Wyandotte - James Fenimore Cooper
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"With your honour's permission," said the serjeant, "I would ask
corporal Allen if the deserters have gone off with their arms and
accoutrements?"
"Airms? Ay, and legs, and a' belonging to 'em, with mair that is the
lawfu' property of the laird. Not so much as a flint is left behind."
"Then we may count on seeing all the fellows in the enemy's ranks," the
serjeant quietly remarked, helping himself to the tobacco from which he
had refrained throughout the previous hours of the night, Joyce being
too much of a _martinet_ to smoke or chew on duty. "It's up-hill
work, your honour, when every deserter counts two, in this manner. The
civil wars, however, are remarkable for this sort of wheeling, and
facing to the right-about; the same man often changing his colours two
or three times in a campaign."
Captain Willoughby received the news of this addition to his ill luck
with an air of military stoicism, though he felt, in reality, more like
a father and a husband on the occasion than like a hero. Accustomed to
self-command, he succeeded in concealing the extent of his uneasiness,
while he immediately set about inquiring into the extent of the evil.
"Joel is to join my watch," he said, "and _he_ may throw some
light on this affair. Let us call him, at once, for a few minutes may
prove of importance."
Even while speaking, the captain crossed the court, accompanied by the
serjeant and mason; and, ceremony being little attended to on such
occasions, they all entered the quarters of Strides, in a body. The
place was empty! Man, woman, and children had abandoned the spot,
seemingly in a body; and this, too, far from empty-handed. The manner
in which the room had been stripped, indeed, was the first fact which
induced the captain to believe that a man so much and so long trusted
would desert him in a strait so serious. There could be no mistake;
and, for a moment, the husband and father felt such a sinking of the
heart as would be apt to follow the sudden conviction that his enemies
must prevail.
"Let us look further, Joyce," he said, "and ascertain the extent of the
evil at once."
"This is a very bad example, your honour, that corporal Strides has set
the men, and we may expect to hear of more desertions. A non-
commissioned officer should have had too much pride for this! I have
always remarked, sir, in the army, that when a non-commissioned officer
left his colours, he was pretty certain to carry off a platoon with
him."
The search justified this opinion of the serjeant. A complete
examination of the quarters of all the men having been made, it was
ascertained that every white man in the Hut, the serjeant, Jamie Allen,
and a young New England labourer of the name of Blodget excepted, had
abandoned the place. Every man had carried off with him his arms and
ammunition, leaving the rooms as naked of defence as they had been
before they were occupied. Women and children, too, were all gone,
proving that the flights had been made deliberately, and with concert.
This left the Hut to be defended by its owner, the serjeant, the two
Plinys and a young descendant of the same colour, Jamie Allen, Blodget
and Mike, who had not yet been relieved from his ward over the Indian;
eight men in all, who might possibly receive some assistance from the
four black females in the kitchen.
The captain examined this small array of force, every man but Mike
being up and in the line, with a saddened countenance; for he
remembered what a different appearance it made only the previous day,
when he had his gallant son too, with him, a host in himself. It added
mortification to regret, also, when he remembered that this great loss
had been made without a single blow having been struck in defence of
his precious family, and his lawful rights.
"We must close the gate of the court, and bar it at once, Joyce," the
captain said, as soon as fully apprised of the true state of his force.
"It will be quite sufficient if we make good the house, with this
handful of men; giving up all hope of doing anything with the stockade.
It is the facility offered by the open gateway that has led to all this
mischief."
"I don't know, your honour. When desertion once fairly gets into a
man's mind, it's wonderful the means he will find to bring about his
wishes. Corporal Strides, no doubt has passed his family and his kit
through both gates; for, being in authority, our people were hardly
disciplined enough to understand the difference between a non-
commissioned officer _on_ guard and one _off_ guard; but,
there were a hundred ways to mischief, even had there been no gate.
Jamie, take one of the blacks, and bar the inner gate. What is your
honour's pleasure next?"
"I wish my mind were at ease on the subject of the Tuscarora. With
Nick's assistance as a runner and spy, and even as a sharp-shooter, we
should be vastly stronger. See to the gate yourself, serjeant, then
follow me to Mr. Woods' room."
