 
 " Stolen ! " groaned the horror-struck husband. 
 
 " On her travels, as sure as you are standing still ! " 
 
 " Villain, what reason have you for believing a thing so 
 shocking ?" 
 
 " Hands off hands off do you think my tongue can 
 do its work the better for a little squeezing of the throat ? 
 Have patience, and you shall know it all ; but if you 
 treat me so ungenteelly again, I shall be obliged to call 
 in the assistance of the lawyers." 
 
 "Say on ; but if you utter a single word more or less 
 than the truth, expect instant vengeance." 
 
 " Are you fool enough to believe what such a scoundrel 
 as I am tells you, captain, unless it has probability to back 
 it? I know you are not; therefore I will give my facts 
 
1 74 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 and my opinions, and then leave you to chew on them, 
 while I go and drink of your generosity. I know a man 
 who is called Abiram White I believe the knave took the 
 name to show his enmity to the race of blacks ! But this 
 gentleman is now, and has been for years, to my certain 
 knowledge, a regular translator of the human body from 
 one State to another. I have dealt with him in my time, 
 and a cheating dog he is ! No more honor in him than 
 meat in my stomach. I saw him here in this very town, 
 the day of your wedding. He was in company with his 
 wife's brother, and pretended to be a settler on the hunt 
 for new land. A noble set they were, to carry on busi- 
 ness seven sons, each of them as tall as your sergeant 
 with his cap on. Well, the moment I heard that your 
 wife was lost, I saw at once that Abiram had laid his hands 
 on her." 
 
 " Do you know this can this be true ? What reason 
 have you to fancy a thing so wild ? " 
 
 " Reason enough ; I know Abiram White. Now, will 
 you add a trifle just to keep my throat from parching ? " 
 
 " Go, go ; you are stupefied with drink already, mis- 
 erable man, and know not what you say. Go, go ; and 
 beware the drummer ! " 
 
 " Experience is a good guide," the fellow called after 
 the retiring Middleton ; and then turning with a chuck- 
 ling laugh, like one well satisfied with himself, he made 
 the best of his way toward the shop of the sutler. 
 
 A hundred times in the course of that night did Mid- 
 dleton fancy that the communication of the miscreant was 
 entitled to some attention, and as often did he reject the 
 idea as too wild and visionary for another thought. He was 
 awakened early on the following morning, after passing 
 a- restless and nearly sleepless night, by his orderly, who 
 came to report that a man was found dead on the parade, 
 at no great distance from his quarters. Throwing on his 
 clothes, he proceeded to the spot, and beheld the individ- 
 ual with whom he had held the preceding conference, in 
 the precise situation in which he had first been found. 
 
 The miserable wretch had fallen a victim to his intem- 
 perance. This revolting fact was sufficiently proclaimed 
 by his obtruding eyeballs, his bloated countenance, and 
 the nearly insufferable odors that were then exhaling 
 from his carcass. Disgusted with the odious spectacle, 
 the youth was turnfng from the sight, after ordering the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 175 
 
 corpse to be removed, when the position of one of the 
 dead man's hands struck him. On examination, he found 
 the forefinger extended, as if in the act of writing in the 
 sand, with the following incomplete sentence, nearly il- 
 legible, but yet in a state to be deciphered : " Captain, it is 
 
 true, as I am a gentle " He had either died, or fallen 
 
 into a sleep, the forerunner of his death, before the latter 
 word was finished. 
 
 Concealing this fact from the others Middleton repeated 
 his orders and departed. The pertinacity of the deceased, 
 and all the circumstances united, induced him to set on 
 foot some secret inquiries. He found that a family answer- 
 ing the description which had been given him had in fact 
 passed the place the day of his nuptials. They were traced 
 along the margin of the Mississippi for some distance, until 
 they took boat and ascended the river to its confluence with 
 the Missouri. Here they disappeared, like hundreds of 
 others, in pursuit of the hidden wealth of the interior. 
 
 Furnished with these facts, Middleton detailed a small 
 guard of his most trusty men, took leave of Don Augus- 
 tin without declaring his hopes or his fears, and having 
 arrived at the indicated point he pushed into the wilder- 
 ness in pursuit. It was not difficult to trace a train like 
 that of Ishmael until he was assured its object lay far be- 
 yond the usual limits of the settlements. This circum- 
 stance in itself quickened his suspicions and gave addi- 
 tional force to his hopes of final success. 
 , After getting beyond the assistance of verbal directions, 
 the anxious husband had recourse to the usual signs of a 
 trail, in order to follow the fugitives. This he also found 
 a task of no difficulty, until he reached the hard and un- 
 yielding soil of the rolling prairies. Here, indeed, he was 
 completely at fault. He found himself, at length, com- 
 pelled to divide his followers, appointing a place of rendez- 
 vous at a distant day, and to endeavor to find the lost trail 
 .by multiplying, as much as possible, the number of his eyes. 
 He had been alone a week, when accident brought him in 
 contact with the trapper and the bee-hunter. Part of their 
 interview has been related, and the reader can readily im- 
 agine the explanations that succeeded the tale he recounted, 
 and which led, as has already been, seen, to the recovery of 
 his bride. 
 
I7 6 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 "These likelihoods c % onfirm her flight from hence : 
 Therefore, I pray you, stay not to discourse, 
 But mount you presently." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 AN hour had slid by in hasty and nearly incoherent ques- 
 tions and answers, before Middleton, hanging over his re- 
 covered treasure with that sort of jealous watchfulness 
 with which a miser would regard his hoards, closed the 
 disjointed narrative of his own proceedings by demanding: 
 
 " And you, my Inez in what manner were you treated ? " 
 
 " In everything, but the great injustice they did in sep- 
 arating me so forcibly from my friends, as well, perhaps, 
 as the circumstances of my captors would allow. I think 
 the man, who is certainly the master here, is but a new be- 
 ginner in wickedness. He quarrelled frightfully in my 
 presence with the wretch who seized me, and then they 
 made an impious bargain, to which I was compelled to 
 acquiesce, and to which they bound me, as well as them- 
 selves, by oaths. Ah ! Middleton, I fear the heretics are 
 not so heedful of their vows as we who are nurtured in the 
 bosom of the true Church ! " 
 
 " Believe it not ; these villains are of no religion ! Die' 
 they forswear themselves ? " 
 
 "No, not perjured ; but was it not awful to call upon 
 the good God to witness so sinful a compact ? " 
 
 " And so we think, Inez, as truly as the most virtuous 
 cardinal of Rome. But how did they observe their oath, 
 and what was its purport ? " 
 
 " They conditioned to leave me unmolested, and free 
 from their odious presence, provided I would give a pledge 
 to make no effort to escape ; and that I would not even 
 show myself until a time that my masters saw fit to name." 
 
 : * And that time ?" demanded the impatient Middleton, 
 who so well knew the religious scruples of his wife " that 
 time ? " 
 
 " It is already passed. I was sworn by my patron saint, 
 and faithfully did I keep the vow until the man they call 
 Ishmael forgot the terms by offering violence. I then made 
 my appearance on the rock, for the time too was passed ; 
 though I even think Father Ignatius would have absolved 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 177 
 
 me from the vow, on account of the treachery of my keep- 
 ers." 
 
 " If he had not,'" muttered the youth between his com- 
 pressed teeth, " I would have absolved him forever from 
 his spiritual care of your conscience ! " 
 
 " You, Middleton ! " returned his wife, looking up into 
 his flushed face, while a bright flush suffused her own sweet 
 countenance ; " you may receive my vows, but surely you 
 can have no power to absolve me from their observance ! " 
 
 " No, no, no. Inez, you are right. I know but little of 
 these conscientious subtilities, and I am anything but a 
 priest ; yet tell me, what has induced these monsters to 
 play this desperate game to trifle thus with my happi- 
 ness?" 
 
 " You know my ignorance, of the world, and how ill I am 
 qualified to furnish reasons for the conduct of beings so 
 different from any I have ever seen before. But does not 
 love of money drive men to acts even worse than this ? I 
 believe they thought that an aged and wealthy father could 
 be tempted to pay them a rich ransom for his child ; and 
 perhaps," she added, stealing an inquiring glance through 
 her tears at the attentive Middleton, "they counted some- 
 thing on the fresh affections of a bridegroom." 
 
 "They might have extracted the blood from my heart, 
 drop by drop ! " 
 
 " Yes," resumed his young and timid wife, instantly 
 withdrawing the stolen look she had hazarded, and hur- 
 riedly pursuing the train of the discourse, as if glad to 
 make him forget the liberty she had just taken, " I have 
 been told there are men so base as to perjure themselves 
 at the altar in order to command the gold of ignorant and 
 confiding girls ; and if love of money will lead to such 
 baseness, we may surely expect it will hurry those who 
 devote themselves to gain into acts of lesser fraud." 
 
 " It must be so ; and now, Inez, though I am here to 
 guard you with my life, and we are in possession of this 
 rock, our difficulties, perhaps our dangers, are not ended. 
 Vou will summon all your courage to meet the trial, and 
 prove yourself a soldier's wife, my Inez ?" 
 
 " I am ready to depart this instant. The letter you sent 
 by the physician had prepared me to hope for the best, 
 and I have everything arranged for flight at the shortest 
 warning." 
 
 " Let us, then, leave this place and join our friends." 
 
 12 
 
178 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " Friends ! " interrupted Inez, glancing her eyes around 
 the tent in quest of the form of Ellen. " I, too, have a 
 friend who must not be forgotten, but who is pledged to 
 pass the remainder of her life with us. She is gone ! " 
 
 Middleton gently led her from the spot, as he smilingly 
 answered : 
 
 " She may have had, like myself, her own private com- 
 munications for some favored ear." 
 
 The young man had not, however, done justice to the 
 motives of Ellen Wade. The sensitive and intelligent girl 
 had readily perceived how little her presence was neces- 
 sary in the interview that has just been related, and had 
 retired with that intuitive delicacy of feeling which seems 
 to belong more properly to her sex. She was now to be 
 seen seated on a point of the rock, with her person so en- 
 tirely enveloped in her dress as to conceal her features. 
 Here she had remained for near an hour, no one approach- 
 ing to address her, and, as it appeared to her own quick 
 and jealous eyes, totally unobserved. In the latter partic- 
 ular, however, even the vigilance of the quick-sighted Ellen 
 was deceived. 
 
 The first act of Paul Hover, on finding himself the mas- 
 ter of Ishmael's citadel, had been to sound the note of vic- 
 tory, after the quaint and ludicrous manner that is so often 
 practised among the borderers of the West. Flapping his 
 sides with his hands, as the conquering game-cock is wont 
 to do with his wings, he raised a loud and laughable imi- 
 tation of the exultation of this bird ; a cry which might 
 have proved a dangerous challenge had any one of the 
 athletic sons of the squatter been within hearing. 
 
 "This has been a regular knock-down and drag-out," 
 he cried, " and no bones broke ! How now, old trapper ! 
 you have been one of your training, platoon, rank-and-file 
 soldiers in your day, and have seen forts taken and batter- 
 ies stormed before this am I right ? " 
 
 " Ay, ay, that have I," answered the old man, who still 
 maintained his post at the foot of the rock, so little dis- 
 turbed by what he had just witnessed as to return the grin 
 of Paul with a hearty indulgence in his own silent and 
 peculiar laughter ; " you have gone through the exploit 
 like men ! " 
 
 " Now, tell me, is it not in rule to call over the names 
 of the living, and to bury the dead after every bloody 
 battle ? " 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 179 
 
 " Some did and other some didn't. When Sir William 
 pushed the German, Dieskau, through the defiles at the 
 foot of the Hori 
 
 " Your Sir William was a drone to Sir Paul, and knew 
 nothing of regularity. So here begins the roll-call by- 
 the-by, old man, what between bee-hunting and buffalo- 
 humps, and certain other matters, I have been too busy to 
 ask your name ; for I intend to begin with my rear-guard, 
 well knowing that my man in front is too busy to answer." 
 
 " Lord, lad, I've been called in my time by as many 
 names as there are people among whom I've dwelt. Now 
 the Delawares named me for my eyes, and I was called 
 after the far-sighted hawk. Then, ag'in, the settlers in the 
 Otsego hills christened me anew from the fashion of my 
 leggings ; and various have been the names by which I 
 have gone through life ; but little will it matter, when the 
 time shall come that all are to be mustered face to face, by 
 what titles a mortal has played his part ! I humbly trust 
 I shall be able to answer to any of mine in a loud and 
 manly voice." 
 
 Paul paid little or no attention to this reply, more than 
 half of which was lost in the distance, but, pursuing the 
 humor of the moment, he called out in a stentorian voice 
 to the naturalist to answer to his name. Dr. Battius had 
 not thought it necessary to push his success beyond the 
 comfortable niche which accident had so opportunely 
 formed for his protection, and in which he now reposed 
 from his labors with a pleasing consciousness of security, 
 added to great exultation at the possession of the botanical 
 treasure already mentioned. 
 
 "Mount, mount, my worthy mole-catcher! come and 
 behold the prospect of skirting Ishmael ; come and look 
 Nature boldly in the face, and not go sneaking any longer 
 among the prairie-grass and mullein-tops, like a gobbler 
 nibbling for grasshoppers." 
 
 The mouth of the light-hearted and reckless bee-hunter 
 was instantly closed, and he was rendered as mute as he 
 had just been boisterous and talkative, by the appearance 
 of Ellen Wade. When the melancholy maiden took her 
 seat on the point of the rock as mentioned, Paul affected 
 to employ himself in conducting a close inspection of the 
 household effects of the squatter. He rummaged the 
 drawers of Esther with no delicate hands, scattered the 
 rustic finery of her girls on the ground without the leasi 
 
/8o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 deference to its quality or elegance, and tossed her pots 
 and kettles here and there as though they had been vessels 
 of wood instead of iron. All this industry was, however, 
 manifestly without an object. He reserved nothing for 
 himself, not even appearing conscious of the nature of the 
 articles which suffered by his familiarity. When he had 
 examined the inside of every cabin, taken a fresh survey 
 of the spot where he had confined the children, and where 
 he had thoroughly secured them with cords, and kicked 
 one of the pails of the woman like a foot-ball fifty feet into 
 the air in sheer wantonness, he returned to the edge of the 
 rock, and, thrusting both his hands through his wampum 
 belt, he began to whistle the "Kentucky Hunters " as dili- 
 gently as if he had been hired to supply his auditors with 
 music by the hour. In this manner passed the remainder 
 of the time until Middleton, as has been related, led Inez 
 forth from the tent, and gave a new direction to the 
 thoughts of the whole party. He summoned Paul from 
 his flourish of music, tore the doctor from the study of his 
 plant, and, as acknowledged leader, gave the necessary 
 orders for immediate departure. 
 
 In the bustle and confusion that were likely to succeed 
 such a mandate, there was little opportunity to indulge in 
 complaints or reflections. As the adventurers had not 
 come unprepared for victory, each individual employed 
 himself in such offices as were best adapted to his strength 
 and situation. The trapper had already made himself 
 master of the patient Asinus, who was quietly feeding at 
 no great distance from the rock, and he was now busy in 
 fitting his back with the complicated machinery which Dr. 
 Battius saw fit to term a saddle of his own invention. 
 The naturalist himself seized upon his portfolios, herbals, 
 and collection of insects, which he quickly transferred 
 from the encampment of the squatter to certain pockets 
 in the aforesaid ingenious invention, and which the trap* 
 per as uniformly cast away the moment his back was 
 turned. Paul showed his dexterity in removing such light 
 articles as Inez and Ellen had prepared for their flight to 
 the foot of the citadel ; while Middleton, after mingling 
 threats and promises in order to induce the children to re- 
 main quietly in their bondage, assisted the females fo de- 
 scend. As time began to press upon them, and there was 
 great danger of Ishmael's returning, these several move 
 ments were made with singular industry and despatch. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. iSl 
 
 The trapper bestowed such articles as he conceived were 
 necessary to the comfort of the weaker and more delicate 
 members of the party, in those pockets from which he had 
 so unceremoniously expelled the treasures of the uncon- 
 scious naturalist, and then gave way for Middleton to place 
 Inez in one of those seats which he had prepared on the 
 back of the animal for her and her companion. 
 
 "Go, child," the old man said, motioning to Ellen to 
 follow the example of the lady, and turning his head a 
 little anxiously to examine the waste behind him. " It 
 cannot be long afore the owner of this place will be com- 
 ing to look after his household ; and he is not a man to 
 give up his property, however obtained, without com- 
 plaint !" 
 
 " It is true," cried Middleton; "we have wasted mo- 
 ments that are precious, and have the utmost need of in- 
 dustry." 
 
 " Ay, ay, I thought it ; and would have said it,- captain ; 
 but I remembered how your grand'ther used to love to 
 look upon the face of her he led away for a wife, in the 
 days of his youth and his happiness. "Tis natur', 'tis na- 
 tur', and 'tis wiser to give way a little before its feelings 
 than to try to stop a current that will have its course." 
 
 Ellen advanced to the side of the beast, and seizing Inez 
 by the hand, she said, with heart-felt warmth, after strug* 
 gling to suppress an emotion that nearly choked her : 
 
 " God bless you, sweet lady ! I hope you will forget 
 and forgive the wrongs you have received from m} 
 uncle " 
 
 The humbled and sorrowful girl could say no more, her 
 voice becoming entirely inaudible in an ungovernable 
 burst, of grief. 
 
 "How is this?" cried Middleton ; "did you not say, 
 Inez, that this excellent young woman was to accompany 
 us, and to live with us for the remainder of her life ; or, 
 at least until she found some more agreeable residence for 
 herself?" 
 
 " I did ; and I still hope it. She has always given me 
 reason to believe that, after having shown so much com- 
 miseration and friendship in my misery, she would not 
 desert me, should happier times return." 
 
 " I cannot I ought not," continued Ellen, getting the 
 better of her momentary weakness. " It has pleased God 
 to cast my lot am^ng these people, and I ought not to quif 
 
1 82 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 them. It would be adding the appearance of treachery tq 
 what will already seem bad enough, with one of his opin- 
 ions. He has been kind to me, an orphan, after his rough 
 customs, and I cannot steal from him at such a moment." 
 
 "She is just as much a relation of skirting Ishmael as 1 
 am a bishop ! " said Paul, with a loud hem, as if his throat 
 wanted clearing. "If the old fellow has done the honest 
 thing by her, in giving her a morsel of venison now and 
 then, or a spoon around his hominy-dish, hasn't she paid 
 him in teaching the young devils to read their Bible, or in 
 helping old Esther to put her finery in shape and fashion ? 
 Tell me that a drone has a sting, and I'll believe you as easily 
 as I will that this young woman is a debtor to any of the 
 tribe of Bush ! " 
 
 " It is but little matter who owes me, or where I am in 
 debt. There are none to care for a girl who is fatherless 
 and motherless, and whose nearest kin are the offcasts of 
 all honest (people. No, no ; go, lady, and Heaven forever 
 bless you ! I am better here, in this desert, where there 
 are none to know my shame." 
 
 " Now, old trapper," retorted Paul, " this is what I call 
 knowing which way the wind blows ! You ar' a man that 
 has seen life, and you know something of fashions ; I put 
 it to your judgment plainly, isn't it in the nature of things 
 for the hive to swarm when the young get their growth, 
 and, if children will quit their parents, ought one who is 
 of no kith or kin " 
 
 " Hist ! " interrupted the man he addressed, " Hector is 
 discontented. Say it out plainly, pup ; what is it, dog 
 what is it ?" 
 
 The venerable hound had risen, and was scenting the 
 fresh breeze which continued to sweep heavily over, the 
 prairie. At the words of his master he growled and con- 
 tracted the muscles of his lips, as if half disposed to threat- 
 en with the remnants of his teeth. The younger dog, who 
 was resting after the chase of the morning, also made some 
 signs that his nose detected a taint in the air, and, then 
 the two resumed their slumbers, as if they had done 
 enough. 
 
 The trapper seized the bridle of the ass, and cried, urg- 
 ing the beast onward : 
 
 "There is no time for words. The squatter and his 
 brood are within a mile or two of this blessed spot ! " 
 
 Middleton lost all recollection of Ellen in the danger 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 183 
 
 which now so imminently beset his recovered bride ; nor 
 is it necessary to add that Dr Battius did not wait for a 
 second admonition to commence his retreat. 
 
 Following the route indicated by the old man, they 
 turned the rock in a body, and pursued their way as fast 
 as possible across the prairie' under the favor of the cover 
 it afforded. 
 
 Paul Hover, however, remained in his tracks, sullenly 
 leaning on his rifle. Near a minute had elapsed before he 
 was observed by Ellen, who had buried her face in her 
 hands to conceal her fancied desolation from herself. 
 
 " Why do you not fly ? " the weeping girl exclaimed, the 
 instant she perceived she was not alone. 
 
 " I am not used to it." 
 
 " My uncle will soon be here ! you have nothing to hope 
 from his pity." 
 
 " Nor from that of his niece, I reckon. Let him come ; 
 he can only knock me on the head ! " 
 
 " Paul, Paul, if you love me, fly ! " 
 
 " Alone ! if I do, may I be " 
 
 " If you value your life, fly!" 
 
 " I value it not compared to you." 
 
 " Paul ! " 
 
 " Ellen ! " 
 
 She extended both her hands, and burst into another 
 and a still more violent flood of tears. The bee-hunter 
 put one of his sturdy arms around her waist, and in an- 
 other moment he was urging her over the plain, in rapid 
 pursuit of their flying friends. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 cc Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight 
 With a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak ; 
 See, and then speak yourselves." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE Httle run which supplied the family of the squatter 
 with water, and nourished the trees and bushes that grew 
 near the base of the rocky eminence, took its rise at no 
 great distance from the latter, in a small thicket of cotton- 
 wood and vines. Hither, then, the trapper directed the 
 flight, as to the place affording the only available cover in 
 
184 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 so pressing an emergency. It will be remembered that 
 the sagacity of the old man, which, from long practice in 
 similar scenes, amounted nearly to an instinct in all cases 
 of sudden danger, had first induced him to take this course, 
 as it placed the hill between them and the approaching 
 party. Favored by this circumstance, he succeeded in 
 reaching the bushes in sufficient time ; and Paul Hover 
 had just hurried the breathless Ellen into the tangled 
 bush as Ishrnael gained the summit of the rock in the 
 manner already described, where he stood like a man mo- 
 mentarily bereft of sense, gazing at the confusion which 
 had been created among his chattels, or at his gagged and 
 bound children, who had been safely bestowed, by the 
 forethought of the bee-hunter, under the cover of a bark 
 roof, in a sort of irregular pile. A long rifle would have 
 thrown a bullet from the height on which the squatter 
 now stood into the very cover where the fugitives who had 
 wrought all this mischief were clustered. 
 
 The trapper was the first to speak, as the man on whose 
 intelligence and experience they all depended for counsel, 
 after running his eye over the different individuals who 
 gathered about him, in order to see that none were miss- 
 ing. 
 
 " Ah ! .natur' is natur', and has done its work ! " he said, 
 nodding to the exulting Paul with a smile of approbation. 
 " I thought it would be hard for those who had so often 
 met in fair and foul, by starlight and under the clouded 
 moon, to part at last in anger. Now is there little time to 
 lose in talk, and everything to gain by industry ! It can- 
 not be long afore some of yonder brood will be nosing 
 along the 'arth for our trail, and should they find it, as find 
 it they surely will, and should they push us to stand on 
 our courage, the dispute must be settled with the rifle ; 
 which may He in heaven forbid ! Captain, can you lead 
 us to the place where any of your warriors lie ? For the 
 stout sons of the squatter will make a manly brush of it ? 
 or I am but little of a judge in warlike dispositions ! " 
 
 " The place of rendezvous is many leagues from this, on 
 the banks of La Platte ! " 
 
 "It is bad it is bad. If fighting is to be done, it is al- 
 ways wise to enter on it on equal terms. But what has 
 one so near his time to do with ill blood and hot blood at 
 his heart ! Listen to what a gray head and some experi- 
 ence have to offer, and then if any among you can point 
 
THE PRAIRIE. igj 
 
 out a wiser fashion for a retreat, we can just follow his de- 
 sign and forget that I have spoken. This thicket stretches 
 for near a mile as it may be slanting from the rock, and 
 leads toward the sunset instead of the settlements." 
 
 " Enough, enough," cried Middle ton, too impatient to 
 wait until the deliberate and perhaps loquacious old man 
 could end his minute explanation. u Time is too precious 
 for words. Let us fly." 
 
 The trapper made a gesture of compliance, and turning 
 in his tracks, he led Asinus across the trembling earth of 
 the swale, and quickly emerged on the hard ground on 
 the side opposite to the encampment of the squatter. 
 
 " If old Ishmael gets a squint at that highway through 
 the brush," cried Paul, casting, as he left the place, a hasty 
 glance at the broad trail the party had made through the 
 thicket, " he'll need no finger-board to tell him which way 
 his road lies. But let him follow ! I know the vagabond 
 would gladly cross his breed with a little honest blood, but 
 *f any son of his ever gets to be the husband of " 
 
 "Hush, Paul, hush!" said the terrified ^oung woman, 
 who leaned on his arm for support ; " your voice might be 
 heard." 
 
 The bee-hunter was silent, though he did not cease to 
 cast ominous looks behind him as they flew along the edge 
 of the run, which sufficiently betrayed the belligerent con- 
 dition of his mind. As each one was busy for himself, but 
 a few minutes elapsed before the party rose a swell of the 
 prairie, and, descending without a moment's delay on the 
 opposite side, they were at once removed from every dan- 
 ger of being seen by the sons of Ishmael, unless the pur- 
 suers should happen to fall upon their trail. The old man 
 now profited by the formation of the land to take another 
 direction with a view to elude pursuit, as a vessel changes 
 her course in fogs and darkness to escape from the vigi- 
 lance of her enemies. 
 
 Two hours passed in the utmost diligence enabled them 
 to make a half circuit around the rock, and to reach a 
 point that was exactly opposite to the original direction of 
 their flight. To most of the fugitives their situation was 
 as entirely unknown as is that of a ship in the middle of 
 the ocean to the uninstructed voyager ; but the old man 
 proceeded at every turn, and through every bottom, with 
 a decision that inspired his followers with confidence, as it 
 spoke favorably of his own knowledge of the localities, 
 
1 86 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 His hound, stopping now and then to catch the expression 
 of his eye, had preceded the trapper throughout the whole 
 distance with as much certainty as though a previous and 
 intelligible communion between them had established the 
 route by which they were to proceed. But, at the expira- 
 tion of the time just named, the dog suddenly came to a 
 stand, and then, seating himself on the prairie, he snuffed 
 the air a moment, and began a low and piteous whining. 
 
 " Ay pup ay. I know the spot, and reason there is to 
 remember it well! " said the old man, stopping by the side 
 of his uneasy associate, until those who followed had time 
 to come up. " Now, yonder is a thicket before us," he 
 continued, pointing forward, " where we may lie till tall 
 trees grow on these naked fields afore any of the squatter's 
 kin will venture to molest us." 
 
 " This is the spot where the body of the dead man lay ! " 
 cried Middleton, examining the place with an eye that re- 
 volted at the recollection. 
 
 " The very same. But whether his friends have put him 
 in the bosom .of the ground or not, remains to be seen. 
 The hound knows the scent, but 'seems to be a little at a 
 loss, too. It is therefore necessary that you advance, friend 
 bee-hunter, to examine, while I tarry to keep the dogs 
 from complaining in too loud a voice." 
 
 " I ! " exclaimed Paul, thrusting his hand into his shaggy 
 locks, like one who thought it prudent to hesitate before 
 he undertook so formidable an adventure. " Now, hark'ee, 
 old trapper ; I've stood in my thinnest cottons in the midst 
 of many a swarm that had lost its queen-bee, without wink- 
 ing, and let me tell you the man who can do that is not 
 likely to fear any living son of skirting Ishmael ; but as to 
 meddling with dead men's bones, why it is neither my call- 
 ing nor my inclination ; so, after thanking you for the 
 favor of your choice, as they say when they make a man 
 corporal in Kentucky, I decline serving." 
 
 The old man turned a disappointed look toward Mid- 
 dleton, who was too much occupied in solacing Inez to ob- 
 serve his embarrassment, which was, however, suddenly 
 relieved from a quarter whence, from previous circum- 
 stances, there was little reason to expect such demonstra- 
 tion of fortitude. 
 
 Dr. Battius had rendered himself a little remarkable 
 throughout the whole of the preceding retreat, for the ex- 
 ceeding diligence with which he had labored to effect that 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 187 
 
 desirable object. So very conspicuous was his zeal, in- 
 deed, as to hare entirely got the better of all his ordinary 
 predilections. The worthy naturalist belonged to that 
 species of discoverers who make the worst possible travel- 
 ling companions to a man who has reason to be in a hurry. 
 No stone, no bush, no plant, is ever suffered to escape the 
 examination of their vigilant eyes, and thunder may mut- 
 ter, and rain fall, without disturbing the abstraction of 
 their reveries. Not so, however, with the disciple of Lin- 
 naeus, during the momentous period that it remained a 
 mooted point at the tribunal of his better judgment, whether 
 the stout descendants of the squatter were not likely to 
 dispute his right to traverse the prairie in freedom. The 
 highest-blooded and best-trained hound, with his game in 
 view, could not have run with an eye more riveted than 
 that with which the doctor had pursued his curvilinear 
 course. It was perhaps lucky for his fortitude that he was 
 ignorant of the artifice of the trapper in leading them 
 around the citadel of Ishmael, and that he had imbibed the 
 soothing impression, that every inch of prairie he traversed 
 was just so much added to the distance between his own 
 person and the detested rock. Notwithstanding the mo- 
 mentary shock he certainly experienced when he discov- 
 ered this error, he now boldly volunteered to enter the 
 thicket in which there was sbme reason to believe the 
 body of the murdered Asa still lay. Perhaps the naturalist 
 was urged to show his spirit on this occasion, by some 
 secret consciousness that his excessive industry in the re- 
 treat might be liable to misconstruction ; and it is certain 
 that whatever might be his peculiar notions of danger 
 from the quick, his habits and his knowledge had placed 
 him far above the apprehension of suffering harm from 
 any communication with the dead. 
 
 " If there is any service to be performed which requires 
 the perfect command of the nervous system," said the man 
 of science, with a look that was slightly blustering, "you 
 have only to give a direction to his intellectual faculties, 
 and here stands one on whose physical powers you may 
 depend." 
 
 "The man is given to speak in parables," muttered the 
 single-minded trapper; "but I conclude there is always 
 some meaning hidden in his words, though it is as hard 
 to find sense in his speeches as to discover three eagles on 
 the same tree. It will bo wise, friend, to make a cover. 
 
188 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 lest the sons of the squatter should be out skirting on ouf 
 trail, and, as you well know, there is some reason to fear 
 yonder thicket contains a sight that may horrify a woman's 
 mind. Are you man enough to look death in the face, or 
 shall I run the risk of the hounds raising an outcry, and 
 go in myself ? You see the pup is willing to run in with 
 an open mouth already." 
 
 " Am I man enough ! Venerable trapper, our commu- 
 nications have a recent origin, or thy interrogatory might 
 have a tendency to embroil us in angry disputation. Am 
 I man enough ! I claim to be of the class, mammalia ; 
 order, primates ; genus, homo ! Such are my physical at^ 
 tributes ; of my moral properties let posterity speak ; it 
 becomes me to be mute." 
 
 " Physic may do for such as relish it ; to my taste and 
 judgment it is neither palatable nor healthy ; but morals 
 never did harm to any living mortal, be it that he was a 
 sojourner in the forest, or a dweller in the midst of glazed 
 windows and smoking chimneys. It is only a few hard 
 words that divide us, friend ; for I am of opinion that 
 with use and freedom we should come to understand one 
 another, and mainly settle down into the same judgments 
 of mankind, and of the ways of the world. Quiet, Hector, 
 quiet ! what ruffles your temper, pup ; is it not used to 
 the scent of human blood ? " 
 
 The doctor bestowed a gracious but commiserating 
 smile on the philosopher of Nature, as he retrograded a 
 step or two from the place whither he had been impelled 
 by his excess of spirit, in order to reply with less expendi- 
 ture of breath, and with a greater freedom of air and at- 
 titude. 
 
 "A homo is certainly a homo," he said, stretching forth 
 an arm in an argumentative manner ; " so far as the ani- 
 mal functions extend, there are the connecting links of 
 harmony, order, conformity, and design, between the whole 
 genus ; but there the resemblance ends. Man may be 
 degraded to the very margin of the line which separ- 
 ates him from the brute, by ignorance ; or he may be 
 elevated to a communion with the great Master-spirit of 
 all, by knowledge ; nay, I know not, if time and oppor- 
 tunity were given him, but he might become the master 
 of all learning, and consequently equal to the great mov' 
 ing principle/ 
 
 The old man, wno stood leaning on his rifle in a thought 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 189 
 
 ful attitude, shook his head as he answered with a native 
 steadiness that entirely eclipsed the imposing air which his 
 antagonist had seen fit to assume. 
 
 " This is neither more nor less than human wickedness J 
 Here have I been a dweller on the earth for four-score- 
 and-six changes of the seasons, and all. that time have I 
 looked at the growing and the dying trees, and yet do I 
 not know the reason why the bud starts under the sum 
 mer sun, or the leaf falls when it is pinched by the frosts. 
 Your Taming, though it is man's boast, is folly in the eyes 
 of Him who sits in the clouds, and looks down in sorrow 
 at the pride and vanity of his creatur's. Many is the hour 
 that I've passed lying in the shades of the woods, or 
 stretched upon the hills of these open fields, looking up 
 into the blue skies, where I could fancy the Great One 
 had taken His stand, and was solemnizing on the way- 
 wardness of man and brute below, as I myself had often 
 looked at the ants tumbling over each other in their eager- 
 ness, though in a way and a fashion more suited to His 
 mightiness and power. Knowledge ! It is his plaything. 
 Say, you who think it is so easy to climb into the judg- 
 ment-seat above, can you tell me anything of the begin* 
 ning and the end ? Nay, you're a dealer in ailings and 
 cures ; what is life, and what is death ? Why does the 
 eagle live so long, and why is the time of the butterfly so 
 short ? Tell me a simpler thing : why is the hound so un- 
 easy, while you, who have passed your days in looking 
 into books, can see no reason to be disturbed?" 
 
 The doctor, who had been a little astounded by the 
 dignity and energy of the old man, drew a long breath, 
 like a sullen wrestler who is just released from the throt- 
 tling grasp of his antagonist, and seized on the opportunity 
 of the pause to reply : 
 
 " It is his instinct." 
 
 " And what is the gift of instinct ? " 
 
 "An inferior gradation of reason. A sort of mysterious 
 combination of thought and matter." 
 
 " And what is that which you call thought ?" 
 
 " Venerable venator, this is a method of reasoning which 
 sets at naught the uses of definitions, and such as I do as- 
 sure you is not at all tolerated in the schools." 
 
 " Then is there more cunning in your schools than I had 
 thought, for it is a certain method of showing them their 
 vanity," returned the trapper, suddenly abandoning a di 
 
rpo THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 cussion from which the naturalist was just beginning to an- 
 ticipate great delight, by turning to his dog, whose restless- 
 ness he attempted to appease by playing with his ears. 
 " This is foolish, Hector ; more like an untamed pup than 
 a sensible hound ; one who has got his education by hard 
 experience and not by nosing over the trails of other dogs, 
 as a boy in the settlements follows on the track of his mas- 
 ters, be it right or be it wrong. Well, friend, you who can 
 do so much, are you equal to looking into the thicket ; or 
 must I go in myself ? " 
 
 The doctor again assumed his air of resolution, and with- 
 out further parlance proceeded to do as desired. The dogs 
 were so fair restrained by the remonstrances of the old man 
 as to confine their noise to low but often repeated whin- 
 ings. When they saw the naturalist advance, the pup, how- 
 ever, broke through all restraint and made a swift circuit 
 around bis person, scenting the earth as he proceeded, and, 
 returning to his companion, he howled aloud. 
 
 "The squatter and his brood have left a strong scent on 
 the earth," said the old man, watching as he spoke for some 
 signal from his learned pioneer to follow ; " I hope yonder 
 school-bred man knows enough to remember the errand 
 on whicb I have sent him." 
 
 Dr. Battius had already disappeared in the bushes, and 
 the trapper was beginning to betray additional evidences 
 of impatience, when the person of the former was seen re- 
 tiring frcm the thicket backward, with his face fastened on 
 the place he had just left, as if his look was bound in the 
 thraldom of some charm. 
 
 " Here is something skeary, by the wildness of the crea- 
 tur's countenance ! " exclaimed the old man, relinquishing 
 his hold of Hector, and moving stoutly to the side of the 
 totally unconscious naturalist. " How is it, friend ; have 
 you fouftil a new leaf in your book of wisdom ?" 
 
 " It i? J* basilisk ! " muttered the doctor, whose altered 
 visage betrayed the utter confusion which beset his facul- 
 ties. " An animal of the order serpens. I had thought its 
 attributes were fabulous, but mighty Nature is equal to all 
 that man can imagine ! " 
 
 " What is't ? what is't ? The snakes of the prairies are 
 harmless, unless it be now and then an angered rattler, and 
 he always gives you notice with his tail afore he works his 
 mischief with his fangs. Lord, Lord, what a humbling 
 thing is fear ! Here is one who in common delivers wordj 
 
THE PRAIRIE. I 9 1 
 
 too big for a humble mouth to hold, so much beside him 
 self that his voice is as shrill as the whistle of the whip* 
 poorwill ! Courage ! what is it, man ? what is it ? " 
 
 " A prodigy ! a lusus naturae ! a monster that Nature has 
 delighted to form in order to exhibit her power ! Never 
 before have I witnessed such an utter confusion in her 
 laws, or a specimen that so completely bids defiance to the 
 distinctions of class and genera. Let me record its appear* 
 ance," fumbling for his tablets with hands that trembled 
 too much to perform their office, " while time and oppor- 
 tunity are allowed eyes, enthralling ; color ^ various, com- 
 plex, and profound " 
 
 " One would think the man was crazed with his enthral- 
 ling looks and piebald colors ! " interrupted the discon- 
 tented trapper, who began to grow a little uneasy that his 
 party was all this time neglecting to seek the protection of 
 some cover. " If there is a reptile in the brush, show me 
 the creatur', and should it refuse to depart peaceably, why 
 there must be a quarrel for the possession of the place." 
 
 " There ! " said the doctor, pointing into a dense mass 
 of the thicket, to a spot within fifty feet of that where they 
 both stood. The trapper turned his look with perfect 
 composure in the required direction, but, the instant his 
 practised glance met the object which had so utterly up- 
 set the philosophy of the naturalist, he gave a start him- 
 self, threw his rifle rapidly forward, and, as instantly 
 recovered it, as if a second flash of thought convinced 
 him he was wrong. Neither the instinctive movement 
 nor the sudden recollection was without a sufficient ob- 
 ject. At the very margin of the thicket and in absolute 
 contact with the earth, lay an animate ball that might 
 easily, by the singularity and fierceness of its aspect, have 
 justified the disturbed condition of the naturalist's mind. 
 It were difficult to describe the shape or colors of this 
 extraordinary substance, except to say, in general terms, 
 that it was nearly spherical, and exhibited all the hues of 
 the rainbow, intermingled without reference to harmony, 
 and without any very ostensible design. The predomi- 
 nant hues were a black and bright vermilion. With these, 
 however, the several tints of white, yellow, and crimson, 
 were strangely and wildly blended. Had this been all it 
 would have been difficult to have pronounced that the 
 object was possessed of life, for it lay motionless as any 
 stone ; but a pair of dark, glaring, and moving eyeballs, 
 
I 9 2 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 which watched with jealousy the smallest movements of 
 the trapper and his companion, sufficiently established the 
 important fact of its possessing vitality. 
 
 " Your reptile is a scouter, or I'm no judge of Indian 
 paints and Indian deviltries ! " muttered the old man, 
 dropping the butt of his weapon to the ground, and gaz- 
 ing with a steady eye at the frightful object, as he leaned 
 on its barrel, in an attitude of great composure. " He 
 wants to face us out of sight and reason, and make us think 
 the head of a red-skin is a stone covered with the autumn 
 leaf ; or he has some other devilish artifice in his mind ! " 
 
 " Is the animal human ? " demanded the doctor, "of the 
 genus homo ? I had fancied it a nondescript." 
 
 " It's as human, and as mortal too, as a warrior of these 
 prairies is ever known to be. I have seen the time when 
 a red-skin would have shown a foolish daring to peep out 
 of his ambushment in that fashion on a hunter I could 
 name, but who is too old now, and too near his time, to 
 be anything better than a miserable trapper. It will be 
 well to speak to the imp, and to let him know he deals 
 with men whose beards are grown. Come forth from your 
 cover, friend," he continued, in the language of the ex- 
 tensive tribes of the Dahcotahs ; " there is room on the 
 prairie for another warrior." 
 
 The eyes appeared to glare more fiercely than before ; 
 but the mass which, according to the trapper's opinion, 
 was neither more nor less than a human head, shorn, as 
 usual among the warriors of the West, of its hair, still con- 
 tinued without motion or any other sign of life. 
 
 *' It is a mistake ! " exclaimed the doctor. " The ani- 
 mal is not even of the class mammalia, much less a man." 
 
 " So much for your knowledge ! " returned the trapper, 
 laughing with great exultation. " So much for the 1'arn- 
 ing of one who has looked into so many books, that his 
 eyes are not able to tell a moose from a wild-cat ! Now, 
 my Hector, here, is a dog of education after his fashion, 
 and, though the meanest primer in the. settlements would 
 puzzle his information, you could not cheat the hound in 
 a matter like this. As you think the object no man, you 
 shall see his whole formation, and then let an ignorant 
 old trapper, who never willingly passed a day within reach 
 of a spelling-book in his life, know by what name to call 
 it. Mind, I mean no violence ; but just to start the devil 
 from his ambushment." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 193 
 
 The trapper very deliberately examined the priming of 
 his rifle, taking care to make as great a parade as possible 
 of his hostile intentions, in going through the necessary 
 evolutions with the weapon. When he thought the stranger 
 began to apprehend some danger, he very deliberately 
 presented the piece, and called aloud : 
 
 "Now, friend, I am all for peace, or all for war, as you 
 may say. No ! well it is no man, as the wiser one here 
 says, and there can be no harm in just firing into a bunch 
 of leaves. 
 
 The muzzle of the rifle fell as he concluded, and the 
 weapon was gradually settling into a steady, and what 
 would easily have proved a fatal aim, when a tall Indian 
 sprang from beneath that bed of leaves and brush, which 
 he had collected about his person at the approach of the 
 party, and stood upright, uttering the exclamation : 
 
 " Wagh ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 "My visor is Philemon's roof ; within the house is Jove." 
 
 SHAKESPEARE, 
 
 THE trapper, who had meditated no violence, dropped 
 his rifle again, and laughing at the success of his experi- 
 ment, with great seeming self-complacency, he drew the 
 astounded gaze of the naturalist from the person of the 
 savage to himself, by saying : 
 
 "The imps will lie for hours, like sleeping alligators, 
 brooding their deviltries in dreams and other craftiness, 
 until such a time as they see some real danger is at hand, 
 and then they look to themselves the same as other mor- 
 tals. But this is a scouter in his war-paint ! There should 
 be more of his tribe at no great distance. Let us draw the 
 truth oat of him : for an unlucky war-party may prove 
 more dangerous to us than a visit from the whole family 
 of the squatter." 
 
 " It is truly a desperate and a dangerous species ! " said 
 the doctor, relieving his amazement by a breath that seemed 
 to exhaust his lungs of air ; " a violent race, and one that 
 is difficult to define or class, within the usual boundaries 
 of definition. Speak to him, therefore ; but let thy words 
 be strong in amity." 
 
194 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 The old man cast a "keen eye on every side of him, to 
 ascertain the important particular whether the stranger 
 was supported by any associates, and then making the 
 usual signs of peace, by exhibiting the palm of his naked 
 hand, he boldly advanced. In the meantime, the Indian 
 betrayed no evidence of uneasiness. He suffered the trap- 
 per to draw nigh, maintaining by his own mien and atti- 
 tude a striking air of dignity and fearlessness. Perhaps 
 the wary warrior also knew that, owing to the difference 
 in their weapons, he should be placed more on an equality 
 by being brought nearer to the strangers. 
 
 As a description of this individual may furnish some 
 idea of the personal appearance of a whole race, it may be 
 well to detain the narrative, in order to present it to the 
 reader, in our hasty and imperfect manner. Would the 
 truant eyes of Allston or Greenough turn, but for a time, 
 from their gaze at the models of antiquity, to contemplate 
 this wronged and humbled people, little would be left for 
 such inferior artists as ourselves to delineate. 
 
 The Indian in question was in every particular a warrior 
 of fine stature and admirable proportions. As he cast 
 aside his mask, composed of such party-colored leaves as 
 he had hurriedly collected, his countenance appeared in 
 all the gravity, the dignity, and it may be added, in the 
 terror of his profession. The outlines of his lineaments 
 were strikingly noble, and nearly approaching to Roman, 
 though the secondary features of his face were slightly 
 marked with the well-known traces of his Asiatic origin. 
 The peculiar tint of the skin, which in itself is so well de- 
 signed to aid the effect of a martial expression, had received 
 an additional aspect of wild ferocity from the colors of the 
 war-paint. But, as if he disdained the usual artifices of 
 his people, he bore none of those strange and horrid de- 
 vices with which the children of the forest are accustomed, 
 like the more civilized heroes of the mustache, to back 
 their reputation for courage, contenting himself with a 
 broad and deep shadowing of black, that served as a suffi- 
 cient and an admirable foil to the brighter gleam ings of 
 his native swarthiness. His head was, as usual, shaved to 
 the crown, where a large and gallant scalp-lock seemed to 
 challenge the grasp of his enemies. The ornaments that 
 were ordinarily pendent from the cartilages of his ears had 
 been removed, on account of his present pursuit. His 
 body, notwithstanding the lateness of the season, was nearly 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 19$ 
 
 naked, and the portion which was clad, bore a vestment no 
 warmer than a light robe of the finest dressed deer-skin, 
 beautifully stained with a rude design of some daring ex- 
 ploit, and which was carelessly worn, as if more in pride 
 than from any unmanly regard to comfort. His leggings 
 were of bright scarlet cloth, the only evidence about his 
 person that he bad held communion with the traders of 
 the pale-faces. But as if to furnish some offset to this sol- 
 itary submission to a womanish vanity, they were fearfully 
 fringed, from the gartered knee to the bottom of the moc- 
 casin, with the hair of human scalps. He leaned lightly 
 with one hand on a short hickory bow, while the other 
 rather touched than sought support from the long, delicate 
 handle of an ashen lance. A quiver made of the cougar- 
 skin, from which the tail of the animal depended, as a 
 characteristic ornament, was slung at his back ; and a 
 shield of hides, quaintly emblazoned with another of his 
 warlike deeds, was suspended from his neck by a thong 
 of sinews. 
 
 As the trapper approached, this warrior maintained his 
 calm, upright attitude, discovering neither an eagerness 
 to ascertain the character of those who advanced upon 
 him, nor the smallest wish to avoid a scrutiny in his own 
 person. An eye that was darker and more shining than 
 that of the stag was incessantly glancing, however, from 
 one to another of the stranger party, seemingly never 
 knowing rest for an instant. 
 
 " Is my brother far from his village ?" demanded the old 
 man, in the Pawnee language, after examining the paint 
 and those other little signs by which a practised eye knows 
 the tribe of the warrior he encounters in the American 
 deserts, with the same readiness, and by the same sort of 
 mysterious observation, as that by which the seaman 
 knows the distant sail. 
 
 " It is farther to the towns of the Big-knives," was the 
 laconic reply. 
 
 " Why is a Pawnee-Loup so far from the fork of his own 
 river, without a horse to journey on, and in a spot empty 
 as this ? " 
 
 " Can the women and children of a pale-face live with' 
 out the meat of the bison ? There was hunger in my 
 lodge." 
 
 " My brother is very young to be already the master of 
 a lodge," returned the trapper, looking steadily into the 
 
196 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 unmoved countenance of the youthful warrior ; " but I dare 
 say he is brave, and that many a chief has offered him his 
 daughters for wives. But he has been mistaken," pointing 
 to the arrow which was dangling from the hand that held 
 the bow, " in bringing a loose and barbed arrow-head to 
 kill the buffalo. Do the Pawnees wish the wounds they 
 give their game to rankle ? " 
 
 " It is good to be ready for the Sioux. Though not in 
 sight, a bush may hide him." 
 
 " The man is a living proof of the truth of his words," 
 muttered the trapper, in English, " and a close-jointed and 
 gallant-looking lad he is ; but far too young for a chief of 
 any importance. It is wise, however, to speak him fair, 
 for a single arm thrown into either party, if we come to 
 blows with the squatter and his brood, may turn the day. 
 You see my children are weary," he continued, in the dia- 
 lect of the prairies, pointing as he spoke to the rest of the 
 party, who by this time were also approaching. "We wish 
 to camp and eat. Does my brother claim this spot ?" 
 
 " The runners from the people on the big river tell us 
 that your nation have traded with the tawny-faces who live 
 beyond the salt-lake, and that the prairies are now the 
 hunting-grounds of the Big-knives !" 
 
 " It is true, as I hear also from the hunters and trappers 
 on La Platte. Though it is with the Frenchers, and not 
 with the men who claim to own the Mexicos, that my peo- 
 ple have bargained." 
 
 "And warriors are going up the Long-river to see that 
 they have not been cheated in what they have bought ?" 
 
 " Ay, that is partly true, too, I fear ; and it will not be 
 long before an accursed band of choppers and loggers will 
 be following on their heels, to humble the wilderness which 
 lies so broad and rich on the western banks of the Missis- 
 sippi, and then the land will be a peopled desert, from the 
 shores of the main sea to the foot of the Rocky Mountains ; 
 filled with all the abominations and craft of man, and 
 stripped of the comforts and loveliness it received from 
 the hands of the Lord ! " 
 
 " And where were the chiefs of the Pawnee-Lou ps when 
 this bargain was made ? " suddenly demanded the youth- 
 ful warrior, a look of startling fierceness gleaming, at the 
 same instant, athwart his dark visage. " Is a nation to be 
 sold like the skin of a beaver? " 
 
 " Right enough right enough, and where were truth 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 197 
 
 and honesty also ? But might is right, according to the 
 fashions of the 'arth ; and what the strong chooses to do, 
 the weak must call justice. If the law of the Wahcondah 
 was as much hearkened to, Pawnee, as the laws of the 
 Long-knives, your right to the prairies would be as good 
 as that of the greatest chief in the settlements to the house 
 which covers his head." 
 
 " The skin of the traveller is white," said the young na- 
 tive, laying a finger impressively on the hard and wrin- 
 kled hand of the trapper. "Does his heart say one thing 
 and his tongue another?" 
 
 " The Wahcondah of a white man has ears, and he shuts 
 them to a lie. Look at my head ; it is like a frosted pine, 
 and must soon be laid in the ground. Why then should 
 I wish to meet the Great Spirit face to face, while his 
 countenance is dark upon me." 
 
 The Pawnee gracefully threw his shield over one shoul- 
 der, and, placing a hand on his chest, he bent his head, in 
 deference to the gray locks exhibited by the trapper ; after 
 which his eye became more steady, and his countenance 
 less fierce. Still he maintained every appearance of a dis- 
 trust and watchfulness that were rather tempered and sub- 
 dued than forgotten. When this equivocal species of 
 amity was established between the warrior of the prairies 
 and the experienced old trapper, the latter proceeded to 
 give his directions to Paul concerning the arrangements 
 of the contemplated halt. While Inez and Ellen were 
 dismounting, and Middleton and the bee-hunter were at- 
 tending to their comforts, the discourse was continued, 
 sometimes in the language of the natives, but often, as 
 Paul and the doctor mingled their opinions with the two 
 principal speakers, in the English tongue. There was a 
 keen and subtle trial of skill between the Pawnee and the 
 trapper, in which each endeavored to discover the objects 
 of the other, without betraying his own interest in the in- 
 vestigation. As might be expected, when the struggle 
 was between adversaries so equal, the result of the en- 
 counter answered the expectations of neither. The latter 
 had put all the interrogatories his ingenuity and practice 
 could suggest concerning the state of the tribe of the 
 Loups, their crops, their store of provisions for the ensu- 
 ing winter, and their relations with their different warlike 
 neighbors, without extorting any answer which in the 
 slightest degree elucidated the cause of his finding a soli- 
 
198 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 tary warrior so far from his people. On the other hand, 
 while the questions of the Indian were far more dignified 
 and delicate, they were equally ingenious. He commented 
 on the state of the trade in peltries, spoke of the good or 
 ill success of many white hunters, whom he had either en- 
 countered or heard named, and even alluded to the steady 
 march which the nation of his great father, as he cautiously 
 termed the government of the States, was making toward 
 the hunting-grounds of his tribe. It was apparent, how- 
 ever, by the singular mixture of interest, contempt, and in- 
 dignation, that were occasionally gleaming through the 
 reserved manner of this warrior, that he knew the strange 
 people, who were thus trespassing on his native rights, 
 much more by report than by any actual intercourse. 
 This personal ignorance of the whites was as much be- 
 trayed by the manner in which he regarded the females, 
 as by the brief but energetic expressions which occasion- 
 ally escaped him. 
 
 While speaking to the trapper he suffered his wander- 
 ing glances to stray toward the intellectual and nearly in- 
 fantile beauty of Inez, as one might be supposed to gaze 
 upon tha loveliness of an ethereal being. It was very evi- 
 dent that he now saw, for the first time, one of those fe- 
 males, of whom the fathers of his tribe so often spoke, and 
 who were considered of such rare excellence as to equal 
 all that savage ingenuity could imagine in the way of love- 
 liness. His observation of Ellen was less marked, but, 
 notwithstanding the warlike and chastened expression of 
 his eye, there was much of the homage which man is 
 made to pay to woman, even in the more cursory look he 
 sometimes turned on her maturer and perhaps more ani- 
 mated beauty. This admiration, however, was so tempered 
 by his habits, and so smothered in the pride of a warrior, 
 as completely to elude every eye but that of the trapper, 
 who was too well skilled in Indian customs, and was too 
 well instructed in the importance of rightly conceiving the 
 character of the stranger, to let the smallest trait, or the 
 most trifling of his movements, escape him. In the mean- 
 time, the unconscious Ellen herself moved about the fee- 
 ble and less resolute Inez, with her accustomed assiduity 
 and tenderness, exhibiting in her frank features those 
 changing emotions of joy and regret which occasionally 
 beset her, as her active mind dwelt on. the decided step 
 she had just taken, with the contending doubts and 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 199 
 
 and possibly with some of the mental vacillation, that was 
 natural to her situation and sex. 
 
 Not so Paul ; conceiving himself to have obtained the 
 two things dearest to his heart, the possession of Ellen and 
 a triumph over the sons of Ishmael, he now enacted his 
 part in the business of the moment with as much coolness 
 as though he was already leading his willing bride, from 
 solemnizing their nuptials before a border magistrate, to 
 the security of his own dwelling. He had hovered around 
 the moving family, during the tedious period of their 
 weary march, concealing himself by day, and seeking in- 
 terviews with his betrothed as opportunities offered, in the 
 manner already described, until fortune and his own intre- 
 pidity had united to render him successful, at the very 
 moment when he was beginning to despair, and he now 
 cared neither for distance, nor violence, nor hardships. 
 To this sanguine fancy and determined resolution all the 
 rest was easily to be achieved. Such were his feelings and 
 such in truth they seemed to be. With his cap cast on 
 one side, and whistling a low air, he thrashed among the 
 bushes, in order to make a place suitable for the females 
 to repose on, while, from time to time, he cast an approv- 
 ing glance at the agile form of Ellen, as she tripped past 
 him, engaged in her own share of the duty. 
 
 " And so the Wolf-tribe of the Pawnees have buried the* 
 hatchet with their neighbors the Konzas ? " said the trap- 
 per, pursuing a discourse which he had scarcely permitted 
 to flag, though it had been occasionally interrupted by the 
 different directions with which he occasionally saw fit to 
 interrupt it. (The reader will remember that, while he 
 spoke to the native warrior in his own tongue, he neces- 
 sarily addressed his white companions in English.) "The 
 Loups and the light-faced red-skins are again friends. 
 Doctor, that is a tribe of which I'll engage you've often 
 read, and of which many a round lie has been whispered 
 in the ears of the ignorant people who live in the settle, 
 ments. There was a story of a nation of Welshers, that 
 lived here away in the prairies, and how they came into 
 the land afore the uneasy-minded man who first let in the 
 Christians to rob the heathens of their inheritance, had ever 
 dreamt that the sun set on a country as big as that it rose 
 from. And how they knew the white ways and spoke with 
 white tongues, and a thousand other follies and idle conceits." 
 
 " Have I not heard of them ? " exclaimed the naturalist, 
 
200 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 dropping a piece of jerked bison's meat, which he was 
 rather roughly discussing, at the moment. " I should be 
 greatly ignorant not to have often dwelt with delight on so 
 beautiful a theory, and one which so triumphantly estab- 
 lishes two positions, which I have often maintained are 
 unanswerable, even without such living testimony in their 
 favor viz., that this continent can claim a more remote 
 affinity with civilization than the time of Columbus, and 
 that color is the fruit of climate and condition, and not a 
 regulation of Nature. Propound the latter question to this 
 Indian gentleman, venerable hunter; -he is of a reddish 
 tint himself, and his opinion may be said to make us mas- 
 ters of the two sides of the disputed point." 
 
 " Do you think a Pawnee is a reader of books, and a be- 
 liever of printed lies, like the idlers in the towns ?" retorted 
 the old man, laughing. " But it may be as well to humor 
 the likings of the man, which after all, is quite possible, 
 are neither more nor less than his natural gift, and there- 
 fore to be followed, although they may be pitied. What 
 does my brother think ? all whom he sees here have pale 
 skins, but the Pawnee warriors are red ; does he believe 
 that man changes with the season, and that the son is not 
 like his father ?" 
 
 The young warrior regarded his interrogator for a mo- 
 ment with a steady and deliberating eye ; then, raising his 
 finger upward, he answered with dignity : 
 
 " The Wahcondah pours the rain from his clouds ; when 
 he speaks, he shakes the hills ; and the fire, which scorches 
 the trees, is the anger of his eye ; but he fashioned his 
 children with care and thought. What he has thus made, 
 never alters ! " 
 
 " Ay, 'tis in the reason of natur' that it should be so. doc- 
 tor," continued the trapper, when he had interpreted this 
 answer to the disappointed naturalist. " The Pawnees 
 are a wise and a great people, and I'll engage they abound 
 in many a wholesome and honest tradition. The hunters 
 and trappers that I sometimes see, speak of a great war- 
 rior of your race." 
 
 " My tribe are not women. A brave is no stranger in 
 my village." 
 
 " Ay ; but he they speak of most is a chief far beyond 
 the renown of common warriors, and one that might have 
 done credit to that once mighty but now fallen people, the 
 Delawares of the hills." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 201 
 
 " Such a warrior should have a name ? " 
 
 " They call him Hard-heart, from the stoutness of his 
 resolution ; and well is he named, if all I have heard of his 
 deeds be true." 
 
 The stranger cast a glance which seemed to read tho 
 guileless soul of the old man, as he demanded : 
 
 " Has the pale-face seen the partisan of my people ?" 
 
 " Never. It is not with me now as it used to be some 
 forty years ago, when warfare and bloodshed were my call* 
 ing and my gifts ! " 
 
 A loud shout from the reckless Paul interrupted hia 
 speech, and at the next moment the bee-hunter appeared, 
 leading an Indian war-horse from the side of the thicket 
 opposite to the one occupied by the party. 
 
 " Here is a beast for a red-skin to straddle ! " he cried, 
 as he made the animal go through some of its wild paces. 
 " There's not a brigadier in all Kentucky that can call him- 
 self master of so sleek and well-jointed a nag ! A Spanish 
 saddle, too, like a grandee of the Mexicos ! and look at the 
 mane and tail braided and plaited down with little silver 
 balls, as if it were Ellen herself getting her shining hair 
 ready for a dance or a husking frolic ! Isn't this a reaf 
 trotter, old trapper, to eat out of the manger of a savage ?" 
 
 " Softly, lad, softly. The Loups are famous for their 
 horses, and it is often that you see a warrior on the prairies 
 far better mounted than a Congressman in the settlements. 
 But this, indeed, is a beast that none but a powerful chief 
 should ride ! The saddle, as you rightly rhink, has bee r .i 
 sat upon in its day by a great Spanish captain, who has lost 
 it and his life together in some of the battles which this 
 people often fight against the southern provinces. I war- 
 rant me, I warrant me the youngster is the son of a great 
 chief ; maybe of the mighty Hard-heart himself! " 
 
 During this rude interruption to the discourse, the young 
 Pawnee manifested neither impatience nor displeasure ; 
 but when he thought his beast had been the subject of suf- 
 ficient comment, he very coolly, and with an air of one ac- 
 customed to have his will respected, relieved Paul of the 
 bridle, and, throwing the reins on the neck of the animal, 
 he sprang upon his back with the activity of a professor of 
 the equestrian art. Nothing could be finer or firmer than 
 the seat of the savage. The highly wrought and cumbrous 
 saddle was evidently more for show than use. Indeed, 
 it impeded rather than aided the action of limbs whici* 
 
30* THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 disdained to seek assistance or admit of restraint from so 
 womanish inventions as stirrups. The horse, which im- 
 mediately began to prance, was, like its rider, wild and 
 untutored in all its motions, but while there was so little 
 of art there was all the freedom and grace of Nature in 
 the movement of both. The animal was probably indebted 
 to the blood of Araby for its excellence, through a long 
 pedigree that embraced the steed of Mexico, the Spanish 
 barb, and the Moorish charger. The rider, in obtaining 
 his- steed from the provinces of Central America, had also 
 obtained that spirit and grace in controlling him which 
 unite to form the most intrepid and perhaps the most skil- 
 ful horseman in the world. 
 
 Notwithstanding this sudden occupation of his animal, 
 the Pawnee discovered no hasty wish to depart. More at 
 his ease, and possibly more independent, now that he found 
 himself secure of the means of. retreat, he rode back and 
 forth, eying the different individuals of the party with far 
 greater freedom than before. But at each extremity of his 
 ride, just as the sagacious trapper expected to see him profit 
 by his advantage and fly, he would turn his horse and pass 
 over the same ground, sometimes with the rapidity of the 
 flying deer, and at others more slowly and with greater 
 dignity of mien and attitude. Anxious to ascertain such 
 facts as might have an influence on his future movements, 
 the old man determined to invite him to a renewal of their 
 conference. He therefore made a gesture expressive 
 at the same time of his wish to resume the interrupted 
 discourse, and of his own pacific intentions. The quick 
 eye of the stranger was not slow to note the action, but it 
 was not until a sufficient time had passed to allow him to 
 debate the prudence of the measure in his own mind, that 
 he seemed willing to trust himself again so near a party 
 that was so much superior to himself in physical power, 
 and consequently one that was able at any instant to com- 
 mand his life, or control his personal liberty. When he 
 did approach nigh enough to converse with facility, it was 
 with a singular mixture of haughtiness and of distrust. 
 
 " It is far to the village of the Loups," he said, stretch- 
 ing his arm in a direction contrary to that in which the 
 trapper well knew the tribe dwelt, " and the road is crooked. 
 What has the Big-knife to say ?" 
 
 " Ay, crooked enough ! " muttered the old man in Eng- 
 lish, " if you are to set out on your journey by that path, 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 203 
 
 but not half so winding as the cunning of an Indian's mind. 
 Say, my brother, do the chiefs of the Pawnees love to see 
 strange faces in their lodges ? " 
 
 The young warrior bent his head gracefully, though but 
 slightly, over the saddle-bow, as he replied : 
 
 "When have my people forgotten to give food to the 
 stranger ? " 
 
 " If I lead my daughters to the doors of the Loups, will 
 the women take them by the hand ; and will the warriors 
 smoke with my young men ? " 
 
 " The country of the pale-faces is behind them. Why 
 do they journey so far toward the setting sun ? Have they 
 lost the path, or are these the women of the white warriors 
 that I hear are wadingup the river of the troubled waters ? " 
 
 "Neither. They who wade the Missouri are the war- 
 riors of my great father, who has sent them on his message ; 
 but we are peace-runners. The white men and the red are 
 neighbors, and they wish to be friends. Do not the Oma- 
 haws visit the Loups when the tomahawk is buried in the 
 path between the two nations ? " 
 
 "The Omahaws are welcome." 
 
 "And the Yanktons, and the burnt-wood Tetons, who 
 live in the elbow of the river * with muddy water ; ' do they 
 not come into the lodges of the Loups and smoke ?" 
 
 "The Tetons are liars!" exclaimed the other. "They 
 dare not shut their eyes in the night. No ; they sleep in 
 the sun. See," he added, pointing with fierce triumph to 
 the frightful ornaments of his leggings, "their scalps are 
 so plenty that the Pawnees tread on them ! Go ; let a 
 Sioux live in banks of snow ; the plains and buffaloes are 
 for men ! " 
 
 " Ah ! the secret is out," said the trapper to Middleton, 
 who was an attentive, because a deeply interested, observer 
 of what was passing. "This good-looking young Indian 
 is scouting on the track of the Siouxes you may see it by 
 his arrow-heads and his paint ; ay, and by his eye, too ; 
 for red-skin lets his natur' follow the business he is on, be 
 it for peace or be it for war. Quiet, Hector, quiet ', Have 
 you never scented a Pawnee afore, pup ? keep down, dog 
 keep down. My brother is right. The Siouxes are 
 thieves. Men of all colors and nations say it of them, and 
 truly. But the people from the rising sun are not Siouxes, 
 and they wish to visit the lodges of the Loups." 
 
 " The head of my brother is white," returned the Paw 
 
104 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 aee, throwing one of those glances at the trapper which 
 were so remarkably expressive of distrust, intelligence, and 
 pride ; and then pointing, as he continued, toward the 
 eastern horizon, "and his eyes have looked on many things 
 can he tell me the name of what he sees yonder is it a 
 buftalo ? " 
 
 " It looks more like a cloud peeping above the skirt of 
 the plain, with the sunshine lighting its edges. It is thi 
 smoke of the heavens." 
 
 " It is a hill of the earth, and on its top are the lodges 
 of pale-faces ! Let the women of my brother wash thei* 
 feet among the people of their own color." 
 
 " The e-yes of a Pawnee are good if he can see a white- 
 skin so far." 
 
 The Indian turned slowly toward the speaker, and aftel 
 a pause of a moment he sternly demanded : 
 
 " Can my brother hunt ? " 
 
 " Alas ! I claim to be no better than a miserable trapper ! " 
 
 "When the plain is covered with the buffaloes, can he 
 see them ? " 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt it is far easier to see than to take 
 a scampering bull." 
 
 " And when the birds are flying from the cold, and the 
 clouds are black with their feathers, can he see them too ? " 
 
 " Ay, ay, it is not hard to find a duck or a goose when 
 millions are darkening the heavens." 
 
 "When the snow falls and covers the lodges of the 
 Long-knives, can the stranger see flakes in the air ? " 
 
 " My eyes are none of the best now," returned the old 
 man, a little resentfully, " but the time has been when I 
 had a name for my sight ! " 
 
 " The red-skins find the Big-knives as easily as the 
 strangers see the buffalo, or the travelling birds, or the 
 falling snow. Your warriors think the Master of life has 
 made the whole earth white. They are mistaken. They 
 are pale, and it is their own faces that they see. Go ! a 
 Pawnee is not blind, that he need look long for your peo 
 pie!" 
 
 The warrior suddenly paused and bent his face aside, 
 like one who listened with all his faculties absorbed in th 
 act. Then, turning the head of his horse, he rode to thq 
 nearest angle of the thicket, and looked intently across the 
 bleak prairie, in a direction opposite to the side on which 
 the party stood. Returning slowly from this unaccount* 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 205 
 
 able, and, to his observers, startling procedure, he riveted 
 his eyes on Inez, and paced back and forth several times,, 
 with the air of one who maintained a warm struggle on 
 some difficult point in the recesses of his own thoughts. 
 He had drawn the reins of his impatient steed, and was 
 seemingly about to speak, when his head again sank on 
 his chest, and he resumed his former attitude of attention. 
 Galloping like a deer to the place of his former observa- 
 tions, he rode for a moment swiftly in short and rapid cir- 
 cles, as if still uncertain of his course, and then darted 
 away like a bird that had been fluttering around its nest 
 before it takes a distant flight. After scouring the plain 
 for a minute, he was lost to the eye behind a swell of the 
 land. 
 
 The hounds, who had also manifested great uneasiness 
 for some time, followed him for a little distance, and then 
 terminated their chase by seating themselves on the ground 
 and raising their usual low, whining, and warning howls. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 * How if he will not stand ? " SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE several movements related in the close of the pre- 
 ceding chapter had passed in so short a space of time, that 
 the old man, while he neglected not to note the smallest 
 incident, had no opportunity of expressing his opinion 
 concerning the stranger's motives. After the Pawnee had 
 disappeared, however, he shook his head and muttered, 
 while he walked slowly to the angle of the thicket that the 
 Indian had just quitted : 
 
 " There are both scents and sounds in the air, though 
 my miserable senses are not good enough to hear the one 
 or to catch the taint of the other." 
 
 " There is nothing to be seen," cried Middleton, who 
 kept close at his side. " My eyes and my ears are good, 
 and yet I can assure you that I neither hear nor see any- 
 thing." 
 
 " Your eyes are good ! and you are not deaf !" returned 
 the other, with a slight air of contempt ; " no, lad, no, they 
 may be good to see across a church, or to hear a town- 
 bell, but afore you had passed a year in these prairies you 
 
206 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 would find yourself taking a turkey for a buffalo, or con 
 ceiting fifty times that the roar of a buffalo-bull was thq 
 thunder of the Lord ! There is a deception of Natur' in 
 these naked plains in which the air throws up the images 
 like water, and then it is hard to tell the prairies from a sea. 
 But yonder is a sign that a hunter never fails to know! " 
 
 The trapper pointed to a flight of vultures that were 
 sailing over the plain at no great distance, and apparently 
 in the direction in which the Pawnee had riveted his eyes. 
 At first, Middleton could not distinguish the small, dark 
 objects that were dotting the dusky clouds ; but, as they 
 came swiftly onward, first their forms and then their heavy, 
 waving wings became distinctly visible. 
 
 " Listen," said the trapper, when he had succeeded in 
 making Middleton see the moving column of birds. 
 " Now you hear the buffaloes, or bisons, as your knowing 
 doctor sees fit to call them, though buffaloes is their name 
 among all the hunters of these regions. And I conclude 
 that a hunter is a better judge of a beast and of its name," 
 he added, winking to the young soldier, " than any man 
 who has turned over the leaves of a book instead of trav- 
 elling over the face of the 'arth, in order to find out the 
 natur of its inhabitants." 
 
 " Of their habits, I will grant you," cried the naturalist, 
 who rarely missed an opportunity to agitate any disputed 
 point in his favorite studies. " That is, provided always 
 deference is had to the proper use of definitions, and that 
 they are contemplated with scientific eyes." 
 
 " Eyes of a mole ! as if any man's eyes were not as good 
 for names as the eyes of any other creatur' ! Who named 
 the works of His hand ? can you tell me that, with your 
 books and college wisdom ? Was it not the first man in 
 the Garden, and is it not a plain consequence that his chil- 
 dren inherit his gifts ? " 
 
 " That is certainly the Mosaic account of the event," said 
 the doctor ; " though your reading is by far too liberal ! " 
 
 " My reading ! nay, if you suppose that I have wasted 
 my time in schools, you do such a wrong to my knowledge 
 as one mortal should never lay to the door of another 
 without sufficient reason. If I have ever craved the art 
 of reading, it has been that I might better know the say- 
 ings of the book you name, for it is a book which speaks 
 in every line according to human feelings, and therein 
 according to reason." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 205 
 
 * And do you then believe," said the doctor, a little pro- 
 voked by the dogmatism of his stubborn adversary, and 
 perhaps secretly too confident in his own more liberal 
 though scarcely as profitable attainments, " do you then 
 believe that all these beasts were literally collected in a 
 garden to be enrolled in the nomenclature of the first 
 man ? " 
 
 " Why not ? I understand your meaning ; for it is not 
 needful to live in towns to hear all the devilish devices 
 that the conceit of man can invent to upset his own happi- 
 ness. What does it prove, except indeed it may be said 
 to prove that the garden He made was not after the mis- 
 erable fashions of our times, thereby directly giving the 
 lie to what the world calls its civilizing ? No, no ; the 
 garden of the Lord was the forest then, and is the forest 
 now, where the fruits do grow and the birds do sing ac- 
 cording to his own wise ordering. Now, lady, you may 
 see the mystery of the vultures ! There come the buffa- 
 loes themselves, and a noble herd it is ! I warrant me that 
 Pawnee has a troop of his people in some of the hollows 
 nigh by ; and, as he has gone scampering after them, you 
 are about to see a glorious chase. It will serve to keep 
 the squatter and his brood under cover, and for ourselves 
 there is little reason to fear. A Pawnee is not apt to be a 
 malicious savage." 
 
 Every one was now drawn to the striking spectacle that 
 succeeded. Even the timid Inez hastened to the side of 
 Middleton to gaze at the sight, and Paul summoned Ellen 
 from her culinary labors to become a witness of the lively 
 scene. 
 
 Throughout the whole of those moving events which it 
 has been our duty to record, the prairies had lain in the 
 majesty of perfect solitude. The heavens had been black- 
 ened with the passage of the migratory birds, it is true ; 
 but the dogs of the party and the ass of the doctor were 
 the only quadrupeds that enlivened the broad surface of 
 the waste beneath. There was now a sudden exhibition 
 of animal life which changed the scene, as it were by magic, 
 to the very opposite extreme. 
 
 A few enormous bison bulls were first observed, scour- 
 ing along the most distant roll of the prairie, and then 
 succeeded long files of single beasts, which, in their turns, 
 were followed by a dark mass of bodies, until the dun-col- 
 ored herbage of the plain was entirely lost in the deepei 
 
208 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 hue of their shaggy coats. The herd, as the column spread 
 and thickened, was like the endless flocks of the smaller 
 Dirds whose extended flanks are so often seen to heave up 
 out of the abyss of the heavens, until they appear as count- 
 less as the leaves in those forests over which they wing 
 their endless flight. Clouds of dust shot up in little col- 
 umns from the centre of the mass, as some animal, more 
 furious than the rest, ploughed the plains with his horns, 
 and from time to time, a deep hollow bellowing was borne 
 along on the wind, as if a thousand throats vented their 
 plaints in a discordant murmuring. 
 
 A long and musing silence reigned in the party, as they 
 gazed on this spectacle of wild and peculiar grandeur. It 
 was at length broken by the trapper, who having been 
 long accustomed to similar sights, felt less of its influence, 
 or, rather felt it in a less thrilling and absorbing manner, 
 than those to whom the scene was more novel. 
 
 "There go ten thousand oxen in one drove, without 
 keeper or master, except Him who made them, and gave 
 them these open plains for their pasture ! Ay, it is here 
 that man may see the proofs of his wantonness and folly ! 
 Can the proudest governor in all the States go into his 
 fields and slaughter a nobler bullock than is here offered to 
 the meanest hand ; and when he has gotten his sirloin or 
 his steak, can he eat it with as good a relish as he who has 
 sweetened his food with wholesome toil, and earned it ac- 
 cording to the law of Natur' by honestly mastering that 
 which the Lord hath put before him ? " 
 
 " If the prairie platter is smoking with a buffalo's hump, 
 I answer, No," interrupted the luxurious bee-hunter. 
 
 "Ay, boy, you have tasted, and you feel the genuine 
 reasoning of the thing ! But the herd is heading a little this- 
 a-way, and it behooves us to make ready for their visit. If 
 we hide ourselves altogether, the horned brutes will break 
 through the place and trample us beneath their feet, like 
 so many creeping worms ; so we will just put the weak 
 ones apart, and take post, as becomes men and hunters, in 
 the van." 
 
 As there was but little time to make the necessary ar- 
 rangements, the whole party set about them in good ear- 
 nest. Inez and Ellen were placed in the edge of the thicket 
 on the side farthest from the approaching herd. Asinus 
 was posted in the centre, in consideration of his nerves ; 
 and then the old man, with his three male companions, 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 2of 
 
 divided themselves in such a manner as they thought 
 would enable them to turn the head of the rushing column,, 
 should it chance to approach too nigh their position. By 
 the vacillating movements of some fifty or a hundred 
 bulls that led the advance, it remained questionable, fot 
 many moments, what course they intended to pursue. 
 But a tremendous and painful roar, which came from be- 
 hind the cloud of dust that rose in the centre of the herd, 
 and which was horridly answered by the screams of the 
 carrion birds that were greedily sailing directly above the 
 flying drove, appeared to give a new impulse to their flight, 
 and at once to remove every symptom of indecision. As if 
 glad to seek the smallest signs of the forest, the whole of the 
 affrighted herd became steady in its direction, rushing in a 
 straight line toward the little cover of bushes which has 
 already been so often named. 
 
 The appearance of danger was now, in reality, of a 
 character to try the stoutest nerves. The flanks of the 
 dark, moving mass were advanced in such a manner as to 
 make a concave line of the front, and every fierce eye, 
 that was glaring from the shaggy wilderness of hair in 
 which the entire heads of the males were enveloped, was 
 riveted with mad anxiety on the thicket. It seemed as if 
 each beast strove to outstrip his neighbor, in gaining this 
 desired cover ; and, as thousands in the rear pressed 
 blindly on those in front, there was the appearance of an 
 imminent risk that the leaders of the herd would be pre- 
 cipitated on the concealed party, in which case the de- 
 struction of every one of them was certain. Each of our 
 adventurers felt the danger of his situation in a manner 
 peculiar to his individual character and circumstances. 
 
 Middleton wavered. At times he felt inclined to rush 
 through the bushes, and, seizing Inez, attempt to fly. 
 Then recollecting the impossibility of outstripping the 
 furious speed of an alarmed bison, he felt for his arms, 
 determined to make head against the countless drove. 
 The faculties of Dr. Battius were quickly wrought up to 
 .he very summit of mental delusion. The dark forms of 
 the herd lost their distinctness, and then the naturalist be- 
 gan to fancy he beheld a wild collection of all the creatures 
 of the world, rushing upon him in a body, as if to revenge 
 the various injuries which, in the course of a life of inde- 
 fatigable labor in behalf of the natural sciences, he had 
 inflicted on their several genera. The paralysis it occa- 
 
210 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 sioned in his system was like the effect of the incubus. 
 Equally unable to fly or to advance, he stood riveted to 
 the spot, until the infatuation became so complete that 
 the worthy naturalist was beginning, by a desperate effort 
 of scientific resolution, even to class the different speci- 
 mens. On the other hand, Paul shouted and called on 
 Ellen to come and assist him in shouting, but his voice 
 was lost in the bellowings and trampling of the herd. 
 Furious, and yet strangely excited by the obstinacy of the 
 brutes and the wildness of the sight, and nearly maddened 
 by sympathy and a species of conscious apprehension, in 
 which the claims of Nature were singularly mingled with 
 concern for his mistress, he nearly split his throat in ex- 
 horting his aged friend to interfere. 
 
 " Come forth, old trapper," he shouted, " with your 
 prairie inventions ! or we shall be all smothered under a 
 mountain of buffalo humps ! " 
 
 The old man, who stood all this while leaning on his 
 rifle, and regarding the movements of the herd with a 
 steady eye, now deemed it time to strike his blow. Level- 
 ling his piece at the foremost bull, with an agility that 
 would have done credit to his youth, he fired. The ani- 
 mal received the bullet on the matted hair between his 
 horns, and fell to his knees ; but shaking his head, he in- 
 stantly arose, the very shock seeming to increase his ex- 
 ertions. There was no longer time to hesitate. Throw- 
 ing down his rifle, the trapper stretched forth his arms, 
 and advanced from the cover with naked hands, directly 
 toward the rushing column of the beasts. 
 
 The figure of a man, when sustained by the firmness 
 and steadiness that intellect can only impart, rarely fails 
 of commanding respect from all the inferior animals of 
 the creation. The leading bulls recoiled, and for a single 
 instant there was a sudden stop to their speed, a dense 
 mass of bodies rolling up in front, until hundreds were 
 seen floundering and tumbling on the plain. Then came 
 another of those hollow bellowings from the rear, and set 
 the herd again in motion. The head of the column, how- 
 ever, divided ; the immovable form of the trapper cutting 
 it, as it were, into two gliding streams of life. Middleton 
 and Paul instantly profited by his example, and extended 
 the feeble barrier by a similar exhibition of their own per- 
 sons. 
 
 For a few moments the new impulse given to the ani 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 211 
 
 .nals in front served to protect the thicket. But, as the 
 body of the herd pressed more and more upon the open 
 line of its defenders, and the dust thickened, so as to ob- 
 scure their persons, there was, at each instant, a renewed 
 danger of the beasts breaking through. It became neces- 
 sary for the trapper and his companions to become still 
 more and more alert ; and they were gradually yielding 
 before the headlong multitude, when a furious bull darted 
 by Middleton so near as to brush his person, and, at the 
 next instant, swept through the thicket with the velocity 
 of the wind. 
 
 " Close, and die for the ground ! " shouted the old man, 
 "or a thousand of the devils will be at his heels ! " 
 
 All their efforts would have proved fruitless, however, 
 against the living torrent, had not Asinus, whose domains 
 had just been so rudely entered, lifted his voice in the 
 midst of the uproar. The most sturdy and furious of the 
 bulls trembled at the alarming and unknown cry, and then 
 each individual brute was seen madly pressing from that 
 very thicket, which the moment before he had endeavored 
 to reach, with the eagerness with which the murderer 
 seeks the sanctuary. 
 
 As the stream divided, the place became clear ; the two 
 dark columns moving obliquely from the copse, to unite 
 again, at the distance of a mile, on its opposite side. The 
 instant the old man saw the sudden effect which the voice 
 of Asinus had produced, he coolly commenced reloading 
 his rifle, indulging at the same time in a heartfelt fit of 
 his silent and peculiar merriment. 
 
 " There they go, like dogs with so many half-filled shot- 
 pouches dangling at their tails, and no fear of their break- 
 ing their order ; for what the brutes in the rear didn't hear 
 with their own ears, they'll conceit they did ; besides, if 
 they change their minds, it may be no hard matter to get 
 the jack to sing the rest of his tune ! " 
 
 " The ass has spoken, but Balaam is silent ! " cried the 
 bee-hunter, catching his breath after a repeated burst of 
 noisy mirth, that might possibly have added to the panic 
 of the buffaloes by its vociferation. " The man is as com- 
 pletely dumfoundered as if a swarm of young bees had 
 settled on the end of his tongue, and he not willing to 
 speak, for fear of their answer." 
 
 " How now, friend," continued the trapper, addressing 
 the still motionless and entranced naturalist ; " hew no\f 
 
212 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 friend ; are you, who make your livelihood by booking 
 the names and the natur's of the beasts of the field and 
 the fowls of the air frightened at a herd of scampering 
 buffaloes ? Though, perhaps, you are ready to dispute 
 my right to call them by a word that is in the mouth of 
 every hunter and trader on the frontier ! " 
 
 The old man was, however, mistaken in supposing he 
 could excite the benumbed faculties of the doctor, by pro^ 
 voking a discussion. From that time, henceforth, he was 
 never known, except on one occasion, to utter a word that 
 indicated either the species or the genus of the animal. 
 He obstinately refused the nutritious food of the whole ox 
 family ; and even to the present hour, now that he is es- 
 tablished in all the scientific dignity and security of a 
 savant in one of the maritime towns, he turns his back with 
 a shudder on those delicious and unrivalled viands, that 
 are so often seen at the suppers of the craft, and which 
 are unequalled by anything that is served under the same 
 name, at the boasted chop-houses of London, or at the 
 most renowned of the Parisian restaurants. In short, the 
 distaste of the worthy naturalist for beef was not unlike 
 that which the shepherd sometimes produces, by first 
 muzzling and fettering his delinquent dog, and then leav- 
 ing him as a stepping-stone for the whole flock to use in its 
 transit over a wall, or through the opening of a sheepfold ; 
 a process which is said to produce in the culprit a species 
 of surfeit, on the subject of mutton, forever after. By the 
 time Paul and the trapper saw fit to terminate the fresh 
 bursts of merriment which the continued abstraction of 
 their learnod companion did not fail to excite, he com- 
 menced breathing again, as if the suspended action of his 
 lungs had been renewed by the application of a pair of 
 artificial bellows, and was heard to make use of the ever- 
 afterward prescribed term, on that solitary occasion to 
 which we have just alluded. 
 
 " Boves Americani horridi!" exclaimed the doctor, lay- 
 ing great stress on the latter word ; after which he contin- 
 ued mute, like one who pondered on strange and unac- 
 countable events. 
 
 "Ay, horrid eyes enough, I will willingly allow," re- 
 turned the trapper; "and altogether the creatur' has a 
 frightful look, to one unused to the sights and bustle of a 
 natural life ; but then the courage of the beast is in no 
 way equal to its countenance. Lord, man, if you should 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 213 
 
 get fairly beset by a brood of grizzly bears, as happened 
 
 to Hector and I, at the great falls of the Miss Ah, 
 
 here comes the tail of the herd, and yonder goes a pack of 
 hungry wolves, ready to pick up the sick, or such as get a 
 disjointed neck by a tumble. Ha ! there are mounted 
 men on their trail, or I'm no sinner ! Here, lad ; you may 
 see them here-away, just where the dust is scattering afore 
 the wind. They are hovering around a wounded buffalo, 
 making an end of the surly devil with their arrows ! " 
 
 Middleton and Paul soon caught a glimpse of the dark 
 group that the quick eye of the old man so readily de- 
 tected. Some fifteen or twenty horsemen were, in truth, 
 to be seen riding in quick circuits about a noble bull which 
 stood at bay, too grievously hurt to fly, and yet seeming 
 to disdain to fall, notwithstanding his hardy body had al- 
 ready been the target for a hundred arrows. A thrust 
 from the lance of a powerful Indian, however, completed 
 his conquest, and the brute gave up his obstinate hold of 
 life with a roar that passed bellowing over the place where 
 our adventurers stood, and, reaching the ears of the af- 
 frighed herd, added a new impulse to their flight. 
 
 " How well the Pawnee knew the philosophy of a buffalo- 
 hunt ! " said the old man, after he stood regarding the ani- 
 mated scene for a few moments with evident satisfaction. 
 " You saw how he went off like the wind before the drove. 
 It was in order that he might not taint the air, and that he 
 might turn the flank and join Ha! how is this ? yonder 
 red-skins are no Pawnees ! The feathers in their heads 
 are from the wings and tails of owls. Ah ! as I am but a 
 miserable half-sighted trapper, it is a band of the accursed 
 Siouxes ! To cover, lads, to cover ! A single cast of an 
 eye this-away would strip us of every rag of clothes, as 
 surely as the lightning scorches the bush, and it might be 
 that our very lives would be far from safe. 
 
 Middleton had already turned away from the spectacle 
 to seek that which pleased him better the sight of his 
 young and beautiful bride. Paul seized the doctor by the 
 arm ; and, as the trapper followed with the smallest pos- 
 sible delay, the whole party was quickly collected within 
 the cover of the thicket. After a few short explanations 
 concerning the character of this new danger, the old man, 
 on whom the whole duty of directing their movements was 
 devolved in deference to his great experience, continued 
 his discourse as follows : 
 
/I4 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 f< This is a region, as you must all know, where a strong 
 arm is far better than the right, and where the white law 
 is as little known as needed. Therefore does everything 
 now depend on judgment and power. If," he continued, 
 laying his finger on his cheek like one who considered 
 deeply all sides of the embarrassing situation in which he 
 found himself " if an invention could be framed which 
 would set these Siouxes and the brood of the squatter by 
 the ears, then might we come in, like the buzzards after a 
 fight atween the beasts, and pick up the gleanings off the 
 ground there are Pawnees nigh us, too ! It is a certain 
 matter, for yonder lad is not so far from his village with- 
 out an errand. Here are therefore four parties within 
 sound of a cannon, not one of whom can trust the other. 
 All which makes movement a little difficult in a district 
 where covers are far from plenty. But we are three well- 
 armed, and I think I may say three stout-hearted men " 
 
 " Four," interrupted Paul. 
 
 " Anan," said the old man, looking up simply at his 
 companion. 
 
 " Four," repeated the bee-hunter, pointing to the natur- 
 alist. 
 
 " Every army has its hangers-on and idlers," rejoined 
 the blunt border-man. " Friend, it will be necessary to 
 slaughter this ass." 
 
 "To slay Asinus! Such a deed would be an act of 
 supererogatory cruelty." 
 
 " I know nothing of your words, which hide their mean- 
 ing in sound ; but that is cruel which sacrifices a Christian 
 to a brute. This is what I call the reason of mercy. It 
 would be just as safe to blow a trumpet as to let the ani- 
 mal raise his voice again, inasmuch as it would prove a 
 manifest challenge to the Siouxes." 
 
 " I will answer for the discretion of Asinus, who seldom 
 speaks without reason." 
 
 "They say a man can be known by the company he 
 keeps," retorted the old man, " and why not a brute ? I 
 once made a forced march and went through a great deal 
 of jeopardy with a companion who never opened his mouth 
 but to sing ; and trouble enough and great concern of 
 mind did the fellow give me. It was in that very business 
 with your grand'ther, captain. But then he had a human 
 throat, and well did he know how to use it, on occasion, 
 though he didn't always stop to regard the time and sea- 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 215 
 
 son fit for such outcries. Ah's me ! if I was now as I was 
 then, it wouldn't be a band of thieving Siouxes that should 
 easily drive me from such a lodgment as this ! But what 
 signifies boasting when sight and strength are both failing ? 
 The warrior that the Delawares once saw fit to call after 
 the hawk for the goodness of his eyes, would now be bet- 
 ter termed the mole ! In my judgment, therefore, it will 
 be well to slay the brute." 
 
 " There's argument and good logic in it," said Paul ; 
 " music is music, and it's always noisy, whether it comes 
 from a fiddle or a jackass. Therefore I agree with the old 
 man, and say, kill the beast." 
 
 " Friends," said the naturalist, looking with a sorrowful 
 eye from one to the other of his bloodily disposed com- 
 panions, "slay not Asinus ; he is a specimen of his kind 
 of whom much good and little evil can be said. Hardy 
 and docile for his genus ; abstemious and patient even for 
 his humble species. We have journeyed much together, 
 and his death would grieve me. How would it trouble 
 thy spirit, venerable venator, to separate in such an un- 
 timely manner from your faithful hound ? " 
 
 " The animal shall not die," said the old man, suddenly 
 clearing his throat in a manner that proved he felt the 
 force of the appeal ; "but his voice must be smothered. 
 Bind his jaws with the halter, and then I think we must 
 trust the rest to Providence." 
 
 With this double security for the discretion of Asinus, for 
 Paul instantly bound the muzzle of the ass in the manner 
 required, the trapper seemed content. After which he 
 proceeded to the margin of the thicket to reconnoitre. 
 
 The uproar which attended the passage of the herd was 
 now gone, or rather it was heard rolling along the prairie 
 at the distance of a mile. The clouds of dust were already 
 blown away by the wind, and a clear range was left to the 
 eye in that place where ten minutes before there existed a 
 scene of so much wildness and confusion. 
 
 The Sioux had completed their conquest, and apparent- 
 ly satisfied with this addition to the numerous previous 
 captures they had made, they now seemed content to let 
 the remainder of the herd escape. A dozen remained 
 around the carcass, over which a few buzzards w r ere balanc- 
 ing themselves with steady wings and greedy eyes, while 
 the rest were riding about in quest of such further booty 
 as might come in their way on the trail of so vast a 
 
216 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 drove. The trapper measured the proportions and scanned 
 the equipments of such individuals as drew nearer to the 
 side of the thicket with careful eyes. At length he pointed 
 out one among them to Middleton as Weucha. 
 
 u Now know we not only what they are, but their errand,"* 
 the old man continued, deliberately shaking his head. 
 " They have lost the trail of the squatter, and are on itfc 
 hunt. These buffaloes have crossed their path, and in 
 chasing the animals bad luck has led them in open sight 
 of the hill on which the brood of Ishmael have harbored. 
 Do you see yon birds watching for the offals of the beast 
 they have killed ? Therein is a moral which teaches the 
 manner of a prairie-life. A band of Pawnees are outlying 
 for these very Siouxes, as you see the buzzards looking 
 down for their food ; and it behooves us, as Christian men 
 who have so much at stake, to look down upon them both. 
 Ha ! what brings yonder two skirting reptiles to a stand > 
 As you live, they have found the place where the misera- 
 ble son of the squatter met his death ! " 
 
 The old man was not mistaken. Weucha, and a savage 
 who accompanied him, had reached that spot which has 
 already been mentioned as furnishing the frightful evi- 
 dences of violence and bloodshed. There they sat on their 
 horses, examining the well-known signs with the intelli- 
 gence that distinguishes the habits of Indians. Their scru- 
 tiny was long, and apparently not without distrust. At 
 length they raised a cry that was scarcely less piteous and 
 startling than that which the hounds had before made over 
 the same fatal signs, and which did not fail to draw the 
 whole band immediately around them, as the fell bark of 
 the jackal is said to gather his comrades to the chase. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 "Welcome, ancient Pistol." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 IT was not long before the trapper pointed out the com- 
 manding person of Mahtoree as the leader of the Sioux. 
 This chief, who had been among the last to obey the vocif, 
 erous summons of Weucha, no sooner reached the spot 
 where his whole party was now gathered, than he threw 
 himself from his horse, and proceeded to examine the 
 
THE rRAIRIE. 217 
 
 marks of che extraordinary trail with that degree of dignity 
 and attention which became his high and responsible sta- 
 tion. The warriors, for it was but too evident that they 
 were to a man of that fearless and ruthless class, awaited 
 the result of his investigation with patient reserve ? none 
 but a few of the principal braves presuming even to speak 
 while their .leader was thus gravely occupied. It was 
 several minutes before Mahtoree seemed satisfied. He 
 then directed his eyes along the ground to those several 
 places where Ishmael had found the same revolting evi- 
 dences of the passage of some bloody struggle, and mo- 
 tioned to his people to follow. 
 
 The whole band advanced in a body toward the thicket, 
 until they came to a halt within a few yards of the precise 
 spot where Esther had stimulated her slugglish sons to 
 break into the cover. The reader will readily imagine 
 that the trapper and his companions were not indifferent 
 observers of so threatening a movement. The old man 
 summoned all who were capable of bearing arms to his 
 side, and demanded in very unequivocal terms, though 
 in a voice that was suitably lowered in order to escape the 
 ears of their dangerous neighbors, whether they were dis- 
 posed to make battle for their liberty, or whether they 
 should try the milder expedient of conciliation. As it was 
 a subject in which all had an equal interest, he put the 
 question as to a council of war, and not without some 
 slight exhibition of the lingering vestiges of a nearly ex- 
 tinct military pride. Paul and the doctor were diametri- 
 cally opposed to each other in opinion ; the former declar- 
 ing for an immediate appeal to arms, arid the latter was 
 warmly espousing the policy of pacific measures. Middle- 
 ton, who saw that there was great danger of a *hot verbal 
 dispute between two men who were governed by feelings so 
 diametrically opposed, saw fit to assume the office of arbi- 
 ter ; or rather to decide the question, his situation making 
 him a sort of umpire. He also leaned to the side of peace, 
 for he evidently saw that, in consequence of the vast 
 superiority of their enemies, violence would irretrievably 
 lead to their destruction. 
 
 The trapper listened to the reasons of the young soldier 
 with great attention ; and, as they were given with the 
 steadiness of one who did not suffer apprehension to blind 
 his judgment, they did not fail to produce a suitable im- 
 pression. 
 
2i8 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 11 It is rational," rejoined the trapper, when the other 
 had delivered his reasons : " it is very rational, for, what 
 man cannot move with his strength, he must circumvent with 
 his wits. It is reason that makes him stronger than the 
 buffalo and swifter than the moose. Now, stay you here 
 and keep yourselves close. My life and my traps are but 
 of little value when the welfare of so many human souls is 
 concerned ; and, moreover, I may say that I know the 
 windings of Indian cunning. Therefore will I go alone 
 upon the prairie. It may so happen that I can yet draw 
 the eyes of a Sioux from this^spot, and give you time and 
 room to fly." 
 
 As if resolved to listen to no remonstrance, the old man 
 quietly shouldered his rifle, and, moving leisurely through 
 the thicket, he issued on the plain at a point whence he 
 might first appear before the eyes of the Sioux without 
 exciting their suspicions that he came from its cover. 
 
 The instant that the figure of a man dressed in the garb 
 of a hunter, and bearing the well-known and much-dread- 
 ed rifle, appeared before the eyes of the Sioux, there was 
 a sensible though a suppressed sensation in the band. 
 The artifice of the trapper had so far succeeded as to ren- 
 der it extremely doubtful whether he came from some 
 point on the open prairie or from the thicket ; though the 
 Indians still continued to cast frequent and suspicious 
 glances at the cover. They had made their halt at the 
 distance of an arrow-flight from the bushes ; but when the 
 stranger came sufficiently nigh to show that the deep coat- 
 ing of red and brown which time and exposure had given 
 to his features, was laid upon the original color of a pale- 
 face, they slowly receded from the spot until they reached 
 a distance that might defeat the aim of fire-arms. 
 
 In the meantime the old man continued to advance, un- 
 til he had got nigh enough to make himself heard without 
 difficulty. Here he stopped, and, dropping his rifle to the 
 earth, he raised his hand with the palm outward, in token 
 of peace. After uttering a few words of reproach to his 
 hound, who watched the savage group with eyes that 
 seemed to recognize them, he spoke in the Sioux tongue : 
 
 " My brothers are welcome," he said, cunningly consti- 
 tuting himself the master of the region in which they had 
 met, and assuming the offices of hospitality. " They are 
 far from their villages, and are hungry. Will they follow 
 to my lodge, to eat and sleep ? " 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 219 
 
 No sooner was his voice heard, than the yell of pleasure 
 which burst from a dozen mouths, convinced the sagacious 
 trapper that he also was recognized Feeling that it was 
 too late to retreat he profited by the confusion which pre- 
 vailed among them, while Weucha was explaining his 
 character, to advance, until he was again face to face with 
 the redoubtable Mahtoree. The second interview between 
 these two men, each of whom was extraordinary in his 
 way, was marked by the usual caution of the frontiers. 
 They stood for nearly a minute, examining each other 
 without speaking. 
 
 " Where are your young men ? " sternly demanded the 
 Teton chieftain, after he found that the immovable features 
 of the trapper refused to betray any of their master's se- 
 crets, under his intimidating look. 
 
 "The Long-knives do not come in bands to trap the 
 beaver! I am alone." 
 
 " Your head is white, but you have a forked tongue. 
 Mahtoree has been in your camp. He knows that you are 
 not alone. Where is your young wife, and the warrior 
 that I found upon the prairie ? " 
 
 " I have no wife. I have told my brother that the wom- 
 an and her friends were strangers. The words of a gray 
 head should be heard, and not forgotten. The Dahcotahs 
 found travellers asleep, and they thought they had no need 
 of horses. The women and children of a pale-face are not 
 used to go far on foot. Let them be sought where you 
 left them." 
 
 The eyes of the Teton flashed fire as he answered : 
 
 " They are gone : but Mahtoree is a wise chief, and his 
 eyes can see a great distance ! " 
 
 " Does the partisan of the Tetons see men on these na- 
 ked fields ? " retorted the trapper, with great steadiness of 
 mien. " I am very old, and my eyes grow dim. Where 
 do they stand ? " 
 
 The chief remained silent a moment, as if he disdained 
 to contest any further the truth of a fact, concerning which 
 he was already satisfied. Then, pointing to the traces on 
 the earth, he said, with a sudden transition to mildness 
 in his eye and manner, : 
 
 " My father has learned wisdom in many winters ; can 
 he tell me whose moccasin has left this trail ? " 
 
 44 There have been wolves and buffaloes on the prairies 
 and there may have been cougars too." 
 
220 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 Mahtoree glanced his eye at the thicket, as if he thought 
 the latter suggestion not impossible. Pointing to the place, 
 he ordered his young men to reconnoitre it more closely, 
 cautioning them at the same time, with a stern look at the 
 trapper, to beware of treachery from the Big-knives. Three 
 or four half-naked, eager-looking youths lashed their horses 
 at the word, and darted away to obey the mandate. The 
 old man trembled a little for the discretion of Paul, when 
 he saw this demonstration. The Tetons encircled the 
 place two or three times, approaching nigher and nigher 
 at each circuit, and then galloped back to their leader to 
 report that the copse seemed empty. Notwithstanding the 
 trapper watched the eye of Mahtoree, to detect the inward 
 movements of his mind, and if possible to anticipate, in 
 order to direct his suspicions, the utmost sagacity of one 
 so long accustomed to study the cold habits of the Indian 
 race could, however, detect no symptom nor expression 
 that denoted how far he credited or distrusted this intelli- 
 gence. Instead of replying to the information of his 
 scouts, he spoke kindly to his horse, and motioning to a 
 youth to receive the bridle, or rather halter, by which he 
 governed the animal, he took the trapper by the arm, and 
 led him a little apart from the rest of the band. 
 
 " Has my brother been a warrior?" said the wily Teton, 
 in a tone that he intended should be conciliating. 
 
 " Do the leaves cover the trees in the season of fruits ? 
 Go. The Dahcotahs have not seen as many warriors liv- 
 ing as I have looked on in their blood! But what signi- 
 fies idle remembrancing," he added, in English, " when 
 limbs grow stiff and sight is failing ?" 
 
 The chief regarded him a moment with a severe look, as 
 if he would lay bare the falsehood he had heard ; but, 
 meeting in the calm eye and steady mien of the trapper 
 a confirmation of the truth of what he said, he took the 
 hand of the old man, and laid it gently on his head in 
 token of the respect that was due to the other's years and 
 experience. 
 
 " Why, then, do the Big-knives tell their red brethren 
 to bury the tomahawk," he said, "when their own young 
 men never forget that they are braves, and meet each other 
 so often with bloody hands ?" 
 
 " My nation is more numerous than the buffaloes on the 
 prairies, or the pigeons in the air. Their quarrels are 
 frequent ; yet their warriors are few. None go out on the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 221 
 
 war-path but they who are gifted with the qualities of a 
 brave, and therefore such see many battles." 
 
 " It is not so my father is mistaken," returned Mahtoree, 
 indulging in a smile of exulting penetration at the very 
 instant he corrected the force of his denial in deference to 
 the years and services of one so aged. " The Big-knives 
 are very wise, and they are men ; all of them would be 
 warriors. They would leave the red-skins to dig roots and 
 hoe the corn. But a Dahcotah is not born to live like a 
 woman ; he must strike the Pawnee and the Omahaw, or 
 he will lose the name of his fathers." 
 
 "The Master of Life looks with an open eye on his chil- 
 dren who die in a battle that is fought for the right ; but 
 he is blind and his ears are shut to the cries of an Indian 
 who is killed when plundering or doing evil to his neigh- 
 bor." 
 
 " My father is old," said Mahtoree, looking at his aged 
 companion with an expression of irony that sufficiently 
 denoted he was one of those who overstep the trammels 
 of education, and who are perhaps a little given to abuse 
 the mental liberty they thus obtain. " He is very old : has 
 he made a journey to the far country, and has he been at 
 the trouble to come back to tell the young men what he 
 has seen ?" 
 
 " Teton," returned the trapper, throwing the breech of 
 his rifle to the earth with startling vehemence, and regard- 
 ing his companion with steady serenity, " I have heard 
 that there are men among my people who study their 
 great medicines until they believe themselves to be gods, 
 and who laugh at all faith except in their own vanities. 
 It may be true. It is true ; for I have seen them. When 
 man is shut up in towns and schools with his own follies, 
 it may be easy to believe himself greater than the Master 
 of Life ; but a warrior who lives in a house with the clouds 
 for its roof, where he can at any moment look both at the 
 heavens and at the earth, and who daily sees the power of 
 the Great Spirit, should be more humble. A Dahcotah 
 chieftain ought to be too wise to laugh at justice." 
 
 The crafty Mahtoree, who saw that his free-thinking was 
 not likely to produce a favorable impression on the old 
 man, instantly changed his ground, by alluding to the 
 more immediate subject of their interview. Laying his 
 hand gently on the shoulder of the trapper, he led him 
 forward until they both stood within fifty feet of the mar 
 
222 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 gin of the thicket. Here he fastened his penetrating eyes 
 on the other's honest countenance, and continued the dis* 
 course : 
 
 " If my father has hid his young men in the bush, let 
 him tell them to come forth You see that a Dahcotah is 
 not afraid. Mahtoree is a great chief ! A warrior whose 
 head is white, and who is about to go to the Land of Spir- 
 its, cannot have a tongue with two ends, like a serpent." 
 
 " Dahcotah, I have told no lie. Since the Great Spirit 
 made me a man I have lived in the wilderness, or on these 
 naked plains, without lodge or family. I am a hunter, and 
 go on my path alone." 
 
 " My father has a good carabine. Let him point it in 
 the bush and fire." 
 
 The old man hesitated a moment, and then slowly pre- 
 pared himself to give this delicate assurance of the truth 
 of what he said, without which he plainly perceived the 
 suspicions of his crafty companion could not be lulled. 
 As he lowered his rifle, his eye, although greatly dimmed 
 and weakened by age, ran over the confused collection of 
 objects that lay embedded amid the party-colored foliage 
 of the thicket, until it succeeded in catching a glimpse of 
 the brown covering of the stem of a small tree. With this 
 object in view, he raised the piece to a level and fired. 
 The bullet had no sooner glided from the barrel than a 
 tremor seized the hands of the trapper, which, had it oc- 
 curred a moment sooner, would have utterly disqualified 
 him for so hazardous an experiment. A frightful silence 
 succeeded the report, during which he expected to hear 
 the shrieks of the females ; and then, as the smoke whirled 
 away in the wind, he caught a view of the fluttering bark, 
 and felt assured that all his former skill was not entirely 
 departed from him. Dropping the piece to the earth, he 
 turned again to his companion with an air of the utmost 
 composure, and demanded : 
 
 " Is my brother satisfied ? " 
 
 " Mahtoree is a chief of the Dahcotahs," returned the 
 cunning Teton, laving his hand on his chest, in acknowledg- 
 ment of the other's sincerity. " He knows that a warrior, 
 who has smoked at so many council-fires, until his head 
 has grown white, would not be found in wicked company. 
 But did not my father once ride on a horse, like a rich 
 chief of the pale-faces, instead of travelling on foot like a 
 hungry Konza ? " 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 223 
 
 " Never ! The Wahcondah has given me legs, and he 
 has given me resolution to use them. For sixty summers 
 and winters did I journey in the woods of America, and 
 ten tiresome years have I dwelt on these open fields, with- 
 out finding need to call often upon the gifts of the other 
 creatur's of the Lord to carry me from place to place." 
 
 " If my father has so long lived in the shade, why has he 
 come upon the prairies? The sun will scorch him." 
 
 The old man looked sorrowfully about for a moment, 
 and then, turning with a confidential air to the other, he 
 replied : 
 
 " I passed the spring, summer, and autumn of life among 
 the trees. The winter of my days had come, and found 
 me where I loved to be, in the quiet ay, and in the 
 honesty of the woods ! Teton, then I slept happily, where 
 my eyes could look up through the branches of the 
 pines and the beeches, to the very dwelling of the Good 
 Spirit of my people. If I had need to open my heart to 
 him, while his fires were burning above my head, the door 
 was open and before my eyes. But the axes of the chop- 
 pers awoke me. For a long time my ears heard nothing 
 but the uproar of clearings. I bore it like a warrior and a 
 man ; there was reason that I should bear it ; but when 
 that reason was ended, I bethought me to get beyond the 
 accursed sounds. It was trying to the courage and to the 
 habits, but I had heard of these vast and naked fields, and 
 I come hither to escape the wasteful temper of my people. 
 Tell me, Dahcotah, have I not done well ? " 
 
 The trapper laid his long, lean finger on the naked 
 shoulder of the Indian as he ended, and seemed to demand 
 his felicitations on his ingenuity and success with a ghastly 
 smile, in which triumph was singularly blended with re- 
 gret. His companion listened intently, and replied to the 
 question by saying, in the sententious manner of his race : 
 
 " The head of my father is very gray ; he has always 
 lived with men and he has seen everything. What he does 
 is good ; what he speaks is wise. Now let him say is he 
 sure that he is a stranger to the Big-knives, who are look- 
 ing for their beasts on every side of the prairies and can- 
 not find them ? " 
 
 " Dahcotah, what I have said is true. I live alone, and 
 never do I mingle with men whose skins are white, if " 
 
 His mouth was suddenly closed by an interruption that 
 was as mortifying as it was unexpected. The words were 
 
224 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 stiil on his tongue, when the bushes on the side of the 
 thicket where they stood opened, and the whole of the 
 party whom he had just left, and in whose behalf he was 
 endeavoring to reconcile his love of truth to the necessity 
 of prevaricating, came openly into view. A pause of mute 
 astonishment succeeded this u nlooked-for spectacle. Then 
 Mahtoree, who did not suffer a muscle or a joint to betray 
 the wonder and surprise he actually experienced, motioned 
 toward the advancing friends of the trapper with an air 
 of assumed civility, and a smile that lighted his fierce, dark 
 visage, as the glare of the setting sun reveals the volume 
 and load of the cloud, that is charged to bursting with the 
 electric fluid. He, however, disdained to speak, or to give 
 any other evidence of his intentions than by calling to his 
 side the distant band, who sprang forward at his beck 
 with the alacrity of willing subordinates. 
 
 In the meantime the friends of the old man continued 
 to advance. Middleton himself was foremost, supporting 
 the light and aerial-looking figure of Inez, on whose anxious 
 countenance he cast such occasional glances of tender in- 
 terest as, in similar circumstances, a father would have 
 given to his child. Paul led Ellen, close in their rear. 
 But, while the eye of the bee-hunter did not neglect his 
 blooming companion, it scowled angrily, resembling more 
 the aspect of the sullen and retreating bear than the soft 
 intelligence of a favored suitor. Obed and Asinus came 
 last, the former leading his companion with a degree of 
 fondness that could hardly be said to be exceeded by any 
 other of the party. The approach of the naturalist was 
 far less rapid than that of those who preceded him. His 
 feet seemed equally reluctant to advance or to remain 
 stationary ; his position bearing a great analogy to that of 
 Mohammed's coffin, with the exception that the quality of 
 repulsion rather than that of attraction held him in a state 
 of rest. The repulsive power in his rear, however, ap- 
 peared to predominate ; and, by a singular exception, as 
 he would have said himself, to all philosophical principles, 
 it rather increased that diminished by distance. As the 
 eyes of the naturalist steadily maintained a position that 
 was the opposite of his route, they served to give a direc- 
 tion to those of the observers of all these movements, ind 
 at once furnished a sufficient clew by which to unravel the 
 mystery of so sudden a debouchement from the cover. 
 
 Another cluster of stout and armed men was seen at BO 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 225 
 
 great distance, just rounding a point of the thicket, and 
 moving directly though cautiously toward the place where 
 the band of the Sioux was posted, as a squadron of cruisers 
 is often seen to steer across the waste of waters toward the 
 rich but well-protected convoy. In short, the family of 
 the squatter, or at least such among them as were capable 
 of bearing arms, appeared in view on the broad prairie, 
 evidently bent on revenging their wrongs. 
 
 Mahtoree and his party slowly retired from the thicket, 
 the moment they caught a view of the strangers, until they 
 halted on a swell that commanded a wide and unobstructed 
 view of the naked fields on which they stood. Here the 
 Dahcotah appeared disposed to make a stand, and to bring 
 matters to an issue. Notwithstanding this retreat, in which 
 he compelled the trapper to accompany him, Middleton 
 still advanced until he too halted on the same elevation, 
 and within speaking distance of the warlike Sioux. The 
 borderers in their turn took a favorable position, though 
 at a much greater distance. The three groups now re- 
 sembled so many fleets at sea, lying with their topsails to 
 the masts, with the commendable precaution of reconnoi- 
 tering, before each could ascertain who among the stran- 
 gers might be considered as friends, and who as foes. 
 During this moment of suspense, the dark, threatening eye 
 of Mahtoree rolled from one of the strange parties to the 
 other, in keen and hasty examination, and then it turned 
 its withering look on the old man, as the chief said, in a 
 tone of high and bitter scorn : 
 
 "The Big-knives are fools! It is easier to catch the 
 cougar asleep than to find a blind Dahcotah. Did the 
 white-head think to ride on the horse of a Sioux?" 
 
 The trapper, who had found time to collect his per- 
 plexed faculties, saw at once that Middleton, having per- 
 ceived Ishmael on the trail by which they had fled, pre- 
 ferred trusting to the hospitality of the savages than to 
 the treatment he would be likely to receive from the hands 
 of the squatter. He therefore disposed himself to clear 
 the way for the favorable reception of his friends, since he 
 found that the unnatural coalition became necessary to 
 secure the liberty, if not the lives, of his party. 
 
 " Did my brother ever go on a war-path to strike my 
 people ? " he calmly demanded of the indignant chief, who 
 still awaited his reply. 
 
 The lowering aspect of the Teton warrior so far lost its 
 
 15 
 
226 THE PR AIRJ E. 
 
 severity as to suffer a gleam of p-easure and triumph td 
 lighten its ferocity, as, sweeping his arm in an entire circle 
 around his person, he answered : 
 
 "What tribe or nation has not felt the blows of the 
 Dahcotahs ? Mahtoree is their partisan." 
 
 " And has he found the Big-knives women, or has he 
 found them men ?" 
 
 A multitude of fierce passions were struggling in the 
 tawny countenance of the Indian. For a moment inextin- 
 guishable hatred seemed to hold the mastery, and then a 
 nobler expression, and one that better became the charac- 
 ter of a brave, got possession of his features, and main- 
 tained itself until, first throwing aside his light robe of 
 pictured deerskin, and pointing to the scar of a bayonet 
 in his breast, he replied : 
 
 " It was given as it was taken, face to face." 
 
 " It is enough. My brother is a brave chief, and he 
 should be wise. Let him look : is that a warrior of the 
 pale-faces ? Was it one such as that who gave the great 
 Dahcotah his hurt ? " 
 
 The eyes of Mahtoree followed the direction of the old 
 man's extended arm, until they rested on the drooping 
 form of Inez. The look of the Teton was long, riveted, 
 and admiring. Like that of the young Pawnee, it resem- 
 bled more the gaze of a mortal on some heavenly image, 
 than the admiration with which man is wont to contem- 
 plate even the loveliness of women. Starting, as if sud- 
 denly self-convicted of forgetfulness, the chief next turned 
 his eyes on Ellen, where they lingered an instant with a 
 much more intelligible expression of admiration, and then 
 pursued their course until they had taken another glance 
 at each individual of the party. 
 
 " My brother sees that my tongue is not forked," con- 
 tinued the trapper, watching the emotions the other be- 
 jtrayed with a readiness of comprehension little inferior to 
 'that of the Teton himself. "The Big-knives do not send 
 their women to war. I know that the Dahcotahs will 
 smoke with the strangers." 
 
 " Mahtoree is a great chief ! The Big-knives are wel- 
 come," said the Teton, laying his hand on his breast with 
 an air of lofty politeness that would have done credit to 
 any state of society. " The arrows of my voung men are 
 in their quivers." 
 
 The trapper motioned to Middleton to approach, ana ii> 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 227 
 
 a few moments the two parties were blended in one, each 
 of the males having exchanged friendly greetings, after 
 the fashions of the prairie warriors. But, even while en- 
 gaged in this hospitable manner, the Dahcotah did not 
 fail to keep a strict watch on the more distant party of 
 white men, as if he still distrusted an artifice, or sought 
 further explanation. The old man, in his turn, perceived 
 the necessity of being more explicit, and of securing the 
 slight and equivocal advantage he had already obtained. 
 While affecting to examine the group which still lingered 
 at the spot where it had first halted, as if to discover the 
 characters of those who composed it, he plainly saw that 
 Ishmael contemplated immediate hostilities. The result 
 of a conflict on the open prairie between a dozen resolute 
 bordermen and the half-armed natives, even though sec- 
 onded by their white allies, was, in his experienced judg- 
 ment, a point of great uncertainty ; and, though far from 
 reluctant to engage in the struggle on account of himself, 
 the aged trapper thought it far more worthy of his years 
 and his character, to avoid than to court the contest. 
 His feelings were, for obvious reasons, in accordance with 
 those of Paul and Middleton, who had lives still more 
 precious than their own to watch over and protect. In 
 this dilemma the three consulted on the means of escaping 
 the frightful consequences which might immediately fol- 
 low a single act of hostility on the part of the borderers ; 
 the old man taking care that their communication sho'uld, 
 in the eyes of those who noted the expression of their 
 countenances with jealous watchfulness, bear the appear- 
 ance of explanations as to the reason why such a party of 
 travellers was met so far in the deserts. 
 
 " I know that the Dahcotahs are a wise and great peo- 
 ple," at length the trapper commenced, again addressing 
 himself to the chief ; " but does not their partisan know a 
 single brother who is base ? " 
 
 The eye of Mahtoree wandered proudly around his band, 
 but rested a moment reluctantly on Weucha, as he an- 
 swered, " The Master of life has made chiefs, and warriors, 
 and women ; " conceiving that he thus embraced all the 
 gradations of human excellence, from the highest to the 
 lowest. 
 
 "And he has also made pale-faces who are wicked. 
 Such are they who my brother sees yonder." 
 
 "Do they go on foot to do wrong?" demanded the 
 
12$ THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 Teton, with a wild gleam from his eye, that sufficiently 
 betrayed how well he knew the reason why they were re* 
 duced to so humble an expedient. 
 
 " Their beasts are gone ; but their powder, and theii 
 lead, and their blankets remain." 
 
 " Do they carry their riches in their hands, like miser, 
 able Konzas ? or are they brave, and leave them with th% 
 vvomen, as men should do, who know where to find what 
 they lose ? " 
 
 " My brother sees the spot of blue across the prairie ; 
 look, the sun has touched it for the last time to-day." 
 
 "Mahtoree is not a mole." 
 
 " It is a rock ; on it are the goods of the Big-knives." 
 
 An expression of savage joy shot into the dark counte* 
 nance of the Teton as he listened ; turning to the old man 
 he seemed to read his soul, as if to assure himself he was 
 not deceived. Then he bent his look on the party of Ish- 
 mael, and counted its number. 
 
 " One warrior is wanting," he said. 
 
 " Does my brother see the buzzards ? there is his grave. 
 Did he find blood on the prairie ? it was his." 
 
 " Enough ! Mahtoree is a wise chief. Put your women 
 on the horses of the Dahcotahs ; we shall see, for our eyes 
 are open very wide." 
 
 The trapper wasted no unnecessary words in explana 
 tion. Familiar with the brevity and promptitude of the 
 natives, he immediately communicated the result to his 
 companions. Paul was mounted in an instant, with Ellen 
 at his back. A few more moments were necessary to as- 
 sure Middleton of the security and ease of Inez. While 
 he was thus engaged, Mahtoree advanced to the side of 
 the beast he had allotted to this service, which was his 
 own, and manifested an intention to occupy his customary 
 'place on its back. The young soldier seized the reins of 
 the animal, and glances of sudden anger and lofty pride 
 were exchanged between them. 
 
 "No man takes this seat but myself," said Middleton, 
 sternly, in English. 
 
 " Mahtoree is a great chief ! " retorted the savage ; 
 neither conprehending the meaning of the other's words. 
 
 ;< The Dahcotah will be too late," whispered the old man 
 at his elbow ; " see ! the Big-knives are afraid, and they 
 will soon run." 
 
 The Teton chief instantly abandoned his claim, and 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 229 
 
 threw himself on another horse, directing one of his young 
 men to furnish a similar accommodation for the trapper. 
 The warriors who were dismounted got up behind as many 
 Gf their companions. Dr. Battius bestrode Asinus ; and 
 notwithstanding the brief interruption, in half the time we 
 have taken to relate it the whole party were prepared to 
 move. 
 
 When he saw that all were ready, Mahtoree gave the 
 signal to advance. A few of the best mounted of the war- 
 riors, the chief himself included, moved a little in front, 
 and made a threatening demonstration, as if they intended 
 to attack the strangers. The squatter, who was in truth 
 slowly retiring, instantly halted his party, and showed a 
 willing front. Instead, however, of coming within reach 
 of the dangerous aim of the Western rifle, the subtle sav- 
 ages kept wheeling about the strangers until they had made 
 a half circuit, keeping the latter in constant expectation 
 of an assault. Then, perfectly secure of their object, the 
 Tetons raised a loud shout, and darted across the prairie 
 in a line for the distant rock, with the directness and nearly 
 with the velocity of the arrow that has just been shot from 
 its bow. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 "Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 MAHTOREE had scarcely given the first intimation of his 
 design, before a general discharge from the borderers 
 proved how well they understood it. The distance and 
 the rapidity of the flight, however, rendered the fire harm- 
 less. As a proof how little he regarded the hostility of 
 their party, the Dahcotah chieftain answered the report 
 with a yell ; and, flourishing his carabine above his head, 
 he made a circuit of the plain, followed by his chosen war- 
 riors, in scorn of the impotent attempt of his enemies. As 
 the main body continued the direct course, this little band 
 of the /lite, in returning from its wild exhibition of savage 
 contempt, took its place in the rear, with a dexterity and 
 a concert of action that showed the manoeuvre had been 
 contemplated. 
 
 Volley swiftly succeeded volley, until the enraged squat- 
 ter was reluctantly compelled to abandon the idea of in- 
 
230 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 juring his enemies by means so feeble. Relinquishing 
 this fruitless attempt, he commenced a rapid pursuit, oc- 
 casionally discharging a rifle in order to give the alarm to 
 the garrison, which he had prudently left under the com- 
 mand of the redoubtable Esther herself. In this manner 
 the chase was continued for many minutes, the horsemen 
 gradually gaining on their pursuers, who maintained the 
 race, however, with an incredible power of foot. 
 
 As the little speck of blue rose against the heavens, like 
 an island issuing from the deep, the savages occasionally 
 raised a yell of triumph. But the mists of evening were 
 already gathering along the whole of the eastern margin 
 of the prairie, and before the band had made half of the 
 necessary distance the dim outline of the rock had melted 
 into the haze of the background. Indifferent to this cir- 
 cumstance, which rather favored than disconcerted his 
 plans, Mahtoree, who had again ridden in front, held on 
 his course with the accuracy of a hound of the truest 
 scent, merely slackening his speed a little, as the horses of 
 his party were by this time thoroughly blown. It was at 
 this stage of the enterprise that the old man rode up to 
 the side of Middleton and addressed him as follows in 
 English : 
 
 " Here is likely to be a thieving business, and one in 
 which I must say I have but little wish to be a partner." 
 
 ''What would you do? It would be fatal to trust our- 
 selves in the hands of the miscreants in our rear." 
 
 "Tut for miscreants, be they red or be they white! 
 Look ahead, lad, as if ye were talking of our medicines, 
 or perhaps praising the Teton beasts. For the knaves 
 love to hear their horses commended, the same as a fool- 
 ish mother in the settlements is fond of hearing the praises 
 of her wilful child. So pat the animal, and lay your 
 hand on the gewgaws with which the redskins have orna- 
 mented his mane, giving your eye as it were to one thing, 
 and your mind to another. Listen : if matters are man- 
 aged with judgment we may leave these Tetons as the 
 night sets in." 
 
 "A blessed thought!" exclaimed Middleton, who re- 
 tained a painful remembrance of the look of admiration 
 with which Mahtoree had contemplated the loveliness of 
 Inez, as well as of his subsequent presumption in daring 
 to wish to take the office of her protector on himself. 
 
 "Lord, Lord! what a weak creatur' is man, when the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 231 
 
 gifts of Natur' are smothered in bookish knowledge and 
 womanly manners ! Such another start would tell these 
 imps at our elbows that we were plotting against them, 
 just as plainly as if it were whispered in their ears by a 
 Sioux tongue. Ay, ay, I know the devils ; they look as 
 innocent as so many frisky fawns, but there is not one 
 among them all that has not an eye on our smallest mo~ 
 tions. Therefore, what is to be done is to be done in wis- 
 dom, in order to circumvent their cunning. That is right ; 
 pat his neck and smile, as if you praised the horse, and 
 keep the ear on my side open to my words. Be careful 
 not to worry your beast, for, though but little skilled in 
 horses, reason teaches that breath is needful in a hard 
 push, and that a weary leg makes a dull race. Be ready to 
 mind the signal, when you hear a whine from old Hector. 
 The first will be to make ready ; the second, to edge out 
 of the crowd ; and the third, to go am I understood ? " 
 
 "Perfectly, perfectly," said Middleton, trembling in his 
 excessive eagerness to put the plan in instant execution, 
 and pressing the little arm, which encircled his body, to 
 his heart. " Perfectly. Hasten, hasten ! " 
 
 "Ay, the beast is no sloth," continued the trapper in the 
 Teton language, as if he continued the discourse, edging 
 cautiously through the dusky throng at the same time, un- 
 til he. found himself riding at the side of Paul. He com- 
 municated his intentions in the same guarded manner as 
 before. The high-spirited and fearless bee-hunter received 
 the intelligence with delight, declaring his readiness to en- 
 gage the whole of the savage band, should it become neces- 
 sary to effect their object. When the old man drew off 
 from the side of this pair also, he cast his eyes about him 
 to discover the situation occupied by the naturalist. 
 
 The doctor, with infinite labor to himself and Asinus, 
 had maintained a position in the very centre of the Sioux, 
 so long as there existed the smallest reason for believing 
 that any one of the missiles of Ishmael might arrive in 
 contact with his person. After this danger had diminished, 
 or rather disappeared entirely, his own courage revived, 
 while that of his steed began to droop. To this mutual 
 but very material change was owing the fact that the rider 
 and the ass were now to be sought among that portion 
 of the band who formed a sort of rear-guard. Hither 
 then, the trapper contrived to turn his steed, without ex* 
 citing the suspicions of any of his subtle companions. 
 
f32 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 * Friend," commenced the old man, when he found him- 
 self in a situation favorable to discourse, " should you like 
 to pass a dozen years among the savages with a shaved 
 head, and a painted countenance, with, perhaps, a couple 
 of wives and five or six children of the half-breed to call 
 you father ? " 
 
 " Impossible ! " exclaimed the startled naturalist. " I am 
 indisposed to matrimony in general, and more especially 
 to all admixture of the varieties of species, which only tend 
 to tarnish the beauty and to interrupt the harmony of 
 Nature. Moreover, it is a painful innovation on the order 
 of all nomenclatures." 
 
 "Ay, ay, you have reason enough for your distaste to 
 such a life ; but should these Siouxes get you fairly into 
 their village, such would be your luck, as certain as that 
 the sun rises and sets at the pleasure of the Lord." 
 
 " Marry me to a woman who is not adorned with the 
 comeliness of the species ! " responded the doctor. " Of 
 what crime have I been guilty, that so grievous a punish- 
 ment should await the offence ? To marry a man against 
 the movements of his will, is to do a violence to human 
 nature." 
 
 " Now that you speak of natur', I have hopes that the 
 gift of reason has not altogether deserted your brain," re- 
 turned the old man, with a covert expression playing about 
 the angles of his deep-set eyes, which betrayed he was not 
 entirely destitute of humor. "Nay, they may conceive 
 you a remarkable subject for their kindness, and for that 
 matter marry you to five or six. I have known in my days, 
 favored chiefs who had numberless wives." 
 
 "But why should they meditate this vengeance ?" de- 
 manded the doctor, whose hair began to rise, as if each 
 fibre was possessed of sensibility ; " what evil have I done ?" 
 
 " It is the fashion of their kindness. When they come 
 to learn that you are a great medicine, they will adopt you 
 into the tribe, and some mighty chief will give you his 
 name, and perhaps his daughter, or it may be a wife or two 
 of his own, who have dwelt long in his lodge, and of whose 
 value he is a judge by experience." 
 
 " The Governor and Founder of natural harmony pro- 
 tect me ! " ejaculated the doctor. " I have no affinity to a 
 single consort, much less to duplicates and triplicates of 
 the class! I shall certainly essay a flight from their abodes 
 before I mingle in so violent a conjunction." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 233 
 
 " There is reason in your words ; but why not attempt 
 the race you speak of now ? " 
 
 The naturalist looked fearfully around, as if he had an 
 inclination to make an instant exhibition of his desperate 
 intention ; but the dusky figures who were riding on every 
 side of him seemed suddenly tripled in number, and the 
 darkness that was already thickening on the prairie ap 
 peared in his eyes to possess the glare of high noon. 
 
 " It would be premature, and reason forbids it," he an- 
 swered. " Leave me, venerable venator, to the counsel of 
 my own thoughts ; and, when my plans are properly 
 classed, I will advise you of my resolutions." 
 
 " Resolutions ! " repeated the old man, shaking his head 
 a little contemptuously, as he gave the rein to his horse, 
 and allowed him to mingle with the steeds of the savages. 
 " Resolution is a word that is talked of in the settlements, 
 and felt on the borders. Does my brother know the beast 
 on which the pale-face rides ?" he continued, addressing a 
 gloomy-looking warrior in his own tongue, and making a 
 motion with his arm that at the same time directed his at- 
 tention to the naturalist and the meek Asinus. 
 
 The Teton turned his eyes for a minute on the animal, 
 but disdained to manifest the smallest portion of that won- 
 der he had felt in common with all his companions, on 
 first viewing so rare a quadruped. The trapper was not 
 ignorant that, while asses and mules were beginning to be 
 known to those tribes who dwelt nearest the Mexicos, 
 they were not usually encountered so far north as the 
 waters of the La Platte. He therefore managed to read 
 the mute astonishment that lay so deeply concealed in the 
 tawny visage of the savage, and took his measures accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Does my brother think that the rider is a warrior of the 
 pale-faces ?" he demanded, when he believed that sufficient 
 time had elapsed for a full examination of the pacific mien 
 V)f the naturalist. 
 
 The flash of scorn which shot across the features of the 
 Teton was visible even by the dim light of the stars. 
 
 " Is a Dahcotah a fool ?" was the answer. 
 
 " They are a wise nation, whose eyes are never shut ; 
 much do I wonder that they have not seen the great 
 medicine of the Big-knives ! " 
 
 " Wagh ! " exclaimed his companion, suffering the whole 
 of his amazement to burst out of his dark, rigid counte- 
 
234 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 nance at the surprise, like a flash of lightning illuminating 
 the gloom of midnight. 
 
 " The Dahcotah knows that my tongue is net forked. 
 Let him open his eyes wider. Does he not see a very 
 great medicine ? " 
 
 The light was not necessary to recall to the savage each 
 feature in the really remarkable costume and equipage of 
 Dr. Battius. In common with the rest of the band, and 
 in conformity with the universal practice of the Indians, 
 this warrior, while he had suffered no gaze of idle curiosity 
 to disgrace his manhood, had not permitted a single dis- 
 tinctive mark which might characterize any one of the 
 strangers to escape his vigilance. He knew the air, the 
 stature, the dress, and the features, even to the color of 
 the eyes and of the hair, of every one of the Big-knives 
 whom he had thus strangely encountered, and deeply had 
 he ruminated on the causes which could have led a party 
 so singularly constituted into the haunts of the rude in- 
 habitants of his native wastes. He had already considered 
 the several* physical powers of the whole party, and had 
 duly compared their abilities with what he supposed might 
 have been their intentions. Warriors they were not, for 
 the Big-knives, like the Sioux, left their women in their 
 villages when they went out on the bloody path. The 
 same objections applied to them as hunters, and even as 
 traders, the two characters under which the white man 
 commonly appeared in their villages. He had heard of a 
 great council at which the Menahashah, or Long-knives, 
 and the Washsheomantiqua, or Spaniards, had smoked to- 
 gether, when the latter had sold to the former their incom- 
 prehensible rights over those vast regions through which 
 his nation had roamed in freedom for so many ages. His 
 simple mind had not been able to embrace the reasons 
 why one people should thus assume a superiority over the 
 possessions of another ; and it will readily be perceived 
 that, at the hint just received from the trapper, he was not 
 indisposed to fancy that some of the hidden subtlety of 
 that magical influence of which he was so firm a believer, 
 was about to be practised by the unsuspecting subject of 
 their conversation, in furtherance of these mysterious 
 claims. Abandoning, therefore, all the reserve and dignity 
 of his manner under the conscious helplessness of ignor 
 ance, he turned to the old man, and, stretching forth his 
 arms, as if to denote how much he lay at his mercy, he said ? 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 235 
 
 "Let my father look at me. I am a wild man of the 
 prairies ; my body is naked ; my hands empty ; my skin 
 red. I have struck the Pawnees, the Konzas, the Omahaws, 
 the Osages, and even the Long-knives. I am a man amid 
 warriors, but a woman among the conjurers. Let my father 
 speak : the ears of the Teton are open. He listens like a 
 deer to the step of the cougar." 
 
 " Such are the wise and uns'archable ways of One who 
 alone knows good from evil ! " exclaimed the trapper, in 
 English ; " to some he grants cunning, and on others he 
 bestows the gift of manhood ! It is humbling and it is 
 afflicting to see so noble a creatur' as this, who has fou't 
 in many a bloody fray, truckling before his superstition 
 like a beggar asking for the bones you would throw to the 
 dogs. The Lord will forgive me for playing with the ig- 
 norance of the savage, for he knows I do it in no mockery 
 of his state, or in idle vaunting of my own ; but in order 
 to save mortal life, and to give justice to the wronged, 
 while I defeat the deviltries of the wicked ! Teton," speak- 
 ing again in the language of the listener, " I ask you, is 
 not that a wonderful medicine ? If the Dahcotahs are wise, 
 they will not breathe the air he breathes, nor touch his 
 robes. They know that the Wahconshecheh (bad spirit) 
 loves his own children, and will not turn his back on him 
 that does them harm." 
 
 The old man delivered this opinion in an ominous and 
 sententious manner, and then rode apart as if he had said 
 enough. The result justified his expectations. The war- 
 rior to whom he had addressed himself was not slow to 
 communicate his important knowledge to the rest of the 
 rear-guard, and in a very few moments the naturalist was 
 the object of general observation and reverence. The 
 trapper, who understood that the natives often worshipped, 
 with a view to propitiate, the evil spirit, awaited the work" 
 ings of his artifice with the coolness of one who had not 
 the smallest interest in its effects. It was not long before 
 he saw one dark figure after another lashing his horse, 
 and galloping ahead into the centre of the band, until 
 Weucha alone remained nigh the persons of himself and 
 Obed. The very dulness of this gro veiling-minded savage, 
 who continued gazing at the supposed conjurer with a sort 
 of stupid admiration, opposed now the only obstacle to the 
 complete success of his artifice. 
 
 Thoroughly understanding the character of this Indian, 
 
236 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 the old man lost no time in getting rid of him also.' Riding 
 to his side he said, in an affected whisper : 
 
 " Has Weucha drunk of the milk of the Big-knives to 
 day ? " 
 
 ** Hugh ! " exclaimed the savage, every dull thought in- 
 stantly recalled from heaven to earth by the question. 
 
 " Because the great captain of my people, who rides 
 in front, has a cow that is never empty. I know it will 
 not be long before he will say, ' Are any of my red brethren 
 dry ? ' ' 
 
 The words were scarcely uttered, before Weucha, in his 
 turn, quickened the gait of his beast, and was soon blended 
 with the rest of the dark group, who were riding at a more 
 moderate pace, a few rods in advance. The trapper, who 
 knew how fickle and sudden were the changes of a savage 
 mind, did not lose a moment in profiting by this advantage. 
 He loosened the reins of his own impatient steed, and in 
 an instant he was again at the side of Obed. 
 
 " Do you see the twinkling star, that is, maybe, the 
 length of four rifles above the prairie hereaway to the 
 north, I mean ?" 
 
 " Ay, it is of the constellation " 
 
 "A tut for your constellations, man! do you see the 
 star I mean ! Tell me in the English of the land, yes or 
 no." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "The minute my back is turned, pull upon the rein of 
 your ass, until you lose sight of the savages. Then take 
 the Lord for your dependence, and yonder star for your 
 guide. Turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but 
 make diligent use of your time, for your beast is not quick 
 of foot, and every inch of prairie you gain is a day added 
 to your liberty, or to your life." 
 
 Without waiting to listen to the queries which the nat- 
 uralist was about to put, the old man again loosened the 
 reins of his horse, and presently he too was blended with 
 the group in front. 
 
 Obed was now alone. Asinus willingly obeyed the hint 
 which his master soon gave, rather in desperation than 
 with any very collected understanding of the orders he 
 had received, and checked his pace accordingly. As the 
 Tetons, however, rode at a hand-gallop, but a moment of 
 time was necessary, after the ass began to walk, to removo 
 them effectually from before the vision of his rider. With 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 337 
 
 out plan, expectation, or hope of any sort, except that of 
 escaping from his dangerous neighbors, the doctor, first 
 feeling to assure himself that the package which contained 
 the miserable remnants of his specimens and notes was 
 safe at his crupper, turned the head of the beast in the re- 
 quired direction, and, kicking him with a species of fury, 
 he soon succeeded in exciting the speed of the patient 
 animal into a smart run. He had barely time to descend 
 into a hollow and ascend the adjoining swell of the prairie 
 before he heard, or fancied he heard, his name shouted in 
 good English from the throats of twenty Tetons. The de- 
 lusion gave a new impulse to his ardor, and no professor 
 of the saltant art ever applied himself with greater indus- 
 try than the naturalist now used his heels on the ribs of 
 Asinus. The conflict endured for several minutes without 
 interruption, and to all appearances it might have con- 
 tinued to the present moment had not the meek temper of 
 the beast become unduly excited. Borrowing an idea from 
 the manner in which his master exhibited his agitation, 
 Asinus so far changed the application of his own heels as 
 to raise them simultaneously with a certain indignant flour- 
 ish into the air, a measure that instantly decided the con- 
 troversy in his favor. Obed took leave of his seat as of a 
 position no longer tenable, continuing, however, the direc- 
 tion of his flight ; while the ass, like a conqueror, took 
 possession of the field of battle, beginning to crop the dry 
 herbage as the fruits of victory. 
 
 When Dr. Battius had recovered his feet and rallied his 
 faculties, which were in a good deal of disorder from the 
 hurried manner in which he had abandoned his former 
 situation, he returned in quest of his specimens and of his 
 ass. Asinus displayed enough of magnanimity to render 
 the interview amicable, and thenceforth the naturalist con- 
 tinued the required route with very commendable industry, 
 but with a much more tempered discretion. 
 
 In the meantime the old trapper had not lost sight of 
 the important movements that he had undertaken to con- 
 trol. Obed had not been mistaken in supposing that he 
 was already missed and sought, though his imagination 
 had corrupted certain savage cries into the well-known 
 sounds that composed his own Latinized name. The truth 
 was simply this : The warriors of the rear-guard had not 
 failed to apprise those in front of the mysterious character 
 with which it had pleased the trapper to invest the unsus- 
 
238 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 pecting naturalist. The same untutored admiration which 
 on the receipt of this intelligence had driven those in the 
 rear to the front, now drove many of the front to the rear. 
 The doctor was of course absent, and the outcry was no 
 more than the wild yells which were raised in the first 
 burst of savage disappointment. 
 
 But the authority of Mahtoree was prompt to aid the in- 
 genuity of the trapper in suppressing these dangerous 
 sounds. When order was restored and the former was 
 made acquainted with the reason why his young men had 
 betrayed so strong a mark of indiscretion, the old man, 
 who had taken a post at his elbow, saw with alarm the 
 gleam of keen distrust that flashed in his swarthy 
 visage. 
 
 "Where is your conjurer?" demanded the chief, turn- 
 ing suddenly to the trapper, as if he meant to make him 
 responsible for the reappearance of Obed. 
 
 " Can I tell my brother the number of the stars ? The 
 ways of the great medicine are not like the ways of other 
 men." 
 
 " Listen to me, gray-head, and count my words," con- 
 tinued the other, bending on his rude saddle-bow like 
 some chevalier of a more civilized race, and speaking in 
 the haughty tones of absolute power; "the Dahcotaha 
 have not chosen a woman for their chief. When Mahto- 
 ree feels the power of a great medicine, he will tremble , 
 until then he will look with his own eyes, without borrow- 
 ing sight from a pale-face. If your conjurer is not with 
 his friends in the morning, my young men shall look for 
 him. Your ears are open. Enough." 
 
 The trapper was not sorry to find that so long a respite 
 was granted. He had before found reason to believe that 
 the Teton partisan was one of those bold spirits who over- 
 step the limits which use and education fix to the opinions 
 of man in every state of society, and he now saw plainly 
 that he must adopt some artifice to deceive him, different 
 from that which had succeeded so -well with his followers. 
 The sudden appearance of the rock, however, which hove 
 up, a bleak and ragged mass, out of the darkness ahead, 
 put an .end for the present to the discourse, Mahtoree 
 giving all his thoughts to the execution of his designs on 
 the rest of the squatter's movables. A murmur ran through 
 the band, as each dark warrior caught a glimpse of the de- 
 sired haven, after which the nicest ear mighi have listened 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 239 
 
 in vain to catch a sound louder than the rustling of feet 
 among the tall grass of the prairie. 
 
 But the vigilance of Esther was not easily deceived. 
 She had long listened anxiously to the suspicious sounds 
 which approached the rock across the naked waste, nor 
 had the sudden outcry been unheard by the unwearied sen- 
 tinels of the rock. The savages, who had dismounted at 
 some little distance, had not time to draw around the base 
 of the hill in their customary silent and insiduous man- 
 ner, before the voice of the Amazon was raised, demand- 
 ing : 
 
 " Who is beneath ? Answer for your lives ! Siouxesor 
 devils, I fear ye not ! " 
 
 No answer was given to this challenge, every warrior 
 halting where he stood, confident that his dusky form was 
 blended with the shadows of the plain. It was at this 
 moment that the trapper determined to escape. He had 
 been left, with the rest of his friends, under the surveillance 
 of those who were assigned to the duty of watching the 
 horses, and, as they all continued mounted, the moment 
 appeared favorable for his project. The attention of the 
 guards was drawn to the rock, and a heavy cloud, driving 
 above them at that instant, obscured even the feeble light 
 which fell from the stars. Leaning on the neck of his 
 horse, the old man muttered : 
 
 "Where is my pup ? Where is it Hector where is it, 
 dog ? " 
 
 The hound caught the well-known sounds, and answered 
 by a whine of friendship, which threatened to break into 
 one of his piercing howls. The trapper was in the act of 
 raising himself from this successful exploit, when he felt the 
 hand of Weucha grasping his throat, as if determined to 
 suppress his voice by the very unequivocal process of strang- 
 ulation. Profiting by the circumstance, he raised another 
 low sound, as in the natural effort of breathing, which 
 drew a second responsive cry from the faithful hound. 
 Weucha instantly abandoned his hold of the master in 
 order to wreak his vengeance on the dog. But the voice 
 of Esther was again heard, and every other design was 
 abandoned in order to listen. 
 
 " Ay, whine and deform your throats as you may, ye 
 imps of darkness," she said, with a cracked but scornful 
 laugh ; " I know ye ; tarry, and ye shall have light for 
 your misdeeds. Put in the coal, Phcebe ; put in the coal: 
 
2 4 o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 your father and the boys shall see that they are wanted at 
 home, to welcome their guests." 
 
 As she spoke, a strong light, that of a brilliant star, was 
 een on the very pinnacle of the rock ; then followed a 
 forked flame, which curled for a moment amid the wind- 
 ings of an enormous pile of brush, and flashing upward in 
 a united sheet, it wavered to and fro in the passing air, shed- 
 ding a bright glare on every object within its influence. 
 A taunting laugh was heard from the height, in which the 
 voices of all ages mingled, as though they triumphed at 
 having so successfully exposed the treacherous intentions 
 of the Tetons. 
 
 The trapper looked about him to ascertain in what situ- 
 ations he might find his friends. True to the signals, 
 Middleton and Paul had drawn a little apart, and now 
 stood ready, by every appearance, to commence their 
 flight at the third repetition of the cry. Hector had es- 
 caped his savage pursuer, and was again crouching at the 
 heels of his master's horse. But the broad circle of light 
 was gradually increasing in extent and power, and the old 
 man, whose eye and judgment so rarely failed him, pa- 
 tiently awaited a more propitious moment for his enter* 
 prise. 
 
 " Now, Ishmael, my man, if sight and hand ar' true as 
 ever, now is the time to work upon these red-skins, who 
 claim to own all your property, even to your wife and 
 children. Now, my good man, prove both breed and 
 character ! " 
 
 A distant shout was heard in the direction of the ap- 
 proaching party of the squatter, assuring the female gar- 
 rison that succor was not far distant. Esther answered to 
 the grateful sounds by a cracked cry of her own, lifting 
 her form, in the first burst of exultation, above the rock 
 in a manner to be visible to all below. Not content with 
 this dangerous exposure of her person, she was in the act 
 of tossing her arms in triumph, when the dark figure of 
 Mahtoree shot into the light and pinioned them to her 
 side. The forms of three other warriors glided across the 
 top of the rock, looking like naked demons flitting among 
 the clouds. The air was filled with the brands of the bea- 
 con, and a heavy darkness succeeded, not unlike that of 
 the appalling instant when the last rays of the sun are ex- 
 cluded by the intervening mass of the moon. A yell of 
 triumph burst from the savages in their turn, and wap 
 
THE PRAIRJE. 241 
 
 rather accompanied than followed by a loud, long whine 
 from Hector. 
 
 in an instant the old man was between the horses of 
 Middleton and Paul, extending a hand to the bridle of 
 each, in order to check the impatience of their riders. 
 
 "Softly, softly," he whispered, "their eyes are as mar* 
 vellously shut for the minute as if the Lord had stricken 
 them blind ; but their ears are open. Softly, softly ; for 
 fifty yards, at least, we must move no faster than a walk." 
 
 The five minutes of doubt that succeeded appeared like 
 an age to all but the trapper. As their sight was grad- 
 ually restored, it seemed to each that the momentary 
 gloom which followed the extinction of the beacon was to 
 be replaced by as broad a light as that of noonday. Grad- 
 ually the old man, however, suffered the animals to quicken 
 their steps, until they had gained the centre of one of the 
 prairie bottoms. Then, laughing in his quiet manner, he 
 released the reins, and said : 
 
 " Now let them give play to their legs ; but keep on 
 the old fog to deaden the sounds." 
 
 It is needless to say how cheerfully he was obeyed. In 
 a few more minutes they ascended and crossed a swell of 
 the land, after which the flight was continued at the top 
 of their horses' speed, keeping the indicated star in view, 
 as the laboring bark steers for the light which points the 
 way to a haven and security. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 "The clouds and sunbeams o'er his eye, 
 
 That once their shades and glories threw, 
 Have left, in yonder silent sky, 
 No vestige where they flew." MONTGOMERY. 
 
 A STILLNESS, as deep as that which marked the gloomy 
 wastes in their front, was observed by the fugitives to dis- 
 tinguish the spot they had just abandoned. Even the 
 trapper lent his practised faculties, in vain, to detect any 
 of the well-known signs which might establish the im- 
 portant fact that hostilities had actually commenced be- 
 tween the parties of Mahtoree and Ishmael ; but their 
 horses carried them out of the reach of sounds, without 
 16 
 
242 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 the occurrence of the smallest evidence of the sort. The 
 old man, from time to time, muttered his discontent, but 
 manifested the uneasiness he actually entertained in no 
 other manner, unless it might be in exhibiting a growing 
 anxiety to urge the animals to increase their speed. He 
 pointed out, in passing, the deserted swale where the 
 family of the squatter had encamped, the night they were 
 introduced to the reader, and afterward he maintained an 
 ominous silence ominous because his companions had 
 already seen enough of his character to be convinced that 
 the circumstances must be critical indeed which possessed 
 the power to disturb the well-regulated tranquillity of the 
 old man's mind. 
 
 " Have we not done enough ? " Middleton demanded, in 
 tenderness to the inability of Inez and Ellen to endure too 
 much fatigue, at the end of some hours ; " we have ridden 
 hard, and have crossed a wide tract of plain. It is time to 
 seek a place of rest." 
 
 " You must seek it, then, in Heaven, if you find your- 
 selves unequal to a longer march," murmured the old 
 trapper. " Had the Tetons and the squatter come to 
 blows, as any one might see in the natur' of things they 
 were bound to do, there would be time to look about us, 
 and to calculate not only the chances but the comforts oi 
 the journey ; but, as the case actually is, I should consider 
 it certain death, or endless captivity, to trust our eyes with 
 sleep until our heads are fairly hid in some uncommon 
 cover." 
 
 " I know not," returned the youth, who reflected more 
 on the sufferings of the fragile being he supported, than 
 on the experience of his companion "I know not; we 
 have ridden leagues, and I can see no extraordinary signs 
 of danger ; if you fear for yourself, my good friend, be- 
 lieve me you are wrong, for 
 
 " Your gran'ther, were he living and here," interrupted 
 the old man, stretching forth a hand, and laying a finger 
 impressively on the arm of Middleton, "would have spared 
 those words. He had some reason to think that, in the 
 prime of my day, when my eye was quicker than the 
 hawk's, and my limbs were as active as the legs of the fal- 
 low-deer, I never clung too eagerly and fondly to life ; then 
 why should I now feel such a childish affection for a thing 
 that I know to be vain, and the companion of pain and 
 sorrow ? Let the Tetons do their worst ; they will nof 
 
THE PR A TRIE. 243 
 
 find a miserable and worn-out trapper the loudest in his 
 complaints or his prayers." 
 
 " Pardon me, my worthy, my inestimable friend," ex- 
 claimed the repentant young man, warmly grasping the 
 hand which the other was in the act of withdrawing ; " I 
 knew not what I said or rather I thought only of those 
 whose tenderness we are most bound to consider." 
 
 " Enough. It's natur', and it is right. Therein your 
 gran'ther would have done the very same. Ah's me ! what 
 a number of seasons, hot and cold, wet and dry, have rolled 
 over my poor head, since the time we worried it out to- 
 gether, among the red Hurons of the lakes, back in those 
 rugged mountains of Old York ! and many a noble buck 
 has since that day fallen by my hand ; ay, and many a 
 thieving Mingo, too ! Tell me, lad, did the general, for 
 general I know he got to be, did he ever tell you of the 
 deer we took that night the outliers of the accursed tribe 
 drove us to the caves on the island, and how we feasted 
 and drunk in security ?" 
 
 "I have often heard him mention the smallest circum- 
 stance of the night you mean ; but " 
 
 " And the singer, and his open throat, and his shoutings 
 in the fights !" continued the old man, laughing joyously 
 at the strength of his own recollections. 
 
 "All all he forgot nothing, even to the most trifling 
 incident. Do you not " 
 
 "What! did he tell you of the imp behind the log and 
 of the miserable devil who went over the fall or of the 
 wretch in the tree ? " 
 
 u Of each and all, with everything that concerned them.* 
 I should think " 
 
 "Ay," continued the old man, in a voice which betrayed 
 how powerfully his own faculties retained the impression 
 of the spectacle, " I have been a dweller in forests and in 
 the wilderness for threescore and ten years, and if any can 
 pretend to know the world, or to have seen scary sights, it 
 is myself ! But never, before nor since, have I seen hu- 
 man man in such a state of mortal despair as that very 
 savage ; and yet he scorned to speak, or to cry out, or to 
 own his forlorn condition ! It is their gift, and nobly did 
 he maintain it ! " 
 
 * They who have read the preceding books, in which the trapper ap 
 pears as a hunter and a scout, will readily understand the allusions. 
 
44 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " Harkee, old trapper," interrupted Paul, who, content 
 with the knowledge that his waist was grasped by one of 
 the arms of Ellen, had hitherto ridden in unusual silence ; 
 " my eyes are as true and as delicate as a humming-bird'n 
 in the day, but they are nothing worth boasting of by star- 
 light. Is that a sick buffalo crawling along in the bottom 
 there, or is it one of the stray cattle of the savages ? " 
 
 The whole party drew up, in order to examine the object 
 which Paul had pointed out. During most of the time 
 they had ridden in the little vales in order to seek the 
 protection of the shadows, but just at that moment they 
 had ascended a roll of the prairie in order to cross into the 
 very bottom where this, unknown animal was now seen. 
 
 " Let us descend," said Middleton ; " be it beast or man, 
 we are too strong to have any cause of fear." 
 
 " Now, if the thing was not morally impossible," cried 
 the trapper, who the reader must have already discovered 
 was not always exact in the use of qualifying words, " if 
 the thing was not morally impossible, I should say that 
 was the man who journeys in search of reptiles and insects 
 * -our fellow-traveller, the doctor." 
 
 " Why impossible ? did you not direct him to pursue 
 this course, in order to rejoin us ?" 
 
 " Ay, but I did not tell him to make an ass outdo the 
 speed of a horse. You are right you are right," said the 
 trapper, interrupting himself, as, by gradually lessening 
 the distance between them, his eyes assured him it was 
 Obed and Asinus whom he saw " you are right, as cer- 
 tainly as the thing is a miracle. Lord, what a thing is 
 fear ! How now, friend ; you have been industrious to 
 have got so far ahead in so short a time. I marvel at the 
 speed of the ass ! " 
 
 "Asinus is overcome," returned the naturalist, mourn- 
 fully. "The animal has certainly not been idle since wo 
 separated, but he declines all my admonitions and invita- 
 tions to proceed. I hope there is no instant fear from the 
 savages ? " 
 
 " I cannot say that I cannot say that ; matters are no!: 
 as they should be atween the squatter and the Tetons, not 
 will I answer as yet for the safety of any scalp among us. 
 The beast is broken down ; you have urged him beyond 
 his natural gifts, and he is like a worried hound. Tfcere 
 is pity and discretion in all things, even though a man be 
 riding for his life." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 245 
 
 " You indicated the star," returned the doctor, " and I 
 deemed it expedient to use great diligence in pursuing 
 the direction." 
 
 " Did you expect to reach it by such haste ! Go, go ; 
 you talk boldly of the creatur's of the Lord, though I 
 plainly see you are but a child in matters that concern 
 their gifts and instincts. What a plight would you now 
 be in, if there was need for a long and a quick push with 
 our heels ! " 
 
 "The fault exists in the formation of the quadruped," 
 said Obed, whose placid temper began to revglt under so 
 many scandalous imputations. '* Had there been rotary 
 levers for two of the members, a moiety of the fatigue 
 would have been saved, for one item 
 
 " That, for your moiety's and rotaries and items, man ; 
 a jaded ass is a jaded ass, and he who denies it is but a 
 brother of the beast itself. Now, captain, are we driven 
 to choose one of two evils. We must either abandon this 
 man, who has been too much with us through good and 
 bad to be easily cast away, or we must seek a cover to let 
 the animal rest." 
 
 "Venerable venator ! " exclaimed the alarmed Obed, "I 
 conjure you by all the secret sympathies of our common 
 nature, by all the hidden " 
 
 " Ah, fear has brought him to talk a little rational sense ! 
 It is not natur', truly, to abandon a brother in distress, and 
 the Lord he knows that I have never yet done the shame- 
 ful deed. You are right, friend, you are right ; we must 
 all be hidden, and that speedily.. But what to do with the 
 ass ! Friend doctor, do you truly value the life of the 
 creatur ? " 
 
 " He is an ancient and faithful servant," returned the 
 disconsolate Obed, " and with pain should I see him come 
 to any harm. Fetter his lower limbs, and leave him to re- 
 pose in this bed of herbage. I will engage he shall be 
 found where he is left, in the morning." 
 
 " And the Siouxes ? What would become of the beast 
 should any of the red imps catch a peep at his ears, grow- 
 ing up out of the grass like two mullein tops ?" cried the 
 bee-hunter. " They would stick him as full of arrows as 
 a woman's cushion is full of pins, and then believe they 
 had done the job for the father of all rabbits ! My word 
 for it, but they would find out their blunder at the first 
 mouthful ! " 
 
246 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 Middleton, who began to grow impatient under the pro- 
 tracted discussion, interposed, and, as a good deal of defer- 
 ence was paid to his rank, he quickly prevailed in his ef- 
 forts to effect a sort of compromise. The humble Asinus, 
 too meek and too weary to make any resistance, was soon 
 tethered and deposited in his bed of dying grass, where 
 he was left, with a perfect confidence on the part of his 
 master of finding him again at the expiration of a few 
 hours. The old man strongly remonstrated against this 
 arrangement, and more than once hinted that the knife was 
 much more, certain than the tether ; but the petitions of 
 Obed, aided perhaps by the secret reluctance of the trap- 
 per to destroy the beast, were the means of saving its life. 
 When Asinus was thus secured, and as his master believed 
 secreted, the whole party proceeded to find some place 
 where they might rest themselves, during the time required 
 for the repose of the animal. 
 
 According to the calculations of the trapper, they had 
 ridden twenty miles since the commencement of their 
 flight. The delicate frame of Inez began to droop under 
 the excessive fatigue, nor was the more robust but still 
 feminine person of Ellen insensible to the extraordinary 
 effort she had made. Middleton himself was not sorry to 
 repose, nor did the vigorous and high-spirited Paul hesitate 
 to confess that he should be all the better for a little rest. 
 The old man alone seemed indifferent to the usual claims 
 of Nature. Although but little accustomed to the unusual 
 description of exercise he had just been taking, he appeared 
 to bid defiance to all the usual attacks of human infirmities. 
 Though evidently so near its dissolution, his attenuated 
 frame stood like the shaft of seasoned oak, dry, naked, and 
 tempest-riven, but unbending and apparently indurated 
 to the consistency of stone. On the present occasion he 
 conducted the search for a resting-place, which was 
 immediately commenced, with all the energy of youth 
 tempered by the discretion and experience of his great 
 age. 
 
 The bed of grass in which the doctor had been met, and in 
 which his ass had just been left, was followed a little dis- 
 tance until it was found that the rolling swells of the 
 prairie were melting away into one vast level plain, that 
 was covered, for miles on miles, with the same species of 
 herbage. 
 
 " Ah, this may do, this may do," said the old man, whey 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 247 
 
 they arrived on the borders of this sea of withered grass. 
 " I 'know the spot, and often have I lain in its secret holes, 
 for days at a time, while savages have been hunting the 
 buffaloes on the open ground. We must enter it with 
 great care, for a broad trail might be seen, and Indian 
 curiosity is a dangerous neighbor." 
 
 Leading the way himself, he selected a spot where the 
 tall, coarse herbage stood most erect, growing not unlike 
 a bed of reeds, both in height and density. Here he en- 
 tered, singly, directing the others to follow as nearly as 
 possible in his own footsteps. When they had passed for 
 some hundred or two feet into the wilderness of weeds, he 
 gave his directions to Paul and Middleton, who continued 
 a direct route deeper into the place, while he dismounted 
 and returned on his tracks to the margin of the meadow. 
 Here he passed many minutes in replacing the trodden 
 grass, and in effacing, as far as possible, every evidence of 
 their passage. 
 
 In the meantime the rest of the party continued their 
 progress, not without toil, and consequently at a very mod- 
 erate gait, until they had penetrated a mile into the place. 
 Here they found a spot suited to their circumstances, and, 
 dismounting, they began to make their dispositions to 
 pass the remainder of the night. By this time the trapper 
 had rejoined the party, and again resumed the direction 
 of their proceedings. 
 
 The weeds and grass were soon plucked and cut from 
 an area of sufficient extent, and a bed for Inez and Ellen 
 was speedily made, a little apart, which for sweetness and 
 ease might have rivalled one of down. The exhausted 
 females, after receiving some light refreshments from the 
 provident stores of Paul and the old man, now sought 
 their repose, leaving their more stout companions at lib- 
 erty to provide for their own necessities. Middleton and 
 Paul were not long in following the example of their 
 betrothed, leaving the trapper and the naturalist still 
 seated around a savory dish of bison's-meat, which had 
 been cooked at a previous halt, and which was, as usual, 
 eaten cold. 
 
 A certain lingering sensation, which had so long been 
 uppermost in the -mind of Obed, temporarily banished 
 sleep ; and as for the old man, his wants were rendered, 
 by habit and necessity, as seemingly subject to his will 
 as it they altogether depended on the pleasure of the mo* 
 
248 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 ment. Like his companion, he chose, therefore, to watch 
 instead of sleeping. 
 
 " If the children of ease and security knew the hard* 
 ships and dangers the students of nature encounter in 
 their behalf," said Obed, after a moment of silence, when 
 Middleton took his leave for the night, " pillars of silver 
 and statues of brass would be reared as the everlasting 
 monuments of their glory ! " 
 
 " I know not I know not," returned his companion ; 
 "silver is far from plenty, at least in the wilderness, and 
 your brazen idols are forbidden in the commandments of 
 the Lord." 
 
 " Such, indeed, was the spirit of the great law-givef 
 of the Jews, but the Egyptians and the Chaldeans, the 
 Greeks and the Romans, were wont to manifest their grat- 
 itude in these types of the human form. Indeed, many 
 of the illustrious masters of antiquity have, by the aid of 
 science and skill, even outdone the works of nature, and 
 exhibited a beauty and perfection in the human form that 
 are difficult to be found in the rarest living specimens of 
 any of the species ; genus homo." 
 
 "Can your idols walk or speak, or have they the glori- 
 ous gift of reason ?" demanded the trapper, with some in- 
 dignation in his voice. " Though but little given to run 
 into the noise and chatter of the settlements, yet have I 
 been into the towns in my day to barter the peltry for 
 lead and powder, and often have I seen your waxen dolls 
 with their tawdry clothes and glass eyes " 
 
 " Waxen dolls !" interrupted Obed ; "it is profanation 
 in view of the arts to liken the miserable handiwork of the 
 dealers in wax to the pure models of antiquity ! " 
 
 " It is profanation in the eyes of the Lord," retorted the 
 old man, "to liken the works of his creatures to the power 
 of his own hand." 
 
 " Venerable venator," resumed the naturalist, clearing 
 his throat like one who was much in earnest, " let us dis- 
 cuss understandingly and in amity. You speak of the 
 dross of ignorance, whereas my memory dwells on those 
 precious jewels which it was my happy fortune formerly 
 to witness among the treasured glories of the Old 
 World." 
 
 " Old World ! " retorted the trapper, " that is the miser- 
 able cry of all the half-starved miscreants that have come 
 into this blessed land since the days of my boyhood. The? 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 249 
 
 /ell you of the Old World as if the Lord had not the power 
 and the will to create the universe in a day ; or as if he 
 had not bestowed his gifts with an equal hand, though 
 not with an equal mind or equal wisdom have they been 
 received and used. Were they to say a -warn-out, and an 
 abused^ and a sacrilegious world, they might not be so faf 
 from the truth ! " 
 
 Dr. Battius, who found it quite as arduous a task to 
 maintain any of his favorite positions with so irregular an 
 antagonist, as he would have found it difficult to keep his 
 feet within the hug of a Western wrestler, hemmed aloud, 
 and profited by the new opening the trapper had made to 
 shift the grounds of the discussion : 
 
 "By Old and New world, my excellent associate," he 
 aaid, " it is not to be understood that the hills and the val- 
 leys, the rocks and the rivers of our own moiety of the 
 earth do not, physically speaking, bear a date as ancient 
 as the spot on which the bricks of Babylon are found. It 
 merely signifies that its moral existence is not coequal with 
 its physical or geological formation." 
 
 " Anan ! " said the old man, looking up inquiringly into 
 the face of the philosopher. 
 
 " Merely that it has not been so long known in moral? 
 as the other countries of Christendom." 
 
 " So much the better, so much the better. I am no 
 great admirator of your old morals, as you call them ; for I 
 have ever found, and I have lived long as it were in 
 the very heart of Natur', that your old morals are none of 
 the best. Mankind twist and turn the rules of the 
 Lord, to suit their own wickedness, when their devilish 
 cunning has had too much time to trifle with his com- 
 mands." 
 
 " Nay, venerable hunter, still am I not comprehended. 
 By morals I do not mean the limited and literal significa- 
 tion of the term, such as is conveyed in its synonym, 
 morality, but the practices of men, as connected with their 
 daily intercourse, their institutions, and their laws." 
 
 " And such I call barefaced and downright wantonness 
 and waste," interrupted his sturdy disputant. 
 
 "Well, be it so," returned the doctor, abandoning the 
 explanation in despair. " Perhaps I have conceded too 
 much," he then instantly added, fancying that he still saw 
 the glimmerings of an argument through another chink in 
 the discourse. " Perhaps I have conceded too much in 
 
250 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 saying that this hemisphere is literally as old in its forma- 
 tion as that which embraces the venerable quarters oi 
 Europe, Asia, and Africa." 
 
 " It is easy to say a pine is not so tall as an alder, but it 
 would be hard to prove. Can you give a reason for such 
 a belief ?" 
 
 "The reasons are numerous and powerful," returned 
 the doctor, delighted by this encouraging opening. " Look 
 into the plains of Egypt and Arabia ; their sandy deserts 
 teem with the monuments of their antiquity ; and then we 
 have also recorded documents of their glory, doubling the 
 proofs of their former greatness, now that they lie stripped 
 of their fertility, while we look in vain for similar evi- 
 dences that man has ever reached the summit of civilization 
 on this continent, or search, without our reward, for the 
 path by which he has made the downward journey to his 
 present condition of second childhood." 
 
 "And what see you in all this ? " demanded the trapper, 
 who, though a little confused by the terms of his compan- 
 ion, seized the thread of his ideas. 
 
