CHAPTER II
POUNDRIDGE
We now approached the door of the manor house, where we named ourselvesto the sentry, who presently fetched an officer of Minute Men, wholooked us over somewhat coldly.
"You wish to see Major Lockwood?" he asked.
"Yes," said Boyd, "and you may say to him that we are come fromheadquarters express to speak with him on private business."
"From whom in Albany do you come, sir?"
"Well, sir, if you must have it, from General Clinton," returned Boydin a lower voice. "But we would not wish it gossipped aloud."
The man seemed to be perplexed, but he went away again, leaving usstanding in the crowded hall where officers, ladies of the family, andblack servants were continually passing and repassing.
Very soon a door opened on our left, and we caught a glimpse of ahandsome room full of officers and civilians, where maps were scatteredin confusion over tables, chairs, and even on the floor. An officer inbuff and blue came out of the room, glanced keenly at us, made a slightthough courteous inclination, but instead of coming forward to greet usturned into another room on the right, which was a parlour.
Then the minute officer returned, directed us where to place ourrifles, insisted firmly that we also leave under his care our war axesand the pistol which Boyd carried, and then ushered us into theparlour. And it occurred to me that the gentleman on whose head theBritish had set a price was very considerably inclined toward prudence.
Now this same gentleman, Major Lockwood, who had been seated behind atable when we entered the parlour, rose and received us most blandly,although I noted that he kept the table between himself and us, andalso that the table drawer was open, where I could have sworn that thepapers so carelessly heaped about covered a brace of pistols.
For to this sorry pass the Westchester folk had come, that they trustedno stranger, nor were like to for many a weary day to come. Nor could Iblame this gentleman with a heavy price on his head, and, as I heardlater, already the object of numerous and violent attempts in which, attimes, entire regiments had been employed to take him.
But after he had carefully read the letter which Boyd bore from ourGeneral of Brigade, he asked us to be seated, and shut the tabledrawer, and came over to the silk-covered sofa on which we had seatedourselves.
"Do you know the contents of this letter?" he asked Boyd bluntly.
"Yes, Major Lockwood."
"And does Mr. Loskiel know, also?"
"Yes, sir," I answered.
The Major sat musing, turning over and over the letter between thumband forefinger.
He was a man, I should say, of forty or a trifle more, with brown eyeswhich sometimes twinkled as though secretly amused, even when his facewas gravest and most composed; a gentleman of middle height, of goodfigure and straight, and of manners so simple that the charm of themstruck one afterward as a pleasant memory.
"Gentlemen," he said, looking up at us from his momentary abstraction,"for the first part of General Clinton's letter I must be brief withyou and very frank. There are no recruits to be had in this vicinityfor Colonel Morgan's Rifles. Riflemen are of the elite; and our bestcharacters and best shots are all enlisted--or dead or in prison----"He made a significant gesture toward the south. And we thought of thePrison Ships and the Provost, and sat silent.
"There is," he added, "but one way, and that is to pick riflemen fromour regiments here; and I am not sure that the law permits it in theinfantry. It would be our loss, if we lose our best shots to yourdistinguished corps; but of course that is not to be considered if theinterests of the land demand it. However, if I am not mistaken, arecruiting party is to follow you."
"Yes, Major."
"Then, sir, you may report accordingly. And now for the other matters.General Clinton, in this letter, recommends that we speak very freelytogether. So I will be quite frank, gentlemen. The man you seek, LutherKinnicut, is a spy whom our Committee of Safety maintains within thelines of the lower party. If it be necessary I can communicate withhim, but it may take a week. Might I ask why you desire to question himso particularly?"
Boyd said: "There is a Siwanois Indian, one Mayaro, a Sagamore, withwhom we have need to speak. General Clinton believes that this manKinnicut knows his whereabouts."
"I believe so, too," said the Major smiling. "But I ask your pardon,gentlemen; the Sagamore, Mayaro, although a Siwanois, was adopted bythe Mohicans, and should be rated one."
"Do you know him, sir?"
"Very well indeed. May I inquire what it is you desire of Mayaro?"
"This," said Boyd slowly; "and this is the real secret with which I amcharged--a secret not to be entrusted to paper--a secret which you,sir, and even my comrade, Mr. Loskiel, now learn for the first time.May I speak with safety in this room, Major?"
The Major rose, opened the door into the hall, dismissed the sentry,closed and locked the door, and returned to us.
"I am," he said smiling, "almost ashamed to make so much circumstanceover a small matter of which you have doubtless heard. I mean that thelower party has seen fit to distinguish me by placing a price upon myvery humble head; and as I am not only Major in Colonel Thomas'sregiment, but also a magistrate, and also, with my friend Lewis Morris,a member of the Provincial Assembly, and of the Committee of Safety, Icould not humour the lower party by permitting them to capture so manyimportant persons in one net," he added, laughing. "Now, sir, prayproceed. I am honoured by General Clinton's confidence."