This was done, the captain waiting for his companion on the threshold
of the outer door. Ascending the narrow stairs, they were soon on the
floor above, and were happy to find the door of the Tuscarora's prison
fastened without, as they had left it; this precaution having been
taken as a salutary assistance to O'Hearn's sagacity. Undoing these
fastenings, the serjeant stepped aside to allow his superior to precede
him, as became their respective stations. The captain advanced, holding
the lantern before him, and found an empty room. Both Nick and Mike
were gone, though it was not easy to discover by what means they had
quitted the place. The door was secure, the windows were down, and the
chimney was too small to allow of the passage of a human body. The
defection of the Irishman caused the captain great pain, while it
produced surprise even in the serjeant. Mike's fidelity had been
thought of proof; and, for an instant, the master of the place was
disposed to believe some evil spirit had been at work to corrupt his
people.
"This is more than I could have expected, Joyce!" he said, as much in
sorrow as in anger. "I should have as soon looked for the desertion of
old Pliny as that of Mike!"
"It is extr'or'nary, sir; but one is never safe without in-and-in
discipline. A drill a week, and that only for an hour or two of a
Saturday afternoon, captain Willoughby, may make a sort of country
militia, but it will do nothing for the field. 'Talk of enlisting men
for a year, serjeant Joyce,' said old colonel Flanker to me, one day in
the last war--'why it will take a year to teach a soldier how to eat.
Your silly fellows in the provincial assemblies fancy because a man has
teeth, and a stomach, and an appetite, that he knows how to _eat_;
but eating is an _art_, serjeant; and military eating above all
other branches of it; and I maintain a soldier can no more learn how to
eat, as a soldier, the colonel meant, your honour, than he can learn to
plan a campaign by going through the manual exercise.' For my part,
captain Willoughby, I have always thought it took a man his first five
years' enlistment to learn how to obey orders."
"I had thought that Irishman's heart in the right place, Joyce, and
counted as much on him as I did on you!"
"On me, captain Willoughby!" answered the serjeant, in a tone of
mortification. "I should think your honour would have made some
difference between your old orderly--a man who had served thirty years
in your own regiment, and most of the time in your own company, and a
bit of a wild Hibernian of only ten years' acquaintance, and he a man
who never saw a battalion paraded for real service!"
"I see my error now, Joyce; but Michael had so much blundering honesty
about him, or seemed to have, that I have been his dupe. It is too
late, however, to repine; the fellow is gone; it only remains to
ascertain the manner of his flight. May not Joel have undone the
fastenings of the door, and let him and the Indian escape together, in
common with the rest of the deserters?"
"I secured that door, sir, with my own hands, in a military manner, and
know that it was found as I left it. The Rev. Mr. Woods' bed seems to
have been disturbed; perhaps that may furnish a clue."
A clue the bed did furnish, and it solved the problem. The bed-cord was
removed, and both the sheets and one of the blankets were missing. This
directed the inquiry to the windows, one of which was not closed
entirely. A chimney stood near the side of this window, and by its aid
it was not difficult to reach the ridge of the roof. On the inner side
of the roof was the staging, or walk, already mentioned; and, once on
that, a person could make the circuit of the entire roof, in perfect
safety. Joyce mounted to the ridge, followed by the captain, and gained
the staging with a little effort, whence they proceeded round the
buildings to ascertain if the rope was not yet hanging over the
exterior, as a means of descent. It was found as expected, and
withdrawn lest it might be used to introduce enemies within the house.
These discoveries put the matter of Michael's delinquency at rest. He
had clearly gone off with his prisoner, and might next be looked for in
the ranks of the besiegers. The conviction of this truth gave the
captain more than uneasiness; it caused him pain, for the county
Leitrim-man had been a favourite with the whole family, and most
especially with his daughter Maud.
"I do not think you and the blacks will leave me, Joyce," he observed,
as the serjeant and himself descended, by the common passage, to the
court. "On _you_ I can rely, as I would rely on my noble son, were
he with me at this moment."
"I beg your honour's pardon--few words tell best for a man, deeds being
his duty--but, if your honour will have the condescension just to issue
your orders, the manner in which they shall be obeyed will tell the
whole story."
"I am satisfied of that, serjeant; we must put shoulder to shoulder,
and die in the breach, should it be necessary, before we give up the
place."