 "A demonstration of my problem, that Nature did not 
 make so vast a region to lie an uninhabited waste so many 
 ages. This is merely the moral view of the subject ; as to 
 the more exact and geological " 
 
 "Your morals are exact enough for me," returned the 
 old man ; ''for I think I see in them the very pride oi folly. 
 I am but little gifted in the fables of what you call the Old 
 World, seeing that my time has been mainly passed look- 
 ing Natur' steadily in the face, and in reasoning on what 
 I've seen rather than on what I've heard in traditions. But 
 I have never shut my ears to the words of the good book ; 
 and many is the long winter evening that I have passed in 
 the wigwams of the Delawares, listening to the good Mora- 
 vians, as they dealt forth the history and doctrines of the 
 elder times to the people of the Lenape ! It was pleasant 
 to hearken to such wisdom after a weary hunt ! Right 
 pleasant did I find it, and often have I talked the matter 
 over with the Great Serpent of the Delawares, in the more 
 peaceful hours of our outlying, whether it might be on the 
 trail of a war-party of the Mingoes, or on the watch for 3 
 York deer. I remember to have heard it, then and there, 
 said, that the Blessed Land was once fertile as the bottoms 
 of the Mississippi, and groaning with its stores of grain 
 and fruits ; but that the judgment has since fallen upon it 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 251 
 
 and that it is now more remarkable for its barrenness 
 than any qualities to boast of." 
 
 "It is true ; but Egypt, nay, much of Africa, furnishes 
 still more striking proofs of this exhaustion of Nature." 
 
 " Tell me," interrupted the old man ; " is it a certain 
 truth that buildings are still standing in that land of Pha- 
 raoh, which may be likened, in their stature, to the hills 
 of the 'arth ? " 
 
 "It is as true as that nature never refuses to bestow 
 her incisors on the animals^ mammalia ; genus, homo " 
 
 " It is very marvellous ; and it proves how great He 
 must be, when his miserable creatur's can accomplish such 
 wonders ! Many men must have been needed to finish 
 such an edifice -; ay, and men gifted with strength and skill 
 too ! Does the land abound with such a race to this 
 hour?" 
 
 " Far from it. Most of the country is a desert, and but 
 for a mighty river all would be so." 
 
 " Yes, rivers are rare gifts to such as till the ground ; as 
 any one may see who journeys far atween the Rocky 
 Mountains and the Mississippi. But how do you account 
 for these changes of the face of the 'arth itself, and for 
 this downfall of nations, you men of the schools ? " 
 
 " It is to be ascribed to moral cau " 
 
 "You're right it is their morals ; their wickedness and 
 their pride, and chiefly their waste, that has done it all. 
 Now, listen to what the experience of an old man teaches 
 him. I have lived long, as these gray hairs and wrinkled 
 hands will show ; even though my tongue should fail in 
 the wisdom of my years. And I have seen much of the 
 folly of man, for his natur' is the same, be he born in the 
 wilderness, or be he born in the towns. To my weak 
 judgment it hath ever seemed that his gifts are not equal to 
 his wishes. That he would mount into the heavens with 
 all his deformities about him, if he only knew the road, 
 no one will gainsay that witnesses his bitter strivings 
 upon 'arth. If his power is not equal to his will, it is be- 
 cause the wisdom of the Lord hath set bounds to his evil 
 Dorkings." 
 
 " It is much too certain that certain facts will warrant a 
 theory, which teaches the natural depravity of the genus ; 
 but, if science could be fairly brought to bear on a whole 
 species at once, for instance, education might eradicate 
 the evil principle." 
 
252 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " That, for your education ! The time has been when I 
 have thought it possible to make a companion of a beast. 
 Many are the cubs, and many are the speckled fawns, that 
 I have reared with these old hands, until I have even fan- 
 cied them rational and altered beings but what did it 
 amount to ? the bear would bite, and the deer would run, 
 notwithstanding my wicked conceit in fancying that I 
 could change a temper that the Lord himself had seen fit 
 to bestow. Now, if a man is so blinded in his folly as to 
 go on, ages and ages, doing harm chiefly to himself, there 
 is the same reason to think that he has wrought his evil 
 here as in the countries you call so old. Look about you, 
 man ; where are the multitudes that once peopled these 
 prairies ; the kings and the palaces ; the riches and the 
 mightiness of this^ desert ? " 
 
 "Where are the monuments that would prove the truth 
 of so vague a theory r " 
 
 " I know not what you call a monument." 
 
 " The works of man ! The glories of Thebes and Balbec 
 columns, catacombs, and pyramids standing amid the 
 sands of the East, like wrecks on a rocky shore, to testify 
 to the storms of ages ! " 
 
 "They are gone. Time has lasted too long for them. 
 For why ? Time was made by the Lord, and they were 
 made by man. This very spot of reeds and grass, on 
 which you now sit, may once have been the garden of some 
 mighty king. It is the fate of all things to ripen, and then 
 to decay. The tree blossoms, and bears its fruit, which 
 falls, rots, withers, and even the seed is lost ! Go count 
 the rings of the oak and of the sycamore ; they lie in cir- 
 cles, one about another, until the eye is blinded in striv- 
 ing to make out their numbers ; and yet a full change of 
 the season comes round while the stem is winding one of 
 these little lines about itself, like the buffalo changing his 
 coat, or the buck his horns ; and what does it all amount 
 to ? There does the noble tree fill its place in the forest, 
 loftier, and grander, and richer, and more difficult to imi. 
 tate, than any of your pitiful pillars, for a thousand years, 
 until the time which the Lord hath given it is full. Then 
 come the winds, that you cannot see, to rive its bark ; and 
 the waters from the heavens, to soften its pores ; and the 
 rot, which all can feel and none can understand, to humble 
 its pride and bring it to the ground. From that moment 
 its beauty begins to perish. It lies another hundred years, 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 253 
 
 a mouldering log, and then a mound of moss and 'arth, a sad 
 effigy of a human grave. This is one of your genuine 
 monuments, though made by a very different power than 
 such as belongs to your chiselling masonry ! and, after all, 
 the cunningest scout of the whole Dahcotah nation might 
 pass his life in searching for the spot where it fell, and be 
 no wiser when his eyes grew dim than when they were 
 first opened. As if that was not enough to convince man 
 of his ignorance, and, as though it were put there in mock- 
 ery of his conceit, a pine shoots up from the roots of the 
 oak, just as barrenness comes after fertility, or as these 
 wastes have been spread, where a garden may have been 
 created. Tell me not of your worlds that are old ! it is 
 blasphemous to set bounds and seasons, in this manner, 
 to the works of the Almighty, like a woman counting the 
 ages of her young." 
 
 " Friend hunter, or trapper," returned the naturalist, 
 clearing his throat in some intellectual confusion at the 
 vigorous attack of his companion, "your deductions, if 
 admitted by the world, would sadly circumscribe the efforts 
 of reason, and much abridge the boundaries of knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 " So much the better so much the better ; for I have 
 always found that a conceited man never knows content. 
 All things prove it. Why have we not the wings of the 
 pigeon, the eyes of the eagle, and the legs of the moose, 
 if it had been intended that man should be equal to all his 
 wishes ? " 
 
 "There are certain physical defects, venerable trapper, 
 in which I am always ready to admit great and happy al- 
 terations might be suggested. For example, in my own 
 order of Phalangacru " 
 
 " Cruel enough would be the order that should come 
 from miserable hands like thine ? A touch from such a 
 finger would destroy the mocking deformity of a mon- 
 key 1 Go, go ; human folly is not needed to fill up the 
 grear design of God. There is no stature, no beauty, 
 no proportions, nor any colors in which man himself 
 can well be fashioned, that is not already done to hi3 
 hands." 
 
 "That is touching another great and much-disputed 
 question," exclaimed the doctor, who seized upon every 
 distinct idea that the ardent and somewhat dogmatic old 
 man left exposed to his mental grasp, with the vain hope 
 
254 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 of inducing a logical discussion, in which he might bring 
 his battery of syllogisms to annihilate the unscientific de- 
 fences of his antagonist. 
 
 It is, however, unnecessary to our narrative to relate the 
 erratic discourse that ensued. The old man eluded the 
 annihilating blows of his adversary, as the light-armed 
 soldier is wont to escape the efforts of the more regular 
 warrior, even while he annoys him most ; and an houi 
 passed away without bringing any of the numerous sub- 
 jects, on which they touched, to a satisfactory conclusion. 
 The arguments acted, however, on the nervous system of 
 the doctor like so many soothing soporifics ; and, by the 
 time his aged companion was disposed to lay his head on 
 his pack, Obed, refreshed by his recent mental joust, was 
 in a condition to seek his natural rest, without enduring 
 the torments of the incubus, in the shapes of Teton war- 
 riors and bloody tomahawks. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 "Save you, sir." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE sleep of the fugitives lasted for several hours. The 
 trapper was the first to shake oif its influence, as he had 
 been the last to court its refreshment. Rising, just as the 
 gray light of day began to brighten that portion of the 
 studded vault which rested on the eastern margin of the 
 plain, he summoned his companions from their warm lairs, 
 and pointed out the necessity of their being once more on 
 the alert. While Middleton attended to the arrangements 
 necessary to the comforts of Inez and Ellen, in the long 
 and painful journey which lay before them, the old man 
 and Paul prepared the meal, which the former had advised 
 them to take before they proceeded to horse. These sev- 
 eral dispositions were not long in making, and the little 
 group was soon seated about a repast which, though it 
 might want the elegances to which the bride of Middleton. 
 had been accustomed, was not deficient in the more im- 
 portant requisites of savor and nutriment. 
 
 " When we get lower into the hunting-grounds of the 
 Pawnees," said the trapper, laying a morsel of delicate ven- 
 ison before Inez, on a little trencher neatly made of horn, 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 255 
 
 and expressly for his own use, "we shall find the buffaloes 
 fatter and sweeter, the deer in more abundance, and all 
 the gifts of the Lord abounding to satisfy our wants. Per- 
 haps we may even strike a beaver, and get a morsel from 
 his tail* by way of a rare mouthful." 
 
 " What course do you mean to pursue, when you have 
 once thrown these bloodhounds from the chased " demand- 
 ed Middleton. 
 
 "If I might advise," said Paul, "it would be to strike 
 a water-course and get upon its downward current as soon 
 as may be. Give me a cotton-wood, and I will turn you 
 out a canoe that shall carry us all, the jackass excepted, 
 in perhaps the work of a day and a night. Ellen, here, is 
 a lively girl enough, but then she is no great race-rider, 
 and it would be far more comfortable to boat six or eight 
 hundred miles than to go loping along like so many elks 
 measuring the prairies ; besides, water leaves no trail." 
 
 " I will not swear to that," returned the trapper ; " I 
 have often thought the eyes of a red-skin would find a trail 
 in air." 
 
 " See, Middleton," exclaimed Inez, in a sudden burst of 
 youthful pleasure, that caused her for a moment to forget 
 her situation, " how lovely is that sky ; surely it contains 
 a promise of happier times ! " 
 
 " It is glorious ! " returned her husband. " Glorious 
 and heavenly is that streak of vivid red, and here is a still 
 brighter crimson ; rarely have I seen a richer rising of the 
 sun." 
 
 " Rising of the sun ! " slowly repeated the old man, lift- 
 ing his tall person from its seat with a deliberate and ab- 
 stracted air, while he kept his eye riveted on the changing 
 and certainly beautiful tints that were varnishing the vault 
 of heaven " rising of the sun ! I like not such risings of 
 the sun. Ah's me ! the imps have circumvented us with 
 a vengeance. The prairie is on fire!" 
 
 " God in heaven protect us ! " cried Middleton, catching 
 Inez to his bosom, under the instant impression of the im- 
 minence of their danger. " There is no time to lose, old 
 man ; each instant is a day. Let us fly ! " 
 
 " Whither? " demanded the trapper, motioning him, with 
 calmness and dignity, to arrest his steps. " In this wilder- 
 
 * The American hunters consider the tail of the beaver the most nourish* 
 ing of all food. 
 
25b THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 ness of grass and reeds you are like a vessel in the broad 
 lakes without a compass. A single step on the wrong 
 course might prove the destruction of us all. It is seldom 
 danger is so pressing that there is not time enough for 
 reason to do its work, young officer ; therefore let us wait 
 its biddings." 
 
 " For- my own part," said Paul Hover, looking about 
 him with no equivocal expression of concern, " I acknowl- 
 edge that, should this dry bed of weeds get fairly in a 
 flame, a bee would have to make a flight higher than com- 
 mon to prevent his wings from scorching. Therefore, 
 old trapper, I agree with the captain, and say mount and 
 run." 
 
 " Ye are wrong ye are wrong ; man is not a beast to 
 follow the gift of instinct, and to snuff up his knowledge 
 by a taint in the air, or a rumbling in the ground ; but he 
 must see and reason, and then conclude. So follow me a 
 little to the left, where there is a rise in the ground, whence 
 we may make our reconnoitrings." 
 
 The old man waved his hand with authority, and led the 
 way, without further parlance, to the spot he had indicated, 
 followed by the whole of his alarmed companions. An 
 eye less practised than that of the trapper might have 
 failed in discovering the gentle elevation to which he 
 alluded, and \vhich looked on the surface of the meadow 
 like a growth a little taller than common. When they 
 reached the place, however, the stinted grass itself an- 
 nounced the absence of that moisture which had fed the 
 rank weeds of most of the plain, ,and furnished a clew to 
 the evidence by which he had judged of the formation of 
 the ground hidden beneath. Here a few minutes were 
 lost in breaking down the tops of the surrounding herbage, 
 which, notwithstanding the advantage of their position, 
 rose even above the heads of Middleton and Paul, and in 
 obtaining a lookout that might command a view of the 
 surrounding sea of fire. 
 
 The frightful prospect added nothing to the hopes of 
 those who had so fearful a stake in the result. Although 
 the day was beginning to dawn, the vivid colors of the sky 
 continued to deepen, as if the fierce element were bent on 
 an impious rivalry of the light of the sun. Bright flashes 
 of flame shot up here and there along the margin of the 
 waste like the nimble coruscations of the north, but far 
 more angry and threatening in their color and changes 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 257 
 
 The anxiety on the rigid features of the trapper sensibly 
 deepened as he leisurely traced those evidences of con- 
 flagration, which spread in a broad belt about their place 
 of "refuge, until he had encircled the whole horizon. 
 
 Shaking his head, as he again turned his face to the 
 point where the danger seemed nighest and most rapidly 
 approaching, the old man said : 
 
 " Now, have we been cheating ourselves with the belief 
 that we had thrown these Tetons from our trail, while 
 here is proof enough that they not only know where we 
 lie, but they intend to smoke us out, like so many skulk- 
 ing beasts of prey. See ! they have lighted the fire around 
 the whole bottom at the same moment, and we are as com- 
 pletely hemmed in by the devils as an island by its waters." 
 
 "Let us mount and ride!" cried Middleton ; "is life 
 not worth a struggle ? " 
 
 " Whither would you go ? Is a Teton horse a sala- 
 mander, that can walk amid fiery flames unhurt, or do you 
 think the Lord" will show his might in your behalf, as in 
 the days of old, and carry you harmless through such a 
 furnace as you may see glowing beneath yonder red sky ? 
 There are Siouxes, too, hemming the fire with their arrows 
 and knives at every side of us, or I am no judge of their 
 murderous deviltries." 
 
 "We will ride into the centre of the whole tribe," re- 
 turned the youth, fiercely, " and put their manhood to the 
 test." 
 
 " Ay, it's well in words, but what would it prove in 
 deeds ? Here is a dealer in bees, who can teach you wis- 
 dom in a matter like this." 
 
 " Now, for that matter, old trapper," said Paul, stretching 
 his athletic form like a mastiff conscious of his strength, 
 " I am on the side of the captain, and am clearly for a race 
 against the fire, though itr line me into a Teton wigwam. 
 Here is Ellen, who will " 
 
 " Of what use of what use are your stout hearts, when 
 the element of the Lord is to be conquered as well as 
 human men ? Look about you, friends : the wreath of 
 smoke, that is rising from the bottoms, plainly says that 
 there is no outlet from the spot without crossing a belt of 
 fire. Look for yourselves, my men ; look for yourselves , 
 if you can find a single opening, I will engage to follow." 
 
 The examination, which his companions so instantly 
 and so intently made, rather served to assure them of their 
 
 17 
 
258 THE 
 
 desperate situation than to appease their fears. Huge col 
 umns of smoke were rolling up from the plain, and thick- 
 ening in gloomy masses around the horizon ; the red glow 
 which gleamed upon their enormous folds now lighting 
 their volumes with the glare of the conflagration, and now 
 flashing to another point, as the flames beneath glided 
 ahead, leaving all behind enveloped in awful darkness, 
 and proclaiming louder than words the character of the 
 imminent and approaching danger. 
 
 "This is terrible !" exclaimed Middleton, folding the 
 trembling Inez to his heart "at such a time as this, and in 
 such a manner ! " 
 
 " The gates of Heaven are open to all who truly be- 
 lieve," murmured the pious devotee in his bosom. 
 
 " This resignation is maddening ! But we are men, and 
 will make a struggle for our lives ! How now, my brave 
 and spirited friend ; shall we yet mount and push across 
 the flame, or shall we stand here, and see those we most 
 love perish in this frightful manner, without an effort ?" 
 
 " I am for a swarming-time, and a flight before the hive 
 is too hot to hold us," said the bee-hunter, to whom it will 
 be at once seen that Middleton addressed himself. " Come, 
 old trapper, you must acknowledge that this is but a slow 
 way of getting out of danger. If we tarry here much 
 longer, it will be in the fashion that the bees lie around the 
 straw after the hive has been smoked for its honey. You 
 may hear the fire begin to roar already, and I know by ex- 
 perience that, when the flame once gets fairly into the 
 prairie-grass, it is no sloth that can outrun it." 
 
 " Think you," returned the old man, pointing scornfully 
 at the mazes of the dry and matted grass which environed 
 them, " that mortal feet can outstrip the speed of fire on 
 such a path ? If I only knew, now, on which side these 
 miscreants lay ! " 
 
 "What say you, friend doctor," cried the bewildered 
 Paul, turning to the naturalist with that sort of helpless- 
 ness with which the strong are often apt to seek aid of the 
 weak when human power is baffled by the hand of a might- 
 ier Being, " what say you ? have you no advice to give 
 away in a case of life and death ? " 
 
 The naturalist stood, tablets in hand, looking at the 
 awful spectacle with as much composure as if the confla- 
 gration had been lighted in order to solve the difficulties 
 of some scientific problem. Aroused by the question of 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 259 
 
 his companion, he turned to his equally calm though dif- 
 ferently occupied associate, the trapper, demanding, with 
 the most provoking insensibility to the urgent nature of 
 their situation : 
 
 " Venerable hunter, you have often witnessed similar 
 prismatic experiments " 
 
 He was rudely interrupted by Paul, who struck the tab- 
 lets from his hands with a violence that betrayed the utter 
 intellectual confusion which had overset the equanimity of 
 his mind. Before time was allowed for remonstrance, the 
 old man, who had continued during the whole scene like 
 one much at a loss how to proceed, though also like one 
 who was rather perplexed than alarmed, suddenly assumed 
 a decided air, as if he no longer doubted on the course it 
 was most advisable to pursue. 
 
 "It is time to be doing," he said, interrupting the con- 
 troversy that was about to ensue between the naturalist 
 and the bee-hunter ; " it is time to leave off books and 
 meanings, and to be doing." 
 
 "You have come to your recollections too late, miserable 
 old man ! " cried Middleton ; " the flames are within a qpuar- 
 ter of a mile of us, and the wind is bringing them down in 
 this quarter with dreadful rapidity." 
 
 " Anan ! the flames ! I care but little for the flames. If 
 I only knew how to circumvent the cunning of the Tetons 
 as I know how to cheat the fire of its prey, there would be 
 nothing needed but thanks to the Lord for our deliverance. 
 Do you call this a fire ? If you had seen what I have wit" 
 nessed in the Eastern hills, when mighty mountains were 
 like the furnace of a smith, you would have known what it 
 was to fear the flames, and to be thankful that you were 
 spared. Come, lads, come ; 'tis time to be doing now, and 
 to cease talking ; for yonder curling flame is truly coming 
 on like a trotting moose. Put hands upon this short and 
 withered grass where we stand, and lay bare the 'arth." 
 
 "Would you think to deprive the fire of its victims in 
 this childish manner ?" exclaimed Middleton. 
 
 A faint, but solemn smile passed over the features of the 
 old man as he answered : 
 
 " Your grand'ther would have said that, when the en- 
 emy was nigh, a soldier could do no better than to obey." 
 
 The captain felt the reproof and instantly began to imi- 
 tate the industry of Paul, who was tearing the decayed 
 herbage from the ground in a sort of desperate compliance 
 
20o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 with the trapper's direction. Even Ellen lent her hands 
 to the labor, nor was it long before Inez was seen similarly 
 employed, though none among them knew why or where- 
 fore. When life is thought to be the reward of labor, men 
 are wont to be industrious. A very few moments sufficed 
 to lay bare a spot of some twenty feet in diameter. Into 
 one edge of this little area the trapper brought the females, 
 directing Middleton and Paul to cover their light and in- 
 flammable dresses with the blankets of the party. So soon 
 as this precaution was observed, the old man approached 
 the opposite margin of the grass which still environed 
 them in a tall and dangerous circle, and, selecting a hand- 
 ful of the driest of the herbage, he placed it over the pan 
 of his rifle. The light combustible kindled at the flash. 
 Then he placed the little flame in a bed of the standing 
 fog, and, withdrawing from the spot to the centre of the 
 ring, he patiently awaited the result. 
 
 The subtle element seized with avidity upon its new 
 fuel, and in a moment forked flames were gliding among 
 the grass, as the tongues of ruminating animals are seen 
 rolling among their food, apparently in quest of its sweet' 
 est portions. 
 
 "Now," said the old man, holding up a finger, and 
 laughing in his peculiarly silent manner, "you shall see 
 fire fight fire ! Ah's me ! many is the time I have burnt a 
 smoothy path, from wanton laziness to pick my way across 
 a tangled bottom." 
 
 "But is this not fatal ?" cried the amazed Middleton ; 
 " are you not bringing the enemy nigher to us instead of 
 avoiding it ? " 
 
 " Do you scorch so easily ? your grand'ther had a 
 tougher skin. But we shall all live to see we shall alJ 
 live to see." 
 
 The experience of the trapper was in the right. As the 
 fire gained strength and heat, it began to spread on three 
 sides, dying of itself on the fourth, for want of aliment. 
 As it increased, and the sullen roaring announced its 
 power, it cleared everything before it, leaving the black 
 and smoking soil far more naked than if the scythe had 
 swept the place. The situation of the fugitives would 
 have still been hazardous had not the area enlarged as th^ 
 flame encircled them. But by advancing to the spot where 
 the trapper had kindled the grass, they avoided the heat, 
 and in a very few moments the flames began to recede iin 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 201 
 
 every quarter, leaving them enveloped in a cloud of smoke_ 
 but perfectly safe from the torrent of fire that was stilt 
 furiously rolling onward. 
 
 The spectators regarded the simple expedient of the 
 trapper with that species of wonder with which the cour- 
 tiers of Ferdinand are said to have viewed the manner in 
 which Columbus made his egg stand on its end, though 
 with feelings that were filled with gratitude instead of 
 envy. 
 
 " Most wonderful ! " said Middleton, when he saw the 
 complete success of the means by which they had been 
 rescued from a danger that he had conceived to be un- 
 avoidable. " The thought was a gift from Heaven, and 
 the hand that executed it should be immortal ! " 
 
 " Old trapper," cried Paul, thrusting his fingers through 
 his shaggy locks, " I have lined many a loaded bee into his 
 hole, and know something of the nature of the woods, 
 but this is robbing a hornet of his sting without touching 
 the insect ! " 
 
 " It will do it will do," returned the old man, who, after 
 the first moment of his success seemed to think no more 
 of the exploit ; " now get the horses in readiness. Let 
 the flames do their work for a short half-hour, and then 
 we will mount. That time is needed to cool the meadow, 
 for these unshod Teton beasts are as tender on the hoof 
 as a barefooted girl." 
 
 Middleton and Paul, who considered this unlooked-for 
 escape as a species of resurrection, patiently awaited the 
 time the trapper mentioned with renewed confidence in the 
 infallibility of his judgment. The doctor regained his tab- 
 lets, a little the worse from having fallen among the grass 
 which had been subject to the action of the flames, and 
 was consoling himself for this slight misfortune by record- 
 ing uninterruptedly such different vacillations in light and 
 shadow as he chose to consider phenomena. 
 
 In the meantime the veteran, on whose experience they 
 all so implicitly relied for protection, employed himself in 
 reconnoitring objects in the distance, through the open* 
 ings which the air occasionally made in the immense bodies 
 of smoke, that by this time lay in enormous piles on every 
 part of the plain. * 
 
 " Look you here, lads," the trapper said, after a long 
 and anxious examination, " your eyes are young and may 
 prove better than my worthless sight though the tima 
 
262 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 has been when a wise and brave people saw reason to 
 th ; iik me quick on a lookout ; but those times are gone, 
 and many a true and tried friend has passed away with 
 them. Ah's me ! if I could choose a change in the order- 
 ings of Providence which I cannot, and which it would 
 be blasphemy to attempt, seeing that all things are gov- 
 erned by a wiser mind than belongs to mortal weakness 
 but if I w r ere to choose a change, it would be to say that 
 such as they who have lived long together in friendship 
 and kindness, and who have proved their fitness to go in 
 company, by many acts of suffering and daring in each 
 other's behalf, should be permitted to give up life at such 
 times, as when the death of one leaves the other but little 
 reason to live." 
 
 " Is it an Indian that you see ?" demanded the impatient 
 Middleton. 
 
 " Red-skin or white-skin, it is much the same. Friend- 
 ship and use can tie men as strongly together in the woods 
 as in the towns ay, and for that matter, stronger. Here 
 are the young warriors of the prairies. Often do they 
 sort themselves in pairs, and set apart their lives for deeds 
 of friendship ; and well and truly do they act up to their 
 promises. The death-blow to one is commonly mortal to 
 the other ! I have been a solitary man much of my time, 
 if he can be called solitary who has lived for seventy years 
 in the very bosom of Natur', and where he could at any 
 instant open his heart to God without having to strip it of 
 the cares and wickednesses of the settlements but, mak- 
 ing that allowance, have I been a solitary man ; and yet 
 have I always found that intercourse with my kind was 
 pleasant, and painful to break off, provided that the com- 
 panion was brave and honest brave, because a skeary 
 comrade in the woods," suffering his eyes inadvertently to 
 rest a moment on the person of the abstracted naturalist, 
 " is apt to make a short path long ; and honest, inasmuch 
 as craftiness is rather an instinct of the brutes than a gift 
 becoming the reason of a human man." 
 
 " But the object that you saw was it a Sioux ? " 
 
 " What the world of America is coming to, and where 
 the machinations and inventions of its people are to have 
 an end, the Lord, he only knows. 'I have seen in my day 
 the chief who, in his time, had beheld the first Christian 
 that placed his wicked foot in the regions of York ! How 
 much has the beauty of the wilderness been deformed in 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 26} 
 
 two short lives ! My own eyes were first opened on the 
 shore of the Eastern sea, and well do I remember that I 
 tried the virtues of the first rifle I ever bore, after such a 
 march, from the door of my father to the forest, as a 
 stripling could make between sun and sun ; and that with- 
 out offence to the rights or prejudices of any man who 
 set himself up to be the owner of the beasts of the field. 
 Natur' then lay in its glory along the whole coast, giving 
 a narrow stripe, between the woods and the ocean, to the 
 greediness of the settlers. And where am I now ? Had 
 I the wings of an eagle, they would tire before a tenth of 
 the distance, which separates me from that sea, could be 
 passed ; and towns and villages, farms and highways, 
 churches and schools, in short, all the inventions and 
 deviltries of man, are spread across the region. I have 
 known the time when a few red-skins, shouting along the 
 border, could set the provinces in a fever ; and men were 
 to be armed ; and troops were to be called to aid from a 
 distant land ; and prayers were said, and the women fright- 
 ed, and few slept in quiet, because the Iroquois were on 
 the war-path, or the accursed Mingo had the tomahawk in 
 hand. How is it now ? The country sends out her ships 
 to foreign lands to wage their battles ; cannon are plentier 
 than the rifle used to be ; and trained soldiers are never 
 wanting, in tens of thousands, when need calls for their 
 services. Such is the difference atween a province and a 
 State, my men ; and I, miserable and worn out as I seem, 
 have lived to see it all ! " 
 
 "That you must have seen many a chopper skimming 
 the cream from the face of the earth, and many a settler 
 getting the very honey of Nature, old trapper," said Paul, 
 " no reasonable man can, or, for that matter, shall doubt. 
 But here is Ellen getting uneasy about the Siouxes, and 
 now you have opened your mind so freely concerning these 
 matters, if you will just put us on the line of our flight, 
 the swarm w r ill make another move." 
 
 "Anan!" 
 
 " I say that Ellen is getting uneasy ; and as the smoke 
 is lifting from the plain," it may be prudent to take another 
 flight." 
 
 " The boy is reasonable. I had forgotten we were in the 
 midst of a raging fire, and that Siouxes were round about 
 us like hungry wolves watching a drove of buffaloes. But 
 when memory is at work in my old brain, on times long 
 
264 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 past, it is apt to overlook the matters of the day. You say 
 right, my children ; it is time to be moving, and now comes 
 the real nicety of our case. It is easy to outwit a furnace, 
 for it is nothing but a raging element ; and it is not always 
 difficult to throw a grizzly bear from his scent, for the 
 creatur' is both enlightened and blinded by his instinct ; 
 but to shut the eyes of a waking Teton is a matter of 
 greater judgment, inasmuch as his deviltry is backed by 
 reason." 
 
 Notwithstanding the old man appeared so conscious of 
 the difficulty of the undertaking, he set about its achieve- 
 ment with great steadiness and alacrity. After complet- 
 ing the examination, which had been interrupted by the 
 melancholy wanderings of his mind, he gave the signal to 
 his companions to mount. The horses, which had con- 
 tinued passive and trembling amid the raging of the fire, 
 received their burdens with a satisfaction so very evident 
 as to furnish a favorable augury of their future industry. 
 The trapper invited the doctor to take his own steed, de- 
 claring his intention to proceed on foot. 
 
 " I am but little used to journeying with the feet of 
 others," he added, as a reason for the measure, "and my 
 legs are a weary of doing nothing. Besides, should we 
 light suddenly on an ambushment, which is a thing far 
 from impossible, the horse will be in a better condition for 
 a hard run with one man on his back than with two. As 
 for me, what matters it whether my time is to be a day 
 shorter or a day longer ? Let the Tetons take my scalp, 
 if it be God's pleasure ; they will find it covered with gray 
 hairs ; and it is beyond the craft of man to cheat me of the 
 knowledge and experience by which they have been 
 whitened." 
 
 As no one among the impatient listeners seemed disposed 
 to dispute the arrangement, it was acceded to in silence. 
 The doctor, though he uttered a few mourning exclama- 
 tions on behalf of the lost Asinus, was by far too well 
 E leased in finding that his speed was likely to be sustained 
 y four legs instead of two, to be long in complying ; and, 
 consequently, in a very few moments the bee-hunter, who 
 was never last to speak on such occasions, vociferously 
 announced that they were ready to proceed. 
 
 " Now look off yonder to the east," said the old man, as 
 he began to lead the way across the murky and still smok- 
 ing plain ; " little fear of cold feet in journeying such a 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 26$ 
 
 path as this : but look you off to the east, and if you see 
 a sheet of shining white, glistening like a plate of beaten 
 silver through the openings of the smoke, why, that is 
 water. A noble stream is running thereaway, and I 
 thought I got a glimpse of it a while since ; but other 
 thoughts came, and I lost it. It is a broad and swift river, 
 such as the Lord has made many of its fellows in this des- 
 ert. For here may Natur' be seen in all its richness, trees 
 alone excepted. Trees, which are to the 'arth as fruits are 
 to a garden ; without them nothing can be pleasant ot 
 thoroughly useful. Now watch all of you, with open eyes, 
 for that stripe of glittering water : we shall not be safe un- 
 til it is flowing between our trail and these sharp-sighted 
 Tetons." 
 
 The latter declaration was enough to insure a vigilant 
 lookout for the desired stream, on the part of all the trap^ 
 per's followers. With this object in view, the party pro- 
 ceeded in profound silence, the old man having admonished 
 them of the Necessity of caution, as they entered the clouds 
 of smoke, which were rolling like masses of fog along the 
 plain, more particularly over those spots where the fire 
 had encountered occasional pools of stagnant water. 
 
 They travelled near a league in this mariner without ob- 
 taining the desired glimpse of the river. The fire was still 
 raging in the distance, and, as the air swept away the first 
 vapor of the conflagration, fresh volumes rolled along the 
 place, limiting the view. At length the old man, who had 
 begun to betray some little uneasiness, which caused his 
 followers to apprehend that even his acute faculties were 
 beginning to be confused in the mazes of the smoke, made 
 a sudden pause, and, dropping his rifle to the ground, he 
 stood, apparently musing over some object at his feet. 
 Middleton and the rest rode up to his side, and demanded 
 the reason of the halt. 
 
 "Look ye here," returned the trapper, pointing to the 
 mutilated carcass of a horse that lay more than half con- 
 sumed in a little hollow of the ground ; " here may you 
 see the power of a prairie conflagration. The 'arth is 
 moist, hereaway, and the grass has been taller than usual. 
 This miserable beast has been caught in his bed. You see 
 the bones, the crackling and scorched hide, and the grin- 
 ning teeth. A thousand winters could 'not wither an 
 animal so thoroughly as the element has done it in a 
 minute." 
 
266 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 11 And this might have been our fate/' said MiddJeton, 
 " had the flames come upon us in our sleep ! " 
 
 " Nay, I do not say that, I do not say that. Not but 
 that man will burn as well as tinder ; but that, being more 
 reasoning than a horse, he would better know how to 
 avoid the danger." 
 
 " Perhaps this, then, has been but the carcass of an ani- 
 mal, or he too would have fled ? " 
 
 " See you these marks in the damp soil ? Here have 
 been his hoofs, and there is a moccasin-print, as I'm a sin- 
 ner ! The owner of the beast has tried hard to move him 
 from the place, but it is in the instinct of the creatur' to 
 be faint-hearted and obstinate in a fire." 
 
 " It is a well-known fact. But if the animal has had a 
 rider, where is he ? " 
 
 "Ay, therein lies the mystery," returned the trapper, 
 stooping to examine the signs in the ground with closer 
 eye. " Yes, yes, it is plain there has been a long struggle 
 atween the two. The master has tried hard to save his 
 beast, and the flames must have been very greedy, or he 
 would have had better success." 
 
 " Harkee, old trapper," interrupted Paul, pointing to a 
 little distance, where the ground was drier, and the herb- 
 age had, in consequence, been less luxuriant ; "just call 
 fihem two horses. Yonder lies another." 
 
 " The boy is right ! Can it be that the Tetons have 
 been caught in their own snares ? Such things do happen ; 
 and here is an example to all evil-doers. Ay, look you 
 here : this is iron ; there have been some white inventions 
 about the trappings of the beast it must be so it must 
 be so a party of the knaves have been skirting in the 
 grass after us, while their friends have fired the prairie, and 
 look you at the consequences ; they have lost their beasts, 
 and happy have they been if their own souls are not now 
 skirting along the path which leads to the Indian heaven." 
 
 " They had the same expedient at command as your- 
 self," rejoined Middleton, as the party slowly proceeded, 
 approaching the other carcass, which lay directly on their 
 route. 
 
 " I know not that. It is not every savage that carries 
 his steel and flint, or as good a rifle-pan as this old friend 
 of mine. It is slow making a fire with two sticks, and 
 little time was given to consider or invent just at this spot, 
 as you may see by yon streak of flame, which is flashing 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 267 
 
 along afore the wind, as if it were on a trail of powder. 
 It is not many minutes since the fire has passed hereaway, 
 and it may be Avell to look at our primings ; not that I 
 would willingly combat the Tetons, God forbid ! but if a 
 fight needs be, it is always wise to get the first shot." 
 
 "This has been a strange beast, old man," said Paul, 
 who had pulled the bridle, or rather halter of his steed, 
 over the second carcass, w r hile the . rest of the party were 
 already passing, in their eagerness to proceed ; " a strange 
 horse do I call it ; it had neither head nor hoofs ! " 
 
 " The fire has not been idle," returned the trapper, 
 keeping his eye vigilantly employed in profiting by those 
 glimpses of the horizon which the whirling smoke offered 
 to his examination. " It would soon bake you a buffalo 
 whole, or for that matter powder his hoofs and horns into 
 white ashes. Shame, shame, old Hector ! As for the cap- 
 tain's pup, it is to be expected that he would show his 
 want of years, and I may say, I hope without offence, his 
 want of education too ; but for a hound like you, who 
 have lived so long in the forest afore you came into these 
 plains, it is very disgraceful, Hector, to be showing your 
 teeth, and growling at the carcass of a roasted horse, the 
 same as if you were telling your master that you had 
 found the trail of a grizzly bear." 
 
 " I tell you, old trapper, this is no horse ; neither in 
 hoofs, head, nor hide." 
 
 " Anan ! Not a horse ? your eyes are good for the bees 
 and for the hollow trees, my lad, but bless me, the boy is 
 right ! That I should mistake the hide of a buffalo, 
 scorched and crimpled as it is, for the carcass of a horse ! 
 Ah's me ! The time has been, my men, when I would tell 
 you the name of a beast as far as eye could reach, and that 
 too with most of the particulars of color, age, and sex." 
 
 " An inestimable advantage have you then enjoyed, ven- 
 erable venator ! " observed the attentive naturalist. " The 
 man who can make these distinctions in a desert is saved 
 the pain of many a weary walk, and often of an inquiry 
 that in its result proves useless. Pray tell me, did your 
 exceeding excellence of vision extend so far as to enable 
 you to decide on their order or genus ? " 
 
 " I know not what you mean by your orders of genius." 
 
 " No ! " interrupted the bee-hunter, a little disdainfully 
 for him, when speaking to his aged friend : " now, old 
 trapper, that is admitting your ignorance of the English 
 
268 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 language in a way I should not expect from a man 
 of your experience and understanding. By order, oui 
 comrade means whether they go in promiscuous droves, 
 like a swarm that is following its queen-bee, or in single 
 file, as you often see the buffaloes trailing each other 
 through a prairie. And as for genius, I'm sure that is .a 
 word well understood, and in everybody's mouth. There 
 is the Congressman in our district, and that tonguey little 
 fellow who puts out the paper in our country, they are 
 both so called, for their smartness ; which is what the doc- 
 tor means, as I take it, seeing that he seldom speaks with 
 out some considerable meaning." 
 
 When Paul finished this very clever explanation he 
 looked behind him with an expression which, rightly in- 
 terpreted, would have said "You see, though I don' f - 
 often trouble myself in these matters I am no fool." 
 
 Ellen admired Paul for anything but his learning. 
 There was enough in his frank, fearless, and manly char- 
 acter, backed as it was by great personal attraction, to 
 awaken her sympathies, without the necessity of prying 
 into his mental attainments. The poor girl reddened like 
 a rose, her pretty fingers played with the belt by which 
 she sustained herself on the horse, and she hurriedly ob- 
 served, as if anxious to direct the attention of the other 
 listeners from a weakness on which her own thoughts 
 could not bear to dwell : 
 
 " And this is not a horse, after all ? " 
 
 " It is nothing more nor less than the hide of a buffalo," 
 continued the trapper, who had been no less puzzled by 
 the explanation or Paul than by the language of the doc- 
 tor ; "the hair is beneath ; the fire has run over it as you 
 see ; for, being fresh, the flames could take no hold. The 
 beast has not been long killed, and it may be that some of 
 the beef is still hereaway." 
 
 "Lift the corner of the skin, old trapper," said Paul 
 with the tone of one who felt as if he had now proved his 
 right to mingle his voice in any counsel ; " if there is a 
 morsel of the hump left, it must 'be well cooked, and it 
 shall be welcome." 
 
 The old man laughed heartily at the conceit of his 
 companion. Thrusting his foot beneath the skin, it 
 moved. Then it was suddenly cast aside, and an Indian 
 warrior sprang from its cover to his feet, with an agility 
 that bespoke how urgent he deemed the occasion. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 26} 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 " I would it were bedtime, Hal, and all well." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 A SECOND glance sufficed to convince the whole of the 
 startled party that the young Pawnee, whom they had al- 
 ready encountered, again stood before them. Surprise kept 
 both sides mute, and more than a minute was passed in 
 surveying each other with eyes of astonishment if not of 
 distrust. The wonder of the young warrior was, however, 
 much more tempered and dignified than that of his Chris- 
 tian acquaintances. While Middleton and Paul felt the 
 tremor which shook the persons of their dependent com- 
 panions thrilling through their own quickened blood, the 
 glowing eye of the Indian rolled from one to another as 
 if it could never quail before the rudest assaults. His 
 gaze, after making the circuit of every wondering counte- 
 nance, finally settled in a steady look on the equally im- 
 movable features of the trapper. The silence was first 
 broken by Dr. Battius, in the ejaculation of 
 
 " Order, primates ; genus, homo ; species, prairie ! " 
 
 " Ay ay the secret is out," said the old trapper, shak- 
 ing his head, like one who congratulated himself on hav- 
 ing mastered the mystery of some knotty difficulty. " The 
 lad has been in the grass for cover ; the fire has come 
 upon him in his sleep, and, having lost his horse, he has 
 been driven to save himself under that fresh hide of a buf- 
 falo. No bad invention, when powder and flint were 
 wanting to kindle a ring. I warrant me, now, this is a 
 clever youth, and one that it would be safe to journey with ! 
 I will speak to him kindly, for anger can at least serve no 
 turn of ours. My brother is welcome again," using the 
 language which the other understood ; " the Tetons have 
 been smoking him, as they would a raccoon." 
 
 The young Pawnee rolled his eyes over the place, as if 
 he were examining the terrific danger from which he had 
 just escaped, but he disdained to betray the smallest emo- 
 tion at its imminency. His brow contracted as he answered 
 to the remark of the trapper by saying : 
 
 " A Teton is a dog. When the Pawnee war-whoop is in 
 their ears, the whole nation howls." 
 
 " It is true. The imps are on our trail, and I am glad to 
 
270 THE PRAIRIE. . 
 
 meet a warrior, with the tomahawk in his hand, who does 
 not love them. Will my brother lead my children to his 
 village ? If the Siouxes follow on our path, my young 
 men shall help him to strike them." 
 
 The young Pawnee turned his eyes from one to another 
 of the strangers, in a keen scrutiny, before he saw fit to 
 answer so important an interrogatory. His examination 
 of the males was short, and apparently satisfactory. But 
 his gaze was fastened long and admiringly, as in their 
 former interview, on the surpassing and unwonted beauty 
 of a being so fair and so unknown as Inez. Though his 
 glance wandered, for moments, from her countenance to the 
 more intelligible and yet extraordinary charms of Ellen, it 
 did not fail to return promptly to the study of a creature 
 who, in the view of his unpractised eye and untutored im- 
 agination, was formed with all that perfection with which 
 the youthful poet is apt to endow the glowing images of 
 his brain. Nothing so fair, so ideal, so every way worthy 
 to reward the courage and self-devotion of a warrior, had 
 ever before been encountered on the prairies, and the young 
 brave appeared to be deeply and intuitively sensible to the 
 influence of so rare a model of the loveliness of the sex. 
 Perceiving, however, that his gaze gave uneasiness to the 
 subject of his admiration, he withdrew his eyes, and, lay- 
 ing his hand impressively on his chest, he modestly an- 
 swered : 
 
 " My father shall be welcome. The young men of my 
 nation shall hunt with his sons ; the chiefs shall smoke 
 with the gray-head. The Pawnee girls will sing in the 
 ears of his daughters." 
 
 " And if we meet the Tetons ? " demanded the trapper, 
 who wished to understand, thoroughly, the more important 
 conditions of this new alliance. 
 
 " The enemy of the Big-knives shall feel the blow of the 
 Pawnee." 
 
 "It is well. Now, let my brother and I meet in coun- 
 sel, that we may not go on a crooked path, but that our 
 road to his village may be like the flight of the pigeons." 
 
 The young Pawnee made a significant gesture of assent, 
 and followed the other a little apart, in order to be removed 
 from all danger of interruption from the reckless Paul or 
 the abstracted naturalist. Their conference was short, 
 but, as it was conducted in the sententious manner of the 
 natives, it served to make each of the parties acquainted 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 27* 
 
 with all the necessary information of the other. When 
 they rejoined their associates, the old man saw fit to ex- 
 plain a portion of what had passed between them as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "Ay, I was not mistaken," he said ; "this good-looking 
 young warrior for good-looking and noble-looking he is, 
 though a little horrified perhaps with paint this good- 
 looking youth, then, tells me he is out on the scout for 
 these very Tetons. His party was not strong enough to 
 strike the devils, who are down from their towns in great 
 numbers to hunt the buffalo, and runners have gone to the 
 Pawnee villages for aid. It would seem that this lad is a 
 fearless boy, for he has been hanging on their skirts alone, 
 until, like ourselves, he was driven to the grass for a cover. 
 But he tells me more, my men, and what I am mainly 
 sorry to hear, which is, that the cunning Mahtoree, instead 
 of going to blows with the squatter, has become his friend, 
 and that both broods, red and white, are on our heels, and 
 out-lying around this very burning plain to circumvent us 
 to our destruction." 
 
 "How knows he all this to be true ?" demanded Mid- 
 dleton. 
 
 " Anan ! " 
 
 "In what manner does he know that these things are 
 so?" 
 
 "In what manner ! Do you think newspapers and town- 
 criers are needed to tell a scout what is doing on the 
 prairies, as they are in the bosom of the States ? No gos- 
 siping woman, who hurries from house to house to spread 
 evil of her neighbor, can carry tidings with her tongue so 
 fast as these people will spread their meaning, by signs 
 and warnings that the*y alone understand. "Tis their Tam- 
 ing, and, what is better, it is got in the open air, and not 
 within the walls of a school. I tell you, captain, that 
 what he says is true." 
 
 " For that matter," said Paul, " I'm ready to swear to it. 
 It is reasonable, and therefore it must be true." 
 
 "And well you might, lad well you might. He fur- 
 thermore declares that my old eyes for once were true to 
 me, and that the river lies, hereaway, at about the distance 
 of half a league. You see the fire has done most of its 
 work in that quarter, and our path is clouded in smoke. 
 He also agrees that it is needful to wash our trail in water. 
 Yes, we must put that river atween us and the Sioux eyes. 
 
272 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 and then, by the favor of the Lord, not forgetting our own 
 industry, we may gain the village of the Loups." 
 
 u Words will not forward us a foot," said Middleton , 
 " let us move." 
 
 The old man assented, and the party once more prepared 
 to renew its route. The Pawnee threw the skin of the 
 buffalo over his shoulder and led the advance, casting 
 many a stolen glance behind him as he proceeded, in order 
 to fix his gaze on the extraordinary and, to him, unac- 
 countable loveliness of the unconscious Inez. 
 
 An hour sufficed to bring the fugitives to the bank of the 
 stream, which was one of the hundred rivers that serve to 
 conduct, through the mighty arteries of the Missouri and 
 Mississippi, the waters of that vast and still uninhabited 
 region to the ocean. The river was not deep, but its cur- 
 rent was troubled and rapid. 
 
 The flames had scorched the earth to its very margin, 
 and as the warm streams of the fluid mingled, in the cooler 
 air of the morning, with the smoke of the raging confla- 
 gration, most of its surface was wrapped in a mantle of 
 moving vapor. The trapper pointed out the circumstance 
 with pleasure, saying, as he assisted Inez to dismount on 
 the margin of the water-course : 
 
 " The knaves have outwitted themselves ! I am far 
 from certain that I should not have fired the prairie, to 
 have got the benefit of this very smoke to hide our move- 
 ments, had not the heartless imps saved us the trouble. 
 I've known such things done in my day, and done with 
 success. Come, lady, put your tender foot upon the 
 ground for a fearful time has it been to one of your breed- 
 ing and skeary qualities. Ah's me ! what have I not known 
 the young, and the delicate, and the virtuous, and the 
 modest, to undergo, in my time, among the horrifications 
 and circumventions of Indian warfare ! Come, it is a short 
 quarter of a mile to the other bank, and then our trail, at 
 least, will be broken." 
 
 Paul had by this time assisted Ellen to dismount, and he 
 now stood looking, with rueful eyes, at the naked banks of 
 the river. Neither tree nor shrub grew along its borders, 
 with the exception of here and there a solitary thicket of 
 low bushes, from among which it would not have been an 
 easy matter to have found a dozen stems of a size sufficient 
 to make an ordinary walking-stick. 
 
 " Harkee, old trapper," the moody-looking bee-hunter 
 
7-HE PRAIRIE. 273 
 
 exclaimed ; " it is very well to talk of the other side of this 
 ripple of a river, or brook, or whatever you may call it, 
 but in my judgment it would be a smart rifle that would 
 throw its lead across it that is, to any detriment to Indian 
 or deer." 
 
 "That it would that it would ; though I carry a piece 
 here that has done its work, in time of need, at as great a 
 distance." 
 
 " And do you mean to shoot Ellen and the captain's lady 
 across, or do you intend them to go, trout-fashion, with 
 their mouths under water ? " 
 
 " Is this river too deep to be forded ? " asked Middleton, 
 who, like Paul, began to consider the impossibility of 
 transporting her whose safety he valued more than his 
 own to the opposite shore. 
 
 " When the mountains above feed it with their tor- 
 rents, it is, as you see, a swift and powerful stream. 
 Yet have I crossed its sandy bed, in my time, without 
 Wetting a knee. But we have the Sioux horses ; I war- 
 rant me that the kicking imps will swim like so many 
 deer." 
 
 " Old trapper," said Paul, thrusting his fingers into his 
 mop of a head, as was usual with him when any difficulty 
 confounded his philosophy, " I have swum like a fish in 
 my day, and I can do it again, when there is need ; nor do 
 I much regard the weather ; but I question if you get 
 Nelly to sit a horse, with this water whirling like a mill^ 
 race before her eyes ; besides, it is manifest the thing is 
 not to be done dry shod." 
 
 " Ah, the lad is right. We must to our inventions, there-- 
 fore, or the river cannot be crossed." Then, cutting the 
 discourse short, he turned to the Pawnee, and explained 
 to him the difficulty which existed'in relation to the women. 
 The young warrior listened gravely, and, throwing the 
 buffalo-skin from his shoulder, he immediately com- 
 menced, assisted by the occasional aid of the understanding 
 old man, the preparations necessary to effect his desirable 
 object. 
 
 The hide was soon drawn into the shape of an umbrella 
 top, or an inverted parachute, by thongs of deer-skin, with 
 which both the laborers were well provided. A few light 
 sticks served to keep the parts from collapsing, or falling 
 in. When this simple and natural expedient was arranged, 
 it was placed on the water, the Indian making a sign that 
 18 
 
274 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 it was ready to receive its freight. Both Inez and Ellen 
 hesitated to trust themselves in a bark of so frail a con- 
 struction, nor would Middleton or Paul consent that they 
 should do so until each had assured himself, by actual ex- 
 periment, that the vessel was capable of sustaining a load 
 much heavier than it was destined to receive. Then, in- 
 deed, their scruples were reluctantly overcome, and the 
 skin was made to receive its precious burden. 
 
 " Now leave the Pawnee to be the pilot," said the trap- 
 per ; " my hand is not so steady as it used to be ; but he has 
 limbs like toughened hickory. Leave all to the wisdom 
 of the Pawnee." 
 
 The husband and lover could not well do otherwise, and 
 they were fain to become deeply interested, it is true, but 
 passive spectators of this primitive species of ferrying. 
 The Pawnee selected the beast of Mahtoree from among 
 the three horses, with a readiness that proved he was far 
 from being ignorant of the properties of that noble ani- 
 mal, and throwing himself upon its back, he rode into the 
 margin of the river. Thrusting an end of his lance into 
 the hide, he bore the light vessel up against the stream, 
 and giving his steed the rein, they pushed boldly into the 
 current. Middleton and Paul followed, pressing as nigh 
 the bark as prudence would at all warrant. In this man- 
 ner the young warrior bore his precious cargo to the op- 
 posite bank in perfect safety, without the slightest incon- 
 venience to the passengers, and with a steadiness and 
 celerity which proved that both horse and rider were not 
 unused to the operation. When the shore was gained the 
 young Indian undid his work, threw the skin over his 
 shoulder, placed the sticks under his arm, and returned, 
 without speaking, to transfer the remainder of the party, 
 in a similar manner, to what was very justly considered 
 the safer side of the river. 
 
 " Now, friend doctor," said the old man, when he saw 
 the Indian plunging into the river a second time, " do I 
 know there is faith in yonder red-skin. He is good-look- 
 ing, ay, and an honest-looking youth, but the winds of 
 heaven are not more deceitful than these savages when 
 the devil has fairly beset them. Had the Pawnee been a 
 Teton, or one of them heartless Mingoes that used to be 
 prowling through the woods of York a time back, that is, 
 some sixty years agone, we should have seen his back and 
 not his face turned toward us. My heart had its misgiv- 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 275 
 
 ings when I saw the lad choose the better horse, for it 
 would be as easy to leave us with that beast as it would 
 for a nimble pigeon to part company from a flock of noisy 
 and heavy-winged crows. But you see that truth is in 
 the boy, and make a red-skin once your friend, he is yours 
 so long as you deal honestly by him." 
 
 "What may be the distance to the sources of this 
 stream ?" demanded Dr. Battius, whose eyes were rolling 
 over the whirling eddies of the current, with a very por* 
 tentous expression of doubt. " At what distance may its 
 secret spriags be found ? " 
 
 " That may be as the weather proves. I warrant me 
 your legs would be a-weary before you had followed its 
 bed into the Rocky Mountains ; but then there are seasons 
 when it might be done without wetting a foot" 
 
 " And in what particular divisions of the year do these 
 periodical seasons occur ?" 
 
 " He that passes this spot a few months from this time 
 will find that foaming water-course a desert of drifting 
 sand." 
 
 The naturalist pondered deeply. Like most others who 
 are not endowed with a superfluity of physical fortitude, 
 the worthy man had found the danger of passing the river, 
 in so simple a manner, magnifying itself in his eyes so 
 rapidly, as the moment of adventure approached, that he 
 actually contemplated the desperate effort of going round 
 the river in order to escape the hazard of crossing it. It 
 may not be necessary to dwell on the incredible ingenuity 
 with which terror will at any time prop a tottering argu- 
 ment. The worthy Obed had gone over the whole sub- 
 ject with commendable diligence, and had just arrived at 
 the consoling conclusion that there was nearly as much 
 glory in discerning the hidden sources of so considerable 
 a stream, as in adding a plant or an insect to the lists of 
 the learned, when the Pawnee reached the shore for the 
 second time. The old man took his seat with the utmost 
 deliberation in the vessel of skin (so soon as it had been 
 duly arranged for his reception), and, having carefully 
 disposed of Hector between his legs, he beckoned to his 
 companion to occupy the third place. 
 
 The naturalist placed a foot in the frail vessel, as an 
 elephant will try a bridge, or a horse is seen to make a 
 similar experiment before he will trust the whole of his 
 corporeal treasure on the dreaded flat, and then withdrew 
 
276 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 just as the old man believed he was about to seat him* 
 self. 
 
 " Venerable venator," he said, mournfully, " this is a 
 most unscientific bark. There is an inward monitor which 
 bids me distrust its security ! " 
 
 " Anan ! " said the old man, who was pinching the ears 
 of the hound, as a father would play with the same mem- 
 ber in a favorite child. 
 
 " I incline not to this irregular mode of experimenting 
 on fluids. The vessel has neither form nor proportions." 
 
 " It is not as handsomely turned as I have s^en a canoe 
 in birchen bark, but comfort may be taken in a wigwam 
 as well as in a palace." 
 
 " It is impossible that any vessel constructed on prin- 
 ciples so repugnant to science can be safe. This tub, ven 
 erable hunter, will never reach the opposite shore in 
 safety." 
 
 " You .are a witness of what it has done." 
 
 " Ay ; but it was an anomaly in prosperity. If excep- 
 tions were to be taken as rules in the government of things, 
 the human race would speedily be plunged into the abysses 
 of ignorance. Venerable trapper, this expedient in which 
 you would repose your safety is, in the annals of regular 
 inventions, what a lusus natures may be termed in the lists 
 of natural history a monster ! " 
 
 How much longer Dr. Battius might have felt disposed 
 to prolong the discourse it is difficult to say, for, in addi- 
 tion to the powerful personal considerations which induced 
 him to procrastinate an experiment which was certainly 
 not without its dangers, the pride of reason was beginning 
 to sustain him in the discussion. But fortunately for the 
 credit of the old man's forbearance, when the naturalist 
 reached the word with which he terminated his last speech, 
 a sound arose in the air that seemed a sort of supernatural 
 echo to the idea itself. The young Pawnee, who had 
 awaited the termination of the incomprehensible discus- 
 sion with grave and characteristic patience, raised his head 
 and listened to the unknown cry, like a stag whose myste- 
 rious faculties had detected the footsteps of the distant 
 hounds in the gale. The trapper and the doctor were 
 not, however, entirely so uninstructed as to the nature of 
 the extraordinary sounds. The latter recognized in them 
 the well-known sounds of his own beast, and he was about 
 to rus^i up the little bank which confined the current, witb 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 27 J 
 
 all the longings of strong affection, when Asinus himself 
 galloped into view, at no great distance, urged to the un- 
 natural gait by the impatient and brutal Weucha, who 
 bestrode him. 
 
 The eyes of the Teton and those of the fugitives met. 
 The former raised a long, loud, and piercing yell, in which 
 the notes of exultation were fearfully blended with those 
 of warning. The signal served for a finishing blow to the 
 discussion on the merits of the bark, the doctor stepping 
 as promptly to the side of the old man, as if a mental mist 
 had been miraculously removed from his eyes. In another 
 instant the steed of the young Pawnee was struggling with 
 the torrent. 
 
 The utmost strength of the horse was needed to urge 
 the fugitives beyond the flight of arrows that came sailing 
 through /the air at the next moment. The cry of Weucha 
 had brought fifty of his comrades to the shore, but fortu- 
 nately, among them all, there was not one of a rank suffi- 
 cient to entitle him to the privilege of bearing a fusee. 
 One-half the stream, however, was not passed, before the 
 form of Mahtoree himself was seen on its bank, and an 
 ineffectual discharge of fire-arms announced the rage and 
 disappointment of the chief. More than once the trapper 
 had raised his rifle, as if about to try its power on his ene- 
 mies, but he as often lowered it, without firing. The eyes 
 of the Pawnee warrior glared like those of the cougar, at 
 the sight of so many of the hostile tribe, and he answered 
 the impotent effort of their chief, by tossing a hand into 
 the air in contempt, and raising the war-cry of his nation. 
 The challenge was too taunting to be endured. The Tetona 
 dashed into the stream in a body, and the river became 
 dotted with the dark forms of beasts and riders. 
 
 There was now a fearful struggle for the friendly bank. 
 As the Dahcotahs advanced with beasts which had not, 
 like that of the Pawnee, expended their strength in former 
 efforts, and as they moved unencumbered by anything but 
 their riders, the speed of the pursuers greatly outstripped 
 that of the fugitives. The trapper, who clearly compre- 
 hended the whole danger of their situation, calmly turned 
 his eyes from the Tetons to his young Indian associate, in 
 order to examine whether the resolution of the latter be- 
 gan to falter, as the former lessened the distance between 
 them. Instead of betraying fear, however, or any of that 
 concern which might so readily have been excited by the 
 
2;5 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 peculiarity of his risk, the brow of the young warriol 
 contracted to a look which indicated high and deadly 
 hostility. 
 
 " Do you greatly value life, friend doctor ? " demanded 
 the old man, with a sort of philosophical calmness, which 
 made the question doubly appalling to his companion. 
 
 " Not for itself," returned the naturalist, sipping some 
 of the water of the river from the hollow of his hand, in 
 order to clear his husky throat " not for itself, but ex- 
 ceedingly, inasmuch as natural history has so deep a stake 
 in my existence. Therefore " 
 
 "Ay!" resumed the other, who mused too deeply to 
 dissect the ideas of the doctor with his usual sagacity, "'tis 
 in truth the history of natur', and a base and craven feel- 
 ing it is ! Now is life as precious to this young Pawnee, 
 as to any governor in the States, and he might save it, or 
 at least stand some chance of saving it, by letting us go 
 down the stream ; and yet you see he keeps his faith man- 
 fully, and like an Indian warrior. For myself, I am old, 
 and willing to take the fortune that the Lord may see fit 
 f,o give, nor do I conceit that you are of much benefit to 
 mankind ; and it is a crying shame, if not a sin, that so 
 fine a youth as this should lose his scalp for two beings so 
 worthless as ourselves. I am therefore disposed, provided 
 that it shall prove agreeable to you, to tell the lad to make 
 the best of his way, and to leave us to the mercy of the 
 Tetons." 
 
 " I repel the proposition, as repugnant to nature, and as 
 treason to science ! " exclaimed the alarmed naturalist. 
 "Our progress is miraculous; and, as this admirable in- 
 vention moves with so wonderful a facility, a few more 
 minutes will serve to bring us to land." 
 
 The old man regarded him intently for an instant, and 
 shaking his head, he said : 
 
 " Lord, what a thing is fear ! it transforms the creatur's 
 of the world and the craft of men, making that which is 
 ugly, seemly in our eyes, and that which is beautiful, un- 
 sightly ! Lord, Lord, w^hat a thing is fear ! " 
 
 A termination was, however, put to the discussion by 
 the increasing interest of the chase. The horses of the 
 Dahcotahs had by this time gained the middle of the cur- 
 rent, and their riders were already filling the air with yells 
 of triumph. At this moment Middleton and Paul, who 
 had led the femajies to a little thicket, appeared again on 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 279 
 
 the margin of the stream, menacing their enemies with the 
 rifle. 
 
 " Mount, mount, "shouted the trapper, the instant he be- 
 held them ; " mount and fly, if you value those who lean 
 on you for help ! Mount, and leave us in the hands of the 
 Lord." 
 
 " Stoop your head, old trapper, " returned the voice of 
 Paul, "down with you both into your nest. The Teton 
 devil is in your line ; down with your heads, and make 
 room for a Kentucky bullet ! " 
 
 The old man turned his head, and saw chat the eager 
 Mahtoree, who preceded his party some distance, had 
 brought himself nearly in a line with the bark and the bee- 
 hunter, who stood perfectly ready to execute his hostile 
 threat. Bending his body low, the rifle was discharged, 
 and the swift lead whizzed harmlessly past him, on its 
 more distant errand. But the eye of the Teton chief was 
 not less quick and certain thari that of his enemy. He 
 threw himself from his horse t'ne moment preceding the 
 report, and sank into the water. The beast snorted with 
 terror and anguish, throwing half his form out of the river 
 in a desperate plunge. Then he was seen drifting away in 
 the torrent, and dyeing the turbid waters with his blood. 
 
 The Teton chief soon reaj /peared on the surface, and, 
 understanding the nature of his loss, he swam with vigor- 
 ous strokes to the nearest of the young men, who relin- 
 quished his steed, as a matter of course, to so renowned a 
 warrior. The incident, however, created a confusion in 
 the whole of the Dahcotah band, who appeared to await 
 the intention of their leader, before they renewed their 
 efforts to reach the shore. In the meantime the vessel of 
 skin had reached the land, and the fugitives were once 
 more united on the margin of the river. 
 
 The savages were now swimming about in indecision, as 
 a flock of pigeons is often seen to hover in confusion after 
 receiving a heavy discharge into its leading column, ap- 
 parently hesitating on the risk of storming a bank so for- 
 midably defended. The well-known precaution of Indian 
 warfare prevailed, and Mahtoree, admonished by his 
 recent adventure, led his warriors back to the shore from 
 which they had come, in order to relieve their beasts, 
 which were already becoming unruly. 
 
 "Now, mount you with the tender ones, and ride for 
 yonder hillock," said the trapper ; " beyond it you will find 
 
2 8o THE PRAIRTE. 
 
 another stream, into which you must enter, and, turning 
 to the sun, follow its bed for a mile, until you reach a high 
 and sandy plain ; there will I meet you. Go ; mount ; 
 this Pawnee youth and I, and my stout friend the physic- 
 ian, who is a desperate warrior, are men enough to keep 
 the bank, seeing that show and not use is all that is 
 needed." 
 
 Middleton and Paul saw no use in wasting their breath 
 in remonstrances against this proposal. Glad to know 
 that their rear was to be covered, even in this imperfect 
 manner, they hastily got their horses in motion, and soon 
 disappeared on the required route. Some twenty or thirty 
 minutes succeeded this movement, before the Tetons on 
 the opposite shore seemed inclined to enter on any new 
 enterprise Mahtoree was distinctly visible, in the midst 
 of his warriors, issuing his mandates and betraying his 
 desire for vengeance, by occasionally shaking an arm in 
 the direction of the fugitives ; but no step was taken which 
 appeared to threaten any further act of immediate hostility. 
 At length a yell arose among the savages, which announced 
 the occurrence of some fresh event. Then Ishmael and 
 his sluggish sons were seen in the distance, and soon the 
 whole of the united force moved down to the very limits 
 of the stream. The squatter proceeded to examine the 
 position of his enemies with his usual coolness, and, as if 
 to try the power of his rifle, he sent a bullet among them, 
 with a force sufficient to do execution, even at the distance 
 at which he stood. 
 
 " Now let us depart ! " exclaimed Obed, endeavoring to 
 catch a furtive glimpse of the lead, which he fancied was 
 whizzing at his very ear ; "we have maintained the bank 
 in a gallant manner for a sufficient length of time ; quite 
 as much military skill is to be displayed in a retreat as in 
 an advance." 
 
 The old man cast a look behind him, and seeing that 
 the equestrians had reached the cover of the hill, he made 
 no objections to the proposal. The remaining horse was 
 given to the doctor, with instructions to pursue the course 
 just taken by Middleton and Paul. When the naturalist 
 was mounted and in full retreat, the trapper and the young 
 Pawnee* stole from the spot in such a manner as to leave 
 their enemies for some time in doubt as to their movements. 
 Instead, however, of proceeding across the plain toward 
 the hill, a route on which they must have been in open 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 281 
 
 riew, they took a shorter path, covered by the formation 
 of the ground, and intersected the little water-course at 
 the point where -Middleton had been directed to leave it, 
 and just in season to join his party. The doctor had used 
 so much diligence in the retreat as to have already over- 
 taken his friends, and of course all the fugitives were again 
 assembled. 
 
 The trapper now looked about him for some convenient 
 spot where the whole party might halt, as he expressed it, 
 for some five or six hours. 
 
 " Halt ! " exclaimed the doctor, when the alarming pro- 
 posal reached his ears ; " venerable hunter, it would seem 
 that, on the contrary, many days should be passed in in- 
 dustrious flight." 
 
 Middleton and Paul were both of this opinion, and each 
 in his particular manner expressed as much. 
 
 The old man heard them with patience, but shook his 
 head like one who is unconvinced, and then answered all 
 their arguments in one general and positive reply. 
 
 "Why should we fly?" he asked. "Can the legs of 
 mortal men outstrip the speed of horses ? Do you think 
 the Tetons will lie down and sleep, or will they cross the 
 water and nose for our trail ? Thanks be to the Lord, we 
 have washed it well in this stream, and, if we leave the 
 place with discretion and wisdom, we may yet throw them 
 off its track. But a prairie is not a wood. There a man 
 may journey long, caring for nothing but the print his 
 moccasin leaves ; whereas, on these open plains, a runner 
 placed on yonder hill, for instance, could see far on every 
 side of him, like a hovering hawk looking down on his 
 prey. No, no ; night must come and darkness be upon 
 us afore we leave this spot. But listen to the words of the 
 Pawnee ; he is a lad of spirit, and, I warrant me, many is 
 the hard race that he has run with the Sioux bands. Does 
 my brother think our trail is long enough ? " he demanded, 
 in the Indian tongue. 
 
 " Is a Teton a fish, that he can see it in the river ? " 
 
 " But my young men think we should stretch it until it 
 reaches across the prairie." 
 
 " Mahtoree has eyes ; he will see it." 
 
 " What does my brother counsel ?" 
 
 The young warrior studied the heavens a moment, and 
 appeared to hesitate. He mused some time with himself 
 nd then he replied, like one whose opinion was fixed. 
 
282 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 '-The Dahcotahs are not asleep/' he said; "we must 
 lie in the grass." 
 
 " Ah ! the lad is of my mind/' said the old man, briefly 
 explaining the opinion of his companion to his white friends. 
 Middleton was obliged to acquiesce, and, as it was confess- 
 edly dangerous to remain upon their feet, each one set 
 about assisting in the means to be adopted for their se- 
 curity. Inez and Ellen were quickly bestowed beneath 
 the warm and not uncomfortable shelter of the buffalo 
 skins, which formed a thick covering, and tall grass was 
 drawn over the place in such a manner as to evade any ex- 
 amination from a common eye. Paul and the Pawnee fet- 
 tered the beasts and cast them to the earth, where, after 
 supplying them with food, they were also left concealed 
 in the fog of the prairie. No time was lost, when these 
 several arrangements were completed, before each of the 
 others sought a place of rest and concealment, and then 
 the plain appeared again deserted to its solitude. 
 
 The old man had advised his companions of the absolute 
 necessity of their continuing for hours in this concealment. 
 All their hopes of escape depended on the success of the 
 artifice. If they might elude the cunning of their pursu- 
 ers by this simple, and therefore less suspected, expedient, 
 they could renew their flight as the evening approached, 
 and, by changing their course, the chance of final success 
 would be greatly increased. Influenced by these moment- 
 ous considerations the whole party lay musing on their 
 situation, until thoughts grew weary, and sleep finally set- 
 tled on them all, one after another. 
 
 The deepest silence had prevailed for hours, when the 
 quick ears of the trapper and the Pawnee were startled by 
 a faint cry of surprise from Inez. Springing to their feet, 
 like men who were about to struggle for their lives, they 
 found the vast plain, the rolling swells, the little hillock, 
 and the scattered thickets, covered alike in one white, daz- 
 zling sheet of snow. 
 
 " The Lord have mercy on ye all ! " exclaimed the old 
 man, regarding the prospect with a rueful eye. " Now, 
 Pawnee, do I know the reason why you studied the clouds 
 so closely ; but it is too late ! it is too late ! A squirrel 
 would leave his trail on this light coating of the 'arth. Ha ! 
 there come the imps to a certainty. Down with ye aK, 
 down with ye ; your chance is but small, and yet it must 
 not be wilfully cast away." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 283 
 
 The whole party was instantly concealed again, though 
 many an anxious and stolen glance was directed through 
 the tops of the grass, on the movements of their enemies. 
 At the distance of half a mile, the Teton band was seen 
 riding in a circuit, which was gradually contracting itself, 
 and evidently closing upon the very spot where the fugi- 
 tives lay. There was but little difficulty in solving the 
 mystery of this movement. The snow had fallen in time to 
 assure them that those they sought were in their rear, and 
 they were now employed, with the unwearied perseverance 
 and patience of Indian warriors, in circling the certain 
 boundaries of their place of concealment. 
 
 Each minute added to the jeopardy of the fugitives 
 Paul and Middleton deliberately prepared their rifles, and 
 as the occupied Mahtoree came, at length, within fifty feet 
 of them, keeping his eyes riveted on the grass through 
 which he rode, they levelled them together and pulled the 
 triggers. The effort was answered by the mere snapping 
 of the locks. 
 
 "Enough," said the old man, rising with dignity; "I 
 have cast away the priming ; for certain death would fol- 
 low your rashness. Now let us meet our fates like men. 
 Cringing and complaining find no favor in Indian eyes." 
 
 His appearance was greeted by a yell that spread far and 
 wide over the plain, and in a moment a hundred savages 
 were seen riding madly to the spot. Mahtoree received 
 his prisoners with great self-restraint, though a single 
 gleam of fierce joy broke through his clouded brow, and 
 the heart of Middleton grew cold as he caught the expres- 
 sion of that eye, which the chief turned on the nearly in- 
 sensible but still lovely Inez. 
 
 The exultation of receiving the white captiyes was so 
 great as for a time to throw the dark and immovable form 
 of their young Indian companion entirely out of view. 
 He stood apart, disdaining to turn an eye on his enemies, 
 as motionless as if he were frozen in that attitude of dig- 
 nity and composure. But when a little time had passed, 
 even this secondary object attracted the attention of the 
 Tetons. Then it was that the trapper first learned, by the 
 shouts of triumph and long-drawn yell of delight, which 
 burst at once from a hundred throats, as well as by the 
 terrible name which filled the air, that his youthful friend 
 was no other than that redoubtable ard hitherto invincible 
 warrior, Hard-Heart 
 
284 THE PRAIRIE, 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 "What, are ancient Pistol and you friends yet?" SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE curtain of our imperfect drama must fall to rise 
 upon another scene. The time is advanced several days, 
 during which very material changes had occurred in the 
 situation of the actors. The hour is noon, and the place 
 an elevated plain, that rose, at no great distance from the 
 water, somewhat abruptly from a fertile bottom which 
 stretched along the margin of one of the numberless water- 
 courses of that region. The river took its rise near the 
 base of the Rocky Mountains, and after washing a vast ex- 
 tent of plain it mingled its waters with a still larger stream, 
 to become finally lost in the turbid current of the Missouri. 
 
 The landscape was changed materially for the better ; 
 though the hand which had impressed so much of the 
 desert on the surrounding region had laid a portion of its 
 power on this spot. The appearance of vegetation was, 
 however, less discouraging than in the more sterile wastes 
 of the rolling prairies. Clusters of trees were scattered 
 in greater profusion, and a long outline of ragged forest 
 marked the northern boundary of the view. Here and 
 there on the bottom were to be seen the evidences of a 
 hasty and imperfect culture of such indigenous vegetables 
 as were of a quick growth, and which were known to* 
 flourish without the aid of art in deep and alluvial soils. 
 On the very edge of what might be called the table-land, 
 were pitched the hundred lodges of a horde of wandering 
 Sioux. Their light tenements were arranged without the 
 least attention to order. Proximity to the water seemed 
 to be the only consideration which had been consulted in 
 their disposition, nor had even this important convenience 
 been always regarded. While most of the lodges stood 
 along the brow of the plain, many were to be seen at 
 greater distances, occupying such places as had first 
 pleased the capricious eyes of their untutored owners, 
 The encampment was not military nor in the slightest de- 
 gree protected from surprise by its position or defences. 
 It was open on every side, and on every side as accessible 
 as any other point in those wastes, if the imperfect and 
 natural obstruction offered by the river be excepted. In 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 285 
 
 short, the place bore the appearance of having been ten- 
 anted longer than its occupants had originally intended, 
 while it was not wanting in the signs of readiness for a 
 hasty, or even a compelled, departure. 
 
 This was the temporary encampment of that portion of 
 his people who had long been hunting under the direction 
 of Mahtoree, on those grounds which separated the sta- 
 tionary abodes of his nation from those of the warlike 
 tribes of the Pawnees. The lodges were tents of skin, 
 high, conical, and of the most simple and primitive con- 
 struction. The shield, the quiver, the lance, and the bow 
 of its master, were to be seen suspended from a light post 
 before the opening or door of each habitation. The dif- 
 ferent domestic implements of his one, two, or three 
 wives, as the brave was of greater or lesser renown, were 
 carelessly thrown at its side, and here and there the round, 
 full, patient countenance of an infant might be found 
 peeping from its comfortless wrappers of bark, as, sus 
 pended by a deer-skin thong from the same post, it rocked 
 in the passing air. Children of a larger growth were tum- 
 bling over each other in piles, the males, even at that 
 early age, making themselves distinguished for that species 
 of domination, which in after-life was to mark the vast 
 distinction between the sexes. Youths were in the bottom, 
 essaying their juvenile powers in curbing the wild steeds 
 of their fathers, while here and there a truant girl was to 
 be seen stealing from her labors to admire their fierce and 
 impatient daring. 
 
 Thus far the picture was the daily exhibition of an en- 
 campment confident in its security. But immediately in 
 front of the lodges was a gathering that seemed to fore- 
 bode some movements of more than usual interest. A 
 few of the withered and remorseless crones of the band 
 were clustering together, in readiness to lend their fell 
 voices, if needed, to aid in exciting their descendants to 
 an exhibition which their depraved tastes coveted, as the 
 luxurious Roman dame witnessed the struggles and the 
 agony of the gladiator. The men were subdivided into 
 groups, assorted according to the deeds and reputations 
 of the several individuals of whom they were composed. 
 
 They who were of that equivocal age which admitted 
 them to the hunts, while their discretion was still too doubt- 
 ful to permit them to be trusted on the war-path, hung 
 around the skirts of the whole, catching from the fierce 
 
286 THE PRAIRIK. 
 
 models before them that gravity of demeanor and restraint 
 of manner which in time was to become so deeply ingrafted' 
 in their own characters. A few of the still older class, and 
 who had heard the whoop in anger, were a little more pre- 
 suming, pressing higher to the chiefs, though far from 
 presuming to mingle in their councils, sufficiently distin- 
 guished by being permitted to catch the wisdom which fell 
 from lips so venerated. The ordinary warriors of the band 
 were still less diffident, not hesitating to mingle among the 
 chiefs of lesser note, though far from assuming the right 
 to dispute the sentiments of any established brave, or to 
 call in question the prudence of measures that were recom* 
 mended by the more gifted counsellors of the nation. 
 
 Among the chiefs themselves there was a singular com- 
 pound of exterior. They were divided into two classes : 
 those who were mainly indebted for their influence to phy- 
 sical causes and to deeds in arms, and those who had be- 
 come distinguished rather for their wisdom than for their 
 services in the field. The former was by far the most nu- 
 merous and the most important class. They were men of 
 stature and mien, whose stern countenances were rendered 
 doubly imposing by those evidences of their valor which 
 had been roughly traced on their lineaments by the hands 
 of their enemies. That class which had gained its influ- 
 ence by a moral ascendency was extremely limited. They 
 were uniformly to be distinguished by the quick and lively 
 expression of their eyes, by the air of distrust that marked 
 their movements, and occasionally by the vehemence of 
 their utterance in those sudden outbreakings of the mind 
 by which their present consultations were from time to 
 Sime distinguished. 
 
 In the very centre of a ring formed by these chosen coun- 
 sellors was to be seen the person of the disquieted but seem- 
 ingly calm Mahtoree. There was a conjunction of all the 
 several qualities of the others in his person and character. 
 Mind as well as matter had contributed to establish his 
 authority. His scars were as numerous and deep as those 
 of the whitest head in his nation ; his limbs were in their 
 greatest vigor ; his courage at its fullest height. Endowed 
 with this rare combination of moral and physical influence, 
 the keenest eye in all that assembly was wont to lower be 
 fore his threatening glance. Courage and cunning had es- 
 tablished his ascendency, and it had been rendered in some 
 degree sacred by time. He knew so well how to unite 
 
THE PRAIRIE. *8; 
 
 the powers of reason and force, that, in a state of society 
 which admitted of a greater display of his energies, the 
 Teton would in all probability have been both a conqueroi 
 and a despot. 
 
 A little apart from the gathering of the band was to be 
 seen a set of beings of an entirely different origin. Taller 
 and far more muscular in their persons, the lingering ves- 
 tiges of their Saxon and Norman ancestry were yet to be 
 found beneath the swarthy complexions which had been 
 bestowed by an American sun. It would have been a curi- 
 ous investigation for one skilled in such an inquiry to have 
 traced those points of difference by which the offspring of 
 the most western European was still to be distinguished 
 from the descendant of the most remote Asiatic, now that 
 the two, in the revolutions of the world, were approximat- 
 ing in their habits, their residence, and not a little in their 
 characters. The group of whom we write was comp^pcl 
 of the family of the squatter. They stood indolent, xoung- 
 ing, and inert, as usual, when no immediate demand was 
 made on their dormant energies, clustered in front of some 
 four or five habitations of skin, for which they were indebt- 
 ed to the hospitality of their Teton allies. The terms of 
 their unexpected confederation were sufficiently explained 
 by the presence of the horses and domestic cattle that were 
 quietly grazing on the bottom beneath, under the jealous 
 eyes of the spirited Hetty. Their wagons were drawn 
 about the lodges in a sort of irregular barrier, which at 
 once manifested that their confidence was not entirely re- 
 stored, while, on the other hand, their policy or indolence 
 prevented any very positive exhibition of distrust. There 
 was a singular union of passive enjoyment and of dull curi- 
 osity slumbering in every dull countenance, as each of the 
 party stood leaning on his rifle, regarding the movements 
 of the Sioux conference. Still no sign of expectation or 
 interest escaped from the youngest among them, the whole 
 appearing to emulate the most phlegmatic of their savage 
 allies in an exhibition of patience. They rarely spoke ; 
 and, when they did, it was in some short and contemptuous 
 remark, which served to put the physical superiority of a 
 white man and that of an Indian in a sufficiently striking 
 point of view. In short, the family of Ishmael appeared 
 now to be in the plenitude of enjoyment which depended 
 on inactivity, but which was not entirely free from certain 
 confused glimmerings of a perspective in which their se- 
 
e88 17 fR PRAIRIE. 
 
 curity stood in some little danger of a rude interruption 
 from Teton treachery. Abiram alone formed a solitary ex- 
 ception to this state of equivocal repose. 
 
 After a life passed in the commission of a thousand mean 
 and insignificant villanies, the mind of the kidnapper had 
 become hardy enough to attempt the desperate adventure 
 which has been laid before the reader in the course of the 
 narrative. His influence over the bolder but less active 
 spirit of Ishmael was far from great ; and had not the latter 
 been suddenly expelled from a fertile bottom, of which he 
 had taken possession with intent to keep it without much 
 deference to the forms of law, he would never have suc- 
 ceeded in enlisting the husband of his sister in an enter- 
 prise that required so much decision and forethought. 
 Their original success and subsequent disappointment 
 have been seen ; and Abiram now sat apart plotting the 
 means by which he might secure to himself the advantages 
 of his undertaking, which he perceived were each moment 
 becoming more uncertain, through, the open admiration of 
 Mahtoree for the innocent subject of his villainy. We 
 shall leave him to his vacillating and confused expedients, 
 in order to pass to the description of certain other person- 
 ages in the drama. 
 
 There was still another corner of the picture that was 
 occupied. On a little bank at the extreme right of the 
 encampment, lay the forms of Middleton and Paul. Their 
 limbs were painfully bound with thongs cut from the skin 
 of a bison, while, by a sort of refinement in cruelty, they 
 were so placed that each could see a reflection of his own 
 misery in the case of his neighbor. Within a dozen yards 
 of them a post was set firmly in the ground, and against it 
 was bound the light and Apollo-like person of Hard-Heart. 
 Between the two stood the trapper, deprived of his rifle, 
 his pouch, and his horn, but otherwise left in a sort of 
 contemptuous liberty. Some five or six young warriors, 
 however, with quivers at their backs and long tough bows 
 dangling from their shoulders, who stood with grave watch- 
 fulness at no great distance from the spot, sufficiently pro- 
 claimed how fruitless any attempt to escape, on the part of 
 one so aged and so feeble, might prove. Unlike the other 
 spectators of the important conference, these individuals 
 were engaged in a discourse that for them contained an 
 interest of its own. 
 
 " Captain," said the bee-hunter, with an expression of 
 

 7//7s PRAIRIE. 289 
 
 comical concern that no misfortune could depress in one 
 of his buoyant feelings, "do you really find that accursed 
 strap of untanned leather cutting into your shoulder, or is 
 it only the tickling in. my own arm that. I feel ? " 
 
 " When the spirit suffers so deeply, the body is insensible 
 to pain, " returned the more refined, though scarcely so 
 spirited Middleton ; " would to Heaven that some of m\y 
 trusty artillerists might fall upon this accursed encampy 
 iment ! " 
 
 " You might as well wish that these Teton lodges were 
 so many hives of hornets, and that the insects would come 
 forth and battle with yonder tribe of half naked savages." 
 Then chuckling with his own conceit, the bee-hunter turned 
 away from his companion, and sought a momentary re- 
 lief from his misery by imagining that so wild an idea might 
 be realized, and fancying the manner in which the attack 
 would upset even the well-established patience of an In- 
 dian. 
 
 Middleton was glad to be silent ; but the old man, who 
 had listened to their words, drew a little nigher, and con- 
 tinued the discourse. 
 
 " Here is likely to be a merciless and a hellish business! " 
 he said, shaking his head in a manner to prove that even 
 his experience was at a loss for a remedy in so trying a 
 dilemma. " Our Pawnee friend is already staked for the 
 torture, and I well know, by the eye and the countenance 
 of the great Sioux, that he is leading on the temper of his 
 people to further enormities." 
 
 " Harkee, old trapper," said Paul, writhing in his bonds 
 to catch a glimpse of the other's melancholy face ; " you ar ' 
 skilled in Indian tongues and know somewhat of Indian 
 deviltries. Go you to the council, and tell their chiefs in 
 my name, that is to say, in the name of Paul Hover, of the 
 State of Kentucky, that provided they will guarantee the 
 safe return of one Ellen Wade into the States, they are 
 welcome to take his scalp when and in such manner as 
 best suits their amusements ; or, if so be they will not 
 trade on these conditions, you may throw in an hour or 
 two of torture beforehand in order to sweeten the bargain 
 to their damnable appetites." 
 
 "Ah! lad, it is little they would hearken to such an 
 offer, knowing, as they do, that you are already like a bear 
 in a trap, as little. able to fight as to fly. But be not down- 
 hearted, for the color of a white man is sometimes his 
 
 19 
 
29 o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 death-warrant among these far tribes of savages, and some* 
 times his shield. Though they love us not, cunning often 
 ties their hands. Could the red nations work their will, 
 trees would shortly be growing again on the ploughed 
 fields of America ; and woods would be whitened with 
 Christian bones. No one can doubt that, who knows the 
 quality of the love which a red-skin bears a pale-face ; but 
 they have counted our numbers until their memories fail 
 them, and they are not without their policy. Therefore is 
 our fate unsettled ; but I fear me there is small hope left 
 for the Paw r nee ! " 
 
 As the old man concluded, he walked slowly toward the 
 subject of his latter observation, taking his post at no great 
 distance from his side. Here he stood, observing such a 
 silence and mien as became him to manifest, to a chief so 
 renowned and so situated as his captive associate. But 
 the eye of Hard-Heart was fastened on the distance, and 
 his whole air was that of one whose thoughts were entirely 
 removed from the present scene. 
 
 " The Siouxes are in council on my brother," the trapper 
 at length observed, when he found he could only attract 
 the other's attention by speaking. 
 
 The young partisan turned his head with a calm smile 
 as he answered : 
 
 " They are counting the scalps over the lodge of Hard- 
 Heart ! " 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt ; their tempers begin to mount, 
 as they remember the number of Tetons you have struck, 
 and better would it be for you now, had more of your days 
 been spent in chasing the deer, and fewer on the war-path, 
 Then some childless mother of this tribe might take you in 
 the place of her lost son, and your time would be filled in 
 peace." 
 
 " Does my father think that a warrior can ever die ? 
 The Master of Life does not open his hand to take away 
 his gifts again. When he wants his young men he calls 
 them, and they go. But the red-skin that he has once 
 breathed on lives forever." 
 
 " Ay, this is a more comfortable and a more humble 
 faith than that which yonder heartless Teton harbors ! 
 There is something in these Loups which opens my inmost 
 heart to them ; they seem to have the courage, ay, and the 
 honesty, too, of the Delawares of the hills. And this lad 
 it is wonderful, it is very wcnderful ; but the age, and 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 2 9 i 
 
 the eye, and the limbs, are as if they might have been 
 brothers? Tell me, Pawnee, have you ever in your tra- 
 ditions heard of a mighty people who once, lived on the 
 shores of the Salt-lake, hard by the ri'sing sun ? " 
 
 " The earth is white by people of the color of mv 
 father." 
 
 "Nay, nay, I speak not now of any strollers who have 
 crept into the land to rob the lawful owners of their birth- 
 right, but of a people who are, or rather were, what with 
 nature and what with paint, red as the berry on the bush. 1 ' 
 
 " I have heard the old men say that there were bands 
 who hid themselves in the woods under the rising sun, be- 
 cause they dared not come upon the open prairies to fight.'' 
 
 " Do not your traditions tell you of the greatest, the 
 bravest, and the wisest nations of red skins that the \Vah- 
 condah has ever breathed upon ? " 
 
 Hard- Heart raised his head, with a loftiness and dignity 
 that even his bonds could not repress, as he answered : 
 
 " Has age blinded my father; or does he see so many 
 Siouxes that he believes there are no longer any Paw- 
 nees ? '' 
 
 " Ah ! such is mortal vanity and pride !" exclaimed the 
 disappointed old man, in English ; "Natur' is as strong in 
 a red-skin as in the bosom of a man of white gifts. Now 
 would a Delaware conceit himself far mightier than a Paw- 
 nee, just as a Pawnee boasts himself to be of the princes 
 of the 'arth. And so it was atween the Frenchers of the 
 Canadas and the red-coated English, that the king did use 
 to send into the States, when States they were not, but 
 outcrying and petitioning provinces ; they fou't and they 
 fou't, and what marvellous boastings did they give forth to 
 the world of their own valor and victories, while both par- 
 ties forgot to name the humble soldier of the land who did 
 the real service, but who, as he was not privileged then to 
 smoke at the great council-fire of his nation, seldom heard 
 of his deeds, after they were once bravely done." 
 
 When the old man had thus given vent to the nearly 
 dormant but far from extinct military pride that had so 
 unconsciously led him into the very error he deprecated, 
 his eye, which had begun to quicken and glimmer with 
 some of the ardor of his youth, softened and turned its 
 anxious look on the devoted captive, whose countenance 
 was also restored to its former cold look of abstracriov 
 and thought. 
 
292 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 "Young warrior/ he continued, in a voice that \vai 
 growing tremulous, "I have never been father or brother. 
 The Wahcondah made me to live alone. He never tied 
 my heart to house or field, by the cords with which the 
 men of my race are bound to their lodges ; if he had, I 
 should not have journeyed so far, and seen so much. But 
 I have tarried long among a people who lived in those 
 woods you mention, and much reason did I find to imitate 
 their courage and love their honesty. The Master of Life 
 has made us all, Pawnee, with a feeling for our kind. I 
 never was a father, but well do I know what is the love of 
 one. You are like a lad I valued, and I had even begun 
 to fancy that some of his blood might be in your veins. 
 But what matters that ? You are a true man, as I know 
 by the way in which you keep your faith ; and honesty is 
 a gift too rare to be forgotten. My heart yearns to you, 
 boy, and gladly would I do you good." 
 
 The youthful warrior listened to the words which came 
 from the lips of the other with a force and simplicity that 
 established their truth, and he bowed his head on his 
 naked bosom, in testimony of the respect with which he 
 met the proffer. Then lifting his dark eye to the level of 
 the view, he seemed to be again'considering of things re- 
 moved from every personal consideration. The trapper, 
 who well knew how high the pride of a warrior would sus- 
 tain him, in those moments he believed to be his last, 
 awaited the pleasure of his young friend with a meekness 
 and patience that he had acquired by his association with 
 that remarkable race. At length the gaze of the Pawnee 
 began* to w r aver ; and then quick, flashing glances were 
 turned from the countenance of the old man to the air, 
 and from the air to his deeply marked lineaments again, 
 as if the spirit which governed their movements was be- 
 ginning to be troubled. 
 
 " Father," the young brave finally answered, in a voice 
 :>f confidence and kindness, "I have heard your words. 
 They have gone in at my ears, and are now within me. 
 The white-headed Long-knife has no son ; the Hard- 
 Heart of the Pawnees is young, but he is already the oldest 
 of his family. He found the bones of his father on the 
 hunting-ground of the Osages, and he has sent them to the 
 prairies of the Good Spirits. No doubt the great chief, 
 his father, has seen them, and knows what is a part of him- 
 self. But the Wahcondah will soon call to us both ; you, 
 
J RAItilE. 29$ 
 
 because you have seen all that is to be seen in this country ; 
 and Hard-Heart, because he has need of a warrior who is 
 young. There is no time for the Pawnee to show the 
 pale-face the duty that a son owes to his father." 
 
 "Old as I am, and miserable and helpless as I now 
 stand, to what I once was, I may live to see the sun gc 
 down in the prairie. Does my son expect to do as much ? * 
 
 " The Tetbns are counting the scalps on my lodge ! " re- 
 turned the young chief, with a smile whose melancholy 
 was singularly illuminated by a gleam of triumph. 
 
 " And they find them many too many for the safety of 
 its owner, while he is in their revengeful hands. My son 
 is not a woman, and he looks on the path he is about to 
 travel with a steady eye. Has he nothing to whisper in 
 the ears of his people before he starts ? These legs are old, 
 but they may yet carry me to the forks of the Loup river." 
 
 " Tell them that Hard-Heart has tied a knot in his 
 wampum for every Teton !" burst from the lips of the 
 captive, with that vehemence with which sudden passion 
 is known to break through the barriers of artificial re- 
 straint ; " if he meets one of them all in the prairies of the 
 Master of Life his heart will become Sioux ! " 
 
 "Ah ! that feeling would be a dangerous companion for 
 a man with white gifts to start with on so solemn a jour 
 ney," muttered the old man in English. " This is not 
 what the good Moravians said to the councils of the Dela- 
 wares, nor what is so often preached to the white skins in 
 the settlements, though, to the shame of the color be it 
 said, it is so little heeded. Pawnee, I love you ; but, be- 
 ing a Christian man, I cannot be the runner to bear such 
 a message." 
 
 "If my father is afraid the Tetons will hear him, let 
 him whisper it softly to our old men." 
 
 " As for fear, young warrior, it is no more the shame of 
 a pale-face than of a red-skin. The Wahcondah teaches 
 us to love the life he gives ; but it is as men love their 
 hunts, and their dogs, and their carabines, and not with 
 the doting that a mother looks upon her infant. The 
 Master of Life will not have to speak aloud twice when he 
 calls my name. I am as ready to answer to it now as I 
 shall be to-morrow, or at any time it may please his mighty 
 ':v ill. But what is a warrior without his traditions ? Mine 
 forbid me to carry your words." 
 
 The chief made a dignified motion of assent, and hen? 
 
294 
 
 there was great danger that those feelings of confidence 
 which had been so singularly awakened would as sudden- 
 ly subside. But the heart of the old man had been too sen- 
 sibly touched, through long dormant but still living recol- 
 lections, to break off the communication so rudely. He 
 pondered for a minute, and then, bending his look wist- 
 fully on his young associate, again continued : 
 
 " Each warrior must be judged by his gifts. I have told 
 my son what I cannot, but let him open his ears to what I 
 can do. An elk shall not measure the prairie much 
 swifter than these old legs, if the Pawnee will give me a 
 message that a white man may bear." 
 
 " Let the pale-face listen," returned the other, after hesi- 
 tating a single instant longer, under a lingering sensation 
 of his former disappointment. "He will stay here till the 
 Siouxes have done counting the scalps of their dead war- 
 riors. He will wait until they have tried to cover the 
 heads of eighteen Tetons with the skin of one Pawnee ; 
 he will open his eyes wide, that he may see the place 
 where they bury the bones of a warrior." 
 
 " All this will I, and may I, do, noble boy." 
 
 " He will mark the spot, that he may know it." 
 
 "No fear, no fear that I shall forget the place," inter- 
 rupted the other, whose fortitude began to give way under 
 so trying an exhibition of calmness and resignation. 
 
 " Then I know that my father will go to my people. 
 His head is gray, and his words will not be blown away 
 with the smoke. Let him get on my lodge, and call the 
 name of Hard-Heart aloud. No Pawnee will be deaf. Then 
 let my father ask for the colt that has never been ridden, 
 but which is sleeker than the buck, and swifter than the 
 elk." 
 
 " I understand you, boy, I understand you," interrupted 
 the attentive old man ; " and what you say shall be done, 
 ay, and well done too, or I'm but little skilled in the 
 wishes of a dying Indian." 
 
 " And when my young men have given my father the 
 halter of that colt, he will lead him by a crooked path to 
 the grave of Hard-Heart ? " 
 
 ".Will I ! ay, that I will, brave youth, though the winter 
 covers these plains in banks of snow, and the sun is hidden 
 as much by day as by night. To the head of the holy spot 
 will I lead the beast, and place him with his eyes looking 
 tow T ard the setting sun." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. s 295 
 
 " And my father will speak to him, and tell him that the 
 master who has fed him since he was foaled has now need 
 of him." 
 
 "That, too, will I do ; though the Lord he knows that 
 I shall hold discourse with a horse, not with any vain con- 
 ceit that my words will be understood, but only to satisfy 
 the cravings of Indian superstition. Hector, my pup, 
 what think you, dog, of talking to a horse ? " 
 
 " Let the gray-beard speak to him with the tongue of a 
 Pawnee," interrupted the young victim, perceiving that 
 his companian had used an unknown language for the 
 preceding speech. 
 
 " My son's will shall be done. And with these old 
 hands, which I had hoped had nearly done with bloodshed, 
 whether it be of man or beast, will I slay the animal on 
 your grave ! " 
 
 ' ; It is good," returned the other, a gleam of satisfaction 
 flitting across his features. "Hard-Heart will ride his 
 horse co the blessed prairies, and he will come before the 
 Master of Life like a chief ! " 
 
 The sudden and striking change which instantly oc- 
 curred in the countenance of the Indian, caused the trap- 
 per to look aside, when he perceived that the conference 
 of the Sioux had ended, and that Mahtoree, attended by 
 one or two of the principal warriors, was deliberately ap- 
 proaching his intended 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 " I am not prone to weeping, .as our sex 
 Commonly are. . . . 
 
 But I have that honorable 
 Grief lodged here, which burns worse than 
 Tears drown." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 WHEN within twenty feet of the prisoners, the Tetons 
 stopped, and their leader made a sign to the old man to 
 draw nigh. The trapper obeyed, quitting the young Paw- 
 nee with a significant look, which was received, as it was 
 meant, for an additional pledge that he would never for 
 get his promise. So soon as Mahtoree found that the other 
 had stopped within reach of him, he stretched forth his 
 arm, and laying a hand upon the shoulder of the attentive 
 
296 THE PKATRIE. 
 
 old man, he stood regarding him a minute, with eyes tkai 
 seemed willing to penetrate the recesses of his most secret 
 thoughts. 
 
 " Is a pale-face always- made with two tongues ?" he de- 
 manded, when he found that, as usual with the subject oi 
 this examination, he was as little intimidated by his present 
 frown, as moved by any apprehensions of the future. 
 
 " Honesty lies deeper than the skin." 
 
 " It is so. Now let my father hear me. Mahtoree has 
 but one tongue, the gray-head has many. They may be all 
 straight, and none of them forked. A Sioux is no more 
 than a Sioux, but a pale-face is everything! He can talk 
 to the Pawnee, and the Konza, arid the Omahaw, and he 
 can talk to his own people." 
 
 "Ay, there are linguisters in the settlements that can do 
 still more. But what profits it all ? The Master of Life 
 has an ear for every language !" 
 
 " The gray-head has done wrong. He has said one thing 
 when he meant another. He has looked before him with 
 his eyes, and behind him with his mind. He has ridden 
 the horse of a Sioux too hard ; he has been the friend of a 
 Pawnee, and the enemy of my people." 
 
 " Teton, I am your prisoner. Though my words are 
 white, they will not complain. Act your will." 
 
 "No. Mahtoree will not make a white hair red. My 
 father is free. The prairie is open on every side of him. 
 But before the gray-head turns his back on the Siouxes, 
 let him look well at them, that he may tell his own chief 
 how great is a Dahcotah ! " 
 
 "I am not in a hurry to go on my path. You see a man 
 with a white head, and no woman, Teton ; therefore shall 
 I not run myself out of breath to tell the nations of the 
 prairies what the Siouxes are doing." 
 
 " It is good. My father has smoked with the chiefs at 
 many councils," returned Mahtoree, who now thought him- 
 self sufficiently sure of the other's favor to go more direct- 
 ly to his object. " Mahtoree will speak with the tongue of 
 his very dear friend and father. A young pale-face will 
 listen when an old man of that nation opens his mouth. 
 Go ; my father will make what a poor Indian says fit fo: 
 a white ear.''' 
 
 11 Speak aloud ! " said the trapper, who readily under- 
 stood the metaphorical manner in which the Teton ex. 
 pressed a desire that lie should become an interpreter of 
 
THE PRATK1E. 297 
 
 his words into the English language ; " speak ; my young 
 men listen. Now, captain, and you too, friend bee-hunter, 
 prepare yourselves to meet the deviltries of this savage 
 with-the stout hearts of white warriors. If you find your- 
 selves giving way under his threats, just turn your eyes on 
 that noble-looking Pawnee, whose time is measured with 
 a hand as niggardly as that with which a trader in the 
 towns gives forth the fruits of the Lord, inch by inch, in 
 order to satisfy his covetousness. A single look at the boy 
 will set you both up in resolution." 
 
 " My brother has turned his eyes on the wrong path," 
 interrupted Mahtoree, with a complacency that betrayed 
 how unwilling he was to offend his intended interpreter. 
 
 "The Dahcotah will speak to my young men?" 
 
 "After he has sung in the ear of the flower of the pale- 
 faces." 
 
 "The Lord forgive the desperate villain !" exclaimed the 
 old man, in English. " There are none so tender, or so 
 young, or so innocent, as to escape his ravenous wishes. 
 But hard words and cold looks will profit nothing ; there- 
 fore it will be wise to speak him fair. Let Mahtoree open 
 his mouth." 
 
 11 Would my father cry out that the women and children 
 should hear the wisdom of chiefs ? We will go into the 
 lodge and whisper." 
 
 As the Teton ended, he pointed significantly toward a 
 tent, vividly emblazoned with the history of one of his own 
 boldest and most commended exploits, and which stood a 
 little apart from the rest, as if to denote it was the resi- 
 dence of some privileged individual of the band. The 
 shield and quiver at its entrance were richer than common, 
 and the high distinction of a fusee attested the importance 
 of its proprietor. In every other particular it was rather 
 distinguished by signs of poverty than of wealth. The do- 
 mestic utensils were fewer in number and simpler in their 
 forms than those to be seen about the openings of the 
 meanest lodges, nor was there a single one of those highly 
 prized articles of civilized life, which were occasionally 
 bought of the traders, in bargains that bore so hard on the 
 ignorant natives. All these had been bestowed, as they had 
 been acquired, by the generous chief, on his subordinates, 
 to purchase an influence that might render him the master 
 of their lives and persons ; a species of wealth that was cer- 
 tainly more noble in itself, and far dearer to his ambition, 
 
t^ THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 The old man well knew this to be the lodge of Mahtoree, 
 and, in obedience to the sign of the chief, he held his wav 
 toward it with slow and reluctant steps. But there were 
 others present who were equally interested in the ap- 
 proaching conference, whose apprehensions were not to 
 be so easily suppressed. The watchful eyes and jealous 
 ears of Middleto-n had taught him enough to fill his soul 
 with terrible forebodings. With an incredible effort he 
 succeeded in gaining his feet, and called aloud to the re 
 tiring trapper : 
 
 " I conjure you, old man, if the love you bore my parents 
 was more than words, or if the love you bear your God is 
 that of a Christian man, utter not a syllable that may wound 
 the ear of that innocent " 
 
 Exhausted in spirit and fettered in limbs, he fell like an 
 animated log to the earth, where he lay like one dead. 
 
 Paul had, however, caught the clew, and completed the 
 exhortation in his peculiar manner : 
 
 " Harkee, old trapper," he sholited, vainly endeavoring 
 at the same time to make a gesture of defiance with his 
 hand ; " if you ar' about to play the interpreter, speak such 
 words to the ears of that damnable savage as becomes a 
 white man to use and a heathen to hear. Tell him, from 
 me, that if he does or says the thing that is uncivil to the 
 girl called Nelly Wade, that I'll curse him with my dying 
 breath ; that I'll pray for all good Christians in Kentucky 
 to curse him ; sitting and standing ; eating and drinking ; 
 fighting, praying, or at horse-races ; in-doors and out- 
 doors ; in summer or winter, or in the month of March ; 
 in short, I'll ay, it ar' a fact morally true I'll haunt him, 
 if the ghost of a pale-face can contrive to lift itself from 
 the grave made by the hands of a red-skin ! " 
 
 Having thus ventured the most terrible denunciations he 
 could devise, and the one which, in the eyes of the honest 
 bee-hunter, there seemed the greatest likelihood of his 
 being able to put in execution, he was obliged to await the 
 fruits of his threat with that resignation which would be 
 apt to govern a Western borderman who, in addition to 
 the prospects just named, had the advantage of contem- 
 plating them in fetters and bondage. We shall not detain 
 the narrative to relate the quaint morals with which he 
 next endeavored to cheer the drooping spirits of his more 
 sensitive companion, or the occasional pity and peculiai 
 benedictions that he pronounced on all the bands of the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 299 
 
 Dahcotahs, commencing with those that he accused of 
 stealing or murdering, on the banks of the distant Missis- 
 sippi, and concluding, in terms of suitable energy, with 
 the Teton tribe. The latter more than once received from 
 his lips curses as sententious and as complicated as that 
 celebrated anathema of the Church, for a knowledge of 
 which most unlettered Protestants are indebted to the 
 pious researches of the worthy Tristram Shandy. But as 
 Middleton recovered from his exhaustion, he was fain to 
 appease the boisterous temper of his associate, by admon- 
 ishing him of the uselessness of such denunciations, and of 
 the possibility of their hastening the very evil he deprecated, 
 by irritating the resentments of a race who were sufficiently 
 fierce and lawless, even in their most pacific moods. 
 
 In the meantime the trapper and the Sioux chief pur- 
 sued their way to the lodge. The former had watched 
 with painful interest the expression of Mahtoree's eye, 
 while the words of Middleton and Paul were pursuing their 
 footsteps ; but the mieji of the Indian was far too much 
 restrained and self-guarded to permit the smallest of his 
 emotions to escape through any of those ordinary outlets 
 by which the condition of the human volcano is commonly 
 betrayed. His look was fastened on the little habitation 
 they approached ; and, for the moment, his thoughts ap- 
 peared to brood alone on the purposes of this extraordi- 
 nary visit. 
 
 The appearance of the interior of the lodge corresponded 
 with its exterior. It was larger than most of the others, 
 more finished in its form, and finer in its materials ; but 
 there its superiority ceased. Nothing could be more sim- 
 ple and republican than the form of living that the am- 
 bitious and powerful Teton chose to exhibit to the eyes 
 of his people. A choice collection of weapons for the 
 chase, and three or four medals, bestowed by the traders 
 and political agents of the Ganadas as a homage to, or 
 rather an acknowledgment of, his rank, with a few of the 
 most indispensable articles of personal accommodation, 
 composed its furniture. It abounded in neither venison 
 nor the wild-beef of the prairies ; its crafty owner having 
 well understood that the liberality of a single individual 
 would be abundantly rewarded by the daily contributions 
 of a band. Although as pre-eminent in the chase as in 
 war, a deer or a buffalo was never seen to enter whole into 
 his lodge. In return, an animal was rarely brought into 
 
3 oo THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 the encampment, that did not contribute to support tha 
 family of Mahtoree. But the policy of the chief seldom' 
 permitted more to remain than sufficed for the wants of 
 the day, perfectly sure that all must suffer before hunger, 
 the bane of savage life, could lay its fell fangs on so im- 
 portant a victim. 
 
 Immediately beneath the favorite bo A' of the chief, and 
 encircled in a sort of magical ring of spears, shields, lances, 
 and arrows, all of which had in their time done good ser- 
 vice, was suspended the mysterious and sacred medicine 
 bag. It was highly wrought in wampum, and profusely 
 ornamented with beads and porcupines' quills, after the 
 most cunning devices of Indian ingenuity. The particular 
 freedom of Mahtoree's religious creed has been more than 
 once intimated, and, by a singular species of contradiction, 
 he appeared to have lavished his attentions on this emblem 
 of a supernatural agency in a degree that was precisely in- 
 verse to his faith. It was merely the manner in which the 
 Siouxes imitated the well-known expedient of the Phari- 
 sees, " in order that they might be seen of men." 
 
 The tent had not, however, been entered by its owner 
 since his return from the recent expedition. As the reader 
 has already anticipated, it had been made the prison of 
 Inez and Ellen. The bride of Middleton was seated on a 
 simple couch of sweet-scented herbs covered with skins. 
 She had already suffered so much, and witnessed so many 
 wild and unlooked-for events, within the short space of her 
 captivity, that every additional misfortune fell with a dim- 
 inished force on her seemingly devoted head. Her cheeks 
 were bloodless, her dark and usually animated eye was 
 contracted in an expression of settled concegi, and her 
 form appeared shrinking and sensitive, nearly to extinction. 
 But, in the midst of these evidences of natural weakness, 
 there were at times such an air of pious resignation, such 
 gleams of meek but holy hope lighting her countenance, 
 as might well have rendered it a question whether the 
 hapless captive was most a subject of pity or of admiration, 
 All the precepts of Father Ignatius were riveted in her 
 faithful memory, and not a few of his pious visions were 
 floating before her imagination. Sustained by no sacred 
 resolutions, the mild, the patient, and the confiding girl 
 was bowing her head to this new stroke of Providence, 
 with -the same sort of meekness as she would have sub' 
 mitted to any other prescribed penitence for her sins. 
 
THE PRAJRIE. 301 
 
 though Nature, at moments, warred powerfully with so 
 compelled a humility. 
 
 On the other hand, Ellen had exhibited far more of the 
 woman, and consequently of the passions of the world. 
 She had wept until her eyes were swollen and red. Her 
 cheeks were flushed and angry, and her whole mien was 
 distinguished by an air of spirit and resentment that was 
 not a little, however, qualified by apprehensions for thefu-' 
 ture. In short, there was that about the eye and step of 
 the betrothed of Paul, which gave a warranty that, should 
 happier times arrive, and the constancy of the bee-hunter 
 finally meet with its reward, he would possess a partner 
 every way worthy to cope with his own thoughtless and 
 buoyant temperament. 
 
 There was still another and a third figure in that little 
 knot of females. It was the youngest, the most highly 
 gifted, and, until now, the most favored of the wives of the 
 Teton. Her charms had not been without the most power- 
 ful attraction in the eyes of her husband, until they had 
 so unexpectedly opened on the surpassing loveliness of a 
 w T omari of the pale-faces. From that hapless moment the 
 
 traces, the attachment, the fidelity of the young Indian, 
 ad lost their power to please. Still the complexion of 
 Tachechana, though less dazzling than that of her rival, 
 was, for her race, clear and healthy. Her hazel eye had 
 the sweetness and playfulness of the antelope's ; her voice 
 was soft and joyous as the song of the wren, and her happy 
 laugh was the very melody of the forest. Of all the Sioux 
 girls, Tachechana (or the fawn) was the lightest-hearted 
 and the most envied. Her father had been a distinguished 
 brave, and her brothers had already left their bones in a 
 distant and dreary war-path. Numberless were the war- 
 riors who had sent presents to the lodge of her parents, 
 but none of them were listened to until a messenger from 
 the great Mahtoree had come. She was his third wife, 
 it is true, but she was confessedly the most favored of 
 them all. Their union had existed but two short seasons, 
 and its fruits now lay sleeping at her feet, wrapped in the 
 customary ligatures of skin and bark, which form the 
 swaddlings of an Indian infant. 
 
 At the moment when Mahtoree and the trapper arrived 
 at the opening of the lodge the young Sioux wife was 
 seated on a simple stool, turning her soft eyes with looks 
 that varied, like her emotions, with love and wonder, fron? 
 
302 TffK PRAIRIE. 
 
 the unconscious child to those rare beings who had fillet! 
 her youthful and uninstructed mind with such admiration 
 and astonishment. Though Inez and Ellen had passed an 
 entire day in her sight, it seemed as if the longings of her 
 curiosity were increasing with each new gaze. She re- 
 garded them as beings of an entirely different nature and 
 condition from the females of the prairie. Even the mys- 
 tery of their complicated attire had its secret influence on 
 her simple mind, though it was the grace and charms of 
 sex, to which Nature has made every people so sensible, 
 that most attracted her admiration. But while her in- 
 genuous disposition freely admitted the superiority of the 
 strangers over the less brilliant attractions of the Dahco- 
 tah maidens, she had seen no reason to deprecate their 
 advantages. The visit that she was now about to receive 
 was the first which her husband had made to the tent since 
 his return from the recent inroad, and he was ever present 
 to her thoughts as asuccessful warrior, who was not ashamed 
 in the moments of inaction to admit the softer feelings of 
 a father and a husband. 
 
 We have everywhere endeavored to show that, while 
 Mahtoree was in all essentials a warrior of the prairies, 
 he was much in advance of his people in those acquire- 
 ments which announce the dawnings of civilization. He 
 had held frequent communion with the traders and troops 
 of the Canadas, and the intercourse had unsettled many 
 of those wild opinions which were his birthright, without 
 perhaps substituting any others of a nature sufficiently 
 definite to be profitable. His reasoning was rather subtle 
 than true, and his philosophy far more audacious than 
 profound. Like thousands of more enlightened beings 
 who fancy they are able to go through the trials of human 
 existence without any other support than their own reso- 
 lutions, his morals were accommodating and his motives 
 selfish. These several characteristics will be understood 
 always with reference to the situation of the Indian, though 
 little apology is needed for finding resemblances between 
 men who essentially possess the same nature, however it 
 may be modified by circumstances. 
 
 Notwithstanding the presence of Inez and Ellen, the 
 entrance of the Teton warrior into the lodge of his favorite 
 wife was made with the tread and mien of a master. The 
 step of his moccasin was noiseless, but the rattling of his 
 bracelets and of the silver ornaments of his leggings, sufficed 
 
7 77 K PRAIRIE. 303 
 
 to announce his approach as he pushed aside the skin cov 
 eringof the opening of the tent, and stood in the presence 
 of its inmates. A faint cry of pleasure burst from the lips 
 of Tachechana in the suddenness of her surprise, but the 
 emotion was instantly suppressed in that subdued demeanor 
 which should characterize a matron of her tribe. Instead 
 of returning the stolen glance of his youthful and secretly 
 rejoicing wife, Mahtoree moved to the couch occupied by 
 his prisoners, and placed himself in the haughty, upright 
 attitude of an Indian chief before their eyes. The old man 
 had glided past him and already taken a position suited to 
 the office he had been commanded to fill. 
 
 Surprise kept the females silent and nearly breathless. 
 Though accustomed to the sight of savage warriors in the 
 horrid panoply of their terrible profession, there was some- 
 thing so startling in the entrance, and so audacious in the 
 inexplicable look of their conqueror, that the eyes of both 
 sank to the earth under a feeling of terror and embarrass- 
 ment. Then Inez recovered herself, and, addressing the 
 trapper she demanded, with the dignity of an offended 
 gentlewoman, though with her accustomed grace, to what 
 circumstance they owed this extraordinary and unexpected 
 visit. The old man hesitated ; but, clearing his throat like 
 one who was about to make an effort to which he was little 
 used, he ventured on the following reply : 
 
 " Lady," he said, " a savage is a savage, and you are not 
 to look for the uses and formalities of the settlements on 
 a bleak and windy prairie. As these Indians would say, 
 fashions and courtesies are things so light that they would 
 blow away. As for myself, though a man of the forest, I 
 have seen the ways of the great in my time, and I am not 
 to learn that they differ from the ways of the lowly. I 
 was long a serving-man in my youth, not one of your beck- 
 and-nod runners about a household, but a man that went 
 through the servitude of the forest with his officer, and 
 well do I know in what manner to approach the wife 
 of a captain. Now, had I the ordering of this visit, I 
 would first have hemmed aloud at the door in order 
 that you might hear that strangers were coming, and 
 then I " 
 
 " The manner is indifferent," interrupted Inez, too anx- 
 ious to await the prolix explanations of the old man , 
 " why is this visit made ? " 
 
 " Therein shall the savage speak for himself. The 
 
304 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 daughters of the pale-faces wish to know why the great 
 Teton has come into his lodge ? " 
 
 Mahtoree regarded his interrogator with a surprise which 
 showed how extraordinary he deemed the question. Then 
 placing himself in a posture of condescension, after a mo- 
 ment's delay, he answered : 
 
 " Sing in the ears of the dark-eye. Tell her the lodge 
 of Mahtoree is very large, and that it is not full. She shall 
 find room in it, 'and none shall be greater than she. Tell 
 the light-hair that she too may stop in the lodge of a brave, 
 and eat of his venison. Mahtoree is a great chief. His 
 hand is never shut" 
 
 " Teton," returned the trapper, shaking his head in evi- 
 dence of the strong disapprobation with which he heard 
 this language, "the tongue of a red-skin must be colored 
 white, before it can make music in the ears of a pale-face. 
 Should your words be spoken, my daughters would shut 
 their ears, and Mahtoree would seem a trader in their eyes. 
 Now, listen to what comes from a gray head, and then 
 speak accordingly. My people is a mighty people. The 
 sun rises on their eastern and sets on their western border. 
 The land is filled with bright-eyed and laughing girls, like 
 these you see ay, Teton, I tell no lie," observing his audi- 
 tor to start with an air of distrust " bright-eyed and pleas- 
 ant to behold, as these before you." 
 
 " Has my father a hundred wives ? " interrupted the 
 savage, laying his finger on the shoulder of the trapper, 
 with a look of curious interest in the reply. 
 
 " No, Dahcotah. The Master of Life has said to me, 
 Live alone ; your lodge shall be the forest ; the roof of 
 your wigwam, the clouds. But though never bound in 
 the secret faith which in my nation ties one man to one 
 woman, often have I seen the workings of that kindness 
 which brings the two together. ,Go into the regions of 
 my people, you will see the daughters of the land flutter- 
 Ing through the towns like many colored and joyful birds 
 in the season of blossoms. You will meet them singing 
 and rejoicing along the great paths of the country, and 
 you will hear the woods ringing with their laughter. They 
 are very excellent to behold, and the young men find 
 pleasure Jn looking at them." 
 
 "Hugh !" ejaculated the attentive Mahtoree. 
 
 " Ay, well may you puj; faith in whaj: you hear, for it is 
 no lie. Put when a ypu|h rias found) a maiden to please 
 
77//i PKAJRIK. 305 
 
 h\m y he speaks to her in a voice so soft that none else can 
 hear. He does not say, My lodge is empty and there is 
 room for another ; but, Shall I build, and will the virgin 
 show me near what spring she would dwell ? His voice is 
 sweeter than honey from the locust, and goes into the ear 
 thrilling like the song of the wren. Therefore, if my 
 brother wishes his words to be heard, he must speak with 
 a white tongue." 
 
 Mahtoree pondered deeply, and in a manner that he did 
 not attempt to conceal. It was reversing all the order of 
 society, and, according to his established opinions, endan- 
 gering the dignity of a chief for a warrior thus to humble 
 himself before a woman. But as Inez sat before him, re- 
 served and imposing in air, utterly unconscious of his ob- 
 ject, and least of all suspecting the true purport of so ex- 
 traordinary a visit, the savage felt the influence of a 
 manner to which he was unaccustomed. Bowing his 
 head in acknowledgment of his error, he stepped a little 
 back, and, placing himself in an attitude of easy dignity, 
 he began to speak with the confidence of one who had 
 been no less distinguished for eloquence than for deeds in 
 arms. Keeping his eyes riveted on the unconscious bride 
 of Middleton, he proceeded in the following words : 
 
 " I am a red-skin, but my eyes are dark. They have 
 been open since many snows. They have seen many 
 things they know a brave from a coward. When a boy, 
 .1 saw nothing but the bison and the deer. I went to the 
 hunts, and I saw the cougar and the bear. This made 
 Mahtoree a man. He talked with his mother no more. 
 His ears were open to the wisdom of the old men. They 
 told him everything they told him of the Big-knives. He 
 went on the war-path. He was then the last now he is 
 the first What Dahcotah dare say he will go before Mah- 
 toree into the hunting-grounds of the Pawnees ? The 
 chiefs met him at their doors, and they said, My son is 
 without a home. They gave him their lodges, they gave 
 him their riches, and they gave him their daughters. 
 Then Mahtoree became a chief, as his fathers had been. 
 He struck the warriors of all the nations, and he could 
 have chosen wives from the Pawnees, the Omahaws, and 
 the Konzas ; but he looked at the hunting-grounds, and 
 not at his village. He thought a horse was pleasanter 
 than a Dahcotah girl. But he found a flower on the 
 prairies, and he plucked it and brought it into his lodge, 
 20 
 
^06 . TUX PRAIRTE. 
 
 He forgets that he is the master of n single horse. Ha 
 gives them all to the stranger, for Mahtoree is not a thief ; 
 he will only keep the flower he found on the prairie. Her 
 feet are very tender. She cannot walk to the door of her 
 father ; she will stay in the lodge of a valiant warrior 
 forever." 
 
 When he had finished this extraordinary address, the 
 Teton awaited to have it translated, with the air of a 
 suitor who entertained no very disheartening doubts of 
 his success. The trapper had not lost a syllable of the 
 speech, and he now prepared himself to render it into 
 English in such a manner as should leave its principal idea 
 even more obscure than in the original. But, as his re- 
 luctant lips were in the act of parting, Ellen lifted a finger, 
 and, with a keen glance from her quick eye at the still 
 attentive Inez, she interrupted him : 
 
 " Spare your breath," she said ; " all that a savage says 
 is not to be repeated before a Christian lady." 
 
 Inez started, blushed, and bowed with an air of reserve, 
 as she coldly thanked the old man for his intentions, and 
 observed that she could now wish to be alone. 
 
 " My daughters have no need of ears to understand what 
 a great Dahcotah says," returned the trapper, addressing 
 himself to the expecting Mahtoree. "The look he has 
 given, and the signs he has made, are enough. They un- 
 derstand him ; they wish to think of his words ; for the 
 children of great braves, such as their fathers are, do noth- 
 ing without much thought" 
 
 With this explanation, so flattering to the energy of his 
 eloquence, and so promising to his future hopes, trie Teton 
 was every way content. He made the customary ejacula- 
 tion of assent, and prepared to retire. Saluting the females 
 in the cold but dignified manner of his people, he drew his 
 robe about him, and moved from the spot where he had 
 stood with an air of ill-concealed triumph. 
 
 But there had been a stricken though a motionless and 
 unobserved auditor of the foregoing scene. Not a syllable 
 had fallen from the lips of the long and anxiously expected 
 husband that had not gone directly to the heart of his un- 
 offending wife. In this manner had he wooed her from 
 the lodge of her father, and it was to listen to similar pict- 
 ure* of the renown and deeds of the greatest brave in her 
 tribe that she had shut her ears to the tender tales of so 
 many of the Sioux, youths. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 307 
 
 As the Teton turned to leave his lodge in the manner 
 just mentioned, he found this unexpected and hali-for- 
 gotten object before him. She stood in the humble guise 
 and with the shrinking air of an Indian girl, holding the 
 pledge of their former love in her arms, directly in his 
 path. Starting, the chief regained the marble-like indif-> 
 ference of countenance which distinguished in so remark^ 
 able a degree the restrained or more artificial expression 
 of his features, and signed to her with an air of authority to 
 give place. 
 
 "Is not Tachechana the daughter of a chief ? " demanded 
 a subdued voice, in which pride struggled with anguish ; 
 " were not her brothers braves ? " 
 
 " Go ; the men are calling their partisan. He has no 
 ears for a woman." 
 
 " No," replied the supplicant : " it is not the voice of 
 Tachechana that you hear, but this boy, speaking with the 
 tongue of his mother. Fie is the son of a chief, and his 
 words will go up to his father's ears. Listen to what he 
 says. When was Mahtoree hungry, and Tachechana had 
 not food for him ? When did he go on the path of the 
 Pawnees and find it empty, that my mother did not weep ? 
 When did he come back with the marks of their blows 
 that she did not sing ? What Sioux girl has given a brave 
 son like me? Look at me well, that you may know me. 
 My eyes are the eagle's. I look at the sun and laugh. In 
 a little time the Dahcotahs will follow me to the hunts and 
 on the war-path. Why does my father turn his eyes from 
 the woman that gives me milk ? Why has he so soon for- 
 gotten the daughter of a mighty Sioux ? " 
 
 There was a single instant, as the exulting father suffered 
 his cold eye to wander to the face of the laughing boy that 
 the stern nature of the Teton seemed touched. But, shak- 
 ing off the grateful sentiment, like one who would gladly 
 be rid of any painful because reproachful emotion, he laid 
 his hand calmly on the arm of his \vife, and led her di- 
 rectly in front of Inez. Pointing to the sweet countenance 
 that was beaming on her own, with a look of tenderness 
 and commiseration, he paused ; to allow his wife to con- 
 template a loveliness which w r as quite as excellent to her 
 ingenuous mind as it had proved dangerous to the character 
 of her faithless husband. When he thought abundant 
 time had passed to make the contrast sufficiently striking 
 he suddenly raised a small mirror that dangled at her 
 
308 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 breast, an ornament he had himself bestowed, in an hour 
 of fondness, as a compliment to her beauty, and placed 
 her own dark image in its place. Wrapping his robe about 
 him, the Teton motioned the trapper to follow, and stalked 
 haughtily from the lodge, muttering as he went : 
 
 " Mahtoree is very wise ! What nation has so great a 
 chief as the Dahcotahs ? " 
 
 Tachechana stood frozen into a statue of humility. Her 
 mild and usually joyous countenance worked, as if the 
 struggle within was about to dissolve the connection be- 
 tween her soul and the more material part whose deform- 
 ity was becoming so loathsome. Inez and Ellen were 
 utterly ignorant of the nature of her interview with her 
 husband, though the quick and sharpened wits of the lat- 
 ter led her to suspect a truth to which the entire inno- 
 cence of the former furnished no clew. They were both, 
 however, about to tender those sympathies which are so 
 natural to and so graceful in the sex, when their necessity 
 seemed suddenly to cease. The convulsions in the fea- 
 tures of the young Sioux disappeared, and her counte- 
 nance became cold and rigid, like chiselled stone. A sin- 
 gle expression of subdued anguish, which had made its 
 impression on a brow that had before contracted with 
 sorrow, alone remained. It was never removed, in all the 
 changes of seasons, fortunes, and years, which, in the 
 vicissitudes of a suffering, female, savage life, she was sub- 
 sequently doomed to endure. As in the case of a prema- 
 ture blight, let the plant quicken and revive as it may, the 
 effects of that withering touch were always present. 
 
 Tachechana first stripped her person of every vestige 
 of those rude but highly prized ornaments, which the 
 liberality of her husband had been wont to lavish on her, 
 and she tendered them meekly, and without a murmur, us 
 an offering to the superiority of Inez. The bracelets were 
 forced from her w r rists, the complicated mazes of beads 
 from her leggings, and the broad silver band from her 
 brow. Then she paused, long and painfully. But it 
 would seem that the resolution she had once adopted was 
 not to be conquered by the lingering emotions of any af- 
 fection, however natural. The boy himself was next laid at 
 the feet of her supposed rival, and well might the s^lf- 
 abased wife of the Teton believe that the burden of her 
 sacrifice was now full. 
 
 While Inez and Ellen stood regarding these severa? 
 
Tin-: PRAIRIE. 309 
 
 strange movements with eyes of wonder, a low, soft, musi- 
 cal voice was hear-d, saying, in a language that to them 
 was unintelligible : 
 
 "A strange tongue will tell my boy the manner to be- 
 come a man. He will hear sounds that are new, but he 
 will learn them, and forget the voice of his mother. It is 
 the will of the Wahcondah, and a Sioux girl should not 
 complain. Speak to him softly for his ears are very little ; 
 when he is big, your words may be louder. Let him not 
 be a girl, for very sad is the life of a woman. Teach him 
 to keep his eyes on the men. Show him how to strike 
 them that do wrong, and let him never forget to return 
 blow for blow. When he goes to hunt, the flower of the 
 pale-faces," she concluded, using in bitterness the meta- 
 phor which had been supplied by the imagination of her 
 truant husband, " will whisper softly in his ear that the 
 skin of his mother was red, and that she was once the 
 Fawn of the Dahcotahs." 
 
 Tachechana pressed a kiss on the lips of her son, and 
 withdrew to the farther side of the lodge. Here she drew 
 her light calico robe over her head, and took her seat, in 
 token of humility, on the naked earth. All efforts to at- 
 tract her attention were fruitless. She neither heard re- 
 monstances nor felt the touch. Once or twice her voice 
 rose, in a sort of wailing song, from beneath her quiver- 
 ing mantle, but it never mounted into the wildness of sav- 
 age music. In this manner she remained unseen for hours, 
 while events were occurring without the lodge which not 
 only materially cjianged the complexion of her own for- 
 tunes, but left a lasting and deep impression on the future 
 movements of the wandering Sioux. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 "I'll no swaggerers : I am in good name and fame with the very best : 
 shut the door : there come no swaggerers here. I have not lived all this 
 while, to have swaggering now : shut the door, I pray you." 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 MAHTOREE encountered, at the door of his lodge, Ish- 
 mael, Abiram, and Esther. The first glance of his eye at 
 the countenance of the heavy-molded squatter served to 
 tell the cunning Teton that the treacherous truce he had 
 
jio Tin-: PRAIRIE. 
 
 made with these dupes of his superior sagacity was Iq 
 some danger of a violent termination. 
 
 " Look you here, old gray-beard," said Ishmael, seizing 
 the trapper and whirling him round as if he had been a 
 top ; "that I am tired of carrying on a discourse with fin- 
 gers and thumbs, instead of a tongue, ar' a natural fact ; so 
 you'll play linguister, and put my words into Indian, with- 
 out much caring whether they suit the stomach of a red* 
 skin or not." 
 
 " Say on, friend," calmly returned the trapper; "they 
 shall be given as plainly as you send them." 
 
 " Friend !" repeated the squatter, eyeing the other for 
 an instant with an expression of indefinable meaning. 
 " But it is no more than a word, and sounds break no bones 
 and survey no farms. Tell this thieving Sioux, then, that I 
 come to claim the conditions of our solemn bargain, made 
 at the foot of the rock." 
 
 When the trapper had rendered his meaning into the 
 Sioux language, Mahtoree demanded, with an air of sur- 
 prise : 
 
 " Is my brother cold ? Buffalo-skins are plenty. Is he 
 hungry ? Let my young men carry venison into his 
 lodges." 
 
 The squatter elevated his clinched fist in a menacing 
 manner, and struck it with violence on. the palm of his 
 open hand, by way of confirming his determination, as he 
 answered : 
 
 " Tell the deceitful liar I have not come like a beggar 
 to pick his bones, but like a freeman asking for his own ; 
 and have it I will. And, moreover, tell him I claim that 
 you, too, miserable sinner as you ar', should be given up 
 to justice. There's no mistake. My prisoner, my niece, 
 and you I demand the three at his hands, according to a 
 sworn agreement." 
 
 The immovable old man smiled with an expression of 
 singular intelligence, as he answered : 
 
 " Friend squatter, you ask what few men would be will- 
 ing to grant. You would first cut the tongue from the 
 mouth of the Teton, and then the heart from his bosom." 
 
 " It is little that Ishmael Bush regards who or what is 
 damaged in claiming his own. But put you the questions 
 in straight-going Indian ; and, when you speak of yourself, 
 make such a sign as a white man will understand, in ordei 
 that I may know there is no foul play." 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 311 
 
 The trapper laughed in his silent fashion, and, muttered 
 a few words to himself before he addressed the chief : 
 
 " Let the Dahcotah open his ears very wide," he said, 
 "that big words may have room to enter. His friend, the 
 Big-knife, comes with an empty hand, and he says that the 
 Teton must fill it." 
 
 " Wagh ! Mahtoree is a rich chief. He is master of the 
 prairies." 
 
 " He must give the dark-hair." 
 
 The brow of the chief contracted in an ominous frown, 
 that threatened instant destruction to the audacious squat- 
 ter ; but, as suddenly recollecting his policy, he craftily 
 replied : 
 
 " A girl is too light for the hand of such a brave. I will 
 fill it with buffaloes." 
 
 " He says he has need of the light-hair, too, who has his 
 blood in her veins." 
 
 " She shall be the wife of Mahtoree ; then the Long-knife 
 will be the father of a chief." 
 
 " And me," continued the trapper, making one of those 
 expressive signs by which the natives communicate with 
 nearly the same facility as with their tongues, and turning 
 to the squatter at the same time, in order that the latter 
 might see he dealt fairly by him ; "he asks for a miserable 
 and worn-out trapper." 
 
 The Dahcotah threw his arm over the shoulder of the 
 old man with an air of great affection, before he replied to 
 this third and last demand : 
 
 "My friend is old," he said, "and cannot travel far. 
 He will stay with the Tetons, that they may learn wisdom 
 from his words. What Sioux has a tongue like my father ? 
 No ; let his words be very soft, but let them be very clear. 
 Mahtoree will give skins and buffaloes. He will give the 
 young men of the pale-faces wives, but he cannot give 
 away any who live in his own lodge." 
 
 Perfectly satisfied himself with this laconic reply, the 
 chief was moving toward his expecting counsellors, when, 
 suddenly returning, he interrupted the translation of the 
 trapper, by adding : 
 
 " Tell the Great Buffalo " (a name by which the Tetons 
 had already christened Ishmael) "that Mahtoree has a 
 hand that is always open. See," he added, pointing to the 
 hard and wrinkled visage of the attentive Esther, " his 
 wife is too old for so great a chief. Let him put her out 
 
3 i2 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 of liis lodge. Mahtoree loves him as a brother. He is his 
 brother. He shall have the youngest wife of the Teton- 
 Tachechana, the pride of the Sioux girls, shall cook his 
 venison, and many braves will look at him with longing 
 minds. Go ; a Dahcotah is generous/' 
 
 The singular coolness with which the Teton concluded 
 this audacious proposal confounded even the practised 
 trapper. He stared after the retiring form of the Indian 
 with an astonishment he did not care to conceal ; nor did 
 he renew his attempt at interpretation until the person oi 
 Mahtoree was blended with the cluster of warriors who had 
 so long and with so characteristic patience awaited his re- 
 turn. 
 
 " The Teton chief has spoken very plainly," the old man 
 continued ; " he will not give you the lady, to whom the 
 Lord in heaven knows you have no claim, unless it be 
 such as the wolf has to the lamb. He will not give you 
 the child you call your niece ; and therein I acknowledge 
 that I am far from certain he has the same justice on his 
 side. Moreover, neighbor squatter, he flatly denies your 
 demand for me, miserable and worthless as I am ; nor do I 
 think he has been unwise in so doing, seeing that I should 
 have many reasons against journeying far in your com- 
 pany. But he makes you an offer, which it is right and 
 convenient you should know. The Teton says through 
 me, who am no more than a mouth-piece, and therein not 
 answerable for the sin of his words, but he says, as this 
 good woman is getting past the comely age, it is reason- 
 able for you to tire of such a wife. , He therefore tells you 
 to turn her out of your lodge, and when it is empty he will 
 send his own favorite, or rather her that was his favorite, 
 the ' Skipping Fawn,' as the Siouxes call her, to fill her 
 place. You see, neighbor, though the red-skin is minded 
 to keep your property, he is willing to give you where- 
 withal to make yourself some return ! " 
 
 Ishmael listened to these replies to his several demands 
 with that species of gathering indignation with which the 
 dullest tempers mount into the most violent paroxysms of 
 rage. He even affected to laugh at the conceit of ex. 
 changing his long-tried partner for the more flexible sup- 
 port of the youthful Techachana, though his voice was 
 hollow and unnatural in the effort. But Esther was far 
 from giving the proposal so facetious a reception. Lifting 
 her voice to its most audible key, she broke forth, after 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 313 
 
 catching her breath like one who had been in some immi- 
 nent danger of strangulation, as follows : 
 
 " Hoity-toity ! Who set an Indian up for a maker and 
 a breaker of the rights of wedded wives ? Does he think 
 a woman is a beast of the prairie, that she is to be chased 
 from a village by dog and gun ? Let the bravest squaw of 
 them all come forth and boast of her d.oings ; can she show 
 such a brood as mine ? A wicked tyrant is that thieving 
 red-skin, and a bold rogue I warrant me. He would be 
 captain in-doors as well as out ! An honest woman is no 
 better in his eyes than one of your broomstick-jumpers. 
 And you, Ishrnael Bush, the father of seven sons and so 
 many comely daughters, toopenjw/r sinful mouth, except 
 to curse him ! Would ye disgrace color, and family, and 
 nation, by mixing white blood with red, and would ye be 
 the parent of a race of mules ? The devil has often 
 tempted you, my man, but never before has he set so cun 
 ning a snare as this. Go back among your children, 
 friend ; go, and remember that you are not a prowling 
 bear, but a Christian man, and thank God that you ar' a 
 lawful husband ! " 
 
 The clamor of Esther was anticipated by the judicious 
 trapper. He had easily foreseen that her meek temper 
 Would overflow at so scandalous a proposal as repudiation, 
 and he now profited by the tempest to retire to a place 
 Where he was at least safe from any immediate violence on 
 the part of her less excited but certainly more dangerous 
 husband. Ishmael, who had made his demands with a 
 stout determination to enforce them, was diverted by the 
 windy torrent, like many a more obstinate husband, from 
 his purpose ; and, in order to appease a jealousy that re- 
 sembled the fury with which the bear defends her cubs, 
 Was fain to retire to a distance from the lodge that was 
 known to contain the unoffending object of the sudden 
 uproar. 
 
 "Let your copper-colored minx come forth and show 
 her tawny beauty before the face of a woman who has heard 
 more than one church-bell, and seen a power of real qual- 
 ity ! "-cried Esther, flourishing her hand in triumph, as she 
 drove Ishmael and Abiram before her, like two truant boys, 
 toward their own encampment. " I warrant me, I warrant 
 me, here is one who would shortly talk her down ! Never 
 think to tarry here, my men ; never think to shut an eye 
 in a camp, through which the devil walks as openly as if 
 
314 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 lie were a gentleman, and sure of his welcome. Here, you 
 Abner, Enoch, Jesse, where ar' ye gotten to ? Put to, put 
 to ; if that weak-minded, soft-feeling man, your father, eats 
 or drinks again in this neighborhood, we shall see him 
 poisoned with the craft of the red-skins. Not that I care, 
 I, who comes into my place, when it is once lawfully empty 
 but, Ishmael, I never thought that you, who have had 
 one woman with a white skin, would find pleasure in look- 
 ing on a brazen ay, that she is copper ar' a fact ; you can't 
 deny it, and, I warrant me, brazen enough is she too ! " 
 
 Against this ebullition of wounded female pride, the ex- 
 perienced husband made no other head than by an occa- 
 sional exclamation, which he intended to be the precursor 
 of a simple asseveration of his own innocence. The fury 
 of the woman would not be appeased. She listened to 
 nothing but her own voice, and consequently nothing was 
 heard but her mandates to depart. 
 
 The squatter had collected his beasts and loaded his 
 wagons, as a measure of precaution, before proceeding to 
 the extremity he contemplated. Esther consequently 
 found everything favorable to her wishes. The young men 
 stared at each other, as they witnessed the extraordinary 
 excitement of their mother, but took little interest in an 
 event which, in the course of their experience, had found 
 so many parallels. By command of their father, the tents 
 were thrown into the vehicles as a sort of reprisal for the 
 want of faith in their late ally, and then the train left the 
 spot, in its usual listless and sluggish order. 
 
 As a formidable division of well-armed borderers pro- 
 tected the rear of the retiring party, the Sioux saw it de- 
 part without manifesting the smallest evidence of surprise 
 or resentment. The savage, like the tiger, rarely makes 
 his attack on an enemy w r ho expects him ; and, if the war- 
 riors of the Tetons meditated any hostility, it was in the 
 still and patient manner with which tne feline beasts watch 
 for the incautious moment, in order to insure the blow. 
 The counsels of Mahtoree, however, on whom so much of 
 the policy of his. people depended, lay deep in the deposi- 
 tory of his own thoughts. Perhaps he rejoiced at so easy 
 a manner of getting rid of claims so troublesome ; perhaps 
 he awaited a fitting time to exhibit his power ; or it even 
 might be that matters of so much greater importance were 
 pressing on his mind, that it had not leisure to devote an;y 
 of its faculties to an event of so much indifference. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 31$ 
 
 But it would seem that, while Ishmael made such a con- 
 cession to the awakened feelings of Esther, he was far from 
 abandoning his original intentions. His train followed the 
 course of the river for a mile, and then it came to a halt on 
 the brow of the elevated land, and in a place which afforded 
 the necessary facilities. Here he again pitched his tents 
 unharnessed his teams, sent his cattle on the bottom, and, 
 in short, made all the customary preparations to pass thz 
 night, with the same coolness and deliberation as if he had 
 not hurled an irritating defiance into the teeth of his dan- 
 gerous neighbors. 
 
 In the meantime the Tetons proceeded to the more reg- 
 ular business of the hour. A fierce and savage joy had 
 existed in the camp, from the instant when it had been 
 announced that their own chief was returning with the 
 long-dreaded and hated partisan of their enemies. Foi 
 many hours the crones of the tribe had been going from 
 lodge to lodge, in order to stimulate the tempers of the 
 warriors to such a pass as might leave but little room for 
 mercy. To one they spoke of a son, whose scalp was dry- 
 ing in the smoke of a Pawnee lodge. To another, they 
 enumerated his own scars, his disgraces, and defeats ; with 
 a third, they dwelt on his losses of skins and horses ; and 
 a fourth was reminded of vengeance by a significant ques- 
 tion concerning some flagrant adventure in which he was 
 known to have been a sufferer. 
 
 By these means the men had been so far excited as to 
 have assembled, in the manner already related, though it 
 still remained a matter of doubt how far they intended 
 to carry their revenge. A variety of opinions prevailed 
 on the policy of executing their prisoners ; and Mahtoree 
 had suspended the discussions in order to ascertain how 
 far the measure might propitiate or retard his own partic- 
 ular views. Hitherto the consultations had merely been 
 preliminary, with a design that each chief might discover 
 the number ol supporters his particular views would be 
 likely to obtain when the important subject should come 
 before a more solemn council of the tribe. The moment 
 for the latter had now arrived, and the preparations were 
 made with a dignity and solemnity suited to the moment- 
 ous interests of the occasion. 
 
 With a refinement in cruelty that none but an Indian 
 would have imagined, the place selected for the grave 
 deliberation was immediately about the post to which the 
 
316 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 most important of its subjects Was attached. Middleton 
 and Paul were brought in their bonds, and laid at the feet 
 of the Pawnee ; then the men began to take their places, 
 according to their several claims to distinction. As war- 
 rior after warrior approached, he seated himself in the 
 wide circle with a mien as composed and thoughtful as if 
 his mind were actually in a condition to deal out justice, 
 tempered, as it should be, with the heavenly quality of 
 mercy. A place was reserved fur three or four of the 
 principal chiefs ; and a few of the oldest of the womeii, as 
 withered as age, exposure, hardships, and lives of savage 
 passions could make them, thrust themselves into the fore- 
 most circle with a temerity to which they were impelled 
 by their insatiable desire for cruelty, and which nothing 
 but their years and their long-tried fidelity to the nation 
 could have excused. 
 
 All, but the chiefs already named, were now in their 
 places. These had delayed their appearance, in the vain 
 hope that their own unanimity might smooth the way to 
 that of their respective factions ; for, notwithstanding the 
 superior influence of Mahtoree, his power was to be main- 
 tained only by constant appeals to the opinions of his in- 
 feriors. As these important personages at length entered 
 the circle in a body, their sullen looks and clouded brows, 
 notwithstanding the time given for consultation, suffi- 
 ciently proclaimed the discontent which reigned among 
 them. The eye of Mahtoree was varying in its expression, 
 from sudden gleams, that seemed to kindle with the burn- 
 ing impulses of his soul, to that cold and guarded steadi- 
 ness which was thought more peculiarly to become a chief 
 in council. He took his seat with the studied simplicity 
 of a demagogue ; though the keen and flashing glance that 
 he immediately threw around the silent assembly betrayed 
 the more predominant temper of a tyrant. 
 
 When all were present, an aged warrior lighted the great 
 pipe of his people, and blew the smoke toward the four 
 quarters of the heavens. So soon as this propitiatory 
 offering was made, he tendered it to Mahtoree, who, in 
 affected humility, passed it to a gray-headed chief by his 
 side. After the influence of the soothing weed had been 
 courted by all, a grave silence succeeded, as if each was 
 not only qualified to, but actually did, think more deeply 
 on the matters before them. Then an old Indian arose 
 and spoke as follows : 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 317 
 
 " The eagle, at the falls of the endless river, was in its 
 egg, many snows after my hand had struck a Pawnee. 
 What my tongue says, my eyes have seen. Bohrecheena 
 is veiy old. The hills have stood longer in their places 
 than he has been in his tribe, and the rivers were full and 
 empty before he was born ; but where is the Sioux that 
 knows it besides myself ? What he says, they will hear. 
 If any of his words fall to the groui.d, they will pick them 
 up and hold them to their ears. If any blow* away in the 
 wind, my young men, who are very nimble, will catch them. 
 Now listen. Since water Van and trees grew, the Sioux 
 has found the Pawnee on his war-path. As the cougar 
 loves the antelope, the Dahcotah loves his enemy. When 
 the wolf finds the fawn, does he lie down and sleep ? When 
 the panther sees the doe at the spring, does he shut his 
 eyes ? You know that he does not. He drinks, too; but 
 it is of blood !. A Sioux is a leaping panther, a Pawnee a 
 trembling deer. Let my children hear me. They will 
 find my words good. I have spoken." 
 
 A deep guttural exclamation of assent broke from the 
 lips of all the partisans of Mahtoree, as they listened to 
 this sanguinary advice from one who was certainly among 
 the most aged men of the nation. That deeply seated 
 love of vengeance, which formed so prominent a feature 
 in their characters, was gratified by his metaphorical allu- 
 sions ; and the chief himself augured favorably of the suc- 
 cess of his own schemes, by the number of supporters who 
 manifested themselves to be in favor of the counsels of his 
 friend. But still unanimity was far from prevailing. A 
 long and decorous pause was suffered to succeed the words 
 of the first speaker, in order that all might duly deliberate 
 on their wisdom, before another chief took on himself the 
 office of refutation. The second orator, though past the 
 prime of his days, was far less aged than the one who had 
 preceded him. He felt the disadvantage of this circum- 
 stance, and endeavored to counteract it, as far as possible, 
 by the excess of his humility. 
 
 " I am but an infant," he commenced, looking furtively 
 around him, "in order to detect how far his well-established 
 character for prudence and courage contradicted his as- 
 sertion. " I have lived with the women since my father 
 has been a man. If my head is getting gray, it is not be- 
 cause I am old. Some of the snow which fell on it while 
 I have been sleeping on the war-paths has frozen there, 
 
3 iS Tin- PRAIRIE. 
 
 and the hot sun near the Osage villages has not been 
 strong enough to melt it." A low murmur was heard, 
 expressive of admiration of the services to which he thus 
 artfully alluded. The orator modestly awaited for the 
 feeling to subside a little, and then he continued, with in 
 creasing energy, encouraged by their commendations : 
 " But the eyes of a young brave are good. He can see 
 very far. He is a lynx. Look at me well. I will now 
 turn my back, that you may see both sides of me. Now 
 do you know I am your friend, for you look on a part that 
 a Pawnee never yet saw. Now look at my face not in 
 this seam, for there your eyes can never see into my spirit. 
 It is a hole cut by a Konza. But here is an opening, made 
 by the Wahcotah, through which you may look into the 
 soul. What am I ? A Dahcotah, within and without. 
 You know it. Therefore hear me. The blood of every 
 creature on the prairie is red. Who can tell the spot where 
 a Pawnee was struck, from the place where my young men 
 took a bison ? It is of the same color. The Master of 
 Life made them for each other. He made them alike. 
 But will the grass grow green where a pale-face is killed ? 
 My young men must not think that nation so numerous 
 that it will not miss a warrior. They call them over often, 
 and say, 'Where are my sons?' If they miss one, they 
 will send into the prairies to look for him. If they cannot 
 find him, they will tell their runners to ask for him among 
 the Sioux. My brethren, the Big-knives are not fools. 
 There is a mighty medicine of their nation now among 
 us ; who can tell how loud is his voice, or how long is his 
 arm ? " 
 
 The speech of the orator, who was beginning to enter 
 into his subject with warmth, was cut rhort by the impa- 
 tient Mahtoree, who suddenly arose, and exclaimed, in a 
 voice in which authority was mingled with contempt, and 
 at the close with a keen tone of irony also : 
 
 " Let my young men lead the evil spirit of the pale-faces 
 to the council. My brother shall see his medicine face to 
 face ! " 
 
 A death-like and solemn stillness succeeded this extra- 
 ordinary interruption. It not only involved a deep offence 
 against the sacred courtesy of debate, but the mandate was 
 likely to brave the unknown power of one of those incom- 
 prehensible beings whom few Indians were enlightened 
 enough at that day to regard without reverence, or fe\V 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 315 
 
 hardy enough to oppose. The subordinates, however, 
 obeyed, and Obed was led forth from the lodge mounted 
 on Asinus, with a ceremony and state which was certainly 
 intended for derision, but which nevertheless was greatly 
 enhanced by fear. As they entered the ring, Mahtoree, 
 who had foreseen and had endeavored to anticipate the in- 
 fluence of the doctor by bringing him into contempt, cast 
 an eye around the assembly in order to gather his success 
 in the various dark visages by which lie was encircled. 
 
 Truly Nature and art had combined to produce such an 
 effect from the air and appointments of. the naturalist, as 
 might have made him the subject of wonder in any place. 
 His head had been industriously shaved, after the most 
 improved fashion of Sioux taste. A gallant scalp-lock, 
 which would probably not have been spared had the doc- 
 tor himself been consulted in the matter, was all that re- 
 mained of an exuberant, and, at that particular season of 
 the year, far from uncomfortable head of hair. Thick 
 coats of paint had been laid on the naked poll, and certain 
 fanciful designs in the same material had even been ex- 
 tended into the neighborhood of the eyes and mouth, lend- 
 ing to the keen expression of the former a look of twink- 
 ling cunning, and to the dogmatism of the latter not a little 
 of the grimness of necromancy. He had been despoiled of 
 his upper garments, and in their stead his body was suffi- 
 ciently protected from the cold by a fantastically painted 
 robe of dressed deerskin. As if in mockery of his pursuit, 
 sundry toads, frogs, lizards, butterflies, etc., all duly pre- 
 pared to take their places at some future day in his own 
 private cabinet, were attached to the solitary lock on his 
 head, to his ears, and to various other conspicuous parts 
 of his person. If, in addition to the effect produced by 
 these quaint auxiliaries to his costume, we add the porten- 
 tous and troubled gl earnings of doubt which rendered his 
 visage doubly austere, and proclaimed the misgivings of 
 the worthy Obed's mind as he beheld his personal dignity 
 thus prostrated, and, what was of far greater moment in 
 his eyes, himself led forth, as he firmly believed, to be the 
 victim of some heathenish sacrifice, the reader will find no 
 difficulty in gwing credit to the sensation of awe that was 
 already excited by his appearance in a band already more 
 than half prepared to worship him as a powerful agent of 
 the evil spirit. 
 
 Weucha led Asinus directly into the centre of the circle, 
 
3 20 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 and, leaving them together (for the legs of the naturalist 
 were attached to the beast in such a manner that the two 
 animals might be said to be incorporated, and to form a 
 new order), he withdrew to his proper place, gazing at the 
 conjurer, as he retired, with a wonder and admiration that 
 were natural to the grovelling dulness of his mind. 
 
 The astonishment seemed mutual between the spectators 
 and the subject of this strange exhibition. If the Tetons 
 contemplated the mysterious attributes of the medicine 
 with awe and fear, the doctor gazed on every side of him 
 with a mixture of quite as many extraordinary emotions, 
 in which the latter sensation, however, formed no incon- 
 siderable ingredient. Everywhere his eyes, which just 
 at that moment possessed a secret magnifying quality, 
 seemed to rest on several dark, savage, and obdurate coun- 
 tenances at once, from none of which could he extract a 
 solitary gleam of sympathy or commiseration. At length his 
 wandering gaze fell on the grave and decent features of 
 the trapper who, with Hector at his feet, s.tood in the edge 
 of the circle, leaning on that rifle which he had been per- 
 mitted, as an acknowledged friend, to resume, and appar- 
 ently musing on the events that were likely to succeed a 
 council marked by so many and such striking ceremonies. 
 
 "Venerable venator, or hunter, or trapper," said the 
 disconsolate Obed, " I rejoice greatly in meeting thee 
 again. I fear that the precious time which had been al- 
 lotted me, in order to complete a mighty labor, is drawing 
 to a premature close, and I would gladly unburden my 
 mind to one who, if not a pupil of science, has at lea^t 
 some of the knowledge which civilization imparts to its 
 meanest subjects. Doubtless many and earnest inquiries 
 will be made after my fate, by the learned societies of the. 
 world, and perhaps expeditions will be sent into these re- 
 gions to remove any doubt which may arise on so important 
 a subject. I esteem myself happy that a man who speaks 
 the vernacular is present, to preserve the record of my 
 end. You will say that after a w r ell-spent and glorious life, 
 I died a martyr to science, and a victim to mental dark- 
 ness. As I expect to be particularly calm and abstracted 
 in my last moments, if you add a few details concerning 
 the fortitude and scholastic dignity with which I met my 
 death, it may serve to encourage future aspirants for simi- 
 lar honors, and assuredly give oifence to no one. And 
 now, friend trapper, as a duty I owe to human nature, J 
 
\ 
 THE PRAIRIE. 32* 
 
 will conclude by demanding if all hope has deserted me, 
 or if any means still exist by which so much valuable in- 
 formation may be rescued from the grasp of ignorance, and 
 preserved to the pages of natural history." 
 
 The old man lent an attentive ear to this melancholy 
 appeal, and apparently he reflected on every side of the 
 important question, before he would presume to answer. 
 
 "I take it, friend physicianer," he at length gravely re- 
 plied, " that the chances of life and death, in your partic- 
 ular case, depend altogether on the will of Providence, as 
 it may be pleased to manifest it through the accursed 
 windings of Indian cunning. For my own part, I see no 
 great difference in the main end to be gained, inasmuch 
 as it can matter no one greatly, yourself excepted, whether 
 you live or die." 
 
 " Would you account the fall of a corner-stone from the 
 foundation of the edifice of learning, a matter of indiffer- 
 ence to contemporaries or to posterity ? " interrupted Obed. 
 " Besides, my aged associate," he reproachfully added, 
 " the interest that a man has in his own existence is by no 
 means trifling, however it may be eclipsed by his devotion 
 to more general and philanthropic feelings." 
 
 "What I would say is this," resumed the trapper, who 
 was far from understanding all the subtle distinctions with 
 which his more learned companion so often saw fit to em- 
 bellish his discourse ; " there is but one birth and one 
 death to all things, be it hound or be it deer ; be it red 
 skin or be it white. Both are in the hands of the Lord, it 
 being as unlawful for man to strive to hasten the one, as 
 impossible to prevent tTie other. But I will not say that 
 something may not be done to put the last moment aside, 
 for a while at least, and therefore it is a question that any 
 one has a right to put to his own wisdom, how far he will 
 go, and how much pain he will suffer, to lengthen out a 
 time that may have been too long already. Many a dreary 
 winter and scorching summer has gone by since I have 
 turned to the right hand or to the left, to add an hour to a 
 iife that already stretched beyond fourscore years. I keep 
 myself as ready to answer to my name as a soldier at even- 
 ing roll-call. In my judgment, if your cases are left to 
 Indian tempers, the policy of the Great Sioux will lead his 
 people to sacrifice you all : nor do I put much dependence 
 on his seeming love for me ; therefore it becomes a ques- 
 tion whether you art ready for such a journey ; and if, 
 
 21 
 
322 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 being ready, whether this is not as good a time as another. 
 Should my opinion be asked, thus far will I give it in your 
 favor ; that is to say, it is my belief your life has been in- 
 nocent enough, touching any great offences that you may 
 have committed, though honesty compels me to add, that 
 I think all you can lay claim to, on the score of activity in 
 deeds, will not amount to anything worth naming in the 
 great account." 
 
 Obed turned a rueful eye on the calm, philosophic coun- 
 tenance of the other, as he answered with so discouraging 
 a statement of his case, clearing his throat, as he did so, in 
 order to conceal the desperate concern which began to 
 beset his faculties, with a vestige of that pride which rarely 
 deserts poor human nature, even in the greatest emergen- 
 cies. , 
 
 "I believe, venerable hunter," he replied, "considering 
 the question in all its bearings, and assuming that your 
 theory is just, it will be the safest to conclude that I am 
 not prepared to make so hasty a departure, and that meas- 
 ures of precaution should be forthwith resorted to." 
 
 " Being in that mind," returned the deliberate trapper, 
 "I will act for you as I would for myself ; though as time 
 has begun to roll down the hill with you, I will just advise 
 that you will look to your case speedily, for it may so hap- 
 pen that your name will be heard when quite as little pre- 
 pared to answer to it as now." 
 
 With this amicable understanding, the old man drew 
 back again into the ring, where he stood musing on the 
 course he should now adopt, with the singular mixture of 
 decision and resignation that proceeded from his habits 
 and humility, and which united to form a character in 
 which excessive energy, and the most meek submission to 
 the will of Providence, were oddly enough combined. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 " The witch, in Smithfield, shall be burned to ashes, 
 And you three shall be strangled on the gallows." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE Sioux had awaited the issue of the foregoing dia- 
 logue with commendable patience. Most of the band were 
 restrained by the secret awe with which they regarded the 
 mysterious character of Obed ; while a few of the more 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 323 
 
 intelligent chiefs gladly profited by the opportunity to ar- 
 range their thoughts for the struggle that was plainly fore- 
 seen. Mahtoree, influenced by neither of these feelings, 
 was content to show the trapper how much he conceded 
 to his pleasure ; and when the old man discontinued the 
 discourse, he received from the chief a glance that was in- 
 tended to remind him of the patience with which he had 
 awaited his movements. A profound arid motionless si- 
 lence succeeded the short interruption. Then Mahtoree 
 arose, evidently prepared to speak. First placing himself 
 in an attitude of dignity, he turned a steady and severe 
 look on the whole assembly. The expression of his eye, 
 however, changed as it glanced across the different coun- 
 tenances of his supporters and of his opponents. To the 
 former the look, though stern, was not threatening, while 
 it seemed to tell the latter all the hazards they incurred, in 
 daring to brave the resentment of one so powerful. 
 
 Still, in the midst of so much hauteur and confidence, the 
 sagacity and cunning of the Teton did not desert him. 
 When he had thrown the gauntlet, as it were, to the whole 
 tribe, and sufficiently asserted his claim to superiority, his 
 mien became more affable and his eye less angry. Then 
 it was that he raised his voice, in the midst of a death-like 
 stillness, varying its tones to suit the changing character 
 of his images and of his eloquence. 
 
 "What is a Sioux ?" the chief sagaciously began. " He 
 is the ruler of the prairies, and master of its beasts. The 
 fishes in the ' river of the troubled waters ' know him, and 
 come at his call. He is a fox in counsel, an eagle in sight, 
 a grizzly bear in combat. A Dahcotah is a man ! " After 
 waiting for the low murmur of approbation which followed 
 this flattering portrait of his people to subside, the Teton 
 continued : "What is a Pawnee ? A thief, who only steals 
 from women ; a red-skin who is not a brave ; a hunter that 
 begs for his venison. In council he is a squirrel, hopping 
 from place to place ; he is an owl, that goes on the prairies 
 at night ; in battle he is an elk, whose legs are long. A 
 Pawnee is a woman." Another pause succeeded, during 
 which a yell of delight broke from several mouths, and a 
 demand was made that the taunting words should be trans- 
 lated to the unconscious subject of their biting contempt. 
 The old man took his cue from the eyes of Mahtoree, and 
 complied. Hard-Heart listened gravely, and then, as if ap- 
 prised that his time to speak had not arrived, he once more 
 
3 2 4 
 
 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 bent his look on the vacant air. The orator watched his 
 countenance with an expression that manifested how in- 
 extinguishable was the hatred he felt for the only chief, 
 far and near, whose fame might advantageously be com- 
 pared with his own. Though disappointed in not having 
 touched the pride of one whom he regarded as a boy, he 
 proceeded what he considered as far more important to 
 quicken the tempers of the men of his own tribe, in order 
 that they might be prepared to work his savage purposes. 
 " If the earth was covered with rats, which are good for 
 nothing," he said, "there would be no room for buffaloes, 
 which give food and clothes to an Indian. If the prairies 
 were covered with Pawnees, there would be no room for 
 the foot of a Dahcotah. A Loup is a rat, a Sioux a heavy 
 buffalo ; let the buffaloes tread upon the rats, and make 
 room for themselves. 
 
 " My brothers, a little child has spoken to you. He tells 
 you his hair is not gray, but frozen ; that the grass will not 
 grow where a pale-face has died ! Does he know the color 
 of the blood of a Big-knife ? No ! I know he does not ; 
 he has never seen it. What Dahcotah besides Mahtoree 
 has ever struck a pale-face ? Not one. But Mahtoree 
 must be silent. Every Teton will shut his ears when he 
 speaks. The scalps over his lodge were taken by the worn* 
 en. They were taken by Mahtoree, and he is a woman. 
 His mou/h is shut ; he waits for the feasts, to sing among 
 the girls!" 
 
 Notwithstanding the exclamations of regret and resent 
 ment which followed so abasing a declaration, the chief 
 took his seat, as if determined to speak no more. But the 
 murmurs grew louder and more general, and there were 
 threatening symptoms that the council would dissolve itself 
 in confusion ; and he arose and resumed his speech, by 
 changing his manner to the fierce and hurried enunciation 
 of a warrior bent on revenge. 
 
 " Let my young men go to look for Tetao ! " he cried : 
 " they will find his scalp drying in Pawnee smoke. Where 
 is the son of Bohrecheena ? His bones are whiter than the 
 faces of his murderers. Is Mahhah asleep in his lodge ? 
 You know it is many moons since he started for the bless- 
 ed prairies ; would he were here, that he might say of what 
 color was the hand that took his scalp ! " 
 
 In this strain the artful chief continued for many minutes, 
 calling those warriors b'v name who were known to have 
 
THE 1'RAIRIE. 325 
 
 met their deaths in battle with the Pawnees, or in some of 
 those lawless frays which so often occurred between the 
 Sioux bands and a class ol white men who were but little 
 removed from them in the qualities of civilization. Time 
 was not given to reflect on the merits, or rather the de- 
 merits of most of the different individuals to whom he al- 
 luded, in consequence of the rapid manner in which he ran 
 over their names ; but so cunningly did he time his events, 
 and so thrillingly did he make his appeals, aided as they 
 were by the power of his deep-toned and stirring voice, 
 that each of them struck an answering chord in the breast 
 of some one of his auditors. 
 
 It was in the midst of one of his highest flights of elo- 
 quence, that a man, so aged as to walk with the greatest 
 difficulty, entered the very centre of the circle, and took 
 his stand directly in front of the speaker. An ear of great 
 acuteness might possibly have detected that the tones of 
 the orator faltered a little, as his flashing look first fell on 
 this unexpected object ; though the change was so trifling, 
 that none but such as thoroughly knew the parties would 
 have suspected it. The stranger had once been as distin- 
 guished for his beauty and proportions, as had been his 
 eagle eye for its irresistible and terrible glance. But his 
 skin was now wrinkled, and his features furrowed with so 
 many scars, as to have obtained for him, half a century be- 
 fore, from the French of the Canadas, a title which has 
 been borne by so many of the heroes of France, and which 
 had now been adopted into the language of the wild horde 
 of whom we are writing, as the one most expressive of the 
 deeds of their own brave. The murmurs of " Le Balafre!" 
 that rang through the assembly when he appeared, an- 
 nounced not only his name and the high estimation of his 
 character, but how extraordinary his visit was considered. 
 As he neither spoke nor moved, however, the sensation 
 created by his appearance soon subsided, and then every 
 eye was again turned upon the speaker, and every ear once 
 more drank in the intoxication of his maddening appeals. 
 
 It would have been easy to have traced the triumph of 
 Mahtoree in the reflecting countenances of his auditors. 
 It was not long before a look of ferocity and of revenge 
 was to be seen seated on the grim visages of most of the 
 warriors, and each new and crafty allusion to the policy of 
 extinguishing their enemies, was followed by fresh and less 
 restrained bursts oi approbation. In the height of this 
 
326 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 success, the Teton closed his speech by a rapid appeal to 
 the pride and hardihood of his native band, and suddenly 
 took his seat. 
 
 In the midst of the murmurs of applause which suc- 
 ceeded so remarkable an effort of eloquence, a low, feeble, 
 and hollow voice was heard rising on the ear, as if it rolled 
 from the inmost cavities of the human chest, and gathered 
 strength and energy as it issued into the air. A solemn 
 stillness followed the sounds, and then the lips of the aged 
 man were first seen to move. 
 
 " The day of Le Balafre is near its end," were the first 
 words that were distinctly audible. " He is like a buffalo 
 on whom the hair will grow no longer. He will soon be 
 ready to leave his lodge, to go in search of another that is 
 far from the villages of the Sioux ; therefore, what he has 
 to say concerns not him, but those he leaves behind him. 
 His words are like the fruit on the tree, ripe, and fit to be 
 given to chiefs. 
 
 " Many snows have fallen since Le Balafre has been 
 found on the war-path. His blood has been very hot, but 
 it has had time to cool. The Wahcondah gives him dreams 
 of war no longer ; he sees that it is better to live in peace. 
 
 " My brothers, one foot is turned to the happy hunting- 
 grounds, the other will soon follow, and then an old chief 
 will be seen looking for the prints of his father's moccasins, 
 that he may make no mistake, but be sure to come before 
 the Master of Life by the same path as so many good 
 Indians have already travelled. But who will follow ? 
 Le Balafre has no son. His oldest has ridden too many 
 Pawnee horses ; the bones of the youngest have been 
 gnawed by Konza dogs ! Le Balafre has come to look for 
 a young arm on which he may lean, and to find a son, that 
 when he is gone his lodge may not be empty. Tachecana, 
 the skipping fawn of the Tetons, is too weak to prop a 
 warrior who is old. She looks before her, and not back- 
 ward. Her mind is in the lodge of her husband." 
 