"Then, sir," said Boyd very gravely, "this is the present matter as itstands. His Excellency has decided on a daring stroke to be deliveredimmediately; General Sullivan has been selected to deal it, GeneralClinton is to assist. A powerful army is gathering at Albany, andanother at Easton and Tioga. The enemy know well enough that we areconcentrating, and they have guessed where the blow is to be struck.But, sir, they have guessed wrong!"
"Not Canada, then?" inquired the Major quietly.
"No, sir. We demonstrate northward; that is all. Then we wheel west bysouth and plunge straight into the wilderness, swift as an arrow files,directly at the heart of the Long House!"
"Sir!" he exclaimed, astonished.
"Straight at the heart o! the Iroquois Confederacy, Major! That is whatis to be done--clean out, scour out, crush, annihilate those hell-bornnations which have so long been terrorizing the Northland. MajorLockwood, you have read in the New England and Pennsylvania papers howwe have been threatened, how we have been struck, how we have foughtand suffered. But you, sir, have only heard; you have not seen. So Imust tell you now that it is far worse with us than we have admitted.The frontier of New York State is already in ashes; the scalp yellrings in our forests day and night; and the red destructives underBrant, and the painted Tories under Walter Butler, spare neither agenor sex--for I myself have seen scalps taken from the tender heads ofcradled infants--nay, I have seen them scalp the very hound on guard atthe cabin door! And that is how it goes with us, sir. God save you,here, from the blue-eyed Indians!"
He stopped, hesitated, then, softly smiting one fist within the other:
"But now I think their doom is sounding--Seneca, lying Cayuga,traitorous Onondaga, Mohawk, painted renegade--all are to go down intoutter annihilation. Nor is that all. We mean to sweep their empire fromend to end, burn every town, every castle, every orchard, every grainfield--lay waste, blacken, ravage, leave nothing save wind-blown ashesof that great Confederacy, and of the vast granary which has fed theBritish northern armies so long. Nothing must remain of the Long House;the Senecas shall die at the Western door; the Keepers of the Easterndoor shall die. Only the Oneida may be spared--as many as have remainedneutral or loyal to us--they and such of the Tuscaroras andLenni-Lenape as have not struck us; and the Stockbridge and WhitePlains tribes, and the remnants of the Mohicans.
"And that is why we have come here for riflemen, and that is why we arehere to find the Sagamore, Mayaro. For our Oneidas have told us that heknows where the castles of the Long House lie, and that
he can guideour army unerringly to that dark, obscure and fearsome Catharines-townwhere the hag, Montour, reigns in her shaggy wilderness."
There was a long silence; and I for one, amazed at what I hadheard--for I had made certain that we were to have struck atCanada--was striving to reconcile this astounding news with all mypreconceived ideas. Yet, that is ever the way with us in the regiments;we march, not knowing whither; we camp at night not knowing why. Unseenauthority moves us, halts us; unseen powers watch us, waking andsleeping, think for us, direct our rising and our lying down, our goingforth and our return--nay, the invisible empire envelops us utterly insickness and in health, ruling when and how much we eat and sleep,controlling every hour and prescribing our occupation for every minute.Only our thoughts remain free; and these, as we are not dumb,unthinking beasts, must rove afield to seek for the why and wherefore,garnering conclusions which seldom if ever are corroborated.
So I; for I had for months now made sure that our two armies in theNorth were to be flung pell mell on Quebec and on Niagara. Onlyregarding the latter place had I nearly hit the mark; for it seemedreasonable that our army, having once swept the Long House, couldscarcely halt ere we had cleaned out that rat's nest of Indians andpainted Tories which is known as Fort Niagara, and from which everydreadful raid of the destructives into Tryon County had been plannedand executed.
Thinking of these things, my deep abstraction was broken by thepleasant voice of Major Lockwood.
"Mr. Boyd," he said, "I realise now how great is your need of riflemento fill the State's quota. If there is anything I or my associates cando, under the law, it shall be done; and when we are able toconcentrate, and when your recruiting party arrives, I will do what Ican, if permitted, to select from the dragoons of Sheldon and Moylan,and from my own regiment such men as may, by marksmanship andcharacter, qualify for the corps d'elite."
He rose and began to pace the handsome parlour, evidently worried andperplexed; and presently he halted before us, who had of course risenin respect.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I must lay bare to you our military necessity,embarrassment, and mortification in this country of Westchester, sothat you may clearly understand the difficulty of furnishing therecruits you ask for.
"South of us, from New York to North Castle, our enemy is inpossession. We are attempting to hold this line; but it is a vastcountry. We can count on very few Continental troops; our militia hasits various rendezvous, and it turns out at every call. The fewcompanies of my regiment of foot are widely scattered; one company lefthere as escort to the military train an hour ago. Sheldon's 2nd LightDragoons are scattered all over the country. Two troops andheadquarters remain now here at my house."
He waved his hand westward: "So desperate is our condition, gentlemen,that Colonel Moylan's Dragoons have been ordered here, and are at thismoment, I suppose, on the march to join us. And--I ask you,gentlemen--considering that in New York City, just below us, there areten thousand British regulars, not counting the partizan corps, theirregulars, the Tory militia, the numberless companies of marauders--Iask you how you can expect to draw recruits from the handful of men whohave been holding--or striving to hold--this line for the last threeyears!"
