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diff --git a/old/10046.txt b/old/10046.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ae345e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10046.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9802 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Salute to Adventurers, by John Buchan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Salute to Adventurers + +Author: John Buchan + +Release Date: November 11, 2003 [EBook #10046] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALUTE TO ADVENTURERS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Aldarondo, +Carol David and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +SALUTE TO ADVENTURERS + +BY + +JOHN BUCHAN + +[Illustration: 1798 EDINBURGH] + + + +TO MAJOR-GENERAL THE HON. SIR REGINALD TALBOT, K.C.B. + + I tell of old Virginian ways; + And who more fit my tale to scan + Than you, who knew in far-off days + The eager horse of Sheridan; + Who saw the sullen meads of fate, + The tattered scrub, the blood-drenched sod, + Where Lee, the greatest of the great, + Bent to the storm of God? + + I tell lost tales of savage wars; + And you have known the desert sands, + The camp beneath the silver stars, + The rush at dawn of Arab bands, + The fruitless toil, the hopeless dream, + The fainting feet, the faltering breath, + While Gordon by the ancient stream + Waited at ease on death. + + And now, aloof from camp and field, + You spend your sunny autumn hours + Where the green folds of Chiltern shield + The nooks of Thames amid the flowers: + You who have borne that name of pride, + In honour clean from fear or stain, + Which Talbot won by Henry's side + In vanquished Aquitaine. + +_The reader is asked to believe that most of the characters in this +tale and many of the incidents have good historical warrant. The figure +of Muckle John Gib will be familiar to the readers of Patrick Walker_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + * * * * * + + I. THE SWEET-SINGERS + II. OF A HIGH-HANDED LADY + III. THE CANONGATE TOLBOOTH + IV. OF A STAIRHEAD AND A SEA-CAPTAIN + V. MY FIRST COMING TO VIRGINIA + VI. TELLS OF MY EDUCATION + VII. I BECOME AN UNPOPULAR CHARACTER + VIII. RED RINGAN + IX. VARIOUS DOINGS IN THE SAVANNAH + X. I HEAR AN OLD SONG + XI. GRAVITY OUT OF BED + XII. A WORD AT THE HARBOUR-SIDE + XIII. I STUMBLE INTO A GREAT FOLLY + XIV. A WILD WAGER + XV. I GATHER THE CLANS + XVI. THE FORD OF THE RAPIDAN + XVII. I RETRACE MY STEPS + XVIII. OUR ADVENTURE RECEIVES A RECRUIT + XIX. CLEARWATER GLEN + XX. THE STOCKADE AMONG THE PINES + XXI. A HAWK SCREAMS IN THE EVENING + XXII. HOW A FOOL MUST GO HIS OWN ROAD + XXIII. THE HORN OF DIARMAID SOUNDS + XXIV. I SUFFER THE HEATHEN'S RAGE + XXV. EVENTS ON THE HILL-SIDE + XXVI. SHALAH + XXVII. HOW I STROVE ALL NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL +XXVIII. HOW THREE SOULS FOUND THEIR HERITAGE + + + + +SALUTE TO ADVENTURERS. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SWEET-SINGERS. + +When I was a child in short-coats a spaewife came to the town-end, and +for a silver groat paid by my mother she riddled my fate. It came to +little, being no more than that I should miss love and fortune in +the sunlight and find them in the rain. The woman was a haggard, +black-faced gipsy, and when my mother asked for more she turned on her +heel and spoke gibberish; for which she was presently driven out of the +place by Tarn Roberton, the baillie, and the village dogs. But the +thing stuck in my memory, and together with the fact that I was a +Thursday's bairn, and so, according to the old rhyme, "had far to go," +convinced me long ere I had come to man's estate that wanderings and +surprises would be my portion. + +It is in the rain that this tale begins. I was just turned of eighteen, +and in the back-end of a dripping September set out from our moorland +house of Auchencairn to complete my course at Edinburgh College. The +year was 1685, an ill year for our countryside; for the folk were at +odds with the King's Government, about religion, and the land was full +of covenants and repressions. Small wonder that I was backward with my +colleging, and at an age when most lads are buckled to a calling was +still attending the prelections of the Edinburgh masters. My father had +blown hot and cold in politics, for he was fiery and unstable by +nature, and swift to judge a cause by its latest professor. He had cast +out with the Hamilton gentry, and, having broken the head of a dragoon +in the change-house of Lesmahagow, had his little estate mulcted in +fines. All of which, together with some natural curiosity and a family +love of fighting, sent him to the ill-fated field of Bothwell Brig, +from which he was lucky to escape with a bullet in the shoulder. +Thereupon he had been put to the horn, and was now lying hid in a den +in the mosses of Douglas Water. It was a sore business for my mother, +who had the task of warding off prying eyes from our ragged household +and keeping the fugitive in life. She was a Tweedside woman, as strong +and staunch as an oak, and with a heart in her like Robert Bruce. And +she was cheerful, too, in the worst days, and would go about the place +with a bright eye and an old song on her lips. But the thing was beyond +a woman's bearing; so I had perforce to forsake my colleging and take a +hand with our family vexations. The life made me hard and watchful, +trusting no man, and brusque and stiff towards the world. And yet all +the while youth was working in me like yeast, so that a spring day or a +west wind would make me forget my troubles and thirst to be about a +kindlier business than skulking in a moorland dwelling. + +My mother besought me to leave her. "What," she would say, "has young +blood to do with this bickering of kirks and old wives' lamentations? +You have to learn and see and do, Andrew. And it's time you were +beginning." But I would not listen to her, till by the mercy of God we +got my father safely forth of Scotland, and heard that he was dwelling +snugly at Leyden in as great patience as his nature allowed. Thereupon +I bethought me of my neglected colleging, and, leaving my books and +plenishing to come by the Lanark carrier, set out on foot for +Edinburgh. + +The distance is only a day's walk for an active man, but I started +late, and purposed to sleep the night at a cousin's house by +Kirknewton. Often in bright summer days I had travelled the road, when +the moors lay yellow in the sun and larks made a cheerful chorus. In +such weather it is a pleasant road, with long prospects to cheer the +traveller, and kindly ale-houses to rest his legs in. But that day it +rained as if the floodgates of heaven had opened. When I crossed Clyde +by the bridge at Hyndford the water was swirling up to the key-stone. +The ways were a foot deep in mire, and about Carnwath the bog had +overflowed and the whole neighbourhood swam in a loch. It was pitiful +to see the hay afloat like water-weeds, and the green oats scarcely +showing above the black floods. In two minutes after starting I was wet +to the skin, and I thanked Providence I had left my little Dutch +_Horace_ behind me in the book-box. By three in the afternoon I was as +unkempt as any tinker, my hair plastered over my eyes, and every fold +of my coat running like a gutter. + +Presently the time came for me to leave the road and take the short-cut +over the moors; but in the deluge, where the eyes could see no more +than a yard or two into a grey wall of rain, I began to misdoubt my +knowledge of the way. On the left I saw a stone dovecot and a cluster +of trees about a gateway; so, knowing how few and remote were the +dwellings on the moorland, I judged it wiser to seek guidance before I +strayed too far. + +The place was grown up with grass and sore neglected. Weeds made a +carpet on the avenue, and the dykes were broke by cattle at a dozen +places. Suddenly through the falling water there stood up the gaunt end +of a house. It was no cot or farm, but a proud mansion, though badly +needing repair. A low stone wall bordered a pleasance, but the garden +had fallen out of order, and a dial-stone lay flat on the earth. + +My first thought was that the place was tenantless, till I caught sight +of a thin spire of smoke struggling against the downpour. I hoped to +come on some gardener or groom from whom I could seek direction, so I +skirted the pleasance to find the kitchen door. A glow of fire in one +of the rooms cried welcome to my shivering bones, and on the far side +of the house I found signs of better care. The rank grasses had been +mown to make a walk, and in a corner flourished a little group of +pot-herbs. But there was no man to be seen, and I was about to retreat +and try the farm-town, when out of the doorway stepped a girl. + +She was maybe sixteen years old, tall and well-grown, but of her face I +could see little, since she was all muffled in a great horseman's +cloak. The hood of it covered her hair, and the wide flaps were folded +over her bosom. She sniffed the chill wind, and held her head up to the +rain, and all the while, in a clear childish voice, she was singing. + +It was a song I had heard, one made by the great Montrose, who had +suffered shameful death in Edinburgh thirty years before. It was a +man's song, full of pride and daring, and not for the lips of a young +maid. But that hooded girl in the wild weather sang it with a challenge +and a fire that no cavalier could have bettered. + + "My dear and only love, I pray + That little world of thee + Be governed by no other sway + Than purest monarchy." + + "For if confusion have a part, + Which virtuous souls abhor, + And hold a synod in thy heart, + I'll never love thee more." + +So she sang, like youth daring fortune to give it aught but the best. +The thing thrilled me, so that I stood gaping. Then she looked aside +and saw me. + +"Your business, man?" she cried, with an imperious voice. + +I took off my bonnet, and made an awkward bow. + +"Madam, I am on my way to Edinburgh," I stammered, for I was mortally +ill at ease with women. "I am uncertain of the road in this weather, +and come to beg direction." + +"You left the road three miles back," she said. + +"But I am for crossing the moors," I said. + +She pushed back her hood and looked at me with laughing eyes, I saw how +dark those eyes were, and how raven black her wandering curls of hair. + +"You have come to the right place," she cried. "I can direct you as +well as any Jock or Sandy about the town. Where are you going to?" + +I said Kirknewton for my night's lodging. + +"Then march to the right, up by yon planting, till you come to the Howe +Burn. Follow it to the top, and cross the hill above its well-head. The +wind is blowing from the east, so keep it on your right cheek. That +will bring you to the springs of the Leith Water, and in an hour or two +from there you will be back on the highroad." + +She used a manner of speech foreign to our parts, but very soft and +pleasant in the ear. I thanked her, clapped on my dripping bonnet, and +made for the dykes beyond the garden. Once I looked back, but she had +no further interest in me. In the mist I could see her peering once +more skyward, and through the drone of the deluge came an echo of her +song. + + "I'll serve thee in such noble ways, + As never man before; + I'll deck and crown thy head with bays, + And love thee more and more." + +The encounter cheered me greatly, and lifted the depression which the +eternal drizzle had settled on my spirits. That bold girl singing a +martial ballad to the storm and taking pleasure in the snellness of the +air, was like a rousing summons or a cup of heady wine. The picture +ravished my fancy. The proud dark eye, the little wanton curls peeping +from the hood, the whole figure alert with youth and life--they cheered +my recollection as I trod that sour moorland. I tried to remember her +song, and hummed it assiduously till I got some kind of version, which +I shouted in my tuneless voice. For I was only a young lad, and my life +had been bleak and barren. Small wonder that the call of youth set +every fibre of me a-quiver. + +I had done better to think of the road. I found the Howe Burn readily +enough, and scrambled up its mossy bottom. By this time the day was +wearing late, and the mist was deepening into the darker shades of +night. It is an eery business to be out on the hills at such a season, +for they are deathly quiet except for the lashing of the storm. You +will never hear a bird cry or a sheep bleat or a weasel scream. The +only sound is the drum of the rain on the peat or its plash on a +boulder, and the low surge of the swelling streams. It is the place and +time for dark deeds, for the heart grows savage; and if two enemies met +in the hollow of the mist only one would go away. + +I climbed the hill above the Howe burn-head, keeping the wind on my +right cheek as the girl had ordered. That took me along a rough ridge +of mountain pitted with peat-bogs into which I often stumbled. Every +minute I expected to descend and find the young Water of Leith, but if +I held to my directions I must still mount. I see now that the wind +must have veered to the south-east, and that my plan was leading me +into the fastnesses of the hills; but I would have wandered for weeks +sooner than disobey the word of the girl who sang in the rain. +Presently I was on a steep hill-side, which I ascended only to drop +through a tangle of screes and jumper to the mires of a great bog. When +I had crossed this more by luck than good guidance, I had another +scramble on the steeps where the long, tough heather clogged my +footsteps. + +About eight o'clock I awoke to the conviction that I was hopelessly +lost, and must spend the night in the wilderness. The rain still fell +unceasingly through the pit-mirk, and I was as sodden and bleached as +the bent I trod on. A night on the hills had no terrors for me; but I +was mortally cold and furiously hungry, and my temper grew bitter +against the world. I had forgotten the girl and her song, and desired +above all things on earth a dry bed and a chance of supper. + +I had been plunging and slipping in the dark mosses for maybe two hours +when, looking down from a little rise, I caught a gleam of light. +Instantly my mood changed to content. It could only be a herd's +cottage, where I might hope for a peat fire, a bicker of brose, and, at +the worst, a couch of dry bracken. + +I began to run, to loosen my numbed limbs, and presently fell headlong +over a little scaur into a moss-hole. When I crawled out, with peat +plastering my face and hair, I found I had lost my notion of the +light's whereabouts. I strove to find another hillock, but I seemed now +to be in a flat space of bog. I could only grope blindly forwards away +from the moss-hole, hoping that soon I might come to a lift in the +hill. + +Suddenly from the distance of about half a mile there fell on my ears +the most hideous wailing. It was like the cats on a frosty night; it +was like the clanging of pots in a tinker's cart; and it would rise now +and then to a shriek of rhapsody such as I have heard at field-preachings. +Clearly the sound was human, though from what kind of crazy +human creature I could not guess. Had I been less utterly forwandered +and the night less wild, I think I would have sped away from it as fast +as my legs had carried me. But I had little choice. After all, I +reflected, the worst bedlamite must have food and shelter, and, unless +the gleam had been a will-o'-the-wisp, I foresaw a fire. So I hastened +in the direction of the noise. + +I came on it suddenly in a hollow of the moss. There stood a ruined +sheepfold, and in the corner of two walls some plaids had been +stretched to make a tent. Before this burned a big fire of heather +roots and bog-wood, which hissed and crackled in the rain. Round it +squatted a score of women, with plaids drawn tight over their heads, +who rocked and moaned like a flight of witches, and two--three men were +on their knees at the edge of the ashes. But what caught my eye was the +figure that stood before the tent. It was a long fellow, who held his +arms to heaven, and sang in a great throaty voice the wild dirge I had +been listening to. He held a book in one hand, from which he would +pluck leaves and cast them on the fire, and at every burnt-offering a +wail of ecstasy would go up from the hooded women and kneeling men. +Then with a final howl he hurled what remained of his book into the +flames, and with upraised hands began some sort of prayer. + +I would have fled if I could; but Providence willed it otherwise. The +edge of the bank on which I stood had been rotted by the rain, and the +whole thing gave under my feet. I slithered down into the sheepfold, +and pitched headforemost among the worshipping women. And at that, with +a yell, the long man leaped over the fire and had me by the throat. + +My bones were too sore and weary to make resistance. He dragged me to +the ground before the tent, while the rest set up a skirling that +deafened my wits. There he plumped me down, and stood glowering at me +like a cat with a sparrow. + +"Who are ye, and what do ye here, disturbing the remnant of Israel?" +says he. + +I had no breath in me to speak, so one of the men answered. + +"Some gangrel body, precious Mr. John," he said. + +"Nay," said another; "it's a spy o' the Amalekites." + +"It's a herd frae Linton way," spoke up a woman. "He favours the look +of one Zebedee Linklater." + +The long man silenced her. "The word of the Lord came unto His prophet +Gib, saying, Smite and spare not, for the cup of the abominations of +Babylon is now full. The hour cometh, yea, it is at hand, when the +elect of the earth, meaning me and two--three others, will be enthroned +above the Gentiles, and Dagon and Baal will be cast down. Are ye still +in the courts of bondage, young man, or seek ye the true light which +the Holy One of Israel has vouchsafed to me, John Gib, his unworthy +prophet?" + +Now I knew into what rabble I had strayed. It was the company who +called themselves the Sweet-Singers, led by one Muckle John Gib, once a +mariner of Borrowstoneness-on-Forth. He had long been a thorn in the +side of the preachers, holding certain strange heresies that +discomforted even the wildest of the hill-folk. They had clapped him +into prison; but the man, being three parts mad had been let go, and +ever since had been making strife in the westland parts of Clydesdale. +I had heard much of him, and never any good. It was his way to draw +after him a throng of demented women, so that the poor, draggle-tailed +creatures forgot husband and bairns and followed him among the mosses. +There were deeds of violence and blood to his name, and the look of him +was enough to spoil a man's sleep. He was about six and a half feet +high, with a long, lean head and staring cheek bones. His brows grew +like bushes, and beneath glowed his evil and sunken eyes. I remember +that he had monstrous long arms, which hung almost to his knees, and a +great hairy breast which showed through a rent in his seaman's jerkin. +In that strange place, with the dripping spell of night about me, and +the fire casting weird lights and shadows, he seemed like some devil of +the hills awakened by magic from his ancient grave. + +But I saw it was time for me to be speaking up. + +"I am neither gangrel, nor spy, nor Amalekite, nor yet am I Zebedee +Linklater. My name is Andrew Garvald, and I have to-day left my home to +make my way to Edinburgh College. I tried a short road in the mist, and +here I