 The enunciation of the veteran warrior had been calm, 
 but distinct and decided. His declaration was received in 
 silence ; and though several of the chiefs, who were in the 
 counsels of Mahtoree, turned their eyes on their leader, 
 none presumed to oppose so aged and so venerated a brave, 
 in a resolution that was strictly in conformity to the usages 
 of the nation. The Teton himself was content to await 
 the result with seeming composure, though the gleams of 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 327 
 
 ferocity that played about his eye, occasionally betrayed 
 the nature of those feelings with which he witnessed a 
 procedure that was likely to rob him of that one of all his 
 intended victims whom he most hated. 
 
 In the meantime Le Balafre moved with a slow and 
 painful step toward the captives. He stopped before the 
 person of Hard-Heart, whose faultless form, unchanging 
 eye, and lofty mien, he contemplated long, with high and 
 evident satisfaction. Then making a gesture of authority, 
 he awaited until his order had been obeyed, and the youth 
 was released from the post and his bonds by the same blow 
 of the knife. When the young warrior was led nearer to 
 his dimmed and failing sight, the examination was renewed 
 with strictness of scrutiny, and that admiration which phy- 
 sical excellence is so apt to excite in the breast of a savage. 
 
 " It is good," the wary veteran murmured, when he 
 found that all the skill in the requisites of a brave could 
 detect no blemish ; " this is a leaping panther ! Does my 
 son speak with the tongue of a Teton ? " 
 
 The intelligence which lighted the eyes of the captive, 
 betrayed how well he understood the question, but still he 
 was far too haughty to communicate his ideas through the 
 medium of a language that belonged to a hostile people. 
 Some of the surrounding warriors explained to the old 
 chief that the captive was a Pawnee-Loup. 
 
 " My son opened his eyes on the 'waters of the wolves, ' ' 
 said Le Balafre, in the language of that nation, " but he 
 will shut them in the bend of the * river with a troubled 
 stream.' He was born a Pawnee, but he will die a Dah- 
 cotah. Look at me. I am a sycamore that once covered 
 many with my shadow. The leaves are fallen and the 
 branches begin to drop. But a single sucker is springing 
 from my roots ; it is a little vine, and it winds itself about 
 a tree that is green. I have long looked for one fit to 
 grow by my side. Now have I found him. Le Balafre is 
 no longer without a son ; his name will not be forgotten 
 when he is gone ! Men of the Tetons, I take this youth 
 into my lodge." 
 
 No one was bold enough to dispute a right that had so 
 often been exercised by warriors far inferior to the present 
 speaker, and the adoption was listened to in grave and re- 
 spectful silence. Le Balafre took his intended son by the 
 arm, and, leading him into the very centre of the circle, he 
 stepped aside with an air of triumph, in order that the spec- 
 
328 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 tators might approve of his choice. Mahtoree betrayed na 
 evidence of his intentions, but rather seemed to wait a 
 moment better suited to the crafty policy of his charac- 
 ter. The more experienced and sagacious chiefs distinctly 
 foresaw the utter impossibility of two partisans so re- 
 nowned, so hostile, and who had so long been rivals in 
 fame, as their prisoner and their native leader, existing 
 amicably in the same tribe'. Still the character of Le 
 Balafre was so imposing, and the custom to which he had 
 resorted so sacred, that none dared to lift a voice in oppo- 
 sition to the measure. They watched the result with in- 
 creasing interest, but with a coldness of demeanor that 
 concealed the nature of their inquietude. From this state 
 of embarrassment, and, as it might readily have proved, of 
 disorganization, the tribe was unexpectedly relieved by the 
 decision of the one most interested in the success of the 
 aged chief's designs. 
 
 During the whole of the foregoing scene it would have 
 been difficult to have traced a single distinct emotion in 
 the lineaments of the captive. He had heard his release 
 proclaimed with the same indifference as the order to bind 
 him to the stake. But now that the moment had arrived 
 when it became necessary to make his election, he spoke 
 in a way to prove that the fortitude which had brought 
 him so distinguished a name, had in no degree deserted him. 
 
 " My father is very old, but he has not yet looked upon 
 everything," said Hard-Heart, in a voice so clear as to be 
 heard by all in presence. " He has never seen a buffalo 
 change to a bat : he will never see a Pawnee become a 
 Sioux." 
 
 There was a suddenness, and yet a calmness, in the man- 
 ner of delivering this decision, which assured most of the 
 auditors that it was unalterable. The heart of Le Balafre, 
 however, was yearning toward the youth, and the fondness 
 of age was not so readily repulsed. Reproving the burst 
 of admiration and triumph to which the boldness of the 
 declaration and the freshened hopes of revenge had given 
 rise, by turning his gleaming eye around the band, the 
 veteran again addressed his adopted child, as if his pur- 
 pose was not to be denied. 
 
 " It is well," he said ; " such are the words a brave 
 should use, that the warriors may see his heart. The day 
 has been when the voice of Le Balafre was loudest among 
 the lodges of the Konzas. But the root of a white- hair is 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 329 
 
 wisdom. My child will show the Tetons that he is a brave 
 by striking their enemies. Men of the Dahcotahs, this is 
 my son ! " 
 
 The Pawnee hesitated a moment, and then, stepping in 
 front of the chief, he took his hard and wrinkled hand, and 
 laid it with reverence on his head, as if to acknowledge the 
 extent of his obligation. Then, recoiling a step, he raised 
 his person to its greatest elevation, and looked upon the 
 hostile band by whom he was environed, with an air of lofti- 
 ness and disdain, as he spoke aloud in the language of the 
 Sioux: 
 
 " Hard- Heart has looked at himself within and without. 
 He has thought of all he has done in the hunts and in the 
 wars. Everywhere he is the same. There is no change. 
 He is in all things a Pawnee. He has struck so many 
 Tetons that he could never eat in their lodges. His arrows 
 would fly backward ; the point of his lance would be on 
 the wrong end ; their friends would weep at every whoop 
 he gave ; their enemies would laugh. Do the Tetons know 
 a Loup ? Let them look at him again. His head is painted ; 
 his arm is flesh ; his heart is rock. When the Tetons see 
 the sun come from the Rocky Mountains, and move toward 
 the land of the pale-faces, the mind of Hard-Heart will 
 soften, and his spirit will become Sioux. Until that day 
 he will live and die a Pawnee." 
 
 A yell of delight, in which admiration and ferocity were 
 strangely mingled, interrupted the speaker, and but too 
 clearly announced the character of his fate. The captive 
 awaited a moment for the commotion to subside, and then, 
 turning again to Le Balafre, he continued, in tones concil- 
 iating and kind, as if he felt the propriety of softening his 
 refusal in a manner not to wound the pride of one who 
 would so gladly be his benefactor : 
 
 " Let my father lean heavier on the fawn of the Dahco- 
 tahs," he said; "she is weak now, but as her lodge fills 
 with young she will be stronger. See." he added, direct- 
 ing the eyes of the other to the earnest countenance of the 
 attentive trapper, " Hard-Heart is not without a gray-head 
 to show him the path to the blessed prairies. If he ever 
 has another father, it shall be that just warrior." 
 
 Le Balafre turned away in disappointment from the 
 youth and approached the stranger who had thus antici- 
 pated his design. The examination between these tww 
 aged men was long, mutual, and curious. It was not easy 
 
330 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 to detect the real character of the trapper through the 
 mask which the hardships of so many years had laid upon 
 his features, especially when aided by his wild and peculiar 
 attire. Some moments elapsed before the Teton spoke, 
 and then it was in doubt whether he addressed one like 
 himself or some wanderer of that race who, he had heard, 
 were spreading themselves like hungry locusts throughout 
 the land. 
 
 "The head of my brother is very white," he said, "but 
 the eye of Le Balafre is no longer like the eagle's. Of 
 what color is his skin ?" 
 
 "The Wahcondah made me like these you see waiting 
 for a Dahcotah judgment, but fair and foul has colored me 
 darker than the skin of a fox. What of that ? though the 
 bark is ragged and riven, the heart of the tree is sound." 
 
 " My brother is a Big-knife ! Let him turn his face 
 toward the setting sun and open his eyes. Does he see 
 the salt lake beyond the mountains ? " 
 
 " The time has been, Teton, when few cou/d see the 
 white on an eagle's head farther than I ; but the glare of 
 four-score-and-seven winters has dimmed my eyes, and but 
 little can I boast of sight in my latter days. Does the 
 Sioux think a pale-face is a god, that he can look through 
 hills?" 
 
 "Then let my brother look at me. I am nigh him and 
 he can see that I am a foolish red-man. Why cannot his 
 people see everything, since they crave all ?" 
 
 "I understand you, chief, nor will I gainsay the justice 
 of your words, seeing that they are too much founded in 
 truth. But, though born of the race you love so little, my 
 worst enemy, not even a lying Mingo, would dare to say 
 that I ever laid hands on the goods of another, except such 
 as were taken in manful warfare ; or that I ever coveted 
 more ground than the Lord has intended each man to fill." 
 
 "And yet my brother has come among the red-skins to 
 find a son ?" 
 
 The trapper laid a finger on the naked shoulder of Le 
 Balafre, and looked into his scarred countenance with a 
 wistful and confidential expression, as he answered : 
 
 " Ay ; but it was only that I might do good to the boy. 
 If you think, Dahcotah, that I adopted the youth in order 
 to prop my age, you do me as much injustice to my good- 
 will as you seem to know little of the merciless intention? 
 of your own people. I have made him my son, that he 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 331 
 
 may know that one is left behind him. Peace, Hector, 
 peace ! Is this decent, pup, when grayheads are counsel- 
 ling together, to break in upon their discourse with the 
 whinings of a hound ? The dog is old, Teton ; and, though 
 well taught in respect to behavior, he is getting, like our- 
 selves, I fancy, something forgetful of the fashions of his 
 youth." 
 
 Further discourse, between these veterans, was inter- 
 rupted by a discordant yell, which burst at that moment 
 from the lips of the dozen withered crones who have al- 
 ready been mentioned as having forced themselves into a 
 conspicuous part of the circle. The outcry was excited by 
 a sudden change in the air of Hard-Heart. When the old 
 men turned toward the youth, they saw him standing in 
 the very centre of the ring, with his head erect, his eyes 
 fixed on vacancy, one leg advanced and an arm a little 
 raised, as if all his faculties were absorbed in the act of 
 listening. A smile lighted his countenance for a single 
 moment, and then the whole-man sank again into his former 
 look of dignity and coldness, suddenly recalled to self-pos- 
 session. The movement had been construed into con- 
 tempt, and even the tempers of the chiefs began to be ex- 
 cited. Unable to restrain their fury, the women broke into 
 the circle in a body, and commenced their attack by loading 
 the captive with the most bitter revilings. They boasted 
 of the various exploits which their sons had achieved at 
 the expense of the diiferent tribes of the Pawnees. They 
 undervalued his own reputation, and told him to look at 
 Mahtoree, if he had never yet seen a warrior. They ac- 
 cused him of having been suckled by a doe, and of having 
 drunk in cowardice with his mother's milk. In short, they 
 lavished upon their unmoved captive a torrent of that vin- 
 dictive abuse in which the women of the savages are so 
 well known to excel, but which has been too often de- 
 scribed to need a repetition here. 
 
 The effect of this outbreaking was inevitable. Le Bala- 
 fre turned away disappointed, and hid himself in the crowd ; 
 while the trapper, whose honest features were working 
 with inward emotion, pressed nigher to his young friend, 
 as those who are linked to the criminal by ties so strong 
 as to brave the opinions of men, are often seen to stand 
 about the place of execution to support his dying moments. 
 The excitement soon spread among the inferior warriors, 
 though the chiefs still forebore to make the signal which 
 
33 2 77/7? PRAIRIE. 
 
 committed the victim to their mercy. Mahtoree, who hafl 
 awaited such a movement among his fellows, with the wary 
 design of concealing his own jealous hatred, soon grew 
 weary of delay, and, by a glance of his eye, encouraged the 
 tormentors to proceed. 
 
 Weucha, who, eager for this sanction, had long stood 
 watching the countenance of the chief, bounded forward 
 at the signal like a bloodhound loosened from the leash. 
 Forcing his way into the centre of the hags, who were al- 
 ready proceeding from abuse to violence, he reproved their 
 impatience, and bade them wait until a warrior had begun 
 to torment, and then they should see their victim shed tears 
 like a woman. 
 
 The heartless savage commenced his efforts by flourish- 
 ing his tomahawk about the head of the captive, in such a 
 manner as to give reason to suppose that each blow would 
 bury the weapon in the flesh, w r hile it was so governed as 
 not to touch the skin. To this customary expedient, Hard- 
 Heart was perfectly insensible. His eye kept the same 
 steady, riveted look on the air, though the glittering axe 
 described in its evolutions a bright circle of light before 
 his countenance. Frustrated in this attempt, the callous 
 Sioux laid the cold edge on the naked head of the victim, 
 and began to describe the different manners in which a 
 prisoner might be flayed. The women kept time to his 
 cruelties with their taunts, and endeavored to force some 
 expression of the lingerings of nature from the insensible 
 features of the Pawnee. But he evidently reserved him- 
 self for the chiefs, and for those moments of extreme an- 
 guish, when the loftiness of his spirit might evince itself 
 in a manner better becoming his high and untarnished 
 reputation. 
 
 The eyes of the trapper followed every movement of 
 the tomahawk with the interest of a real father, until at 
 length, unable to command his indignation, he exclaimed : 
 
 " My son has forgotten his cunning. This is a low- 
 minded Indian, and one easily hurried into folly. I can- 
 not do the thing myself, for my traditions forbid a dying 
 warrior to revile his persecutors, but the gifts of a red-skin 
 are different. Let the Pawnee say the bitter word, and 
 purchase an easy death. I will answer for his success, 
 provided he speaks before the grave men set their wisdom 
 to back the folly of this fool." 
 
 The savage Sioux, who heard his words without com- 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 331 
 
 prehending their meaning, turned to the speaker and men- 
 need him with death for his temerity. 
 
 " Ay, work your will," said the unflinching old man; 
 *' I am as ready now as I shall be to-morrow. Though it 
 would be a death that an honest man might not wish to 
 die. Look at that noble Pawnee, Teton, and Gee what a 
 red-skin may become, who fears the Master of Life, and 
 follows his laws. How many of your people has he sent 
 to the distant prairies ?" he continued, in a sort of pious 
 fraud, thinking that, while the danger menaced himself, 
 there could surely be no sin in extolling the merits of an- 
 other : "how many howling Siouxes has he struck like a 
 warrior in open combat, while arrows were sailing in the 
 air plentier than flakes of falling snow ? Go ! will Weucha 
 speak the name of one enemy he has ever struck ? " 
 
 " Hard-Heart!" shouted the Sioux, turning in his fury 
 .and aiming a deadly blow at the head of his victim. His 
 arm fell into the hollow of the captive's hand. For a sin- 
 gle moment the two stood, as if entranced, in that attitude, 
 the one paralyzed by so unexpected a resistance, and the 
 other bending his head, not to meet his death, but in the 
 act of the most intense attention. The women screamed 
 with triumph, for they thought the nerves of the captive 
 had at length failed him. The trapper trembled for the 
 honor of his friend ; and Hector, as if conscious of what 
 was passing, raised his nose into the air, and uttered a pit- 
 eous howl 
 
 But the Pawnee hesitated only for that moment Rais- 
 ing the other hand like lightning, the tomahawk flashed in 
 the air, and Weucha sank to his feet brained to the eye. 
 Then cutting a way with the bloody weapon, he darted 
 through the opening left by the frightened women, and 
 seemed to descend the declivity at a single bound. 
 
 Had a bolt from Heaven fallen in the midst of the 
 Teton band, it would not have occasioned greater conster- 
 nation than this act of desperate hardihood. A shrill, 
 plaintive cry burst from the lips of all the women, and 
 there was a moment that even the oldest warriors ap- 
 peared to have lost their faculties. This stupor endured 
 only for the instant. It was succeeded by a yell of re- 
 venge that burst from a hundred throats, while as many 
 warriors started forward at the cry, bent on the most 
 bloody retribution. But a powerful and authoritative call 
 from Mahtoree arrested every foot. The chief, in whose 
 
334 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 countenance disappointment and rage were struggling 
 with the affected composure of his station, extended an 
 arm toward the river, and the whole mystery was ex- 
 plained. 
 
 Hard-Heart had already crossed half the bottom which 
 lay between the acclivity and the water. At this precise 
 moment a band of armed and mounted Pawnees turned a 
 swell, and galloped to the margin of the stream, into which 
 the plunge of the fugitive was distinctly heard. A few 
 minutes sufficed for his vigorous arm to conquer the pas- 
 sage, and then the shout from the opposite shore told the 
 humbled Tetons the whole extent of the triumph of their 
 adversaries. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 "If that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly ; the curses he shall 
 have, the tortures he shall feel, will break the back of man, the heart of 
 monster." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 IT will readily be seen that the event just related was 
 attended by an extraordinary sensation among the Sioux. 
 In leading the hunters of the band back to the encamp- 
 ment, their chief had neglected none of the customary pre- 
 cautions of Indian prudence, in order that his trail might 
 escape the eye of his enemies. It would seem, however, 
 that the Pawnees had not only made the dangerous dis- 
 covery, but had managed with great art to draw nigh the 
 place by the only side on which it was thought unneces- 
 sary to guard the approaches with the usual line of sen- 
 tinels. The latter, who were scattered along the different 
 little eminences which lay in the rear of the lodges, were 
 among the last to be apprised of the danger. 
 
 In such a crisis there was little time for deliberation, 
 It was by exhibiting the force of his character in scenes 
 of similar difficulty, that Mahtoree had obtained and 
 strengthened his ascendency among his people, nor did 
 he seem likely to lose it by the manifestation of any inde- 
 cision on the present occasion. In the midst of the 
 screams of the young, the shrieks of the women, and the 
 wild bowlings of the crones, which were sufficient of them- 
 selves to have created a chaos in the thoughts of one less 
 accustomed to act in emergencies, he promptly asserted 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 335 
 
 his authority, issuing his orders with the coolness of a 
 veteran. 
 
 While the warriors were arming, the boys were dis- 
 patched to the bottom for the horses. The tents were 
 hastily struck by the women, and disposed of on such oi 
 the beasts as were not fit to be trusted in combat. The 
 infants were cast upon the backs of their mothers ; and 
 those children who were of a size to march were driven to 
 the rear, like a herd of less reasoning animals. Though 
 these several movements were made amid outcries and a 
 clamor that likened the place to another Babel, they were 
 executed with incredible alacrity and intelligence. 
 
 In the meantime, Mahtoree neglected no duty that be- 
 longed to his responsible station. From the elevation on 
 which he stood,, he could command a perfect view of the 
 force and evolutions of the hostile party. A grim smile 
 lighted his visage when he found that, in point of num- 
 bers, his own band was greatly superior. Notwithstand- 
 ing this great advantage, however, there were other points 
 of inequality, which would probably have a tendency to 
 render his success in the approaching conflict exceedingly 
 doubtful. His people were the inhabitants of a more 
 northern and less hospitable region than their enemies, 
 and were far from being rich in that species of property, 
 horses and arms, which constitutes the most highly prized 
 wealth of a Western Indian. The band in view was mounted 
 to a man ; and, as it had come so far to rescue, or to re- 
 venge, their greatest partisan, he had no reason to doubt 
 its being composed entirely of braves. On the other hand, 
 many of his followers were far better in a hunt than in a 
 combat ; men who might serve to divert the attention oi 
 his foes, but from whom he could expect little desperate 
 service. Still, his flashing eye glanced over a body of 
 warriors on whom he had often relied, and who had never 
 deceived him ; and though, in the precise position in 
 which he found himself, he felt no disposition to precipi 
 tate the conflict, he certainly would have had no intention 
 to avoid it, had not the presence of his women and chil- 
 dren placed the option altogether in the power of his 
 adversaries. 
 
 On the other hand, the Pawnees, so unexpectedly suc- 
 cessful in their first and greatest object, manifested no in- 
 tention to drive matters to an issue. The river was a dan- 
 gerous barrier to pass, in the face of a determined foe, and 
 
336 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 it would now have been in perfect accordance with then 
 cautious policy to have retired for a season, in order that 
 their onset might be made in the hours of darkness and of 
 seeming security. But there was a spirit in their chief that 
 elevated him, for the moment, above the ordinary expe- 
 dients of savage warfare. His bosom burned with the 
 desire to wipe out that disgrace of which he had been the 
 subject ; and it is possible that he believed the retiring 
 camp of the Sioux contained a prize that began to have 
 a value in his eyes far exceeding any that could be found 
 in fifty Teton scalps. Let that be as it might, Hard-Heart 
 had no sooner received the brief congratulations of his 
 band, and communicated to the chiefs such facts as were 
 important to be known, than he prepared himself to act 
 such a part in the coming conflict as would at once main- 
 tain his well-earned reputation and gratify his secret wishes. 
 A led horse, one that had been long trained in the hunts, 
 had been brought to receive his master, with but little hope 
 that his services would ever be needed again in this life. 
 With a delicacy and consideration that proved how much 
 the generous qualities of the youth had touched the feel- 
 ings of his people, a bow, a lance, and a quiver were thrown 
 across the animal, which it had been intended to immolate 
 on the grave of the young brave ; a species of care that 
 would have superseded the necessity for the pious duty 
 that the trapper had pledged himself to perform. 
 
 Though Hard-Heart was sensible of the kindness of hi^ 
 warriors, and believed that a chief, furnished with such 
 appointments, might depart with credit for the distant hunt- 
 ing-grounds of the Master of Life, he seemed equally dis- 
 posed to think that they might be rendered quite as useful 
 in the actual state of things. His countenance lighted with 
 stern pleasure, as he tried the elasticity of the bow, and 
 poised the well-balanced spear. The glance he bestowed 
 on the shield was more cursory and indifferent ; but the 
 exultation with which he threw himself on the back of his 
 favorite war-horse was so great as to break through the 
 forms of Indian reserve. He rode to and fro among his 
 scarcely less delighted warriors, managing the animal with 
 a grace and address that no artificial rules can ever supply ; 
 at times flourishing his lance, as if to assure himself oi 
 his seat, and at others examining critically into the condi- 
 tion of the fusee, with which he had also been furnished, 
 with the fondness of one who was miraculously restored 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 337 
 
 to the possession of treasures that constituted his pride and 
 his happiness. 
 
 At this particular moment, Mahtoree, having completed 
 the necessary arrangements, prepared to make a more de- 
 cisive movement. The Teton had found no little embar- 
 rassment in disposing of his captives. The tents of the 
 squatter were still in sight, and his wary cunning did not 
 fail to apprise him that it was quite as necessary to guard 
 against an attack from that quarter as to watch the motions 
 of his more open and more active foes. His first impulse 
 had been to make the tomahawk suffice for the men, and 
 to trust the females under the same protection as the 
 women of his band ; but the manner in which many of his 
 braves continued to regard the imaginary medicine of the 
 Long-knives, forewarned him of the danger of so hazardous 
 an experiment on the eve of a battle. It might be deemed 
 The omen of defeat. In this dilemma he motioned to a 
 superannuated warrior, to whom he had confided the 
 charge of the non-combatants, and leading him apart, he 
 placed a finger significantly on his shoulder, as he said, in 
 a tone in which authority was tempered by confidence : 
 
 "When my young men are striking the Pawnees, give 
 the women knives. Enough ; my father is very old ; he 
 does not want to hear wisdom from a boy." 
 
 The grim old savage returned a look of ferocious assent, 
 and then the mind of the chief appeared to be at rest on 
 this important subject. From that moment he bestowed 
 all his care on the achievement of his revenge, and the 
 maintenance of his martial character. Throwing himself 
 on his horse, he made a sign, with the air of a prince, to 
 his followers to imitate his example, interrupting, without 
 ceremony, the war-songs and solemn rites by which many 
 among them were stimulating their spirits to deeds of dar- 
 ing. When all were in order, the whole moved with great 
 steadiness and silence toward the margin of the river. 
 
 The hostile bands were now separated by the water. The 
 width of the stream was too great to admit of the use of the 
 ordinary Indian missiles, but a few useless shots were ex- 
 changed from the fusees of the chiefs, more in bravado 
 than with any expectation of doing execution. As some 
 time was suffered to elapse in demonstrations and abortive 
 efforts, we shall leave them, for that period, to return to 
 such of our characters as remained in the hands of the 
 savages. 
 
 22 
 
53* THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 We have shed much ink in vain, and wasted quires, that 
 might possibly have been better employed, if it be neces- 
 sary now to tell the reader that few of the foregoing move- 
 ments escaped the observation of the experienced trapper. 
 He had been, in common with the rest, astonished at the 
 sudden act of Hard-Heart ; and there was a single moment 
 when a feeling of regret and mortification got the better 
 of his longings to save the life of the youth. The simple 
 and well-intentioned old man would have felt at witness- 
 ing any failure of firmness on the part of a warrior who 
 had so strongly excited his sympathies, the same species 
 of sorrow that a Christian parent would suffer in hanging 
 over the dying moments of an impious child. But when, 
 instead of an impotent and unmanly struggle for existence, 
 he found that his friend had forborne, with the customary 
 and dignified submission of an Indian warrior, until an op- 
 portunity had offered to escape, and that he had then mani- 
 fested the spirit and decision of the most gifted brave, his 
 gratification became nearly too powerful to be concealed. 
 In the midst of the wailing and commotion which suc- 
 ceeded the death of Weucha and the escape of the captive, 
 he placed himself nigh the persons of his white associates, 
 with a determination of interfering, at every hazard, should 
 the fury of the savages take that direction. The appear- 
 ance of the hostile band spared him, however, so desper- 
 ate and probably so fruitless an effort, and left him to 
 pursue his observations and to mature his plans more at 
 leisure. 
 
 He particularly remarked that, while by far the greater 
 part of the women, and all the children, together with the 
 effects of the party, were hurried to the rear, probably 
 with an order to secrete themselves in some of the adja- 
 cent woods, the tent of Mahtoree himself was left stand- 
 ing, and its contents undisturbed. Two chosen horses, 
 however, stood near by, held by a couple of youths, who 
 were too young to go into conflict, and yet of an age to 
 understand the management of the beasts. The trapper 
 perceived in this arrangement the reluctance of Mahtoree 
 to trust his newly found " flowers " beyond the reach of his 
 eye ; and, at the same time, his forethought, in providing 
 against a reverse of fortune. Neither had the manner of 
 the Teton, in giving his commission to the old savage, nor 
 the fierce pleasure with which the latter had received the 
 bloody charge, escaped his observation. From all these 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 339 
 
 mysterious movements, the old man was aware that a cri- 
 sis was at hand, and he summoned the utmost knowledge 
 he had acquired, in so long a life, to aid him in the des- 
 perate conjuncture. While musing on the means to be 
 employed, the doctor again attracted his attention to him- 
 self by a piteous appeal for assistance. 
 
 "Venerable trapper, or, as I may now say, liberator," 
 commenced the dolorous Obed, " it would seem that a fit- 
 ting time has at length arrived to dissever the unnatural 
 and altogether irregular connection which exists between 
 my inferior members and the body of Asinus. Perhaps 
 if such a portion of my limbs were released as might leave 
 me master of the remainder, and this favorable opportunity 
 were suitably improved, by making a forced march toward 
 the settlements, all hopes of preserving the treasures of 
 knowledge, of which I am the unworthy receptacle, would 
 not be lost. The importance of the results is surely worth 
 the hazard of the experiment." 
 
 " I know not, I know not," returned the deliberate old 
 man ; " the vermin and reptiles, which you bear about you, 
 were intended by the Lord for the prairies, and I see no 
 good in sending them into regions that may not suit their 
 natur's. And, moreover, you may be of great and partic- 
 ular use as you now sit on the ass, though it creates no 
 wonder in my mind to perceive that you are ignorant of it, 
 seeing that usefulness is altogether a new calling to so 
 bookish a man." 
 
 " Of what service can I be in this painful thraldom, in 
 which the animal functions are in a manner suspended, and 
 the spiritual or intellectual blinded by the secret sympathy 
 that unites mind to matter ? There is likely to be blood 
 spilt between yonder adverse hosts of heathens ; and, 
 though but little desiring the office, it would be better that 
 I should employ myself in surgical experiments than in 
 thus wasting the precious moments, mortifying both soul 
 and body." *" 
 
 " It is little that a red-skin would care to have a physi- 
 cian to his hurts, while the whoop is ringing in his ears. 
 Patience is a virtue in an Indian, and can be no shame to 
 a Christian white man. Look at these hags of squaws, 
 friend doctor ; I have no judgment in savage tempers, if 
 they are not bloody-minded, and ready to work their ac- 
 cursed pleasures on us all. Now, so long as you keep upon 
 the ass, and maintain the fierce look which is far from being 
 
$40 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 your natural gift, fear of so great a medicine may serve to 
 keep down their courage. I am placed here, like a general 
 at the opening of the battle, and it has become my duty to 
 make such use of all my force as, in my judgment, each is 
 best fitted to perform. If I know these niceties, you will 
 be more serviceable for your countenance just now than 
 in any more stirring exploits. 
 
 " Harkee, old trapper, shouted Paul," whose patience 
 could no longer maintain itself under the calculating and 
 prolix explanations of the other, " suppose you cut two 
 things I can name, short off ? That is to say, your conver- 
 sation, which is agreeable enough over a well-baked buffa- 
 lo's hump, and these damnable thongs of hide, which, ac- 
 cording to my experience, can be pleasant nowhere. A 
 single stroke of your knife would be of more service, just 
 now, than the longest speech that was ever made in a 
 Kentucky court-house." 
 
 "Ay, court-houses are the 'happy hunting-grounds,' as 
 a red-skin would say, for them that are born with gifts no 
 better than such as lie in the tongue. I was carried into 
 one of the lawless holes myself once, and it was all about 
 a thing of no more value than the skin of a deer. The 
 Lord forgive them! the Lord forgive them ! they knew 
 no better, and they did according to their weak judgments ; 
 and therefore the more are they to be pitied ; and yet it 
 was a solemn sight to see an aged man, who had always 
 lived in the air, laid neck and heels by the law, and held 
 up as a spectacle for the women and boys of a wasteful 
 settlement to point their fingers at ! " 
 
 " If such be your opinions of confinement, honest friend, 
 you had better manifest the same by putting us at liberty 
 with as little delay as possible," said Middleton, who, like 
 his companion, began to find the tardiness of his often-tried 
 companion quite as extraordinary as it was disagreeable. 
 
 " I should greatly like to do the same ; especially in 
 your behalf, captain, who, being a soldier, might find not 
 only pleasure but profit in examining, more at your ease, 
 into the circumventions and cunning of an Indian fight. 
 As to our friend here, it is of but little matter how much 
 of this affair he examines, or how little, seeing that a bee 
 *.s not to be overcome in the same manner as an Indian." 
 
 " Old man, this trifling with our misery is inconsiderate, 
 f x> give it a name no harsher " 
 
 "Ay, your gran'ther was of a hot and hurrying 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 341 
 
 and one must "not expect that the young of the panther 
 will crawl the arth like the litter of a porcupine. Now, 
 keep you both silent, and what I say shall have the ap- 
 pearance of being spoken concerning the movements that 
 are going on in the bottom ; all of which will serve to put 
 jealousy to sleep, and to shut the eyes of such as rarely 
 close them on wickedness and cruelty. In the first place, 
 then, you must know that I have reason to think yonder 
 treacherous Teton has left an order to put us all to death, 
 so soon as he thinks the deed may be done secretly, and 
 without tumult." 
 
 " Great Heaven ! will you suffer us to be butchered ]ike 
 unresisting sheep ? " 
 
 " Hist, captain, hist ! a hot temper is none of the best, 
 when cunning is more needed than blows. Ah, the Paw- 
 nee is a noble boy ! it would do your heart good to see 
 how he draws off from the river, in order to invite his ene- 
 mies to cross ; and yet, according to my failing sight, they 
 count two warriors to his one ! But, as I was saying, little 
 good comes of haste and thoughtlessness. The facts are 
 so plain that any child may see their wisdom. The sav- 
 ages are of many minds as to the manner of our treatment. 
 Some fear us for our color, and would gladly let us go, and 
 other some would show us the mercy that the doe receives 
 from the hungry wolf. When opposition gets fairly into 
 the councils of a tribe, it is rare that humanity is the 
 gainer. Now, see you these wrinkled and cruel-minded 
 squaws no, you cannot see them as you lie, but neverthe- 
 less they are here, ready and willing, like so many raging 
 she-bears, to work their will upon us so soon as the proper 
 time shall come." 
 
 " Harkee, old gentleman trapper," interrupted Paul, 
 with a little bitterness in his manner, " do you tell us these 
 matters for our amusement or for your own ? If for ours, 
 you may keep your breath for the next race you run, as I 
 am tickled nearly to suffocation already with my part of 
 the fun." 
 
 " Hist ! " said the trapper, cutting with great dexterity 
 and rapidity the thong which bound one of the arms of 
 Paul to his body, and dropping his knife at the same time 
 within reach of the liberated hand. " Hist, boy, hist ! that 
 was a lucky moment ! The yell from the bottom drew the 
 eyes of these blood-suckers in another quarter, and so far 
 we are safe. Now make a proper use of your advantages 
 
342 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 but be careful that what you do is done without being 
 seen." 
 
 " Thank you for this small favor, old deliberation," mut- 
 tered the bee-hunter, " though it comes like a snow in 
 May, somewhat out of season." 
 
 " Foolish boy ! " reproachfully exclaimed the other, who 
 had moved to a little distance from his friends, and ap- 
 peared to be attentively regarding the movements of the 
 hostile parties, "will you never learn to know the wisdom 
 of patience ? And you, too, captain ; though a man my- 
 self that seldom ruffles his temper by vain feelings, I see 
 that you are silent because you scorn to ask favors any 
 longer from one you think too slow to grant them. No 
 doubt ye are both young, and filled with pride of your 
 strength and manhood, and I dare say you thought it only 
 needful to cut the thongs to leave you masters of the 
 ground. But he that has seen much is apt to think much. 
 Had I run like a bustling woman to have given you free- 
 dom, these hags of the Siouxes would have seen the same, 
 and then where would you both have found yourselves ? 
 Under the tomahawk and the knife, like helpless and out- 
 crying children, though gifted with the size and beards of 
 men. Ask our friend, the bee-hunter, in what condition 
 he finds himself to struggle with a Teton boy, after so 
 many hours of bondage ; much less with a dozen merciless 
 and bloodthirsty squaws ! " 
 
 " Truly, old trapper," returned Paul, stretching his limbs, 
 which were by this time entirely released, and endeavoring 
 to restore the suspended circulation, "you have some judg- 
 matical notions in these matters. Now here am I, Paul 
 Hover, a man who will give in to few at wrestle or race, 
 nearly as helpless as the day I paid my first visit to the 
 house of old Paul, who is dead and gone the Lord for- 
 give him any little blunders he may have made while he 
 tarried in Kentucky ! Now there is my foot on the ground, 
 so far as eyesight has any virtue, and yet it would take no 
 great temptation to make me swear it didn't touch the 
 earth by six inches. I say, honest friend, since you have 
 done so much, have the goodness to keep these damnable 
 squaws, of whom you say so many interesting things, at a 
 little distance till I have got the blood of this arm in mo- 
 tion and am ready to receive them." 
 
 The trapper made a sign that he perfectly understood 
 the case ; and he walked toward the superannuated sav- 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 343 
 
 jge, who began to manifest an intention of commencing 
 his assigned task, leaving the bee-hunter to recover the 
 use of his limbs as well as he could, and to put Middleton 
 in a similar situation to defend himself. 
 
 Mahtoree had not mistaken his man in selecting the one 
 he did to execute his bloody purpose. He had chosen one 
 of those ruthless savages, more or less of whom are to be 
 found in every tribe, who had purchased a certain share 
 of military reputation, by the exhibition of hardihood that 
 found its impulses in an innate love of cruelty. Contrary 
 to the high and chivalrous sentiment which among the 
 Indians of the prairies renders it a deed of even greater 
 merit to bear off the trophy of victory from a fallen foe 
 than to slay him, he had been remarkable for preferring 
 the pleasure of destroying life to the glory of striking the 
 dead. While the more self-devoted and ambitious braves 
 were intent on personal honor, he had always been seen, 
 established behind some favorable cover, depriving the 
 wounded of hope, by finishing that which a more gallant 
 warrior had begun. In all the cruelties of the tribe he 
 had ever been foremost : and no Sioux was so uniformly 
 found on the side of merciless counsels. 
 
 He h?d awaited with an impatience which his long-prac- 
 tised restraint could with difficulty subdue for the moment 
 to arrive when he might proceed to execute the wishes of 
 the great chief, without whose approbation and powerful 
 protection he would not have dared to undertake a step 
 that had so many opposers in the nation. But events had 
 been hastening to an issue between the hostile parties ; 
 and the time had now arrived, greatly to his secret and 
 malignant joy, when he was free to act his will. 
 
 The trapper found him distributing knives to the fero- 
 cious hags, who received the presents, chanting a low, mo- 
 notonous song, that recalled the losses of their people in 
 various conflicts with the whites, and which extolled the 
 pleasures and glory of revenge. The appearance of such 
 a group was enough of itself to have deterred one less ac- 
 customed to such sights than the old man from trusting 
 himself within the circle of their wild and repulsive rites. 
 
 Each of the crones, as she received the weapon, com 
 menced a slow and measured, but ungainly step, around 
 the savage, until the whole were circling him in a sort of 
 magic dance. The movements were timed in some degree 
 by the words of their songs, as were their gestures by the 
 
344 THR PRAIRIE. 
 
 ideas. When they spoke of their own losses they tossed 
 their long, straight locks of gray into the air, or suffered 
 them to fall in confusion upon their withered necks ; but, 
 as the sweetness of returning blow for blow was touched 
 upon by any among them, it was answered by a common 
 howl as well as by gestures that were sufficiently expres- 
 sive of the manner in which they were exciting themselves 
 to the necessary state of fury. 
 
 Into the very centre of this ring of seeming demons the 
 trapper now stalked, with the same calmness and obser- 
 vation as he would have walked into a village church. 
 No other change was made by his appearance than a re- 
 newal of the threatening gestures, with, if possible, a still 
 less equivocal display of their remorseless intentions, 
 Making a sign for them to cease, the old man demanded : 
 
 " Why do the mothers of the Tetons sing with bitter 
 tongues ? The Pawnee prisoners are not yet in their vil- 
 lage ; their young men have not come back loaded with 
 scalps ! " 
 
 He was answered by a general howl, and a few of the 
 boldest of the furies even ventured to approach him, flour- 
 ishing their knives within a dangerous proximity of hi? 
 own steady eye-balls. 
 
 " It is a warrior you see, and no runner of the Long- 
 knives, whose face grows pale at the sight of a tomahawk/' 
 returned the trapper, without moving a muscle. " Let the 
 Sioux women think ; if one white-skin dies, a hundred 
 spring up where he falls." 
 
 Still the hags made no other answer than by increasing 
 their speed in the circle, and occasionally raising the threat- 
 ening expressions of their chant into louder and more in- 
 telligible strains. Suddenly one of the oldest and the most 
 ferocious of them all broke out of the ring, and skirred 
 away in the direction of her victims, like a rapacious bird 
 that, having wheeled on poised wings for the time neces- 
 sary to insure its object, makes the final dart upon its 
 prey. The others followed, a disorderly and screaming 
 flock, fearful of being too late to reap their portion of thf 
 sanguinary pleasure. 
 
 "Mighty medicine of my people ! " shouted the old man, 
 in the Teton tongue ; " lift your voice and speak, that the 
 Sioux nation may hear." 
 
 Whether Asinus had acquired so much knowledge by 
 his recent experience as to know the value of his sonorou* 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 345 
 
 properties, or the strange spectacle of a dozen hags flit- 
 ting past him, filling the air with such sounds as were even 
 grating to the ears of an ass, most moved his temper, it is 
 certain that the animal did that which Obed was requested 
 to do, and probably with far greater effect than if the nat- 
 uralist had striven with his mightiest effort to be heard. 
 It was the first time the strange beast had spoken, since 
 his arrival in the encampment. Admonished by so terrible 
 a warning, the hags scattered themselves like vultures 
 frightened from their prey, still screaming, and but half 
 diverted from their purpose. 
 
 In the mean time the sudden appearance, and the im- 
 minency of the danger, quickened the blood in the veins 
 of Paul and Middleton, more than all their laborious fric- 
 tions and physical expedients. The former had actually 
 risen to his feet, and assumed an attitude which perhaps 
 threatened more than the worthy bee-hunter was able to 
 perform, and even the latter had mounted to his knees, 
 and shown a disposition to do good service 'for his life. 
 The unaccountable release of the captives from their bonds 
 was attributed by the hags to the incantations of the medi- 
 cine ; and the mistake was probably of as much service as 
 the miraculous and timely interposition of Asinus in their 
 favor. 
 
 " Now is the time to come out of our ambushment," 
 exclaimed the old man, hastening to join his friends, " and 
 to make open and manful war. It would have been policy 
 to have kept back the struggle until the captain was in 
 better condition to join, but as we have unmasked our bat- 
 tery, why, we must maintain the ground " 
 
 He was interrupted by feeling a gigantic hand on his 
 shoulder. Turning, under a sort of confused impression 
 that necromancy was actually abroad in the place, he found 
 that he was in the hands of a sorcerer no less dangerous 
 and powerful than Ishmael Bush. The file of the squatter's 
 well-armed sons, that was seen issuing from behind the 
 still standing tent of Mahtoree, explained at once not only 
 the manner in which their rear had been turned, while their 
 attention had been so earnestly bestowed on matters in 
 front, but the utter impossibility of resistance. 
 
 Neither Ishmael nor his sons deemed it necessary to 
 enter into prolix explanations. Middleton and Paul were 
 bound again, with extraordinary silence and despatch, and 
 this time not even the aged trapper was exempt from a 
 
346 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 similar fortune. The tent was struck, the females placed 
 upon the horses, and the whole were on the way toward 
 the squatter's encampment with a celerity that might well 
 have served to keep alive the idea of magic. 
 
 During this summary and brief disposition of things, 
 the disappointed agent of Mahtoree and his callous asso- 
 ciates were seen flying across the plain, in the direction of 
 the retiring families ; and, when Ishmael left the spot with 
 his prisoners and his booty, the ground which had so 
 lately been alive with the bustle and life of an extensive 
 Indian encampment was as still and empty as any other 
 spot in those extensive wastes. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 "Is this proceeding just and honorable? " SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 DURING the occurrence of these events on the upland 
 plain, the warriors on the bottom had not been idle. We 
 left the adverse bands watching one another on the oppo- 
 site banks of the stream, each endeavoring to excite its 
 enemy to some act of indiscretion, by the most reproach- 
 ful taunts and revilings. But the Pawnee chief was not 
 slow to discover that his crafty antagonist had no objection 
 to waste the time so idly, and, as they mutually proved, in 
 expedients that were so entirely useless. He changed his 
 plans, accordingly, and withdrew from the bank, as has 
 been already explained through the mouth of the trapper, 
 in order to invite the more numerous host of the Sioux to 
 cross. The challenge was not accepted, and the Loups 
 were compelled to frame some other method to attain 
 their end. 
 
 Instead of any longer throwing away the precious mo- 
 ments in fruitless endeavors to induce his foe to cross the 
 stream, the young partisan of the Pawnees led his troops, 
 at a swift gallop, along its margin, in quest of some favor- 
 able spot where by a sudden push he might throw his own 
 band, without loss, to the opposite shore. The instant his 
 object was discovered, each mounted Teton received a foot- 
 man behind him, and Mahtoree was still enabled to con- 
 centrate his whole force against the effort. Perceiving 
 that his design was anticipated, and unwilling to blow his 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 347 
 
 horses by a race that would disqualify them for service, 
 even after they had succeeded in outstripping the more 
 heavily burdened cattle of the Sioux, Hard-Heart drew up, 
 and came to a dead halt on the very margin of the water' 
 course. 
 
 As the country was too open for any of the usual de* 
 vices of savage warfare, and time was so pressing, the 
 chivalrous Pawnee resolved to bring on the result by one 
 of those acts of personal daring for which the Indian 
 braves are so remarkable, and by which they often pup 
 chase their highest and dearest renown. The spot he had 
 selected was favorable to such a project. The river, which 
 throughout most of its course was deep and rapid, had ex- 
 panded there to more than twice its customary width, and 
 the rippling of its waters proved that it flowed over a 
 shallow bottom. In the centre of the current there was an 
 extensive and naked bed of sand, but a little raised above 
 the level of the stream, and of a color and consistency 
 which warranted, to a practised eye, that it aiforded a firm 
 and safe foundation for the foot. To this spot the partisan 
 now turned his wistful gaze, nor w T as he long in making 
 his decision. First speaking to his warriors and apprising 
 them of his intentions, he dashed into the current, and 
 partly by swimming, and more by the use of his horse's 
 feet, he reached the island in safety. 
 
 The experience of Hard-Heart had not deceived him. 
 When his snorting steed issued from the water, he found 
 himself on a tremendous but damp and compact bed of 
 sand, that was admirably adapted to the exhibition of the 
 finest powers of the animal. The horse seemed conscious 
 of the advantage, and bore his warlike rider with an elas- 
 ticity of step and a loftiness of air that would have done no 
 discredit to the highest-trained and most generous charger. 
 The blood of the chief himself quickened with the excite- 
 ment of his situation. He sat the beast as if conscious 
 that the eyes of two tribes were on his movements ; and as 
 nothing could be more acceptable and grateful to his own 
 band than this display of native grace and courage, so 
 nothing could be more taunting and humiliating to their 
 enemies. 
 
 The sudden appearance of the Pawnee on the sands was 
 announced among the Tetons by a general yell of savage 
 anger. A rush was made to the shore, followed by a dis- 
 charge of fifty arrows and a few fusees, and, on the part 
 
348 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 of several braves there was a plain manifestation of a de* 
 sire to plunge into the water in order to punish the temerity 
 of their insolent foe. But a call and a mandate from Mah- 
 toree checked the rising and nearly ungovernable temper 
 of his band. So far from allowing a single foot to be wet, 
 or a repetition of the fruitless efforts of his people to drive 
 away their foe with missiles, the whole of the party was 
 commanded to retire from the shore, while he himself com- 
 municated his intentidns to one or two of his most favored 
 followers. 
 
 When the Pawnees observed the rush of their enemies, 
 twenty warriors rode into the stream ; but so soon as they 
 perceived that the Tetons had withdrawn, they fell back 
 to a man, leaving the young chief to the support of his 
 own often-tried skill and well-established courage. The 
 instructions of Hard-Heart on quitting his band had been 
 worthy of the self-devotion and daring of his character. 
 So long as single warriors came against him he was to be 
 left to the keeping of the Wahcondah and his own arm ; but, 
 should the Sioux attack him in numbers, he was to be sus- 
 tained man for man, even to the extent of his whole force. 
 These generous orders were strictly obeyed ; and, though 
 so many hearts in the troop panted to share in the glory 
 and danger of their partisan, not a warrior was found 
 among them all who did not know how to conceal his im- 
 patience under the usual mask of Indian self-restraint. 
 They watched the issue with quick and jealous eyes, nor 
 did a single exclamation of surprise escape them when 
 they saw, as will soon be apparent, that the experiment of 
 their chief was as likely to conduce to peace as to war. 
 
 Mahtoree was not long in communicating his plans to 
 his confidants, whom he as quickly dismissed to join their 
 fellows in the rear. The Teton entered a short distance 
 into the stream and halted. Here he raised his hands sev- 
 eral times, with the palms outward, and made several of 
 those other signs which are construed into a pledge of 
 amicable intentions among the inhabitants of those regions. 
 Then, as if to confirm the sincerity of his faith, he cast his 
 fusee to the shore and waded deeper into the water, where 
 he again came to a stand in order to see in what manner 
 the Pawnee would receive his pledge of peace. 
 
 The crafty Sioux had not made his calculations on the 
 noble and honest nature of his more youthful rival in vain, 
 Hard-Heart had continued galloping' across the sands dur- 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 349 
 
 ing the discharge of missiles and the appearance of gen- 
 eral onset, with the same proud and confident mien as that 
 with which he had first braved the danger. When he saw 
 the well-known person of the Teton partisan enter the 
 river, he waved his hand in triumph, and flourishing his 
 lance he raised the thrilling war-cry of his people as a chal- 
 lenge for him to come on. But when he saw the signs of 
 a truce, though deeply practised in the treachery of savage 
 combat, he disdained to show a less manly reliance on him- 
 self than that which his enemy had seen fit to exhibit. 
 Riding to the farthest extremity of the sands he cast his 
 own fusee from him, and returned to the point whence he 
 had started. 
 
 The two chiefs were now armed alike. Each had his 
 spear, his bow, his quiver, his little battle-axe, and his 
 knife ; and each had also a shield of hides, which might 
 even serve as a means of defence against a surprise from 
 any of these weapons. The Sioux no longer hesitated, but 
 advanced deeper into the stream, and soon landed on a 
 point of the island which his courteous adversary had left 
 free for that purpose. Had one been there to watch the 
 countenance of Mahtoree as he crossed the water that sep- 
 arated him from the most formidable and the most hated 
 of all his rivals, he might have fancied that he could trace 
 the gleamings of a secret joy breaking through the cloud 
 which deep cunning and heartless treachery had drawn 
 before his swarthy visage ; and yet there would have been 
 moments when he might have believed that the flashings 
 of the Teton's eye and the expansion of his nostrils had 
 their origin in a nobler sentiment and one more worthy of 
 an Indian chief. 
 
 The Pawnee awaited the time of his enemy with calm- 
 ness and dignity. The Teton made a short turn or two to 
 curb the impatience of his steed and to recover his seat 
 after the effort of crossing, and then he rode into the cen- 
 tre of the place and invited the other, by a courteous ges- 
 ture, to approach. Hard-Heart drew nigh until he found 
 himself at a distance equally suited to advance or to retreat, 
 and, in his turn, he came to a stand, keeping his glowing 
 eye riveted on that of his enemy. A long aryj} grave pause 
 succeeded this movement, during which these two distin- 
 guished braves, who were now for the first time confronted 
 with arms in their hands, sat regarding each other like 
 warriors who knew how to value the merits of a gallant 
 
350 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 foe, however hated. But the mien of Mahtoree was far less 
 stern and warlike than that of the partisan of the Loups. 
 Throwing his shield over his shoulder, as if to invite the 
 confidence of the other, he made a gesture of salutation, 
 and was the first to speak. 
 
 c< Let the Pawnees go upon the hills," he said," and look 
 from the morning to the evening sun, from the country of 
 snows to the land of many flowers, and they will see that 
 the earth is very large. Why cannot the red-men find 
 room on it for all their villages ?" 
 
 " Has the Teton ever known a warrior of the Loups 
 come to his towns to beg a place for his lodge ?" returned 
 the young brave, with a look in which pride and contempt 
 were not attempted to be concealed ; " when the Pawnees 
 hunt do they send runners to ask Mahtoree if there are 
 no Sioux on the prairies ?" 
 
 " When there is hunger in the lodge of a warrior, he 
 looks for the buffalo, which is given him for food," the 
 Teton continued, struggling to keep down the ire excited 
 by the other's scorn. " The Wahcondah has made more of 
 them than he has made Indians. He has not said, ' This 
 buffalo shall be for a Pawnee, and that for a Dahcotah ; 
 this beaver for a Konza, and that for an Omahaw.' No ; 
 he said, * There are enough. I love my red children, and 
 I have given them great riches. The swiftest horse shall 
 not go from the villages of the Tetons to the villages of the 
 Loups in many suns. It is far from the rowns of the Paw- 
 nees to the river of the Osages. There is room for all that 
 I love. Why, then, should a red-man strike his brother ?' " 
 
 Hard-Heart dropped one end of his lance to the earth, 
 and, having also cast his shield across his shoulder, he sat 
 leaning lightly on the weapon, as he answered with a smile 
 of no doubtful expression : 
 
 " Are the Tetons weary of the hunts and of the war-path ? 
 Do they wish to cook the venison, and not to kill it ? Do 
 they intend to let the hair cover their heads, that their 
 enemies shall not know where to find their scalps ? Go ; 
 a Pawnee warrior will never come among Sioux squaws 
 for a wife ! " 
 
 A frightful gleam of ferocity broke out of the restraint 
 of the Dahcotah's countenance, as he listened to this biting 
 insult ; but he was quick in subduing the tell-tale feeling, 
 in an expression much better suited to his present purpose. 
 
 "This is the way a young chief should talk of war," -ha 
 
THE PRA1RI&. 351 
 
 answered, with singular composure; "but Mahtoree has 
 seen the misery of more winters than his brother. When 
 the nights have been long, and darkness has been in his 
 lodge, while the young men slept, he has thought of the 
 hardships of his people. He has said to himself, 'Teton, 
 count the scalps in your smoke. They are all red but two ! 
 Does the wolf destroy the wolf, or the rattler strike his 
 brother ? You know they do not ; therefore, Teton, are 
 you wrong to go on a path that leads to the village of a 
 red-skin, with a tomahawk in your hand.' " 
 
 " The Sioux would rob the warrior of his fame ! He 
 would say to his young men, ' Go, dig roots in the prairies, 
 and find holes to bury your tomahawks in ; you are no 
 longer braves ! ' ' 
 
 " If the tongue of Mahtoree ever says thus," returned 
 the crafty chief, with an appearance of strong indignation, 
 "let his women cut it out, and burn it with the offals of 
 the buffalo. No," he added, advancing a few feet nigher 
 to the immovable Hard-Heart, as if in the sincerity of con- 
 fidence ; "the red-man can never want an enemy: they 
 are plentier than the leaves on the trees, the birds in the - 
 heavens, or the buffaloes on the prairies. Let my brother 
 open his eyes wide : does he nowhere see an enemy he 
 would strike ? " 
 
 " How long is it since the Teton counted the scalps of 
 his warriors, that were drying in the smoke of a Pawnee 
 lodge ? the hand that took them is here, and ready to make 
 eighteen, twenty." 
 
 " Now, let not the mind of my brother go on a crooked 
 path. If a red-skin strikes a red-skin forever, who will be 
 masters of the prairies, when no warriors are left to say, 
 ' They are mine ? ' Hear the voices of the old men. They 
 tell us that in their days many Indians have come out of 
 the woods under the rising sun, and they have filled the 
 prairies with their complaints of the robberies of the Long- 
 knives. Where a pale-face comes, a red-man cannot stay. 
 The land is too small. They are always hungry. See, 
 here they are already ! " 
 
 As the Teton spoke, he pointed toward the tents of Isl> 
 mael, which were in plain sight, and then he paused, to 
 await the effect of his words on the mind of his ingenuous 
 foe. Hard-Heart listened like one in whom a train of novel 
 ideas had been excited by the reasoning of the other. He 
 mused for a minute before he demanded ; 
 
352 
 
 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 "What docs the wise chief of the Sioux say must be 
 done?" 
 
 " They think that the moccasin of every pale-face should 
 be followed, like the track of a bear. That the Long- 
 knife, who comes upon the prairie, should never go back. 
 That the path shall be open to those who come, and shut 
 to those who go. Yonder are many. They have" horses 
 and guns. They are rich, but we are poor. Will the Paw- 
 nees meet the Tetons in council? and when the sun is 
 gone behind the Rocky Mountains, they will say, 'This is 
 for a Loup and this for a Sioux.' " 
 
 " Teton no ! Hard-Heart has never struck the stranger. 
 They come into his lodge and eat, and they go out in safety. 
 A mighty chief is their friend ! When my people call the 
 young men to go on the war-path, the moccasin of Hard- 
 Heart is the last. But his village is no sooner hid by the 
 trees, than it is the first. No, Teton ; his arm will never 
 be lifted against the stranger. " 
 
 " Fool ; die, with empty hands ! " Mahtoree exclaimed, 
 setting an arrow to his bow, and sending it, with a sudden 
 and deadly aim, full at the naked bosom of his generous 
 and confiding enemy. 
 
 The action of the treacherous Teton was too quick and 
 too well-matured to admit of any of the ordinary means of 
 defence on the part of the Pawnee. His shield was hang- 
 ing at his shoulder, and even the arrow had been suffered to 
 fall from its place, and lay in the hollow of the hand which 
 grasped the bow. But the quick eye of the brave had time 
 to see the movement, and his ready thoughts did not desert 
 him. Pulling hard and with a jerk upon the rein, his steed 
 reared his forward legs into the air, and, as the rider bent 
 his body low, the horse served for a shield against the dan- 
 ger. So true, however, was the aim, and so powerful the 
 force by which it was sent, that the arrow entered the neck 
 of the animal, and broke the skin on the opposite side. 
 
 Quicker than thought Hard-Heart sent back an answer- 
 ing arrow. The shield of the Teton was transfixed, but 
 his person was untouched. For a few moments the twang 
 of the bow and the glancing of arrows were incessant, not- 
 withstanding the combatants were compelled to give so 
 large a portion of their care to the means of defence. The 
 quivers were soon exhausted ; and, though blood had 
 been drawn, it was not in sufficient quantities to impair 
 the energy of the combat. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 353 
 
 A series of masterly and rapid evolutions with the horses 
 now commenced. The wheelings, the charges, the ad- 
 vances, and the circuitous retreats, were like the flights of 
 circling swallows. Blows were struck with the lance, the 
 sand was scattered in the air, and the shocks often seemed 
 to bo unavoidably fatal ; but still each party kept his seat, 
 and still each rein was managed with a steady hand. At 
 length the Teton was driven to the necessity of throwing 
 himself from his horse, to escape a thrust that would other- 
 wise have proved fatal. The Pawnee passed his lance 
 through the beast, uttering a shout of triumph as he 
 galloped by. Turning in his tracks, he was about to push 
 the advantage, when his own mettled steed staggered and 
 fell, under a burden that he could no longer sustain. 
 Mahtoree answered his premature cry of victory, and 
 rushed upon the entangled youth with knife and toma- 
 hawk. The utmost agility of Hard-Heart had not sufficed 
 to extricate himself in season from the fallen beast. He 
 saw that his case was desperate. Feeling for his knife, he 
 took the blade between a finger and thumb, and cast it 
 with admirable coolness at his advancing foe. The keen 
 weapon whirled a few times in the air, and its point meet- 
 ing the naked breast of the impetuous Sioux, the blade 
 was buried to the buckhorn haft. 
 
 Mahtoree laid his hand on the weapon, and seemed to 
 hesitate whether to withdraw it or not. For a moment 
 his countenance darkened with the most inextinguishable 
 hatred and ferocity, and then, as if inwardly admonished 
 how little time he had to lose, he staggered to the edge of 
 the sands, and halted with his feet in the water. The 
 cunning and duplicity which had so long obscured the 
 brighter and nobler traits of his character were lost in the 
 never-dying sentiment of pride, which he had imbibed in 
 youth. 
 
 " Boy of the Loups ! " he said with a smile of grim satis- 
 faction, " the scalp of a mighty Dahcotah shall never dry 
 in Pawnee smoke ! " 
 
 Drawing the knife from the wound, he hurled it toward 
 the enemy in disdain. Then shaking his arm at his suc- 
 cessful foe, his swarthy countenance appearing to struggle 
 with volumes of scorn and hatred, that he could not utter 
 with the tongue, he cast himself headlong into one of the 
 most rapid veins of the current, his hand still waving in 
 triumph above the fluid, even after his body had sunk 
 
 23 
 
354 
 
 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 into the tide forever. Hard-Heart was by this time free. 
 The silence, which had hitherto reigned in the bands, was 
 suddenly broken by general and tumultuous shouts. Fifty 
 of the adverse warriors were already in the river, hasten- 
 ing to destroy or to defend the conqueror, and the combat 
 \vas rather on the eve of its commencement than near its 
 termination. But to all these signs of danger and need, 
 the young victor was insensible. He sprang for the- knife 
 and bounded with the foot of an antelope along the sands, 
 looking for the receding fluid which concealed his prize. 
 A dark, bloody spot indicated the place, and, armed wih 
 the knife, he plunged into the stream, resolute to die in 
 the flood, or to return with his trophy. 
 
 In the meantime the sands became a scene of bloodshed 
 and violence. Better mounted and perhaps more ardent, 
 the Pawnees had, however, reached the spot in sufficient 
 numbers to force their enemies to retire. The victors 
 pushed their success to the opposite shore, and gained the 
 solid ground in the mcU'e of the fight. Here they were 
 met by all the unmounted Tetons, and in their turn, they 
 were forced to give way. 
 
 The combat now became more characteristic and cir- 
 cumspect. As the hot impulses which had driven both 
 parties to mingle in so deadly a struggle began to cool, 
 the chiefs were enabled to exercise their influence and to 
 temper the assaults with prudence. In consequence of 
 the admonitions of their leaders, the Sioux sought such 
 covers as the grass afforded, or here and there some bush 
 or slight inequality of the ground, and the charges of the 
 Pawnee warriors necessarily became more wary, and of 
 course less fatal. 
 
 In this manner the contest continued with a varied suc- 
 cess, and without much loss. The Sioux had succeeded 
 in forcing themselves into a thick growth of rank grass, 
 where the horses of their enemies could not enter, or 
 where, when entered, they were worse than useless. It 
 became necessary to dislodge the Tetons from this cover, 
 or the object of the combat must be abandoned. Several 
 desperate efforts had been repulsed, and the disheartened 
 Pawnees were beginning to think of retreat, when the well- 
 known war-cry of Hard-Heart was heard at hand, and at 
 the next instant the chief appeared in their centre, flour- 
 ishing the scalp of the great Sioux, as a banner that would 
 lead to victory. 
 
THE PRA1R2E. 355 
 
 He was greeted by a shout of delight, and followed into 
 the cover with an impetuosity that, for the moment, drove 
 all before it. But the bloody trophy in the hand of the 
 partisan served as an incentive to the attacked, as well as 
 to the assailants. Mahtoree had left many a daring brave 
 behind him in his band, and the orator who in the debates 
 of that day had manifested such pacific thoughts, now ex- 
 hibited the most generous self-devotion, in order to wrest 
 the memorial of a man he had never loved from the hands 
 of the avowed enemies of his people. 
 
 The result was in favor of numbers. After a severe 
 struggle, in which the finest displays of personal intrepid- 
 ity were exhibited by all the chiefs, the Pawnees were 
 compelled to retire upon the open bottom, closely pressed 
 by the Sioux, who failed not to seize each foot of ground 
 ceded by their enemies. Had the Tetbns stayed their 
 efforts on the margin of the grass, it is probable that the 
 honor of the day would have been theirs, notwithstanding 
 the irretrievable loss they had sustained in the death of 
 Mahtoree. But the more reckless braves of the band were 
 guilty of an indiscretion that entirely changed the fortunes 
 of the fight, and suddenly stripped them of their hard- 
 earned advantages. 
 
 A Pawnee chief had sunk under the numerous wounds 
 he had received, and he fell, a target for a dozen arrows, 
 in the very last group of his retiring party. Regardless 
 alike of inflicting further injury on their foes, and of the 
 temerity of the act, the Sioux braves bounded forward 
 with a whoop, each man burning with the wish to reap thje 
 high renown of striking the body of the dead. They 
 were met by Hard-Heart and a chosen knot of warriors, 
 all of whom were just as stoutly bent on saving the honor 
 of their nation from so foul a stain. The struggle was 
 hand to hand, and blood began to flow more freely. As 
 the Pawnees retired with the body, the Sioux pressed upon 
 their footsteps, and at length the whole of the latter broke 
 out of the cover with a common yell, and threatened to 
 bear down all opposition by sheer physical superiority. 
 
 The fate of Hard-Heart and his companions, all of whom 
 would have died rather than relinquish their object, would 
 have been quickly sealed but for a powerful and unlocked 
 for interposition in their favor. A shout was heard from 
 a little brake on the left, and a volley from the fatal Wes- 
 tern rifle immediately succeeded. Some five or six Siouy 
 
3$6 THE PRAIRIK. 
 
 leaped forward in the death agony, and every arm among 
 them was as suddenly suspended as if the lightning had 
 flashed from the clouds to aid the cause of the Loups. 
 Then came Ishmael and his stout sons in open view, bear- 
 ing down upon their late treacherous allies, with looks 
 and voices that proclaimed the character of the succor. 
 
 The shock was too much for the fortitude of the Tetons. 
 Several of their bravest chiefs had already fallen, and 
 those that remained were instantly abandoned by the 
 tvhole of the inferior herd. A few of the most desper- 
 ate braves still lingered nigh the fatal symbol of their 
 honor, and there nobly met their deaths, under the blows 
 of the re-encouraged Pawnees. A second discharge from 
 the rifles of the squatter and his party completed the vic- 
 tory. 
 
 The Sioux were now to be seen flying to more distant 
 covers, with the same eagerness and desperation as, a few 
 moments before, they had been plunging into the fight. 
 The triumphant Pawnees bounded forward in chase, like 
 so many high-blooded and well-trained hounds. On every 
 side were heard the cries of victory, or the yell of revenge. 
 A few of the fugitives endeavored to bear away the bodies 
 of their fallen warriors, but the hot pursuit quickly com- 
 pelled them to abandon the slain, in order to preserve the 
 living. Among all the struggles which were made on that 
 occasion, to guard the honor of the Sioux from the stain 
 which their peculiar opinions attached to the possession of 
 the scalp of a fallen brave, but one solitary instance of sue 
 cess occurred. 
 
 The opposition of a particular chief to the hostile pro- 
 ceedings in the councils of that morning has been already 
 seen. But after having raised his voice in vain in support 
 of peace, his arm was not backward in doing its duty 
 in war. His prowess has been mentioned ; and it was 
 chiefly by his courage and example that the Tetons sus- 
 tained themselves in the heroic manner they did, when the 
 death of Mahtoree was known. This warrior, who, in the 
 figurative language of his people, was called, " the Swoop- 
 ing Eagle," had been the last to abandon the hopes of vic- 
 tory. When he found that the support of the dreaded rifle 
 had robbed his band of the hard-earned advantages, he 
 sullenly retired, amid a shower of missiles to the secret spot 
 where he had hid his horse, in the mazes of the highest 
 grass. Here he found a new and entirely unexpected com 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 357 
 
 petitor, ready to dispuie with him for the possession of the 
 beast. It was Bohrecheena, the aged friend of Mahtoree ; 
 he whose voice had been given in opposition to his own 
 wiser opinions, transfixed with an arrow, and evidently 
 suffering under the pangs of approaching death. 
 
 "I have been on my last war-path," said the grim old 
 warrior, when he found that the real owner of the animal 
 had come to claim his property ; "shall a Pawnee carry 
 the white hairs of a Sioux into his village, to be a scorn to 
 his women and children ? " 
 
 The other grasped his hand, answering to the appeal 
 with a stern look of inflexible resolution. With this silent 
 pledge, he assisted the wounded man to mount. So soon 
 as he had led the horse to the margin of the cover, he threw 
 himself also on its back, and, securing his companion to 
 his belt, he issued on the open plain, trusting entirely to 
 the well-known speed of the beast for their mutual safety. 
 The Pawnees were not long in catching a view of these 
 new objects, and several turned their steeds to pursue. The 
 race continued for a mile without a murmur from the suffer, 
 cr, -though, in addition to the agony of his body, he had the 
 pain of seeing his enemies approach at every leap of their 
 horses. 
 
 " Stop," he said, raising a feeble arm to check the speed 
 of his companion ; "the Eagle of my tribe must spread his 
 wings wider. Let him carry the white hairs of an old war- 
 rior into the burnt-wood village ! " 
 
 Few words were necessary between men who were gov- 
 erned by the same feelings of glory, and who were so well 
 trained in the principles of their romantic honor. The 
 Swooping Eagle threw himself from the back of the horse, 
 and assisted the other to alight. The old man raised his 
 tottering frame to its knees, and first casting a glance up- 
 ward at the countenance of his countryman, as if to bid 
 him adieu, he stretched out his neck to the blow he him- 
 self invited. A few strokes of the tomahawk, with a cir- 
 cling gash of the knife, sufficed to sever the head from the 
 less-valued trunk. The Teton mounted again, just in sea- 
 son to escape a flight of arrows which came from his eager 
 and disappointed pursuers. Flourishing the grim and 
 bloody visage, he darted away from the spot with a shout 
 of triumph, and was seen scouring the plains, as if he were 
 actually borne along on the wings of the powerful bird from 
 whose qualities he had received his flattering name. The 
 
358 THE PRAIR/E 
 
 Swooping Eagle reached his village in safety. He was one 
 of the few Sioux who escaped from the massacre of that 
 fatal day ; and for a long time he alone of the saved was 
 able to lift his voice in the councils of his nation, with un- 
 diminished confidence. 
 
 The knife and the lance cut short the retreat of the larger 
 portion of the vanquished. Even the retiring party of the 
 women and children were scattered bv the conquerors ; 
 and the sun had long sunk behind the rolling outline of 
 the western horizon before the fell business of that disas- 
 trous defeat was entirely ended. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 " Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?" SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE day dawned, the following morning, on a more 
 tranquil scene. The work of blood had entirely ceased ; 
 and, as the sun arose, its light was shed on a broad ex- 
 panse of quiet and solitude. The tents of Ishmael were 
 still standing where they had been last seen, but not an- 
 other vestige of human existence could be traced in any 
 other part of the waste. Here and there little flocks of 
 ravenous birds were sailing and screaming above those 
 spots where some heavy-footed Teton had met his death, 
 but every other sign of the recent combat had passed away. 
 The river was to be traced far through the endless mead- 
 ows by its serpentine and smoking bed ; and the little sil- 
 very clouds of vapor, which hung above the pools and 
 springs, were Beginning to melt in air, as they felt the 
 quickening warmth, which, pouring from the glowing sky, 
 shed its bland and subtle influence on every object of the 
 vast and unshadowed region. The prairie was like the 
 heavens after the passage of the gust soft, calm, and 
 soothing. 
 
 It was in the midst of such a scene that the family of the 
 squatter assembled to make their final decision concerning 
 the several individuals who had been thrown into their 
 power by the fluctuating chances of the incidents related. 
 Every being possessing life and liberty had been afoot, 
 since the first streak of gray had lighted the east ; and 
 even the youngest of the erratic brood seemed conscious 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 35,, 
 
 that the moment had arrived when circumstances were 
 about to occur that might leave a lasting impression on the 
 wild fortunes of their semi-barbarous condition. 
 
 Ishmael moved through his little encampment, with the 
 seriousness of one who had been unexpectedly charged 
 with matters of a gravity exceeding any of the ordinary 
 occurrences of his irregular existence. His sons, however, 
 who had so often found occasions to prove the inexorable 
 severity of their father's character, saw, in his sullen rr>ien 
 and cold eye, rather a determination to adhere to his rest, 
 lutions, which usually were as 'obstinately enforced as they 
 were harshly conceived, than any evidences of wavering or 
 doubt. Even Esther was sensibly affected by the impor- 
 tant matters that pressed so heavily on the interests of her 
 family. While she neglected none of those domestic offices 
 which would probably have proceeded under any conceiv- 
 able circumstances, just as the world turns round with 
 earthquakes rending its crust and volcanoes consuming its 
 vitals, yet her voice was pitched to a lower and more fore- 
 boding key than common, and the still frequent chidings 
 of her children were tempered by something like the 
 milder dignity of parental authority. 
 
 Abiram, as usual, seemed the one most given to solici- 
 tude and doubt. There were certain misgivings in the 
 frequent glances that he turned on the unyielding counte- 
 nance of Ishmael. which might have betrayed how little of 
 their former confidence and good understanding existed 
 between them. His looks appeared to be vacillating be- 
 tween hope and fear. At times, his countenance lighted 
 with the gleamings of a sordid joy, as he bent his look on 
 the tent which contained his recovered prisoner, and then, 
 again, the impression seemed unaccountably chased away 
 by the shadows of intense apprehension. When under the 
 influence of the latter feeling, his eye never fails to seek 
 the visage of his dull and impenetrable kinsman. But 
 there he rather found reason for alarm than grounds of en- 
 couragement, for the whole character of the squatter's 
 countenance expressed the fearful truth that he had re- 
 deemed his dull faculties from the influence of the kid- 
 napper, and that his thoughts were now brooding only on 
 the achievement of his own stubborn intentions. 
 
 It was in this state of things that the sons of Ishmael, in 
 obedience to an order from their father, conducted the 
 several subjects of his contemplated decisions from theii 
 
3 6o THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 places of confinement into the open air. No one was ex. 
 empted from this arrangement. Middleton and Inez, Paul 
 and Ellen, Obed and the trapper, were all brought forth 
 and placed in situations that were deemed suitable to re- 
 ceive the sentence of their arbitrary ]udge. The younger 
 children gathered around the spot in momentary but en- 
 grossing curiosity, and even Esther quitted her culinary 
 labor and drew nigh to listen. 
 
 Hard-Heart alone, of all his band, was present to wit- 
 ness the novel and far from unimposing spectacle. He 
 stood leaning gravely on his lance, while the smoking 
 steed that grazed nigh showed that he had ridden far and 
 hard to be a spectator on the occasion. 
 
 Ishmael had received his new ally with a coldness that 
 showed his entire insensibility to that delicacy which had 
 induced the young chief to come alone, in order that the 
 presence of his warriors might not create uneasiness or 
 distrust. He neither courted their assistance nor dreaded 
 their enmity, and he now proceeded to the business of the 
 hour with as much composure as if the species of patri- 
 archal power he wielded was universally recognized. 
 
 There is something elevated in the possession of author- 
 ity, however it may be abused. The mind is apt to make 
 some efforts to prove the fitness between its qualities and 
 the condition of its owner, though it may often fail, and 
 render that ridiculous which was only hated before. But 
 the effect on Ishmael Bush was not so disheartening. Grave 
 in exterior, saturnine by temperament, formidable by his 
 physical means, and dangerous from his lawless obstinacy, 
 his self-constituted tribunal excited a degree of awe to 
 which even the intelligent Middleton could not bring him- 
 self to be entirely insensible. Little time, however was 
 given to arrange his thoughts ; for the squatter, though 
 unaccustomed to haste, having previously made up his 
 mind, was not disposed to waste the moments in delay 
 When he saw that all were in their places, he cast a dull 
 look over his prisoners, and addressed himself to the cap- 
 tain, as the principal man among the imaginary delin- 
 quents : 
 
 " I am called upon this day to fill the office which in the 
 settlements you give unto judges, who are set apart to de- 
 cide on matters that arise between man and man. I have 
 but little knowledge of the ways of the courts, though there 
 Js a rule that is known unto all, and which teaches that 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 361 
 
 an eye must be returned for an eye,' and ' a tooth for a 
 tooth.' I am no troubler of county-houses, and least of 
 all do I like living on a plantation that the sheriff has 
 surveyed ; yet there is a reason in such a law that makes 
 it a safe rule to journey by, and therefore it ar' a solemn 
 fact that this day shall I abide by it, and give unto all and 
 each that which is his due and no more." 
 
 When Ishmael had delivered his mind thus far, he 
 paused and looked about him as he would trace the effects 
 in the countenances of his hearers. When his eye met 
 that of Middleton, he was answered by the latter : 
 
 " If the evil-doer is to be punished, and he that has of- 
 fended none to be left to go at large, you must change 
 situations with me, and become a prisoner instead of a 
 judge." 
 
 " You mean to say that I have done you wrong in tak- 
 ing the lady from her father's house, and leading her so 
 far against her will into these wild districts," returned the 
 unmoved squatter, who manifested as little resentment as 
 he betrayed compunction at the charge. u I shall not put 
 the lie on the back of an evil deed and deny your words. 
 Since things have come to this pass between us I have 
 found time to think the matter over at my leisure, and 
 though none of your swift thinkers, who can see or pre- 
 tend to see into the nature of all things by a turn of the 
 eye, yet am I a man open to reason, and, give me my 
 time, one who is not given to deny the truth. There- 
 fore have I mainly concluded that it was a mistake to take 
 a child from its parent, and the lady shall be returned 
 whence she has been brought, as tenderly and as safely as 
 man can do it." 
 
 4< Ay, ay," added Esther, "the man is right. Poverty 
 and labor bore hard upon him, especially as county officers 
 were getting troublesome, and in a weak moment he did 
 the wicked act ; but he has listened to my words, and his 
 mind has got round again into its honest corner. An awful 
 and a dangerous thing it is to be bringing the daughters of 
 other people into a peaceable and well-governed family ! " 
 
 " And who will thank you for the same after what has 
 been already done ?" muttered Abiram, with a grin of dis- 
 appointed cupidity, in which malignity and terror were 
 disgustingly united ; " when the devil has once made out 
 his account, you may look for your receipt in full only at 
 his hands," 
 
362 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 " Peace ! " said Ishmael, stretching his heavy hand to- 
 ward his kinsman in a manner that instantly silenced the 
 speaker. " Your voice is like a raven's in my ears. If 
 you had never spoken, I should have been spared this 
 shame." 
 
 " Since, then, you are beginning to lose sight of your 
 errors and to see the truth," saidMiddleton, u do not things 
 by halves, but by the generosity of your conduct purchase 
 friends who may be of use in warding off any future danger 
 from the law " 
 
 "Young man," interrupted the squatter, with a dark 
 frown, "you, too, have said enough. If fear of the law had 
 come over me, you would not be here to witness the man- 
 ner in which Ishmael Bush 'deals out justice." 
 
 " Smother not your good intentions; and remember, 
 if you contemplate violence to any among us, that the arm 
 of that law you affect to despise reaches far, and that, 
 though its movements are sometimes slow, they are not 
 the less certain ! " 
 
 ''Yes, there is too much truth in his words, squatter," 
 said the trapper, whose attentive ears rarely suffered a 
 syllable to be uttered unheeded in his presence. " A busy 
 and a troublesome arm it often proves to be here in this 
 land of America ; where, as they say, man is left greatly 
 to the following of his own wishes, compared to other 
 countries ; and happier, ay, and more manly and more 
 honest too, is he for the privilege ! Why, do you know, 
 my men, that there are regions where the law is so busy 
 as to say, * In this fashion shall you live, in that fashion 
 shall you die, and in such another fashion shall you take 
 leave of the world, to be sent before the judgment-seat of 
 the Lord ! ' A wicked and a troublesome meddling is that, 
 with the business of One who has not made his creatures 
 to be herded like oxen, and driven from field to field as 
 their stupid and selfish keepers may judge of their need 
 and wants. A miserable land must that be where they 
 fetter the mind as well as the body and where the crea- 
 tures of God, being born children, are kept so by the wicked 
 inventions of men who would take upon themselves the 
 office of the great Governor of all ! " 
 
 During the delivery of this pertinent opinion, Ishmael 
 was content to be silent, though the look with which he 
 regarded the speaker manifested any other feeling than 
 that of amity. When the old man had done, he turned to 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 363 
 
 Middleton, and continued the subject which the other had 
 interrupted. 
 
 " As to ourselves, young captain, there has been wrong 
 on both sides. If I have borne hard upon your feelings 
 in taking away your wife with an honest intention of giv- 
 ing her back to you when the plans of that devil incarnate 
 were answered, so have you broken into my encampment, 
 aiding and abetting, as they have called many an honester 
 bargain, in destroying my property." 
 
 " But what I did was to liberate " 
 
 " The matter is settled between us," interrupted IshmaeL, 
 with the air of one who, having made up his own opinion 
 on the merits of the question, cared very little for those of 
 other people ; " you and your wife are free to go and come 
 when and how you please. Abner, set the captain at lib- 
 erty ; and now, if you will tarry until I am ready to draw 
 nigher to the settlements, you shall both have the benefit 
 of carriage ; if not, never say that you did not get a friend- 
 ly offer." 
 
 " Now, may the strong oppress me, and my sins be vis- 
 ited harshly on my own head, if I forget your honesty, 
 however slow it has been in showing itself ! " cried Mid' 
 dleton, hastening to the side of the weeping Inez the in- 
 stant he was released ; " and, friend, I pledge you the 
 Lonor of a soldier that your own part of this transaction 
 shall be forgotten, whatever I may deem fit to have done 
 when I reach a place where the arm of government can 
 make itself felt." 
 
 The dull smile with which the squatter answered to this 
 assurance proved how little he valued the pledge that the 
 youth, in the first revulsion of his feelings, was so free to 
 make. 
 
 "Neither fear nor favor, but what I call justice, has 
 brought me to this judgment," he said; "do you that 
 which may seem right in your eyes, and believe that the 
 world is wide enough to hold us both without our crossing 
 each other's path again. If you ar' content, well ; if you 
 ar' not content, seek to ease your feelings in your own 
 fashion. I shall not ask to be let up, when you once put 
 me fairly down. And now, doctor, have I come to your 
 leaf in my accounts. It is time to foot up the small 
 reckoning that has been running on for some time atwixt 
 us. With you I entered into open and manly faith ; iu 
 what manner have you kept it ? " 
 
364 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 The singular felicity with which Ishmael had contrived 
 to shift the responsibility of all that had passed from his 
 own shoulders to those of his prisoners, backed as it was 
 by circumstances that hardly admitted of a very philo- 
 sophical examination of any mooted point in ethics, was 
 sufficiently embarrassing to the several individuals who 
 were so unexpectedly required to answer for a conduct 
 which, in their simplicity, they had deemed so meritorious. 
 The life of Obed had been so purely theoretic, that his 
 amazement was not the least embarrassing at a state of 
 things which might not have proved so very remarkable, 
 had he been a little more practised in the ways of the 
 world. The worthy naturalist was not the first, by many, 
 who found himself, at the precise moment when he was 
 expecting praise, suddenly arraigned, to answer for the 
 very conduct on which he rested all his claims to com- 
 mendation. Though not a little scandalized at the unex- 
 pected turn of the transaction, he was fain to make the best 
 of circumstances, and to bring forth such matter in justifi 
 cation as first presented itself to his disordered faculties. 
 
 " That there did exist a certain compactum, or agree- 
 ment, between Obed Batt, M.D., and Ishmael Bush, via- 
 tor, or erratic husbandman," he said, endeavoring to avoid 
 all offence in the use of terms, " I am not disposed to deny. 
 I will admit that it was therein conditioned, or stipulated, 
 that a certain journey should be performed conjointly, or 
 in company, until so many days had been numbered. But, 
 as the said time was fully expired, I presume it fair to in- 
 fer that the bargain may now be said to be obsolete." 
 
 " Ishmael ! " interrupted the impatient Esther, " make no 
 words with a man who can break your bones as easily as 
 set them, and let the poisoning devil go ! He's a cheat, 
 from box to phial. Give him half the prairie, and take 
 the other half yourself. He an acclimator ! I will engage 
 to get the brats acclimated to a fever-and-ague bottom in 
 a week, and not a word shall be uttered harder to pro< 
 nounce than the bark of a cherry-tree, with perhaps a drop 
 or two of Western comfort. One thing ar' a fact, Ishmael ; 
 I like no fellow-travellers who can give a heavy feel to an 
 honest woman's tongue, I and that without caring 
 whether her household is in order or out of order." 
 
 The air of settled gloom which had taken possession of 
 the squatter's countenance lighted ,for an instant with 9 
 look of dull drollery, as he answered : 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 36$ 
 
 ' Different people might judge differently, Esther, of the 
 virtue of the man's art. But sin' it is your wish to let him 
 Depart, I will not plough the prairie to make the walking 
 lough. Friend, you are at liberty to go into the settle- 
 ments, and there I would advise you to tarry, as men like 
 me, who make but few contracts, do not relish the custom 
 of breaking them so easily." 
 
 " And now, Ishmael," resumed his conquering wife, " in 
 order to keep a quiet family and to smother all heart-burn- 
 i/igs between us, show yonder red-skin and his daughter," 
 pointing to the aged La Balafre and the widowed Tache- 
 chana, " the way to their village, and let us say to them, 
 ' God bless you, and farewell,' in the same breath ! " 
 
 " They are captives of the Pawnee, according to the rules 
 of Indian warfare, and I cannot meddle with his rights." 
 
 " Beware the devil, my man ! He's a cheat and a tempter 
 and none can say they ar' safe with his awful delusions be- 
 fore their eyes ! Take the advice of one who has the honor 
 of your name at heart, and send the tawny Jezebel away.' 
 
 The squatter laid his broad hand on her shoulder, and, 
 looking her steadily in the eye, he answered in tones thac 
 were both stern and solemn : 
 
 " Woman, we have that before us which calls out 
 thoughts to other matters than the follies you mean. Re- 
 member what is to come, and put your silly jealousy to 
 sleep." 
 
 " It is true, it is true," murmured his wife, moving back 
 among her daughters ; " God forgive me that I should for- 
 get it ! " 
 
 " And now, young man you have so often come into 
 my clearing under the pretence of lining the bee into his 
 hole," resumed Ishmael, after a momentary pause, as if to 
 recover the equilibrium of his mind "with you there is a 
 heavier account to settle. Not satisfied with rummaging 
 my camp, you have stolen a girl who is akin to my wife, 
 and whom I had calculated to make one day a daughter of 
 my own." 
 
 A stronger sensation was produced by this than by any 
 of the preceding interrogations. All the young men bent 
 their curious eyes on Paul and Ellen, the former of whom 
 seemed in no small mental confusion, while the latter bent 
 her face on her bosom in shame. 
 
 " Harkee, friend Ishmael Bush," returned the bee-hun 
 ter. who found that he was expected to answer to the 
 
$66 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 charge of burglary as well as to that of abduction ; " that 
 I did not give the most civil treatment to your pots and 
 pails I am not going to gainsay. If you will name the 
 price you put upon the articles, it is possible the damage 
 may be quietly settled between us and all hard feelings 
 forgotten. I was not in a church-going humor when we 
 got upon your rock, and it is more than probable there 
 was. quite as much kicking as preaching among your wares ; 
 but a hole in the best man's coat can be mended by money. 
 As to the matter of Ellen Wade, here, it may not be got 
 over so easily. Different people have different opinions 
 on the subject of matrimony. Some think it is enough to 
 say yes and no to the questions of the magistrate or of the 
 parson, if one happens to be handy, in order to make a 
 quiet house ; but I think that, where a young woman's 
 mind is fairly bent on going in a certain direction, it will 
 be quite as prudent to let her body follow. Not that I 
 mean to say Ellen was not altogether forced to what she 
 did, and therefore she is just as innocent in this matter as 
 yonder jackass, who was made to carry her, and greatly 
 against his will, too, as I am ready to swear he would say 
 himself if he could speak as loud as he can bray." 
 
 "Nelly," resumed the squatter, who paid very little at- 
 tention to what Paul considered a highly creditable and 
 ingenious vindication, " Nelly, this is a wide and a wicked 
 world on which you have been in such a hurry to cast your- 
 self. You have fed and you have slept in my camp for a 
 year, and I did hope that you had found the free air of the 
 borders enough to your mind to wish to remain among 
 us." 
 
 "Let the girl have her will," muttered Esther, from the 
 rear ; "he who might have persuaded her to stay is sleep- 
 ing in the cold and naked prairie, and little hope is left of 
 changing her humor ; besides, a woman's mind is a wilful 
 thing, and not easily turned from its waywardness, as you 
 know yourself, my man, or I should not be here the mother 
 of your sons and daughters." 
 
 The squatter seemed reluctant to abandon his views on 
 the abashed girl so easily : and, before he answered to the 
 suggestion of his wife, he turned his usual dull look along 
 the line of the curious countenances of his boys, as if to 
 see whether there was not one among them fit to fill the 
 place of the deceased. Paul was not slow to observe the 
 expression, and, hitting nigher than usual on the secrel 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 367 
 
 thoughts of the other, he believed he had fallen on an ex- 
 pedient which might remove every difficulty. 
 
 " It is quite plain, friend Bush," he said, " that there are 
 two opinions in this matter ; yours for your sons, and mine 
 for myself. I see but one amicable way of settling this 
 dispute, which is as follows : do you make a choice among 
 your boys of any you will, and let us walk off together for 
 the matter of a few miles into the prairies ; the one who 
 stays behind can never trouble any man's house or his 
 fixin', and the one who comes back may make the best of 
 his way he can, in the good wishes of the young woman." 
 
 " Paul," exclaimed the reproachful, but smothered voice 
 of Ellen. 
 
 " Never fear, Nelly," whispered the literal bee-hunter, 
 whose straightgoing mind suggested no other motive of 
 uneasiness on the part of his mistress than concern foi 
 himself ; " I have taken the measure of them all, and you 
 may trust an eye that has seen to line many a bee into his 
 hole ! " 
 
 " I am not about to set myself up as a ruler of inclina- 
 tions," observed the squatter. " If the heart of the child 
 is truly in the settlements, let her declare it ; she shall 
 have no let or hinderance from me. Speak Nelly, and let 
 what you say come from your wishes, without fear or favor. 
 Would you leave us to go with this young man into the 
 settled countries, or will you tarry and share the little we 
 have to give, but which to you we give so freely ? " 
 
 Thus called upon to decide, Ellen could no longer hesi- 
 tate. The glance of her eye was at first timid and furtive. 
 But, as the color flushed her features, and her breathing 
 became quick and excited, it was apparent that the native 
 spirit of the girl was gain ing the ascendency over the bash- 
 fulness of sex. 
 
 " You took me a fatherless, impoverished, and friendless 
 orphan," she said, struggling to command her voice, " when 
 others, who live in what maybe called affluence compared 
 to your state, chose to forget me ; and may Heaven in its 
 goodness bless you for it ! The little I have done will 
 never pay you for that one act of kindness. I like not 
 your manner of life ; it is different from the ways of my 
 childhood, and it is different from my wishes ; still, had 
 you not led this sweet and unoffending lacty from her 
 Mends, I should never have quitted you until you, your- 
 self had said, 'Go, and the Blessing of God go with you I ' 
 
368 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 "The act was not wise, but it is repented of ; and, sn 
 far as it can be done in safety, it shall be repaired. Now, 
 speak freely, will you tarry, or will you go ? " 
 
 " I have promised the lady," said Ellen, dropping hei 
 eyes again to the earth, " not to leave her ; and, after she 
 has received so much wrong from all hands, she may have 
 a right to claim that I keep my word." 
 
 " Take the cords from the young man," said Ishmael. 
 When the order was obeyed he motioned for all his sons 
 to advance, and he placed them in a row before the eyes 
 of Ellen. " Now let there be no trifling, but open your 
 heart. Here ar' all I have to offer, besides a hearty wel- 
 come." 
 
 The distressed girl turned her abashed look from th, 
 countenance of one of the young men to that of another, 
 until her eyes met the troubled and working features 
 of Paul. Then Nature got the better of forms. She 
 threw herself into the arms of the bee-hunter, and suffi- 
 ciently proclaimed her choice by sobbing aloud. Ishmael 
 signed to his sons to fall back, and, evidently mortified, 
 though perhaps not disappointed by the result, he no 
 longer hesitated. 
 
 " Take her," he said, " and deal honestly and kindly by 
 her. The girl has that in her which should make her 
 welcome in any man's house, and I should be loath to learn 
 that she ever came to harm. And now I have settled with 
 you all, on terms that I hope you will not find hard, but, 
 on the contrary just and manly. I have only another 
 question to ask, and that is of the captain. Do you choose 
 to profit by my teams in going into the settlements, or not ? " 
 
 11 1 hear that some soldiers of my party are looking for 
 me near the villages of the Pawnees," said Middleton, 
 " and I intend to accompany this chief, in order to joitt 
 my men." 
 
 " Then the sooner we part the better. Horses are plenty 
 on the bottom. Go ; make your choice, and leave us in 
 peace." 
 
 " That is impossible, while the old man, who has been 
 a friend of my family near half a century, is left a prisoner. 
 What has he done that he too is not released ? " 
 
 " Ask no questions that may lead to deceitful answers," 
 suddenly returned the squatter ; " I have dealings of my 
 own with that trapper, that it may not befit an officer oi 
 the States to meddle with. Go, wnile your road i$ open/ 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 369 
 
 " The man may be giving you honest counsel, and that 
 which it concerns you all to hearken to," observed the old 
 captive, who seemed in no uneasiness at the extraordinary 
 condition in which he found himself. "The Siouxes are 
 a numberless and bloody-minded race, and no one can say 
 how long it may be afore they will be out again on the 
 scent of revenge. Therefore, I say to you, go also ; and 
 take especial heed, in crossing the bottoms, that you get 
 not entangled again in the fires, for the honest hunters 
 often burn the grass at this season, in order that the buffa- 
 loes may find a sweeter and a greener pasturage in the 
 spring." 
 
 " I should forget not only my gratitude, but my duty to 
 the laws, were I to leave this prisoner in your hands, even 
 by his own consent, without knowing the nature of his 
 crime, in which we may have all been his innocent acces- 
 saries." 
 
 " Will it satisfy you to know that he merits all he will 
 leceive ? " 
 
 " It will at least change my opinion of his character." 
 
 "Look, then, at this," said Ishmael, placing before the 
 ayes of the captain the bullet that had been found about 
 the person of the dead Asa ; " with this morsel of lead did 
 he lay low as fine a boy as ever gave joy to a parent's eyes ! " 
 
 " I cannot believe that he has done this deed, unless in 
 self-defence, or on some justifiable provocation. That he 
 knew of the death of your son, I confess, for he pointed 
 out the brake in which the body lay, but that he has 
 wrongfully taken his life, nothing but his own acknowledg- 
 ment shall persuade me to believe." 
 
 " I have lived long," commenced the trapper, who found 
 by the general pause that he was expected to vindicate 
 himself from the heavy imputation, " and much evil have 
 I seen in my day. Many are the prowling bears and leap- 
 ing panthers that I have met ; fighting for the morsel 
 which has been thrown in their way ; and many are the 
 reasoning men that I have looked on striving against each 
 other unto death, in order that human madness might also 
 have its hour. For myself, I hope there is no boasting in 
 saying that, though my hand has been needed in putting 
 down wickedness and oppression it has never struck a 
 blow of which its owner will be ashamed to hear, at a 
 reckoning that shall be far mightier than this." 
 
 " If my father has taken life from one of his tribe," sale? 
 
570 THE PKAIRIE. 
 
 the young Pawnee, whose quick eye had read the meaning 
 of what was passing, in the bullet and in the countenances 
 of the others, " let him give himself up to the friends of 
 the dead, like a warrior. He is too just to need thongs 
 to lead him to judgment." 
 
 " Boy, I hope you do me justice. If I had done the 
 foul deed with which they charge me, I should have man- 
 hood enough to come and offer my head to the blow of 
 punishment, as all good and honest red-men do the same." 
 Then giving his anxious Indian friend a look to reassure 
 him of his innocence, he turned to the rest of his attentive 
 and interested listeners, as he continued in English, " I 
 have a short story to tell, and he that believes it will be- 
 lieve the truth, and he that disbelieves it will only lead 
 himself astray, and perhaps his neighbor too. We were 
 all out-lying about your camp, friend squatter, as by this 
 time you may begin to suspect when we found that it con- 
 tained a wronged and imprisoned lady, with intentions 
 neither more honest nor dishonest than to set her free, as 
 in nature and justice she had a right to be. Seeing that I 
 was more skilled in scouting than the others, while they 
 lay back in the cover, I was sent upon the plain, on the 
 business of reconnoitrings. You little thought that one 
 was so nigh who saw into all the circumventions of your 
 hunt ; but there was I, sometimes flat behind a bush or a 
 tuft of grass, sometimes rolling down a hill into a bottom, 
 and little did you dream that your motions were watched 
 as the panther watches the drinking deer. Lord, squatter, 
 when I was a man in the pride and strength of my days, I 
 have looked in at the tent-door of the enemy, and they 
 sleeping, ay, and dreaming, too, of being at home and in 
 peace. I wish there was time to give you the partic " 
 
 " Proceed with your explanation," interrupted Mid- 
 dleton. 
 
 "Ah ! and a bloody and wicked sight it was! There I 
 lay in a low bed of grass, as two of the hunters came nigh 
 each other. Their meeting was not cordial, nor such as 
 men who meet in a desert should give each other ; but I 
 thought they would have parted in peace, until I saw one 
 put his rifle to the other's back, and do what I call a 
 treacherous and sinful murder. It was a noble and a 
 manly youth, that boy ! Though the powder burnt his coat, 
 he stood the shock for more than a minute before he fell 
 Then was he brought to his knees, and a desperate and 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 371 
 
 manful fight he made to the brake, like a wounded bear 
 seeking a cover ! " 
 
 " And why, in the name of heavenly justice, did you 
 conceal this ?" cried Middleton. 
 
 " What ! think you, captain, that a man who has spent 
 more than threescore years in the wilderness has not 
 learned the virtue of discretion ? What red warrior runs 
 to tell the sights he has seen, until a fitting time ? I took 
 the doctor to the place, in order to see whether his skill 
 might not come in use ; and our friend, the bee-hunter, 
 being in company, was knowing to the fact that the bushes 
 held the body." 
 
 "Ay, it ar' true," said Paul; "but not knowing what 
 private reasons might make the old trapper wish to hush 
 the matter up, I said as little about the thing as possible ; 
 which was just nothing at all." 
 
 "And who was the perpetrator of this deed?" de- 
 manded Middleton. 
 
 " If by perpetrator you mean him who did the act, yon- 
 der stands the man, and a shame and a disgrace is it to our 
 race, that he is of the blood and family of the dead." 
 
 "He lies! he lies !" shrieked Abiram. "I did no mur- 
 der ; I gave but blow for blow." 
 
 The voice of Ishmael was deep, and even awful, as he 
 answered : 
 
 " It is enough. Let the old man go. Boys, put the 
 brother of your mother in his place." 
 
 "Touch me not !" cried Abiram. "I'll call on God to 
 curse ye if you touch me ! " 
 
 The wild and disordered gleam of his eye at first induced 
 the young men to arrest their steps ; but when Abner, older 
 and more resolute than the rest, advanced full upon him, 
 with a countenance that bespoke the hostile state of his 
 mind, the affrighted criminal turned, and, making an abor* 
 tive effort to fly, fell with his face to the earth, to all ap. 
 pearance perfectly dead. Amid the low exclamations of 
 horror which succeeded, Ishmael made a gesture which 
 commanded his sons to bear the body into a tent. 
 
 " Now," he said, turning to those who were strangers in 
 his camp, " nothing is left to be done but for each to go 
 his own road. I wish you all well and to you, Ellen^ 
 though you may not prize the gift, I say, God bless you ! " 
 
 Middleton, awe-struck by what he believed a manifest 
 judgment of Heaven, made no further resistance, but pre- 
 
372 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 pared to depart. The arrangements were brief, and soon 
 completed. When they were all ready, they took a short 
 and silent leave of the squatter and his family ; and then 
 the whole of the singularly constituted party were seen 
 slowly and silently following the victorious Pawnee toward 
 his distant villages. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 " And I beseech you, 
 Wrest once the law to your authority : 
 To do a great right, do a little wrong." SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 ISHMAEL awaited long and patiently for the motley train 
 f Hard-Heart to disappear. When his scout reported 
 that the last straggler of the Indians, who had joined their 
 chief so soon as he was at such a distance from the encamp- 
 ment as to excite no jealousy by their numbers, had gone be- 
 hind the most distant swell of the prairie, he gave forth the 
 order to strike his tents. The cattle were already in the 
 gears, and the movables were soon transferred to their usual 
 place in the different vehicles. When all these arrangements 
 were completed, the little wagon, which had so long been 
 the tenement of Inez, was drawn before the tent into which 
 the insensible body of the kidnapper had been borne, and 
 preparations were evidently made for the reception of an- 
 other prisoner. Then it was, as Abiram appeared, pale, 
 terrified, and tottering beneath a load of detected guilt, that 
 the younger members of the family were first apprised that 
 he still belonged to the class of the living. A general and 
 superstitious impression had spread among them that his 
 crime had been visited by a terrible retribution from 
 Heaven ; and they now gazed at him, as at a being who 
 belonged rather to another world, than as a mortal, who, 
 like themselves, had still to endure the last agony before 
 ihe great link of human existence could be broken. The 
 criminal himself appeared to be in a state ia which the 
 most sensitive and startling terror was singularly combined 
 with total physical apathy. The truth was that, while his 
 person had be-en numbed by the shock, his susceptibility to 
 apprehension kept his agitated mind in unrelieved distress. 
 When he found himself in the open air he looked about 
 him in order to gather, if possible, some evidences of hi* 
 
THE PRAIRIE. . 373 
 
 future fate from the countenances of those gathered round 
 Seeing everywhere grave but composed features, and meet- 
 ing in no eye any expression that threatened immediate 
 violence, the miserable man began to revive ; and, by the 
 time he was seated in the wagon, his artful faculties were 
 beginning to plot the expedients of parrying the just re- 
 sentment of his kinsmen, or, if these should fail him, the 
 means of escaping from a punishment that his forebodings 
 told him would be terrible. 
 
 Throughout the whole of these preparations, Ishmael 
 rarely spoke. A gesture, or a glance of the eye, served to 
 indicate his pleasure to his sons, and with these simple 
 methods of communication all parties appeared content. 
 When the signal was made to proceed, the squatter threw 
 his rifle into the hollow of his arm and his axe across his 
 shoulder, taking the lead as usual. Esther buried hersell 
 in the wagon which contained her daughters ; the young 
 men took their customary places among the cattle or nigh 
 the teams ; and the whole proceeded at their ordinary dull 
 but unremitted gait. 
 
 For the first time in many a day the squatter turned his 
 back toward the setting sun. The route he held was in the 
 direction of the settled country, and the manner in which 
 he moved sufficed to tell his children, who had learned to 
 read their father's determinations in his mien, that their* 
 journey on the prairie was shortly to have an end. Still 
 nothing else transpired for hours, that might denote the ex- 
 istence of any sudden or violent revolution in the purposes 
 or feelings of Ishmael. During all that time he marched 
 alone, keeping a few hundred rods in front of his teams, 
 seldom giving any sign of extraordinary excitement. Once 
 or twice, indeed, his huge figure was seen standing on the 
 summit of some distant swell, with the head bent toward 
 the earth, as he leaned on his rifle ; but then these moments 
 of intense thought were rare, and of short continuance. 
 The train had long thrown its shadows toward the east be- 
 fore any material alteration was made in the disposition of 
 their march. Water-courses were waded, plains were passed, 
 and rolling ascents risen and descended, without producing 
 the smallest change. Long practised in the difficulties of 
 that peculiar species of travelling in which he was engaged, 
 the squatter avoided the more impracticable obstacles of 
 their route by a sort of instinct, invariably inclining to the 
 right or left in season, as the formation of the land, the 
 
374 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 presence of trees, or the signs of rivers forewarned him 
 of the necessity of such movements. 
 
 At length the hour arrived when charity to man and 
 beast required a temporary suspension of labor. Ishmael 
 chose the required spot with his customary sagacity. The 
 regular formation of the country, such as it has been de 
 scribed in the earlier pages of our book, had long been in- 
 terrupted by a more unequal and broken surface. There 
 were, it is true, in general, the same wide and empty wastes, 
 the same rich and extensive bottoms, and that wild and 
 singular combination of swelling fields and of nakedness, 
 which gives that region the appearance of an ancient 
 country, incomprehensibly stripped of its people and their 
 dwellings. But these distinguishing features of the roll- 
 ing prairies had long been interrupted by irregular hillocks, 
 occasional masses of rock, and broad belts of forest. 
 
 Ishmael chose a spring that broke out of the base of a rock 
 some forty or fifty feet in elevation, as a place well suited 
 to the wants of his herds. The water moistened a small 
 swale that lay beneath the spot, which yielded, in return 
 for the fecund gift, a scanty growth of grass. A solitary 
 willow had taken root in the alluvion, and, profiting by its 
 exclusive possession of the soil, the tree had sent up its 
 stem far above the crest of the adjacent rock, whose peaked 
 summit had once been shadowed by its branches. But its 
 loveliness had gone with the mysterious principle of life. 
 As if in mockery of the meagre show of verdure that the 
 spot exhibited, it remained a noble and solemn monument 
 of former fertility. The larger, ragged, and fantastic 
 branches still obtruded themselves abroad, while the white 
 and hoary trunk stood naked and tempest-riven. Not a 
 leaf nor a sign of vegetation was to be seen about it. In 
 all things it proclaimed the frailty of existence, and the 
 fulfilment of time. 
 
 Here Ishmael, after making the customary signal for 
 the train to approach, threw his vast frame upon the earth, 
 and seemed to muse on the deep responsibility of his 
 present situation. His sons were not long in arriving ; 
 for the cattle no sooner scented the food and water than 
 they quickened their page, and then succeeded the usual 
 bustle and avocations of a halt. 
 
 The impression made by the scene of that morning was 
 not so deep or lasting, on the children of Ishmael and 
 Esther, as to induce them to forget the wants of Nature 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 375 
 
 But while the sons were searching among their stores for 
 something substantial to appease their hunger, and the 
 younger fry were wrangling about their simple dishes, the 
 parents of the unnurtured family were differently em- 
 ployed. 
 
 When the squatter saw that all, even to the reviving 
 Abiram, were busy in administering to their appetites, he 
 gave his downcast partner a glance of his eye, and withdrew 
 toward a distant roll of the land which bounded the view 
 toward the east. The meeting of the pair in this naked 
 spot was like an interview held above the grave of their 
 murdered son. Ishmael signed to his wife to take a seat 
 beside him on a fragment of rock, and then followed a 
 space during which neither seemed disposed to speak. 
 
 " We have journeyed together long, through good and 
 bad," Ishmael at length commenced ; " much have we had 
 to try us, and some bitter cups have we been made to 
 swallow, my woman ; but nothing like this has ever before 
 lain in my path." 
 
 " It is a heavy cross for a poor, misguided, and sinful 
 woman to bear," returned Esther, bowing her head to her 
 knees, and partly concealing her face in her dress. "A 
 heavy and a burdensome weight is this to be laid upon the 
 shoulders of a sister and a mother ! " 
 
 "Ay; therein lies the hardship of the case. I had 
 brought my mind to the punishment of that houseless trap- 
 per with no great strivings, for the man had done me few 
 favors, and God forgive me if I suspected him wrongfully 
 of much evil ! This is, however, bringing shame in at one 
 door of my cabin in order to drive it out at the other. But 
 shall a son of mine be murdered, and he who did it go at 
 large ? the boy would never rest ! " 
 
 " Oh ! Ishmael, we pushed the matter far ! Had little 
 been said, who would have been the wiser ? Our con- 
 sciences might then have been quiet." 
 
 " Eester," said the husband, turning on her a reproach- 
 ful but still a dull regard, " the hour has been, my woman, 
 when you thought another hand had done this wickedness." 
 
 " I did, I did ! the Lord gave me the feeling as a punish- 
 ment for my sins ! but his mercy was not slow in lifting 
 the veil ; I looked into the book, Ishmael, and there I found 
 the words of comfort." 
 
 " Have you that book at hand, woman ? it may happen 
 to advise in such a dreary business." 
 
376 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 Esther fumbled in her pocket, and was not long in pro- 
 ducing the fragment of a Bible which had been thumbed 
 and smoke-dried till the print was nearly illegible. It was 
 the only article in the nature of a book that was to be 
 found among the chattels of the squatter, and it had been 
 preserved by his wife as a melancholy relic of more pros- 
 perous, and possibly of more innocent, days. She had long 
 been in the habit of resorting to it under the pressure of 
 such circumstances as were palpably beyond human re- 
 dress, though her spirit and resolution rarely needed sup- 
 port under those that admitted of reparation through any 
 of the ordinary means of reprisal. In this manner Esther 
 had made a sort of convenient ally of the word of God ; 
 rarely troubling it for counsel, however, except when her 
 own incompetency to avert an evil was too apparent to be 
 disputed. We shall leave casuists to determine how far 
 she resembled any other believers in this particular, and 
 proceed directly with the matter before us. 
 
 " There are many awful passages in these pages, Ish- 
 mael," she said, when the volume was opened, and the 
 leaves were slowly turning under her finger, " and some 
 there ar' that teach the rules of punishment." 
 
 Her husband made a gesture for her to find one of those 
 brief rules of conduct which have been received among 
 all Christian nations as the direct mandates of the Crea- 
 tor, and which have been found so just that even they 
 who deny their high authority, admit their wisdom. Ish- 
 mael listened with grave attention as his companion read 
 all those verses which her memory suggested, and which 
 were thought applicable to the situation in which they 
 found themselves. He made her show him the words, 
 which he regarded with a sort of strange reverence. A 
 resolution once taken was usually irrevocable in one who 
 was moved with so much difficulty. He put his hand upon 
 the book and closed the pages himself, as much as to ap- 
 prise his wife that he was satisfied. Esther, who so well 
 knew his character, trembled at the action, and, casting a 
 glance at his steady eye, she said : 
 
 "And yet, Ishmael, my blood and the blood of my chil 
 dren is in his veins ! cannot mercy be shown ? " 
 
 " Woman," he answered, sternly, " when we believed that 
 miserable old trapper had done this deed, nothing was said 
 of mercy ! " 
 
 Esther made no reply, but, folding her arms upon he! 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 357 
 
 Dreast, she sat silent and thoughtful for many minutes. 
 Then she once more turned her anxious gaze upon the 
 countenance of her husband, where she found all passion 
 and care apparently buried in the coldest apathy. Satis- 
 fied now that the fate of her brother was sealed, and pos- 
 sibly conscious how well he merited the punishment that 
 was meditated, she no longer thought of mediation. No 
 more words passed between them. Their eyes met for an 
 instant, and then both arose and walked in profound si- 
 lence toward the encampment. 
 
 The squatter found his children expecting his return in 
 the usual listless manner with which they awaited all com- 
 ing events. The cattle were already herded, and the horses 
 in their gears in readiness to proceed, so soon as he should 
 indicate that such was his pleasure. The children were 
 already in their proper vehicle, and, in short, nothing de- 
 layed the departure but the absence of the parents of the 
 wild brood. 
 
 " Abner," said the father, with the deliberation with 
 which all his proceedings were characterized, " take the 
 brother of your mother from the wagon, and let him stand 
 on the 'arth." 
 
 Abiram issued from his place of concealment, trembling, 
 it is true, but far from destitute of hopes as to his final 
 success in appeasing the just resentment of his kinsman. 
 After throwing a glance around him with the vain wish of 
 finding a single countenance in which he might detect a 
 solitary O ieam of sympathy, he endeavored to smother 
 those apprehensions that were by this time reviving in their 
 original violence, by forcing a sort of friendly communi- 
 cation between himself and the squatter : 
 
 "The beasts are getting jaded, brother," he said ; "and 
 as we have made so good a march already, is it not time 
 to 'camp? To my eye you may go far before a better place 
 than this is found to pass the night in."^ 
 
 " Tis well you like it. Your tarry Here ar' likely to be 
 long. My sons, draw nigh and listen. Abiram White," 
 he added, lifting his cap, and speaking with a solemnity 
 and steadiness that rendered even his dull mien imposing, 
 " you have slain my first-born, and according to the laws 
 of God and man you must die ! " 
 
 The kidnapper started at this terrible and sudden sen- 
 tence, with the terror that one would exhibit who unex- 
 pectedly found himself in the grasp of a monster from 
 
378 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 whose power there was no retreat. Although filled with 
 the most serious forebodings of what might be his lot, his 
 courage had not been equal to look his danger in the face, 
 and, with the deceitful consolation with which timid tem- 
 pers are apt to conceal their desperate condition from 
 themselves, he had rather courted a treacherous relief in 
 his cunning than prepared himself for the worst. 
 
 " Die ! " he repeated, in a voice that scarcely issued from 
 his chest ; " a man is surely safe among his kinsmen ! " 
 
 " So thought my boy," returned the squatter, motion- 
 ing for the team that contained his wife and the girls to 
 proceed, as he very coolly examined the priming of his 
 piece. " By the rifle did you destroy my son : it is fit 
 and just that you meet your end by the same weapon." 
 
 Abiram stared about him with a gaze that bespoke an 
 unsettled reason. He even laughed, as if he would not 
 only persuade himself but others that what he heard was 
 some pleasantry intended to try his nerves. But nowhere 
 did his frightful merriment meet with an answering echo. 
 All around was solemn and still. The visages of his ne- 
 phews were excited, but cold toward him, and that of his 
 former confederate determined. This very steadiness of 
 mien was a thousand times more alarming and hopeless 
 than any violence could have proved. The latter might 
 possibly have touched his spirit and awakened resistance, 
 but the former threw him entirely on the feeble resources 
 of himself. 
 
 " Brother," he said, in a hurried, unnatural whisper, 
 " did I hear you ? " 
 
 ** My words are plain, Abiram White ; thou hast done 
 murder, and for the same thou must die ! " 
 
 " Esther ! sister, sister, will you leave me ? O sister ! 
 do you hear my call ? " 
 
 " I hear one speak from the grave ! " returned the husky 
 tones of Esther, as the wagon passed the spot where the 
 criminal stood. " It is the voice of my firstborn calling 
 aloud for justice ! God have mercy, God have mercy on 
 your soul ! " 
 
 The team slowly pursued its route, and the deserted 
 Abiram now found himself deprived of the smallest ves- 
 tige of hope. Still he could not summon fortitude t<s 
 meet his death, and, had not his limbs refused to aid him, 
 he would yet have attempted to fly. Then, by a sudden re- 
 volution from hope to utter despair, he fell upon his knees 
 
THE PRAIHrE. 379 
 
 and commenced a prayer in which cries for mercy to God 
 and to his kinsman were wildly and blasphemously min- 
 gled. The sons of Ishmaei turned away in horror at the 
 disgusting spectacle, and even the stern nature of the 
 squatter began to bend before so abject misery. 
 
 "May that which you ask of Him for be granted," he 
 said, " but a father can never forget a murdered child." 
 
 He was answered by the most humble appeals for time. 
 A week, a day, an hour, were each implored with an 
 earnestness commensurate to the value they receive when 
 a whole life is compressed into their short duration. The 
 squatter was troubled, and at length he yielded in part to 
 the petitions of the criminal. His final purpose was not 
 altered, though he changed the means. " Abner," he said, 
 "mount the rock and look on every side, that we may be 
 sure none are nigh." 
 
 While his nephew was obeying this order, gleams of re- 
 viving hope were seen shooting across the quivering fea- 
 tures of the kidnapper. The report was favorable ; nothing 
 having life, the retiring teams excepted, was to be seen, 
 A messenger was, however, coming from the latter in great 
 apparent haste. Ishmaei awaited its arrival. He re- 
 ceived from the hands of one of his wondering and fright- 
 ened girls a fragment of that book which Esther had 
 preserved with so much care. The squatter beckoned the 
 child away, and placed the leaves in the hands of the 
 criminal. 
 
 " Esther has sent you this," he said, "that in your last 
 moments you may remember God." 
 
 " Bless her, bless her ! a good and kind sister has she 
 been to me ! But time must be given that I may read ; 
 time, my brother, time ! " 
 
 "Time shall not be wanting. You shall be your own 
 executioner, and this miserable office shall pass away 
 from my hands." 
 
 Ishmaei proceeded to put his new resolution into force. 
 The immediate apprehensions of the kidnapper were 
 quieted by an assurance that he might yet live for days, 
 though his punishment was inevitable. A reprieve to one 
 abject and wretched as Abiram, temporarily produced the 
 same effects as a pardon. He was even foremost in assist- 
 ing in the appalling arrangements, and, of all actors in 
 that solemn tragedy his voice alone was facetious and 
 jocular. 
 
380 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 A thin shelf of the rock projected beneath one of the 
 ragged arms of the willow. It was many feet from the 
 ground, and admirably adapted to the purpose which, in 
 fact, its appearance had suggested. On this little platform 
 the criminal was placed, his arms bound at the elbows be* 
 hind his back, beyond the possibility of liberation, with a 
 proper cord leading from his neck to the limb of the tree. 
 The latter was so placed, that when suspended the body 
 could find no foothold. The fragment of the Bible was 
 placed in his hands, and he was left to seek his consolation 
 as he might from its pages. 
 
 " And now, Abiram White," said the squatter, when his 
 sons had descended from completing this arrangement, " I 
 give you a last and solemn asking. Deatli is before you in 
 two shapes. With this rifle can your misery be cut short, 
 or by that cord, sooner or later, must you meet your end." 
 
 " Let me live ! Oh, Ishmael, you know not how sweet 
 life is when the last moment draws so nigh ! " 
 
 " 'Tis done," said the squatter, motioning for his assist- 
 ants to follow the herds and teams. "And now, miserable 
 man, that it may prove a consolation to your end, I forgive 
 you my wrongs and leave you to your God." 
 
 Ishmael turned and pursued his way across the plain at 
 his ordinary sluggish and ponderous gait. Though his 
 head was bent a little toward the earth, his inactive mind 
 did not prompt him to cast a look behind. Once, indeed, 
 he thought he heard his name called in tones that were a 
 little smothered, but they failed to make him pause. 
 
 At the spot where he and Esther had conferred he 
 reached the boundary of the visible horizon from the rock. 
 Here he stopped, and ventured a glance in the direction 
 of the place he had just quitted. The sun was near dip- 
 ping into the plains beyond, and its last rays lighted the 
 naked branches of the willow. He saw the ragged outline 
 of the whole drawn against the glowing heavens, and he 
 even traced the still upright form of the being he had left 
 to his misery. Turning the roll of the swell, he proceeded 
 with the feelings of one who had been suddenly and vio- 
 lently separated from a recent confederate forever. 
 
 Within a mile the squatter overtook his teams. His sons 
 had found a place suited to the encampment for the night, 
 and merely awaited his approach to confirm their choice. 
 Few words were necessary to express his acquiescence. 
 Everything passed in a silence more general and remark- 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 381 
 
 able than ever. The chidings of Esther were not heaid 
 among her young, or, if heard, they were more in the tones 
 of softened admonition than in her usual upbraiding key. 
 
 No questions nor explanations passed between the hus- 
 band and his wife. It was only as the latter was about to 
 withdraw among her children for the night, that the for- 
 mer saw her taking a furtive look at the pan of his rifle. 
 Ishmael bade his sons seek their rest, announcing his in- 
 tention to look to the safety of the camp in person. When 
 all was still he walked out upon the prairie with a sort of 
 sensation that he found his breathing among the tents too 
 straitened. The night was well adapted to heighten the 
 feelings which had been created by the events of the day. 
 
 The wind had risen with the moon, and it was occasion- 
 ally sweeping over the plain in a manner that made it not 
 difficult for the sentinel to imagine strange and unearthly 
 sounds were mingling in the blasts. Yielding to the ex- 
 traordinary impulses of which he was the subject, he cast 
 a glance around to see that all were slumbering in security, 
 and then he strayed toward the swell of land already men- 
 tioned. Here the squatter found himself at a point that 
 commanded a view to the east and to the west. Light, 
 fleecy clouds were driving before the moon, which was 
 cold and watery, though there were moments when its 
 placid rays were shed from clear blue fields, seeming to 
 soften objects to its own mild loveliness. 
 
 For the first time in a life of so much wild adventure, 
 Ishmael felt a keen sense of solitude. The naked prairies 
 began to assume the forms of illimitable and dreary wastes, 
 and the rushing of the wind sounded like the whisperings 
 of the dead. It was not long before he thought a shriek 
 was borne past him on a blast. It did not sound like a 
 call from earth, but it swept frightfully through the upper 
 air, mingled with the hoarse accompaniment of the wind. 
 The teeth of the squatter were compressed, and his huge 
 hand grasped the rifle, as if it would crush the metal 
 Then came a lull, a fresher blast, and a cry of horror that 
 seemed to have been uttered at the very portals of his ears. 
 A sort of echo burst involuntarily from his own lips, as 
 men shout under unnatural excitement, and throwing his 
 rifle across his shoulder, he proceeded toward the rock 
 with *;he strides of a giant. 
 
 It w?s iaot often that the blood of Ishmael moved at th3 
 rate fo'fch which the fluid circulates in the veins of ordinary 
 
5 52 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 men ; but now he felt it ready to gush from every pore in 
 his body. The animal was aroused, in his most latent 
 energies. Ever as he advanced he heard those shrieks, 
 which sometimes seemed ringing among the clouds, and 
 sometimes passed so nigh as to appear to brush the earth. 
 At length there came a cry in which there could be no de- 
 lusion, or to which the imagination could lend no horror. 
 It appeared to fill each cranny of the air, as the visible 
 horizon is often charged to fulness by the dazzling flash oi 
 the electric fluid. The name of God was distinctly aud 
 ible, but it was awfully and blasphemously blended with 
 sounds that may not be repeated. The squatter stopped, 
 and for a moment he covered his ears with his hands. 
 When he withdrew the latter, a low and husky voice at his 
 elbow asked in smothered tones : 
 
 " Ishmael, my man, hear ye nothing? " 
 
 " Hist ! " returned the husband, laying a powerful arm 
 on Esther, without manifesting the smallest surprise at the 
 unlooked-for presence of his wife. " Hist, woman ! if you 
 have the fear of Heaven, be still ! " 
 
 A profound silence succeeded. Though the wind rose 
 and fell as before, its rushing was no longer mingled with 
 those fearful cries. The sounds were imposing and solemn, 
 but it was the solemnity and majesty of Nature. 
 
 " Let us go on, " said Esther ; " all is hushed." 
 
 "Woman, what has brought you here ?" demanded her 
 husband, whose blood had returned into its former chan- 
 nels, and whose thoughts had already lost a portion of 
 their excitement. 
 
 " Ishmael, he murdered our firstborn ; but it is not meet 
 that the son of my mother should lie upon the ground, 
 like the carrion of a dog." 
 
 " Follow ! " returned the squatter, again grasping his 
 rifle, and striding toward the rock. The distance was still 
 considerable ; and their approach, as they drew nigh the 
 place of execution, was moderated by awe. Many min- 
 utes had passed before they reached a spot where they 
 might distinguish the outlines of the dusky objects. 
 
 " Where have you put the body ? " whispered Esther. 
 " See, here are pick and spade, that a brother of mine 
 may sleep in the bosom of the earth ! " 
 
 The moon broke from behind a mass of clouds, and the 
 eye of the woman was enabled to follow the finger of 
 Ishmael. It pointed to a human form swinging in the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 2 8j 
 
 wind, beneath the ragged and shining aim of the willow. 
 Esther bent her head and veiled her eyes from the sight. 
 But Ishmael drew nigher, and contemplated his work in 
 awe, though not in compunction. The leaves of the 
 sacred book were scattered on the ground, and even a 
 fragment of the shelf had been displaced by the kidnapper 
 in his agony. But all was now in the stillness of death. 
 The grim and convulsed countenance of the victim was at 
 times brought full into the light of the moon, and again, 
 as the wind lulled, the fatal rope drew a dark line across 
 its bright disk. The squatter raised his rifle with extreme 
 care, and fired. The cord was cut, and the body came 
 lumbering to the earth, a heavy and insensible mass. 
 
 Until now Esther had not moved or spoken. But her 
 hand was not slow to assist in the labor of the hour. The 
 grave was soon dug. It was instantly made to receive its 
 miserable tenant. As the lifeless form descended, Esther, 
 who sustained the head, looked up into the face of her 
 husband with an expression of anguish, and said : 
 
 "Ishmael, my man, it is very terrible! I cannot kiss 
 the corpse of my father's child ! " 
 
 The squatter laid his broad hand on the bosom of the 
 dead, and said : 
 
 " Abiram White, we all have need of mercy ; from my 
 soul do I forgive you ! May God in Heaven have pity on 
 your sins ! " 
 
 The woman bowed her face, and imprinted her lips 
 long and fervently on the pallid forehead of her brother. 
 After this came the falling clods and all the solemn sounds 
 of filling a grave. Esther lingered on her knees, and Ish- 
 mael stood uncovered while the woman muttered a prayer. 
 All was then finished. 
 
 On the following morning the teams and herds of the 
 squatter were seen pursuing their course toward the set- 
 tlements. As they approached the confines of society, the 
 train was blended among a thousand others. Though 
 some of the numerous descendants of this peculiar pair 
 were reclaimed from their lawless and semi-barbarous lives, 
 the principals of the family themselves were never heard 
 of more. 
 
384 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE passage of the Pawnee to his village was interrupted 
 by no scene of violence. His vengeance had been as com- 
 plete as it was summary. Not even a solitary scout of the 
 Sioux was left on the hunting-grounds he was obliged to 
 traverse, and of course the journey of Middleton's party 
 was as peaceful as if made in the bosom of the States. 
 The marches were timed to meet the weakness of the fe- 
 males. In short, the victors seemed to have lost every 
 trace of ferocity with their success, and appeared disposed 
 to consult the most trifling of the wants of that engrossing 
 people who were daily encroaching on their rights, and 
 reducing the red-men of the West from their state of 
 proud independence to the condition of fugitives and wan- 
 derers. 
 
 Our limits will not permit a detail of the triumphant 
 entry of the conquerors. The exultation of the tribe was 
 proportioned to its previous despondency. Mothers 
 boasted of the honorable deaths of their sons ; wives pro- 
 claimed the honor and pointed to the scars of their hus- 
 bands ; and Indian girls rewarded the young braves with 
 songs of triumph. The trophies of their fallen enemies 
 were exhibited, as conquered standards are displayed in 
 more civilized regions. The deeds of former warriors 
 were recounted by the aged men, and declared to be 
 eclipsed by the glory of this victory ; while Hard-Heart 
 himself, so distinguished for his exploits from boyhood to 
 that hour, was unanimously proclaimed and reproclaimed 
 the worthiest chief and the stoutest brave that the Wah- 
 condah had ever bestowed on his most favored children, 
 the Pawnees of the Lo-ups. 
 
 Notwithstanding the comparative security in which Mid- 
 dleton found his recovered treasure, be was not sorry to 
 isee his faithful and sturdy artillerists standing among the 
 throng as he entered in the wild train, and lifting their 
 voices in a martial shout to greet his return. Tiie pres- 
 ence of this force, small as it was, removed every shadow 
 of uneasiness from his mind. It made him master of his 
 movements, gave him dignity and importance in the eyes 
 of his new friends, and would enable him to overcome the 
 difficulties of the wide region which svill lay between the 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 38$ 
 
 village of the Pawnees and the nearest fortress of his 
 countrymen. A lodge was yielded to the exclusive pos- 
 session of Inez and Ellen ; and even Paul, when he saw 
 an armed sentinel in the uniform of the States pacing 
 before its entrance, was content to stray among the dwell 
 ings of the "red-skins," prying with but little reserve into 
 their domestic economy, commenting sometimes jocularly, 
 sometimes gravely, and always freely, on their different 
 expedients, or endeavoring to make the wondering house- 
 wives comprehend his quaint explanations of what he con- 
 ceived to be the better customs of the whites. 
 
 This inquiring and troublesome spirit found no imitators 
 among the Indians. The delicacy and reserve of Hard- 
 Heart was communicated to his people. When every at- 
 tention that could be suggested by their simple manners 
 and narrow wants had been fulfilled, no intrusive foot pre- 
 sumed to approach the cabins devoted to the service of the 
 strangers. They were left to seek their repose in the man- 
 ner which most comported with their habits and inclina- 
 tions. The songs and rejoicings of the tribe, however, ran 
 far into the night, during the deepest hours of which the 
 voice of more than one warrior was heard, recounting, 
 from the top of his lodge, the deeds of his people and the 
 glory of their triumphs. 
 
 Everything having life, notwithstanding the excesses of 
 the night, was abroad with the appearance of the sun. 
 The expression of exultation, which had so lately been 
 seen on every countenance, was now changed to one better 
 suited to the feeling of the moment. It was understood 
 by all, that the pale-faces, who had befriended their chief, 
 were about to take their final leave of the tribe. The 
 soldiers of Middleton, in anticipation of his arrival, had 
 bargained with an unsuccessful trader for the use of his 
 boat, which lay in the stream ready to receive its cargo, 
 and nothing remained to complete the arrangements foi 
 the long journey. 
 
 Middleton did not see this moment arrive entirely with- 
 out distrust. The admiration with which Hard-Heart re- 
 garded Inez had not escaped his jealous eye, any more 
 than had the lawless wishes of Mahtoree. He knew the 
 consummate manner in which a savage could conceal his 
 designs, and he felt that it would be a culpable weakness 
 to be unprepared for the worst. Secret instructions were 
 therefore given to his men, while the preparations they 
 
 25 
 
3 8<5 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 made were properly masked behind the show of military 
 parade with which it was intended to signalize their de- 
 parture. 
 
 The conscience of the young soldier reproached him 
 when he saw the whole tribe accompanying his party to the 
 margin of the stream, with unarmed hands and sorrowful 
 countenances. They gathered in a circle around the stran- 
 gers and their chief, and became not only peaceful but 
 highly interested observers of what was passing. As it 
 was evident that Hard-Heart intended to speak, the for- 
 mer stopped, and manifested their readiness to listen, the 
 trapper performing the office of interpreter. Then the 
 young chief addressed his people, in the usual metaphori- 
 cal language of an Indian. Fie commenced by alluding to 
 the antiquity and renown of his own nation. He spoke of 
 their successes in the hunts and on the war-path ; of the 
 manner in which they had always known how to defend 
 their rights and to chastise their enemies. After he had 
 said enough to manifest his respect for the greatness of 
 the Loups, and to satisfy the pride of the listeners, he 
 made a sudden transition to the race of whom the strangers 
 were members. He compared their countless numbers 
 to the flights of migratory birds in the season of blossoms, 
 or in the fall of the year. With a delicacy that none knew 
 better how to practise than an Indian warrior, he made no 
 direct mention of the rapacious tempers that so many of 
 them had betrayed in their dealings with the red-men. 
 Feeling that the sentiment of distrust was strongly en~ 
 grafted in the tempers of his tribe, he rather endeavored 
 t3 soothe any just resentment they might entertain, by in- 
 direct excuses and apologies. He reminded the listeners 
 that even the Pawnee Loups had been obliged to chase 
 many unworthy individuals from their villages. The Wah- 
 condah sometimes veiled his countenance from a red-man. 
 No doubt the Great Spirit of the pale-faces often looked 
 darkly on his children. Such as were abandoned to the 
 worker of evil could never be brave or virtuous, let the 
 color of the skin be what it might. He bade his young 
 men look at the hands of the Big-knives. They were not 
 empty, like those of hungry beggars. Neither were they 
 filled with goods, like those of knavish traders. They 
 were, like themselves, warriors, and they carried arms 
 which they knew well how to use they were worthy to 
 be called brothers ! 
 
TIfK PRAIRIE. 387 
 
 Then he directed the attention of all to the chief of the 
 strangers. He was a son of their great white father. He 
 had not come upon the prairies to frighten the buffaloes 
 from their pastures, or to seek the game of the Indians. 
 Wicked men had robbed him of one of his wives ; no doubt 
 she was the most obedient, the meekest, the loveliest of 
 them all. They had only to open their eyes to see that 
 his words must be true. Now that the white chief had 
 found his wife, he was about to return to his own people 
 in peace. He would tell them that the Pawnees were just, 
 and there would be a line of wampum between the two 
 nations. Let all his people wish the strangers a safe re- 
 turn to their towns. The warriors of the Loups knew 
 both how to receive their enemies, and how to clear the 
 briers from the path of their friends. 
 
 The heart of Middleton beat quick as the young parti- 
 san* alluded to the charms of Inez, and for an instant he 
 cast an impatient glance at his little line of artillerists ; 
 but the chief from that moment appeared to forget he had 
 ever seen so fair a being. His feelings, if he had any on 
 the subject, were veiled behind the cold mask of Indian 
 self-denial. He took each warrior by the hand, not for- 
 getting the meanest soldier, but his cold and collected eye 
 never wandered for an instant toward either of the females. 
 Arrangements had been made for their comfort, with a 
 prodigality and care that had not -failed to excite some sur- 
 prise in his young men, but in no other particular did he 
 shock their manly pride by betraying any solicitude in be- 
 half of the weaker sex. 
 
 The leave-taking was general and imposing. Each male 
 Pawnee was sedulous to omit no one of the strange war- 
 riors in his attentions, and, of course, the ceremony occu- 
 pied some time. The only exception, and that was not 
 general, was in the case of Dr. Battius. Not a few of the 
 young men, it is true, were indifferent about lavishing civ- 
 ilities on one of so doubtful a profession, but the worthy 
 naturalist found some consolation in the more matured 
 
 * The Americans and the Indians have adopted several words, which 
 each believe peculiar to the language of the others. Thus "squaw,'* 
 "papoose," or child, wigwam, etc., etc., though it is doubtful whether they 
 belonged at all to any Indian dialect, are much used by both whites and 
 ted men in their intercourse. Many words are derived from the French 
 in this species of prairies nomaic. Partisan, brave, etc., are of the number. 
 
388 THE PRA7RIK. 
 
 politeness of the old men, who had inferred that, though 
 not of much use in war, the medicine of the Big-knives 
 might possibly be made serviceable in peace. 
 
 When all of Middleton's party had embarked, the trap- 
 per lifted a small bundle, which had lain at his feet during 
 the previous proceedings, and, whistling Hector to his 
 side, he was the last to take his seat. The artillerists gave 
 the usual cheers, which were answered by a shout from the 
 tribe, and then the boat was shoved into the current, and 
 began to glide swiftly down its stream. 
 
 A long and a musing, if not a melancholy silence, suc- 
 ceeded this departure. It was first broken by the trapper, 
 whose regret was not the least visible in his dejected and 
 sorrowful eye : 
 
 "They are a valiant and an honest tribe," he said ; " that 
 will I say boldly in their favor ; and second only do I take 
 them to be to that once mighty but now scattered people, 
 the Delawares of the Hills. Ah's me, captain, if you had 
 seen as much good and evil as I have seen in these nations 
 of red-skins, you would know of how much value was a 
 brave and simple-minded warrior. I know that some are 
 to be found, who both think and say that an Indian is but 
 little better than the beasts of these naked plains. But it 
 is needful to be honest in one's self, to be a fitting judge of 
 honesty in others. No doubt, no doubt, they know their 
 enemies, and little do they care to show to such any great 
 confidence or love." 
 
 " It is the way of man," returned the captain ; " and it is 
 probable they are not wanting in any of his natural quali^ 
 ties." 
 
 " No, no ; it is little that they want, that Natur' has had 
 to give. But as little does he know of the temper of a red- 
 skin, who has seen but one Indian, or one tribe, as he knows 
 of the color of feathers who has only looked upon a crow. 
 Now, friend steersman, just give the boat a sheer toward 
 yonder low sandy point, and a favor will be granted at a 
 short asking." 
 
 "For what?" demanded Middleton ; "we are now in 
 the swiftest of the current, and by drawing to the shore we 
 shall lose the force of the stream." 
 
 "Your tarry will not be long," returned the old man, ap- 
 plying his own hand to the execution of that which he had 
 requested. The oarsmen had seen enough of his influence 
 with their leader not to dispute his wishes, and, before time 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 389 
 
 was given for further discussion on the subject the bow of 
 the boat had touched the land. 
 
 "Captain," resumed the other, untying his little wallet 
 with great deliberation, and even in a manner to show he 
 found satisfaction in the delay, " I wish to offer you a small 
 matter of trade. No great bargain, mayhap ; but still the 
 best that one, of whose hand the skill of the rifle has taken 
 leave, and who has become no better than a miserable trap- 
 per, can offer before we part." 
 
 " Part !" was echoed from every mouth, among those who 
 had so recently shared his dangers, and profited by his 
 care. 
 
 "What the devil, old trapper ! do you mean to foot it to 
 the settlements, when here is a boat that will float the dis- 
 tance in half the time that the jackass the doctor has given 
 the Pawnee could trot along the same ? " 
 
 " Settlements, boy! It is long sin' I took my leave of 
 the waste and wickedness of the settlements and the villages. 
 If I live in a clearing, here, it is one of the Lord's making, 
 and I have no hard thoughts on the matter; but never 
 again shall I be seen running wilfully into the danger of 
 immoralities." 
 
 "I had not thought of parting," answered Middleton, 
 endeavoring to seek some relief from the uneasiness he 
 felt, by turning his eyes on the sympathizing countenances 
 of his friends ; "on the contrary, I had hoped and believed 
 that you would have accompanied us below, where, I give 
 you a sacred pledge, nothing shall be wanting to make 
 your days comfortable." 
 
 " Yes, lad, yes ; you would do your endeavors ; but what 
 are the strivings of man against the working of the devil ? 
 Ay, if kind offers and good wishes could have done the 
 thing, I might have been a Congressman, or perhaps a 
 governor, years agone. Your gran'ther wi-shed the same, 
 and there are them still living in the Otsego mountains, as 
 I hope, who would gladly have given me a palace for my 
 dwelling. But what are riches without content? My time 
 must now be short, at any rate, and I hold it's no mighty 
 sin for one who has acted his part honestly near ninety 
 winters and summers, to wish to pass the few hours that 
 remain in comfort. If you think I have done wrong in 
 coming thus far to quit you again, captain, I will own the 
 reason of the act, without shame or backwardness. Though 
 I have seen so much of the wilderness, it is not to be gain* 
 
390 
 
 J'Jfh 1'RAIRIK. 
 
 said that my feelings, as well as my skin, are white. Now, 
 it would not be a fitting spectacle that yonder Pawnee 
 Loups should look upon the weakness of an old warrior, 
 if weakness he should happen to show in parting forever 
 from those he has reason to love, though he may not set 
 his heart so strongly on them as to wish to go into the set- 
 tlements in their company." 
 
 "Harkee, old trapper," said Paul, clearing his throat 
 with a desperate effort, as if determined to give his voice 
 a clear exit, "I have just one bargain to make, since you 
 talk of trading, which is neither more nor less than this : 
 I offer you, as my side of the business, one-half of my 
 shanty, nor do I much care if it be the biggest half ; the 
 sweetest and the purest honey that can be made of the 
 wild locust ; always enough to eat, with now and then a 
 mouthful of venison, or, for that matter, a morsel of buf- 
 falo's hump, seeing that I intend to push my acquaintance 
 with the animal, and as good and as tidy cooking as can 
 come from the hands of one like Ellen Wade, here, who 
 will shortly be Nelly somebody else, and altogether such 
 general treatment as a decent man might be supposed to 
 pay to his best friend, or, for that matter, to his own father ; 
 in return for the same, you ar' to give us at odd moments 
 some of your ancient traditions, perhaps a little wholesome 
 advice on occasions, in small quantities at a time, and as 
 much of your agreeable company as you please." 
 
 "It is well it is well, boy," returned the old man, fum- 
 bling at his wallet; "honestly offered, and not unthank- 
 fully declined but it cannot be ; no, it can never be." 
 
 "Venerable venator," said Dr. Battius, "there are obli- 
 gations which every man owes to society and to human 
 nature. It is time that you should return to your country- 
 men, to deliver up some of those stores of experimental 
 knowledge that you have doubtless obtained by so long a 
 sojourn in the wilds, which, however they may be corrupt- 
 ed by preconceived opinions, will prove acceptable be- 
 quests to those whom, as you say, you must shortly leave 
 forever." 
 
 " Friend physicianer," returned the trapper, looking the 
 other steadily in the face, " as it would be no easy matter 
 to judge of the temper of the rattler by considering the 
 fashions of the moose, so it would be hard to speak of the 
 usefulness of one man by thinking too much of the deeds 
 of another. You have your gifts like others, I suppose, 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 39 i 
 
 and little do I wish to disturb them. But as to me, the 
 Lord has made me for a doer and not a talker, and there- 
 fore do I consider it no harm to shut my ears to your in- 
 vitation." 
 
 " It is enough," interrupted Middleton ; " I have seen 
 and heard so much of this extraordinary man, as to know 
 that persuasions will not change his purpose. First, we 
 will hear your request, my friend, and then we will considef 
 what may be best done for your advantage." 
 
 " It is a small matter, captain," returned the old man, 
 succeeding at length in opening his bundle. ** A small and 
 trifling matter is it, to what I once used to offer in the way 
 of a bargain ; but then it is the best I have, and therein 
 not to be despised. Here are the skins of four beavers, 
 that I took, it might be a month afore we met, and here 
 is another from a raccoon, that is of no great matter, to be 
 sure, but which may serve to make weight atween us." 
 
 "And what do you propose to do with them ?" 
 
 " I offer them in law T ful barter. Them knaves the Siouxes 
 the Lord forgive me for ever believing it was the Kon- 
 zas ! have stolen the best of my traps, and driven me alto- 
 gether to make shift inventions, which might foretell a 
 dreary winter for me should my time stretch into another 
 season. I wish you therefore to take the skins, and to 
 offer them to some of the trappers you will not fail to meet 
 below, in exchange for a few traps, and to send the same 
 into the Pawnee village in my name. Be careful to have my 
 mark painted on them : a letter N, with a hound's ear and 
 the lock of a rifle. There is no red-skin who will then dis- 
 pute my right. For all which trouble I have little more to 
 offer than my thanks, unless my friend, the bee-hunter here, 
 will accept of the raccoon, and take on himself the specif 
 charge of the whole matter." 
 
 " If I do may I be ! " The mouth of Paul was stopped 
 
 by the hand of Ellen, and he was obliged to swallow the 
 rest of the sentence, which he did with a species of emo- 
 tion that bore no slight resemblance to the process of stran- 
 gulation. 
 
 " Well, well," returned the old man, meekly, " I hope 
 there is no heavy offence in the offer. I know that the 
 skin of a raccoon is of small price, but then it was no 
 mighty labor that I asked in return." 
 
 "You entirely mistake the meaning of our friend," in- 
 terrupted Middleton, who observed that the bee-hunter 
 
39* 
 
 THE PR AIRS P.. 
 
 was looking in every direction but the right one, and that 
 he was utterly unable to make his own vindication. " He 
 did not mean to say that he declined the charge, but merely 
 that he refused all compensation. It is unnecessary, how- 
 ever, to say more of this ; it shall be my office to see that 
 the debt we owe is properly discharged, and that all your 
 necessities shall be anticipated." 
 
 " Anan ! " said the old man, looking up inquiringly into 
 the other's face, as if to ask an explanation. 
 
 " It shall all be as you wish. Lay the skins with my bag- 
 gage. We will bargain for you as for ourselves." 
 
 " Thankee, thankee, captain ; your gran'ther was of a 
 free and generous mind. So much so, in truth, that those 
 just people, the Delawares, called him the 'Open-hand.' 
 I wish now, I was as I used to be, in order that I might 
 send in the lady a few delicate martens for her tippets and 
 overcoats, just to show you that I know how to give cour* 
 tesy. But do not expect the same, for I am too old to give 
 the promise ! It will all be just as the Lord shall see fit. 
 I can offer you nothing else, for I haven't lived so long in 
 the wilderness not to know the scrupulous ways of a gen- 
 tleman." 
 
 " Harkee, old trapper," cried the bee-hunter, striking 
 his own hand into the open palm which the other had ex- 
 tended, with a report but little below the crack of a rifle, 
 <l I have just two things to say : firstly, that the captain 
 has told you my meaning better than I can myself, and 
 secondly, if you want a skin, either for your private use or 
 to send abroad, I have it at your service ; and that is the 
 skin of one Paul Hover ! " 
 
 The old man returned the grasp he received, and opened 
 his mouth to the utmost in his extraordinary, silent laugh. 
 
 " You couldn't have given such a squeeze, boy, when the 
 Teton squaws were about you with their knives ? Ah ! 
 you are, in your prime and in your vigor, and happiness, 
 if honesty lies in your path." Then the expression of his 
 rugged features suddenly changed to a look of seriousness 
 and thought. "Come hither, lad," he said, leading the 
 bee-hunter by a button to the land, and speaking apart in 
 a tone of admonition and confidence : "much has passed 
 atween us on the pleasures and respectableness of a life in 
 the woods or on the borders. I do not now mean to say 
 that all you have heard is not true, but different tempers 
 call for different employments. You have taken to 3'oul 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 393 
 
 bosom, there, a good and kind child, and it has become 
 your duty to consider her, as well as yourself, in setting 
 forth in life. You are little given to skirting the settle- 
 ments, but to my poor judgment the girl would be more 
 like a flourishing flower in the sun of a clearing than in 
 the winds of the prairie. Therefore forget anything you 
 may have heard from me, which is nevertheless true, and 
 turn your mind on the ways of the inner country." 
 
 Paul could only answer with a squeeze that would have 
 brought tears from the eyes of most men, but which pro- 
 duced no other effect on the indurated muscles of the other 
 than to make him laugh and nod, as if he received the 
 same as a pledge that the bee-hunter would remember his 
 advice. The trapper then turned away from his rough but 
 warm-hearted companion, and, having called Hector from 
 the boat, he seemed anxious still to utter a few words more. 
 
 " Captain," he at length resumed, " I know when a poor 
 man talks of credit he deals in a delicate word, according 
 to the fashions of the world ; and when an old man talks 
 of life, he speaks of that which he may never see ; never- 
 theless, there is one thing I will say, and that is not so 
 much on my own behalf as on that of another person. 
 Here is Hector, a good and faithful pup, that has long 
 outlived the time of a dog ; and, like his master, he looks 
 more to comfort now than to any deeds in running. But 
 the creatur' has his feelings as well as a Christian. He 
 has consorted latterly with his kinsman there, in such a 
 sort as to find great pleasure in his company, and I will 
 acknowledge that it touches my feelings to part the pair 
 so soon. If you will set a value on your hound, I will en- 
 deavor to send it to you in the spring, more especially 
 should them same traps come safe to hand ; or, if you dis- 
 like parting with the animal altogether, I will just ask you 
 for his loan througli the winter. I think I can see my pup 
 will not last beyond that time, for I have judgment in these 
 matters, since many is the friend, both hound and red-skin, 
 that I have seen depart in my day, though the Lord hath 
 not yet seen fit to order his angels to sound forth my name." 
 
 "Take him, take him," cried Middleton ; "take all, or 
 anything ! " 
 
 The old man whistled the younger dog to the land, and 
 then he proceeded to the final adieux. Little was said on 
 either side. The trapper took each person solemnly by the 
 hand, and uttered something friendly and kind to all. 
 
394 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 Middleton was perfectly speechless, and was driven to af- 
 fect busying himself among the baggage. Paul whistled 
 with all his might, and even Obed took his leave with an 
 effort that bore the appearance of desperate philosophical 
 resolution. When he had made the circuit of the whole, 
 the old man, with his own hands, shoved the boat into the 
 current, wishing God to speed them. Not a word was 
 spoken, nor a stroke of the oar given, until the travellers 
 had floated past a knoll that hid the trapper from their 
 view. He was last seen standing on the low point, leaning 
 on his rifle, with Hector crouched at his feet, and the 
 younger dog frisking along the sands, in the playfulness 
 of youth and vigor. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE water-courses were at their height, and the boat 
 went down the swift current like a bird. The passage 
 proved prosperous and speedy. In less than a third of the 
 time that would have been necessary for the same journey 
 by land, it was accomplished by the favor of those rapid 
 rivers. Issuing from one stream into another, as the veins 
 of the human body communicate with the larger channels 
 of life, they soon entered the grand artery of the Western 
 waters, and landed safely at the very door of the father of 
 Inez. 
 
 The joy of Don Augustin, and the embarrassment of the 
 worthy Father Ignatius, may be imagined. The former 
 wept and returned thanks to Heaven ; the latter returned 
 thanks, and did not weep. The mild provincials were too 
 happy to raise any questions on the character of so joyful 
 a restoration ; and, by a sort of general consent, it soon 
 came to be an admitted opinion that the bride of Middle- 
 ton had been kidnapped by a villain, and that she was re 
 stored to her friends by human agency. There were, as 
 respects this belief, certainly a few skeptics, but then they 
 enjoyed their doubts in private, with that species of sub- 
 limated arid solitary gratification that a miser finds in gaz- 
 ing at his growing but useless hoards. 
 
 In order to give the worthy priest something to employ 
 his mind, Middleton made him the instrument of uniting 
 Paul and Ellen. The former consented to the ceremonv 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 395 
 
 because he found that all his friends laid great stress on 
 the matter ; but shortly after he led his bride into the 
 plains of Kentucky, under the pretence of paying certain 
 customary visits to sundry members of the family of Hover. 
 While there, he took occasion to have the marriage 
 properly solemnized by a justice of the peace of his ac- 
 quaintance, in whose ability to forge the nuptial chain he 
 had much more faith than in that of all the gownsmen 
 within the pale of Rome. Ellen, who appeared conscious 
 that some extraordinary preventives might prove neces- 
 sary to keep one of so erratic a temper as her husband 
 within the proper matrimonial boundaries, raised no ob- 
 jections to these double knots, and all parties were con- 
 tented. 
 
 The lo^t.1 importance Middleton had acquired by his 
 union with the daughter of so affluent a proprietor as Don 
 Augustin, united to his personal merit, attracted the at- 
 tention of the government. He was soon employed in 
 various situations 01 responsibility and confidence, which 
 both served to elevate his character in the public estima- 
 tion and to afford the means of patronage. The bee-hunter 
 was among the first of those to whom he saw fit to extend 
 his favor. It was far from difficult to find situations suited 
 to the abilities of Paul, in the state of society that existed 
 three-and-twenty years ago in those regions. The efforts 
 of Middleton and Inez in behalf of her husband were 
 warmly and sagaciously seconded by Ellen, and they suc- 
 ceeded, in process of time, in working a great and beneficial 
 change in his character. He soon became a landholder, 
 then a prosperous cultivator of the soil, and shortly after 
 a town officer. By that progressive change in fortunes, 
 which in the republic is often seen to be as singularly ac- 
 companied by a corresponding improvement in knowledge 
 and self-respect, he went on, from step to step, until his 
 wife enjoyed the maternal delight of seeing her children 
 placed far beyond the dangers of returning to that state 
 from which both their parents had issued. Paul is actually 
 at this moment a member of the lower branch of the Leg- 
 islature of the State where he has long resided ; and he is 
 even notorious for making speeches that have a tendency 
 to put that deliberative body in good-humor, and which, 
 as they are based on great practical knowledge suited to 
 the condition of the country, possess a merit that is much 
 wanted in many more subtle and fine-spun theories that 
 
396 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 are daily heard, in similar assemblies, to issue from tha 
 lips of certain instinctive politicians. But all these happy 
 fruits were the results of much care, and of a long period 
 of time. Middleton, who fills, with a credit better suited 
 to the difference in their educations, a seat in a far highef 
 branch of legislative authority, is the source from which 
 we have derived most of the intelligence necessary to com< 
 pose our legend. In addition to what he has related of 
 Paul, and of his own continued happiness, he has added a 
 short narrative of what took place on a subsequent visit 
 to the prairies, with which, as we conceive it a suitable 
 termination to what has gone before, we shall judge it wise 
 to conclude our labors. 
 
 In the autumn of the year that succeeded the season in 
 which the preceding events occurred, the young man, still 
 in the military service, found .himself on the \vaters of the 
 Missouri, .at a point not far remote from the Pawnee towns. 
 Released from any immediate calls of duty, and strongly 
 urged to the measure by Paul, who was in his company, 
 lie determined to take horse, and cross the country to visit 
 the partisan, and to inquire into the fate of his friend the 
 trapper. As his train was suited to his functions and rank, 
 the journey was effected with privations and hardships 
 that are the accompaniments of all travelling in a wild, but 
 without any of those dangers and alarms that marked his 
 former passage through the same regions. When within 
 a proper distance, he despatched an Indian runner, belong-, 
 ing to a friendly tribe, to announce the approach of him- 
 self and party, continuing his route at a deliberate pace, 
 in order that the intelligence might, as was customary, 
 precede his arrival. To the surprise of the travellers, 
 their message was unanswered. Hour succeeded hour, and 
 mile after mile was passed, without bringing either the 
 signs of an honorable reception, or the more simple assur- 
 ances of a friendly welcome. At length the cavalcade, at 
 whose head rode Middleton and Paul, descended from the 
 elevated plain, on which they had long been journeying, 
 to a luxuriant bottom, that brought .them to the level of 
 the village of the Loups. The sun was beginning to fall, 
 and a sheet of golden light was spread over the placid 
 plain, lending to its even surface those glorious tints and 
 hues that the human imagination is apt to conceive form 
 the embellishment of still more imposing scenes. The 
 verdure of the year yet remained, and herds of horses and 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 397 
 
 mules were grazing peacefully in the vast natural pasture, 
 under the keeping of vigilant Pawnee boys. Paul pointed 
 out among them the \vell-known form of Asinus, sleek, fat 
 and luxuriating in the fulness of content, as he stood with 
 reclining ears and closed eyelids, seemingly musing on the 
 exquisite nature of his present indolent enjoyment. 
 
 The route of the party led them at no great distance 
 from one of those watchful youths who was charged with a 
 trust heavy as the principal wealth of his tribe. He heard 
 the trampling of the horses, and cast his eye aside, but, in- 
 stead of manifesting curiosity or alarm, his look instantly 
 returned whence it had been withdrawn, to the spot where 
 the village was know r n to stand. 
 
 " There is something remarkable in all this," muttered 
 Middleton, half offended at what he conceived to be not 
 only a slight to his rank, but offensive to himself person- 
 ally ; " yonder boy has heard of our approach, or he would 
 not fail to notify his tribe ; and yet he scarcely deigns to 
 favor us with a glance. Look to your arms, men ;"it may 
 be necessary to let these savages feel our strength." 
 
 ' : Therein, captain, I think you're in an error," returned 
 Paul ; " if honesty is to be met on the prairies at all, you 
 vill find it in our old friend Hard-Heart ; neither is an 
 Indian to be judged of by the rules of a white. See ! we are 
 not altogether slighted, for here comes a party at last to meet 
 us, though it is a little pitiful as to show and numbers." 
 
 Paul was right in both particulars. A group of horse- 
 men were at length seen wheeling round a little copse and 
 advancing across the plain directly toward them. The ad- 
 vance of this party was slow and dignified. As it drew 
 nigh, the partisan of the Loups was seen at its head, fol- 
 lowed by a dozen younger warriors of his tribe. They were 
 all unarmed, nor did they even wear any of tho^e ornaments 
 or feathers which are considered testimonials of respect to 
 the guest an Indian receives, as well as evidence of his 
 own importance. 
 
 The meeting was friendly, though a little restrained on 
 both sides. Middleton, jealous of his own consideration, 
 no less than of the authority of his government, suspected 
 some undue influence on the part of the agents of the 
 Canadas ; and, as he was determined to maintain the au- 
 thority of which he was the representative, he felt himself 
 constrained to manifest a hauteur that he was far from feel* 
 ing. It was not so easy to penetrate the motives of the 
 
398 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 Pawnees. Calm, dignified, and yet far from repulsive, thej 
 set an example of courtesy, blended with reserve, that 
 many a diplomatist of the most polished court might have 
 striven in vain to imitate. 
 
 In this manner the two parties continued their course to 
 the town. Middleton had time, during the remainder of 
 the ride, to revolve in his mind all the probable reasons 
 which his ingenuity could suggest for this strange recep- 
 tion. Although he was accompanied by a regular inter- 
 preter, the chiefs made their salutations in a manner that 
 dispensed with his services. Twenty times the captain 
 turned his glance on his former friend, endeavoring to read 
 the expression of his rigid features. But every effort and 
 all conjectures proved equally futile. The eye of Hard- 
 Heart was fixed, composed, and a little anxious ; but, aa 
 to every other emotion, impenetrable. He neither spoke 
 himself, nor seemed willing to invite discourse in his visit- 
 tors ; it was therefore necessary for Mid&leton to adopt tht 
 patient" manners of his companions, and to await the issu& 
 for the explanation. 
 
 When they entered the town, its inhabitants were seen 
 collected in an open space, where they were arranged with 
 the customary deference to age and rank. The whoU 
 formed a large circle, in the centre of which were perhaps 
 a dozen of the principal chiefs. Hard-Heart waved his 
 hand as he approached, and, as the mass of bodies opened, 
 he rode through, followed by his companions. Here they 
 dismounted ; and, as the beasts were led apart, the strangers 
 found themselves environed by a thousand grave, com- 
 posed, but solicitous faces. 
 
 Middleton gazed about him in growing concern, for no 
 cry, no song, no shout welcomed him among a people from 
 whom he had so lately parted with regret. His uneasiness, 
 not to say apprehension, was shared by all his followers. 
 Determination and stern resolution began to assume the 
 place of anxiety in every eye, as each man silently felt for 
 his arms, and assured himself that his several weapons 
 were in a state for service. But there was no answering 
 symptom of hostility on the part of their hosts. Hard- 
 Heart beckoned for Middleton and Paul to follow, leading 
 the way toward the cluster of forms that occupied the 
 centre of the circle. Here the visitors found a solution of 
 all the movements which had given them so much reason 
 for apprehension. 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 393 
 
 The trapper was placed on a rude seat, which had been 
 made, with studied care, to support his frame in an up* 
 right and easy attitude. The first glance of the eye told 
 his former friends that the old man was at length called 
 upon to pay the last tribute of Nature. His eye was 
 glazed, and apparently as devoid of sight as of expression. 
 His features were a little more sunken and strongly 
 marked than formerly ; but there all change, so far as ex- 
 terior was concerned, might be said to have ceased. His 
 approaching end was not to be ascribed to any positive 
 disease, but had been a gradual and mild decay of the 
 physical powers. Life, it is true, still lingered in his sys- 
 tem ; but it was as if at times entirely ready to depart, and 
 then it would appear to reanimate the sinking form, reluc- 
 tant to give up the possession of a tenement that had never 
 been corrupted by vice or undermined by disease. It 
 would have been no violent fancy to have imagined that 
 the spirit fluttered about the placid lips of the old woods- 
 man, reluctant to depart from a shell that had so long 
 given it an honest and honorable shelter. 
 
 His body was placed so as to let the light of the setting 
 sun fall full upon the solemn features. His head was bare, 
 the long, thin locks of gray fluttering lightly in the even- 
 ing breeze. His rifle lay upon his knee, and the other 
 accoutrements of the chase were placed at his side, within 
 reach of his hand. Between his feet lay the figure of a 
 hound, with its head crouching to the earth, as if it slum- 
 bered ; and so perfectly easy and natural was its position, 
 that a second glance was necessary to tell Middleton he 
 saw only the skin of Hector, stuffed, by Indian tenderness 
 and ingenuity, in a manner to represent the living animal. 
 His own dog was playing at a distance with the child of 
 Tachechana and Mahtoree. The mother herself stood at 
 hand, holding in her arms a second offspring, that might 
 boast of a parentage no less honorable than that which be- 
 longed to the son of Hard-Heart. Le Balafre was seated 
 nigh the dying trapper, with every mark about his person 
 that the hour of his own departure was not far distant. 
 The rest of those immediately in the centre were aged 
 men, who had apparently drawn near in order to observe 
 the manner in which a just and fearless warrior would 
 depart on the greatest of his journeys. 
 
 The old man was reaping the rewards of a life remark- 
 able for temperance and activity, in a tranquil and placid 
 
4 <x> THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 death. His vigor in a manner endured to the very last 
 Decay, when it did occur was rapid, but free from pain. 
 He had hunted with the tribe in the spring, and even 
 throughout most of the summer; when his limbs suddenly 
 refused to perform their customary offices. A sympathiz- 
 ing weakness took possession of all his faculties ; and the 
 Pawnees believed that they were going to lose, in this un- 
 expected manner, a sage and counsellor whom they had 
 begun both to love and respect. But, as we have already 
 said, the immortal occupant seemed unwilling to desert its 
 tenement. The lamp of life flickered, without becoming 
 extinguished. On the morning of the day on which Mid- 
 dleton arrived there was a general reviving of the powers 
 of the whole man. His tongue was again heard in whole- 
 some maxims, and his eye from time to time recognized 
 the persons of his friends. It merely proved to be a brief 
 and final intercourse with the world, on the part of one 
 who had already been considered, as to mental communion, 
 to have taken his leave of it forever. 
 
 When he had placed his guests in front of the dying 
 man, Hard- Heart, after a pause, that proceeded as much 
 from sorrow as decorum, leaned a little forward, and de- 
 manded : 
 
 " Does my father hear the words of his son ?" 
 
 "Speak,"'returned the trapper, in tones that issued from 
 his chest, but which were rendered awfully distinct by the 
 stillness that reigned in the place. " I am about to depart 
 from the village of the Loups, and shortly shall be beyond 
 the reach of your voice." 
 
 " Let the wise chief have no cares for his journey," 
 continued Hard-Heart, with an earnest solicitude that led 
 him to forget, for the moment, that others were waiting to 
 address his adopted parent ; " a hundred Loups shall clear 
 his path from briers." 
 
 *' Pawnee, I die as I have lived, a Christian man !" re- 
 sumed the trapper, with a force of voice that had the same 
 startling effect on his hearers as is produced by the trumpet, 
 when its blast rises suddenly and freely on the air, after its 
 obstructed sounds have been heard struggling in the dis- 
 tance ; " as I came into life so will I leave it. Horses and 
 arms are not needed to stand in the presence of the Great 
 Spirit of my people. He knows my color and according 
 to my gifts will He judge my deeds." 
 
 " My father will tell my young men how many Mingoes 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 401 
 
 he has struck, and what acts of valor and justice he has 
 done, that they may know how to imitate him." 
 
 " A boastful tongue is not rueard in the heaven of a white 
 man ! " solemnly returned the old man. " What I have 
 done He has seen. His eyes are always open. That 
 which has been well done will He remember ; wherein I 
 have been wrong will He not forget to chastise, though 
 He will do the same in mercy. No, my son ; a pale-face 
 may not sing his own praises, and hope to have them ac- 
 ceptable before his God ! " 
 
 A little disappointed, the young partisan stepped mod- 
 estly back, making way for the recent comers to approach. 
 Middleton took one of the meagre hands of the trapper, 
 and, struggling to command his voice, he succeeded in an- 
 nouncing his presence. 
 
 The old man listened like one whose thoughts were 
 dwelling on a very different subject ; but, when the other 
 had succeeded in making him understand that he was 
 present, an expression of joyful recognition passed over 
 his faded features. 
 
 " I hope you have not so soon forgotten those whom 
 you so materially served ! " Middleton concluded. " It 
 would pain me to think my hold on your memory was so 
 light." 
 
 " Little that I have ever seen is forgotten," returned the 
 trapper : " I am at the close of many weary days, but there 
 is not one among them all that I could wish to overlook. 
 I remember you, with the whole of your company ; ay, and 
 your gran'ther, that went before you. I am glad that you 
 have come back upon these plains, for I had need of one 
 who speaks English, since little faith can be put in the 
 traders of these regions. Will you do a favor to an old 
 and dying man ? " 
 
 "Name it," said Middleton ; "it shall be done." 
 
 " It is a far journey to send such trifles," resumed the 
 old man, who spoke at short intervals, as strength and 
 breath permitted, " a far and weary journey is the same ; 
 but kindnesses and friendships are things not to be forgot- 
 ten. There is a settlement among the Otsego hills " 
 
 " I know the place," interrupted Middleton, observing 
 that he spoke with increasing difficulty ; proceed to tell 
 me what yCu would have done." 
 
 " Take this rifle, pouch, and horn, and send them to the 
 person whose name is graven on the plates of the stock 
 6 
 
402 TV//'; rRATRI7>.. 
 
 a, trader cut the letters with his knife for it is long that I 
 have intended to send him such a token of my love.'' 
 
 " It shall be so. Is there more that you could wish ?" 
 
 " Little else have I to bestow. My traps I give to my 
 Indian son ; for honestly and kindly has he kept his faith. 
 Let him stand before me." 
 
 Middleton explained to the chief what the trapper had 
 said, and relinquished his own place to the other. 
 
 " Pawnee," continued the old man, always changing his 
 language to suit the person he addressed, and not unfre- 
 quently according to the ideas he expressed, "it is a cus- 
 tom of my people for the father to leave his blessing with 
 the son before he shuts his eyes forever. This blessing 
 I give to you ; take it ; for the prayers of a Christian man 
 will never make the path of a just warrior to the blessed 
 prairies either longer or more tangled ! May the God of 
 a white man look on your deeds with friendly eyes, and 
 may you never commit an act that shall cause him to 
 darken his face. I know not whether we shall ever meet 
 again. There are many traditions concerning the place 
 of Good Spirits. It is not for one like me, old and expe- 
 rienced though I am, to set up my opinions against a na- 
 tion's. You believe in the blessed prairies, and I have 
 faith in the sayings of my fathers. If both are true our 
 parting will be final ; but, if it should prove that the same 
 meaning is hid under different words, we shall yet stand 
 together, Pawnee, before the face of your Wahcondah, who 
 will then be no other than my God. There is much to be 
 said in favor of both religions, for each seems suited to its 
 own people, and no doubt it was so intended. I fear I 
 have not altogether followed the gifts of my color, inas- 
 much as I find it a little painful to give up forever the use 
 of the rifle, and the comforts of the chase. But then the 
 fault has been my own, seeing that it could not have been 
 His. Ay, Hector," he continued, leaning forward a little, 
 and feeling for the ears of the hound, " our parting has 
 come at last, dog, and it will be a long hunt. You have 
 been an honest, and a bold, and a faithful hound. Pawnee, 
 you cannot slay the pup on my grave, for where a Christian 
 dog falls, there he lies forever ; but you must be kind to 
 him after I am gone, for the love you bear his master." 
 
 " The words of my father are in my ears," returned the 
 young partisan, making a grave and respectful gesture of 
 assent. 
 
THE PRAIR/K. 403 
 
 ''Do you hear what the chief has promised, dog ?" de- 
 manded the trapper, making an effort to attract the notice 
 of the insensible effigy of his hound. Receiving no an- 
 swering look, nor hearing any friendly whine, the old man 
 felt for the mouth, and endeavored to force his hand be- 
 tween the cold lips. The truth then flashed upon him, 
 although he \vas far from perceiving the whole extent of 
 the deception. Falling back in his seat, he hung his head, 
 like one who felt a severe and unexpected shock. Profit- 
 ing by this momentary forgetfulness, two young Indians 
 removed the skin with the same delicacy of feeling that 
 had induced them to attempt the pious fraud. 
 