Boyd shook his head in silence. As for me, it was not my place tospeak, nor had I anything to suggest.
After a moment the Major said, more cheerfully:
"Well, well, gentlemen, who knows after all? We may find ways andmeans. And now, one other matter remains to be settled, and I think Imay aid you."
He went to the door and opened it. The sentry who stood across the hallcame to him instantly and took his orders; and in a few moments thereentered the room four gentlemen to whom we were made known by MajorLockwood. One of these was our Captain of Minute Men. They were, inorder, Colonel Sheldon, a fretful gentleman with a face which seemed tome weak, almost stupid; Colonel Thomas, an iron-grey, silent officer,stern but civil; Captain William Fancher, a Justice of the Peace, Judgeof the Court of Common Pleas, and holding his commission as Captain ofMinute Men; and a Mr. Alsop Hunt, a Quaker, son-in-law of MajorLockwood, and a most quiet and courteous gentleman.
With one accord we drew chairs around the handsome centre table, wheresilver candlesticks glimmered and a few books lay in their fine, gildedbindings.
It was very evident to us that in the hands of these five gentlemen laythe present safety of Westchester County, military and civil. And tothem Major Lockwood made known our needs--not, however, disturbing themin their preconceived notion, so common everywhere, that the blow to bestruck from the North was to be aimed at the Canadas.
Colonel Sheldon's weak features turned red and he said almost peevishlythat no recruits could be picked up in Westchester, and that we had hadour journey for our pains. Anyway, he'd be damned if he'd permitrecruiting for riflemen among his dragoons, it being contrary to lawand common sense.
"I've a dozen young fellows who might qualify," said Colonel Thomasbluntly, "but if the law permits Mr. Boyd to take them my regiment'svolleys wouldn't stop a charge of chipmunks!"
We all laughed a little, and Captain Fancher said:
"Minute Men are Minute Men, Mr. Boyd. You are welcome to any you canenlist from my company."
Alsop Hunt, being a Quaker, and personally opposed to physicalviolence, offered no suggestion until the second object of our visitwas made known. Then he said, very quietly:
"Mayaro, the Mohican Sagamore, is in this vicinity."
"How do you know that, Alsop?" asked Major Lockwood quickly.
"I saw him yesterday."
"Here in Poundridge?"
Mr. Hunt glanced at Colonel Thomas, then with a slight colour mountingto his temples:
"The Sagamore was talking to one of the camp-women last evening--towardsundown on the Rock Hills. We were walking abroad for the air, my wifeand I----" he turned to Major Lockwood: "Betsy whispered to me, 'Thereis a handsome wench talking to an Indian!' And I saw the Sagamorestanding in the sunset light, conversing with one of the camp-women whohang about Colonel Thomas's regiment.".
"Would you know the slattern again?" asked Colonel Thomas, scowling.
"I think so, Colonel. And to tell the truth she was scarce a slattern,whatever else she may be--a young thing--and it seemed sad to us--to mywife and me."
"And handsome?" inquired Boyd, smiling at me.
"I may not deny it, sir," said Mr. Hunt primly. "The child possessedconsiderable comeliness."
"Why," said Boyd to me, laughingly, "she may be the wench you sogallantly rescued an hour since." And he told the story gayly enough,and with no harm meant; but it embarrassed and annoyed me.
"If the wench knows where the Sagamore may be found," said MajorLockwood, "it might be well for Mr. Loskiel to look about and try tofind her."
"Would you know her again?" inquired Colonel Thomas.
"No, sir, I----" And I stopped short, because what I was about to saywas not true. For, when I had sent the soldiers about their businessand had rejoined Boyd--and when Boyd had bidden me turn again becausethe girl was handsome, there had been no need to turn. I had seen her;and I knew that when he said she was beautiful he said what was true.And the reason I did not turn, to look again was because beauty in sucha woman should inspire no interest in me.
I now corrected myself, saying coolly enough:
"Yes, Colonel Thomas, on second thought I think I might know her if Isee her."
"Perhaps," suggested Captain Fancher, "the wench has gone a-gypsyingafter the convoy."
"These drabs change lovers over night," observed Colonel Thomas grimly."Doubtless Sheldon's troopers are already consoling her."
Colonel Sheldon, who had been fiddling uneasily with his sword-knot,exclaimed peevishly:
"Good God, sir! Am I also to play chaplain to my command?"
There was a curious look in Colonel Thomas's eyes which seemed to say:"You might play it as well as you play the Colonel;" but Sheldon wastoo stupid and too vain, I think, to perceive any affront.
And
, "Where do you lodge, gentlemen?" inquired our Major, addressing usboth; and when he learned that we were roofless he insisted that weremain under his roof, nor would he hear of any excuses touching thepresent unsuitability of our condition and attire.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen! I will not accept a refusal," he said. "We areplain folk and live plainly, and both bed and board are at yourdisposal. Lord, sir! And what would Clinton think were I to send twoofficers of his corps d'elite to a village ordinary!"