am." + +"Nay, but what seek ye?" cried Muckle John. "The Lord has led ye to our +company by His own good way. What seek ye? I say again, and yea, a +third time." + +"I go to finish my colleging," I said. + +He laughed a harsh, croaking laugh. "Little ye ken, young man. We +travel to watch the surprising judgment which is about to overtake the +wicked city of Edinburgh. An angel hath revealed it to me in a dream. +Fire and brimstone will descend upon it as on Sodom and Gomorrah, and +it will be consumed and wither away, with its cruel Ahabs and its +painted Jezebels, its subtle Doegs and its lying Balaams, its priests +and its judges, and its proud men of blood, its Bible-idolaters and its +false prophets, its purple and damask, its gold and its fine linen, and +it shall be as Tyre and Sidon, so that none shall know the site +thereof. But we who follow the Lord and have cleansed His word from +human abominations, shall leap as he-goats upon the mountains, and +enter upon the heritage of the righteous from Beth-peor even unto the +crossings of Jordan." + +In reply to this rigmarole I asked for food, since my head was +beginning to swim from my long fast. This, to my terror, put him into a +great rage. + +"Ye are carnally minded, like the rest of them. Ye will get no fleshly +provender here; but if ye be not besotted in your sins ye shall drink +of the Water of Life that floweth freely and eat of the honey and manna +of forgiveness." + +And then he appeared to forget my very existence. He fell into a sort +of trance, with his eyes fixed on vacancy. There was a dead hush in the +place, nothing but the crackle of the fire and the steady drip of the +rain. I endured it as well as I might, for though my legs were sorely +cramped, I did not dare to move an inch. + +After nigh half an hour he seemed to awake. "Peace be with you," he +said to his followers. "It is the hour for sleep and prayer. I, John +Gib, will wrestle all night for your sake, as Jacob strove with the +angel." With that he entered the tent. + +No one spoke to me, but the ragged company sought each their +sleeping-place. A woman with a kindly face jogged me on the elbow, and +from the neuk of her plaid gave me a bit of oatcake and a piece of +roasted moorfowl. This made my supper, with a long drink from a +neighbouring burn. None hindered my movements, so, liking little the +smell of wet, uncleanly garments which clung around the fire, I made my +bed in a heather bush in the lee of a boulder, and from utter weariness +fell presently asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +OF A HIGH-HANDED LADY. + +The storm died away in the night, and I awoke to a clear, rain-washed +world and the chill of an autumn morn. I was as stiff and sore as if I +had been whipped, my clothes were sodden and heavy, and not till I had +washed my face and hands in the burn and stretched my legs up the +hill-side did I feel restored to something of my ordinary briskness. + +The encampment looked weird indeed as seen in the cruel light of day. +The women were cooking oatmeal on iron girdles, but the fire burned +smokily, and the cake I got was no better than dough. They were a +disjaskit lot, with tousled hair and pinched faces, in which shone +hungry eyes. Most were barefoot, and all but two--three were ancient +beldames who should have been at home in the chimney corner. I noticed +one decent-looking young woman, who had the air of a farm servant; and +two were well-fed country wives who had probably left a brood of +children to mourn them. The men were little better. One had the sallow +look of a weaver, another was a hind with a big, foolish face, and +there was a slip of a lad who might once have been a student of +divinity. But each had a daftness in the eye and something weak and +unwholesome in the visage, so that they were an offence to the fresh, +gusty moorland. + +All but Muckle John himself. He came out of his tent and prayed till +the hill-sides echoed. It was a tangle of bedlamite ravings, with long +screeds from the Scriptures intermixed like currants in a bag-pudding. +But there was power in the creature, in the strange lift of his voice, +in his grim jowl, and in the fire of his sombre eyes. The others I +pitied, but him I hated and feared. On him and his kind were to be +blamed all the madness of the land, which had sent my father overseas +and desolated our dwelling. So long as crazy prophets preached +brimstone and fire, so long would rough-shod soldiers and cunning +lawyers profit by their folly; and often I prayed in those days that +the two evils might devour each other. + +It was time that I was cutting loose from this ill-omened company and +continuing my road Edinburgh-wards. We were lying in a wide trough of +the Pentland Hills, which I well remembered. The folk of the plains +called it the Cauldstaneslap, and it made an easy path for sheep and +cattle between the Lothians and Tweeddale. The camp had been snugly +chosen, for, except by the gleam of a fire in the dark, it was +invisible from any distance. Muckle John was so filled with his +vapourings that I could readily slip off down the burn and join the +southern highway at the village of Linton. + +I was on the verge of going when I saw that which pulled me up. A rider +was coming over the moor. The horse leaped the burn lightly, and before +I could gather my wits was in the midst of the camp, where Muckle John +was vociferating to heaven. + +My heart gave a great bound, for I saw it was the girl who had sung to +me in the rain. She rode a fine sorrel, with the easy seat of a skilled +horsewoman. She was trimly clad in a green riding-coat, and over the +lace collar of it her hair fell in dark, clustering curls. Her face was +grave, like a determined child's; but the winds of the morning had +whipped it to a rosy colour, so that into that clan of tatterdemalions +she rode like Proserpine descending among the gloomy Shades. In her +hand she carried a light riding-whip. + +A scream from the women brought Muckle John out of his rhapsodies. He +stared blankly at the slim girl who confronted him with hand on hip. + +"What seekest thou here, thou shameless woman?" he roared. + +"I am come," said she, "for my tirewoman, Janet Somerville, who left me +three days back without a reason. Word was brought me that she had +joined a mad company called the Sweet-Singers, that lay at the +Cauldstaneslap. Janet's a silly body, but she means no ill, and her +mother is demented at the loss of her. So I have come for Janet." + +Her cool eyes ran over the assembly till they lighted on the one I had +already noted as more decent-like than the rest. At the sight of the +girl the woman bobbed a curtsy. + +"Come out of it, silly Janet," said she on the horse; "you'll never +make a Sweet-Singer, for there's not a notion of a tune in your head." + +"It's not singing that I seek, my leddy," said the woman, blushing. "I +follow the call o' the Lord by the mouth o' His servant, John Gib." + +"You'll follow the call of your mother by the mouth of me, Elspeth +Blair. Forget these havers, Janet, and come back like a good Christian +soul. Mount and be quick. There's room behind me on Bess." + +The words were spoken in a kindly, wheedling tone, and the girl's face +broke into the prettiest of smiles. Perhaps Janet would have obeyed, +but Muckle John, swift to prevent defection, took up the parable. + +"Begone, ye daughter of Heth!" he bellowed, "ye that are like the +devils that pluck souls from the way of salvation. Begone, or it is +strongly borne in upon me that ye will dree the fate of the women of +Midian, of whom it is written that they were slaughtered and spared +not." + +The girl did not look his way. She had her coaxing eyes on her halting +maid. "Come, Janet, woman," she said again. "It's no job for a decent +lass to be wandering at the tail of a crazy warlock." + +The word roused Muckle John to fury. He sprang forward, caught the +sorrel's bridle, and swung it round. The girl did not move, but looked +him square in the face, the young eyes fronting his demoniac glower. +Then very swiftly her arm rose, and she laid the lash of her whip +roundly over his shoulders. + +The man snarled like a beast, leaped back and plucked from his seaman's +belt a great horse-pistol. I heard the click of it cocking, and the +next I knew it was levelled at the girl's breast. The sight of her and +the music of her voice had so enthralled me that I had made no plan as +to my own conduct. But this sudden peril put fire into my heels, and in +a second I was at his side. I had brought from home a stout shepherd's +staff, with which I struck the muzzle upwards. The pistol went off in a +great stench of powder, but the bullet wandered to the clouds. + +Muckle John let the thing fall into the moss, and plucked another +weapon from his belt. This was an ugly knife, such as a cobbler uses +for paring hides. I knew the seaman's trick of throwing, having seen +their brawls at the pier of Leith, and I had no notion for the steel in +my throat. The man was far beyond me in size and strength, so I dared +not close with him. Instead, I gave him the point of my staff with all +my power straight in the midriff. The knife slithered harmlessly over +my shoulder, and he fell backwards into the heather. + +There was no time to be lost, for the whole clan came round me like a +flock of daws. One of the men, the slim lad, had a pistol, but I saw by +the way he handled it that it was unprimed. I was most afraid of the +women, who with their long claws would have scratched my eyes out, and +I knew they would not spare the girl. To her I turned anxiously, and, +to my amazement, she was laughing. She recognized me, for she cried +out, "Is this the way to Kirknewton, sir?" And all the time she +shook with merriment. In that hour I thought her as daft as the +Sweet-Singers, whose nails were uncommonly near my cheek. + +I got her bridle, tumbled over the countryman with a kick, and forced +her to the edge of the sheepfold. But she wheeled round again, crying, +"I must have Janet," and faced the crowd with her whip. That was well +enough, but I saw Muckle John staggering to his feet, and I feared +desperately for his next move. The girl was either mad or +extraordinarily brave. + +"Get back, you pitiful knaves," she cried. "Lay a hand on me, and I +will cut you to ribbons. Make haste, Janet, and quit this folly." + +It was gallant talk, but there was no sense in it. Muckle John was on +his feet, half the clan had gone round to our rear, and in a second or +two she would have been torn from the saddle. A headstrong girl was +beyond my management, and my words of entreaty were lost in the babel +of cries. + +But just then there came another sound. From the four quarters of the +moor there closed in upon us horsemen. They came silently and were +about us before I had a hint of their presence. It was a troop of +dragoons in the king's buff and scarlet, and they rode us down as if we +had been hares in a field. The next I knew of it I was sprawling on the +ground with a dizzy head, and horses trampling around me, I had a +glimpse of Muckle John with a pistol at his nose, and the sorrel +curveting and plunging in a panic. Then I bethought myself of saving my +bones, and crawled out of the mellay behind the sheepfold. + +Presently I realized that this was the salvation I had been seeking. +Gib was being pinioned, and two of the riders were speaking with the +girl. The women hung together like hens in a storm, while the dragoons +laid about them with the flat of their swords. There was one poor +creature came running my way, and after her followed on foot a long +fellow, who made clutches at her hair. He caught her with ease, and +proceeded to bind her hands with great brutality. + +"Ye beldame," he said, with many oaths, "I'll pare your talons for ye." + +Now I, who a minute before had been in danger from this very crew, was +smitten with a sudden compunction. Except for Muckle John, they were so +pitifully feeble, a pack of humble, elderly folk, worn out with fasting +and marching and ill weather. I had been sickened by their crazy +devotions, but I was more sickened by this man's barbarity. It was the +woman, too, who had given me food the night before. + +So I stepped out, and bade the man release her. + +He was a huge, sunburned ruffian, and for answer aimed a clour at my +head. "Take that, my mannie," he said. "I'll learn ye to follow the +petticoats." + +His scorn put me into a fury, in which anger at his brutishness and the +presence of the girl on the sorrel moved my pride to a piece of naked +folly. I flew at his throat, and since I had stood on a little +eminence, the force of my assault toppled him over. My victory lasted +scarcely a minute. He flung me from him like a feather, then picked me +up and laid on to me with the flat of his sword. + +"Ye thrawn jackanapes," he cried, as he beat me. "Ye'll pay dear for +playing your pranks wi' John Donald." + +I was a child in his mighty grasp, besides having no breath left in me +to resist. He tied my hands and legs, haled me to his horse, and flung +me sack-like over the crupper. There was no more shamefaced lad in the +world than me at that moment, for coming out of the din I heard a +girl's light laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CANONGATE TOLBOOTH. + +"Never daunton youth" was, I remember, a saying of my grandmother's; +but it was the most dauntoned youth in Scotland that now jogged over +the moor to the Edinburgh highroad. I had a swimming head, and a hard +crupper to grate my ribs at every movement, and my captor would shift +me about with as little gentleness as if I had been a bag of oats for +his horse's feed. But it was the ignominy of the business that kept me +on the brink of tears. First, I was believed to be one of the maniac +company of the Sweet-Singers, whom my soul abhorred; _item_, I had been +worsted by a trooper with shameful ease, so that my manhood cried out +against me. Lastly, I had cut the sorriest figure in the eyes of that +proud girl. For a moment I had been bold, and fancied myself her +saviour, but all I had got by it was her mocking laughter. + +They took us down from the hill to the highroad a little north of +Linton village, where I was dumped on the ground, my legs untied, and +my hands strapped to a stirrup leather. The women were given a country +cart to ride in, and the men, including Muckle John, had to run each by +a trooper's leg. The girl on the sorrel had gone, and so had the maid +Janet, for I could not see her among the dishevelled wretches in the +cart. The thought of that girl filled me with bitter animosity. She +must have known that I was none of Gib's company, for had I not risked +my life at the muzzle of his pistol? I had taken her part as bravely as +I knew how, but she had left me to be dragged to Edinburgh without a +word. Women had never come much my way, but I had a boy's distrust of +the sex; and as I plodded along the highroad, with every now and then a +cuff from a trooper's fist to cheer me, I had hard thoughts of their +heartlessness. + +We were a pitiful company as, in the bright autumn sun, we came in by +the village of Liberton, to where the reek of Edinburgh rose straight +into the windless weather. The women in the cart kept up a continual +lamenting, and Muckle John, who walked between two dragoons with his +hands tied to the saddle of each, so that he looked like a crucified +malefactor, polluted the air with hideous profanities. He cursed +everything in nature and beyond it, and no amount of clouts on the head +would stem the torrent. Sometimes he would fall to howling like a wolf, +and folk ran to their cottage doors to see the portent. Groups of +children followed us from every wayside clachan, so that we gave great +entertainment to the dwellers in Lothian that day. The thing infuriated +the dragoons, for it made them a laughing-stock, and the sins of Gib +were visited upon the more silent prisoners. We were hurried along at a +cruel pace, so that I had often to run to avoid the dragging at my +wrists, and behind us bumped the cart full of wailful women. I was sick +from fatigue and lack of food, and the South Port of Edinburgh was a +welcome sight to me. Welcome, and yet shameful, for I feared at any +moment to see the face of a companion in the jeering crowd that lined +the causeway. I thought miserably of my pleasant lodgings in the Bow, +where my landlady, Mistress Macvittie, would be looking at the boxes +the Lanark carrier had brought, and be wondering what had become of +their master. I saw no light for myself in the business. My father's +ill-repute with the Government would tell heavily in my disfavour, and +it was beyond doubt that I had assaulted a dragoon. There was nothing +before me but the plantations or a long spell in some noisome prison. + +The women were sent to the House of Correction to be whipped and +dismissed, for there was little against them but foolishness; all +except one, a virago called Isobel Bone, who was herded with the men. +The Canongate Tolbooth was our portion, the darkest and foulest of the +city prisons; and presently I found myself forced through a gateway and +up a narrow staircase, into a little chamber in which a score of beings +were already penned. A small unglazed window with iron bars high up on +one wall gave us such light and air as was going, but the place reeked +with human breathing, and smelled as rank as a kennel. I have a +delicate nose, and I could not but believe on my entrance that an hour +of such a hole would be the death of me. Soon the darkness came, and we +were given a tallow dip in a horn lantern hung on a nail to light us to +food. Such food I had never dreamed of. There was a big iron basin of +some kind of broth, made, as I judged, from offal, from which we drank +in pannikins; and with it were hunks of mildewed rye-bread. One +mouthful sickened me, and I preferred to fast. The behaviour of the +other prisoners was most seemly, but not so that of my company. They +scrambled for the stuff like pigs round a trough, and the woman Isobel +threatened with her nails any one who would prevent her. I was black +ashamed to enter prison with such a crew, and withdrew myself as far +distant as the chamber allowed me. + +I had no better task than to look round me at those who had tenanted +the place before our coming. There were three women, decent-looking +bodies, who talked low in whispers and knitted. The men were mostly +countryfolk, culled, as I could tell by their speech, from the west +country, whose only fault, no doubt, was that they had attended some +field-preaching. One old man, a minister by his dress, sat apart on a +stone bench, and with closed eyes communed with himself. I ventured to +address him, for in that horrid place he had a welcome air of sobriety +and sense. + +He asked me for my story, and when he heard it looked curiously at +Muckle John, who was now reciting gibberish in a corner. + +"So that is the man Gib," he said musingly. "I have heard tell of him, +for he was a thorn in the flesh of blessed Mr. Cargill. Often have I +heard him repeat how he went to Gib in the moors to reason with him in +the Lord's name, and got nothing but a mouthful of devilish +blasphemies. He is without doubt a child of Belial, as much as any +proud persecutor. Woe is the Kirk, when her foes shall be of her own +household, for it is with the words of the Gospel that he seeks to +overthrow the Gospel work. And how is it with you, my son? Do you seek +to add your testimony to the sweet savour which now ascends from moors, +mosses, peat-bogs, closes, kennels, prisons, dungeons, ay, and +scaffolds in this distressed land of Scotland? You have not told me +your name." + +When he heard it he asked for my father, whom he had known in old days +at Edinburgh College. Then he inquired into my religious condition with +so much fatherly consideration that I could take no offence, but told +him honestly that I was little of a partisan, finding it hard enough to +keep my own feet from temptation without judging others. "I am weary," +I said, "of all covenants and resolutions and excommunications and the +constraining of men's conscience either by Government or sectaries. +Some day, and I pray that it may be soon, both sides will be dead of +their wounds, and there will arise in Scotland men who will preach +peace and tolerance, and heal the grievously irritated sores of this +land." + +He sighed as he heard me. "I fear you are still far from grace, lad," +he said. "You are shaping for a Laodicean, of whom there are many in +these latter times. I do not know. It may be that God wills that the +Laodiceans have their day, for the fires of our noble covenant have +flamed too smokily. Yet those fires die not, and sometime they will +kindle up, purified and strengthened, and will burn the trash and +stubble and warm God's feckless people." + +He was so old and gentle that I had no heart for disputation, and could +only beseech his blessing. This he gave me and turned once more to his +devotions. I was very weary, my head was splitting with the foul air of +the place, and I would fain have got me to sleep. Some dirty straw had +been laid round the walls of the room for the prisoners to lie on, and +I found a neuk close by the minister's side. + +But sleep was impossible, for Muckle John got another fit of cursing He +stood up by the door with his eyes blazing like a wild-cat's, and +delivered what he called his "testimony." His voice had been used to +shout orders on shipboard, and not one of us could stop his ears +against it. Never have I heard such a medley of profane nonsense. He +cursed the man Charles Stuart, and every councillor by name; he cursed +the Persecutors, from his Highness of York down to one Welch of +Borrowstoneness, who had been the means of his first imprisonment; he +cursed the indulged and tolerated ministers; and he cursed every man of +the hill-folk whose name he could remember. He testified against all +dues and cesses, against all customs and excises, taxes and burdens; +against beer and ale and wines and tobacco; against mumming and +peep-shows and dancing, and every sort of play; against Christmas and +Easter and Pentecost and Hogmanay. Then most nobly did he embark on +theology. He made short work of hell and shorter work of heaven. He +raved against idolaters of the Kirk and of the Bible, and against all +preachers who, by his way of it, had perverted the Word. As he went on, +I began to fancy that Muckle John's true place was with the Mussulmans, +for he left not a stick of Christianity behind him. + +Such blasphemy on the open hill-side had been shocking enough, but in +that narrow room it was too horrid to be borne. The minister stuck his +fingers in his ears, and, advancing to the maniac, bade him be silent +before God should blast him. But what could his thin old voice do +against Gib's bellowing? The mariner went on undisturbed, and gave the +old man a blow with his foot which sent him staggering to the floor. + +The thing had become too much for my temper. I cried on the other men +to help me, but none stirred, for Gib seemed to cast an unholy spell on +ordinary folk. But my anger and discomfort banished all fear, and I +rushed at the prophet in a whirlwind. He had no eyes for my coming till +my head took him fairly in the middle, and drove the breath out of his +chest. That quieted his noise, and he turned on me with something like +wholesome human wrath in his face. + +Now, I was no match for this great being with my ungrown strength, but +the lesson of my encounter with the dragoon was burned on my mind, and +I was determined to keep out of grips with him. I was light on my feet, +and in our country bouts had often worsted a heavier antagonist by my +quickness in movement. So when Muckle John leaped to grab me, I darted +under his arm, and he staggered half-way across the room. The women +scuttled into a corner, all but the besom Isobel, who made clutches at +my coat. + +Crying "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon," Gib made a great lunge at +me with his fist. But the sword of Gideon missed its aim, and skinned +its knuckles on the stone wall. I saw now to my great comfort that the +man was beside himself with fury, and was swinging his arms wildly like +a flail. Three or four times I avoided his rushes, noting with +satisfaction that one of the countrymen had got hold of the shrieking +Isobel. Then my chance came, for as he lunged I struck from the side +with all my force on his jaw. I am left-handed, and the blow was +unlocked for. He staggered back a step, and I deftly tripped him up, so +that he fell with a crash on the hard floor. + +In a second I was on the top of him, shouting to the others to lend me +a hand. This they did at last, and so mazed was he with the fall, being +a mighty heavy man, that he scarcely resisted. "If you want a quiet +night," I cried, "we must silence this mountebank." With three leathern +belts, one my own and two borrowed, we made fast his feet and arms, I +stuffed a kerchief into his mouth, and bound his jaws with another, but +not so tight as to hinder his breathing. Then we rolled him into a +corner where he lay peacefully making the sound of a milch cow chewing +her cud. I returned to my quarters by the minister's side, and +presently from utter weariness fell into an uneasy sleep. + + * * * * * + +I woke in the morning greatly refreshed for all the closeness of the +air, and, the memory of the night's events returning, was much +concerned as to the future. I could not be fighting with Muckle John +all the time, and I made no doubt that once his limbs were freed he +would try to kill me. The others were still asleep while I tiptoed over +to his corner. At first sight I got a fearsome shock, for I thought he +was dead of suffocation. He had worked the gag out of his mouth, and +lay as still as a corpse. But soon I saw that he was sleeping quietly, +and in his slumbers the madness had died out of his face. He looked +like any other sailorman, a trifle ill-favoured of countenance, and +dirty beyond the ordinary of sea-folk. + +When the gaoler came with food, we all wakened up, and Gib asked very +peaceably to be released. The gaoler laughed at his predicament, and +inquired the tale of it; and when he heard the truth, called for a vote +as to what he should do. I was satisfied, from the look of Muckle John, +that his dangerous fit was over, so I gave my voice for release. Gib +shook himself like a great dog, and fell to his breakfast without a +word. I found the thin brose provided more palatable than the soup of +the evening before, and managed to consume a pannikin of it. As I +finished, I perceived that Gib had squatted by my side. There was +clearly some change in the man, for he gave the woman Isobel some very +ill words when she started ranting. + +Up in the little square of window one could see a patch of clear sky, +with white clouds crossing it, and a gust of the clean air of morning +was blown into our cell. Gib sat looking at it with his eyes +abstracted, so that I feared a renewal of his daftness. + +"Can ye whistle 'Jenny Nettles,' sir?" he asked me civilly. + +It was surely a queer request in that place and from such a fellow. But +I complied, and to the best of my skill rendered the air. + +He listened greedily. "Ay, you've got it," he said, humming it after +me. "I aye love the way of it. Yon's the tune I used to whistle mysel' +on shipboard when the weather was clear." + +He had the seaman's trick of thinking of the weather first thing in the +morning, and this little thing wrought a change in my view of him. His +madness was seemingly like that of an epileptic, and when it passed he +was a simple creature with a longing for familiar things. + +"The wind's to the east," he said. "I could wish I were beating down +the Forth in the _Loupin' Jean._ She was a trim bit boat for him that +could handle her." + +"Man," I said, "what made you leave a clean job for the ravings of +yesterday?" + +"I'm in the Lord's hands," he said humbly. "I'm but a penny whistle for +His breath to blow on." This he said with such solemnity that the +meaning of a fanatic was suddenly revealed to me. One or two distorted +notions, a wild imagination, and fierce passions, and there you have +the ingredients ready. But moments of sense must come, when the better +nature of the man revives. I had a thought that the clout he got on the +stone floor had done much to clear his wits. + +"What will they do wi' me, think ye?" he asked. "This is the second +time I've fallen into the hands o' the Amalekites, and it's no likely +they'll let me off sae lightly." + +"What will they do with us all?" said I. "The Plantations maybe, or the +Bass! It's a bonny creel you've landed me in, for I'm as innocent as a +newborn babe." + +The notion of the Plantations seemed to comfort him. "I've been there +afore, once in the brig _John Rolfe_ o' Greenock, and once in the +_Luckpenny _o' Leith. It's a het land but a bonny, and full o' all +manner o' fruits. You can see tobacco growin' like aits, and mair big +trees in one plantin' than in all the shire o' Lothian. Besides--" + +But I got no more of Muckle John's travels, for the door opened on that +instant, and the gaoler appeared. He looked at our heads, then singled +me out, and cried on me to follow. "Come on, you," he said. "Ye're +wantit in the captain's room." + +I followed in bewilderment; for I knew something of the law's delays, +and I could not believe that my hour of trial had come already. The man +took me down the turret stairs and through a long passage to a door +where stood two halberdiers. Through this he thrust me, and I found +myself in a handsome panelled apartment with the city arms carved above +the chimney. A window stood open, and I breathed the sweet, fresh air +with delight. But I caught a reflection of myself in the polished steel +of the fireplace, and my spirits fell, for a more woebegone ruffian my +eyes had never seen. I was as dirty as a collier, my coat was half off +my back from my handling on the moor, and there were long rents at the +knees of my breeches. + +Another door opened, and two persons entered. One was a dapper little +man with a great wig, very handsomely dressed in a plum-coloured silken +coat, with a snowy cravat at his neck. At the sight of the other my +face crimsoned, for it was the girl who had sung Montrose's song in the +rain. + +The little gentleman looked at me severely, and then turned to his +companion. "Is this the fellow, Elspeth?" he inquired. "He looks a +sorry rascal." + +The minx pretended to examine me carefully. Her colour was high with +the fresh morning, and she kept tapping her boot with her whip handle. + +"Why, yes, Uncle Gregory," she said, "It is the very man, though none +the better for your night's attentions." + +"And you say he had no part in Gib's company, but interfered on your +behalf when the madman threatened you?" + +"Such was his impertinence," she said, "as if I were not a match for a +dozen crazy hill-folk. But doubtless the lad meant well." + +"It is also recorded against him that he assaulted one of His Majesty's +servants, to wit, the trooper John Donald, and offered to hinder him in +the prosecution of his duty." + +"La, uncle!" cried the girl, "who is to distinguish friend from foe in +a mellay? Have you never seen a dog in a fight bite the hand of one who +would succour him?" + +"Maybe, maybe," said the gentleman. "Your illustrations, Elspeth, would +do credit to His Majesty's advocate. Your plea is that this young man, +whose name I do not know and do not seek to hear, should be freed or +justice will miscarry? God knows the law has enough to do without +clogging its wheels with innocence." + +The girl nodded. Her wicked, laughing eyes roamed about the apartment +with little regard for my flushed face. + +"Then the Crown assoilzies the panel and deserts the diet," said the +little gentleman. "Speak, sir, and thank His Majesty for his clemency +and this lady for her intercession." + +I had no words, for if I had been sore at my imprisonment, I was black +angry at this manner of release. I did not reflect that Miss Elspeth +Blair must have risen early and ridden far to be in the Canongate at +this hour. 'Twas justice only that moved her, I thought, and no +gratitude or kindness. To her I was something so lowly that she need +not take the pains to be civil, but must speak of me in my presence as +if it were a question of a stray hound. My first impulse was to refuse +to stir, but happily my good sense returned in time and preserved me +from playing the fool. + +"I thank you, sir," I said gruffly--"and the lady. Do I understand that +I am free to go?" + +"Through the door, down the left stairway, and you will be in the +street," said the gentleman. + +I made some sort of bow and moved to the door. + +"Farewell, Mr. Whiggamore," the girl cried, "Keep a cheerful +countenance, or they'll think you a Sweet-Singer. Your breeches will +mend, man." + +And with her laughter most unpleasantly in my ears I made my way into +the Canongate, and so to my lodgings at Mrs. Macvittie's. + + * * * * * + +Three weeks later I heard that Muckle John was destined for the +Plantations in a ship of Mr. Barclay of Urie's, which traded to New +Jersey. I had a fancy to see him before he went, and after much trouble +I was suffered to visit him. His gaoler told me he had been mighty wild +during his examination before the Council, and had had frequent bouts +of madness since, but for the moment he was peaceable. I found him in a +little cell by himself, outside the common room of the gaol. He was +sitting in an attitude of great dejection, and when I entered could +scarcely recall me to his memory. I remember thinking that, what with +his high cheek-bones, and lank black hair, and brooding eyes, and great +muscular frame, Scotland could scarcely have furnished a wilder figure +for the admiration of the Carolinas, or wherever he went to. I did not +envy his future master. + +But with me he was very friendly and quiet. His ailment was +home-sickness; for though he had been a great voyager, it seemed he was +loath to quit our bleak countryside for ever. "I used aye to think o' +the first sight o' Inchkeith and the Lomond hills, and the smell o' +herrings at the pier o' Leith. What says the Word? '_Weep not for the +dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away, for he +shall return no more, nor see his native country_.'" + +I asked him if I could do him any service. + +"There's a woman at Cramond," he began timidly. "She might like to ken +what had become o' me. Would ye carry a message?" + +I did better, for at Gib's dictation I composed for her a letter, since +he could not write. I wrote it on some blank pages from my pocket which +I used for College notes. It was surely the queerest love-letter ever +indited, for the most part of it was theology, and the rest was +instructions for the disposing of his scanty plenishing. I have +forgotten now what I wrote, but I remember that the woman's name was +Alison Steel. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OF A STAIRHEAD AND A SEA-CAPTAIN. + +With the escapade that landed me in the Tolbooth there came an end to +the nightmare years of my first youth. A week later I got word that my +father was dead of an ague in the Low Countries, and I had to be off +post-haste to Auchencairn to see to the ordering of our little estate. +We were destined to be bitter poor, what with dues and regalities +incident on the passing of the ownership, and I thought it best to +leave my mother to farm it, with the help of Robin Gilfillan the +grieve, and seek employment which would bring me an honest penny. Her +one brother, Andrew Sempill, from whom I was named, was a merchant in +Glasgow, the owner of three ships that traded to the Western Seas, and +by repute a man of a shrewd and venturesome temper. He was single, too, +and I might reasonably look to be his heir; so when a letter came from +him offering me a hand in his business, my mother was instant for my +going. I was little loath myself, for I saw nothing now to draw me to +the profession of the law, which had been my first notion. "Hame's +hame," runs the proverb, "as the devil said when he found himself in +the Court of Session," and I had lost any desire for that sinister +company. Besides, I liked the notion of having to do with ships and far +lands; for I was at the age when youth burns fiercely in a lad, and his +fancy is as riotous as a poet's. + +Yet the events I have just related had worked a change in my life. They +had driven the unthinking child out of me and forced me to reflect on +my future. Two things rankled in my soul--a wench's mocking laughter +and the treatment I had got from the dragoon. It was not that I was in +love with the black-haired girl; indeed, I think I hated her; but I +could not get her face out of my head or her voice out of my ears. She +had mocked me, treated me as if I was no more than a foolish servant, +and my vanity was raw. I longed to beat down her pride, to make her +creep humbly to me, Andrew Garvald, as her only deliverer; and how that +should be compassed was the subject of many hot fantasies in my brain. +The dragoon, too, had tossed me about like a silly sheep, and my +manhood cried out at the recollection. What sort of man was I if any +lubberly soldier could venture on such liberties? + +I went into the business with the monstrous solemnity of youth, and +took stock of my equipment as if I were casting up an account. Many a +time in those days I studied my appearance in the glass like a foolish +maid. I was not well featured, having a freckled, square face, a +biggish head, a blunt nose, grey, colourless eyes, and a sandy thatch +of hair, I had great square shoulders, but my arms were too short for +my stature, and--from an accident in my nursing days--of indifferent +strength. All this stood on the debit side of my account. On the credit +side I set down that I had unshaken good health and an uncommon power +of endurance, especially in the legs. There was no runner in the Upper +Ward of Lanark who was my match, and I had travelled the hills so +constantly in all weathers that I had acquired a gipsy lore in the +matter of beasts and birds and wild things, I had long, clear, unerring +eyesight, which had often stood me in good stead in the time of my +father's troubles. Of moral qualities, Heaven forgive me, I fear I +thought less; but I believed, though I had been little proved, that I +was as courageous as the common run of men. + +All this looks babyish in the writing, but there was a method in this +self-examination. I believed that I was fated to engage in strange +ventures, and I wanted to equip myself for the future. The pressing +business was that of self-defence, and I turned first to a gentleman's +proper weapon, the sword. Here, alas! I was doomed to a bitter +disappointment. My father had given me a lesson now and then, but never +enough to test me, and when I came into the hands of a Glasgow master +my unfitness was soon manifest. Neither with broadsword nor small sword +could I acquire any skill. My short arm lacked reach and vigour, and +there