By this time the two old soldiers were again in the court, where they
found all their remaining force, of the male sex; the men being too
uneasy, indeed, to think of going to their pallets, until better
assured of their safety. Captain Willoughby ordered Joyce to draw them
up in line again, when he addressed them once more in person.
"My friends," the captain commenced, "there would be little use in
attempting to conceal from you our real situation; nor would it be
strictly honest. You see here every man on whom I can now depend for
the defence of my fireside and family. Mike has gone with the rest, and
the Indian has escaped in his company. You can make up your own
opinions of our chances of success, but my resolution is formed. Before
I open a gate to the merciless wretches without, who are worse than the
savages of the wilderness, possessing all their bad and none of their
redeeming qualities, it is my determination to be buried under the
ruins of this dwelling. But you are not bound to imitate my example;
and, if any man among you, black or white, regrets being here at this
moment, he shall still have arms and ammunition, and food given him,
the gates shall be opened and he may go freely to seek his safety in
the forest. For God's sake let there be no more desertions; he that
wishes to quit me, may now quit me unmolested; but, after this moment,
martial law will _be_, enforced, and I shall give orders to shoot
down any man detected in treachery, as I would shoot down a vicious
dog."
This address was heard in profound silence. No man stirred, nor did any
man speak.
"Blodget," continued the captain, "you have been with me a shorter time
than any other person present, and cannot feel the same attachment to
me and mine as the rest. You are the only native American among us,
Joyce excepted--for we count the blacks as nothing in respect to
country--may feel that I am an Englishman born, as I fear has been the
case with the rest of your friends. Perhaps I ought not to ask you to
remain. Take your arms, then, and make the best of your way to the
settlements. Should you reach Albany, you might even serve me
essentially by delivering a letter I will confide to you, and which
will bring us effectual succour."
The young man did not answer, though his fingers worked on the barrel
of his musket, and he shifted his weight, from leg to leg, like one
whose inward feelings were moved.
"I believe I understand you, captain Willoughby," he said, at length,
"though I think you don't understand me. I know you old country people
think meanly of us new country people, but I suppose that's in the
nature of things; then, I allow Joel Strides' conduct has been such as
to give you reason to judge us harshly. But there is a difference among
_us_, as well as among the English; and some of us--won't say I am
such a man, but actions speak louder than words, and all will be known
in the end--but _some_ of us will be found true to our bargains,
as well as other men."
"Bravely answered, my lad," cried the serjeant, heartily, and looking
round at his commander with exultation, to congratulate him on having
such a follower--"This is a man who will obey orders through thick and
thin, I'll answer for it, your honour. Little does he care who's king
or who's governor, so long as he knows his captain and his corps."
"There you are mistaken, serjeant Joyce," the youth observed, firmly.
"I'm for my country, and I'd quit this house in a minute, did I believe
captain Willoughby meant to help the crown. But I have lived long
enough here to know he is at the most neutral; though I think he rather
favours the side of the colonies than that of the crown."
"You have judged rightly, Blodget," observed the captain. "I do not
quite like this declaration of independence, though I can scarce blame
congress for having made it. Of the two, I think the Americans nearest
right, and I now conceive myself to be more of an American than an
Englishman. I wish this to be understood, Joyce."
"Do you, sir?--It's just as your honour pleases. I didn't know which
side it was your pleasure to support, nor does it make any great
difference with most of us. Orders are orders, let them come from king
or colonies. I would take the liberty of recommending, your honour,
that this young man be promoted. Strides' desertion has left a vacancy
among the corporals, and we shall want another for the guard. It would
hardly do to make a nigger a corporal."
"Very well, Joyce, have it as you wish," interrupted the captain, a
little impatiently; for he perceived he had a spirit to deal with in
Blodget that must hold such trifles at their true value. "Let it be
corporal Allen and corporal Blodget in future."
"Do you hear, men?--These are general orders. The relieved guard will
fall out, and try to get a little sleep, as we shall parade again half
an hour before day."
Alas! the relieved guard, like the relief itself, consisted of only two
men, corporal Blodget and Pliny the younger; old Pliny, in virtue of
his household work, being rated as an idler. These five, with the
captain and the serjeant, made the number of the garrison seven, which
was the whole male force that now remained.