 " The dog is dead ! " muttered the trapper, after a pause 
 of many minutes ; " a houn4 has his time as well as a man ; 
 and well has he filled his days ! Captain," he added, mak- 
 ing an effort to wave his hand to Middleton, " I am glad 
 you have come ; for though kind, and well-meaning ac- 
 cording to the gifts of their color, these Indians are not 
 the men to lay the head of a white man in his grave. I 
 have been thinking, too, of this dog at my feet : it will not 
 do to set forth the opinion that a Christian can expect to 
 meet his hound again ; still there can be little harm in 
 placing what is left of so faithful a servant nigh the bones 
 of his master." 
 
 " It shall be as you desire." 
 
 " I am glad you think with me in this matter. In order, 
 then, to save labor, lay the pup at my feet ; or, for that 
 matter, put him side by side. A hunter need never be 
 ashamed to be found in company with his dog ! " 
 
 " I charge myself with your wish." 
 
 The old man made a long and apparently a musing pause. 
 At times he raised his eyes wistfully, as if he would again 
 address Middleton, but some innate feeling appeared al- 
 ways to suppress his words. The other, who observed his 
 hesitation, inquired, in a way most likely to encourage him 
 to proceed, whether there was aught else that he could 
 wish to have done. 
 
 "I am without kith or kin in the wide world !" the 
 trapper answered ; " when I am gone, there will be an 
 end of my race. We have never been chiefs ; but hon- 
 est, and useful in our way I hope it cannot be denied we 
 have always proved ourselves. My father lies buried 
 near the sea, and the bones of his son will whiten on the 
 prairies " 
 
404 THE PRA1RSE. 
 
 " Name the spot, and your remains shall be placed by 
 the side of your father," interrupted Middleton. 
 
 " Not so, not so, captain. Let me sleep where I have 
 lived beyond the din of the settlements ! Still I see no 
 need why the grave of an honest man should be hid, like 
 a red-skin in his ambushment. I paid a man in the settle- 
 ments to make and put a graven stone at the head of my 
 father's resting-place. It \vas of the value of twelve beaver- 
 skins, and cunningly and curiously was it carved ! Then it 
 told to all comers that the body of such a Christian lay be- 
 neath ; and it spoke of his manner of life, of his years, and 
 of his honesty. When we had done with the Frenchers in 
 the old war I made a journey to the spot, in order to see 
 that all was rightly performed, and glad I am to say, the 
 workman had not forgotten his faith." 
 
 "And such a stone you would have at your grave ? " 
 
 " I ! no, no, I have no son but Hard-Heart, and it is lit- 
 tle that an Indian knows of white fashions and usages. 
 Besides, I am his debtor already, seeing it is so little I have 
 done since I have lived in his tribe. The rifle might bring 
 the value of such a thing but then I know it will give the 
 boy pleasure to hang the piece in his hall, for many is the 
 deer and the bird that he has seen it destroy. No, no, 
 the gun must be sent to him whose name is graven on the 
 lock." 
 
 " But there is one who would gladly prove his affection 
 in the way you wish ; he who owes you not only his own 
 deliverance from so many dangers, but who inherits a heavy 
 debt of gratitude from his ancestors. The stone shall be 
 put at the head of your grave." 
 
 The old man extended his emaciated hand, and gave the 
 other a squeeze of thanks. 
 
 " I thought you might be willing to do it, but I was back- 
 ward in asking the favor," he said, " seeing that you are 
 not of my kin. Put no boastful words on the same, but 
 just the name, the age, and the time of the death, with 
 something from the holy book ; no more, no more. My 
 name will then not be altogether lost on 'arth ; I need no 
 more." 
 
 Middleton intimated his assent, and then followed a pause 
 that was only broken by distant and broken sentences from 
 the dying man. He appeared now to have closed his ac- 
 counts with the world, and to await merely for the final 
 
THE PRAIRIE. 405 
 
 summons to quit it. Middleton and Hard-Heart placed 
 themselves on the opposite sides of his seat, and watched 
 with melancholy solicitude the variations of his countenance. 
 For two hours there was no very sensible alteration. The 
 expression of his faded and time-worn features was that of 
 a calm and dignified repose. From time to time he spoke, 
 uttering some brief sentence in the way of advice, or ask- 
 ing some simple questions concerning those in whose for- 
 tunes he still took a friendly interest. During the whole 
 of that solemn and anxious period each individual of the 
 tribe kept his place, in the most self-restrained patience. 
 When the old man spoke all bent their heads to listen : 
 arid when his words were uttered, they seemed to ponder 
 on their wisdom and usefulness. 
 
 As the flame drew nigher to the socket his voice was 
 hushed, and there were moments when his attendants 
 doubted whether he stili belonged to the living. Middle- 
 ton, who watched each wavering expression of his weather- 
 beaten visage with the interest of a keen observer of 
 human nature, softened by the tenderness of personal re- 
 gard, fancied he could read the workings of the old man's 
 soul in the strong lineaments of his countenance. Per- 
 haps what the enlightened soldier took for the delusion of 
 mistaken opinion did actually occur for who has returned 
 from that unknown world to explain by what forms, and 
 in what manner, he was introduced into its awful pre- 
 cincts ? Without pretending to explain what must ever 
 be a mystery to the quick, we shall simply relate facts as 
 they occurred. 
 
 The trapper had remained nearly motionless for an 
 hour. His eyes alone had occasionally opened and shut. 
 When opened his gaze seemed fastened on the clouds 
 which hung around the western horizon, reflecting the 
 bright colors, and giving form and loveliness to the glo- 
 rious tints of an American sunset. The hour the calm 
 beauty of the season the occasion all conspired to fill 
 the spectators with solemn awe. Suddenly, while musing 
 on the remarkable position in which he was placed, Mid- 
 dleton felt the hand which he held grasp his own with in- 
 credible power, and the old man, supported on either side 
 by his friends, rose upright to his feet. For a moment 
 he looked about him, as if to invite all in presence to 
 listen (the lingering remnant of human frailty), and then. 
 
406 THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 / 
 
 with a fine military elevation of the head, and with a voice 
 that might be heard in every part of that numerous assem- 
 bly, he pronounced the word : 
 
 "Here!" 
 
 A movement so entirely unexpected, and the air of 
 grandeur and humility which were so remarkably united 
 in the mien of the trapper, together with the clear and un- 
 common force of his utterance, produced a short period 
 of confusion in the faculties of all present. When Mid- 
 dleton and Hard-Heart, each of whom had involuntarily 
 extended a hand to support the form of the old man, 
 turned to him again they found that the subject of their 
 interests was removed forever, beyond the necessity of 
 their care. They mournfully placed the body in its seat, 
 and Le Balafre arose to announce the termination of the 
 scene to the tribe. The voice of the old Indian seemed a 
 sort of echo from that invisible world to which the meek 
 spirit of the trapper had just departed. 
 
 "A valiant, a just, and a wise warrior, has gone on the 
 path which will lead him to the blessed grounds of his 
 people ! " he said. " When the voice of the Wahcondah 
 called him, he was ready to answer. Go, my children ; 
 remember the just chief of the pale-faces, and clear your 
 own tracks from briers ! " 
 
 The grave was made beneath the shade of some noble 
 oaks. It has been carefully watched to the present hour 
 by the Pawnees of the Loups, and is often shown to the 
 traveller and the trader as a spot where a just white man 
 sleeps. In due time the stone was placed at its head, with 
 the simple inscription which the trapper had himself re- 
 quested. The only liberty taken by Middleton was to 
 add u May no wanton hand ever disturb his remains ? ?f 
 
 THE END, 
 
" 'Bravely done, Captain! don't spare the whip, and turn to the 
 left before you cross the brook ! ' " The Spy, page 8j. 
 
THE SPY 
 
 BY 
 
 J. FENIMORE COOPER 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 " Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, 
 Who never to himself hath said, 
 This is my own, my native land ! " 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE author has often been asked if there were any foun- 
 dation in .real life for the delineation of the principal 
 character in this book. He can give no clearer answer to 
 the question than by laying before his readers a simple 
 statement of the facts connected with its original publica- 
 tion. 
 
 Many years since, the writer of this volume was at the 
 residence of an illustrious man, who had been employed in 
 various situations of high trust during the darkest days of 
 the American revolution. The discourse turned upon the 
 effects which great political excitement produces on char- 
 acter, and the purifying consequences of a love of country, 
 when that sentiment is powerfully and generally awakened 
 in a people. He who, from his years, his services, and his 
 knowledge of men, was best qualified to take the lead in 
 such a conversation, was the principal speaker. After 
 dwelling on the marked manner in which the great strug- 
 gle of the nation, during the war of 1775, had given a new 
 and honorable direction to the thoughts and practices of 
 multitudes whose time had formerly been engrossed by 
 the most vulgar concerns of life, he illustrated his opinions 
 by relating an anecdote, the truth of which he could attest 
 as a personal witness. 
 
 The dispute between England and the United States of 
 America, though not strictly a family quarrel, had many 
 of the features of a civil war. The people of the latter 
 
4 THE SPY. 
 
 were never properly and constitutionally subject to the 
 people of the former, but the inhabitants of both countries 
 owed allegiance to a common king. The Americans, as a 
 nation, disavowed this allegiance, and the English choos- 
 ing to support their sovereign in the attempt to regain his 
 power, most of the feelings of an internal struggle were 
 involved in the conflict. A large proportion of the emi- 
 grants from Europe, then established in the colonies, took 
 part with the crown ; and there were many districts in 
 which their influence, united to that of the Americans who 
 refused to lay aside their allegiance, gave a decided pre- 
 ponderance to the royal cause. America was then too 
 young, and too much in need of every heart and hand, to 
 regard these partial divisions, small as they were in actual 
 amount, with indifference. The evil was greatly increased 
 by the activity of the English in profiting by these inter- 
 nal dissensions ; and it became doubly serious when it was 
 found that attempts were made to raise various corps of 
 provincial troops, which were to be banded with those 
 from Europe, to reduce the young republic to subjection. 
 Congress named an especial and a secret committee, there- 
 fore, for the express purpose of defeating this object. Of 
 this committee, Mr. - , the narrator of the anecdote, was 
 chairman. 
 
 In the discharge of the novel duties which now devolved 
 
 on him, Mr. had occasion to employ an agent whose 
 
 services differed but little from those of a common spy. 
 This man, as will easily be understood, belonged to a con- 
 dition in life which rendered him the least reluctant to ap- 
 pear in so equivocal a character.' He was poor, ignorant, 
 so far as the usual instruction was concerned ; but cool, 
 shrewd, and fearless by nature. It was his office to learn 
 in what part of the country the agents of the crown were 
 making their efforts to embody men, to repair to the place, 
 enlist, appear zealous in the cause he affected to serve, and 
 otherwise to get possession of as many of the secrets of the 
 enemy as possible. The last he of course communicated 
 to his employers, who took all the means in their power to 
 counteract the plans of the English, and frequently with 
 success. 
 
 It will readily be conceived that a service like this was 
 attended with great personal hazard. In addition to the 
 danger of discovery, there was the daily risk of falling into 
 the hands of the Americans themselves, who invariably 
 
THE SPY. 5 
 
 visited sins of this nature more severely on the natives of 
 the country than on the Europeans who fell into their 
 
 hands. In fact the agent of Mr. was several times 
 
 arrested by the local authorities ; and, in one instance, he 
 was actually condemned by his exasperated countrymen to 
 the gallows. Speedy and private orders to his gaoler alone 
 saved him from an ignominious death. He was permitted 
 to escape ; and this seeming, and indeed actual, peril was 
 of great aid in supporting his assumed character among 
 the English. By the Americans, in his little sphere, he was 
 denounced as a bold and inveterate Tory. In this manner 
 he continued to serve his country in secret during the early 
 years of the struggle, hourly environed by danger, and the 
 constant subject of unmerited opprobrium. 
 
 In the year Mr. was named to a high and hon- 
 orable employment at a European court. Before vacating 
 his seat in Congress, he reported to that body an outline 
 of the circumstances related, necessarily suppressing the 
 name of his agent, and demanding an appropriation in be- 
 half of a man who had been of so much use, at so great 
 risk. A suitable sum was voted, and its delivery was con- 
 fided to the chairman of the secret committee. 
 
 Mr. took the necessary means to summon his agent 
 
 to a personal interview. They met in a wood at midnight. 
 
 Here Mr. complimented his companion on his fidelity 
 
 and adroitness ; explained the necessity of their communi- 
 cations being closed ; and finally tendered the money. The 
 other drew back, and declined receiving it. " The country 
 has need of all its means," he said ; " as for myself, I can 
 work, or gain a livelihood in various ways." Persuasion 
 was useless, for patriotism was uppermost in the heart of 
 this remarkable individual ; and Mr. departed, bear- 
 ing with him the gold he had brought and a deep respect 
 for the man who had so long hazarded his life, unrequited, 
 for the cause they served in common. 
 
 The writer is under an impression that at a later day the 
 
 agent of Mr. consented to receive a remuneration for 
 
 what he had done ; but it was not until his country was 
 entirely in a condition to bestow it. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add that an anecdote like 
 this, simply but forcibly told by one of its principal actors, 
 made a deep impression on all who heard it. Many years 
 later, circumstances, which it is unnecessary to relate, and 
 of an entirely adventitious nature, induced the writer to 
 
6 THE SPY. 
 
 publish a novel which proved to be, what he little foresaw 
 at the time, the first of a tolerably long series. The same 
 adventitious causes which gave birth to the book, deter- 
 mined its scene and its general character. The former was 
 laid in a foreign country; and the latter embraced a crude 
 effort to describe foreign manners. When this tale was 
 published it became a matter of reproach among the 
 author's friends, that he, an American in heart as in birth, 
 should give to the world a work which aided perhaps, in 
 some slight degree, to feed the imaginations of the young 
 and unpractised among his own countrymen, by pictures 
 drawn from a state of society so different from that to 
 which he belonged. The writer, while he knew how much 
 of what he had done was purely accidental, felt the reproach 
 to be one that, in a measure, was just. As the only atone- 
 ment in his power, he determined to inflict a second book, 
 whose subject should admit of no cavil, not only on the 
 world, but on himself. He chose patriotism for his theme ; 
 and to those who read this introduction and the book itself, 
 it is scarcely necessary to add that he took the hero of the 
 anecdote just related as the best illustration of his subject. 
 
 Since the original publication of " The Spy," there have 
 appeared several accounts of different persons who are sup- 
 posed to have been in the author's mind while writing the 
 
 book. As Mr. did not mention the name of his agent, 
 
 the writer never knew any more of his identity with this or 
 that individual than has been here explained. Both Wash- 
 ington and Sir Henry Clinton had an unusual number of 
 secret emissaries ; in a war that partook so much of a 
 domestic character, and in which the contending parties 
 were people of the same blood and language, it could 
 scarcely be otherwise. 
 
 The style of the book has been revised by the author in 
 this edition. In this respect, he has endeavored to make it 
 more worthy of the favor with which it has been received, 
 though he is compelled to admit there are faults so inter- 
 woven with the structure of the tale that, as in the case of 
 a decayed edifice, it would cost perhaps less to reconstruct 
 than to repair. Five and twenty years have been as ages 
 with most things connected with America. Among other 
 advances, that of her literature has not been the least. 
 So little was expected from the publication of an original 
 work of this description at the time it was written, that the 
 first volume of " The Spy " was actually printed several 
 
THE SPY. 7 
 
 months before the author felt a sufficient inducement to 
 write a line of the second. The efforts expended on a 
 hopeless task are rarely worthy of him who makes them, 
 however low it may be necessary to rate the standard of 
 his general merit. 
 
 One other anecdote, connected with the history of this 
 book, may give the reader some idea of the hopes of an 
 American author, in the first quarter of the present century. 
 As the second volume was slowly printing, from manu- 
 script that was barely dry when it went into the composit- 
 or's hands, the publisher intimated that the work might 
 grow to a length that would consume the profits. To set 
 his mind at rest, the last chapter was actually written, 
 printed, and paged several weeks before the chapters 
 which precede it were even thought of. This circum- 
 stance, while it cannot excuse, may serve to explain the 
 manner in which the actors are hurried off the scene. 
 
 A great change has come over the country since this 
 book was originally written. The nation is passing from 
 the gristle into the bone, and the common mind is begin- 
 ning to keep even pace with the growth of the body poli- 
 tic. The march from Vera Cruz to Mexico was made un- 
 der the orders of that gallant soldier who, a quarter of a 
 century before, was mentioned with honor in the last 
 chapter of this very book. Glorious as was that march, 
 and brilliant as were its results in a military point of view, 
 a stride was then made by the nation, in a moral sense, 
 that has hastened it by an age in its progress toward real 
 independence and high political influence. The guns that 
 filled the valley of the Aztecs with their thunder, have been 
 heard in echoes on the other side of the Atlantic, produc- 
 ing equally hope or apprehension. 
 
 There is now no enemy to fear, but the one that resides 
 within. By accustoming ourselves to regard even the 
 people as erring beings, and by using the restraints that 
 wisdom has adduced from experience, there is much rea- 
 son to hope that the same Providence which has so well 
 aided us in our infancy, may continue to smile on our man- 
 hood. 
 
 COOPERSTOWN, March 29^ 1849, 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 And though amidst the calm of thought entire, 
 Some high and haughty features might betray 
 
 A soul impetuous once 'twas earthly fire 
 That fled composure's intellectual ray, 
 As /Etna's fires grow dim before the rising day. 
 
 Gertrude of Wyoming. 
 
 IT was near the close of the year 1780, that a solitary 
 traveller was seen pursuing his way through one of the 
 numerous little valleys of Westchester.* The easterly 
 wind, with its chilling dampness and increasing violence, 
 gave unerring notice of the approach of a storm, which, as 
 usual, might be expected to continue for several days ; 
 and the experienced eye of the traveller was turned in 
 vain, through the darkness of the evening, in quest of some 
 convenient shelter in which, for the term of his confine- 
 ment by the rain that already began to mix with the atmos- 
 phere in a thick mist, he might obtain such accommoda- 
 tions as his purposes required. Nothing, however, offered 
 but the small and inconvenient tenements of the lower 
 order of the inhabitants, with whom, in that immediate 
 neighborhood, he did not think it either safe or politic to 
 trust himself. 
 
 The county of Westchester, after the British had ob- 
 tained possession of the island of New York,f became 
 common ground, in which both parties continued to act 
 
 * As each State of the American Union has its own counties, it often 
 happens that there are several which bear the same name. The scene of 
 this tale is in New York, whose county of Westchester is the nearest ad- 
 joining to the city. 
 
 f The city of New York is situated on an island called Manhattan ; but 
 it is, at one point, separated from the county of Westchester by a creek of 
 only a few feet in width. The bridge at this point is called King's Bridge. 
 It was the scene of many skirmishes during the war, and is alluded to in 
 this tale. Every Manhattanese knows the difference between " Manhat- 
 tan Island " and " the island of Manhattan." The first is applied to a 
 small district in the vicinity of Corlear's Hook, while the last embraces 
 the whole island ; or the city and county of New York, as it is termed in 
 the laws. 
 
THE SPY. 9 
 
 for the remainder of the war of the revolution. A large 
 proportion of its inhabitants, either restrained by their 
 attachments, or influenced by their fears, affected a neu- 
 trality they did not feel. The lower towns were, of course, 
 more particularly under the dominion of the crown, while 
 the upper, finding a security from the vicinity of the con- 
 tinental troops, were bold in asserting their revolutionary 
 opinions, and their right to govern themselves. Great 
 numbers, however, wore masks, which even to this day 
 have not been thrown aside ; and many an individual has 
 gone down to the tomb, stigmatized as a foe to the rights 
 of his countrymen, while, in secret, he has been the useful 
 agent of the leaders of the revolution ; and, on the other 
 hand, could the hidden repositories of divers flaming patri- 
 ots have been opened to the light of day, royal protections 
 would have been discovered concealed under piles of Brit- 
 ish gold. 
 
 At the sound of the tread of the noble horse ridden by 
 the traveller, the mistress of the farmhouse he was pass- 
 ing at the time might be seen cautiously opening the door 
 of the building to examine the stranger ; and perhaps, 
 with an averted face, communicating the result of her ob- 
 servations to her husband, who, in the rear of the building, 
 was prepared to seek, if necessary, his ordinary place of 
 concealment in the adjacent woods. The valley was situ- 
 ated about midway in the length of the county, and was 
 sufficiently near to both armies to make the restitution of 
 stolen goods no uncommon occurrence in that vicinity. 
 It is true, the sam-j articles were not always regained ; but 
 a summary substitute was generally resorted to, in the ab- 
 sence of legal justice, which restored to the loser the 
 amount of his loss, and frequently with no inconsiderable 
 addition for the temporary use of his property. In short, 
 the law was momentarily extinct in that particular dis- 
 trict, and justice was administered subject to the bias of 
 personal interests, and the passions of the strongest. 
 
 The passage of a stranger, with an appearance of some- 
 what doubtful character, and mounted on an animal which, 
 although unfurnished vvitii any of the ordinary trappings 
 of war, partook largely of the bold and upright carriage 
 that distinguished his rider, gave rise to many surmises 
 among the gazing inmates of the different habitations ; and 
 in some instances, where conscience was more than ordi- 
 narily awake, to no little alarm. 
 
 Tired with the exercise of a day of unusual fatigue, and 
 
io THE SPY. 
 
 anxious to obtain a speedy shelter from the increasing vio- 
 lence of the storm, that now began to change its character 
 to large drops of driving rain, the traveller determined, as 
 a matter of necessity, to make an application for admission 
 at the next dwelling that offered. An opportunity was not 
 long wanting ; and, riding through a pair of neglected 
 bars, he knocked loudly at the outer door of a building, of 
 a very humble exterior, without quitting his saddle. A 
 female of middle age, with an outward bearing but little 
 more prepossessing than that of her dwelling, appeared to 
 answer the summons. The startled woman half closed her 
 door again in affright, as she saw, by the glare of a large 
 wood fire, a mounted man so unexpectedly near its thresh- 
 old ; and an expression of terror mingled with her natural 
 curiosity as she required his pleasure. 
 
 Although the day was too nearly closed to admit of a 
 minute scrutiny of the accommodations within, enough 
 had been seen to cause the horseman to endeavor, once 
 more, to penetrate the gloom, with longing eyes, in search 
 of a more promising roof, before, with an ill-concealed re- 
 luctance, he stated his necessities and wishes. His request 
 was listened to with evident unwillingness, and, while yet 
 unfinished, it was eagerly interrupted by the reply : 
 
 " I can't say I like to give lodgings to a stranger in 
 these ticklish times," said the female, in a pert sharp key ; 
 " I'm nothing but a forlorn lone body ; or, what's the same 
 thing, there's nobody but the old gentleman at home ; 
 but a half mile further up the road is a house where you 
 can get entertainment, and that for nothing. I am sure 
 'twill be much convenienter to them, and more agreeable 
 to me ; because, as I said before, Harvey is away I wish 
 he'd take advice, and leave off wandering ; he's well to do 
 in the world, by this time ; and he ought to leave off his 
 uncertain courses, and settle himself handsomely in life, 
 like other men of his years and property. But Harvey 
 Birch will have his own way, and die vagabond after all ! " 
 
 The horseman did not wait to hear more than the ad- 
 vice to pursue his course up the road ; but he had slowly 
 turned his horse toward the bars, and was gathering the 
 folds of an ample cloak around his manly form, prepara- 
 tory to facing the storm again, when something in the 
 speech of the female suddenly arrested the movement. 
 
 " Is this, then, the dwelling of Harvey Birch ? " he in- 
 quired, in an involuntary manner, apparently checking 
 himself as he was about to utter more. 
 
THE SPY. II 
 
 "Why, one can hardly say it is his dwelling," replied 
 the other, drawing a hurried breath, like one eager to 
 answer ; " he is never in it, or so seldom, that I hardly re- 
 member his face, when he does think it worth his while to 
 show it to his poor old father and me. But it matters 
 little to me, I'm sure, if he ever comes back again or not ; 
 turn in the first gate on your left no, I care but little 
 for my part, whether Harvey ever shows his face again or 
 not not I ; " and she closed the door abruptly on the 
 horseman, who gladly extended his ride a half-mile further, 
 to obtain lodgings which promised both more comfort and 
 greater security. 
 
 Sufficient light yet remained to enable the traveller to 
 distinguish the improvements* which had been made in the 
 cultivation, and in the general appearance of the grounds 
 around the building to which he was now approaching. 
 The house was of stone, long, low, and with a small wing 
 at each extremity. A piazza, extending along the front, 
 with neatly turned pillars of wood, together with the good 
 order and preservation of the fences and out-buildings, 
 gave the place an air altogether superior to the common 
 farm-houses of the country. After leading his horse be- 
 hind an angle of the wall, where it was in some degree 
 protected from the wind and rain, the traveller threw his 
 valise over his arm, and knocked loudly at the entrance of 
 the building for admission. An aged black soon ap- 
 peared ; and without seeming to think it necessary, under 
 the circumstances, to consult his superiors first taking 
 one prying look at the applicant by the light of the candle 
 in his hand he acceded to the request for accommoda- 
 tions. The traveller was shown into an extremely neat 
 parlor, where a fire had been lighted to cheer the dulness 
 of an easterly storm, and an October evening. After giv- 
 ing the valise into the keeping of his civil attendant, and 
 politely repeating his request to the old gentleman who 
 arose to receive him, and paying his compliments to the 
 three ladies who were seated at work with their needles, 
 the stranger commenced laying aside some of the outer 
 garments which he had worn in his ride. 
 
 On taking an extra handkerchief from his neck, and re- 
 moving a cloak of blue cloth, with a surtout of the same 
 
 * Improvements is used by the Americans to express every degree of 
 change in converting land from its state of wilderness to that of cultivation. 
 In this meaning of the word it is an improvement to fell the trees ; and it 
 is valued precisely by the supposed amount of the cost. 
 
12 THE SPY. 
 
 material, he exhibited to the scrutiny of the observant 
 family party a tall and extremely graceful person, of ap- 
 parently fifty years of age. His countenance evinced a 
 settled composure and dignity ; his nose was straight, and 
 approaching to Grecian ; his eye, of a gray color, was 
 quiet, thoughtful, and rather melancholy ; the mouth and 
 lower part of his face being expressive of decision and 
 much character. His dress, being suited to the road, was 
 simple and plain, but such as was worn by the higher class 
 of his countrymen; he wore his own hair, dressed in a 
 manner that gave a military air to his appearance, and 
 which was rather heightened by his erect and conspicu- 
 ously graceful carriage. His whole appearance was so 
 impressive and so decidedly that of a gentleman, that, as 
 he finished laying aside the garments, the ladies arose 
 from their seats, and together with the master of the 
 house, they received anew, and returned, the complimen- 
 tary greetings which were again offered. 
 
 The host was by several years the senior of the travel- 
 ler, and by his manner, dress, and everything around him, 
 showed he had seen much of life, and the best of society. 
 The ladies were, a maiden of forty, and two much younger, 
 who did not seem, indeed, to have reached half those 
 years. The bloom of the elder of these ladies had van- 
 ished, but her eyes and fine hair gave an extremely agree- 
 able expression to her countenance ; and there was a soft- 
 ness and affability in her deportment that added a charm 
 many more juvenile faces do not possess. The sisters, for 
 such the resemblance between the younger females de- 
 noted them to be, were in all the pride of youth, and the 
 roses, so eminently the property of the Westchester fair, 
 glowed on their cheeks, and lighted their deep blue eyes 
 with that lustre which gives so much pleasure to the be- 
 holder, and which indicates so much internal innocence 
 and peace. There was "much of that feminine delicacy, in 
 the appearance of the three, which distinguishes the sex in 
 this country ; and, like the gentleman, their demeanor 
 proved them to be women of the higher order of life. 
 
 After handing a glass of excellent Madeira to his guest, 
 Mr. Wharton, for so was the owner of this retired estate 
 called, resumed his seat by the fire, with another in his 
 own hand. For a moment he paused, as if debating with 
 his politeness, but at length threw an inquiring glance on 
 the stranger, as he inquired : 
 
 " To whose health am I to have the honor of drinking ? " 
 
THE SPY. 13 
 
 The traveller had also seated himself, and he sat uncon- 
 sciously gazing on the fire while Mr. Wharton spoke ; 
 turning his eyes slowly on his host with a look of close 
 observation, he replied, while a faint tinge gathered on his 
 features : 
 
 " Mr. Harper." 
 
 " Mr. Harper," resumed the other, with the formal pre- 
 cision of the day, " I have the honor to drink your health, 
 and to hope you will sustain no injury from the rain to 
 which you have been exposed." 
 
 Mr. Harper bowed in silence to the compliment, and he 
 soon resumed the meditations from which he had been in- 
 terrupted, and for which the long ride he had that day 
 made, in the wind, might seem a very natural apology. 
 
 The young ladies had again taken their seats beside the 
 work-stand, while their aunt, Miss Jeanette Peyton, with- 
 drew, to superintend the preparations necessary to ap- 
 pease the hunger of their unexpected visitor. A short 
 silence prevailed, during which Mr. Harper was apparently 
 enjoying the change in his situation, when Mr. Wharton 
 again broke it, by inquiring whether smoke was disagree- 
 able to his companion ; to which, receiving an answer in 
 the negative, he immediately resumed the pipe which had 
 been laid aside at the entrance of the traveller. . 
 
 There was an evident desire on the part of the host to 
 enter into conversation, but either from an apprehension 
 of treading on dangerous ground, or an unwillingness to 
 intrude upon the rather studied taciturnity of his guest, he 
 several times hesitated, before he could venture to make 
 any further remark. At length, a movement from Mr. 
 Harper, as he raised his eyes to the party in the room, en- 
 couraged him to proceed. 
 
 " I find it very difficult," said Mr. Wharton, cautiously 
 avoiding, at first, such subjects as he wished to introduce, 
 {< to procure that quality of tobacco for my evenings' 
 amusement, to which I have been accustomed " 
 
 " I should think the shops in New York might furnish 
 the best in the country," calmly rejoined the other. 
 
 ' Why yes," returned the host, in rather a hesitating 
 manner, lifting his eyes to the face of Harper, and lower- 
 ing them quickly under his steady look, " there must be 
 plenty in town ; but the war has made communication 
 with the city, however innocent, too dangerous to be risked 
 for so trifling an article as tobacco." 
 
 The box from which Mr. Wharton had just taken a sup- 
 
I 4 THE SPY. 
 
 ply for his pipe was lying open, within a few inches of the 
 elbow of Harper, who took a small quantity from its con- 
 tents, and applied it to his tongue, in a manner perfectly 
 natural, but one that filled his companion with alarm. 
 Without, however, observing that the quality was of the 
 most approved kind, the traveller relieved his host by re- 
 lapsing again into his meditations. Mr. Wharton now felt 
 unwilling to lose the advantage he had gained, and, mak- 
 ing an effort of more than usual vigor, he continued : 
 
 " I wish from the bottom of my heart this unnatural 
 struggle was over, that we might again meet our friends 
 and relatives in peace and love." 
 
 *' It is much to be desired," said Harper, emphatically, 
 again raising his eyes to the countenance of his host. 
 
 " I hear of no movement of consequence, since the ar- 
 rival of our new allies," said Mr. Wharton, shaking the 
 ashes from his pipe, and turning his back to the other, 
 under the pretence of receiving a coal from his youngest 
 daughter. 
 
 " None have yet reached the public, I believe." 
 
 " Is it thought any important steps are about to be 
 taken?" continued Mr. Wharton, still occupied with his 
 daughter, yet unconsciously suspending his employment, 
 in expectation of a reply. 
 
 "Is it intimated any are in agitation ? " 
 
 " Oh ! nothing in particular ; but it is natural to expect 
 some new enterprise from so powerful a force as that 
 under Rochambeau." 
 
 Harper made an assenting inclination with his head, but 
 no other reply, to this remark ; while Mr. Wharton, after 
 lighting his pipe, resumed the subject. 
 
 " They appear more active in the South ; Gates and Corn- 
 wallis seem willing to bring the war to an issue, there." 
 
 The brow of Harper contracted, and a deeper shade of 
 melancholy crossed his features ; his eye kindled with a 
 transient beam of fire, that spoke a latent source of deep 
 feeling. The admiring gaze of the younger of the sisters 
 had barely time to read its expression before it passed 
 away, leaving in its room the acquired composure which 
 marked the countenance of the stranger, and that impres- 
 sive dignity which so conspicuously denotes the empire of 
 reason. 
 
 The elder sister made one or two movements in her 
 chair, before she ventured to say, in a tone which partook 
 in no small measure of triumph : 
 
THE 
 
 u General Gates has been less fortunate with the Earl 
 than with General Burgoyne." 
 
 " But General Gates is an Englishman, Sarah," cried the 
 younger lady, with quickness ; then, coloring to the eyes 
 at her own boldness, she employed herself in tumbling over 
 the contents of her work-basket, silently hoping that the 
 remark would be unnoticed. 
 
 The traveller had turned his face from one sister to tht 
 other, as they had spoken in succession, and an almost im- 
 perceptible movement of the muscles of the mouth be- 
 trayed a new emotion as he playfully inquired of the 
 younger : 
 
 " May I venture to ask, what inference you would draw 
 from that fact ? " 
 
 Frances blushed yet deeper at this direct appeal to her 
 opinions upon a subject upon which she had incautiously 
 spoken in the presence of a stranger ; but, finding an an- 
 swer necessary, after some little hesitation, and with a good 
 deal of stammering in her manner, she replied : 
 
 " Only only sir my sister and myself sometimes 
 differ in our opinions of the prowess of the British." A 
 smile of much meaning played on a face of infantile inno- 
 cency, as she concluded. 
 
 "On what particular points of their prowess do you 
 differ?" continued Harper, meeting her look of animation 
 with a smile of almost paternal softness. 
 
 " Sarah thinks the British are never beaten, while I do 
 not put so much faith in their invincibility." 
 
 The traveller listened to her with that pleased indul- 
 gence with which virtuous age loves to contemplate the 
 ardor of youthful innocence ; but making no reply, he 
 turned to the fire, and continued for some time gazing on 
 its embers, in silence. 
 
 Mr. Wharton had in vain endeavored to pierce the dis- 
 guise of his guest's political feelings ; but, while there was 
 nothing forbidding in his countenance, there was nothing 
 communicative ; on the contrary, it was strikingly re- 
 served ; and the master of the house arose, in profound 
 .ignorance of what, in those days, was the most material 
 point in the character of his guest, to lead the way into 
 another room, and to the supper-table. Mr. Harper of- 
 fered his hand to Sarah Wharton, and they entered the 
 room together ; while Frances followed, greatly at a loss 
 to know whether she had not wounded the feelings of 
 her father's inmate. 
 
16 THE SPY. 
 
 The storm began to rage with great violence without ; 
 and the dashing rain on the sides of the building awakened 
 that silent sense of enjoyment, which is excited by such 
 sounds in a room of quiet comfort and warmth, when a loud 
 summons at the outer door again called the faithful black 
 to the portal. In a minute the servant returned, and in- 
 formed his master that another traveller, overtaken by the 
 storm, desired to be admitted to the house for a shelter 
 through the night. 
 
 At the first sounds of the impatient summonsof this new 
 applicant, Mr. Wharton had risen from his seat in evident 
 uneasiness ; and, with eyes glancing with quickness from 
 his guest to the door of the room, he seemed to be expect- 
 ing something to proceed from this second interruption, 
 connected with the stranger who had occasioned the first. 
 He scarcely had time to bid the black, with a faint voice, 
 to show this second comer in, before the door was thrown 
 hastily open, and the stranger himself entered the apart- 
 ment. He paused a moment, as the person of Harper met 
 his view, and then, in a more formal manner, repeated the 
 request he had before made through the servant. Mr. 
 Wharton and his family disliked the appearance of this 
 new visitor excessively ; but the inclemency of the weather, 
 and the uncertainty of the consequences, if he were re- 
 fused the desired lodgings, compelled the old gentleman 
 to give a reluctant acquiescence. 
 
 Some of the dishes were replaced by the orders of Miss 
 Peyton, and the weather-beaten intruder was invited to 
 partake of the remains of the repast, from which the party 
 had just risen. Throwing aside a rough great-coat, he very 
 composedly took the offered chair, and unceremoniously 
 proceeded to allay the cravings of an appetite which ap- 
 peared by no means delicate. But at every mouthful he 
 would turn an unquiet eye on Harper, who studied his ap- 
 pearance with a closeness of investigation that was very 
 embarrassing to its subject. At length, pouring out a glass 
 of wine, the new-comer nodded significantly to his ex- 
 aminer, previously to swallowing the liquor, and said, with 
 something of bitterness in his manner : . 
 
 " I drink to our better acquaintance, sir ; I believe this 
 is the first time we have met, though your attention would 
 seem to say otherwise." 
 
 The quality of the wine seemed greatly to his fancy, for, 
 on replacing the glass upon the table, he gave his lips a 
 smack that resounded through the room ; and ? taking up 
 
THE SPY. 17 
 
 the bottle, he held it between himself and the light for a 
 moment, in silent contemplation of its clear and brilliant 
 color. 
 
 "I think we have never met before, sir," replied Harper, 
 with a slight smile on his features, as he observed the 
 movements of the other ; but appearing satisfied with his 
 scrutiny, he turned to Sarah Wharton, who sat next him. 
 and carelessly remarked : 
 
 " You, doubtless, find your present abode solitary, after 
 being accustomed to the gayeties of the city ? " 
 
 " Oh ! excessively so," said Sarah, hastily. " I do wish, 
 with my father, that this cruel war was at an end, that we 
 might return to our friends once more." 
 
 "And you, Miss Frances, do you long as ardently for 
 peace as your sister ? " 
 
 " On many accounts I certainly do," returned the other, 
 venturing to steal a timid glance at her interrogator ; and, 
 meeting the same benevolent expression of feeling as be- 
 fore, she continued, as her own face lighted into one of its 
 animated and bright smiles of intelligence, "but not at the 
 expense of the rights of my countrymen." 
 
 "Rights!" repeated her sister, impatiently; "whose 
 rights can be stronger than those of a sovereign ; and what 
 duty is clearer than to obey those who have a natural right 
 to command ? " 
 
 " None, certainly," said Frances, laughing with great 
 pleasantry ; and, taking the hand of her sister affection- 
 ately within both of her own, she added, with a smile di- 
 rected toward Harper : 
 
 " I gave you to understand that my sister and myself 
 differed in our political opinions ; but we have an impartial 
 umpire in my father, who loves his own countrymen, and 
 he loves the British so he takes sides with neither." 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Wharton, in a little alarm, eyeing first 
 one guest and then the other ; " I have near friends in both 
 armies, and I dread a victory by either as a source of cer- 
 tain private misfortune." 
 
 " I take it you have little reason to apprehend much 
 from the Yankees, in that way," interrupted the guest at 
 the table, coolly helping himself to another glass from the 
 bottle he had admired. 
 
 " His Majesty may have more experienced troops than 
 the continentals," answered the host, fearfully, "but the 
 Americans have met with distinguished success." 
 
 Harper disregarded the observations of both, and, rising 
 
1 8 THE SPY. 
 
 he desired to be shown to his place of rest. A small boy 
 was directed to guide him to his room ; and wishing a 
 courteous good-night to the whole party, the traveller 
 withdrew. The knife and fork fell from the hands of the 
 unwelcome intruder, as the door closed on the retiring 
 figure of Harper ; he arose slowly from his seat ; listening 
 attentively he approached the door of the room opened it 
 seemed to attend to the retreating footsteps of the other 
 and, amid the panic and astonishment of his companions, 
 he closed it again. In an instant, the red wig which con- 
 cealed his black locks, the large patch which hid half his 
 face from observation, the stoop that had made him appear 
 "fifty years of age, disappeared. 
 
 " My father ! my dear father ! " cried the handsome 
 young man ; " and you, my dearest sisters and aunt ! have 
 I at last met you again ? " 
 
 " Heaven bless you, my Henry, my son ! " exclaimed the 
 astonished but delighted parent ; while his sisters sank on 
 his shoulders, dissolved in tears. 
 
 The faithful old black, who had been reared from infancy 
 in the house of his master, and who, as if in mockery of 
 his degraded state, had been complimented with the name 
 of Caesar, was the only other witness of this unexpected 
 discovery of the son of Mr. Wharton. After receiving the 
 extended hand of his young master, and imprinting on it a 
 fervent kiss, Caesar withdrew. The boy did not re-enter the 
 room ; and the black himself, after some time, returned, 
 just as the young British captain was exclaiming : 
 
 " But who is this Mr. Harper ? is he likely to betray 
 me ?" 
 
 " No no no Massa Harry," cried the negro, shaking 
 his gray head confidently ; " I been to see Massa Harper 
 on he knee pray to God no gemman who pray to God, 
 tell of good son, come to see old fader Skinner do that 
 no Christian ! " 
 
 This poor opinion of the Skinners was not confined to 
 Mr. Caesar Thompson, as he called himself but Caesar 
 Wharton, as he was styled by the little world to which he 
 was known. The convenience, and perhaps the necessi- 
 ties, of the leaders of the American arms in the neighbor- 
 hood of New York, had induced them to employ certain 
 subordinate agents, of extremely irregular habits, in exe- 
 cuting their lesser plans of annoying the enemy. It was 
 not a moment for fastidious inquiries into abuses of any 
 description, and oppression and injustice were the natural 
 
THK spy. r 9 
 
 consequences of the possession of a military power that 
 was uncurbed by the restraints of civil authority. In time, 
 a distinct order of the community was formed, whose sole 
 occupation appears to have been that of relieving their 
 fellow-citizens from any little excess of temporary pros- 
 perity they might be thought to enjoy, under the pretence 
 of patriotism, and the love of liberty. 
 
 Occasionally, the aid of military authority was not want- 
 ing in enforcing these arbitrary distributions of worldly 
 goods ; and a petty holder of a commission in the state 
 militia was to be seen giving the sanction of something 
 like legality to acts of the most unlicensed robbery, and 
 sometimes bloodshed. 
 
 On the part of the British, the stimulus of loyalty was 
 by no means suffered to sleep, where so fruitful a field of- 
 fered on which it might be expended. But their free- 
 booters were enrolled, and their efforts more systematized. 
 Long experience had taught their leaders the efficacy of 
 concentrated force ; and, unless tradition does great injus- 
 tice to their exploits, the result did no little credit to their 
 foresight. The corps we presume, from their known af- 
 fectioa to that useful animal had received the quaint ap- 
 pellation of "Cow-boys." 
 
 Caesar was, however, far too loyal to associate men, who 
 held the commission of George III., with the irregular 
 warriors whose excesses he had so often witnessed, and 
 from whose rapacity neither his poverty nor his bondage had 
 suffered even him to escape uninjured. The Cow-boys, 
 therefore, did not receive their proper portion of the 
 black's censure, when he said no Christian, nothing but 
 a "Skinner," could betray a pious child, while honoring 
 his father with a visit so full of peril. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 And many a halcyon day he lived to see 
 
 Unbroken, but by one misfortune dire, 
 
 When fate had reft his mutual heart but she 
 
 Was gone and Gertrude climbed a widowed father's knee. 
 
 Gertrude of Wyoming. 
 
 THE father of Mr. Wharton was a native of England, and 
 of a family whose parliamentary interest had enabled them 
 to provide for a younger son in the colony of New York. 
 
20 THE SPY, 
 
 The young man, like hundreds of others in his situation, 
 had settled permanently in the country. He married ; and 
 the sole issue of his connection had been sent early in life 
 to receive the benefits of the English schools. After tak- 
 ing his degrees at one of the universities of the mother- 
 country, the youth had been suffered to acquire a knowl- 
 edge of life with the advantages of European society. But 
 the death of his father recalled him, after passing two 
 years in this manner, to the possession of an honorable 
 name, and avery ample estate. 
 
 It was much the fashion of that day to place the youth 
 of certain families in the army or navy of England, as the 
 regular stepping-stones to preferment. Most of the higher 
 offices in the colonies were filled by men who had made 
 arms their profession ; and it was even no uncommon 
 sight to see a veteran warrior laying aside the sword to as- 
 sume the ermine on the benches of the highest judicial 
 authority. ^ 
 
 In conformity with this system, the senior Mr. Wharton 
 had intended his son for a soldier ; but a natural imbecil- 
 ity of character in his child interfered with his wishes. 
 
 A twelvemonth had been spent by the young man in 
 weighing the comparative advantages of the different 
 classes of troops, when the death of his father occurred. 
 The ease of his situation, and the attentions lavished upon 
 a youth in the actual enjoyment of one of the largest es- 
 tates in the colonies, interfered greatly with his ambitious 
 projects. Love decided the matter ; and Mr. Wharton, in 
 becoming a husband, ceased to think of becoming a sol- 
 dier. For many years he continued happy in his family, 
 and sufficiently respected by his countrymen, as a man of 
 integrity and consequence, when all his enjoyments van- 
 ished, as it were, at a blow. His only son, the youth in- 
 troduced in the preceding chapter, had entered the army 
 and had arrived in his native country, but a short time be- 
 fore the commencement of hostilities, with the reinforce- 
 ments the ministry had thought it prudent to throw into 
 the disaffected parts of North America. His daughters 
 were just growing into life, and their education required 
 all the advantages the city could afford. His wife had 
 been for some years in declining health, and had barely 
 time to fold her son to her bosom, and rejoice in the re- 
 union of her family, before the revolution burst forth, in 
 a continued blaze, from Georgia to Massachusetts. The 
 shock was too much for the feeble condition of the mother, : 
 
THE SPY. 21 
 
 who saw her child called to the field to combat against the 
 members of her own family in the South, and she sank 
 under the blow. 
 
 There was no part of the continent where the manners 
 of England, and its aristocratical notions of blood and al- 
 liance, prevailed with more force than in a certain circle 
 immediately around the metropolis of New York. The 
 customs of the early Dutch inhabitants had, indeed, 
 blended in some measure with the English manners ; but 
 still the latter prevailed. This attachment to Great Brit- 
 ain was increased by the frequent intermarriages of the 
 officers of the mother-country with the wealthier and more 
 powerful families of the vicinity, until, at the commence- 
 ment of hostilities, their united influence had very nearly 
 thrown the colony into the scale on the side of the crown. 
 A few, however, of the leading families espoused the cause 
 of the people ; and a sufficient stand was made against the 
 efforts of the ministerial party, to organize, and aided by 
 the army of the confederation, to maintain, an indepen- 
 dent and republican form of government. 
 
 The city of New York and the adjacent territory were 
 alone exempted from the rule of the new commonwealth ; 
 while the royal authority extended no further than its dig- 
 nity could be supported by the presence of an army. In 
 this condition of things, the loyalists of influence adopted 
 such measures as best accorded with their different charac- 
 ters and situations. Many bore arms in support of the 
 crown, and, by their bravery and exertions, endeavored to 
 secure what they deemed to be the rights of their prince, 
 and their own estates, from the effects of the law of attain- 
 der. Others left the country ; seeking in that place they 
 emphatically called home, an asylum as they fondly 
 hoped, for a season only, against the confusion and dan- 
 gers of a war. A third, and a more wary, portion remained 
 in the place of their nativity, with a prudent regard to their 
 ample possessions, and, perhaps, influenced by their at- 
 tachments to the scenes of their youth. Mr. Wharton was 
 of this description. After making a provision against fu- 
 ture contingencies, by secretly transmitting the whole of 
 his money to the British funds, this gentleman determined 
 to continue in the theatre of strife, and to maintain so 
 strict a neutrality as to insure the safety of his large es- 
 tate, whichever party succeeded. He was apparently en- 
 grossed in the education of his daughters, when a relation 
 high in office in the new state, intimated that a residence 
 
22 THE SPY. 
 
 in what was now a British camp differed but little, in the 
 eyes of his countrymen, from a residence in the British 
 capital. Mr. Wharton soon saw this was an unpardonable 
 offence in the existing state of things, and he instantly de- 
 termined to remove the difficulty by retiring to the coun- 
 try, tie possessed a residence in the county of West- 
 chester ; and having been for many years in the habit of 
 withdrawing thither during the heats of the summer 
 months, it was kept furnished, and ready for his accommo- 
 dation. His eldest daughter was already admitted into 
 the society of women ; but Frances, the younger, required 
 a year or two more of the usual cultivation, to appear with 
 proper eclat : at least so thought Miss Jeanette Peyton ; 
 and as this lady, a younger sister of the deceased mother, 
 had left her paternal home in the colony of Virginia, with 
 the devotedness and affection peculiar to her sex. to super- 
 intend the w r elfare of her nieces, Mr. Wharton felt that her 
 opinions were entitled to respect. In conformity to her 
 advice, therefore, the feelings of the parent were made to 
 yield to the welfare of his children. 
 
 Mr. Wharton withdrew to the " Locusts,'' with a heart 
 rent with the pain of separating from ail that was left him 
 of a wife he had adored, but in obedience to a constitu- 
 tional prudence that /pleaded loudly in behalf of his 
 worldly goods. His handsome town residence was inhab- 
 ited, in the meanwhile, by his daughters and their aunt. 
 The regiment to which. Captain Wharton belonged formed 
 part of the permanent garrison of the city ; and the knowl- 
 edge of the presence of his son was no little relief to the 
 father, in his unceasing meditations on his absent daugh- 
 ters. But Captain Wharton was a young man and a sol- 
 dier ; his estimate of character was not always the wisest ; 
 and his propensities led him to imagine that a red coat 
 never concealed a dishonorable heart. 
 
 The house of Mr. Wharton became a fashionable lounge 
 to the officers of the royal army, as did that of every other 
 family that was thought worthy of their notice. The con- 
 sequences of this association were, to some few of the vis- 
 ited, fortunate ; to more injurious, by exciting expecta- 
 tions which were never to be realized, and, unhappily, to 
 no small number ruinous. The known wealth of the father, 
 and, possibly, the presence of a high-spirited brother, for- 
 bade any apprehension of the latter danger to the young 
 ladies ; but it was impossible that all the admiration be- 
 stowed on the fine figure and lovely face of Sarah Wharton 
 
THE SPY. 23 
 
 should be thrown away. Her person was formed with the 
 early maturity of the climate, and a strict cultivation of 
 the graces had made her, decidedly, the belle of the city. 
 No one promised to dispute with her this fem,ale sover- 
 eignty, unless it might be her younger sister. Frances, 
 however, wanted some months to the charmed age of six- 
 teen ; and the idea of competition was far from the minds 
 of either of the affectionate girls. Indeed, next to the con- 
 versation of Colonel Wellmere, the greatest pleasure of 
 Sarah was in contemplating the budding beauties of the 
 little Hebe, who played around her with all the innocency 
 of youth, with all the enthusiasm of her ardent temper, 
 and with no little of the archness of her native humor. 
 Whether or not it was owing to the fact that Frances re- 
 ceived none of the compliments which fell to the lot of her 
 elder sister, in the often-repeated discussions on the merits 
 of the war, between the military beaux who frequented the 
 house, it is certain their effects on the sisters were exactly 
 opposite. It was much the fashion then for the British 
 officers to speak slightingly of their enemies ; and Sarah 
 took- all the idle vaporing of her danglers to be truths. 
 The first political opinions which reached the ears of 
 Frances were coupled with sneers on the conduct of her 
 countrymen. At first she believed them ; but there was 
 occasionally a general, who was obliged to do justice to his 
 enemy in order to obtain justice for himself ; and Frances 
 became somewhat sceptical on the subject of the ineffici- 
 ency of her countrymen. Colonel Wellmere was among 
 those who delighted most in expending his wit on the un- 
 fortunate Americans ; and, in time, Frances began to 
 listen to his eloquence with great suspicion, and some- 
 times with resentment. 
 
 It was on a hot sultry day, that the three were in the 
 parlor of Mr. Wharton's house, the colonel and Sarah 
 seated on a sofa, engaged in a combat of the eyes, aided 
 by the usual flow of small talk, and Frances was occupied 
 at her tamboring frame, in an opposite corner of the room, 
 when the gentleman suddenly exclaimed : 
 
 " How gay the arrival of the army under General Bur- 
 goyne will make the city, Miss Wharton ! " 
 
 " Oh ! how pleasant it must be," said the thoughtless 
 Sarah, in reply ; " I am told there are many charming wo- 
 men with that army ; as you say, it will make us all life 
 and gayety." 
 
 Frances^ shook back the abundance of her golden hair, 
 
24 THE SPY. 
 
 and raised her eyes, dancing with the ardor of national 
 feeling ; then laughing, with a concealed humor, she 
 asked : 
 
 " Is it so certain that General Burgoyne will be per- 
 mitted to reach the city?" 
 
 " Permitted ! " echoed the colonel ; " who is there to 
 prevent it, my pretty Miss Fanny ? " 
 
 Frances was precisely at that age when young people 
 are most jealous of their station in society ; neither quite 
 a woman nor yet a child. The " pretty Miss Fanny " was 
 too familiar to be relished, and she dropped her eyes on her 
 work again, with cheeks that glowed like crimson. 
 
 " General Stark took the Germans into custody," she 
 answered, compressing her lip ; " may not General Gates 
 think the British too dangerous to go at large ? " 
 
 " Oh ! they were Germans, as you say," cried the col- 
 onel, excessively vexed at the necessity of explaining at 
 all ; " mere mercenary troops ; but when the really British 
 regiments come in question, you will see a very different 
 result." 
 
 " Of that there is no doubt," cried Sarah, without in the 
 least partaking of the resentment of the colonel to her sis- 
 ter, but hailing already in her heart the triumph of the 
 British. 
 
 " Pray, Colonel Wellmere," said Frances, recovering 
 her good-humor, and raising her joyous eyes once more to 
 the face of the gentleman, "was the Lord Percy of Lex- 
 ington a kinsman of him who fought at Chevy Chase ?" 
 
 " Why, Miss Fanny, you are becoming a rebel," said the 
 colonel, endeavoring to laugh away the anger he felt ; 
 " what you are pleased to insinuate was a chase at Lexing- 
 ton, was nothing more than a judicious retreat a kind 
 of " 
 
 <l Running fight," interrupted the good-humored girl, 
 laying great emphasis on the first word. 
 
 " Positively, young lady " Colonel Wellmere was in- 
 terrupted by a laugh from a person who had hitherto been 
 unnoticed. 
 
 There was a small family apartment adjoining the room 
 occupied by the trio, and the air had blown open the door 
 communicating between the two. A fine young man was 
 now seen sitting near the entrance, who, by his smiling 
 countenance, was evidently a pleased listener to the con- 
 versation. He rose instantly, and coming through the 
 door, with his hat in his hand, appeared, a tall, graceful 
 
THE SPY, 25 
 
 youth, of dark complexion and sparkling eyes of black, 
 from which the mirth had not yet entirely vanished as he 
 made his bow to the ladies. 
 
 " Mr. Dunwoodie ! " cried Sarah, in surprise. " I was 
 ignorant of your being in the house ; you will find a cooler 
 seat in th'is room." 
 
 " I thank you," replied the young man, " but I must go 
 and seek your brother, who placed me there in ambuscade, 
 as he called it, with a promise of returning an hour ago." 
 Without making any further explanation, the youth bowed 
 politely to the young women, distantly and with hauteur to 
 the gentleman, and withdrew. Frances followed him into 
 the hall, and blushing richly, inquired, in a hurried voice : 
 
 u But why why do you leave us, Mr. Dunwoodie? 
 'Henry must soon return." 
 
 The gentleman caught one of her hands in his own, and 
 the stern expression of his countenance gave place to a 
 look of admiration, as he replied : 
 
 ''You managed him famously, my dear little kins- 
 woman ; never no never, forget the land of your birth ; 
 remember, if you are the granddaughter of an English- 
 man, you are also the granddaughter of a Peyton." 
 
 " Oh ! " returned the laughing girl, " it would be difficult 
 to forget that, with the constant lectures on genealogy be- 
 fore us, with which we are favored by aunt Jeanette but 
 why do you go ?" 
 
 " I am on the wing for Virginia, and have much to do." 
 He pressed her hand as he spoke, and looking back while 
 in the act of closing the door, exclaimed, " Be true to your 
 country be American." The ardent girl kissed her hand 
 to him as he retired, and then instantly applying it with 
 its beautiful fellow to her burning cheeks, ran into her 
 own apartment to hide her confusion. 
 
 Between the open sarcasm of Frances, and the ill-con- 
 cealed disdain of the young man, Colonel Wellmere had 
 felt himself placed in an awkward predicament ; but 
 ashamed to resent such trifles in the presence of his mis- 
 tress, he satisfied himself with observing, superciliously, as 
 Dunwoodie left the room : 
 
 " Quite a liberty for a youth in his situation ; a shop 
 boy with a bundle, I fancy." 
 
 The idea of picturing the graceful Peyton Dunwoodie 
 as a shop-boy could never enter the mind of Sarah, and 
 she looked around her in surprise, when the colonel con- 
 tinued : 
 
26 TH2L SPY. 
 
 " This Mr. Dun Dun " 
 
 " Dunwoodie ! Oh, no he is a relation of my aunt," 
 cried the young lady, "and an intimate friend of my 
 brother ; they were at school together, and only separated 
 in England, when one went into the army, and the other to 
 a French military academy." 
 
 " His money appears to have been thrown away," ob- 
 served the colonel, betraying the spleen he was unsuccess- 
 fully striving to conceal. 
 
 "We ought to hope so," added Sarah, with a smile ; " for 
 it is said he intends joining the rebel army. He was 
 brought in here, in a French ship, and has just been ex- 
 changed ; you may soon meet him in arms." 
 
 "Well, let him I wish Washington plenty of such he- 
 roes;" and he turned to a more pleasant subject by 
 changing the discourse to themselves. 
 
 A few weeks after this scene occurred the army of Bur- 
 goyne laid down their arms. Mr. Wharton, beginning to 
 think the result of the contest doubtful, resolved to con- 
 ciliate his countrymen, and gratify himself, by calling his 
 daughters into his own abode. Miss Peyton consented to 
 be their companion ; and from that time, until the period 
 at which we commenced our narrative, they had formed 
 one family. 
 
 Whenever the main army made any movements, Cap- 
 tain Wharton had, of course, accompanied it ; and once or 
 twice, under the protection of strong parties acting in the 
 neighborhood of the Locusts, he had enjoyed rapid and 
 stolen interviews with his friends. A twelvemonth had, 
 however, passed without his seeing them ; and the impa- 
 tient Henry had adopted the disguise we have mentioned, 
 and unfortunately arrived on the very evening that an un- 
 known and rather suspicious guest was an inmate of the 
 house, which seldom contained any other than its regular 
 inhabitants. 
 
 "But, do you think he suspects me?" asked the cap- 
 tain, with anxiety, after pausing to listen to Caesar's opin- 
 ion of the Skinners. 
 
 (< How should he ? " cried Sarah, " when your sisters 
 and father could not penetrate your disguise." 
 
 " There is something mysterious in his manner ; his 
 looks are too prying for an indifferent observer," con- 
 tinued young Wharton, thoughtfully, " and his face seems 
 familiar to me. The recent fate of Andre has created 
 much irritation on both sides. Sir Henry threatens re- 
 
THE SPY. 27 
 
 taliation for his death ; and Washington is as firm as if half 
 the world were at his command. The rebels would think 
 me a fit subject for their plans just now. should I be so 
 unlucky as to fall into their hands." 
 
 " But, my son," cried his father, in great alarm, "you 
 are not a spy ; you are not within the rebel that is, the 
 American lines ; there is nothing here to spy." 
 
 " That might be disputed," rejoined the young man, 
 musing ; "their pickets were as low as the White Plains 
 when I passed through in disguise. It is true my purposes 
 are innocent ; but how is it to appear ? My visit to you 
 would seem a cloak to other~designs. Remember, sir, the 
 treatment you received not a year since, for sending me a 
 supply of fruit for the winter." 
 
 " That proceeded from the misrepresentations of my 
 kind neighbors," said Mr. Wharton, " who hoped, by getting 
 my estate confiscated, to purchase good farms at low 
 prices. Peyton Dunwoodie, however, soon obtained our 
 discharge ; we were detained but a month." 
 
 " We ! " repeated the son, in amazement ; (( did they take 
 my sisters, also ? Fanny, you wrote me nothing of this." 
 
 " I believe," said Frances, coloring highly, " I mentioned 
 the kind treatment we received from your old friend, Major 
 Dunwoodie ; and that he procured my father's release." 
 
 " True ; but were you with him in the rebel camp ? " 
 
 " Yes," said the father, kindly ; " Fanny would not 
 suffer me to go alone. Jeanette and Sarah took charge of 
 the Locusts, and this little girl was my companion in cap- 
 tivity." 
 
 " And Fanny returned from such a scene a greater rebel 
 than ever," cried Sarah, indignantly ; " one would think 
 the hardships her father suffered would have cured her of 
 such whims." 
 
 " What say you to the charge, my pretty sister ? " cried 
 the captain, gayly ; "did Peyton strive to make you hate 
 your king more than he does himself ? " 
 
 ''Peyton Dunwoodie hates no one," said Frances, 
 quickly ; then, blushing at her own ardor, she added im- 
 mediately, " he loves you, Henry, I know ; for he has told 
 me so again and again." 
 
 Young Wharton tapped his sister on the cheek, with a 
 smile, as he asked her, in an affected whisper : " Did he 
 tell you also that he loved my little sister Fanny ?" 
 
 " Nonsense," said Frances ; and the remnants of the 
 supper-table soon disappeared under her superintendence. 
 
28 THE SPY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 'Twas when the fields were swept of Autumn's store, 
 And growling winds the fading foliage tore, 
 Behind the Lowman hill, the short-lived light, 
 Descending slowly, usher'd in the night ; 
 When from the noisy town, with mournful look, 
 His lonely way the meagre peddler took. WILSON. 
 
 A STORM below the highlands of the Hudson, if it be in- 
 troduced with an easterly wind, seldom lasts less than two 
 days. Accordingly, as the inmates of the Locusts assem- 
 bled, on the following morning, around their early break- 
 fast, the driving' rain was seen to strike in nearly horizontal 
 lines against the windows of the building, and forbade the 
 idea of exposing* either man or beast to the tempest. 
 Harper was the last to appear ; after taking a view of the 
 state of the weather, tie apologized to Mr. Wharton for the 
 necessity that existed ibr his trespassing on his goodness 
 for a longtime. To appearances, the reply was as courte- 
 ous as the excuse ; yet Harper wore a resignation in his 
 deportment that was widely different from the uneasy 
 manner of the father. Henry Wharton had resumed his 
 disguise with a reluctance amounting to disgust, but in 
 obedience to the commands of his parent. No communi- 
 cations passed between him and the stranger, after the first 
 salutations of the morning had been paid by Harper to him, 
 in common with the rest of the family. Frances had, in- 
 deed, thought there was something like a &mile passing 
 over the features of the traveller, when, on entering the 
 room, he first confronted her brother ; but it was confined 
 to the eyes, seeming to want power to affect the muscles of 
 the face, and was soon lost in the settled and benevolent 
 expression which reigned in his countenance, with a sway 
 but seldom interrupted. The eyes of the affectionate sister 
 were turned in anxiety, for a moment, on her brother, and 
 glancing again on her unknown guest, met his look, as he 
 offered her, with marked attention, one of the little civili- 
 ties of the table ; and the heart of the girl, which had be- 
 gun to throb with violence, regained a pulsation as tem- 
 pered as youth, health, and buoyant spirits could allow. 
 While yet seated at the table, Caesar entered, and, laying a 
 small parcel in silence by the side of his master, modestly 
 retired behind the chair, where, placing one hand on its 
 
TffE SPY. 29 
 
 back, he continued in an attitude half familiar, half re- 
 spectful, a listener. 
 
 " What is this, Caesar ? " inquired Mr. Wharton, turning 
 the bundle over to examine its envelope, and eying it 
 rather suspiciously. 
 
 " The 'baccy, sir ; Harvey Birch, he got home, and he 
 bring you a little good 'baccy from York." 
 
 " Harvey Birch ! " rejoined the master, with great delib- 
 eration, stealing a look at his guest. " I do not remember 
 desiring him to purchase any tobacco for me ; but as he 
 has brought it, he must be paid for his trouble." 
 
 For an instant only, as the negro spoke, did Harper 
 suspend his silent meal ; his eye moved slowly from the 
 servant to the master, and again all remained in its im- 
 penetrable reserve. 
 
 To Sarah Wharton, this intelligence gave unexpected 
 pleasure ; rising from her seat, with impatience, she bade 
 the black show Birch into the apartment ; when, suddenly 
 recollecting herself, she turned to the traveller with an 
 apologizing look, and added, "if Mr. Harper will excuse 
 the presence of a peddler." 
 
 The indulgent benevolence expressed in the countenance 
 of the stranger, as he bowed a silent acquiescence, spoke 
 more eloquently than the nicest framed period, and the 
 young lady repeated her order, with a confidence in its 
 truth that removed all embarrassment. 
 
 In the deep recesses of the windows of the cottage were 
 seats of panelled work ; and the rich damask curtains that 
 had ornamented the parlor in Queen Street,* had been 
 transferred to the Locusts, and gave to the room that in- 
 describable air of comfort which so gracefully announces 
 the approach of a domestic winter. Into one of these re- 
 cesses Captain Wharton now threw himself, drawing the 
 curtain before him in such a manner as to conceal most of 
 his person from observation ; while his younger sister, los- 
 ing her natural frankness of manner, in an air of artificial 
 constraint, silently took possession of the other. 
 
 Harvey Birch had been a peddler from his youth ; at 
 
 * The Americans changed the names of many towns and streets at the 
 revolution, as has since been done in France. Thus, in the city of New 
 York, Crown Street has become Liberty Street ; King Street, Pine Street ; 
 and Queen Street, then one of the most fashionable quarters of the town, 
 Pearl Street. Pearl Street is now chiefly occupied by the auction dealers 
 and the wholesale drygoods merchants, for warehouses and counting- 
 roo>.ns. 
 
3 o . THE SPY. 
 
 least so he frequently asserted, and his skill in the occupa- 
 tion went far to prove the truth of the declaration. He 
 was a native of one of the eastern colonies ; and, from 
 something of superior intelligence which belonged to his 
 father, it was thought they had known better fortunes in 
 the land of their nativity. Harvey possessed, however, 
 the common manners of the country, and was in no way 
 distinguished from men of his class, but by his acuteness 
 and the mystery which enveloped his movements. Ten 
 years before, they had arrived together in the vale, and, 
 purchasing the humble dwelling at which Harper had 
 made his unsuccessful application, continued ever since 
 peaceful inhabitants, but little noticed and but little known. 
 Until age and infirmities had prevented, the father devoted 
 himself to the cultivation of the small spot of ground be- 
 longing to his purchase, while the son pursued with avid- 
 ity his humble barter. Their orderly quietude had soon 
 given them so much consideration in the neighborhood, as 
 to induce a maiden of five-and-thirty to forget the punc- 
 tilio of her sex, and to accept the office of presiding over 
 their domestic comforts. The roses had long before van- 
 ished from the cheeks of Katy Haynes, and she had seen 
 in succession, both her male and female acquaintances 
 forming the union so desirable to her sex, with but little 
 or no hope left for herself, when, with views of her own, 
 she entered the family of the Birches. Necessity is a hard 
 master, and, for the want of a better companion, the father 
 and son were induced to accept her services ; but still Katy 
 was not wanting in some qualities which made her a very 
 tolerable housekeeper. On the one hand, she was neat, 
 industrious, honest, and a good manager. On the other, 
 she was talkative, selfish, superstitious, and inquisitive. 
 By dint of using the latter quality with consummate in- 
 dustry, she had not lived in the family five years when she 
 triumphantly declared that she had heard, or rather over- 
 heard, sufficient to enable her to say what had been the 
 former fate of her associates. Could Katy have possessed 
 enough of divination to pronounce upon their future lot, 
 her task would have been accomplished. From the pri- 
 vate conversation of the parent and child, she learned that 
 a fire had reduced them from competence to poverty, and 
 at the same time diminished the number of their family to 
 two. There was atremulousness in the voice of the father, 
 as he touched lightly on the event, which affected even the 
 heart of Katy ; but no barrier is sufficient to repel vulgar 
 
THE SPY. 31 
 
 curiosity. She persevered, until a very direct intimation 
 from Harvey, by threatening to supply her place with a fe- 
 male a few years younger than herself, gave her awful warn- 
 ing that there were bounds beyond which she was not to 
 pass. From that period the curiosity of the housekeeper 
 had been held in such salutary restraint, that, although no 
 opportunity of listening was ever neglected, she had been 
 able to add but little to her stock of knowledge. There 
 was, however, one piece of intelligence, and that of no lit- 
 tle interest to herself, which she had succeeded in obtain- 
 ing ; and from the moment of its acquisition, she directed 
 her energies to the accomplishment of one object, aided 
 by the double stimulus of love and avarice. 
 
 Harvey was in the frequent habit of paying mysterious 
 visits, in the depth of the night, to the fireplace of the 
 apartment that served for both kitchen and parlor. Here 
 he was observed by Katy ; and, availing herself of his ab- 
 sence, and the occupations of the father, by removing one 
 of the hearthstones, she discovered an iron pot, glittering 
 with a metal that seldom fails to soften the hardest heart. 
 Katy succeeded in replacing the stone without discovery, 
 and never dared to trust herself with another visit. From 
 that moment, however, the heart of the virgin lost its ob- 
 duracy ; and nothing interposed between Harvey and his 
 happiness but his own want of observation. 
 
 The war did not interfere with the traffic of the peddler, 
 who seized on the golden opportunity, which the interrup- 
 tion of the regular trade afforded, and appeared absorbed 
 in the one grand object of amassing money. For a year or 
 two his employment was uninterrupted, and his success 
 proportionate ; but, at length, dark and threatening hints 
 began' to throw suspicion around his movements, and the 
 civil authority thought it incumbent on them to examine 
 narrowly into his mode of life. His imprisonments, though 
 frequent, were not long, and his escapes from the guard- 
 ians of the law easy, compared to what he endured from 
 the persecution of the military. Still Birch survived, and 
 still he continued his trade, though compelled to be very 
 guarded in his movements, especially whenever he ap- 
 proached the northern boundaries of the county ; or, in 
 other words, the neighborhood of the American lines. His 
 visits to the Locusts had become less frequent, and his ap- 
 pearance at his own abode so seldom, as to draw forth 
 from the disappointed Katy, in the fulness of her heart, 
 the complaint we have related, in her reply to Harper. 
 
3 2 
 
 THE SPY. 
 
 Nothing, however, seemed to interfere with the pursuits 
 of this indefatigable trader ; who, with the view to dispose 
 of certain articles for which he could only find purchasers 
 in the very wealthiest families of the county, had now 
 braved the fury of the tempest, and ventured to cross the 
 half-mile between his own residence and the house of Mr. 
 Wharton. 
 
 In a few minutes after receiving the commands of his 
 young mistress, Caesar reappeared, ushering into the apart- 
 ment the subject of the foregoing digression. In person, 
 the peddler was a man above the middle height, spare, but 
 full of bone and muscle. At first sight his strength seemed 
 unequal to manage the unwieldy burden of his pack ; yet 
 he threw it on and off with great dexterity, and with as 
 much apparent ease as if it had been filled with feathers. 
 His eyes were gray, sunken, restless, and, for the flitting 
 moments that they dwelt on the countenances of those with 
 whom he conversed, they seemed to read the very soul. 
 They possessed, however, two distinct expressions, which, 
 in a great measure, characterized the whole man. When 
 engaged in traffic, the intelligence of his face appeared 
 lively, active, and flexible, though uncommonly acute ; if 
 the conversation turned on the ordinary transactions of 
 life, his air became abstracted and restless: but if, by 
 chance, the revolution and the country were the topic, hi? 
 whole system seemed altered all his faculties were con- 
 centrated ; he would listen for a great length of time with- 
 out speaking, and then would break silence by some light 
 and jocular remark, that was too much at variance with 
 his former manner not to be affectation. But of the war, 
 and of his father, he seldom spoke, and always from some 
 very obvious necessity. 
 
 To a superficial observer, avarice would seem his ruling 
 passion and, all things considered, he was as unfit a sub- 
 ject for the plans of Katy Haynes as can be readily im- 
 agined. On entering the room, the peddler relieved him- 
 self from his burden, which, as it stood on the floor, reached 
 nearly to his shoulders, and saluted the family with modest 
 civility. To Harper he made a silent bow without lifting 
 his. eyes from the carpet ; but the curtain prevented any 
 notice of the presence of Captain Wharton. Sarah gave 
 but little time for the usual salutations, before she com- 
 menced her survey of the contents of the pack ; and, for 
 several minutes, the two were engaged in bringing to light 
 the various articles it contained. The tables, chairs, and 
 
33 
 
 floor, were soon covered with silks, crapes, gloves, muslins, 
 and all the stock of an itinerant trader. Caesar was em- 
 ployed to hold open the mouth of the pack, as its hoards 
 were discharged, and occasionally he aided his young lady 
 by directing her admiration to some article of finery, which, 
 from its deeper contrast in colors, he thought more worthy 
 of her notice. At length, Sarah, having selected several 
 articles, and satisfactorily arranged the prices, observed, in 
 a cheerful voice : 
 
 " But, Harvey, you have told us no news. Has Lord 
 Cornwallis beaten the rebels again ? " 
 
 The question could not have been heard ; for the ped- 
 dler, burying his body in the pack, brought forth a quan- 
 tity of lace of exquisite fineness, and, holding it up to view, 
 he required the admiration of the young lady. Miss Pey- 
 ton dropped the cup she was engaged in washing, from her 
 hand ; and Frances exhibited the* whole of that lovely face 
 which had hitherto only suffered one of its joyous eyes to 
 be seen, beaming with a color that shamed the damask 
 which enviously concealed her figure. 
 
 The aunt quitted her employment ; and Birch soon dis- 
 posed of a large portion of this valuable article. The 
 praises of the ladies had drawn the whole person of the 
 younger sister into view ; and Frances was slowly rising 
 from the window as Sarah repeated her question, with an 
 exultation in her voice that proceeded more from pleasure 
 in her purchase than her political feelings. The younger 
 sister resumed her seat, apparently examining the state of 
 the clouds, while the peddler, finding a reply was expected, 
 answered slowly : 
 
 "There is some talk, below, about Tarleton having de- 
 feated General Sumpter on the Tiger River." 
 
 Captain Wharton now involuntarily thrust his head be- 
 tween the opening of the curtains into the room ; and 
 Frances turning her ear in breathless silence, noticed the 
 quiet eyes of Harper looking at the peddler, over the book 
 he was affecting to read, with an expression that denoted 
 him to be a listener of no ordinary interest. 
 
 " Indeed ! " cried the exulting Sarah ; "Sumpter Sump- 
 ter who is he ? I'll not buy even a pin, until you tell me 
 all the news," she continued, laughing, and throwing down 
 a muslin she had been examining. 
 
 For a moment the peddler hesitated ; his eye glanced 
 toward Harper, who was yet gazing at him with settled 
 meaning, and the whole manner of Birch was altered. Ap- 
 
34 THE SPY. 
 
 preaching the fire, he took from his mouth a large allow- 
 ance of the Virginian weed, and depositing it, with the 
 superabundance of its juices, without mercy to Miss Pey- 
 ton's shining andirons, he returned to his goods. 
 
 " He lives somewhere among the niggars to the south," 
 answered the peddler, abruptly. 
 
 " No more niggar than be yourself, Mister Birch," inter- 
 rupted Caesar, tartly, dropping at the same time the cover- 
 ing of the goods, in high displeasure. 
 
 " Hush, Caesar hush never mind it now," said Sarah 
 Wharton, soothingly, impatient to hear further. 
 
 "A black man so good as white, Miss Sally," continued 
 the offended negro, " so long as he behave heself." 
 
 "And frequently he is much better," rejoined his mis- 
 tress ; "but, Harvey, who is this Mr. Sumpter ?" 
 
 A slight indication of humor showed itself on the face 
 of the peddler but it disappeared, and he continued as if 
 the discourse had met with no interruption from the sensi- 
 tiveness of the domestic. 
 
 "As I was saying, he lives among the colored people in 
 the south " Caesar resumed his occupation " and he has 
 lately had a skrimmage with this Colonel Tarleton " 
 
 " Who defeated him, of course," cried Sarah, with con- 
 fidence. 
 
 " So say the troops at Morrisania." 
 
 " But what do you say ? " Mr. Wharton ventured to in- 
 quire, yet speaking in a low tone. 
 
 " I repeat but what I hear," said Birch, offering a piece 
 of cloth to the inspection of Sarah, who rejected it in si- 
 lence, evidently determined to hear more before she made 
 another purchase. 
 
 " They say, however, at the Plains," the peddler con- 
 tinued, first throwing his eyes again round the room, and 
 letting them rest for an instant on Harper, "that Sumpter 
 and one or two more were all that were hurt, and that the 
 rig'lars were all cut to pieces, for the militia were fixed 
 snugly in a log barn." 
 
 " Not very probable," said Sarah, contemptuously, 
 " though I make no doubt the rebels got behind the logs." 
 
 " I think," said the peddler, coolly, again offering the 
 silk, " it's quite ingenious to get a log between one and a 
 gun, instead of getting between a gun and a log." 
 
 The eyes of Harper dropped quietly on the pages of the 
 volume in his hand, while Frances, rising, came forward 
 with a smile in her face, as she inquired, in a tone of affa- 
 
THE SPY. 35 
 
 bility that the peddler had never before witnessed from 
 the younger sister : 
 
 " Have you more of the lace, Mr. Birch ? " 
 
 The desired article was immediately produced, and 
 Frances became a purchaser also. By her order a glass 
 of liquor was offered to the trader, who took it with 
 thanks, and, having paid his compliments to the master of 
 the house and the ladies, drank the beverage. 
 
 " So, it is thought that Colonel Tarleton has worsted 
 General Sumpter ? " said Mr. Wharton, affecting to be 
 employed in mending the cup that was broken by the 
 eagerness of his sister-in-law. 
 
 " I believe they think so at Morrisania," answered Birch, 
 dryly. 
 
 " Have you any other news, friend ? " asked Captain 
 Wharton, venturing to thrust his face without the curtain 
 again. 
 
 " Have you heard that Major Andre has been hanged ?" 
 
 Captain Wharton started, and for a moment glances of 
 great significance were exchanged between him and the 
 trader, when he observed, with affected indifference, "that 
 must have been some weeks ago." 
 
 "Does his execution make much noise?" asked the 
 father, striving to make the broken china unite. 
 
 " People will talk, you know, 'squire." 
 
 " Is there any probability of movements below, my friend, 
 that will make travelling dangerous ? " asked Harper, look- 
 ing steadily at the other, in expectation of his reply. 
 
 Some bunches of ribbons fell from the hands of Birch ; 
 his countenance changed instantly, losing its keen expres- 
 sion in intent meaning, as he answered slowly : " It is 
 some time since the rig'lar cavalry were out, and I saw 
 some of De Lancey's men cleaning their arms, as I passed 
 their quarters ; it would be no wonder if they took the 
 scent soon, for the Virginia Horse are low in the county." 
 
 "Are they in much force?" asked Mr. Wharton, sus- 
 pending all employment in anxiety. 
 
 " I did not count them." 
 
 Frances was the only observer of the change in the 
 manner of Birch, and on turning to Harper, he had re- 
 sumed his book in silence. She took some of the ribbons 
 in her hand laid them down again and, bending over 
 the goods, so that her hair, falling in rich curls, shaded 
 her face, she observed, blushing with a color that suffused 
 her neck : 
 
36 THE SPY. 
 
 " I thought the southern horse had marched toward the 
 Delaware." 
 
 " It may be so," said Birch ; "I passed the troops at a 
 distance." 
 
 Caesar had now selected a piece of calico, in which the 
 gaudy colors of yellow and red were contrasted on a white 
 ground, and, after admiring it for several minutes, he laid 
 it down with a sigh, as he exclaimed, " Berry pretty 
 calico." 
 
 " That," said Sarah ; " yes, that would make a proper 
 gown for your wife, Caesar." 
 
 " Yes, Miss Sally," cried the delighted black, "it make 
 old Dinah heart leap for joy so berry genteel." 
 
 " Yes," added the peddler, quaintly, "that is only want- 
 ing to make Dinah look like a rainbow." 
 
 Caesar eyed his young mistress eagerly, until she in- 
 quired of Harvey the price of the article. 
 
 " Why, much as I light of chaps," said the peddler. 
 
 " How much?" demanded Sarah, in surprise. 
 
 "According to my hick in finding purchasers; for my 
 friend Dinah, you may have it at four shillings." 
 
 " It is too much," said Sarah, turning to some goods for 
 herse-lf. 
 
 ** Monstrous price for coarse calico, Mister Birch," 
 grumbled Caesar, dropping the opening of the pack again. 
 
 " We will say three, then," added the peddler, " if you 
 like that better." 
 
 " Be sure lie like 'em better," said Caesar, smiling good- 
 humoredly, and re-opening the pack "Miss Sally like a 
 t'ree shilling when she gave, and a four shilling when she 
 take." 
 
 The bargain was immediately concluded ; but in meas- 
 uring, the cloth wanted a little of the well-known ten 
 yards required by the dimensions of Dinah. By dint of a 
 strong arm, however, it grew to the desired length, under 
 the experienced eye of the peddler, who conscientiously 
 added a ribbon of corresponding brilliancy with the calico ; 
 and Caesar hastily withdrew, to communicate the joyful 
 intelligence to his aged partner. 
 
 During the movements created by the conclusion of the 
 purchase, Captain Wharton had ventured to draw aside the 
 curtain, so as to admit a view of his person, and he now in- 
 quired of the peddler, who had begun to collect the scat- 
 tered goods, at what time he had left the city. 
 
 " At early twilight," was the answer. 
 
37 
 
 " So lately ! " cried the other, in surprise ; and then cor- 
 recting his manner, by assuming a more guarded air, he 
 continued : " Could you pass the pickets at so late an 
 hour ? " 
 
 " I did," was the laconic reply. 
 
 ''You must be well known by this time, Harvey, to the 
 officers of the British army," cried Sarah, smiling know- 
 ingly on the peddler. 
 
 "I know some of them by sight," said Birch, glancing 
 his eyes round the apartment, taking in their course Cap- 
 tain Wharton, and resting for an instant on the counte- 
 nance of Harper. 
 
 Mr. Wharton had listened intently to each speaker in 
 succession, and had so far lost the affectation of indiffer- 
 ence, as to be crushing in his hand the pieces of china on 
 which he had expended so much labor in endeavoring to 
 mend it ; when, observing the peddler tying the last knot 
 in his pack, he asked, abruptly : 
 
 "Are we about to be disturbed again with the enemy ? " 
 
 "Who do you call the enemy ?" said the peddler, rais- 
 ing himself erect, and giving the other a look before 
 which the eyes of Mr. Wharton sank in instant confusion. 
 
 "All are enemies who disturb our peace," said Miss 
 Peyton, observing that her brother was unable to speak. 
 " But are the royal troops out from below ? " 
 
 " 'Tis quite likely they soon may be," returned Birch, 
 raising his pack from the floor, and preparing to leave the 
 room. 
 
 " And the continentals," continued Miss Peyton, mildly ; 
 " are the continentals in the county ? " 
 
 Harvey was about to utter something in reply, when 
 the door opened, and Caesar made his appearance, at- 
 tended by his delighted spouse. 
 
 The race of blacks of which Caesar was a favorable 
 specimen is becoming very rare. The old family servant, 
 who, born and reared in the dwelling of his master, iden- 
 tified himself with the welfare of those whom it was his 
 lot to serve, is giving place in every direction to that va- 
 grant class which has sprung up within the last thirty 
 years, and whose members roam through the country un- 
 fettered by principles, and uninfluenced by attachments. 
 For it is one of the curses of slavery, that its victims be- 
 come incompetent to the attributes of a freeman. The 
 short curly hair of Caesar had acquired from age a color- 
 ing of gray, that added greatly to the venerable cast of his 
 
2 8 THE SPY. 
 
 appearance. Long and indefatigable applications of the 
 comb had straightened the close curls of his forehead, un- 
 til they stood erect in a stiff and formal brush, that gave 
 at least two inches to his stature. The shining black of 
 his youth had lost its glistening hue, and it had been suc- 
 ceeded by a dingy brown. His eyes, which stood at a 
 most formidable distance from each other, were small, and 
 characterized by an expression of good feeling, occasion- 
 ally interrupted by the petulance of an indulged servant ; 
 they, however, now danced with inward delight. His 
 nose possessed, in an eminent manner, all the requisites 
 for smelling, but with the most modest unobtrusiveness ; 
 the nostrils being abundantly capacious, without thrusting 
 themselves in the way of their neighbors. His mouth was 
 capacious to a fault, and was only tolerated on account of 
 the double row of pearls it contained. In person, Caesar 
 was short, and we should say square, had not all the angles 
 and curves of his figure bid defiance to anything like 
 mathematical symmetry. His arms were long and muscu- 
 lar, and terminated by two bony hands, that exhibited on 
 one side a coloring of blackish gray, and on the other a 
 faded pink. But it was in his legs that nature had in- 
 dulged her most capricious humor. There was an abun 
 dance of material injudiciously used. The calves were 
 neither before nor behind, but rather on the outer side of 
 the limb, inclining forward, and so close to the knees as to 
 render the free use of that joint a subject of doubt. In 
 the foot, considering it as a base on which the body was 
 to rest, Caesar had no cause of complaint, unless, indeed, 
 it might be that the leg was placed so near the centre, as 
 to make it sometimes a matter of dispute whether he was 
 not walking backward. But whatever might be the faults 
 a statuary could discover in his person, the heart of Caesar 
 Thompson was in the right place, and we doubt not, of 
 very just dimensions. 
 
 Accompanied by his ancient companion, Caesar now ad- 
 vanced, and paid his tribute of gratitude in words. Sarah 
 received them with great complacency, and made a few 
 compliments to the taste of the husband, and the probable 
 appearance of the wife. Frances, with a face beaming with 
 a look of pleasure that corresponded to the smiling coun^ 
 tenance of the blacks, offered the service of her needle in 
 fitting the admired calico to its future uses. The offer was 
 humbly and gratefully accepted. 
 
 As Caesar followed his wife and the peddler from the 
 
THE SPY. 39 
 
 apartment, and was in the act of closing the door, he in- 
 dulged himself in a grateful soliloquy, by saying aloud : 
 
 " Good little lady Miss Fanny take- care of he fader 
 love to make a gown for old Dinah, too." What else his 
 feelings might have induced him to utter is unknown, but 
 the sound of his voice was heard some time after the dis- 
 tance rendered his words indistinct. 
 
 Harper had dropped his book, and he sat an admiring 
 witness of the scene ; and Frances enjoyed a double satis- 
 faction, as she received an approving smile from a face 
 which concealed, under the traces of deep thought and en- 
 grossing care, the benevolent expression which character- 
 izes all the best feelings of the human heart. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "It is the form, the eye, the word, 
 
 The bearing of that stranger Lord, 
 
 His stature, manly, bold, and tall, 
 
 Built like a castle's battled wall, 
 
 Yet molded in such just degrees, 
 
 His giant strength seems lightsome ease. 
 
 Weather and wear their rougher trace 
 
 Have left on that majestic face ; 
 
 But 'tis his dignity of eye ! 
 
 There, if a suppliant, I would fly, 
 
 Secure, 'mid danger, wrongs, and grief, 
 
 Of sympathy, redress, i-elief 
 
 That glance, if guilty, would I dread 
 
 More than the doom that spoke me dead ! *' 
 "Enough, enough ! " the princess cried, 
 "'Tis Scotland's hope, her joy, her pride !" 
 
 WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 THE party sat in silence for many minutes after the ped- 
 dler had withdrawn. Mr. Wharton had heard enough to 
 increase his uneasiness, without in the least removing his 
 apprehensions on behalf of his son. The captain was im- 
 patiently Wishing Harper in any other place than the one 
 he occupied with such apparent composure, while Miss 
 Peyton completed the disposal of her breakfast equipage 
 with the mild complacency of her nature, aided a little by 
 an inward satisfaction at possessing so large a portion of 
 the trader's lace Sarah was busily occupied in arranging 
 her purchases, and Frances was kindly assisting in the oc- 
 
40 THE SPY. 
 
 cupation, disregarding her own neglected bargains, when 
 the stranger suddenly broke the silence by saying : 
 
 " If any apprehensions of me induce Captain Wharton 
 to maintain his disguise, I wish him to be undeceived ; had 
 I motives for betraying him, they could not operate under 
 present circumstances." 
 
 The younger sister sank into her seat, colorless and as- 
 tonished. Miss Peyton dropped the tea-tray she was lift- 
 ing from the table, and Sarah sat with her purchases un- 
 heeded in her lap, in speechless surprise. Mr. Wharton 
 wa"s stupefied ; but the captain, hesitating a moment from 
 astonishment, sprang into the middle of the room, and ex- 
 claimed, as he tore off the instruments of his disguise : 
 
 " I believe you from my soul, and this tiresome imposi- 
 tion shall continue no longer. Yet I am at a loss to con- 
 ceive in what manner you should know me." 
 
 "You really look so much better in your proper person, 
 Captain Wharton," said Harper, with a slight smile, " I 
 would advise you never to conceal it in future. There is 
 enough to betray you, if other sources of detection were 
 wanting." As he spoke, he pointed to a picture suspended 
 over the mantelpiece, which exhibited the British officer in 
 his regimentals. 
 
 " I had flattered myself," cried young Wharton, with a 
 laugh, " that I looked better on the canvas than in a mas- 
 querade. You must be a close observer, sir." 
 
 " Necessity has made me one," said Harper, rising from 
 his seat. 
 
 Frances met him as he was about to withdraw, and, tak- 
 ing his hand between both her own, said with earnestness, 
 her cheeks mantling with their richest vermilion : "You 
 cannot you will not betray my brother." 
 
 For an'instant Harper paused in silent admiration of the 
 lovely pleader, and then, folding her hands on his breast, 
 he replied, solemnly: " I cannot, and I will not ;" he re- 
 leased her hands, and laying his own on her head gently, 
 continued : " If the blessing of a stranger can profit you, 
 receive it." He turned, and, bowing low, retired, with a 
 delicacy that was duly appreciated by those he quitted, to 
 his own apartment. 
 
 The whole party were deeply impressed with the ingen- 
 uous and solemn manner of the traveller, and all but the 
 father found immediate relief in his declaration. Some of 
 the cast-off clothes of the captain, which had been removed 
 with the goods from the city, were produced ; and young 
 
THE SPY. 41 
 
 Wharton, released from the uneasiness of his disguise, be- 
 gan at last to enjoy a visit which had been undertaken at 
 so much personal risk to himself. Mr. Wharton retiring 
 to his apartment, in pursuance of his regular engagements, 
 the ladies, with the young man, were left to an uninter- 
 rupted communication on such subjects as were most agree- 
 able. Even Miss Peyton was affected with the spirits of her 
 young relatives ; and they sat for an hour enjoying, in heed- 
 less confidence, the pleasure of an unrestrained conversa- 
 tion, without reflecting on any danger which might be im- 
 pending over them. The city and their acquaintances were 
 not long neglected ; for Miss Peyton, who had never for- 
 gotten the many agreeable hours of her residence within 
 its boundaries, soon inquired, among others, after their old 
 acquaintance, Colonel Wellmere. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the captain, gayly, " he yet continues there, 
 as handsome and gallant as ever." 
 
 Although a woman be not actually in love, she seldom 
 hears without a blush the name of a man whom she might 
 love, and who has been connected with herself, by idle gos- 
 sips, in the amatory rumor of the day. Such had been the 
 case with Sarah, and she dropped her eyes on the carpet 
 with a smile that, aided by the blush which suffused her 
 cheek, in no degree detracted from her native charms. 
 
 Captain Wharton, without heeding this display of inter- 
 est in his sister, immediately continued : "At times he is 
 melancholy we tell him it must be love." Sarah raised 
 her eyes to the face of her brother, and was consciously 
 turning them on the rest of the party, when she met those 
 of her sister, laughing with good-humor and high spirits, 
 as she cried, " Poor man, does he despair ? " 
 
 "Why, no one would think he could not; the eldest 
 son of a man of wealth, so handsome, and a colonel." 
 
 " Strong reasons, indeed, why he should prevail," said 
 Sarah, endeavoring to laugh ; " more particularly the lat- 
 ter." 
 
 " Let me tell you," replied the captain, gravely, " a lieu- 
 tenant-colonelcy in the Guards is a very pretty thing." 
 
 " And Colonel Wellmere a very pretty man," added 
 Frances. 
 
 " Nay, Frances," returned her sister, " Colonel Wellmere 
 was never a favorite of yours ; he is too loyal to his king 
 to be agreeable to your taste ! " 
 
 Frances quickly answered, "And is not Henry loyal to 
 his king ? " 
 
42 THE SPY. 
 
 " Come, come," said Miss Peyton, " no difference ot 
 opinion about the colonel he is a favorite of mine." 
 
 " Fanny likes majors better," cried the brother, pulling 
 her upon his knee. 
 
 "Nonsense," said the blushing girl, as she endeavored to 
 extricate herself from the grasp of her laughing brother. 
 
 " It surprises me," continued the captain, "that Peyton, 
 when he procured the release of my father, did not en- 
 deavor to detain my sister in the rebel camp." 
 
 "That might have endangered his own liberty," said the 
 smiling girl, resuming her seat ; " you know it is liberty 
 for which Major Dunwoodie is fighting." 
 
 "Liberty!" exclaimed Sarah; "very pretty liberty 
 which exchanges one master for fifty." 
 
 "The privilege of changing masters at all is a liberty." 
 
 " And one you ladies would sometimes be glad to exer- 
 cise," cried the captain. 
 
 " We like, I believe, to have the liberty of choosing who 
 they shall be, in the first place," said the laughing girl ; 
 " don't we, Aunt Jeanette ? " 
 
 " Me !" cried Miss Peyton, starting; "what do I know 
 of such things, child ? You must ask someone else, if you 
 wish to learn such matters." 
 
 "Ah ! you would have us think you were never young ; 
 ut what am I to believe of all the tales I have heard about 
 the handsome Miss Jeanette Peyton ? " 
 
 " Nonsense, my dear, nonsense," said the aunt, endeav- 
 oring to suppress a smile ; "it is very silly to believe all 
 you hear." 
 
 " Nonsense, do you call it ? " cried the captain, gayly ; 
 "to this hour General Montrose toasts Miss Peyton; I 
 heard him within the week at Sir Henry's table." 
 
 " Why, Henry, you are as saucy as your sister ; and to 
 break in upon your folly, I must take you to see my new 
 home-made manufactures, which I will be bold enough to 
 put in contrast with the finery of Birch." 
 
 The young people rose to follow their aunt, in perfect 
 good-humor with each other and the world. On ascend- 
 ing the stairs to the place of deposit for Miss Peyton's ar- 
 ticles of domestic economy, she availed herself, however, 
 of an opportunity to inquire of her nephew, whether Gen- 
 eral Montrose suffered as much from the gout as he had 
 done when she knew him. 
 
 It is a painful discovery we make, as we advance in life, 
 that even those we most love are not exempt from its frail' 
 
THE SPY. 43 
 
 ties. When the heart is fresh, and the view of the future 
 unsullied by the blemishes which have been gathered from 
 the experience of the past, our feelings are most holy ; we 
 love to identify with the persons of our natural friends all 
 those qualities to which we ourselves aspire, and all those 
 virtues we have been taught to revere. The confidence 
 with which we esteem seems a part of our nature ; and 
 there is a purity thrown around the affections which tie us 
 to our kindred, that after-life can seldom hope to see unin- 
 jured. The family of Mr. Wharton continued to enjoy, 
 for the remainder of the day, a happiness to which they 
 had long been strangers ; and one that sprung, in its 
 younger members, from the delights of the most confident 
 affection, and the exchange of the most disinterested en- 
 dearments. 
 
 Harper appeared only at the dinner-table, and he retired 
 with the cloth, under the pretence of some engagements in 
 his own room. Notwithstanding the confidence created by 
 his manner, the family felt his absence a relief ; for the 
 visit of Captain Wharton was necessarily to be confined to 
 a very few days, both from the limitation of his leave of 
 absence and the danger of a discovery. 
 
 All dread of consequences, however, was lost in the 
 pleasure of the meeting. Once or twice during the day, 
 Mr. Wharton had suggested a doubt as to the character of 
 his unknown guest, and the possibility of the detection of 
 his son proceeding in some manner from his information ; 
 but the idea was earnestly opposed by all his children ; 
 even Sarah uniting with her brother and sister in pleading 
 warmly in favor of the sincerity expressed in the outward 
 appearance of the traveller. 
 
 " Such appearances, my children," replied the despond- 
 ing parent, " are but too often deceitful ; when men like 
 Major Andre lend themselves to the purposes of fraud, it 
 is idle to reason from qualities, much less externals." 
 
 " Fraud !" cried his son, quickly ; " surely, sir, you for- 
 get that Major Andre was serving his king, and that the 
 usages of war justified the measure." 
 
 " And did not the usages of war justify his death, 
 Henry ?" inquired Frances, speaking in a low voice, un- 
 willing to abandon what she thought the cause of her 
 country, and yet unable to suppress her feelings for the 
 man. 
 
 "Never!" exclaimed the young man, springing from 
 his seat and pacing the floor rapidly <k Frances, you 
 
44 THE SPY. 
 
 shock me ; suppose it should be my fate, even now, to fall 
 into the power of the rebels ; you would vindicate my 
 execution perhaps exult in the cruelty of Washington." 
 
 "Henry!" said Frances, solemnly, quivering with emo- 
 tion, and with a face pale as death, " you little know my 
 heart." 
 
 " Pardon me, my sister my little Fanny," cried the re- 
 pentant youth, pressing her to his bosom, and kissing off 
 the tears which had burst, in spite of her resolution, from 
 her eyes. 
 
 " It is very foolish to regard your hasty words, I know," 
 said Frances, extricating herself from his arms, and raising 
 her yet humid eyes to his face with a smile ; " but reproach 
 from those we love is most severe, Henry ; particularly 
 where we we think we know" her paleness gradually 
 gave place to the color of the rose, as she concluded in a 
 low voice, with her eyes directed to the carpet, " we are 
 undeserving of it." 
 
 Miss Peyton moved from her ow r n seat to the one next 
 her niece, and, kindly taking her hand, observed: " You 
 should not suffer the impetuosity of your brother to affect 
 you so much ; boys, you know, are proverbially ungovern- 
 able." 
 
 " And, from my conduct, you might add cruel," said the 
 captain, seating himself on the other side of his sister ; 
 " but on the subject of the death of Andre we are all of us 
 uncommonly sensitive. You did not know him ; he was 
 all that was brave that was accomplished that was esti- 
 mable." Frances smiled faintly and shook her head, but 
 made no reply. Her brother observing the marks of in- 
 credulity in her countenance, continued : "You doubt it, 
 and justify his death ?'" 
 
 " I do not doubt his worth," replied the maid, mildly, 
 " nor his being deserving of a more happy fate ; but I can- 
 not doubt the propriety of Washington's conduct. I know 
 but little of the customs of war, and wish to know less; 
 but with what hopes of success could the Americans con- 
 tend, if they yielded all the principles which long usage 
 had established, to the exclusive purposes of the British ?" 
 
 "Why contend at all ? " cried Sarah, impatiently ; " be- 
 sides, being rebels, all their acts are illegal." 
 
 " Women are but mirrors, which reflect the images before 
 them," cried the captain, good-naturedly. "In Frances I 
 see the picture of Major Dunwoodie, and in Sarah " 
 
 " Colonel Wellmere," interrupted the younger sister, 
 
THE SPY. 45 
 
 laughing, and blushing crimson. " I must confess I am 
 indebted to the major for my reasoning am I not, aunt 
 Jeanette ?" 
 
 " I believe it is something like his logic, indeed, child." 
 
 " I plead guilty ; and you, Sarah, have not forgotten 
 the learned discussions of Colonel Wellmere." 
 
 " I trust I never forget the right," said Sarah, emulating 
 her sister in color, and rising, under the pretence of avoid- 
 ing the heat of the fire. 
 
 Nothing occurred of any moment during the rest of the 
 day ; but in the evening Caesar reported that he had over- 
 heard voices in the room of Harper conversing in a low 
 tone. The apartment occupied by the traveller was the 
 wing at the extremity of the building, opposite to the par- 
 lor in which the family ordinarily assembled ; and it seems 
 that Caesar had established a regular system of espionage, 
 with a view to the safety of his young master. This intel- 
 ligence gave some uneasiness to all the members of the 
 family ; but the entrance of Harper himself, with the air 
 of benevolence and sincerity which shone through his re- 
 serve, soon removed the doubts from the breasts of all but 
 Mr. Wharton. His children and sister believed Caesar to 
 have been mistaken, and the evening passed off without 
 any additional alarm. 
 
 On the afternoon of the succeeding day, the party were 
 assembled in the parlor around the tea-table of Miss Pey- 
 ton, when a change in the weather occurred. The thin 
 scud, that apparently floated but a short distance above 
 the tops of the hills, began to drive from the west toward 
 the east with astonishing rapidity. The rain yet contin- 
 ued to beat against the eastern windows of the house with 
 fury ; in that direction the heavens were dark and gloomy. 
 Frances was gazing at the scene with the desire of youth 
 to escape from the tedium of confinement, when, as if by 
 magic, all was still. The rushing winds had ceased, the 
 pelting of the storm was over, and, springing to the win- 
 dow with delight pictured in her face, she saw a glorious 
 ray of sunshine lighting the opposite wood. The foliage 
 glittered with the chequered beauties of the October leaf, 
 reflecting back from the moistened boughs the richest lus- 
 tre of an American autumn. In an instant the piazza, 
 which opened to the south, was thronged with the inmates 
 of the cottage. The air was mild, balmy, and refreshing ; 
 in the east, clouds, whicli might be likened to the retreat- 
 ing masses of a discomfited army, hung around the horizon 
 
46 THE SPY. 
 
 in awful and increasing darkness. At a little elevation 
 above the cottage, the thin vapor was still rushing toward 
 the east with amazing velocity ; while in the west the sun 
 had broken forth and shed his parting radiance on the 
 scene below, aided by the fullest richness of a clear at- 
 mosphere and a freshened herbage. Such moments belong 
 only to the climate of America, and are enjoyed in a de- 
 gree proportioned to the suddenness of the contrast, and 
 the pleasure we experience in escaping from the turbu- 
 lence of the elements to the quiet of a peaceful evening, 
 and an air still as the softest mornings in June. 
 
 " What a magnificent scene ! " said Harper, in a low 
 tone ; " how grand ! how awfully sublime ! May such a 
 quiet speedily await the struggle in which my country is 
 engaged, and such a glorious evening follow the day of her 
 adversity ! " 
 
 Frances, who stood next to him, alone heard the voice. 
 Turning in amazement from the view to the speaker, she 
 saw him standing bareheaded, erect, and with his eyes 
 lifted to heaven. There was no longer the quiet which 
 had seemed their characteristic, but they were lighted into 
 something like enthusiasm, and a slight flush passed over 
 his features. 
 
 "There can be no danger apprehended from such a man," 
 thought Frances ; "such feelings belong only to the virtu- 
 ous." 
 
 The musings of the party were now interrupted by the 
 sudden appearance of the peddler. He had taken advan- 
 tage of the first gleam of sunshine to hasten to the cottage. 
 Heedless of wet or dry as it lay in his path, with arms 
 swinging to and fro, and with his head bent forward of his 
 body several inches, Harvey Birch approached the piazza, 
 with a gait peculiarly his own. It was the quick, length- 
 ened pace of an itinerant vender of goods. 
 
 "Fine evening," said the peddler, saluting the party, 
 without raising his eyes ; "quite warm and agreeable for 
 the season." 
 
 Mr. Wharton assented to the remark, and inquired 
 kindly after the health of his father. Harvey heard him, 
 and continued standing for some time in moody silence, 
 but the question being repeated, he answered, with a slight 
 tremor in his voice : 
 
 " He fails fast ; old age and hardships wilf do their 
 work." The peddler turned his face from the view of most 
 of the family ; but Frances noticed his glistening eyes and 
 

 THE SPY. 47 
 
 quivering lip, and, for the second time, Harvey rose in 
 her estimation. 
 
 The valley in which the residence of Mr. Wharton 
 stood ran in a direction from northwest to southeast, and 
 the house was placed on the side of a hill which terminated 
 its length in the former direction. A small opening, occa- 
 sioned by the receding of the opposite hill and the fall of 
 the land to the level of the tide-water, afforded a view of 
 the Sound * over the tops of the distant woods on its mar- 
 gin. The surface of the water, which had so lately been 
 lashing the shores with boisterous fury, was already losing 
 its ruffled darkness in the long and regular undulations 
 that succeeded a tempest, while the light air from the 
 southwest was gently touching their summits, lending its 
 feeble aid in stilling the. waters. Some dark spots were 
 now to be distinguished, occasionally rising into view, and 
 again sinking behind the lengthened waves which inter- 
 posed themselves to the sight. They were unnoticed by 
 all but the peddler. He had seated himself on the piazza, 
 at a distance from Harper, and appeared to have forgotten 
 the object of his visit. His roving eye, however, soon 
 caught a glimpse of these new objects in the view, and he 
 sprang up with alacrity, gazing intently toward the water. 
 He changed his place, glanced his eye with marked un- 
 easiness on Harper, and then said, with great emphasis : 
 
 "The rig'lars must be out from below." 
 
 " Why do you think so ? " inquired Captain Wharton, 
 eagerly. "God send it may be true ; I want their escort 
 in again." 
 
 "Them ten whale-boats would not move so fast unless 
 they were better manned than common." 
 
 " Perhaps," cried Mr. Wharton, in alarm, " they are 
 they are continentals returning from the island." 
 
 " They look like rig'lars," said the peddler, with mean- 
 ing. 
 
 " Look ! " repeated the captain, " there is nothing but 
 spots to be seen." 
 
 Harvey disregarded his observation, but seemed to be 
 soliloquizing, as he said in an undertone : " They came 
 out before the gale have laid on the island these two 
 
 * An island more than forty leagues in length lies opposite the coasts of 
 New York and Connecticut. The arm of the sea which separates it from 
 the main, technically called a sound, and in that part of the country, par 
 excellence, The Sound. This sheet of water varies in its breadth from five 
 to thirty miles. 
 
48 THE SPY. 
 
 days horse are on the road there will soon be fighting 
 near us." During this speech, Birch several times glanced 
 his eye toward Harper, with evident uneasiness, but no 
 corresponding emotion betrayed any interest of that gen- 
 tleman in the scene. He stood in silent contemplation of 
 the view, and seemed enjoying the change in the air. As 
 Birch concluded, however, Harper turned to his host, and 
 mentioned that his business would not admit of unneces- 
 sary delay ; he would, therefore, avail himself of the fine 
 evening to ride a few miles on his journey. Mr. Wharton 
 made many professions of regret at losing so agreeable an 
 inmate, but was too mindful of his duty not to speed the 
 parting guest, and orders were instantly given to that ef- 
 fect. 
 
 The uneasiness of the peddler increased in a manner for 
 which nothing apparent could account ; his eye was con- 
 stantly wandering toward the lower end of the vale, as if 
 in expectation of some interruption from that quarter. At 
 length Caesar appeared, leading the noble beast which was 
 to bear the weight of the traveller. The peddler offi- 
 ciously assisted to tighten the girths, and fasten the blue 
 cloak and valise to the mail-straps. 
 
 Every preparation being completed, Harper proceeded 
 to take his leave. To Sarah and her aunt he paid his com- 
 pliments with ease and kindness ; but when he came to 
 Frances, he paused a moment, while his face assumed an 
 expression of more than ordinary benignity. His eye re- 
 peated the blessing which had before fallen from his lips, 
 and the girl felt her cheeks glow, and her heart beat with 
 a quicker pulsation, as he spoke his adieux. There was a 
 mutual exchange of polite courtesy between the host and 
 his parting guest ; but as Harper frankly offered his hand 
 to Captain Wharton, he remarked, in a manner of great so- 
 lemnity : 
 
 " The step you have undertaken is one of much danger, 
 and disagreeable consequences to yourself may result from 
 it ; in such a case, I may have it in my power to prove the 
 gratitude I owe your family for its kindness." 
 
 " Surely, sir," cried the father, losing sight of delicacy 
 in apprehension for his child, "you will keep secret the 
 discovery which your being in my house has enabled you 
 to make." 
 
 Harper turned quickly to the speaker, and then, losing 
 the sternness which had begun to gather on his counte- 
 nance, he answered, mildly : "I have learned nothing in 
 
 
THE SPY. 49 
 
 your family, sir, of which I was ignorant before ; but your 
 son is safer from my knowledge of his visit than he would 
 be without it." 
 
 He bowed to the whole party, and without taking any 
 notice of the peddler, other than by simply thanking him 
 for his attentions, mounted his horse, and, riding steadily 
 and gracefully through the little gate, was soon lost behind 
 the hill which sheltered the valley to the northward. 
 
 The eyes of 'the peddler followed the retiring figure of 
 the horseman as long as it continued within view, and as it 
 disappeared from his sight he drew a long and heavy sigh, 
 as if relieved from a load of apprehension. The Whartons 
 had meditated in silence on the character and visit of their 
 unknown guest for the same period, when the father ap- 
 proached Birch, and observed : 
 
 " I am yet your debtor, Harvey, for the tobacco you 
 were so kind as to bring me from the city." 
 
 " If it should not prove as good as the first," replied the 
 peddler, fixing a last and lingering look in the direction of 
 Harper's route, " it is owing to the scarcity of the article." 
 
 "I like it much," continued the other; " but you have 
 forgotten to name the price." 
 
 The countenance of the trader changed, and losing its ex- 
 pression of deep care in a natural acuteness, he answered : 
 
 " It is hard to say what ought to be the price ; I believe 
 I must leave it to your own generosity." 
 
 Mr. Wharton had taken a hand well filled with the 
 images of Carolus III. from his pocket, and now extended 
 it toward Birch with three of the pieces between his finger 
 and thumb. Harvey's eyes twinkled as he contemplated 
 the reward ; and rolling over in his mouth a large quantity 
 of the article in question, he coolly stretched forth his hand, 
 into which the dollars fell with a most agreeable sound ; 
 but not satisfied with the transient music of their fall, the 
 peddler gave each piece in succession a ring on the step- 
 ping-stone of the piazza, before he consigned it to the safe 
 keeping of a huge deerskin purse, which vanished from 
 the sight of the spectators so dexterously, that not one of 
 them could have told about what part of his person it was 
 secreted. 
 
 This very material point in his business so satisfactorily 
 completed, the peddler rose from his seat on the floor of the 
 piazza, and approached to where Captain Wharton stood, 
 supporting his sisters on either arm as they listened with 
 the lively interest of affection to his conversation. 
 
50 THE SPY. 
 
 The agitation of the preceding incidents had caused 
 such an expenditure of the juices which had become neces- 
 sary to the mouth of the peddler, that a new supply of the 
 weed was required before he could turn his attention to 
 business of lesser moment. This done he asked, abruptly : 
 
 "Captain Wharton, do you go in to-night ? " 
 
 "No !" said the captain, laconically, and looking at his 
 lovely burdens with great affection. "Mr. Birch, would you 
 have me leave such company so soon, when I may never 
 enjoy it again ?" 
 
 " Brother!" said Frances, "jesting on such a subject is 
 cruel." 
 
 " I rather guess," continued the peddler, coolly, " now 
 the storm is over the Skinners may be moving ; you had 
 better shorten your visit, Captain Wharton." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the British officer, " a few guineas will buy 
 off those rascals at any time, should I meet them. No, no, 
 Mr. Birch, here I stay until morning." 
 
 " Money could not liberate Major Andre," said the ped- 
 dler, dryly. 
 
 Both the sisters now turned to the captain in alarm, and 
 the elder observed : 
 
 " You had better take the advice of Harvey ; rest as- 
 sured, brother, his opinion in such matters ought not to be 
 disregarded." 
 
 "Yes," added the younger, "if, as I suspect, Mr. Birch 
 assisted you to come here, your safety, or happiness, dear 
 Henry, requires you to listen to him now." 
 
 " I brought myself out, and can take myself in," said the 
 captain, positively ; " our bargain went no farther than to 
 procure my disguise, and to let me know when the coast 
 was clear ; and in the latter particular you were mistaken, 
 Mr. Birch." 
 
 " I was," said the peddler, with some interest, "and the 
 greater is the reason why you should go back to-night ; the 
 pass I gave you will serve but once." 
 
 "Cannot you forge another?" 
 
 The pale cheek of the trader showed an unusual color, 
 but he continued silent, with his eyes fixed on the ground, 
 until the young man added, with great positiveness : " Here 
 I stay this night, come what will " 
 
 ""Captain Wharton," said the peddler, with great deliber- 
 ation and marked emphasis, " beware a tall Virginian, 
 with huge whiskers ! he is below you to my knowledge', 
 the devil can't deceive him ; I never could but once/ 1 
 
THE SPY. 51 
 
 "Let him beware of me," said Wharton, haughtily, 
 "but, Mr. Birch, I exonerate you from further responsi- 
 bility." 
 
 " Will you give me that in writing ? " asked the cautious 
 Birch. 
 
 "Oh! cheerfully," cried the captain, with a laugh. 
 "Caesar ! pen, ink, and paper, while I write a discharge for 
 my trusty attendant, Harvey Birch, peddler, etc., etc." 
 
 The implements for writing were produced, and the 
 captain, with great gayety, wrote the desired acknowl- 
 edgment in language of his own ; which the peddler took, 
 and carefully depositing it by the side of the images of his 
 Catholic Majesty, made a sweeping bow to the whole 
 family, and departed as he had approached. He was soon 
 seen at a distance, stealing into the door of his own hum- 
 ble dwelling. 
 
 The father and sisters of the captain were too much re- 
 joiced in retaining the young man to express, or even en- 
 tertain, the apprehensions his situation might reason- 
 ably excite ; but on retiring to their evening repast, a 
 cooler reflection induced the captain to think of changing 
 his mind. Unwilling to trust himself out of the protection 
 of his father's domains, the young man despatched Caesar 
 to desire another interview with Harvey. The black soon 
 returned with the unwelcome intelligence that it was now 
 too late. Katy had told him that Harvey must be miles 
 on his road to the northward, " having left home at early 
 candlelight with his pack." Nothing now remained to the 
 captain but patience, until the morning should afford fur- 
 ther opportunity of deciding on the best course for him to 
 pursue. 
 
 " This Harvey Birch, with his knowing looks and por- 
 tentous warnings, gives me more uneasiness than I am 
 willing to own," said Captain Wharton, rousing himself 
 from a fit of musing in which the danger of his situation 
 made no small part of his meditations. 
 
 " How is it that he is able to travel to and fro, in these 
 difficult times, without molestation ?" inquired Miss Pey- 
 ton. 
 
 "Why the rebels suffer him to escape so easily is more 
 than I can answer," returned the other ; " but Sir Henry 
 would not permit a hair of his head to be injured." * 
 
 "Indeed! "cried Frances, with interest; " is he then 
 known to Sir Henry Clinton ?" 
 
 " At least he ought to be." 
 
52 THE SPY. 
 
 " Do you think, my son," asked Mr. Wharton, " there is 
 no danger of his betraying you ?" 
 
 " Why no ; I reflected on that before I trusted myself 
 to his power," said the captain, thoughtfully : "he seems 
 to be faithful in matters of business. The danger to him- 
 self, should he return to the city, would prevent such an 
 act of villany." 
 
 " I think," said Frances, adopting the manner of her 
 brother, " Harvey Birch is not without good feelings ; at 
 least, he has the appearance of them at times." 
 
 <4 Oh!" cried his sister, exulting, " he has loyalty, and 
 that with me is a cardinal virtue." 
 
 " I am afraid," said her brother, laughing, " love of 
 money is a stronger passion than love of his king." 
 
 "Then," said the father, "you cannot be safe while in his 
 power for no love will withstand the temptation of money, 
 when offered to avarice." 
 
 " Surely, sir," cried the youth, recovering his gayety, 
 " there must be one love that can resist anything is there 
 not, Fanny ? " 
 
 " Here is your candle, you keep your father up beyond 
 his usual hour." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Through Solway sands, through Taross moss 
 
 Blindfold, he knew the paths to cross ; 
 
 By wily turns, by desperate bounds, 
 
 Had baffled Percy's best bloodhounds. 
 
 In Esk, or Liddel, fords were none, 
 
 But he would ride them, one by one ; 
 
 Alike to him was time, or tide, 
 
 December snow, or July's pride ; 
 
 Alike to him was tide or time, 
 
 Moonless midnight, or matin prime. WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 ALL the members of the Wharton family laid their heads 
 on their pillows that night with a foreboding of some in- 
 terruption to their ordinary quiet. Uneasiness kept the 
 sisters from enjoying their usual repose, and they rose from 
 their beds, on the following morning, unrefreshed and al- 
 most without having closed their eyes. 
 
 On taking an eager and hasty survey of the valley from 
 the windows of their room, nothing, however, but its usual 
 serenity was to be seen. It was glittering with the open- 
 
THE SPY. 53 
 
 ing brilliancy of one of those lovely, mild days, which 
 occur about the time of the falling of the leaf ; and which, 
 by their frequency, class the American autumn with the 
 most delightful seasons of other countries. We have no 
 spring ; vegetation seems to leap into existence, instead of 
 creeping as in the same latitudes of the old world ; but how 
 gracefully it retires ! September, October, even November 
 and December, compose the season for enjoyment in the 
 open air ; they have their storms, but they are distinct and 
 not of long continuance, leaving a clear atmosphere and a 
 cloudless sky. 
 
 As nothing could be seen likely to interrupt the enjoy- 
 ments and harmony of such a day, the sisters descended 
 to the parlor with a returning confidence in their brother's 
 security, and their own happiness. 
 
 The family were early in assembling around the break- 
 fast table ; and Miss Peyton, with a little of that minute 
 precision which creeps into the habit of single life, had 
 pleasantly insisted that the absence of her nephew should 
 in no manner interfere with the regular .hours she had es- 
 tablished ; consequently, the party were already seated 
 when the captain made his appearance ; though the un- 
 tasted coffee sufficiently proved that by none of his rela- 
 tives was his absence disregarded. 
 
 " I think I did much better," he cried, taking a chair 
 between his sisters and receiving their offered salutes, " to 
 secure a good bed and such a plentiful breakfast, instead 
 of trusting to the hospitality of that renowned corps, the 
 Cowboys." 
 
 " If you could sleep," said Sarah, " you were more for- 
 tunate than Frances and myself ; every murmur of the 
 night air sounded to me like the approach of the rebel 
 army." 
 
 " Why," said the captain, laughing, " I do acknowledge 
 a little inquietude myself but how was it with you ? " 
 turning to his younger and evidently favorite sister, and 
 tapping her cheek ; " did you see banners in the clouds, 
 and mistake Miss Peyton's ^Eolian harp for rebellious 
 music ?" 
 
 "Nay, Henry," rejoined the maid, looking at him affec- 
 tionately, "much as I love my own country, the approach 
 of her troops just now would give me great pain." 
 
 The brother made no reply ; but returning the fondness 
 expressed in her eye by a look of fraternal tenderness, he 
 gently pressed her hand in silence ; when Caesar, who had 
 
54 THE SPY. 
 
 participated largely in the anxiety of the family, and who 
 had risen with the dawn, and kept a vigilant watch on the 
 surrounding objects as he stood gazing from one of the 
 windows, exclaimed, with a face that approached to some- 
 thing like the hues of a white man : 
 
 "Run massa Harry run if he love old Csesar, run 
 here come a rebel horse." 
 
 "Run!" repeated the British officer, gathering himself 
 up in military pride ; " no, Mr. Caesar, running is not my 
 trade." While speaking, he walked deliberately to the 
 window, where the family were already collected in the 
 greatest consternation. 
 
 At the distance of more than a mile, about fifty dragoons 
 were to be seen winding down one of the lateral entrances 
 of the valley. In advance with an officer, was a man at- 
 tired in the dress of a countryman, who pointed in the di- 
 rection of the cottage. A small party now left the main 
 body, and moved rapidly toward the object of their des- 
 tination. 
 
 On reaching the road which led through the bottom of 
 the valley, they turned their horses' heads to the north. 
 The Whartons continued chained in breathless silence to 
 the spot, watching their movements, when the party, hav- 
 ing reached the dwelling of Birch, made a rapid circle 
 around his grounds, and in an instant his house was sur- 
 rounded by a dozen sentinels. 
 
 Two or three of the dragoons now dismounted and dis- 
 appeared ; in a few minutes, however, they returned to the 
 yard followed by Katy, from whose violent gesticulations 
 it was evident that matters of no trifling concern were on 
 the carpet. A short communication with the loquacious 
 housekeeper followed the arrival of the main body of the 
 troop, and the advanced party remounting, the whole 
 moved toward the Locusts with great speed. 
 
 As yet none of the family had sufficient presence of mind 
 to devise any means of security for Captain Wharton ; but 
 the danger now became too pressing to admit of longer 
 delay, and various means of secreting him were hastily 
 proposed ; but they were all haughtily rejected by the 
 young man, as unworthy of his character. It was too late 
 to retreat to the woods in the rear of the cottage, for he 
 would unavoidably be seen, and, followed by a troop of 
 horse, as inevitably taken. 
 
 At length, his sisters, with trembling hands, replaced his 
 original disguise, the instruments of which had been care- 
 
THE SPY. 55 
 
 fully kept at hand by Caesar, in expectation of some sud- 
 den emergency. 
 
 This arrangement was hastily and imperfectly com- 
 pleted, as the dragoons entered the lawn and orchard of 
 the Locusts, riding with the rapidity of the wind ; and in 
 their turn the Whartons were surrounded. 
 
 Nothing remained now but to meet the impending ex- 
 amination with as much indifference as the family could 
 assume. The leader of the horse dismounted, and, fol- 
 lowed by a couple of his men, he approached the outer 
 door of the building, which was slowly and reluctantly 
 opened for his admission by Caesar. The heavy tread of 
 the trooper, as he followed the black to the door of the 
 parlor, rang in the ears of the females as it approached 
 nearer and nearer, and drove the blood from their faces to 
 their hearts with a chill that nearly annihilated feeling. 
 
 A man, whose colossal stature manifested the possession 
 of vast strength, entered the room, and removing his cap, 
 he saluted the family with a mildness his appearance did 
 not indicate as belonging to his nature. His dark hair 
 .hung around his brow in profusion, though stained with 
 the powder which was worn at that day, and his face was 
 nearly hid in the whiskers by which it was disfigured. 
 Still, the expression of his eye, though piercing, was not 
 bad, and his voice, though deep and powerful, was far 
 from unpleasant. Frances ventured to throw a timid 
 glance at his figure as he entered, and saw at once the man 
 from whose scrutiny Harvey Birch had warned them there 
 was so much to be apprehended. 
 
 " You have no cause for alarm, ladies," said the officer, 
 pausing a moment, and contemplating the pale faces 
 around him ; " my business will be confined to a few ques- 
 tions, which, if freely answered, will instantly remove us 
 from your dwelling." 
 
 "And what may they be, sir?" stammered Mr. Whar- 
 ton, rising from his chair and waiting anxiously for the 
 reply. 
 
 " Has there been a strange gentleman staying with you 
 during the storm ? " continued the dragoon, speaking with 
 interest, and in some degree sharing in the evident anxiety 
 of the father. 
 
 "This gentleman here favored us with his company 
 during the rain, and has not yet departed." 
 
 "This gentleman ! " repeated the other, turning to Cap- 
 tain Wharton, and contemplating his figure for a mament, 
 
56 THE SPY. 
 
 until the anxiety of his countenance gave place to a lurk- 
 ing smile. He approached the youth with an air of comic 
 gravity, and with a low bow, continued " I am sorry for 
 the severe cold you have in your head, sir." 
 
 " I ! " exclaimed the captain, in surprise ; " I have no 
 cold in my head." 
 
 " I fancied it then, from seeing you had covered such 
 handsome black locks with that ugly old wig ; it was my 
 mistake, you will please to pardon it." 
 
 Mr. Wharton groaned aloud ; but the ladies, ignorant 
 of the extent of their visitor's knowledge, remained in 
 trembling yet rigid silence. The captain himself moved 
 his hand involuntarily to his head, and discovered that the 
 trepidation of his sisters had left some of his natural hair 
 exposed. The dragoon watched the movement with a con- 
 tinued smile, when, seeming to recollect himself, turning 
 to the father, he proceeded : 
 
 " Then, sir, I am to understand there has not been a 
 Mr. Harper here, within the week." 
 
 " Mr. Harper," echoed the other, feeling a load removed 
 from his heart "yes I had forgotten; but he is gone, 
 and if there be anything wrong in his character, we are in 
 entire ignorance of it to me he was a total stranger." 
 
 " You have but little to apprehend from his character," 
 answered the dragoon, dryly ; " but he is gone how 
 when and whither ? " 
 
 " He departed as he arrived," said Mr. Wharton, gather- 
 ing renewed confidence from the manner of the trooper ; 
 " on horseback, last evening, and he took the northern 
 road." 
 
 The officer listened to him with intense interest, his coun- 
 tenance gradually lighting into a smile of pleasure ; and 
 the instant Mr. Wharton concluded his laconic reply, he 
 turned on his heel and left the apartment. The Whar- 
 tons, judging from his manner, thought he was about to 
 proceed in quest of the object of his inquiries. They ob- 
 served the dragoon, on gaining the lawn, in earnest, and 
 apparently pleased, conversation with his two subalterns. 
 In a few moments orders were given to some of the troop, 
 and horsemen left the valley, at full speed, by various 
 roads. 
 
 The suspense of the party within, who were all highly 
 interested witnesses of the scene, was shortly terminated ; 
 for the heavy tread of the dragoon soon announced his 
 second approach. He bowed again politely as he re-entered 
 
THE SPY. 57 
 
 the room, and walking up to Captain Wharton, said, with 
 comic gravity : 
 
 "Now, sir, my principal business being done, may I beg 
 to examine the quality of that wig ? " 
 
 The British officer imitated the manner of the other, as 
 he deliberately uncovered his head and, handing him the 
 wig, observed, " I hope, sir, it is to your liking." 
 
 " I cannot, without violating the truth, say it is," re- 
 turned the dragoon ; <k I prefer your ebony hair, from 
 which you seem to have .combed the powder with great 
 industry. But that must have been a sad hurt you have 
 received under this enormous black patch." 
 
 " You appear so close an observer of things, I should 
 like your opinion of it, sir," said Henry, removing the silk, 
 and exhibiting the cheek free from blemish. 
 
 " Upon my word, you improve most rapidly in exter- 
 nals," added the trooper, preserving his muscles in inflex- 
 ible gravity: " if I could but persuade you to exchange this 
 old surtout for that handsome blue coat byyourside, I think 
 I never could witness a more agreeable metamorphosis, 
 since I was changed myself from a lieutenant to a captain. 
 
 Young Wharton very composedly did as was required; 
 and stood an extremely handsome, well-dressed young man. 
 The dragoon looked at him for a moment with the drollery 
 that characterized his manner, and then continued : 
 
 "This is a new-comer in the scene; it is usual, you 
 know, for strangers to be introduced; I am Captain Law- 
 ton, of the Virginia Horse." 
 
 " And I, sir, am Captain Wharton, of his Majesty's 6oth 
 Regiment of Foot," returned Henry, bowing stiffly, and re- 
 covering his natural manner. 
 
 The countenance of Lawton changed instantly, and his 
 assumed quaintness vanished. He viewed the figure of 
 Captain Wharton, as he stood proudly swelling with a pride 
 that disdained further concealment, and exclaimed, with 
 great earnestness : 
 
 " Captain Wharton, from my soul I pity you ! " 
 
 " Oh, then," cried the father in agony, " if you pity him, 
 dear sir, why molest him ? He is not a spy ; nothing but a 
 desire to see his friends prompted him to venture so far 
 from the regular army in disguise. Leave him with us ; 
 there is no reward, no sum, which I will not cheerfully 
 pay." 
 
 ''Sir, your anxiety for your friend excuses your lan- 
 guage," said Lawton, haughtily ; "but you forget I am a 
 
5 8 THE STY. 
 
 Virginian, and a gentleman." Turning to the young man, 
 he continued : " Were you ignorant, Captain Wharton, 
 that our pickets have been below you for several days ?" 
 
 " I did not know it until I reached them, and it was then 
 too late to retreat," said Wharton, sullenly. " I came out, 
 as my father has mentioned, to see my friends, understand- 
 ing your parties to be at Peekskill, and near the Highlands, 
 or surely I would not have ventured." 
 
 "All this may be very true ; but the affair of Andre has 
 made us on the alert. When treason reaches the grade of 
 general officers, Captain Wharton, it behooves the friends 
 of liberty to be vigilant." 
 
 Henry bowed to this remark in distant silence, but Sarah 
 ventured to urge something in behalf of her brother. The 
 dragoon heard her politely and apparently with commisera- 
 tion ; but, willing to avoid useless and embarrassing peti- 
 tions, he answered, mildly : 
 
 "I am not the commander of the party, madam; Major 
 Dunwoodie will decide what must be done with your 
 brother ; at all events, he will receive nothing but kind 
 and gentle treatment." 
 
 " Dunwoodie ! " exclaimed Frances, with a face in 
 which the roses contended for the mastery with the pale- 
 ness of apprehension ; "thank God ! then Henry is safe ! " 
 
 Lawton regarded her with a mingled expression of pity 
 and admiration ; then shaking his head doubtingly, he 
 continued : 
 
 " I hope so ; and, with your permission, we will leave 
 the matter for hi decision." 
 
 The color of Frances changed from the paleness of fear 
 to the glow of hope. Her dread on behalf of her brother 
 was certainly greatly diminished ; yet her form shook, her 
 breathing became short and irregular, and her whole 
 frame gave tokens of extraordinary agitation. Her eyes 
 rose from the floor to the dragoon, and were again fixed 
 immovably on the carpet she evidently wished to utter 
 something, but was unequal to the effort. Miss Peyton 
 was a close observer of these movements of her niece, and, 
 advancing with an air of feminine dignity inquired : 
 
 " Then, sir, we may expect the pleasure of Major Dun- 
 woodie's company shortly ? " 
 
 "Immediately, madam," answered the dragoon, with- 
 drawing his admiring gaze from the person of Frances ; 
 "expresses are already on the road to announce to him 
 our situation, and the intelligence will speedily bring him 
 
THE SPY. 59 
 
 to this valley ; unless, indeed, some private reasons may 
 exist to make a visit particularly unpleasant." 
 
 "We shall always be happy to see Major Dunwoodie." 
 
 "Oh ! doubtless ; he is a general favorite. May I pre- 
 sume on it so far as to ask leave to dismount and refresh 
 my men, who compose a part of his squadron ?" 
 
 There was a manner about the trooper that would have 
 made the omission of such a request easily forgiven by 
 Mr. Wharton, but he was fairly entrapped by his own 
 eagerness to conciliate, and it was useless to withhold a 
 consent which he thought would probably be extorted ; 
 he therefore made the most of necessity, nnd gave such 
 orders as would facilitate the wishes of Captain Lawton. 
 
 The officers were invited to take their morning's repast 
 at the breakfast-table, and, havirrg made their arrange- 
 ments without, the invitation was frankly accepted. None 
 of the watchfulness which was so necessary to their situ- 
 ation was neglected by the wary partisan. Patrols were 
 seen on the distant hills, taking their protecting circuit 
 around their comrades, who were enjoying, in the midst of 
 dangers, a security that can only spring from the watch- 
 fulness of discipline and the indifference of habit. 
 
 The addition to the party at Mr. Wharton's table was 
 only three, and they were all of them men who, under the 
 rough exterior induced by actual and arduous service, con- 
 cealed the manners of gentlemen. Consequently, the in- 
 terruption to the domestic privacy of the family was 
 marked by the observance of strict decorum. The ladies 
 left the table to their guests, who proceeded, without much 
 superfluous diffidence, to do proper honors to the hospital- 
 ity of Mr. Wharton. 
 
 At length, Captain Lawton suspended for a moment 
 his violent attacks on the buckwheat cakes, to inquire of 
 the master of the house if there w r as not a peddler of the 
 name of Birch who lived in the valley at times. 
 
 "At times only, I believe, sir," replied Mr. Wharton, cau- 
 tiously ; " he is seldom here ; I may say I never see him." 
 
 "That is strange, too," said the trooper, looking at the 
 disconcerted host intently, " considering he is your next 
 neighbor ; he must be quite domestic, sir ; and to the 
 ladies it must be somewhat inconvenient. I doubt not 
 that that muslin in the window-seat cost twice as much as 
 he would have asked them for it." 
 
 Mr. Wharton turned in consternation,^ and saw some of 
 the recent purchases scattered about the room. 
 
6o 7 HE SPY. 
 
 The two subalterns struggled to conceal their smiles ; 
 but the captain resumed his breakfast with an eagerness 
 that created a doubt whether he ever expected to enjoy 
 another. The necessity of a supply from the dominion of 
 Dinah soon, however, afforded another respite, of which 
 Lavvton availed himself. 
 
 "I had a wish to break this Mr. Birch of his unsocial 
 habits, and gave him a call this morning," he said ; " had 
 I found him within, I should have placed him where he 
 would enjoy life in the midst of society, for a short time at 
 least." 
 
 "And where might that be, sir?" asked Mr. Wharton, 
 conceiving it necessary to say something. 
 
 " The guard-room," said the trooper, dryly. 
 
 " What is the offence.of poor Birch ? " asked Miss Pey~ 
 ton, handing the dragoon a fourth dish of coffee. 
 
 " Poor ! " cried the captain ; " if he is poor, King George 
 is a bad paymaster." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said one of the subalterns ; " his Majesty 
 owes him a dukedom." 
 
 "And Congress a halter," continued the commanding 
 officer, commencing anew on a fresh supply of the cakes. 
 
 " I am sorry," said Mr. Wharton, " that any neighbor of 
 mine should incur the displeasure of our rulers." 
 
 " If I catch him," cried the dragoon, while buttering 
 another cake, " he will dangle from the limbs of one of his 
 namesakes." 
 
 " He would make no bad ornament, suspended from one 
 of those locusts before his own door," added the lieutenant. 
 
 " Never mind," continued the captain ; " I will have 
 him yet before I'm a major." 
 
 As the language of these officers appeared to be sincere, 
 and such as disappointed men in their rough occupations 
 are but too apt to use, the Whartons thought it prudent to 
 discontinue the subject. It was no new intelligence to 
 any of the family, that Harvey Birch was distrusted, and 
 greatly harassed, by the American Army. His escapes 
 from their hands, no less than his imprisonments, had 
 been the conversation of the country in too many in- 
 stances, and under circumstances of too great mystery, to 
 be easily forgotten. In fact, no small part of the bitter- 
 ness expressed by Captain Lawton against the peddler 
 arose from the unaccountable disappearance of the latter, 
 when intrusted to the custody of two of his most faithful 
 dragoons. 
 
THE SPY. 6 1 
 
 A twelvemonth had not yet elapsed since Birch had 
 been seen lingering near the headquarters of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, and at a time when important movements 
 were expected hourly to occur. So soon as the informa- 
 tion of this fact was communicated to the officer whose 
 duty it was to guard the avenues of the American camp, 
 he despatched Captain Lawton in pursuit of the peddler. 
 
 Acquainted with all the passes of the hills, and indefati- 
 gable in the discharge of his duty, the trooper had, with 
 much trouble and toil, succeeded in effecting his object. 
 The party had halted at a farm-house for the purposes of 
 refreshment, and the prisoner was placed in a room by 
 himself, but under the keeping of the two men before men- 
 tioned ; all that was known subsequently is, that a woman 
 was seen busily engaged in the employments of the house- 
 hold near the sentinels, and was particularly attentive to 
 the wants of the captain, until he was deeply engaged in 
 the employments of the supper-table. 
 
 Afterward, neither woman nor peddler was to be found. 
 The pack, indeed, was discovered open, and nearly empty, 
 and a small door, communicating with a room adjoining 
 to the one in which the peddler had been secured, was 
 ajar. 
 
 Captain Lawton never could forgive the deception ; his 
 antipathies to his enemies were not very moderate, but 
 this was adding an insult to his penetration that rankled 
 deeply. He sat in portentous silence, brooding over the 
 exploit of his prisoner, yet mechanically pursuing the 
 business before him, until, after sufficient time had passed 
 to make a very comfortable meal, a trumpet suddenly 
 broke on the ears of the party, sending its martial tones 
 up the valley, in startling melody. The trooper rose in- 
 stantly from the table, exclaiming : 
 
 " Quick, gentlemen, to your horses ; there comes Dun- 
 woodie ; " and, followed by his officers, he precipitately 
 left the room. 
 
 With the exception of the sentinels left to guard Cap- 
 tain Wharton, the dragoons mounted, and marched out to 
 meet their comrades. 
 
 None of the watchfulness necessary in war, in which 
 similarity of language, appearance, and customs render 
 prudence doubly necessary, was omitted by the cautious 
 leader. On getting sufficiently near, however, to a body 
 of horse of more than double his own number, to distin- 
 guish countenances, Lawton plunged his rowels into his 
 
62 THE SPY. 
 
 charger, and in a moment he was by the side of his com- 
 mander. 
 
 The ground in front of the cottage was again occupied 
 by the horse ; and, observing the same precautions as be- 
 fore, the newly arrived troops hastened to participate in 
 the cheer prepared for their comrades. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 and let conquerors boast 
 
 Their fields of fame he who in virtue arms 
 A young, warm spirit against beauty's charms, 
 Who feels her brightness, yet defies her thrall, 
 Is the best, bravest conqueror of them all. 
 
 THE ladies of the Wharton family had collected about a 
 window, deeply interested in the scene we have related. 
 
 Sarah viewed the approach of her countrymen with a 
 smile of contemptuous indifference, for she even under- 
 valued the personal appearance of men, whom she thought 
 arrayed in the unholy cause of rebellion. Miss Peyton 
 looked on the gallant show with an exulting pride, which 
 arose in the reflection that the warriors before her were 
 the chosen troops of her native colony ; while Frances 
 gazed with a singleness of interest that absorbed all other 
 considerations. 
 
 The two parties had not yet joined, before her quick 
 eye distinguished one horseman in particular from those 
 around him. To her it appeared that even the steed of 
 this youthful soldier seemed to be conscious that he sus- 
 tained the weight of no common man his hoofs but 
 lightly touched the earth, and his airy tread was the curbed 
 motion of a blooded charger. 
 
 The dragoon sat in the saddle with a firmness and ease 
 that showed him master of himself and horse his figure 
 uniting the just proportions of strength and activity, being 
 tall, round, and muscular. To his officer Lawton made his 
 report, and, side by side, they rode into the field opposite 
 to the cottage. 
 
 The heart of Frances beat with a pulsation nearly sti- 
 fling as he paused for a moment and took a survey of the 
 building, with an eye whose dark and sparkling glance 
 could be seen, notwithstanding the distance ; her color 
 changed and for an instant, as she saw the youth throw 
 
THE SPY. 63 
 
 himself from the saddle, she was compelled to seek relief 
 for her trembling limbs in a chair. 
 
 The officer gave a few hasty orders to his second in com- 
 mand, walked rapidly into the lawn, and approached the 
 cottage. Frances rose from her seat, and vanished from 
 the apartment. The dragoon ascended the steps of the 
 piazza, and had barely time to touch the outer door, when 
 it opened to his admission. 
 
 The youth of Frances, when she left the city, had pre- 
 vented her sacrificing, in conformity to the customs of that 
 day, all her native beauties on the altar of fashion. Her 
 hair, which was of a golden richness of color, was left, un- 
 tortured, to fall in the natural ringlets of infancy, and it 
 shaded a face which was glowing with the united charms 
 of health, youth, and artlessness her eyes spoke volumes, 
 but her tongue was silent ; her hands were interlocked be- 
 fore her, and, aided by her taper form, bending forward 
 in an attitude of expectation, gave a loveliness and an in- 
 terest to her appearance that for a moment chained her 
 lover in silence to the spot. 
 
 Frances silently led the way into a vacant parlor, oppo- 
 site to the one in which the family were assembled, and, 
 turning to the soldier, frankly placing both her hands in 
 his own, exclaimed : 
 
 " Ah, Dunwoodie ! how happy, on many accounts, I am 
 to see you ! I have brought you in here, to prepare you 
 to meet an unexpected friend in the opposite room." 
 
 "To whatever cause it may be owing," cried the youth, 
 pressing her hands to his lips, " I, too, am happy in being 
 able to see you alone. Frances, the probation you have de- 
 creed is cruel ; war and distance may shortly separate us 
 forever." 
 
 " We must submit to the necessity which governs us. 
 But it is not love-speeches I would hear now ; I have other 
 and more important matters for your attention." 
 
 "What can be of more importance than to make you 
 mine by a tie that will be indissoluble ! Frances, you are 
 cold to me me from whose mind days of service and 
 nights of alarm have never been able to banish your image 
 for a single moment." 
 
 " Dear Dunwoodie," said Frances, softening nearly to 
 tears, and again extending herhand to him, as the richness 
 of her color gradually returned, " you know my sentiments 
 1 this war once ended, and you may take that hand forever 
 but I can never consent to tie myself to you by any 
 
64 THE SPY. 
 
 closer union than already exists, so long as you are ar- 
 rayed in arms against my only brother. Even now, that 
 brother is awaiting your decision to restore him to liberty, 
 or to conduct him to a probable death." 
 
 " Your brother ? " cried Dunwoodie, starting and turn- 
 ing pale; "your brother! explain yourself what dread- 
 ful meaning is concealed in your words ?" 
 
 " Has not Captain Lawton told you of the arrest of 
 Henry by himself this very morning ? " continued Fran- 
 ces, in a voice barely audible, and fixing on her lover a 
 look of the deepest concern. 
 
 " He told me of arresting a captain of the 6oth in dis- 
 guise, but without mentioning where or whom," replied 
 the major in a similar tone ; and dropping his head be- 
 tween his hands, he endeavored to conceal his feelings 
 from his companion. 
 
 " Dunwoodie ! Dunwoodie ! " exclaimed Frances, losing 
 all her former confidence in the most fearful apprehen- 
 sions, "what means this agitation ?" As the major slowly 
 raised his face, in which was pictured the most expressive 
 concern, she continued, " Surely, surely, you will not be- 
 tray your friend, my brother your brother to an igno- 
 minious death ?" 
 
 " Frances ! " exclaimed the young man in agony, " what 
 can I do ? " 
 
 "Do!" she repeated, gazing at him wildly; "would 
 Major Dunwoodie yield his friend to his enemies the 
 brother of "his betrothed wife ?" 
 
 " Oh, speak not so unkindly to me, dearest Miss Whar- 
 ton my own Frances. I would this moment die for you 
 for Henry but I cannot forget my duty cannot forfeit 
 my honor; you yourself would be the first to despise me 
 if I did." 
 
 " Peyton Dunwoodie !" said Frances, solemnly, and with 
 a face of ashy paleness, "you have told me you have 
 sworn, that you loved me " 
 
 " I do," interrupted the soldier, with fervor but, mo- 
 tioning for silence, she continued, in a voice that trembled 
 with her fears : 
 
 " Do you think I can throw myself into the arms of a 
 man whose hands are stained with the blood of my only 
 brother? " 
 
 "Frances! you wring my very heart;" then pausing, 
 to struggle with his feelings, he endeavored to force a 
 smile, as he added, "but, after all, we may be torturing 
 
THE SPY. 65 
 
 ourselves with unnecessary fears, and Henry, when I know 
 the circumstances, may be nothing more than a prisoner 
 of war ; in which case, I can liberate him on parole." 
 
 There is no more delusive passion than hope ; and it 
 seems to be the happy privilege of youth to cull all the 
 pleasure that can be gathered from its indulgence. It is 
 when we are most worthy of confidence ourselves that we 
 are least apt to distrust others ; and what we think ought 
 to be, we are prone to think will be. 
 
 The half-formed expectations of the young soldier were 
 communicated to the desponding sister, more by the eye 
 than the voice, and the bl-ood rushed again to her cheek, 
 as she cried : 
 
 " Oh ! there can be no just grounds to doubt it ; I knew 
 I knew Dunwoodie, you would never desert us in the 
 hour of our greatest need ! " The violence of her feelings 
 prevailed, and the agitated girl found relief in a flood of 
 tears. 
 
 The office of consoling those we love is one of the dear- 
 est prerogatives of affection ; and Major Duawoodie, al- 
 though but little encouraged by his own momentary sug- 
 gestion of relief, could not undeceive the lovely girl, who 
 leaned on his shoulder, as he wiped the traces of her feel- 
 ing from her face, with a trembling, but reviving confi- 
 dence, in the safety of her brother and the protection of 
 her lover. 
 
 Frances having sufficiently recovered her recollection to 
 command herself, now eagerly led the way into the oppo- 
 site room, to communicate to her family the pleasing in- 
 telligence which she already conceived so certain. 
 
 Dunwoodie followed her reluctantly, and with forebod- 
 ings of the result ; but a few moments brought him into 
 the presence of his relatives, and he summoned all his res- 
 olution to meet the trial with firmness. 
 
 The salutations of the young men were cordial and 
 frank, and, on the part of Henry Wharton, as collected as 
 if nothing had occurred to disturb his self-possession. 
 
 The abhorrence of being, in any manner, auxiliary to 
 the arrest of his friend ; the danger to the life of Captain 
 Wharton ; and the heart-breaking declaration of Frances, 
 had, however, created an uneasiness in the bosom of Major 
 Dunwoodie which all his efforts could not conceal. His 
 reception by the rest of the family was kind and sincere, 
 both from old regard and remembrance of former obliga- 
 tions, heightened by the anticipations they could not fa.il 
 
 5 
 
66 THE SPY. 
 
 to read in the expressive eyes of the blushing girl by his 
 side. After exchanging greetings with every member of 
 the family, Major Dunwoodie beckoned to the sentinel, 
 whom the wary prudence of Captain Lawton had left in 
 charge of the prisoner, to leave the room. Turning to 
 Captain Wharton, he inquired, mildly : 
 
 " Tell me, Henry, the circumstances of this disguise, in 
 which Captain Lawton reports you to have been found, and 
 remember remember Captain Wharton your answers 
 are entirely voluntary." 
 
 " The disguise was used by me, Major Dunwoodie," re- 
 plied the English officer, gravely, " to enable me to visit 
 my friends, without incurring the danger of becoming a 
 prisoner of war." 
 
 " But you did not wear it until you saw the troop of 
 Lawton approaching ?" . 
 
 "Oh! no," interrupted Frances, eagerly, forgetting all 
 the circumstances in her anxiety for her brother ; " Sarah 
 and myself placed them on him when the dragoons ap- 
 peared ; it was our awkwardness that led to the discovery." 
 
 The countenance of Dunwoodie brightened, as, turning 
 his eyes in fondness on the speaker, he listened to her ex- 
 planation. 
 
 " Probably some articles of your own," he continued, 
 " which were at hand, and were used on the spur of the 
 moment." 
 
 " No," said Wharton, with dignity ; " the clothes were 
 worn by me from the city, they were procured for the pur- 
 pose to which they were applied, and I intended to use 
 them in my return this very day." 
 
 The appalled Frances shrank back from between her 
 brother and lover, where her ardent feelings had carried 
 her, as the whole truth glanced over her mind, and she 
 sank into her seat, gazing wildly on the young men. 
 
 " But the pickets the party at the Plains ? " added Dun- 
 woodie, turning pale. 
 
 " I passed them, too, in disguise. I made use of this 
 pass, for which I paid ; and, as it bears the name of Wash- 
 ington, I presume is forged." 
 
 Dunwoodie caught the paper from his hand, eagerly, and 
 stood gazing on the signature for some time in silence, dur- 
 ing which the soldier gradually prevailed over the man ; 
 when he turned to the prisoner, with a searching look, as 
 he asked : 
 
 " Captain Wharton, whence did you procure this paper ? " 
 
THE SPY. 67 
 
 " That is a question, I conceive, Major Dimwoodie lias 
 no right to ask." 
 
 " Your pardon, sir, my feelings may have led me into an 
 impropriety." 
 
 " Mr. Wharton, who had been a deeply interested audi- 
 tor, now so far conquered his feelings as to say, " Surely, 
 Major Dunwoodie, the paper cannot be material ; such 
 artifices are used daily in war." 
 
 "This name is no counterfeit," said the dragoon, study- 
 ing the characters and speaking in a low voice ; " is trea- 
 son yet among us undiscovered ? The confidence of Wash- 
 ington has been abused, for the fictitious name is in a 
 different hand from the pass. Captain Wharton, my duty 
 will not suffer me to grant you a parole ; you must accom- 
 pany me to the Highlands." 
 
 " I did not expect otherwise, Major Dunwoodie." 
 
 Dunwoodie turned slowly toward the sisters, when the 
 figure of Frances once more arrested his gaze. She had 
 risen from her seat, and stood again with her hands clasped 
 before him in an attitude of petition ; feeling himself un- 
 able to contend longer with his feelings, he made a hurried 
 excuse for a temporary absence, and left the room. Fran- 
 ces followed him, and, obedient to the direction of the eye, 
 the soldier re-entered the apartment in which had been 
 their first interview. 
 
 " Major Dunwoodie," said Frances, in a voice barely 
 audible, as she beckoned to him to be seated ; her cheek, 
 which had been of a chilling whiteness, was flushed with a 
 suffusion that crimsoned her whole countenance ; she 
 struggled with herself for a moment, and continued " I 
 have already acknowledged to you my esteem ; even now, 
 when you most painfully distress me, I wish not to conceal 
 it. Believe me, Henry is innocent of everything but im- 
 prudence. Our country can sustain no wrong." Again 
 she paused, and almost gasped for breath ; her color 
 changed rapidly from red to white, until the blood rushed 
 into her face, covering her features with the brightest ver- 
 milion ; and she added hastily, in an undertone, " I have 
 promised, Dimwoodie, when peace shall be restored to our 
 country, to become your wife-; give to my brother his lib- 
 erty on parole, and I will this day go with you to the altar, 
 follow you to the camp, and, in becoming a soldier's bride, 
 learn to endure a soldier's privations." 
 
 Dunwoodie seized the hand which the blushing girl, in 
 her ardor, had extended toward him, and pressed it for a 
 
68 THE SPY. 
 
 moment to his bosom ; then rising from his seat, he paced 
 the room in excessive agitation. 
 
 " Frances, say no more, I conjure you, unless you wish 
 to break my heart." 
 
 " You then reject my offered hand ? " she said, rising 
 with dignity, though her pale cheek and quivering lip 
 plainly showed the conflicting passions within. 
 
 " Reject it ! Have I not sought it with entreaties with 
 tears ? Has it not been the goal of all my earthly wishes ? 
 But to take it under such conditions would be to dishonor 
 both. We will hope for better things. Henry must be 
 acquitted ; perhaps not tried. No intercession of mine 
 shall be wanting, you must well know ; and believe me, 
 Frances, I am not without favor with Washington." 
 
 " That very paper, that abuse of his confidence to which 
 you allude, will steel him to my brother's case. If threats 
 or entreaties could move his stern sense of justice, would 
 Andre have suffered ?" As Frances uttered these words, 
 she fled from the room in despair. 
 
 Dunwoodie remained for a minute nearly stupefied ; 
 and then he followed with a view to vindicate himself, and 
 to relieve her apprehensions. On entering the hall that 
 divided the two parlors, he was met by a small ragged boy, 
 who looked one moment at his dress, and placing a piece 
 of paper in his hands, immediately vanished through the 
 outer door of the building. The bewildered state of his 
 mind, and the suddenness of the occurrence, gave the major 
 barely time to observe the messenger to be a country lad, 
 meanly attired, and that he held in his hand one of those 
 toys which are to be bought in cities, and which he now 
 apparently contemplated with the conscious pleasure of 
 having fairly purchased, by the performance of the service 
 required. The soldier turned his eyes to the subject of the 
 note. It was written on a piece of torn and soiled paper, 
 and in a hand barely legible ; but, after some little labor, 
 he was able to make out as follows : 
 
 " The rig'lars are at hand, horse and foot." * 
 
 * There died a few years since, in Bedford, Westchester, a yeoman named 
 
 Elisha H . This person was employed by Washington as one of his 
 
 most confidential spies. By the conditions of their bargain, H was 
 
 never to be required to deal with third parties, since his risks were too 
 imminent. He was allowed to enter also into the service of Sir Henry 
 Clinton ; and so much confidence had Washington in his love of country 
 and discretion, that he was often intrusted with the minor military move- 
 ments, in order that he might enhance his value with the English general 
 
THE SPY. 69 
 
 Dunwoodie started ; and, forgetting everything but the 
 duties of a soldier, he precipitately left the house. While 
 walking rapidly toward the troops, he noticed on a distant 
 hill a vedette riding with speed ; several pistols were fired 
 in quick succession ; and the next instant the trumpets of 
 the corps rang in his ears with the enlivening strain of 
 " To arms ! " By the time he had reached the ground oc- 
 cupied by his squadron, the major saw that every man 
 was in active motion. Lawton was already in the saddle, 
 eying the opposite extremity of the valley with the eager- 
 ness of expectation, and crying to the musicians, in tones 
 but little lower than their own : 
 
 by communicating them. In this manner, H had continued to serve 
 
 for a long period, when chance brought him into the city {then held by the 
 British) at a moment when an expedition was about to quit it, to go against 
 a small post established at Bedford, his native village, where the Americans 
 had a depot of provisions. H easily ascertained the force and destina- 
 tion of the detachment ordered on this service, but he was at a loss in 
 what manner to communicate his information to the officer in command at 
 Bedford, without betraying his own true character to a third person. 
 There was no time to reach Washington, and under the circumstances, he 
 finally resolved to hazard a short note to the American commandant, 
 stating the danger, and naming the time when the attack might be ex- 
 pected. To this note he even ventured to affix his own initials E. H., 
 though he had disguised the hand, under abelief that, as he knew himself 
 to be suspected by his countrymen, it might serve to give more weight to 
 his warning. His family being at Bedford, the note was transmitted with 
 
 facility, and arrived in good season, H himself remaining in New 
 
 York. 
 
 The American commandant did what every sensible officer, in a similar 
 case, would have done. He sent a courier with the note to Washington, 
 demanding orders, while he prepared his little party to make the best de- 
 fence in his power. 
 
 The headquarters of the American army were, at that time, in the High- 
 lands. Fortunately, the express met Washington, on a tour of observation 
 near their entrance. The note was given to him, and he read it in the 
 saddle ; adding, in pencil, " Believe all that E. H. tells you. George 
 Washington." He returned it to the courier, with an injunction to ride 
 for life or death. 
 
 The courier reached Bedford after the British had made their attack. 
 The commandant read the reply, and put it in his pocket. The Amer- 
 icans were defeated, and their leader killed. The note of H , with 
 
 the line written on it by Washington, was found on his person. 
 
 The following day H was summoned to the presence of Sir Henry 
 
 Clinton. After the latter had put several general questions, he suddenly 
 gave the note to the spy, and asked if he knew the handwriting, and de- 
 manding who the E. H. was. " It is Elijah Hadden, the spy you hanged 
 yesterday at Powles Hook." The readiness of this answer, connected with 
 the fact that a spy having the same initials had been executed the day be- 
 fore, and the coolness of H , saved him. Sir Henry Clinton allowed him 
 
 to quit his presence, and he never saw him afterward. 
 
70 THE SPY. 
 
 "Sound away, my lads, and let these Englishmen know 
 that the Virginia Horse are between them arid the end of 
 their journey." 
 
 The vedettes and patrols now came pouring in, each 
 making in succession his hasty report to the commanding 
 officer, who gave his orders coolly, and with a promptitude 
 that made obedience certain. Once only, as he wheeled 
 his horse to ride over the ground in front, did Dunwoodie 
 trust himself with a look at the cottage, and his heart beat 
 with unusual rapidity as he saw a female figure standing, 
 with clasped hands, at a window of the room in whicli he 
 had met Frances. The distance was too great to distin- 
 guish her features, but the soldier could not doubt that it 
 was his mistress. The paleness of his cheek and the lan- 
 guor of his eye endured but for a moment longer. As lie 
 rode toward the intended battle-ground a flush of ardor 
 began to show itself on his sunburnt features ; and his 
 dragoons, who studied the face of their leader as the best 
 index to their own fate, saw again the wonted flashing of 
 the eyes, and the cheerful animation, which they had so 
 often witnessed on the eve of a battle. By the additions 
 of the vedettes and parties that had been out, and whicli 
 now had all joined, the whole number of the horse was in- 
 creased to nearly two hundred. There was also a small 
 body of men, whose ordinary duties were those of guides, 
 but who, in cases of emergency, were embodied and did 
 duty as foot soldiers ; these were dismounted, and pro- 
 ceeded, by the order of Dunwoodie, to level the few fences 
 which might interfere with the intended movements of the 
 cavalry. The neglect of husbandry, which had been occa- 
 sioned by the war, left this task comparatively easy. 
 Those long lines of heavy and durable walls, which now 
 sweep through every part of the county, forty years ago 
 were unknown. The slight and tottering fences of stone 
 were then used more to clear the land for the purposes of 
 cultivation than as permanent barriers, and required the 
 constant attention of the husbandman, to preserve them 
 against the fury of the tempests and the frosts of winter. 
 Some few of them had been built with more care imme- 
 diately around the dwelling of Mr. Wharton ; but those 
 which had intersected the vale below were now generally 
 a pile of ruins, over which the horses of the Virginians 
 would bound with the fleetness of the wind. Occasionally 
 a short line yet preserved its erect appearance ; but as 
 none of these crossed the ground on which Dunwoodie 
 
THE SPY. 71 
 
 intended to act, there remained only the slighter fences of 
 rails to be thrown down. Their duty was hastily, but ef- 
 fectually, performed ; and the guides withdrew to the post 
 assigned to them for the approaching fight. 
 
 Major Dunwoodie had received from his scouts all the 
 intelligence concerning his foe which was necessary to 
 enable him to make his arrangements. The bottom of the 
 valley was an even plain, that fell with a slight inclination 
 from the foot of the hills on either side, to the level of a 
 natural meadow that wound through the country on the 
 banks of a small stream, by whose waters it was often in- 
 undated and fertilized. This brook was easily forded in 
 any part of its course ; and the only impediment it offered 
 to the movements of the horse was in a place where it 
 changed its bed from the western to the eastern side of the 
 valley, and where its banks were more steep and difficult 
 of access than common. Here the highway crossed it ,by 
 a rough wooden bridge, as it did again at the distance of 
 half a mile above the Locusts. 
 
 The hills on the eastern side of the valley were abrupt, 
 and frequently obtruded themselves in rocky prominences 
 into its bosom, lessening the width to half the usual dimen- 
 sions. One of these projections was but a short distance 
 in the rear of the squadron of dragoons, and Dunwoodie 
 directed Captain Lawton to withdraw, with two troops, 
 behind its cover. The officer obeyed with a kind of surly 
 reluctance, that was, ho\vever, somewhat lessened by the 
 anticipations of the effect his sudden appearance would 
 make on the enemy. Dunwoodie knew his man, and had 
 selected the captain for this service both because he feared 
 his precipitation in the field, and knew, when needed, his 
 support would never fail to appear. It was only in front 
 of the enemy that Captain Lawton was hasty ; at all other 
 times his discernment and self-possession were consum- 
 mately preserved ; but he sometimes forgot them in his 
 eagerness to engage. On the left of the ground on which 
 Dunwoodie intended to meet his foe, was a close wood 
 which skirted that side of the valley for the distance of a 
 mile. Into this, then, the guides retired and took their 
 station near its edge, in such a manner as would enable 
 them to maintain a scattering but effectual fire on the 
 advancing columns of the enemy. 
 
 It cannot be supposed that all these preparations were 
 made unheeded by the inmates of the cottage ; on the con- 
 trary, every feeling which can agitate the human breast, in 
 
72 THE SPY. 
 
 witnessing such a scene, was actively alive. Mr. Wharton 
 alone saw no hopes to himself in the termination of the 
 conflict. If the British should prevail, his son would be 
 liberated ; but what then would be his own fate ! He had 
 hitherto preserved his neutral character in the midst of 
 trying circumstances. The fact of his having a son in the 
 royal, or, as it was called, the regular army, had very nearly 
 brought his estates to the hammer. Nothing had obviated 
 this result but the powerful interest of the relation, who 
 held a high political rank in the state, and his own vigilant 
 prudence. In his heart he was a devoted loyalist ; and 
 when the blushing Frances had communicated to him the 
 wishes of her lover, on their return from the American 
 camp the preceding spring, the consent he had given to 
 her future union with a rebel, was as much extracted by 
 the increasing necessity which existed for his obtaining re- 
 publican support, as by any considerations for the happi- 
 ness of his child. Should his son now be rescued, he 
 would, in the public mind, be united with him as a plotter 
 against the freedom of the States ; and should he remain 
 a captive and undergo the impending trial, the conse- 
 quences might be still more dreadful. Much as he loved 
 his wealth, Mr. Wharton loved his children better ; and he 
 sat gazing on the movements without with a listless va- 
 cancy in his countenance that fully denoted his imbecility 
 of character. 
 
 Far different were the feelings of the son. Captain 
 Wharton had been left in the keeping of two dragoons, 
 one of whom marched to and fro on the piazza with a 
 measured tread, and the other had been directed to con- 
 tinue in the same apartment with the prisoner. The young 
 man had witnessed all the movements of Dunwoodie w T ith 
 admiration, mingled with fearful anticipations of the con- 
 sequences to his friends. He particularly disliked the am- 
 bush of the detachment under Lawton, who could be dis- 
 tinctly seen from the windows of the cottage, cooling his 
 impatience by pacing on foot the ground in front of his 
 men. Henry Wharton threw several hasty and inquiring 
 glances around, to see if no means of liberation would 
 offer, but invariably found the eyes of his sentinel fixed on 
 him with the watchfulness of an Argus. He longed, witli 
 the ardor of youth, to join in the glorious fray, but was 
 compelled to remain a dissatisfied spectator of a scene in 
 which he would so cheerfully have been an actor. Miss 
 Peyton and Sarah continued gazing on the preparations 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 73 
 
 with varied emotions, in which concern for the fate of the 
 captain formed the most prominent feeling, until the 
 moment the shedding of blood seemed approaching, when, 
 with the timidity of their sex, they sought the retirement 
 of an inner room. Not so Frances ; she returned to tlie 
 apartment where she had left Dunwoodie, and, from one of 
 its windows, had been a deeply interested spectator of all 
 his movements. The wheelings of the troops, the deadly 
 preparations, had all been unnoticed ; she saw her lover 
 only, and with mingled emotions of admiration and dread 
 that nearly chilled her. At one moment the blood rushed 
 to her heart, as she saw the young warrior riding through 
 his ranks, giving life and courage to all whom he addressed ; 
 and the next, it curdled with the thought that the very 
 gallantry she so much valued might prove the means of 
 placing the grave between her and the object of her regard. 
 Frances gazed until she could look no longer. 
 
 In a field on the left of the cottage, and at a short dis- 
 tance in the rear of the troops, was a small group, whose 
 occupation seemed'to differ from that of all around them. 
 They were in number only three, being two men and a 
 mulatto boy. The principal personage of this party was a 
 man whose leanness made his really tall stature appear ex- 
 cessive. He wore spectacles was unarmed, had dis- 
 mounted, and seemed to be dividing his attention between 
 a cigar, a book, and the incidents of the field before him. 
 To this party Frances determined to send a note, directed 
 to Dunwoodie. She wrote hastily, with a pencil, " Come 
 to me, Peyton, if it be but for a moment" and Caesar emerged 
 from the cellar-kitchen, taking the precaution to go by the 
 rear of the building, to avoid the sentinel on the piazza, 
 who had very cavalierly ordered all the family to remain 
 housed. The black delivered the note to the gentleman, 
 with a request that it might be forwarded to Major Dun- 
 woodie. It was the surgeon of the horse to whom Caesar 
 addressed himself ; and the teeth of the African chattered 
 as he saw displayed upon the ground the several instru- 
 ments which were in preparation for the anticipated op- 
 erations. The doctor himself seemed to view the arrange- 
 ment with great satisfaction, as he deliberately raised his 
 eyes from his book to order the boy to convey the note to 
 his commanding officer, and then dropping them quietly 
 on the page, he continued his occupation. Caesar was 
 slowly retiring, as the third personage, who by his dress 
 might be an inferior assistant of the surgical department, 
 
s 
 
 74 THE 57* r. 
 
 coolly inquired, " if he would have a leg taken off ? " This 
 question seemed to remind the black of the existence of 
 those limbs ; for he made such use of them as to reach the 
 piazza at the same instant that Major Dunwoodie rode up, 
 at half-speed. The brawny sentinel squared himself, and 
 poised his sword with military precision, as he stood on 
 his post while his officer passed ; but no sooner had the 
 door closed than, turning to the negro, he said, sharply : 
 
 " Harkee, blackey, if you quit the house again without 
 my knowledge, I shall turn barber, and shave off one of 
 those ebony ears with this razor." 
 
 Thus assailed in another member, Caesar hastily retreated 
 into his kitchen, muttering something in which the words 
 " Skinner, and rebel rascal," formed a principal part of his 
 speech. 
 
 " Major Dunwoodie," said Frances to her lover as he 
 entered, " I may have done you injustice ; if I have ap- 
 peared harsh " 
 
 The emotions of the agitated girl prevailed, and she 
 burst, into tears. 
 
 " Frances," cried the soldier, with warmth, " you are 
 never harsh, never unjust, but when you doubt my love." 
 
 "Ah! Dunwoodie," added the sobbing girl, "you are 
 about to risk your life in battle ; remember that there is 
 one heart whose happiness is built on your safety ; brave 
 I know you are ; be prudent " 
 
 " For your sake ?" inquired the delighted youth. 
 
 " For my sake," replied Frances, in a voice barely audi- 
 ble, and dropping on his bosom. 
 
 Dunwoodie folded her to his heart, and was about to 
 speak, as a trumpet sounded in the southern end of the 
 vale. Imprinting one long kiss of affection on her unre- 
 sisting lips, the soldier tore himself from his mistress and 
 hastened to the scene of strife. 
 