We had all risen and were moving toward the door. A black servant camewhen the Major pulled the bell card, and showed Boyd and myself to twopretty chambers, small, but very neat, where the linen on the bedssmelled fresh and sweet, and the westering sun struck golden throughchintz curtains drawn aside.
"Gad!" said Boyd, eying the bed. "It's long since my person has beenintimately acquainted with sheet and pillow. What a pretty nest,Loskiel. Lord! And here's a vase of posies, too! The touchfeminine--who could mistake it in the sweet, fresh whiteness of thislittle roam!"
Presently came our rifleman, Jack Mount, bearing our saddle-bags; andwe stripped and washed us clean, and put on fresh linen and our bestuniforms of soft doeskin, which differed from the others only in thatthey were clean and new, and that the thrums were gayer and theIroquois beadwork more flamboyant.
"If I but had my hair in a snug club, and well powdered," sighed Boyd,lacing his shirt. "And I tell you, Loskiel, though I would not boast,this accursed rifle-shirt and these gaudy leggings conceal a supplebody and a leg as neatly turned as any figure more fortunately clothedin silken coat and stockings!"
I began to laugh, and he laughed, too, vowing he envied me my hair,which was yellow and which curled of itself so that it needed no powder.
I can see him yet, standing there in the sunshine, both hands grippinghis dark hair in pretense of grief, and vowing that he had a mind toscalp himself for very vexation. Alas! That I remember now such idlewords, spoken in the pride and strength and gayety of youth! And alwayswhen I think of him I remember his dread of fire--the only fear he everknew. These things--his brown eyes and quick, gay smile--his lithe andsupple person--and his love of women--these I remember always, evenwhile already much that concerned this man and me begins to fade withthe stealthy years.
While the sun still hung high in the west, and ere any hint of eveningwas heard either in the robin's note or from the high-soaring martins,we had dressed. Boyd went away first, saying carelessly that he meantto look to the horses before paying his respects to the ladies. Alittle later I descended, a black servant conducting me to the familysitting room.
Here our gallant Major made me known to his lady and to his numerousfamily--six young children, and still a seventh, the pretty maid whomwe had seen on approaching the house, who proved to be a marrieddaughter. Betsy, they called her--and she was only seventeen, but hadbeen two years the wife of Alsop Hunt.
As for the Major's lady, who seemed scarce thirty and was six yearsolder, she so charmed me with her grace, and with the bright courageshe so sweetly maintained in a home which every hour of the day andnight menaced, that even Mrs. Hunt, with her gay spirits, imperiousbeauty, and more youthful attractions, no more than shared myadmiration for her mother.
In half an hour Lieutenant Boyd came in, was presented, and paid hishomage gayly, as he always did. Yet, I thought a slight cloud rested onhis brow, but this soon passed, and I forgot it.
So we talked of this and that as lightly as though no danger threatenedthis house; and Boyd was quickly at his best with the ladies. As forme, I courted the children. And I remember there were two little maidsof fourteen and eleven, Ruhannah and Hannah, sweet and fresh as wildJune roses, who showed me the tow cloth for our army which they werespinning, and blushed at my praise of their industry. And there wasMary, ten, and Clarissa, eight, and two little boys, one a baby--allsave the last two children carding or spinning flax and tow.
It was not easy to understand that this blooming matron could be motherof all of these, so youthful she seemed in her Quaker-cut gown ofdove-colour--though it was her handsome, high-spirited daughter whoshould have worn the sober garb.
"Not I," said she, laughing at Boyd. "I'd sooner don jack-boots and bea dragoon--and we would completely represent a holy cause, my husbandwith his broad-brim and I with my sword. What do you say, Mr. Boyd?"
"I beg of you first to consider the rifle-frock if you must enlist!"urged Boyd, with such fervour that we all laughed at his gallant effortto recruit such beauty for our corps; for even a mental picture ofBetsy Hunt in rifle-frock seemed too adorable. Mr. Hunt, entering,smiled in his quiet, embarrassed way; and I thought that this wise andgentle-mannered man must have more than a handful in his spirited youngwife, whose dress was anything but plain.
I had taken the tiny maid, Clarissa, upon my knees and was telling herof the beauty of our Northland, and of that great, dusky green ocean ofgiant pines, vast as the sea and as silent and uncharted, when MajorLockwood bent over me saying in a quiet voice that it might be well forme to look about in the town for the wench who knew the whereabouts ofMayaro.
"While there is still daylight," he added, as I set Clarissa on thefloor and stood up, "and if she be yet here you should find her beforesupper time. We sup at six, Mr. Loskiel."
I bowed, took leave of the ladies, exchanged an irritated glance forBoyd's significant grin, and went out to the porch, putting on my lightround cap of moleskin. I liked neither my present errand, nor Boyd'ssmile either.