Captain Willoughby directed Joyce and his two companions to go to their
pallets, notwithstanding, assuming the charge of the look-out himself,
and profiting by the occasion to make himself better acquainted with
the character of his new corporal than circumstances had hitherto
permitted.
Chapter XXI.
"For thee they fought, for thee they fell,
And their oath was on thee laid;
To thee the clarions raised their swell,
And the dying warriors pray'd."
Percival.
The distaste for each other which existed between the people of New
England and those of the adjoining colonies, anterior to the war of the
revolution, is a matter of history. It was this feeling that threw
Schuyler, one of the ablest and best men in the service of his country,
into the shade, a year later than the period of which we are writing.
This feeling was very naturally produced, and, under the circumstances,
was quite likely to be active in a revolution. Although New England and
New York were contiguous territories, a wide difference existed between
their social conditions. Out of the larger towns, there could scarcely
be said to be a gentry at all, in the former; while the latter, a
conquered province, had received the frame-work of the English system,
possessing Lords of the Manor, and divers other of the fragments of the
feudal system. So great was the social equality throughout the interior
of the New England provinces, indeed, as almost to remove the commoner
distinctions of civilised associations, bringing all classes
surprisingly near the same level, with the exceptions of the very low,
or some rare instance of an individual who was raised above his
neighbours by unusual wealth, aided perhaps by the accidents of birth,
and the advantages of education.
The results of such a state of society are easily traced. Habit had
taken the place of principles, and a people accustomed to see even
questions of domestic discipline referred, either to the church or to
public sentiment, and who knew few or none of the ordinary distinctions
of social intercourse, submitted to the usages of other conditions of
society, with singular distaste and stubborn reluctance. The native of
New England deferred singularly to great wealth, in 1776 as he is known
to defer to it to-day; but it was opposed to all his habits and
prejudices to defer to social station. Unused to intercourse with what
was then called the great world of the provinces, he knew not how to
appreciate its manners or opinions; and, as is usual with the
provincial, he affected to despise that which he neither practised nor
understood. This, at once, indisposed him to acknowledge the
distinctions of classes; and, when accident threw him into the
adjoining province, he became marked, at once, for decrying the usages
he encountered, comparing them, with singular self-felicitation, to
those he had left behind him; sometimes with justice beyond a doubt,
but oftener in provincial ignorance and narrow bigotry.
A similar state of things, on a larger scale, has been witnessed, more
especially in western New York, since the peace of '83; the great
inroads of emigrants from the New England states having almost
converted that district of country into an eastern colony. Men of the
world, while they admit how much has been gained in activity, available
intelligence of the practical school, and enterprise, regret that the
fusion has been quite so rapid and so complete; it being apparently a
law of nature that nothing precious that comes of man shall be enjoyed
altogether without alloy.
The condition in which captain Willoughby was now placed, might have
been traced to causes connected with the feelings and habits above
alluded to. It was distasteful to Joel Strides, and one or two of his
associates, to see a social chasm as wide as that which actually
existed between the family of the proprietor of the Knoll and his own,
growing no narrower; and an active cupidity, with the hopes of
confiscations, or an abandonment of the estate, came in aid of this
rankling jealousy of station; the most uneasy, as it is the meanest of
all our vices. Utterly incapable of appreciating the width of that void
which separates the gentleman from the man of coarse feelings and
illiterate vulgarity, he began to preach that doctrine of exaggerated
and mistaken equality which says "one man is as good as another," a
doctrine that is nowhere engrafted even on the most democratic of our
institutions to-day, since it would totally supersede the elections,
and leave us to draw lots for public trusts, as men are drawn for
juries. On ordinary occasions, the malignant machinations of Strides
would probably have led to no results; but, aided by the opinions and
temper of the times, he had no great difficulty in undermining his
master's popularity, by incessant and well-digested appeals to the envy
and cupidity of his companions. The probity, liberality, and manly
sincerity of captain Willoughby, often counteracted his schemes, it is
true; but, as even the stone yields to constant attrition, so did Joel
finally succeed in overcoming the influence of these high qualities, by
dint of perseverance, and cunning, not a little aided by certain
auxiliaries freely obtained from the Father of Lies.
As our tale proceeds, Joel's connection with the late movement will
become more apparent, and we prefer leaving the remainder of the
explanations to take their proper places in the course of the
narrative.