 Frances threw herself on a sofa, buried her head under 
 its cushion, and with her shawl drawn over her face, to 
 exclude as much of sound as possible, continued there 
 until the shouts of the combatants, the rattling of the 
 firearms, and the thundering tread of the horses had 
 ceased. 
 
THE SPY. 75 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The game's afoot j 
 
 Follow your spirit. Shakespeare. 
 
 THE rough and unimproved face of the country, the fre- 
 quency of covers, together with the great distance from 
 their own country, and the facilities afforded them for 
 rapid movements to the diiferent points of the war by the 
 undisputed command of the ocean, had united to deter 
 the English from employing a heavy force in cavalry, in 
 their early efforts to subdue the revolted colonies. 
 
 Only one regiment of regular horse was sent from the 
 mother-country during the struggle. But legions and 
 independent corps were formed in different places, as it 
 best accorded with the views of the royal commanders, or 
 suited the exigency of the times. These were not infre- 
 quently composed of men raised in the colonies, and at 
 other times drafts were had from the regiments of the 
 line, and the soldier was made to lay aside the musket 
 and bayonet, and taught to wield the sabre and carbine. 
 One particular body of the subsidiary troops was included 
 in this arrangement, and the Hessian yagers were trans- 
 formed into a corps of heavy and inactive horse. 
 
 Opposed to them were the hardiest spirits of America. 
 Most of the cavalry regiments of the continental army 
 were led and officered by gentlemen from the south. The 
 high and haughty courage of the commanders had com- 
 municated itself to the privates, who were men selected 
 with care and great attention to the service they were in- 
 tended to perform. 
 
 While the British were confined to their empty con- 
 quests in the possession of a few of the larger towns, or 
 marched through counties that were swept of everything 
 like military supplies, the light troops of their enemies 
 had the range of the whole interior. 
 
 The sufferings of the line of the American army were 
 great beyond example ; but possessing the power, and 
 feeling themselves engaged in a cause which justified 
 severity, the cavalry officers were vigilant in providing for 
 their wants, and the horse were well mounted, well fed, 
 and consequently eminently effective. Perhaps the world 
 could not furnish more brave, enterprising, and resistlesi 
 
76 THE SPY. 
 
 corps of light cavalry than a few that were in the conti- 
 nental service at the time of which we write. 
 
 Dunwoodie's men had often tried their prowess against 
 the enemy, and they now sat panting to be led once more 
 against foes who they seldom charged in vain. Their 
 wishes were soon to be gratified ; for their commander 
 had scarcely time to regain his seat in the saddle, before 
 a body of the enemy came sweeping round the base of 
 the hill which intersected the view to the south. A few 
 minutes enabled the major to distinguish their character. 
 In one troop he saw the green coats of the Cow-boys, and 
 in the other the leathern helmets and wooden saddles of 
 the yagers. Their numbers were about equal to the body 
 under his immediate orders. 
 
 On reaching the open space near the cottage of Harvey 
 Birch, the enemy halted and drew up his men in line, 
 evidently making preparations for a charge. At this mo- 
 ment a column of foot appeared in the vale, and pressed 
 forward to the bank of the brook we have already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Major Dunwoodie was not less distinguished by cool- 
 ness and judgment than, where occasion offered, by his 
 dauntless intrepidity. He at once saw his advantage, and 
 determined to profit by it. The column he led began 
 slowly to retire from the field, when the youthful German, 
 who commanded the enemy's horse, fearful of missing an 
 easy conquest, gave the word to charge. Few troopers 
 were more hardy than the Cow-boys ; they sprang eagerly 
 forward in the pursuit, with a confidence created by the 
 retiring foe and the column in their rear ; the Hessians 
 followed more slowly, but in better order. The trumpets 
 of the Virginians now sounded long and lively ; they were 
 answered by a strain from the party in ambush that went 
 to the hearts of their enemies. The column of Dunwoodie 
 wheeled in perfect order, opened, and, as the word charge 
 was given, the troops of Lavvton emerged from their cover, 
 with their leader in advance, waving his sabre over his 
 head and shouting, in a voice that was heard above the 
 clangor of the martial music. 
 
 The charge threatened too much for the refugee troop. 
 They scattered in every direction, flying from the field as 
 fast as their horses, the chosen beasts of Westchestcr, 
 could carry them. Only a few were hurt ; but such as did 
 meet the arms of their avenging countrymen never sur- 
 vived the blow to tell who struck it. It was upon the 
 
THE SPY. 77 
 
 poor vassals of the German tyrant that the shock fell. 
 Disciplined to the most exact obedience, these ill-fated 
 men met the charge bravely, but they were swept before 
 the mettled horses and nervous arms of their antagonists 
 like chaff before the wind. Many of them were literally 
 ridden down, and Dunwoodie soon saw the field without 
 an opposing foe. The proximity of the infantry prevented 
 pursuit, and behind its column the few Hessians who es- 
 caped unhurt sought protection. 
 
 The more cunning refugees dispersed in small bands, 
 taking various and devious routes back to their old station 
 in front of Harlem. Many were the sufferers in cattle, 
 furniture, and person, that were created by this rout ; for 
 the dispersion of a troop of Cow-boys was only the exten- 
 sion of an evil. 
 
 Such a scene could not be expected to be acted so near 
 them, and the inmates of the cottage take no interest in the 
 result. In truth, the feelings it excited pervaded every 
 bosom, from the kitchen to the parlor. Terror and horror 
 had prevented the ladies from being spectators, but they 
 did not feel the less. Frances continued lying in the pos- 
 ture we have mentioned, offering up fervent and incoher- 
 ent petitions for the safety of her countrymen, although 
 in her inmost heart she had personified her nation by the 
 graceful image of Peyton Dunwoodie. Her aunt and sis- 
 ter were less exclusive in their devotions ; but Sarah be- 
 gan to feel, as the horrors of war were thus brought home 
 to her senses, less pleasure in her anticipated triumphs. 
 
 The inmates of Mr. Wharton's kitchen were four 
 namely, Caesar and his spouse, their granddaughter, a jet- 
 black damsel of twenty, and the boy before alluded to. 
 The blacks- were the remnants of a race of negroes which 
 had been entailed on his estate from Mr. Wharton's ma- 
 ternal ancestors, who were descended from the early Dutch 
 colonists. Time, depravity, and death had reduced them 
 to this small number ; and the boy, who was white, had 
 been added by Miss Peyton to the establishment, as an as- 
 sistant, to perform the ordinary services of a footman. 
 Caesar, after first using the precaution to place himself 
 under the cover of an angle in the wall, for a screen 
 against any roving bullet which might be traversing the 
 air, became an amused spectator of the skirmish. The 
 sentinel on the piazza was at the distance of but a few feet 
 from him, and he entered into the spirit of the chase with 
 all the ardor of a tried bloodhound ; he noticed the ap- 
 
78 THE SPY. 
 
 proach of the black, and his judicious position, with a 
 smile of contempt, as he squared himself toward the 
 enemy, offering his unprotected breast to any dangers 
 which might come. 
 
 After considering the arrangement of Caesar for a mo- 
 ment, with ineffable disdain, the dragoon said, with great 
 coolness : 
 
 *' You seem very careful of that beautiful person of 
 yours, Mr. Blueskin." 
 
 " A bullet hurt a colored man as much as a white," mut- 
 tered the black, surlily, casting a glance of much satisfac- 
 tion at his rampart. 
 
 " Suppose I make the experiment," returned the senti- 
 nel ; as he spoke he deliberately drew a pistol from his 
 belt and levelled it at the black. Caesar's teeth chattered 
 at the appearance of the dragoon, although he believed 
 nothing serious was intended. At this moment the column 
 of Dunvvoodie began to retire, and the royal cavalry com- 
 menced their charge. 
 
 " There, Mister Light-Horseman," said Caesar, eagerly, 
 who believed the Americans were retiring in earnest ; 
 '* why you rebels don't fight see see how King George's 
 men make Major Dunwoodie run ! Good gentleman, too, 
 but he don't like to fight a rig'lar." 
 
 "Damn your regulars," cried the other, fiercely ; "wait 
 a minute, blackey, and you'll see Captain Jack Lavvton 
 come out from behind yonder hill, and scatter these Cow- 
 boys like wild geese who've lost their leader." 
 
 Caesar supposed the party under Lawton to have sought 
 the shelter of the hill from motives similar to that which 
 had induced him to place the wall between himself and the 
 battle-ground ; but the fact soon verified the trooper's pro- 
 phecy, and the black witnessed with consternation the 
 total rout of the royal horse. 
 
 The sentinel manifested his exultation at the success of 
 his comrades with loud shouts, which soon brought his 
 companion, who had been left in the more immediate 
 charge of Henry Wharton, to the open window of the par- 
 lor. 
 
 " See, Tom, see," cried the delighted trooper, " how 
 Captain Lavvton makes that Hessian's leather cap fly ; and 
 now the major has killed the officer's horse zounds, why 
 didn't he kill the Dutchman, and save the horse ?" 
 
 A few pistols were discharged at the flying Cow-boys, 
 an/, a spent bullet broke a pane of glass within a few feet 
 
THE SPY. 79 
 
 of Caesar. Imitating the posture of the great tempter of 
 our race, the black sought the protection of the inside of 
 the building, and immediately ascended to the parlor. 
 
 The lawn in front of the Locusts was hidden from the 
 view of the road by a close line of shrubbery, and the 
 horses of the two dragoons had been left, linked together, 
 under its shelter to await the movements of their masters. 
 
 At this moment two Cow-boys, who had been cut off from 
 a retreat to their own party, rode furiously through the 
 gate, with an intention of escaping to the open wood in the 
 rear of the cottage. 
 
 The victorious Americans pressed the retreating Ger- 
 mans until they had driven them under the protection of the 
 fire of the infantry ; and feeling themselves, in the privacy 
 of the lawn, relieved from any immediate danger, the pred- 
 atory warriors yielded to a temptation that few of the corps 
 were ever known to resist opportunity and horseflesh. 
 With a hardihood and presence of mind that could only 
 exist from long practice in similar scenes, they made to- 
 ward their intended prizes, by an almost spontaneous 
 movement. They were busily engaged in separating the 
 fastenings of the horses, when the trooper on the piazza 
 discharged his pistols, and rushed, sword in hand, to the 
 rescue. 
 
 The entrance of Caesar into the parlor had induced the 
 wary dragoon within to turn his attention more closely on 
 his prisoner ; but this new interruption drew him again to 
 the window. He threw his body out of the building, and 
 with dreadful imprecations endeavored by his threats and 
 appearance' to frighten the marauders from their prey. 
 The moment was enticing. Three hundred of his comrades 
 were within a mile of the cottage; unridden horses were 
 running at large in every direction, and Henry Wharton 
 seized the unconscious sentinel by the legs, and threw him 
 headlong into the lawn. Caesar vanished from the room, 
 and drew a bolt of the outer door. 
 
 The fall of the soldier was not great, and recovering his 
 feet, he turned his fury for a moment on his prisoner. To 
 scale the window 'in the face of such an enemy, was, how- 
 ever, impossible, and on trial he found the main entrance 
 barred. 
 
 His comrade now called loudly on him for aid, and for- 
 getful of everything else, the discomfited trooper rushed to 
 his assistance. One horse was instantly liberated, but the 
 other was already fastened to the saddle of a Cow-boy, and 
 
8o THE SPY. 
 
 the four retired behind the building, cutting 1 furiously at 
 each other with their sabres, and making the air resound 
 with their imprecations. Caesar threw the outer door open, 
 and pointing to the remaining horse, that was quietly bit- 
 ing the faded herbage of the lawn, he exclaimed : 
 
 "Run now run Massa Harry, run." 
 
 "Yes," cried the youth, as he vaulted into the saddle, 
 "now, indeed, my honest fellow, is the time to run." He 
 beckoned hastily to his father, who stood at the window in 
 speechless anxiety, with his hands extended toward his 
 child in the attitude of benediction, and adding, "God 
 bless you, Caesar, salute the girls," he dashed through the 
 gate with the rapidity of lightning. 
 
 The African watched him with anxiety as he gained the 
 highway, saw him incline to the right, and riding furiously 
 under the brow of some rocks, which on that side rose per- 
 pendicularly, disappear behind a projection, which soon 
 hid him from view. 
 
 The delighted Caesar closed the door, pushing bolt af- 
 ter bolt, and turning the key until it would turn no more, 
 soliloquizing the whole time on the happy escape of his 
 young master. 
 
 " How well he ride teach him a good deal myself sa- 
 lute a young lady Miss Fanny wouldn't let old colored 
 man kiss a red cheek." 
 
 When the fortune of the day was decided, and the time 
 arrived for the burial of the dead, two Cow-boys and a 
 Virginian were found in the rear of the Locusts, to be in- 
 cluded in the number. 
 
 Happily for Henry Wharton, the searching eyes of his 
 captor were examining, through a pocket-glass, the column 
 of infantry that still held its position on the bank of the 
 stream, while the remnants of the Hessian yagers were 
 seeking its friendly protection. His horse was of the best 
 blood of Virginia, and carried him with the swiftness of 
 the wind along the valley ; and the heart of the youth was 
 already beating tumultuously with pleasure at his deliver- 
 ance, when a well-known voice reached his startled ear, 
 crying aloud : 
 
 " Bravely done, captain ! Don't spare the whip, and 
 turn to your left before you cross the brook." 
 
 Wharton turned his head in surprise, and saw, sitting on 
 the point of a jutting rock that commanded a bird's-eye 
 view of the valley, his former guide, Harvey Birch. His 
 pack, much diminished in size, lay at the feet of the ped- 
 
THE SPY. 8 1 
 
 dler, who waved his hat to the youth, exultingly, as the 
 latter flew by him. The English captain took the advice 
 of the mysterious being, and finding a good road which 
 led to the highway that intersected the valley, turned down 
 its direction, and was soon opposite to his friends. The 
 next minute he crossed the bridge and stopped his 
 charger before his old acquaintance, Colonel Well mere. 
 
 " Captain Wharton ! " exclaimed the astonished com- 
 mander of the English troops, " dressed in mohair, and 
 mounted on a rebel dragoon horse ! Are you from the 
 clouds in this attire, and in such a style ? " 
 
 " Thank God ! " cried the youth, recovering his breath, 
 " I am safe, and have escaped from the hands of my ene- 
 mies ; but five minutes since and I was a prisoner, and 
 threatened with the gallows." 
 
 "The gallows, Captain Wharton! Surely those traitors 
 to the king would never dare to commit another murder 
 in cold blood ; is it not enough that they took the life of 
 Andre ? Wherefore did they threaten you with a similar 
 fate ? " 
 
 " Under the pretence of a similar offence," said the cap- 
 tain, briefly explaining the manner of his capture, the 
 grounds of his personal apprehensions, and the method of 
 his escape. By the time he had concluded his narration, 
 the fugitive Germans were collected in the rear of the col- 
 umn of infantry, and Colonel Wellmere cried aloud : 
 
 " From my soul I congratulate you, my brave friend ; 
 mercy is a quality with which these traitors are unac- 
 quainted, and you are doubly fortunate in escaping from 
 their hands uninjured. Prepare yourself to grant me your 
 assistance, and I will soon afford you a noble revenge." 
 
 " I do not think there was danger of personal outrage to 
 any man, Colonel Wellmere, from a party that Major Dun- 
 woodie commands," returned young Wharton, with a 
 slight glow on his face ; "his character is above the impu- 
 tation of such an offence ; neither do I think it altogether 
 prudent to cross this brook into the open plain, in the face 
 of those Virginian Horse, flushed as they must be with the 
 success they have just obtained." 
 
 " Do you call the rout of those irregulars and these slug- 
 gish Hessians a deed to boast of?" said the other, with a 
 contemptuous smile; "you speak of the affair, Captain 
 Wharton, as if your boasted Mr. Dunwoodie, for major he 
 is none, had discomfited the body-guards of your king." 
 
 " And I must be allowed to say, Colonel Wellmere, that 
 6 
 
82 THE SPY. 
 
 if the body-guards of my king were in yon field, they would 
 meet a foe that it would be dangerous to despise. Sir, my 
 boasted Mr. Dunwoodie is the pride of Washington's army 
 as a cavalry officer," cried Henry, with warmth. 
 
 " Dunwoodie Dunwoodie!" repeated the colonel, 
 slowly ; "surely I have met the gentleman before." 
 
 " I have been told you once saw him for a moment at the 
 town residence of my sisters," replied Wharton, with a 
 lurking smile. 
 
 "Ah! I do remember me of such a youth ; and does 
 the most potent congress of these rebellious colonies in- 
 trust their soldiers to the leading of such a warrior ?" 
 
 "Ask the commander of yon Hessian horse, whether he 
 thinks Major Dunwoodie worthy of the confidence." 
 
 Colonel Wellmere was far from wanting that pride which 
 makes a man bear himself bravely in the presence of his 
 enemies. He had served in America a long time, without 
 ever meeting with any but new-raised levies, or the militia 
 of the country. These would sometimes fight, and that 
 fearlessly, but they as often chose to run away without 
 pulling a trigger. He was too apt to judge from exter- 
 nals, and thought it impossible for men whose gaiters were 
 so clean, whose tread so regular, and who wheeled with so 
 much accuracy, to be beaten. In addition to all these, 
 they were Englishmen, and their success was certain. 
 Colonel Wellmere had never been kept much in the field, 
 or these notions, which he had brought with him from 
 home, and which had been greatly increased by the vapor- 
 ings of a garrisoned town, would have long since vanished. 
 He listened to the warm reply of Captain Wharton with a 
 supercilious smile, and then inquired : 
 
 " You would not have us retire, sir, before these boasted 
 horsemen, without doing something that may deprive them 
 of part of the glory which you appear to think they have 
 gained ? " 
 
 "I would have you advised, Colonel Wellmere, of the 
 danger you are about to encounter." 
 
 "Danger is but an unseemly word for a soldier," con- 
 tinued the British commander, with a sneer. 
 
 " And one as little dreaded by the 6oth as any corps who 
 wear the royal livery," cried Henry Wharton, fiercely ; 
 "give but the word to charge, and let our actions speak." 
 
 "Now again I know my young friend," said Wellmere, 
 soothingly ; " but if you have anything to say before we 
 fight, that can in any manner help us in our attack, we'll 
 
THE SPY. 83 
 
 listen. You know the force of the rebels : are there more 
 of them in ambush ? " 
 
 "Yes," replied the youth, chafing still with the other's 
 sneers, "in the skirt of this wood on our right are a small 
 party of foot ; their horse are all before you." 
 
 u Where they will not continue long," cried Wellmere, 
 turning to the new officers around him. " Gentlemen, we 
 will cross the stream in column, and display on the plain 
 beyond, or else we shall not be able to entice these valiant 
 Yankees within the reach of our muskets. Captain Whar- 
 ton, I claim your assistance as an aid-de-camp." 
 
 The youth shook his head in disapprobation of a move; 
 ment which his good sense taught him was rash, but pre- 
 pared with alacrity to perform his duty in the impending 
 trial. 
 
 During this conversation, which was held at a small dis- 
 tance in advance of the British column, and in full view 
 of the Americans, Dunwoodie had been collecting his scat- 
 tered troops, securing his few prisoners, and retiring to the 
 ground where he had been posted at the first appearance 
 of his enemy. Satisfied with the success he had already 
 obtained, and believing the English too wary to give him 
 an opportunity of harassing them farther, he was about to 
 withdraw the guides, and, leaving a strong party on the 
 ground to watch the movements of the regulars, to fall 
 back a few miles, to a favorable place for taking up his 
 quarters for the night. Captain Lawton was reluctantly 
 listening to -the reasoning of his commander, and had 
 brought out his favorite glass to see if no opening could 
 be found for an advantageous attack, when he suddenly 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " How's this ? a blue coat among those scarlet gentry ! 
 As I hope to live to see old Virginia, it is my masquerading 
 friend of the 6oth, the handsome Captain Wharton, escaped 
 from two of my best men ! " 
 
 He had not done speaking when the survivor of these 
 heroes joined his troop, bringing with him his own horse 
 and those of the Cow-boys ; he reported the death of his 
 comrade and the escape of his prisoner. As the deceased 
 was the immediate sentinel over the person of young Whar- 
 ton, and the other was not to be blamed for defending the 
 horses, which were more particularly under his care, his 
 captain heard him with uneasiness, but without anger. 
 
 This intelligence made an entire change in the views of 
 Major Dunwoodie. He saw at once that his own reputa- 
 
84 THE SPY. 
 
 tion was involved in the escape of his prisoner. The order 
 to recall the guides was countermanded, and he now joined 
 his second in command, watching, as eagerly as the impetu- 
 ous Lawton himself, for some opening to assail his foe to 
 advantage. 
 
 But two hours before, and Dunwoodie had felt the chance 
 which made Henry Wharton his captive, as the severest 
 blow he had ever sustained. Now he panted for an oppor- 
 tunity in which, by risking his own life, he might recapture 
 his friend. All other considerations were lost in the goad- 
 ings of a wounded spirit, and he might have soon emulated 
 Lawton in hardihood, had not Wellmere and his troops at 
 this moment crossed the brook into the open plain. 
 
 " There," cried the delighted captain, as he pointed out 
 the movement with his finger, " there comes John Bull 
 into the mouse-trap, and with eyes wide open." 
 
 " Surely," said Dunwoodie, eagerly, " he will not display 
 his column in that flat. Wharton must tell him of the 
 ambush. But if he does " 
 
 " We will not leave him a dozen sound skins in his bat- 
 talion," interrupted the other, springing into his saddle. 
 
 The truth was soon apparent ; for the English column, 
 after advancing for a short distance on the level land, dis- 
 played with an accuracy that would have done them honor 
 on a field-day in their own Hyde Park. 
 
 " Prepare to mount mount ! " cried Dunwoodie ; the 
 last word being repeated by Lawton in a tone that rang in 
 the ears of Caesar, who stood at the open window of the 
 cottage. The black recoiled in dismay, having lost all his 
 confidence in Captain Lawton's timidity ; for he thought 
 he yet saw him emerging from his cover and waving his 
 sword on high. 
 
 As the British line advanced slowly and in exact order, 
 the guides opened a galling fire. It began to annoy that 
 part of the royal troops which was nearest to them. Well- 
 mere listened to the advice of the veteran who was next to 
 him in rank, and ordered two companies to dislodge the 
 American foot from their hiding-place. The movement 
 created a slight confusion, and Dunwoodie seized the op- 
 portunity to charge. No ground could be more favorable 
 for the manoeuvres of horse, and the attack of the Virgin- 
 ians was irresistible. It was aimed chiefly at the bank op- 
 posite to the wood, in order to clear the Americans from 
 the fire of their friends who were concealed, and it was 
 completely successful. Wellmere, who was on the left of 
 
THE SPY. 85 
 
 his line, was overthrown by the impetuous fury of his as- 
 sailants. Dunwoodie was in time to save him from the 
 impending blow of one of his men, and raised him from 
 the ground, had him placed on a horse, and delivered to 
 the custody of his orderly. The officer who had suggested 
 the attack upon the guides had been intrusted with its exe- 
 cution, but the menace was sufficient for these irregulars. 
 In fact, their duty was performed, and they retired along 
 the skirt of the wood, with intent to regain their horses, 
 which had been left under a guide at the upper end of the 
 valley. 
 
 The left of the British line was outflanked by the Ameri- 
 cans, who doubled in their rear, and thus made the rout 
 in that quarter total. But the second in command, per- 
 ceiving how the battle went, promptly wheeled his party, 
 and threw in a heavy fire on the dragoons, as they passed 
 him to the charge ; with this party was Henry Wharton, 
 who had volunteered to assist in dispersing the guides ; a 
 ball struck his bridle-arm, and compelled him to change 
 hands. As the dragoons dashed by them, rending the air 
 with their shouts, and with trumpets sounding a lively 
 strain, the charger ridden by the youth became ungovern- 
 able he plunged, reared, and his rider being unable, with 
 his wounded arm, to manage the impatient animal, Henry 
 Wharton found himself, in less than a minute, unwillingly 
 riding by the side of Captain Lawton. The dragoon com- 
 prehended at a glance the ludicrous situation of his new 
 comrade, but had only time to cry aloud, before they 
 plunged into the English line : 
 
 " The horse knows the righteous cause better than his 
 rider. Captain Wharton, you are welcome to the ranks of 
 freedom." 
 
 No time was lost, however, by Lawton, after the charge 
 was completed, in securing his prisoner again ; and, per- 
 ceiving him to be hurt, he directed him to be conveyed to 
 the rear. 
 
 The Virginian troopers dealt out their favors with no 
 gentle hands, on that part of the royal foot who were thus 
 left, in a great measure, at their mercy. Dunwoodie, ob- 
 serving that the remnant of the Hessians had again vent- 
 ured on the plain, led on in pursuit, and easily overtaking 
 their light and half-fed horses, soon destroyed the remain- 
 der of the detachment. 
 
 In the meanwhile, great numbers of the English, taking 
 advantage of the smoke in the field, were enabled to get 
 
86 THE SPY. 
 
 in the rear of the body of their countrymen which still pre- 
 served its order in a line parallel to the wood, but which 
 had been obliged to hold its fire from the fear of injuring 
 friends as well as foes. The fugitives were directed to 
 form a second line within the wood itself, and under cover 
 of the trees. This arrangement was not yet completed, 
 when Captain Lawton called to a youth, who commanded 
 the other troop left with that part of the force which re- 
 mained on the ground, and proposed charging the un- 
 broken line of the British. The proposal was as promptly 
 accepted as it had been made, and the troops were arrayed 
 for the purpose. The eagerness of their leader prevented 
 the preparations necessary to insure success, and the horse, 
 receiving a destructive fire as they advanced, were thrown 
 into additional confusion. Both Lawton and his more 
 juvenile comrade fell at this discharge. Fortunately for 
 the credit of the Virginians, Major Dunwoodie re-entered 
 the field at this critical instant ; he saw his troops in dis- 
 order ; at his feet lay weltering in blood George Singleton, 
 a youth endeared to him by numberless virtues, and Law- 
 ton was unhorsed and stretched on the plain. The eye of 
 the youthful warrior flashed fire. Riding between this 
 squadron and the enemy, in a voice that reached the hearts 
 of his dragoons, he recalled them to their duty. His pres- 
 ence and words acted like magic. The clamor of voices 
 ceased ; the line was formed promptly and with exacti- 
 tude ; the charge sounded ; and, led on by their com- 
 mander, the Virginians swept across the plain with an im- 
 petuosity that nothing could withstand, and the field was 
 instantly cleared of the enemy : those who were not de- 
 stroyed sought a shelter in the woods. Dunwoodie slowly 
 withdrew from the fire of the English who were covered 
 by the trees, and commenced the painful duty of collect- 
 ing his dead and wounded. 
 
 The sergeant charged with conducting Henry Wharton 
 to a place where he might procure surgical aid, set about 
 performing his duty with alacrity, in order to return as soon 
 as possible to the scene of strife. They had not reached 
 the middle of the plain, before the captain noticed a man 
 whose appearance and occupation forcibly arrested his at- 
 tention. His head was bald and bare, but a well-powdered 
 wig was to be seen, half-concealed, in the pocket of his 
 breeches. His coat was off, and his arms were naked to 
 the elbow ; blood had disfigured much of his dress, and his 
 hands, and even his face, bore this mark of his profession ; 
 
THE SPY. 87 
 
 in his mouth was a cigar, in his right hand some instru- 
 ments of strange formation, and in his left the remnants 
 of an apple, with which he occasionally relieved the duty 
 of the before-mentioned cigar. He was standing, lost in 
 the contemplation of a Hessian who lay breathless before 
 him. At a little distance were three or four of the guides, 
 leaning on their muskets, and straining their eyes in the 
 direction of the combatants, and at his elbow stood a man 
 who, from the implements in his hand and his bloody vest- 
 merits, seemed an assistant. 
 
 41 There, sir, is the doctor," said the attendant of Henry, 
 Very coolly ; " he will patch up your arm in the twinkling 
 of an eye ;" and beckoning to the guides to approach, he 
 whispered and pointed to his prisoner, and then galloped 
 furiously toward his comrades. 
 
 Wharton advanced to the side of this strange figure, and 
 observing himself to be unnoticed, was about to request 
 his assistance, when the other broke silence in a solil- 
 oquy 
 
 " Now, I know this man to have been killed by Captain 
 Lawton, as well as if I had seen him strike the blow. How 
 often have I strove to teach him the manner in which he 
 can disable his adversary without destroying life. It is 
 cruel thus unnecessarily to cut off the human race, and 
 furthermore, such blows as these render professional assist- 
 ance unnecessary ; it is, in a measure, treating the lights of 
 science with disrespect." 
 
 " If, sir, your leisure will admit," said Henry Wharton, 
 " I must beg your attention to a slight hurt." 
 
 " Ah ! " cried the other, starting, and examining him from 
 head to foot, " you are from the field below ; is there much 
 business there, sir?" 
 
 " Indeed," answered Henry, accepting the offer of the 
 surgeon to assist in removing his coat, " 'tis a stirring time, 
 I can assure you." 
 
 " Stirring ! " repeated the surgeon, busily employed with 
 his dressings. "You give me great pleasure, sir; for so 
 long as they can stir there must be life ; and while there is 
 life, you know, there is hope ; but here my art is of no 
 use. I did put in the brains of one patient, but I rather 
 think the man must have been dead before I saw him. It 
 is a curious case, sir ; I will take you to see it only across 
 the fence there, where you may perceive so many bodies 
 together. Ah ! the ball has glanced around the bone with- 
 put shattering it ; you are fortunate in falling into the 
 
88 THE SPY. 
 
 hands of an old practitioner, or you might have lost this 
 limb." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said Henry, with a slight uneasiness ; " I 
 did not apprehend the injury to be so serious." . 
 
 "Oh ! the hurt is not bad, but you have such a pretty 
 arm for an operation ; the pleasure of the thing might 
 have tempted a novice." 
 
 "The devil!" cried the captain; "can there be any 
 pleasure in mutilating a fellow-creature?" 
 
 " Sir," said the surgeon, with gravity, " a scientific am- 
 putation is a very pretty operation, and doubtless might 
 tempt a younger man, in the hurry of business, to over- 
 look all the particulars of the case." 
 
 Further conversation was interrupted by the appear- 
 ance of the dragoons, slowly marching toward their 
 former halting-place, and new applications from the 
 slightly wounded soldiers, who now came riding in, mak- 
 ing hasty demands on the skill of the doctor. 
 
 The guides took charge of Wharton, and, with a heavy 
 heart, the young man retraced his steps to his father's 
 cottage. 
 
 The English had lost in the several charges about one- 
 third of their foot, but the remainder were rallied in the 
 wood ; and Dunwoodie, perceiving them to be too strongly 
 posted to assail, had left a strong party with Captain 
 Lawton, with orders to watch their motions, and to seize 
 every opportunity to harass them before they re-em- 
 barked. 
 
 Intelligence had reached the major of another party be- 
 ing out, by the way of the Hudson, and his duty required 
 that he should hold himself in readiness to defeat the in- 
 tentions of these also. Captain Lawton received his 
 orders, with strong injunctions to make no assault on the 
 foe, unless a favorable chance should offer. The injury 
 received by this officer was in the head, being stunned by 
 a glancing bullet ; and parting with a laughing declara- 
 tion frojn the major, that if he again forgot himself, they 
 should all think him more materially hurt, each took his 
 own course. 
 
 The British were a light party without baggage, that 
 had been sent out to destroy certain stores understood to 
 be collecting for the use of the American army. They 
 now retired through the woods to the heights, and, keep- 
 ing the route along their summits, in places unassailable 
 by cavalry, commenced a retreat to their boats. 
 
THE SPY. 89 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "With fire and sword the country round 
 
 Was wasted far and wide ; 
 And many a childing mother then, 
 
 And new-born infant, died ; 
 But things like these, you know, must be 
 At every famous victory." 
 
 THE last sounds of the combat died on the ears of the 
 anxious listeners in the cottage, and were succeeded by 
 the stillness of suspense. Frances had continued by her- 
 self, striving to exclude the uproar, and vainly endeavor- 
 ing to summon resolution to meet the dreaded result. 
 The ground where the charge on the foot had taken place 
 was but a short mile from the Locusts, and, in the inter- 
 vals of the musketry the cries of the soldiers had even 
 reached the ears of its inhabitants. After witnessing the 
 escape of his son, Mr. Wharton had joined his sister and 
 eldest daughter in their retreat, and the three continued 
 fearfully waiting for news from the field. Unable longer 
 to remain under the painful uncertainty of her situation, 
 Frances soon added herself to the uneasy group, and 
 Caesar was directed to examine into the state of things 
 without, and report on whose banners victory had alighted. 
 The father now briefly related to his astonished children 
 the circumstance and manner of their brother's escape. 
 They were yet in the freshness of their surprise, when the 
 door opened, and Captain Wharton, attended by a couple 
 of the guides and followed by the black, stood before them. 
 
 " Henry my son, my son," cried the agitated parent, 
 stretching out his arms, yet unable to rise from his seat ; 
 " what is it I see ? are you again a captive, and in danger 
 of your life ?" 
 
 " The better fortune of these rebels has prevailed," said 
 the youth, endeavoring to force a cheerful smile, and tak- 
 ing a hand of each of his distressed sisters. " I strove 
 nobly for my liberty ; but the perverse spirit of rebellion 
 has even lighted on their horses. The steed I mounted 
 carried me, greatly against my will, I acknowledge, into 
 the very centre of Dunwoodie's men." 
 
 " And you were again captured," continued the father, 
 casting a fearful glance on the armed attendants who had 
 entered the room. 
 
90 THE SPY. 
 
 "That, sir, you may safely say; this Mr. Lawton, who 
 sees so far, had me in custody again immediately." 
 
 " Why you no hold 'em in, Massa Harry? " cried Caesar, 
 pettishly. 
 
 " That," said Wharton, smiling, " was a thing easier said 
 than done, Mr. Caesar, especially as these gentlemen " 
 (glancing his eyes at the guides) "had seen proper to de- 
 prive me of the use of my better arm." 
 
 " Wounded ! " exclaimed both sisters in a breath. 
 
 " A mere scratch, but disabling me at a most critical 
 moment," continued the brother, kindly, and stretching 
 out the injured limb to manifest the truth of his declara- 
 tion. Caesar threw a look of bitter animosity on the irreg- 
 ular warriors who were thought to have had an agency in 
 the deed, and left the room. A few more words sufficed 
 to explain all that Captain Wharton knew relative to the 
 fortune of the day. The result he thought yet doubtful, 
 for, when he left the ground, the Virginians were retiring 
 from the field of battle. 
 
 " They had treed the squirrel," said one of the sentinels, 
 abruptly, " and didn't quit the ground without leaving a 
 good hound for the chase, when he comes down." 
 
 " Ay," added his comrade, dryly, " I'm thinking Captain 
 Lawton will count the noses of what are left before they 
 see their whale-boats." 
 
 Frances had stood supporting herself by the back of a 
 chair, during this dialogue, catching in breathless anxiety 
 every syllable as it was uttered ; her color changed rap- 
 idly ; her limbs shook under her, until, with desperate 
 resolution, she inquired : 
 
 " Is any officer hurt on the on either side ?" 
 
 " Yes," answered the man, cavalierly, " these Southern 
 youths are so full of mettle that it's seldom we fight but 
 one or two gets knocked over ; one of the wounded, who 
 came up before the troops, told me that Captain Singleton 
 was killed, and Major Dunwoodie " 
 
 Frances heard no more, but fell lifeless in the chair be- 
 hind her. The attention of her friends roon revived her, 
 when the captain, turning to the man, said, fearfully : 
 
 " Surely Major Dunwoodie is unhurt ?" 
 
 "Never fear him," added the guide, disregarding the 
 agitation of the family ; "they say a man who is born to 
 be hanged will never be drowned ; if a bullet could kill 
 the major, he would have been dead long ago. I was go- 
 ing to say that the major is in a sad taking because of the 
 
THE SPY. 91 
 
 captain's being killed ; but had I known how much store 
 the lady set by him, I wouldn't have been so plain- 
 spoken." 
 
 Frances now rose quickly from her seat, with cheeks 
 glowing with confusion, and, leaning on her aunt, was 
 about to retire, when Dunwoodie himself appeared. The 
 first emotion of the agitated girl was unalloyed happiness ; 
 in the next instant she shrank back appalled from the un- 
 usual expression that reigned in his countenance. The 
 sternness of battle yet sat on his brow ; his eye was 
 fixed and severe. The smile of affection that used to 
 lighten his dark features on meeting his mistress was sup- 
 planted by the lowering look of care ; his whole soul 
 seemed to be absorbed in one engrossing emotion, and he 
 proceeded at once to his object. 
 
 " Mr. Wharton," he earnestly began, " in times like 
 these, we need not stand on idle ceremony ; one of my 
 officers, I am afraid, is hurt mortally, and, presuming on 
 your hospitality, I have brought him to your door." 
 
 " I am happy, sir, that you have done so," said Mr. 
 Wharton, at once perceiving the importance of conciliat- 
 ing the American troops ; " the necessitous are always 
 welcome, and doubly so, in being the friend of Major 
 Dunwoodie." 
 
 " Sir, I thank you for myself, and in behalf of him who 
 is unable to render you his thanks," returned the other, 
 hastily ; " if you please, we will have him conducted where 
 the surgeon may see and report upon his case, without de- 
 lay." To this there could be no objection ; and Frances 
 felt a chill at her heart, as her lover withdrew, without 
 casting a solitary look on herself. 
 
 Tiiere is a devotedness in female love that admits of no 
 rivalry. All the tenderness of the heart, all the powers of 
 the imagination, are enlisted in behalf of the tyrant pas- 
 sion ; and where all is given, much is looked for in return. 
 Frances had spent hours of anguish, of torture, on account 
 of Dunwoodie, and he now met her without a smile, and 
 left her without a greeting. The ardor of her feelings was 
 unabated, but the elasticity of her hopes was weakened. 
 As the supporters of the nearly lifeless body of Dun- 
 woodie's friend passed her, in their way to the apartment 
 prepared for his reception, she caught a view of this seem- 
 ing rival. 
 
 His pale and ghastly countenance, sunken eye, and diffi- 
 cult breathing gave her a glimpse of death in its most fear- 
 
9 2 THE SPY. 
 
 ful form. Dunwoodie was by his side, and held his hand, 
 giving frequent and stern injunctions to the men to proceed 
 with care, and, in short, manifesting all the solicitude that 
 the most tender friendship could, on such an occasion, in- 
 spire. Frances moved lightly before them, and, with an 
 averted face, she held open the door for their passage to the 
 bed ; it was only as the major touched her garments, on en- 
 tering the room, that she ventured to raise her mild blue 
 eyes to his face. But the glance was unreturned, and 
 Frances unconsciously sighed as she sought the solitude of 
 her own apartment. 
 
 Captain Wharton voluntarily gave a pledge to his 
 keepers not to attempt again escaping, and then proceeded 
 to execute those duties, on behalf of his father, which were 
 thought necessary in a host. On entering the passage for 
 that purpose, he met the operator who had so dexterously 
 dressed his arm, advancing to the room of the wounded 
 officer. 
 
 " Ah ! " cried the disciple of ^Esculapius, " I see you are 
 doing well ; but stop have you a pin ? No ! here, I have 
 one ; you must keep the cold air from your hurt, or some 
 of the youngsters will be at w r ork at you yet." 
 
 " God forbid," muttered the captain, in an undertone, 
 attentively adjusting the bandages, when Dunwoodie ap- 
 peared at the door, impatiently crying aloud : 
 
 4< Hasten, Sitgreaves, hasten ; or George Singleton will 
 die from loss of blood." 
 
 " What ! Singleton ! God forbid ! Bless me is it 
 George poor little George !" exclaimed the surgeon, as 
 he quickened his pace, with evident concern, and hastened 
 to the side of the bed ; " he is alive, though, and while 
 there is life there is hope. This is the first serious case I 
 have had to-day, where the patient was not already dead. 
 Captain Lawton teaches his men to strike with so little 
 discretion poor George bless me, it is a musket-bullet." 
 
 The youthful sufferer turned his eyes on the man of 
 science, and with a faint smile endeavored to stretch forth 
 his hand. There was an appeal in the look and action that 
 touched the heart of the operator. The surgeon removed 
 his spectacles to wipe an unusual moisture from his eyes, 
 and proceeded carefully to the discharge of his duty. 
 While the previous arrangements were, however, making, 
 he gave vent in some measure to his feelings, by saying : 
 
 "When it is only a bullet, I have always some hopes- 
 there is a chance that it hits nothing vital ; but, bless me, 
 
THE SPY. 93 
 
 Captain Lawton's men cut so at random generally sever 
 the jugular or the carotid artery, or let out the brains, and 
 all areso difficult to remedy the patient mostly dying be- 
 fore one can get at him. I never had success but once in 
 replacing a man's brains, although I. have tried three this 
 very day. It is easy to tell where Lawton's troops charge 
 in a battle, they cut so at random." 
 
 The group around the bed of Captain Singleton were 
 too much accustomed to the manner of their surgeon to 
 regard or to reply to his soliloquy ; but they quietly 
 awaited the moment when he was to commence his exam- 
 ination. This now took place, and Dunwoodie stood 
 looking the operator in the face, with an expression that 
 seemed to read his soul. The patient shrank from the ap- 
 plication of the probe, and a smile stole over the features 
 of the surgeon, as he muttered : 
 
 " There has been nothing before it in that quarter." 
 He now applied himself in earnest to his work, took off his 
 spectacles, and threw aside his wig. All this time Dun- 
 woodie stood in feverish silence, holding one of the hands 
 of the sufferer in both his own, watching the countenance 
 of Dr. Sitgreaves. At length Singleton gave a slight 
 groan, and the surgeon rose with alacrity, and said aloud : 
 
 "Ah! there is some pleasure in following a bullet ; it 
 may be said to meander through the human body, injur- 
 ing nothing vital ; but as for Captain Lawton's men " 
 
 '.'Speak," interrupted Dunwoodie; "is there hope? 
 can you find the ball ? " 
 
 " It's no difficult matter to find that which one has in 
 his hand, Major Dunwoodie," replied the surgeon, coolly, 
 preparing his dressings ; " it took what that literal fellow, 
 Captain Lawton, calls a circumbendibus, a route never 
 taken by the swords of his men, notwithstanding the mul- 
 tiplied pains I have been at to teach him how to cut scien- 
 tifically. Now, I saw a horse this day with his head half 
 severed from his body." 
 
 "That," said Dunwoodie, as the blood rushed to his 
 cheeks again, and his dark eyes sparkled with the rays of 
 hope, " was some of my handiwork ; I killed that horse 
 myself." 
 
 "You!" exclaimed the surgeon, dropping his dressing 
 in surprise, " you ! but you knew it was a horse ! " 
 
 ' I had such suspicions, I own," said the major, smiling, 
 and holding a beverage to the lips of his friend. 
 
 4< Such blows alighting on the human frame are fatal," 
 
94 THE SPY. 
 
 continued the doctor, pursuing his business ; "they set at 
 naught the benefits which flow from the lights of science, 
 they are useless in a battle, for disabling your foe is all 
 that is required. I have sat, Major Dunvvoodie, many a 
 cold hour, while Captain Lawton has been engaged, and 
 after all my expectation, not a single case worth record- 
 ing has occurred all scratches or death-wounds ; ah ! the 
 sabre is a sad weapon in unskilful hands ! Yes, Major 
 Dunwoodie, many are the hours I have thrown away in 
 endeavoring to impress this truth on Captain John Law- 
 ton." 
 
 The impatient major pointed silently to his friend, and 
 the surgeon quickened his movements. 
 
 " Ah ! poor George, it is a narrow chance ; but " he 
 was interrupted by a messenger requiring the presence of 
 the'commanding officer in the field. Dunwoodie pressed 
 the hand of his friend, and beckoned the doctor to follow 
 him, as he withdrew. 
 
 " What think you ? " he whispered, on reaching the 
 passage ; " will he live ? " 
 
 " He will." 
 
 " Thank God ! " cried the youth, hastening below. 
 
 Dunwoodie for a moment joined the family, who were 
 now collecting in the ordinary parlor. His face was no 
 longer wanting in smiles, and his salutations, though hasty, 
 were cordial. He took no notice of the escape and recapt- 
 ure of Henry Wharton, but seemed to think the young 
 man had continued where he had left him before the en- 
 counter. On the ground they had not met. The English 
 officer withdrew in haughty silence to a window, leaving 
 the major uninterrupted to make his communications. 
 
 The excitement produced by the events of the day in 
 the youthful feelings of the sisters had been succeeded 
 by a languor that kept them both silent, and Dunwoodie 
 held his discourse with Miss Peyton. 
 
 " Is there any hope, my cousin, that your friend can 
 survive his wound?" said the lady, advancing toward her 
 kinsman, with a smile of benevolent regard. 
 
 " Everything, my dear madam, everything," answered 
 the soldier, cheerfully. " Sitgreaves says he will live, and 
 he has never deceived me." 
 
 "Your pleasure is not much greater than my own at 
 this intelligence. One so dear to Major Dunwoodie can- 
 not fail to excite an interest in the bosom of his friends." 
 
 " Say one so deservedly dear, madam," returned the 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 95 
 
 major, with warmth ; " he is the beneficent spirit of the 
 corps, equally beloved by us all ; so mild, so equal, so just, 
 so generous, with the meekness of a lamb and the fond- 
 ness of a dove it is only in the hour of battle that Sin- 
 gleton is a lion." 
 
 " You speak of him as if he were your mistress, Major 
 Dunwoodie," observed the smiling spinster, glancing her 
 eye at her niece, who sat pale and listening, in a corner of 
 the room. 
 
 " I love him as one," cried the excited youth ; " but he 
 requires care arid nursing ; all now depends on the atten- 
 tion he receives." 
 
 "Trust me, sir, he will want for nothing under this 
 roof." 
 
 " Pardon me, dear madam ; you are all that is benevo- 
 lent, but Singleton requires a care which many men would 
 feel to be irksome. It is at moments like these, and in 
 sufferings like this, that the soldier most finds the want of 
 female tenderness." As he spoke, he turned his eyes on 
 Frances with an expression that again thrilled to the 
 heart of his mistress ; she rose from her seat with burn- 
 ing cheeks, and said : 
 
 " All the attention that can with propriety be given to a 
 stranger will be cheerfully bestowed on your friend." 
 
 "Ah!" cried the major, shaking his head, "that cold 
 word propriety will kill him ; he must be fostered, cher- 
 ished, soothed." 
 
 " These are offices for a sister or a wife." 
 
 " A sister ! " repeated the soldier, the blood rushing to 
 his own face tumultuously ; " a sister ! he has a sister ; and 
 one that might be here with to-morrow's sun." He 
 paused, mused in silence, glanced his eyes uneasily at 
 Frances, and muttered in an undertone " Singleton re- 
 quires it, and it must be done." 
 
 The ladies had watched his varying countenance in 
 some surprise, and Miss Peyton now observed that : 
 
 11 If there were a sister of Captain Singleton near them, 
 her presence would be gladly requested both by herself 
 and nieces." 
 
 " It must be, madam ; it cannot well be otherwise," re- 
 plied Dunwoodie, with a hesitation that but ill agreed with 
 his former declarations ; " she shall be sent for express 
 this very night." And then, as if willing to change the 
 subject, he approached Captain Wharton, and continued, 
 mildly : 
 
96 THE SPY. 
 
 " Henry Wharton, to me honor is dearer than life, but 
 in your hands I know it can safely be confided ; remain 
 here un watched, until we leave the county, which will not 
 be for some days." 
 
 The distance in the manner of the English officer van- 
 ished, and, taking the offered hand of the other, he replied, 
 with warmth: "Your generous confidence, Peyton, will 
 not be abused, even though the gibbet on which your 
 Washington hung Andr< be ready for my own execu- 
 tion." 
 
 " Henry Henry Wharton," said Dunwoodie, reproach- 
 fully, " you little know the man who leads our armies, or 
 you would have spared him that reproach ; but duty calls 
 me without. I leave you where I could wish to stay my- 
 self, and where you cannot be wholly unhappy." 
 
 In passing Frances, she received another of those smil- 
 ing looks of affection she so much prized, and for a season 
 the impression made by his appearance after the battle 
 was forgotten. 
 
 Among the veterans that had been impelled by the 
 times to abandon the quiet of age for the service of their 
 country was Colonel Singleton. He was a native of 
 Georgia, and had been for the earlier years of his life a 
 soldier by profession. When the struggle for liberty com- 
 menced, he offered his services to his country, and from 
 respect ti> his character they had been accepted. His 
 years and health had, however, prevented his discharging 
 the active duties of the field, and he had been kept in 
 command of different posts of trust, where his country 
 might receive the benefits of his vigilance and fidelity 
 without inconvenience to himself. For the last year he 
 had been intrusted with the passes into the Highlands, 
 and was now quartered, with his daughter, but a short 
 day's march above the valley where Dunwoodie had met 
 the enemy. His only other child was the wounded officer 
 we have mentioned. Thither, then, the major prepared 
 to despatch a messenger with the unhappy news of the 
 captain's situation, and charged with such an invitation 
 from the ladies as he did not doubt would speedily bring 
 the sister to the couch of the brother. 
 
 This duty performed, though with an unwillingness 
 that could only make his former anxiety more perplexing, 
 Dunwoodie proceeded to the field where bis troops had 
 halted. The remnant of the English were already to be 
 seen, over the tops of the trees, marching along the 
 
THE SPY. 97 
 
 heights toward their boats, in compact order and with 
 great watchfulness. The detachment of the dragoons 
 under Lavvton were a short distance on their flank, 
 eagerly awaiting a favorable moment to strike a blow. 
 In this manner both parties were soon lost to view. 
 
 A short distance above the Locusts was a small hamlet, 
 where several roads intersected each other, and from which, 
 consequently, access to the surrounding country was easy. 
 It was a favorite halting-place of the horse, and frequently 
 held by the light parties of the American army during their 
 excursions below. Dunwoodie had been the first to dis- 
 cover its advantages, and as it was necessary for him to re- 
 main in the county until further orders from above, it can- 
 not be supposed he overlooked them now. To this place 
 the troops were directed to retire, carrying with them their 
 wounded ; parties were already employed in the sad duty 
 of interring the dead. In making these arrangements, a 
 new object of embarrassment presented itself to our young 
 soldier. In moving through the field, he was struck with 
 the appearance of Colonel Wellmere, seated by himself, 
 brooding over his misfortunes, uninterrupted by anything 
 but the passing civilities of the American officers. His 
 anxiety on behalf of Singleton had hitherto banished the 
 recollection of his captive from the mind of Dunwoodie, 
 and he now approached him with apologies for his neglect. 
 The Englishman received his courtesies with coolness, and 
 complained of being injured by what he affected to think 
 was the accidental stumbling of his horse. Dunwoodie, 
 who had seen one of his own men ride him down, and that 
 with very little ceremony, slightly smiled, as he offered him 
 surgical assistance. This could only be procured at the 
 cottage, and thither they both proceeded. 
 
 " Colonel Wellmere!" cried young Wharton in aston- 
 ishment, as they entered, " has the fortune of war been 
 thus cruel to you also ? but you are welcome to the house 
 of my father, although I could wish the introduction to 
 have taken place under more happy circumstances." 
 
 Mr. Wharton received this new guest with the guarded 
 caution that distinguished his manner, and Dunwoodie left 
 the room to seek the bedside of his friend. Everything 
 here looked propitious, and he acquainted the surgeon that 
 another patient waited his skill in the room below. The 
 sound of the word was enough to set the doctor in motion, 
 and, seizing his implements of office, he went in quest of 
 this new applicant. At the door of the parlor he was met 
 
98 THE SPY. 
 
 by the ladies, who were retiring. Miss Peyton detained 
 him for a moment, to inquire into the welfare of Captain 
 Singleton. Frances smiled, with something of her natural 
 archness of manner, as she contemplated the grotesque ap- 
 pearance of the bald-headed practitioner ; but Sarah was 
 too much agitated, with the surprise of the unexpected in- 
 terview with the British colonel, to observe him. It has 
 already been intimated that Colonel Wellmere was an old 
 acquaintance of the family. Sarah had been so long ab- 
 sent from the city that she had, in some measure, been ban- 
 ished from the remembrance of the gentleman ; but the 
 recollections of Sarah were more vivid. There is a period 
 in the life of every woman when she maybe said to be pre- 
 disposed to love ; it is at the happy age when infancy is 
 lost in opening maturity when the guileless heart beats 
 with those anticipations of the life which the truth can 
 never realize and when the imagination forms images of 
 perfection that are copied after its own unsullied visions. 
 At this happy age Sarah left the city, and she had brought 
 with her a picture of futurity, faintly impressed, it is true, 
 but which gained durability from her solitude, and in which 
 Wellmere had been placed in the foreground. The sur- 
 prise of the meeting had in some measure overpowered 
 her, and after receiving the salutations of the colonel, she 
 had risen, in compliance with a signal from her observant 
 aunt, to withdraw. 
 
 "Then, sir," observed Miss Peyton, after listeningto the 
 surgeon's account of his young patient, "we may be flat- 
 tered with the expectation that he will recover." 
 
 "'Tis certain, madam," returned the doctor, endeavor- 
 ing, out of respect to the ladies, to replace his wig ; " 'tis 
 certain, with care and good nursing." 
 
 "In those we shall not be wanting," said the spinster, 
 mildly. " Everything we have he can command, and Major 
 Dumvoodie has despatched an express for his sister." 
 
 " His sister ! " echoed the practitioner, with a look of 
 particular meaning ; ** if the major has sent for her, she 
 will come." 
 
 " Her brother's danger would induce her, one would 
 imagine." 
 
 " No doubt, madam," continued the doctor, laconically, 
 bowing low, and giving room to the ladies to pass. The 
 words and the manner were not lost on the younger sister, 
 in whose presence the name of Dunwoodie was never 
 mentioned unheeded. 
 
THE SPY. 99 
 
 ^ 
 
 "Sir," cried Dr. Sitgreaves, on entering the parlor, ad- 
 dressing himself to the only coat of scarlet in the room, 
 " I am advised you are in want of my aid. God send 'tis 
 not Captain Lawton with whom you came in contact, in 
 which case I may be too late." 
 
 " There must be some mistake, sir," said Wellmere, 
 haughtily ; " it was a surgeon that Major Dunwoodie was 
 to send me, and not an old woman." 
 
 "Tis Dr. Sitgreaves," said Henry Wharton, quickly, 
 though with difficulty suppressing a laugh; " the multi- 
 tude of his engagements, to-day, has prevented his usual 
 attention to his attire." 
 
 "Your pardon, sir," added Wellmere, very ungraciously, 
 proceeding to lay aside his coat, and exhibit what he 
 called a wounded arm. 
 
 "If, sir," said the surgeon, dryly, "the degrees of Edin- 
 burgh walking your London hospitals amputating some 
 hundreds of limbs operating on the human frame in every 
 shape that is warranted by the lights of science, a clear 
 conscience, and the commission of the Continental Con- 
 gress, can make a surgeon, I am one." 
 
 " Your pardon, sir," repeated the colonel, stiffly. " Cap- 
 tain Wharton has accounted for my error." 
 
 " For which I thank Captain Wharton," said the sur- 
 geon, proceeding coolly to arrange his amputating instru- 
 ments, with a formality that made the colonel's blood run 
 cold. " Where are you hurt, sir ? What ! is it then this 
 scratch in your shoulder ? In what manner might you 
 have received this wound, sir?" 
 
 "From the sword of a rebel dragoon," said the colonel, 
 with emphasis. 
 
 "Never! Even the gentle George Singleton would not 
 have breathed on you so harmlessly." He took a piece of 
 sticking-plaster from his pocket, and applied it to the 
 part. " There, sir ; that will answer your purpose, and 1 
 am certain it is all that is required of me." 
 
 " What do you take to be my purpose, then, sir ?" 
 
 "To report yourself wounded in your despatches," re- 
 plied the doctor, with great steadiness ; " and you may say 
 that an old woman dressed your hurts for, if one did not, 
 one easily might." 
 
 "Very extraordinary language," muttered th English- 
 man. 
 
 Here Captain Wharton interfered ; and, by explaining 
 the mistake of Colonel Wellmere to proceed from his irri- 
 
loo THE SPY. 
 
 tated mind and pain of body, he in part succeeded in molli- 
 fying the insulted practitioner, who consented to look 
 further into the hurts of the other. They were chiefly 
 bruises from his fall, to which Sitgreaves made some hasty 
 applications, and withdrew. 
 
 The horse, having taken their required refreshment, 
 prepared to fall back to their intended position, and it be- 
 came incumbent on Dunwoodie to arrange the disposal of 
 his prisoners. Sitgreaves he determined to leave in the 
 cottage of Mr. Wharton, in attendance on Captain Single- 
 ton. Henry came to him with a request that Colonel 
 Wellmere might also be left behind, under his parole, 
 until the troops marched higher into the country. To this 
 thfe major cheerfully assented ; and as all the rest of the 
 prisoners were of the vulgar herd, they were speedily col- 
 lected, and, under the care of a strong guard, ordered to 
 the interior. The dragoons soon after marched ; and the 
 guides, separating in small parties, accompanied by patrols 
 from the horse, spread themselves across the country, in 
 such a manner as to make a chain of sentinels from the 
 waters of the Sound to those of the Hudson.* 
 
 Dunwoodie had lingered in front of the cottage, after 
 he paid his parting compliments, with an unwillingness to 
 return, that he thought proceeded from his solicitude for 
 his wounded friends. The heart which has not become 
 callous soon sickens with the glory that has been pur- 
 chased with a waste of human life. Peyton Dunwoodie, 
 left to himself, and no longer excited by the visions which 
 youthful ardor had kept before him throughout the day, 
 began to feel there were other ties than those which bound 
 the soldier within the rigid rules of honor. He did riot 
 waver in his duty, yet he felt how strong \vas the tempta- 
 tion. His blood had ceased to flow with the impulse cre- 
 ated by the battle. The stern expression of his eye grad- 
 ually gave place to a look of softness ; and his reflections 
 on the victory brought with them no satisfaction that com- 
 pensated for the sacrifices by which it had been purchased. 
 While turning his last lingering gaze on the Locusts, he 
 remembered only that it contained all that he most valued. 
 The friend of his youth was a prisoner, under circum- 
 stances that endangered both life and honor. The gentle 
 companion of his toils, who could throw around the rude 
 enjoyments of a soldier the graceful mildness of peace, lay 
 
 * The scene of this tale is between these two waters, which are but a 
 few miles from each other. 
 

 THE SPY. , 10 1 
 
 a bleeding victim to his success. The image of the maid 
 who had held, during the day, a disputed sovereignty in 
 his bosom, again rose to his view with a loveliness that 
 banished her rival, glory, from his mind. 
 
 The last lagging trooper of the corps had already dis- 
 appeared beiiind the northern hill, and the major unwill- 
 ingly turned his horse in the same direction. Frances, 
 impelled by a restless inquietude, now timidly ventured on 
 the piazza of the cottage. The day had been mild and 
 clear, and the sun was shining brightly in a cloudless sky. 
 The tumult which so lately disturbed the valley was suc- 
 ceeded by the stillness of death, and the fair scene before 
 herUooked as if it had never been marred by the passions 
 of men. One solitary cloud, the collected smoke of the 
 contest, hung over the field ; and this was gradually dis- 
 persing, leaving no vestige of the conflict above the peace- 
 ful graves of its victims. All the conflicting feelings, all 
 the tumultuous circumstances of the eventful day, ap- 
 peared like the deceptions of a troubled vision. Frances 
 turned, and caught a glimpse of the retreating figure of 
 him who had been so conspicuous an actor in the scene, 
 and the illusion vanished. She recognized her lover, and, 
 with the truth, came other recollections that drove her to 
 the room, with a heart as sad as that which Dunwoodie 
 himself bore from the valley. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A moment gazed adown the dale, 
 
 A moment snuffed the tainted gale, 
 
 A'inoment listened to the cry, 
 
 That thickened as the chase drew nigh ; 
 
 Then, as the headmost foe appeared. 
 
 With one brave bound the copse he cleared, 
 
 And stretching forward free and far, 
 
 Sought the wild heaths of Uam Var. WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 THE party under Captain Lawton had watched the re- 
 tiring foe at his boats with the most unremitting vigilance, 
 without finding any fit opening for a charge. The expe- 
 rienced successor of Colonel Wellmere knew too well the 
 power of his enemy to leave the uneven surface of the 
 heights, until compelled to descend to the level of the 
 water. Before he attempted this hazardous movement, he 
 
102 THE SPY. 
 
 threw his men into a compact square, with its outer edges 
 bristling with bayonets. In this position, the impatient 
 trooper well understood that brave men could never be 
 assailed by cavalry with success, and he was reluctantly 
 obliged to hover near them, without seeing any opportu- 
 nity of stopping their slow but steady march to the beach. 
 A small schooner, which had been their convoy from the 
 city, lay with her guns bearing on the place of embarka- 
 tion. Against this combination of force and discipline, 
 Lawton had sufficient prudence to see it would be folly to 
 contend, and the English were suffered to embark without 
 molestation. The dragoons lingered on the shore till the 
 last moment, and then they reluctantly commenced their 
 own retreat back to the main body of the corps. 
 
 The gathering mists of the evening had begun to darken 
 the valley, as the detachment of Lawton made its reap- 
 pearance at its southern extremity. The march of the 
 troops was slow, and their line extended, for the benefit of 
 ease. In the front rode the captain, side by side with his 
 senior subaltern, apparently engaged in close conference, 
 while the rear was brought up by a young cornet, hum- 
 ming an air, and thinking of the sweets of a straw bed 
 after the fatigues of a hard day's duty. 
 
 " Then it struck you, too ? " said the captain. " The in- 
 stant I placed my eyes on her, I remembered the face ; it 
 is one not easily forgotten. By my faith, Tom, the girl 
 does no discredit to the major's taste." 
 
 " She would do honor -to the corps," replied the lieu- 
 tenant, with some warmth ; " those blue eyes might easily 
 win a man to gentler employments than this trade of ours. 
 In sober truth, I can easily imagine such a girl might 
 tempt even me to quit the broadsword and saddle for a 
 darning-needle and pillion." 
 
 11 Mutiny, sir, mutiny," cried the other, laughing; "what, 
 you, Tom Mason, dare to rival the gay, admired, and withal 
 the rich, Major Dunwoodie in his love ! You, a lieutenant 
 of cavalry, with but one horse, and he none of the best ! 
 whose captain is as tough as a pepperidge log, and has as 
 many lives as a cat." 
 
 " Faith," said the subaltern, smiling in his turn, "the 
 log may yet be split, and Grimalkin lose his lives, if you 
 often charge as madly as you did this morning. What 
 think you of many raps from such a beetle as laid you on 
 your back to-day ? " 
 
 "Ah! don't mention it, my good Tom; the thought 
 
THE SPY. 103 
 
 makes my head ache," replied the o^her, shrugging up his 
 shoulders ; " it is what I call forestalling night." 
 
 "The night of death ?" 
 
 " No, sir, the night that follows day. I saw myriads of 
 stars, things which should hide their faces in the presence 
 of the lordly sun. I do think nothing but this thick cap 
 saved me from your comfort a little longer, maugre the 
 cat's lives." 
 
 " I have much reason to be obliged to the cap," said 
 Mason, dryly ; " that or the skull must have had a reason- 
 able portion of thickness, I admit." 
 
 " Come, come, Tom, you are a licensed joker, so I'll not 
 feign anger with you," returned the captain, good-humor- 
 edly ; "but Singleton's lieutenant, I am fearful, will fare 
 better than yourself for this day's service." 
 
 " I believe both of us will be spared the pain of receiving 
 promotion purchased by the death of a comrade and 
 friend," observed Mason, kindly; "it was reported that 
 Sitgreaves said he would live." 
 
 " From my soul, I hope so," exclaimed Lawton : " for a 
 beardless face, that boy carries the stoutest heart I have 
 ever met with. It surprises me, however, that, as we both 
 fell at the same instant, the men behaved so well." 
 
 "For the compliment, I might thank you," cried the 
 lieutenant, with a laugh ; "but modesty forbids ; I did my 
 best to stop them, but without success." 
 
 ** Stop them ! " roared the captain ; " would you stop 
 men in the middle of a charge ?" 
 
 "I thought they were going the wrong way," answered 
 the subaltern. 
 
 " Ah ! our fall drove them to the right about ? " 
 
 " It was either your fall, or apprehensions of their own ; 
 until the major rallied us, we were in admirable disorder." 
 
 " Dunwoodie ! the major was on the crupper of the 
 Dutchman." 
 
 " Ah ! but he managed to get off the crupper of the 
 Dutchman. He came in, at half-speed, with the other two 
 troops, and riding between us and the enemy, with that 
 imperative way he has when roused, brought us in line in 
 the twinkling of an eye. Then it was," added the lieu- 
 tenant, with animation, " that we sent John Bull to the 
 bushes. Oh ! it was a sweet charge heads and tails, until 
 we were upon them." 
 
 " The devil ! What a sight I missed !" 
 
 "You slept through it all." 
 
104 THE SPY. 
 
 " Yes," returned thje other, with a sigh ; " it was all lost 
 to me and poor George Singleton. But, Tom, what will 
 George's sister say to this fair-haired maiden in yonder 
 white building ?" 
 
 " Hang herself in her garters," said the subaltern. " I 
 owe a proper respect to my superiors, but two such angels 
 are more than justly fails to the share of one man, unless 
 he be a Turk or a Hindoo." 
 
 "Yes, yes," said the captain, quickly; "the major is 
 ever preaching morality to the youngsters, but he is a sly 
 fellow in the main. Do you observe how fond he is of the 
 cross roads above this valley ? Now, if I were to halt the 
 troops twice in the same place, you would all swear there 
 was a petticoat in the wind." 
 
 " You are well known to the corps." 
 
 " Well, Tom, a slanderous propensity is incurable but," 
 stretching forward his body in the direction he was gaz- 
 ing, as if to aid him in distinguishing objects through the 
 darkness, " what animal is moving through the field on our 
 right?" 
 
 " 'Tis a man," said Mason, looking intently at the sus- 
 picious object. 
 
 " By his hump 'tis a dromedary ! " added the captain, 
 eying it keenly. Wheeling his horse suddenly from the 
 highway, he exclaimed " Harvey Birch ! take him, dead 
 or alive !" 
 
 Mason and a few of the leading dragoons only under- 
 stood the sudden cry, but it was heard throughout the line. 
 A dozen of the men, with the lieutenant at their head, fol- 
 lowed the impetuous Lawton, and their speed threatened 
 the pursued with a sudden termination of the race. 
 
 Birch prudently kept his position on the rock, where he 
 had been seen by the passing glance of Henry Wharton, 
 until evening had begun to shroud the surrounding objects 
 in darkness. From this height he had seen all the events 
 of the day as they occurred. He had watched, with a beat- 
 ing heart, the departure of the troops under Dunwoodie, 
 and with difficulty had curbed his impatience until the ob- 
 scurity of night should render his moving free from dan- 
 ger. He had not, however, completed a fourth of his way 
 to his own residence, when his quick ear distinguished the 
 tread of approaching horse. Trusting to the increasing 
 darkness, he determined to persevere. By crouching and 
 moving quickly along the surface of the ground, he hoped 
 yet to escape unseen. Captain Lawton was too much en- 
 
THE SPY. 105 
 
 grossed with the foregoing conversaiion to suffer bis eyes 
 to indulge in their usual wandering ; and the peddler, per- 
 ceiving by the voices that the enemy he most feared had 
 passed, yielded to his impatience, and stood erect, in or- 
 der to make greater progress. The moment his body arose 
 above the shadow of the ground, it was seen and the chase 
 commenced. For a single instant, Birch was helpless, his 
 blood curdling in his veins at the imminence of his danger, 
 and his legs refusing their natural and necessary office. 
 But it was only for a moment. Casting his pack where he 
 stood, and instinctively tightening the belt he wore, the ped- 
 dler betook himself to flight. lie knew that by bringing 
 himself in a line with his pursuers and the wood, his form 
 would be lost to sight. This he soon effected, and he was 
 straining every nerve to gain the wood itself, when sever- 
 al horsemen rode by him but a short distance on his left, 
 and cut him off from this place of refuge. The peddler 
 threw himself on the ground as they came near him, and 
 was passed unseen. But delay now became too danger- 
 ous for him to remain in that position. He accordingly 
 arose, and still keeping in the shadow of the wood, along 
 the skirts of which he heard voices crying to each other 
 to be watchful, he ran with incredible speed in a parallel 
 line, but in an opposite direction, to the march of the dra- 
 goons. 
 
 The confusion of the chase had been heard by the whole 
 of the men, though none distinctly understood the order 
 of Lawton but those who followed. The remainder were 
 lost in doubt as to the duty that was required of them ; 
 and the aforesaid cornet was making eager inquiries of the 
 trooper near him on the subject, when a man, a short dis- 
 tance in the rear, crossed the road at a single bound. At 
 the same instant the stentorian voice of Lawton rang 
 through the valley, shouting : 
 
 " Harvey Birch take him, dead or alive ! " 
 
 Fifty pistols lighted the scene, and the bullets whistled 
 in every direction round the head of the devoted peddler. 
 A feeling of despair seized his heart, and in the bitterness 
 of that moment he exclaimed : 
 
 " Hunted like a beast of the forest ! " 
 
 He felt life and its accompaniments to be a burden and 
 was about to yield himself to his enemies. Nature, how- 
 ever, prevailed. If taken, there was great reason to ap- 
 prehend that he would not be honored with the forms of 
 a trial, but that most probably the morning sun would wit- 
 
io6 THE -SPY. 
 
 ness his ignominious execution ; for he had already been 
 condemned to death, and had already escaped the fate by 
 stratagem. These considerations, with the approaching 
 footsteps of his pursuers, roused him to new exertions. 
 He again fled before them. A fragment of a wall, that 
 had withstood the ravages made by war in the adjoining 
 fences of wood, fortunately crossed his path. He hardly 
 had time to throw his exhausted limbs over this barrier, 
 before twenty of his enemies reached its opposite side. 
 Their horses refused to take the leap in the dark, and 
 amid the confusion of the rearing chargers, and the exe- 
 crations of their riders, Birch was enabled to gain a sight 
 of the base of the hill, on whose summit was a place of 
 perfect security. The heart of the peddler now beat high 
 with hope, when the voice of Captain Lawton. again rang 
 in his ears, shouting to his men to make room. The or- 
 der was obeyed, and the fearless trooper rode at the wall 
 at the top of his horse's speed, plunged the rowels in his 
 charger, and flew over the obstacle in safety. The trium- 
 phant hurrahs of the men, and the thundering tread of the 
 horse, too plainly assured the peddler of the emergency of 
 his danger. He was nearly exhausted, and his fate no 
 longer seemed doubtful. 
 
 " vStop, or die!" was uttered above his head, and in 
 fearful proximity to his ears. 
 
 Harvey stole a glance over his shoulder, and saw within 
 a bound of him the man he most dreaded. By the light 
 of the stars he beheld the uplifted arm and the threatening 
 sabre. Fear, exhaustion, and despair seized his heart, and 
 the intended victim fell at the feet of the dragoon. The 
 horse of Lawton struck the prostrate peddler, and both 
 steed and rider came violently to earth. 
 
 As quick as thought, Birch was on his feet again, with 
 the sword of the discomfited dragoon in his hand. Ven- 
 geance seems but too natural to human passions. There 
 are few who have not felt the seductive pleasure of making 
 our injuries recoil on their authors ; and yet there are some 
 who know how much sweeter it is to return good for evil. 
 
 All the wrong of the peddler shone on his brain with a 
 dazzling brightness. For a moment the demon within him 
 prevailed, and Birch brandished the powerful weapon in 
 the air; in the next, it fell harmless on the reviving but 
 helpless trooper. The peddler vanished up the side of the 
 friendly rock. 
 
 " Help Captain Lawton, there ! " cried Mason, as he rode 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 107 
 
 up, followed by a dozen of his men, " and some of you 
 dismount with me, and search these rocks ; the villain lies 
 here concealed." 
 
 " Hold ! " roared the discomfited captain, raising himself 
 with difficulty on his feet ; " if one of you dismount, he 
 dies. Tom, my good fellow, you will help me to straddle 
 Roanoke again." 
 
 The astonished subaltern complied in silence, while the 
 wondering dragoons remained as fixed in their saddles as 
 if they composed part of the animals they rode. 
 
 " You are much hurt, I fear," said Mason, with some- 
 thing of condolence in his manner, as they re-entered the 
 highway, and biting off the end of a cigar for the want of 
 a better quality of tobacco. 
 
 "Something so, I do believe," replied the captain, 
 catching his breath, and speaking with difficulty ; "I wish 
 our bone-setter was at hand, to examine into the state of 
 my ribs." 
 
 " Sitgreaves is left in attendance on Captain Singleton, 
 at the house of Mr. Wharton." 
 
 " Then there I halt for the night, Tom. These rude 
 times must abridge ceremony ; besides, you may remem- 
 ber the old gentleman professed a kinsman's regard for 
 the corps. I can never think of passing so good a friend 
 without a halt." 
 
 " And I will lead the troops on to the Four Corners ; if 
 we all halt there, we shall breed a famine in the land." 
 
 "A condition I never desire to be placed in. The idea 
 of that graceful spinster's cakes is no bad solace for 
 twenty-four hours in the hospital." 
 
 " Oh ! you won't die if you can think of eating," said 
 Mason, with a laugh. 
 
 " I should surely die if I could not," observed the cap- 
 tain, gravely. 
 
 " Captain Lawton," said the orderly of his troop, riding 
 to the side of his commanding officer, "we are now pass- 
 ing the house of the peddler spy ; is it your pleasure that 
 we burn it ? " 
 
 " No ! " roared the captain, in a voice that startled the 
 disappointed sergeant ; u are you an incendiary ? would 
 you burn a house in cold blood ? Let but a spark approach, 
 and the hand that carries it will never light another." 
 
 "Zounds!" muttered the sleepy cornet in the rear, as 
 he was nodding on his horse, " there is life in the captain, 
 notwithstanding his tumble." 
 
io8 THE SPY. 
 
 Lawton and Mason rode on in silence, the latter rumi- 
 nating on the wonderful change produced in his commander 
 by his fall, when they arrived opposite to the gate before 
 the residence of Mr. Wharton. The troop continued its 
 march ; but the captain and his lieutenant dismounted, 
 and, followed by the servant of the former, they proceeded 
 slowly to the door of the cottage. 
 
 Colonel Wellmere had already sought a retreat in his own 
 room ; Mr. Wharton and his son were closeted by them- 
 selves ; and the ladies were administering the refreshments 
 of the tea-table to the surgeon of the dragoons, who had 
 seen one of his patients in his bed, and the other happily en- 
 joying the comforts of a sweet sleep. A few natural in- 
 quiries from Miss Peyton had opened the soul of the doctor, 
 who knew every individual of her extensive family con- 
 nection in Virginia, and who even thought it possible that 
 he had seen the lady herself. The amiable spinster smiled 
 as she felt it to be improbable that she should ever have 
 met her new acquaintance before, and not remember his 
 singularities. It, however, greatly relieved the embarrass- 
 ment of their situation, and something like a discourse was 
 maintained between them ; the nieces were only listeners, 
 nor could the aunt be said to be much more. 
 
 "As I was observing, Miss Peyton, it was merely the 
 noxious vapors of the lowlands that rendered the planta- 
 tion of your brother an unfit residence for man ; but 
 quadrupeds were " 
 
 " Bless me, what's that ? " said Miss Peyton, turning pale 
 at the report of the pistols fired at Birch. 
 
 " It sounds prodigiously like the concussion on the at- 
 mosphere made by the explosion of firearms," said the sur- 
 geon, sipping his tea with great indifference. "I should 
 imagine it to be the troop of Captain Lawton returning, did 
 I not know the captain never uses the pistol, and that he 
 dreadfully abuses the sabre." 
 
 " Merciful providence ! " exclaimed the agitated maiden ; 
 "he would not injure one with it certainly." 
 
 "Injure!" repeated the other, quickly; "it is certain 
 death, madam the most random blows imaginable ; all that 
 I can say to him will have no effect." 
 
 "But Captain Lawton is the officer we saw this morning, 
 and is surely your friend," said Frances, hastily, observing 
 her aunt to be seriously alarmed. 
 
 "I find no fault with his want of friendship ; the man is 
 well enough, if he would learn to cut scientifically. All 
 
THE SPY. 109 
 
 trades, madam, ought to be allowed to live ; but what is to 
 become of a surgeon, if .his patients are dead before he sees 
 them ?" 
 
 The doctor continued haranguing on the probability and 
 improbability of its being the returning troop, until a loud 
 knock at the door gave new alarm to the ladies. Instinc- 
 tively laying his hand on a small saw, that had been his com- 
 panion for the whole day, in the vain expectation of an am- 
 putation, the surgeon, coolly assuring the ladies that he 
 would stand between them and danger, proceeded in per- 
 son to answer the summons. 
 
 4< Captain Lawton ! " exclaimed the surgeon, as he beheld 
 the trooper leaning on the arm of his subaltern, and with 
 difficulty crossing the threshold. 
 
 " Ah ! my dear bone-setter, is it you ? You are here 
 very fortunately to inspect my carcass ; but do lay aside 
 that rascally saw ! " 
 
 A few words from Mason explained the nature and 
 manner of his captain's hurts, and Miss Peyton cheerfully 
 accorded the required accommodations. While the room 
 intended for the trooper was getting ready, and the doctor 
 was giving certain portentous orders, the captain was in- 
 vited to rest himself in the parlor. On the table was a dish 
 of more substantial food than ordinarily adorned the after- 
 noon's repast, and it soon caught the attention of the dra- 
 goons. Miss Peyton, recollecting that they had probably 
 made their only meal that day at her own table, kindly in- 
 vited them to close it with another. The offer required no 
 pressing, and in a few minutes the two were comfortably 
 seated, and engaged in an employment that was only in- 
 terrupted by an occasional wry face from the captain, who 
 moved his body in evident pain. These interruptions, how- 
 ever, interfered but little with the principal business in 
 hand ; and the captain had got happily through with this 
 important duty, before the surgeon returned to announce 
 all things ready for his accommodation, in the room above 
 stairs. 
 
 " Eating ! " cried the astonished physician ; " Captain 
 Lawton, do you wish to die ? " 
 
 "I have no particular ambition in that way," said the 
 trooper, rising, and bowing good-night to the ladies, " and, 
 therefore, have been providing the materials necessary to 
 preserve life." 
 
 The surgeon muttered his dissatisfaction, while he fol- 
 lowed Mason and the captain from the apartment. 
 
no THE SPY. 
 
 Every house in America had, at that day, what was em- 
 phatically called its best room, and this had been allotted, 
 by the unseen influence of Sarah, to Colonel Wellmere. 
 The down counterpane, which a clear frosty night would 
 render extremely grateful over bruised limbs, decked the 
 English officer's bed. A massive silver tankard, richly 
 embossed with the Wharton arms, held the beverage he 
 was to drink during the night ; while beautiful vessels of 
 china performed the same office for the two American 
 captains. Sarah was certainly unconscious of the silent 
 preference she had been giving to the English officer ; 
 and it is equally certain that, but for his hurts, bed, tank- 
 ard, and everything but the beverage, would have been 
 matters of indifference to Captain Lawton, half of whose 
 nights were spent in his clothes, and not a few of them in 
 the saddle. After taking possession, however, of a small 
 but very comfortable room, Doctor Sitgreaves proceeded 
 to inquire into the state of his injuries. He had begun to 
 pass his hand over the body of his patient, when the lat- 
 ter cried, impatiently : 
 
 " Sitgreaves, do me the favor to lay that rascally saw 
 aside, or I shall have recourse to my sabre in self-defence ; 
 the sight of it makes my blood cold." 
 
 " Captain Lawton, for a man who has so often exposed 
 life and limb, you are unaccountably afraid of a very use- 
 ful instrument." 
 
 " Heaven keep me from its use," said the trooper with 
 a shrug. 
 
 " You would not despise the lights of science, nor re- 
 fuse surgical aid, because this saw might be necessary ? " 
 
 "I would." 
 
 "You would!" 
 
 " Yes ; you shall never joint me like a quarter of beef 
 while I have life to defend myself," cried the resolute 
 dragoon. " But I grow sleepy ; are any of my ribs 
 broken ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Any of my bones ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Tom, I'll thank you for that pitcher." As he ended 
 his draught, he very deliberately turned his back on his 
 companions, and good-naturedly cried " Good-night, 
 Mason ; good-night, Galen." 
 
 Captain Lawton entertained a profound respect for the 
 surgical abilities of his comrade, but he was very sceptical 
 
THE SPY. in 
 
 on the subject of administering internally for the ailings of 
 the human frame. With a full stomach, a stout heart, and 
 a clear conscience, he often maintained that a man might 
 bid defiance to the world and its vicissitudes. Nature pro- 
 vided him with the second, and, to say the truth, he strove 
 manfully himself to keep up the other two requisites in 
 his creed. It was a favorite maxim with him, that the 
 last thing death assailed was the eyes, and the next to the 
 last, the jaws. This he interpreted to be a clear expres- 
 sion of the intention of nature, that every man might reg- 
 ulate, by his own volition, whatever was to be admitted 
 into the sanctuary of his mouth ; consequently, if the 
 guest proved unpalatable, he had no one to blame but him- 
 self. The surgeon, who was well acquainted with these 
 views of his patient, beheld him, as he cavalierly turned 
 his back on Mason and himself, with a commiserating con- 
 tempt, replaced in their leathern repository the phials he 
 had exhibited, with a species of care that was allied to 
 veneration, gave the saw, as he concluded, a whirl of 
 triumph, and departed, without condescending to notice 
 the compliment of the trooper. Mason, finding by the 
 breathing of the captain that his own good-night would 
 be unheard, hastened to pay his respects to the ladies, 
 after which he mounted, and followed the troop at the top 
 of his horse's speed. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 On some fond breast the parting soul relies, 
 Some pious drops the closing eye requires, 
 
 E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries, 
 
 E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires. GRAY. 
 
 THE possessions of Mr. Wharton extended to some dis- 
 tance on each side of the house in which he dwelt, and 
 most of his land was unoccupied. A few scattered dwell- 
 ings were to be seen in different parts of his domains, but 
 they were fast falling to decay, and were untenanted. The 
 proximity of the country to the contending armies had 
 nearly banished the pursuits of agriculture from the land. 
 It was useless for the husbandman to devote his time, and 
 the labor of his hands, to obtain overflowing garners, that 
 the first foraging party would empty. None tilled the 
 earth with any other view than to provide the scanty means 
 
'12 THE SPY. 
 
 of subsistence, except those who were placed so near tc 
 one of the adverse parties as to be safe from the inroads of 
 the light troops of the other. To these the war offered a 
 golden harvest, more especially to such as enjoyed the 
 benefits of an access to the royal army. Mr. Wharton did 
 not require the use of his lands for the purpose of subsist- 
 ence ; and he willingly adopted the guarded practice of 
 the day, limiting his attention to such articles as were soon 
 to be consumed within his own walls, or could be easily 
 secreted from the prying eyes of the foragers. In conse- 
 quence, the ground on which the action was fought had 
 not a single inhabited building, besides the one belonging 
 to the father of Harvey Birch. This house stood between 
 the place where the cavalry had met and that where the 
 charge had been made on the party of Wellmere. 
 
 To Katy Haynes it had been a day fruitful of incidents. 
 The prudent house-keeper had kept her political feelings 
 in a state of rigid neutrality ; her own friends had es- 
 poused the cause of the country, but the maiden herself 
 never lost sight of that important moment, when, like fe- 
 males of more illustrious hopes, she might be required to 
 sacrifice her love of country on the altar of domestic har- 
 mony. And yet, notwithstanding all her sagacity, there 
 were moments when the good woman had grievous doubts 
 into which scale she ought to throw the weight of her elo- 
 quence, in order to be certain of supporting the cause fa- 
 vored by the peddler. There was so much that was equiv- 
 ocal in his movements and manner, that often when, in 
 the privacy of their household, she was about to utter a 
 philippic on Washington and his followers, discretion 
 sealed her mouth, and distrust beset her mind. In short, 
 the whole conduct of the mysterious being she studied 
 was of a character to distract the opinions of one who took 
 a more enlarged view of men and life than came within 
 the competency of his house-keeper. 
 
 The battle of the Plains had taught the cautious Wash- 
 ington the advantages his enemy possessed in organization, 
 arms, and discipline. These were difficulties to be mas- 
 tered by his own vigilance and care. Drawing off his 
 troops to the heights, in the northern part of the county, 
 he had bidden defiance to the attacks of the royal army, 
 and Sir William Howe fell back to the enjoyment of his 
 barren conquest a deserted city. Never afterward did 
 the opposing armies make the trial of strength within the 
 limits of Westchester ; yet hardly a day passed that the 
 
THE SPY. 113 
 
 partisans did not make their inroads ; or a sunrise, thai 
 the inhabitants were spared the relation of excesses which 
 the preceding darkness had served to conceal. Most of 
 the movements of the peddler were made at the hours 
 which others allotted to repose. The evening sun would 
 frequently leave him at one extremity of the county, and 
 the morning find him at the other. His pack was his 
 never-failing companion, and there were those who closely 
 studied him, in his moments of traffic, and thought his 
 only purpose was the accumulation of gold. He would be 
 often seen near the Highlands, with a body bending under 
 its load ; and again near the Harlem River, travelling with 
 lighter steps, with his face toward the setting sun. But 
 these glances at him were uncertain and fleeting. The in- 
 termediate time no eye could penetrate. For months he 
 disappeared, and no traces of his course were ever known. 
 Strong parties held the heights of Harlem, and the north- 
 ern end of Manhattan Island was bristling with the bayo- 
 nets of the English sentinels, yet the peddler glided among 
 them unnoticed and uninjured. His approaches to the 
 American lines were also frequent ; but generally so con- 
 ducted as to baffle pursuit. Many a sentinel, placed in the 
 gorges of the mountains, spoke of a strange figure that 
 had been seen gliding by them in the mists of the evening. 
 These stories reached the ears of the officers, and, as we 
 have rented, in two instances the trader had fallen into the 
 hands of the Americans. The first time he had escaped 
 from Lavvton, shortly after his arrest ; but the second he 
 was condemned to die. On the morning of his intended 
 executioi . the cage was opened, but the bird had flown. 
 This extraordinary escape had been made from the custody 
 of a favorite officer of Washington, and sentinels who had 
 been thought worthy to guard the person of the comman- 
 der-in-chi^f. Bribery and treason could not be imputed to 
 men so w\ 11 esteemed, and the opinion gained ground 
 among the\jommon soldiery that the peddler had dealings 
 with the dark one. Katy, however, always repelled this 
 opinion with indignation ; for within the recesses of her 
 own bosom the house-keeper, in ruminating on the events, 
 concluded that the evil spirits did not pay in gold. Nor, 
 continued the wary spinster in her cogitations, does Wash- 
 ington ; paper and promises were all that the leader of the 
 American troops could dispense to his servants. After the 
 alliance with France, when silver became more abundant 
 in the country, although the scrutinizing eyes of Katy never 
 8 
 
KI 4 THE SPY. 
 
 let any opportunity of examining into the deerskin purse 
 pass unimproved, she was never able to detect the image 
 of Louis intruding into the presence of the well-known 
 countenance of George III. In short, the secret hoard oi 
 Harvey sufficiently showed in its contents that all its con- 
 tributions had been received from the British. 
 
 The house of Birch had been watched at different times 
 by the Americans, with a view to his arrest, but never with 
 success ; the reputed spy possessing a secret means of intel- 
 ligence that invariably defeated their schemes. Once, 
 when a strong body of the Continental Army held the Four 
 Corners for a whole summer, orders had been received 
 from Washington himself never to leave the door of Har- 
 vey Birch unwatched. The command was rigidly obeyed, 
 and during this long period the peddler was unseen ; the 
 detachment was withdrawn, and the following night Birch 
 re-entered his dwelling. The father of Harvey had been 
 greatly molested in consequence of the suspicious charac- 
 ter of the son. But, notwithstanding the most minute 
 scrutiny into the conduct of the old man, no fact could be 
 substantiated against him to his injury, and his property was 
 too small to keep alive the zeal of patriots by profession. 
 Its confiscation and purchase would not have rewarded 
 their trouble. Age and sorrow were now about to spare 
 him further molestation, for the lamp of life had been 
 drained of its oil. The recent separation of the father and 
 son had been painful, but they had submitted in obedience 
 to what both thought a duty. The old man had kept his 
 dying situation a secret from the neighborhood, in the 
 hope that he might still have the company of his child in 
 his last moments. The confusion of the day, and his in- 
 creasing dread that Harvey might be too late, helped to 
 hasten the event he would fain arrest fora little while. As 
 night set in, his illness increased to such a degree that the 
 dismayed house-keeper sent a truant boy, who had shut up 
 himself with them during the combat, to the Locusts, in 
 quest of a companion to cheer her solitude. Caesar, alone, 
 could be spared, and, loaded with eatables and cordials by 
 the kind-hearted Miss Peyton, the black had been de- 
 spatched on this duty. The dying man was past the use of 
 medicines, and his chief anxiety seemed to centre in a 
 meeting with his child. 
 
 The noise of the chase had been heard by the group in 
 the house, but its cause was not understood ; and as both 
 the black and Katy were apprised of the detachment of 
 
THE SPy. 115 
 
 American horse being below them, they supposed it to pro- 
 ceed from the return of that party. They heard the dra- 
 goons, as they moved slowly by the building ; but, in com- 
 pliance with the prudent injunction of the black, the 
 housekeeper forbore to indulge her curiosity. The old 
 man had closed his eyes, and his attendants believed him 
 to be asleep. The house contained two large rooms, and 
 as many small ones. One of the former served for kitchen 
 and sitting-room ; in the other lay the father of Birch ; of 
 the latter, one was the sanctuary of the vestal, and the other 
 contained the stock of provisions. A huge chimney of 
 stone rose in the centre, serving, of itself, for a partition 
 between the larger rooms ; and fireplaces of corresponding 
 dimensions were in each apartment. A bright flame was 
 burning in that of the common room, and within the very 
 jambs of its monstrous jaws sat Caesar and Katy, at the 
 time of which we write. The African was impressing his 
 caution on the house-keeper, and commenting on the gen- 
 eral danger of indulging an idle curiosity. 
 
 "Best nebber tempt a Satan," said Caesar, rolling up 
 his eyes till the whites glistened by the glare of the fire ; 
 " I berry like heself to lose an ear for carrying a little bit 
 of a letter ; dere much mischief come of curiosity. If dere 
 had nebber been a man curious to see Africa, dere would 
 be no color people out of dere own country ; but I wish 
 Harvey get back." 
 
 "It is very disregardful in him to be away at such a 
 time," said Katy, imposingly. " Suppose, now, his father 
 wanted to make his last will in the testament, who is there 
 to do so solemn and awful an- act for him ? Harvey is a 
 very wasteful and a very disregardful man !" 
 
 " Perhaps he make him afore ?" 
 
 "It would not be a wonderment if he had," returned the 
 house-keeper ; " he is whole days looking into the Bible." 
 
 " Then he read a berry good book," said the black, sol- 
 emnly ; " Miss Fanny read in him to Dinah now and den." 
 
 " You are right, Caesar. The Bible is the best of books, 
 and one that reads it as often as Harvey's father should 
 have the best of reasons for so doing. This is no more 
 than common-sense." 
 
 She rose from her seat, and stealing softly to a chest of 
 drawers in the room of the sick man, she took from it a 
 large Bible, heavily bound, and secured with strong clasps 
 of brass, with which she returned to the negro. The vol- 
 ume was eagerly opened, and they proceeded instantly to 
 
n6 THE SPY. 
 
 examine its pages. Katy was far from an expert scholar, 
 and to Caesar the characters were absolutely strangers. 
 For some time the house-keeper was occupied in finding 
 out the word Matthew, in which she had no sooner suc- 
 ceeded than she pointed out the word, with great com- 
 placency, to the attentive Caesar. 
 
 " Berry well, now look him t'rough," said the black, 
 peeping over the house-keeper's shoulder, as he held a 
 long, lank candle, of yellow tallow, in such a manner as to 
 throw its feeble light on the volume. 
 
 "Yes, but I must begin with the very beginning of the 
 book," replied the other, turning the leaves carefully back, 
 until, moving two at once, she lighted upon a page covered 
 with writing. " Here," said the house-keeper, shaking with 
 the eagerness of expectation, " here are the very words 
 themselves ; now I would give the world itself to know 
 whom he has left the big silver shoe-buckles to." 
 
 "Read 'em," said Caesar, laconically. 
 
 "And the black walnut drawers; for Harvey could 
 never want furniture of that quality as long as he is a 
 bachelor!" 
 
 "Why he no want 'em as well as he fader ? " 
 
 "And the six silver tablespoons; Harvey always uses 
 the iron ! " 
 
 " P'r'ap he say, widout so much talk," returned the sen- 
 tentious black, pointing one of his crooked and dingy fin- 
 gers at the open volume. 
 
 Thus repeatedly advised, and impelled by her own curi- 
 osity, Katy began to read. Anxious to come to the part 
 which most interested herself, she dipped at once into the 
 centre of the subject. 
 
 " Chester Birch, born September i, 1755 " read the spinster, 
 with a deliberation that did no great honor to her scholar- 
 ship. 
 
 "Well, what he gib him ?" 
 
 " Abigail Birch, born July 12, 1757," continued the house- 
 keeper, in the same tone. 
 
 " I t'ink he ought to gib her 'e spoon." 
 
 "June i, 1760. On this awful day^ the judgment of an of- 
 fended God lighted on my house :" a heavy groan from the 
 adjoining room made the spinster instinctively close the 
 volume, and Caesar, for a moment, shook with fear. 
 Neither possessed sufficient resolution to go and examine 
 the condition of the sufferer, but his heavy breathing con- 
 tinued as. usual. Katy dare not, however, reopen the 
 
THE SPY. ii 7 
 
 Bible, and carefully securing its clasps, it was laid on the 
 table in silence. Caesar took his chair again, and after 
 looking timidly round the room, remarked : 
 
 " I t'ought he time war come ! " 
 
 "No," said Katy, solemnly, "he will live till the tide is 
 out, or the first cock crows in the morning." 
 
 " Poor man ! " continued the black, nestling still farther 
 into the chimney-corner, " I hope he lay quiet after he 
 die." 
 
 "'Twould be no astonishment to me if he didn't, for 
 they say an unquiet life makes an uneasy grave." 
 
 " Johnny Birch a very good man in he way. All man- 
 kind can't be a minister ; for if he do, who would be a con- 
 gregation ?" 
 
 " Ah ! Caesar, he is good only who does good can you 
 tell me why honestly gotten gold should be hidden in the 
 bowels of the earth ? " 
 
 " Grach ! I t'ink it must be to keep t'e Skinner from 
 findin' him ; if he know where he be, why don't he dig him 
 up ?" 
 
 " There may be reasons not comprehendable to you," 
 said Katy, moving her chair so that her clothes covered 
 the charmed stone, underneath which lay the secret treas- 
 ures of the peddler, unable to refrain speaking of that 
 which she would have been very unwilling to reveal ; " but 
 a rough outside often holds a smooth inside." Caesar 
 stared around the building, unable to fathom the hidden 
 meaning of his companion, when his roving eyes suddenly 
 became fixed and his teeth chattered with affright. The 
 change in the countenance of the black was instantly per- 
 ceived by Katy, and turning her face, she saw the peddler 
 himself standing within the door of the room. 
 
 " Is he alive ? " asked Birch, tremulously, and seemingly 
 afraid to receive the answer. 
 
 "Surely," said Katy, rising hastily, and officiously offer- 
 ing her chair ; "he must live till day, or till the tide is 
 down." 
 
 Disregarding all but the fact that his father still lived, 
 the peddler stole gently into the room of his dying parent. 
 The tie which bound the father and son was of no ordinary 
 kind. In the wide world they were all to each other. 
 Had Katy but read a few lines farther in the record, she 
 would have seen the sad tale of their misfortunes. Atone 
 blow competence and kindred had been swept from them, 
 and from that day to the present hour, persecution and 
 
n8 THE SPY. 
 
 distress had followed their wandering steps. Approaching 
 the bedside, Harvey leaned his body forward, and, in a 
 voice nearly choked by his feelings, he whispered near the 
 ear of the sick : 
 
 " Father, do you know me ? " 
 
 The parent slowly opened his eyes, and a smile of satis- 
 faction passed over his pallid features, leaving behind it 
 the impression of death, more awful by the contrast. The 
 peddler gave a restorative he had brought with him to the 
 parched lips of the sick man, and for a few minutes new 
 vigor seemed imparted to his frame. He spoke, but 
 slowly, and with difficulty. Curiosity kept Katy silent ; 
 awe had the same effect on Caesar ; and Harvey seemed 
 hardly to breathe as he listened to the language of the de- 
 parting spirit. 
 
 " My son," said the father, in a hollow voice, " God is as 
 merciful as he is just ; if I threw the cup of salvation from 
 my lips when a youth, he graciously offers it to me in 
 mine age. He has chastised to purify, and I go to join 
 the spirits of our lost family. In a little while, my child, 
 you will be alone. I know you too well not to foresee you 
 will be a pilgrim through life. The bruised reed may en- 
 dure, but it will never rise. You have that within you, 
 Harvey, that will guide you aright ; persevere, as you 
 have begun, for the duties of life are never to be neglected 
 and " A noise in the adjoining room interrupted the 
 dying man, and the impatient peddler hastened to learn 
 the cause, followed by Katy arid the black. The first 
 glance of his eye on the figure in the doorway told the 
 trader but too well his errand, and the fate that probably 
 awaited himself. The intruder was a man still young in 
 years, but his lineaments bespoke a mind long agitated by 
 evil passions. His dress was of the meanest materials, and 
 so ragged and unseemly as to give him the appearance of 
 studied poverty. His hair was prematurely whitened, and 
 his sunken, lowering eye avoided the bold, forward look 
 of innocence. There was a restlessness in his movements, 
 and an agitation in his manner, that proceeded from the 
 workings of the foul spirit within him, and which was not 
 less offensive to others than distressing to himself. This 
 man was a well-known leader of one of those gangs of 
 marauders who infested the county with a semblance of 
 patriotism, and who were guilty of every grade of offence, 
 from simple theft up to murder. Behind him stood sev- 
 eral other figures clad in a similar manner, but whose 
 
THE SPY. 119 
 
 countenances expressed nothing more than the indiffer- 
 ence of brutal insensibility. They were all well armed 
 with muskets and bayonets, and provided with the usual 
 implements of foot-soldiers. Harvey knew resistance to 
 be in vain, and quietly submitted to their directions. In 
 the twinkling of an eye both he and Caesar were stripped 
 of their decent garments, and made to exchange clothes 
 with two of the filthiest of the band. They were then 
 placed in separate corners of the room, and, under the 
 muzzles of the muskets, required faithfully to answer such 
 interrogatories as were put to them. 
 
 "Where is your pack ?" was the first question to the 
 peddler. 
 
 " Hear me," said Birch, trembling with agitation ; " in 
 the next room is my father, now in the agonies of death ; 
 let me go to him, receive his blessing, and close his eyes, 
 and you shall have all ay, all." 
 
 " Answer me as I put the question, or this musket shall 
 send you to keep the old driveller company ; where is your 
 pack ? " 
 
 "I will tell you nothing, unless you let me go to my 
 father," said the peddler, resolutely. 
 
 His persecutor raised his arm with a malicious sneer, 
 and was about to execute his threat, when one of his com- 
 panions checked him. 
 
 " What would you do ? " he said, "you surely forget the 
 reward. Tell us where are your goods, and you shall go 
 to your father." 
 
 Birch complied instantly, and a man was despatched in 
 quest of the booty ; he soon returned, throwing the bundle 
 on the floor, swearing it was as light as feathers. 
 
 "Ay," cried the leader, "there must begold somewhere 
 for what it did contain. Give us your gold, Mr. Birch ; 
 we know you have it ; you will not take continental, not 
 you. 
 
 " You break your faith," said Harvey. 
 
 "Give us your gold," exclaimed the other, furiously, 
 pricking the peddler with his bayonet until the blood fol- 
 lowed his pushes in streams. At this instant a slight move- 
 ment was heard in the adjoining room, and Harvey cried, 
 imploringly : 
 
 "Let me let me go to my father, and you shall have 
 all." 
 
 " I swear you shall go then," said the Skinner. 
 
 "Here, take the trash," cried Birch, as he threw aside 
 
120 THE SPY. 
 
 the purse, which he had contrived to conceal notwith* 
 standing the change in his garments. 
 
 The robber raised it from the floor with a hellish laugh 
 
 " Ay, but it shall be to your Father in heaven." 
 
 "Monster ! have you no feeling, no faith, no honesty?" 
 
 " To hear him, one would think there was not a rope 
 around his neck already," said the other, laughing. " There 
 is no necessity for your being uneasy, Mr. Birch ; if the old 
 man gets a few hours the start of you in the journey, you 
 will be sure to follow him before noon to-morrow." 
 
 This unfeeling communication had no effect on the ped- 
 dler, who listened with gasping breath to every sound from 
 the room of his parent, until he heard his own name 
 spoken in the hollow, sepulchral tones of death. Birch 
 could endure no more, but shrieking out 
 
 " Father! hush father! I come I come;" he darted 
 by his keeper, and was the next moment pinned to the wall 
 by the bayonet of another of the band. Fortunately, his 
 quick motion had caused him to escape a thrust aimed at 
 his life, and it was by his clothes only that he was con- 
 fined. 
 
 " No, Mr. Birch," said the Skinner, " we know you too 
 well for a slippery rascal, to trust you out of sight your 
 gold, your gold ! " 
 
 "You have it," said the peddler, writhing with agony. 
 
 "Ay, we have the purse, but you have more purses. 
 King George is a prompt paymaster, and you have done 
 him many a piece of good service. Where is your hoard ? 
 Without it you will never see your father." 
 
 " Remove the stone underneath the woman," cried the 
 peddler, eagerly "remove the stone." 
 
 " He raves! he raves ! " said Katy, instinctively moving 
 her position to a different stone from the one on which she 
 had been standing. In a moment it was torn from its bed, 
 and nothing but earth was seen beneath. 
 
 "He raves! you have driven him from his right mind," 
 continued the trembling spinster ; " would any man in his 
 senses keep gold under a hearth ?" 
 
 " Peace, babbling fool ! " cried Harvey. " Lift the cor- 
 ner stone, and you will find that which will make you rich, 
 and me a beggar." 
 
 " And then you will be despisable," said the house- 
 keeper, bitterly. " A peddler without goods and without 
 money is sure to be despisable." 
 
 " There will be enough left to pay for his halter/' cried 
 
THE SPY. 121 
 
 the Skinner, who was not slow to follow the instructions of 
 Harvey, soon lighting upon a store of English guineas. 
 The money was quickly transferred to a bag, notwithstand- 
 ing the declarations of the spinster, that her dues were un- 
 satisfied, and that, of right, ten of the guineas were her 
 property. 
 
 Delighted with a prize that greatly exceeded their expec- 
 tations, the band prepared to depart, intending to take the 
 peddier with them, in order to give him up to the Ameri- 
 can troops above, and to claim the reward offered for his 
 apprehension. Everything was ready, and they were about 
 to lift Birch in their arms, for he resolutely refused to move 
 an inch, when a form appeared in their midst which ap- 
 palled the stoutest hearts among them. The father had 
 arisen from his bed, and he tottered fortli at the cries 
 of his son. Around his body was thrown the sheet of the 
 bed, and his fixed eye and haggard face gave him the ap- 
 pearance of a being from another world. Even Katy and 
 Caesar thought it was the spirit of the elder Birch, and 
 they fled the house, followed by the alarmed Skinners in a 
 body. 
 
 The excitement, which had given the sick man strength, 
 soon vanished, and the peddler, lifting him in his arms, re- 
 conveyed him to his bed. The reaction of the system 
 which followed hastened to close the scene. 
 
 The glazed eye of the father was fixed upon the son ; his 
 lips moved, but his voice was unheard. Harvey bent 
 down, and, with the parting breath of his parent, received 
 his dying benediction. A life of privation and of wrongs 
 embittered most of the future hours of the peddler. But 
 under no sufferings, in no misfortunes, the subject of pov- 
 erty and obloquy, the remembrance of that blessing never 
 left him ; it constantly gleamed over the images of the past, 
 shedding a holy radiance around his saddest hours of des- 
 pondency ; it cheered the prospect of the future with the 
 prayers of a pious spirit ; and it brought the sweet assur- 
 ance of having faithfully and truly discharged the sacred 
 offices of filial love. 
 
 The retreat of Caesar and the spinster had been too pre- 
 cipitate to admit of much calculation ; yet thev themselves 
 instinctively separated from the Skinners. After fleeing a 
 short distance they paused, and the maiden commenced, in 
 a solemn voice : 
 
 "Oh-! Caesar, was it not dreadful to walk before he had 
 been laid in his grave ! It must have been the money that 
 
i22 THE SPY. 
 
 disturbed him : they say Captain Kidd walks near the spot 
 where he buried gold in the old war." 
 
 " I neber t'ink Johnny Birch hab such a big eye ! " said 
 the African, his teeth yet chattering with the fright. 
 
 " I'm sure 'twould be a botherment to a living soul to 
 lose so much money. Harvey will be nothing but an ut- 
 terly despisabie, poverty-stricken wretch. I wonder vho 
 he thinks would be even his housekeeper ? " 
 
 "Maybe a spook take away Harvey, too," observed 
 Caesar, moving still nearer to the side of the maiden But 
 a new idea had seized the imagination of the spinster. She 
 thought it not improbable that the prize had been forsaken 
 in the confusion of the retreat ; and after deliberating and 
 reasoning for some time with Caesar, they determined to 
 venture back, and ascertain this important fact, and if 
 possible, learn what had been the fate of the peddler. 
 Much time was spent in cautiously approaching the dreaded 
 spot ; and as the spinster had sagaciously placed herself in 
 the line of the retreat of the Skinners, every stone was ex- 
 amined in the progress in search of the abandoned gold. 
 But although the suddenness of the alarm and the cry of 
 Caesar had impelled the freebooters to so hasty a retreat, 
 they grasped the hoard with a hold that death itself would 
 not have loosened. Perceiving everything to be quiet 
 within, Katy at length mustered resolution to enter the 
 dwelling, where she found the peddler with a heavy heart, 
 performing the last sad offices for the dead. A few words 
 sufficed to explain to Katy the nature of her mistake ; but 
 Caesar continued to his dying day to astonish the sable in- 
 mates of the kitchen with learned dissertations on spooks, 
 and to relate how direful was the appearance of that of 
 Johnny Birch. 
 
 The danger compelled the peddler to abridge even the 
 short period that American custom leaves the deceased 
 with us ; and aided by the black and Katy, his painful 
 task was soon ended. Caesar volunteered to walk a couple 
 of miles with orders to a carpenter ; and, the body being 
 habited in its ordinary attire, was left, with a sheet thrown 
 decently over it, to await the return of the messenger. 
 
 The Skinners had fled precipitately to the wood, which 
 was but a short distance from the house of Birch, and once 
 safely sheltered within its shades, they halted, and mustered 
 their panic-stricken forces. 
 
 ''What in the name of fury seized your coward hearts ?" 
 cried their dissatisfied leader, drawing his breath heavily. 
 
THE SPY. 123 
 
 "The same question might be asked yourself," returned 
 one of the band, sullenly. 
 
 " From your fright, I thought a party of De Lancey's 
 men were upon us. Oh ! you are brave gentlemen at a 
 race !" 
 
 "We follow our captain." 
 
 "Then follow me back, and let us secure the scoundrel, 
 and receive the reward." 
 
 " Yes ; and by the time we reach the house, that black 
 rascal will have the mad Virginian upon us ! by my soul, 
 I would rather meet fifty Cow-boys than that single man." 
 
 "Fool!" cried the enraged leader, " don't you know 
 Dunwoodie's horse are at the Corners, full two miles from 
 here ? " 
 
 " I care not where the dragoons are, but I will swear that 
 I saw Captain Lavvton enter the house of old Wharton, 
 while I lay watching an opportunity of getting the British 
 colonel's horse from the stable." 
 
 "And if he should come won't a bullet silence a dra- 
 goon from the South as well as one from old England ? " 
 
 " Ay, but I don't choose a hornet's nest about my ears ; 
 raze the skin of one of that corps, and you will never see 
 another peaceable night's foraging again." 
 
 " Well," muttered the leader, as they retired deeper into 
 the wood, " this sottish peddler will stay to see the old devil 
 buried ; and though we cannot touch him at the funeral 
 (for that would raise every old woman and priest in Ameri- 
 ca against us), he'll wait to look after the movables, antf 
 to-morrow night shall wind up his concerns." 
 
 With this threat they withdrew to one of their usual 
 places of resort, until darkness should again give them an 
 opportunity of marauding on the community without dan- 
 ger of detection. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 O woe ! O woful, woful, woful day ! 
 
 Most lamentable day : most woful day 
 
 That ever, ever, I did yet behold ! 
 
 O day ! O day ! O day ! O hateful day ! 
 
 Never was seen so black a day as this : 
 
 O woful day ! O woful day. SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE family at the Locusts had slept, or watched, through 
 all the disturbances at the cottage of Birch, in perfect ig- 
 
124 THE SPY. 
 
 norance of their occurrence. The attacks of the Skinners 
 were always made with so much privacy as to exclude the 
 sufferers, not only from succor, but frequently, through a 
 dread of future depredations, from the commiseration of 
 their neighbors also. Additional duties had drawn the la- 
 dies from their pillows at an hour somewhat earlier than 
 usual ; and Captain Lawton, notwithstanding the suffer- 
 ings of his body, had risen in compliance with a rule from 
 which he never departed, of sleeping but six hours at a 
 time. This was one of the few points, in which the care 
 of the human frame was involved, on which the trooper 
 and the surgeon of horse were ever known to agree. The 
 doctor had watched, during the night, by the side of the 
 bed of Captain Singleton, without once closing his eyes. 
 Occasionally he would pay a visit to the wounded Eng- 
 lishman, who, being more hurt in the spirit than in the 
 flesh, tolerated the interruptions with a very ill grace ; 
 and once, for an instant, he ventured to steal softly to the 
 bed of his obstinate comrade, and was near succeeding in 
 obtaining a touch of his pulse, when a terrible oath, sworn 
 by the trooper in a dream, startled the prudent surgeon, 
 and warned him of a trite saying in the corps, "that Cap- 
 tain Lawton always slept with one eye open." This group 
 had assembled in one of the parlors as the sun made its ap- 
 pearance over the eastern hill, dispersing the columns of 
 fog which had enveloped the low land. 
 
 Miss Peyton was looking from a window in the direction 
 of the tenement of the peddler, and was expressing a kind 
 anxiety after the welfare of the sick man, when the person 
 of Katy suddenly emerged from the dense covering of an 
 earthly cloud, whose mists were scattering before the 
 cheerful rays of the sun, and was seen making hasty steps 
 toward the Locusts. There was that in the air of the house- 
 keeper which bespoke distress of an unusual nature, and 
 the kindhearted mistress of the Locusts opened the door 
 of the room with the benevolent intention of soothing a 
 grief that seemed so overwhelming. A nearer view of the 
 disturbed features of the visitor confirmed Miss Peyton in 
 her belief; and, with the shock that gentle feelings ever 
 experience at a sudden and endless separation from even 
 the meanest of their associates, she said, hastily : 
 
 "Katy, is he gone ?" 
 
 " No, ma'am," replied the disturbed damsel, with great 
 bitterness, " he is not yet gone, but he may go as soon as 
 he pleases now, for the worst is done. I do verily believe, 
 
THE SPY. 125 
 
 Miss Peyton, they haven't so much as left him money 
 enough to buy him another suit of clothes to cover his 
 nakedness, and those he has on are none of the best % I can 
 tell you." 
 
 " How," exclaimed the other, astonished, " could anyone 
 have the heart to plunder a man in such distress ?" 
 
 " Hearts ! " repeated Katy, catching her breath ; " men 
 like them have no bowels at all. Plunder and distress, in- 
 deed! Why, ma'am, there were in the iron pot, in plain 
 sight, fifty-four guineas of gold, besides what lay under- 
 neath, which I couldn't count without handling ; and I didn't 
 like to touch it, for they say that another's gold is apt to stick 
 so, judging from that in sight, there wasn't less than two 
 hundred guineas, besides what might have been in the 
 deerskin purse. But Harvey is little better now than a 
 beggar; and a beggar, Miss Jeanette, is the most awfully 
 despisable of all earthly creatures/' 
 
 "Poverty is to be pitied, and not despised," said the 
 lady, still unable to comprehend the extent of the misfor- 
 tune that had befallen her neighbor during the night. 
 " But how is the old man ? and does this loss affect him 
 much ? " 
 
 The countenance of Katy changed from the natural ex- 
 pression of concern, to the set form of melancholy, as she 
 answered : 
 
 " He is happily removed from the cares of the world ; 
 the chinking of the money made him get out of his bed, 
 and the poor soul found the shock too great for him. He 
 died about two hours and ten minutes before the cock 
 crowed, as near as we can say ;" she was interrupted by 
 the physician, who, approaching, inquired, with much in- 
 terest, the nature of the disorder. Glancing her eye over 
 the figure of this new acquaintance, Katy, instinctively ad- 
 justing her dress, replied: 
 
 " Twas the troubles of the times, and the loss of prop- 
 erty, that brought him down ; he wasted from day to day, 
 and all my care and anxiety were lost ; for now Harvey is 
 no better than a beggar, and who is there to pay me for 
 what I have done ? " 
 
 " God will reward you for all the good you have done," 
 said Miss Peyton, mildly. 
 
 "Yes," interrupted the spinster, hastily, and with an air 
 of reverence that was instantly succeeded by an expression 
 that denoted more of worldly care ; " but then I have left 
 my wages for three years past in the hands of Harvey, and 
 
126 THE SPY. 
 
 how am I to get them ? My brother stold me, again and 
 again, to ask for my money ; but I always thought accounts 
 between relations were easily settled." 
 
 " Were you related, then, to Birch ? " asked Miss Pey- 
 ton, observing her to pause. 
 
 " Why," returned the housekeeper, hesitating a little, 
 " I thought we were as good as so. I wonder if I have no 
 claim on the house and garden ; though they say now it is 
 Harvey's, it will surely be confiscated ; " turning to Law- 
 ton, who had been sitting in one posture, with his piercing 
 eyes lowering at her through his thick brows in silence, 
 *' perhaps this gentleman knows he seems to take an in- 
 terest in my story." 
 
 " Madam," said the trooper, bowing very low, " both 
 you and the tale are extremely interesting " Katy smiled 
 involuntarily " but my humble knowledge is limited to 
 the setting of a squadron in the field, and using it when 
 there. I beg leave to refer you to Dr. Archibald Sit- 
 greaves, a gentleman of universal attainments, and un- 
 bounded philanthropy ; the very milk of human sympa- 
 thies, and a mortal foe to all indiscriminate cutting." 
 
 The surgeon drew up, and employed himself in whist- 
 ling a low air as he looked over some phials on a table ; 
 but the housekeeper, turning to him with an inclination 
 of the head, continued : 
 
 " I suppose, sir, a woman has no dower in her husband's 
 property, unless they be actually married?" 
 
 It was a maxim with Dr. Sitgreaves, that no species of 
 knowledge was to be despised ; and, consequently, he was 
 an empiric in everything but his profession. At first, in- 
 dignation at the irony of his comrade kept him silent ; 
 but, suddenly changing his purpose, he answered the ap- 
 plicant with a good-natured smile : 
 
 " I judge not. If death has anticipated your nuptials, I 
 am fearful you have no remedy against his stern decrees." 
 
 To Katy this sounded well, although she understood 
 nothing of its meaning but " death" and "nuptials." To 
 this part of his speech, then, she directed her reply. 
 
 " I did think he only waited the death of the old gentle- 
 man before he married," said the housekeeper, looking 
 on the carpet ; " but now he is nothing more than despis- 
 able, or, what's the same thing, a peddler without house, 
 pack, or money. It might be hard for a man to get a wife 
 at all in such a predicary don't you think it would, Miss 
 Pevton ? " 
 
THE SPY. 127 
 
 " I seldom trouble myself with such things," said the 
 lady, gravely. 
 
 During this dialogue, Captain Lawton had been study- 
 ing the countenance and manner of the housekeeper with 
 a most ludicrous gravity ; and, fearful the conversation 
 would cease, he inquired, with an appearance of great in- 
 terest : 
 
 " You think it was age and debility that removed the old 
 gentleman at last ? " 
 
 "And the troublesome times. Trouble is a heavy pull- 
 down to a sick-bed ; but I suppose his time had come, and 
 when that happens it matters but little what doctor's stuff 
 we take." 
 
 " Let me set you right in that particular," interrupted 
 the surgeon ; " we must all die, it is true, but it is pe,r- 
 mitted us to use the lights of science in arresting dangers 
 
 as they occur until " 
 
 " We can die secundum artem" cried the trooper. 
 
 To this observation the physician did not deign to re- 
 ply ; but deeming it necessary to his professional dignity 
 that the conversation should continue, he added : 
 
 "Perhaps, in this instance, judicious treatment might 
 have prolonged the life of the patient. Who administered 
 to the case ? " 
 
 " No one yet," said the housekeeper, with quickness ; 
 "I expect he has made his last will in the testament." 
 
 The surgeon disregarded the smile of the ladies, and 
 pursued his inquiries. 
 
 " It is doubtless wise to be prepared for death. But 
 under whose care was the sick man during his indisposi- 
 tion ? " ^ 
 
 " Under mine," answered Katy, with an air of a little 
 importance, " and care thrown away I may well call it ; 
 for Harvey is quite too despisable to be any sort of com- 
 pensation at present." 
 
 The mutual ignorance of each other's meaning made 
 very little interruption to the dialogue, for both took a 
 good deal for granted, and Sitgreaves pursued the subject. 
 
 " And how did you treat him ? " 
 
 " Kindly, you may be certain," said Katy, rather tartly. 
 
 " The doctor means medically, madam," observed Cap- 
 tain Lawton, with a face that would have honored the 
 funeral of the deceased. 
 
 " I doctor'd him mostly with yarbs," said the house- 
 keeper, smiling, as if conscious of error. 
 
128 THE SPY. 
 
 "With simples," returned the surgeon ; " they are safer 
 in the hands of the unlettered than more powerful reme- 
 dies ; but why had you no regular attendant ? " 
 
 " I'm sure Harvey has suffered enough already with 
 having so much concerns with the rig'lars,*" said the house- 
 keeper; "he has lost his all, and made himself a vagabond 
 through the land ; and I have reason to rue the day I ever 
 crossed the threshold of his house." 
 
 "Dr. Sitgreaves does not mean a rig'lar soldier, but a 
 regular physician, madam," said the trooper. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the maiden, again correcting herself, " for 
 the best of all reasons ; there was none to be had, so I took 
 care of him myself. If there had been a doctor at hand, I 
 am sure we would gladly have had him ; for my part, I am 
 clear for doctoring, though Harvey says I am killing my- 
 self with medicines ; but I am sure it will make but little 
 difference to him, whether I live or die." 
 
 " Therein you show your sense," said the surgeon, ap- 
 proaching the spinster, who sat holding the palms of her 
 hands and the soles of her feet to the genial heat of a fine 
 fire, making the most of comfort amid all her troubles ; 
 " you appear to be a sensible, discreet woman, and some 
 who have had opportunities of acquiring more correct 
 views might envy you your respect for knowledge and the 
 lights of science." 
 
 Although the housekeeper did not altogether compre- 
 hend the other's meaning, she knew he used a compliment, 
 and as such was highly pleased with what he said ; with 
 increased animation, therefore, she cried, "It was always 
 said of me, that I wanted nothing but opportunity to 
 make quite a physician myself ; so long as before I came 
 to live with Harvey's father, they called me the petticoat 
 doctor." 
 
 " More true than civil, I dare say," returned the surgeon, 
 losing sight of the woman's character in his admiration of 
 her respect for the healing art. " In the absence of more 
 enlightened counsellors, the experience of a discreet mat- 
 ron is frequently of great efficacy in checking the progress 
 of disease ; under such circumstances, madam, it is dreadful 
 to have to contend with ignorance and obstinacy." 
 
 " Bad enough, as I well know from experience," cried 
 Katy, in triumph : " Harvey is as obstinate about such 
 things as a dumb beast ; one would think the care I took 
 of his bed-ridden father might learn him better than to de- 
 spise good nursing. But some day he may know what it 
 
THE SPY. 129 
 
 is to want a careful woman in his house, though now I am 
 sure he is too despisable himself to have a house." 
 
 " Indeed, I can easily comprehend the mortification you 
 must have felt in having one so self-willed to deal with," 
 returned the surgeon, glancing his eye reproachfully at his 
 comrade ; " but you should rise superior to such opinions, 
 and pity the ignorance by which they are engendered." 
 
 The housekeeper hesitated a moment, at a loss to com- 
 prehend all that the surgeon expressed, yet she felt it was 
 both complimentary and kind ; therefore, suppressing her 
 natural flow of language a little, she replied : 
 
 " I tell Harvey his conduct is often condemnable, and 
 last night he made my words good ; but the opinions of 
 such unbelievers is not very consequential ; yet it is dread- 
 ful to think how he behaves at times ; now, when he threw 
 away the needle " 
 
 "What!" said the surgeon, interrupting her, " does he 
 affect to despise the needle ? But it is my lot to meet with 
 men, daily, who are equally perverse, and who show a still 
 more culpable disrespect for the information that flows 
 from the lights of science." 
 
 The doctor turned his face toward Captain Lawton while 
 speaking, but the elevation of the head prevented his eyes 
 from resting on the grave countenance maintained by the 
 trooper. Katy listened with admiring attention, and when 
 the other had done, she added: 
 
 " Then Harvey is a disbeliever in the tides." 
 
 "Not believe in the tides !" repeated the healer of bod- 
 ies, in astonishment ; "does the man distrust his senses? 
 But perhaps it is the influence of the moon he doubts." 
 
 " That he does ! " exclaimed Katy, shaking with delight 
 at meeting with a man of learning who could support her 
 favorite opinions. "If you was to hear him talk, you would 
 think he didn't believe there was such a thing as moon at 
 all." 
 
 " It is the misfortune of ignorance and incredulity, 
 madam, that they feed themselves. The mind once reject- 
 ing useful information, insensibly leans to superstition and 
 conclusions on the order of nature, that are not less preju- 
 dicial to the cause of truth than they are at variance with 
 the first principles of human knowledge." 
 
 The spinster was too much awestruck to venture an 
 undigested reply to this speech ; and the surgeon, after 
 pausing a moment in a kind of philosophical disdain, con- 
 tinued : 
 
1 3 o THE SPY. 
 
 " That any man in his senses can doubt of the flux of the 
 tides is more than I could have thought possible ; yet ob- 
 stinacy is a dangerous inmate to harbor, and may lead us 
 into any error, however gross." 
 
 " You think, then, they have an effect on the flux ? " said 
 the housekeeper, inquiringly. 
 
 Miss Peyton rose, and beckoned her nieces to give her 
 their assistance in the adjoining pantry, while for a moment 
 the dark visage of the attentive Lawton was lighted by an 
 animation that vanished by an effort as powerful and as 
 sudden as the one that drew it into being. 
 
 After reflecting whether he rightly understood the mean- 
 ing of the other, the surgeon, making due allowance for 
 the love of learning acting upon a want of education, re- 
 plied : 
 
 " The moon, you mean ; many philosophers have doubted 
 how far it affects the tides ; but I think it is wilfully reject- 
 ing the lights of science not to believe it causes both the 
 flux and reflux." 
 
 As reflux was a disorder with which Katy was not ac- 
 quainted, she thought it prudent to be silent ; yet burning 
 with curiosity to know the meaning of certain portentous 
 lights to which the other so often alluded, she ventured to 
 ask : 
 
 "If them lights he spoke of were what was called north- 
 ern lights in these parts ? " 
 
 In chanty to her ignorance, the surgeon would have en- 
 tered into an elaborate explanation of his meaning, had he 
 not been interrupted by the mirth of Lawton. The trooper 
 had listened so far with great composure ; but now he 
 laughed until his aching bones reminded him of his fall, 
 and the tears rolled over his cheeks in larger drops than 
 had ever been seen there before. At length the offended 
 physician seized an opportunity of a pause to say: 
 
 "To you, Captain Lawton, it may be a source of triumph 
 that an uneducated woman should make a mistake in a sub- 
 ject on which men of science have long been at variance ; 
 but yet you find this respectable matron does not reject 
 the lights does not reject the use of proper instruments 
 in repairing injuries sustained by the human frame. You 
 may possibly remember, sir, her allusion to the use of the 
 needle." 
 
 "Ay," cried the delighted trooper, "to mend the ped- 
 dler's breeches." 
 
 Katy drew up in evident displeasure, and prompt to 
 
THE SPY. 131 
 
 vindicate her character for more lofty requirements, she 
 said : 
 
 "'Twas not a common use that I put that needle to but 
 one of much greater virtue." 
 
 "Explain yourself, madam," said the surgeon impa- 
 tiently, "that this gentleman may see how little reason he 
 has for exultation." 
 
 Thus solicited, Katy paused to collect sufficient elo- 
 quence to garnish her narrative. The substance of her tale 
 was, that a child who had been placed by the guardians of 
 the poor in the keeping of Harvey, had, in the absence of 
 its master, injured itself badly in the foot by a large nee- 
 dle. The offending instrument had been carefully greased, 
 wrapped in woollen, and placed in the certain charmed nook 
 of the chimney, while the foot, from a fear of weakening 
 the incantation, was left in a state of nature. The arrival 
 of the peddler had altered the whole of this admirable 
 treatment; and the consequences were expressed by Katy, 
 as she concluded her narrative, by saying : 
 
 "'Twas no wonder the boy died of a lockjaw ! " 
 
 Doctor Sitgreaves looked out of the window in admira- 
 tion of the brilliant morning, striving all he could to avoid 
 the basilisk eyes of his comrade. He was impelled by a 
 feeling that he could not conquer to look Captain Lawton 
 in the face. The trooper had arranged every muscle of his 
 countenance to express sympathy for the fate of the poor 
 child ; but the exultation of his eyes cut the astounded man 
 of science to the quick ; he muttered something concern- 
 ing the condition of his patients, and retreated with pre- 
 cipitation. 
 
 Miss Peyton entered into the situation of things at the 
 house of the peddler with all the interest of her excellent 
 feelings ; she listened patiently while Katy recounted, more 
 particularly, the circumstances of the past night as they 
 had occurred. The spinster did not forget to dwell on the 
 magnitude of the pecuniary loss sustained by Harvey, and 
 in no manner spared her invectives at his betraying a se- 
 cret which might so easily have been kept. 
 
 " For, Miss Peyton," continued the housekeeper, after a 
 pause to take breath, " I would have given up life before 
 I would have given up that secret. At the most, they 
 could only have killed him, and now a body may say that 
 they have slain both soul and body ; or what's the same 
 thing, they have made him a despisable vagabond. I 
 wonder who he thinks would be his wife, or who would 
 
1 32 THE SPY. 
 
 keep his house. For my part, my good name is too pre- 
 cious to be living with alone man ; though, for the matter 
 of that, he is never there. I am resolved to tell him this 
 day, that stay there, a single woman, I will not an hour, 
 after the funeral, and marry him I don't think I will, un- 
 less he becomes steadier and more of a homebody." 
 
 The mild mistress of the Locusts suffered the exuber- 
 ance of the housekeeper's feeling to expend itself, and 
 then, by one or two judicious questions, that denoted a 
 more intimate knowledge of the windings of the human 
 heart in matters of Cupid, than might fairly be supposed 
 to belong to a spinster, she extracted enough from Katy 
 to discover the improbability of Harvey's ever presuming 
 to offer himself, with his broken fortunes, to the accept- 
 ance of Katharine Haynes. She therefore mentioned her 
 own want of assistance in the present state of her house- 
 hold, and expressed a wish that Katy would change her 
 residence to the Locusts, in case the peddler had no 
 further use for her services. After a few preliminary con- 
 ditions on the part of the wary house-keeper, the arrange- 
 ment was concluded ; and making a few more piteous 
 lamentations on the weight of her own losses, the stupid- 
 ity of Harvey, united with some curiosity to know the 
 future fate of the peddler, Katy withdrew to make the 
 necessary preparations for the approaching funeral, which 
 was to take place that day. 
 
 During the interview between the two females, Lawton, 
 through delicacy, had withdrawn. Anxiety took him to 
 the room of Captain Singleton. The character of this 
 youth, it has already been shown, endeared him in a pecu- 
 liar manner to every officer in the corps. The singularly 
 mild deportment of the young dragoon had, on so many 
 occasions, been proved not to proceed from want of reso- 
 lution, that his almost feminine softness of manner and 
 appearance had failed to bring him into disrepute, even 
 in that band of partisan warriors. 
 
 To the major he was as dear as a brother, and his easy 
 submission to the directions of his surgeon had made him 
 a marked favorite with Dr. Sitgreaves. The rough usage 
 the corps often received in its daring attacks, had brought 
 each of its officers, in succession, under the temporary 
 keeping of the surgeon. To Captain Singleton the man 
 of science had decreed the palm of docility, on such occa- 
 sions, and Captain Lawton he had fairly black-balled. He 
 frequently declared, with unconquerable simplicity and 
 
THE SPY. 133 
 
 earnestness of manner, that it gave him more pleasure to 
 see the former brought in wounded than any officer in the 
 squadron, and that the latter afforded him the least ; a 
 compliment and condemnation that was usually received 
 by the first of the parties with a quiet smile of good-nature, 
 and by the last with a grave bow of thanks. On the pres- 
 ent occasion the mortified surgeon and exulting trooper 
 met in the room of Captain Singleton, as a place where 
 they could act on common ground. Some time was occu- 
 pied in joint attentions to the comfort of the wounded 
 officer, and the doctor retired to an apartment prepared 
 for his own accommodation ; here, within a few minutes, 
 he was surprised by the entrance of Lawton. The triumph 
 of the trooper had been so complete that he felt he could 
 afford to be generous, and commencing by voluntarily 
 throwing aside his coat, he cried, carelessly : 
 
 . " Sitgreaves, administer a little of the aid of the lights 
 of science to my body, if you please." 
 
 The surgeon was beginning to feel this was a subject that 
 was intolerable, but venturing a glance toward his comrade, 
 he saw, with surprise, the preparations he had made, and 
 an air of sincerity about him, that was unusual to his man- 
 ner when making such a request. Changing his intended 
 burst of resentment to a tone of civil inquiry, he said 
 
 " Does Captain Lawton want anything at my hands ? " 
 
 " Look for yourself, my dear sir," said the trooper, 
 mildly ; " there seems to be most of the colors of the rain- 
 bow on this shoulder." 
 
 "You have reason for saying so," said the other, hand- 
 ling the part with great tenderness and consummate skill ; 
 " but happily nothing is broken. It is wonderful how well 
 you escaped ! " 
 
 " I have been a tumbler from my youth, and I am past 
 minding a few falls from a horse ; but, Sitgreaves," he added 
 with affection, and pointing to a scar on his body, " do you 
 remember this bit of work ? " 
 
 " Perfectly well, Jack ; it was bravely obtained, and 
 neatly extracted ; but don't you think I had better apply an 
 oil to these bruises ?" 
 
 " Certainly," said Lawton, with unexpected condescen- 
 tion. 
 
 " Now, my dear boy," cried the doctor, exultingly, as he 
 busied himself in applying the remedy to the hurts, "do 
 you not think it would have been better to have done all 
 this last night ? " 
 
jr 3 4 
 
 "Quite probable." 
 
 " Yes, Jack, if you had let me perform the operation of 
 phlebotomy when I first saw you, it would have been of 
 infinite service." 
 
 "No phlebotomy," said the other, positively. 
 
 " It is now too late ; but a dose of oil would carry off 
 the humors famously." 
 
 To this the captain made no reply, but grated his teeth 
 in a way that showed the fortress of his mouth was not to 
 be assailed without a resolute resistance ; and the experi- 
 enced physician changed the subject by saying: 
 
 " It is a pity, John, that you did not catch the rascal, 
 after the danger and trouble you incurred." 
 
 The captain of dragoons made no reply ; and, while 
 placing some bandages on the wounded shoulder, the sur- 
 geon continued : 
 
 " If I have any wish at all to destroy human life, it is to 
 have the pleasure of seeing that traitor hanged." 
 
 "I thought your business was to cure, and not to slay," 
 said the trooper, dryly. 
 
 " Ay ! but he has caused us such heavy losses by his in- 
 formation, that I sometimes feel a very unphilosophical 
 temper toward that spy." 
 
 " You should not encourage such feelings of animosity 
 to any of your fellow-creatures," returned Lawton, in a 
 tone that caused the operator to drop a pin he was arrang- 
 ing in the bandages from his hand. He looked the patient 
 in the face to remove all doubts of his identity. Finding, 
 however, it was his old comrade, Captain John Lawton, who 
 had spoken, he rallied his astonished faculties, and pro- 
 ceeded by saying : 
 
 " Your doctrine is just, and in general I subscribe to it. 
 But, John, my good fellow, is the bandage easy ? " 
 
 "Quite." 
 
 " I agree with you as a whole ; but as matter is infinitely 
 divisable, so no case exists without an exception. Lawton, 
 do you feel easy ? " 
 
 " Very." 
 
 " It is not only cruel to the sufferer, but sometimes un- 
 just to others, to take human life where a less punishment 
 would answer the purpose. Now, Jack, if you were only 
 move your arm a little if you were only I hope you 
 feel easier, my dear friend ?" 
 
 " Much." 
 
 " If, my dear John, you would teach your men to cut 
 
THE SPY. 135 
 
 with more discretion, it would answer you the same pur- 
 pose and give me great pleasure." 
 
 The doctor drew a heavy sigh, as he was enabled to get 
 rid of what was nearest to his heart ; and the dragoon coolly 
 replaced his coat, saying with great deliberation as he re- 
 tired : 
 
 " I know no troop that cut more judiciously ; they gener- 
 ally shave from the crown to the jaw." 
 
 The disappointed operator collected his instruments, and 
 with a heavy heart proceeded to pay a visit to the room of 
 Colonel Wellmere. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 This fairy form contains a soul as mighty 
 As that which lives within a giant's frame ; 
 These slender limbs, that tremble like the aspen 
 At summer evening's sigh, uphold a spirit, 
 Which, roused, can tower to the height of heaven, 
 And light those shining windows of the face 
 With much of heaven's own radiance. Duo. 
 
 THE number and character of her guests had greatly 
 added to the cares of Miss Jeanette Peyton. The morning 
 found them all restored, in some measure, to their former 
 ease of body, with the exception of the youthful captain 
 of dragoons, who had been so deeply regretted by Dun- 
 woodie. The wound of this officer was severe, though the 
 surgeon persevered in saying that it was without danger. 
 His comrade, we have shown, had deserted his couch ; 
 and Henry Wharton awoke from a sleep that had been un- 
 disturbed by anything but a dream of suffering amputa- 
 tion under the hands of a surgical novice. As it proved, 
 however, to be nothing but a dream, the youth found him- 
 self much refreshed by his slumbers ; and Dr. Sitgreaves 
 removed all further apprehensions by confidently pro- 
 nouncing that he would be a well man within a fortnight. 
 
 During all this time Colonel Wellmere did not make 
 his appearance ; he breakfasted in his own room, and, not- 
 withstanding certain significant smiles of the man of 
 science, declared himself too much injured to rise from 
 his bed.. Leaving him, therefore, endeavoring to conceal 
 his chagrin in the solitude of his chamber, the surgeon 
 proceeded to the more grateful task of sitting an hour by 
 the bedside of George Singleton. A slight flush was on 
 
I 3 6 THE SPY. 
 
 the face of the patient as the doctor entered the room ; 
 and the latter advanced promptly, and laid his fingers on 
 the pulse of the youth, beckoning to him to be silent, while 
 he muttered to himself: 
 
 " Growing symptoms of a febrile pulse no, no, my dear 
 George, you must remain quiet and dumb ; though your 
 eyes look better, and your skin has even a moisture." 
 
 " Nay, my dear Sitgreaves," said the youth, taking his 
 hand, "you see there is no fever about me ; look, is there 
 any of Jack Lawton's hoar-frost on my tongue ?" 
 
 "No, indeed," said the surgeon, clapping a spoon in the 
 mouth of the other, forcing it open, and looking down his 
 throat as if disposed to visit the interior in person ; "the 
 tongue is well and the pulse begins to lower again. Ah ! 
 the bleeding did you good. Phlebotomy is a sovereign 
 specific for southern constitutions. But that madcap 
 Lawton obstinately refused to be blooded for a fall he had 
 from his horse last night. Why, George, your case is 
 becoming singular," continued the doctor, instinctively 
 throwing aside his wig; "your pulse even and soft, your 
 skin moist, but your eye fiery and cheek flushed. Oh ! 
 I must examine more closely into these symptoms." 
 
 "Softly, my good friend, softly," said the youth, falling 
 back on his pillow, and losing some of that color which 
 alarmed his companion ; " I believe, in extracting the ball, 
 you did for me all that is required. I am free from pain, 
 and only weak, I do assure you." 
 
 "Captain Singleton," said the surgeon, with heat, "it is 
 presumptuous in you to pretend to tell your medical at- 
 tendant when you are free from pain ; if it be not to en- 
 able us to decide in such matters, of what avail the lights 
 of science ? For shame, George, for shame ! even that 
 perverse fellow, John Lawton, could not behave with more 
 obstinacy." 
 
 His patient smiled, as he gently repulsed his physician 
 in an attempt to undo the bandages, and, with a returning 
 glow to his cheek, inquired : 
 
 " Do, Archibald" a term of endearment that seldom 
 failed to soften the operator's heart " tell me what spirit 
 from heaven has been gliding around my apartment, while 
 I lay pretending to sleep ?" 
 
 " If anyone interferes with my patients," cried the doc- 
 tor, hastily, " I will teach them, spirit or no spirit, what it 
 is to meddle with another man's concerns." 
 
 " Tut my dear fellow, there was no interference made, 
 
THE SPY. 137 
 
 * 
 
 nor any intended ; see," exhibiting the bandages, "every- 
 thing is as you left it but it glided about the room with 
 the grace of a fairy, and the tenderness of an angel." 
 
 The surgeon having satisfied himself that everything 
 was as he had left it, very deliberately resumed his seat and 
 replaced his wig, as he inquired, with a brevity that would 
 have honored Lieutenant Mason : 
 
 " Had it petticoats, George ?" 
 
 " I saw nothing but its heavenly eyes its bloom its 
 majestic step its grace," replied the young man, with 
 rather more ardor than his surgeon thought consistent with 
 his debilitated condition ; and he laid his hand on his mouth 
 to stop him, saying himself : 
 
 "It must have been Miss Jeanette Peyton a lady of 
 fine accomplishments, with hem with something of the 
 kind of step you speak of a very complacent eye ; and as 
 to the bloom, I dare say offices of charity can summon as 
 fine a color to her cheeks as glows in the faces of her more 
 youthful nieces." 
 
 "Nieces! has she nieces, then? The angel I saw may 
 be a daughter, a sister, or a niece but never an aunt." 
 
 " Hush, George, hush ; your talking has brought your 
 pulse up again. You must observe quiet, and prepare for 
 a meeting with your own sister, who will be here within 
 an hour." 
 
 " What, Isabella ! and who sent for her ? " 
 
 " The major." 
 
 "Considerate Dunwoodie!" murmured the exhausted 
 youth, sinking again on his pillow, where the commands 
 of his attendant compelled him to remain silent. 
 
 Even Captain Lawton had been received with many and 
 courteous inquiries after the state of his health from all the 
 members of the family when he made his morning en- 
 trance ; but an invisible spirit presided over the comforts 
 of the English colonel. Sarah had shrunk with conscious- 
 ness from entering the room ; yet she knew the position 
 of every glass, and had, with her own hands, supplied the 
 contents of every bowl that stood on his table. 
 
 At the time of our tale we were a divided people, and 
 Sarah thought it was no more than her duty to cherish the 
 institutions of that country to which she yet clung as the 
 land of her forefathers ; but there were other and more 
 cogent reasons for the silent preference she was giving to 
 the Englishman. His image had first filled the void in 
 her youthful fancy, and it was an image that was distin- 
 
138 THE SPY. 
 
 guished by many of those attractions that can enchain the 
 female heart. It is true, he wanted the personal excel- 
 lence of Peyton Dunwoodie, but his pretensions were far 
 from contemptible. Sarah had moved about the house 
 during the morning, casting frequent and longing glances 
 at the door of Wellmere's apartment, anxious to learn the 
 condition of his wounds, and yet ashamed to inquire ; con- 
 scious interest kept her tongue tied, until her sister, with 
 the frankness of innocence, had put the desired question 
 to Dr. Sitgreaves. 
 
 ''Colonel Wellmere," said the operator, gravely, "is in 
 what I call a state of free-will, madam. He is ill, or he is 
 well, as he pleases. His case, young lady, exceeds my art 
 to heal ; and I take it Sir Henry Clinton is the best adviser 
 he can apply to ; though Major Dunwoodie has made the 
 communication with his leech rather difficult." 
 
 Frances smiled, but averted her face, while Sarah moved, 
 with the grace of an offended Juno, from the apartment. 
 Her own room, however, afforded her but little relief, and 
 in passing through the long gallery that communicated 
 with each of the chambers of the building, she noticed the 
 door of Singleton's room to be open. The wounded youth 
 seemed sleeping, and was alone. She had ventured lightly 
 into the apartment, and busied herself for a few minutes 
 in arranging the tables and the nourishment provided for 
 the patient, hardly conscious of what she was doing, and 
 possibly dreaming that these little feminine offices were 
 performed for another. Her natural bloom was height- 
 ened by the insinuation of the surgeon, nor was the lustre 
 of her eye in any degree diminished. The sound of the 
 approaching footstep of Sitgreaves hastened her retreat 
 down a private stairway, to the side of her sister. The 
 sisters then sought the fresh air on the piazza ; and as they 
 pursued their walk, arm in arm, the following dialogue 
 took place : 
 
 " There is something disagreeable about this surgeon of 
 Dunwoodie," said Sarah, " that causes me to wish him away 
 most heartily." 
 
 Frances fixed her laughing eyes on her sister ; but for- 
 bearing to speak, the other readily construed their expres- 
 sion, and hastily added, " But I forget he is one of your 
 renowned corps of Virginians, and must be spoken of rev- 
 erently." 
 
 " As respectfully as you please, my dear sister : there is 
 but little danger of exceeding the truth." 
 
THE SPY. 139 
 
 "Not in your opinion," said the elder, with a little 
 warmth ; "but I think Mr. Dunwoodie has taken a liberty 
 that exceeds the rights of consanguinity ; he has made our 
 father's house a hospital." 
 
 " We ought to be grateful that none of the patients it 
 contains are dearer to us." 
 
 "Your brother is one." 
 
 " True, true," interrupted Frances, blushing to the eyes ; 
 "but he leaves his room, and thinks his wound lightly pur- 
 chased by the pleasure of being with his friends. Tf," she 
 added, with a tremulous lip, "this dreadful suspicion that 
 is affixed to his visit were removed, I could consider his 
 wound of little moment." 
 
 "You now have the fruits of rebellion brought home to 
 you ; a brother wounded and a prisoner, and perhaps a 
 victim ; your father distressed, his privacy interrupted, 
 and not improbably his estates torn from him, on account 
 of his loyalty to his king." 
 
 Frances continued her walk in silence. While facing 
 the northern entrance to the vale, her eyes were uniformly 
 fastened on the point where the road was suddenly lost by 
 the intervention of a hill ; and at each turn, as she lost 
 sight of the spot, she lingered until an impatient move- 
 ment of her sister quickened her pace to an even motion 
 with that of her own. At length, a single horse chaise 
 was seen making its way carefully among the stones which 
 lay scattered over the country road that wound through 
 the valley, and approched the cottage. The color of 
 Frances changed as the vehicle gradually drew nearer ; 
 and when she was enabled to see a female form in it by 
 the side of a black in livery, her limbs shook with an agi- 
 tation that compelled her to lean on Sarah for support. 
 In a few minutes the travellers approached the gate. It 
 was thrown open by a dragoon who followed the carriage, 
 and who had been the messenger despatched by Dun- 
 woodie to the father of Captain Singleton. Miss Peyton 
 advanced to receive their guest, and the sisters united in 
 giving he v the kindest welcome ; still Frances could with 
 difficulty withdraw her truant eyes from the countenance 
 of their visitor. She was young, and of a light and fragile 
 form, but of exquisite proportions. Her eye was large, 
 full, black, piercing, and at times a little wild. Her hair 
 was luxuriant, and as it was without the powder it was 
 then the fashion to wear, it fell in raven blackness. A 
 few of its locks had fallen on her cheek, giving its chilling 
 
I 4 o THE SPY. 
 
 whiteness, by the contrast, a more deadly character. Dr. 
 Sitgreaves supported her from the chaise ; and when she 
 gained the floor of the piazza, she turned an expressive 
 look on the face of the practitioner. 
 
 " Your brother is out of danger, and wishes to see you, 
 Miss Singleton," said the surgeon. 
 
 The lady burst into a flood of tears. Frances had stood 
 contemplating the action and face of Isabella with a kind 
 of uneasy admiration, but she now sprang to her side with 
 the ardor of a sister, and kindly drawing her arm within 
 her own, led the way to a retired room. The movement 
 was so ingenuous, so considerate, and so delicate, that 
 even Miss Peyton withheld her interference, following the 
 youthful pair with only her eyes and a smile of complac- 
 ency. The feeling was communicated to all the specta- 
 tors, and they dispersed in pursuit of their usual avoca- 
 tions. Isabella yielded to the gentle influence of Frances 
 without resistance ; and, having gained the room where 
 the latter conducted her, wept in silence on the shoulder 
 of the observant and soothing girl, until Frances thought 
 her tears exceeded the emotion natural to the occasion. 
 The sobs of Miss Singleton for a time were violent and 
 uncontrollable, until, with an evident exertion, she yielded 
 to a kind observation of her companion, and succeeded in 
 suppressing her tears. Raising her face to the eyes of 
 Frances, she rose, while a smile of beautiful radiance 
 passed over her features ; and making a hasty apology for 
 the excess of her emotion, she desired to be conducted to 
 the room of the invalid. 
 
 The meeting between the brother and sister was warm, 
 but, by an effort on the part of the lady, more composed 
 than her previous agitation had given reason to expect. 
 Isabella found her brother looking better, and in less 
 danger than her sensitive imagination had led her to sup- 
 pose. Her spirits rose in proportion ; from despondency, 
 she passed to something like gayety ; her beautiful eyes 
 sparkled with renovated brilliancy; and her face was 
 lighted with smiles so fascinating, that Frances, who, in 
 compliance with her earnest entreaties, had accompanied 
 her to the sick chamber, sat gazing on a countenance that 
 possessed so wonderful variability, impelled by a charm 
 that was beyond her control. The youth had thrown an 
 earnest look at Frances, as soon as his sister raised herself 
 from his arms, and perhaps it was the first glance at the 
 lovely lineaments of our heroine, when the gazer turned 
 

 THE SPY. 141 
 
 his eyes from the view in disappointment. He seemed 
 bewildered, rubbed his forehead like a man awaking from 
 a dream, and mused. 
 
 "Where is Dunwoodie, Isabella?" he said; "the ex- 
 cellent fellow is never weary of kind actions. After a day 
 of such service as that of yesterday, he has spent the night 
 in bringing me a nurse, whose presence alone is able to 
 raise me from my couch." 
 
 The expression of the lady's countenance changed ; her 
 eye roved round the apartment with a character of wild- 
 ness in it that repelled the anxious Frances, who studied 
 her movements with unabated interest. 
 
 " Dunwoodie ! is he then not here ? I thought to have 
 met him by the side of my brother's bed." 
 
 " He has duties that require his presence elsewhere ; the 
 English are said to be out by the way of the Hudson, and 
 they give us light troops but little rest ; surely nothing else 
 could have kept him so long from a wounded friend. But, 
 Isabella, the meeting has been too much for you ; you 
 tremble." 
 
 Isabella made no reply ; she stretched her hand toward 
 the table which held the nourishment of the captain, and 
 the attentive Frances comprehended her wishes in a mo- 
 ment. A glass of water in some measure revived the sis- 
 ter, who was enabled to say: 
 
 " Doubtless it is his duty. 'Twas said above, a royal 
 party was moving on the river ; though I passed the troops 
 but two miles from this spot." The latter part of the sen- 
 tence was hardly audible, and it was spoken more in the 
 manner of a soliloquy than as if intended for the ears of 
 her companions. 
 
 " On the march, Isabella ? " eagerly inquired her brother. 
 
 " No, dismounted, and seemingly at rest," was the reply. 
 
 The wondering dragoon turned his gaze on the counte- 
 nance of his sister, who sat with her eye bent on the carpet 
 in unconscious absence, but found no explanation. His 
 look was changed to the face of Frances, who, startled by 
 the earnestness of his expression, arose, and hastily inquired 
 if he would have any assistance. 
 
 " If you can pardon the rudeness," said the wounded 
 officer, making a feeble effort to raise his body, " I would 
 request to have Captain Lawton's company for a mo- 
 ment." 
 
 Frances hastened instantly to communicate his wish to 
 that gentleman, and, impelled by an interest she could not 
 
I 4 2 THE SPY. 
 
 control, she returned again to her seat by the side of Miss 
 Singleton. 
 
 "Lawton," said the youth, impatiently, as the trooper 
 entered, " hear you from the major ? " 
 
 The eye of the sister was now bent on the face of the 
 trooper, who made his salutations to the lady with ease, 
 blended with the frankness of a soldier. 
 
 " His man has been here twice," he said, " to inquire how 
 we fared in the Lazaretto." 
 
 " And why not himself ? " 
 
 " That is a question the major can answer best ; but you 
 know the red-coats are abroad, and Dunwoodie commands 
 in the county; these English must be looked to." 
 
 " True," said Singleton, slowly, as if struck with the 
 other's reasons ; " but how is it that you are idle, when 
 there is work to do ? " 
 
 " My sword-arm is not in the best condition, and Roan- 
 oke has but a shambling gait this morning ; besides, there 
 is another reason I could mention, if it were not that Miss 
 Wharton would never forgive me." 
 
 " Speak, I beg, without dread of my displeasure," said 
 Frances, returning the good-humored smile of the trooper 
 with the archness natural to her own sweet face. 
 
 " The odors of your kitchen, then," cried Lawton, bluntly, 
 " forbid my quitting the domains until I qualify myself to 
 speak with more certainty concerning the fatness of the 
 land." 
 
 " Oh ! aunt Jeanette is exerting herself to do credit to 
 my father's hospitality," said the laughing girl, "and I am 
 a truant from her labors, as I shall be a stranger to her fa- 
 vor, unless I proffer my assistance." 
 
 Frances withdrew to seek her aunt, musing deeply on 
 the character and extreme sensibility of the new acquaint- 
 ance chance had brought to the cottage. 
 
 The wounded officer followed her with his eyes, as she 
 moved, with infantile grace, through the door of his 
 apartment, and as she vanished from his view, he ob- 
 served : 
 
 " Such an aunt and niece are seldom to be met with, 
 Jack ; this seems a fairy, but the aunt is angelic." 
 
 "You are doing well, I see ; your enthusiasm for the sex 
 holds its own." 
 
 " I should be ungrateful as well as insensible, did I not 
 bear testimony to the loveliness of Miss Peyton." 
 
 " A good motherly lady, but as to love, that is a matter 
 
THE SPY. 143 
 
 of taste. A few years younger, with deference to her pru- 
 dence and experience, would accord better with my fancy." 
 
 " She must be under twenty," said the other, quickly. 
 
 " It depends on the way you count. If you begin atthe 
 heel of life, well ; but if you reckon downward, as is most 
 common, I think she is nearer forty." 
 
 ''You have mistaken an elder sister for the aunt," said 
 Isabella, laying her fair hand on the mouth of the invalid ; 
 "you must be silent! your feelings are beginning to affect 
 your frame." 
 
 The entrance of Dr. Sitgreaves, who in some alarm no- 
 ticed the increase of feverish symptoms in his patient, en- 
 forced this mandate ; and the trooper withdrew to pay a 
 visit of condolence to Roanoke, who had been an equal 
 sufferer with himself in their last night's somerset. To his 
 great joy, his man pronounced the steed to be equally con- 
 valescent with the master; and Lawton found that by dint 
 of rubbing the animal's limbs several hours without ceas- 
 ing, he was enabled to place his feet in what he called sys- 
 tematic motion. Orders were accordingly given to be in 
 readiness to rejoin the troop at the Four Corners, as soon 
 as his master had shared in the bounty of the approaching 
 banquet. 
 
 In the meantime, Henry Wharton entered the apart- 
 ment of Wellmere, and by his sympathy succeeded in re- 
 storing the colonel to his own good graces. The latter was 
 consequently enabled to rise, and prepared to meet a rival 
 of whom he had spoken so lightly, and, as the result had 
 proved, with so little reason. Wharton knew that their 
 misfortune, as they both termed their defeat, was owing to 
 the other's rashness ; but he forbore to speak of anything 
 except the unfortunate accident which had deprived the 
 English of their leader, and to which he good-naturedly 
 ascribed their subsequent discomfiture. 
 
 " In short, Wharton," said the colonel, putting one leg 
 out of bed, "it may be called a combination of untow r ard 
 events ; your own ungovernable horse prevented my orders 
 from being carried to the major in season to flank the 
 rebels." 
 
 "Very true," replied the captain, kicking a slipper to- 
 ward the bed ; " had we succeeded in getting a few good 
 fires upon them in flank, we should have sent these brave 
 Virginians to the right about." 
 
 " Ay ! and that in double quick time," cried the colonel, 
 making the other leg follow its companion ; "then it was 
 
144 THE SPY, 
 
 necessary to rout the guides, you know, and the movement 
 gave them the best possible opportunity to charge." 
 
 "Yes," said the other, sending the second slipper after 
 the first; "and this Major Dunwoodie never overlooks an 
 advantage." 
 
 " I think if we had the thing to do over again," continued 
 the colonel, raising himself on his feet, " we might alter 
 the case very materially ; though the chief thing the rebels 
 have now to boast of is my capture, they were repulsed, 
 you saw, in their attempt to drive us from the wood." 
 
 " At least they would have been had they made an at- 
 tack," said the captain, throwing the rest of his clothes 
 within reach of the colonel. 
 
 " Why, that is the same thing," returned Wellmere, be- 
 ginning to dress himself ; " to assume such an attitude as 
 to intimidate your enemy, is the chief art of war." 
 
 " Doubtless, then, you may remember in one of their 
 charges they were completely routed." 
 
 "True true," cried the colonel, with animation ; "had 
 I been there to have improved that advantage, we might 
 have turned the tables on the Yankees ; " saying which, he 
 displayed still greater animation in completing his toilet ; 
 and he was soon prepared to make his appearance, fully 
 restored to his own good opinion, and fairly persuaded that 
 his capture was owing to casualties absolutely beyond the 
 control of man. 
 
 The knowledge that Colonel Wellmere was to be a guest 
 at the table, in no degree diminished the preparations 
 which were already making for the banquet ; and Sarah, 
 after receiving the compliments of the gentleman, and mak- 
 ing many kind inquiries after the state of his wounds, pro- 
 ceeded in person to lend her counsel and taste to one of 
 those labored entertainments which, at that day, were so 
 frequent in country life, and which are not entirely ban- 
 ished from, our domestic economy at the present moment. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 I will stand to and feed, 
 Although my last. Tempest. 
 
 THE savor of preparation which had been noticed by 
 Captain Lawton began to increase within the walls of the 
 cottage ; certain sweet-smelling odors, that arose from the 
 
THE SPY. 145 
 
 subterranean territories of Caesar, gave to the trooper the 
 most pleasing assurance that his olfactory nerves, which on 
 such occasions were as acute as his eyes on others, had 
 faithfully performed their duty ; and for the benefit of en- 
 joying the passing sweets as they arose, the dragoon so 
 placed himself at a window of the building, that not a 
 vapor charged with the spices of the East could exhale on 
 its passage to the clouds, without first giving its incense to 
 his nose. Lawton, however, by no means indulged him- 
 self in this comfortable arrangement, without first making 
 such preparations to do meet honor to the feast as his 
 scanty wardrobe would allow. The uniform of his corps 
 was always a passport to the best tables, and this, though 
 somewhat tarnished by faithful service and unceremonious 
 usage, was properly brushed and decked out for the occa- 
 sion. His head, which nature had ornamented with the 
 blackness of a crow, now shone with the whiteness of snow ; 
 and his bony hand, that so. well became the sabre, peered 
 from beneath a ruffle with something like maiden coyness. 
 The improvements of the dragoon went no further, except- 
 ing that his boots shone with more than holiday splendor, 
 and his spurs glittered in the rays of the sun, as became 
 the pure ore of which they were composed. 
 
 Caesar moved through the apartments with a face charged 
 with an importance exceeding even that which had accom- 
 panied him in his melancholy task of the morning. The 
 black had early returned from the errand on which he had 
 been despatched by the peddler, and, obedient to the com- 
 mands of his mistress, promptly appeared to give his ser- 
 vices where his allegiance was due ; so serious, indeed, 
 was his duty now becoming, that it was only at odd mo- 
 ments he was enabled to impart to his sable brother, who 
 had been sent in attendance on Miss Singleton to the Lo- 
 custs, any portion of the wonderful incidents of the mo- 
 mentous night he had so lately passed. By ingeniously 
 using, however, such occasions as accidentally offered, 
 Caesar communicated so many of the heads of his tale as 
 served to open the eyes of his visitor to their fullest width. 
 The gusto for the marvellous was innate in these sable 
 worthies ; and Miss Peyton found it necessary to interpose 
 her authority, in order to postpone the residue of the his- 
 tory to a more befitting opportunity. 
 
 " Ah ! Miss Jinnette," said Caesar, shaking his head, and 
 looking all that he expressed, " 'twas awful to see Johnny 
 Birch walk on a feet when he lie dead ! " 
 
146 THE SPY. 
 
 This concluded the conversation ; though the black 
 promised himself the satisfaction, and did not fail to enjoy 
 it, of having many a good gossip on the solemn subject at 
 a future period. 
 
 The ghost thus happily laid, the department of Miss 
 Peyton flourished, and by the time the afternoon's sun had 
 travelled a two hours' journey from the meridian, the for- 
 mal procession from the kitchen to the parlor commenced, 
 under the auspices of Ceesar, who led the van, supporting 
 a turkey on the palms of his withered hands, with the dex- 
 terity of a balance-master. 
 
 Next followed the servant of Captain Lawton, bearing, 
 as he marched stiffly, and walking wide, as if allowing room 
 for his steed, a ham of true Virginia flavor ; a present from 
 the spinster's brother in Accomac. The supporter of this 
 savory dish kept his eye on his trust with military preci- 
 sion ; and by the time he reached his destination, it might 
 be difficult to say which contained the most juice, his own 
 mouth or the Accomac bacon. 
 
 Third in the line was to be seen the valet of Colonel 
 Wellmere, who carried in either hand chickens, fricasseed, 
 and oyster patties. 
 
 After him marched the attendant of Dr. Sitgreaves, who 
 had instinctively seized an enormous tureen, as most re- 
 sembling matters he understood, and followed on in place, 
 until the steams of the soup so completely bedimmed the 
 spectacles he wore, as a badge of office, that, on arriving at 
 the scene of action, he was compelled to deposit his freight 
 on the floor, until, by removing the glasses, he could see 
 his way through the piles of reserved china and plate- 
 warmers. 
 
 Next followed another trooper, whose duty it was to at- 
 tend on Captain Singleton ; and, as if apportioning his ap- 
 petite to the feeble state of his master, he had contented 
 himself with conveying a pair of ducks, roasted, until their 
 tempting fragrance began to make him repent his having 
 so lately demolished a breakfast that had been provided 
 for his master's sister, with another prepared for himself. 
 
 The white boy, who belonged to the house, brought up 
 the rear, groaning under the load of sundry dishes of vege- 
 tables, that the cook, by way of climax, had unwittingly 
 heaped on him. 
 
 But this was far from all of the preparations for that 
 day's feast. Caesar had no sooner deposited his bird, which, 
 but the week before, had been flying among the highlands of 
 
THE SPY. 147 
 
 Dutchess, little dreaming of so soon heading such a goodly 
 assemblage, than he turned mechanically on his heel, and 
 took up his line of march again for the kitchen. In this 
 evolution the black was imitated by his companions in suc- 
 cession, arid another procession to the parlor followed in 
 the same order. By this admirable arrangement, whole 
 flocks of pigeons, certain bevies of quails, shoals of flat- 
 fish, bass, and sundry woodcock, found their way into the 
 presence of the company. 
 
 A third attack brought suitable quantities of potatoes, 
 onions, beets, cold slaw, rice, and all the other minutiae of 
 a goodly dinner. 
 
 The board now fairly groaned with American profusion ; 
 and Caesar, glancing his eye over the show with a most 
 approving conscience, after re-adjusting every dish that 
 had not been placed on the table with his own hands, pro- 
 ceeded to acquaint the mistress of the revels that his task 
 was happily accomplished. 
 
 Some half-hour before the culinary array just recorded 
 took place, all the ladies disappeared, much in the same 
 unaccountable manner that swallows flee the approach of 
 winter. But the spring-time of their return had arrived, 
 and the whole party were collected in an apartment that, 
 in consequence of its containing no side-table, and being 
 furnished with a chintz coverlet settee, was termed a with- 
 drawing room. 
 
 The kind-hearted spinster had deemed the occasion 
 worthy, not only of extraordinary preparations in the cu- 
 linary department, but had seen proper to deck her own 
 person in garments suited to the guests whom it was now 
 her happiness to entertain. 
 
 On her head Miss Peyton wore a cap of exquisite lawn, 
 which was ornamented in front with a broad border of lace, 
 that spread from the face in such a manner as to admit of 
 a display of artificial flowers, clustered in a group on the 
 summit of her fine forehead. 
 
 The color of her hair was lost in the profusion of powder 
 with which it was covered ; but a slight curling of the ex- 
 tremities in some degree relieved the formality of its ar- 
 rangement, and gave a look of feminine softness to the 
 features. 
 
 Her dress was a rich, heavy silk, of violet color, cut low 
 around the bust, with a stomacher of the same material, 
 that fitted close to the figure and exhibited the form, from 
 the shoulders to the waist, in its true proportions. Below, 
 
148 THE SPY. 
 
 the dress was full, and sufficiently showed that parsimony 
 In attire was not a foible of the day. A small loop dis- 
 played the beauty of the fabric to advantage, and aided in 
 giving majesty to the figure. 
 
 The tall stature of the lady was heightened by shoes of 
 the same material with the dress, whose heels added more 
 than an inch to the liberality of nature. 
 
 The sleeves were short and close to the limb, until they 
 fell off at the elbows in large ruffles, that hung in rich 
 profusion from the arm when extended ; and duplicates 
 and triplicates of lawn, trimmed with Dresden lace, lent 
 their aid in giving delicacy to a hand and arm that yet 
 retained their whiteness and symmetry. A treble row 
 of large pearls closely encircled her throat ; and a hand- 
 kerchief of lace partially concealed that part of the person 
 that the silk had left exposed, but which the experience of 
 forty years had warned Miss Peyton should now be veiled. 
 
 Thus attired, and standing erect with the lofty grace 
 that distinguished the manners of that day, the maiden 
 would have looked into nothingness a bevy of modern 
 belles. 
 
 The taste of Sarah had kept even pace with the decora- 
 tions of her aunt ; and a dress, differing in no respect from 
 the one just described but in material and tints, exhibited 
 her imposing form to equal advantage. The satin of her 
 robe was of a pale bluish color. Twenty years did not, 
 however, require the screen that was prudent in forty, and 
 nothing but an envious border of exquisite lace hid, in 
 some measure, what the satin left exposed to view. The 
 upper part of the bust, and the fine fall of the shoulders, 
 were blazing in all their native beauty, and, like the aunt, 
 the throat was ornamented by a treble row of pearls, to 
 correspond with which were rings of the same quality in 
 her ears. The head was without a cap, and the hair drawn 
 up from the countenance so as to give to the eye all the 
 loveliness of a forehead as polished as marble and as white 
 as snow. A few straggling curls fell gracefully on the 
 neck, and a bouquet of artificial flowers was also placed 
 like a coronet, over her brow. 
 
 Miss Singleton had resigned her brother to the advice 
 of Dr. Sitgreaves, who had succeeded in getting his patient 
 into a deep sleep, after quieting certain feverish symptoms 
 that followed the agitation of the interview. The sister 
 was persuaded, by the observant mistress of the mansion, 
 to make one of the party, and she sat by the side of Sarah, 
 
THE SPY. 149 
 
 differing but little in appearance from that lady, except in 
 refusing the use of powder on her raven locks, and that 
 her unusually high forehead, and large, brilliant eyes, gave 
 an expression of thoughtfulness to her features that was 
 possibly heightened by the paleness of her cheek. 
 
 Last and least, but not the most unlovely in this display 
 of female charms, was the youngest daughter of Mr. Whar- 
 ton. Frances, we have already mentioned, left the city 
 before she had attained to the age of fashionable woman- 
 hood. A few adventurous spirits were already beginning 
 to make inroads in those customs which had so long in- 
 vaded the comforts of the fair sex ; and the youthful girl 
 had ventured to trust her beauty to the height which nat- 
 ure had bestowed. This was but little, but that little was 
 a masterpiece. Frances several times had determined, in 
 the course of the morning, to bestow more than usual pains 
 in the decoration of her person. Each time, in succession, 
 as she formed this resolution, she spent a few minutes in 
 looking earnestly toward the north, and then she as in- 
 variably changed it. 
 