Now, I had not thought to take with me my side-arms, but a slave waitedat the door with my belt. And as I buckled it and hung war-axe andheavy hunting blade, I began to comprehend something of the imminentdanger which so apparently lurked about this country. For all militarymen hereabouts went armed; and even in the house I had noticed thatMajor Lockwood wore his sword, as did the other officers--some evencarrying their pistols.
The considerable throng of people whom we had first seen in theneighborhood of the house had scattered or gone off when the infantryhad left. Carpenters were still sawing and hammering on the flimsy newbarracks down in the meadow, and there seemed to be a few people there.But on strolling thither I saw nothing of the wench; so turned on myheel and walked briskly up the road.
About the village itself there was nothing to be seen of the girl, nordid I know how to make inquiries--perhaps dreading to do so lest myquest be misunderstood or made a jest of by some impertinent fellow.
In the west a wide bank of cloud had pushed up over the horizon and wasalready halving the low-hanging sun, which presently it entirelyswallowed; and the countryside grew luminously grey and that intensegreen tinged the grass, which is with us the forerunner of anapproaching storm.
But I thought it far off, not then knowing the Hudson's midsummerhabits, nor the rapid violence of the July storms it hatches and drivesroaring among the eastern hills and across the silvery Sound.
So, with a careless glance aloft, I pursued my errand, strolling hitherand thither through the pleasant streets and lanes of old Poundridge,always approaching any groups of soldiers that I saw because I thoughtit likely that the wench might haunt her kind.
I did not find her; and presently I began to believe it likely that shehad indeed gone off a-gypsying after the escort companies towardLewisboro.
There is a road which, skirting the Stone Hills, runs east by northbetween Cross Pond and the Three Lakes; and, pursuing it, I came on avidette of Sheldon's regiment, most carelessly set where he could seenothing, and yet be seen a mile away.
Supposing he would halt me, I walked up to him; and he continued tomunch the green bough-apple he was eating, making me a most slovenlysalute.
Under his leather helmet I saw that my dragoon was but a child offifteen--scarce strong enough to swing the heavy sabre at his pommel ormanage the sawed-off musket which he bore, the butt resting wearily onhis thigh. And it made me sober indeed to see to what a pass ourcountry had come, that we enlisted boys and were obliged to trust totheir ignorance for our pro
tection.
"It will rain before sundown," he said, munching on his apple; "bestseek shelter, sir. When it comes it will come hard."
"Where runs this road?" I asked.
"To Boutonville."
"And what is Boutonville?"
"It's where the Boutons live--a mile or two north, sir. They're a wildparcel."
"Are they of our party?"
"Oh, yes, sir. But they hunt the leather-caps as we hunt quail--scareup a company, fire, and then track down the scattered."
"Oh; irregulars."
"No, sir, not skinners. They farm it until the British plague thembeyond endurance. Then," he added significantly, "they go a-huntingwith their dogs."
I had already turned to retrace my steps when it occurred to me thatperhaps an inquiry of this lad might not be misunderstood.
So I walked up to his horse and stood caressing the sorry animal whileI described to him the wench I was seeking.
"Yes, sir," he said seriously, "that's the one the boys are everplaguing to make her rage."
"Do you know her?"
"By sight, yes, sir."
"She is one of the camp followers, I take it," said I carelessly.
"I don't know. The boys are ever plaguing her. She came from the Norththey say. All I know is that in April she was first seen here,loitering about the camp where the White Plains Indians were embodied.But she did not go off with the Continentals."
"She was loitering this afternoon by the camp of Colonel Thomas's men,"I said.
"Very like, sir. Did the men plague her?"
"Yes."
He bit into his apple, unconcerned:
"They are all after her. But I never saw her kind to any man--whatevershe may be."
Why, I did not know, but what he said gave me satisfaction.
"You do not know which way she went?" I asked.
"No, sir. I have been here but the half hour. She knows the Bouton boysyonder. I have seen her coming and going on this road, sometimes withan Indian----"
"With a Sagamore?"
He continued his munching. Having swallowed what he chewed, he said:
"I know nothing of savages or Sagamores. The Indian may have been aSagamore."
"Do you know where he is to be found?"
"No, sir, I do not."
"Perhaps this young girl knows?"
"Doubtless she does, seeing she journeys about with him on the ridgeyonder, which we call the Rock Hills."
"Do you know her name, soldier?"
"They call her Lois, I believe."
And that was all the news I could get of her; and I thanked the boy andslowly started to retrace my steps toward the village.
Already in the air there was something of that stillness which heraldsstorms; no leaves on bush and tree were now stirring; land and sky hadgrown sombre all around me; and the grass glimmered intensely green.
Where the road skirted the Stone Hills were no houses, nothing, infact, of human habitation to be seen save low on the flank of the rockyrampart a ruined sugar house on the edge of a maple ridge, I do notknow what made me raise my head to give it a second glance, but I did;and saw among the rocks near it a woman moving.