seemed to be some stiffness in wrist and elbow and shoulder which +compelled me to yield to smaller men. Here was a pretty business, for +though gentleman born I was as loutish with a gentleman's weapon as any +country hind. + +This discovery gave me some melancholy weeks, but I plucked up heart +and set to reasoning. If my hand were to guard my head it must find +some other way of it. My thoughts turned to powder and shot, to the +musket and the pistol. Here was a weapon which needed only a stout +nerve, a good eye, and a steady hand; one of these I possessed to the +full, and the others were not beyond my attainment. There lived an +armourer in the Gallowgate, one Weir, with whom I began to spend my +leisure. There was an alley by the Molendinar Burn, close to the +archery butts, where he would let me practise at a mark with guns from +his store. Soon to my delight I found that here was a weapon with which +I need fear few rivals. I had a natural genius for the thing, as some +men have for sword-play, and Weir was a zealous teacher, for he loved +his flint-locks. + +"See, Andrew," he would cry, "this is the true leveller of mankind. It +will make the man his master's equal, for though your gentleman may +cock on a horse and wave his Andrew Ferrara, this will bring him off +it. Brains, my lad, will tell in coming days, for it takes a head to +shoot well, though any flesher may swing a sword." + +The better marksman I grew the less I liked the common make of guns, +and I cast about to work an improvement. I was especially fond of the +short gun or pistol, not the bell-mouthed thing which shot a handful +of slugs, and was as little precise in its aim as a hailstorm, but the +light foreign pistol which, shot as true as a musket. Weir had learned +his trade in Italy, and was a neat craftsman, so I employed him to make +me a pistol after my own pattern. The butt was of light, tough wood, +and brass-bound, for I did not care to waste money on ornament. The +barrel was shorter than the usual, and of the best Spanish metal, and +the pan and the lock were set after my own device. Nor was that all, +for I became an epicure in the matter of bullets, and made my own with +the care of a goldsmith. I would weigh out the powder charges as nicely +as an apothecary weighs his drugs, for I had discovered that with the +pistol the weight of bullet and charge meant much for good +marksmanship. From Weir I got the notion of putting up ball and powder +in cartouches, and I devised a method of priming much quicker and surer +than the ordinary. In one way and another I believe I acquired more +skill in the business than anybody then living in Scotland. I cherished +my toy like a lover; I christened it "Elspeth "; it lay by my bed at +night, and lived by day in a box of sweet-scented foreign wood given me +by one of my uncle's skippers. I doubt I thought more of it than of my +duty to my Maker. + +All the time I was very busy at Uncle Andrew's counting-house in the +Candleriggs, and down by the river-side among the sailors. It was the +day when Glasgow was rising from a cluster of streets round the High +Kirk and College to be the chief merchants' resort in Scotland. +Standing near the Western Seas, she turned her eyes naturally to the +Americas, and a great trade was beginning in tobacco and raw silk from +Virginia, rich woods and dye stuffs from the Main, and rice and fruits +from the Summer Islands. The river was too shallow for ships of heavy +burthen, so it was the custom to unload in the neighbourhood of +Greenock and bring the goods upstream in barges to the quay at the +Broomielaw. There my uncle, in company with other merchants, had his +warehouse, but his counting-house was up in the town, near by the +College, and I spent my time equally between the two places. I became +furiously interested in the work, for it has ever been my happy fortune +to be intent on whatever I might be doing at the moment. I think I +served my uncle well, for I had much of the merchant's aptitude, and +the eye to discern far-away profits. He liked my boldness, for I was +impatient of the rule-of-thumb ways of some of our fellow-traders. "We +are dealing with new lands," I would say, "and there is need of new +plans. It pays to think in trading as much as in statecraft," There +were plenty that looked askance at us, and cursed us as troublers of +the peace, and there were some who prophesied speedy ruin. But we +discomforted our neighbours by prospering mightily, so that there was +talk of Uncle Andrew for the Provost's chair at the next vacancy. + +They were happy years, the four I spent in Glasgow, for I was young and +ardent, and had not yet suffered the grave miscarriage of hope which is +our human lot. My uncle was a busy merchant, but he was also something +of a scholar, and was never happier than when disputing some learned +point with a college professor over a bowl of punch. He was a great +fisherman, too, and many a salmon I have seen him kill between the town +and Rutherglen in the autumn afternoons. He treated me like a son, and +by his aid I completed my education by much reading of books and a +frequent attendance at college lectures. Such leisure as I had I spent +by the river-side talking with the ship captains and getting news of +far lands. In this way I learned something of the handling of a ship, +and especially how to sail a sloop alone in rough weather, I have +ventured, myself the only crew, far down the river to the beginning of +the sealocks, and more than once escaped drowning by a miracle. Of a +Saturday I would sometimes ride out to Auchencairn to see my mother and +assist with my advice the work of Robin Gilfillan. Once I remember I +rode to Carnwath, and looked again on the bleak house where the girl +Elspeth had sung to me in the rain. I found it locked and deserted, and +heard from a countrywoman that the folk had gone. "And a guid +riddance," said the woman. "The Blairs was aye a cauld and oppressive +race, and they were black Prelatists forbye. But I whiles miss yon +hellicat lassie. She had a cheery word for a'body, and she keepit the +place frae languor." + +But I cannot linger over the tale of those peaceful years when I have +so much that is strange and stirring to set down. Presently came the +Revolution, when King James fled overseas, and the Dutch King William +reigned in his stead. The event was a godsend to our trade, for with +Scotland in a bicker with Covenants and dragoonings, and new taxes +threatened with each new Parliament, a merchant's credit was apt to be +a brittle thing. The change brought a measure of security, and as we +prospered I soon began to see that something must be done in our +Virginian trade. Years before, my uncle had sent out a man, Lambie by +name, who watched his interests in that country. But we had to face +such fierce rivalry from the Bristol merchants that I had small +confidence in Mr. Lambie, who from his letters was a sleepy soul. I +broached the matter to my uncle, and offered to go myself and put +things in order. At first he was unwilling to listen. I think he was +sorry to part with me, for we had become close friends, and there was +also the difficulty of my mother, to whom I was the natural protector. +But his opposition died down when I won my mother to my side, and when +I promised that I would duly return. I pointed out that Glasgow and +Virginia were not so far apart. Planters from the colony would dwell +with us for a season, and their sons often come to Glasgow for their +schooling. You could see the proud fellows walking the streets in brave +clothes, and marching into the kirk on Sabbath with a couple of +servants carrying cushions and Bibles. In the better class of tavern +one could always meet with a Virginian or two compounding their curious +drinks, and swearing their outlandish oaths. Most of them had gone +afield from Scotland, and it was a fine incentive to us young men to +see how mightily they had prospered. My uncle yielded, and it was +arranged that I should sail with the first convoy of the New Year. From +the moment of the decision I walked the earth in a delirium of +expectation. That February, I remember, was blue and mild, with soft +airs blowing up the river. Down by the Broomielaw I found a new rapture +in the smell of tar and cordage, and the queer foreign scents in my +uncle's warehouse. Every skipper and greasy sailor became for me a +figure of romance. I scanned every outland face, wondering if I should +meet it again in the New World. A negro in cotton drawers, shivering in +our northern dune, had more attraction for me than the fairest maid, +and I was eager to speak with all and every one who had crossed the +ocean. One bronzed mariner with silver earrings I entertained to three +stoups of usquebaugh, hoping for strange tales, but the little I had +from him before he grew drunk was that he had once voyaged to the +Canaries. You may imagine that I kept my fancies to myself, and was +outwardly only the sober merchant with a mind set on freights and +hogsheads. But whoever remembers his youth will know that such terms to +me were not the common parlance of trade. The very names of the +tobaccos Negro's Head, Sweet-scented, Oronoke, Carolina Red, Gloucester +Glory, Golden Rod sang in my head like a tune, that told of green +forests and magic islands. + +But an incident befell ere I left which was to have unforeseen effects +on my future. One afternoon I was in the shooting alley I have spoken +of, making trial of a new size of bullet I had moulded. The place was +just behind Parlane's tavern, and some gentlemen, who had been drinking +there, came out to cool their heads and see the sport. Most of them +were cock-lairds from the Lennox, and, after the Highland fashion, had +in their belts heavy pistols of the old kind which folk called "dags." +They were cumbrous, ill-made things, gaudily ornamented with silver and +Damascus work, fit ornaments for a savage Highland chief, but little +good for serious business, unless a man were only a pace or two from +his opponent. One of them, who had drunk less than the others, came up +to me and very civilly proposed a match. I was nothing loath, so a +course was fixed, and a mutchkin of French _eau de vie_ named as the +prize. I borrowed an old hat from the landlord which had stuck in its +side a small red cockade. The thing was hung as a target in a leafless +cherry tree at twenty paces, and the cockade was to be the centre mark. +Each man was to fire three shots apiece. + +Barshalloch--for so his companions called my opponent after his +lairdship--made a great to-do about the loading, and would not be +content till he had drawn the charge two--three times. The spin of a +coin gave him first shot, and he missed the mark and cut the bole of +the tree. + +"See," I said, "I will put my ball within a finger's-breadth of his." +Sure enough, when they looked, the two bullets were all but in the same +hole. + +His second shot took the hat low down on its right side, and clipped +away a bit of the brim. I saw by this time that the man could shoot, +though he had a poor weapon and understood little about it. So I told +the company that I would trim the hat by slicing a bit from the other +side. This I achieved, though by little, for my shot removed only half +as much cloth as its predecessor. But the performance amazed the +onlookers. "Ye've found a fair provost at the job, Barshalloch," one of +them hiccupped. "Better quit and pay for the mutchkin." + +My antagonist took every care with his last shot, and, just missing the +cockade, hit the hat about the middle, cut the branch on which it +rested, and brought it fluttering to the ground a pace or two farther +on. It lay there, dimly seen through a low branch of the cherry tree, +with the cockade on the side nearest me. It was a difficult mark, but +the light was good and my hand steady. I walked forward and brought +back the hat with a hole drilled clean through the cockade. + +At that there was a great laughter, and much jocosity from the +cock-lairds at their friend's expense. Barshalloch very handsomely +complimented me, and sent for the mutchkin. His words made me warm +towards him, and I told him that half the business was not my skill of +shooting but the weapon I carried. + +He begged for a look at it, and examined it long and carefully. + +"Will ye sell, friend?" he asked. "I'll give ye ten golden guineas and +the best filly that ever came out o' Strathendrick for that pistol." + +But I told him that the offer of Strathendrick itself would not buy it. + +"No?" said he. "Well, I won't say ye're wrong. A man should cherish his +weapon like his wife, for it carries his honour." + +Presently, having drunk the wager, they went indoors again, all but a +tall fellow who had been a looker-on, but had not been of the Lennox +company. I had remarked him during the contest, a long, lean man with a +bright, humorous blue eye and a fiery red head. He was maybe ten years +older than me, and though he was finely dressed in town clothes, there +was about his whole appearance a smack of the sea. He came forward, +and, in a very Highland voice, asked my name. + +"Why should I tell you?" I said, a little nettled. + +"Just that I might carry it in my head. I have seen some pretty +shooting in my day, but none like yours, young one. What's your trade +that ye've learned the pistol game so cleverly?" + +Now I was flushed with pride, and in no mood for a stranger's +patronage. So I told him roundly that it was none of his business, and +pushed by him to Parlane's back-door. But my brusqueness gave no +offence to this odd being. He only laughed and cried after me that, if +my manners were the equal of my marksmanship, I would be the best lad +he had seen since his home-coming. + +I had dinner with my uncle in the Candleriggs, and sat with him late +afterwards casting up accounts, so it was not till nine o'clock that I +set out on my way to my lodgings. These were in the Saltmarket, close +on the river front, and to reach them I went by the short road through +the Friar's Vennel. It was an ill-reputed quarter of the town, and not +long before had been noted as a haunt of coiners; but I had gone +through it often, and met with no hindrance. + +In the vennel stood a tall dark bit of masonry called Gilmour's +Lordship, which was pierced by long closes from which twisting +stairways led to the upper landings. I was noting its gloomy aspect +under the dim February moon, when a man came towards me and turned into +one of the closes. He swung along with a free, careless gait that +marked him as no townsman, and ere he plunged into the darkness I had a +glimpse of fiery hair. It was the stranger who had accosted me in +Parlane's alley, and he was either drunk or in wild spirits, for he was +singing:-- + + "We're a' dry wi' the drinkin' o't, + We're a' dry wi' the drinkin' o't. + The minister kissed the fiddler's wife, + And he couldna preach for thinkin' o't." + +The ribald chorus echoed from the close mouth. + +Then I saw that he was followed by three others, bent, slinking +fellows, who slipped across the patches of moonlight, and eagerly +scanned the empty vennel. They could not see me, for I was in shadow, +and presently they too entered the close. + +The thing looked ugly, and, while I had no love for the red-haired man, +I did not wish to see murder or robbery committed and stand idly by. +The match of the afternoon had given me a fine notion of my prowess, +though. Had I reflected, my pistol was in its case at home, and I had +no weapon but a hazel staff. Happily in youth the blood is quicker than +the brain, and without a thought I ran into the close and up the long +stairway. + +The chorus was still being sung ahead of me, and then it suddenly +ceased. In dead silence and in pitchy darkness I struggled up the stone +steps, wondering what I should find at the next turning. The place was +black as night, the steps were uneven, and the stairs corkscrewed most +wonderfully. I wished with all my heart that I had not come, as I +groped upwards hugging the wall. + +Then a cry came and a noise of hard breathing. At the same moment a +door opened somewhere above my head, and a faint glow came down the +stairs. Presently with a great rumble a heavy man came rolling past me, +butting with his head at the stair-side. He came to anchor on a landing +below me, and finding his feet plunged downwards as if the devil were +at his heels. He left behind him a short Highland knife, which I picked +up and put in my pocket. + +On his heels came another with his hand clapped to his side, and he +moaned as he slithered past me. Something dripped from him on the stone +steps. + +The light grew stronger, and as I rounded the last turning a third came +bounding down, stumbling from wall to wall like a drunk man. I saw his +face clearly, and if ever mortal eyes held baffled murder it was that +fellow's. There was a dark mark on his shoulder. + +Above me as I blinked stood my red-haired friend on the top landing. He +had his sword drawn, and was whistling softly through his teeth, while +on the right hand was an open door and an old man holding a lamp. + +"Ho!" he cried. "Here comes a fourth. God's help, it's my friend the +marksman!" + +I did not like that naked bit of steel, but there was nothing for it +but to see the thing through. When he saw that I was unarmed he +returned his weapon to its sheath, and smiled broadly down on me. + +"What brings my proud gentleman up these long stairs?" he asked. + +"I saw you entering the close and three men following you. It looked +bad, so I came up to see fair play." + +"Did ye so? And a very pretty intention, Mr. What's-your-name. But ye +needna have fashed yourself. Did ye see any of our friends on the +stairs?" + +"I met a big man rolling down like a football," I said. + +"Ay, that would be Angus. He's a clumsy stot, and never had much +sense." + +"And I met another with his hand on his side," I said. + +"That would be little James. He's a fine lad with a skean-dhu on a dark +night, but there was maybe too much light here for his trade." + +"And I met a third who reeled like a drunk man," I said. + +"Ay," said he meditatively, "that was Long Colin. He's the flower o' +the flock, and I had to pink him. At another time and in a better place +I would have liked a bout with him, for he has some notion of +sword-play." + +"Who were the men?" I asked, in much confusion, for this laughing +warrior perplexed me. + +"Who but just my cousins from Glengyle. There has long been a sort of +bicker between us, and they thought they had got a fine chance of +ending it." + +"And who, in Heaven's name, are you," I said, "that treats murder so +lightly?" + +"Me?" he repeated. "Well, I might give ye the answer you gave me this +very day when I speired the same question. But I am frank by nature, +and I see you wish me well. Come in bye, and we'll discuss the matter." + +He led me into a room where a cheerful fire crackled, and got out from +a press a bottle and glasses. He produced tobacco from a brass box and +filled a long pipe. + +"Now," said he, "we'll understand each other better. Ye see before you +a poor gentleman of fortune, whom poverty and a roving spirit have +driven to outland bits o' the earth to ply his lawful trade of +sea-captain. They call me by different names. I have passed for a Dutch +skipper, and a Maryland planter, and a French trader, and, in spite of +my colour, I have been a Spanish don in the Main. At Tortuga you will +hear one name, and another at Port o' Spain, and a third at Cartagena. +But, seeing we are in the city o' Glasgow in the kindly kingdom o' +Scotland, I'll be honest with you. My father called me Ninian Campbell, +and there's no better blood in Breadalbane." + +What could I do after that but make him a present of the trivial facts +about myself and my doings? There was a look of friendly humour about +this dare-devil which captured my fancy. I saw in him the stuff of +which adventurers are made, and though I was a sober merchant, I was +also young. For days I had been dreaming of foreign parts and an +Odyssey of strange fortunes, and here on a Glasgow stairhead I had +found Ulysses himself. + +"Is it not the pity," he cried, "that such talents as yours should rust +in a dark room in the Candleriggs? Believe me, Mr. Garvald, I have seen +some pretty shots, but I have never seen your better." + +Then I told him that I was sailing within a month for Virginia, and he +suddenly grew solemn. + +"It looks like Providence," he said, "that we two should come together. +I, too, will soon be back in the Western Seas, and belike we'll meet. +I'm something of a rover, and I never bide long in the same place, but +I whiles pay a visit to James Town, and they ken me well on the Eastern +Shore and the Accomac beaches." + +He fell to giving me such advice as a traveller gives to a novice. It +was strange hearing for an honest merchant, for much of it was +concerned with divers ways of outwitting the law. By and by he was +determined to convoy me to my lodgings, for he pointed out that I was +unarmed; and I think, too, he had still hopes of another meeting with +Long Colin, his cousin. + +"I leave Glasgow the morrow's morn," he said, "and it's no likely we'll +meet again in Scotland. Out in Virginia, no doubt, you'll soon be a +great man, and sit in Council, and hob-nob with the Governor. But a +midge can help an elephant, and I would gladly help you, for you had +the goodwill to help me. If ye need aid you will go to Mercer's Tavern +at James Town down on the water front, and you will ask news of Ninian +Campbell. The man will say that he never heard tell of the name, and +then you will speak these words to him. You will say 'The lymphads are +on the loch, and the horn of Diarmaid has sounded.' Keep them well in +mind, for some way or other they will bring you and me together." + +Without another word he was off, and as I committed the gibberish to +memory I could hear his song going up the Saltmarket:-- + + "The minister kissed the fiddler's wife, + And he couldna preach for thinkin' o't." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MY FIRST COMING TO VIRGINIA. + +There are few moments in life to compare with a traveller's first sight +of a new land which is destined to be for short or long his home. When, +after a fair and speedy voyage, we passed Point Comfort, and had rid +ourselves of the revenue men, and the tides bore us up the estuary of a +noble river, I stood on deck and drank in the heady foreign scents with +a boyish ecstasy. Presently we had opened the capital city, which +seemed to me no more than a village set amid gardens, and Mr. Lambie +had come aboard and greeted me. He conveyed me to the best ordinary in +the town which stood over against the Court-house. Late in the +afternoon, just before the dark fell, I walked out to drink my fill of +the place. + +You are to remember that I was a country lad who had never set foot +forth of Scotland. I was very young, and hot on the quest of new sights +and doings. As I walked down the unpaven street and through the narrow +tobacco-grown lanes, the strange smell of it all intoxicated me like +wine. + +There was a great red sunset burning over the blue river and kindling +the far forests till they glowed like jewels. The frogs were croaking +among the reeds, and the wild duck squattered in the dusk. I passed an +Indian, the first I had seen, with cock's feathers on his head, and a +curiously tattooed chest, moving as light as a sleep-walker. One or two +townsfolk took the air, smoking their long pipes, and down by the water +a negro girl was singing a wild melody. The whole place was like a mad, +sweet-scented dream to one just come from the unfeatured ocean, and +with a memory only of grim Scots cities and dour Scots hills. I felt as +if I had come into a large and generous land, and I thanked God that I +was but twenty-three. + +But as I was mooning along there came a sudden interruption on +my dreams. I was beyond the houses, in a path which ran among +tobacco-sheds and little gardens, with the river lapping a +stone's-throw off. Down a side alley I caught a glimpse of a figure +that seemed familiar. + +'Twas that of a tall, hulking man, moving quickly among the tobacco +plants, with something stealthy in his air. The broad, bowed shoulders +and the lean head brought back to me the rainy moorlands about the +Cauldstaneslap and the mad fellow whose prison I had shared. Muckle +John had gone to the Plantations, and 'twas Muckle John or the devil +that was moving there in the half light. + +I cried on him, and ran down the side alley. + +But it seemed that he did not want company, for he broke into a run. + +Now in those days I rejoiced in the strength of my legs, and I was +determined not to be thus balked. So I doubled after him into a maze of +tobacco and melon beds. + +But it seemed he knew how to run. I caught a glimpse of his hairy legs +round the corner of a shed, and then lost him in a patch of cane. Then +I came out on a sort of causeway floored with boards which covered a +marshy sluice, and there I made great strides on him. He was clear +against the sky now, and I could see that he was clad only in shirt and +cotton breeches, while at his waist flapped an ugly sheath-knife. + +Rounding the hut corner I ran full into a man. + +"Hold you," cried the stranger, and laid hands on my arm; but I shook +him off violently, and continued the race. The collision had cracked my +temper, and I had a mind to give Muckle John a lesson in civility. For +Muckle John it was beyond doubt; not two men in the broad earth had +that ungainly bend of neck. + +The next I knew we were out on the river bank on a shore of hard clay +which the tides had created. Here I saw him more clearly, and I began +to doubt. I might be chasing some river-side ruffian, who would give me +a knife in my belly for my pains. + +The doubt slackened my pace, and he gained on me. Then I saw his +intention. There was a flat-bottomed wherry tied up by the bank, and +for this he made. He flung off the rope, seized a long pole, and began +to push away. + +The last rays of the westering sun fell on his face, and my hesitation +vanished. For those pent-house brows and deep-set, wild-cat eyes were +fixed for ever in my memory. + +I cried to him as I ran, but he never looked my road. Somehow it was +borne in on me that at all costs I must have speech with him. The +wherry was a yard or two from the shore when I jumped for its stern. + +I lighted firm on the wood, and for a moment looked Muckle John in the +face. I saw a countenance lean like a starved wolf, with great weals as +of old wounds on cheek and brow. But only for a, second, for as I +balanced myself to step forward he rammed the butt of the pole in my +chest, so that I staggered and fell plump in the river. + +The water was only up to my middle, but before I could clamber back he +had shipped his oars, and was well into the centre of the stream. + +I stood staring like a zany, while black anger filled my heart. I +plucked my pistol forth, and for a second was on the verge of murder, +for I could have shot him like a rabbit. But God mercifully restrained +my foolish passion, and presently the boat and the rower vanished in +the evening haze. + +"This is a bonny beginning!" thought I, as I waded through the mud to +the shore. I was wearing my best clothes in honour of my arrival, and +they were all fouled and plashing. + +Then on the bank above me I saw the fellow who had run into me and +hindered my catching Muckle John on dry land. He was shaking with +laughter. + +I was silly and hot-headed in those days, and my wetting had not +disposed me to be laughed at. In this fellow I saw a confederate of +Gib's, and if I had lost one I had the other. So I marched up to him +and very roundly damned his insolence. + +He was a stern, lantern-jawed man of forty or so, dressed very roughly +in leather breeches and a frieze coat. Long grey woollen stockings were +rolled above his knees, and slung on his back was an ancient musket. + +"Easy, my lad," he said. "It's a free country, and there's no statute +against mirth." + +"I'll have you before the sheriff," I cried. "You tripped me up when I +was on the track of the biggest rogue in America." + +"So!" said he, mocking me. "You'll be a good judge of rogues. Was it a +runaway redemptioner, maybe? You'd be looking for the twenty hogsheads +reward." + +This was more than I could stand. I was carrying a pistol in my hand, +and I stuck it to his ear. "March, my friend," I said. "You'll walk +before me to a Justice of the Peace, and explain your doings this +night." + +I had never threatened a man with a deadly weapon before, and I was to +learn a most unforgettable lesson. A hand shot out, caught my wrist, +and forced it upwards in a grip of steel. And when I would have used my +right fist in his face another hand seized that, and my arms were +padlocked. + +Cool, ironical eyes looked into mine. + +"You're very free with your little gun, my lad. Let me give you a word +in season. Never hold a pistol to a man unless you mean to shoot. If +your eyes waver you had better had a porridge stick." + +He pressed my wrist back till my fingers relaxed, and he caught my +pistol in his teeth. With a quick movement of the head he dropped it +inside his shirt. + +"There's some would have killed you for that trick, young sir," he +said. "It's trying to the temper to have gunpowder so near a man's +brain. But you're young, and, by your speech, a new-comer. So instead +I'll offer you a drink." + +He dropped my wrists, and motioned me to follow him. Very crestfallen +and ashamed, I walked in his wake to a little shanty almost on the +wateredge. The place was some kind of inn, for a negro brought us two +tankards of apple-jack, and tobacco pipes, and lit a foul-smelling +lantern, which he set between us. + +"First," says the man, "let me tell you that I never before clapped +eyes on the long piece of rascality you were seeking. He looked like +one that had cheated the gallows." + +"He was a man I knew in Scotland," I said grumpily. + +"Likely enough. There's a heap of Scots redemptioners hereaways. I'm +out of Scotland myself, or my forbears were, but my father was settled +in the Antrim Glens. There's wild devils among them, and your friend +looked as if he had given the slip to the hounds in the marshes. There +was little left of his breeches.... Drink, man, or you'll get fever +from your wet duds." + +I drank, and the strong stuff mounted to my unaccustomed brain; my +tongue was loosened, my ill-temper mellowed, and I found myself telling +this grim fellow much that was in my heart. + +"So you're a merchant," he said. "It's not for me to call down an +honest trade, but we could be doing with fewer merchants in these +parts. They're so many leeches that suck our blood. Are you here to +make siller?" + +I said I was, and he laughed. "I never heard of your uncle's business, +Mr. Garvald, but you'll find it a stiff task to compete with the lads +from Bristol and London. They've got the whole dominion by the scruff +of the neck." + +I replied that I was not in awe of them, and that I could hold my own +with anybody in a fair trade. + +"Fair trade!" he cried scornfully. "That's just what you won't get. +That's a thing unkenned in Virginia. Look you here, my lad. The +Parliament in London treats us Virginians like so many puling bairns. +We cannot sell our tobacco except to English merchants, and we cannot +buy a horn spoon except it comes in an English ship. What's the result +of that? You, as a merchant, can tell me fine. The English fix what +price they like for our goods, and it's the lowest conceivable, and +they make their own price for what they sell us, and that's as high as +a Jew's. There's a fine profit there for the gentlemen-venturers of +Bristol, but it's starvation and damnation for us poor Virginians." + +"What's the result?" he cried again. "Why, that there's nothing to be +had in the land except what the merchants bring. There's scarcely a +smith or a wright or a cobbler between the James and the Potomac. If I +want a bed to lie in, I have to wait till the coming of the tobacco +convoy, and go down to the wharves and pay a hundred pounds of +sweet-scented for a thing you would buy in the Candleriggs for twenty +shillings. How, in God's name, is a farmer to live if he has to pay +usury for every plough and spade and yard of dimity!" + +"Remember you're speaking to a merchant," I said. "You've told me the +very thing to encourage me. If prices are high, it's all the better for +me." + +"It would be," he said grimly, "if your name werena what it is, and you +came from elsewhere than the Clyde. D'you think the proud English +corporations are going to let you inside? Not them. The most you'll get +will be the scraps that fall from their table, my poor Lazarus, and for +these you'll have to go hat in hand to Dives." + +His face grew suddenly earnest, and he leaned on the table and looked +me straight in the eyes. + +"You're a young lad and a new-comer, and the accursed scales of +Virginia are not yet on your eyes. Forbye, I think you've spirit, +though it's maybe mixed with a deal of folly. You've your choice before +you, Mr. Garvald. You can become a lickspittle like the rest of them, +and no doubt you'll gather a wheen bawbees, but it will be a poor +shivering soul will meet its Maker in the hinder end. Or you can play +the man and be a good Virginian. I'll not say it's an easy part. You'll +find plenty to cry you down, and there will be hard knocks going; but +by your face I judge you're not afraid of that. Let me tell you this +land is on the edge of hell, and there's sore need for stout men. +They'll declare in this town that there's no Indians on this side the +mountains that would dare to lift a tomahawk. Little they ken!" + +In his eagerness he had gripped my arm, and his dark, lean face was +thrust close to mine. + +"I was with Bacon in '76, in the fray with the Susquehannocks. I speak +the Indian tongues, and there's few alive that ken the tribes like me. +The folk here live snug in the Tidewater, which is maybe a hundred +miles wide from the sea, but of the West they ken nothing. There might +be an army thousands strong concealed a day's journey from the manors, +and never a word would be heard of it." + +"But they tell me the Indians are changed nowadays," I put in. "They +say they've settled down to peaceful ways like any Christian." + +"Put your head into a catamount's mouth, if you please," he said +grimly, "but never trust an Indian. The only good kind is the dead +kind. I tell you we're living on the edge of hell. It may come this +year or next year or five years hence, but come it will. I hear we are +fighting the French, and that means that the tribes of the Canadas will +be on the move. Little you know the speed of a war-party. They would +cut my throat one morning, and be hammering at the doors of James Town +before sundown. There should be a line of forts in the West from the +Roanoke to the Potomac, and every man within fifty miles should keep a +gun loaded and a horse saddled. But, think you the Council will move? +It costs money, say the wiseacres, as if money were not cheaper than a +slit wizzand!" + +I was deeply solemnized, though I scarce understood the full drift of +his words, and the queer thing was that I was not ill-pleased. I had +come out to seek for trade, and it looked as if I were to find war. And +all this when I was not four hours landed. + +"What think you of that?" he asked, as I kept silent, "I've been +warned. A man I know on the Rappahannock passed the word that the Long +House was stirring. Tell that to the gentry in James Town. What side +are you going for, young sir?" + +"I'll take my time," I said, "and see for myself. Ask me again this day +six months." + +He laughed loud. "A very proper answer for a Scot," he cried. "See for +yourself, travel the country, and use the wits God gave you to form +your judgment." + +He paid the lawing, and said he would put me on the road back. "These +alleys are not very healthy at this hour for a young gentleman in braw +clothes." + +Once outside the tavern he led me by many curious by-paths till I found +myself on the river-side just below the Court-house. It struck me that +my new friend was not a popular personage in the town, for he would +stop and reconnoitre at every turning, and he chose the darkest side of +the road. + +"Good-night to you," he said at length. "And when you have finished +your travels come west to the South Fork River and ask for Simon Frew, +and I'll complete your education." + +I went to bed in a glow of excitement. On the morrow I should begin a +new life in a world of wonders, and I rejoiced to think that there was +more than merchandise in the prospect. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +TELLS OF MY EDUCATION. + +I had not been a week in the place before I saw one thing very clear-- +that I should never get on with Mr. Lambie. His notion of business was +to walk down the street in a fine coat, and to sleep with a kerchief +over his face in some shady veranda. There was no vice in the creature, +but there was mighty little sense. He lived in awe of the great and +rich, and a nod from a big planter would make him happy for a week. He +used to deafen me with tales of Colonel Randolph, and worshipful Mr. +Carew, and Colonel Byrd's new house at Westover, and the rare fashion +in cravats that young Mr. Mason showed at the last Surrey horse-racing. +Now when a Scot chooses to be a sycophant, he is more whole-hearted in +the job than any one else on the globe, and I grew very weary of Mr. +Lambie. He was no better than an old wife, and as timid as a hare +forbye. When I spoke of fighting the English merchants, he held up his +hands as if I had uttered blasphemy. So, being determined to find out +for myself the truth about this wonderful new land, I left him the +business in the town, bought two good horses, hired a servant, by name +John Faulkner, who had worked out his time as a redemptioner, and set +out on my travels. + +This is a history of doings, not of thoughts, or I would have much to +tell of what I saw during those months, when, lean as a bone, and brown +as a hazelnut, I tracked the course of the great rivers. The roads were +rough, where roads there were, but the land smiled under the sun, and +the Virginians, high and low, kept open house for the chance traveller. +One night I would eat pork and hominy with a rough fellow who was +carving a farm out of the forest; and the next I would sit in a fine +panelled hall and listen to gentlefolks' speech, and dine off damask +and silver. I could not tire of the green forests, or the marshes alive +with wild fowl, or the noble orchards and gardens, or even the salty +dunes of the Chesapeake shore. My one complaint was that the land was +desperate flat to a hill-bred soul like mine. But one evening, away +north in Stafford county, I cast my eyes to the west, and saw, blue and +sharp against the sunset, a great line of mountains. It was all I +sought. Somewhere in the west Virginia had her high lands, and one day, +I promised myself, I would ride the road of the sun and find their +secret. + +In these months my thoughts were chiefly of trade, and I saw enough to +prove the truth of what the man Frew had told me. This richest land on +earth was held prisoner in the bonds of a foolish tyranny. The rich +were less rich than their estates warranted, and the poor were ground +down by bitter poverty. There was little corn in the land, tobacco +being the sole means of payment, and this meant no trade in the common +meaning of the word. The place was slowly bleeding to death, and I had +a mind to try and stanch its wounds. The firm of Andrew Sempill was +looked on jealously, in spite of all the bowings and protestations of +Mr. Lambie. If we were to increase our trade, it must be at the +Englishman's expense, and that could only be done by offering the +people a better way of business. + +When the harvest came and the tobacco fleet arrived, I could see how +the thing worked out. Our two ships, the _Blackcock_ of Ayr and the +_Duncan Davidson_ of Glasgow, had some trouble getting their cargoes. +We could only deal with the smaller planters, who were not thirled to +the big merchants, and it took us three weary weeks up and down the +river-side wharves to get our holds filled. There was a madness in the +place for things from England, and unless a man could label his wares +"London-made," he could not hope to catch a buyer's fancy. Why, I have +seen a fellow at a fair at Henricus selling common Virginian +mocking-birds as the "best English mocking-birds". My uncle had sent +out a quantity of Ayrshire cheeses, mutton hams, pickled salmon, +Dunfermline linens, Paisley dimity, Alloa worsted, sweet ale from +Tranent, Kilmarnock cowls, and a lot of fine feather-beds from the +Clydeside. There was nothing common or trashy in the whole consignment; +but the planters preferred some gewgaws from Cheapside or some worthless +London furs which they could have bettered any day by taking a gun and +hunting their own woods. When my own business was over, I would look on +at some of the other ladings. There on the wharf would be the planter +with his wife and family, and every servant about the place. And there +was the merchant skipper, showing off his goods, and quoting for each a +weight of tobacco. The planter wanted to get rid of his crop, and knew +that this was his only chance, while the merchant could very well sell +his leavings elsewhere. So the dice were cogged from the start, and I +have seen a plain kitchen chair sold for fifty pounds of sweet-scented, +or something like the price at which a joiner in Glasgow would make a +score and leave himself a handsome profit. + + * * * * * + +The upshot was that I paid a visit to the Governor, Mr. Francis +Nicholson, whom my lord Howard had left as his deputy. Governor +Nicholson had come from New York not many months before with a great +repute for ill-temper and harsh dealing; but I liked the look of his +hard-set face and soldierly bearing, and I never mind choler in a man +if he have also honesty and good sense. So I waited upon him at his +house close by Middle Plantation, on the road between James Town and +York River. + +I had a very dusty reception. His Excellency sat in his long parlour +among a mass of books and papers and saddle-bags, and glared at me from +beneath lowering brows. The man was sore harassed by the King's +Government on one side and the Virginian Council on the other, and he +treated every stranger as a foe. + +"What do you seek from me?" he shouted. "If it is some merchants' +squabble, you can save your breath, for I am sick of the Shylocks." + +I said, very politely, that I was a stranger not half a year arrived in +the country, but that I had been using my eyes, and wished to submit my +views to his consideration. + +"Go to the Council," he rasped; "go to that silken fool, His Majesty's +Attorney. My politics are not those of the leather-jaws that prate in +this land." + +"That is why I came to you," I said. + +Then without more ado I gave him my notions on the defence of the +colony, for from what I had learned I judged that would interest him +most. He heard me with unexpected patience. + +"Well, now, supposing you are right? I don't deny it. Virginia is a +treasure house with two of the sides open to wind and weather. I told +the Council that, and they would not believe me. Here are we at war +with France, and Frontenac is hammering at the gates of New York. If +that falls, it will soon be the turn of Maryland and next of Virginia. +England's possessions in the West are indivisible, and what threatens +one endangers all. But think you our Virginians can see it? When I +presented my scheme for setting forts along the northern line, I could +not screw a guinea out of the miscreants. The colony was poor, they +cried, and could not afford it, and then the worshipful councillors +rode home to swill Madeira and loll on their London beds. God's truth! +were I not a patriot, I would welcome M. Frontenac to teach them +decency." + +Now I did not think much of the French danger being far more concerned +with the peril in the West; but I held my peace on that subject. It was +not my cue to cross his Excellency in his present humour. + +"What makes the colony poor?" I asked. "The planters are rich enough, +but the richest man will grow tired of bearing the whole burden of the +government. I submit that His Majesty and the English laws are chiefly +to blame. When the Hollanders were suffered to trade here, they paid +five shillings on every anker of brandy they brought hither, and ten +shillings on every hogshead of tobacco they carried hence. Now every +penny that is raised must come out of the Virginians, and the +Englishmen who bleed the land go scot free." + +"That's true," said he, "and it's a damned disgrace. But how am I to +better it?" + +"Clap a tax on every ship that passes Point Comfort outward bound," I +said. "The merchants can well afford to pay it." + +"Listen to him!" he laughed. "And what kind of answer would I get from +my lord Howard and His Majesty? Every greasy member would be on his +feet in Parliament in defence of what he called English rights. Then +there would come a dispatch from the Government telling the poor +Deputy-Governor of Virginia to go to the devil!" + +He looked at me curiously, screwing up his eyes. + +"By the way, Mr. Garvald, what is your trade?" + +"I am a merchant like the others," I said; "only my ships run from +Glasgow instead of Bristol." + +"A very pretty merchant," he said quizzically. "I have heard that hawks +should not pick out hawks' eyes. What do you propose to gain, Mr. +Garvald?" + +"Better business," I said. "To be honest with you, sir, I am suffering +from the close monopoly of the Englishman, and I think the country is +suffering worse. I have a notion that things can be remedied. If you +cannot put on a levy, good and well; that is your business. But I mean +to make an effort on my own account." + +Then I told him something of my scheme, and he heard me out with a +puzzled face. + +"Of all the brazen Scots--" he cried. + +"Scot yourself," I laughed, for his face and speech betrayed him. + +"I'll not deny that there's glimmerings of sense in you, Mr. Garvald. +But how do you, a lad with no backing, propose to beat a strong +monopoly buttressed by the whole stupidity and idleness of Virginia? +You'll be stripped of your last farthing, and you'll be lucky if it +ends there. Don't think I'm against you. I'm with you in your +principles, but the job is too big for you." + +"We will see," said I. "But I can take it that, provided I keep within +the law, His Majesty's Governor will not stand in my way?" + +"I can promise you that. I'll do more, for I'll drink success to your +enterprise." He filled me a great silver tankard of spiced sack, and I +emptied it to the toast of "Honest Men." + + * * * * * + +All the time at the back of my head were other thoughts than +merchandise. The picture which Frew had drawn of Virginia as a smiling +garden on the edge of a burning pit was stamped on my memory. I had +seen on my travels the Indians that dwelled in the Tidewater, remnants +of the old great clans of Doeg and Powhatan and Pamunkey. They were +civil enough fellows, following their own ways, and not molesting their +scanty white neighbours, for the country was wide enough for all. But +so far as I could learn, these clanlets of the Algonquin house were no +more comparable to the fighting tribes of the West than a Highland +caddie in an Edinburgh close is to a hill Macdonald with a claymore. +But the common Virginian would admit no peril, though now and then some +rough landward fellow would lay down his spade, spit moodily, and tell +me a grim tale. I had ever the notion to visit Frew and finish my +education. + +It was not till the tobacco ships had gone and the autumn had grown +late that I got the chance. The trees were flaming scarlet and saffron +as I rode west through the forests to his house on the South Fork +River. There, by a wood fire in the October dusk, he fed me on wild +turkey and barley bread, and listened silently to my tale. + +He said nothing when I spoke of my schemes for getting the better of +the Englishman and winning Virginia to my side. Profits interested him +little, for he grew his patch of corn and pumpkins, and hunted the deer +for his own slender needs. Once he broke in on my rigmarole with a +piece of news that fluttered me. + +"You mind the big man you were chasing that night you and me first +forgathered? Well, I've seen him." + +"Where?" I cried, all else forgotten. + +"Here, in this very place, six weeks syne. He stalked in about ten o' +the night, and lifted half my plenishing. When I got up in my bed to +face him he felled me. See, there's the mark of it," and he showed a +long scar on his forehead. "He went off with my best axe, a gill of +brandy, and a good coat. He was looking for my gun, too, but that was +in a hidy-hole. I got up next morning with a dizzy head, and followed +him nigh ten miles. I had a shot at him, but I missed, and his legs +were too long for me. Yon's the dangerous lad." + +"Where did he go, think you?" I asked. + +"To the hills. To the refuge of every ne'er-do-weel. Belike the Indians +have got his scalp, and I'm not regretting it." + +I spent three days with Frew, and each day I had the notion that he was +putting me to the test. The first day he took me over the river into a +great tangle of meadow and woodland beyond which rose the hazy shapes +of the western mountains. The man was twenty years my elder, but my +youth was of no avail against his iron strength. Though I was hard and +spare from my travels in the summer heat, 'twas all I could do to keep +up with him, and only my pride kept me from crying halt. Often when he +stopped I could have wept with fatigue, and had no breath for a word, +but his taciturnity saved me from shame. + +In a hollow among the woods we came to a place which sent him on his +knees, peering and sniffing like a wild-cat. + +"What make you of that?" he asked. + +I saw nothing but a bare patch in the grass, some broken twigs, and a +few ashes. + +"It's an old camp," I said. + +"Ay," said he. "Nothing more? Use your wits, man." + +I used them, but they gave me no help. + +"This is the way I read it, then," he said. "Three men camped here +before midday. They were Cherokees, of the Matabaw tribe, and one was a +maker of arrows. They were not hunting, and they were in a mighty +hurry. Just now they're maybe ten miles off, or maybe they're watching +us. This is no healthy country for you and me." + +He took me homeward at a speed which well-nigh foundered me, and, when +I questioned him, he told me where he got his knowledge. + +They were three men, for there were three different footmarks in the +ashes' edge, and they were Cherokees because they made their fire in +the Cherokee way, so that the smoke ran in a tunnel into the scrub. +They were Matabaws from the pattern of their moccasins. They were in a +hurry, for they did not wait to scatter the ashes and clear up the +place; and they were not hunting, for they cooked no flesh. One was an +arrow-maker, for he had been hardening arrow-points in the fire, and +left behind him the arrow-maker's thong. + +"But how could you know how long back this had happened?" I asked. + +"The sap was still wet in the twigs, so it could not have been much +above an hour since they left. Besides, the smoke had blown south, for +the grass smelt of it that side. Now the wind was more to the east when +we left, and, if you remember, it changed to the north about midday." + +I said it was a marvel, and he grunted. "The marvel is what they've +been doing in the Tidewater, for from the Tidewater I'll swear they +came." + +Next day he led me eastward, away back in the direction of the manors. +This was an easier day, for he went slow, as if seeking for something. +He picked up some kind of a trail, which we followed through the long +afternoon. Then he found something, which he pocketed with a cry of +satisfaction. We were then on the edge of a ridge, whence we looked +south to the orchards of Henricus. + +"That is my arrow-maker," he cried, showing me a round stone whorl. +"He's a careless lad, and he'll lose half his belongings ere he wins to +the hills." + +I was prepared for the wild Cherokees on our journey of yesterday, but +it amazed me that the savages should come scouting into the Tidewater +itself. He smiled grimly when I said this, and took from his pocket a +crumpled feather. + +"That's a Cherokee badge," he said. "I found that a fortnight back on +the river-side an hour's ride out of James Town. And it wasna there +when I had passed the same place the day before. The Tidewater thinks +it has put the fear of God on the hill tribes, and here's a red +Cherokee snowking about its back doors." + +The last day he took me north up a stream called the North Fork, which +joined with his own river. I had left my musket behind, for this heavy +travel made me crave to go light, and I had no use for it. But that day +it seemed we were to go hunting. + +He carried an old gun, and slew with it a deer in a marshy hollow--a +pretty shot, for the animal was ill-placed. We broiled a steak for our +midday meal, and presently clambered up a high woody ridge which looked +down on a stream and a piece of green meadow. + +Suddenly he stopped. "A buck," he whispered. "See what you can do, you +that were so ready with your pistol." And he thrust his gun into my +hand. + +The beast was some thirty paces off in the dusk of the thicket. It +nettled me to have to shoot with a strange weapon, and I thought too +lightly of the mark. I fired, and the bullet whistled over its back. He +laughed scornfully. + +I handed it back to him. "It throws high, and you did not warn me. Load +quick, and I'll try again." + +I heard the deer crashing through the hill-side thicket, and guessed +that presently it would come out in the meadow. I was right, and before +the gun was in my hands again the beast was over the stream. + +It was a long range and a difficult mark, but I had to take the risk, +for I was on my trial. I allowed for the throw of the musket and the +steepness of the hill, and pulled the trigger. The shot might have been +better, for I had aimed for the shoulder, and hit the neck. The buck +leaped into the air, ran three yards, and toppled over. By the grace of +God, I had found the single chance in a hundred. + +Frew looked at me with sincere respect. "That's braw shooting," he +said. "I can't say I ever saw its equal." + +That night in the smoky cabin he talked freely for once. "I never had a +wife or bairn, and I lean on no man. I can fend for myself, and cook my +dinner, and mend my coat when it's wanting it. When Bacon died I saw +what was coming to this land, and I came here to await it. I've had +some sudden calls from the red gentry, but they havena got me yet, and +they'll no get me before my time. I'm in the Lord's hands, and He has a +job for Simon Frew. Go back to your money-bags, Mr. Garvald. Beat the +English merchants, my lad, and take my blessing with you. But keep that +gun of yours by your bedside, for the time is coming when a man's hands +will have to keep his head." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +I BECOME AN UNPOPULAR CHARACTER. + +I did not waste time in getting to work. I had already written to my +uncle, telling him my plans, and presently I received his consent. I +arranged that cargoes of such goods as I thought most suitable for +Virginian sales should arrive at regular seasons independent of the +tobacco harvest. Then I set about equipping a store. On the high land +north of James Town, by the road to Middle Plantation, I bought some +acres of cleared soil, and had built for me a modest dwelling. Beside +it stood a large brick building, one half fitted as a tobacco shed, +where the leaf could lie for months, if need be, without taking harm, +and the other arranged as a merchant's store with roomy cellars and +wide garrets. I relinquished the warehouse by the James Town quay, and +to my joy I was able to relinquish Mr. Lambie. That timid soul had been +on thorns ever since I mooted my new projects. He implored me to put +them from me; he drew such pictures of the power of the English +traders, you would have thought them the prince merchants of Venice; he +saw all his hard-won gentility gone at a blow, and himself an outcast +precluded for ever from great men's recognition. He could not bear it, +and though he was loyal to my uncle's firm in his own way, he sought a +change. One day he announced that he had been offered a post as steward +to a big planter at Henricus, and when I warmly bade him accept it, he +smiled wanly, and said he had done so a week agone. We parted very +civilly, and I chose as manager my servant, John Faulkner. + +This is not a history of my trading ventures, or I would tell at length +the steps I took to found a new way of business. I went among the +planters, offering to buy tobacco from the coming harvest, and to pay +for it in bonds which could be exchanged for goods at my store. I also +offered to provide shipment in the autumn for tobacco and other wares, +and I fixed the charge for freight--a very moderate one--in advance. My +plan was to clear out my store before the return of the ships, and to +have thereby a large quantity of tobacco mortgaged to me. I hoped that +thus I would win the friendship and custom of the planters, since I +offered them a more convenient way of sale and higher profits. I hoped +by breaking down the English monopoly to induce a continual and +wholesome commerce in the land. For this purpose it was necessary to +get coin into the people's hands, so, using my uncle's credit, I had a +parcel of English money from the New York goldsmiths. + +In a week I found myself the most-talked-of man in the dominion, and +soon I saw the troubles that credit brings. I had picked up a very +correct notion of the fortunes of most of the planters, and the men who +were most eager to sell to me were just those I could least trust. Some +fellow who was near bankrupt from dice and cock-fighting would offer me +five hundred hogsheads, when I knew that his ill-guided estate could +scarce produce half. I was not a merchant out of charity, and I had to +decline many offers, and so made many foes. Still, one way and another, +I was not long in clearing out my store, and I found myself with some +three times the amount of tobacco in prospect that I had sent home at +the last harvest. + +That was very well, but there was the devil to pay besides. Every +wastrel I sent off empty-handed was my enemy; the agents