 At the appointed hour, our heroine appeared in the 
 drawing-room, clothed in a robe of pale blue. silk, of a cut 
 and fashion much like that worn by her sister. Her hair 
 was left to the wild curls of nature, its exuberance being 
 confined to the crown of her head by a long, low comb, 
 made of light tortoise-shell ; a color barely distinguish- 
 able in the golden hue of her tresses. Her dress was 
 without a plait or a wrinkle, and fitted the form with an 
 exactitude that might lead one to imagine the arch girl 
 more than suspected the beauties it displayed. A tucker 
 of rich Dresden lace softened the contour of the figure. 
 Her head was without ornament ; but around her throat 
 was a necklace of gold clasped in front with a rich corne- 
 lian. 
 
 Once, and once only, as they moved toward the repast, 
 did Lawton see a foot thrust itself from beneath the folds 
 of her robe, and exhibit its little beauties encased in a slip- 
 per of blue silk, clasped close to the shape by a buckle of 
 brilliants. The trooper caught himself sighing as he 
 thought, though it was good for nothing in the stirrup, how 
 enchantingly it would grace a minuet. 
 
 As the black appeared on the threshold of the room, 
 making a low reverence, which has been interpreted for 
 some centuries into "dinner waits," Mr. Wharton, clad in 
 a dress of drab bedecked with enormous buttons, advanced 
 
150 THE SPY. 
 
 formally to Miss Singleton, and bending his powdered head 
 nearly to the level of the hand he extended, received hers 
 in return. 
 
 Dr. Sitgreaves offered the same homage to Miss Peyton, 
 and met with equal favor ; the lady first pausing to draw 
 on her gloves. 
 
 Colonel Wellmere was honored with a smile from Sarah, 
 while performing a similar duty ; and Frances gave the 
 ends of her taper fingers to Captain Lawton with maiden 
 bashfulness. 
 
 Much time, and some trouble, were expended before the 
 whole party were, to the great joy of Caesar, comfortably 
 arranged around the table, with proper attention to all 
 points of etiquette and precedence. The black well knew 
 the viands were not improving ; and though abundantly 
 able to comprehend the disadvantage of eating a cold din- 
 ner, it greatly exceeded his powers of philosophy to weigh 
 all the latent consequences to society which depend on 
 social order. 
 
 For the first ten minutes all but the captain of dragoons 
 found themselves in a situation much to their liking. Even 
 Lawton would have been perfectly happy, had not excess 
 of civility on the part of his host and Miss Jeanette Peyton 
 kept him from the more agreeable occupation of tasting 
 dishes he did want, in order to decline those he did not. 
 At length, however, the repast was fairly commenced, and 
 a devoted application to the viands was more eloquent than 
 a thousand words in favor of Dinah's skill. 
 
 Next came drinking with the ladies ; but as the wine 
 was excellent, and the glasses ample, the trooper bore this 
 interruption with consummate good-nature. Nay, so fear- 
 ful was he of giving offence, and of omitting any of the 
 nicer points of punctilio, that having commenced this cour- 
 tesy with the lady who sat next him, he persevered until 
 not one of his fair companions could, with justice, reproach 
 him with partiality in this particular. 
 
 Long abstemiousness from anything like generous wine 
 might plead the excuse of Captain Lawton, especially when 
 exposed to so strong a temptation as that now before him. 
 Mr. Wharton had been one of a set of politicians in New 
 York, whose principal exploits before the war had been to 
 assemble, and pass sage opinions on the signs of the times, 
 under the inspiration of certain liquor made from a grape 
 that grew on the south side of the island of Madeira, and 
 which found its way into the colonies of North America 
 
THE SPY. 151 
 
 through the medium of the West Indies, sojourning awhile 
 in the Western Archipelago, by way of proving the virtues 
 of the climate. A large supply of this cordial had been 
 drawn from his storehouse in the city, and some of it now 
 sparkled in a bottle before the captain, blushing in the 
 rays of the sun, which were passing obliquely through it, 
 like amber. 
 
 Though the meat and vegetables had made their en- 
 trance with perfect order and propriety, their exeunt was 
 effected much in the manner of a retreat of militia. The 
 point was to clear the board something after the fabled 
 practice of the harpies, and by dint of scrambling, tossing, 
 breaking, and spilling, the remnants of the overflowing re- 
 past disappeared. And now another series of processions 
 commenced, by virtue of which a goodly display of pastry, 
 with its usual accompaniments, garnished the table. 
 
 Mr. Wharton poured out a glass of wine for the lady 
 who sat on his right hand, and, pushing the bottle to a 
 guest, said, with a low bow : 
 
 "We are to be honored with a toast from Miss Single- 
 ton." 
 
 Although there was nothing more in this movement than 
 occurred every day on such occasions, yet the lady trem- 
 bled, colored, and grew pale again, seemingly endeavoring 
 to rally her thoughts, until, by her agitation, she had ex- 
 cited the interest of the whole party ; when, by an effort, 
 and in a manner as if she had in vain striven to think of 
 another, Isabella said, faintly : 
 
 "Major Dun\voodie." 
 
 The health was drunk cheerfully by all but Colonel 
 Wellmere, who wet his lips, and drew figures on the table 
 with some of the liquor he had spilt. 
 
 At length Colonel Wellmere broke .silence by saying 
 aloud to Captain Lawton : 
 
 " I suppose, sir, this Mr. Dunwoodie will receive promo- 
 tion in the rebel army for the advantage my misfortune 
 gave him over my command." 
 
 The trooper had supplied the wants of nature to his 
 perfect satisfaction ; and, perhaps, with the exception of 
 Washington and his immediate commander, there was no 
 mortal whose displeasure he regarded a tittle. First help- 
 ing himself, therefore, to a little of his favorite bottle, he 
 replied, with admirable coolness : 
 
 "Colonel Wellmere, your pardon; Major Dunwoodie 
 owes his allegiance to the Confederated States of North 
 
152 THE SPY. 
 
 America, and where he owes it, he pays it. Such a man. 
 is no rebel. Promoted I hope he may be, both because h 
 deserves it, and because I am next in rank in the corps ; 
 and I know not what you call a misfortune, unless you 
 deem meeting the Virginia Horse as such." 
 
 "We will not differ about terms, sir," said the colonel, 
 haughtily ; " I spoke as duty to my sovereign prompted ; 
 but do you not call the loss of a commander a misfortune 
 to a party ? " 
 
 " It certainly may be so," said the trooper, with empha- 
 sis. 
 
 "Miss Peyton, will you favor us with a toast?" cried 
 the master of the house, anxious to stop this dialogue. 
 
 The lady bowed her head with dignity, as she named 
 " General Montrose ; " and the long-absent bloom stole 
 lightly over her features. 
 
 " There is no term more doubtful than that word mis- 
 fortune," said the surgeon, regardless of the nice manoeu- 
 vres of the host ; " some deem one thing a misfortune, 
 others its opposite ; misfortune begets misfortune ; life is 
 a misfortune, for it may be the means of enduring misfor- 
 tune, and death is a misfortune, as it abridges the enjoy- 
 ments of life." 
 
 " It is a misfortune that our mess has no such wine as 
 this," interrupted the trooper. 
 
 " We will pledge you a sentiment in it, sir, as it seems 
 to suit your taste," said Mr. Wharton. 
 
 Lawton filled to the brim, and drank, " A speedy peace 
 or a stirring war." 
 
 " I drink your toast, Captain Lawton, though I greatly 
 distrust your construction of activity," said the surgeon. 
 " In my poor judgment, cavalry should be kept in the rear, 
 to improve a victory, and not sent in front to gain it. 
 Such may be said to be their natural occupation, if the 
 term can be used in reference to so artificial a body ; for 
 all history shows that the horse have done most when 
 properly held in reserve." 
 
 This dissertion, uttered in a sufficiently didactic manner, 
 was a hint that Miss Peyton did not neglect. She arose 
 and retired, followed by her juniors. 
 
 Nearly at the same moment, Mr. Wharton and his son 
 made an apology for their absence, which was required on 
 account of the death of a near neighbor, and withdrew. 
 
 The retreat of the ladies was the signal for the appear- 
 ance of the surgeon's cigar, which, being established in a 
 
THE SPY. 153 
 
 corner of his mouth, in a certain knowing way, caused not 
 the slightest interruption to his discourse. 
 
 " If anything can sweeten captivity and wounds, it must 
 be the happiness of suffering in the society of the ladies 
 who have left us," gallantly observed the colonel, as he re- 
 sumed his seat, after closing the door. 
 
 "Sympathy and kindness have their influence on the 
 human system," returned the surgeon, knocking the ashes 
 from his cigar with the tip of a little finger, in the man- 
 ner of an adept. " The connection is intimate between 
 the moral and physical feelings ; but still, to accomplish 
 a cure, and restore nature to the healthy tone it has lost 
 from disease or accident, requires more than can flow from 
 unguided sympathies. In such cases, the lights " the sur- 
 geon accidentally caught the eye of the trooper, and he 
 paused. Taking two or three hasty puffs, he essayed to 
 finish the sentence " In such cases, the knowledge that 
 flows from the lights " 
 
 " You were saying, sir " said Colonel Wellmere, sip- 
 ping his wine. 
 
 " The purport of my remark went to say," continued 
 Sitgreaves, turning his back on Lawton, " that a bread 
 poultice would not set a broken arm." 
 
 " More is the pity," cried the trooper, " for next to eat- 
 ing, the nourishment could not be more innocently ap- 
 plied." 
 
 " To you, Colonel Wellmere," said the surgeon, " as a 
 man of education, I can with safety appeal." The colonel 
 bowed. "You must have observed the dreadful havoc 
 made in your ranks by the men who were led by this gen- 
 tleman ; " the colonel looked grave again ; " how, when 
 blows lighted on their frames, life was invariably extin- 
 guished, beyond all hope of scientific reparation ; how cer- 
 tain yawning wounds were inflicted that must set at defi- 
 ance the art of the most experienced practitioner. Now, 
 sir, to you I triumphantly appeal, therefore, to know 
 whether your detachment would not have been as effectu- 
 ally defeated, if the men had all lost a right arm, for in- 
 stance, as if they had all lost their heads." 
 
 "The triumph of your appeal is somewhat hasty, sir," 
 said Wellmere. 
 
 " Is the cause of liberty advanced a step by such injudi- 
 cious harshness in the field ? " continued the surgeon, bent 
 on the favorite principle of his life. 
 
 ** I am yet to learn that the cause of liberty is in any 
 
I 5 4 THE SPY. 
 
 manner advanced by the services of any gentleman in the 
 rebel army," rejoined the colonel. 
 
 " Not liberty ! Good God, for what, then, are we contend- 
 ing?" 
 
 "Slavery, sir ; yes, even slavery ; you are putting the 
 tyranny of a mob on the throne of a kind and lenient 
 prince ; where is the consistency of your boasted lib- 
 erty ? " 
 
 "Consistency!" repeated the surgeon, looking about 
 him a little wildly, at hearing such sweeping charges 
 against a cause he had so long thought holy. 
 
 "Ay, sir, your consistency. Your congress of sages 
 have published a manifesto, wherein they set forth the 
 equality of political rights." 
 
 " 'Tis true, and it is done most ably." 
 
 " I say nothing of its ability ; but if true, why not set 
 your slaves at liberty ?" This argument, which is thought 
 by most of the colonel's countrymen a triumphant answer 
 to a thousand eloquent facts, lost none of its weight by the 
 manner in which it was uttered. 
 
 Every American feels humbled at the necessity of vin- 
 dicating his country from the apparent inconsistency and 
 injustice of the laws alluded to. His feelings are much like 
 those of an honorable man who is compelled to exonerate 
 himself from a disgraceful charge, although he may know 
 the accusation to be false. At the bottom Sitgreaves had 
 much good sense, and thus called on he took up the cud- 
 gels of argument in downright earnest. 
 
 " We deem it a liberty to have the deciding voice in the 
 councils by which we are governed. We think it a hard- 
 ship to be ruled by a king of a people who live at a dis- 
 tance of three thousand miles, and who cannot, and who 
 do not, feel a single political interest in common with our- 
 selves. I say nothing of oppression ; the child was of age, 
 and was entitled to the privileges of majority. In such 
 cases there is but one tribunal to which to appeal for a 
 nation's rights it is power, and we now make the appeal." 
 
 " Such doctrine may suit your present purposes," said 
 Wellmere, with a sneer; "but I apprehend it is opposed 
 to all the opinions and practices of civilized nations." 
 
 " It is in conformity with the practices of all nations," 
 said the surgeon, returning the nod and smile of Lawton, 
 who enjoyed the good sense of his comrade as much as he 
 disliked what he called " his medical talk." " Who would 
 be ruled when he can rule ? The only rational ground to 
 
THE SPY. 155 
 
 take is, that every community has a right to govern itself, 
 so that in no manner it violates the laws of God." 
 
 " And is holding your fellow-creatures in bondage in 
 conformity to those laws ? " asked the colonel, impres- 
 sively. 
 
 The surgeon took another glass, and hemming once, re- 
 turned to the combat. 
 
 "Sir," said he, "slavery is of very ancient origin, and 
 it seems to have been confined to no particular religion or 
 form of government ; every nation of civilized Europe 
 does, or has held their fellow-creatures in this kind of du- 
 resse ! " 
 
 " You will except Great Britain, sir," cried the colonel, 
 proudly. 
 
 "No, sir," continued the surgeon, confidently, feeling 
 that he was now carrying the war out of his ow r n country ; 
 u I cannot except Great Britain. It was her children, 
 her ships, and her laws that first introduced the practice 
 into these states ; and on her institutions the judgment 
 must fall. There is not a foot of ground belonging to Eng- 
 land, in which a negro would be useful, that has not its 
 slave. England herself has none, but England is overflow- 
 ing with physical force, a part of which she is obliged to 
 maintain in the shape of paupers. The same is true of 
 France, and most other European countries. So long as 
 we were content to remain colonies, nothing was said of 
 our system of domestic slavery ; but now, when we are 
 resolute to obtain as much freedom as the vicious system 
 of metropolitan rule has left us, that which is England's 
 gift has become our reproach. Will your master liberate 
 the slaves of his subjects, should he succeed in subduing 
 the new states, or will he condemn the whites to the same 
 servitude as that in which he has been so long content to 
 see the blacks ? It is true, we continue the practice ; but 
 we must come gradually to the remedy, or create an evil 
 greater than that which we endure at present ; doubtless, 
 as we advance, the manumission of our slaves will accom- 
 pany us, until happily these fair regions shall exist without 
 a single image of the Creator that is held in a state \vhich 
 disqualifies him to judge of that Creator's goodness." 
 
 It will be remembered that Doctor Sitgreaves spoke 
 forty years ago, and Wellmere was unable to contradict 
 his prophetic assertion. 
 
 Finding the subject getting to be knotty, the English- 
 man retired to the apartment in which the ladies had as- 
 
156 THE SPY. 
 
 sembled ; and, seated by the side of Sarah, he found a 
 more pleasing employment in relating the events of fash- 
 ionable life in the metropolis, and in recalling the thousand 
 little anecdotes of their former associates. Miss Peyton was 
 a pleased listener, as she dispensed the bounties of the tea- 
 table ; and Sarah frequently bowed her blushing counten- 
 ance to her needle-work, as her face glowed at the flatter- 
 ing remarks of her companion. 
 
 The dialogue we have related established a perfect truce 
 between the surgeon and his comrade ; and the former hav- 
 ing paid a visit to Singleton, they took their leave of the 
 ladies, and mounted ; the former to visit the wounded at 
 the encampment, and the latter to rejoin his troop. But 
 their movements were arrested at the gate by an occur- 
 rence that we shall relate in the next chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 I see no more those white locks thinly spread 
 
 Round the bald polish of that honor'd head ; 
 
 No more that meek, that suppliant look in prayer, 
 
 Nor that pure faith that gave it force, are there : 
 
 But he is blest, and I lament no more, 
 
 A wise good man, contented to be poor. CRABBE. 
 
 WE have already said that the customs of America leave 
 the dead but a short time in the sight of the mourners ; 
 and the necessity of providingfor his own safety had com- 
 pelled the peddler to abridge "even this brief space. In the 
 confusion and agitation produced by the events we have 
 recorded, the death of the elder Birch had occurred unno- 
 ticed ; but a sufficient number of the immediate neighbors 
 were hastily collected, and the ordinary rites of sepulture 
 were now about to be paid to the deceased. It was the ap- 
 proach of this humble procession that arrested the move- 
 ments of the trooper and his comrade. Four men sup- 
 ported the body on a rude bier ; and four others walked in 
 advance, ready to relieve their friends from their burden. 
 The peddler walked next the coffin, and by his side moved 
 Katy Haynes, with a most determined aspect of woe, and 
 next to the mourners came Mr. Wharton and the English 
 captain Two or three old men and women, with a few 
 straggling boys, brought up the rear. Captain Lawton sat 
 in his saddle, in rigid silence, until the bearers came oppo- 
 
THE SPY. 157 
 
 site to his position, and then, for the first time, Harvey 
 raised his eyes from the ground, and saw the enemy that 
 he dreaded so near him. The first impulse of the peddler 
 was certainly flight ; but recovering his recollection, he 
 fixed his eye on the coffin of his parent, and passed the 
 dragoon with a firm step but swelling heart. The trooper 
 slowly lifted his cap, and continued uncovered until Mr. 
 Wharton and his son had moved by, when, accompanied by 
 the surgeon, he rode leisurely in the rear, maintaining an 
 inflexible silence. 
 
 Caesar emerged from the cellar-kitchen of the cottage, 
 and with a face of settled solemnity, added himself to the 
 number of the followers of the funeral, though with an 
 humble mien, and at a most respectful distance from the 
 horsemen. The old negro had placed around his arm, a 
 little above the elbow, a napkin of unsullied whiteness, it 
 being the only time since his departure from the city that 
 he had enjoyed an opportunity of exhibiting himself in the 
 garniture of servile mourning. He was a great lover of 
 propriety, and had been a little stimulated to this display 
 by a desire to show his sable friend from Georgia all the 
 decencies of a New York funeral ; and the ebullition of his 
 zeal went off very well, producing no other results than a 
 mild lecture from Miss Peyton at his return, on the fitness 
 of things. The attendance of the black was thought well 
 enough in itself ; but the napkin was deemed a superfluous 
 exhibition of ceremony, at the funeral of a man who had 
 performed all the menial offices in his own person. 
 
 The graveyard was an enclosure on the grounds of Mr. 
 Wharton, which had been fenced with stone and set apart 
 for the purpose by that gentleman some years before. It 
 was not, however, intended as a burial-place for any of his 
 own family. Until the fire, which raged as the British 
 troops took possession of New York, had laid Trinity in 
 ashes, a goodly gilded tablet on its walls proclaimed the 
 virtues of his deceased parents, and beneath a flag of mar- 
 ble, in one of the aisles of the church, their bones were 
 left to moulder in aristocratical repose. Captain Lawton 
 made a movement as if he was disposed to follow the pro- 
 cession when it left the highway to enter the field which 
 contained the graves of the humble dead, but he was re- 
 called to recollection by a hint from his companion that 
 he was taking the wrong road. 
 
 " Of all the various methods which have been adopted 
 by man for the disposal of his earthly remains, which do 
 
/ 5 8 THE SPY. 
 
 you prefer, Captain Lawton ? " said the surgeon, as they 
 separated from the little procession. " In some countries 
 the body is exposed to be devoured by wild beasts ; in 
 others it is suspended in the air to exhale its substance in 
 the manner of decomposition ; in other regions it is con- 
 sumed on the funeral pile, and again, it is inhumed in the 
 bowels of the earth ; every people have their own particu- 
 lar fashion ; and to which do you give the preference ?" 
 
 "All are agreeable," said the trooper, following the 
 group they had left with his eyes ; " though the speediest 
 interments give the cleanest fields. Of which are you an 
 admirer?" 
 
 "The last, as practised by ourselves, for the other three 
 are destructive of all the opportunities for dissection ; 
 whereas, in the last, the coffin can lie in peaceful decency, 
 while the remains are made to subserve the useful pur- 
 poses of science. Ah ! Captain Lawton, I enjoy compara- 
 tively but few opportunities of such a nature, to what I 
 expected on en-tering the army." 
 
 "To what may these pleasures numerically amount in a 
 year ? " said the captain, withdrawing his gaze from the 
 graveyard. 
 
 " Within a dozen, upon my honor ; my best picking is 
 when the corps is detached ; for when we are with the 
 main army, there are so many boys to be satisfied, that I 
 seldom get a good subject. Those youngsters are as 
 wasteful as prodigals, and as greedy as vultures." 
 
 "A dozen!" echoed the trooper, in surprise; "why, I 
 furnish you that number with my own hands." 
 
 "Ah! Jack," returned the doctor, approaching the sub- 
 ject with great tenderness of manner, "it is seldom I can 
 do anything with your patients ; you disfigure them woe- 
 fully ; believe me, John, when I tell you as a friend that 
 your system is all wrong ; you unnecessarily destroy life, 
 and then you injure the body so that it is unfit for the only 
 use that can be made of a dead man." 
 
 The trooper maintained a silence which he thought 
 would be the most probable means of preserving peace 
 between them ; and the surgeon, turning his head from 
 taking a last look at the burial, as they rode round the 
 foot of the hill that shut the valley from their sight, con- 
 tinued, with a suppressed sigh : 
 
 " One might get a natural death from that graveyard 
 to-night, if there was but time and opportunity ! the pa" 
 tient must be the father of the lady we saw this morning." 
 
THE SPY. 159 
 
 *' The petticoat doctor ! she with the Aurora Borealis 
 complexion," said the trooper, with a smile that began to 
 cause uneasiness to his companion ; " but the lady was not 
 the gentleman's daughter, only his medico-petticoat attend- 
 ant, and the Harvey whose name was made to rhyme with 
 every word in her song, is the renowned peddler-spy." 
 
 <l What ! he who unhorsed you ? " 
 
 " No man ever unhorsed me, Dr. Sitgreaves," said the 
 dragoon, gravely ; " I fell by a mischance of Roanoke ; 
 rider and beast kissed the earth together." 
 
 " A warm embrace, from the love-spots it left on your 
 cuticle ; 'tis a thousand pities that you cannot find where 
 the tattling rascal lies hid." 
 
 " He followed his father's body." 
 
 "And you let him pass ! " cried the surgeon, checking 
 his horse ; " let us return immediately and take him ; to- 
 morrow you shall have him hanged, Jack and, damn him, 
 I'll dissect him." 
 
 " Softly, softly, my dear Archibald ; would you arrest a 
 man while paying the last offices to a dead father ? Leave 
 him to me, and I pledge myself he shall have justice." 
 
 The doctor muttered his dissatisfaction at any postpone- 
 ment of vengeance, but he was compelled to acquiesce, 
 from a regard to his reputation for propriety ; and they 
 continued their ride to the quarters of the corps, engaged 
 in various discussions concerning the welfare of the human 
 body. 
 
 Birch supported the grave and collected manner that 
 was thought becoming in a male mourner on such occa- 
 sions, and to Katy was left the part of exhibiting the ten- 
 derness of the softer sex. There are some people whose 
 feelings are of such a nature that they cannot weep unless 
 it be in proper company, and the spinster was a good deal 
 addicted to this congregational virtue. After casting her 
 eyes round the small assemblage, the housekeeper found 
 the countenances of the few females who were present 
 fixed on her in solemn expectation, and the effect was in- 
 stantaneous ; the maiden really wept, and she gained no 
 inconsiderable sympathy, and some reputation for a tender 
 heart, from the spectators. The muscles of the peddler's 
 face were seen to move, and as the first clod of earth fell on 
 the tenement of his father, sending up that dull, hollow 
 sound that speaks so eloquently the mortality of man, his 
 whole frame was for an instant convulsed. He bent his body 
 down, as if in pain, his fingers worked while the hands 
 
160 THE SPY. 
 
 hung lifeless by his side, and there was an expression in 
 his countenance that seemed to announce a writhing of 
 the soul ; but it was not unresisted, and it was transient. 
 He stood erect, drew a long breath, and looked around him 
 with an elevated face, that even seemed to smile with a 
 consciousness of having obtained the mastery. The grave 
 was soon filled ; a rough stone placed at either extremity 
 marked its position, and the turf, whose faded vegetation 
 was adapted to the fortunes of the deceased, covered the 
 little hillock with the last office of seemliness. This office 
 ended, the neighbors,who had officiously pressed forward to 
 offer their services in performing this solemn duty, paused, 
 and lifting their hats, stood looking toward the mourner, 
 who now felt himself to be really alone in the world. Un- 
 covering his head also, the peddler hesitated a moment, to 
 gather energy, and spoke. 
 
 " My friends and neighbors," he said, " I thank you for 
 assisting me to bury my dead out of my sight." 
 
 A solemn pause succeeded the customary address, and 
 the group dispersed in silence, some few walking with the 
 mourners back to their own habitation, but respectfully 
 leaving them at its entrance. The peddler and Katy were 
 followed into the building by one man, however, who was 
 well known to the surrounding country by the significant 
 term of "a speculator." Katy saw him enter with a heart 
 that palpitated with dreadful forebodings, but Harvey 
 civilly handed him a chair, and evidently was prepared for 
 the visit. 
 
 The peddler went to the door, and, taking a cautious 
 glance about the valley, quickly returned and commenced 
 the following dialogue: 
 
 " The sun has just left the top of the eastern hill ; my 
 time presses me ; here is the deed for the house and lot ; 
 everything is done according to law." 
 
 The other took the paper, and conned its contents with 
 a deliberation that proceeded partly from his caution, and 
 partly from the unlucky circumstance of his education hav- 
 ing been much neglected when a youth. The time occu- 
 pied in this tedious examination was employed by Harvey 
 in gathering together certain articles, which he intended to 
 include in the stores that were to leave the habitation with 
 himself. Katy had already inquired of the peddler, whether 
 the deceased had left a will ; and she saw the Bible placed 
 in the bottom of a new pack, which she had made for his 
 accommodation, with a most stoical indifference ; but as 
 
777^ SPY. 161 
 
 the six silver spoons were laid carefully by its side, a sud- 
 den twinge of her conscience objected to such a palpable 
 waste of property, and she broke silence. 
 
 " When you marry, Harvey, you may miss those 
 spoons." 
 
 " I never shall marry." 
 
 "Well, if you don't, there's no occasion to make rash 
 promises, even to yourself. One never knows what one 
 may do, in such a case. I should like to know, of what use 
 so many spoons can be to a single man ; for my part, I 
 think it is the duty of every man who is well provided, to 
 have a wife and family to maintain." 
 
 At the time Katy expressed this sentiment, the fortune 
 of women in her class of life consisted of a cow, a bed, the 
 labors of her own hands in the shape of divers pillow-cases, 
 blankets, and sheets, with, where fortune was unusually 
 kind, a half-dozen silver spoons. The spinster herself had 
 obtained all the other necessaries by her own industry and 
 prudence, and it can easily be imagined that she saw the 
 articles she had long counted her own, vanish in the enor- 
 mous pack, with a dissatisfaction that was in no degree 
 diminished by the declaration that had preceded the act. 
 Harvey, however, disregarded her opinions and feelings, 
 and continued his employment of filling the pack, which 
 soon grew to something like the ordinary size of the ped- 
 dler's burden. 
 
 " I'm rather tiresome about this conveyance," said the 
 purchaser, having at length waded through the covenants 
 of the deed. 
 
 " Why so ? " 
 
 " I'm afraid it won't stand good in law. I know that 
 two of the neighbors leave home to-morrow morning, to 
 have the place entered for confiscation ; and if I should 
 give forty pounds, and lose it all, 'twould be a dead pull- 
 back to me." 
 
 " They can only take my right," said the peddler ; " pay 
 me two hundred dollars, and the house is yours ; you are a 
 well-known Whig, and you at least they won't trouble." 
 As Harvey spoke, there was a strange bitterness of man- 
 ner, mingled with the shrewd care he expressed concern- 
 ing the sale of his property. 
 
 " Say one hundred, and it is a bargain," returned the man, 
 with a grin that he meant for a good-natured smile. 
 
 " A bargain ! " echoed the peddler, in surprise ; " \ 
 thought the bargain already made." 
 ii 
 
:62 THE SPY. 
 
 " Nothing is a bargain," said the purchaser, with a 
 chuckle, "until papers are delivered and the money paid 
 in hand." 
 
 "You have the paper." 
 
 "Ay, and will keep it, if you will excuse the money; 
 come, say one hundred and fifty, and I won't be hard ; here 
 here is just the money." 
 
 The peddler looked from the window, and saw with dis- 
 may that the evening was fast advancing, and knew well 
 that he endangered his life by remaining in the dwelling 
 after dark ; yet he could not tolerate the idea of being de- 
 frauded in this manner, in a bargain that had already been 
 fairly made ; he hesitated. 
 
 "Well," said the purchaser, rising, "mayhap you can 
 find another man to trade with between this and morning ; 
 but, if you don't, your title won't be worth much after- 
 ward." 
 
 " Take it, Harvey," said Katy, who felt it impossible to 
 resist a tender like the one before her ; for the purchase- 
 money was in English guineas. Her voice roused the ped- 
 dler, and a new idea seemed to strike him. 
 
 " I agree to the price," he said ; and, turning to the 
 spinster, he placed part of the money in her hand, as he 
 continued " had I other means to pay you, I would have 
 lost all, rather than have suffered myself to be defrauded 
 of part." 
 
 "You may lose all yet," muttered the stranger, with a 
 sneer, as he rose and left the building. 
 
 "Yes," said Katy, following him with her eyes; "he 
 knows your failing, Harvey ; he thinks with me, now the 
 old gentleman is gone, you will want a careful body to take 
 care of your concerns." 
 
 The peddler was busied in making arrangements for his 
 departure, and he took no notice of this insinuation, while 
 the spinster returned again to the attack. She had lived 
 so many years in expectation of a termination to her hopes, 
 so different from that which now seemed likely to occur, 
 that the idea of separation began to give her more uneasi- 
 ness than she had thought herself capable of feeling, about 
 a man so destitute and friendless. 
 
 " Have you another house to go to ?" inquired Katy. 
 
 " Providence will provide me with a home." 
 
 " Yes," said the house-keeper ; " but maybe 'twill not be 
 to your liking." 
 
 " The poor must not be difficult." 
 
THE SPY. 163 
 
 " I'm sure I'm anything but a difficult body," cried the 
 spinster, very hastily ; " but I love to see things becoming 
 and in their places ; yet I wouldn't be hard to persuade to 
 leave this place myself. I can't say I altogether like the 
 ways of the people hereabouts." 
 
 "The valley is lovely," said the peddler, with fervor, 
 "and the people like all the race of man. But to me it 
 matters nothing ; all places are now alike, and all faces 
 equally strange ;" as he spoke he dropped the article he 
 was packing from his hand, and seated himself on a chest 
 with a look of vacant misery. 
 
 " Not so, not so," said Katy, shoving her chair nearer 
 to the place where the peddler sat ; " not so, Harvey, you 
 must know me at least ; my face cannot be strange to you, 
 certainly." 
 
 Birch turned his eyes slowly, on her countenance, which 
 exhibited more of feeling, and less of self, than he had 
 ever seen there before ; he took her hand kindly, and his 
 own features lost some of their painful expression, as he 
 said : 
 
 " Yes, good woman, you, at least, are not a stranger to 
 me ; you may do me partial justice ; when others revile 
 me, possibly your feelings may lead you to say something 
 in my defence." 
 
 " That I will ; that I would ! " said Katy, eagerly ; " I 
 will defend you Harvey, to the last drop ; let me hear them 
 that dare revile you ! you say true, Harvey, I am partial 
 and just to you ; what if you do like the king ? I have 
 often heard it said he was at the bottom a good man ; but 
 there's no religion in the old country, for everybody allows 
 the ministers are desperate bad ! " 
 
 The peddler paced the floor in evident distress of mind ; 
 his eye had a look of wildness that Katy had never wit- 
 nessed before, and his step was measured, with a dignity 
 that appalled the house-keeper. 
 
 "While my father lived," murmured Harvey, unable to 
 smother his feelings, " there was one who read my heart , 
 and oh ! what a consolation to return from my secret 
 marches of danger, and the insults and wrongs that I suf- 
 fered, to receive his blessing and his praise ; but he is 
 gone," he continued, stopping and gazing wildly toward 
 the corner that used to hold the figure of his parent, "and 
 who is there to do me justice ? " 
 
 " Why, Harvey ! Harvey ! " 
 
 "Yes, there is one who will, who must know me before 
 
f 64 THE SPY. 
 
 I die ! Oh ! it is dreadful to die, and leave such a name 
 behind me." 
 
 " Don't talk of dying, Harvey," said the spinster, glanc- 
 ing her eyes around the room, and pushing the wood in the 
 fire to obtain a light from the blaze. 
 
 The ebullition of feeling in the peddler was over. It 
 had been excited by the events of the past day, and a vivid 
 perception of his sufferings. It was not long, however, 
 that passion maintained an ascendancy over the reason of 
 this singular man ; and perceiving that the night had al- 
 ready thrown an obscurity around objects without doors, 
 he hastily threw his pack over his shoulders, and taking 
 Katy kindly by the hand, in leave-taking, said: 
 
 "It is painful to part with even you, good woman, 1 ' he 
 said ; "but the hour has come, and I must go. What is 
 left in the house is yours ; to me it could be of no use, and 
 it may serve to make you more comfortable. Farewell 
 we shall meet hereafter." 
 
 " In the regions of darkness," cried a voice that caused 
 the peddler to sink on the chest from which he had risen 
 in despair. 
 
 "What! another pack, Mr. Birch, and so well stuffed 
 so soon ! " 
 
 " Have you not done evil enough ? " cried the peddler, 
 regaining his firmness, and springing on his feet with 
 energy ; " is it not enough to harass the last moments of 
 a dying man ; to impoverish me ; what more would you 
 have?" 
 
 "Your blood," said the Skinner, with cool malignity. 
 
 "And for money," cried Harvey, bitterly; "like the 
 ancient Judas, you would grow rich with the price of 
 blood ! " 
 
 " Ay ! and a fair price it is, my gentleman ; fifty guineas ; 
 nearly the weight of that scare-crow carcass of yours in 
 gold." 
 
 " Here," said Katy, promptly ; " here are fifteen guineas, 
 and these drawers and this bed, are all mine ; if you will 
 give Harvey but one hour's start from the door, they shall 
 be yours." 
 
 "One hour.'" said the Skinner, showing his teeth, and 
 looking with a longing eye at the money. 
 
 "But a single hour ; here, take the money." 
 
 " Hold ! *' cried Harvey ; " put not faith in the mis- 
 creant." 
 
 " She may do what she pleases with her faith," said the 
 
THE SPY. 165 
 
 Skinner, with malignant pleasure ; "but I have the money 
 in good keeping ; as for you, Mr. Birch, we will bear your 
 insolence, for the fifty guineas that are to pay for your 
 gallows." 
 
 " Go on," said the peddler, proudly ; " take me to Major 
 Dunwoodie ; he, at least, may be kind, although he may 
 be just." 
 
 " I can do better than by marching so far in such dis- 
 
 fraceful company ; this Mr. Dunwoodie has let one or two 
 Dories go at large ; but the troop of Captain Lawton is 
 quartered some half-mile nearer, and his receipt will get 
 me the reward as soon as his major's; how relish you the 
 idea of supping with Captain Lawton this evening, Mr. 
 Birch ? " 
 
 " Give me my money, or set Harvey free," cried the 
 spinster, in alarm. 
 
 " Your bribe was not enough, good woman, unless there 
 is money in this bed ;" thrusting his bayonet through the 
 ticking, and ripping it for some distance, he took a malici- 
 ous satisfaction in scattering its. contents about the room. 
 
 " If," cried the house-keeper, losing sight of her personal 
 danger in care for her newly-acquired property, "there is 
 law in the land, I will be righted." 
 
 " The law of the neutral ground is the law of the strong- 
 est ; but your tongue is not as long as my bayonet ; you 
 had, therefore, best not set them at loggerheads, or you 
 might be the loser." 
 
 A figure stood in the shadow of the door, as if afraid to 
 be seen in the group of Skinners; but a blaze of light, 
 raised by some articles thrown in the fire by his persecu- 
 tors, showed the peddler the face of the purchaser of his 
 little domain. Occasionally there was some whispering 
 between this man and the Skinner nearest him, that in- 
 duced Harvey to suspect he had been the dupe of a con- 
 trivance in which that wretch had participated. It was, 
 however, too late to repine ; and he followed the party 
 from the house with a firm and collected tread, as if march- 
 ing to a triumph, and not to a gallows. In passing 
 through the yard, the leader of the band fell over a billet 
 of wood, and received a momentary hurt from the fall ; 
 exasperated at the incident, the fellow sprang on his feet, 
 filling the air with execrations. 
 
 " The curse of Heaven light on the log ! " he exclaimed ! 
 " the night is too dark for us to move if ; throw that brand 
 of fire in yon pile of tow, to light up the scene." 
 
166 THE SPY. 
 
 " Hold ! " roared the speculator ; "you'll fire the house/ 
 
 "And see the farther," said the other, hurling the brand 
 in the midst of the combustibles. In an instant the build- 
 ing was in flames. "Come on ; let us move toward the 
 heights while we have light to pick our road." 
 
 "Villain!" cried the exasperated purchaser, "is this 
 your friendship this my reward for kidnapping the ped- 
 dler ?" 
 
 " 'Twould be wise to move more from the light, if you 
 mean to entertain us with abuse, or we may see too well 
 to miss our mark," cried the leader of the gang. The 
 next instant he was as good as his threat, but happily 
 missed the terrified speculator and equally appalled spin- 
 ster, who saw herself again reduced from comparative 
 wealth to poverty, by the blow. Prudence dictated to the 
 pair a speedy retreat ; and the next morning, the only re- 
 mains of the dwelling of the peddler was the huge chim- 
 ney we have already mentioned. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Trifles, light as air, 
 
 Are to the jealous confirmations strong 
 As proofs of holy writ. Moor of Venice. 
 
 THE weather, which had been mild and clear since the 
 storm, now changed with the suddenness of an American 
 climate. Toward evening the cold blasts poured down 
 from the mountains, and flurries of snow plainly indicated 
 that the month of November had arrived ; a season whose 
 temperature varies from the heats of summer to the cold 
 of winter. Frances had stood at the window of her own 
 apartment, watching the slow progress of the funeral pro- 
 cession, with a melancholy that was too deep to be excited 
 by the spectacle. There was something in the sad office 
 that was in unison with her feelings. As she gazed around, 
 she saw the trees bending to the force of the wind, that 
 swept through the valley with an impetuosity that shook 
 even the buildings ; and the forest, that had so lately glit- 
 tered in the sun with its variegated hues, was fast losing 
 its loveliness, as the leaves were torn from the branches, 
 and were driving If regularly before the eddies of the blast. 
 A few of the southern dragoons, who were patrolling the 
 
THE SPY. 167 
 
 passes which led to the encampment of the corps, could 
 be distinguished at a distance on the heights, bending to 
 their pommels as they faced the keen air which had so 
 lately traversed the great fresh water lakes, and drawing 
 their watch-coats about them in tighter folds. 
 
 Frances witnessed the disappearance of the wooden 
 tenement of the deceased, as it was slowly lowered from 
 the light of day ; and the sight added to the chilling weari- 
 ness of the view. Captain Singleton was sleeping under 
 the care of his own man, while his sister had been per- 
 suaded to take possession of her own room, for the pur- 
 pose of obtaining the repose of which her last night's 
 journeying had robbed her. The apartment of Miss Sin- 
 gleton communicated with the room occupied by the sis- 
 ters, through a private door, as well as through the ordi- 
 nary passage of the house ; this door was partly open, and 
 Frances moved toward it, with the benevolent intention of 
 ascertaining the situation of her guest, when the surprised 
 girl saw her whom she had thought to be sleeping, not 
 only awake, but employed in a manner that banished all 
 probability of present repose. The black tresses, that 
 during the dinner had been drawn in close folds over the 
 crown of the head, were now loosened, and fell in profu- 
 sion over her shoulders and bosom, imparting a slight de- 
 gree of wildness to her countenance ; the chilling white 
 of her complexion was strongly contrasted with eyes of 
 the deepest black, that were tixed in rooted attention on 
 a picture she held in her hand. Frances hardly breathed, 
 as she was enabled, by a movement of Isabella, to see that 
 it was the figure of a man in the well-known dress of the 
 Southern horse ; but she gasped for breath, and instinc- 
 tively laid her hand on her heart to quell its throbbings, 
 as she thought she recognized the lineaments that were 
 so deeply seated in her own imagination. Frances felt 
 she was improperly prying into the sacred privacy of an- 
 other ; but her emotions were too powerful to permit her 
 to speak, and she drew back to a chair, where she still re- 
 tained a view of the stranger, from whose countenance she 
 felt it to be impossible to withdraw her eyes. Isabella was 
 too much engrossed by her own feelings to discover the 
 trembling figure of the witness to her actions, and she 
 pressed the inanimate image to her lips with an enthusiasm 
 that denoted the most intense passion. The expression of 
 the countenance of the fair stranger was so changeable, 
 and the transitions were so rapid, that Frances had scarcely 
 
,68 THE SPY. 
 
 time to distinguish the character of the emotion, before it 
 was succeeded by another, equally powerful and equally 
 attractive. Admiration and sorrow were, however, the 
 preponderating passions ; the latter was indicated by large 
 drops that fell from her eyes on the picture, and which 
 followed each other over her cheek at such intervals, as 
 seemed to pronounce the grief too heavy to admit of the 
 ordinary demonstrations of sorrow. Every movement of 
 Isabella was marked by an enthusiasm that was peculiar 
 to her nature, and every passion in its turn triumphed in 
 her breast. The fury of the wind, as it whistled round the 
 angles of the building, was in consonance with those feel- 
 ings, and she rose and moved to a window of her apart- 
 ment. Her figure was now hid from the view of Frances, 
 who was about to rise and approach her guest, when tones 
 of a thrilling melody chained her in breathless silence to 
 the spot. The notes were wild, and the voice not power- 
 ful, but the execution exceeded anything that Frances 
 had ever heard ; and she stood, endeavoring to stifle the 
 sounds of her own gentle breathing, until the following 
 song was concluded : 
 
 Cold blow the blasts o'er the tops of the mountain, 
 
 And bare is the oak on the hill ; 
 Slowly the vapors exhale from the fountain, 
 
 And bright gleams the ice-border'd rill; 
 All nature is seeking its annual rest, 
 But the slumbers of peace have deserted my breast. 
 
 Long has the storm pour'd its weight on my nation, 
 And long have her brave stood the shock ; 
 
 Long has our chieftain ennobled his station, 
 A bulwark on liberty's rock ; 
 
 Unlicensed ambition relaxes its toil, 
 
 Yet blighted affection represses my smile. 
 
 Abroad the wild fury of winter is lowering, 
 
 And leafless and drear is the tree ; 
 But the vertical sun of the south appears pouring 
 
 Its fierce killing heats upon me : 
 Without all the season's chill symptoms begin 
 But the fire of passion is raging within. 
 
 Frances abandoned her whole soul to the suppressed 
 melody of the music, though the language of the song ex- 
 pressed a meaning which, united with certain events of 
 that and the preceding day, left a sensation of uneasiness 
 H* the bosom of the warm-hearted girl to which she had 
 
THE SPy. 169 
 
 hitherto been a stranger. Isabella moved from the window 
 as her last tones melted on the ear of her admiring listener, 
 and, for the first time, her eye rested on the pallid face of 
 the intruder. A glow of fire lighted the countenance of 
 both at the same instant, and the blue eye of Frances met 
 the brilliant black one of her guest for a single moment, 
 and both fell in abashed confusion on the carpet ; they 
 advanced, however, until they met, and had taken each 
 other's hand, before either ventured again to look her 
 companion in the face. 
 
 " This sudden change in the weather, and perhaps the 
 situation of my brother, have united to make me melan- 
 choly, Miss Wharton," said Isabella, in a low tone, and in 
 a voice that trembled as she spoke. 
 
 " 'Tis thought you have little to apprehend for your 
 brother," said Frances, in the same embarrassed manner ; 
 " had you seen him when he was brought in by Major 
 Dunwoodie " 
 
 Frances paused, with a feeling of conscious shame, for 
 which she could not account ; and, in raising her eyes, 
 she saw Isabella studying her countenance with an earn- 
 estness that again drove the blood tumultuously to her 
 temples. 
 
 " You were speaking of Major Dunwoodie," said Isa- 
 bella, faintly. 
 
 "He was with Captain Singleton." 
 
 " Do you know Dunwoodie ? have you seen him often ? " 
 Once more Frances ventured to look her guest in the face, 
 and again she met the piercing eyes bent on her, as if to 
 search her inmost heart. " Speak, Miss Wharton ; is 
 Major Dunwoodie known to you ? " 
 
 " He is my relative," said Frances, appalled at the man- 
 ner of the other. 
 
 "A relative," echoed Miss Singleton ; " in what degree ? 
 speak, Miss Wharton, I conjure you to speak." 
 
 " Our parents were cousins," faintly replied Frances. 
 
 " And he is to be your husband ? " said the stranger, im- 
 petuously. 
 
 Frances felt shocked, and all her pride awakened, by 
 this direct attack upon her feelings, and she raised her 
 eyes from the floor to her interrogator a little proudly, 
 when the pale cheek and quivering lip of Isabella re- 
 moved her resentment in a moment. 
 
 " It is true ! my conjecture is true ; speak to me, Miss 
 Wharton ; I conjure you, in mercy to my feelings, to tell 
 
I 7 o THE SPY. 
 
 me do you love Dunvvoodie ? " There was a plaintive 
 earnestness in the voice of Miss Singleton, that disarmed 
 Frances of all resentment, and the only answer she could 
 make was hiding her burning face between her hands, as 
 she sank back in a chair to conceal her confusion. 
 
 Isabella paced the floor in silence for several minutes, 
 until she had succeeded in conquering the violence of her 
 feelings, when she approached the place where Frances 
 yet sat, endeavoring to exclude the eyes of her companion 
 from reading the shame expressed in her countenance, and 
 taking the hand of the other, she spoke with an evident 
 effort at composure. 
 
 " Pardon me, Miss Wharton, if my ungovernable feel- 
 ings have led me into impropriety ; the powerful motive 
 the cruel reason " she hesitated ; Frances now raised 
 her face, and their eyes once more met ; they fell in each 
 other's arms, and laid their burning cheeks together. The 
 embrace was long was ardent and sincere but neither 
 spoke ; and on separating, Frances retired to her own room 
 without further explanation. 
 
 While this extraordinary scene was acting in the room 
 of Miss Singleton, matters of great importance were agi- 
 tated in the drawing-room. The disposition of the frag- 
 ments of such a dinner as the one we have recorded, was 
 a task that required no little exertion and calculation. Not- 
 withstanding several of the small game had nestled in the 
 pocket of Captain Lawton's man, and even the assistant of 
 Dr. Sitgreaves had calculated the uncertainty of his re- 
 maining long in such good quarters, still there was more 
 left, unconsumed, than the prudent Miss Peyton knew how 
 to dispose of to advantage. Caesar and his mistress had, 
 therefore, a long and confidential communication on this 
 important business ; and the consequence was that Colonel 
 Wellmere was left to the hospitality of Sarah Wharton. 
 All the ordinary topics of conversation were exhausted, 
 when the colonel, with a little of the uneasiness that is in 
 some degree inseparable from conscious error, touched 
 lightly on the transactions of the preceding day. 
 
 "We little thought, Miss Wharton, when I first saw this 
 Mr. Dunwoodie in your house in Queen Street, that he was 
 to be the renowned warrior he has proved himself," said 
 Wellmere, endeavoring to smile away his chagrin. 
 
 " Renowned, when we consider the enemy he overcame," 
 said Sarah, with consideration for her companion's feelings. 
 "Twus most unfortunate, indeed, in every respect, that 
 
THE SPY. 171 
 
 you met with the accident, or doubtless the royal arms 
 would have triumphed in their usual manner." 
 
 "And yet the pleasure of such society as this accident 
 has introduced me to, would more than repay the pain of 
 a mortified spirit and wounded body," added the colonel, 
 in a manner of peculiar softness. 
 
 "I hope the latter is but trifling," said Sarah, stooping 
 to hide her blushes under the pretext of biting a thread 
 from the work on her knee. 
 
 "Trifling, indeed, compared to the former," returned the 
 colonel, in the same manner. " Ah ! Miss Wharton, it is 
 in such moments that we feel the full value of friendship 
 and sympathy." 
 
 Those who have never tried it cannot, easily imagine 
 what a rapid progress a warm-hearted female can make in 
 love, in the short space of half an hour, particularly where 
 there is a predisposition to the distemper. Sarah found 
 the conversation, when it began to touch on friendship and 
 sympathy, too interesting to venture her voice with a reply. 
 She, however, turned her eyes on the colonel, and saw him 
 gazing at her fine face with an admiration that was quite 
 as manifest, and much more soothing, than any words could 
 make it. 
 
 Their tcte-ci-tcte was uninterrupted for an hour ; and al- 
 though nothing that would be called decided, by an experi- 
 enced matron, was said by the gentleman, he uttered a 
 thousand things that delighted his companion, who retired 
 to her rest with a lighter heart than she had felt since the 
 arrest of her brother by the Americans. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 And let me the canakin clink, clink, 
 And let me the canakin clink, 
 
 A soldier's a man ; 
 
 A life's but a span ; 
 Why then, let a soldier drink. lago. 
 
 THE position held by the corps of dragoons, we have 
 already said, was a favorite place of halting with their 
 commander. A cluster of some half-dozen small and 
 dilapidated buildings formed what, from the circumstance 
 of two roads intersecting each other at right angles, was 
 called the village of the Four Corners. As usual, one of 
 
I7 2 THE SPY. 
 
 the most imposing of these edifices had been termed, in 
 the language of the day, "a house of entertainment for 
 man and beast." On a rough board suspended from a 
 gallows-looking post, that had supported the ancient sign, 
 was, however, written in red chalk, " Elizabeth Flanagan, 
 her hotel" 'an ebullition of the wit of some of the idle wags 
 of the corps. The matron, whose name had thus been ex- 
 alted to an office of such unexpected dignity, ordinarily 
 discharged the duties of a female sutler, washerwoman, 
 and, to use the language of Katy Haynes, petticoat doctor 
 to the troops. She was the widow of a soldier who had 
 been killed in the service, and who, like herself, was a 
 native of a distant island, and had early tried his fortune 
 in the colonies of North America. She constantly migrated 
 with the troops ; and it was seldom that they became sta- 
 tionary for two days at a time but the little cart of the 
 bustling woman was seen driving into the encampment, 
 loaded with such articles as she conceived would make 
 her presence most welcome. With a celerity that seemed 
 almost supernatural, Betty took up her ground, and com- 
 menced her occupation. Sometimes the cart itself was 
 her shop ; at others the soldiers made her a rude shelter 
 of such materials as offered ; on the present occasion, she 
 had seized on a vacant building, and, by dint of stuffing 
 the dirty breeches and half-dried linen of the troopers into 
 the broken windows, to exclude the cold, which had now 
 become severe, she formed, what she herself had pro- 
 nounced to be, " most illigant lodgings." The men were 
 quartered in the adjacent barns, and the officers collected 
 in the "Hotel Flanagan," as they facetiously called head- 
 quarters. Betty was well known to every trooper in the 
 corps, could call each by his Christian or nickname, as 
 best suited her fancy ; and, although absolutely intolerable 
 to all whom habit had not made familiar with her virtues, 
 was a general favorite with these partisan warriors. Her 
 faults were, a trifling love of liquor, excessive filthiness, 
 and a total disregard of the decencies of language ; her 
 virtues, an unbounded love for her adopted country, per- 
 fect honesty when dealing on certain known principles 
 with the soldiery, and great good-nature. Added to these, 
 Betty had the merit of being the inventor of that beverage 
 which is so well known, at the present hour, to all the pa- 
 triots who make a winter's march between the commercial 
 and political capitals of this great State, and which is dis- 
 tinguished by the name of " cocktail." Elizabeth Flanagan 
 
THE SPY. 173 
 
 was peculiarly well qualified, by education and circum- 
 stances, to perfect this improvement in liquors, having 
 been literally brought up on its principal ingredient, and 
 having acquired from her Virginian customers the use of 
 mint, from its flavor in a julep to its height of renown in 
 the article in question. Such, then, was the mistress of 
 the mansion, who, reckless of the cold northern blasts, 
 showed her blooming face from the door of the building 
 to welcome the arrival of her favorite, Captain Lawton, 
 and his companion, her master in matters of surgery. 
 
 " Ah ! by my hopes of promotion, my gentle Elizabeth, 
 but you are welcome ! " cried the trooper, as he threw him- 
 self from his saddle ; u this villainous fresh water gas from 
 the Canadas has been whistling among my bones till they 
 ache with the cold, but the sight of your fiery countenance 
 is as cheering as a Christmas fire/' 
 
 " Now sure, Captain Jack, yee's always full of your 
 complimentaries," replied the sutler, taking the bridle of 
 her customer ; " but hurry in for the life of you, darling; 
 the fences hereabouts are not so strong as in the High- 
 lands, and there's that within will warm both sowl and 
 body." 
 
 " So you have been laying the rails under contribution, 
 I see ; well, that may do for the body, " said the captain, 
 coolly ; " but I have 'had a pull at a bottle of cut-glass with 
 a silver stand, and I doubt my relish for your whiskey for 
 a month to come." 
 
 " If it's silver or goold that yee'r thinking of, it's but 
 little I have, though I've a trifling bit of the continental," 
 said Betty, with a look of humor; " but there's that within 
 that's fit to be put in vessels of di'monds." 
 
 " What can she mean, Archibald ? " asked Lawton ; 
 " the animal looks as if it meant more than it says ? " 
 
 " 'Tis probably a wandering of reasoning powers, created 
 by the frequency of intoxicating draughts," observed the 
 surgeon, as he deliberately threw his left leg over the pom- 
 mel of the saddle, and slid down on the right side of his 
 horse. 
 
 " Faith, my dear jewel of a doctor, but it was this side 
 I was expicting you ; the whole corps came down on this 
 side but yeerself," said Betty, winking at the trooper ; " but 
 I've been feeding the wounded, in yeer absence, with the 
 fat of the land." 
 
 " Barbarous stupidity ! " cried the panic-stricken physi- 
 cian, " to feed men laboring under the excitement of fe- 
 
i- 4 THE SPY. 
 
 ver with a powerful nutriment ; woman, woman, you are 
 enough to defeat the skill of Hippocrates ! " 
 
 " Pooh ! " said Betty, with infinite composure, "what a 
 botheration yee make about a little whiskey ; there was 
 but a gallon betwixt a good two dozen of them, and I gave 
 it to the boys to make them sleep asy ; sure, jist as slum- 
 bering drops." 
 
 Lawton and his companion now entered the building, 
 and the first objects which met their eyes explained the 
 hidden meaning of Betty's comfortable declaration. A long 
 table, made of boards torn from the side of an out-build- 
 ing, was stretched through the middle of the largest apart- 
 ment, or the bar-room, and on it was a very scanty display 
 of crockery ware. The steams of cookery arose from an 
 adjoining kitchen, but the principal attraction was in a 
 demijohn of fair proportions, which had been ostenta- 
 tiously placed on high by Betty as the object most worthy 
 of notice. Lawton soon learnt that it was teeming with 
 the real amber-colored juice of the grape, and had been- 
 sent from the Locusts as an offering to Major Dunwoodie, 
 from his friend Captain Wharton, of the royal army. 
 
 "And a royal gift it is," said the grinning subaltern, who 
 made the explanation. "The major gives us an entertain- 
 ment in honor of our victory, and you see the principal ex- 
 pense is borne, as it should be, by the enemy. Zounds, I 
 am thinking that after we have primed with such stuff, we 
 could charge through Sir Henry's headquarters, and carry 
 off the knight himself." 
 
 The captain of dragoons was in no manner displeased at 
 the prospect of terminating so pleasantly a day that had 
 been so agreeably commenced. He was soon surrounded 
 , by his comrades, who made many eager inquiries concern- 
 ing his adventures, while the surgeon proceeded, with cer- 
 tain quakings of the heart, to examine into the state of 
 his wounded. Enormous fires were snapping in the chim- 
 neys of the house, superseding the necessity of candles 
 by the bright light which was thrown from the blazing 
 piles. The group within were all young men, and tried 
 soldiers ; in number they were rather more than a dozen, 
 and their manners and conversation were a strange mix- 
 ture of the bluntness of the partisan with the manners of 
 gentlemen. Their dresses were neat, though plain ; and 
 a never-failing topic among them was the performance 
 and quality of their horses. Some were endeavoring to 
 sleep on the benches which lined the walls, some were 
 
THE SPY. 175 
 
 walking the apartments, and others were seated in earnest 
 discussion on subjects connected with the business of their 
 lives. Occasionally, as the door of the kitchen opened, 
 the hissing sounds of the frying-pans and the inviting savor 
 of the food created a stagnation in all other employments ; 
 even the sleepers, at such moments, would open their eyes 
 and raise their heads, to reconnoitre the state of the prep- 
 arations. All this time Dunwoodie sat by himself, gazing 
 at the fire, and lost in reflections which none of his officers 
 presumed to disturb. He had made earnest inquiries of 
 Sitgreaves after the condition of Singleton, during which 
 a profound and respectful silence was maintained in the 
 room ; but as soon as he had ended and resumed his seat, 
 the usual ease and freedom prevailed. 
 
 The arrangement of the table was a matter of but little 
 concern to Mrs. Flanagan : and Caesar would have been 
 sadly scandalized at witnessing the informality with which 
 various dishes, each bearing a wonderful resemblance to 
 the others, were placed before so many gentlemen of con- 
 sideration. In taking their places at the board,- the strict- 
 est attention was paid to precedency ; for, notwithstanding 
 the freedom of manners which prevailed in the corps, the 
 points of military etiquette were at all times observed, 
 with something approaching to religious veneration. 
 Most of the guests had been fasting too long to be in any 
 degree fastidious in their appetites ; but the case w r as dif- 
 ferent with Captain Lawton ; he felt an unaccountable 
 loathing at the exhibition of Betty's food, and could not 
 refrain from making a few passing comments on the con- 
 dition of the knives, and the clouded aspects of the plates. 
 The good-nature and the personal affection of Betty for 
 the offender, refrained*her, for some time, from answering 
 his innuendoes, until Lawton, having ventured to admit a 
 piece of the black meat into his mouth, inquired, with the 
 affectation of a spoiled child : 
 
 " What kind of animal might this have been when liv- 
 ing, Mrs. Flanagan?" 
 
 " Sure, captain, and wasn't it the ould cow," replied the 
 sutler, with a warmth that proceeded partly from dissatis- 
 faction at the complaints of her favorite, and partly from 
 grief at the loss of the deceased. 
 
 "What?" roared the trooper, stopping short as he was 
 about to swallow the morsel, " ancient jenny ! " 
 
 " The devil ! " cried another, dropping his knife and fork, 
 " she who made the campaign of the Jerseys with us ? " 
 
176 THE SPY. 
 
 " The very same," replied the mistress of the hotel, with 
 a piteous aspect of woe ; " a gentle baste, and one that 
 could and did live on less than air, at need. Sure, gentle- 
 men, 'tis awful to have to eat sitch an ould friend." 
 
 "And has she sunk to this?" asked Lawton, pointing 
 with his knife to the remains on the table. 
 
 " Nay, captain," said Betty, with spirit, " I sould two 
 of her quarters to some of your troop ; but divil the word 
 did I tell the boys what an ould friend it was they had 
 bought, for fear it might damage their appetites." 
 
 "Fury!" cried the trooper, with affected anger, "I 
 shall have my fellows as limber as supple-jacks on such 
 fare ; afraid of an Englishman as a Virginia negro is of his 
 driver." 
 
 "Well," said Lieutenant Mason, dropping his knife and 
 fork in a kind of despair ; "my jaws have more sympathy 
 than many men's hearts. They absolutely decline making 
 any impression on the relics of their old acquaintance." 
 
 "Try a drop of the gift," said Betty, soothingly, pour- 
 ing a large allowance of the wine into a bowl, and drink- 
 ing it off as taster to the corps. " Faith, 'tis but a wishy- 
 washy sort of stuff after all ! " 
 
 The ice once broken, however, a clear glass of wine was 
 handed to Dunwoodie, who, bowing to his companions, 
 drank the liquor in the midst of a profound silence. For 
 a few glasses there was much formality observed, and sun- 
 dry patriotic toasts and sentiments were duly noticed by 
 the company. The liquor, however, performed its wonted 
 office ; and before the second sentinel at the door had been 
 relieved, all recollection of the dinner and their cares was 
 lost in the present festivity. Dr. Sitgreaves did not re- 
 turn in season to partake of Jenny? but he was in time to 
 receive his fair proportion of Captain Wharton's present. 
 
 "A song, a song from Captain Lawton !" cried two or 
 three of the party in a breath, on observing the failure of 
 some of the points of good-fellowship in the trooper ; 
 " silence, for the song of Captain Lawton." 
 
 " Gentlemen," returned Lawton, his dark eyes swim- 
 ming with the bumpers he had finished, though his head 
 was as impenetrable as a post ; " I am not much of a night- 
 ingale, but, under the favor of your good wishes, I consent 
 to comply with the demand." 
 
 " Now, Jack," said Sitgreaves, nodding on his seat, " re- 
 member the air I taught^you, and stop, I have a copy of 
 the words in my pocket." 
 
THE SPY. 177 
 
 " Forbear, forbear, good doctor," said the trooper, filling 
 his glass with great deliberation ; " I never could wheel 
 round these hard names. Gentlemen, I will give you an 
 humble attempt, of my own." 
 
 " Silence, for Captain Lawton's song ! " roared five or 
 six at once ; when the trooper proceeded, in a fine, full 
 tone, to sing the following words to a well-known baccha- 
 nalian air, several of his comrades helping him through 
 the chorus with a fervor that shook the crazy edifice they 
 were in 
 
 Now push the mug, my jolly boys, 
 
 And live, while live we can, 
 To-morrow's sun may end your joys, 
 
 For brief's the hour of man. 
 And he who bravely meets the foe 
 His lease of life can never know. 
 
 Old mother Flanagan, 
 Come and fill the can again ; 
 For you can fill, and we can swill, 
 Good Betty Flanagan. 
 
 If love of life pervades your breast, 
 
 Or love of ease your frame, 
 Quit honor's path for peaceful rest, 
 
 And bear a coward's name. 
 For soon and late, we danger know, 
 And fearless on the saddle go. 
 Old mother, etc. 
 
 When foreign foes invade the land, 
 
 And wives and sweethearts call ; 
 In freedom's cause we'll bravely stand, 
 
 Or will as bravely fall. 
 In this fair home the fates have given, 
 We'll live as lords, or live in heaven. 
 Old mother, etc. 
 
 At each appeal made to herself, by the united voices ot 
 the choir, Betty invariably advanced and complied liter- 
 ally with the request contained in the chorus, to the infi- 
 nite delight of the singers, and with no small participation 
 in the satisfaction on her own account. The hostess was 
 provided with a beverage more suited to the high season- 
 ing to which she had accustomed her palate, than the 
 tasteless present of Captain Wharton ; by which means 
 Betty had managed, with tolerable facility, to keep even 
 pace with the exhilaration of her guests. The applause 
 received by Captain Lawton was general, with the excep- 
 tion of the surgeon, who rose from the bench during the 
 12 
 
178 THE SPY. 
 
 first chorus, and paced the floor, in a flow of classical in- 
 dignation. The bravos and bravissimos drowned all other 
 noises for a short time ; but as they gradually ceased, the 
 doctor turned to the musician, and exclaimed with heat : 
 
 " Captain Lawton, I marvel that a gentleman, and a 
 gallant officer, can find no other subject for his muse, in 
 these times of trial, than in such beastly invocations to that 
 notorious follower of the camp, the filthy Elizabeth Flana- 
 gan. Methinks the goddess of Liberty could furnish a 
 more noble inspiration, and the sufferings of your country 
 a more befitting theme." 
 
 " Heydey ! " shouted the hostess, advancing toward him 
 in a threatening attitude; "and who is it that calls me 
 filthy? Master Squirt ! Master pop-gun " 
 
 " Peace ! " said Dunwoodie, in a voice that was exerted 
 but a little more than common, but which was succeeded 
 by the stillness of death ; " woman, leave the room. Dr. 
 Sitgreaves, I call you to your seat to wait the order of the 
 revels." 
 
 " Proceed, proceed," said the surgeon, drawing himself 
 up in an attitude of dignified composure ; " I trust, Major 
 Dunwoodie, I am not unacquainted with the rules of de- 
 corum, nor ignorant of the by-laws of good fellowship." 
 Betty made a hasty but somewhat devious retreat to her 
 own dominions, being unaccustomed to dispute the orders 
 of the commanding officer. 
 
 " Major Dunwoodie will honor us with a sentimental 
 song," said Lawton, bowing to his leader, with the col- 
 lected manner he so well knew how to assume. 
 
 The major hesitated a moment, and then sang, with fine 
 execution, the following words : 
 
 Some love the heats of southern suns, 
 Where life's warm current maddening runs, 
 
 In one quick circling stream ; 
 But dearer far's the mellow light 
 Which trembling shines, reflected bright 
 
 In Luna's milder beam. 
 
 Some love the tulip's gaudier dyes, 
 Where deepening blue with yellow vies, 
 
 And gorgeous beauty glows ; 
 But happier he, whose bridal wreath, 
 By love entwined, is found to breathe 
 
 The sweetness of the rose. 
 
 The voice of Dunwoodie never lost its authority with 
 his inferiors ; and the applause which followed his song, 
 
THE SPY. 179 
 
 though by no means so riotous as that which succeeded 
 the effort of the captain, was much more flattering, 
 
 " If, sir," said the doctor, after joining in the plaudits 
 of his companions, "you would but learn to unite classical 
 allusions with your delicate imagination, you would be- 
 come a pretty amateur poet." 
 
 " He who criticises ought to be able to perform," said 
 Dunvvoodie, with a smile. " I call on Dr. Sitgreaves for a 
 specimen of the style he admires." 
 
 "Dr. Sitgreaves' song! Dr. Sitgreaves' song!" echoed 
 all at the table with delight ; " a classical ode from Dr. 
 Sitgreaves ! " 
 
 The surgeon made a complacent bow, took the remnant 
 of his glass, and gave a few preliminary hems, that served 
 hugely to delight three or four young cornets at the foot of 
 the table. He then commenced singing, in a cracked 
 voice, and to anything but a tune, the following ditty- 
 Hast thou ever felt love's dart, dearest, 
 
 Or breathed his trembling sigh 
 Thought him, afar, was ever nearest, 
 
 Before that sparkling eye ? 
 Then hast thou known what 'tis to feel 
 The pain that Galen could not heal. 
 
 " Hurrah ! " shouted Lawton ; " Archibald eclipses the 
 muses themselves ; his words flow like the sylvan stream 
 by moonlight, and his melody is a cross-breed of the night- 
 ingale and the owl." 
 
 " Captain Lawton," cried the exasperated operator, " it 
 is one thing to despise the lights of classical learning, and 
 another to be despised for your own ignorance!" 
 
 A loud summons at the door of the building created 
 a dead halt in the uproar, anofe the dragoons instinct- 
 ively caught up their arms to be prepared for the worst. 
 The door was opened, and the Skinners entered, drag- 
 ging in the peddler, bending beneath the load of his 
 pack. 
 
 "Which is Captain Lawton ?" said the leader of the 
 gang, gazing around him in some little astonishment. 
 
 " He waits your pleasure," said the trooper, dryly. 
 
 "Then here I deliver to your hands a condemned 
 traitor ; this is Harvey Birch, the peddler-spy." 
 
 Lawton started as he looked his old acquaintance in the 
 face, and turning to the Skinner with a lowering look, he 
 asked : 
 
i8o THE SPY. 
 
 " And who are you, sir, that speak so freely of your 
 neighbors ? But," bowing to Dunwoodie, " your pardon, 
 sir ; here is the commanding officer ; to him you will please 
 address yourself." 
 
 " No," said the man, sullenly, " it is to you I deliver the 
 peddler, and from you I claim my reward." 
 
 "Are you Harvey Birch ?" said Dunwoodie, advancing 
 with an air of authority that instantly drove the Skinner to 
 a corner of the room. 
 
 " I am," said Birch, proudly. 
 
 " And a traitor to your country," continued the major, 
 with sternness ; "do you know that I should be justified in 
 ordering your execution this night ?" 
 
 " Tis not the will of God to call a soul so hastily to his 
 presence," said the peddler, with solemnity. 
 
 "You speak the truth," said Dunwoodie ; " and a few 
 brief hours shall be added to your life. But as your of- 
 fence is most odious to a soldier, so it will be sure to meet 
 a soldier's vengeance ; you die to-morrow." 
 
 " Tis as God wills." 
 
 "I have spent many a good hour to entrap the villain," 
 said the Skinner, advancing a little from his corner, "and 
 I hope you will give me a certificate that will entitle us to 
 the reward." 
 
 "Major Dunwoodie," said the officer of the day, enter- 
 ing the room, "the patrols report a house to be burnt 
 near yesterday's battle-ground." 
 
 " 'Twas the hut of the peddler," muttered the leader of 
 the gang ; "we have not left him a shingle for shelter ; I 
 should have burnt it months ago, but I wanted his shed 
 for a trap to catch the sly fox in." 
 
 "You seem a most ingenious patriot," said Lawton. 
 " Major Dunwoodie, I s^pond the request of this worthy 
 gentleman, and crave the office of bestowing the reward 
 on him and his fellows." 
 
 " Take it ; and you, miserable man, prepare for the 
 fate which will surely befall you before the setting of to- 
 morrow's sun." 
 
 " Life offers but little to tempt me with," said Harvey, 
 slowly raising his eyes, and gazing wildly at the strange 
 faces in the apartment. 
 
 " Come, worthy children of America ! " said Lawton, 
 "follow and receive your reward." 
 
 The gang eagerly accepted the invitation, and followed 
 the captain toward the quarters assigned to his troop. 
 
THE SPY. ^ 181 
 
 Dunwoodie paused a moment, from reluctance to triumph 
 over a fallen foe, before he proceeded. 
 
 " You have already been tried, Harvey Birch ; and the 
 truth has proved you to be an enemy too dangerous to the 
 liberties of America to be suffered to live." 
 
 " The truth ! " echoed the peddler, starting, and raising 
 himself in a manner that disregarded the weight of his 
 pack. 
 
 "Ay ! the truth : you were charged with loitering near 
 the continental army, to gain intelligence of its movements, 
 and, by communicating them to the enemy, to enable him 
 to frustrate the intentions of Washington." 
 
 "Will Washington say so, think you ?" 
 
 "Doubtless he would ; even the justice of Washington 
 condemns you." 
 
 " No, no, no," cried the peddler, in a voice and with a 
 manner that startled Dunwoodie ; "Washington can see 
 beyond the hollow views of pretended patriots. Has he 
 not risked his all on the cast of a die ? If the gallows is 
 ready for me, was there not one for him also ? No,, no, no, 
 no Washington would never say, 'Lead him to the gal- 
 lows.' " 
 
 " Have you anything, wretched man, to urge to the com- 
 mander-in-chief why you should not die ? " said the major, 
 recovering from the surprise created by the manner of the 
 other. 
 
 Birch trembled, for violent emotions^were contending 
 in his bosom. His face assumed the ghastly paleness of 
 death, and his hand drew a box of tin from the folds of his 
 shirt ; he opened it, showing by the act that it contained a 
 small piece of paper ; on this document his eye was for an 
 instant fixed he had already held it toward Dunwoodie, 
 when, suddenly withdrawing his hand, he exclaimed : 
 
 "No it dies with me; I know the conditions of my 
 service,, and will not purchase life with their forfeiture it 
 dies with me." 
 
 " Deliver that paper and you may possibly find favor," 
 cried Dunwoodie, expecting a discovery of importance to 
 the cause. 
 
 " It dies with me," repeated Birch, a flush passing over 
 his pallid features, and lighting them with extraordinary 
 brilliancy. 
 
 "Seize the traitor!" cried the major, "and wrest the 
 secret from his hands." 
 
 The order was immediately obeyed ; but the movements 
 
182 THE SPY. 
 
 of the peddler were too quick ; in an instant he swallowed 
 the paper. The officers paused in astonishment ; but the 
 surgeon cried eagerly : 
 
 " Hold him, while I administer an emetic." 
 
 "Forbear! " said Dunwoodie, beckoning him back with 
 his hand ; " if the crime is great, so will the punishment 
 be heavy." 
 
 " Lead on," cried the peddler, dropping his pack from 
 his shoulders, and advancing toward the door with a man- 
 ner of incomprehensible dignity. 
 
 " Whither ? " asked Dunwoodie, in amazement. 
 
 " To the gallows." 
 
 " No," said the major, recoiling in horror at his own jus- 
 tice. "My duty requires that I order you to be executed, 
 but surely not so hastily ; take until nine to-morrow to 
 prepare for the awful change." 
 
 Dunwoodie whispered his orders in the ear of a subal- 
 tern, and motioned to the peddler to withdraw. The inter- 
 ruption caused by this scene prevented further enjoyment 
 around the table, and the officers dispersed to their several 
 places of rest. In a short time the only noise to be heard 
 was the heavy tread of the sentinel, as he paced the frozen 
 ground in front of the Hotel Flanagan. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " There are, whose changing lineaments 
 
 Express each guileless passion of the breast, 
 Where Love, and Hope, and tender-hearted Pity 
 Are seen reflected, as from a mirror's face ; 
 But cold experience can veil these hues 
 With looks, invented shrewdly to encompass 
 The cunning purposes of base deceit." Duo. 
 
 THE officer to whose keeping Dunwoodie had com- 
 mitted the peddler transferred his charge to the custody 
 of the regular sergeant of the guard. The gift of Captain 
 Wharton had not been lost on the youthful lieutenant ; 
 and a certain dancing motion that had taken possession 
 of objects before his eyes, gave him warning of the neces- 
 sity of recruiting nature by sleep. After admonishing the 
 non-commissioned guardian of Harvey to omit no watch- 
 fulness in securing the prisoner, the youth wrapped him- 
 self in his cloak, and stretched on a bench before a fire, 
 
THE SPY. 183 
 
 soon found the repose he needed. A rude shed extended 
 the whole length of the rear of the building, and from off 
 one of its ends had been partitioned a small apartment, 
 that was intended as a repository for many of the lesser 
 implements of husbandry. The lawless times had, how- 
 ever, occasioned its being stripped of everything of value ; 
 and the searching eyes of Betty Flanagan selected this 
 spot, on her arrival, as the storehouse for her movables, 
 and a sanctuary for her person. The spare arms and bag- 
 gage of the corps had also been deposited here, and the 
 united treasures were placed under the eye of the sentinel 
 who paraded the shed as a guardian of the rear of the 
 headquarters. A second soldier, who was stationed near 
 the house to protect the horses of the officers, could com- 
 mand a view of the outside of the apartment ; and, as it 
 was without window or outlet of any kind, excepting its 
 door, the considerate sergeant thought this the most be- 
 fitting place in which to deposit his prisoner until the mo- 
 ment of his execution. Several inducements urged Ser- 
 geant Hollister to this determination, among which was 
 the absence of the washerwoman, who lay before the kit- 
 chen fire, dreaming that the corps was attacking a party 
 of the enemy, and mistaking the noise that proceeded 
 from her own nose for the bugles of the Virginians sound- 
 ing the charge. Another was the peculiar opinion that 
 the veteran entertained of life and death, and by which he 
 was distinguished in the corps as a man of most exem- 
 plary piety and holiness of life. The sergeant was more 
 than fifty years of age, and for half that period he had 
 borne arms. The constant recurrence of sudden deaths 
 before his eyes, had produced an effect on him differing 
 greatly from that which was the usual moral consequence 
 of such scenes ; and he had become not only the most 
 steady, but the most trustworthy soldier in his troop. 
 Captain Lawton had rewarded his fidelity by making him 
 its orderly. 
 
 Followed by Birch, the sergeant proceeded in silence 
 to the door of the intended prison, and, throwing it open 
 with one hand, he held a lantern with the other to light 
 the peddler to his prison. Seating himself on a cask that 
 contained some of Betty's favorite beverage, the sergeant 
 motioned to Birch to occupy another in the same man- 
 ner. The lantern was placed on the floor, when the 
 dragoon, after looking his prisoner steadily in the face, 
 observed : 
 
i8 4 THE SPY. 
 
 " You look as if you would meet death like a man ; and 
 I have brought you to a spot where you can tranquilly 
 arrange your thoughts, and be quiet and undisturbed." 
 
 " 'Tis a fearful place to prepare for the last change in," 
 said Harvey, gazing around his little prison with a vacant 
 eye. 
 
 "Why, for the matter of that," returned the veteran, 
 " it can reckon but little, in the great account, where a 
 man parades his thoughts for the last review, so that lie 
 finds them fit to pass the muster of another world. I have 
 a small book here, which I make it a point to read a little 
 in whenever we are about to engage, and I find it a great 
 strengthener in time of need." While speaking, he took 
 a Bible from his pocket, and offered it to the peddler. 
 Birch received the volume with habitual reverence ; but 
 there was an abstracted air about him, and a wandering 
 of the eye, that induced his companion to think that alarm 
 was getting the mastery of the peddler's feelings ; accord- 
 ingly, he proceeded in what he conceived to be the offices 
 of consolation. 
 
 " If anything lies heavy on your mind, now is the best 
 time to get rid of it if you have done any wrong to any 
 one, I promise you, on the word of an honest dragoon, to 
 lend you a helping hand to see them righted." 
 
 " There are few who have not done so," said the peddler, 
 turning his vacant gaze once more on his companion. 
 
 "True 'tis natural to sin but it sometimes happens 
 that a man does what at other times he may be sorry for. 
 One w r ould not wish to die with any very heavy sin on his 
 conscience, after all." 
 
 Harvey had by this time thoroughly examined the place 
 in which he was to pass the night, and saw no means of 
 escape. But as hope is ever the last feeling to desert the 
 human breast, the peddler gave the dragoon more of his 
 attention, fixing on his sunburnt features such searching 
 looks, that Sergeant Hollister lowered his eyes before the 
 wild expression which he met in the gaze of his prisoner. 
 
 " I have been taught to lay the burden of my sins at the 
 feet of my Saviour," replied the peddler. 
 
 " Why yes, all that is well enough," returned the other ; 
 "but justice should be done while there is opportunity. 
 There have been stirring times in this country since the 
 war began, and many have been deprived of their rightful 
 goods. I oftentimes find it hard to reconcile even my law* 
 ful plunder to a tender conscience." 
 
THE SPY. 185 
 
 "These hands," said the peddler, stretching forth his 
 meagre, bony fingers, " have spent years in toil, but not a 
 moment in pilfering." 
 
 " It is well that it is so," said the honest-hearted soldier; 
 "and, no doubt, you now feel it a great consolation. 
 There are three great sins, that, if a man can keep his con- 
 science clear of, why, by the mercy of God, he may hope 
 to pass muster with the saints in heaven ; they are stealing, 
 murdering, and desertion." 
 
 "Thank God!" said Birch, with fervor, "I have never 
 yet taken the life of a fellow-creature." 
 
 " As to killing a man in lawful battle, that is no more 
 than doing one's duty. If the cause is wrong, the sin of 
 such a deed, you know, falls on the nation, and a man re- 
 ceives his punishment here with the rest of the people ; 
 but murdering in cold blood stands next to desertion as a 
 crime in the eye of God." 
 
 " I never was a soldier, therefore never could desert," 
 said the peddler, resting his face on his hand in a melan- 
 choly attitude. 
 
 "Why, desertion consists of more than quitting your 
 colors, though that is certainly the worst kind ; a man may 
 desert his country in the hour of need." 
 
 Birch buried his face in both his hands, and his whole 
 frame shook ; the sergeant regarded him closely, but good 
 feelings soon got the better of his antipathies, and he con- 
 tinued, more mildly : 
 
 " But still that is a sin which I think may be forgiven, if 
 sincerely repented of ; and it matters but little when or 
 how a man dies, so that he dies like a Christian and a man. 
 I recommend you to say your prayers, and then to get 
 some rest, in order that you may do both. There is no 
 hope of your being pardoned ; for Colonel Singleton has 
 sent down the most positive orders to take your life when- 
 ever we met you. No no nothing can save you." 
 
 " You say the truth," cried Birch. " It is now too late 
 I have destroyed my only safeguard. But he will do my 
 memory justice at least." 
 
 " What safeguard ? " asked the sergeant, with awakened 
 curiosity. 
 
 " 'Tis nothing," replied the peddler, recovering his nat- 
 ural manner, and lowering his face to avoid the earnest 
 looks of his companion. 
 
 " And who is he?" 
 
 " No one," added Harvey, anxious to say no more 
 
1 86 THE SPY. 
 
 " Nothing, and no one, can avail but little now," said 
 the sergeant, rising to go ; " lay yourself on the blanket of 
 Mrs. Flanagan, and get 'a little sleep ; I will call you be- 
 times in the morning ; and from the bottom of my soul, I 
 wish I could be of some service to you, for I dislike greatly 
 to see a man hung up like a dog." 
 
 " Then you might save me from this ignominious deaih," 
 said Birch, springing on his feet, and catching the dragoon 
 by the arm " And, oh ! what will I not give you in re- 
 ward ! " 
 
 "In what manner?" asked the sergeant, looking at him 
 in surprise. 
 
 " See," said the peddler, producing several guineas from 
 his person ; " these are nothing to what I will give you, if 
 you will assist me to escape." 
 
 " Were you the man whose picture is on the gold, I 
 would not listen to such a crime," said the trooper, throw- 
 ing the money on the floor with contempt. " Go go 
 poor wretch, and make your peace with God ; for it is He 
 only that can be of service to you now." 
 
 The sergeant took up the lantern, and, with some indig- 
 nation in his manner, he left the peddler to sorrowful medi- 
 tations on his approaching fate. Birch sank, in momentary 
 despair, on the pallet of Betty, while his guardian pro- 
 ceeded to give necessary instructions to the sentinels for 
 his safe-keeping. 
 
 Hollister concluded his injunctions to the man in the 
 shed, by saying, " Your life will depend on his not escaping. 
 Let none enter or quit the room till morning." 
 
 " But," said the trooper, " my orders are, to let the 
 washerwoman pass in and out, as she pleases." 
 
 " Well, let her then ; but be careful that this wily ped- 
 dler does not get out in the folds of her petticoats." He 
 then continued his walk, giving similar orders to each of 
 the sentinels near the spot. 
 
 For some time after the departure of the sergeant, si- 
 lence prevailed within the solitary prison of the peddler, 
 until the dragoon at his door heard his loud breathings, 
 which soon rose into the regular cadence of one in a deep 
 sleep. The man continued walking his post, musing on 
 an indifference to life which could allow nature its cus- 
 tomary rest, even on the threshold of the grave. Harvey 
 Birch had, however, been a name too long held in detesta- 
 tion by every man in the corps, to suffer any feelings of 
 commiseration to mingle with these reflections of the sen- 
 
THE SPY. 187 
 
 \ 
 
 tinel ; for, notwithstanding the consideration and kindness 
 manifested by the sergeant, there probably was not another 
 man of his rank in the whole party who would have dis- 
 covered equal benevolence to the prisoner, or who would 
 not have imitated the veteran in rejecting the bribe, al- 
 though probably from a less worthy motive. There was 
 something of disappointed vengeance in the feelings of the 
 man who watched the door of the room, on finding his 
 prisoner enjoyinga sleep of which he himself was deprived, 
 and at his exhibiting such obvious indifference to the ut- 
 most penalty that military rigor could inflict on all his trea- 
 son to the cause of liberty and America. More than once 
 he felt prompted to disturb the repose of the peddler by 
 taunts and revilings ; but the discipline he was under, and 
 a secret sense of shame at the brutality of the act, held him 
 in subjection. 
 
 His meditations were, however, soon interrupted by the 
 appearance of the washerwoman, who came staggering 
 through the door that communicated with the kitchen, 
 muttering execrations against the servants of the officers, 
 who, by their waggery, had disturbed her slumbers before 
 the fire. The sentinel understood enough of her maledic- 
 tions to comprehend the case ; but all his efforts to enter 
 into conversation with the enraged woman were useless, 
 and he suffered her to enter her room without explaining 
 that it contained another inmate. The' noise of her huge 
 frame falling on the bed was succeeded by a silence that 
 was soon interrupted by the renewed respiration of the 
 peddler, and within a few minutes Harvey continued 
 to breathe aloud, as if no interruption had occurred. The 
 relief arrived at this moment. The sentinel, who felt net- 
 tled at the contempt of the peddler, after communicating 
 his orders, while he was retiring, exclaimed to his suc- 
 cessor : 
 
 "You may keep yourself warm by dancing, John ; the 
 peddler spy has tuned his fiddle, you hear, and it will not 
 be long before Betty will strike up, in her turn." 
 
 The joke was followed by a general laugh from the 
 party, who marched on in the performance of their duty. 
 At this instant the door of the prison was opened, and 
 Betty reappeared, staggering back again toward her former 
 quarters. 
 
 " Stop," said the sentinel, catching her by her clothes ; 
 " are you sure the spy is not in your pocket ? " 
 
 " Can't you hear the rascal snoring in my room, you 
 
1 88 THE SPY. 
 
 dirty blackguard ?" sputtered Betty, her whole frame shak- 
 ing with rage ; "and is it so yee would sarve a dacent fe- 
 male, that a man must be put to sleep in the room wid her, 
 you rapscallion ? " 
 
 " Pooh ! do you mind a fellow who's to be hanged in the 
 morning ? You see he sleeps already ; to-morrow he'll 
 take a long nap." 
 
 " Hands off, ye villain ! " cried the washerwoman, relin- 
 quishing a small bottle that the trooper had succeeded in 
 wrestling from her. "But I'll go to Captain Jack, and 
 know if it's orders to put a hang-gallows spy in my room, 
 ay, even in my widowed bed, you tief ! " 
 
 "Silence, old Jezebel !" said the fellow with a laugh, 
 taking the bottle from his mouth to breathe, " or you will 
 wake the gentleman would you disturb a man in his last 
 sleep ? " 
 
 " I'll wake Captain Jack, you reprobate villain, and 
 bring him here to see me righted ; he will punish ye 
 all, for imposing on a dacent widowed body, you ma- 
 rauder ! " 
 
 With these words, which only extorted a laugh from the 
 sentinel, Betty staggered round the end of the building, 
 and made the best of her way toward the quarters of her 
 favorite, Captain John Lawton, in search of redress. 
 Neither the officer nor the woman, however, appeared 
 during the night, and nothing further occurred to disturb 
 the repose of the peddler, who, to the astonishment of the 
 different sentinels, continued by his breathing to manifest 
 how little the gallows could affect his slumbers. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 "A Daniel come to judgment yea, a Daniel ! 
 O wise young judge, how I do honor thee ! " 
 
 Merchant of Venice. 
 
 THE Skinners followed Captain Lawton with alacrity, 
 toward the quarters occupied by the troop of that gentle- 
 man. The captain of dragoons had on all occasions mani- 
 fested so much zeal for the cause in which he was engaged, 
 was so regardless of personal danger when opposed to the 
 enemy, and his stature and stern countenance contributed 
 so much to render him terrific, that these qualities had, in 
 
THE SPY. 189 
 
 some measure, procured him a reputation distinct from the 
 corps in which he served. His intrepidity was mistaken 
 for ferocity ; and his hasty zeal for the natural love of 
 cruelty. On the other hand, a few acts of clemency, or, 
 more properly speaking, of discriminating justice, had, with 
 one portion of the community, acquired for Dunwoodie the 
 character of undue forbearance. It is seldom that either 
 popular condemnation or popular applause falls, exactly in 
 the quantities earned, where it is merited. 
 
 While in the presence of the major, the leader of the 
 gang had felt himself under that restraint which vice must 
 ever experience in the company of acknowledged virtue ; 
 but having left the house, he at once conceived that he 
 was under the protection of a congenial spirit. There was 
 a gravity in the manner of Lawton that deceived most of 
 those who did not know him intimately ; and it was a 
 common saying in his troop, "that when the captain 
 laughed, he was sure to punish." Drawing near his con- 
 ductor, therefore, the leader commenced a confidential dia- 
 logue : 
 
 " 'Tis always well for a man to know his friends from his 
 enemies," said the half-licensed freebooter. 
 
 To this prefatory observation the captain made no 
 other reply than a sound, which the other interpreted into 
 assent. 
 
 "I suppose Major Dunwoodie has the good opinion of 
 Washington ? " continued the Skinner, in a tone that rather 
 expressed a doubt than asked a question. 
 
 " There are some who think so." 
 
 " Many of the friends of Congress in this county," the 
 man proceeded, " wish the horse was led by some other 
 officer ; for my part, if I could only be covered by a troop 
 now and then, I could do many an important piece of ser- 
 vice to the cause, to which this capture of the peddler 
 would be a trifle." 
 
 " Indeed ! such as what ? " 
 
 " For the matter of that, it could be made as profit- 
 able to the officer as it would be to us who did it," said 
 the Skinner, with a look of the most significant mean- 
 ing. 
 
 "But how?" asked Lawton, a little impatiently, and 
 quickening his step to get out of the hearing of the rest of 
 the party. 
 
 " Why, near the royal lines, even under the very guns of 
 the heights, might be good picking if we had a force to 
 
J9 o THE SPY. 
 
 guard us from De Lancey's* men, and to cover our retreat 
 from being cut off by the way of Kingsbridge." 
 
 " I thought the refugees took all that game to them- 
 selves." 
 
 " They do a little at it ; but they are obliged to be spar- 
 ing among their own people. I have been down twice, 
 under an agreement with them : the first time they acted 
 with honor ; but the second they came upon us and drove 
 us off, and took the plunder to themselves." 
 
 "That was a very dishonorable act, indeed; I wonder 
 that an honorable man will associate with such rascals." 
 
 " It is necessary to have an understanding with some of 
 them, or we might be taken ; but a man without honor is 
 worse than a brute. Do you think Major Dunwoodie is 
 to be trusted ?" 
 
 " You mean on honorable principles ? " 
 
 "Certainly ; you know Arnold was thought well of until 
 the royal major was taken." 
 
 "Why, I do not believe Dunwoodie would sell his com- 
 mand as Arnold wished to do ; neither do I think him ex- 
 actly trustworthy in a delicate business like this of yours." 
 
 "That's just my notion," rejoined the Skinner, with a 
 self-approving manner that showed how much he was sat- 
 isfied with his own estimate of character. 
 
 By this time they had arrived at a better sort of farm- 
 house, the very extensive out-buildings of which were in 
 tolerable repair, for the times. The barns were occupied 
 by the men of the troop, while the horses were arranged 
 under the long sheds which protected the yard from the 
 cold north wind. The latter were quietly eating, with sad- 
 dles on their backs and bridles thrown on their necks, 
 ready to be bitted and mounted at the shortest warning. 
 Lawton excused himself for a moment, and entered his 
 
 *The partisan corps, called Cow-boys in the parlance of the country, was 
 commanded by a Colonel De Lancey. This gentleman, for such he was 
 by birth and education, rendered himself very odious to the Americans by 
 his fancied cruelty, though there is no evidence of his being guilty of any 
 acts unusual in this species of warfare. 
 
 Colonel De Lancey belonged to a family of the highest consequence in 
 the American colonies, his uncle having died in the administration of the 
 government of that of New York. He should not be confounded with 
 other gentlemen of his name and family, many of whom served in the royal 
 army. His cousin, Colonel Oliver De Lancey, was at the time of our tale 
 adjutant-general of the British forces in America, having succeeded to the 
 unfortunate Andre. The Cow-boys were sometimes called Refugees, in 
 consequence of their having taken refuge under the protection of the 
 
THE SPY. 191 
 
 quarters. He soon returned, holding in his hand one of 
 the common stable lanterns, and led the way to a large 
 orchard that surrounded the building on three sides. The 
 gang followed the trooper in silence, believing his object 
 to be facility of communicating further on this interesting 
 topic, without the danger of being overheard. 
 
 Approaching the captain, the Skinner renewed the dis- 
 course, with a view of establishing further confidence, and 
 of giving his companion a more favorable opinion of his 
 own intellect. 
 
 " Do you think the colonies will finally get the better of 
 the king ?" he inquired, with a little of the impatience of 
 a politician. 
 
 " Get the better ! " echoed the captain, with impetuosity 
 then checking himself, he continued, " no doubt they 
 will. If the French will give us arms and money, we can 
 drive out the royal troops in six months." 
 
 " Well, so I hope we shall soon ; and then we shall have 
 a free government, and we, who fight for it, will get our 
 reward." 
 
 "Oh !" cried Lawton, "your claims will be indisputa- 
 ble ; while all these vile Tories who live at home peaceably, 
 to take care of their farms, will be held in the contempt 
 they merit. You have no farm, I suppose ?" 
 
 " Not yet but it will go hard if I do not find one before 
 the peace is made." 
 
 "Right ; study your own interests, and you study the 
 interests of your country ; press the point of your own 
 services, and rail at the Tories, and I'll bet my spurs 
 against a rusty nail that you get to be a county clerk, at 
 least." 
 
 " Don't you think Paulding's* party were fools in not 
 letting the royal adjutant-general escape ? " said the man, 
 thrown off his guard by the freedom of the captain's man- 
 ner. 
 
 " Fools! " cried Lawton, with a bitter laugh ; "ay, fools 
 indeed ; King George would have paid them better, for he 
 is richer. He would have made them gentlemen for their 
 lives. But, thank God ! there is a pervading spirit in the 
 
 * The author must have intended some allusion to an individual, which 
 is too local to be understood by the general reader. 
 
 Andre, as is well known, was arrested by three countrymen, who were 
 on the lookout for predatory parties of the enemy ; the principal man of 
 this party was named Paulding. The disinterested manner in which they 
 refused the offers of their captive is a matter of history. 
 
192 THE SPY. 
 
 people that seems miraculous. Men who have nothing, 
 act as if the wealth of the Indies depended on their 
 fidelity ; all are not villains like yourself, or we should 
 have been slaves to England years ago." 
 
 "How!" exclaimed the Skinner, starting back, and 
 dropping his musket to the level of the other's breast ; 
 "am I betrayed, and are you my enemy ?" 
 
 " Miscreant ! " shouted Lawton, his sabre ringing in its 
 steel scabbard as he struck the musket of the fellow from 
 his hands, "offer but again to point your gun at me, and 
 I'll cleave you to the middle." 
 
 " And you will not pay us, then, Captain Lawton ? " 
 said the Skinner, trembling in every joint ; for just then he 
 saw a party of mounted dragoons silently encircling the 
 whole party. 
 
 " Oh ! pay you yes, you shall have the full measure of 
 your reward. There is the money that Colonel Singleton 
 sent down for the captors of the spy," throwing a bag of 
 guineas with disdain at the other's feet. " But ground 
 your arms, you rascals, and see that the money is truly 
 told." 
 
 The intimidated band did as they were ordered ; and 
 while they were eagerly employed in this pleasing avoca- 
 tion, a few of Lawton's men privately knocked the flints 
 out of their muskets. 
 
 V Well," cried the impatient captain, " is it right ? have 
 you the promised reward ?" 
 
 "There is just the money," said the leader; " and we 
 will now go to our homes, with your permission." 
 
 " Hold ! so much to redeem our promise now for jus- 
 tice ; we pay you for taking a spy, but we punish you for 
 burning, robbing, and murdering. Seize them, my lads, 
 and give each of them the law of Moses forty, save one." 
 
 This command was given to no unwilling listeners; and 
 in the twinkling of an eye the Skinners were stripped and 
 fastened, by the halters of the party, to as many of the 
 apple-trees as were necessary to furnish one to each of the 
 gang. Swords were quickly drawn, and fifty branches cut 
 from the trees, like magic ; from these were selected a few 
 of the most supple of the twigs, and a willing dragoon was 
 soon found to wield each of the weapons. Captain Law- 
 ton gave the word, humanely cautioning the men not to 
 exceed the discipline prescribed by the Mosaic law, and 
 the uproar of Babel commenced in the orchard. The cries 
 of the leader were easily to be distinguished above those 
 
THE SPY. 193 
 
 of his men ; a circumstance which might be accounted 
 for, by Captain Lawton's reminding his corrector that he 
 had to deal with an officer, and he should remember and 
 pay him unusual honor. The flagellation was executed 
 with great neatness and despatch, and it was distinguished 
 by no irregularity, excepting that none of the disciplinar- 
 ians began to count until they had tried their whips by a 
 dozen or more blows, by the way, as they said themselves, 
 of finding out the proper places to strike. As soon as this 
 summary operation was satisfactorily completed, Lawton 
 directed his men to leave the Skinners to replace their own 
 clothes, and to mount their horses ; for they were a party 
 who had been detached for the purpose of patrolling lower 
 down in the county. 
 
 " You see, my friend," said the captain to the leader of 
 the Skinners, after he had prepared himself to depart, " I 
 can cover you to some purpose, when necessary. If we 
 meet often, you will be covered with scars, which, if not 
 very honorable, will at least be merited." 
 
 The fellow made no reply. He was busy with his 
 musket, and hastening his comrades to march ; when, 
 everything being ready, they proceeded sullenly toward 
 some rocks at no great distance, which were overhung by 
 a deep wood. The moon was just rising, and the group 
 of dragoons could easily be distinguished where they had 
 been left. Suddenly turning, the whole gang levelled their 
 pieces and drew the triggers. The action was noticed, and 
 the snapping of the locks was heard by the soldiers, who 
 returned their futile attempt with a laugh of derision, the 
 captain crying aloud : 
 
 " Ah ! rascals, I knew you, and have taken away your 
 flints." 
 
 "You should have taken away that in my pouch too," 
 shouted the leader, firing his gun in the next instant. The 
 bullet grazed the ear of Lawton, who laughed as he shook 
 his head, saying, "A miss was as good as a mile." One of 
 the dragoons had seen the preparations of the Skinner 
 who had been left alone by the rest of his gang as soon as 
 they had made their abortive attempt at revenge and was 
 in the act of plunging his spurs into his horse as the fellow 
 fired. The distance to the rocks was but small, yet the 
 speed of the horse compelled the leader to abandon both 
 money and musket, to effect his escape. The soldier re- 
 turned with his prizes, and offered them to the acceptance 
 of his captain, but Lawton rejected them, telling the man 
 '3 
 
194 THE SPY. 
 
 to retain them himself, until the rascal appeared in person 
 to claim his property. It would have been a business of 
 no small difficulty for any tribunal then existing in the new 
 states to have enforced a restitution of the money ; for it 
 was shortly after most equitably distributed, by the hands 
 of Sergeant. Hollister, among a troop of horse. The patrol 
 departed, and the captain slowly returned to his quarters, 
 with an intention of retiring to rest. A figure moving 
 rapidly among the trees, in the direction of the wood 
 whither the Skinners had retired, caught his eye, and, 
 wheeling on his heel, the cautious partisan approached it, 
 and, to his astonishment, saw the washerwoman at that 
 hour of the night, and in such a place. 
 
 "What, Betty? walking in your sleep, or dreaming 
 while awake?" cried the trooper ; "are you not afraid of 
 meeting with the ghost of ancient Jenny in this her favor- 
 ite pasture ? " 
 
 "Ah, sure, Captain Jack," returned the sutler in her 
 native accent, and reeling in a manner that made it diffi- 
 cult for her to raise her head, "it's not Jenny or her ghost 
 that I'm saaking, but some yarbs for the wounded. And 
 it's the vartue of the rising moon, as it just touches them, 
 that I want. They grow under yon rocks, and I must 
 hasten, or the charm will lose its power." 
 
 ** Fool, you are fitter for your pallet than for wandering 
 among those rocks : a fall from one of them would break 
 your bones; besides, the Skinners have fled to these 
 heights, and should you fall in with them, they would re- 
 venge on you a sound flogging they have just received 
 from me. Better return, old woman, and finish your nap ; 
 we march in the morning." 
 
 Betty disregarded his advice, and continued her devious 
 route to the hillside. For an instant, as Lawton men- 
 tioned the Skinners, she had paused, but immediately re- 
 suming her course, she was soon out of sight among the 
 trees. 
 
 As the captain entered his quarters, the sentinel at the 
 door inquired if he had met Mrs. Flanagan, and added 
 that she had passed there, filling the air with threats against 
 her tormentors at the " Hotel," and inquiring for the cap- 
 tain, in search of redress. Lawton heard the man in as- 
 tonishment appeared struck with a new idea walked 
 several yards toward the orchard, and returned again ; 
 for several minutes he paced rapidly to and fro before the 
 door of the house, and then hastily entering it, he threw 
 
THE SPY. 195 
 
 himself on a bed in his clothes, and was soon in a pro- 
 found sleep. 
 
 In the meantime, the gang of marauders had success- 
 fully gained the summit of the rocks, and, scattering in 
 every direction, they buried themselves in the depths of 
 the wood. Finding, however, there was no pursuit, which 
 indeed would have been impracticable for horse, the 
 leader ventured to call his band together with a whistle, 
 and in a short time he succeeded in collecting his dis- 
 comfited party, at a point where they had but little to ap- 
 prehend from any enemy. 
 
 " Well," said one of the fellows, while a fire was light- 
 ing to protect them against the air, which was becoming 
 extremely cold, "there is an end of our business in West- 
 chester. The Virginia Horse will soon make the country 
 too hot to hold us." 
 
 " I'll have his blood," muttered the leader, " if I die for 
 it the next instant." 
 
 " Oh, you are very valiant "here, in the wood," cried the 
 other, with a savage laugh ; " why did you, who boast so 
 much of your aim, miss your man, at thirty yards ? " 
 
 "'Twas the horseman that disturbed me, or I would 
 have ended this Captain Lavvton on the spot ; besides, the 
 cold had set me a-shivering, and I had no longer a steady 
 hand." 
 
 " Say it was fear, and you will tell no lie," said his com- 
 rade, with a sneer. " For my part, I think I shall never 
 be cold agtiin ; my back burns as if a thousand gridirons 
 were laid on it." 
 
 "And you would tamely submit to such usage, and kiss 
 the rod that beat you ? " 
 
 " As for kissing the rod, it would be no easy matter. 
 Mine was broken into so small pieces, on my own shoul- 
 ders, that it would be difficult to find one big enough to 
 kiss ; but I would rather submit to lose half my skin than 
 to lose the whole of it, with my ears in the bargain. And 
 such will be our fate, if we tempt this mad Virginian again. 
 God willing, I would at any time give him enough of my 
 hide to make a pair of jack-boots, to get out of his hands 
 with the remainder. If you had known when you were 
 well off, you would have stuck to Major Dunwoodie, who 
 don't know half so much of our evil-doings." 
 
 "Silence, you talking fool!" shouted the enraged 
 leader ; "your prating is sufficient to drive a man mad ; is 
 it not enough to be robbed and beaten, but we must be 
 
196 THE SPY. 
 
 tormented with your folly ? help to get out the provi- 
 sions, if any is left in the wallet, and try and stop your 
 mouth with food." 
 
 This injunction was obeyed, and the whole party, amidst 
 sundry groans and contortions, excited by the disordered 
 state of their backs, made their arrangements for a scanty 
 meal. A large fire of dry wood was burning in the cleft 
 of a rock, and at length they began to recover from the 
 confusion of their flight, and to collect their scattered 
 senses. Their hunger being appeased, and many of their 
 garments thrown aside for the better opportunity of dress- 
 ing their wounds, the gang began to plot measures of re- 
 venge. An hour was spent in this manner, and various 
 expedients were proposed ; but as they all depended upon 
 personal prowess for their success, and were attended by 
 great danger, they were of course rejected. There was no t 
 possibility of approaching the troops by surprise, their 
 vigilance being ever on the watch ; and the hope of meet- 
 ing Captain Lawton, away from his men, was equally for- 
 lorn, for the trooper was constantly engaged in his duty, 
 and his movements were so rapid that any opportunity of 
 meeting with him, at all, must depend greatly on accident. 
 Besides, it was by no means certain that such an inter- 
 view would result happily for themselves. The cunning 
 of the trooper was notorious ; and rough and broken as 
 was Westchester, the fearless partisan was known to take 
 some desperate leaps, and stone walls were but slight im- 
 pediments to the charges of the Southern Horse. Grad- 
 ually, the conversation took another direction, until the 
 gang determined on a plan which should both revenge 
 themselves, and at the same time offer some additional 
 stimulus to their exertions. The whole business was ac- 
 curately discussed, the time fixed, and the manner adopted ; 
 in short, nothing was wanting to the previous arrange- 
 ment for this deed of villainy, when they were aroused by 
 a voice calling aloud : 
 
 "This way, Captain Jack here are the rascals ating by 
 a fire this way and murder the tieves where they sit 
 quick, lave your horses and shoot your pistols! " 
 
 This terrific summons was enough to disturb all the 
 philosophy of the gang. Springing on their feet, they 
 rushed deeper into the wood, and having already agreed 
 upon a place of rendezvous previously to their intended 
 expedition, they dispersed toward the four quarters of the 
 heavens. Certain sounds and different voices were heard 
 
THE SPY. 197 
 
 calling on each other, but as the marauders were well 
 trained to speed of foot, they were soon lost in the dis- 
 tance. 
 
 It was not long before Betty Flanagan emerged from 
 the darkness, and very coolly took possession of what the 
 Skinners had left behind them ; namely, food and divers 
 articles of dress. The washerwoman deliberately seated 
 herself, and made a meal with great apparent satisfaction. 
 For an hour, she sat with her head upon her hand, in deep 
 musing; then she gathered together such articles of the 
 clothes as seemed to suit her fancy, and retired into the 
 wood, leaving the fire to throw its glimmering light on 
 the adjacent rocks, until its last brand died away, and the 
 place was abandoned to solitude and darkness. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 No longer then perplex the breast 
 
 When thoughts torment, the first are best ; 
 
 'Tismad to go, 'tis death to stay ! 
 
 Away, to Orra, haste away. Lapland Love Song. 
 
 WHILE his comrades were sleeping in perfect forgetful- 
 ness of their hardships and dangers, the slumbers of Dun- 
 woodie were broken and unquiet. After spending a night 
 of restlessness, he arose, unrefreshed, from the rude bed 
 where he had thrown himself in his clothes, and, without 
 awaking any of the group around him, he wandered into 
 the open air in search of relief. The soft rays of the moon 
 were just passing away in the more distinct light of the 
 morning ; the wind had fallen, and the rising mists gave the 
 promise of another of those autumnal days which, in this 
 unstable climate, succeed a tempest with the rapid transi- 
 tions of magic. The hour had not yet arrived when he in- 
 tended moving from his present position ; and, willing to 
 allow his warriors all the refreshment that circumstances 
 would permit, he strolled toward the scene of the Skinners' 
 punishment, musing upon the embarrassments of his situa- 
 tion, and uncertain how he should reconcile his sense of 
 duty with his love. Although Dunwoodie himself placed 
 the most implicit reliance on the captain's purity of inten- 
 tion, he was by no means assured that a board of officers 
 would be equally credulous ; and, independently of all feel* 
 ings of private regard, he felt certain that with the execu- 
 
19 8 THE SPY. 
 
 tion of Henry would be destroyed all hopes of a union with 
 his sister. He had despatched an officer, the preceding 
 evening, to Colonel Singleton, who was in command of the 
 advance posts, reporting the capture of the British captain, 
 and, after giving his own opinion of his innocence, request- 
 ing orders as to the manner in which he was to dispose of 
 his prisoner. These orders might be expected every hour, 
 and his uneasiness increased in proportion as the moment 
 approached when his friend might be removed from his 
 protection. In this disturbed state of mind, the major wan- 
 dered through the orchard, and was stopped in his walk by 
 arriving at the base of those rocks which had protected the 
 Skinners in their flight before he was conscious whither his 
 steps had carried him. He was about to turn and retrace 
 his path to his quarters, when he was startled by a voice, 
 bidding him: 
 
 " Stand or die ! " 
 
 Dunwoodie turned in amazement, and beheld the figure 
 of a man placed at a little distance above him on a shelving 
 rock, with a musket levelled at himself. The light was not 
 yet sufficiently powerful to reach the recesses of that 
 gloomy spot, and a second look was necessary before he 
 discovered, to his astonishment, that the peddler stood be- 
 fore him. Comprehending, in an instant, the danger of 
 his situation, and disdaining to implore mercy or to re- 
 treat, had the latter been possible, the youth cried firmly : 
 
 " If I am to be murdered, fire ! I will never become 
 your prisoner." 
 
 " No, Major Dunwoodie," said Birch, lowering his mus- 
 ket, " it is neither my intention to capture nor to slay." 
 
 " What then would you have, mysterious being ? " said 
 Dunwoodie, hardly able to persuade himself that the form 
 he saw was not a creature of the imagination. 
 
 " Your good opinion," answered the peddler, with emo- 
 tion ; " I would wish all good men to judge me with 
 lenity." 
 
 " To you it must be indifferent what may be the judg- 
 ment of men ; for you seem to be beyond the reach of 
 their sentence." 
 
 " God spares the lives of his servants to his own time," 
 said the peddler, solemnly ; "a few hours ago I was your 
 prisoner, and threatened with the gallows ; now you are 
 mine ; but, Major Dunwoodie, you are free. There are 
 men abroad who would treat you less kindly. Of what 
 service would that sword be to you against my weapon 
 
THE SPY. 199 
 
 and a steady hand ? Take the advice of one who has never 
 harmed you, and who never will. Do not trust yourself in 
 the skirts of any wood, unless in company and mounted." 
 
 " And have you comrades, who have assisted you to 
 escape, and who are less generous than yourself ?" 
 
 " No no, I am alone truly none know me but my God 
 and Him" 
 
 " And who ? " asked the major, with an interest he could 
 not control. 
 
 " None," continued the peddler, recovering his compos- 
 ure. " But such is not your case, Major Dunwoodie ; you 
 are young and happy ; there are those that are dear to 
 you, and such are not far away danger is near them you 
 love most danger within and without ; double your 
 watchfulness; strengthen your patrols and be silent. 
 With your opinion of me, should I tell you more, you 
 would suspect an ambush. But remember and guard 
 them you love best." 
 
 The peddler discharged the musket in the air, and threw 
 it at the feet of his astonished auditor. When surprise 
 and the smoke allowed Dunwoodie to look again on the 
 rock where he had stood, the spot was vacant. 
 
 The youth was aroused from the stupor, which had been 
 created by this strange scene, by the trampling of horses 
 and the sound of the bugles. A patrol was drawn to the 
 spot by the report of the musket, and the alarm had been 
 given to the corps. Without entering into any explanation 
 with his men, the major returned quickly to his quarters, 
 where he found the whole squadron under arms, in battle 
 array, impatiently awaiting the appearance of their leader. 
 The officer whose duty it was to superintend such matters, 
 had directed a party to lower the sign of the Hotel Flana- 
 gan, and the post was already arranged for the execution 
 of the spy. On hearing from the major that the musket 
 was discharged by himself, and was probably one of those 
 dropped by the Skinners (for by this time Dunwoodie had 
 learnt the punishment inflicted by Lawton, but chose to 
 conceal his own interview with Birch), his officers sug- 
 gested the propriety of executing their prisoner before 
 they marched. . Unable to believe that all he had seen was 
 not a dream, Dunwoodie, followed by many of his officers, 
 and preceded by Sergeant Hollister, went to the place 
 which was supposed to contain the peddler. 
 
 " Well, sir," said the major to the sentinel who guarded 
 the door, " I trust you have your prisoner in safety." 
 
200 THE SPY. 
 
 ' He is yet asleep," replied the man, " and he makes 
 such a noise, I could hardly hear the bugles sound the 
 alarm." 
 
 <l Open the door, and bring him forth." 
 
 The order was obeyed ; but to the utter amazement of 
 the honest veteran who entered the prison, he found the 
 room in no little disorder the coat of the peddler where 
 his body ought to have been, and part of the wardrobe of 
 Betty scattered in disorder on the floor. The washer- 
 woman herself occupied the pallet, in profound mental 
 oblivion, clad as when last seen, excepting a little black 
 bonnet, which she so constantly wore, that it was com- 
 monly thought she made it perform the double duty of 
 both day and night cap. The noise of their entrance and 
 the exclamations of the party awoke the woman. 
 
 "Is it the breakfast that's wanting ?" said Betty, rub- 
 bing her eyes ; " faith, yee look as if yee would ate myself 
 but patience a little, darlings, and ye'll see sich a fry as 
 never was." 
 
 " Fry ! " echoed the sergeant, forgetful of his religious 
 philosophy and the presence of his officers ; " we'll have 
 you roasted, Jezebel ! you have helped that damn'd ped- 
 dler to escape." 
 
 "Jezebel back agin in your teeth, and damn'd pidler too, 
 Mister Sargeant ! " cried Betty, who was easily aroused ; 
 " what have I to do with pidlers, or escapes ? I might 
 have been a pidler's lady, and worn my silks, if I'd had 
 Sawny M'Twill, instead of tagging at the heels of a parcel 
 of dragooning rapscallions, who don't know how to trate 
 a lone body with dacency." 
 
 "The fellow has left my Bible," said the veteran, taking 
 the book from the floor ; " instead of spending his time in 
 reading it to prepare for his end, like a good Christian, he 
 has been busy in laboring to escape." 
 
 " And who would stay and be hanged like a dog ? " cried 
 Betty, beginning to comprehend the case ; "'tisn't every- 
 one that's born to meet sich an ind like yourself, Mister 
 Hollister." 
 
 "SUencct" said Dunwoodie. "This must be inquired 
 into closely, gentlemen ; there is no outlet but the door, 
 and he could not pass, unless the sentinel connived at his 
 escape, or was asleep on his post. Call up the guard." 
 
 As these men were not paraded, curiosity had already 
 drawn them to the place, and they one and all, with the 
 exception of him before mentioned, denied that any per- 
 
THE SPY. 201 
 
 son had passed out. The individual in question acknowl- 
 edged that Betty had gone by him, but pleaded his orders 
 in justification. 
 
 "You lie, you tief you lie !" shouted Betty, who had 
 impatiently listened to his exculpation ; " would yee 
 slanderize a lone woman, by saying she walks a camp at 
 midnight ? Here have I been slaaping the long night, 
 svvaately as the sucking ,babe." 
 
 " Here, sir," said the sergeant, turning respectfully to 
 Dunwoodie, " is something written in my Bible that was 
 not in it before ; for having no family record, I would 
 never suffer any scribbling in the sacred book." 
 
 One of the officers read aloud : " These certify, that if 
 suffered to get free, it is by God's help alone, to whose divine 
 aid I hunibly riccommind myself. I am forced to take the 
 woman's clothes, but in her pocket is a ricompinse. Witness my 
 hand Harvey Birch." 
 
 u What ! " roared Betty, " has the tief robbed a lone 
 woman of her all ? hang him catch him and hang him, 
 major ; if there's law or justice in the land." 
 
 " Examine your pocket," said one of the youngsters, 
 who was enjoying the scene, careless of the consequences. 
 
 "Ah! faith," cried the washerwoman, producing a 
 guinea, " but he is a jewel of a pidler ! Long life and a 
 brisk trade to him, say I ; he is wilcome to the duds and 
 if he is ever hanged, many a bigger rogue will go free." 
 
 Dunwoodie turned to leave the apartment, and he saw 
 Captain Lawton standing with folded arms, contemplating 
 the scene in profound silence. His manner, so different 
 from his usual impetuosity and zeal, struck his com- 
 mander as singular. Their eyes met, and they walked to- 
 gether for a few minutes in close conversation, when Dun- 
 woodie returned, and dismissed the guard to their place 
 of rendezvous. Sergeant Hollister, however, continued 
 along with Betty, who having found none of her vest- 
 ments-disturbed but such as the guinea more than paid 
 for, was in high good humor. The washerwoman had for 
 a long time looked on the veteran with the eyes of affec- 
 tion ! and she had determined within herself to remove 
 certain delicate objections which had long embarrassed 
 her peculiar situation, as respected the corps, by making 
 the sergeant the successor of her late husband. For some 
 time past the trooper had seemed to flatter this prefer- 
 ence ; and Betty, conceiving that her violence might have 
 mortified her suitor, was determined to make him all the 
 
202 THE SPY. 
 
 amends in her power. Besides, rough and uncouth as 
 she was, the washerwoman had still enough of the sex to 
 know that the moments of reconciliation were the mo- 
 ments of power. She therefore poured out a glass of her 
 morning beverage, and handed it to her companion as a 
 peace-offering. 
 
 " A few warm words between f rinds are a trifle, yee 
 must be knowing, sargeant," said the washerwoman ; " it 
 was Michael Flanagan that I ever calumnated the most 
 when I was loving him the best." 
 
 "Michael was a good soldier and a brave man," said 
 the trooper, finishing the glass ; " our troop was covering 
 the flank of his regiment when he fell, and I rode over his 
 body myself during the day ; poor fellow ! he lay on his 
 back, and looked as composed as if he had died a natural 
 death after a year's consumption." 
 
 " Oh ! Michael was a great consumer, arid be sartain ; 
 two such as us make dreadful inroads in the stock, sar- 
 geant. But yee'r a sober, discrate man, Mister Hollister, 
 and would be a helpmate indeed." 
 
 "Why, Mrs. Flanagan, I've tarried to speak on a sub' 
 ject that lies heavy at my heart, and I will now open my 
 mind, if you've leisure to listen." 
 
 " Is it listen ? " cried the impatient woman ; " and I'd 
 listen to you, s-argeant, if the officers never ate another 
 mouthful ; but take a second drop, dear, 'twill encourage 
 you to spake freely." 
 
 " I am already bold enough in so good a cause," re- 
 turned the veteran, rejecting her bounty. " Betty, do you 
 think it was really the peddler-spy that I placed in this 
 room, the last night ? " 
 
 " And who should it be else, darling ? " 
 
 "The evil one." 
 
 "What, thedivil?" 
 
 "Ay, even Beelzebub, disguised as the peddler; and 
 them fellows we thought to be Skinners were his imps ! " 
 
 "Well, sure, sargeant, dear, yee'r but little out this 
 time anyway ; for if the divil's imps go at large in the 
 county Westchester, sure it is the Skinners, themselves." 
 
 " Mrs. Flanagan, I mean in their incarnate spirits ; the 
 evil one knew that there was no one we would arrest 
 sooner than the peddler Birch, and he took on his ap- 
 pearance to gain admission to your room." 
 
 " And what should the divil be wanting of me ? " cried 
 Betty, tartly ; " and isn't there divils enough in the corps 
 
THE SPY. 203 
 
 already, without one's coming from the bottomless pit to 
 frighten a lone body ?" 
 
 " 'Twas in mercy to you, Betty, that he was permitted to 
 come. You see he vanished through the door in your 
 form, which is a symbol of your fate, unless you mend 
 your life. Oh ! I noticed how he trembled when I gave 
 him the good book. Would any Christian, think you, my 
 dear Betty, write in a Bible in this way ; unless it might 
 be the matter of births and deaths, and such lawful chron- 
 icles?" 
 
 The washerwoman was pleased with the softness of her 
 lover's manner, but dreadfully scandalized at his insinua- 
 tion. She, however, preserved her temper, and with the 
 quickness of her own country's people, rejoined : 
 
 "And would the divil have paid for the clothes, think 
 ye ? ay, and overpaid ? " 
 
 "Doubtless the money is base," said the sergeant, a lit- 
 tle staggered at such an evidence of honesty in one of 
 whom, as to generals, he thought so meanly. " He tempted 
 me with his glittering coin, but the Lord gave me strength 
 to resist." 
 
 " The goold looks well ; but I'll change it, anyway, with 
 Captain Jack, the day. He is niver a bit afeard of any 
 divil of them all ! " 
 
 " Betty, Betty," said her companion, " do not speak so 
 disreverently of the evil spirit ; he is ever at hand, and will 
 owe you a grudge for your language." 
 
 " Pooh ! if he has any bowels at all, he won't mind a fil- 
 lip or two from a poor lone woman ; I'm sure no other 
 Christian would." 
 
 " But the dark one has no bowels, except to devour the 
 children of men," said the sergeant, looking round him in 
 horror; "and it's best to make friends everywhere, for 
 there is no telling what may happen till it comes. But, 
 Betty, no man could have got out of this place and passed 
 all the sentinels without being known ; take awful warning 
 from the visit, therefore " 
 
 Here the dialogue was interrupted by a peremptory sum- 
 mons to the sutler to prepare the morning's repast, and 
 they were obliged to separate ; the woman secretly hoping 
 that the interest the sergeant manifested was more earthly 
 than he imagined, and the man bent on saving a soul from 
 the fangs of the dark spirit that was prowling through 
 their camp in quest of victims. 
 
 During the breakfast several expresses arrived, one of 
 
204 
 
 THE SPY. 
 
 which brought intelligence of the actual force and destina- 
 tion of the enemy's expedition that was out on the Hud- 
 son ; and another, orders to send Captain Wharton to the 
 first post above, under the escort of a body of dragoons. 
 These last instructions, or rather commands, for they ad- 
 mitted of no departure from their letter, completed the 
 sum of Dunwoodie's uneasiness. The despair and misery 
 of Frances were constantly before his eyes, and fifty times 
 he was tempted to throw himself on his horse and gallop 
 to the Locusts ; but an uncontrollable feeling prevented. 
 In obedience to the commands of his superior, an officer, 
 with a small party, was sent to the cottage to conduct 
 Henry Wharton to the place directed ; and the gentleman 
 who was intrusted with the execution of the order was 
 charged with a letter from Dunwoodie to his friend, con- 
 taining the most cheering assurances of his safety, as well 
 as the strongest pledges of his own unceasing exertions in 
 his favor. Lawton was left with part of his own troop, in 
 charge of the few wounded ; and as soon as the men were 
 refreshed, the encampment broke up, the main body march- 
 ing toward the Hudson. Dunwoodie repeated his injunc- 
 tions to Captain Lawton again and again dwelt on every 
 word that had fallen from the peddler, and canvassed, in 
 every possible manner that his ingenuity could devise, 
 the probable meaning of his mysterious warnings, until 
 no excuse remained for delaying his own departure. Sud- 
 denly recollecting, however, that no directions had been 
 given for the disposal of Colonel Wellmere, instead of fol- 
 lowing the rear of the column, the major yielded to his 
 desires, and turned down the road which led to the Lo- 
 custs. The horse of Dunwoodie was fleet as the wind, 
 and scarcely a minute seemed to have passed before he 
 gained sight, from an eminence, of the lonely vale ; and as 
 he was plunging into the bottom lands that formed its 
 surface, he caught a glimpse of Henry Wharton and his 
 escort, at a distance, defiling through a pass which led to 
 the posts above. This sight added to the speed of the 
 anxious youth, who now turned the angle of the hill that 
 opened to the valley, and came suddenly on the object of 
 his search. Frances had followed the party which guarded 
 her brother at a distance ; and as they vanished from her 
 sight, she felt deserted by all that she most prized in this 
 world. The unaccountable absence of Dunwoodie, with 
 the shock of parting from Henry under such circumstances, 
 had entirely subdued her fortitude, and she had sunk on 
 
THE SPY. 205 
 
 a stone by the roadside, sobbing as if her heart would 
 break. Dunvvoodie sprang from his charger, threw the 
 reins over, the neck of the animal, and in a moment he 
 was by the side of the weeping girl. 
 
 " Frances my own Frances ! " he exclaimed, "why this 
 distress ? let not the situation of your brother create any 
 alarm. As soon as the duty I am now on is completed, I 
 will hasten to the feet of Washington, and beg his release. 
 The Father of his Country will never deny such a boon to 
 one of his favorite pupils." 
 
 " Major Dunwoodie, for your interest in behalf of my poor 
 brother, I thank you," said the trembling girl, drying her 
 eyes, and rising with dignity ; " but such language ad- 
 dressed to me, is surely improper." 
 
 " Improper ! are you not mine by the consent of your 
 father your aunt your brother nay, by your own con- 
 sent, my sweet Frances ? " 
 
 " I wish not, Major Dunwoodie, to interfere with the 
 prior claims that any other lady may have to your affec- 
 tions," said Frances, struggling to speak with firmness. 
 
 " None other, I swear by Heaven, none other has any 
 claim on me ! " cried Dunwoodie, with fervor : " you alone 
 are mistress of my inmost soul." 
 
 " You have practised so much, and so successfully, Major 
 Dunwoodie, that it is no wonder you excel in deceiving the 
 credulity of my sex," returned Frances, attempting a smile, 
 which the tremulousness of her muscles smothered in its 
 birth. 
 
 "Am la villain, Miss Wharton, that you receive me 
 with such language ? when have I ever deceived you, 
 Frances ? who has practised in this manner on your purity 
 of heart ? " 
 
 "Why has not Major Dunwoodie honored the dwelling 
 of his intended father with his presence lately ? Did he for- 
 get it contained one friend on a bed of sickness, and 
 another in deep distress ? Has it escaped his memory that 
 it held his intended wife ? Or is he fearful of meeting 
 more than one that can lay a claim to that title ? Oh, Pey- 
 ton Peyton, how have I been deceived in you ! with the 
 foolish credulity of my youth, I thought you all that was 
 brave, noble, generous, and loyal." 
 
 " Frances, I see how you have deceived yourself," cried 
 Dunwoodie, his face in a glow of fire ; "you do me injus- 
 tice ; I swear by all that is most dear to me, that you do 
 me injustice." 
 
206 THE SPY. 
 
 " Swear not, Major Dunwoodie," interrupted Frances, 
 her fine countenance lighting with the lustre of womanly 
 pride ; "the time is gone by for me to credit oaths." 
 
 "Miss Wharton, would you have me a coxcomb make 
 me contemptible in my own eyes, by boasting with the hope 
 of raising myself in your estimation ? " 
 
 " Flatter not yourself that the task is so easy, sir," re- 
 turned Frances, moving toward the cottage ; " we converse 
 together in private for the last time ; but possibly my 
 father would welcome my mother's kinsman." 
 
 "No, Miss Wharton, I cannot enter his dwelling now ; I 
 should act in a manner unworthy of myself. You drive 
 me from you, Frances, in despair. I am going on desper- 
 ate service, and may not live to return. Should fortune 
 prove severe, at least do my memory justice ; remember 
 that the last breathings of my soul will be for your happi- 
 ness." So saying, he had already placed his foot in the 
 stirrup, but his youthful mistress turning on him an eye 
 that pierced his soul, arrested the action. ' 
 
 " Peyton Major Dunwoodie," she said, " can you ever 
 forget the sacred cause in which you are enlisted ? Duty 
 both to your God and to your country forbids you doing 
 anything rashly. The latter has need of your services ; 
 
 besides " but her voice became choked, and she was 
 
 unable to proceed. 
 
 " Besides what ? " echoed the youth, springing to her side, 
 and offering to take her hand in his own. Frances having, 
 however, recovered herself, coldly repulsed him, and con- 
 tinued her walk homeward. 
 
 " Is this our parting ! " cried Dunwoodie, in agony ; " am 
 I a wretch, that you treat me so cruelly ? You have never 
 loved me, and wish to conceal your own fickleness by ac- 
 cusations that you will not explain." 
 
 Frances stopped short in her walk, and turned on him a 
 look of so much purity and feeling, that, heart-stricken, 
 Dunwoodie would have knelt at her feet for pardon ; but 
 motioning him for silence, she once more spoke : 
 
 " Hear me, Major Dunwoodie, for the last time ; it is a 
 bitter knowledge when we first discover our own inferior- 
 ity ; but it is a truth that I have lately learnt. Against you 
 I bring no charges make no accusations ; no, not willingly 
 in my thoughts. Were my claims to your heart just, I am 
 not worthy of you. It is not a feeble, timid girl like me 
 that could make you happy. No, Peyton, you are formed 
 for great and glorious actions, deeds of daring and renown, 
 
THE SPY. 207 
 
 and should be united to a soul like your own ; one that can 
 rise above the weakness of her sex. I should be a weight 
 to drag you to the dust ; but with a different spirit in your 
 companion, you might soar to the very pinnacle of earthly 
 glory. To such a one, therefore, I resign you freely, if not 
 cheerfully ; and pray, oh, how fervently do I pray ! that 
 with such a one you maybe happy." 
 
 " Lovely enthusiast ! " cried Dunwoodie, " you know not 
 yourself, nor me. It is a woman, mild and gentle, and de- 
 pendent as yourself, that my very nature loves ; deceive 
 not yourself with visionary ideas of generosity, which will 
 only make me miserable." 
 
 " Farewell, Major Dunwoodie," said the agitated girl, 
 pausing for a moment to gasp for breath ; " forget that you 
 ever knew me remember the claims of your bleeding 
 country ; and be happy." 
 
 " Happy ! " repeated the youthful soldier, bitterly, as he 
 saw her light form gliding through the gate of the lawn, 
 and disappearing behind its shrubbery ; " yes, I am now 
 happy, indeed ! " 
 
 Throwing himself into the saddle, he plunged his spurs 
 into his horse, and soon overtook his squadron, which was 
 marching slowly over the hilly roads of the country, to 
 gain the banks of the Hudson. 
 
 But painful as were the feelings of Dunwoodie at this 
 unexpected termination of the interview with his mistress, 
 they were but light compared with those which were ex- 
 perienced by the fond girl herself. Frances had, with the 
 keen eye of jealous love, easily detected the attachment of 
 Isabella Singleton to Dunwoodie. Delicate and retiring 
 herself, it never could present itself to her mind that this 
 love had been unsought. Ardent in her own affections, 
 and artless in their exhibition, she had early caught the eye 
 of the young soldier ; but it required all the manly frank- 
 ness of Dunwoodie to court her favor, and the most pointed 
 devotion to obtain his conquest. This done, his power was 
 durable, entire, and engrossing. But the unusual occur- 
 rences of the few preceding days, the altered mien of her 
 lover during those events, his unwonted indifference to 
 herself, and chiefly the romantic idolatry of Isabella, had 
 aroused new sensations in her bosom. With a dread of her 
 lover's integrity had been awakened the never-failing con- 
 comitant of the purest affection, a distrust of her own 
 merits. In the moment of enthusiasm, the task of resign- 
 ing her lover to another, who might be more worthy of him, 
 
208 THE SPY. 
 
 seemed easy ; but it is in vain that the imagination attempts 
 to deceive the heart. Dunwoodie had no sooner disap- 
 peared than our heroine felt all the misery of her situa- 
 tion ; and if the youth found some relief in the cares of his 
 command, Frances was less fortunate in the performance 
 of a duty imposed on her by filial piety. The removal of 
 his son had nearly destroyed the little energy of Mr. Whar- 
 ton, who required all the tenderness of his remaining chil- 
 dren to convince him that he was able to perform the or- 
 dinary functions of life. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Flatter, and praise, commend, extol their graces ; 
 Though ne'er so black, say, they have angels' faces. 
 That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, 
 If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 IN making the arrangements by which Captain Lawton 
 had been left, with Sergeant Hollister and twelve men, as a 
 guard over the wounded, and heavy baggage of the corps, 
 Dunwoodie had consulted not only the information which 
 had been conveyed in the letter of Colonel Singleton, but 
 the bruises of his comrade's body. In vain Lawton de- 
 clared himself fit for any duty that man could perform, and 
 plainly intimated that his men would never follow Tom 
 Mason to a charge with the alacrity and confidence with 
 which they followed himself ; his commander was firm, and 
 the reluctant captain was compelled to comply with as good 
 a grace as he could assume. Before parting, Dunwoodie 
 repeated his caution to keep a watchful eye on the inmates 
 of the cottage ; and especially enjoined him, if any move- 
 ments of a particularly suspicious nature were seen in the 
 neighborhood, to break up from his present quarters, and 
 to move down with his party, and take possession of the 
 domains of Mr. Wharton. A vague suspicion of danger to 
 the family had been awakened in the breast of the major, 
 by the language of the peddler, although he was unable to 
 refer it to any particular source, or to understand why it 
 was to be apprehended. 
 
 For some time after the departure of the troops, the 
 captain was walking before the door of the " Hotel," in- 
 wardly cursing his fate, that condemned him to an inglor- 
 
THE SPY. 209 
 
 ious idleness, at a moment when a meeting with the enemy 
 might be expected, and replying to the occasional queries 
 of Betty, who, from the interior of the building, ever and 
 anon demanded, in a high tone of voice, an explanation of 
 various passages in the peddler's escape, which as yet she 
 could not comprehend. At this instant he was joined by 
 the surgeon, who had hitherto been engaged among his pa- 
 tients in a distant building, and was profoundly ignorant 
 of everything that had occurred, even to the departure of 
 the troops. 
 
 " Where are all the sentinels, John ? " he inquired, as he 
 gazed around with a look of curiosity, " and why are you 
 here alone ? " 
 
 " Off all off, with Dunwoodie, to the river. You and 
 I are left here to take care of a few sick men and some 
 women." 
 
 " I am glad, however," said the surgeon, " that Major 
 Dunwoodie had consideration enough not to move the 
 wounded. Here, you Mrs. Elizabeth Flanagan, hasten 
 with some food, that I may appease my appetite. I have 
 a dead body to dissect, and am in haste." 
 
 "And here, you Mister Doctor Archibald Sitgreaves," 
 echoed Betty, showing her blooming countenance from a 
 broken window of the kitchen, "you are ever a coming too 
 late ; here is nothing to ate but the skin of Jenny, and the 
 body yee'r mintioning." 
 
 " Woman !" said the surgeon, in anger, " do you take 
 me for a cannibal, that you address your filthy discourse 
 to me in this manner ? I bid you hasten with such food 
 as may be proper to be received into the stomach fasting." 
 
 " And I'm sure it's for a pop-gun that I should be taking 
 you sooner than for a cannon-ball," said Betty, winking at 
 the captain ; "and I tell yee that it's fasting you must be, 
 unless yee'l let me cook you a steak from the skin of Jenny. 
 The boys have ate me up intirely." 
 
 Lawton now interfered to preserve the peace, and as- 
 sured the surgeon that he had already despatched the 
 proper persons in quest of food for the party. A little mol- 
 lified with this explanation, the operator soon forgot his 
 hunger, and declared his intention of proceeding to busi- 
 ness at once. 
 
 " And where is your subject ? " asked Lawton. 
 
 "The peddler," said the other, glancing a look at the 
 sign-post. "I made Hollister put a stage so high that the 
 neck would not be dislocated by the fall, and I intend 
 
2io THE SPY. 
 
 making as handsome a skeleton of him as there is in the 
 States of North America ; the fellow has good points, and 
 his bones are well knit. I will make a perfect beauty of 
 him. I have long been wanting something of this sort to 
 send as a present to my old aunt in Virginia, who was so 
 kind to me when a boy." 
 
 " The devil ! " cried Lawton ; " would you send the old 
 woman a dead man's bones ? " 
 
 " Why not ? " said the surgeon ; *' what nobler object is 
 there in nature than the figure of a man and the skeleton 
 may be called his elementary parts. But what has been 
 done with the body ? " 
 
 " Off too." 
 
 "Off ! and who has dared to interfere with my perquis- 
 ites ? " 
 
 " Sure, jist the devil," said Betty ; " and who'll be taking 
 yerself away, some of these times, too, without asking yeer 
 lave." 
 
 " Silence, you witch ! " said Lawton, with difficulty sup- 
 pressing a laugh ; " is this the manner in which to address 
 an officer?" 
 
 " Who called me the filthy Elizabeth Flanagan ? " cried 
 the washerwoman, snapping her fingers contemptuously ; 
 "I can remember a frind for a year, and don't forgit an 
 inimy for a month." 
 
 But the friendship or enmity of Mrs. Flanagan was alike 
 indifferent to the surgeon, who could think of nothing but 
 his loss ; and Lawton was obliged to explain to his friend 
 the apparent manner in which it had happened. 
 
 " And a lucky escape it was for yee, my jewel of a doc- 
 tor," cried Betty, as the captain concluded. " Sergeant 
 Hollister, who saw him face to face, as it might be, says 
 it's Beelzeboob, and no pidler, unless it may be in a small 
 matter of lies and thefts, and sich wickedness. Now a 
 pretty figure yee would have been in cutting up Beelze- 
 boob, if the major had hanged him. I don't think it's very 
 asy he would have been under yeer knife." 
 
 Thus doubly disappointed in his meal and his business, 
 Sitgreaves suddenly declared his intention of visiting the 
 "Locusts," and inquiring into the state of Captain Single- 
 ton. Lawton was ready for the excursion ; and mounting, 
 they were soon on the road, though the surgeon was 
 obliged to submit to a few more jokes from the washer- 
 woman before he could get out of hearing. For some 
 time the two rode in silence, when Lawton, perceiving that 
 
THE SPY. 211 
 
 his companion's temper was somewhat ruffled by his disap- 
 pointments and Betty's attack, made an effort to restore 
 the tranquillity of his feelings. 
 
 ''That was a charming song, Archibald, that you com- 
 menced last evening, when we were interrupted by the 
 party that brought in the peddler," he said : "the allusion 
 to Galen was much to the purpose." 
 
 " I knew you would like it, Jack, when you had got the 
 fumes of the wine out of your head. Poetry is a respect- 
 able art, though it wants the precision of the exact sciences, 
 and the natural beneficence of the physical. Considered 
 in reference to the wants of life, I should define poetry as 
 an emollient, rather than as a succulent." 
 
 " And yet your ode was full of the meat of wit." 
 
 " Ode is by no means a proper term for the composi- 
 tion ; I should term it a classical ballad." 
 
 " Very probably," said the trooper ; " hearing only one 
 verse, it was difficult to class the composition." 
 
 The surgeon involuntarily hemmed, and began to clear 
 his throat, although scarcely conscious himself to what the 
 preparation tended. But the captain, rolling his dark eyes 
 toward his companion, and observing him to be sitting 
 with great uneasiness on his horse, continued : 
 
 " The air still, and the road solitary why not give the 
 remainder? It is never too late to repair a loss." 
 
 "My dear John, if I thought it would correct the errors 
 you have imbibed, from habit and indulgence, nothing 
 could give me more pleasure." 
 
 " We are fast approaching some rocks on our left ; the 
 echo will double my satisfaction." 
 
 Thus encouraged, and somewhat impelled by the opinion 
 that he both sang and wrote with taste, the surgeon set 
 about complying with the request in sober earnest. Some 
 little time was lost in clearing his throat, and getting the 
 proper pitch of his voice ; but no sooner were these two 
 points achieved, than Lawton had the secret delight of 
 hearing his friend commence : 
 
 " ' Hast thou ever ' " 
 
 "Hush!" interrupted the trooper ; "what rustling noise 
 is that among the rocks ?" 
 
 " It must have been the rushing of the melody. A pow- 
 erful voice is like the breathing of the winds. 
 
 " ' Hast thou ever ' 
 
212 THE SPY. 
 
 "Listen !" said Lawton, stopping his horse. He had not 
 done speaking, when a stone fell at his feet, and rolled 
 harmlessly across the path. 
 
 "A friendly shot, that," cried the trooper ; " neither the 
 weapon nor its force implies much ill-will." 
 
 " Blows from stones seldom produce more than contu- 
 sions," said the operator, bending his gaze in every direc- 
 tion in vain, in quest of the hand from which the missile 
 had been hurled ; " it must be meteoric ; there is no living 
 being in sight, except ourselves." 
 
 "It. would be easy to hide a regiment behind those 
 rocks," returned the trooper, dismounting and taking the 
 stone in his hand " Oh ! here is the explanation along 
 with the mystery." So saying, he tore a piece of paper 
 that had been ingeniously fastened to the small fragment 
 of rock which had thus singularly fallen before him ; and 
 opening it, the captain read the following words, written 
 in no very legible hand : 
 
 ' ' A musket bullet will go farther than a stone, and things more 
 dangerous than yarbs for wounded men lie hid in the rocks of 
 Westchester. The horse may be good, but can he mount a preci- 
 piceT* 
 
 " Thou sayest the truth, strange man," said Lawton ; 
 " courage and activity would avail but little against assas- 
 sination and these rugged passes." Remounting his horse, 
 he cried aloud "Thanks, unknown friend ; your caution 
 will be remembered." 
 
 A meagre hand was extended for an instant over a rock, 
 in the air, and afterward nothing further was seen or 
 heard, in that quarter, by the soldiers. 
 
 "Quite an extraordinary interruption," said the aston- 
 ished Sitgreaves, " and a letter of a very mysterious mean- 
 ing." 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis nothing but the wit of some bumpkin, who 
 thinks to frighten two of the Virginians by an artifice of 
 this kind," said the trooper, placing the billet in his pocket ; 
 " but let me tell you, Mr. Archibald Sitgreaves, you were 
 wanting to dissect, just now, a damn'd honest fellow." 
 
 "It was the peddler one of the most notorious spies in 
 the enemy's service ; and I must say that I think it would 
 be an honor to such a man to be devoted to the use of 
 science." 
 
 " He may be a spy he must be one," said Lawton, 
 musing ; " but he has a heart above enmity, and a soul that 
 would honor a soldier." 
 
THE SPY. 213 
 
 The surgeon turned a vacant eye on his companion as 
 he uttered this soliloquy, while the penetrating looks of 
 the trooper had already discovered another pile of rocks, 
 which, jutting forward, nearly obstructed the highway that 
 wound directly around its base. 
 
 "What the steed cannot mount, the foot of man can 
 overcome," exclaimed the wary partisan. Throwing him- 
 self again from his saddle, and leaping a wall of stone, he 
 began to ascend the hill at a pace which would soon have 
 given him a bird's-eye view of the rocks in question, to- 
 gether with all their crevices. This movement was no 
 sooner made, than Lawton caught a glimpse of the figure 
 of a man stealing rapidly from his approach, and disap- 
 pearing on the opposite side of the precipice. 
 
 " Spur, Sitgreaves spur," shouted the trooper, dashing 
 over every impediment in pursuit, "and murder the villain 
 as he flies." 
 
 The former part of the request was promptly complied 
 with, and a few moments brought the surgeon in full view 
 of a man armed with a musket, who was crossing the road, 
 and evidently seeking the protection of the thick w^ood on 
 its opposite side. 
 
 " Stop, my friend stop until Captain Lawton comes up, 
 if you please," cried the surgeon, observing him to flee 
 with a rapidity that baffled his horsemanship. But as if 
 the invitation contained new terrors, the footman redoubled 
 his efforts, nor paused even to breathe, until he had reached 
 his goal, when, turning on his heel, he discharged his 
 musket toward the surgeon, and was out of sight in an in- 
 stant. To gain the highway, and throw himself into his 
 saddle, detained Lawton but a moment, and he rode to the 
 side of his comrade just as the figure disappeared. 
 
 " Which way has he fled ? " cried the trooper. 
 
 " John," said the surgeon, " am I not a non-combatant ? " 
 
 "Whither has the rascal fled?" cried Lawton, impa- 
 tiently. 
 
 " Where you cannot follow into that wood. But I re- 
 peat, John, am I not a non-combatant ? " 
 
 The disappointed trooper, perceiving that his enemy had 
 escaped him, now turned his eyes, which were flashing with 
 anger, upon his comrade, and gradually his muscles lost 
 their rigid compression, his brow relaxed, and his look 
 changed from its fierce expression to the covert laughter 
 which so often distinguished his countenance. The sur- 
 geon sat in dignified composure on his horse ; his thin 
 
*I 4 THE SPY. 
 
 body erect, and his head elevated with the indignation of 
 one conscious of having been unjustly treated. 
 
 "Why did you suffer the villain to escape ?" demanded 
 the captain. " Once within reach of my sabre, and I would 
 have given you a subject for the dissecting table." 
 
 "'Twas impossible to prevent it," said the surgeon, 
 pointing to the bars before which he had stopped his horse. 
 " The rogue threw himself on the other side of this fence, 
 and left me where you see ; nor would the man in the least 
 attend to my remonstrances, or to an intimation that you 
 wished to hold discourse with him." 
 
 " He was truly a discourteous rascal ; but why did you 
 not leap the fence, and compel him to halt ? you see but 
 three of the bars are up, and Betty Flanagan could clear 
 them on her cow." 
 
 The surgeon, for the first time, withdrew his eyes from 
 the place where the fugitive had disappeared, and turned 
 his look on his comrade. His head, however, was not per- 
 mitted to lower itself in the least, as he replied : 
 
 " I humbly conceive, Captain Lawton, that neither Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Flanagan, nor her cow, is an example to be em- 
 ulated by Doctor Archibald Sitgreaves ; it would be but a 
 sorry compliment to science, to say that a doctor of medi- 
 cine had fractured both his legs by injudiciously striking 
 them against a pair of bar-posts." While speaking, the 
 surgeon raised the limbs in question to a nearly horizontal 
 position, an attitude which really appeared to bid defiance 
 to anything like a passage for himself through the defile ; 
 but the trooper, disregarding this ocular proof of the im- 
 possibility of the movement, cried hastily : 
 
 " Here was nothing to stop you, man ; I could leap a 
 platform through, boot and thigh, without pricking with a 
 single spur. Pshaw ! I have often charged upon the bayo- 
 nets of infantry, over greater difficulties than this." 
 
 "You will please to remember, Captain John Lawton, 
 that I am not the riding-master of the regiment nor a drill 
 sergeant nor a crazy cornet ; no, sir and I speak it with 
 a due respect for the commission of the Continental Con- 
 gress nor an inconsiderate captain, who regards his own 
 life as little as that of his enemies. I am only, sir, a poor 
 humble man of letters, a mere doctor of medicine, an un- 
 worthy graduate of Edinburgh, and a surgeon of dragoons ; 
 nothing more, I do assure you, Captain John Lawton." So 
 saying, he turned his horse's head toward the cottage, and 
 recommenced his ride. 
 
THE SPY. 215 
 
 "Ay! you speak the truth," muttered the dragoon; 
 " had I but the meanest rider of my troop with me, I should 
 have taken the scoundrel, and given at least one victim to 
 the laws. But, Archibald, no man can ride well who strad- 
 dles in this manner, like the Colossus of Rhodes. You 
 should depend less on your stirrup, and keep your seat by 
 the power of the knee." 
 
 " With proper deference to your experience, Captain 
 Lawton," returned the surgeon, " I conceive myself to be 
 no incompetent judge of muscular action, whether in the 
 knee, or any other part of the human frame. And al- 
 though but humbly educated, I am now to learn that the 
 wider the base, the more firm is the^ superstructure." 
 
 "Would you fill a highway in this manner, with one 
 pair of legs, when half a dozen might pass together in com- 
 fort, stretching them abroad like the scythes of the ancient 
 chariot wheels ? " 
 
 The allusion to the practice of the ancients somewhat 
 softened the indignation of the surgeon, and he replied, 
 with rather less hauteur : 
 
 "You should speak with reverence of the usages of 
 those who have gone before us, and who, however ignorant 
 they were in matters of science, and particularly that of 
 surgery, yet furnished many brilliant hints to our own im- 
 provements. Now, sir, I have no doubt that Galen has 
 operated on wounds occasioned by these very scythes that 
 you mention, although we can find no evidence of the fact 
 in contemporary writers. Ah ! they must have given 
 dreadful injuries, and, I doubt not, caused great uneasi- 
 ness to the medical gentlemen of that day." 
 
 " Occasionally a body must have been left in two pieces, 
 to puzzle the ingenuity of those gentry to unite. Yet, ven- 
 erable and learned as they were, I doubt not they did it." 
 
 " What ! unite two parts of the human body, that have 
 been severed by an edged instrument, to any of the pur- 
 poses of animal life ? " 
 
 " That have been rent by a scythe, and are united to do 
 military duty," said Lawton. 
 
 " 'Tis impossible quite impossible," cried the surgeon ; 
 "it is in vain, Captain Lawton, that human ingenuity en- 
 deavors to baffle the efforts of nature. Think, my dear sir, 
 in this case you separate all the arteries ; injure all of the 
 intestines ; sever all of the nerves and sinews ; and what is 
 of more consequence, you 
 
 "You have said enough, Dr. Sitgreaves, to convince a 
 
2I 6 THE SPY. 
 
 member of a rival school. Nothing shall ever tempt me 
 willingly to submit to be divided in this irretrievable man- 
 ner." 
 
 " Certes, there is little pleasure in a wound which, from 
 its nature, is incurable." 
 
 "I should think so," said Lavvton, dryly. 
 
 "What do you think is the greatest pleasure in life ?" 
 asked the operator, suddenly. 
 
 " That must greatly depend on taste." 
 
 " Not at all," cried the surgeon ; " it is in witnessing, or 
 rather feeling, the ravages of disease repaired by the lights 
 of science co-operating with nature. I once broke my 
 little finger intentionally, in order that I might reduce the 
 fracture and watch the cure ; it was only on a small scale, 
 you know, dear John ; still the thrilling sensation excited 
 by the knitting of the bone, aided by the contemplation of 
 the art of man thus acting in unison with nature, exceeded 
 any other enjoyment that I have ever experienced. Now, 
 had it been one of the more important members, such as 
 the leg or arm, how much greater must the pleasure have 
 been ! " 
 
 " Or the neck," said the trooper; but their desultory 
 discourse was interrupted by their arrival at the cottage 
 of Mr. Wharton. No one appearing to usher them into an 
 apartment, the captain proceeded to the door of the par- 
 lor, where he knew visitors were commonly received. On 
 opening it, he paused for a moment, in admiration at the 
 scene within. The person of Colonel Wellmere first met 
 his eye, bending toward the figure of the blushing Sarah, 
 with an earnestness of manner that prevented the noise of 
 Lawton's entrance from being heard by either of the par- 
 ties. Certain significant signs, which were embraced at a 
 glance by the prying gaze of the trooper, at once made 
 him a master of their secret ; and he was about to retire 
 as silently as he had advanced, when his companion, push- 
 ing himself through the passage, abruptly entered the 
 room. Advancing instantly to the chair of Wellmere, the 
 surgeon instinctively laid hold of his arm, and exclaimed : 
 
 " Bless me ! a quick and irregular pulse flushed cheek 
 and fiery eye strong febrile symptoms, and such as must 
 be attended to." While speaking, the doctor, who was 
 much addicted to practising in a summary way a weak- 
 ness of most medical men in military practice, had already 
 produced his lancet, and was making certain other indica- 
 tions of his intentions to proceed at once to business. But 
 
THE SPY. 21 7 
 
 Colonel Wellmere, recovering from the confusion of the 
 surprise, arose from his seat haughtily and said : 
 
 " Sir, it is the warmth of the room that lends me the 
 color, and I am already too much indebted to your skill to 
 give you any farther trouble ; Miss Wharton knows that I 
 am quite well, and I do assure you that I never felt better 
 or happier in my life." 
 
 There was a peculiar emphasis on the latter part of this 
 speech that, however it might gratify the feelings of Sarah, 
 brought the color to her cheeks again ; and Sitgreaves, as 
 his eye followed the direction of those of his patient, did 
 not fail to observe it. 
 
 " Your arm, if you please, madam," said the surgeon, 
 advancing with a bow ; " anxiety and watching have done 
 their work on your delicate frame, and there are symptoms 
 about you that must not be neglected." 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," said Sarah, recovering herself with 
 womanly pride ; " the heat is oppressive, and I will retire 
 and acquaint Miss Peyton with your presence." 
 
 There was but little difficulty in practising on the ab- 
 stracted simplicity of the surgeon ; but it was necessary 
 for Sarah to raise her eyes to return the salutation of Law- 
 ton, as he bowed his head nearly to a level with the hand 
 that held open the door for her passage. One look was 
 sufficient ; she was able to control her steps sufficiently to 
 retire with dignity ; but no sooner was she relieved from 
 the presence of all observers, than she fell into a chair, 
 and abandoned herself to a feeling of mingled shame and 
 pleasure. 
 
 A little nettled at the contumacious deportment of the 
 British colonel, Sitgreaves, after once more tendering ser- 
 vices that were again rejected, withdrew to the chamber 
 of young Singleton, whither Lawton had already preceded 
 him. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Oh, Henry, when thou deign' st to sue, 
 
 Can I thy suit withstand ? 
 When thou, loved youth, hast won my heart, 
 
 Can I refuse my hand ? Hermit of Warkworth. 
 
 THE graduate of Edinburgh found his patient rapidly 
 improving in health, and entirely free from fever. His sis- 
 ter, with a cheek that was, if possible, paler than on her ar- 
 
218 THE SPY. 
 
 rival, watched around his couch with tender care, and the 
 ladies of the cottage had not, in the midst of their sorrows 
 and varied emotions, forgotten to discharge the duties of 
 hospitality. Frances felt herself impelled toward their 
 disconsolate guest, with an interest for which she could not 
 account, and with a force that she could not control. She 
 had unconsciously connected the fates of Dumvoodie and 
 Isabella in her imagination, and she felt, with the romantic 
 ardor of a generous mind, that she was serving her former 
 lover most by exhibiting kindness to her he loved best. 
 Isabella received her attentions with gratitude, but neither 
 of them indulged in any allusions to the latest source of 
 their uneasiness. The observation of Miss Peyton seldom 
 penetrated beyond things that were visible, and to her the 
 situation of Henry Wharton seemed to furnish an awful 
 excuse for the fading cheeks and tearful eyes of her niece. 
 If Sarah manifested less of care than her sister, still the 
 unpractised aunt was not at a loss to comprehend the rea- 
 son. Love is a holy feeling with the virtuous of the fe- 
 male sex, and it hallows all that comes within its influence. 
 Although Miss Peyton mourned with sincerity over the 
 danger which threatened her nephew, she well knew that 
 an active campaign was not favorable to love, and the 
 moments that were thus accidentally granted were not to 
 be thrown away. 
 
 Several days now passed without any interruption of the 
 usual avocations of the inhabitants of the cottage, or the 
 party at the Four Corners. The former were supporting 
 their fortitude with the certainty of Henry's innocence, 
 and a strong reliance on Dunwoodie's exertions in his be- 
 half, and the latter, waiting with impatience the intelli- 
 gence, that was hourly expected, of a conflict, and their 
 orders to depart. Captain Lawton, however, waited for 
 both these events in vain. Letters from the major an- 
 nounced that the enemy, finding that the party which was 
 to co-operate with them had been defeated and was with- 
 drawn, had retired also behind the works of Fort Washing- 
 ton, where they continued inactive, threatening constantly 
 to strike a blow in revenge for their disgrace. The trooper 
 was enjoined to vigilance, and the letter concluded with a 
 compliment to his honor, zeal, and undoubted bravery. 
 
 " Extremely flattering, Major Dunwoodie," muttered the 
 dragoon, as he threw down this epistle, and stalked across 
 the floor to quiet his impatience. " A proper guard have 
 you selected for this service : let me see I have to watch 
 
THE SPY. 219 
 
 over the interests of a crazy, irresolute old man, who does 
 not know whether he belongs to us or to the enemy ; four 
 women, three of whom are well enough in themselves, but 
 who are not immensely flattered by my society ; and the 
 fourth, who, good as she is, is on the wrong side of forty ; 
 some two or three blacks ; a talkative house-keeper, that 
 does nothing but chatter about gold and despisables, arid 
 signs and omens ; and poor George Singleton. Well, a 
 comrade in suffering has a claim on a man so I'll make 
 the best of it." 
 
 As he concluded this soliloquy, the trooper took a seat 
 and began to whistle, to convince himself how little he 
 cared about the matter, when, by throwing his booted leg 
 carelessly round, he upset the canteen that held his whole 
 stock of brandy. The accident was soon repaired, but in 
 replacing the wooden vessel, he observed a billet lying on 
 the bench on which the liquor had been placed. It was 
 soon opened, and he read : " The moon will not rise till after 
 midnight a fit time for deeds of darkness." There was no 
 mistaking the hand ; it was clearly the same which had 
 given him the timely warning against assassination, and 
 the trooper continued, for a long time, musing on the 
 nature of these two notices, and the motives that could 
 induce the peddler to favor an implacable enemy in the 
 manner that he had latterly done. That he was a spy of 
 the enemy, Lawton knew ; for the fact of his conveying 
 intelligence to the English commander-in-chief, of a party 
 of Americans that were exposed to the enemy, was proved 
 most clearly against him on the trial for his life. The 
 consequences of his treason had been avoided, it is true, 
 by a lucky order from Washington, which withdrew the 
 regiment a short time before the British appeared to cut 
 if off, but still the crime was the same ; perhaps, thought 
 the partisan, he wishes to make a friend of me against the 
 event of another capture ; but, at all events, he spared my 
 life on one occasion, and saved it on another. I will en- 
 deavor to be as generous as himself, and pray that my duty 
 may never interfere with my feelings." 
 
 Whether the danger, intimated in the present note, 
 threatened the cottage or his own party, the captain was 
 uncertain, but he inclined to the latter opinion, and de- 
 termined to beware how he rode abroad in the dark. To 
 a man in a peaceable country, and in times of quiet and 
 order, the indifference with which the partisan regarded 
 the impending danger would be inconceivable. His reflec- 
 
220 THE SPY. 
 
 tions on the subject were more directed toward devising 
 means to entrap his enemies than to escape their machina- 
 tions. But the arrival of the surgeon, who had been to 
 pay his daily visit to the Locusts, interrupted his medita- 
 tions. Sitgreaves brought an invitation from the mistress 
 of the mansion to Captain Lawton, desiring that the cot- 
 tage might be honored with his presence at an early hour 
 that evening. 
 
 " Ha ! " cried the trooper ; " then they have received a 
 letter, also." 
 
 "I think nothing more probable," said the surgeon; 
 " there is a chaplain at the cottage from the royal army, 
 who has come out to exchange the British wounded, and 
 who has an order from Colonel Singleton for their de- 
 livery. But a more mad project than to remove them now 
 was never adopted." 
 
 " A priest, say you ! is he a hard drinker a real camp 
 idler a fellow to breed a famine in a regiment ? or does 
 he seem a man who is in earnest in his trade ? " 
 
 " A very respectable and orderly gentleman, and not 
 unreasonably given to intemperance, judging from the 
 outward symptoms," returned the surgeon ; "and a man 
 who really says grace in a very regular and appropriate 
 manner." 
 
 " And does he stay the night ? " 
 
 " Certainly, he waits for his cartel ; but hasten, John, 
 we have but little time to waste. I will just step up and 
 bleed two or three of the Englishmen who are to move in 
 the morning, in order to anticipate inflammation, and be 
 with you immediately." 
 
 The gala suit of Captain Lawton was easily adjusted to 
 his huge frame, and his companion being ready, they 
 once more took their route toward the cottage. Roanoke 
 had been as much benefited by the few days' rest as his 
 master ; and Lawton ardently wished, as he curbed his 
 gallant steed on passing the well-remembered rocks, that 
 his treacherous enemy stood before him, mounted and 
 armed as himself. But no enemy, nor any disturbance 
 whatever, interfered with their progress, and they reached 
 the Locusts just as the sun was throwing his setting rays 
 on the valley, and tinging the tops of the leafless trees 
 with gold. It never required more than a single look to 
 acquaint the trooper with the particulars of every scene 
 that was not uncommonly veiled, and the first survey that 
 he took on entering the house, told him more than the ob- 
 
THE SPY. 221 
 
 servations of a day had put into the possession of Dr. Sit- 
 greaves. Miss Peyton accosted him with a smiling wel- 
 come that exceeded the bounds of ordinary courtesy, and 
 which evidently flowed more from feelings that were 
 connected with the heart, than from manner. Frances 
 glided about tearful and agitated, while Mr. Wharton 
 stood ready to receive them, decked in a suit of velvet 
 that would have been conspicuous in the gayest drawing- 
 room. Colonel Wellmere was in the uniform of an officer 
 of the Household troops of his prince, and Isabella Single- 
 ton sat in the parlor, clad in the habiliments of joy, but 
 with a countenance thaf belied her appearance ; while her 
 brother by her side looked, with a cheek of fitting color, 
 and an eye of intense interest, like anything but an inva- 
 lid. As it was the third day that he had left his room, Dr. 
 Sitgreaves, who began to stare about him in stupid won- 
 der, forgot to reprove his patient for imprudence. Into 
 this scene Captain Lawton moved with all the composure 
 and gravity of a man whose nerves were not easily dis- 
 composed by novelties. His compliments were received 
 as graciously as they \vere offered, and after exchanging a 
 few words with the different individuals present, he ap- 
 proached the surgeon, who had withdrawn, in a kind of 
 confused astonishment, to rally his senses. 
 
 "John," whispered the surgeon, with awakened curios- 
 ity, "what means this festival ?" 
 
 " That your wig and my black head would look the bet- 
 ter for a little of Betty Flanagan's flour ; but it is too late 
 now, and we must fight the battle armed as you see." 
 
 " Observe, here comes the army chaplain in full robes, 
 as a doctor divinitatis ; what can it mean ? " 
 
 "An exchange," said the trooper; "the wounded of 
 Cupid are to meet and settle their accounts with the god, 
 in the way of plighting faith to suffer from his archery no 
 more." 
 
 The surgeon laid a finger on the side of his nose, and 
 he began to comprehend the case. 
 
 " Is it not a crying shame, that a sunshine hero, and an 
 enemy, should thus be suffered to steal away one of the 
 fairest plants that grow on our soil," muttered Lawton ; 
 "a flower fit to be placed in the bosom of any man ? " 
 
 " If he be not more accommodating as a husband than as 
 a patient, John, I fear me that the lady will lead a troubled 
 life." 
 
 " Let her," said the trooper, indignantly ; " she has 
 
222 THE SPY. 
 
 chosen from her country's enemies, and may she meet 
 with a foreigner's virtues in her choice." 
 
 Further conversation was interrupted by Miss Peyton, 
 who, advancing, acquainted them that they had been in- 
 vited to grace the nuptials of her eldest niece and Colonel 
 Welhnere. The gentlemen bowed ; and the good aunt, 
 with an inherent love of propriety, went on to add that 
 the acquaintance was of an old date, and the attachment 
 by no means a sudden thing. To this Lawton merely 
 bowed still more ceremoniously ; but the surgeon, who 
 loved to hold converse with the virgin, replied : 
 
 " That the human mind was differently constituted in 
 different individuals. In some, impressions are vivid and 
 transitory ; in others, more deep and lasting ; indeed, 
 there are some philosophers who pretend to trace a con- 
 nection between the physical and mental powers of the 
 animal ; but, for my part, madam, I believe that the one 
 is much influenced by habit and association, and the other 
 subject altogether to the peculiar laws of matter." 
 
 Miss Peyton, in her turn, bowed her silent assent to this 
 remark, and retired, with dignity, to usher the intended 
 bride into the presence of the company. The hour had 
 arrived when American custom had decreed that the vow 
 of wedlock must be exchanged ; and Sarah, blushing with 
 a variety of emotions, followed her aunt to the drawing- 
 room. Wellmere sprang to receive the hand that, with 
 an averted face, she extended toward him, and, for the 
 first time, the English colonel appeared fully conscious of 
 the important part that he was to act in the approaching 
 cererfiony. Hitherto his air had been abstracted, and his 
 manner uneasy ; but everything, excepting the certainty 
 of his bliss, seemed to vanish at the blaze of loveliness 
 that now burst on his sight. All arose from their seats, 
 and the reverend gentleman had already opened the 
 sacred volume, when the absence of Frances was no- 
 ticed ; Miss Peyton withdrew in search of her youngest 
 niece, whom she found in her own apartment, and in 
 tears. 
 
 "Come, my love, the ceremony waits but for us," said 
 the aunt, affectionately entwining her arm in that of her 
 niece ; " endeavor to compose yourself, that proper honor 
 may be done to the choice of your sister." 
 
 " Is he can he be worthy of her ? " 
 
 " Can he be otherwise ? " returned Miss Peyton ; " is he 
 not a gentleman ? a gallant soldier, though an unfortun- 
 
THE SPY. 223 
 
 ate one ? and certainly, my love, one who appears every 
 way qualified to make any woman happy." 
 
 Frances had given vent to her feelings, and, with an 
 effort, she collected sufficient resolution to venture to join 
 the party below. But to relieve the embarrassment of 
 this delay, the clergyman had put sundry questions to the 
 bridegroom ; one of which was by no means answered to 
 his satisfaction. Wellmere was compelled to acknowledge 
 that he was unprovided with a ring ; and to perform the 
 marriage ceremony without one, the divine pronounced 
 to be canonically impossible. His appeal to Mr. Whar- 
 ton, for the propriety of this decision, was answered af- 
 firmatively, as it would have negatively, had the question 
 been put in a manner to lead to such a result. The owner 
 of the Locusts had lost the little energy he possessed, by 
 the blow recently received through his son, and his assent 
 to the objection of the clergyman was as easily obtained 
 as had been his consent to the premature proposals of 
 Wellmere. In this stage of the dilemma, Miss Peyton 
 and Frances appeared. The surgeon of dragoons ap- 
 proached the former, and as he handed her to a chair, ob- 
 served : 
 
 " It appears, madam, that untoward circumstances have 
 prevented Colonel Wellmere from providing all of the 
 decorations that custom, antiquity, and the canons of the 
 Church have prescribed as indispensable to enter into the 
 honorable state of wedlock." 
 
 Miss Peyton glanced her quiet eye at the uneasy bride- 
 groom, and perceiving him to be .adorned with what she 
 thought sufficient splendor, allowing for the time and the 
 suddenness of the occasion, she turned her look on the 
 speaker, as if to demand an explanation. 
 
 The surgeon understood her wishes, and proceeded at 
 once to gratify them. 
 
 " There is," he observed, " an opinion prevalent, that 
 the heart lies on the left side of the body, and that the 
 connection between the members of that side and what 
 may be called the seat of life, is more intimate than that 
 which exists with their opposites. But this is an error 
 that grows out of an ignorance of the organic arrange- 
 ment of the human frame. In obedience to this opinion, 
 the fourth finger of the left hand is thought to contain a 
 virtue that belongs to no other branch of that digitated 
 member ; and it is ordinarily encircled, during the sol- 
 emnization of wedlock, with a cincture or ring, as if to 
 
224 
 
 THE 
 
 chain that affection to the marriage state which is best se- 
 cured by the graces of the female character." While 
 speaking, the operator laid his hand expressively on his 
 heart, and he bowed nearly to the floor when he had con- 
 cluded. 
 