Nor do I know, even now, how at that distance and in the dusk of acoming storm I could perceive that it was she whom I was now seeking.But so certain was I of this that, without even taking thought toconsider, I left the highway, turned to the right, and began to mountthe hillside where traces of a path or sheep-walk were faintly visibleunder foot among the brambles. Once or twice I glanced upward to seewhether she observed me, but the scrubby foliage now hid her as well asthe sap-house, and I hastened because the light was growing very dimnow, and once or twice, far away, I thought I heard the muttering ofthunder.
It was not long before I perceived the ramshackle sap-house ahead of meamong the maples. Then I caught sight of her whom I was seeking.
It was plain that she had not yet discovered me, though she heard memoving in the thicket. She stood in a half-crouching, listeningattitude, then slowly began to retreat, not cowering, but sullenly andwith a certain defiance in her lithe movement, like some disturbed andgraceful animal which is capable of defending itself but prefers to getaway peaceably if permitted.
I stepped out into the clearing and called to her through theincreasing gloom; and for a moment thought she had gone. Then I sawher, dimly, watching me from the obscurity of the dark doorway.
"You need have no fear of me," I called to her pleasantly. "You know menow, do you not?"
She made no answer; and I approached the doorway and stood peering intoher face through the falling twilight. And for a moment I thought I hadbeen mistaken; but it was she after all.
Yet now she wore neither the shabby chip hat with its soiled blueribbon tied beneath her chin, nor any trace of hair powder, nor dottedkerchief cross-fastened at her breast and pinned with the withered rose.
And she seemed younger and slimmer and more childish than I had thoughther, her bosom without its kerchief meagre or unformed, and her cheeksnot painted either, but much burned by the July sun. Nor were her eyesblack, as I had supposed, but a dark, clear grey with black lashes; andher unpowdered hair seemed to be a reddish-chestnut and scarce longerthan my own, but more curly.
"Child," I said, smiling at her, I know not why, "I have been searchingfor you ever since I first saw you----"
And: "What do you want of me?" said she, scarce moving her lips.
"A favour."
"Best mount your cobbler's mare and go a-jogging back, my pretty lad."
The calm venom in her voice and her insolent grey eyes took me abackmore than her saucy words.
"Doubtless," I said, "you have not recognized in me the officer who wasat some slight pains to be of service----"
"What is it you desire?" said she, so rudely that I felt my face burnhot.
"See here, my lass," said I sharply, "you seem to misunderstand myerrand here."
"And am like to," said she, "unless you make your errand short andplainer--though I have learned that the errands which bring such men asyou to me are not too easily misunderstood."
"Such men as I----"
"You and your friend with the bold, black eyes. Ask him how much changehe had of me when he came back."
"I did not know he had seen you again," said I, still redder. And sawthat she believed me not.
"Birds sing; men lie," said she. "So if----"
"Be silent! Do you hear!" I cut her short with such contempt that I sawthe painful colour whip her cheeks and her eyes quiver.
Small doubt that what she had learned of men had not sweetened her nortaught her confidence. But whatever she had been, and whatever she was,after all concerned not me that I should take pains to silence her sobrutally.
"I am sorry I spoke as I did," said I, "--however mistaken you areconcerning my seeking you here."
She said nothing.
"Also," I added, with a sudden resurgance of bitterness that surprisedmyself, "my conduct earlier in your behalf might have led you to awiser judgment."
"I am wise enough--after my own fashion," she said indifferently.
"Does a man save and then return to destroy?"
"Many a hunter has saved many a spotted fawn from wolf and fox--so hemight kill it himself, one day."
"You do yourself much flattery, young woman," I said, so unpleasantlythat again the hot colour touched her throat and brow.
"I reason as I have been taught," she said defiantly. "Doubtless youare self-instructed."
"No; men have taught me. You witnessed, I believe, one lesson. And yourcomrade gave me still another."
"I care to witness nothing," I said, furious; "far less desire toattempt your education. Is all plain now?"
"Your words are," she said, with quiet contempt.
"My words are one with my intention," said I, angrily; far in spite ofmy own indifference and contempt, hers was somehow arousing me with itsseparate sting hidden in every word she uttered. "And now," Ic
ontinued, "all being plain and open between us, let me acquaint youwith the sole object of my visit here to you."
She shrugged her shabby shoulders and waited, her eyes, her expression,her very attitude indifferent, yet dully watchful.
"You know the Sagamore, Mayaro?" I asked.
"You say so."
"Where is he to be found?" I continued patiently.
"Why do you desire to know?"
The drab was exasperating me, and I think I looked it, for theslightest curl of her sullen lips hinted a scornful smile.
"Come, come, my lass," said I, with all the patience I could stillcommand, "there is a storm approaching, and I do not wish to get wet.Answer my civil question and I'll thank you and be off about mybusiness. Where is this Sagamore to be found?"
"Why do you wish to know?"
"Because I desire to consult him concerning certain matters."
"What matters?"
"Matters which do not concern you!" I snapped out.
"Are you sure of that, pretty boy?"
"Am I sure?" I repeated, furious. "What do you mean? Will you answer anhonest question or not?"