Joyce was so completely a matter of drill, that he was in a sound sleep
three minutes after he had lain down, the negro who belonged to his
guard imitating his industry in this particular with equal coolness. As
for the thoughtful Scotchman, Jamie Allen, sleep and he were strangers
that night. To own the truth, the disaffection of Mike not only
surprised, but it disappointed him. He remained in the court,
therefore, conversing on the subject with the "laird," after his
companions had fallen asleep.
"I wad na hae' thought that o' Michael," he said, "for the man had an
honest way with him, and was so seeming valiant, that I could na hae'
supposed him capable of proving a desairter. Mony's the time that I've
heard him swear--for Michael was an awfu' hand at that vice, when his
betters were no near to rebuke him--but often has he swore that Madam,
and her winsome daughters, were the pride of his een; ay, and their
delight too!"
"The poor fellow has yielded to my unlucky fortune, Jamie," returned
the captain, "and I sometimes think it were better had you all imitated
his example."
"Begging pairdon, captain Willoughby, for the familiarity, but ye're
just wrang, fra' beginning to end, in the supposition. No man with a
hairt in his body wad desairt ye in a time like this, and no mair 's to
be said in the matter. Nor do I think that luuk has had anything to do
with Michael's deficiency, unless ye ca' it luuk to be born and
edicated in a misguiding religion. Michael's catholicity is at the
bottom of his backsliding, ye'll find, if ye look closely into the
maiter."
"I do not see how that is to be made out, Allen; all sects of the
Christian religion, I believe, teaching us to abide by our engagements,
and to perform our duties."
"Na doubt--na doubt, 'squire Willoughby--there's a seeming desire to
teach as much in a' churches; but ye'll no deny that the creatur' o'
Rome wears a mask, and that catholicity is, at the best, but a wicked
feature to enter into the worship of God."
"Catholicism, Jamie, means adherence to the catholic church--"
"Just that--just that"--interrupted the Scot, eagerly--and it's that o'
which I complain. All protestants--wather fully disposed, or ainly
half-disposed, as may be the case with the English kirk--all
protestants agree in condemning the varry word catholic, which is a
sign and a symbol of the foul woman o' Babylon."
"Then, Jamie, they agree in condemning what they don't understand. I
should be sorry to think I am not a member of the catholic church
myself."
Yersal'!--No, captain Willoughby, ye're no catholic, though you are a
bit akin to it, perhaps. I know that Mr. Woods, that's now in the hands
o' the savages, prays for the catholics, and professes to believe in
what he ca's the 'Holy Catholic Kirk;' but, then, I've always supposed
that was in the way o' Christian charity like; for one is obleeged to
use decent language, ye'll be acknowledging, sir, in the pulpit, if
it's only for appearance's sake."
"Well--well--Jamie; a more fitting occasion may occur for discussing
matters of this nature, and we will postpone the subject to another
time. I may have need of your services an hour or two hence, and it
will be well for every man to come to the work fresh and clear-headed.
Go to your pallet then, and expect an early call."
The mason was not a man to oppose such an order coming from the
'laird;' and he withdrew, leaving the captain standing in the centre of
the court quite alone. We say alone, for young Blodget had ascended to
the gallery or staging that led around the inner sides of the roofs,
while the negro on guard was stationed at the gateway, as the only
point where the Hut could be possibly carried by a _coup-de-main._
As the first of these positions commanded the best exterior view from
the inside of the buildings, the captain mounted the stairs he had so
recently descended, and joined the young Rhode Islander at his post.
The night was star-light, but the elevation at which the two watchers
were placed, was unfavourable to catching glimpses of any lurking
enemy. The height confounded objects with the ground on which they were
placed, though Blodget told the captain he did not think a man could
cross the palisades without his being seen. By moving along the staging
on the southern side of the quadrangle, he could keep a tolerable look-
out, on the front and two flanks, at the same time. Still, this duty
could not be performed without considerable risk, as the head and
shoulders of a man moving along the ridge of the building would be
almost certain to attract the eye of any Indian without. This was the
first circumstance that the captain remarked on joining his companion,
and gratitude induced him to point it out, in order that the other
might, in a degree at least, avoid the danger.