 " I know not, sir, that I rightfully understand your 
 meaning," said Miss Peyton, whose want of comprehension 
 was sufficiently excusable. 
 
 " A ring, madam a ring is wanting for the ceremony." 
 
 The instant that the surgeon spoke explicitly, the awk- 
 wardness of the situation was understood. She glanced 
 her eyes at her nieces, arid in the younger she read a se- 
 cret exultation that somewhat displeased her ; but the coun- 
 tenance of Sarah was suffused with a shame that the con- 
 siderate aunt well understood. Not for the world would 
 she violate any of the observances of female etiquette. It 
 suggested itself to all the females at the same moment, 
 that the wedding ring of the late mother and sister was re- 
 posing peacefully amid the rest of her jewellery, in a secret 
 receptacle, that had been provided at an early day to se- 
 cure the valuables against the predatory inroads of the 
 marauders who roamed through the county. Into this 
 hidden vault the plate, and whatever was most prized, 
 made a nightly retreat, and there the ring in question had 
 long lain, forgotten until at this moment. But it was the 
 business of the bridegroom, from time immemorial, to fur- 
 nish this indispensable to wedlock, and on no account 
 would Miss Peyton do anything that transcended the 
 usual reserve of the sex on this solemn occasion ; certainly 
 not until sufficient expiation for the offence had been 
 made by a due portion of trouble and disquiet. This ma- 
 terial fact, therefore, was not disclosed by either; the aunt 
 consulting female propriety ; the bride yielding to shame ; 
 and Frances rejoicing that an embarrassment, proceeding 
 from almost any cause, should delay her sister's vow. It 
 was reserved for Dr. Sitgreaves to interrupt the awkward 
 silence. 
 
 "If, madam, a plain ring, that once belonged to a sister 
 of my own - " He paused, and hemmed " If, madam, 
 a ring of that description might be admitted to this honor, 
 I have one that could be easily produced from my quarters 
 at the Corners, and I doubt not it would fit the finger for 
 which it is desired. There is a strong resemblance between 
 hem between my late sister and Miss Wharton, in stat- 
 ure and anatomical figure ; and, in all eligible subjects, the 
 
THE SPY. 22$ 
 
 proportions are apt to be observed throughout the whole 
 animal economy." 
 
 A glance of Miss Peyton's eye recalled Colonel Well- 
 mere to a sense of his duty, and springing from his chair, 
 he assured the surgeon that in no way could he confer a 
 greater obligation on himself than by sending for that very 
 ring. The operator bowed a little haughtily, and withdrew 
 to fulfil his promise, by despatching a messenger on the 
 errand. The aunt suffered him to retire, but unwilling- 
 ness to admit a stranger into the privacy of their domestic 
 arrangements, induced her to follow and tender the ser- 
 vices of Caesar instead of those of Sitgreave's man, who 
 had volunteered for this duty. Katy Haynes was accord- 
 ingly directed to summon the black to the vacant parlor, 
 and thither Miss Peyton and the surgeon repaired, to give 
 their several instructions. 
 
 The consent to this sudden union of Sarah and Well- 
 mere, and especially at a time when the life of a member 
 of the family was in such imminent jeopardy, was given 
 from a conviction, that the unsettled state of the country 
 would probably prevent another opportunity of the lovers 
 meeting, and a secret dread, on the part of Mr. Wharton, 
 that the death of his son might, by hastening his own, 
 leave his remaining children without a protector. But 
 notwithstanding Miss Peyton had complied with her 
 brother's wish to profit by the accidental visit of a divine, 
 she had not thought it necessary to blazon the intended 
 nuptials of her niece to the neighborhood, had even time 
 been allowed ; she thought, therefore, that she was now 
 communicating a profound secret to the negro and her 
 house-keeper. 
 
 "Caesar," she commenced, with a smile, "you are now 
 to learn that your young mistress, Miss Sarah, is to be 
 united to Colonel Wellmere this evening." 
 
 " I tink I see him afore," said Caesar, chuckling ; " old 
 black man can tell when a young lady make up her mind." 
 
 " Really, Caesar, I find I have never given you credit for 
 half the observation that you deserve ; but as you already 
 know on what emergency your services are required, listen 
 to the directions of this gentleman, and take care to ob- 
 serve them strictly." 
 
 The black turned in quiei submission to the surgeon, 
 who commenced as follows : 
 
 "Caesar, your mistress has already acquainted you with 
 the important event about to be solemnized within this 
 
226 THE SPY. 
 
 habitation ; but a cincture or ring is wanting to encircle 
 the finger of the bride ; a custom derived from the ancients, 
 and which has been continued in the marriage forms of 
 several branches of the Christian Church, and which is 
 even, by a species of typical wedlock, used in the installa- 
 tion of prelates, as you doubtless understand." 
 
 " Pr'aps massa doctor will say him over ag'in," inter- 
 rupted the old negro, whose memory began to fail him, 
 just as the other made so confident an allusion to his 
 power of comprehension ; " I tink I get him by heart dis 
 time." 
 
 " It is impossible to gather honey from a rock, Caesar, 
 and therefore I will abridge the little I have to say. Ride 
 to the Four Corners, and present this note to Sergeant Hoi- 
 lister, or to Mrs. Elizabeth Flanagan, either of whom will 
 furnish the necessary pledge of connubial affection ; and 
 return forthwith." 
 
 The letter which the surgeon put into the hands of his 
 messenger, as he ceased, was conceived in the following 
 terms : 
 
 " If the fever has left Kinder, give him nourishment. 
 Take three ounces more of blood from Watson. Have a 
 search made that the woman Flanagan has left none of her 
 jugs of alcohol in the hospital. Renew the dressings of 
 Johnson, and dismiss Smith to duty. Send the ring, which 
 is pendant from the chain of the watch, that I left with 
 you to time the doses, by the bearer. 
 
 "ARCHIBALD SITGREAVES, M.D., 
 
 " Surgeon of Dragoons" 
 
 "Caesar," said Katy, when she was alone with the black, 
 " put the ring, when you get it, in your left pocket, for that 
 is nearest your heart ; and by no means endeavor to try it 
 on your finger, for it is unlucky." 
 
 " Try um on he finger ?" interrupted the negro, stretch- 
 ing forth his bony knuckles ; " tink a Miss Sally's ring go 
 on old Caesar finger ? " 
 
 " Tis not consequential whether it goes on or not," said 
 the house-keeper ; " but it is an evil omen to place a mar- 
 riage-ring on the finger of another after wedlock, and of 
 course it may be dangerous before." 
 
 " I tell you, Katy, I neber tink to put um on a finger." 
 
 " Go then, Caesar, and do not forget the left pocket ; be 
 careful to take off your hat as you pass the graveyard, and 
 
THE SPY. 227 
 
 be expeditious ; for nothing, I am certain, can be more 
 trying to the patience than thus to be waiting for the 
 ceremony, when a body has fully made up her mind to 
 marry." 
 
 With this injunction Caesar quitted the house, and he 
 was soon firmly fixed in the saddle. From his youth, the 
 black, like all of his race, had been a hard rider ; but, bend- 
 ing under the weight of sixty winters, his African blood 
 had lost some of its native heat. The night was dark, and 
 the wind whistled through the vale with the dreariness of 
 November. When Caesar reached the graveyard, he un- 
 covered his grizzled head with superstitious awe, and he 
 threw around him many a fearful glance, in momentary ex- 
 pectation of seeing something superhuman. There was 
 sufficient light to discern a being of earthly mould stealing 
 from among the graves, apparently with a design to enter 
 the highway. It is in vain that philosophy and reason con- 
 tend with early impressions, and poor Caesar was even with- 
 out the support of either of these frail allies. He was, 
 however, well mounted on a coach-horse of Mr. Wharton's, 
 and, clinging to the back of the animal with instinctive 
 skill, he abandoned the rein to the beast. Hillocks, woods, 
 rocks, fences, and houses flew by him with the rapidity of 
 lightning, and the black had just begun to think whither 
 and on what business he was riding in this headlong man- 
 ner, when he reached the place where the roads met, and 
 the " Hotel Flanagan " stood before him in its dilapidated 
 simplicity. The sight of a cheerful fire first told the negro 
 that he had reached the habitation of a man, and with it 
 came all his dread of the bloody Virginians ; his duty 
 must, however, be done, and, dismounting, he fastened the 
 foaming animal to a fence, and approached the window 
 with cautious steps, to reconnoitre. 
 
 Before a blazing fire sat Sergeant Hollister and Betty 
 Flanagan,' enjoying themselves over a liberal potation. 
 
 " I tell yee, sargeant dear," said Betty, removing the 
 mug from her mouth, "'tis no rasonable to think it was 
 more than the pidler himself ; sure now where was the 
 smell of sulphur, and the wings, and the tail, and the 
 cloven foot ? besides, sargeant, it's no dacent to tell a 
 lone female that she had Beelzeboob for a bedfellow." 
 
 " Jt matters but little, Mrs. Flanagan, provided you 
 escape his talons and fangs hereafter," returned the vet- 
 eran, following the remark by a heavy draught. 
 
 Caesar heard enough to convince him that little danger 
 
228 THE SPY. 
 
 from this pair was to be apprehended. His teeth already 
 began to chatter, and the cold without and the comfort 
 within stimulated him greatly to enter. He made his ap- 
 proaches with proper caution, and knocked with extreme 
 humility. The appearance of Hollister with a drawn 
 sword roughly demanding who was without, contributed 
 in no degree to the restoration of his faculties ; but fear 
 itself lent him power to explain his errand. 
 
 " Advance," said the sergeant, throwing a look of close 
 scrutiny on the black, as he brought him to the light ; 
 " advance and deliver your despatches ; have you the coun- 
 tersign ? " 
 
 " I don't tink he know what dat be," said the black, 
 shaking in his shoes, " dough massa dat sent me gib me 
 many tings to carry, dat he little understand." 
 
 " Who ordered you on this duty did you say ? " 
 
 "Well, it war he doctor heself, so he come up on a gal- 
 lop as he always do on a doctor's errand." 
 
 " 'Twas Doctor Sitgreaves ; he never knows the counter- 
 sign himself. Now, blackey, had it been Captain Lawton, 
 he would not have sent you here, close to a sentinel, with- 
 out the countersign ; for you might get a pistol bullet 
 through your head, and that would be cruel to you ; for 
 although you be black, I am none of them who think 
 niggers have no souls." 
 
 " Sure a nagur has as much sowl as a white," said Betty ; 
 "come hither, ould man, and warm that shivering carcass 
 of yeers by the blaze of this fire. I'm sure a Guinea nagur 
 loves hate as much as a souldier loves his drop." 
 
 Caesar obeyed in silence, and a mulatto boy, who was 
 sleeping on a bench in the room, was bidden to convey 
 the note of the surgeon to the building where the wounded 
 were quartered. 
 
 "Here," said the washerwoman, tendering to Caesar a 
 taste of the article that most delighted herself, " try a drop, 
 smooty, 'twill warm the black sowl within your crazy body, 
 and be giving you spirits as you are going homeward." 
 
 " I tell you, Elizabeth," said the sergeant, " that the 
 souls of niggers are the same as our own ; how often have 
 I heard the good Mr. Whitefield say, that there was no 
 distinction of color in heaven. Therefore it is reasonable 
 to believe that the soul of this here black is as white as 
 my own, or even Major Dunwoodie's." 
 
 " Be sure he be," cried Caesar, a little tartly, whose 
 courage had revived by tasting the drop of Mrs. Flanagan. 
 
THE SPY. 229 
 
 " It's a good sowl that the major is, anyway," returned 
 the washerwoman ; " and a kind sowl ay, and a brave 
 sowl too ; and ye'll say all that yeerself, sergeant, I'm 
 thinking." 
 
 "For the matter of that," returned the veteran, "there 
 is one above even Washington, to judge of souls ; but this 
 I will say, that Major Dunwoodie is a gentleman who never 
 says, Go, boys but always says, Come, boys ; and if a 
 poor fellow is in want of a spur or a martingale, and the 
 leather-whack is gone, there is never wanting the real silver 
 to make up the loss, and that from his own pocket, too." 
 
 " Why, then, are you here idle when all that he holds 
 most dear are in danger?" cried a voice, with startling 
 abruptness ; " mount, mount, and follow your captain ; 
 arm and mount, and that instantly, or you will be too 
 late ! " 
 
 This unexpected interruption produced an instantaneous 
 confusion among the tipplers. Caesar fled instinctively 
 into the fireplace, where he maintained his position in de- 
 fiance of a heat that would have roasted a white man. 
 Sergeant Hollister turned promptly on his heel, and seiz- 
 ing his sabre, the steel was glittering by the firelight, in the 
 twinkling of an eye ; but perceiving the intruder to be the 
 peddler, who stood near the open door that led to the lean- 
 to in the rear, he began to fall back toward the position of 
 the black, with a military intuition that taught him to con- 
 centrate his forces. Betty alone stood her ground, by the 
 side of the temporary table. Replenishing the mug with 
 a large addition of the article known to the soldiery by the 
 name of " choke-dog," she held it toward the peddler. The 
 eyes of the washerwoman had for some time been swim- 
 ming with love and liquor, and turning them good-nat- 
 uredly on Birch, she cried : 
 
 " Faith, but yee're wilcome, Mister Fiddler, or Mister 
 Birch, or Mister Beelzeboob, or what's yeer name. Yee're 
 an honest divil anyway, and I'm hoping that you found the 
 pitticoats convanient. Come forward, dear, and fale the 
 fire ; Sargeant Hollister won't be hurting you, for the fear 
 of an ill turn you may be doing him hereafter will ye, 
 sargeant, dear ? " 
 
 "Depart, ungodly man !" cried the veteran, edging still 
 nearer to Caesar, but lifting his legs alternately as they 
 scorched with the heat ; " depart in peace ! There is none 
 here for thy service, and you seek the woman in vain. 
 There is a tender mercy that will save her from thy talons." 
 
230 THE SPY. 
 
 The sergeant ceased to utter aloud, but the motion of his 
 lips continued, and a few scattering words of prayer were 
 alone audible. 
 
 The brain of the washerwoman was in such a state of 
 confusion that she did not clearly comprehend the mean- 
 ing of her suitor, but a new idea struck her imagination, 
 and she broke forth : 
 
 " If it's me the man saaks, where's the matter, pray ? am 
 I not a widowed body, and my own property ? And you 
 talk of tinderness, sergeant ; but it's little I see of it any 
 way ; who knows but Mr. Beelzeboob here is free to spake 
 his mind ? I'm sure it is willing to hear it I am." 
 
 "Woman," said the peddler, "be silent ; and you, fool- 
 ish man, mount arm and mount, and fly to the rescue of 
 your officer, if you are worthy of the cause in which you 
 serve, and would not disgrace the coat you wear." The 
 peddler vanished from the sight of the bewildered trio 
 with a rapidity that left them uncertain whither he had 
 fled. 
 
 On hearing the voice of an old friend, Caesar emerged 
 from his corner, and fearlessly advanced to the spot where 
 Betty had resolutely maintained her ground, though in a 
 state of utter mental confusion. 
 
 " I wish Harvey stop," said the black ; " if he ride down 
 a road, I should like be company ; I don't think Johnny 
 Birch hurt he own son." 
 
 " Poor ignorant wretch ! " exclaimed the veteran, recov- 
 ering his voice with a long-drawn breath ; " think you that 
 figure was made of flesh and blood ?" 
 
 " Harvey ain't fleshy," replied the black, u but he berry 
 clebber man." 
 
 " Pooh ! sargeant dear," exclaimed the washerwoman, 
 " talk rason for once, and mind what the knowing one tells 
 yee ; call out the boys, and ride a bit after Captain Jack ; 
 rimimber, darling, that he told yee, the day, to be in readi- 
 ness to mount at a moment's warning." 
 
 " Ay, but not at a summons from the foul fiend. Let 
 Captain Lawton, or Lieutenant Mason, or Cornet Skip- 
 worth say the word, and who is quicker in the saddle than 
 I?" 
 
 " Well, sargeant, how often is it that yee've boasted to 
 myself that the corps wasn't a bit afeard to face the 
 divil?" 
 
 " No more are we, in battle array, and by daylight ; 
 but it's foolhardy and irreverent to tempt Satan, and on 
 
THE SPY. 234 
 
 such a night as this ; listen how the wind whistles through 
 the trees ; and hark ! there is howling of evil spirits 
 abroad." 
 
 " I see him," said Caesar, opening his eyes to a width that 
 might have embraced more than an ideal form. 
 
 u Where ? " interrupted the sergeant, instinctively laying 
 his hand on the hilt of his sabre. 
 
 " No no," said the black, " I see a Johnny Birch come 
 out of he grave Johnny walk afore he buried." 
 
 "Ah ! then he must have led an evil life indeed," said 
 Hollister ; " the blessed in spirit lie quiet until the general 
 muster, but wickedness disturbs the soul in this life as well 
 as in that which is to come." 
 
 "And what is to corne of Captain Jack ?" cried Betty, 
 angrily; "is it yeer orders that yee won't mind, nor a 
 warning given ? I'll jist git my cart, and ride down and 
 tell him that yee're afeard of a dead man and Beelzeboob, 
 and it isn't succor he may be expicting from yee. I won- 
 der who'll be the orderly of the troop the morrow, then ? 
 his name won't be Hollister, any way." 
 
 " Nay, Betty, nay," said the sergeant, laying his hand 
 familiarly on her shoulder ; " if there must be riding to- 
 night, let it be by him whose duty it is to call out the men 
 and to set an example. The Lord have mercy, and send 
 us enemies of flesh and blood ! " 
 
 Another glass confirmed the veteran in a resolution that 
 was only excited by the dread of his captain's displeasure, 
 and he proceeded to summon the dozen men who had been 
 left under his command. The boy arriving with the ring, 
 Caesar placed it carefully in the pocket of his waistcoat 
 next his heart, and, mounting, shut his eyes, seized his 
 charger by the mane, and continued in a state of compara- 
 tive insensibility until the animal stopped at the door of 
 the warm stable whence he had started. 
 
 The movements of the dragoons, being timed to the or- 
 der of a march, were much slower, for they were made with 
 a watchfulness that was intended to guard against surprise 
 from the evil one himself. 
 
232 THK SPY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Be not your tongue thy own shame's orator ; 
 
 Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty ; 
 
 Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger. Comedy of Errors. 
 
 THE situation of the party in Mr. Wharton's dwelling 
 was sufficiently awkward during the hour of Caesar's ab- 
 sence ; for such was the astonishing rapidity displayed by 
 his courser, that the four miles of road was gone over, and 
 the events we have recorded had occurred somewhat 
 within that period of time. Of course, the gentlemen 
 strove to make the irksome moments fly as swiftly as pos- 
 sible ; but premeditated happiness is certainly of the least 
 joyous kind. The bride and bridegroom areimmemorially 
 privileged to be dull, and but few of their friends seemed 
 disposed, on the present occasion, to dishonor their exam- 
 ple. The English colonel exhibited a proper portion of 
 uneasiness at this unexpected interruption of his felicity, 
 and he sat with a varying countenance by the side of 
 Sarah, who seemed to be profiting by the delay to gather 
 fortitude for the solemn ceremony. In the midst of this 
 embarrassing silence, Dr. Sitgreaves addressed himself to 
 Miss Peyton, by whose side he had contrived to procure a 
 chair. 
 
 " Marriage, madam, is pronounced to be honorable in 
 the sight of God and man ; and it may be said to be re- 
 duced, in the present age, to the laws of nature and reason. 
 The ancients, in sanctioning polygamy, lost sight of the 
 provisions of nature, and condemned thousands to misery ; 
 but with the increase of science have grown the wise ordi- 
 nances of society, which ordain that man should be the 
 husband of but one woman." 
 
 Wellmere glanced a fierce expression of disgust at the 
 surgeon, that indicated his sense of the tediousness of the 
 other's remarks ; while Miss Peyton, with a slight hesita- 
 tion, as if fearful of touching on forbidden subjects, re- 
 plied : 
 
 " I had thought, sir, that we were indebted to the Chris- 
 tian religion for our morals on this subject." 
 
 " True, madam, it is somewhere provided in the pre- 
 scriptions of the apostles, that the sexes should henceforth 
 be on an equality in this particular. But in what degree 
 
THE SPY. 233 
 
 could polygamy affect holiness of life ? It was probably a 
 wise arrangement of Paul, who was much of a scholar, and 
 probably had frequent conferences on this important sub- 
 ject with Luke, whom we all know to have been bred to 
 the practice of medicine " 
 
 There is no telling how far the discursive fancy of Sit- 
 greaves might have led him on this subject, had he not 
 been interrupted. But Lawton, who had been a close 
 though silent observer of all that passed, profited by the 
 hint to ask, abruptly : 
 
 " Pray, Colonel Wellmere, in what manner is bigamy 
 punished in England ?" 
 
 The bridegroom started, and his lip blanched. Recov- 
 ering himself, however, on the instant, he answered, with a 
 suavity that became so happy a man : 
 
 " Death ! as such an offence merits," he said. 
 
 " Death and dissection," continued the operator ; "it is 
 seldom that the law loses sight of eventual utility in a 
 malefactor. Bigamy, in a man, is a heinous offence !" 
 
 " More so than celibacy ? " asked Lawton. 
 
 " More so," returned the surgeon, with undisturbed sim- 
 plicity ; " he who remains in a single state may devote his 
 life to science and the extension of knowledge, if not of his 
 species ; but the wretch who profits by the constitutional 
 tendency of the female sex to credulity and tenderness, 
 incurs the wickedness of a positive sin, heightened by the 
 baseness of deception." 
 
 " Really, sir, the ladies are infinitely obliged to you, for 
 attributing folly to them as part of their nature." 
 
 "Captain Lawton, in man the animal is more nobly 
 formed than in woman. The nerves are endowed with less 
 sensibility ; the whole frame is less pliable and yielding ; is 
 it, therefore, surprising, that a tendency to rely on the 
 faith of her partner is more natural to woman than to the 
 other sex ? " 
 
 Wellmere, as if unable to listen with any degree of pa- 
 tience to so ill-timed a dialogue, sprang from his seat, and 
 paced the floor in disorder. Pitying his situation, the rev- 
 erend gentleman, who was patiently awaiting the return of 
 Caesar, changed the discourse, and a few minutes brought 
 the black himself. The billet was handed to Dr. Sit- 
 greaves; for Miss Peyton had expressly enjoined Caesar 
 not to implicate her, in any manner, in the errand on 
 which he was despatched. The note contained a summary 
 statement of the several subjects of the surgeon's direc- 
 
234 THE SPY. 
 
 tions, and referred him to the black for the ring. The lat- 
 ter was instantly demanded, and promptly delivered. A 
 transient look of melancholy clouded the brow of the sur- 
 geo'n, as he stood a moment and gazed silently on the bau- 
 ble ; nor did he remember the place, or the occasion, 
 while he soliloquized as follows : 
 
 " Poor Anna! gay as innocence and youth could make 
 thee was thy heart, when this cincture was formed to grace 
 thy nuptials ; but ere the hour had come, God had taken 
 thee to himself. Years have passed, my sister, but never 
 have I forgotten the companion of my infancy ! " He ad- 
 vanced to Sarah, and, unconscious of observation, placing 
 the ring on her finger, continued "She for whom it was 
 intended has long been in her grave, and the youth who 
 bestowed the gift soon followed her sainted spirit ; take it, 
 madam, and God grant that it may be an instrument in 
 making you as happy as you deserve !" 
 
 Sarah felt a chill at her heart as this burst of feeling 
 escaped the surgeon ; but Wellmere offering his hand, she 
 was led before the divine, and the ceremony began. The 
 first words of this imposing office produced a dead still- 
 ness in the apartment ; and the minister of God proceeded 
 to the solemn exhortation, and witnessed the plighted 
 troth of the parties, when the investiture was to follow. 
 The ring had been left, from inadvertency and the agita- 
 tion of the moment, on the finger where Sitgreaves had 
 placed it ; the slight interruption occasioned by the cir- 
 cumstance was over, and the clergyman was about to pro- 
 ceed, when a figure gliding into the midst of the party, 
 at once put a stop to the ceremony. It was the peddler. 
 His look was bitter and ironical, while a finger, raised to- 
 ward the divine, seemed to forbid the ceremony to go any 
 further. 
 
 "Can Colonel Wellmere waste the precious moments 
 here, when his wife has crossed the ocean to meet him ? 
 The nights are long, and the moon bright ; a few hours 
 will take him to the city." 
 
 Aghast at the suddenness of this extraordinary address, 
 Wellmere for the moment lost the command of his facul- 
 ties. To Sarah the countenance of Birch, expressive as 
 it was, produced no terror ; but the instant she recovered 
 from the surprise of his interruption, she turned her anx- 
 ious gaze on the features of the man to whom she had 
 just pledged her troth. They afforded the most terrible 
 confirmation of all that the peddler affirmed ; the room 
 
THE SPY. 235 
 
 whirled round, and she fell lifeless into the arms of her 
 aunt. There is an instinctive delicacy in woman, that 
 seems to conquer all other emotions ; and the insensible 
 bride was immediately conveyed from sight, leaving the 
 room to the sole possession of the other sex. 
 
 The confusion enabled the peddler to retreat with a 
 rapidity that would have baffled pursuit, had any been at- 
 tempted, and Wellmere stood with every eye fixed on him, 
 in ominous silence. 
 
 " 'Tis false 'tis false as hell ! " he cried, striking his 
 forehead. " I have ever denied her claim ; nor will the 
 laws of my country compel me to acknowledge it." 
 
 " But what will conscience and the laws of God do ? " 
 asked Lawton. 
 
 " 'Tis well, sir," said Wellmere, haughtily, and retreating 
 toward the door; "my situation protects you now; but a 
 time may come " 
 
 He had reached the entry, when a slight tap on his 
 shoulder caused him to turn his head ; it was Captain 
 Lawton, who, with a smile of peculiar meaning, beckoned 
 him to follow. The state of Wellmere's mind was such, 
 that he would gladly have gone anywhere to avoid the 
 gaze of horror and detestation that glared from every eye 
 he met. They reached the stables before the trooper 
 spoke, when he cried aloud : 
 
 " Bring out Roanoke ! " 
 
 His man appeared with the steed caparisoned for his 
 master. Lawton, coolly throwing the bridle on the neck 
 of the animal, took his pistols from the holsters and con- 
 tinued " Here are weapons that have seen good service 
 before to-day ay, and in honorable hands, sir. These 
 were the pistols of my father, Colonel Wellmere ; he used 
 them with credit in the wars with France, and gave them 
 to me to fight the battles of my country with. In what 
 better way can I serve her than in exterminating a 
 wretch who would have blasted one of her fairest daugh- 
 ters ? " 
 
 "This injurious treatment shall meet with its reward," 
 cried the other, seizing the offered weapon ; " the blood 
 lie on the head of him who sought it ! " 
 
 "Amen ! but hold a moment, sir. You are now free, 
 and the passports of Washington are in your pocket ; I 
 give you the fire ; if I fall, there is a steed that will out- 
 strip pursuit ; and I would advise you to retreat without 
 much delay, for even Archibald Sitgreaves would fight in 
 
236 THE SPY. 
 
 such a cause nor will the guard above be very apt to give 
 quarter." 
 
 " Are you ready ? " asked Wellmere, gnashing his teeth 
 with rage. 
 
 " Stand forward, Tom, with the lights ; fire ! " 
 
 Wellmere fired, and the bullion flew from the epaulette 
 of the trooper. 
 
 " Now the turn is mine," said Lawton, deliberately lev- 
 elling a pistol. 
 
 " And mine ! " shouted a voice, as the weapon was 
 struck from his hand. " By all the devils in hell, 'tis the 
 mad Virginian ! fall on, my boys, and take him ; this is a 
 prize not hoped for!" 
 
 Unarmed and surprised as he was, Lawton's presence of 
 mind did not desert him ; he felt that he was in the hands 
 of those from whom he was to expect no mercy ; and, as 
 four of the Skinners fell upon him at once, he used his 
 gigantic strength to the utmost. Three of the band 
 grasped him by the neck and arms, with an intent to clog 
 his efforts, and pinion him with ropes. The first of these 
 he threw from him with a violence that sent him against 
 the building, where he lay stunned with the blow. But 
 the fourth seized his legs ; and, unable to contend with 
 such odds, the trooper came to the earth, bringing with 
 him all of his assailants. The struggle on the ground was 
 short but terrific ; curses and the most dreadful impreca- 
 tions were uttered by the Skinners, who in vain called on 
 more of their band, who were gazing on the combat in 
 nerveless horror, to assist. A difficulty of breathing, from 
 one of the combatants, was heard, accompanied by the 
 stifled moanings of a strangled man ; and directly one of 
 the group arose on his feet, shaking himself free from the 
 wild grasp of the others. Both Wellmere and the servant 
 of Lawton had fled ; the former to the stables, and the lat- 
 ter to give the alarm, leaving all in darkness. The figure 
 that stood erect sprang into the saddle of the unheeded 
 charger ; sparks of fire, issuing from the armed feet of the 
 horse, gave a momentary light by which the captain was 
 seen dashing like the wind toward the highway. 
 
 " By hell, he's off ! " cried the leader, hoarse with rage 
 and exhaustion ; " fire ! bring him down fire, or you'll 
 be too late." 
 
 The order was obeyed, and one moment of suspense fol- 
 lowed, in the vain hope of hearing the huge frame of Law- 
 ton tumbling from his steed. 
 
THE SPY. 237 
 
 " He would not fall if you had killed him," muttered 
 one; "I've known these Virginians sit their horses with 
 two or three balls through them ; ay, even after they were 
 dead." 
 
 A freshening of the wind wafted the tread of a horse 
 down the valley, which, by its speed, gave assurance of a 
 rider governing its motion. 
 
 " These trained horses always stop when the rider 
 falls," observed one of the gang. 
 
 "Then," cried the leader, striking his musket on the 
 ground in a rage, " the fellow is safe ! to your business at 
 once. A short half-hour will bring down that canting ser- 
 geant and the guard upon us. 'Twill be lucky if the guns 
 don't turn them out. Quick, to your posts, and fire the 
 house in the chambers ; smoking ruins are good to cover 
 evil deeds." 
 
 " What is to be done with this lump of earth ? " cried 
 another, pushing the body that yet lay insensible where it 
 had been hurled by the arm of Lawton ; " a little rubbing 
 would bring him to." 
 
 " Let him lie," said the leader, fiercely ; " had he been 
 half a man, that dragooning rascal would have been in my 
 power ; enter the house, I say, and fire the chambers. 
 We can't go amiss here there is plate and money enough 
 to make you all gentlemen and revenge too." 
 
 The idea of silver in any way was not to be resisted ; 
 and leaving their companion, who began to show faint 
 signs of life, they rushed tumultuously toward the dwelling. 
 Wellmere availed himself of the opportunity, and, stealing 
 from the stables with his own charger, he was able to gain 
 the highway unnoticed. For an instant he hesitated, 
 whether to ride toward the point where he knew the guard 
 was stationed, and endeavor to rescue the family, or, profit- 
 ing by his liberty, and the exchange that had been effected 
 by the divine, to seek the royal army. Shame, and a con- 
 sciousness of guilt, determined him to take the latter 
 course, and he rode toward New York, stung with the re- 
 flection of his own baseness, and harassed with the appre- 
 hension of meeting with an enraged woman, that he had 
 married during his late visit to England, but whose claims, 
 as soon as his passion was sated, he had resolved never 
 willingly to admit. In the tumult and agitation of the mo- 
 ment, the retreat of Lawton and Wellmere was but little 
 noticed ; the condition of Mr. Wharton demanded the care 
 and consolation of both the surgeon and the divine. The 
 
238 THE SPY. 
 
 report of the firearms first roused the family to the sense 
 of a new danger, and but a moment elapsed before the 
 leader, and one more of the gang, entered the room. 
 
 " Surrender ! you servants of King George," shouted 
 the leader, presenting his musket to the breast of Sit- 
 greaves, " or I will let a little tory blood from your 
 veins." 
 
 " Gently gently, my friend," said the surgeon ; " you 
 are doubtless more expert in inflicting wounds than in 
 healing them ; the weapon that you hold so indiscreetly is 
 extremely dangerous to animal life." 
 
 "Yield, or take its contents." 
 
 " Why and wherefore should I yield ? I am a non- 
 combatant. The articles of capitulation must be arranged 
 with Captain John Lawton ; though yielding, I believe, is 
 not a subject on which you will find him particularly com- 
 plying." 
 
 The fellow had by this time taken such a survey of the 
 group, as convinced him that little danger was to be appre- 
 hended from resistance, and eager to seize his share of the 
 plunder, he dropped his musket, and was soon busy, with 
 the assistance of his men, in arranging divers articles of 
 plate in bags. The cottage now presented a singular spec- 
 tacle the ladies were gathered around Sarah, who yet con- 
 tinued insensible, in one of the rooms that had escaped the 
 notice of the marauders. Mr. Wharton sat in a state of 
 perfect imbecility, listening to, but not profiting by, the 
 unmeaning words of comfort that fell from the lips of the 
 clergyman. Singleton was lying on a sofa, shaking with 
 debility, and inattentive to surrounding objects ; while the 
 surgeon was administering restoratives and looking at the 
 dressings with a coolness that mocked the tumult. Caesar 
 and the attendant of Captain Singleton had retreated to 
 the wood in the rear of the cottage, and Katy Haynes was 
 flying about the building, busily employed in forming a 
 bundle of valuables, from which, with the most scrupulous 
 honesty, she rejected every article that was not really and 
 truly her own. 
 
 But to return to the party at the Four Corners. When 
 the veteran had got his men mounted and under arms, a 
 restless desire to participate in the glory and dangers of 
 the expedition came over the washerwoman. Whether 
 she was impelled to the undertaking by a dread of remain- 
 ing alone, or a wish to hasten in person to the relief of 
 her favorite, we will not venture to assert ; but, as Hollis- 
 
THE SPY. 239 
 
 ter was giving the orders to wheel and march, the voice of 
 Betty was heard, exclaiming : 
 
 "Stop a bit, sargeant dear, till two of the boys git out 
 the cart, and I'll jist ride wid yee ; 'tis like there'll be 
 wounded, and it will be mighty convanient to bring then} 
 home in." 
 
 Although inwardly much pleased with any cause of de- 
 lay to a service that he so little relished, Hollister affected 
 some displeasure at the detention. 
 
 "Nothing but a cannon ball- can take one of my lads 
 from his charger," he said ; "and it's not very likely that 
 we shall have as fair fighting as cannon and musketry, in 
 a business of the evil one's inventing ; so, Elizabeth, you 
 may go if you will, but the cart will not be wanting." 
 
 " Now, sargeant dear, you lie, any way," said Betty, 
 who was somewhat unduly governed by her potations ; 
 "and wasn't Captain Singleton shot off his horse but tin 
 days gone by ? ay, and Captain Jack himself too ; and 
 didn't he lie on the ground, face uppermost, and back 
 downward, looking grim ? and didn't the boys tink him 
 dead, and turn and lave the rig'lars the day ?" 
 
 "You lie back again," cried the sergeant, fiercely; 
 "and so does anyone who says that we didn't gain the 
 day." 
 
 " For a bit or so only I mane for a bit or so," said the 
 washerwoman ; " but Major Dunwoodie turned you, and 
 so you licked the rig'lars. But the captain it was that fell, 
 and I'm thinking that there's no better rider going ; so, 
 sargeant, it's the cart will be convanient. Here, two of 
 you, jist hitch the mare to the tills, and it's no whiskey that 
 ye'll be wanting the morrow ; and put the piece of Jenny's 
 hide under the pad ; the baste is never the better for the 
 rough ways of the county Westchester." The consent of 
 the sergeant being obtained, the equipage of Mrs. Flana- 
 gan was soon in readiness to receive its burthen. 
 
 "As it is quite uncertain whether we shall be attacked 
 in front or in rear," said Hollister, " five of you shall 
 march in advance, and the remainder shall cover our re- 
 treat toward the barracks, should we be pressed. 'Tis an 
 awful moment to a man of little learning, Elizabeth, to 
 command in such a service ; for my part, I wish devoutly 
 that one of the officers were here ; but my trust is in the 
 Lord." 
 
 " Pooh ! man, away wid yee," said the washerwoman, 
 who had got herself comfortably seated ; " the divil a bit 
 
240 THE SPY. 
 
 of an inimy is there near. March on, hurry-skurry, nnd 
 let the mare trot, or it's but little that Captain Jack will 
 thank yee for the help." 
 
 "Although unlearned in matters of communicating with 
 spirits, or laying the dead, Mrs. Flanagan," said the vet- 
 eran, " I have not served through the old war, and five 
 years in this, not to know how to guard the baggage. 
 Doesn't Washington always cover the baggage ? I am not 
 to be told my duty by a camp-follower. Fall in as you 
 are ordered, and dress, men." 
 
 "Well, march, any way," cried the impatient washer- 
 woman ; " the black is there already, and it's tardy the 
 captain will think yee." 
 
 " Are you sure that it was really a black man that 
 brought the order ? " said the sergeant; dropped in between 
 the platoons, where he could converse with Betty and be 
 at hand to lead on an emergency, either on an advance or 
 on a retreat. 
 
 "Fay and I'm sure of nothing, dear. But why don't 
 the boys prick their horses and jog a trot ? the mare is 
 mighty unasy, and it's no warm in this cursed valley, rid- 
 ing as much like a funeral party as old rags is to continen- 
 tal."* 
 
 " Fairly and softly, ay, and prudently, Mrs. Flanagan ; 
 it's not rashness that makes the good officer. If we have 
 to encounter a spirit, it's more than likely he'll make his 
 attack by surprise ; horses are not very powerful in the 
 dark, and I have a character to lose, good woman." 
 
 "Caractur! and isn't it caractur and life too that Cap- 
 tain Jack has to lose ?" 
 
 " Halt ! " cried the sergeant ; " what is that lurking near 
 the foot of the rock, on the left ? " 
 
 " Sure, it's nothing, unless it be a matter of Captain 
 Jack's sowl that's come to hunt yee, for not being brisker 
 on the march." 
 
 " Betty, your levity makes you an unfit comrade for 
 such an expedition. Advance, one of you, and reconnoi- 
 tre the spot ; draw swords ! rear rank, close to the 
 front ! " 
 
 "Pshaw!" shouted Betty, "is it a big fool or a big 
 
 * The paper money issued by congress was familiarly called continental 
 money. This term " continental " was applied to the army, the congress, 
 the ships of war, and, in short, to almost everything of interest which be- 
 longed to the new government. It would seem to have been invented as 
 the opposite of the insular position of the mother-country. 
 
THE SPY. 241 
 
 coward that yee are ? Jist wheel from the road, boys, and 
 I'll shove the mare down upon it in the twinkling of an 
 eye and it's no ghost that 1 fear." 
 
 By this time one of the men had returned, and declared 
 there was nothing to prevent their advancing, and the party 
 continued their march, but with great deliberation and 
 caution. 
 
 "Courage and prudence are the jewels of a soldier, 
 Mrs. Flanagan," said the sergeant ; "without the one, the 
 other may be said to be good for nothing." 
 
 " Prudence without courage : is it that you mane ? 
 and it's so that I'm thinking myself, sargeant. This baste 
 pulls tight on the reins anyway." 
 
 <l Be patient, good woman ; hark ! what is that ? " said 
 Hollister, pricking up his ears at the report of Wellmere's 
 pistol ; " I'll swear that was a human pistol, and one from 
 our regiment. Rear rank, close to the front ! Mrs. Flan- 
 agan, I must leave you." So saying, having recovered all 
 his faculties by hearing a sound that he understood, he 
 placed himself at the head of his men with an air of mili- 
 tary pride that the darkness prevented the washerwoman 
 from beholding. A volley of musketry now rattled in the 
 night wind, and the sergeant exclaimed : 
 
 " March ! quick time ! " 
 
 The next instant the trampling of a horse was heard 
 coming up the road, at a rate that announced a matter of 
 life or death ; and Hollister again halted his party, riding 
 a short distance in front himself, to meet the rider. 
 
 " Stand ! who goes there ? " shouted Hollister. 
 
 " Ha ! Hollister, is it you ? " cried Lawton ; " ever ready 
 and at your post ; but where is the guard ?" 
 
 " At hand, sir, and ready to follow you through thick 
 and thin," said the veteran, relieved at once from respon- 
 sibility, and as eager as a boy to be led against his enemy. 
 
 " 'Tis well ! " said the trooper, riding up to his men ; 
 then speaking a few words of encouragement, he led them 
 down the valley at a rate but little less rapid than his ap- 
 proach. The miserable horse of the sutler was soon dis- 
 tanced, and Betty, thus thrown out in the chase, turned to 
 the side of the road, and observed : 
 
 4< There it's no difficult to tell that Captain Jack is wid 
 'em, any way ; and away they go like so many nagur boys 
 to a husking frolic ; well, I'll just hitch the mare to this 
 bit of a fence, and walk down and see the sport afoot it's 
 no rasonable to expose the baste to be hurted." 
 16 
 
242 THE SPY. 
 
 Led on by Lawton, the men followed, destitute 1 alike of 
 fear and reflection. Whether it was a party of the refugees, 
 or a detachment from the royal army, that they were to 
 assail, they were profoundly ignorant ; but they knew that 
 the officer in advance was distinguished for courage and 
 personal prowess ; and these are virtues that are sure to 
 captivate the thoughtless soldiery. On arriving near the 
 gates of the Locusts, the trooper halted his party, and made 
 his arrangements for the assault. Dismounting, he ordered 
 eight of his men to follow his example, and turning to 
 Hollister, said : 
 
 "Stand you here, and guard the horses ; if anything at- 
 tempt to pass, stop it, or cut it down, and " The 
 
 flames at this moment burst through the dormer-window 
 and cedar roof of the, cottage, and a bright light glared on 
 the darkness of the night. " On ! " shouted the trooper, 
 " on ! give quarter when you have done justice ! " 
 
 There was a startling fierceness in the voice of the 
 trooper that reached to the heart, even amid the horrors of 
 the cottage. The leader of the Skinners dropped his plun- 
 der, and, for a moment, he stood in nerveless dread ; then 
 rushing to a window he threw up the sash ; at this instant 
 Lawton entered, sabre in hand, into the apartment. 
 
 " Die, miscreant ! " cried the trooper, cleaving a marau- 
 der to the jaw ; but the leader sprang into the lawn, and 
 escaped his vengeance. The shrieks of the females restored 
 Lawton to his presence of mind, and the earnest entreaty 
 of the divine induced him to attend to the safety of the 
 family. One more of the gang fell in with the dragoons, 
 and met his death ; but the remainder had taken the alarm 
 in season. Occupied with Sarah, neither Miss Singleton, 
 nor the ladies of the house, had discovered the entrance of 
 the Skinners, though the flames were raging around them 
 with a fury that threatened the building with rapid de- 
 struction. The shrieks of Katy and the terrified consort of 
 Caesar, together with the noise and uproar in the adjacent 
 apartment, first roused Miss Peyton and Isabella to a sense 
 of their danger. 
 
 " Merciful Providence ! " exclaimed the alarmed aunt ; 
 " there is a dreadful confusion in the house, and there will 
 be bloodshed in consequence of the affair." 
 
 "There are none to fight," returned Isabella, with a face 
 paler than that of the other ; " Dr. Sitgreaves is very peace- 
 able in his disposition, and surely Captain Lawton would 
 not forget himself so far." 
 
SPY. 243 
 
 " The southern temper is quick and fiery," continued 
 Miss Peyton, "and your brother, feeble and weak as he is, 
 has looked the whole afternoon flushed and angry." 
 
 " Good heaven ! " cried Isabella, with difficulty sup- 
 porting herself on the couch of Sarah ; " he is gentle as a 
 lamb by nature, though the lion is not his equal when 
 aroused." 
 
 "We must interfere ; our presence will quell the tumult 
 and possibly save the life of a fellow-creature." 
 
 Miss Peyton, excited to attempt what she conceived a 
 duty worthy of her sex and nature, advanced with the dig- 
 nity of injured female feeling to the door, followed by Isa- 
 bella. The apartment to which Sarah had been conveyed 
 was in one of the wings of the building, and it communi- 
 cated with the principal hall of the cottage by a long and 
 dark passage. This was now light, and across its termina- 
 tion several figures were seen rushing, with an impetuosity 
 that prevented an examination of their employment. 
 
 " Let us advance," said Miss Peyton, with a firmness her 
 face belied ; "they must respect our sex." 
 
 " They shall," cried Isabella, taking the lead in the en- 
 terprise. Frances was left alone with her sister. A few 
 minutes were passed in silence ; when a loud crash, in the 
 upper apartments, was succeeded by a bright light that 
 glared through the open door, and made objects as distinct 
 to the eye as if they were placed under a noonday sun. 
 Sarah raised herself on her bed, and staring wildly around, 
 pressed both her hands on her forehead, endeavoring to 
 recollect herself : 
 
 " This, then, is heaven and you are one of its bright 
 spirits. Oh ! how glorious is its radiance! I had thought 
 the happiness I have lately experienced was too much for 
 earth. But we shall meet again yes yes we shall meet 
 again." 
 
 "Sarah! Sarah!" cried Frances, in terror; "my sister 
 my only sister Oh ! do not smile so horridly ; know me 
 or you will break my heart." 
 
 " Hush," said Sarah, raising her hand for silence ; "you 
 may disturb his rest surely, he will follow me to the grave. 
 Think you there can be two wives in the grave ? No no 
 no one one one only one." 
 
 Frances dropped her head into the lap of her sister, and 
 wept in agony. 
 
 " Do you shed tears, sweet angel ? " continued Sarah, 
 soothingly ; " then heaven is not exempt from grief. But 
 
244 
 
 THE SPY. 
 
 where is Henry ! He was executed, and he must be here 
 too ; perhaps they will come together. Oh, how joyful 
 will be the meeting! " 
 
 Frances sprang on her feet and paced the apartment. 
 The eye of Sarah followed her in childish admiration of 
 her beauty. 
 
 " You look like my sister ; but all good and lovely 
 spirits are alike. Tell me, were you ever married ? Did 
 you ever let a stranger steal your affections from father, 
 and brother, and sister ? If not, poor wretch, I pity you, 
 although you may be m heaven." 
 
 "Sarah peace, peace I implore you to be silent," 
 shrieked Frances, rushing to her bed, "or you will kill 
 me at your feet." 
 
 Another dreadful crash shook the building to its centre. 
 It was the falling of the roof, and the flames threw their 
 light abroad, so as to make objects visible around the cot- 
 tage, through the windows of the room. Frances flew to 
 one of them, and saw the confused group that was col- 
 lected on the lawn. Among them were her aunt and Isa- 
 bella, pointing with distraction to the fiery edifice, and 
 apparently urging the dragoons to enter it. For the first 
 time she comprehended their danger ; and uttering a wild 
 shriek, she flew through the passage, without considera- 
 tion or object. 
 
 A dense and suffocating column of smoke opposed her 
 progress. She paused to breathe, when a man caught 
 her in his arms, and bore her, in a state of insensibility, 
 through the falling embers and darkness, to the open air. 
 The instant that Frances recovered her recollection, she 
 perceived that she owed her life to Lawton, and throwing 
 herself on her knees, she cried : 
 
 "Sarah ! Sarah ! Sarah ! Save my sister, and may the 
 blessing of God await you ! " 
 
 Her strength failed, and she sank on the grass, in in- 
 sensibility. The trooper pointed to her figure, motioned 
 to Katy for assistance, and advanced once more to the 
 building. The fire had already communicated to the 
 woodwork of the piazzas and windows, and the whole ex- 
 terior of the cottage was covered with smoke. The only 
 entrance was through these dangers, and even the hardy 
 and impetuous Lawton paused to consider. It was for a 
 moment only, when he dashed into the heat and darkness, 
 where, missing the entrance, he wandered for a minute, 
 and precipitated himself back, again, upon the lawn. 
 
THE SPY. 245 
 
 Drawing a single breath of pure air, he renewed the effort, 
 and was again unsuccessful. On the third trial, he met a 
 man staggering urfder the load of a human body. It was 
 neither the place, nor was there time, to question, or to 
 make distinctions ; seizing both in his arms, with gigantic 
 strength, he bore them through the smoke. He soon per- 
 ceived, to his astonishment, that it was the surgeon, and 
 the body of one of the Skinners, that he had saved. 
 
 " Archibald!" he exclaimed, "why, in the name of jus- 
 tice, did you bring this miscreant to light again? His 
 deeds are rank to heaven ! " 
 
 The surgeon, who had been in imminent peril, was too 
 much bewildered to reply instantly, but, wiping the mois- 
 ture from his forehead, and clearing his lungs from the 
 vapor he had inhaled, he said, piteously : 
 
 "Ah! it is all over! Had I been in time to have 
 stopped the effusion from the jugular, he might have 
 been saved ; but the heat was conducive to hemorrhage ; 
 life is extinct indeed. Well, are there any more wounded ?" 
 
 His question was put to the air, for Frances had been 
 removed to the opposite side of the building, where her 
 friends were collected, and Lawton once more had disap- 
 peared in the smoke. 
 
 By tin's time the flames had dispersed much of the suf- 
 focating vapor, so that the trooper was able to find the 
 door, and in its very entrance he was met by a man sup- 
 porting the insensible Sarah. There was but barely time 
 to reach the lawn again, before the fire broke through the 
 windows, and wrapped the whole building in a sheet of 
 flame. 
 
 " God be praised ! " ejaculated the preserver of Sarah ; 
 " it would have been a dreadful death to die." 
 
 The trooper turned from gazing at the edifice to the 
 speaker, and to his astonishmnet, instead of one of his 
 own men, he beheld the peddler. 
 
 " Ha ! the spy," he exclaimed : " by heavens, you cross 
 me like a spectre." 
 
 "Captain Lawton," said Birch, leaning in momentary 
 exhaustion against the fence, to which they had retired 
 from the heat, " I am again in your power, for I can 
 neither flee, nor resist." 
 
 "The cause of America is dear to me as life," said the 
 trooper ; " but she cannot require her children to forget 
 gratitude and honor. Fly, unhappy man, while yet you 
 are unseen, or it will exceed my power to save you." 
 
246 THE SPY. 
 
 " May God prosper you, and make you victorious over 
 your enemies," said Birch, grasping the hand of the 
 dragoon with an iron strength that his*meagre figure did 
 not indicate. 
 
 " Hold ! " said Lavvton ; " but a word are you what you 
 seem ? can you are you " 
 
 " A royal spy," interrupted Birch, averting his face, and 
 endeavoring to release his hand. 
 
 " Then go, miserable wretch," said the trooper, relin- 
 quishing his grasp : " either avarice or delusion has led a 
 noble heart astray ! " 
 
 The bright light from the flames reached a great dis- 
 tance around the ruins, but the words were hardly past 
 the lips of Lawton, before the gaunt form of the peddler 
 had glided over the visible space, and plunged into the 
 darkness beyond. 
 
 The eye of Lawton rested for a moment on the spot 
 where he *had last seen this inexplicable man, and then 
 turning to the yet insensible Sarah, he lifted her in his 
 arms, and bore her, like a sleeping infant, to the care of 
 her friends. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 And now her charms are fading fast, 
 Her spirits now no more are gay ; 
 Alas ! that beauty cannot last ! 
 That flowers so sweet so soon decay ! 
 
 How sad appears 
 
 The vale of years, 
 
 How changed from youth's too flattering scene I 
 Where are her fond admirers gone? 
 Alas ! and shall there then be none 
 On whom her soul may lean ? Cynthia's Grave. 
 
 THE walls of the cottage were all that was left of the 
 building ; and these, blackened by smoke, and stripped of 
 their piazzas and ornaments, were but dreary memorials of 
 the content and security that had so lately reigned within. 
 The roof, together with the rest of the woodwork, had 
 tumbled into the cellars, and a pale and flitting light, 
 ascending from their embers, shone faintly through the 
 windows. The early flight of the Skinners left the dra- 
 goons at liberty to exert themselves in saving much of the 
 furniture, which lay scattered in heaps on the lawn, giving 
 
THE SPY. 247 
 
 the finishing touch of desolation to the scene. Whenever 
 a stronger ray of light than common shot upward, the 
 composed figures of Sergeant Hollister and his associates, 
 sitting on their horses in rigid discipline, were to be seen 
 in the background of the picture, together with the beast 
 of Mrs. Flanagan, which, having slipped its bridle, was 
 quietly grazing by the highway. Betty herself had ad- 
 vanced to the spot where the sergeant was posted, and with 
 an incredible degree of composure, witnessed the whole of 
 the events as they occurred. More than once she sug- 
 gested to her companion that, as the fighting seemed to 
 be over, the proper time for plunder had arrived ; but the 
 veteran acquainted her with his orders, and remained both 
 inflexible and immovable ; until the washerwoman, observ- 
 ing Lawton come round the wing of the building with 
 Sarah, ventured among the warriors. The captain, after 
 placing Sarah on a sofa that had been hurled from the 
 building by two of his men, retired, that the ladies might 
 succeed him in his care. Miss Peyton and her niece flew, 
 with a rapture that was blessed with a momentary forget- 
 f ulness of all but her preservation, to receive Sarah from 
 the trooper ; but the vacant eye and flushed cheek restored 
 them instantly to their recollection. 
 
 " Sarah, my child, my beloved niece," said the former, 
 folding the unconscious bride in her arms, "you are saved, 
 and may the blessing of God await him who has been the 
 instrument." 
 
 "See," said Sarah, gently pushing her aunt aside, and 
 pointing to the glimmering ruins, "the windows are illu- 
 minated in honor of my arrival. They always receive a 
 bride thus he told me they would do no less ; listen, and 
 you will hear the bells." 
 
 " Here is no bride, no rejoicing, nothing but woe ! " 
 cried Frances, in a manner but little less frantic than that 
 of her sister. " Oh ! may Heaven restore you to us to 
 yourself ! " 
 
 " Peace, foolish young woman," said Sarah, with a smile 
 of affected pity ; " all cannot be happy at the same mo- 
 ment ; perhaps you have no brother, or husband, to con- 
 sole you ; you look beautiful, and you will yet find one ; 
 but," she continued, dropping her voice to a \vhisper, "see 
 that he has no other wife 'tis dreadful to think what might 
 happen should he be twice married." 
 
 " The shock has destroyed her mind," cried Miss Pey- 
 ton ; "my child, my beauteous Sarah is a maniac ! " 
 
248 THE SPY. 
 
 "No, no, no," cried Frances ; "it is fever ; she is light- 
 headedshe must recover she shall recover." 
 
 The aunt caught joyfully at the hope conveyed in this 
 suggestion, and despatched Katy to request the immediate 
 aid and advice of Dr. Sitgreaves. The surgeon was found 
 inquiring among the men for professional employment, and 
 inquisitively examining every bruise and scratch that he 
 could induce the sturdy warriors to acknowledge they had 
 received. A summons of the sort conveyed by Katy was 
 instantly obeyed, and not a minute elapsed before he was 
 by the side of Miss Peyton. 
 
 " This is a melancholy termination to so joyful a com- 
 mencement of the night, madam," he observed, in a sooth- 
 ing manner ; "but war must bring its attendant miseries; 
 though doubtless it often supports the cause of liberty, and 
 improves the knowledge of surgical science." 
 
 Miss Peyton could make no reply, but pointed to her 
 niece, in agony. 
 
 " 'Tis fever," answered Frances ; "see how glassy is her 
 eye, and look at her cheek, how flushed." 
 
 The surgeon stood for a moment, deeply studying the 
 outward symptoms of his patient, and then he silently took 
 her hand in his own. It was seldom that the hard and ab- 
 stracted features of Sitgreaves discovered any violent emo- 
 tion ; all his passions seemed schooled, and his countenance 
 did not often betray what, indeed, his heart frequently felt. 
 In the present instance, however, the eager gaze of the aunt 
 and sister quickly detected his emotions. After laying his 
 fingers for a minute on the beautiful arm, which, bared to 
 the elbow, and glittering with jewels, Sarah suffered him 
 to retain, he dropped it, and dashing a hand over his eyes, 
 turned sorrowfully away. 
 
 " Here is no fever to excite 'tis a case, my dear madam, 
 for time and care only ; these, with the blessing of God, 
 may effect a cure." 
 
 " And where is the wretch who has caused this ruin ? " 
 exclaimed Singleton, rejecting the support of his man, and 
 making an effort to rise from the chair into which he had 
 been driven by debility. " It is in vain that we overcome 
 our enemies, if, conquered, they can inflict such wounds 
 as this." 
 
 " Dost think, foolish boy," said Lawton, with a bittei 
 smile, " that hearts can feel in a colony ? What is America 
 but a satellite of England to move as she moves, follow 
 where she wists, and shine, that the mother-country may 
 
THE SPY. 249 
 
 become more splendid by her radiance ? Surely you forget 
 that it is honor enough for a colonist to receive ruin from 
 the hand of a child of Britain?" 
 
 " I forget not that I wear a sword," said Singleton, fall- 
 ing back exhausted ; " but was there no willing arm ready 
 to avenge that lovely sufferer to appease the wrongs of 
 that hoary father ? " 
 
 " Neither arms nor hearts are wanting, sir, in such a 
 cause," said Lawton, bustling, up to his side ; "but chance 
 oftentimes helps the wicked. By heavens, I'd give Roa- 
 noke himself for a clear field with the miscreant ! " 
 
 " Nay ! captain dear, no be parting with the horse, any- 
 way," said Betty ; "it is no trifle that can be had by jist 
 asking the right person, if yee're in need of silver, and the 
 baste is sure of foot, and jumps like a squirrel." 
 
 " Woman, fifty horses, ay, the best that were ever reared 
 on the banks of the Potomac, would be but a paltry price 
 for one blow at a villain." 
 
 "Come," said the surgeon, " the night air can do no ser- 
 vice to George, or these ladies, and it is incumbent on us 
 to remove them where they can find surgical attendance 
 and refreshment. Here is nothing but smoking ruins and 
 the miasma of the swamps." 
 
 To this rational proposition no objection could be raised, 
 and the necessary orders were issued by Lawton to remove 
 the whole party to the Four Corners. 
 
 America furnished but few and very indifferent carriage- 
 makers at the period of which we write, and every vehi- 
 cle that in the least aspired to that dignity was the man- 
 ufacture of a London mechanic. When Mr. Wharton left 
 the city he was one of the very few who maintained the 
 state of a carriage ; and, at the time Miss Peyton and his 
 daughters joined him in his retirement, they had been con- 
 veyed to the cottage in the heavy chariot that had once so 
 imposingly rolled through the windings of Queen Street, 
 or emerged, with sombre dignity, into the more spacious 
 drive of Broadway. This vehicle stood, undisturbed, where 
 it had been placed on its arrival, and the age of the horses 
 alone had protected the favorites of Caesar from seques- 
 tration by the contending forces in their neighborhood. 
 With a heavy heart, the black, assisted by a few of the 
 dragoons, proceeded to prepare it for the reception of 
 the ladies. It was a cumbrous vehicle, whose faded lin- 
 ings and tarnished hammercloth, together with its panels 
 of changing colors, denoted the want of that art which had 
 
250 THE SPY, 
 
 once given it lustre and beauty. The " lion couchant " of 
 the Wharton arms was reposing on the reviving splendor 
 of a blazonry that told the armorial bearings of a prince 
 of the Church ; and the mitre, that already began to shine 
 through its American mask, was a symbol of the rank of 
 its original owner. The chaise which conveyed Miss Sin- 
 gleton was also safe, for the stable and out-buildings had 
 entirely escaped the flames ; it certainly had been no 
 part of the plan of the marauders to leave so well-appointed 
 a stud behind them, but the suddenness of the attack by 
 Lawton, not only disconcerted their arrangements on this 
 point, but on many others also. A guard was left on the 
 ground, under the command of Hollister, who, having dis- 
 covered that his enemy was of mortal mould, took his po- 
 sition with admirable coolness, and no little skill, to guard 
 against surprise. He drew off his small party to such a 
 distance from the ruins, that it was effectually concealed 
 in the darkness, while at the same time the light continued 
 sufficiently powerful to discover anyone who might ap- 
 proach the lawn with an intent to plunder. 
 
 Satisfied with this judicious arrangement, Captain Law- 
 ton made his dispositions for the march. Miss Peyton, 
 her two nieces, and Isabella, were placed in the chariot, 
 while the cart of Mrs. Flanagan, amply supplied with blan- 
 kets and a bed, was honored with the person of Captain 
 Singleton. Dr. Sitgreaves took charge of the chaise and 
 Mr. Whartou. What became of the rest of the family dur- 
 ing that eventful night is unknown, for Caesar alone, of 
 the domestics, was to be found, if we except the house- 
 keeper. Having disposed of the whole party in this man- 
 ner, Lawton gave the word to march. He remained him- 
 self, for a few minutes, alone on the lawn, secreting various 
 pieces of plate and other valuables, that he was fearful 
 might tempt the cupidity of his own men ; when, perceiv- 
 ing nothing more that he conceived likely to overcome 
 their honesty, he threw himself into the saddle with the 
 soldierly intention of bringing up the rear. 
 
 "Stop, stop," cried a female voice ; "will you leave me 
 alone to be murdered ? the spoon is melted, I believe, and 
 I'll have compensation, if there's law or justice in this un- 
 happy land." 
 
 Lawton turned an eye in the direction of the sound, and 
 perceived a female emerging from the ruins, loaded with 
 a bundle that vied in size with the renowned pack of the? 
 peddler. 
 
THE SPY. 2$\ 
 
 "Who have we here," said the trooper, "rising like a 
 phoenix from the flames ? Oh ! by the soul of Hippocrates, 
 but it is the identical she-doctor, of famous needle reputa- 
 tion. Well, my good woman, what means this outcry ?" 
 
 " Outcry ! " echoed Katy, panting for breath ; "is it not 
 disparagement enough to lose a silver spoon, but I must 
 be left alone in this lonesome place, to be robbed, and per- 
 haps murdered ? Harvey would not serve me so ; when I 
 lived with Harvey, I was always treated with respect, at 
 least, if he was a little close with his secrets, and wasteful 
 of his money." 
 
 "Then, madam, you once formed part of the household 
 of Mr. Harvey Birch?" 
 
 " You may say I was the whole of his household," re- 
 turned the other ; " there was nobody but I and he, and 
 the old gentleman ; you didn't know the old gentleman, 
 perhaps ? " 
 
 " That happiness was denied me ; how long did you live 
 in the family of Mr. Birch ? " 
 
 " I disremember the precise time, but it must have-been 
 hard on upon nine years ; and what better am I for it all ? " 
 
 " Sure enough ; I can see but little benefit that you 
 have derived from the association, truly. But is there not 
 something unusual in the movements and character of this 
 Mr. Birch?" 
 
 " Unusual is an easy word for such unaccountables ! " 
 replied Katy, lowering her voice, and looking around her ; 
 " he was a wonderful disregardful man, and minded a 
 guinea no more than I do a kernel of corn. But help me 
 to some way of joining Miss Jinitt, and I will tell you 
 prodigies of what Harvey has done, first and last." 
 
 "You will?'' exclaimed the trooper, musing ;" here, 
 give me leave to feel your arm above the elbow. There 
 you are not deficient in bone, let the blood be as it may." 
 So saying, he gave the spinster a sudden whirl that effect- 
 ually confused all her faculties, until she found herself 
 safely, if not comfortably, seated on the crupper of Law- 
 ton's steed. 
 
 " Now, madam, you have the consolation of knowing 
 that you are as well mounted as Washington. The nag is 
 sure of foot, and will leap like a panther." 
 
 " Let me get down," cried Katy, struggling to release 
 herself from his iron grasp, and yet afraid of falling ; " this 
 is no way to put a woman on a horse ; besides, I can't ride 
 without a pillion." 
 
252 THE SPY. 
 
 " Softly, good madam," said Lawton ; " for although 
 Roanoke never falls before, he sometimes rises behind. 
 He is far from being accustomed to a pair of heels beating 
 upon his flanks like a drum-major on a field-day ; a single 
 touch of the spur will serve him for a fortnight, and it is 
 by no means wise to be kicking in this manner, for he is a 
 horse that but little likes to be undone." 
 
 " Let me down, I say," screamed Katy ; " I shall fall and 
 be killed. Besides, I have nothing to hold on with ; my 
 arms are full of valuables." 
 
 " True," returned the trooper, observing that he had 
 brought bundle and all from the ground ; I perceive that 
 you belong to the baggage-guard ; but my sword-belt will 
 encircle your little waist, as well as my own." 
 
 Katy was too much pleased with this compliment to 
 make any resistance, while he buckled her close to his own 
 herculean frame, and, driving a spur into his charger, they 
 flew from the lawn with a rapidity that denied further de- 
 nial. After proceeding for some time at a rate that a 
 good deal discomposed the spinster, they overtook the cart 
 of the washerwoman driving slowly over the stones, with 
 a proper consideration for the wounds of Captain Single- 
 ton. The occurrences of that eventful night had produced 
 an excitement in the young soldier that was followed by 
 the ordinary lassitude of reaction, and he lay carefully en- 
 veloped in blankets, and supported by his man, but little 
 able to converse, though deeply brooding over the past. 
 The dialogue between Lawton and his companion ceased 
 with the commencement of their motions, but a foot pace 
 being more favorable to speech, the trooper began anew : 
 
 " Then, you have been an inmate in the same house with 
 Harvey Birch?" 
 
 " For more than nine years," said Katy, drawing her 
 breath, and rejoicing greatly that their speed was abated. 
 
 The deep tones of the trooper's voice were no sooner 
 conveyed to the ears of the washerwoman, than, turning 
 her head, where she sat directing the movements of the 
 mare, she put into the discourse at the first pause : 
 
 " Belike, then, good woman, yee'r knowing whether or 
 no he's akin to Beelzeboob," said Betty ; "it's sargeant 
 Hollister who's saying the same, and no fool is the sar- 
 geant, anyway." 
 
 " It's a scandalous disparagement," cried Katy, vehe- 
 mently ; " no kinder soul than Harvey carries a pack ; and 
 for a gownd or a tidy apron, he will never take a king's 
 
THE SPY. 255 
 
 farthing from a friend. Beelzebub, indeed ! For what 
 would he read the Bible, if he had dealings with the evil 
 spirit ? " 
 
 " He's an honest divil, anyway ; as I was saying before, 
 the guinea was pure. But then the sargeant thinks him 
 amiss, and it's no want of laming that Mister Hollister has." 
 
 " He's a fool," said Katy, tartly! " Harvey might be a 
 man of substance, were he not so disregardful. How often 
 have I told him, that if he did nothing but peddle, and 
 would put his gains to use, and get married, so that things 
 at home could be kept within doors, and leave off his deal- 
 ings with the rig'lars, and all incumberments, that he would 
 soon become an excellent liver. Sargeant Hollister would 
 be glad to hold a candle to him, indeed ! " 
 
 " Pooh ! " said Betty, in her philosophical way ; " yee're 
 no thinking that Mister Hollister is an officer, and stands 
 next the cornet in the troop. But this piddler gave warn- 
 ing of the brush the night, and it's no sure that Captain 
 Jack would have got the day, but for the reinforcement." 
 
 " How say you, Betty," cried the trooper, bending for- 
 ward on his saddle ; " had you notice of our danger from 
 Birch ? " 
 
 " The very same, darling ; and it's hurry I was till the 
 boys was in motion ; not but I know yee'r enough for the 
 Cow-boys any time. But vvid the divil on your side, I was 
 sure of the day. I'm only wondering there's so little plun- 
 der, in a business of Beelzeboob's contriving." 
 
 " I'm obliged to you for the rescue, and equally indebted 
 to the motive." 
 
 " Is it the plunder ? But little did I think of it till I saw 
 the movables on the ground, some burnt, and some broke, 
 and other some as good as new. It would be convanient 
 to have one feather-bed in the corps, anyway." 
 
 " By heavens, 'twas timely succor ! Had not Roanoke 
 been swifter than their bullets, I must have fallen. The 
 animal is worth his weight in gold." 
 
 " It's continental, you mane, darling. Gould weighs 
 heavy, and is no plenty in the states. If the nagur hadn't 
 been staying and frightening the sargeant with his copper- 
 colored looks, and a matter of blarney 'bout ghosts, we 
 should have been in time to have killed all the dogs, and 
 taken the rest prisoners." 
 
 " It is very well as it is, Betty," said Lawton ; " a day 
 will yet come, I trust, when those miscreants shall be re- 
 warded, if not in judgments upon their persons, at least in 
 
254 THE 
 
 the opinions of their fellow-citizens. The time must ar- 
 rive when America will learn to distinguish between a 
 patriot and a robber." 
 
 " Speak low," said Katy ; " there's some one who think 
 much of themselves, that have doings with the Skinners." 
 
 "It's more they are thinking of themselves, then, than 
 other people thinks of them," cried Betty ; "a tiefs a tief 
 anyway ; whether he stales for King George or for Con- 
 gress." 
 
 " I know'd that evil would soon happen," said Katy ; " the 
 sun set to-night behind a black cloud, and the house-dog 
 whined, although I gave him his supper with my own 
 hands ; besides, it's not a week sin' I dreamed the dream 
 about the thousand lighted candles, and the cakes being 
 burnt in the oven." 
 
 " Well," said Betty, " it's but little I drame, anyway. 
 Jest keep an asy conscience and a plenty of the stuff in 
 yes, and ye'll sleep like an infant. The last drame I had 
 was when the boys put the thistle-tops in the blankets, and 
 then I was thinking that Captain Jack's man was currying 
 me down, for the matter of Roanoke ; but it's no trifle I 
 mind either in skin or stomach." 
 
 " I'm sure," said Katy, with a stiff erection that drew 
 Lawton back in his saddle, " no man shall ever dare to lay 
 hands on bed of mine ; it's undecent and despisable con- 
 duct." 
 
 " Pooh ! pooh ! " cried Betty ; " if you tag after a troop 
 of horse, a small bit of a joke must be borne ; what would 
 become of the states and liberty, if the boys had never a 
 clane shirt, or a drop to comfort them. Ask Captain Jack, 
 there, if they'd fight, Mrs. Beelzeboob, and they no clane 
 linen to keep the victory in." 
 
 "I'm a single woman, and my name is Haynes," said 
 Katy, "and I'd thank you to use no disparaging terms 
 when speaking to me." 
 
 "You must tolerate a little license in the tongue of Mrs. 
 Flanagan, madam, "said the trooper ; " the drop she speaks 
 of is often of an extraordinary size, and then she has ac- 
 quired the freedom of a soldier's manner." 
 
 "Tooh ! captain, darling," cried Betty; "why do you 
 bother the woman ! talk like yeerself, dear, and it's no fool 
 of a tongue that ye've got in yeer own head. But it's here 
 away that the sargeant made a halt, thinking there might 
 be more divils than one stirring, the night. The clouds 
 are as black as Arnold's heart, and deuce the star is there 
 
THE SPY. 255 
 
 twinkling among them. Well, the mare is used to a march 
 after nightfall, and is smelling out the road like a pointer 
 slut." 
 
 " It wants but little to the rising moon," observed the 
 trooper. He called a dragoon, who was riding in advance, 
 issued a few orders and cautions relative to the comfort 
 and safety of Singleton, and speaking a consoling word to 
 his friend himself, gave Roanoke the spur, and dashed by 
 the cart at a rate that again put to flight all the philoso- 
 phy of Catharine Haynes. 
 
 "Good luck to yee, for a free rider and a bold ! " shouted 
 the washerwoman, as he passed ; " if yee're meeting Mister 
 Beelzeboob, jist baak the baste up to him, and show him 
 his consort that yee've got an the crupper. I'm thinking 
 it's no long he'd tarry to chat. Well, well, it's his life that 
 we saved, he was saying so himself though the plunder is 
 nothing to signify." 
 
 The cries of Betty Flanagan were too familiar to the 
 ears of Captain Lawton to elicit a reply. Notwithstanding 
 the unusual burden that Roanoke sustained, he got over 
 the ground with great rapidity, and the distance between 
 the cart of Mrs. Flanagan and the chariot of Miss Peyton 
 was passed in a manner that, however it answered the in- 
 tentions of the trooper, in no degree contributed to the 
 comfort of his companion. The meeting occurred but a 
 short distance from the quarters of Lawton, and at the 
 same instant the moon broke from behind a mass of clouds, 
 and threw its light upon objects. 
 
 Compared with the simple elegance and substantial 
 comfort of the Locusts, the " Hotel Flanagan " presented 
 but a dreary spectacle. In the place of carpeted floors and 
 curtained windows, were the yawning cracks of a rudely- 
 constructed dwelling, and boards and paper were in- 
 geniously applied to supply the place of the green glass 
 in more than half the lights. The care of Lawton had an- 
 ticipated every improvement that their situation would 
 allow, and blazing fires were made before the party arrived. 
 The dragoons who had been charged with this duty had 
 conveyed a few necessary articles of furniture, and her 
 companions, on alighting, found something like habitable 
 apartments prepared for their reception. The mind of 
 Sarah had continued to wander during the ride, and, with 
 the ingenuity of the insane, she accommodated every cir- 
 cumstance to the feelings that were uppermost in her 
 own bosom. 
 
256 THE SPY. 
 
 " It is impossible to minister to a, mind that has sustained 
 such a blow," said Lavvton to Isabella Singleton ; " time and 
 God's mercy can alone cure it ; but something more may 
 be done toward the bodily comfort of all. You are a sol- 
 dier's daughter, and used to scenes like this ; help me to 
 exclude some of the cold air from these windows." 
 
 Miss Singleton acceded to his request, and while Lawton 
 was endeavoring, from without, to remedy the defect of 
 broken panes, Isabella was arranging a substitute for a cur- 
 tain within. 
 
 "I hear the cart," said the trooper, in reply to one of 
 her interrogatories. " Betty is tender-hearted in the main ; 
 believe me, poor George will not only be safe, but com- 
 fortable." 
 
 " God bless her for her care, and bless you all," said 
 Isabella, fervently. " Dr. Sitgreaves has gone down the 
 road to meet him, I know what is that glittering in the 
 moon ?" 
 
 Directly opposite the window where they stood, were 
 the out-buildings of the farm, and the quick eye of Lawton 
 caught at a glance the object to which she alluded. 
 
 " 'Tis the glare of firearms," said the trooper, springing 
 from the window toward his charger, which yet remained 
 caparisoned at the door. His movement was quick as 
 thought, but a flash of fire was followed by the whistling 
 of a bullet before he had proceeded a step. A loud shriek 
 burst from the dwelling, and the captain sprang into his 
 saddle ; the whole was the business of but a moment. 
 
 "Mount mount and follow!" shouted the trooper; 
 and before his astonished men could understand the cause 
 of alarm, Roanoke had carried him in safety over the fence 
 which lay between him and his foe. The chase was for 
 life or death, but the distance to the rocks was again too 
 short, and the disappointed trooper saw his intended vic- 
 tim vanish in their clefts, where he could not follow. 
 
 "By the life of Washington!" muttered Lawton, as he 
 sheathed his sabre, "I would have made two halves of him 
 had he not been so nimble on the foot but a time will 
 come ! " So saying he returned to his quarters, with the 
 indifference of a man who knew his life was at any moment 
 to be offered a sacrifice to his country. An extraordinary 
 tumult in the house induced him to quicken his speed ; on 
 arriving at the door, the panic-stricken Katy informed him 
 that the bullet, aimed at his own life, had taken effect in 
 the bosom of Miss Singleton. 
 
THE SPY. 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Hush'd were his Gertrude's lips ! but still their bland 
 And beautiful expression seem'd to melt 
 With love that could not die ! and still his hand 
 She presses to the heart no more that felt. 
 
 Gertrude of Wyoming. 
 
 THE brief arrangements of the dragoons had prepared 
 two apartments for the reception of the ladies, the one be- 
 ing intended as a sleeping-room, and situated within the 
 other. Into the latter Isabella was immediately conveyed, 
 at her own request, and placed on a rude bed by the side' 
 of the unconscious Sarah. When Miss Peyton and Frances 
 flew to her assistance, they found her with a smile on her 
 pallid lip, and a composure in her countenance that in- 
 duced them to think her uninjured. 
 
 " God be praised ! " exclaimed the trembling aunt ; " the 
 report of firearms, and your fall, had led me into an error. 
 Surely, surely, there was enough of horror before ; but this 
 has been spared us." 
 
 Isabella pressed her hand upon her bosom, still smiling, 
 but with a ghastliness that curdled the blood of Frances. 
 
 "Is George far distant ? " she asked ; " let him know 
 hasten him, that I may see my brother once again." 
 
 " It is as I apprehended ! " shrieked Miss Peyton ; " but 
 you smile surely you are not hurt ! " 
 
 "Quite well quite happy," murmured Isabella; " here 
 is a remedy for every pain." 
 
 Sarah arose from the reclining posture she had taken, 
 and gazed wildly at her companion. She stretched forth 
 her own hand, and raised that of Isabella from her bosom. 
 It was dyed in blood. 
 
 " See," said Sarah, " but will it not wash away love ? 
 Marry, young woman, and then no one can expel him from 
 your heart, unless " she added, whispering, and bending 
 over the other "you find another there before you ; then 
 die, and go to heaven there are no wives in heaven." 
 
 The lovely maniac hid her face under the clothes, and 
 continued silent during the remainder of the night. At 
 this moment Lawton entered. Inured as he was to danger 
 in all its forms, and accustomed to the horrors af d partisan 
 war, the trooper could not behold the ruin before him un- 
 
 '7 
 
258 THE SPY. 
 
 moved. He bent over the fragile form of Isabella, and his 
 gloomy eye betrayed the workings of his soul. 
 
 " Isabella," he at length uttered, " I know you to pos- 
 sess a courage beyond the strength of woman." 
 
 "Speak," she said, earnestly ; " if you have anything to 
 say, speak fearlessly." 
 
 The trooper averted his face as he replied : "None ever 
 receive a ball there, and survive." 
 
 " I have no dread of death, Lawton," returned Isabella 
 "I thank you for not doubting me ; I felt it from the 
 first." 
 
 " These are not scenes for a form like yours," added the 
 trooper ; "'tis enough that Britain calls our youth to the 
 field ; but when such loveliness becomes the victim of war, 
 I sicken of my trade." 
 
 " Hear me, Captain Lawton," said Isabella, raising her- 
 self with difficulty, but rejecting aid ; "from early woman- 
 hood to the present hour have I been an mmate of camps 
 and garrisons. I have lived to cheer the leisure of an aged 
 father, and think you I would change those days of danger 
 and privation for any ease ? No ! I have the consolation 
 of knowing in my dying moments, that what woman could 
 do in such a cause I have done." 
 
 " Who could prove a recreant and witness such a spirit ! 
 Hundreds of warriors have I witnessed in their blood, but 
 never a firmer soul among them all." 
 
 " 'Tis the soul only," said Isabella ; " my sex and strength 
 have denied me the dearest of privileges. But to you, Cap- 
 tain Lawton, nature has been more bountiful ; you have an 
 arm and a heart to devote to the cause ; and I know they 
 are an arm and a heart that will prove true to the last. 
 
 And George and " she paused, her lip quivered, and 
 
 her eye sank to the floor. 
 
 "And Dunwoodie!" added the trooper; ''would you 
 speak of Dunwoodie ? " 
 
 '* Name him not," said Isabella, sinking back and con- 
 cealing her face in her garments ; " leave me, Lawton 
 prepare poor George for this unexpected blow." 
 
 The trooper continued for a little while gazing, in melan- 
 choly interest, at the convulsive shudderings of her frame, 
 which the scanty covering could not conceal, and withdrew 
 to meet his comrade. The interview between Singleton 
 and his sister was painful, and, for a moment, Isabella 
 yielded to a burst of tenderness ; but, as if aware that her 
 hours were numbered, she was the first to rouse herself to 
 
THE SPY. 259 
 
 exertion. At her earnest request, the room was left to 
 herself, the captain, and Frances. The repeated applica- 
 tions of the surgeon, to be permitted to use professional 
 aid, were steadily rejected, and, at length, he was obliged 
 unwillingly to retire. 
 
 " Raise me," said the dying young woman, " and let me 
 look on a face that I love once more." Frances silently 
 complied, and Isabella turned her eyes in sisterly affection 
 upon George" It matters but little, my brother ; a few 
 hours must close the scene." 
 
 " Live, Isabella, my sister, my only sister ! " cried the 
 youth, with a burst of sorrow that he could not control ; 
 " my father ! my poor father " 
 
 " There is the sting of death ; but he is a soldier and a 
 Christian. Miss Wharton, I would speak of what interests 
 you, while yet I have strength for the task." 
 
 " Nay," said Frances, tenderly, " compose yourself ; let 
 no desire to oblige me endanger a life that is precious to 
 to so many." The words were nearly stifled by her emo- 
 tions, for the other had touched a chord that thrilled to 
 her heart. 
 
 " Poor, sensitive girl !" said Isabella, regarding her with 
 tender interest ; " but the world is still before you, and why 
 should I disturb the little happiness it may afford ! Dream 
 on, lovely innocent, and may God keep the evil day of 
 knowledge far distant !" 
 
 " Oh, there is even now little left for me to enjoy," said 
 Frances, burying her face in the clothes ; " I am heart- 
 stricken in all that I most loved." 
 
 "No!" interrupted Isabella; "you have one induce- 
 ment to wish for life, that pleads strongly in a woman's 
 breast. It is a delusion that nothing but death can destroy 
 ' Exhaustion compelled her to pause, and her auditors 
 continued in breathless suspense, until, recovering her 
 strength, she laid her hand on that of Frances, and contin- 
 ued more mildly: "Miss Wharton, if there breathes a 
 spirit congenial to Dunwoodie's, and worthy of his love, it 
 is your own." 
 
 A flush of fire passed over the face of the listener, and 
 she raised her eyes, flashing with an ungovernable look of 
 delight, to the countenance of Isabella ; but the ruin she 
 beheld recalled better feelings, and again her head dropped 
 upon the covering of the bed. Isabella watched her emo- 
 tion with a look that partook both of pity and admiration. 
 
 " Such have been the feelings that I have escaped," she 
 
260 THE SPY. 
 
 continued ; " yes, Miss Wharton, Dunwoodie is wholly 
 yours." 
 
 " Be just to yourself, my sister," exclaimed the youth ; 
 "let no romantic generosity cause you to forget your own 
 character." 
 
 She heard him, and fixed a gaze of tender interest on 
 his face, but slowly shook her head as she replied : 
 
 " It is not romance, but truth, that bids me speak. Oh ! 
 how much have I lived within an hour ! Miss Wharton, I 
 was born under a burning sun, and my feelings seem to 
 have imbibed its warmth ; I have existed for passion only." 
 
 "Say not so say not so, I implore you," cried the agi- 
 tated brother ; " think how devoted has been your love to 
 our aged father ; how disinterested, how tender, your af- 
 fection to me ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Isabella, a smile of mild pleasure beaming 
 on her countenance : " that, at least, is a reflection which 
 may be taken to the grave." 
 
 Neither Frances nor her brother interrupted her medita- 
 tions, which continued for several minutes ; when, sud- 
 denly recollecting herself, she continued : 
 
 " I remain selfish even to the last ; with me, Miss Whar- 
 ton, America and her liberties was my earliest passion, and 
 
 '' again she paused, and Frances thought it was the 
 
 struggle of death that followed ; but reviving, she pro- 
 ceeded : " Why should I hesitate on the brink of the 
 grave ? Dunwoodie was my next and my last. But," 
 burying her face in her hands, "it was a love that was 
 unsought." 
 
 "Isabella!" exclaimed her brother, springing from the 
 bed, and pacing the floor in disorder. 
 
 " See how dependent we become under the dominion of 
 worldly pride ; it is painful to George to learn that one he 
 loves had not feelings superior to her nature and educa- 
 tion." 
 
 "Say no more," whispered Frances; "you distress us 
 both say no more, I entreat you." 
 
 " In justice to Dunwoodie I must speak ; and for the 
 same reason, my brother, you must listen. By no act or 
 word has Dunwoodie ever induced me to believe he wished 
 me more than a friend ; nay, latterly, I have had the burn- 
 ing shame of thinking that he avoided my presence." 
 
 " Would he dare ? " said Singleton, fiercely. 
 
 " Peace, my brother, and listen," continued Isabella, 
 rousing herself with an effort that was final ; " here is the 
 
THE SPY. 261 
 
 innocent, the justifiable cause. We are both motherless ; 
 but that aunt that mild, plain-hearted, observing aunt, 
 has given you the victory. Oh ! how much she loses who 
 loses a female guardian to her youth. I have exhibited 
 those feelings which you have been taught to repress. 
 After this, can I wish to live ? " 
 
 " Isabella ! my poor Isabella ! you wander in your 
 mind." 
 
 " But one word more for I feel that blood, which ever 
 flowed too swiftly, rushing where nature never intended it 
 to go. Woman must be sought to be prized ; her life is 
 one of concealed emotions ; blessed are they whose early 
 impressions make the task free from hypocrisy, for such 
 only can be happy with men like like Dunwoodie." Her 
 voice failed, and she sank back on her pillow in silence. 
 The cry of Singleton brought the rest of the party to her 
 bedside, but death was already upon her countenance ; 
 her remaining strength just sufficed to reach the hand of 
 George, and, pressing it to her bosom for a moment, she 
 relinquished her grasp, and, with a slight convulsion, ex- 
 pired. 
 
 Frances Wharton had thought that fate had done its 
 worst in endangering the life of her brother and destroy- 
 ing the reason of her sister ; but the relief conveyed by 
 the dying declaration of Isabella taught her that another 
 sorrow had aided in loading her heart with grief. She 
 saw the whole truth at a glance ; nor was the manly de- 
 licacy of Dunwoodie lost upon her everything tended to 
 raise him in her estimation ; and, for mourning that 
 duty and pride had induced her to strive to think less of 
 him, she was compelled to substitute regret that her own 
 act had driven him from her in sorrow, if not in despera- 
 tion. It is not in the nature of youth, however, to de- 
 spair ; and Frances knew a secret joy in the midst of her 
 distress, that gave a new spring to her existence. 
 
 The sun broke forth, on the morning that succeeded 
 this night of desolation, in unclouded lustre, and seemed 
 to mock the petty sorrows of those who received his rays. 
 Law 7 ton had early ordered his steed, and was ready to 
 mount as the first burst of light broke over the hills. His 
 orders were already given, and the trooper threw his leg 
 across the saddle in silence ; and, casting a glance of fierce 
 chagrin at the narrow space that had favored the flight of 
 the Skinner, he gave Roanoke the rein, and moved slowly 
 toward the valley. 
 
262 THE SPY. 
 
 The stillness of death pervaded the road, nor was there 
 a single vestige of the scenes of the night to tarnish the 
 loveliness of a glorious morn. Struck with the contrast 
 between man and nature, the fearless trooper rode by 
 each pass of danger, regardless of what might happen ; 
 nor did he rouse himself from his musing until the noble 
 charger, snuffing the morning air, greeted the steeds of 
 the guard under Sergeant Hollister. 
 
 Here, indeed, was to be seen sad evidence of the mid- 
 night fray ; but the trooper glanced his eye over it with 
 the coolness of one accustomed to such sights. Without 
 wasting the moments in useless regrets, he proceeded, at 
 once, to business. 
 
 " Have you seen anything ? " he demanded of the or- 
 derly. 
 
 " Nothing, sir, that we dared to charge upon," returned 
 Hollister ; " but we mounted once, at the report of dis- 
 tant firearms." 
 
 "'Tis well," said Lawton, gloomily. "Ah! Hollister, 
 I would give the animal I ride to have had your single 
 arm between the wretch who drew that trigger and these 
 useless rocks, which overhang every bit of ground as if 
 they grudged pasture to a single hoof." 
 
 " Under the light of day, and charging man to man, I 
 am as good as another ; but I can't say that I'm over-fond 
 of fighting with those that neither steel nor lead can bring 
 down." 
 
 " What silly crotchet is uppermost, now, in that mysti- 
 fied brain of thine, Deacon Hollister ? " 
 
 " I like not the dark object that has been manoeuvring 
 in the skirt of the wood since the first dawn of day ; and 
 twice, during the night, it was seen marching across the 
 firelight, no doubt with evil intent." 
 
 " Is it yon ball of black, at the foot of the rock-maple, 
 that you mean ? In truth it moves." 
 
 " But without mortal motion," said the sergeant, re- 
 garding it with awful reverence ; " it glides along, but no 
 feet have been seen by any who watch it here." 
 
 " Had it wings," cried Lawton, " it is mine ; stand fast 
 until I join." The words were hardly uttered before Roa- 
 noke was flying across the plain, and apparently verifying 
 the boast of his master. 
 
 "Those cursed rocks!" ejaculated the trooper, as he 
 saw the object of his pursuit approaching the hillside ; 
 but either from want of practice or from terror, it passed 
 
THE SPY. 263 
 
 the obvious shelter they offered, and fled into the open 
 plain. 
 
 " I have you, man or devil ! " shouted Lawton, whirling 
 his sabre from its scabbard. " Halt, and take quarter ! "" 
 
 His proposition was apparently acceded to ; for at the 
 sound of his powerful voice the figure sank upon the 
 ground, exhibiting a shapeless ball of black, without life or 
 motion. 
 
 "What have we here?" cried Lawton, drawing up by 
 its side ; "a gala suit of the good maiden, Jeanette Peyton, 
 wandering around its birthplace, or searching in vain for 
 its discomfited mistress ? " He leaned forward in his stir- 
 rups, and placing the point of the sword under the silken 
 garment, by throwing aside the covering, discovered part 
 of the form of the reverend gentleman who had fled from 
 the Locusts, the evening before, in his robes of office. 
 
 " In truth, Hollister had some ground for his alarm ; an 
 army chaplain is, at any time, a terror to a troop of 
 horse." 
 
 The clergyman had collected enough of his disturbed 
 faculties to discover that it was a face he knew, and, 
 somewhat disconcerted at the terror he had manifested, 
 and the indecent attitude in which he had been found, he 
 endeavored to rise and offer some explanation. Lawton 
 received his apologies good-humoredly, if not with much 
 faith in their truth ; and, after a short communication 
 upon the state of the valley, the trooper courteously 
 alighted, and they proceeded toward the guard. 
 
 " I am so little acquainted, sir, with the rebel uniform, 
 that I really was unable to distinguish whether those 
 men, whom you say are your own, did or did not belong 
 to the gang of marauders." 
 
 " Apology, sir, is unnecessary," replied the trooper, 
 curling his lip ; "it is not your task, as a minister of God, 
 to take note of the facings of a coat. The standard under 
 which you serve is acknowledged by us all." 
 
 " I serve under the standard of his gracious Majesty 
 George III.," returned the priest, wiping the cold sweat 
 from his brow ; " but really, the idea of being scalped has 
 a strong tendency to unman a new beginner, like myself." 
 
 "Scalped ! " echoed Lawton, stopping short in his walk ; 
 then recollecting himself, he added, with composure "If 
 it is to Dunwoodie's squadron of Virginian light dragoons 
 that you alluded, it may be well to inform you that they 
 generally take a bit of the skull with the skin." 
 
264 THE SPY. 
 
 " Oh ! I can have no apprehensions of gentlemen of 
 your appearance," said the divine, with a smirk ; " it i? 
 the natives that I apprehend." 
 
 " Natives ! I have the honor to be one, I do assure you, 
 sir." 
 
 " Nay, I beg that I may be understood I mean the 
 Indians ; they who do nothing but rob, and murder, and 
 destroy." 
 
 " And scalp ! " 
 
 "Yes, sir, and scalp too," continued the clergyman, ey- 
 ing his companion a little suspiciously; " the copper-col- 
 ored, savage Indians." 
 
 " And did you expect to meet those nose-jewelled gen- 
 try in the neutral ground ? " 
 
 <; Certainly ; we understand in England that the interior 
 swarms with them." 
 
 "And call you this the interior of America?'' cried 
 Lavvton, again halting, and staring the other in the face 
 with a surprise too naturally expressed to be counterfeited. 
 
 " Surely, sir, I conceive myself to be in the interior." 
 
 "Attend," said Lavvton, pointing toward the east; "see 
 you not that broad sheet of water which the eye cannot 
 compass ? thither lies the England you deem worthy to 
 hold dominion over half the world. See you the land of 
 your nativity ? " 
 
 " 'Tis impossible to behold objects at a distance of three 
 thousand miles !" exclaimed the wondering priest, a little 
 suspicious of his companion's sanity. 
 
 " No ! what a pity it is that the powers of man are not 
 equal to his ambition. Now turn your eyes westward ; 
 observe that vast expanse of water which rolls between the 
 shores of America and China." 
 
 "I see nothing but land," said the trembling priest; 
 " there is no water to be seen." 
 
 "'Tis impossible to behold objects at a distance of three 
 thousand miles ! " repeated Lawton, pursuing his walk ; 
 "if you apprehend the savages, seek them in the ranks of 
 your prince. Rum and gold have preserved their loyalty." 
 
 " Nothing is more probable than my being deceived," 
 said the man of peace, casting furtive glances at the colos- 
 sal stature and whiskered front of his companion ; "but 
 Ihe rumors we have at home, and the uncertainty of meet- 
 ing with such an erremy as yourself, induced me to fly at 
 your approach." 
 
 " Tvvas not judiciously determined," said the trooper, 
 
THE SPY. 265 
 
 " as Roanoke has the heels of you greatly ; and flying from 
 Scylla, you were liable to encounter Charybdis. Those 
 woods and rocks cover the very enemies you dread." 
 
 " The savages !" exclaimed the divine, instinctively 
 placing the trooper in the rear. 
 
 " More than savages ; men who, under the guise of pa- 
 triotism, prowl through the community with a thirst for 
 plunder that is unsatiable, and a love of cruelty that mocks 
 the ingenuity of the Indian. Fellows whose mouths are 
 filled with liberty and equality, and whose hearts are over- 
 flowing with cupidity and gall gentlemen that are ycleped 
 the Skinners." 
 
 " I have heard them mentioned in our army," said the 
 frightened divine, " and had brought them to be the abori- 
 gines." 
 
 " You did the savages injustice." 
 
 They now approached the spot occupied by Hollister, 
 who witnessed with surprise the character of the prisoner 
 made by his captain. Lawton gave his orders, and the 
 men immediately commenced securing and removing such 
 articles of furniture as were thought worthy of the trouble ; 
 and the captain, with his reverend associate, who was 
 mounted on a mettled horse, returned to the quarters of 
 the troop. 
 
 It was the wish of Singleton that the remains of his 
 sister should be conveyed to the post commanded by his 
 father, and preparations were early made to this- effect. 
 The wounded British were placed under the control of the 
 chaplain ; and toward the middle of the day Lawton saw 
 all the arrangements so far completed, as to render it prob- 
 able that in a few hours he would be left, with his small 
 party, in undisturbed possession of the Corners. 
 
 While leaning in the doorway, gazing in moody silence 
 at the ground which had been the scene of the last night's 
 chase, his ear caught the sound of a horse, and the next 
 moment a dragoon of his own troop appeared dashing up 
 the road, as if on business of the last importance. The 
 steed was foaming, and the rider had the appearance of 
 having done a hard day's service. Without speaking, he 
 placed a letter in the hand of Lawton, and led his charger 
 to the stable. The trooper knew the hand of the major, 
 and ran his eye over the following : 
 
 " I rejoice it is the order of Washington, that the family 
 of the Locusts are to be removed above the Highlands. 
 They are to be admitted to the society of Captain Whar- 
 
66 THE STY. 
 
 ton, who waits only for their testimony to be tried. You 
 will communicate this order, and with proper delicacy I 
 do not doubt. The English are moving up the river ; and 
 the moment you see the Whartons in safety, break up, and 
 join your troop. There will be good service to be done 
 when we meet, as>Sir Henry is reported to have sent out 
 a real soldier in command. Reports must be made to the 
 commandment at Peekskill, for Colonel Singleton is with- 
 drawn to headquarters, to preside over the inquiry upon 
 poor Wharton. Fresh orders have been sent to haog the 
 peddler if w r e can take him, but they are not from the 
 Commander-in-chief. Detail a small guard with the ladies, 
 and get into the saddle as soon as possible. 
 
 "Yours sincerely, 
 
 " PEYTON DUNWOODIE." 
 
 This communication entirely changed the whole ar- 
 rangement. There was no longer any motive for remov- 
 ing the body of Isabella, since her father was no longer 
 with his command, and Singleton reluctantly acquiesced 
 in an immediate interment. A retired and lovely spot was 
 selected near the foot of the adjacent rocks, and such rude 
 preparations were made as the time and the situation of 
 the country permitted. A few of the neighboring inhabi- 
 tants collected, from curiosity and interest, and Miss Pey- 
 ton and Frances wept in sincerity over her grave. The 
 solemn offices of the Church were performed by the min- 
 ister who. had so lately stood forth to officiate in another 
 and very different duty ; and Lawton bent his head, and 
 passed his hand across his brow, while the words that ac- 
 companied the first clod were uttered. 
 
 A new stimulus was given to the Whartons by the in- 
 telligence conveyed in the letter of Dunwoodie ; and 
 Caesar, with his horses, was once more put in requisition. 
 The relics of the property were intrusted to a neighbor, in 
 whom they had confidence ; and accompanied by the un- 
 conscious Sarah, and attended by four dragoons and all 
 the American wounded, Mr. Wharton's party took their 
 departure. They were speedily followed by the English 
 chaplain, with his countrymen, who were conveyed to the 
 waterside, where a vessel* was in waiting to receive them. 
 Lawton joyfully witnessed these movements ; and as soon 
 as the latter were out of sight, he ordered his own bugle 
 to sound. Everything was instantly in motion. The mare 
 of Mrs. Flanagan was again fastened to the cart ; Dr. Sit- 
 
771 E SPY, 267 
 
 greaves exhibited his shapeless form once more on horse- 
 back ; and the trooper appeared in the saddle, rejoicing 
 in his emancipation. The word to march was given ; and 
 Lawton, throwing a look of sullen ferocity at the place of 
 the Skinner's concealment, and another of melancholy re- 
 gret toward the grave of Isabella, led the way, accompanied 
 by the surgeon in a brown study ; while Sergeant Hollis- 
 ter and Betty brought up the rear, leaving a fresh south- 
 erly wind to whistle through the open doors and broken 
 windows of the " Hotel Flanagan," where the laugh of 
 hilarity, the joke of the hardy partisan, and the lamenta- 
 tions of the sorrowing, had so lately echoed. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array, 
 
 But winter lingering chills the lap of May, 
 
 No zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast, 
 
 But meteors glare, and stormy glooms invest. GOLDSMITH. 
 
 THE roads of Westchester are, at this hour, below the 
 improvements of the country. Their condition at the time 
 of the tale has already been alluded to in these pages ; and 
 the reader will, therefore, easily imagine the task assumed 
 by Caesar, when he undertook to guide the translated char- 
 iot of the English prelate through their windings, into one 
 of the less frequented passes of the Highlands of the Hud- 
 son. 
 
 While Caesar and his steeds were contending with these 
 difficulties, the inmates of the carriage were too much en- 
 grossed with their own cares to attend to those who served 
 them. The mind of Sarah had ceased to wander so wildly 
 as at first ; but at every advance that she made toward 
 reason, she seemecj to retire a step from animation ; from 
 being excited and flighty, she was gradually becoming 
 moody and melancholy. There were moments, indeed, 
 when her anxious companions thought that they could dis- 
 cern marks of recollection ; but the expression of exquisite 
 woe that accompanied these transient gleams of reason, 
 forced them to the dreadful alternative of wishing that she 
 might forever be spared the agony of thought. The day's 
 march was performed chiefly in silence, and the party 
 found shelter for the night in different farm-houses. 
 
268 THE SPY. 
 
 The following morning the cavalcade dispersed. The 
 wounded diverged toward the river, with the intention of 
 taking water at Peekskill, in order to be transported to the 
 hospitals of the American army above. The litter of Sin- 
 gletori was conveyed to a part of the Highlands where his 
 lather held his quarters, and where it was intended that the 
 youth should complete his cure ; the carriage of Mr. Whar- 
 ton, accompanied by a wagon conveying the house-keeper 
 and what baggage had been saved, and could be trans- 
 ported, resumed its route toward the place where Henry 
 Wharton was held in duresse, and where he only waited 
 their arrival to be put on trial for his life. 
 
 The country which lies between the waters of the Hud- 
 son and Long Island Sound is, for the first forty miles from 
 their junction, a succession of hills and dales. The land 
 bordering on the latter then becomes less abrupt and grad- 
 ually assumes a milder appearance, until it finally melts 
 into the lovely plains and meadows of the Connecticut. 
 But as you approach the Hudson the rugged aspect in- 
 creases, until you at length meet with the formidable bar- 
 rier of the Highlands. Here the Neutral Ground ceased. 
 The royal army held the two points of land that commanded 
 the southern entrance of the river into the mountains ; but 
 all the remaining passes were guarded by the Americans. 
 
 We have already stated that the pickets of the conti- 
 nental army were sometimes pushed low into the county, 
 and that the hamlet of the White Plains was occasionally 
 maintained by parties of its troops. At other times the ad- 
 vanced guards were withdrawn to the northern extremity 
 of the county, and, as has been shown, the intermediate 
 country was abandoned to the ravages of the miscreants 
 who plundered between both armies, serving neither. 
 
 The road taken by our party was not the one that com- 
 municates between the two principal cities of the State, but 
 was a retired and unfrequented pass, that to this hour is 
 but little known, and which, entering the hills near the 
 eastern boundary, emerges into the plain above many 
 miles from the Hudson. 
 
 It would have been impossible for the tired steeds of Mr. 
 Wharton to drag the heavy chariot up the lengthened and 
 steep ascents which now lay before them ; and a pair of 
 country horses were procured, with but little regard to 
 their owner's wishes, by the two dragoons who still contin- 
 ued to accompany the party. With their assistance Caesar 
 was enabled to advance, by slow and toilsome steps, into 
 
THE SPY. 269 
 
 the bosom of the hills. Willing to relieve her own melan- 
 choly by breathing a fresher air, and also to lessen the 
 weight, Frances alighted as they reached the foot of the 
 mountain. She found that Katy had made similar prepa- 
 rations, with the like intention of walking to the summit. 
 It was near the setting of the sun, and, from the top of the 
 mountain, their guard had declared that the end of theii 
 journey might be discerned. Frances moved forward with 
 the elastic step of youth ; and, followed by the house- 
 keeper at a little distance, she soon lost sight of the slug- 
 gish carriage, that was slowly toiling up the hill, occasion- 
 ally halting to allow the cattle to breathe. 
 
 "Oh, Miss Fanny, what dreadful times these be !" said 
 Katy, when they paused for breath themselves; " I know'd 
 that calamity was about to befall, ever sin' the streak of 
 blood was seen in the clouds." 
 
 " There has been blood upon earth, Katy, though but 
 little is ever seen in the clouds." 
 
 " Not blood in the clouds ?" echoed the house-keeper , 
 "yes, that there has, often, and comets with fiery, smoking 
 tails. Didn't people see armed men in the heavens, the 
 year the war begun ? and, the night before the battle of the 
 Plains, wasn't there thunder, like the cannon themselves ? 
 Ah ! Miss Fanny, I'm fearful that no good can follow 
 rebellion against the Lord's anointed ! " 
 
 " These events are certainly dreadful," returned Frances, 
 " and enough to sicken the stoutest heart. But what can 
 be done, Katy ? Gallant and independent men are unwil- 
 ling to submit to oppression ; and I am fearful that such 
 scenes are but too common in war." 
 
 " If I could but see anything to fight about," said Katy, 
 renewing her walk as the young lady proceeded, " I 
 shouldn't mind it so much. 'Twas said the king wanted 
 all the tea for his own family, atone time ; and then again, 
 that he meant the colonies should pay over to him all their 
 earnings. Now this is matter enough to fight about for 
 I'm sure that no one, however he maybe lord or king, has 
 a right to the hard earnings of another. Then it was all 
 contradicted, and some said Washington wanted to be 
 king himself ; so that between the two, one doesn't know 
 which to believe." 
 
 " Believe neither for neither is true. I do not pretend 
 to understand, myself, all the merits of this war, Katy ; 
 but to me it seems unnatural that a country like this 
 should be ruled by another so distant as England." 
 
270 THE SPY. 
 
 " So I have heard Harvey say to his father, that Is dead 
 and in his grave," returned Katy, approaching nearer to 
 the young lady, and lowering her voice. " Many is the 
 good time that I've listened to them talking, when all the 
 neighborhood was asleep ; and such conversations, Miss 
 Fanny, that you can have no idea on ! Well, to say the 
 truth, Harvey was a mystified body, and he was like the 
 winds in the good book ; no one could tell whence he 
 came, or whither he went." 
 
 Frances glanced her eye at her companion with an ap- 
 parent desire to hear more. 
 
 "There are rumors abroad relative to the character of 
 Harvey," she said, " that I should be sorry were true." 
 
 "'Tis a disparagement, every word bn't," cried Katy, 
 vehemently ; " Harvey had no more dealings with Beelze- 
 bub than you or I had. I'm sure if Harvey had sold him- 
 self, he would take care to be better paid ; though, to tell 
 the truth, he was always a wasteful and disregardful man." 
 
 " Nay, nay," returned the smiling Frances, " I have no 
 stich injurious suspicion of him ; but has he not sold him- 
 self to an earthly prince one too much attached to the 
 interests of his native island to be always just to this 
 country ?" 
 
 "To the king's majesty!" replied Katy. "Why, Miss 
 Fanny, your own brother that is in gaol serves King 
 George." 
 
 " True," said Frances, " but not in secret openly, man- 
 fully, and bravely." 
 
 "'Tis said he is a spy, and why ain't one as bad as an- 
 other ? " 
 
 "'Tis untrue; no act of deception is worthy of my 
 brother ; nor of any would he be guilty, for so base a pur- 
 pose as gain, or promotion." 
 
 "Well; I'm sure," said Katy, a little appalled at the 
 manner of the young lady, " if a body does the work he 
 should be paid for it. Harvey is by no means partic'lar 
 about getting his lawful dues ; and I dar'st to say, if the 
 truth was forthcoming, King George owes him money this 
 very minute." 
 
 " Then you acknowledge his connection with the British 
 army," said Frances ; " I confess there have been moments 
 when I have thought differently." 
 
 "Lord, Miss Fanny, Harvey is a man that no calcula- 
 tion can be made on. Though I lived in his house for a 
 long concourse of years, I have never known whether he 
 
Tin-: SPY. 271 
 
 belonged above or below.* The time that Burg'yne was 
 taken, he came home, and there was great doings between 
 him and the old gentleman, but for the life I couldn't tell 
 if 'twas joy or grief. Then here, the other day, when the 
 great British general I'm sure I have been so flurried 
 with losses and troubles that I forgot his name 
 
 " Andre," said Frances. 
 
 " Yes, Ondree ; when he was hanged, acrost the Tappan, 
 the old gentleman was near hand to going crazy about it, 
 and didn't sleep for night nor day, till Harvey got back ; 
 and then his money was mostly golden guineas, but the 
 Skinners took it all, and now he is a beggar, or, what's the 
 same thing, despisable for poverty and want." 
 
 To this speech Frances made no reply, but continued 
 her walk up the hill, deeply engaged in her own reflec- 
 tions. The allusion to Andre had recalled her thoughts 
 to the situation of her own brother. 
 
 They soon reached the highest point in their toilsome 
 progress to the summit, and Frances seated herself on a 
 rock to rest and to admire. Immediately at her feet lay a 
 deep deil, but little altered by cultivation, and dark with 
 the gloom of a November sunset. Another hill rose oppo- 
 site to the place where she sat, at no great distance, along 
 whose rugged sides nothing was to be seen but shapeless 
 rocks, and oaks whose stinted growth showed a meagre 
 soil. 
 
 To be seen in their perfection, the Highlands must be 
 passed immediately after the fall of the leaf. The scene is 
 then the finest, for neither the scanty foliage which the sum- 
 mer lends the trees, nor the snows of winter, are present to 
 conceal the minutest object from the eye. Chilling soli- 
 tude is the characteristic of the scenery ; nor is the mind 
 at liberty, as in March, to look forward to a renewed veg-. 
 etation that is soon to check, without improving, the view. 
 
 The day had been cloudy and cool, and the thin fleecy 
 clouds hung around the horizon, often promising to dis- 
 perse, but as frequently disappointing Frances in the hope 
 of catching a parting gleam from the setting sun. At 
 length, a solitary gleam struck on the base of the moun- 
 tain on which she was gazing, and moved gracefully up its 
 side, until, reaching the summit, it stood for a minute, 
 forming a crown of glory to the sombre pile. So strong 
 
 * The American party was called the party belonging "above," and the 
 British that of ''below." The terms had reference to the course of the 
 Hudson. 
 
272 THE SPY. 
 
 were the rays, that what was before indistinct now clearly 
 opened to the view. With a feeling of awe at being thus 
 unexpectedly admitted, as it were, into the secrets of this 
 desert place, Frances gazed intently, until, among the 
 scattered trees and fantastic rocks, something like a rude 
 structure was seen. It was low, and so obscured by the 
 color of its materials, that but for its roof and the glitter- 
 ing of a window, it must have escaped her notice. While 
 yet lost in the astonishment created by discovering a habi- 
 tation in such a spot, on moving her eyes she perceived 
 another object that increased her wonder. It apparently 
 was a human figure, but of singular mould and unusual de- 
 formity. It stood on the edge of a rock, a little above the 
 hut, and it was no difficult task for our heroine to fancy it 
 was gazing at the vehicles that were ascending the side of 
 the mountain beneath her. The distance, however, was 
 too great to distinguish with precision. After looking 
 at it a moment in breathless wonder, Frances had just 
 come to the conclusion that it was ideal, and that what she 
 saw was a part of the rock itself, when the object moved 
 swiftly from its position, and glided into the hut, at once 
 removing every doubt as to the nature of either. Whether 
 it was owing to the recent conversation that she had been 
 holding with Katy, or to some fancied resemblance that 
 she discerned, Frances thought, as the figure vanished 
 from her view, that it bore a marked likeness to Birch, 
 moving under the weight of his pack. She continued to 
 gaze toward the mysterious residence, when the gleam of 
 light passed away, and at the same instant the tones of a 
 bugle rang through the glens and hollows, and were re- 
 echoed in every direction. Springing on her feet, the 
 alarmed girl heard the trampling of horses, and directly a 
 party in the well-known uniforms of the Virginians came 
 sweeping round the point of rock near her, and drew up 
 at a short distance. Again the bugle sounded a lively 
 strain, and before the agitated Frances had time to rally 
 her thoughts, Dunwoodie dashed by the party of dra- 
 goons, threw himself from his charger, and advanced to 
 her side. 
 
 His manner was earnest and interested, but in a slight 
 degree constrained. In a few words he explained that he 
 had been ordered up, with a party of Lawton's men, in the 
 absence of the captain himself, to attend the trial of 
 Henry, which was fixed for the morrow ; and that, anxious 
 for their safety in the rude passes of the mountain, he had 
 
THE SPY. 273 
 
 ridden a mile or two in quest of the travellers. Frances 
 explained with a trembling voice the reason of her being 
 in advance, and taught him momentarily to expect the ar- 
 rival of her father. The constraint of his manner had, 
 however unwillingly on her part, communicated itself to 
 her own deportment, and the approach of the chariot was 
 a relief to both. The major handed her in, spoke a few 
 words of encouragement to Mr. Wharton and to Miss Pey- 
 ton, and again mounting, led the way toward the plains of 
 Fishkill, which broke on their sight, on turning the rock, 
 with the effect of enchantment. A short half-hour brought 
 them to the door of the farm-house, which the care of 
 Dunwoodie had already prepared for their reception, and 
 where Captain Wharton was anxiously expecting their ar- 
 rival. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 These limbs are strengthen' d with a soldier's toil, 
 
 Nor has this cheek been ever blanch'd with fear 
 
 But this sad tale of thine enervates all 
 
 Within me that I once could boast as man ; 
 
 Chill trembling agues seize upon my frame, 
 
 And tears of childish sorrow pour, apace, 
 
 Through scarred channels that were mark'd by wounds. Duo. 
 
 THE friends of Henry Wharton had placed so much re- 
 liance on his innocence, that they were unable to see the 
 full danger of his situation. As the moment of trial, how- 
 ever, approached, the uneasiness of the youth himself in- 
 creased ; and after spending most of the night with his 
 afflicted family, he awoke, on the following morning, from 
 a short and disturbed slumber, to a clearer sense of his con- 
 dition, and a survey of the means that were to extricate 
 him from it with life. The rank of Andre, and the impor- 
 tance of the measures he was plotting, together with the 
 powerful intercessions that had been made in his behalf, 
 occasioned his execution to be stamped with greater noto- 
 riety than the ordinary events of the war. But spies were 
 frequently arrested ; and the instances that occurred of 
 summary punishment for this crime were numerous. These 
 were facts that were well known to both Dunwoodie and 
 the prisoner ; and to their experienced judgments the 
 preparations for the trial were indeed alarming. Notwith- 
 standing their apprehensions, they succeeded so far in con- 
 
2 7 4 
 
 cealing them, that neither Miss Peyton nor Frances was 
 aware of their extent. A strong guard was stationed in 
 the out-building of the farm-house where the prisoner was 
 quartered, and several sentinels watched the avenues that 
 approached the dwelling. Another was constantly near 
 the room of the British officer. A court was already de- 
 tailed to examine into the circumstances ; and upon their 
 decision the fate of Henry rested. 
 
 The moment at length arrived, and the different actors 
 in the approaching investigation assembled. Frances ex- 
 perienced a feeling like suffocation as, after taking her 
 seat in the midst of her family, her eyes wandered over the 
 group who were thus collected. The judges, three in num- 
 ber, sat by themselves, clad in the vestments of their pro- 
 fession, and maintained a gravity worthy of the occasion, 
 and becoming in their rank. In the centre was a man of 
 advanced years, and whose whole exterior bore the stamp 
 of early and long-tried military habits. This was the pres- 
 ident of the court ; and Frances, after taking a hasty and 
 unsatisfactory view of his associates, turned to his benevo- 
 lent countenance as to the harbinger of mercy to her 
 brother. There was a melting and subdued expression in 
 the features of the veteran, that, contrasted with the rigid 
 decency and composure of the others, could not fail to at- 
 tract her notice. His attire was strictly in conformity to 
 the prescribed rules of the service to which he belonged ; 
 but while his air was erect and military, his fingers trifled, 
 with a kind of convulsive and unconscious motion, with a 
 bit of crape that entwined the hilt of the sword on which 
 his body partly reclined, and which, like himself, seemed 
 a relic of older times. There were the workings of an un- 
 quiet soul within ; but his military front blended awe with 
 the pity that its exhibition excited. His associates were 
 officers selected from the eastern troops, who held the fort- 
 resses of West Point and the adjacent passes ; they were 
 men who had attained the meridian of life, and the eye 
 sought in vain the expression of any passion or emotion on 
 which it might seize as an indication of human infirmity. 
 In their demeanor there was a mild, but a grave, intel- 
 lectual reserve. If there was no ferocity nor harshness 
 to chill, neither was there compassion nor interest to at- 
 tract. They were men who had long acted under the do- 
 minion of a prudent reason, and whose feelings seemed 
 trained to a perfect submission to their judgments. 
 
 Before these arbiters of his fate Henry Wharton was 
 
THE SPY. 275 
 
 ushered, under the custody of armed men. A profound 
 and awful silence succeeded his entrance, and the blood of 
 Frances chilled as she noted the grave character of the 
 whole proceedings. There was but little of pomp in the 
 preparations to impress her imagination ; but the reserved, 
 business-like air of the whole scene made it seem, indeed, 
 as if the destinies of life awaited the result. Two of the 
 judges sat in grave reserve, fixing their, inquiring eyes on 
 the object of their investigation ; but the president con- 
 tinued gazing around with uneasy, convulsive motions of 
 the muscles of the face, that indicated a restlessness foreign 
 to his years and duty. It was Colonel Singleton, who, but 
 the day before, had learned the fate of Isabella, but who 
 stood forth in the discharge of a duty that his country re- 
 quired at his hands. The silence, and the expectation in 
 every eye, at length struck him, and making an effort to 
 collect himself, he spoke, in the tones of one used to au- 
 thority. 
 
 " Bring forth the prisoner," he said, with a wave of the 
 hand. 
 
 The sentinels dropped the points of their bayonets to- 
 ward the judges, and Henry Wharton advanced, with^a 
 firm step, into the centre of the apartment. All was now 
 anxiety and eager curiosity. Frances turned for a moment 
 in grateful emotion, as the deep and perturbed breathing 
 of Dunwoodie reached her ears ; but her brother again 
 concentrated all her interest in one feeling of intense care. 
 In the background were arranged the inmates of the family 
 who owned the dwelling, and behind them, again, was a 
 row of shining faces of ebony, glistening with pleased won- 
 der. Among these was the faded lustre of Caesar Thomp- 
 son's countenance. 
 
 "You are said," continued the president, "to be Henry 
 Wharton, a captain in his Britannic Majesty's 6oth Regi- 
 ment of Foot." 
 
 " I am." 
 
 " I like your candor, sir ; it partakes of the honorable 
 feelings of a soldier, and cannot fail to impress your judges 
 favorably." 
 
 "It would be prudent," said one of his companions, " to 
 advise the prisoner that he is bound to answer no more than 
 he deems necessary ; although we are a court of martial 
 law, yet, in this respect, we own the principles of all free 
 governments." 
 
 A nod of approbation from the silent members was be- 
 
276 THE SPY. 
 
 stowed on this remark, and the president proceeded with 
 caution, referring to the minutes he held in his hand. 
 
 " It is an accusation against you, that, being an officer 
 of the enemy, you passed the pickets of the American army 
 at the White Plains, in disguise, on the 29111 of October 
 last, whereby you are suspected of views hostile to the in- 
 terests of America, and have subjected yourself to the pun- 
 ishment of a spy." 
 
 The mild but steady tones of the speaker, as he slowly 
 repeated the substance of tins charge, were full of author- 
 ity. The accusation was so plain, the facts so limited, the 
 proof so obvious, and the penalty so well established, that 
 escape seemed impossible. But Henry replied, with earn- 
 est grace : 
 
 "That I passed your pickets in disguise, is true; 
 but " 
 
 " Peace!" interrupted the president; " the usages of 
 war are stern enough in themselves ; you need not aid 
 them to your own condemnation." 
 
 " The prisoner can retract that declaration, if he please," 
 remarked another judge. " His confession, if taken, goes 
 fully to prove the charge." 
 
 " I retract nothing that is true," said Henry, proudly. 
 
 The two nameless judges heard him in silent compos- 
 ure, yet there was no exultation mingled with their gravity. 
 The president now appeared, however, to take a new in- 
 terest in the scene. 
 
 "Your sentiment is noble, sir," he said ; "I only regret 
 that a youthful soldier should so far be misled by loyalty 
 as to lend himself to the purposes of deceit." 
 
 " Deceit ! " echoed Wharton ; " I thought it prudent to 
 guard against capture from my enemies." 
 
 "A soldier, Captain Wharton, should never meet his 
 enemy but openly, and with arms in his hands. I have 
 served two kings of England, as I now serve my native 
 land ; but never did I approach a foe unless under the 
 light of the sun, and with honest notice that an enemy was 
 nigh." 
 
 " You are at liberty to explain what your motives were 
 in entering the ground held by our army, in disguise," said 
 the other judge, with a slight movement of the muscles of 
 his mouth. 
 
 " I am the son of this aged man before you," continued 
 Henry. " It was to visit him that I encountered the dan- 
 ger. Besides, the country below is seldom held bv vour 
 
THE SPY. 277 
 
 troops, and its very name implies a right to either party 
 to move at pleasure over its territory." 
 
 " Its name, as a neutral ground, is unauthorized by law ; 
 it is an appellation that originates with the condition of 
 the country. But wherever an army goes, it carries its 
 rights along, and the first is the ability to protect itself." 
 
 " I am no casuist, sir," returned the youth ; " but I feel 
 that my father is entitled to my affection, and I would en- 
 counter greater risks to prove it to him in his old age." 
 
 "A very commendable spirit," cried the veteran. " Come, 
 gentlemen, this business brightens ; I confess at first it 
 was very bad ; but no man can censure him for desiring 
 to see his parents." 
 
 " And have you proof that such onl^ was your inten- 
 tion ? " 
 
 "Yes here," said Henry, admitting a ray of hope; 
 "here is proof my father, my sister, Major Dunwoodie, 
 all know it." 
 
 "Then, indeed," returned his immovable judge, "we 
 may be able to save you. It would be well, sir, to exam- 
 ine further into this business." 
 
 " Certainly." said the president, with alacrity ; " let the 
 older Mr. Wharton approach and take the oath." 
 
 The father made an effort at composure, and, advancing 
 with a feeble step, he complied with the necessary forms 
 of the court. 
 
 "You are the father of the prisoner?" said Colonel 
 Singleton, in a subdued voice, after pausing a moment in 
 respect for the agitation of the witness. 
 
 " He is my only son." 
 
 " And what do you know of his visit to your house, on 
 the 2pth day of October last." 
 
 " He came, as he told you, to see me and his sisters." 
 
 "Was he in disguise ?" asked the other judge. 
 
 " Fie did not wear the uniform of the 6oth." 
 
 " To see his sisters, too ! " said the president, with great 
 emotion. " Have you daughters, sir ? " 
 
 " I have two both are in this house." 
 
 " Had he a wig?" interrupted the officer. 
 
 " There was some such thing, I do believe, upon his 
 head." 
 
 ''And how long had you been separated?" asked the 
 president. 
 
 " One year and two months." 
 
 " Did he wear a loose great-coat of coarse material ? * 
 
278 THE SPY. 
 
 inquired the officer, referring to the paper that contained 
 the charges. 
 
 "There was an overcoat." 
 
 "And you think that it was to see you, only, that he 
 came out ?" 
 
 " Me, and my daughters." 
 
 "A boy of spirit," whispered the president to his silent 
 comrade. " I see but little harm in such a freak ; 'twas 
 imprudent, but then it was kind." 
 
 " Do you know that your son was intrusted with no 
 commission from Sir Henry Clinton, and that the visit to 
 you was not merely a cloak to other designs ? " 
 
 " How can I know it ? " said Mr. Wharton, in alarm ; 
 " would Sir Henry intrust me with such a business ? " 
 
 " Know you anything of this pass?" exhibiting the pa- 
 per that Dunwoodie had retained when Whartori was ta- 
 ken. 
 
 " Nothing upon my honor, nothing," cried the father, 
 shrinking from the paper as from contagion. 
 
 "On your oath ?" 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 " Have you other testimony ? this does not avail you, 
 Captain Wharton. You have been taken in a situation 
 where your life is forfeited ; the labor of proving your in- 
 nocence rests with yourself. Take time to reflect, and be 
 cool." 
 
 There was a frightful calmness in the manner of this 
 judge that appalled the prisoner. In the sympathy of Col- 
 onel Singleton, he could easily lose sight of his danger ; 
 but the obdurate and collected air of the others was omi- 
 nous of his fate. He continued silent, casting imploring 
 glances toward his friend. Dunwoodie understood the 
 .appeal, and offered himself as a witness. He was sworn, 
 and desired to relate what he knew. His statement did 
 not materially alter the case, and Dunwoodie felt that it 
 could not. To him personally but little was known, and 
 that little rather militated against the safety of Henry than 
 otherwise. His account was listened to in silence, and the 
 significant shake of the head that was made by the* silent 
 member spoke too plainly what effect it had produced. 
 
 " Still you think that the prisoner had no other object 
 than what he has avowed ?" said the president, when he 
 had ended. 
 
 " None other, I will pledge my life," cried the major, 
 with fervor. 
 
THE SPY. 279 
 
 "Will you swear it ? " asked the immovable judge. 
 
 " How can I ? God alone can tell the heart ; but I 
 have known this gentleman from a boy ; deceit never 
 formed part of his character. He is above it." 
 
 " You say that he escaped, and was retaken in open 
 arms ? " said the president. 
 
 " He was ; nay, he received a wound in the combat. 
 You see he yet moves his arm with difficulty. Would he, 
 think you, sir, have trusted himself where he could fall 
 again into our hands, unless conscious of innocence ? " 
 
 " Would Andre have deserted a field of battle, Major 
 Dunwoodie, had he encountered such an event, near 
 Tarrytown ? " asked his deliberate examiner. " Is it not 
 natural to youth to seek glory ? " 
 
 " Do you call this glory ? " exclaimed the major ; " an 
 ignominious death, and a tarnished name." 
 
 "Major Dunwoodie," returned the other, still with in- 
 veterate gravity, " you have acted nobly ; your duty has 
 been arduous and severe, but it has been faithfully and 
 honorably discharged ; ours must not be less so." 
 
 During the examination, the most intense interest pre- 
 vailed among the hearers. With that kind of feeling 
 which could not separate the principle from the cause, 
 most of the auditors thought that if Dunwoodie failed to 
 move the hearts of Henry's judges, no other possessed the 
 power. Caesar thrust his misshapen form forward ; and 
 his features, so expressive of the concern he felt, and so 
 different from the vacant curiosity pictured in the coun- 
 tenances of the other blacks, caught the attention of the 
 silent judge. For the first time he spoke : 
 
 " Let that black be brought forward." 
 
 It was too late to retreat, and Caesar found himself con- 
 fronted with a row of rebel officers, before he knew what 
 was uppermost in his thoughts. The others yielded the 
 examination to the one who suggested it, and using all 
 due deliberation, he proceeded accordingly. 
 
 " You know the prisoner ?" 
 
 " I tink he ought," returned the black, in a manner as 
 sententious as that of his examiner. 
 
 " Did he give you the wig, when he threw it aside ? " 
 
 " I don't want 'em," grumbled Caesar; "got a berry 
 good hair he'self." 
 
 " Were you employed in carrying any letters or mes- 
 sages while Captain Wharton was in your master's 
 house ? " 
 
280 THE SPY. 
 
 " I do what a tell me," returned the black. 
 
 " But what did they tell you to do ? " 
 
 "Sometimes a one ting sometimes anoder." 
 
 " Enough," said Colonel Singleton, with dignity ; " you 
 have the noble acknowledgment of a gentleman, what 
 more can you obtain from this slave ? Captain Wharton, 
 you perceive the unfortunate impression against you. 
 Have you other testimony to adduce ?" 
 
 To Henry there now remained but little hope ; his con- 
 fidence in his security was fast ebbing ; with an indefinite 
 expectation of assistance from the loveliness of his sister, 
 he fixed an earnest gaze on the pallid features of Frances. 
 She arose, and with a tottering step moved toward the 
 judges ; the paleness of her cheek continued but for a 
 moment, and gave place to a flush of fire, and with a light 
 but firm tread, she stood before them. Raising her hand 
 to her polished forehead, Frances threw aside her exuber- 
 ant locks, and displayed a picture of beauty and inno- 
 cence to their view that might have moved even sterner 
 natures. The president shrouded his eyes for a moment, 
 as if the wild eye and speaking countenance recalled the 
 image of another. The movement was transient, and re- 
 covering himself, he said, with an earnestness that be- 
 trayed secret wishes. 
 
 "To you, then, your brother previously communicated 
 his intention of paying your family a secret visit ? " 
 
 " No ! no ! " said Frances, pressing her hand on her 
 brain, as if to collect her thoughts ; " he told me nothing 
 we knew not of the visit until he arrived ; but can it be 
 necessary to explain to gallant men, that a child would 
 incur hazard to meet his only parent, and that in times 
 like these, and in a situation like ours ?" 
 
 " But was this the first time ? Did he never talk of 
 doing so before ? " inquired the colonel, leaning toward 
 her with paternal interest. 
 
 "Certainly certainly," cried Frances, catching the ex- 
 pression of his own benevolent countenance. " This is 
 but the fourth of his visits." 
 
 " I knew it," exclaimed the veteran, rubbing his hands 
 with delight ; " an adventurous, warm-hearted son I war- 
 rant me, gentlemen, a fiery soldier in the field ! In what 
 disguise did he come ?" 
 
 "In none, for none were then necessary ; the royal 
 troops covered the country, and gave him safe passage." 
 
 " And was this the first of his visits out of the uniform 
 
P}'. 281 
 
 of his regiment ? " asked the colonel, in a suppressed voice, 
 avoiding the penetrating looks of his companions. 
 
 "Oh! the very first," exclaimed the eager girl; " his 
 first offence, I do assure you, if offence it be." 
 
 " But you wrote him you urged the visit; surely, 
 young lady, you wished to see your brother?" added the 
 impatient colonel. 
 
 " That we wished it and prayed for it oh, how fervently 
 we prayed for it! is true ; but to have held communion 
 with the royal army would have endangered our father, 
 and we dared not." 
 
 " Did he leave the house until taken, or had he inter- 
 course with any out of your own dwelling ? " 
 
 " With none no one, excepting our neighbor, the ped- 
 dler Birch." 
 
 "With whom?" exclaimed the colonel, turning pale, 
 and shrinking as from the sting of an adder. 
 
 Dunvvoodie groaned aloud, and striking his head with 
 his hand, cried, in piercing tones, " He is lost ! " and 
 rushed from the apartment. 
 
 " But Harvey Birch," repeated Frances, gazing wildly 
 at the door through which her lover had disappeared. 
 
 " Harvey Birch ! " echoed all the judges. The two im- 
 movable members of the court exchanged looks, and threw 
 an inquisitive glance at their prisoner. 
 
 " To you, gentlemen, it can be no new intelligence to 
 hear that Harvey Birch is suspected of favoring the royal 
 cause," said Henry, again advancing before the judges ; 
 "for he has already been condemned by your tribunals to 
 the fate that I now see awaits myself. I will therefore ex- 
 plain, that it was by his assistance I procured the disguise, 
 and passed your pickets ; but to my dying moment, and 
 with my dying breath, I will avow, that my intentions were 
 as pure as the innocent being before you." 
 
 " Captain Wharton," said the president, solemnly, " the 
 enemies of American liberty have made mighty and subtle 
 efforts to overthrow our power. A more dangerous man, 
 for his means and education, is not ranked among our foes 
 than this peddler of Westchester. He is a spy artful, de- 
 lusive, and penetrating beyond the abilities of any of his 
 class. Sir Henry could not do better than to associate him 
 with the officer in his next attempt. He would have saved 
 Andre. Indeed, young man, this is a connection that may 
 prove fatal to you." 
 
 The honest indignation that bemned on the countenance 
 
282 THE SPY. 
 
 of the aged warrior, was met by a look of perfect conviction 
 on the part of his comrades. 
 
 ' I have ruined him ! " cried Frances, clasping her hands 
 in terror ; " do you desert us ? then he is lost, indeed ! " 
 
 "Forbear ! lovely innocent forbear!" said the colonel, 
 with strong emotion ; "you injure none, but distress us all." 
 
 *' Is it then such a crime to possess natural affection ?" 
 said Frances, wildly ; " would Washington the noble, up- 
 right, impartial Washington judge so harshly ? Delay, till 
 Washington can hear his tale." 
 
 " It is impossible," said the president, covering his eyes 
 as if to hide her beauty from his view. 
 
 " Impossible ! Oh ! but for a week suspend your judg- 
 ment. ' On my knees I entreat you, as you will expect 
 mercy yourself, when no human power can avail you, give 
 him but a day." 
 
 " It is impossible," repeated the colonel, in a voice that 
 was nearly choked ; "our orders are peremptory, and too 
 long delay has been given already." 
 
 He turned from the kneeling suppliant, but could not, 
 or would not, extricate the hand that she grasped with 
 frenzied fervor. 
 
 "Remand your prisoner," said one of the judges to the 
 officer who had the charge of Henry. " Colonel Single- 
 ton, shall we withdraw ? " 
 
 " Singleton ! Singleton ! " echoed Frances ; " then you 
 are a father, and know how to pity a father's woes ; you 
 cannot, will not, wound a heart that is now nearly crushed. 
 Hear me, Colonel Singleton; as God will listen to your 
 dying prayers, hear me, and spare my brother ! " 
 
 "Remove her," said the colonel, gently endeavoring to 
 extricate his hand ; but none appeared disposed to obey. 
 Frances eagerly strove to read the expression of his averted 
 face, and resisted all his efforts to retire. 
 
 " Colonel Singleton ! how lately was your own son in 
 suffering and in danger ! under the roof of my father he 
 was cherished under my father's roof he found shelter and 
 protection. Oh ! suppose that son, the pride of your age, 
 the solace and protection of your infant children, and then 
 pronounce my brother guilty, if you dare ! " 
 
 " What right has Heath to make an executioner of me ! " 
 exclaimed the veteran, fiercely, rising with a face flushed 
 like fire, and every vein and artery swollen with suppressed 
 emotion. " But I forget myself ; pprne, gentlemen, let us 
 mount ; our pninful duty must be done," 
 
 I 
 
THE SPY. 2&3 
 
 "Mount not! go not!" shrieked Frances; "can you 
 tear a son from his parent ? a brother from his sister, so 
 coldly ? Is this the cause I have so ardently loved ? Are 
 these the men that I have been taught to reverence ? But 
 you relent, you do hear me, you will pity and forgive." 
 
 " Lead on, gentlemen," said the colonel, motioning to- 
 ward the door," and erecting himself into an air of military 
 grandeur, in the vain hope of quieting his feelings. 
 
 "Lead not on, but hear me," cried Frances, grasping 
 his hand convulsively ; " Colonel Singleton, you are a 
 father ! pity rnercy mercy for the son ! mercy for the 
 daughter ! Yes you had a daughter. On this bosom she 
 poured out her last breath ; these hands closed her eyes ; 
 these very hands, that are now clasped in prayer, did those 
 offices for her that you condemn my poor, poor brother, 
 to require." 
 
 One mighty emotion the veteran struggled with, and 
 quelled ; but with a groan that shook his whole frame. 
 He even looked around in conscious pride at his victory ; 
 but a second burst of feelings conquered. His head, white 
 with the frost of seventy winters, sank upon the shoulder 
 of the frantic suppliant. The sword that had been his 
 companion in so many fields of blood dropped from his 
 nerveless hand, and as he cried : 
 
 " May God bless you for the deed ! " he wept aloud. 
 
 Long and violent was the indulgence that Colonel Sin- 
 gleton yielded to his feelings. On recovering, he gave the 
 senseless Frances into the arms of her aunt, and, turning 
 with an air of fortitude to his comrades, he said : 
 
 " Still, gentlemen, we have our duty as officers to dis- 
 charge ; our feelings as men may be indulged hereafter. 
 What is your pleasure with the prisoner ? " 
 
 One of the judges placed in his hand a written sentence, 
 that he had prepared while the colonel was engaged with 
 Frances, and declared it to be the opinion of himself and 
 his companion. 
 
 It briefly stated that Henry Wharton had been detected 
 in passing the lines of the American army as a spy, and in 
 disguise. That thereby, according to the laws of war, he 
 wasliable to suffer death, and that this court adjudged him 
 to the penalty ; recommending him to be executed, by 
 hanging, before nine o'clock on the following morning. 
 
 It was not usual to inflict capital punishment, even on 
 the enemy, without referring the case to the commander- 
 in-chief for his approbation ; or, in his absence, to the of- 
 
2 s 4 Tin- STY. 
 
 ficer commanding for the time being. But, as Washington 
 held his headquarters at New Windsor, on the western 
 bank of the Hudson, sufficient time was yet before them to 
 receive his answer. 
 
 "This is short notice," said the veteran, holding the pen 
 in his hand in a suspense that had no object ; " not a day 
 to fit one so young for heaven ? " 
 
 "The royal officers gave Hale* but an hour," returned 
 his comrade; "we have granted the usual time. But 
 Washington has the power to extend it, or to pardon." 
 
 " Then to Washington will I go," cried the colonel, re- 
 turning the paper with his signature ; " and if the services 
 of an old man like me, or that brave boy of mine, entitle 
 me to his ear, I will yet save the youth." 
 
 So saying he departed, full of his generous intentions in 
 favor of Henry Wharton. 
 
 The sentence of the court was communicated, with 
 proper tenderness, to the prisoner ; and after giving a few 
 necessary instructions to the officer in command, and des- 
 patching a courier to headquarters with their report, the 
 remaining judges mounted and rode to their own quarters, 
 with the same unmoved exterior, but with the conscious- 
 ness of the same dispassionate integrity that they had 
 maintained throughout the trial. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Have you no countermand for Claudio yet ? 
 
 But he must die to-morrow ? Measure for Measure. 
 
 A FEW hours were passed by the prisoner, after his sen- 
 tence was received, in the bosom of his family. Mr. Whar- 
 ton wept in hopeless despondency over the untimely fate 
 
 * An American officer of this name was detected within the British lines 
 in disguise, in search of military information. He was tried and executed, 
 as stated in the text, as soon as the preparations could be made. It is said 
 that he was reproached under the gallows with dishonoring the rank he 
 held by his fate. " What a death for an officer to die ! " said one of his 
 captors. " Gentlemen, any death is honorable when a man dies in a 
 cause like that of America," was his answer. 
 
 Andre was executed amid the tears of his enemies : Hale died unpitied, 
 and with reproaches in his ears ; and yet one was the victim of ambition, 
 and the other of devotion to his country. Posterity will do justice be- 
 tween them. 
 
THE SPY. 285 
 
 of his son ; and Frances, after recovering from her insensi- 
 bility, experienced an anguish of feeling to which the bit- 
 terness of death itself would have been comparatively light. 
 Miss Peyton alone retained a vestige of hope, or presence 
 of mind to suggest what might be proper to be done under 
 their circumstances. The comparative composure of the 
 good aunt arose in no degree from any want of interest in 
 the welfare of her nephew, but it was founded in a kind of 
 instinctive dependence on the character of Washington. 
 He was a native of the same colony with herself ; and air 
 though his early military services, and her frequent visits 
 to the family of her sister, and subsequent establishment at 
 its head, had prevented their ever meeting, still she was 
 familiar with his domestic virtues, and well knew that the 
 rigid inflexibility for which his public acts were distin- 
 guished formed no part of his reputation in private life. 
 He was known in Virginia as a consistent, but just and 
 lenient, master ; and she felt a kind of pride in associating 
 in her mind her countryman with the man who led the 
 armies, and in a great measure controlled the destinies, of 
 America. She knew that Henry was innocent of the crime 
 for which he was condemned to suffer, and, with that kind 
 of simple faith that is ever to be found in the most ingen- 
 uous characters, could not conceive of those constructions 
 and interpretations of law that inflicted punishment with- 
 out the actual existence of crime. But even her confiding 
 hopes were doomed to meet with a speedy termination. 
 Toward noon, a regiment of militia, that was quartered 
 on the banks of the river, moved up to the ground in 
 front of the house that held our heroine and her family, 
 and deliberately pitched their tents, with the avowed in- 
 tention of remaining until the following morning, to 
 give solemnity and effect to the execution of a British 
 spy. 
 
 Dunwoodie had performed all that was required of him 
 by his orders, and was at liberty to retrace his steps to his 
 expecting squadron, which was impatiently waiting his re- 
 turn, to be led against a detachment of the enemy, that was 
 known to be slowly moving up the banks of the river, in 
 order to cover a party of foragers in its rear. He was ac- 
 companied by a small party of Lawton's troop, under the 
 expectation that their testimony might be required to con- 
 vict the prisoner ; and Mason, the lieutenant, was in com- 
 mand. But the confession of Captain Wharton had re- 
 moved the necessity of examining any witnesses on behalf 
 
286 THE SPY. 
 
 of the people.* The major, from an unwillingness to en- 
 counter the distress of Henry's friends, and a dread of 
 trusting himself within its influence, had spent the time 
 we have mentioned in walking by himself, in keen anxiety, 
 at a short distance from the dwelling. Like Miss Peyton, 
 he had some reliance on the mercy of Washington, al- 
 though moments of terrific doubt and despondency were 
 continually crossing his mind. To him the rules of service 
 were familiar, and he was more accustomed to consider his 
 general in the capacity of a ruler, than as exhibiting the 
 characteristics of the individual. A dreadful instance had 
 too recently occurred, which fully proved that Washington 
 was above the weakness of sparing another in mercy to 
 himself. While pacing, with hurried steps through the 
 orchard, laboring under these constantly recurring doubts, 
 enlivened by transient rays of hope, Mason approached, 
 accoutered completely for the saddle. 
 
 ''Thinking that you might have forgotten the news 
 brought this morning from below, sir, I have taken the 
 liberty to order the detachment under arms," said the lieu- 
 tenant, very coolly, cutting down with his sheathed sabre 
 the mullin tops that grew within his reach. 
 
 "What news?" cried the major, starting. 
 
 " Only that John Bull is out in Westchester, with a train 
 of wagons which, if he fills, will compel us to retire 
 through these cursed hills in search of provender. These 
 greedy Englishmen are so shut up on York Island, that 
 when they do venture out, they seldom leave straw enough 
 to furnish the bed of a Yankee heiress." 
 
 " Where did the express leave them, did you say ? The 
 intelligence has entirely escaped my memory." 
 
 "On the heights above Sing-Sing," returned the lieu- 
 tenant, with no little amazement. "The road below looks 
 like a hay-market, and all the swine are sighing forth 
 their lamentations as the corn passes them toward Kings- 
 bridge. George Singleton's orderly, who brought up the 
 tidings, says that our horses were holding consultation if 
 they should not go down without their riders and eat an- 
 other meal, for it is questionable with them whether they 
 can get a full stomach again. If they are suffered to get 
 back with their plunder, we shall not be able to find a 
 piece of pork at Christmas fat enough to fry itself." 
 
 " Peace, with all this nonsense of Singleton's orderly, 
 
 * In America, justice is administered in the name of "the good people," 
 etc., etc. ; the sovereignty residing with them. 
 
THE SPY. 287 
 
 Mr. Mason," cried Dunwoodie, impatiently ; "let him learn 
 to wait the orders of his superiors." 
 
 " I beg pardon in his name, Major Dunwoodie," said the 
 subaltern ; " but, like myself, he was in error. We both 
 thought it was the order of General Heath, to attack and 
 molest the enemy whenever he ventured out of his nest." 
 
 " Recollect yourself, Lieutenant Mason," said the major, 
 " or I may have to teach you that your orders pass through 
 me." 
 
 "I know it, Major Dunwoodie I know it; and I am 
 sorry that your memory is so bad as to forget that I never 
 have yet hesitated to obey them." 
 
 " Forgive me, Mason," cried Dunwoodie, taking both 
 his hands ; "I do know you for a brave and obedient 
 soldier ; forget my humor. But this business Had you 
 ever a friend ?" 
 
 " Nay, nay," interrupted the lieutenant ; " forgive me 
 and my honest zeal. I knew of the orders, and was fearful 
 that censure might fall on my officer. But remain, and 
 let a man breathe a syllable against the corps, and every 
 sword will start from the scabbard of itself ; besides, they 
 are still moving up, and it is a long road from Croton to 
 Kingsbridge. Happen what may, I see plainly that we 
 shall be on their heels before they are housed again ! " 
 
 " Oh ! that the courier was returned from headquar- 
 ters ! " exclaimed Dunwoodie. " This suspense is insup- 
 portable." 
 
 " You have your wish," cried Mason ; " here he is at 
 the moment, and riding like the bearer of good news. 
 God send it may be so ; for I can't say that I particularly 
 like myself to see a brave young fellow dancing upon 
 nothing." 
 
 Dunwoodie heard but very little of this feeling declara- 
 tion ; for, ere half of it was uttered, he had leaped the 
 fence and stood before the messenger. 
 
 "What news?" cried the major, the moment that the 
 soldier stopped his horse. 
 
 " Good !" exclaimed the man ; and feeling no hesitation 
 to intrust an officer so well known as Major Dunwoodie, 
 he placed the paper in his hands, as he added, " but you 
 can read it, sir, for yourself." 
 
 Dunwoodie paused not to read, but flew, with the 
 elastic spring of joy, to the chamber of the prisoner. The 
 sentinel knew him, and he was suffered to pass without 
 question. 
 
288 THE SPY. 
 
 " Oh ! Peyton," cried Frances, as he entered the apart- 
 ment, "you look like a messenger from heaven ! bring you 
 tidings of mercy ? " 
 
 " Here, Frances here, Henry here, dear cousin Jean- 
 ette," cried the youth, as with trembling hands he broke 
 the seal ; " here is the letter itself, directed to the captain 
 of the guard. But listen " 
 
 All did listen with intense anxiety ; and the pang of 
 blasted hope was added to their misery, as they saw the 
 glow of delight which had beamed on the countenance of 
 the major give place to a look of horror. The paper con- 
 tained the sentence of the court, and underneath was writ- 
 ten these simple words : 
 
 "Approved GEO. WASHINGTON." 
 
 " He's lost ! he's lost ! " cried Frances, sinking into the 
 arms of her aunt. 
 
 " My son ! my son ! " sobbed the father, " there is mercy 
 in heaven, if there is none on earth. May Washington never 
 want that mercy he thus denies to my innocent child ! " 
 
 "Washington!" echoed Dunwoodie, gazing around him 
 in vacant horror. " Yes, 'tis the act of Washington him- 
 self ; these are his characters ; his very name is here, to 
 sanction the dreadful deed." 
 
 " Cruel, cruel Washington !" cried Miss Peyton ; " how 
 has his familiarity with blood changed his nature ! " 
 
 "Blame him not," said Dunwoodie ; "it is the general, 
 and not the man ; my life on it he feels the blow he is com- 
 pelled to inflict." 
 
 " I have been deceived in him," cried Frances. " He is 
 not the savior of his country, but a cold and merciless ty- 
 rant. Oh ! Peyton, Peyton ! how have you misled me in 
 his character ! " 
 
 " Peace, dear Frances ; peace, for God's sake ; use not 
 such language. He is but the guardian of the law." 
 
 " You speak the truth, Major Dunwoodie," said Henry, 
 recovering from the shock of having his last ray of hope 
 extinguished, and advancing from his seat by the side of 
 his father. " I, who am to suffer, blame him not. Every 
 indulgence has been granted me that I can ask. On the 
 verge of the grave, I cannot continue unjust. At such a 
 moment, with so recent an instance of danger to your cause 
 from treason, I wonder not at Washington's unbending 
 justice. Nothing now remains but to prepare for that fate 
 which so speedily awaits me. To you, Major Dunwoodie, 
 I make my first request/' 
 
THE SPY. 289 
 
 " Name it," said the major, giving utterance with diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 Henry turned, and pointing to the group of weeping 
 mourners near him, he continued : 
 
 " Be a son to this aged man ; help his weakness, and 
 defend him from any usage to which the stigma thrown 
 upon me may subject him. He has not many friends 
 among the rulers of this country ; let your powerful name 
 be found among them." 
 
 " It shall." 
 
 " And this helpless innocent," continued Henry, point- 
 ing to where Sarah sat, unconscious of what was passing 
 " I had hoped for an opportunity to avenge her wrong ; " a 
 flush of excitement passed over his features ; " but such 
 thoughts are evil I feel them to be wrong. Under your 
 care, Peyton, she will find sympathy and refuge." 
 
 " She shall," whispered Dunwoodie. 
 
 "This good aunt has claims upon you already; of her 
 I will not speak ; but here," taking the hand of Frances, 
 and dwelling upon her countenance with an expression of 
 fraternal affection " here is the choicest gift of all. Take 
 her to your bosom, and cherish her as you would cultivate 
 innocence and virtue." 
 
 The major could not repress the eagerness with which 
 he extended his hand to receive the precious boon ; but 
 Frances, shrinking from his touch, hid her face in the 
 bosom of her aunt. 
 
 "No, no, no ! " she murmured ; " none can ever be any- 
 thing to me who aid in my brother's destruction." 
 
 Henry continued gazing at her in tender pity for seve- 
 ral moments, before he again resumed a discourse that all 
 felt was most peculiarly his own. 
 
 " I have been mistaken, then. I did think, Peyton, that 
 your worth, your noble devotion to a cause that you have 
 been taught to revere, that your kindness to our father 
 when in imprisonment, your friendship for me in short, 
 that your character was understood and valued by my sis- 
 ter."" 
 
 " It is it is," whispered Frances, burying her face still 
 deeper in the bosom of her aunt. 
 
 "I believe, dear Henry," said Dunwoodie, "this is a 
 subject that had better not be dwelt upon now." 
 
 "You forget," returned the prisoner, with a faint smile, 
 "how much I have to do, and how little time is left to do 
 it in." 
 
290 THE SPY. 
 
 " I apprehend," continued the major, with a face of fire, 
 " that Miss Wharton has imbibed some opinions of me that 
 would make a compliance with your request irksome to her 
 opinions that it is now too late to alter." 
 
 "No, no, no," cried Frances, quickly; "you are ex- 
 onerated. Peyton, with her dying breath she removed my 
 doubts." 
 
 "Generous Isabella!" murmured Dunwoodie; "but 
 still, Henry, spare your sister now ; nay, spare even me." 
 
 " I speak in pity to myself," returned the brother, 
 gently removing Frances from the arms of her aunt. 
 " What a time is this to leave two such lovely females 
 without a protector ! Their abode is destroyed, and 
 misery will soon speedily deprive them of their last male 
 friend," looking at his father ; " can I die in peace with 
 the knowledge of the danger to which they will be ex- 
 posed ? " 
 
 "You forget me," said Miss Peyton, shrinking at the 
 idea of celebrating nuptials at such a moment. 
 
 " No, my dear aunt, I forget you not, nor shall I, until 
 I cease to remember ; but you forget the times and the 
 danger. The good woman who lives in this house has al- 
 ready despatched a messenger for a man of God, to smooth 
 my passage to another world. Frances, if you would wish 
 me to die in peace, to feel a security that will allow me to 
 turn my whole thoughts to heaven, you will let this clergy- 
 man unite you to Dunwoodie." 
 
 Frances shook her head, but remained silent. 
 
 " I ask for no joy no demonstration of a felicity that 
 you will not, cannot feel, for months to come ; but obtain 
 a right to his powerful name give him an undisputed 
 title to protect you 
 
 Again the maid made an impressive gesture of denial. 
 
 " For the sake of that unconscious sufferer" pointing 
 to Sarah " for your sake for my sake my sister " 
 
 " Peace, Henry, or you will break my heart," cried the 
 agitated girl ; " not for worlds would I at such a moment 
 engage in the solemn vows that you wish. It would ren- 
 der me miserable for life." 
 
 "You love him not," said Henry, reproachfully. "I 
 cease to importune you to do what is against your incli- 
 nation." 
 
 Frances raised one hand to conceal her countenance, as 
 she extended the other toward Dunwoodie, and said ear- 
 nestly : 
 
THE SPY. 291 
 
 " Now you are unjust to me before, you were unjust 
 to yourself." 
 
 " Promise me, then," said Wharton, musing awhile in 
 silence, " that as soon as the recollection of my fate is soft- 
 ened, you will give my friend that hand for life, and I am 
 satisfied." 
 
 "I do promise," said Frances, withdrawing the hand 
 that Dunwoodie delicately relinquished, without even pre- 
 suming to press it to his lips. 
 
 "Well, then, my good aunt," continued Henry, "will 
 you leave me for a short time alone with my friend ? I 
 have a few melancholy commissions with which to intrust 
 him, and would spare you and my sister the pain of hear- 
 ing them." 
 
 "There is yet time to see Washington again," said Miss 
 Peyton, moving toward the door ; and then, speaking with 
 extreme dignity, she continued " I will go myself, surely 
 he will listen to a woman from his own colony ! and we 
 are in some degree connected with his family." 
 
 " Why not apply to Mr. Harper?" said Frances, recol- 
 lecting the parting words of their guest for the first 
 time. 
 
 " Harper ? " echoed Dunwoodie, turning toward her 
 with the swiftness of lightning; "what of him ? do you 
 know him ? " 
 
 " It is vain," said Henry, drawing him aside ; " Frances 
 clings to hope with the fondness of a sister. Retire, my 
 love, and leave me with my friend." 
 
 Frances read an expression in the eye of Dunwoodie 
 that chained her to the spot. After struggling to com- 
 mand her feelings, she continued : 
 
 " He stayed with us for two days he was with us when 
 Henry was arrested." 
 
 " And and did you know him ? " 
 
 " Nay," continued Frances, catching her breath as she 
 witnessed the intense interest of her lover ; " we knew him 
 not ; he came to us in the night, a stranger, and remained 
 with us during the severe storm ; but he seemed to take 
 an interest in Henry, and promised him his friendship." 
 
 "What!" exclaimed the youth, in astonishment; "did 
 he know your brother ? " 
 
 " Certainly ; it was at his request that Henry threw 
 aside his disguise." 
 
 " But," said Dunwoodie, turning pale with suspense, 
 "he knew him not as an officer of the royal army ?" 
 
292 THE SPY. 
 
 " Indeed he did," cried Miss Peyton ; " and he cautioned 
 us against this very danger." 
 
 Dunwoodie caught up the fatal paper, that still lay 
 where it had fallen from his own hands, and studied its 
 characters intently. Something seemed to bewilder his 
 brain. He passed his hand over his forehead, while each 
 eye was fixed on him in dreadful suspense all feeling 
 afraid to admit those hopes anew that had once been so 
 sadly destroyed. 
 
 " What said he ? what promised he ? " at length Dun- 
 woodie asked, with feverish impatience. 
 
 " He bid Henry apply to him when in danger, and prom- 
 ised to requite the son for the hospitality of the father." 
 
 " Said he this, knowing him to be a British officer ? " 
 
 " Most certainly ; and with a view to this very dan- 
 ger." 
 
 " Then," cried the youth aloud, and yielding to his rapt- 
 ure, " then you are safe then will I save him ; yes, Har- 
 per will never forget his word." 
 
 " But has he the power ? " said Frances ; " can he move 
 the stubborn purpose of Washington ? " 
 
 " Can he ! If he cannot," shouted the youth, " if he can- 
 not, who can ? Greene and Heath, and young Hamilton, 
 are nothing compared to this Harper. But," rushing to 
 his mistress, and pressing her hands convulsively, " repeat 
 to me you say you have his promise ? " 
 
 "Surely, surely, Peyton ; his solemn, deliberate prom- 
 ise, knowing all of the circumstances." 
 
 " Rest easy," cried Dunwoodie, holding her to his bosom 
 for a moment," "rest easy, for Henry is safe." 
 
 He waited not to explain, but darting from the room, he 
 left the family in amazement. They continued in silent 
 wonder until they heard the feet of his charger, as he 
 dashed from the door with the speed of an arrow. 
 
 A longtime was spent after this abrupt departure of the 
 youth, by the anxious friends he had left, in discussing the 
 probability of his success. The confidence of his manner 
 had, however, communicated to his auditors something of 
 his own spirit. Each felt the prospects of Henry were again 
 brightening, and with their reviving hopes they experi- 
 enced a renewal of spirits, which in all but Henry himself 
 amounted to pleasure ; with him, indeed, his state was too 
 awful to admit of trifling, and for a few hours he was con- 
 demned to feel how much more intolerable was suspense 
 than even the certainty of calamity. Not so with Frances. 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 293 
 
 She, with all the reliance of affection, reposed in security 
 on the'assurance of Dunwoodie, without harassing herself 
 with doubts that she possessed not the means of satisfying ; 
 but believing her lover able to accomplish everything that 
 man could do, and retaining a vivid recollection of the 
 manner and benevolent appearance of Harper, she aban- 
 doned herself to all the felicity of renovated hope. 
 
 The joy of Miss Peyton was more 1 " sobered, and she took 
 frequent occasions to reprove her niece for her spirits be- 
 fore there was a certainty that their expectations were to be 
 realized. But the slight smile that hovered around the lips 
 of the virgin contradicted the very sobriety of feeling that 
 she inculcated. 
 
 " Why, dearest aunt," said Frances, playfully, in reply 
 to one of her frequent reprimands, " would you have me 
 repress the pleasure that I feel at Henry's deliverance, 
 when you yourself have so often declared it to be impqs- 
 sible that such men as ruled in our country could sacrifice 
 an innocent man ?" 
 
 " Nay, I did believe it impossible, my child, and yet 
 think so ; but still there is a discretion to be shown in joy 
 as well as in sorrow." 
 
 Frances recollected the declaration of Isabella, and 
 turned an eye filled with tears of gratitude on her excel- 
 lent aunt, as she replied : 
 
 " True ; but there are feelings that will not yield to rea- 
 son. Ah ! here are those monsters, who have come to wit- 
 ness the death of a fellow-creature, moving around yon 
 field as if life was, to them, nothing but a military show." 
 
 " It is but little more to the hireling soldier," said Henry, 
 endeavoring to forget his uneasiness. 
 
 "You gaze, my love, as if you thought a military show 
 of some importance," said Miss Peyton, observing her 
 niece to be looking from the window with a fixed and ab- 
 stracted attention. But Frances answered not. 
 
 From the window where she stood, the pass that they 
 had travelled through the Highlands was easily to be seen ; 
 and the mountain which held on its summit the mysterious 
 hut was directly before her. Its sides were rugged and 
 barren ; huge and apparently impassable barriers of rocks 
 presenting themselves through the stunted oaks, which, 
 stripped of their foliage, were scattered over its surface. 
 The base of the hill was not half a mile from the house, 
 and the object which attracted the notice of Frances was 
 the figure of a man emerging from behind a rock of re 
 
2 94 THE SPY. 
 
 markable formation, and as suddenly disappearing. This 
 manoeuvre was several times repeated, as if it were the in- 
 tention of the fugitive (for such by his air he seemed to be) 
 to reconnoitre the proceedings of the soldiery, and assure 
 himself of the position of things on the plain. Notwith- 
 standing the distance, Frances instantly imbibed the opin- 
 ion that it was Birch. Perhaps this impression was partly 
 owing to the air and figure of the man, but in a great 
 measure to the idea that presented itself on formerly be- 
 holding the object at the summit of the mountain. That 
 they were the same figure she was confident, although this 
 wanted the appearance which, in the other, she had taken 
 for the pack of the peddler. Harvey had so connected 
 himself with the mysterious deportment of Harper, within 
 her imagination, that under circumstances of less agitation 
 than those in which she had labored since her arrival, she 
 wpuld have kept her suspicions to herself. Frances, there- 
 fore, sat ruminating on this second appearance in silence, 
 and endeavoring to trace what possible connection this 
 extraordinary man could have with the fortunes of her own 
 family. He had certainly saved Sarah, in some degree, 
 from the blow that had partially alighted on her, and in 
 no instance had he proved himself to be hostile to their in- 
 terests. 
 
 After gazing for a long time at the point where she had 
 last seen the figure, in the vain expectation of its reappear- 
 ance, she turned to her friends in the apartment. Miss 
 Peyton was sitting by Sarah, who gave some slight addi- 
 tional signs of observing what passed, but who still con- 
 tinued insensible either to joy or grief. 
 
 " I suppose, by this time, my love, that you are well ac- 
 quainted with the manoeuvres of a regiment," said Miss 
 Peyton ; " it is no bad quality in a soldier's wife, at all 
 events." 
 
 " I am not a wife yet," said Frances, coloring to the 
 eyes ; " and we have little reason to wish for another wed- 
 ding in our family." 
 
 "Frances!" exclaimed her brother, starting from his 
 seat and pacing the floor in violent agitation, " touch not 
 the chord again, I entreat you. While my fate is uncer- 
 tain, I would wish to be at peace with all men." 
 
 "Then let the uncertainty cease," cried Frances, spring- 
 ing to the door, "for here comes Peyton with the joyful 
 intelligence of your release." 
 
 The words were hardly uttered, before the door opened 
 
THE SPY. 295 
 
 and the major entered. In his air there was the appear- 
 ance of neither success nor defeat, but there was a 
 marked display of vexation. He took the hand that Fran- 
 ces, in the fulness of her heart, extended toward him, but 
 instantly relinquishing it, threw himself into a chair, in 
 evident fatigue. 
 
 " You have failed," said Wharton, with a bound of his 
 heart, but an appearance of composure. 
 
 "Have you seen Harper?" cried Frances, turning pale. 
 
 " I have not ; I crossed the river in one boat as he must 
 have been coming to this side in another. I returned with- 
 out delay, and traced him for several miles into the High- 
 lands, by the western pass, but there I unaccountably lost 
 him. I have returned here to relieve your uneasiness ; but 
 see him I will this night, and bring a respite for Henry." 
 
 " But you saw Washington ?" asked Miss Peyton. 
 
 Dunwoodie gazed at her a moment in abstracted mus- 
 ing, and the question was repeated. He answered gravely, 
 and with some reserve : 
 
 "The commander-in-chief had left his quarters." 
 
 ''But, Peyton," cried Frances, in returning terror, "if 
 they should not see each other, it will be too late. Harper 
 alone will not be sufficient." 
 
 Her lover turned his eyes slowly on her anxious coun- 
 tenance, and dwelling a moment on her features, said, still 
 musing: 
 
 " You say that he promised to assist Henry ? " 
 
 " Certainly, of his own accord, and in requital for the 
 hospitality he had received." 
 
 Dunwoodie shook his head, and began to look grave. 
 
 " I like not that word hospitality it has an empty 
 sound ; there must be something more reasonable to tie v 
 Harper. I dread some mistake : repeat to me all that 
 passed." 
 
 Frances, in a hurried and earnest voice, complied with 
 his request. She related particularly the manner of his 
 arrival at the Locusts, the reception that he received, and 
 the events that passed, as minutely as her memory could 
 supply her with the means. As she alluded to the con- 
 versation that occurred between her father and his guest, 
 the major smiled, but remained silent. She then gave a 
 detail of Henry's arrival, and the events of the following 
 day. She dwelt upon the part where Harper had desired 
 her brother to throw aside his disguise, and recounted, 
 with wonderful accuracy, his remarks upon the hazard of 
 
296 THE SPY. 
 
 the step that the youth had taken. She even remembered 
 a remarkable expression of his to her brother, " that he 
 was safer from Harper's knowledge of his person than he 
 would be without it." Frances mentioned, with the 
 warmth of youthful admiration, the benevolent character 
 of his deportment to herself, and gave a minute relation 
 of his adieux to the whole family. 
 
 Dunwoodie at first listened with grave attention ; evi- 
 dent satisfaction followed as she proceeded. When she 
 spoke of herself, in connection with their guest, he smiled 
 with pleasure, and as she concluded, he exclaimed with 
 delight : 
 
 " We are safe ! we are safe ! " 
 
 But he was interrupted, as will be seen in the following 
 chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The owlet loves the gloom of night, 
 
 The lark salutes the day, 
 The timid dove.will coo at hand 
 
 But falcons soar away. Song in Duo. 
 
 IN a country settled, like these States, by a people who 
 fled their native land and much-loved firesides, victims of 
 consciences and religious zeal, none of the decencies and 
 solemnities of a Christian death are dispensed with, when 
 circumstances will admit of their exercise. The good 
 woman of the house was a strict adherent to the forms of 
 the Church to which she belonged ; and having herself 
 been awakened to a sense of her depravity by the minis- 
 'try of the divine who harangued the people of the adjoin- 
 ing parish, she thought it was from his exhortations only 
 that salvation could be meted out to the short-lived hopes 
 of Henry Wharton. Not that the kind-hearted matron 
 was so ignorant of the doctrines of the religion which she 
 professed as to depend theoretically on mortal aid for 
 protection ; but she had, to use her own phrase, "sat so 
 
 long under the preaching of good Mr. ," that she had 
 
 unconsciously imbibed a practical reliance on his assist- 
 ance, for that which her faith should have taught her 
 could have come from the Deity alone. With her, the 
 consideration of death was at all times awful ; and the in- 
 stant that the sentence of the prisoner was promulgated, 
 she despatched Caesar, mounted on one of her husband's 
 
THE SPY. 297 
 
 best horses, in quest of her clerical monitor. This step 
 had been taken without consulting either Henry or his 
 friends ; and it was only when the services of Caesar were 
 required on some domestic emergency, that she explained 
 the nature of his absence. The youth heard her, at first, 
 with an unconquerable reluctance to admit of such a 
 spiritual guide ; but as our view of the things of this life 
 becomes less vivid, our prejudices and habits cease to re- 
 tain their influence ; and a civil bow of thanks was finally 
 given in requital for the considerate care of the well- 
 meaning woman. 
 
 The black returned early from his expedition, and, as 
 well as could be gathered from his somewhat incoherent 
 narrative, a minister of God might be expected to arrive 
 in the course of the day. The interruption that we men- 
 tioned in our preceding chapter was occasioned by the 
 entrance of the landlady. At the intercession of Dun- 
 woodie, orders had been given to the sentinel who guarded 
 the door of Henry's room, that the members of the pris- 
 oner's family should, at all times, have free access to his 
 apartment ; Caesar was included in this arrangement, as a 
 matter of convenience, by the officer in command ; but 
 strict inquiry and examination was made into the errand 
 of every other applicant for admission. The major had, 
 however, included himself among the relatives of the 
 British officer ; and one pledge, that no rescue should be 
 attempted, was given in his name for them all. A short 
 conversation was passing between the woman of the house 
 and the corporal of the guard, before the door that the 
 sentinel had already opened in anticipation of the decision 
 of his non-commissioned commandant. 
 
 "Would you refuse the consolations of religion to a 
 fellow-creature about to suffer death ? " said the matron, 
 with earnest zeal. "Would you plunge a soul into the 
 fiery furnace, and a minister at hand to point out the 
 straight and narrow path ? " 
 
 " I'll tell you what, good woman," returned the corporal, 
 gently pushing her away ; " I've no notion of my back 
 being a highway for any man to walk to heaven upon. A 
 pretty figure I should make at the pickets, for disobeying 
 orders. Just step down and ask Lieutenant Mason, and 
 you may bring in the whole congregation. We have not 
 taken the guard from the foot-soldiers but an hour, and I 
 shouldn't like to have it said that we know less of our duty 
 than the militia." 
 
298 
 
 " Admit the woman," said Dunwoodie, sternly, observ- 
 ing, for the first time, that one of his own corps was on 
 post. 
 
 The corporal raised his hand to his cap, and fell back in 
 silence ; the soldier stood to his arms, and the matron en- 
 tered. 
 