"Why do you desire to see this Sagamore?" she repeated so obstinatelythat I fairly clenched my teeth.
"Answer me," I said. "Or had you rather I fetched a file of men uphere?"
"Fetch a regiment, and I shall tell you nothing unless I choose."
"Good God, what folly!" I exclaimed. "For whom and for what do you takeme, then, that you refuse to answer the polite and harmless question ofan American officer!"
"You had not so named yourself."
"Very well, then; I am Euan Loskiel, Ensign in Morgan's rifle regiment!"
"You say so."
"Do you doubt it?"
"Birds sing," she said. Suddenly she stepped from the dark doorway,came to where I stood, bent forward and looked me very earnestly in theeyes--so closely that something--her nearness--I know not what--seemedto stop my heart and breath for a second.
Then, far on the western hills lightning glimmered; and after a longwhile it thundered.
"Do you wish me to find this Sagamore for you?" she asked very quietly.
"Will you do so?"
A drop of rain fell; another, which struck her just where the cheekcurved under the long black lashes, fringing them with brilliancy liketears.
"Where do you lodge?" she asked, after a silent scrutiny of me.
"This night I am a guest at Major Lockwood's. Tomorrow I travel northagain with my comrade, Lieutenant Boyd."
She was looking steadily at me all the time; finally she said:
"Somehow, I believe you to be a friend to liberty. I know it--somehow."
"It is very likely, in this rifle dress I wear," said I smiling.
"Yet a man may dress as he pleases."
"You mistrust me for a spy?"
"If you are, why, you are but one more among many hereabouts. I thinkyou have not been in Westchester very long. It does not matter. No boywith the face you wear was born to betray anything more important thana woman."
I turned hot and scarlet with chagrin at her cool presumption--andwould not for worlds have had her see how the impudence stung andshamed me.
For a full minute she stood there watching me; then:
"I ask pardon," she said very gravely.
And somehow, when she said it I seemed to experience a sense ofinferiority--which was absurd and monstrous, considering what shedoubtless was.
It had now begun to rain in very earnest; and was like to rain harderere the storm passed. My clothes being my best, I instinctively steppedinto the doorway; and, of a sudden, she was there too, barring myentry, flushed and dangerous, demanding the reason of my intrusion.
"Why," said I astonished, "may I not seek shelter from a storm in aruined sugar-house, without asking by your leave?"
"This sap-house is my own dwelling!" she said hotly. "It is where Ilive!"
"Oh, Lord," said I, bewildered, "--if you are like to take offense ateverything I say, or look, or do, I'll find a hospitable treesomewhere----"
"One moment, sir----"
"Well?"
She stood looking at me in the doorway, then slowly dropped her eyes,and in the same law voice I had heard once before:
"I ask your pardon once again," she said. "Please to come inside--andclose the door. An open door draws lightning."
It was already drawing the rain in violent gusts.
The thunder began to bang with that metallic and fizzling tone which ittakes on when the bolts fall very near; flash after flash of violetlight illuminated the shack at intervals, and the rafters trembled asthe black shadows buried us.
"Have you a light hereabout?" I asked.
"No,"
For ten minutes or more the noise of the storm made it difficult tohear or speak. I could scarce see her now in the gloom. And so wewaited there in silence until the roar of the rain began to die away,and it slowly grew lighter outside and the thunder grew more distant.
I went to the door, looked out into the dripping woods, and turned toher.
"When will you bring the Sagamore to me?" I demanded.
"I have not promised."
"But you will?"
She waited a while, then:
"Yes, I will bring him."
"When?"
"Tonight."
"You promise?"
"Yes."
"And if it rains again''
"It will rain all night, but I shall send you the Sagamore. Best go,sir. The real tempest is yet to break. It hangs yonder above theHudson. But you have time to gain the Lockwood House."
I said to her, with a slight but reassuring smile, most kindly intended:
"Now that I am no longer misunderstood by you, I may inform you that inwhat you do for me you serve our common country." It did not seem apompous speech to me.
"If I doubted that," she said, "I had rather pass the knife you weararound my throat than trouble myself to oblige you."
Her words, and the quiet, almost childish voice, seemed so oddly atvariance that I almost laughed; but changed my mind.
"I should never ask a service of you for myself alone," I said socurtly that the next moment I was afraid I had angered her, and fearingshe might not keep her word to me, smiled and frankly offered her myhand.
Very slowly she put forth her own--a hand stained and roughened, butslim and small. And so I went away through the dripping bush, and downthe rocky hill. A slight sense of fatigue invaded me; and I did notthen understand that it came from my steady and sustained efforts toignore what any eyes could not choose but see--this young girl'sbeauty--yes, despite her sorry mien and her rags--a beauty that wasfashioned to trouble men; and which was steadily invading my senseswhether I would or no.
Walking along the road and springing over the puddles, I thought tomyself that it was small wonder such a wench was pestered in a commonsoldier's camp. For she had about her everything to allure the grosserclass--a something--indescribable perhaps--but which even such a man asI had become unwillingly aware of. And I must have been very consciousof it, for it made me restless and vaguely ashamed that I shouldcondescend so far as even to notice it. More than that, it annoyed menot a little that I should bestow any thought upon this creature atall; but what irritated me most was that Boyd had so demeaned himselfas to seek her out behind my back.
When I came to the manor house, it had already begun to rain again; andeven as I entered the house, a tempest of rain and wind burst once moreover the hills with a violence I had scarcely expected.
Encountering Major Lockwood and Lieutenant Boyd in the hall, I scowledat the latter askance, but remembered my manners, and smoothed my faceand told them of my success.
"Rain or no," said I, "she has promised me to send this Sagamore heretonight. And I am confident she will keep her word."
"Which means," said Boyd, with an unfeigned sigh, "that we travel northtomorrow. Lord! How sick am I of saddle and nag and the open road. Yourkindly h
ospitality, Major, has already softened me so that I scarceknow how to face the wilderness again."
And at supper, that evening, Boyd frankly bemoaned his lot, and Mrs.Lockwood condoled with him; but Betsy Hunt turned up her pretty nose,declaring that young men were best off in the woods, which kept themout o' mischief. She did not know the woods.
And after supper, as she and my deceitful but handsome lieutenantlingered by the stairs, I heard her repeat it again, utterly refusingto say she was sorry or that she commiserated his desperate lot. But onher lips hovered a slight and provoking smile, and her eyes were verybrilliant under her powdered hair.
All women liked Boyd; none was insensible to his charm. Handsome, gay,amusing--and tender, alas!--too often--few remained indifferent to thisyoung man, and many there were who found him difficult to forget afterhe had gone his careless way. But I was damning him most heartily forthe prank he played me.
I sat in the parlour talking to Mrs. Lockwood. The babies were longsince in bed; the elder children now came to make their reverences totheir mother and father, and so very dutifully to every guest. A fatblack woman in turban and gold ear-hoops fetched them away; and thehouse seemed to lose a trifle of its brightness with the children'sgoing.
Major Lockwood sat writing letters on a card-table, a cluster of tallcandles at his elbow; Mr. Hunt was reading; his wife and Boyd stilllingered on the stairs, and their light, quick laughter soundedprettily at moments.
Mrs. Lockwood, I remember, had been sewing while she and I conversedtogether. The French alliance was our topic; and she was still speakingof the pleasure it had given all when Lewis Morris brought to her houseyoung Lafayette. Then, of a sudden, she turned her head sharply, asthough listening.
Through the roar of the storm I thought I heard the gallop of a horse.Major Lockwood lifted his eyes from his letters, fixing them on therain-washed window.
Certainly a horseman had now pulled up at our very porch; Mr. Hunt laidaside his book very deliberately and walked to the parlour door, and amoment later the noise of the metal knocker outside rang loudly throughthe house.
We were now all rising and moving out into the hall, as though a commoninstinct of coming trouble impelled us. The black servant opened; adrenched messenger stood there, blinking in the candle light.
Major Lockwood went to him instantly, and drew him in the door; andthey spoke together in low and rapid tones.
Mrs. Lockwood murmured in my ear:
"It's one of Luther's men. There is bad news for us from below, Iwarrant you."
We heard the Major say:
"You will instantly acquaint Colonels Thomas and Sheldon with thisnews. Tell Captain Fancher, too, in passing."
The messenger turned away into the storm, and Major Lockwood calledafter him:
"Is there no news of Moylan's regiment?"
"None, sir," came the panting answer; there ensued a second's silence,a clatter of slippery hoofs, then only the loud, dull roar of the rainfilled the silence.
The Major, who still stood at the door, turned around and glanced athis wife.
"What is it, dear--if we may know?" asked she, quite calmly.
"Yes," he said, "you should know, Hannah. And it may not be true,but--somehow, I think it is. Tarleton is out."
"Is he headed this way, Ebenezer?" asked Mr. Hunt, after a shockedsilence.
"Why--yes, so they say. Luther Kinnicut sends the warning. It seems tobe true."
"Tarleton has heard, no doubt, that Sheldon's Horse is concentratinghere," said Mr. Hunt. "But I think it better for thee to leave,Ebenezer."
Mrs. Lockwood went over to her husband and laid her hand on his sleevelightly. The act, and her expression, were heart-breaking, and not tobe mistaken. She knew; and we also now surmised that if the LegionCavalry was out, it was for the purpose of taking the man who stoodthere before our eyes. Doubtless he was quite aware of it, too, butmade no mention of it.
"Alsop," he said, turning to his son-in-law, "best take the moredamaging of the papers and conceal them as usual. I shall presently bebusied with Thomas and Sheldon, and may have no time for such details."
"Will they make a stand, do you think?" I whispered to Boyd, "or shallwe be sent a-packing?"
"If there be not too many of them I make a guess that Sheldon's Horsewill stand."
"And what is to be our attitude?"
"Stand with them," said he, laughing, though he knew well that we hadbeen cautioned to do our errand and keep clear of all brawls.