 " Here is a reverend gentleman below, come to soothe 
 the parting soul, in the place of our own divine, who is 
 engaged with an appointment that could not be put aside ; 
 'tis to bury old Mr. - 
 
 "Show him in," said Henry, with feverish impatience. 
 
 " But will the sentinel let him pass ? I would not wish 
 
 a friend of Mr. to be rudely stopped on the threshold, 
 
 and he a stranger." 
 
 All eyes were now turned on Dunwoodie, who, looking 
 at his watch, spoke a few words with Henry, in tin under- 
 tone, and hastened from the apartment, followed by 
 Frances. The subject of their conversation was a wish 
 expressed by the prisoner for a clergyman of his own per- 
 suasion, and a promise from the major, that one should be 
 sent from Fishkill town, through which he was about to 
 pass on his way to the ferry to intercept the expected re- 
 turn of Harper. Mason soon made his bow at the door, 
 and willingly complied with the wishes of the landlady ; 
 and the divine was invited to make his appearance accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 The person who was ushered into the apartment, pre- 
 ceded by Caesar, and followed by the matron, was a man 
 beyond the middle age, or who might rather be said to ap- 
 proach the down-hill of life. In stature he was above the 
 size of ordinary men, though his excessive leanness might 
 contribute in deceiving as to his height ; his countenance 
 was sharp and unbending, and every muscle seemed set in 
 rigid compression. No joy, or relaxation, appeared ever 
 to have dwelt on features that frowned habitually, as if in 
 detestation of the vices of mankind. The brows were 
 beetling, dark, .and forbidding, giving the promise of eyes 
 of no less repelling expression ; but the organs were con- 
 cealed beneath a pair of enormous green goggles, through 
 which they glared around with a fierceness that denounced 
 the coming day of wrath. All was fanaticism, uncharita- 
 bleness, and denunciation. Long, lank hair, a mixture of 
 gray and black, fell down his neck, and in some degree 
 obscured the sides of his face, and, parting on his forehead, 
 fell in either direction in straight and formal screens. On 
 
THE SPY. 299 
 
 the top of this ungraceful exhibition was laid, impending 
 forward, so as to overhang in some measure the whole 
 fabric, a large hat of three equal cocks. His coat was of 
 a rusty black, and his breeches and stockings were of the 
 same color ; his shoes without lustre, and half concealed 
 beneath huge plated buckles. 
 
 He stalked into the room, and giving a stiff nod with his 
 head, took the chair offered him by the black, in dignified 
 silence. For several minutes no one broke this ominous 
 pause in the conversation ; Henry feeling a repugnance to 
 his guest that he was vainly endeavoring to conquer, and 
 the stranger himself drawing forth occasional sighs and 
 groans, that threatened a dissolution of the unequal con- 
 nection between his sublimated soul and its ungainly tene- 
 ment. During this death-like preparation, Mr. Wharton, 
 with a feeling nearly allied to that of his son, led Sarah 
 from the apartment. His retreat was noticed by the divine, 
 in a kind of scornful disdain, who began to hum the air of 
 a popular psalm tune, giving it the full richness of the 
 twang that distinguishes the Eastern* psalmody. 
 
 " Caesar," said Miss Peyton, " hand the gentleman some 
 refreshment ; he must need it after his ride." 
 
 " My strength is not in the things of life," said the di- 
 vine, speaking in a hollow, sepulchral voice. " Thrice have 
 I this day held forth in my master's service, and fainted 
 not ; still it is prudent to help this frail tenement of clay, 
 for, surely, * the laborer is worthy of his hire.' " 
 
 Opening a pair of enormous jaws, he took a good meas- 
 ure of the proffered brandy, and suffered it to glide down- 
 ward with that sort of facility with which man is prone to 
 sin. 
 
 " I apprehend, then, sir, that fatigue will disable you 
 from performing the duties which kindness had induced 
 you to attempt." 
 
 " Woman ! " exclaimed the stranger, with energy, " when 
 was I ever known to shrink from a duty ? But 'judge not, 
 lest ye be judged,' and fancy not that it is given to mortal 
 eyes to fathom the intentions of the Deity." 
 
 " Nay," returned the maiden, meekly/ and slightly dis- 
 gusted with his jargon. " I pretend not to judge of either 
 events, or the intentions of my fellow-creatures, much less 
 of those of Omnipotence." 
 
 " Tis well, woman 'tis well," cried the minister, wav- 
 
 * By " Plastern " is meant the States of New England, which, being 
 originally settled by Puritans, still retain many distinct shades of character. 
 
300 THE SPY. 
 
 ing his hand with supercilious disdain ; " humility becom- 
 eth thy sex, and lost condition ; thy weakness driveth thee 
 on headlong, like 'unto the bosom of destruction.'" 
 
 Surprised at this extraordinary deportment, yielding to 
 that habit which urges us to speak reverently on sacred 
 subjects, even when perhaps we had better continue si- 
 lent, Miss Peyton replied : 
 
 " There is a power above, that can and will sustain us 
 all in well-doing, if we seek its support in humility and 
 truth." 
 
 The stranger turned a lowering look at the speaker, and 
 then composing himself into an air of self-abasement, he 
 continued, in the same repelling tones : 
 
 '* It is not everyone that crieth out for mercy that will 
 be heard. The ways of Providence are not to be judged by 
 men 'many are called, but few chosen.' It is easier to 
 talk of humility than to feel it. Are you so humble, vile 
 worm, as to wish to glorify God by your own damnation ? 
 If not, away with you for a publican and a pharisee ! " 
 
 Such gross fanaticism was uncommon in America, and 
 Miss Peyton began to imbibe the impression that her guest 
 was deranged ; but remembering that he had been sent by 
 a well-known divine, and one of reputation, she discarded 
 the idea, and, with some forbearance, observed : 
 
 " I may deceive myself in believing that mercy is prof- 
 fered to all, but it is so soothing a doctrine that I would 
 not willingly be undeceived," 
 
 " Mercy is only for the elect," cried the stranger, with 
 an unaccountable energy ; "and you are in the 'valley of 
 the shadow of death.' Are you not a follower of idle cere- 
 monies, which belong to the vain church that our tyrants 
 would gladly establish here, along with their stamp-acts 
 and tea-laws ? Answer me that, woman ; and remember 
 that Heaven hears your answer ; are you not of that idola- 
 trous communion ?" 
 
 " I worship at the altars of my fathers," said Miss Pey- 
 ton, motioning to Henry for silence ; " but bow to no other 
 idol than my own infirmities." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know ye, self-righteous and papal as ye are 
 followers of forms, and listeners to bookish preaching; 
 think you, woman, that holy Paul had notes in his hand 
 to propound the word to the believers?" 
 
 "My presence disturbs you," said Miss Peyton, rising ; 
 " I will leave you with my nephew, and offer those prayers 
 in private that I did wish to mingle with his." 
 
THE SPY. 301 
 
 So saying, she withdrew, followed by the landlady, who 
 was not a little shocked, and somewhat surprised, by the 
 intemperate zeal of her new acquaintance ; for, although 
 the good woman believed that Miss Peyton and her whole 
 church were on the high road to destruction, she was by no 
 means accustomed to hear such offensive and open avowals 
 of their fate. 
 
 Henry had with difficulty repressed the indignation ex- 
 cited by this unprovoked attack on his meek and unresist- 
 ing aunt ; but as the door closed on her retiring figure, he 
 gave way to his feelings. 
 
 " I must confess, sir," he exclaimed, with heat, "that in 
 receiving a minister of God I thought I was admitting a 
 Christian, and one who, by feeling his own weaknesses, 
 knew how to pity the frailties of others. You have wounded 
 the meek spirit of an excellent woman, and I acknowledge 
 but little inclination to mingle in prayer with so intolerant 
 a spirit." 
 
 The minister stood erect, with grave composure, follow- 
 ing with his eyes, in a kind of scornful pity, the retiring fe- 
 males, and suffered the expostulation of the youth to be 
 given as if unworthy of his notice. A third voice, how- 
 ever, spoke : 
 
 " Such a denunciation would have driven many women 
 into fits ; but it has answered the purpose well enough, as 
 it is." 
 
 " Who's that ?" cried the prisoner, in amazement, gazing 
 around the room in quest of the speaker: 
 
 " It is I, Captain Wharton," said Harvey Birch, remov- 
 ing the spectacles, and exhibiting his piercing eyes, shin- 
 ing under a pair of false eyebrows. 
 
 " Good Heavens Harvey ! " 
 
 " Silence !" said the peddler, solemnly ; "'tis a name 
 not to be mentioned, and least of all here, within the heart 
 of the American army." Birch paused, and gazed around 
 him for a moment, with an emotion exceeding the base pas- 
 sion of fear, and then continued, in a gloomy tone, "There 
 are a thousand halters in that very name, and little hope 
 would there be left me of another escape, should I be again 
 taken. This is a fearful venture that I am making ; but I 
 could not sleep in quiet, and know that an innocent man. 
 was about to die the death of a dog, when I might save 
 him." 
 
 " No," said Henry, with a glow of generous feeling on 
 his cheek ; " if the risk to yourself be so heavy, retire as 
 
302 THE SPY. 
 
 you came, and leave me to my fate. Dunwoodie is mak- 
 ing, even now, powerful exertions in my behalf ; and if he 
 meets with Mr. Harper in the course of the night, my lib- 
 eration is certain." 
 
 " Harper ! " echoed the peddler, remaining with his 
 hands raised, in the act of replacing the spectacles ; "what 
 do you know of Harper ? and why do you think he will do 
 you service ? " 
 
 "I have his promise ; you remember our recent meet- 
 ing in my father's dwelling, and he then gave an unasked 
 promise to assist me." 
 
 " Yes but do you know him ? that is why do you think 
 he has the power ? or what reason have you for believing 
 he will remember his word ?" 
 
 " If there ever was a stamp of truth, or simple, honest 
 benevolence, in the countenance of man, it shone in his," 
 said Henry ; "besides, Dunwoodie has powerful friends in 
 the rebel army, and it would be better that I take the 
 chance where I am, than thus to expose you to certain 
 death, if detected." 
 
 "Captain Wharton," said Birch, looking guardedly 
 around, and speaking with impressive seriousness of man- 
 ner, "if I fail you, all fail you. No Harper nor Dunwoodie 
 can save your life ; unless you get out with me, and that 
 within the hour, you die to-morrow on the gallows of a 
 murderer. Yes, such are their laws ; the man who fights, 
 and kills, and plunders, is honored ; but he who serves his 
 country as a spy, no matter how faithfully, no matter how 
 honestly, lives to be reviled, or dies like the vilest crim- 
 inal." 
 
 " You forget, Mr. Birch," said the youth, a little indig- 
 nantly, " that I am not a treacherous, lurking spy, who de- 
 ceives to betray ; but innocent of the charge imputed to 
 me." 
 
 The blood rushed over the pale, meagre features of the 
 peddler, until his face was one glow of fire ; but it passed 
 quickly away, and he replied : 
 
 " I have told you truth. Caesar met me, as he was go- 
 ing on his errand this morning, and with him I have laid 
 the plan, which, if executed as I wish, will save you other- 
 wise you are lost ; and I again tell you, that no other power 
 on earth, not even Washington, can save you." 
 
 "I submit," said the prisoner, yielding to his earnest 
 manner, and goaded by the fears that were thus awakened 
 anew. 
 
THE SPY. 303 
 
 The peddler beckoned him to be silent and, walking to 
 the door, opened it with the stiff, formal air with which he 
 had entered the apartment. 
 
 " Friend, let no one enter," he said to the sentinel ; " we 
 are about to go to prayer, and would wish to be alone." 
 
 " I don't know that any will wish to interrupt you," re- 
 turned the soldier, with a waggish leer of his eye ; " but, 
 should they be so disposed, I have no power to stop them, 
 if they be of the prisoner's friends ; I have my orders, and 
 must mind them, whether the Englishman goes to Heaven 
 or not." 
 
 "Audacious sinner!" said the pretended priest, "have 
 you not the fear of God before your eyes ? I tell you, as 
 you will dread punishment at the last day, to let none of 
 the idolatrous communion enter, to mingle in the prayers 
 of the righteous." 
 
 " Whew ew ew what a noble commander you'd make 
 for Sergeant Hollister*! you'd preach him dumb in a roll- 
 call. Hark'ee, I'll thank you not to make such a noise 
 when you hold forth as to drown our bugles, or you may 
 get a poor fellow a short horn at his grog, for not turning 
 out to evening parade ; if you want to be alone, have you 
 no knife to stick over the door-latch, that you must have 
 a troop of horse to guard your meeting-house ?" 
 
 The peddler took the hint,, and. closed the door immedi- 
 ately, using the precaution suggested by the dragoon. 
 
 "You overact your part," said young Wharton, in con- 
 stant apprehension of discovery ; " your zeal is too intem- 
 perate." 
 
 " For a foot-soldier and them Eastern militia it might 
 be," said Harvey, turning a bag upside down that Caesar 
 now handed him ; " but these dragoons are fellows that 
 you must brag down. A faint heart, Captain Wharton, 
 would do but little here ; but come, here is a black shroud 
 for your good-looking countenance," taking at the same 
 time a parchment mask and fitting it to the face of 
 Henry. " The master and the man must change places 
 for a season." 
 
 " I don't tink he look a bit like me," said Caesar, with 
 disgust, as he surveyed his young master with his new com- 
 plexion. 
 
 " Stop a minute, Caesar," said the peddler, with the lurk- 
 ing drollery that at times formed part of his manner, " till 
 we get on the wool." 
 
 " He worse than ebber now," cried the discontented 
 
34 
 
 THE SPY. 
 
 African. " A think colored man like a sheep. I nebber 
 see such a lip, Harvey ; he most as big as a sausage ! " 
 
 Great pains had been taken in forming the different ar- 
 ticles used in the disguise of Captain VVharton, and when 
 arranged, under the skilful superintendence of the ped- 
 dler, they formed together a transformation that would 
 easily escape detection from any but an extraordinary ob- 
 server. 
 
 The mask was stuffed and shaped in such a manner as 
 to preserve the peculiarities, as well as the color, of the 
 African visage ; and the wig was so artfully formed of 
 black and white wool, as to imitate the pepper-and-salt 
 color of Caesar's own head, and to exact plaudits from the 
 black himself, who thought it an excellent counterfeit in 
 everything but quality. 
 
 "There is but one man in the American army who could 
 detect you, Captain Wharton," said the peddler, surveying 
 his work with satisfaction, " and he is just now out of our 
 way." 
 
 " And who is he ? " 
 
 "The man who made you a prisoner. He would see 
 your white skin through a plank. But strip, both of you ; 
 your clothes must be exchanged from head to foot." 
 
 Caesar, who had received minute instructions from the 
 peddler in their morning interview, immediately com- 
 menced throwing aside his coarse garments, \vhich the 
 youth took up and prepared to invest himself with ; unable, 
 however, to repress a few signs of loathing. 
 
 In the manner of the peddler there was an odd mixture 
 of care and humor; the former was the result of a perfect 
 knowledge of their danger, and the means necessary to be 
 used in avoiding it ; and the latter proceeded from the un- 
 avoidably ludicrous circumstances before him, acting on 
 an indifference which sprang from habit and long familiar- 
 ity with such scenes as the present. 
 
 " Here, captain," he said, taking up some loose wool, 
 and beginning to stuff the stockings of Caesar, which were 
 already on the leg of the prisoner; "some judgment is 
 necessary in shaping this limb. You will have to display 
 it on horseback ; and the Southern dragoons are so used 
 to the brittle-shins that, should they notice your well- 
 turned calf, they'd know at once that it never belonged to 
 a black." 
 
 " Golly ! " said Caesar, with a chuckle that exhibited a 
 mouth open from ear to ear, " Massy Harry breeches fit." 
 
THE SPY. 305 
 
 " Anything but your leg," said the peddler, coolly pur- 
 suing the toilet of Henry. " Slip on the coat, captain, over 
 all. Upon my word, you would pass well at a pinkster 
 frolic ; and here. Caesar, place this powdered wig over your 
 curls, and be careful and look out of the window whenever 
 the door is opened, and on no account speak, or you will 
 betray all." 
 
 " I s'pose Harvey tink a color'd man an't got a tongue 
 like oder folk," grumbled the black, as he took the station 
 assigned to him. 
 
 Everything now was arranged for action, and the ped- 
 dler very deliberately went over the whole of his injunc- 
 tions to the two actors in the scene. The captain he con- 
 jured to dispense with his erect military carriage, and for 
 a season to adopt the humble paces of his father's negro ; 
 and Caesar he enjoined to silence and disguise, so long as he 
 could possibly maintain them. Thus prepared, he opened 
 the door and called aloud to the sentinel, who had retired 
 to the farthest end of the passage, in order to avoid receiv- 
 ing any of that spiritual comfort which he felt was the sole 
 property of another. 
 
 " Let the woman of the house be called," said Harvey, 
 in the solemn key of his assumed character ; "and let her 
 come alone. The prisoner is in a happy train of medita- 
 tion, and must not be led from his devotions." 
 
 Caesar sank his face between his hands, and when the 
 soldier looked into the apartment, he thought he saw his 
 charge in deep abstraction. Casting a glance of huge con- 
 tempt at the divine, he called aloud for the good woman 
 of the house. She hastened to the summons, with earnest 
 zeal, entertaining a secret hope that she was to be ad- 
 mitted to the gossip of a death-bed repentance. 
 
 "Sister," said the minister, in the authoritative tones of 
 a master, " have you in the house 'The Christian Criminal's 
 Last Moments, or Thoughts on Eternity, for Them who 
 Die a Violent Death ? ' ' 
 
 " I never heard of the book ! " said the matron, in aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 " 'Tis not unlikely ; there are many books you have never 
 heard of ; it is impossible for this poor penitent to pass in 
 peace without the consolations of that volume. One 
 hour's reading in it is worth an age of man's preaching." 
 
 " Bless me, what a treasure to possess ! when was it put 
 out?" 
 
 " It was first put out at Geneva, in the Greek language, 
 
 20 
 
3 o6 THE SPY. 
 
 and then translated at Boston. It is a book, woman, that 
 should be in the hands of every Christian, especially such 
 as die upon the gallows. Have a horse prepared instantly 
 
 for this black, who shall accompany me to my Brother , 
 
 and I will send down the volume yet in season. Brother, 
 compose thy mind ; you are now in the narrow path to 
 glory." 
 
 Caesar wriggled a little in his chair, but he had sufficient 
 recollection to conceal his face with hands that were, in 
 their turn, concealed by gloves. The landlady departed to 
 comply with this very reasonable request, and the group 
 of conspirators were again left to themselves. 
 
 " This is well," said the peddler ; " but the difficult task 
 is to deceive the officer who commands the guard he is 
 lieutenant to Lawton, and has learned some of the cap- 
 tain's own cunning in these things. Remember, Captain 
 Wharton," continued he, with an air of pride, " that now 
 is the moment when everything depends on our cool- 
 ness." 
 
 " My fate can be made but little worse than it is at pres- 
 ent, my worthy fellow," said Henry ; " but for your sake 
 I will do all that in me lies." 
 
 " And wherein can I be more forlorn and persecuted 
 than I now am?" asked the peddler, with that wild inco- 
 herence which often crossed his manner. "But I have 
 promised one to save you, and to him I never have yet 
 broken my word." 
 
 "And who is he? " said Henry, with awakened interest. 
 
 "No one." 
 
 The man soon returned, and announced that the horses 
 were at the door. Harvey gave the captain a glance, and 
 led the way down the stairs, first desiring the woman to 
 leave the prisoner to himself, in order that he might digest 
 the wholesome mental food that he had so lately received. 
 
 A rumor of the odd character of the priest had spread 
 from the sentinel at the door to his comrades ; so that when 
 Harvey and Wharton reached the open space before the 
 building, they found a dozen idle dragoons loitering about, 
 with the waggish intention of quizzing the fanatic, and 
 employed in affected admiration of the steeds. 
 
 " A fine horse ! " said the leader in this plan of mischief; 
 "but a little low in flesh ; I suppose from hard labor in 
 your calling," 
 
 " My calling may be laborsome to both myself and this 
 faithful beast, but then a day of settling is at hand, that 
 
THE SPY. 307 
 
 will reward me for all my outgoings and incomings," said 
 Birch, putting his foot in the stirrup and preparing to 
 mount. 
 
 " You work for pay, then, as we fight for't ? " cried an- 
 other of the party. 
 
 " Even so is not the laborer worthy of his hire ?" 
 
 " Come, suppose you give us a little preaching ; we 
 have a leisure moment just now, and there's no telling how 
 much good you might do a set of reprobates like us, in a 
 few words ; here, mount this horse-block, and take your 
 text where you please." 
 
 The men now gathered in eager delight around the 
 peddler, who, glancing his eye expressively toward the 
 captain, who had been suffered to mount, replied : 
 
 "Doubtless, for such is my duty. But" Caesar, you can 
 ride up the road and deliver the note the unhappy 
 prisoner will be wanting the book, for his hours are 
 numbered." 
 
 "Ay ay, go along, Caesar, and get the book," shouted 
 half a dozen voices, all crowding eagerly around the ideal 
 priest, in anticipation of a frolic. 
 
 The peddler inwardly dreaded that, in their unceremo- 
 nious handling of himself and garments, his hat and wig 
 might be displaced, when detection would be certain ; he 
 was therefore fain to comply with their request. Ascend- 
 ing the horse-block, after hemming once or twice, and 
 casting several glances at the captain, who continued im- 
 movable, he commenced as follows : 
 
 " I shall call your attention, my brethren, to that portion 
 of Scripture which you will find in the second book of 
 Samuel, and which is written in the following words : 
 ' And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a 
 fool dieth ? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fet- 
 ters : as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And 
 all the people wept again over him.' Caesar, ride forward, I 
 say, and obtain the book as directed ; thy master is groan- 
 ing in spirit even now for the want of it." 
 
 "An excellent text! "cried the dragoons. ''Go on 
 go on let the snowball stay ; he wants to be edified as well 
 as another." 
 
 ''What are you at there, scoundrels ?" cried Lieuten- 
 ant Mason, as he came in sight from a walk he had taken, 
 to sneer at the evening parade of the regiment of militia ; 
 "away with every man of you to your quarters, and let me 
 find that each horse is cleaned and littered when I come 
 
3 o8 THE SPY. 
 
 round." The sound of the officer's voice operated like a 
 charm, and no priest could desire a more silent congrega- 
 tion, although he might possibly have wished for one 
 that was more numerous. Mason had not done speaking, 
 when it was reduced to the image of Caesar only. The 
 peddler took that opportunity to mount, but he had to 
 preserve the gravity of his movements ; for the remark of 
 the troopers upon the condition of their beasts was but 
 too just, and a dozen dragoon horses stood saddled and 
 bridled at hand, ready to receive their riders at a moment's 
 warning. 
 
 " Well, have you bitted the poor fellow within," said 
 Mason, " that he can take his last ride under the curb of 
 divinity, old gentleman ?" 
 
 "There is evil in thy conversation, profane man," 
 cried the priest, raising his hands and casting his eyes 
 upward in holy horror ; u so I will depart from thee un- 
 hurt, as Daniel was liberated from the lion's den." 
 
 "Off with you, fora hypocritical, psalm-singing, cant- 
 ing rogue in disguise," said Mason, scornfully; "by the 
 life of Washington ! it worries an honest fellow to see 
 such voracious beasts of prey ravaging a country for which 
 he sheds his blood. If I had you on a Virginia plantation 
 for a quarter of an hour, I'd teach you to worm the 
 tobacco with the turkeys." 
 
 " I leave you, and shake the dust off my shoes, that 
 no remnant of this wicked hole may tarnish the vestments 
 of the godly." 
 
 " Start, or I will shake the dust from your jacket, 
 designing knave ! A fellow to be preaching to my men ! 
 There's Hollister put the devil in them by his exhorting ; 
 the rascals were getting too conscientious to strike a blow 
 that would raise the skin. But hold ! whither do you 
 travel, master blackey, in such godly company?" 
 
 " He goes," said the minister, hastily speaking for his 
 companion, " to return with a book of much condolence 
 and virtue to the sinful youth above, whose soul will 
 speedily become white, even as his outwards are black and 
 unseemly. Would you deprive a dying man of the con- 
 solation of religion ?" 
 
 " No, no, poor fellow, his fate is bad enough ; a famous 
 good breakfast his prim body of an aunt gave us. But 
 harkee, Mr. Revelations, if the youth must die secundum 
 artem, let it be under a gentleman's direction ; and my 
 advice is, that you never trust that skeleton of yours 
 
THE SPY. 309 
 
 among us again, or I will take the skin off and leave you 
 naked." 
 
 " Out upon thee for a reviler and scoffer of goodness ! " 
 said Birch, moving slowly, and with a due observance of 
 clerical dignity, down the road, followed by the imaginary 
 Caesar ; " but I leave thee, and that behind me that will 
 prove thy condemnation, and take from thee a hearty and 
 joyful deliverance." 
 
 " Damn him," muttered the trooper ; the fellow rides 
 like a stake, and his legs stick out like the cocks of his hat. 
 I wish I had him below these hills, where the law is not 
 over-particular, I'd 
 
 " Corporal of the guard ! corporal of the guard ! " 
 shouted the sentinel in the passage to the chambers ; " cor- 
 poral of the guard ! corporal of the guard ! " 
 
 The subaltern flew up the narrow stairway that led to 
 the room of the prisoner, and demanded the meaning of 
 the outcry. 
 
 The soldier was standing at the open door of the apart- 
 ment, looking in with a suspicious eye on the supposed 
 British officer. On observing his lieutenant, he fell back 
 with habitual respect, and replied, with an air of puzzled 
 thought : 
 
 " I don't know, sir ; but just now the prisoner looked 
 queer. Ever since the preacher has left him he don't look 
 as he used to do but," gazing intently over the shoulder 
 of his officer, " it must be him, too ! There is the same 
 powdered head, and the darn in the coat, where he was hit 
 the day he had the last brush with the enemy." 
 
 "And then all this noise is occasioned by your doubting 
 whether that poor gentleman is your prisoner or not, is it, 
 sirrah ? Who the devil do you think it can be else ?" 
 
 " I don't know who else it can be," returned the fellow, 
 sullenly ; " but he is grown thicker and shorter, if it is he ; 
 and see for yourself, sir, he shakes all over, like a man in 
 an ague." 
 
 This was but too true. Caesar was an alarmed auditor 
 of this short conversation, and, from congratulating him- 
 self upon the dexterous escape of his young master, his 
 thoughts were very naturally beginning to dwell upon the 
 probable consequences to his own person. The pause that 
 succeeded the last remark of the sentinel in no degree con- 
 tributed to the restoration of his faculties. Lieutenant 
 Mason was busied in examining with his own eyes the sus- 
 pected person of the black, and Caesar was aware of the 
 
3 io THE SPY. 
 
 fact, by stealing a look through a passage under one of his 
 arms that he had left expressly for the purpose of recon- 
 noitring. Captain Lawton would have discovered the 
 fraud immediately, but Mason was by no means so quick- 
 sighted as his commander. He therefore turned rather 
 contemptuously to the soldier and, speaking in an under- 
 tone, observed : 
 
 " That anabaptist, methodistical, quaker, psalm-singing 
 rascal has frightened the boy with his farrago about flames 
 and brimstone. I'll step in and cheer him with a little 
 rational conversation." 
 
 " I have heard of fear making a man white," said the 
 soldier, drawing back, and staring as if his eyes would start 
 from their sockets, " but it has changed the royal captain 
 to a black ! " 
 
 The truth was that Caesar, unable to hear what Mason 
 uttered in a low voice, and having every fear aroused in 
 him by what had already passed, incautiously removed the 
 wig a little from one of his ears in order to hear the bet- 
 ter, without in the least remembering that its color might 
 prove fatal to his disguise. The sentinel had kept his eyes 
 fastened on his prisoner, and noticed the action. The at- 
 tention of Mason was instantly drawn to the same object ; 
 and, forgetting all delicacy for a brother officer in distress, 
 or, in short, forgetting everything but the censure that 
 might alight on his corps, the lieutenant sprang forward 
 and seized the terrified African by the throat ; for no 
 sooner had Caesar heard his color named, than he knew 
 his discovery was certain ; and at the first sound of 
 Mason's heavy boot on the floor he arose from his seat, 
 and retreated precipitately to a corner of the room. 
 
 "Who are you ?" cried Mason, dashing the head of the 
 old man against the angle of the wall at each interroga- 
 tory ; "who the devil are you, and where is the English- 
 man ? Speak, thou thunder-cloud ! Answer me, you 
 jackdaw, or I'll hang you on the gallows of the spy ! " 
 
 Caesar continued firm. Neither the threats nor the blows 
 could extract any reply, until the lieutenant, by a very 
 natural transition in the attack, sent his heavy boot for- 
 ward in a direction that brought it in direct contact with 
 the most sensitive part of the negro his shin. The most 
 obdurate heart could not have exacted further patience, 
 and Caesar instantly gave in. The first words he spoke 
 were : 
 
 " Golly ! Massa, you tink I got no feelin' ? " 
 
THE SPY. 31 r 
 
 " By heavens ! " shouted the lieutenant, " it is the negro 
 himself ! Scoundrel ! where is your master, and who was 
 the priest ? " While speaking, he made a movement as if 
 about to renew the attack ; but Caesar cried aloud for 
 mercy, promising to tell ajl that he knew. 
 
 "Who was the priest ?" repeated the dragoon, drawing 
 back his formidable leg, and holding it in threatening sus- 
 pense. 
 
 " Harvey, Harvey ! " cried Caesar, dancing from one leg 
 to the other, as he thought each member in turn might be 
 assailed. 
 
 " Harvey who, you black villain ? " cried the impatient 
 lieutenant, as he executed a full measure of vengeance by 
 letting his leg fly. 
 
 " Birch ! " shrieked Caesar, falling on his knees, the tears 
 rolling in large drops over his shining face. 
 
 " Harvey Birch ! " echoed the trooper, hurling the black 
 from him and rushing from the room. " To arms ! to 
 arms ! Fifty guineas for the life of the peddler-spy give 
 no quarter to either. Mount ! mount ! to arms ! to horse ! " 
 
 During the uproar occasioned by the assembling of the 
 dragoons, who all rushed tumultuously to their horses, 
 Caesar rose from the floor, where he had been thrown by 
 Mason, and began to examine into his injuries. Happily 
 for himself, he had alighted on his head, and consequently 
 sustained no material damage. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Away went Gilpin, neck or nought, 
 
 Away went hat and wig j 
 He little dreamt, when he set out, 
 
 Of running such a rig. COWPER. 
 
 THE road which it was necessary for the peddler and the 
 English captain to travel, in order to reach the shelter of 
 the hills, lay for a half-mile in full view from the door of 
 the building that had so recently been the prison of the 
 latter ; running for the whole distance over the rich plain 
 that spreads to the very foot of the mountains, which here 
 rise in a nearly perpendicular ascent from their bases ; it 
 then turned short to the right, and was obliged to follow 
 the windings of nature, as it won its way into the bosom 
 01 the Highlands. 
 
3 12 THE SPY. 
 
 To preserve the supposed difference in their stations, 
 Harvey rode a short distance ahead of his companion, and 
 maintained the sober, dignified pace that was suited to his 
 assumed character. On their right, the regiment of foot 
 that we have already mentioned, lay in tents ; and the sen- 
 tinels who guarded their encampment were to be seen 
 moving with measured tread under the skirts of the hills 
 themselves. 
 
 The first impulse of Henry was, certainly, to urge the 
 beast he rode to his greatest speed at once, and by a coup- 
 de-main not only accomplish his escape, but relieve him- 
 self from the torturing suspense of his situation. But the 
 orward movement that the youth made for this purpose 
 was instantly checked by the peddler. 
 
 " Hold up ! " he cried, dexterously reining his own horse 
 across the path of the other ; " would you ruin us both ? 
 Fall into the place of a black, following his master. Did 
 you not see their blooded chargers, all saddled and bridled, 
 standing in the sun before the house ? How long do you 
 think that miserable Dutch horse you are on would hold 
 his speed, if pursued by the Virginians ? Every foot that 
 we can gain, without giving the alarm, counts a day in our 
 lives. Ride steadily after me, and on no account look 
 back. They are as subtle as foxes, ay, and as ravenous 
 for blood as wolves ! " 
 
 Henry reluctantly restrained his impatience, and fol- 
 lowed the direction of the peddler. His imagination, how- 
 ever, continually alarmed him with the fancied sounds of 
 pursuit ; though Birch, who occasionally looked back 
 under the pretence of addressing his companion, assured 
 him that all continued quiet and peaceful. 
 
 li But," said Henry, " it will not be possible for Caesar 
 to remain long undiscovered. Had we not better put our 
 horses to the gallop, and by the time they can reflect on the 
 cause of our flight, we can reach the corner of the woods ? " 
 
 " Ah ! you little know them, Captain Wharton," re- 
 turned the peddler ; " there is a sergeant at this moment 
 looking after us, as if he thought all was not right ; the 
 keen-eyed fellow watches me like a tiger lying in wait for 
 his leap. When I stood on the horse-block, he half sus- 
 pected that something was wrong. Nay, check your 
 beast we must let the animals walk a little, for he is lay- 
 ing his hand on the pommel of his saddle. If he mounts, 
 we are gone. The foot-soldiers could reach us now with 
 their muskets." 
 
THE SPY. 313 
 
 " What does he now ? " asked Henry, reining his horse 
 to a walk, but at the same time pressing his heels into the 
 animal's sides, to be in readiness for a spring. 
 
 " He turns from his charger, and looks the other way ; 
 now trot on gently not so fast not so fast. Observe 
 the sentinel in the field, a little ahead of us he eyes us 
 keenly." 
 
 "Never mind the foot-man," said Henry, impatiently; 
 " he can do nothing but shoot us, whereas these dragoons 
 may make me a captive again. Surely, Harvey, there are 
 horses moving down the road behind us. Do you see 
 nothing particular ?" 
 
 "Humph!" ejaculated the peddler; "there is some- 
 thing particular, indeed, to be seen behind the thicket on 
 our left. Turn your head a little, and you may see and 
 profit by it too." 
 
 Henry eagerly seized this permission to look aside, and 
 the blood curdled to his heart as he observed that they 
 were passing a gallows, which unquestionably had been 
 erected for his own execution. He turned his face from 
 the sight in undisguised horror. 
 
 "There is a warning to be prudent," said the peddler, 
 in the sententious manner that he often adopted. 
 
 " It is a terrific sight, indeed ! " cried Henry, for a mo- 
 ment veiling his eyes with his hand, as if to drive a vision 
 from before him. 
 
 The peddler moved his body partly around, and spoke 
 with energetic but gloomy bitterness " And yet, Captain 
 Wharton, you see it where the setting sun shines full upon 
 you ; the air you breathe is clear, and fresh from the hills 
 before you. Every step that you take leaves that hated 
 gallows behind ; and every dark hollow, and every shape- 
 less rock in the mountains, offers you a hiding-place from 
 the vengeance of your enemies. But I have seen the gib- 
 bet raised when no place of refuge offered. Twice have I 
 been buried in dungeons, where, fettered and in chains, I 
 have passed nights in torture, looking forward to the 
 morning's dawn that was to light me to a death of infamy. 
 The sweat has started from limbs that seemed already 
 drained of their moisture ; and if I ventured to the hole 
 that admitted air through grates of iron to look out upon 
 the smiles of nature, which God lias bestowed for the 
 meanest of his creatures, the gibbet has glared before my 
 eyes, like an evil conscience harrowing the soul pf a dying 
 man. Four times have I been in their power, besides this 
 
3 14 THE SPY. 
 
 last ; but twice did I think my hour had come. It is 
 hard to die at the best, Captain Wharton ; but to spend 
 your last moments alone and unpitied, to know that none 
 near you so much as think of the fate that is to you the 
 closing of all that is earthly ; to think that in a few hours 
 you are to be led from the gloom which, as you dwell on 
 what follows, becomes dear to you, to the face of day, and 
 there to meet all eyes fixed upon you, as if you were a 
 wild beast ; and to lose sight of everything amid the jeers 
 and scoffs of your fellow-creatures that, Captain Whar- 
 ton, that indeed is to die ! " 
 
 Henry listened in amazement, as his companion uttered 
 this speech with a vehemence altogether new to him ; 
 both seemed to have forgotten their danger and their dis- 
 guises. 
 
 " What ! were you ever so near death as that ? " 
 
 "Have I not been the hunted beast of these hills for 
 three years past ? " resumed Harvey ; " and once they 
 even led me to the foot of the gallows itself, and I es- 
 caped only by an alarm from the royal troops. Had they 
 been a quarter of an hour later I must have died. There 
 was I placed in the midst of unfeeling men, and gaping 
 women and children, as a monster to be cursed. When I 
 would pray to God, my ears were insulted with the his- 
 tory of my crimes ; and when, in all that multitude, I 
 looked around for a single face that showed me any pity, 
 I could find none no, not even one ; all cursed me as a 
 wretch who would sell his country for gold. The sun was 
 brighter to my eyes than common but it was the last 
 time I should see it. The fields were gay and pleasant, 
 and everything seemed as if this world was a kind of 
 heaven. Oh ! how sweet life was to me at that moment ! 
 'Twas a dreadful hour, Captain Wharton, and such as you 
 have never known. You have friends to feel for you, but 
 I had none but a father to mourn my loss, when he might 
 hear of it ; but there was no pity, no consolation near, to 
 soothe my anguish. Everything seemed to have deserted 
 me. I even thought that HE had forgotten that I lived." 
 
 ''What ! did you feel that God himself had forsaken you. 
 Harvey ? " 
 
 "God never forsakes his servants," returned Birch, with 
 reverence, and exhibiting naturally a devotion that hitherto 
 he had only assumed. 
 
 "And who did you mean by HE ? " 
 
 The peddler raised himself in his saddle to the stiff and 
 
THE SPY. 315 
 
 upright posture that was suited to his outward appear- 
 ance. The look of lire, that for a short time glowed on 
 his countenance, disappeared in the solemn lines of un- 
 bending self-abasement, and, speaking as if addressing a 
 negro, he replied : 
 
 " In heaven there is no distinction of color, my brother ; 
 therefore you have a precious charge within you, that you 
 must hereafter render an account of ; " dropping his voice 
 " this is the last sentinel near the road ; look not back, 
 as you value your life." 
 
 Henry remembered his situation, and instantly assumed 
 the humble demeanor of his adopted character. The un- 
 accountable energy of the peddler's manner was soon for- 
 gotten in the sense of his own immediate danger ; and with 
 the recollection of his critical situation, returned all the un- 
 easiness that he had momentarily forgotten. 
 
 " What see you, Harvey ? " he cried, observing the ped- 
 dler to gaze toward the building they had left with omin- 
 ous interest ; " what see you at the house ? " 
 
 " That which bodes no good to us," returned the pre- 
 tended priest. " Throw aside the mask and wig ; you will 
 need all your senses without much delay ; throw them in 
 the road. There are none before us that I dread, but there 
 are those behind who will give us a fearful chase." 
 
 " Nay, then," cried the captain, casting the implements 
 of his disguise into the highway, " let us improve our time 
 to the utmost. We want a full quarter to the turn, why 
 not push for it at once ? " 
 
 " Be cool ; they are in alarm, but they will not mount 
 without an officer, unless they see us fly now he comes, 
 he moves to the stables ; trot briskly ; a dozen are in their 
 saddles, but the officer stops to tighten his girths ; they 
 hope to steal a march upon us ; he is mounted ; now ride, 
 Captain Wharton, for your life, and keep at my heels. If 
 you quit me, you will be lost ! " 
 
 A second request was unnecessary. The instant that 
 Harvey put his horse to his speed, Captain Wharton was 
 at his heels, urging the miserable animal he rode to the 
 utmost. Birch had selected his own beast ; and although 
 vastly inferior to the high-fed arid blooded chargers of the 
 dragoons, still it was much superior to the little pony that 
 had been thought good enough to carry Caesar Thompson 
 on an errand. A very few jumps convinced the captain 
 that his companion was fast leaving him, and a fearful 
 glance thrown behind him informed the fugitive that his 
 
316 TIM-: SPY. 
 
 enemies were as speedily approaching. With that aban- 
 donment that makes misery doubly grievous, when it is to 
 be supported alone, Henry cried aloud to the peddler not 
 to desert him. Harvey instantly drew up, and suffered his 
 companion to run alongside of his own horse. The cocked 
 hat and wig of the peddler fell from his head the moment 
 that his steed began to move briskly, and this development 
 of their disguise, as it might be termed, was witnessed by 
 the dragoons, who announced their observation by a bois- 
 terous shout, that seemed to be uttered in the very ears of 
 the fugitives, so loud was the cry, and so short the dis- 
 tance between them. 
 
 " Had we not better leave our horses ? " said Henry, 
 "and make for the hills across the fields, on our left ? the 
 fence will stop our pursuers. 
 
 " That way lies the gallows," returned the peddler ; 
 "these fellows go three feet to our two, and would mind 
 the fences no more than we do these ruts ; but it is a short 
 quarter to the turn, and there are two roads behind the 
 wood. They may stand to choose until they can take the 
 track, and we shall gain a little upon them there." 
 
 "But this miserable horse is blown already," cried 
 Henry, urging his beast with the end of his bridle, at the 
 same time that Harvey aided his efforts by applying the 
 lash of a heavy riding-whip he carried; "he will never 
 stand it for half a mile farther." 
 
 " A quarter will do ; a quarter will do," said the ped- 
 dler ; " a single quarter will save us, if you follow my di- 
 rections." 
 
 Somewhat cheered by the cool and confident manner of 
 his companion, Henry continued silently urging his horse 
 forward. A few moments brought them to the desired 
 turn, and as they doubled round a point of low under-bush, 
 the fugitives caught a glimpse of their pursuers scattered 
 along the highway. Mason and the sergeant, being better 
 mounted than the rest of the party, were much nearer to 
 their heels than even the peddler thought could be possi- 
 ble. 
 
 At the foot of the hills, and for some distance up the 
 dark valley that wound among the mountains, a thick un- 
 derwood of saplings had been suffered to shoot up, where 
 the heavier growth was felled for the sake of the fuel. At 
 the sight of this cover Henry again urged the peddler to 
 dismount, and to plunge into the woods ; but his request 
 was promptly refused. The two roads before mentioned 
 
THE SPY. 317 
 
 met at a very sharp angle, at a short distance from the 
 turn, and both were circuitous, so that but little of either 
 could be seen at a time. The peddler took the one which 
 led to the left, but held it only a moment ; for, on reach- 
 ing a partial opening in the thicket, he darted across into 
 the right-hand path, and led the way up the steep ascent 
 which lay directly before them. This manoeuvre saved 
 them. On reaching the fork, the dragoons followed the 
 track, and passed the spot where the fugitives had crossed 
 to the other road, before they missed the marks of the 
 footsteps. Their loud cries were heard by Henry and 
 the peddler, as their wearied and breathless animals toiled 
 up the hill, ordering their comrades in the rear to ride in 
 the right direction. 
 
 The captain again proposed to leave their horses, and 
 dash into the thicket. 
 
 " Not yet, not yet," said Birch, in a low voice ; " the road 
 falls from the top of this hill as steep as it rises ; first let 
 us gain the top." While speaking they reached the de- 
 sired summit, and both threw themselves from their horses, 
 Henry plunging into the thick underwood which covered 
 the side of the mountain for some distance above them. 
 Harvey stopped to give each of their beasts a few severe 
 blows of his whip, then drove them headlong down the 
 path on the other side of the eminence, and then followed 
 his example. 
 
 The peddler entered the thicket with a little caution, 
 and avoided, as much as possible, rustling or breaking the 
 branches in his way. 
 
 There was but time only to shelter his person from view, 
 when a dragoon led up the ascent ; and on reaching the 
 height, he cried aloud 
 
 " I saw one of their horses turning the hill this minute." 
 
 " Drive on ; spur forward, my lads," shouted Mason ; 
 " give the Englishman quarter, but cut down the peddler, 
 and make an end of him." 
 
 Henry felt his companion gripe his arm hard, as he lis- 
 tened in a great tremor to this cry, which was followed by 
 the passage of a dozen horsemen, with a vigor and speed 
 that showed too plainly how little security their over-tired 
 steeds could have afforded them. 
 
 " Now," said the peddler, rising from the cover to recon- 
 noitre, and standing for a moment in suspense, "all that 
 we gain is clear gain ; for as we go up, they go down. Let 
 us be stirring." 
 
3 i8 THE 
 
 " But will they not follow us, and surround this moun- 
 tain ? " said Henry, rising, and imitating the labored but 
 rapid progress of his companion ; " remember, they have 
 foot as well as horse, and at any rate, we shall starve in 
 the hills." 
 
 " Fear nothing, Captain Wharton," returned the peddler, 
 with confidence ; "this is not the mountain that I would 
 be on, but necessity has made me a dexterous pilot among 
 these hills. I will lead you where no man will dare to fol- 
 low. See, the sun is already setting behind the tops of the 
 western mountains, and it will be two hours to the rising 
 of the moon. Who, think you, will follow us far, on a 
 November night, among these rocks and precipices ?" 
 
 "Listen ! " exclaimed Henry ; " the dragoons are shout- 
 ing to each other ; they miss us already." 
 
 " Come to the point of this rock, and you may see them," 
 said Harvey, composedly seating himself down to rest. 
 " Nay, they can see us observe, they are pointing up with 
 their fingers. There, one has fired his pistol, but the dis- 
 tance is too great even for a musket." 
 
 "They will pursue us," cried the impatient Henry; 
 " let us be moving." 
 
 " They will not think of such a thing," returned the 
 peddler, picking the checker-berries that grew on the thin 
 soil where he sat, and very deliberately chewing them, 
 leaves and all, to refresh his mouth. " What progress could 
 they make here, in their heavy boots and spurs, and long 
 swords ? No, no they may go back and turn out the foot, 
 but the horse pass through these defiles, when they can 
 keep the saddle, with fears and trembling. Come, follow 
 me, Captain Wharton ; we have a troublesome march be- 
 fore us, but I will bring you where none will think of ven- 
 turing this night." 
 
 So saying, they both arose, and were soon hid from view 
 among the rocks and caverns of the mountain. 
 
 The conjecture of the peddler was true ; Mason and his 
 men dashed down the hill in pursuit, as they supposed, of 
 their victims, but on reaching the bottom lands, they found 
 only the deserted horses of the fugitives. Some little time 
 was spent in examining the woods near them, and in en- 
 deavoring to take the trail on such ground as might en- 
 able the horses to pursue, when one of the party descried 
 the peddler and Henry seated on the rock already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 " He's off," muttered Mason, eying Harvey with fury ; 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 3 T 9 
 
 "lie's off, and we are disgraced. By heavens, Washington 
 will not trust us with the keeping of a suspected Tory, if we 
 let the rascal trifle in this manner with the corps ; and 
 there sits the Englishman, too, looking down upon us with 
 a smile of benevolence ! I fancy that I can see it. Well, 
 well, my lad, you are comfortably seated, I will confess, 
 and that is something better than dancing upon nothing ; 
 but you are not to the west of the Harlem River yet, and 
 I'll try your wind before you tell Sir Henry what you have 
 seen, or I'm no soldier." 
 
 " Shall I fire, and frighten the peddler ? " asked one of 
 the men, drawing his pistol from the holster. 
 
 " Ay, startle the birds from their perch let us see how 
 they can use the wing." The man fired the pistol, and 
 Mason continued " 'Fore George, I believe the scoundrels 
 laugh at us. But homeward, or we shall have them roll- 
 ing stones upon our heads, and the Royal Gazettes teem- 
 ing with an account of a rebel regiment routed by two 
 loyalists. They have told bigger lies than that before 
 now." 
 
 The dragoons moved sullenly after their officer, who 
 rode toward their quarters, musing on the course it be- 
 hooved him to pursue in the present dilemma. It was twi- 
 light when Mason's party reached the dwelling, before the 
 door of which were collected a great number of the offi- 
 cers and men, busily employed in giving and listening to 
 the most exaggerated accounts of the escape of the spy. 
 The mortified dragoons gave their ungrateful tidings witli 
 the sullen air of disappointed men ; and. most of the offi- 
 cers gathered around Mason to consult of the steps that 
 ought to be taken. Miss Peyton and Frances were breath- 
 less and unobserved listeners to all that passed between 
 them, from the window of the chamber immediately above 
 their heads. ,, 
 
 " Something must be done, and that speedily," observed 
 the commanding officer of the regiment which lay en- 
 camped before the house ; " this English officer is doubt- 
 less an instrument in the great blow aimed at us by the 
 enemy lately ; besides, our honor is involved in his es- 
 cape." 
 
 "Let us beat the woods !" cried several, at once ; "by 
 morning we shall have them both again." 
 
 " Softly, softly, gentlemen," returned the colonel ; " no 
 man can travel these hills after dark, unless used to the 
 passes. Nothing but horse can do service in this business, 
 
320 THE SPY. 
 
 and I presume Lieutenant Mason hesitates to move with- 
 out the orders of his major." 
 
 " I certainly dare not," replied the subaltern, gravely 
 shaking his head, ''unless you will take the responsibility 
 of an order ; but Major Dunwoodie will be back again in 
 two hours, and we can carry the tidings through the hills 
 before daylight ; so that, by spreading patrols across from 
 one river to the other, and offering a reward to the 
 country people, their escape will yet be impossible, unless 
 they can join the party that is said to be out on the Hud- 
 son." 
 
 "A very plausible plan," cried the colonel, "and one 
 that must succeed ; but let a messenger be despatched to 
 Dunwoodie, or he may continue at the ferry until it proves 
 too late ; though doubtless the runaways will lie in the 
 mountains to-night." 
 
 To this suggestion Mason acquiesced, and a courier was 
 sent to the major with the important intelligence of the 
 escape of Henry, and an intimation of the necessity of his 
 presence to conduct the pursuit. After this arrangement 
 the officers separated. 
 
 When Miss Peyton and her niece first learned the escape 
 of Captain Wharton, it was with difficulty they could credit 
 their senses. They both relied so implicitly on the success 
 of Dunwoodie's exertions, that they thought the act, on 
 the part of their relative, extremely imprudent ; but it 
 was now too late to mend it. While listening to the con- 
 versation of the officers, both were struck with the in- 
 creased danger of Henry's situation, if recaptured, and 
 they trembled to think of the great exertions that would 
 be made to accomplish this object. Miss Peyton consoled 
 herself, and endeavored to cheer her niece, with the prob- 
 ability that the fugitives would pursue their course with 
 unremitting diligence, so that they might reach the Neu- 
 tral Ground before the horse would carry down the tid- 
 ings of their flight. The absence of Dunwoodie seemed 
 to her all-important, and the artless lady was anxiously 
 devising some project that might detain her kinsman, and 
 thus give her nephew the longest possible time. But very 
 different were the reflections of Frances. She could no 
 longer doubt that the figure she had seen on the hill was 
 Birch, and she felt certain that, instead of flying to the 
 friendly forces below, her brother would be taken to the 
 mysterious hut to pass the night. 
 
 Frances and her aunt held a long and animated discus- 
 
THE SPY. 321 
 
 sion by themselves, when the good spinster reluctantly 
 yielded to the representation of her niece, and, folding 
 her in her arms, she kissed her cold cheek, and fervently 
 blessing her, allowed her to depart on an errand of fra- 
 ternal love. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 And here, forlorn and lost, I tread, 
 
 With fainting steps, and slow ; 
 Where wilds, immeasurably spread, 
 
 Seem lengthening as I go. GOLDSMITH. 
 
 THE night had set in dark and chilling, as Frances 
 Wharton, with a beating heart but light step, moved 
 through the little garden that lay behind the farm-house 
 which had been her brother's prison, and took her way to 
 the foot of the mountain, where she had seen the figure of 
 him she supposed to be the peddler. It was still early, 
 but the darkness and the dreary nature of a November 
 evening would, at any other moment, or with less induce- 
 ment to exertion, have driven her back in terror to the 
 circle she had left. Without pausing to reflect, however, 
 she flew over the ground with a rapidity that seemed to 
 bid defiance to all impediments, nor stopped even to 
 breathe, until she had gone half the distance to the rock 
 that she had marked as the spot where Birch made his 
 appearance on that very morning. 
 
 The good treatment of their women is the surest evi- 
 dence that a people can give of their civilization ; and 
 there is no nation which has more to boast of, in this re- 
 spect, than the Americans. Frances felt but little appre- 
 hension from the orderly and quiet troops who were taking 
 their evening's repast on the side of the highway, opposite 
 to the field through which she was flying. There were 
 her countrymen, and she knew that her sex would be re- 
 spected by the Eastern militia, who composed this body ; 
 but in the volatile and reckless character of the Southern 
 horse she had less confidence. Outrages of any descrip- 
 tion were seldom committed by the really American sol- 
 diery ; but she recoiled, with exquisite delicacy, from even 
 the appearance of humiliation. When, therefore, she 
 heard the footsteps of a horse moving slowly up the road 
 she shrank, timidly, into a little thicket of wood which 
 
322 THE SPY. 
 
 grew around the spring that bubbled from the side of a 
 hillock near her. The vedette, for such it proved to be, 
 passed her without noticing her form, which was so enve- 
 loped as to be as little conspicuous as possible, humming 
 a low air to himself, and probably thinking of some other 
 fair that he had left on the banks of the Potomac. 
 
 Frances listened anxiously to the retreating footsteps of 
 his horse, and as they died upon her ear she ventured from 
 her place of secrecy, and advanced a short distance into the 
 field, where, startled at the gloom, and appalled with the 
 dreariness of the prospect, she paused to reflect on what she 
 had undertaken. Throwing back the hood of her cardinal, 
 she sought the support of a tree, and gazed toward the sum- 
 mit of the mountain that was to be the goal of her enter- 
 prise. It rose from the plain like a huge pyramid, giving 
 nothing to the eye but its outlines. The pinnacle could be 
 faintly discerned in front of a lighter background of clouds, 
 between which a few glimmering stars occasionally twinkled 
 in momentary brightness, and then gradually became ob- 
 scured by the passing vapor that was moving before the 
 wind, at a vast distance below the clouds themselves. 
 Should she return, Henry and the peddler would most 
 probably pass the night in fancied security upon that very 
 hill, toward which she was straining her eyes, in the vain 
 hope of observing some light that might encourage her to 
 proceed. The deliberate, and what to her seemed cold- 
 blooded, project of the officer for the recapture of the 
 fugitives, still rang in her ears, and stimulated her to go 
 on ; but the solitude into which she must venture, the 
 time, the actual danger of the ascent, and the uncertainty 
 of her finding the hut, or, what was still more dishearten- 
 ing, the chance that it might be occupied by unknown 
 tenants, and those of the worst description, urged her to 
 retreat. 
 
 The increasing darkness was each moment rendering 
 objects less and less distinct, and the clouds were gather- 
 ing more gloomily in the rear of the hill, until its form 
 could no longer be discerned. Frances threw back her 
 rich curls with both hands on her temples, in order to pos- 
 sess her senses in their utmost keenness ; but the towering 
 hill was entirely lost to the eye. At length she discovered 
 a faint and twinkling blaze in the direction in which she 
 thought the building stood, that by its reviving and reced- 
 ing lustre might be taken for the glimmering of a fire. 
 But the delusion vanished as the horizon again cleared, 
 
THE SPY. 323 
 
 and the star of evening shone forth from a cloud, after 
 struggling hard, as if for existence. She now saw the 
 mountain to the left of the place where the planet was 
 shining, and suddenly a streak of mellow light burst upon 
 the fantastic oaks that were thinly scattered over its sum- 
 mit, and gradually moved down its side, until the whole 
 pile became distinct under the rays of the rising moon. 
 Although it would have been physically impossible for 
 our heroine to advance without the aid of the friendly 
 light which now gleamed on the long line of level land 
 before her, yet she was not encouraged to proceed. If she 
 could see the goal of her wishes, she could also perceive 
 the difficulties that must attend her reaching it. 
 
 While deliberating in distressing incertitude, now shrink- 
 ing with the timidity of her sex and years from the enter- 
 prise, and now resolving to rescue her brother at every 
 hazard, Frances turned her looks toward the east, in ear- 
 nest gaze at the clouds which constantly threatened to in- 
 volve her again in comparative darkness. Had an adder 
 stung her, she could not have sprung with greater celerity 
 than she recoiled from the object against which she was 
 leaning, and which she, for the first time, noticed. The 
 two upright posts, with a cross-beam on their tops, and a 
 rude platform beneath, told but too plainly the nature of 
 the structure ; even the cord was suspended from an iron 
 staple, and was swinging to and fro in the night air. 
 Frances hesitated no longer, but rather flew than ran 
 across the meadow, and was soon at the base of the rock, 
 where she hoped to find something like a path to the sum- 
 mit of the mountain. Here she was compelled to^rjause 
 for breath, and she improved the leisure by surveying the 
 ground about her. The ascent was quite abrupt, but she 
 found a sheep-path that wound among the shelving rocks 
 and through the trees, so as to render her labor much less 
 tiresome than it otherwise would have been. Throwing a 
 fearful glance behind, the determined girl commenced her 
 journey upward. Young, active, and impelled by her 
 generous motive, she moved up the hill with elastic steps, 
 and very soon emerged from the cover of the woods into 
 an open space of more level ground, that had evidently 
 been cleared of its timber for the purpose of cultivation. 
 But either the war, or the sterility of the soil, had com- 
 pelled the adventurer to abandon the advantages that he 
 had obtained over the wilderness, and already the bushes 
 and briers were springing up afresh, as if the plough had 
 
324 
 
 THE SPY. 
 
 never traced its furrows through the mould which nour- 
 ished them. 
 
 Frances felt her spirits invigorated by these faint ves- 
 tiges of the labor of man, and she walked up the gentle ac- 
 clivity with renewed hopes of success. The path now di- 
 verged in so many different directions, that she soon saw 
 it would be useless to follow their windings, and aban- 
 doning it at the first turn, she labored forward toward what 
 she thought was the nearest point of the summit. The 
 cleared ground was soon passed, and woods and rocks, 
 clinging to the precipitous sides of the mountain, again 
 opposed themselves to her progress. Occasionally, the 
 path was to be seen running along the verge of the clear- 
 ing, and then striking off into the scattering patches of 
 grass and herbage, but in no instance could she trace it 
 upward. Tufts of wood hanging to the briers sufficiently 
 denoted the origin of these tracks, and Frances rightly 
 conjectured that whoever descended the mountain would 
 avail himself of their existence to lighten the labor. 
 Seating herself on a stone, the wearied girl again paused 
 to rest and to reflect ; the clouds were rising before the 
 moon, and the whole scene at her feet lay pictured in the 
 softest colors. 
 
 The white tents of the militia were stretched in regular 
 lines immediately beneath her. The Hght was shining in 
 the window of her aunt, who, Frances easily fancied, was 
 watching the mountain, racked with all the anxiety she 
 might be supposed to feel for her niece. Lanterns were 
 playing about in the stable-yard, where she knew the 
 horses of the dragoons were kept, and believing them to 
 be preparing for their night march, she again sprang upon 
 her feet and renewed her toil. 
 
 Our heroine had to ascend more than a quarter of a mile 
 farther, although she had already conquered two-thirds of 
 the height of the mountain. But she was now without a 
 path or any guide to direct her in her course. Fortu- 
 nately, the hill was conical, like most of the mountains in 
 that range, and by advancing upward, she was certain of 
 at length reaching the desired hut, which hung, as it were, 
 on the very pinnacle. Nearly an hour did she struggle 
 with the numerous difficulties that she was obliged to over- 
 come, when, having been repeatedly exhausted with her 
 efforts and, in several instances, in great danger from falls, 
 she succeeded in gaining the small piece of table-land on 
 the summit. 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 325 
 
 Faint with her exertions, which had been unusually se- 
 vere for so slight a frame, she sank on a rock to recover 
 her strength and fortitude for the approaching interview. 
 A few moments sufficed for this purpose, when she pro- 
 ceeded in quest of the hut. All of the neighboring hills 
 were distinctly visible by the aid of the moon, and Frances 
 was able, where she stood, to trace the route of the high- 
 way from the plains into the mountains. By following 
 this line with her eyes, she soon discovered the point 
 whence she had seen.the mysterious dwelling, and directly 
 opposite to that point she well knew the hut must stand. 
 
 The chilling air sighed through the leafless branches of 
 the gnarled and crooked oaks, as, with a step so light as 
 hardly to rustle the dry leaves on which she trod, Frances 
 moved forward to that part of the hill where she expected 
 to find this secluded habitation ; but nothing could she dis- 
 cern that in the least resembled a dwelling of any sort. 
 In vain she examined every recess of the rocks, or inquisi- 
 tively explored every part of the summit that she thought 
 could hold the tenement of the peddler. No hut, nor any 
 vestige of a human being, could she trace. The idea of 
 her solitude struck on the terrified mind of the affrighted 
 girl, and approaching to the edge of a shelving rock, she 
 bent forward to gaze on the signs of life in the vale, when 
 a ray of keen light dazzled her eyes, and a warm air dif- 
 fused itself over her whole frame. Recovering from her 
 surprise, Frances looked on the ledge beneath her, and at 
 once perceived that she stood directly over the object of 
 her search. A hole through its roof afforded a passage to 
 the smoke, which, as it blew aside, showed her a clear and 
 cheerful fire crackling and snapping on a rude hearth of 
 stone. The approach to the front of the hut was by a 
 winding path around the point of the rock on which she 
 stood, and by this she advanced to its door. 
 
 Three sides of this singular edifice, if such it could be 
 called, were composed of logs laid alternately on each 
 other, to a little more than the height of a man ; and the 
 fourth was formed by the rock against which it leaned. 
 The roof was made of the bark of trees, laid in long strips 
 from the rock to its eaves ; the fissures between the logs 
 had been stuffed with clay, which in many places had fallen 
 out, and dried leaves were made use of as a substitute to 
 keep out the wind. A single window of four panes of 
 glass was in front, but a board carefully closed it, in such 
 a manner as to emit no light from the fire within. After 
 
326 THE SPY. 
 
 pausing some time to view this singularly constructed 
 hiding-place, for such Frances well knew it to be, she ap- 
 plied her eye to a crevice to examine the inside. There 
 was no lamp or candle, but the blazing fire of dry wood 
 made the interior of the hut light enough to read by. In 
 one corner lay a bed of straw, with a pair of blankets 
 thrown carelessly over it, as if left where they had last 
 been used. Against the walls and rock were suspended, 
 from pegs forced into the crevices, various garments, and 
 such as were apparently fitted for all ages and conditions, 
 and for either sex. British and American uniforms hung 
 peaceably by the side of each other ; and on the peg that 
 supported a gown of striped calico, such as was the usual 
 country wear, was also depending a well powdered wig ; 
 in short, the attire was numerous, and as various as if a 
 whole parish were to be equipped from this one wardrobe. 
 In the angle against the rock, and opposite to the fire 
 which was burning in the other corner, was an open cup- 
 board, that held a plate or two, a mug, and the remains of 
 some broken meat. Before the fire was a table, with one 
 of its legs fractured, and made of rough boards ; these, 
 with a single stool, composed the furniture, if we except 
 a few articles of cooking. A book that, by its size and 
 shape, appeared to be a Bible, was lying on the table, un- 
 opened. But it was the occupant of the hut in whom 
 Frances was chiefly interested. This was a man, sitting 
 on the stool, with his head leaning on his hand in such a 
 manner as to conceal his features, and deeply occupied in 
 examining some open papers. On the table lay a pair of 
 curiously and richly mounted horseman's pistols ; and the 
 handle of a sheathed rapier, of exquisite workmanship, 
 protruded from between the legs of the gentleman, one of 
 whose hands carelessly rested on its guard. The tall stat- 
 ure of this unexpected tenant of the hut, and his form, 
 much more athletic than that of either Harvey or her 
 brother, told Frances, without the aid of his dress, that it 
 was neither of those she sought. A close stirtout was 
 buttoned high in the throat of the stranger, and parting at 
 his knees, snowed breeches of buff, with military boots 
 and spurs. His hair w r as dressed so as to expose the 
 whole face ; and, after the fashion of that day, it was pro- 
 fusely powdered. A round hat was laid on the stones that 
 formed a paved floor to the hut, as if to make room for a 
 large map, which, among the other papers, occupied the 
 table. 
 
THE SPY. 327 
 
 This was an unexpected event to our adventuress. She 
 had been so confident that the figure twice seen was the 
 peddler, that on learning his agency in her brother's es- 
 cape, she did not in the least doubt of finding them both 
 in the place, which, she now discovered, was occupied by 
 another and a stranger. She stood, earnestly looking 
 through the crevice, hesitating whether to retire, or to 
 wait with the expectation of yet meeting Henry, as the 
 stranger moved his hand from before his eyes, and raised 
 his face, apparently in deep musing ; when Frances in- 
 stantly recognized the benevolent and strongly marked, 
 but composed, features of Harper. 
 
 All that Dunwoodie had said of his power and disposi- 
 tion ; all that he had himself promised her brother, and 
 all the confidence that had been created by his dignified 
 and paternal manner, rushed across the mind of Frances, 
 who threw open the door of the hut, and falling at his feet, 
 clasped his knees with her arms, as she cried : 
 
 " Save him save him save my brother ; remember 
 your promise, and save him ! " 
 
 Harper had risen as the door opened, and there was a 
 slight movement of one hand toward his pistols ; but it 
 was cool, and instantly checked. He raised the hood of 
 the cardinal, which had fallen over her features, and ex- 
 claimed, with some uneasiness : 
 
 " Miss Wharton ! But you cannot be alone ? " 
 
 "There is none here but my God and you ; and by his 
 sacred name, I conjure you to remember your promise, 
 and save my brother ! " 
 
 Harper gently raised her from her knees, and placed her 
 on the stool, begging her at the same time to be composed, 
 and to acquaint him with the nature of her errand. This 
 Frances instantly did, ingenuously admitting him to a 
 knowledge of all her views in visiting that lone spot at such 
 an hour, and by herself. 
 
 It was at all times difficult to probe the thoughts of one 
 who held his passions in such disciplined subjection as 
 Harper, but still there was a lightening of his thoughtful 
 eye, and a slight unbending of his muscles, as the hurried 
 and anxious girl proceeded in her narrative. His interest, 
 as she dwelt upon the manner of Henry's escape and the 
 flight to the woods, was deep and manifest, and he lis- 
 tened to the remainder of her tale with a marked expres- 
 sion of benevolent indulgence. Her apprehensions, that 
 her brother might still be too late through the mountains, 
 
3 28 Tin-: spy. 
 
 seemed to have much weight with him, for, as she con- 
 cluded, he walked a turn or two across the hut, in silent 
 musing. 
 
 Frances hesitated, and unconsciously played with the 
 handle of one of the pistols, and the paleness that her fears 
 had spread over her fine features began to give place to a 
 rich tint, as, after a short pause, she added : 
 
 11 We can depend much on the friendship of Major Dun- 
 woodie, but his sense of honor is so pure, that that not- 
 withstanding his his feelings his desire to serve us 
 he will conceive it to be his duty to apprehend my brother 
 again. Besides, he thinks there will be no danger in so do- 
 ing, as he relies greatly on your interference." 
 
 " On mine ! " said Harper, raising his eyes in surprise. 
 
 'Yes, on yours. When we told him of your kind lan- 
 guage, he at once assured us all, that you had the power, 
 and if you had promised, would have the inclination, to 
 procure Henry's pardon." 
 
 " Said he more ? " asked Harper, who appeared slightly 
 uneasy. 
 
 "Nothing but reiterated assurances of Henry's safety ; 
 even now he is in quest of you." 
 
 "Miss Wharton, that I bear no mean part in the un- 
 happy struggle between England and America, it might 
 now be useless to deny. You owe your brother's escape, 
 this night, to my knowledge of his innocence, and the re- 
 membrance of my word. Major Dunwoodie is mistaken 
 when he says that I might openly have procured his par- 
 don. I now, indeed, can control his fate, and I pledge to 
 you a word which has some influence with Washington, 
 that means shall be taken to prevent his recapture. But 
 from you, also, I exact a promise that this interview, and 
 all that has passed between us, remain confined to your 
 own bosom, until you have my permission to speak upon 
 the subject." 
 
 Frances gave the desired assurance, and he continued : 
 
 "The peddler and your brother will soon be here, but I 
 must not be seen by the royal officer, or the life of Birch 
 might be the forfeiture." 
 
 " Never ! " cried Frances, ardently ; " Henry could never 
 be so base as to betray the man who saved him." 
 
 " It is no childish game that we are now playing, Miss 
 Wharton. Men's lives and fortunes hang upon slender 
 threads, and nothing must be left to accident that can be 
 guarded against. Did Sir Henry Clinton know that the 
 
THE SPY. 329 
 
 peddler had communion with me, and under such circum- 
 stances, the life of the miserable man would be taken in- 
 stantly ; therefore, as you value human blood, or remem- 
 ber the rescue of your brother, be prudent and be silent. 
 Communicate what you know to them both, and urge them 
 to instant departure. If they can reach the last pickets of 
 our army before morning, it shall be my care that there are 
 none to intercept them. There is better work for Major 
 Dunwoodie than to be exposing the life of his friend." 
 
 While Harper was speaking, he carefully rolled up the 
 map he had been studying, and placed it, together with 
 sundry papers that were also open, into his pocket. He 
 was still occupied in this manner, when the voice of the 
 peddler, talking in unusually loud tones, was heard directly 
 over their heads. 
 
 " Stand further this way, Captain Wharton, and you can 
 see the tents in the moonshine. But let them mount and 
 ride ; I have a nest, here, that will hold us both, and we 
 will go in at our leisure." 
 
 "And where is this nest? I confess that I have eaten 
 but little the two last days, and I crave some of the cheer 
 you mention." 
 
 " Hem ! " said the peddler, exerting his voice still more 
 "hem this fog has given me a cold ; but move slow and 
 be careful not to slip, or you may land on the bayonet of 
 the sentinel on the flats ; it is a steep hill to rise, but one 
 can go down it with ease." 
 
 Harper pressed his finger on his lip, to remind Frances 
 of her promise, and, taking his pistols and hat, so that 
 no vestige of his visit remained, he retired deliberately to 
 a far corner of the hut, where, lifting several articles of 
 dress, he entered a recess in the rock, and letting them 
 fall again, was hid from view. Frances noticed, by the 
 strong firelight, as he entered, that it was a natural cavity, 
 and contained nothing but a few more articles of domestic 
 use. 
 
 The surprise of Henry and the peddler, on entering and 
 finding Frances in possession of the hut, may be easily im- 
 agined. Without waiting for explanations or questions, 
 the warm-hearted girl flew into the arms of her brother, 
 and gave a vent to her emotions in tears. But the ped- 
 dler seemed struck with very different feelings. His first 
 look was at the fire, which had been recently supplied with 
 fuel ; he then drew open a small drawer of the table, and 
 looked a little alarmed at finding it empty. 
 
330 THE SPY. 
 
 "Are you alone, Miss Fanny?" he asked, in a quick 
 voice ; "you did not come here alone ? " 
 
 " As you see me, Mr. Birch," said Frances, raising her- 
 self from her brother's arms, and turning an expressive 
 glance toward the secret cavern, that the quick eye of the 
 peddler instantly understood. 
 
 "But why and wherefore are you here ?" exclaimed her 
 astonished brother ; " and how knew you of this place at 
 all!" 
 
 Frances entered at once into a brief detail of what had 
 occurred at the house since their departure, and the mo- 
 tives which induced her to seek them. 
 
 " But," said Birch, "why follow us here, when we were 
 left on the opposite hill ?" 
 
 Frances related the glimpse that she had caught of the 
 hut and peddler, in her passage through the Highlands, 
 as well as her view of him on that day, and her immediate 
 conjecture that the fugitives would seek the shelter of his 
 habitation for the night. Birch examined her features as, 
 with open ingenuousness, she related the simple incidents 
 that had made her mistress of his secret ; and, as she 
 ended he sprang upon his feet, and, striking the window 
 with the stick in his hand, demolished it at a blow. 
 
 " 'Tis but little luxury or comfort that I know," he said, 
 "but even that little cannot be enjoyed in safety! Miss 
 Wharton," he added, advancing before Fanny, and speak- 
 ing with the bitter melancholy that was common to him, 
 " I am hunted through these hills like a beast *bf the for- 
 est ; but whenever, tired with my toils, I can reach this 
 spot, poor and dreary as it is, I can spend my solitary nights 
 in safety. Will you aid to make the life of a wretch still 
 more miserable ? " 
 
 "Never!" cried Frances, with fervor; "your secret is 
 safe with me." 
 
 " Major Dunwoodie " said the peddler, slowly turn- 
 ing an eye upon her that read her soul. 
 
 Frances lowered her head upon her bosom for a mo- 
 ment, in shame ; then, elevating her fine and glowing face, 
 she added, with enthusiasm : 
 
 " Never, never, Harvey, as God may hear my prayers ! " 
 
 The peddler seemed satisfied ; for he drew back, and, 
 watching his opportunity, unseen by Henry, slipped be- 
 hind the screen, and entered the cavern. 
 
 Frances and her brother, who thought his companion 
 had passed through the door, continued conversing on the 
 
THE SPY. 33I 
 
 latter's situation for several minutes, when the former 
 urged the necessity of expedition on his part, in order to 
 precede Dunwoodie, from whose sense of duty they knew 
 they had no escape. The captain took out his pocket- 
 book, and wrote a few lines with his pencil ; then folding 
 the paper, he handed it to his sister. 
 
 "Frances," he said, "you have this night proved your- 
 self to be an incomparable woman. As you love me, give 
 that unopened to Dunwoodie, and remember that two 
 hours may save my life." 
 
 " I will I will ; but why delay? Why not fly, and im- 
 prove these precious moments ? " 
 
 " Your sister says well, Captain Wharton," exclaimed 
 Harvey, who had re-entered unseen ; "we must ge*at once. 
 Here is food to eat, as we travel." 
 
 " But who is to see this fair creature in safety ?" cried 
 the captain. " I can never desert my sister in such a place 
 as this." 
 
 " Leave me ! leave me ! " said Frances ; " I can descend 
 as I came up. Do not doubt me ; you know not my cour- 
 age nor my strength." 
 
 " I have not known you, dear girl, it is true ; but now, as 
 I learn your value, can I quit you here ? Never, never ! " 
 
 " Captain Wharton," said Birch, throwing open the 
 door, " you can trifle with your own lives, if you have 
 many to spare. I have but one, and must nurse it. Do I 
 go alone, or not ? " 
 
 "Go, go, dear Henry," said Frances, embracing him; 
 "go; remember our father; remember Sarah." She 
 waited not for his answer, but gently forced him through 
 the door and closed it with her own hands. 
 
 For a short time there was a warm debate between 
 Henry and the peddler, but the latter finally prevailed, 
 and the breathless girl heard the successive plunges, as 
 they went down the sides of the mountain at a rapid rate. 
 
 Immediately after the noise of their departure had 
 ceased, Harper reappeared. He took the arm of Frances 
 in silence, and led her from the hut. The way seemed 
 familiar to him ; for ascending to the ledge above them, he 
 led his companion across the table-land tenderly, pointing 
 out the little difficulties in their route, and cautioning her 
 against injury. 
 
 Frances felt, as she walked by the side of this extraor- 
 dinary man, that she was supported by one of no common 
 stamp. The firmness of his step, and the composure of his 
 
332 THE SPY. 
 
 manner, seemed to indicate a mind settled and resolved. 
 By taking a route over the back of the hill, they descended 
 with great expedition, and but little danger. The distance 
 it had taken Frances an hour to conquer, was passed by 
 Harper and his companion in ten minutes, and they en- 
 tered the open space already mentioned. He struck into 
 one of the sheep-paths, and, crossing the clearing with 
 rapid steps, they came suddenly upon a horse, caparisoned 
 for a rider of no mean rank. The noble beast snorted and 
 pawed the earth as his master approached and replaced 
 the pistols in the holsters. 
 
 Harper then turned, and, taking the hand of Frances, 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 "You have this night saved your brother, Miss Whar- 
 ton. It would not be proper for me to explain w T hy there 
 are limits to my ability to serve him ; but if you can de- 
 tain the horse for two hours, he is assuredly safe. After 
 what you have already done, I can believe you equal to 
 any duty. God has denied to me children, young lady ; 
 but if it had been his blessed will that my marriage should 
 not have been childless, such a treasure as yourself would 
 I have asked from his mercy. But you are my child ; all 
 who dwell in this broad land are my children, and my 
 care ; and take the blessing of one who hopes yet to meet 
 you in happier days." 
 
 As he spoke, with a solemnity that touched Frances to 
 the heart, he laid his hand impressively upon her head. 
 The guileless girl turned her face toward him, and the 
 hood again falling back, exposed her lovely features to the 
 moonbeams. A tear was glistening on either cheek, and 
 her mild blue eyes were gazing upon him in reverence. 
 Harper bent and pressed a paternal kiss upon her forehead, 
 and continued "Any of these sheep-paths will take you 
 to the plain ; but here we must part I have much to do, 
 and far to ride ; forget me in all but your prayers." 
 
 He then mounted his horse, and lifting his hat, rode 
 toward the back of the mountain, descending at the same 
 time, and was soon hid by the trees. Frances sprang for- 
 ward with a lightened heart, and taking the first path that 
 led downward, in a few minutes she reached the plain in 
 safety. While busied in stealing through the meadows to- 
 ward the house, the noise of horses approaching startled 
 her, and she felt how much more was to be apprehended 
 from man, in some situations, than from solitude. Hiding 
 her form in the angle of a fence near the road, she re- 
 
THE SPY. 333 
 
 mained quiet for a moment, and watched their passage. 
 A small party of dragoons, whose dress was different from 
 the Virginians, passed at a brisk trot. They were followed 
 by a gentleman, enveloped in a large cloak, whom she at 
 once knew to be Harper. Behind him rode a black in 
 livery, and two youths in uniform brought up the rear. 
 Instead of taking the road that led by the encampment, 
 they turned short to the left, and entered the hills. 
 
 Wondering who this unknown but powerful friend of 
 her brother could be, Frances glided across the fields, and 
 using due precautions in approaching the dwelling, re- 
 gained her residence undiscovered and in safety. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Hence, bashful cunning 
 And prompt me, plain and holy innocence ; 
 I am your wife, if you will marry me. Tempest. 
 
 ON joining Miss Peyton, Frances learnt that Dunwoodie 
 was not yet returned ; although, with a view to relieve 
 Henry from the importunities of the supposed fanatic, he 
 had desired a very respectable divine of their own church 
 to ride up from the river and offer his services. This 
 gentleman was already arrived, and had been passing the 
 half-hour he had been there in a sensible and well-bred 
 conversation with the spinster, that in no degree touched 
 upon their domestic affairs. 
 
 To the eager inquiries of Miss Peyton, relative to her 
 success in her romantic excursion, Frances could say no 
 more than that she was bound te be silent, and to recom- 
 mend the same precaution to the good maiden also. There 
 was a smile playing around the beautiful mouth of Frances, 
 while she uttered this injunction, which satisfied her aunt 
 that all was as it should be. She was urging her niece to 
 take some refreshment after her fatiguing expedition, when 
 the noise of a horseman riding to the door announced the 
 return of the major. He had been found by the courier, 
 who was despatched by Mason, impatiently waiting the re- 
 turn of Harper to the ferry, and immediately flew to the 
 place where his friend had been confined, tormented by a 
 thousand conflicting fears. The heart of Frances bounded 
 as she listened to his approaching footsteps. It wanted yet 
 
334 
 
 77/A 
 
 an hour to the termination of the shortest period that the 
 peddler had fixed as the time necessary to effect his escape. 
 Even Harper, powerful and well-disposed as he acknowl- 
 edged himself to be, had laid great stress upon the impor- 
 tance of detaining the Virginians during that hour. She, 
 however, had not time to rally her thoughts before Dun- 
 woodie entered one door, as Miss Peyton, with the readi- 
 ness of female instinct, retired through another. 
 
 The countenance of Peyton was flushed, and an air of 
 vexation and disappointment pervaded his manner. 
 
 "'Twas imprudent, Frances; nay, it was unkind," he 
 cried, throwing himself in a chair, "to fly at the very mo- 
 ment that I had assured him of safety ! I can almost per- 
 suade myself that you delight in creating points of differ- 
 ence in our feelings and duties." 
 
 "In our duties there may very possibly be a difference," 
 returned his mistress, approaching, and leaning her slender 
 form against the wall ; " but not in our feelings, Peyton. 
 You must certainly rejoice in the escape of Henry !" 
 
 " There was no danger impending. He had the promise 
 of Harper, and it is a word never to be doubted. Oh ! 
 Frances ! Frances ! had you known the man, you would 
 never have distrusted his assurance, nor would you have 
 again reduced me to the distressing alternative." 
 
 "What alternative ?" asked Frances, pitying his emo- 
 tions deeply, but eagerly seizing upon every circumstance 
 to prolong the interview. 
 
 " What alternative ! Am I not compelled to spend this 
 night in the saddle to recapture your brother, when I had 
 thought to lay my head on its pillow, with the happy con- 
 sciousness of having contributed to his release ? You make 
 me seem your enemy ; I, who would cheerfully shed the 
 last drop of blood in your service. I repeat, Frances, it 
 was rash ; it was unkind ; it was a sad, sad mistake." 
 
 She bent toward him, and timidly took one of his hands, 
 while with the other she gently removed the curls from 
 his burning brow. 
 
 "Why go at all, dear Peyton ?" she asked ; " you have 
 done much for your country, and she cannot exact such a 
 sacrifice as this at your hand." 
 
 "Frances! Miss Wharton ! " exclaimed the youth, 
 springing on his feet and pacing the floor with a cheek 
 that burned through its brown covering, .and an eye that 
 sparkled with wounded integrity ; " it is not my country, 
 but my honor, that requires the sacrifice. Has he not lied 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 335 
 
 from a guard of my own corps ? But for this, I might have 
 been spared the blow ! But if the eyes of the Virginians 
 are blinded to deception and artifice, their horses are swift 
 of foot, and their sabres keen. We shall see, before to- 
 morrow's sun, who will presume to hint that the beauty of 
 the sister furnished a mask to conceal the brother! Yes, 
 yes ; I should like, even now," he continued, laughing 
 bitterly, " to hear the villain who would dare to surmise 
 that such treachery existed ! " 
 
 " Peyton, dear Peyton," said Frances, recoiling from his 
 angry eye, "you curdle my blood would you kill my 
 brother?" 
 
 " Would I not die for him ? " exclaimed Dunwoodie, as 
 he turned to her more mildly ; "you know I would; but I 
 am distracted with the cruel surmise to which this step of 
 Henry's subjects me. What will Washington think of me, 
 should he learn that I ever became your husband ?" 
 
 "If that alone impels you to act so harshly toward my 
 brother," returned Frances, with a slight tremor in her 
 voice, " let it never happen for him to learn." 
 "And this is consolation, Frances ! " 
 "Nay, dear Dunwoodie, I meant nothing harsh or un- 
 kind ; but are you not making us both of more consequence 
 with Washington than the truth will justify ?" 
 
 " I trust that my name is not entirely unknown to the 
 commander-in-chief," said the major, a little proudly ; " nor 
 are you as obscure as your modesty would make you. I 
 believe you, Frances, when you say that you pity me, and 
 it must be my task to continue worthy of such feelings. 
 But I waste the precious moments ; we must go through 
 the hills to-night, that we may be refreshed in time for 
 the duty of to-morrow. Mason is already waiting my or- 
 ders to mount. Frances, I leave you with a heavy heart , 
 pity me, but feel no concern for your brother ; he must 
 again become a prisoner, but every hair of his head is 
 sacred." 
 
 " Stop ! Dunwoodie, I . conjure you," cried Frances, 
 gasping for breath, as she noticed that the hand of the 
 clock still wanted many minutes to the desired hour ; " be- 
 fore you go on your errand of fastidious duty, read this 
 note that Henry has left for you, and which, doubtless, he 
 thought he was writing to the friend of his youth." 
 
 " Frances, I excuse your feelings ; but the time will 
 come when you will do rne justice." 
 
 "That time is now," she answered, extending her hand, 
 
336 T/IK SPY. 
 
 unable any longer to feign a displeasure that she did not 
 feel. 
 
 " Where got you this note ? " exclaimed the youth, glanc- 
 ing his eyes over its contents. " Poor Henry, you are in- 
 deed my friend ! If anyone wishes me happiness, it is 
 you ! " 
 
 "He does, he does," cried Frances, eagerly ; "he wishes 
 you every happiness ; believe what he tells you ; every 
 word is true." 
 
 " I do believe him, lovely girl, and he refers me to you 
 for its confirmation. Would that I could trust equally to 
 your affections ! " 
 
 " You may, Peyton," said Frances, looking up with in- 
 nocent confidence toward her lover. 
 
 " Then read for yourself, and verify your words," inter- 
 rupted Dunwoodie, holding the note toward her. 
 
 Frances received it in astonishment, and read the follow- 
 ing : 
 
 " Life is too precious to be trusted to uncertainties. I leave 
 you, Peyton, unknown to all, biit Cczsar, and I recommend him to 
 your mercy. But there is a care that weighs me to the earth. 
 Look at my aged and infirm parent. He will be reproached for 
 the supposed crime of his son. Look at those helpless sisters that 
 J leave behind me without a protector. Prove to me that you love 
 us all. Let the clergyman whom you will bring with you unite 
 you this night to Frances, and become at once brother, son, ami 
 husband." 
 
 The paper fell from the hands of Frances, and she en- 
 deavored to raise her eyes to the face of Dunwoodie, but 
 they sank abashed to the floor. 
 
 " Am I worthy of this confidence ? Will you send me 
 out this night, to meet my own brother ? or will it be the 
 officer of Congress in quest of the officer of Britain ?" 
 
 " And would you do less of your duty because I am your 
 wife, Major Dunwoodie ? In what degree would it better 
 the condition of Henry?" 
 
 " Henry, I repeat, is safe. The word of Harper is his 
 guarantee ; but I will show the world a bridegroom," con- 
 tinued the youth, perhaps deceiving himself a little, "who 
 is equal to the duty of arresting the brother of his bride." 
 
 "And will the world comprehend this refinement?" 
 said Frances, with a musing air, that lighted a thousand 
 hopes in the bosom of her lover. In fact, the temptation 
 
THE SPY. 337 
 
 was mighty. Indeed, there seemed no other way to detain 
 Dunwoodie until the fatal hour had elapsed. The words 
 of Harper himself, who had so lately told her that openly 
 he could do but little for Henry, and that everything de- 
 pended upon gaining time, were deeply engraved upon her 
 memory. Perhaps there was also a fleeting thought of the 
 possibility of an eternal separation from her lover, should 
 he proceed and bring back her brother to punishment. It 
 is difficult at all times to analyze human emotions, and they 
 pass through the sensitive heart of a woman with the ra- 
 pidity and nearly with the vividness of lightning. 
 
 "Why do you hesitate, dear Frances?" cried Dun- 
 woodie, who was studying her varying countenance ; "a 
 few minutes might give me a husband's claim to protect 
 you." 
 
 Frances grew giddy. She turned an anxious eye to the 
 clock, and the hand seemed to linger over its face, as if 
 with intent to torture her. 
 
 " Speak, Frances," murmured Dunwoodie ; " may I 
 summon my good kinswoman? Determine, for time 
 presses." 
 
 She endeavored to reply, but could only whisper some- 
 thing that was inaudible, but which her lover, with the 
 privilege of immemorial custom, construed into assent. 
 He turned and flew to the door, when his mistress recov- 
 ered her voice : 
 
 "Stop, Peyton ! I cannot enter into such a solemn en- 
 gagement with a fraud upon my conscience. I have seen 
 Henry since his escape, and time is all-important to him. 
 Here is my hand ; if, with this knowledge of the conse- 
 quences of delay, you will not reject it, it is freely yours." 
 
 " Reject it ! " cried the delighted youth ; " I take it as 
 the richest gift of heaven. There is time enough for us 
 all. Two hours will take me through the hills ; and by 
 noon to-morrow I will return with Washington's pardon 
 for your brother, and Henry will help to enliven our nup- 
 tials." 
 
 " Then meet me here in ten minutes," said Frances, 
 greatly relieved by unburthening her mind, and filled with 
 the hope of securing Henry's safety, "and I will return 
 and take those vows which will bind me to you forever." 
 
 Dunwoodie paused only to press her once to his bosom, 
 and flew to communicate his wishes to the priest. 
 
 Miss Peyton received the avowal of her niece with in- 
 finite astonishment, and a little displeasure. It was violat- 
 
338 THE SPY. 
 
 ing all the order and decorum of a wedding to get it up 
 so hastily, and with so little ceremony. But Frances, with 
 modest firmness, declared that her resolution was taken ; 
 she had long possessed the consent of her friends, and 
 their nuptials, for months, had only waited her pleasure. 
 She had now promised Dunwoodie, and it was her wish to 
 comply ; more she dare not say without committing her- 
 self, by entering into explanations that might endanger 
 Birch or Harper, or both. Unused to contention, and 
 really much attached to her kinsman, the feeble objections 
 of^Miss Peyton gave way to the firmness of her niece. 
 Mr. Wharton was too completely a convert to the doctrine 
 of passive obedience and non-resistance to withstand any 
 solicitation from an officer of Dunwoodie's influence in 
 the rebel armies; and the maid returned to the apartment, 
 accompanied by her father and aunt, at the expiration of 
 the time that she had fixed. Dunwoodie and the clergy- 
 man were already there. Frances silently, and without 
 the affectation of reserve, placed in his hand the wedding- 
 ring of her own mother, and, after some little time spent 
 in arranging Mr. Wharton and herself, Miss Peyton suf- 
 fered the ceremony to proceed. 
 
 The clock stood directly before the eyes of Frances, 
 and she turned many an anxious glance at the dial ; but 
 the solemn language of the priest soon caught her atten- 
 tion, and her mind became intent upon the vows she was 
 uttering. The ceremony was quickly over, and as the 
 clergyman closed the words of benediction, the clock told 
 the hour of nine. This was the time that Harper had 
 deemed so important, and Frances felt as if a mighty load 
 was at once removed from her heart. 
 
 Dunwoodie folded her in his arms, saluted the mild aunt 
 again and again, and shook Mr. Wharton and the divine 
 repeatedly by the hand. In the midst of the felicitation, 
 a tap was heard at the door. It was opened, and Mason 
 appeared. 
 
 "We are in the saddle," said the lieutenant, "and, with 
 your permission, I will lead on ; as you are so well 
 mounted, you can overtake us at your leisure." 
 
 "Yes, yes, my good fellow ; march," cried Dunwoodie, 
 gladly seizing an excuse to linger ; " I will reach you at 
 the first halt." 
 
 The subaltern retired to execute these orders ; he was 
 followed by Mr. Wharton and the divine. 
 
 " Now, Peyton," said Frances, "it is indeed a brother 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 339 
 
 that you seek ; I am sure I need not caution you in his 
 behalf, should you unfortunately find him." 
 
 " Say fortunately," cried the youth ; " for I am deter- 
 mined he shall yet dance at my wedding. Would that I 
 could win him to our cause ! it is the cause of his coun- 
 try ; and I could fight with more pleasure, Frances, with 
 your brother by my side." 
 
 " Oh ! mention it not ! you awaken terrible reflections." 
 
 "I will not mention it," returned her husband; "but 
 I must now leave you. But the sooner I go, Frances, the 
 sooner I shall return." 
 
 The noise of a horseman was heard approaching the 
 house, and Dunwoodie was yet taking leave of his bride 
 and her aunt, when an officer was shown into the room by 
 his own man. 
 
 The gentleman wore the dress of an aide-de-camp, and 
 the major at once knew him to be one of the military 
 family of Washington. 
 
 " Major Dunwoodie," he said, after bowing to the ladies, 
 " the commander-in-chief has directed me to give you 
 these orders." 
 
 He executed his mission, and, pleading duty, took his 
 leave immediately. 
 
 "Here, indeed," cried the major, "is an unexpected 
 turn in the whole affair ; but I understand it ; Harper has 
 got my letter, and already we feel his influence." 
 
 " Have you news affecting Henry ? " cried Frances, 
 springing to his side. 
 
 " Listen, and you shall judge." 
 
 " SIR : Upon the receipt of this, you will concentrate 
 your squadron, so as to be in front of a covering party 
 which the enemy has sent up in front of his forager, by 
 ten o'clock to-morrow, on the heights of Croton, where 
 you will find a body of foot to support you. The escape 
 of the English spy has been reported to me, but his arrest 
 is unimportant, compared with the duty I now assign you. 
 You will, therefore, recall your men, if any are in pursuit, 
 and endeavor to defeat the enemy forthwith. 
 
 "Your obedient servant, 
 
 " GEORGE WASHINGTON." 
 
 "Thank God!" cried Dunwoodie, " my hands are 
 washed of Henry's recapture ; I can now move to my duty 
 with honor." 
 
340 THE SPY. 
 
 " And with prudence, too, dear Peyton," said Frances, 
 with a face as pale as death ; " remember, Dunwoodie, you 
 leave behind you new claims on your life." 
 
 The youth dwelt on her lovely but pallid features with 
 rapture ; and, as he folded her to his heart, exclaimed : 
 
 " For your sake, I will, lovely innocent ! " Frances 
 sobbed a moment on his bosom, and he tore himself from 
 her presence. 
 
 Miss Peyton retired with her niece, to whom she con- 
 ceived it necessary, before they separated for the night, to 
 give an admonitory lecture on the subject of matrimonial 
 duty. Her instruction was modestly received, if not prop- 
 erly digested. We regret that history has not handed 
 down to us this precious dissertation ; but the result of all 
 our investigation has been to learn that it partook largely 
 of those peculiarities which are said to tincture the rules 
 prescribed to govern bachelors' children. We shall now 
 leave the ladies of the Wharton family, and return to Cap- 
 tain Wharton and Harvey Birch. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE peddler and his companion soon reached the val- 
 ley, and, after pausing to listen, and hearing no sounds 
 which announced that pursuers were abroad, they entered 
 the highway. Acquainted with every step that led 
 through the mountains, and possessed of sinews inured to 
 toil, Birch led the way, with the lengthened strides that 
 were peculiar to the man and his profession ; his pack 
 alone was wanting to finish the appearance of his ordi- 
 nary business air. At times, when they approached one of 
 those little posts held by the American troops, with which 
 the Highlands abounded, he would take a circuit to avoid 
 the sentinels, and plunge fearlessly into a thicket, or as- 
 cend a rugged hill that to the eye seemed impassable. 
 But the peddler was familiar with every turn in their dif- 
 ficult route, knew where the ravines might be penetrated, 
 or where the streams were fordable. In one or two in- 
 stances, Henry thought that their further progress was 
 absolutely at an end, but the ingenuity, or knowledge, of 
 his guide, conquered every difficulty. After walking at a 
 great rate for three hours, they suddenly diverged from 
 the road, which inclined to the east, and held their course 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 341 
 
 directly across the hills, in a due south direction. This 
 movement was made, the peddler informed his compan- 
 ion, in order to avoid the parties who constantly patrolled 
 in the southern entrance of the Highlands, as well as to 
 shorten the distance, by travelling in a straight line. 
 After reaching the summit of a hill, Harvey seated him- 
 self by the side of a little run, and, opening a wallet that 
 he had slung where his pack was commonly suspended, 
 he invited his comrade to partake of the coarse fare it 
 contained. Henry had kept pace with the peddler, more 
 by the excitement natural to his situation than by the 
 equality of his physical powers. The idea of a halt was 
 unpleasant, so long as there existed a possibility of the 
 horse getting below him in time to intercept their retreat 
 through the neutral ground. He therefore stated his ap- 
 prehensions to his companion, and urged a wish to pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 " Follow my example, Captain Wharton," said the ped- 
 dler, commencing his frugal meal ; " if the horse have 
 started, it will be more than man can do to head them ; and 
 if they have not, work is cut out for them that will drive 
 all thoughts of you and me from their brains." 
 
 " You said, yourself, that two hours' detention was all-im- 
 portant to us, and if we loiter here, of what use will be the 
 advantage that we may have already obtained ? " 
 
 " The time is passed, and Major Dunwoodie thinks little 
 of following two men, when hundreds are waiting for him 
 on the banks of the river." 
 
 " Listen," interrupted Henry ; " there are horse at this 
 moment passing the foot of the hill. I hear them even laugh- 
 ing and talking to each other. Hist ! there is the voice of 
 Dunwoodie himself ; he calls to his comrades in a manner 
 that shows but little uneasiness. One would think that the 
 situation of his friend would lower his spirits ; surely Fran- 
 ces could not have given him the letter." 
 
 On hearing the first exclamation of the captain, Birch 
 arose from his seat, and approached cautiously to the brow 
 of the hill, taking care to keep his body in the shadow of 
 the rocks, so as to be unseen at any distance, and earnestly 
 reconnoitred the group of passing horsemen. He con- 
 tinued listening until their footsteps were no longer audi- 
 ble, and then quietly returned to his seat, and with incom- 
 parable coolness resumed his meal. 
 
 " You have a long walk, and a tiresome one, before you, 
 Captain Wharton ; you had better do as I do you were 
 
342 THE SPY. 
 
 eager for food at the hut above Fishkill, but travelling 
 seems to have worn down your appetite." 
 
 " 1 thought myself safe then, but the information of my 
 sister fills me with uneasiness, and I cannot eat." 
 
 " You have less reason to be troubled now than at any 
 tinae since the night before you were taken, when you re- 
 fused my advice and an offer to see you in, in safety," re- 
 turned the peddler. " Major Dunwoodie is not a man to 
 laugh and be gay when his friend is in difficulty. Come, 
 then, and eat, for no horse will be in our way, if we can 
 hold our legs for four hours longer, and the sun keeps be- 
 hind the hills as long as common." 
 
 There was a composure in the peddler's manner that en- 
 couraged his companion ; and having once determined to 
 submit to Harvey's government, he suffered himself to be 
 persuaded into a tolerable supper, if quantity be considered 
 without any reference to the 'quality. After, completing 
 their repast, the peddler resumed his journey. 
 
 Henry followed in blind submission to his will. For 
 two hours more they struggled with the difficult and dan- 
 gerous passes of the Highlands, without, road or any other 
 guide than the moon, which was travelling the heavens, 
 now wading through flying clouds, and now shining 
 brightly. At length they arrived at a point where the 
 mountains sunk into rough and unequal hillocks, and passed 
 at once from the barren sterility of the precipices to the 
 imperfect culture of the neutral ground. 
 
 The peddler now became more guarded in the manner 
 in which they proceeded, and took divers precautions to 
 prevent meeting any moving parties of the Americans. 
 With the stationary posts he was too familiar to render it 
 probable he might fall upon any of them unawares. He 
 wound among the hills and vales, now keeping the high- 
 ways and now avoiding them, with a precision that seemed 
 instinctive. There was nothing elastic in his tread, but he 
 glided over the ground with enormous strides and a body 
 bent forward, without appearing to use exertion or know 
 weariness. 
 
 The moon had set, and a faint streak of light was be- 
 ginning to show itself in the east. Captain Wharton vent- 
 ured to express a sense of fatigue, and to inquire if th'ey 
 were not yet arrived at a part of the country where it 
 might be safe to apply at some of the farm-houses for ad- 
 mission. 
 
 " See here," said the peddler, pointing to a hill, at & 
 
THE SPY. 343 
 
 short distance in their rear ; " do you not see a man walk- 
 ing on the point of that rock ? Turn, so as to bring the 
 daylight in the range now, see, he moves, and seems to 
 be looking earnestly at something to the eastward. That 
 is a royal sentinel ; two hundred of the rig'lar troops lay 
 on that hill, no doubt sleeping on their arms." 
 
 "Then," cried Henry, "let us join them, and our dan- 
 ger is ended." 
 
 " Softly, softly, Captain Wharton," said the peddler, 
 dryly, " you've once been in the midst of three hundred 
 of them', but there was a man who could take you out ; 
 see you not yon dark body, on the side of the opposite 
 hill, just above the cornstalks ? There are the the rebels 
 (since that is the word for us royal subjects), waiting only 
 for day, to see who will be master of the ground." 
 
 " Nay, then," exclaimed the fiery youth, " I will join the 
 troops of my prince, and share their fortunes, be it good 
 or be it bad." 
 
 "You forget that you fight with a halter round your 
 neck ; no, no I have promised one whom I must not dis- 
 appoint, to carry you safe in, and unless you forget what I 
 have already done, and what I have risked for you, Cap- 
 tain Wharton, you will turn, a"nd follow me to Harlem." 
 
 To this appeal the youth felt unwillingly obliged to sub- 
 mit ; and they continued their course toward the city. It 
 was not long before they gained the banks of the Hudson. 
 After searching fora short time under the shore, the ped- 
 dler discovered a skiff, that appeared to be an old acquaint- 
 ance ; and entering it with his companion, he landed him 
 on the south side of the Croton. Here Birch declared 
 they were in safety ; for the royal troops held the continen- 
 tals at bay, and the former were out in too great strength 
 for the light parties of the latter to trust themselves below 
 that river on the immediate banks of the Hudson. 
 
 Throughout the whole of this arduous flight the peddler 
 had manifested a coolness and presence of mind that noth- 
 ing appeared to disturb. All his faculties seemed to be 
 of more than usual perfection, and the infirmities of nature 
 to have no dominion over him. Henry had followed him 
 like a child in leading-strings, and he now reaped his re- 
 ward, as he felt a bound of pleasure at his heart on hear- 
 ing that he was relieved from apprehension and permitted 
 to banish every doubt of security. 
 
 A steep and laborious ascent brought them from the 
 level of the tide-waters to the highlands that form, in this 
 
344 TI! K SPY. 
 
 part of the river, the eastern banks of the Hudson. Retir- 
 ing a little from the highway, under the shelter of a thicket 
 of cedars, the peddler threw his form on a flat rock, and 
 announced to his companion that the hour for rest and 
 refreshment was at length arrived. The day was now 
 opened, and objects could be seen in the distance with dis- 
 tinctness. Beneath them lay the Hudson, stretching to the 
 south in a straight line, as far as the eye could reach. To 
 the north, the broken fragments of the Highlands threw 
 upward their lofty heads, above masses of fog that hung 
 over the water, and by which the course of the river could 
 be traced into the bosom of the hills, whose conical summits 
 were grouping together, one behind another, in that disor- 
 der which might be supposed to have succeeded their gi- 
 gantic but fruitless efforts to stop the progress of the flood. 
 Emerging from these confused piles, the river, as if rejoic- 
 ing at its release from the struggle, expanded into a wide 
 bay, which was ornamented by a few fertile and low points 
 that jutted humbly into its broad basin. On the opposite 
 or western shore, the rocks of Jersey were gathered into 
 an array that has obtained for them the name of the/#//- 
 sadoes, elevating themselves for many hundred feet, as if 
 to protect the rich country in their rear from the inroads 
 of the conqueror ; but, disdaining such an enemy, the 
 river swept proudly by their feet, and held its undeviating 
 way to the ocean. A ray of the rising sun darted upon 
 the slight cloud that hung over the placid river, and at 
 once the whole scene was in motion, changing and assum- 
 ing new forms, and exhibiting fresh objects in each suc- 
 cessive moment. At the daily rising of this great curtain 
 of nature, at the present time, scores of white sails and 
 sluggish vessels are seen thickening on the water, with that 
 air of life which denotes the neighborhood to the metrop- 
 olis of a great and flourishing empire ; but to Henry and 
 the peddler it displayed only the square yards and lofty 
 masts of a vessel of war, riding a few miles below them. 
 Before the fog had begun to move, the tall spars were seen 
 above it, and from one of them a long pennant was feebly 
 borne abroad in the current of night air that still quiv- 
 ered along the river ; but as the smoke arose, the black 
 hull, the crowded and complicated mass of rigging, and 
 the heavy yards and booms, spreading their arms afar, were 
 successively brought into view. 
 
 " There, Captain Wharton," said the peddler, "there is 
 a safe resting-place for you ; America has no arm that can 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 345 
 
 reach you, if you gain the deck of that ship. She is sent 
 up to cover the foragers, and support the troops ; the rig'- 
 lar officers are fond of the sound of cannon from their 
 shipping." 
 
 Without condescending to reply to the sarcasm conveyed 
 in this speech, or perhaps not noticing it, Henry joyfully 
 acquiesced in the proposal, and it was accordingly arranged 
 between them, that, as soon as they were refreshed, he 
 should endeavor to get. on board the vessel. 
 
 While busily occupied in the very indispensable opera- 
 tion of breaking their fast, our adventurers were startled 
 with the sound of distant firearms. At first a few scatter- 
 ing shots were fired, which were succeeded by a long and 
 animated roll of musketry, and then quick and heavy vol- 
 leys followed each other. 
 
 " Your prophecy is made good," cried the English offi- 
 cer, springing upon his feet. " Our troops and the rebels 
 are at it ! I would give six months' pay to see the charge." 
 
 " Umph ! " returned his companion, without ceasing his 
 meal ; " they do very well to look at from a distance. I 
 can't say but the company of this bacon, cold as it is, is 
 more to my taste, just now, than a hot fire from the con- 
 tinentals." 
 
 " The discharges are heavy for so small a force ; but the 
 fire seems irregular." 
 
 " The scattering guns are from the Connecticut militia," 
 said Harvey, raising his head to listen ; " they rattle it off 
 finely, and are no fools at a mark. The volleys are the rig'- 
 lars, who, you know, fire by word as long as they can." 
 
 " I like not the warmth of what you call a scattering 
 fire," exclaimed the captain, moving about with uneasi- 
 ness ; " it is more like the roll of a drum than the shooting 
 of skirmishers." 
 
 " No, no ; I said not skrimmagers," returned the other, 
 raising himself upon a knee and ceasing to eat ; " so long 
 as they stand, they are too good for the best troops in the 
 royal army. Each man does his work, as if fighting by the 
 job ; and then they think while they fight, and don't send 
 bullets among the clouds, that were meant to kill men 
 upon earth." 
 
 " You talk and look, sir, as if you wished them success," 
 said Henry, sternly. 
 
 " I wish success to the good cause only, Captain Whar- 
 ton. I thought you knew me too well, to be uncertain 
 which party I favored." 
 
346 THE SPY. 
 
 "Oh! you are reputed loyal, Mr. Birch. But the vol- 
 leys have ceased ! " 
 
 Both now listened intently for a little while, during 
 which the irregular reports became less brisk, and suddenly 
 heavy and repeated volleys followed. 
 
 "They've been at the bayonet," said the peddler ; "the 
 rig'lars have tried the bayonet, and the rebels are driven." 
 
 "Ay, Mr. Birch, the bayonet is the thing for the British 
 soldier, after all. They delight in the bayonet ! " 
 
 "Well, to my notion," said the peddler, "there's but 
 little delight to be taken in any such fearful weapon. I 
 dare say the militia are of my mind, for half of them don't 
 carry the ugly things. Lord ! Lord ! captain, I wish you'd 
 go with me once into the rebel camp, and hear what lies 
 the men will tell about Bunker Hill and Burg'yne ; you'd 
 think they loved the bayonet as much as they do their 
 dinners." 
 
 There was a chuckle, and an air of affected innocency 
 about his companion, that rather annoyed Henry, and he 
 did not deign to reply. 
 
 The firing now became desultory, occasionally inter- 
 mingled with heavy volleys. Both of the fugitives were 
 standing, listening with much anxiety, when a man, armed 
 with a musket, was seen stealing toward them, under the 
 shelter of the cedar-bushes that partially covered the hill. 
 Henry first observed this suspicious-looking stranger, and 
 instantly pointed him out to his companion. Birch started, 
 and certainly made an indication of sudden flight ; but 
 recollecting himself, he stood, in sullen silence, until the 
 stranger was within a few yards of them. 
 
 "'Tis friends," said the fellow, clubbing his gun, but ap- 
 parently afraid to venture nearer. 
 
 "You had better retire," said Birch ; "here are rig'lars 
 at hand. We are not near Dunwoodie's horse now, and 
 you will not find me an easy prize to-day." 
 
 "Damn Major Dunwoodie and his horse!" cried the 
 leader of the Skinners (for it was he) ; " God bless King 
 George ! and a speedy end to the rebellion, say I. If you 
 would show me the safe way into the refugees, Mr. Birch, 
 I'll pay you well, and ever after stand your friend, in the 
 bargain." 
 
 " The road is as open to you as to me," said Birch, turn- 
 ing from him in ill-concealed disgust ; " if you want to find 
 the refugees, you know well where they lay." 
 
 " Ay, but I'm a little doubtful of going in upon them by 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 347 
 
 myself ; now, you are well known to them all, and it will 
 be no detriment to you just to let me go in with you." 
 
 Henry here interfered, and after holding a short dialogue 
 with the fellow, he entered into a compact with him/that, 
 on condition of surrendering his arms, he might join the 
 party. The man complied instantly, and Birch received his 
 gun with eagerness ; nor did he lay it upon his shoulder to 
 renew their march, before he had carefully examined the 
 priming and ascertained, to his satisfaction, that it con- 
 tained a good dry ball-cartridge. 
 
 As soon as this engagement was completed, they com- 
 menced their journey anew. By following the bank of the 
 river, Birch led the way free from observation, until they 
 reached the point opposite to the frigate, when, by making 
 a signal, a boat was induced to approach. Some time was 
 spent, and much precaution used, before the seamen 
 would trust themselves ashore ; but Henry having finally- 
 succeeded in making the officer who commanded the party 
 credit his assertions, he was able to rejoin his companions 
 in arms in safety. Before taking leave of Birch, the cap- 
 tain handed him his purse, which was tolerably well sup- 
 plied for the times ; the peddler received it, and, watching 
 an opportunity, he conveyed it, unnoticed by the Skinner, 
 to a part of his dress that was ingeniously contrived to 
 hold such treasures. 
 
 The boat pulled from the shore, and Birch turned on his 
 heel, drawing his breath like one relieved, and shot up the 
 hills with the strides for which he was famous. The Skin- 
 ner followed, and each party pursued the common course, 
 casting frequent and suspicious glances at the other, and 
 both maintaining a most impenetrable silence. 
 
 Wagons were moving along the river road, and occa- 
 sional parties of horse were seen escorting the fruits of the 
 inroad toward the city. As the peddler had views of his 
 own, he rather avoided falling in with any of these pa- 
 trols than sought their protection. But, after travelling a 
 few miles on the immediate banks of the river, during 
 which, notwithstanding the repeated efforts of the Skinner 
 to establish something like sociability, he maintained a most 
 determined silence, keeping a firm hold of the gun, and 
 always maintaining a jealous watchfulness of his associate, 
 the peddler suddenly struck into the highway, with an in- 
 tention of crossing the hills toward Harlem. At the mo- 
 ment he gained the path a body of horse came over a lit- 
 tle eminence, and was upon him before he perceived them. 
 
348 THE SPY. 
 
 It was too late to retreat ; and after taking a view of the 
 materials that composed this party, Birch rejoiced at the 
 rencounter, as a probable means of relieving him from his 
 unwelcome companion. There were some eighteen or 
 twenty men, mounted and equipped as dragoons, though 
 neither their appearance nor manners denoted much dis- 
 cipline. At their head rode a heavy, middle-aged man, 
 whose features expressed as much of animal courage and 
 as little of reason as could be desired for such an occupa- 
 tion. He wore the dress of an officer, but there was none 
 of that neatness in his attire, nor grace in his movements, 
 that was usually found about the gentlemen who bore the 
 royal commission. His limbs were firm, and not pliable, 
 and he sat his horse with strength and confidence, but his 
 bridle-hand would have been ridiculed by the meanest 
 rider among the Virginians. As he expected, this leader 
 instantly hailed the peddler, in a voice by no means more 
 conciliating than his appearance. 
 
 " Hey ? my gentlemen, which way so fast ? " he cried. 
 " Has Washington sent you down as spies ? " 
 
 " I am an innocent peddler," returned Harvey, meekly, 
 " and am going below, to lay in a fresh stock of goods." 
 
 " And how do you expect to get below, my innocent 
 peddler ? Do you think we hold the forts at Kingsbridge 
 to cover such peddling rascals as you, in your goings in 
 and comings out ? " 
 
 " I believe I hold a pass that will carry me through," 
 said the peddler, handing him a paper, with an air of great 
 indifference. 
 
 The officer, for such he was, read it and cast a look of 
 surprise and curiosity at Harvey when he had done. 
 
 Then turning to one or two of his men, who had offi- 
 ciously stopped the w r ay, he cried : 
 
 " Why do you detain the man ? give way, and let him 
 pass in peace ; but who have we here ? Your name is not 
 mentioned in the pass ! " 
 
 " No, sir," said the Skinner, lifting his hat with humil- 
 ity. " I have been a poor deluded man, who has been 
 serving in the rebel army ; but, thank God, I've lived to 
 see the error of my ways, and am now come to make repa- 
 ration, by enlisting under the Lord's anointed." 
 
 " Umph ! a deserter a Skinner, I'll swear, wanting to 
 turn Cow-boy! In the last brush I had with the scoun- 
 drels I could hardly tell my own men from the enemy. 
 We are not overvvell supplied with coats, and as for coun 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 349 
 
 tenances, the rascals change sides so often that you may 
 as well count their faces for nothing ; but trudge on, we 
 will contrive to make use of you sooner or later." 
 
 Ungracious as was this reception, if you could judge of 
 the Skinner's feelings from his manner, it nevertheless de- 
 lighted him. He moved with alacrity toward the city, and 
 realty was so happy to escape the brutal looks and fright- 
 ful manner of his interrogator, as to lose sight of all other 
 considerations. But the man who performed the functions 
 of orderly in the irregular troop rode up to the side of his 
 commander and commenced a close and apparently a con- 
 fidential discourse with his principal. They spoke in 
 whispers and cast frequent and searching glances at the 
 Skinner, until the fellow began to think himself an object 
 of more than common attention. His satisfaction at this 
 distinction was somewhat heightened at observing a smile 
 on the face of the captain, which, although it might be 
 thought grim, certainly denoted satisfaction. This panto- 
 mime occupied the time they were passing a hollow, and 
 concluded as they rose another hill. Here the captain and 
 his sergeant both dismounted, and ordered the party to halt. 
 The two partisans each took a pistol from his holster, a 
 movement that excited no suspicion or alarm, as it was a 
 precaution always observed, and beckoned to the peddler 
 and the Skinner to follow. A short walk brought them 
 to a spot where the hill overhung the river, the ground 
 falling nearly perpendicularly to the shore. On the brow 
 of the eminence stood a deserted and dilapidated barn. 
 Many boards of its covering were torn from their places, 
 and its wide doors were lying, the one in front of the 
 building, and the other half-way down the precipice, 
 whither the w r ind had cast it. Entering this desolate spot, 
 the refugee officer very coolly took from his pocket a short 
 pipe, which, from long use, had acquired not only the hue 
 but the gloss of ebony, a tobacco-box, and a small roll of 
 leather, that contained steel, flint, and tinder. With this 
 apparatus, he soon furnished his mouth with a, companion 
 that habit had long rendered necessary to reflection. So 
 soon as a large column of smoke arose from this arrange- 
 ment, the captain significantly held forth a hand toward 
 his assistant. A small cord was produced from the pocket 
 of the sergeant, and handed to the other. The refugee 
 threw out vast puffs of smoke, until nearly all of his head 
 was obscured, and looked around the building with an in- 
 quisitive eye. At length he removed the pipe, and inhal- 
 
350 7777i SPY. 
 
 ing a draught of pure air returned it to its domicile, and 
 proceeded at once to business. A heavy piece of timber 
 lay across the girths of the barn, but a little way from the 
 southern door, which opened directly upon a full view of 
 the river, as it stretched far away toward the bay of New 
 York. Over this beam the refugee threw one end of the 
 rope, and, regaining it, joined the two parts in his hand. 
 A small and weak barrel, that wanted a head, the staves 
 of which were loose, and at one end standing apart, was 
 left on the floor probably, as useless. The sergeant, in 
 obedience to a look from his officer, placed it beneath the 
 beam. All of these arrangements were made with immov- 
 able composure, and they now seemed completed to the 
 officer's perfect satisfaction. 
 
 "Come," he said coolly to the Skinner, who, admiring 
 the preparations, had stood a silent spectator of their prog- 
 ress. He obeyed, and it was not until he found his neck- 
 cloth removed, and hat thrown aside, that he took the 
 alarm. But he had so often resorted to a similar expedi- 
 ent to extort information, or plunder, that he by no means 
 felt the terror an unpractised man would have suffered at 
 these ominous movements. The rope was adjusted to his 
 neck with the same coolness that formed the characteristic 
 of the whole movement, and a fragment of a board being 
 laid upon the barrel, he was ordered to mount. 
 
 " But it may fall," said the Skinner, for the first time 
 beginning to tremble. " I will tell you anything even 
 how to surprise our party at the Pond, without all this 
 trouble, and it is commanded by my own brother." 
 
 " I want no information," returned his executioner (for 
 such he now seemed really to be), throwing the rope re- 
 peatedly over the beam, first drawing it tight so as to an- 
 noy the Skinner a little, and then casting the end from 
 him, beyond the reach of any one. 
 
 "This is joking too far," cried the Skinner in a tone of 
 remonstrance, and raising himself on his toes, with the vain 
 hope of releasing himself from the cord, by slipping his 
 head through the noose. But the caution and experience 
 of the refugee officer had guarded against this escape. 
 
 "What have you done with the horse you stole from me, 
 rascal?" muttered the officer of the Cow-boys, throwing 
 out volumes of smoke while he waited for a reply. 
 
 " He broke down in the chaise," replied the Skinner, 
 quickly ; " but I can tell you where one is to be found thai 
 is worth his and his sire " 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 35* 
 
 " Liar ! I will help myself when I am in need ; you had 
 better call upon God for aid, as your hour is short." On 
 concluding this consoling advice, he struck the barrel a 
 violent blow with his heavy boot, and the slender staves 
 flew in every direction, leaving the Skinner whirling in the 
 air. As his hands were unconfined, he threw them upward 
 and held himself suspended by main strength. 
 
 " Come, captain," he said, coaxingly, a little huskiness 
 creeping into his voice, and his knees beginning to shake 
 with tremor, " end the joke ; 'tis enough to make a laugh, 
 and my arms begin to tire I can't hold on much longer." 
 
 " Harkee, Mr. Peddler," said the refugee, in a voice 
 that would not be denied, " I want not your company. 
 Through that door lies your road march ! offer to touch 
 that door, and you'll swing in his place, though twenty 
 Sir Henries wanted your services." So saying, he retired 
 to the road with the sergeant, as the peddler precipitately 
 retreated down the bank. 
 
 Birch went no farther than a bush that opportunely of- 
 fered itself as a screen to his person, while he yielded to 
 an unconquerable desire to witness the termination of this 
 extraordinary scene. 
 
 Left alone the Skinner began to throw fearful glances 
 around, to espy the hiding-places of his tormentors. For 
 the first time the horrid idea seemed to shoot through his 
 brain that something serious was intended by the Cow-boy. 
 He called entreatingly to be released, and made rapid and 
 incoherent promises of important information, mingled 
 with affected pleasantry at their conceit, which he would 
 hardly admit to himself could mean anything so dreadful 
 as it seemed. But as he heard the tread of the horses 
 moving on their course, and in vain looked around for 
 human aid, violent trembling seized his limbs, and his eyes 
 began to start from his head with terror. He made a des- 
 perate effort to reach the beam ; but, too much exhausted 
 with his previous exertions, he caught the rope in his teeth, 
 in a vain effort to sever the cord, and fell to the whole 
 length of his arms. Here his cries were turned into 
 shrieks : 
 
 " Help ! cut the rope ! captain ! Birch ! good peddler ! 
 down with the Congress ! sergeant ! for God's sake, help! 
 Hurrah for the king ! Oh God ! oh God ! mercy mercy 
 mercy ! " 
 
 As his voice became suppressed one of his hands en- 
 deavored to make its way between the rope and his neck, 
 
352 THE SPY. 
 
 and partially succeeded ; but the other fell quivering by 
 his side. A convulsive shuddering passed over his whole 
 frame, and he hung a hideous corpse. 
 
 Birch continued gazing on this scene with a kind of in- 
 fatuation. At its close he placed his hands to his ears, and 
 rushed toward the highway. Still the cries for mercy 
 rang through his brain, and it was many weeks before his 
 memory ceased to dwell on the horrid event. The Cow- 
 boys rode steadily on their route, as if nothing had oc- 
 curred ; and the body was left swinging in the wind, until 
 chance directed the footsteps of some straggler to the 
 place. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Green be the turf above thee, 
 
 Friend of my better days ; 
 None knew thee but to love thee, 
 
 None named thee but to praise. 
 
 WHILE the scenes and events that we have recorded 
 were occurring, Captain Lavvton led his small party, by 
 slow and wary marches, from the Four Corners to the front 
 of a body of the enemy ; where he so successfully manoeu- 
 vred, fora short time, as completely to elude all their efforts 
 to entrap him, and yet so disguised his own force as to ex- 
 cite the constant apprehension of an attack from the 
 Americans. This forbearing policy, on the side of the 
 partisan, was owing to positive orders received from his 
 commander. When Dunwoodie left his detachment, the 
 enemy w r ere known to be slowly advancing, and he directed 
 Lawton to hover around them, until his own return, and 
 the arrival of a body of foot, might enable him to inter- 
 cept their retreat. 
 
 The trooper discharged his duty to the letter, but with 
 no little of the impatience that made part of his character 
 when restrained from the attack. 
 
 During these movements Betty Flanagan guided her 
 little cart with indefatigable zeal among the rocks of West- 
 chester, now discussing with the sergeant the nature of evil 
 spirits, and now combating with the surgeon sundry points 
 of practice that were hourly arising between them. But 
 the moment at length arrived that was to decide the tempo- 
 rary mastery of the field. A detachment of the eastern 
 
THE SPY. 353 
 
 militia moved out from their fastnesses and approached 
 the enemy. 
 
 The junction between Lawton and his auxiliaries was 
 made at midnight, and an immediate consultation was held 
 between him and the leader of the foot-soldiers. After 
 listening to the statements of the partisan, who rather de- 
 spised the prowess of his enemy, the commandant of the 
 party determined to attack the British the moment day- 
 light enabled him to reconnoitre their position, without 
 \v r aiting for the aid of Dunwoodie and his horse. So soon 
 as this decision was made, Lawton retired from the build- 
 ing where the consultation was held, and rejoined his own 
 small command. 
 
 The few troopers who were with the captain had fas- 
 tened their horses in a spot adjacent to a haystack, and 
 laid their own frames under its shelter, to catch a few 
 hours sleep. But Dr. Sitgreaves, Sergeant Hollister, and 
 Betty Flanagan were congregated at a short distance by 
 themselves, having spread a few blankets upon the drv 
 surface of a rock. Lawton threw his huge frame by the 
 side of the surgeon, and folding his cloak about him 
 leaned his head upon one hand, and appeared deeply en- 
 gaged in contemplating the moon as it waded through the 
 heavens. The sergeant was sitting upright, in respectful 
 deference to the surgeon, and the washerwoman was now 
 raising her head, in order to vindicate some of her favorite 
 maxims, and now composing it on one of her gin-casks, in 
 a vain effort to sleep. 
 
 " So, sergeant," continued Sitgreaves, following up a 
 previous position, " if you cut upward, the blow, by losing 
 the additional momentum of your weight, will be less de- 
 structive, and at the same time effect the true purposes of 
 war, that of disabling your enemy." 
 
 " Pooh ! pooh ! sergeant dear," said the washerwoman, 
 raising her head from the blanket ; "where's the harm of 
 taking a life, jist in the way of battle ? Is it the rig'lars 
 who'll show favor, and they fighting ? Ask Captain Jack 
 there, if the country could get the liberty, and the boys no 
 strike their might. I wouldn't have them disparage the 
 whiskey so much." 
 
 " It is not to be expected that an ignorant female like 
 yourself, Mrs. Flanagan," returned the surgeon, with a 
 calmness that only rendered his contempt more stinging 
 to Betty, " can comprehend the distinctions of surgical 
 science, neither are you accomplished in the sword exer- 
 
 23 
 
354 THE 
 
 cise ; so that dissertations upon the judicious use of that 
 weapon could avail you nothing, either in theory or in 
 practice." 
 
 " It's but little I care, any way, for such botherments ; 
 but fighting is no play, and a body shouldn't be particular 
 how they strike, or who they hit, so it's the inimy." 
 
 " Are we likely to have a warm day, Captain Lavvton ? " 
 
 " 'Tis more than probable," replied the trooper; "these 
 militia seldom fail making a bloody field, either by their 
 cowardice or their ignorance, and the real soldier is made 
 to suffer for their bad conduct." 
 
 "Are you ill, John ?" said the surgeon, passing his arm 
 along the arm of the captain, until it instinctively settled 
 on his pulse ; but the steady, even beat announced neither 
 bodily nor mental malady. 
 
 " Sick at heart, Archibald, at the folly of our rulers, in 
 believing that battles are to be fought and victories won 
 by fellows who handle a musket as they would a flail ; lads 
 who wink whn they pull a trigger, and form a line like a 
 hoop pole. The dependence we place on these men spills 
 the best blood of the country." 
 
 The surgeon listened with amazement. It was not the 
 matter, but the manner that surprised him. The trooper 
 had uniformly exhibited, on the eve of battle, an anima- 
 tion, and an eagerness to engage, that was directly at va- 
 riance with the admirable coolness of his manner at other 
 times. But now there was a despondency in the tones of 
 his voice, and a listlessness in his air, that was entirely dif- 
 ferent. The operator hesitated a moment, to reflect in 
 what manner he could render this change of service in fur- 
 thering his favorite system available, and then continued : 
 
 " It would be wise, John, to advise that colonel to keep 
 at long shot ; a spent shot will disable " 
 
 " No ! " exclaimed the trooper, impatiently ; "let the 
 rascals singe their whiskers at the muzzles of the British 
 muskets, if they can be driven there. But, enough of them. 
 Archibald, do you deem that moon to be a world like this, 
 containing creatures like ourselves ? " 
 
 " Nothing more probable, dear John ; we know its size, 
 and, reasoning from analogy, may easily conjecture its use. 
 Whether or not its inhabitants have attained to that per- 
 fection in the sciences which we have acquired, must de- 
 pend greatly on the state of its society, and in some meas- 
 ure upon its physical influences." 
 
 " I care nothing about their learning, Archibald ; but 
 
THE SPY. 355 
 
 'tis a wonderful power that can create such worlds, and con- 
 trol them in their wanderings. I know not why, but there 
 is a feeling of melancholy excited within me as I gaze on 
 that body of light, shaded as it is by your fancied sea and 
 land. It seems to be the resting-place of departed 
 spirits ! " 
 
 " Take a drop, darling," said Betty, raising her head 
 once more, and proffering her own bottle ; " 'tis the night 
 damp that chills the blood and then the talk with the 
 cursed militia is no good for a fiery temper. Take a drop, 
 darling, and ye'll sleep till the morning. I fed Roanoke 
 myself, for I thought ye might need hard riding the 
 morrow." 
 
 " Tis a glorious heaven to look upon," continued the 
 trooper, in the same tone, disregarding the offer of Betty, 
 " and 'tis a thousand pities that such worms as men should 
 let their vile passions deface such goodly work." 
 
 "You speak the truth, dear John ; there is room for all 
 to live and enjoy themselves in peace, if each could be sat- 
 isfied with his own. Still, war has its advantages ; it par- 
 ticularly promotes the knowledge of surgery ; and 
 
 " There is a star," continued Lawton, still bent on his 
 own ideas, " struggling to glitter through a few driving 
 clouds ; perhaps that too is a world, and contains its creat- 
 ures endowed with reason like ourselves ; think you that 
 they know of war and bloodshed ?" 
 
 " If I might be so bold," said Sergeant Hollister, me- 
 chanically raising his hand to his cap, " 'tis mentioned in 
 the good book, that the Lord made the sun to stand still 
 while Joshua was charging the enemy, in order, sir, as I 
 suppose, that they might have daylight to turn their flank, 
 or perhaps make a feint in the rear, or some such manoeu- 
 vre. Now, if the Lord would lend them a hand, fighting 
 cannot be sinful. I have often been nonplussed, though, 
 to find that they used them chariots instead of heavy dra- 
 goons, who are, in all comparison, better to break a line of 
 infantry, and who, for the matter of that, could turn such 
 wheel carriages, and, getting in the rear, play the very 
 devil with them, horse and all." 
 
 " It is because you do not understand the construction 
 of those ancient vehicles, Sergeant Hollister, that you judge 
 of them so erroneously," said the surgeon. "They were 
 armed with sharp weapons that protruded from their 
 wheels, and which broke up the columns of foot, like dis- 
 membered particles of matter. 1 doubt not, if similar in- 
 
356 THE SPY. 
 
 strumerits were affixed to the cart of Mrs. Flanagan, that 
 great confusion might be carried into the ranks of the 
 enemy thereby, this very day." 
 
 " It's but little that the mare would go, and the rig'lars 
 firing at her," grumbled Betty, from under her blanket ; 
 " when we got the plunder, the time we drove them through 
 the Jarseys, it was I had to back the baste up to the dead ; 
 for the divil the foot would she move, forencnt the firing, 
 wid her eyes open. Roanoke and Captain Jack are good 
 enough for the red-coats, letting alone myself and the 
 mare." 
 
 A long roll of the drums, from the hill occupied hy the 
 British, announced that they were on the alert ; and a cor- 
 responding signal was immediately heard from the Ameri- 
 cans. The bugle of the Virginians struck up its martial 
 tones ; and in a few moments both the hills, the one held 
 by the royal troops, and the other by their enemies, were 
 'alive with armed men. Day had begun to dawn, and prep- 
 arations were making by both parties, to give and to re- 
 ceive the attack. In numbers the Americans had greatly 
 the advantage ; but in discipline and equipments the su- 
 periority was entirely with their enemies. The arrange- 
 ment for the battle was brief, and by the time the sun 
 had risen the militia moved forward. 
 
 The ground did not admit of the movements of horse ; 
 and the only duty that could be assigned to the dragoons 
 was to watch the moment of victory, and endeavor to im- 
 prove the success to the utmost. Lawton soon got his war- 
 riors into the saddle ; and leaving them to the charge of 
 Hollister, he rode himself along the line of foot, who, in 
 varied dresses, and imperfectly armed, were found in a 
 shape that in some degree resembled a martial array. A 
 scornful smile lowered about the lip of the trooper as he 
 guided Roanoke with a skilful hand through the windings 
 of their ranks ; and when the word was given to march, he 
 turned the flank of the regiment, and followed close in the 
 rear. The Americans had to descend into a little hollow, 
 and rise a hill on its opposite side, to approach the enemy. 
 
 The descent w r as made with tolerable steadiness, until 
 near the foot of the hill, when the royal troops advanced in 
 a* beautiful line, with their flanks protected by the formation 
 of the ground. The appearance of the British drew a fire 
 from the militia, which was given with good effect, and for 
 a moment staggered the regulars. But they were rallied 
 by their officers, and threw in volley after volley with great 
 
THE SPY. 357 
 
 steadiness. For a short time the fire was warm and de- 
 structive, until the English advanced with the bayonet. 
 This assault the militia had not sufficient discipline to with- 
 stand. Their line wavered, then paused, and finally broke 
 into companies and fragments of companies, keeping up at 
 the same time a scattering and desultory fire. 
 
 Lawton witnessed these operations in silence, nor did 
 he open his mouth until the field was covered with parties 
 of the flying Americans. Then, indeed, he seemed stung 
 with the disgrace thus heaped upon the arms of his country. 
 .Spurring Roanoke along the side of the hill, he called to 
 the fugitives, in all the strength of his powerful voice. He 
 pointed to the enemy, and assured his countrymen that 
 they had mistaken the way. There was such a mixture 
 of indifference and irony in his exhortations, that a few 
 paused in surprise more joined them, until, roused by the 
 example of the trooper, and stimulated by their own spirit, 
 they demanded to be led against their foe once more. 
 
 " Come on, then, my brave friends ! " shouted the trooper, 
 turning his horse's head toward the British line, one flank 
 of which was very near him ; " come on, and hold your fire 
 until it will scorch their eyebrows." 
 
 The men sprang forward, and followed his example, 
 neither giving nor receiving a fire until they had come with- 
 in a very short distance of the enemy. An English ser- 
 geant, who had been concealed by a rock, enraged with 
 the audacity of the officer who thus dared their arms, 
 stepped from behind his cover, and advancing within a few 
 yards of the trooper, levelled his musket : 
 
 " Fire, and you die !" cried Lawton, spurring his charger, 
 which leaped forward at the instant. The action and the 
 tone of his voice shook the nerves of the Englishman, who 
 drew his trigger with an uncertain aim. Roanoke sprang 
 with all his feet from the earth, and plunging, fell headlong 
 and lifeless at the feet of his destroyer. Lawton kept his 
 feet, standing face to face with his enemy. The latter pre- 
 sented his bayonet, and made a desperate thrust at the 
 trooper's heart. The steel of their weapons emitted sparks 
 of fire, and the bayonet flew fifty feet in the air. At the 
 next moment its owner lay a quivering corpse. 
 
 " Come on ! " shouted the trooper, as a body of Eng- 
 lish appeared on a rock, and threw in a close fire ; " come 
 on ! " he repeated, and brandished his sabre fiercely. 
 Then his gigantic form fell backward, like a majestic pine 
 yielding to the axe ; but still, as he slowly fell, he con- 
 
35 8 TV/A SPY. 
 
 tinued to wield his sabre, and once more the deep tone of 
 his voice was heard uttering, " Come on ! " 
 
 The advancing Americans paused aghast, and turning, 
 they abandoned the field to the royal troops. 
 
 It was neither the intention nor the policy of the Eng- 
 lish commander to pursue his success, for he well knew 
 that strong parties of the Americans would soon arrive ; 
 accordingly, he only tarried to collect his wounded, and, 
 forming in a square, he commenced his retreat toward the 
 shipping. Within twenty minutes of the fall of Lawton, 
 the ground was deserted by both the English and Ameri- 
 cans. 
 
 When the inhabitants of the country were called upon 
 to enter the field, they were necessarily attended by such 
 surgical advisers as were furnished by the low state of the 
 profession in the interior at that day. Dr. Sitgreaves en- 
 tertained quite as profound a contempt for the medical 
 attendants of the militia as the captain did of the troops 
 themselves. He wandered, therefore, around the field, 
 casting many a glance of disapprobation at the slight 
 operations that came under his eye ; but when, among the 
 flying troops, he found that his comrade and friend was 
 nowhere to be seen, he hastened back to the spot at which 
 Hollister was posted, to inquire if the trooper had re- 
 turned. Of course, the answer was in the negative. 
 Filled with a thousand uneasy conjectures, the surgeon, 
 without regarding, or indeed without at all reflecting 
 upon any dangers that might lie in his way, strode over 
 the ground at an enormous rate, to the point where he 
 knew the final struggle had been. Once before, the sur- 
 geon had rescued his friend from death in a similar situa- 
 tion ; and he felt a secret joy in his own conscious skill, 
 as he perceived Betty Flanagan seated on the ground, 
 holding in her lap the head of a man whose size and dress 
 he knew could belong only to the trooper. As he ap- 
 proached the spot, the surgeon became alarmed at the 
 aspect of the washerwoman. Her little black bonnet was 
 thrown aside, and her hair, which was already streaked 
 with gray, hung around her face in disorder. 
 
 "John! dear John!" said the doctor tenderly, as he 
 bent and laid his hand upon the senseless wrist of the 
 trooper from which it recoiled with an intuitive knowl- 
 edge of his fate ; "John ! dear John ! where are you hurt ? 
 can I help you ?" 
 
 " Yee talk to the senseless clay," said Betty, rocking 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 359 
 
 her body, and unconsciously playing with the raven ring- 
 lets of the trooper's hair ; " it's no more will he hear, and 
 it's but little will he mind yee'r probes and yee'r med'cines. 
 Och hone, och hone ! and where will be the liberty now ? 
 or who will there be to fight the battle or gain the day ? " 
 
 "John!" repeated the surgeon, still unwilling to be- 
 lieve the evidence of his unerring senses, "dear John, 
 speak to me ; say what you will, that you do but speak. 
 Oh, God ! he is dead ; would that I had died with him ! " 
 
 " There is but little use in living and fighting now," 
 said Betty ; " both him and the baste ! see, there is the 
 poor cratur, and here is the master ! I fed the horse with 
 my own hands, the day ; and the last male that he ate was 
 of my own cooking. Och hone ! och hone ! that Captain 
 Jack should live to be killed by the rig'lars ! " 
 
 "John! my dear John!" said the surgeon, with con- 
 vulsive sobs, " thy hour has come, and many a more pru- 
 dent man survives thee ; but none better, nor braver. 
 Oh, John ! thou wert to me a kind friend, and very dear ; 
 it is unphilosophical to grieve ; but for thee, John, I must 
 weep, even in bitterness of heart ! " 
 
 The doctor buried his face in his hands, and for several 
 minutes sat yielding to an ungovernable burst of sorrow ; 
 while the washerwoman gave vent to her grief in words, 
 moving her body in a kind of writhing, and playing with 
 different parts of her favorite's dress with her fingers. 
 
 "And who'll be there to encourage the boys now ? " she 
 said. "Oh ! Captain Jack ! Captain Jack ! ye was the 
 sowl of the troop, and it was but little we knowed of the 
 danger, and yee fighting. Och ! he was no maly mouth'd, 
 that quarrelled wid a widowed woman for the matter of a 
 burn in *the mate, or the want of a breakfast. Taste a 
 drop, darling, and it may be 'twill revive yee. Och ! and 
 he'll niver taste agin ; here's the doctor, honey, him yee 
 used to blarney wid, wapeing as if the poor sowl would 
 die for yee. Och ! he's gone, he's gone ; and the liberty 
 is gone wid him." 
 
 A thundering sound of horses' feet came rolling along 
 the road which led near the place where Lawton lay, and 
 directly the whole body of Virginians appeared, with Dun- 
 woodie at their head. The news of the captain's fate had 
 reached him ; for the instant that he saw the body he 
 halted the squadron, and dismounting, approached the 
 spot. The countenance of Lawton was not in the least 
 distorted, but the angry frown which had lowered over his 
 
360 THE SPY. 
 
 brow during the battle was fixed even in death. His frame 
 was composed, and stretched as in sleep. Dunwoodie 
 took hold of his hand, and gazed a moment in silence ; hjs 
 own dark eye kindled, and the paleness which had over- 
 spread his features was succeeded by a spot of deep red in 
 either cheek. 
 
 " With his own sword -will I avenge him ! " he cried, en- 
 deavoring to take the weapon from the hands of Lawton ; 
 but the grasp resisted his utmost strength.' " It shall be 
 buried with him. Sitgreaves, take care of our friend while 
 I revenge his death." 
 
 The major hastened back to his charger, and led the way 
 in pursuit of the enemy. 
 
 While Dunwoodie had been thus engaged, the body of 
 Lawton lay in open view of the whole squadron. He was 
 a universal favorite, and the sight inflamed the men to the 
 utmost ; neither officers nor soldiers possessed that cool- 
 ness which is necessary to insure success in military oper- 
 ations, but they spurred ardently after their enemies, 
 burning with a wish for vengeance. 
 
 The English were formed in a hollow square, which con- 
 tained their wounded, who were far from numerous, and 
 were marching steadily across a very uneven country as 
 the dragoons approached. The horse charged in column, 
 and were led by Dunwoodie, who, burning with revenge, 
 thought to ride through their ranks, and scatter them at a 
 blow. But the enemy knew their own strength too well, 
 and, standing firm, they received the charge on the points 
 of their bayonets. The horses of the Virginians recoiled, 
 and the rear rank of the foot throwing in a close fire, the 
 major, with a few men, fell. The English continued their 
 retreat the moment they were extricated from their assail- 
 ants ; and Dunwoodie, who was severely, but not danger- 
 ously wounded, recalled his men from further attempts 
 which, in that stony country, must necessarily be fruit- 
 less. 
 
 A sad duty remained to be fulfilled. The dragoons re- 
 tired slowly through the hills, conveying their wounded 
 commander and the body of Lawton. The latter they in- 
 terred under the ramparts of one of the Highland forts, 
 and the former they consigned to the tender care of his 
 afflicted bride. 
 
 Many weeks were gone before the major was restored to 
 sufficient strength to be removed. During those weeks, 
 how often did he bless the moment that gave him a right 
 
THE SPY. 36? 
 
 to the services of his beautiful nurse ! She hung round his 
 couch with fond attention ; administered with her own 
 hands every prescription of the indefatigable Sitgreaves, 
 and grew each hour in the affections and esteem of her 
 husband. An order from Washington soon sent the troops 
 into winter-quarters, and permission was given to Dun- 
 woodie to repair to his own plantation, with the rank of 
 lieutenant-colonel, in order to complete the restoration of 
 his health. Captain Singleton made one of the party. ; and 
 the whole family retired from the active scenes of the war 
 to the ease and plenty of the major's own estate. Before 
 leaving Fishkill, however, letters were conveyed to them, 
 through an unknown hand, acquainting them with Henry's 
 safety and good health ; and also that Colonel Wellmere 
 had left the continent for his native island, lowered in the 
 estimation of every honest man in the royal army. 
 
 It was a happy winter for Dunwoodie, and smiles once 
 more began to play around the lovely mouth of Frances. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 'Midst furs, and silks, and jewels' sheen, 
 He stood, in simple Lincoln green, 
 The centre of the glittering ring ; 
 And Snowdon's knight is Scotland's king. 
 
 Lady of the Lake. 
 
 THE commencement of the following year was passed, 
 on the part of the Americans, in making great prepara- 
 tions, in conjunction with their allies, to bring the war to a 
 close. In the south, Greene and Rawdon made a bloody 
 campaign, that was highly honorable to the troops of the 
 latter, but which, by terminating entirely to the advan- 
 tage of the former proved him to be the better general of 
 the two. 
 
 New York was the point that was threatened by the 
 allied armies ; and Washington, by exciting a constant ap- 
 prehension for the safety of that city, preventing such re- 
 inforcements from being sent to Cornwallis as would have 
 enabled him to improve his success. 
 
 At length, as autumn approached, every indication was 
 given thac the final moment had arrived. 
 
 The French forces drew near to the royal lines, passing 
 through the Neutral Ground, and threatened an attack in 
 
362 ^ THE SPY. 
 
 vtion of K dge, while large bodies of Amen 
 
 n ml the 
 
 British ; ; nigh in the Jerseys, they seemed 
 
 to theaten the royal forces from that quarter also, 
 prep took of the nature of both a siege ft] 
 
 storm. But Sir Henry Clinton, in the possession of inter- 
 :od letters from Washington. rested securely within his 
 lines and ca ;he solicitations of Corn- 
 
 wallis for sue. 
 
 It close of a stormy day in the month of 
 
 September t hat . Mage of offuv 
 
 near the door of a building t: -ituated in the heart 
 
 of the A troops, who held the Jerseys, 
 
 the dress, and the dignity of deportment > of these 
 
 a indicated them to be of high rank ; but to one 
 in particular was paid B deference ..-.ui obedience that an- 
 
 nced him to be of the highest His dress w 
 but it bore : .1 military distinctions of command. 
 
 He was mounted on a noble animal, of a deep bay ; and a 
 . in g-ayc- , : . his 
 
 ! did his biddir K RS 
 
 its owner ru: ! . pro- 
 
 found attention, C n.il 
 
 etiquette, u..- e\:..; very con r.. . At length 
 
 the - 
 
 around him. letunu dis- 
 
 })ei - Vicer without a single attendant, except 
 
 his body .p. Dismounting, he 
 
 stepped back a t ul fora the 
 
 condition of his horse with the eye of \\ ell under- 
 
 stood the animal, and then, casting a brief but expre> 
 
 ice at his aide he retired into the building, followed by 
 that genileir. 
 
 On entering- an apartment tl 
 
 his reception, he took a seat, and continued fora long time 
 in a thoughtful attiti:, ne in the habit of commu 
 
 h with himself. During this silence, the aide-de-camp 
 vi in expectation of his orders. At length the general 
 raised his eyes, and spoke in those K d tones that 
 
 seemed natural to him. 
 
 ll.s the :n.;n whom I wished to see arrived, sir?" 
 lie waits the pleasure 
 
 *' I will receive him here, and alone, if you please." 
 
 bdrew. In a few minute 
 r again c; .utment. 
 
THE SPY. 363 
 
 stood modestly at a distance from the general, without 
 iking. His entrance was unheard by the officer, who 
 sat ga/.ing at the lire, still absorbed in his own meditations. 
 Several minutes passed, when he spoke to himself in an 
 undertone : 
 
 " l\ "-morrow we must raise the curtain, and expose our 
 plans. May heaven prosper them ! " 
 
 A slight movement made by the stranger caught his 
 ear, and he turned his head and saw that he was not alone. 
 He pointed silently to the fire, toward which the figure ad- 
 vanced, although the multitude of his garments, which 
 seemed more calculated lor disguise than comfort, rendered 
 its warmth unnecessary. A second mild and courteous 
 gesture motioned to a vacant chair, but the stranger re- 
 fused it with a modest acknowledgment. Another pause 
 followed, and continued for some time. At length the 
 officer arose, and opening a desk that was laid upon the 
 table near which he sat, took from it a small, but appar- 
 ently heavy bag. 
 
 M llarvey Hirch," he said, turning to the stranger, " the 
 time has arrived when our connection must cease ; hence- 
 forth and forever we must be strangers." 
 
 The peddler dropped the folds of the great-coat that con- 
 cealed his features, and ga.:ed for a moment earnestly at 
 the lace of the speaker ; then dropping his head upon his 
 bosom, he said, meekly : 
 
 " If it be your excellency's pleasure." 
 
 " It is necessary. Since I have tilled the station which 
 I now hold, it has become my duty to know many men, 
 who, like yourself, have been my instruments in procuring 
 intelligence. You, have I trusted more than all ; 1 early 
 saw in you a regard to truth and principle that, I am 
 pleased to say, has never deceived me you alone know 
 my secret agents in the city, and on your fidelity depend, 
 not only their fortunes, but their lives." 
 
 He paused, as if to reilect, in order that full justice 
 might be done to the peddler, and then continued : 
 
 " 1 believe you are one of the very few that I have em- 
 ployed who have acted faithfully to our cause ; and, while 
 you have passed as a spy of the enemy, have never given 
 intelligence that vou were not permitted to divulge. To 
 me, and to me only of all the world, vou seem to have acted 
 with a strong attachment to the liberties of America." 
 
 During this address, llarvey gradually raised his head 
 from his bosom, until it reached the highest point of e 
 
364 THE SPY. 
 
 vation ; a faint tinge gathered to his cheeks, and, as the 
 officer concluded, it was diffused over his whole counte- 
 nance in a deep glow, while he stood proudly swelling 
 with his emotions, but with eyes that modestly sought the 
 feet of the speaker. 
 
 " It is now my duty to pay you for these services ; hith- 
 erto you have postponed receiving your reward, and the 
 debt has become a heavy one. I wish not to undervalue 
 your dangers ; here are a hundred doubloons ; you will re- 
 member the poverty of our country, and attribute to it the 
 smallness of your pay." 
 
 The peddler raised his eyes to the countenance of the 
 speaker ; but, as the other held forth the money, he moved 
 back, as if refusing the bag. 
 
 " It is not much for your services and risks, I acknowl- 
 edge," continued the general, ** but it is all that I have to 
 offer ; at the end of the campaign, it may be in my power 
 to increase it." 
 
 " Does your excellency think that I have exposed my 
 life and blasted my character for money ? " 
 
 " If not for money, what then ? " 
 
 "What has brought your excellency into the field? 
 For what do you daily and hourly expose your precious 
 life to battle and the halter ? What is there about me to 
 mourn, when such men as you risk their all for our coun- 
 try ? No no no not a dollar of your gold will I touch ; 
 poor America has need of it all ! " 
 
 The bag dropped from the hand of the officer, and fell 
 at the feet of the peddler, where it lay neglected during 
 the remainder of the interview. The officer looked stead- 
 ily at the face of his companion, and continued : 
 
 " There are many motives which might govern me, that 
 to you are unknown. Our situations are different ; I am 
 known as the leader of armies, but you must descend into 
 the grave with the reputation of a foe to your native land. 
 Remember that the veil which conceals your true charac- 
 ter cannot be raised in years perhaps never." 
 
 Birch again lowered his face, but there was no yielding 
 of the soul in the movement. 
 
 "You will soon be old ; the prime of your days is al- 
 ready past ; what have you to subsist on ? " 
 
 " These ! " said the peddler, stretching forth his hands, 
 that were already embrowned with toil. 
 
 " But those may fail you ; take enough to secure a sup- 
 port to your age. Remember your risks and cares. J 
 
THE SPY. 365 
 
 have told you that the characters of men who are much 
 esteemed in life depend on your secrecy ; what pledge can 
 I give them of your fidelity ? " 
 
 "Tell them," said Birch, advancing, and unconsciously 
 resting one foot on the bag, "tell them that I would not 
 take the gold ! " 
 
 The composed features of the officer relaxed into a 
 smile of benevolence, and he grasped the hand of the 
 peddler firmly. 
 
 "Now, indeed, I know you ; and although the same 
 reasons which have hitherto compelled me to expose your 
 valuable life will still exist, and prevent my openly assert- 
 ing your character, in private I can always be your friend ; 
 fail not to apply to me when in want or suffering, and so 
 long as God giveth to me, so long will I freely share with 
 a man who feels so nobly and acts so well. If sickness or 
 want should ever assail you, and peace once more smile 
 upon our efforts, seek the gates of him whom you have so 
 often met as Harper, and he will not blush to acknowl- 
 edge you in his true character." 
 
 " It is little that I need in this life," said Harvey ; "so 
 long as God gives me health and honest industry, I can 
 never want in this country ; but to know that your excel- 
 lency is my friend is a blessing that I prize more than all 
 the gold of England's treasury." 
 
 The officer stood for a few moments in the attitude of in- 
 tense thought. He then drew to him the desk, and wrote 
 a few lines on a piece of paper, and gave it to the peddler. 
 
 " That Providence destines this country to some great 
 and glorious fate I must believe, while I witness the patri- 
 otism that pervades the bosoms of her lowest citizens," he 
 said. " It must be dreadful to a mind like yours to de- 
 scend into the grave branded as a foe to liberty; but you 
 already know the lives that would be sacrificed should 
 your real character be revealed. It is impossible to do 
 you justice now, but I fearlessly intrust you with this 
 certificate ; should we never meet again, it may be ser- 
 viceable to your children." 
 
 " Children ! " exclaimed the peddler, " can I give to a 
 family the infamy of my name ? " 
 
 The officer gazed at the strong emotion he exhibited 
 with pain, and he made a slight movement toward the 
 gold ; but it was arrested by the expression of his compan- 
 ion's face. Harvey saw the intention, and shook his head 
 as he continued, more mildly : 
 
366 THE SPY. 
 
 " It is, indeed, a treasure that your excellency gives 
 me ; it is safe too. There are men living who could say 
 that my life was nothing to me, compared to your secrets. 
 The paper that I told you was lost, I swallowed when 
 taken last by the Virginians. It was the only time I ever 
 deceived your excellency, and it shall be the last ; yes, 
 this is, indeed, a treasure to me ; perhaps," he continued, 
 with a melancholy smile, " it may be known after my 
 death who was my friend ; but if it should not, there are 
 none to grieve for me." 
 
 "Remember," said the officer, with strong emotion, 
 " that in me you will always have a secret friend ; but 
 openly I cannot know you." 
 
 " I know it, I know it," said Birch ; " I knew it when I 
 took the service. 'Tis probably the last time that I shall 
 ever see your excellency. May God pour down his choic- 
 est blessings on your head ! " He paused, and moved to- 
 ward the door. The officer followed him with eyes that 
 expressed deep interest. Once more the peddler turned, 
 and seemed to gaze on the placid but commanding feat- 
 ures of the general with regret and reverence, and then, 
 bowing low, he withdrew. 
 
 The armies of America and France were led by their 
 illustrious commander against the enemy under Corn- 
 wallis, and terminated a campaign in triumph that had 
 commenced in difficulties. Great Britain soon after be- 
 came disgusted with the war ; and the independence of 
 the States was acknowledged. 
 
 As years rolled by, it became a subject of pride among 
 the different actors in the war, and their descendants, to 
 boast of their efforts in the cause which had confessedly 
 heaped so many blessings upon their country ; but the 
 name of Harvey Birch died away among the multitude of 
 agents who were thought to have labored in secret against 
 the rights of their countrymen. His image, however, was 
 often present to the mind of the powerful chief, who alone 
 knew his true character ; and several times did he cause 
 secret inquiries to be made into the other's fate, one of 
 which only resulted in any success. By this he learned 
 that a peddler of a different name, but similar appearance, 
 was toiling through the new settlements that were spring- 
 ing up in every direction, and that he was struggling with 
 the advance of years and apparent poverty. Death pre* 
 Vented further inquiries on the part of the officer, arid a 
 long period passed before he was again heard of. 
 
THE SPY. 367 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast 
 
 The little tyrant of his fields withstood 
 Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest ; 
 
 Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood. GRAY. 
 
 IT was thirty-three years after the interview which we 
 have just related that an American army was once more 
 arrayed against the troops of England ; but the scene was 
 transferred from the banks of the Hudson to those of the 
 Niagara. 
 
 The body of Washington had long lain mouldering in the 
 tomb ; but as time was fast obliterating the slight impres- 
 sions of political enmity or personal envy, his name was 
 hourly receiving new lustre, and his worth and integrity 
 each moment became more visible, not only to his country- 
 men, but to the world. He was already the acknowledged 
 hero of an age of reason and truth ; and many a young 
 heart among those who formed the pride of our army in 
 1814, was glowing with the recollection of the one great 
 name of America, and inwardly beating with the sanguine 
 expectation of emulating, in some degree, its renown. In 
 no one were these virtuous hopes more vivid than in the 
 bosom of a young officer who stood on the table rock, con- 
 templating the great cataract, on the evening of July 25th 
 of that bloody year. The person of this youth was tall 
 and finely moulded, indicating a just proportion between 
 strength and activity ; his deep black eyes were of a search- 
 ing and dazzling brightness. At times, as they gazed upon 
 the flood of waters that rushed tumultuously at his feet, 
 there was a stern and daring look that flashed from them, 
 which denoted the ardor of an enthusiast. But this proud 
 expression was softened by the lines of a mouth around 
 which there played a suppressed archness, that partook of 
 feminine beauty. His hair shone in the setting sun like 
 ringlets of gold, as the air from the falls gently moved the 
 rich curls from a forehead, whose whiteness showed that 
 exposure and heat alone had given their darker hue to a 
 face glowing with health. There was another officer stand- 
 ing by the side of this favored youth ; and both seemed, by 
 the interest they betrayed, to be gazing for the first time 
 at the wonder of the western world. A profound silence 
 was observed by each, until the companion of the officer 
 
368 THE SPY. 
 
 that we have described suddenly started, and pointing 
 eagerly with his sword into the abyss beneath, exclaimed: 
 
 " See ! Wharton, there is a man crossing in the very 
 eddies of the cataract, and in a skiff no bigger than an 
 egg-shell." 
 
 " He has a knapsack it is probably a soldier," returned 
 the other. " Let us meet him at the ladder, Mason, and 
 learn his tidings." 
 
 Some time was expended in reaching the spot where the 
 adventurer was intercepted. Contrary to the expectations 
 of the young soldiers, he proved to be a man far advanced 
 in life, and evidently no follower of the camp. His years 
 might be seventy, and they were indicated more by the 
 thin hairs of silver that lay scattered over his wrinkled 
 brow, than by any apparent failure of his system. His 
 frame was meagre and bent ; but it was the attitude of 
 habit, for his sinews were strung with the toil of half a 
 century. His dress was mean, and manifested the economy 
 of its owner by the number and nature of its repairs. On 
 his back was a scantily furnished pack, that had led to the 
 mistake in his profession. A few words of salutation, and, 
 on the part of the young men, of surprise, that one so 
 aged should venture so near the whirlpools of the cataract, 
 were exchanged ; when the old man inquired, with a voice 
 that began to manifest the tremor of age, the news from 
 the contending armies. 
 
 " We whipped the red-coats here the other day, among 
 the grass on the Chippewa plains," said the one who was 
 called Mason ; " since when, we have been playing hide- 
 and-go-seek with the ships : but we are now marching 
 back from where we started, shaking our heads, and as 
 surly as the devil." 
 
 " Perhaps you have a son among the soldiers," said his 
 companion, with a milder demeanor, and an air of kind- 
 ness ; *' if so, tell me his name and regiment, and I will 
 take you to him." 
 
 The old man shook his head, and, passing his hand over 
 his silver locks, with an air -of meek resignation, he an- 
 swered : 
 
 " No ; I am alone in the world ! " 
 
 "You should have added, Captain Dunwoodie," cried 
 his careless comrade, " if you could find either ; for nearly 
 half our army has marched down the road, and maybe, by 
 this time, under the walls of Fort George, for anything 
 that we know to the contrary." 
 
THE SPY. 369 
 
 The old man stopped suddenly, and looked earnsstly 
 from one of his companions to the other ; the action being 
 observed by the soldiers, they paused also. 
 
 " Did I hear right ? " the stranger uttered, raising his 
 hand to screen his eyes from the rays of the setting sun ; 
 " what did he call you ?" 
 
 " My name is Wharton Dunwoodie," replied the youth, 
 smiling. 
 
 The stranger motioned silently for him to remove his 
 hat, which the youth did accordingly, and his fair hair 
 blew aside like curls of silk, and opened the whole of his 
 ingenuous countenance to the inspection of the other. 
 
 " 'Tis like our native land !" exclaimed the old man, with 
 vehemence, " improving with time God has blessed both." 
 
 "Why do you stare thus, Lieutenant Mason ?" cried 
 Captain Dunwoodie, laughing a little; "you show more 
 astonishment than when you saw the falls." 
 
 " Oh, the falls! tiiey are a thing to be looked at on a 
 moonshiny night, by your aunt Sarah and that gay old 
 bachelor, Colonel Singleton ; but a fellow like myself 
 never shows surprise, unless it may be at such a touch as 
 this." 
 
 The extraordinary vehemence of the stranger's manner 
 had passed away as suddenly as is was exhibited, but he 
 listened to this speech with deep interest, while Dunwoodie 
 replied, a little gravely : 
 
 " Come, come, Tom, no jokes about my good aunt, I 
 beg ; she is kindness itself ; and I have heard it whispered 
 that her youth was not altogether happy." 
 
 "Why, as to rumor," said Mason, "there goes one in 
 Accomac, that Colonel Singleton offers himself to her regu- 
 larly every Valentine's day ; and there are some who add, 
 that your old great-aunt helps his suit." 
 
 " Aunt Jeanette ! " said Dunwoodie, laughing; "dear 
 good soul, she thinks but little of marriage in any shape, I 
 believe, since the death of Dr. Sitgreaves. There were 
 some whispers of a courtship between them formerly, but 
 it ended in nothing but civilities, and I suspect that the 
 whole story arises from the intimacy of Colonel Singleton 
 and my father." 
 
 " I know all that,- of course ; but you must not tell me 
 that the particular prim bachelor goes so often to General 
 Dunwoodie's plantation merely for the sake of talking old 
 soldier with your father. The last time I was there, that 
 yellow, sharp-nosed house-keeper of your mother's took me 
 
 24 -~ 
 
370 THE SPY. 
 
 into the pantry, and said that the colonel was no despis- 
 able match, as she called it, and how the sale of his plan- 
 tation in Georgia had brought him oh, Lord ! I don't 
 know how much." 
 
 "Quite likely," returned the captain ; " Katy Haynes is 
 no bad calculator." 
 
 They had stopped during this conversation, in uncertainty 
 whether their new companion was to be left or not. 
 
 The old man listened to each word as it was uttered, 
 with the most intense interest ; but, toward the conclusion 
 of the dialogue the earnest attention of his countenance 
 changed to a kind of inward smile. He shook his head, 
 and, passing his hand over his forehead, seemed to be 
 thinking of other times. Mason paid but little attention 
 to the expression of his features, and continued : 
 
 " To me, she is selfishness embodied ! " 
 
 " Her selfishness does but little harm," returned Dun- 
 woodie. "One of her greatest difficulties is her aversion 
 to the blacks. She says that she never saw but one that 
 she liked." 
 
 " And who was he ? " 
 
 "His name was Caesar ; he was a house-servant of my 
 late grandfather Wharton. You don't remember him, I 
 believe ; he died the same year with his master, while we 
 were children. Katy yearly sings his requiem, and, upon 
 my word, I believe he deserved it. I have heard something 
 of his helping my English uncle, as we call General Whar- 
 ton, in some difficulty that occurred in the old war. My 
 mother always speaks of him with great affection. Both 
 Caesar and Katy came to Virginia with my mother when 
 she married. My mother was " 
 
 " An angel ! " interrupted the old man, in a voice that 
 startled the young soldiers by its abruptness and energy. 
 
 " Did you know her ? " cried the son, with a glow of 
 pleasure on his cheek. 
 
 The reply of the stranger was interrupted by sudden and 
 heavy explosions of artillery, which were immediately fol- 
 lowed by continued volleys of small-arms, and in a few 
 minutes the air was filled with the tumult of a warm and 
 well-contested battle. 
 
 The two soldiers hastened with precipitation toward the 
 camp, accompanied by their new acquaintance. The ex- 
 citement and anxiety created by the approaching fight pre- 
 vented a continuance of the conversation, and the three 
 held their way to the army, making occasional conjectures 
 
THE SPY. 
 
 37* 
 
 on the cause of the fire, and the probability of a general 
 engagement. During their short and hurried walk, Cap- 
 tain Dunwoodie, however, threw several friendly glances 
 at the old man, who moved over the ground with astonish- 
 ing energy for his years, for the heart of the youth was 
 warmed by an eulogium on a mother that he adored. In 
 a short time they joined the regiment to which the officers 
 belonged, when the captain, squeezing the stranger's hand, 
 earnestly begged that he would make inquiries after him 
 on the following morning, and that he might see him in 
 his own tent. Here they separated. 
 
 Everything in the American camp announced an ap- 
 proaching struggle. At a distance of a few miles, the 
 sound of cannon and musketry was heard above the roar 
 of the cataract. The troops were soon in motion, and a 
 movement made to support the division of the army which 
 was already engaged. Night had set in before the reserve 
 and irregulars reached the foot of Lundy's Lane, a road that 
 diverged from the river and crossed a conical eminence, at 
 no great distance from the Niagara highway. The sum- 
 mit of this hill was crowned with the cannon of the Brit- 
 ish, and in the flat beneath was the remnant of Scott's gal- 
 lant brigade, which for a long time had held an unequal 
 contest with distinguished bravery. A new line was inter- 
 posed, and one column of the Americans directed to charge 
 up the hill, parallel to the road. This column took the 
 English in flank, and, bayoneting their artillerists, gained 
 possession of the cannon. They were immediately joined 
 by their comrades, and the enemy was swept from the hill. 
 But large reinforcements were joining the English general 
 momentarily, and their troops were too brave to rest easy 
 under the defeat. Repeated and bloofly charges were made 
 to recover the guns, but in all they were repulsed with 
 slaughter. During the last of these struggles, the ardor of 
 the youthful captain whom we have mentioned urged him 
 to lead his men some distance in advance, to scatter a dar- 
 ing party of the enemy. He succeeded, but in returning 
 to the line missed his lieutenant from the station that he 
 ought to have occupied. Soon after this repulse, which 
 was the last, orders were given to the shattered troops to 
 return to the camp. The British were nowhere to be seen, 
 and preparations were made to take in such of the wounded 
 as could be moved. At this moment Wharton Dunwoodie, 
 impelled by affection for his friend, seized a lighted fusee, 
 and taking two of his men, went himself in quest of his 
 
372 THE SPY. 
 
 body, where he was supposed to have fallen. Mason was 
 found on the side of the hill, seated with great composure, 
 but unable to walk from a fractured leg. Dunwoodie saw 
 and flew to the side of his comrade, exclaiming : 
 
 " Ah ! dear Tom, I knew I should find you the nearest 
 man to the enemy." 
 
 " Softly, softly ; handle me tenderly," replied the lieu- 
 tenant ; "there is a brave fellow still nearer than myself, 
 and who he can be I know not. He rushed out of our 
 smoke, near my platoon, to make a prisoner or some such 
 thing, but, poor follow, he never came back ; there he lies 
 just over the hillock. I have spoken to him several times, 
 but I fancy he is past answering." 
 
 Dunwoodie went to the spot, and to his astonishment 
 beheld the aged stranger. 
 
 " It is the old man who knew my mother ! " cried the 
 youth ; "for her sake he shall have honorable burial ; lift 
 him, and let him be carried in ; his bones shall rest on 
 native soil." 
 
 The men approached to obey. He was lying on his 
 back, with his face exposed to the glaring light of the 
 fusee ; his eyes were closed, as if in slumber ; his lips, 
 sunken with years, were slightly moved from their natural 
 position, but it seemed more like a smile than a convulsion 
 which had caused the change. A soldier's musket lay 
 near him ; his hands were pressed upon his breast, and 
 one of them contained a substance that glistened like sil- 
 ver. Dunwoodie stooped, and removing the limbs, per- 
 ceived the place where the bullet had found a passage to 
 his heart. The subject of his last care was a tin box, 
 through which the fatal lead had gone ; and the dying 
 moments of the old man must have passed in drawing it 
 from his bosom. Dunwoodie opened it, and found a paper 
 in which, to his astonishment, he read the following : 
 
 " Circumstances of political importance, which involve 
 the lives and fortunes of many, have hitherto kept secret 
 what this paper now reveals. Harvey Birch has for years 
 been a faithful and unrequited servant of his country. 
 Though man does not, may God reward him for his con- 
 duct ! " GEO. WASHINGTON." 
 
 It was the SPY OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND, who died as he 
 had lived, devoted to his country, and a martyr to her lib- 
 erties. 
 
NRLF 
 
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