of the +Englishmen looked sourly at me; and many a man who was swindled grossly +by the Bristol buyers saw me as a marauder instead of a benefactor. For +this I was prepared; but what staggered me was the way that some of the +better sort of the gentry came to regard me. It was not that they did +not give me their custom; that I did not expect, for gunpowder alone +would change the habits of a Virginian Tory. But my new business seemed +to them such a downcome that they passed me by with a cock of the chin. +Before they had treated me hospitably, and made me welcome at their +houses. I had hunted the fox with them--very little to my credit; and +shot wildfowl in their company with better success. I had dined with +them, and danced in their halls at Christmas. Then I had been a +gentleman; now I was a shopkeeper, a creature about the level of a +redemptioner. The thing was so childish that it made me angry. It was +right for one of them to sell his tobacco on his own wharf to a tarry +skipper who cheated him grossly, but wrong for me to sell kebbucks and +linsey-woolsey at an even bargain. I gave up the puzzle. Some folks' +notions of gentility are beyond my wits. + +I had taken to going to the church in James Town, first at Mr. Lambie's +desire, and then because I liked the sermons. There on a Sunday you +would see the fashion of the neighbourhood, for the planters' ladies +rode in on pillions, and the planters themselves, in gold-embroidered +waistcoats and plush breeches and new-powdered wigs, leaned on the +tombstones, and exchanged snuffmulls and gossip. In the old ramshackle +graveyard you would see such a parade of satin bodices and tabby +petticoats and lace headgear as made it blossom like the rose. I went +to church one Sunday in my second summer, and, being late, went up the +aisle looking for a place. The men at the seat-ends would not stir to +accommodate me, and I had to find rest in the cock-loft. I thought +nothing of it, but the close of the service was to enlighten me. As I +went down the churchyard not a man or woman gave me greeting, and when +I spoke to any I was not answered. These were men with whom I had been +on the friendliest terms; women, too, who only a week before had +chaffered with me at the store. It was clear that the little society +had marooned me to an isle by myself. I was a leper, unfit for +gentlefolks' company, because, forsooth, I had sold goods, which every +one of them did also, and had tried to sell them fair. + +The thing made me very bitter. I sat in my house during the hot noons +when no one stirred, and black anger filled my heart. I grew as peevish +as a slighted girl, and would no doubt have fretted myself into some +signal folly, had not an event occurred which braced my soul again. +This was the arrival of the English convoy. + +When I heard that the ships were sighted, I made certain of trouble. I +had meantime added to my staff two other young men, who, like Faulkner, +lived with me at the store. Also I had got four stalwart negro slaves +who slept in a hut in my garden. 'Twas a strong enough force to repel a +drunken posse from the plantations, and I had a fancy that it would be +needed in the coming weeks. + +Two days later, going down the street of James Town, I met one of the +English skippers, a redfaced, bottle-nosed old ruffian called +Bullivant. He was full of apple-jack, and strutted across the way to +accost me. + +"What's this I hear, Sawney?" he cried. "You're setting up as a +pedlar, and trying to cut in on our trade. Od twist me, but we'll put +an end to that, my bully-boy. D'you think the King, God bless him, made +the laws for a red-haired, flea-bitten Sawney to diddle true-born +Englishmen? What'll the King's Bench say to that, think ye?" + +He was very abusive, but very uncertain on his legs. I said +good-humouredly that I welcomed process of law, and would defend my +action. He shook his head, and said something about law not being +everything, and England being a long road off. He had clearly some +great threat to be delivered of, but just then he sat down so heavily +that he had no breath for anything but curses. + +But the drunkard had given me a notion. I hurried home and gave +instructions to my men to keep a special guard on the store. Then I set +off in a pinnace to find my three ships, which were now lading up and +down among the creeks. + +That was the beginning of a fortnight's struggle, when every man's hand +was against me, and I enjoyed myself surprisingly. I was never at rest +by land or water. The ships were the least of the business, for the +dour Scots seamen were a match for all comers. I made them anchor at +twilight in mid-stream for safety's sake, for in that drouthy clime a +firebrand might play havoc with them. The worst that happened was that +one moonless night a band of rascals, rigged out as Indian braves, came +yelling down to the quay where some tobacco was waiting to be shipped, +and before my men were warned had tipped a couple of hogsheads into the +water. They got no further, for we fell upon them with marling-spikes +and hatchets, stripped them of their feathers, and sent them to cool +their heads in the muddy river. The ring-leader I haled to James Town, +and had the pleasure of seeing him grinning through a collar in the +common stocks. + +Then I hied me back to my store, which was my worst anxiety, I was +followed by ill names as I went down the street, and one day in a +tavern, a young fool drew his shabble on me. But I would quarrel with +no man, for that was a luxury beyond a trader. There had been an attack +on my tobacco shed by some of the English seamen, and in the mellay one +of my blacks got an ugly wound from a cutlass. It was only a foretaste, +and I set my house in order. + +One afternoon John Faulkner brought me word that mischief would be +afoot at the darkening. I put each man to his station, and I had the +sense to picket them a little distance from the house. The Englishmen +were clumsy conspirators. We watched them arrive, let them pass, and +followed silently on their heels. Their business was wreckage, and they +fixed a charge of powder by the tobacco shed, laid and lit a fuse, and +retired discreetly into the bushes to watch their handiwork. + +Then we fell upon them, and the hindquarters of all bore witness to our +greeting. + +I caught the fellow who had laid the fuse, tied the whole thing round +his neck, clapped a pistol to his ear, and marched him before me into +the town. "If you are minded to bolt," I said, "remember you have a +charge of gunpowder lobbing below your chin. I have but to flash my +pistol into it, and they will be picking the bits of you off the high +trees." + +I took the rascal, his knees knocking under him, straight to the +ordinary where the English merchants chiefly forgathered. A dozen of +them sat over a bowl of punch, when the door was opened and I kicked my +Guy Fawkes inside. I may have misjudged them, but I thought every eye +looked furtive as they saw my prisoner. + +"Gentlemen," said I, "I restore you your property. This is a penitent +thief who desires to make a confession." + +My pistol was at his temple, the powder was round his neck, and he must +have seen a certain resolution in my face. Anyhow, sweating and +quaking, he blurted out his story, and when he offered to halt I made +rings with the barrel on the flesh of his neck. + +"It is a damned lie," cried one of them, a handsome, over-dressed +fellow who had been conspicuous for his public insolence towards me. + +"Nay," said I, "our penitent's tale has the note of truth. One word to +you, gentlemen. I am hospitably inclined, and if any one of you will so +far honour me as to come himself instead of dispatching his servant, +his welcome will be the warmer. I bid you good-night and leave you this +fellow in proof of my goodwill. Keep him away from the candle, I pray +you, or you will all go to hell before your time." + +That was the end of my worst troubles, and presently my lading was +finished and my store replenished. Then came the time for the return +sailing, and the last enterprise of my friends was to go off without my +three vessels. But I got an order from the Governor, delivered readily +but with much profanity, to the commander of the frigates to delay till +the convoy was complete. I breathed more freely as I saw the last hulls +grow small in the estuary. For now, as I reasoned it out, the planters +must begin to compare my prices with the Englishmen's, and must come to +see where their advantage lay. + +But I had counted my chickens too soon, and was to be woefully +disappointed. At that time all the coast of America from New England to +the Main was infested by pirate vessels. Some sailed under English +letters of marque, and preyed only on the shipping of France, with whom +we were at war. Some who had formed themselves into a company called +the Brethren of the Coast robbed the Spanish treasure-ships and +merchantmen in the south waters, and rarely came north to our parts +save to careen or provision. They were mostly English and Welsh, with a +few Frenchmen, and though I had little to say for their doings, they +left British ships in the main unmolested, and were welcomed as a +godsend by our coast dwellers, since they smuggled goods to them which +would have been twice the cost if bought at the convoy markets. Lastly, +there were one or two horrid desperadoes who ravaged the seas like +tigers. Such an one was the man Cosh, and that Teach, surnamed +Blackbeard, of whom we hear too much to-day. But, on the whole, we of +Virginia suffered not at all from these gentlemen of fortune, and +piracy, though the common peril of the seas, entered but little into +the estimation of the merchants. + +Judge, then, of my disgust when I got news a week later that one of my +ships, the Ayr brig, had straggled from the convoy, and been seized, +rifled, and burned to the water by pirates almost in sight of Cape +Charles. The loss was grievous, but what angered me was the mystery of +such a happening. I knew the brig was a slow sailer, but how in the +name of honesty could she be suffered in broad daylight to fall into +such a fate? I remembered the hostility of the Englishmen, and feared +she had had foul play. Just after Christmas-tide I expected two ships +to replenish the stock in my store. They arrived safe, but only by the +skin of their teeth, for both had been chased from their first entrance +into American waters, and only their big topsails and a favouring wind +brought them off. I examined the captains closely on the matter, and +they were positive that their assailant was not Cosh or any one of his +kidney, but a ship of the Brethren, who ordinarily were on the best of +terms with our merchantmen. + +My suspicions now grew into a fever. I had long believed that there was +some connivance between the pirates of the coast and the English +traders, and small blame to them for it. 'Twas a sensible way to avoid +trouble, and I for one would rather pay a modest blackmail every month +or two than run the risk of losing a good ship and a twelve-month's +cargo. But when it came to using this connivance for private spite, the +thing was not to be endured. + +In March my doubts became certainties. I had a parcel of gold coin +coming to me from New York in one of the coasting vessels--no great +sum, but more than I cared to lose. Presently I had news that the ship +was aground on a sandspit on Accomac, and had been plundered by a +pirate brigantine. I got a sloop and went down the river, and, sure +enough, I found the vessel newly refloated, and the captain, an old New +Hampshire fellow, in a great taking. Piracy there had been, but of a +queer kind, for not a farthing's worth had been touched except my +packet of gold. The skipper was honesty itself, and it was plain that +the pirate who had chased the ship aground and then come aboard to +plunder, had done it to do me hurt, and me alone. + +All this made me feel pretty solemn. My uncle was a rich man, but no +firm could afford these repeated losses. I was the most unpopular +figure in Virginia, hated by many, despised by the genteel, whose only +friends were my own servants and a few poverty-stricken landward folk. +I had found out a good way of trade, but I had set a hornet's nest +buzzing about my ears, and was on the fair way to be extinguished. This +alliance between my rivals and the Free Companions was the last straw +to my burden. If the sea was to be shut to him, then a merchant might +as well put up his shutters. + +It made me solemn, but also most mightily angry. If the stars in their +courses were going to fight against Andrew Garvald, they should find +him ready. I went to the Governor, but he gave me no comfort. Indeed, +he laughed at me, and bade me try the same weapon as my adversaries. I +left him, very wrathful, and after a night's sleep I began to see +reason in his words. Clearly the law of Virginia or of England would +give me no redress. I was an alien from the genteel world; why should I +not get the benefit of my ungentility? If my rivals went for their +weapons into dark places, I could surely do likewise. A line of Virgil +came into my head, which seemed to me to contain very good counsel: +"_Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo_", which means that if +you cannot get Heaven on your side, you had better try for the Devil. + +But how was I to get into touch with the Devil? And then I remembered +in a flash my meeting with the sea-captain on the Glasgow stairhead and +his promise to help me, I had no notion who he was or how he could aid, +but I had a vague memory of his power and briskness. He had looked like +the kind of lad who might conduct me into the wild world of the Free +Companions. + +I sought Mercer's tavern by the water-side, a melancholy place grown up +with weeds, with a yard of dark trees at the back of it. Old Mercer was +an elder in the little wooden Presbyterian kirk, which I had taken to +attending since my quarrels with the gentry. He knew me and greeted me +with his doleful smile, shaking his foolish old beard. + +"What's your errand this e'en, Mr. Garvald?" he said in broad Scots. +"Will you drink a rummer o' toddy, or try some fine auld usquebaugh I +hae got frae my cousin in Buchan?" + +I sat down on the settle outside the tavern door. "This is my errand. I +want you to bring me to a man or bring that man to me. His name is +Ninian Campbell." + +Mercer looked at me dully. + +"There was a lad o' that name was hanged at Inveraray i' '68 for +stealin' twae hens and a wether." + +"The man I mean is long and lean, and his head is as red as fire. He +gave me your name, so you must know him." + +His eyes showed no recognition. He repeated the name to himself, +mumbling it toothlessly. "It sticks i' my memory," he said, "but when +and where I canna tell. Certes, there's no man o' the name in +Virginia." + +I was beginning to think that my memory had played me false, when +suddenly the whole scene in the Saltmarket leaped vividly to my brain. +Then I remembered the something else I had been enjoined to say. + +"Ninian Campbell," I went on, "bade me ask for him here, and I was to +tell you that the lymphads are on the loch and the horn of Diarmaid has +sounded." + +In a twinkling his face changed from vacancy to shrewdness and from +senility to purpose. He glanced uneasily round. + +"For God's sake, speak soft," he whispered. "Come inside, man. We'll +steek the door, and then I'll hear your business." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +RED RINGAN. + +Once at Edinburgh College I had read the Latin tale of Apuleius, and +the beginning stuck in my memory: "_Thraciam ex negotio petebam_"--"I +was starting off for Thrace on business." That was my case now. I was +about to plunge into a wild world for no more startling causes than +that I was a trader who wanted to save my pocket. It is to those who +seek only peace and a quiet life that adventures fall; the homely +merchant, jogging with his pack train, finds the enchanted forest and +the sleeping princess; and Saul, busily searching for his father's +asses, stumbles upon a kingdom. + +"What seek ye with Ringan?" Mercer asked, when we had sat down inside +with locked doors. + +"The man's name is Ninian Campbell," I said, somewhat puzzled. + +"Well, it's the same thing. What did they teach you at Lesmahagow if ye +don't know that Ringan is the Scots for Ninian? Lord bless me, laddie, +don't tell me ye've never heard of Red Ringan?" + +To be sure I had; I had heard of little else for a twelvemonth. In +every tavern in Virginia, when men talked of the Free Companions, it +was the name of Red Ringan that came first to their tongues. I had been +too occupied by my own affairs to listen just then to fireside tales, +but I could not help hearing of this man's exploits. He was a kind of +leader of the buccaneers, and by all accounts no miscreant like Cosh, +but a mirthful fellow, striking hard when need be, but at other times +merciful and jovial. Now I set little store by your pirate heroes. They +are for lads and silly girls and sots in an ale-house, and a merchant +can have no kindness for those who are the foes of his trade. So when I +heard that the man I sought was this notorious buccaneer I showed my +alarm by dropping my jaw. + +Mercer laughed. "I'll not conceal from you that you take a certain risk +in going to Ringan. Ye need not tell me your business, but it should be +a grave one to take you down to the Carolina keys. There's time to draw +back, if ye want; but you've brought me the master word, and I'm bound +to set you on the road. Just one word to ye, Mr. Garvald. Keep a stout +face whatever you see, for Ringan has a weakness for a bold man. Be +here the morn at sunrise, and if ye're wise bring no weapon. I'll see +to the boat and the provisioning." + +I was at the water-side next day at cock-crow, while the mist was still +low on the river. Mercer was busy putting food and a keg of water into +a light sloop, and a tall Indian was aboard redding out the sails. My +travels had given me some knowledge of the red tribes, and I spoke a +little of their language, but this man was of a type not often seen in +the Virginian lowlands. He was very tall, with a skin clear and +polished like bronze, and, unlike the ordinary savage, his breast was +unmarked, and his hair unadorned. He was naked to the waist, and below +wore long leather breeches, dyed red, and fringed with squirrels' +tails. In his wampum belt were stuck a brace of knives and a tomahawk. +It seemed he knew me, for as I approached he stood up to his full +height and put his hands on his forehead. "Brother," he said, and his +grave eyes looked steadily into mine. + +Then I remembered. Some months before I had been riding back the road +from Green Springs, and in a dark, woody place had come across an +Indian sore beset by three of the white scum which infested the +river-side. What the quarrel was I know not, but I liked little the +villainous look of the three, and I liked much the clean, lithe figure +of their opponent. So I rode my horse among them, and laid on to them +with the butt of my whip. They had their knives out, but I managed to +disarm the one who attacked me, and my horse upset a second, while the +Indian, who had no weapon but a stave, cracked the head of the last. I +got nothing worse than a black eye, but the man I had rescued bled from +some ugly cuts which I had much ado stanching. He shook hands with me +gravely when I had done, and vanished into the thicket. He was a Seneca +Indian, and I wondered what one of that house was doing in the +Tidewater. + +Mercer told me his name. "Shalah will take you to the man you ken. Do +whatever he tells you, Mr. Garvald, for this is a job in which you're +nothing but a bairn." We pushed off, the Indian taking the oars, and in +five minutes James Town was lost in the haze. + +On the Surrey shore we picked up a breeze, and with the ebbing tide +made good speed down the estuary. Shalah the Indian had the tiller, and +I sat luxuriously in the bows, smoking my cob pipe, and wondering what +the next week held in store for me. The night before I had had qualms +about the whole business, but the air of morning has a trick of firing +my blood, and I believe I had forgotten the errand which was taking me +to the Carolina shores. It was enough that I was going into a new land +and new company. Last night I had thought with disfavour of Red Ringan +the buccaneer; that morning I thought only of Ninian Campbell, with +whom I had forgathered on a Glasgow landing. + +My own thoughts kept me silent, and the Indian never opened his mouth. +Like a statue he crouched by the tiller, with his sombre eyes looking +to the sea. That night, when we had rounded Cape Henry in fine weather, +we ran the sloop into a little bay below a headland, and made camp for +the night beside a stream of cold water. Next morning it blew hard from +the north, and in a driving rain we crept down the Carolina coast. One +incident of the day I remember. I took in a reef or two, and adjusted +the sheets, for this was a game I knew and loved. The Indian watched me +closely, and made a sign to me to take the helm. He had guessed that I +knew more than himself about the handling of a boat in wind, and since +we were in an open sea, where his guidance was not needed, he preferred +to trust the thing to me. I liked the trait in him, for I take it to be +a mark of a wise man that he knows what he can do, and is not ashamed +to admit what he cannot. + +That evening we had a cold bed; but the storm blew out in the night, +and the next day the sun was as hot as summer, and the wind a point to +the east. Shalah once again was steersman, for we were inside some very +ugly reefs, which I took to be the beginning of the Carolina keys. On +shore forests straggled down to the sea, so that sometimes they almost +had their feet in the surf; but now and then would come an open, grassy +space running far inland. These were, the great savannahs where herds +of wild cattle and deer roamed, and where the Free Companions came to +fill their larders. It was a wilder land than the Tidewater, for only +once did we see a human dwelling. Far remote on the savannahs I could +pick out twirls of smoke rising into the blue weather, the signs of +Indian hunting fires. Shalah began now to look for landmarks, and to +take bearings of a sort. Among the maze of creeks and shallow bays +which opened on the land side it needed an Indian to pick out a track. + +The sun had all but set when, with a grunt of satisfaction, he swung +round the tiller and headed shorewards. Before me in the twilight I saw +only a wooded bluff which, as we approached, divided itself into two. +Presently a channel appeared, a narrow thing about as broad as a +cable's length, into which the wind carried us. Here it was very dark, +the high sides with their gloomy trees showing at the top a thin line +of reddening sky. Shalah hugged the starboard shore, and as the screen +of the forest caught the wind it weakened and weakened till it died +away, and we moved only with the ingoing tide. I had never been in so +eery a place. It was full of the sharp smell of pine trees, and as I +sniffed the air I caught the savour of wood smoke. Men were somewhere +ahead of us in the gloom. + +Shalah ran the sloop into a little creek so overgrown with vines that +we had to lie flat on the thwarts to enter. Then, putting his mouth to +my ear, he spoke for the first time since we had left James Town. "It +is hard to approach the Master, and my brother must follow me close as +the panther follows the deer. Where Shalah puts his foot let my brother +put his also. Come." + +He stepped from the boat to the hill-side, and with incredible speed +and stillness began to ascend. His long, soft strides were made without +noise or effort, whether the ground were moss, or a tangle of vines, or +loose stones, or the trunks of fallen trees, I had prided myself on my +hill-craft, but beside the Indian I was a blundering child, I might +have made shift to travel as fast, but it was the silence of his +progress that staggered me, I plunged, and slipped, and sprawled, and +my heart was bursting before the ascent ceased, and we stole to the +left along the hill shoulder. + +Presently came a gap in the trees, and I looked down in the last +greyness of dusk on a strange and beautiful sight. The channel led to a +landlocked pool, maybe a mile around, and this was as full of shipping +as a town's harbour. The water was but a pit of darkness, but I could +make out the masts rising into the half light, and I counted more than +twenty vessels in that port. No light was shown, and the whole place +was quiet as a grave. + +We entered a wood of small hemlocks, and I felt rather than saw the +ground slope in front of us. About two hundred feet above the water the +glen of a little stream shaped itself into a flat cup, which was +invisible from below, and girdled on three sides by dark forest. Here +we walked more freely, till we came to the lip of the cup, and there, +not twenty paces below me, I saw a wonderful sight. The hollow was lit +with the glow of a dozen fires, round which men clustered. Some were +busy boucanning meat for ship's food, some were cooking supper, some +sprawled in idleness, and smoked or diced. The night had now grown very +black around us, and we were well protected, for the men in the glow +had their eyes dazed, and could not spy into the darkness. We came very +close above them, so that I could hear their talk. The smell of +roasting meat pricked my hunger, and I realized that the salt air had +given me a noble thirst. They were common seamen from the pirate +vessels, and, as far as I could judge, they had no officer among them. +I remarked their fierce, dark faces, and the long knives with which +they slashed and trimmed the flesh for their boucanning. + +Shalah touched my hand, and I followed him into the wood. We climbed +again, and from the tinkle of the stream on my left I judged that we +were ascending to a higher shelf in the glen. The Indian moved very +carefully, as noiseless as the flight of an owl, and I marvelled at the +gift. In after days I was to become something of a woodsman, and track +as swiftly and silently as any man of my upbringing. But I never +mastered the Indian art by which the foot descending in the darkness on +something that will crackle checks before the noise is made. I could do +it by day, when I could see what was on the ground, but in the dark the +thing was beyond me. It is an instinct like a wild thing's, and +possible only to those who have gone all their days light-shod in the +forest. + +Suddenly the slope and the trees ceased, and a new glare burst on our +eyes. This second shelf was smaller than the first, and as I blinked at +the light I saw that it held about a score of men. Torches made of pine +boughs dipped in tar blazed at the four corners of the assembly, and in +the middle on a boulder a man was sitting. He was speaking loudly, and +with passion, but I could not make him out. Once more Shalah put his +mouth to my ear, with a swift motion like a snake, and whispered, "The +Master." + +We crawled flat on our bellies round the edge of the cup. The trees had +gone, and the only cover was the long grass and the low sumach bushes. +We moved a foot at a time, and once the Indian turned in his tracks and +crawled to the left almost into the open. My sense of smell, as sharp +almost as a dog's, told me that horses were picketed in the grass in +front of us. Our road took us within, hearing of the speaker, and +though I dared not raise my head, I could hear the soft Highland voice +of my friend. He seemed now to be speaking humorously, for a laugh came +from the hearers. + +Once at the crossing of a little brook, I pulled a stone into the +water, and we instantly lay as still as death. But men preoccupied with +their own concerns do not keep anxious watch, and our precautions were +needless. Presently we had come to the far side of the shelf abreast of +the boulder on which he sat who seemed to be the chief figure. Now I +could raise my head, and what I saw made my eyes dazzle. + +Red Ringan sat on a stone with a naked cutlass across his knees. In +front stood a man, the most evil-looking figure that I had ever beheld. +He was short but very sturdily built, and wore a fine laced coat not +made for him, which hung to his knees, and was stretched tight at the +armpits. He had a heavy pale face, without hair on it. His teeth had +gone, all but two buck-teeth which stuck out at each corner of his +mouth, giving him the look of a tusker. I could see his lips moving +uneasily in the glare of the pine boughs, and his eyes darted about the +company as if seeking countenance. + +Ringan was speaking very gravely, with his eyes shining like sword +points. The others were every make and manner of fellow, from +well-shaped and well-clad gentlemen to loutish seamen in leather +jerkins. Some of the faces were stained dark with passion and crime, +some had the air of wild boys, and some the hard sobriety of traders. +But one and all were held by the dancing eyes of the man that spoke. + +"What is the judgment," he was saying, "of the Free Companions? By the +old custom of the Western Seas I call upon you, gentlemen all, for your +decision." + +Then I gathered that the evil-faced fellow had offended against some +one of their lawless laws, and was on his trial. + +No one spoke for a moment, and then one grizzled seaman raised his +hand, "The dice must judge," he said. "He must throw for his life +against the six." + +Another exclaimed against this. "Old wives' folly," he cried, with an +oath. "Let Cosh go his ways, and swear to amend them. The Brethren of +the Coast cannot be too nice in these little matters. We are not pursy +justices or mooning girls." + +But he had no support. The verdict was for the dice, and a seaman +brought Ringan a little ivory box, which he held out to the prisoner. +The latter took it with shaking hand, as if he did not know how to use +it. + +"You will cast thrice," said Ringan. "Two even throws, and you are +free." + +The man fumbled a little and then cast. It fell a four. + +A second time he threw, and the dice lay five. + +In that wild place, in the black heart of night, the terror of the +thing fell on my soul. The savage faces, the deadly purpose in Ringan's +eyes, the fumbling miscreant before him, were all heavy with horror. I +had no doubt that Cosh was worthy of death, but this cold and merciless +treatment froze my reason. I watched with starting eyes the last throw, +and I could not hear Ringan declare it. But I saw by the look on Cosh's +face what it had been. + +"It is your privilege to choose your manner of death and to name your +successor," I heard Ringan say. + +But Cosh did not need the invitation. Now that his case was desperate, +the courage in him revived. He was fully armed, and in a second he had +drawn a knife and leaped for Ringan's throat. + +Perhaps he expected it, perhaps he had learned the art of the wild +beast so that his body was answerable to his swiftest wish. I do not +know, but I saw Cosh's knife crash on the stone and splinter, while +Ringan stood by his side. + +"You have answered my question," he said quietly. "Draw your cutlass, +man. You have maybe one chance in ten thousand for your life." + +I shut my eyes as I heard the steel clash. Then very soon came silence. +I looked again, and saw Ringan wiping his blade on a bunch of grass, +and a body lying before him. + +He was speaking--speaking, I suppose, about the successor to the dead +man, whom two negroes had promptly removed. Suddenly at my shoulder +Shalah gave the hoot of an owl, followed at a second's interval by a +second and a third. I suppose it was some signal agreed with Ringan, +but at the time I thought the man had gone mad. + +I was not very sane myself. What I had seen had sent a cold grue +through me, for I had never before seen a man die violently, and the +circumstances of the place and hour made the thing a thousandfold more +awful. I had a black fright on me at that whole company of merciless +men, and especially at Ringan, whose word was law to them. Now the +worst effect of fear is that it obscures good judgment, and makes a man +in desperation do deeds of a foolhardiness from which at other times he +would shrink. All I remembered in that moment was that I had to reach +Ringan, and that Mercer had told me that the safest plan was to show a +bold front. I never remembered that I had also been bidden to follow +Shalah, nor did I reflect that a secret conclave of pirates was no +occasion to choose for my meeting. With a sudden impulse I forced +myself to my feet, and stalked, or rather shambled, into the light. + +"Ninian," I cried, "Ninian Campbell! I'm here to claim your promise." + +The whole company turned on me, and I was gripped by a dozen hands and +flung on the ground. Ringan came forward to look, but there was no +recognition in his eyes. Some one cried out, "A spy!" and there was a +fierce murmur of voices, which were meaningless to me, for fear had got +me again, and I had neither ears nor voice. Dimly it seemed that he +gave some order, and I was trussed up with ropes. Then I was conscious +of being carried out of the glare of torches into the cool darkness. +Presently I was laid in some kind of log-house, carpeted with fir +boughs, for the needles tickled my face. + +Bit by bit my senses came back to me, and I caught hold of my vagrant +courage. + +A big negro in seaman's clothes with a scarlet sash round his middle +was squatted on the floor watching me by the light of a ship's lantern. +He had a friendly, foolish face, and I remember yet how he rolled his +eyeballs. + +"I won't run away," I said, "so you might slacken these ropes and let +me breathe easy." + +Apparently he was an accommodating gaoler, for he did as I wished. + +"And give me a drink," I said, "for my tongue's like a stick." + +He mixed me a pannikin of rum and water. Perhaps he hocussed it, or +maybe 'twas only the effect of spirits on a weary body; but three +minutes after I had drunk I was in a heavy sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +VARIOUS DOINGS IN THE SAVANNAH. + +I awoke in broad daylight, and when my wits came back to me, I saw I +was in a tent of skins, with my limbs unbound, and a pitcher of water +beside me placed by some provident hand. Through the tent door I looked +over a wide space of green savannah. How I had got there I knew not; +but, as my memory repeated the events of the night, I knew I had +travelled far, for the sea showed miles away at a great distance +beneath me. On the water I saw a ship in full sail, diminished to a toy +size, careering northward with the wind. + +Outside a man was seated whistling a cheerful tune. I got to my feet +and staggered out to clear my head in the air, and found the smiling +face of Ringan. + +"Good-morning, Andrew," he cried, as I sat down beside him. "Have you +slept well?" + +I rubbed my eyes and took long draughts of the morning breeze. + +"Are you a warlock, Mr. Campbell, that you can spirit folk about the +country at your pleasure? I have slept sound, but my dreams have been +bad." + +"Yes," he said; "what sort of dreams, maybe?" + +"I dreamed I was in a wild place among wild men, and that I saw murder +done. The look of the man who did it was not unlike your own." + +"You have dreamed true," he said gravely; "but you have the wrong word +for it. Others would call it justice." + +"What sort of justice?" said I, "when you had no court or law but just +what you made yourself." + +"Is it not a stiff Whiggamore?" he said, looking skywards. "Why, man, +all justice is what men make themselves. What hinders the Free +Companions from making as honest laws as any cackling Council in the +towns? Did you see the man Cosh? Have you heard anything of his doings, +and will you deny that the world was well quit of him? There's a +decency in all trades, and Cosh fair stank to heaven. But I'm glad the +thing ended as it did. I never get to like a cold execution. 'Twas +better for everybody that he should fly at my face and get six inches +of kindly steel in his throat. He had a gentleman's death, which was +more than his crimes warranted." + +I was only half convinced. Here was I, a law-abiding merchant, +pitchforked suddenly into a world of lawlessness. I could not be +expected to adjust my views in the short space of a night. + +"You gave me a rough handling," I said, "Where was the need of it?" + +"And you showed very little sense in bursting in on us the way you did! +Could you not have bided quietly till Shalah gave the word? I had to be +harsh with you, or they would have suspected something and cut your +throat. Yon gentry are not to take liberties with. What made you do it, +Andrew?" + +"Just that I was black afraid. That made me more feared of being a +coward, so I forced myself to yon folly." + +"A very honourable reason," he said. + +"Are you the leader of those men?" I asked. "They looked a scurvy lot. +Do you call that a proper occupation for the best blood in +Breadalbane?" + +It was a silly speech, and I could have bitten my tongue out when I had +uttered it. But I was in a vile temper, for the dregs of the negro's +rum still hummed in my blood. His face grew dark, till he looked like +the man I had seen the night before. + +"I allow no man to slight my race," he said in a harsh voice. + +"It's the truth whether you like it or not. And you that claimed to be +a gentleman! What is it they say about the Highlands?" And I quoted a +ribald Glasgow proverb. + +What moved me to this insolence I cannot say, I was in the wrong, and I +knew it, but I was too much of a child to let go my silly pride. + +Ringan got up very quickly and walked three steps. The blackness had +gone from his face, and it was puzzled and melancholy. + +"There's a precious lot of the bairn in you, Mr. Garvald," he said, +"and an ugly spice of the Whiggamore. I would have killed another man +for half your words, and I've got to make you pay for them somehow." +And he knit his brow and pondered. + +"I'm ready," said I, with the best bravado I could muster, though +the truth is I was sick at heart. I had forced a quarrel like an +ill-mannered boy on the very man whose help I had come to seek. And I +saw, too, that I had gone just that bit too far for which no recantation +would win pardon. + +"What sort of way are you ready?" he asked politely. "You would fight +me with your pistols, but you haven't got them, and this is no a matter +that will wait. I could spit you in a jiffy with my sword, but it +wouldna be fair. It strikes me that you and me are ill matched. We're +like a shark and a wolf that cannot meet to fight in the same element." + +Then he ran his finger down the buttons of his coat, and his eyes were +smiling. "We'll try the old way that laddies use on the village green. +Man, Andrew, I'm going to skelp you, as your mother skelped you when +you were a breechless bairn," And he tossed his coat on the grass. + +I could only follow suit, though I was black ashamed at the whole +business. I felt the disgrace of my conduct, and most bitterly the +disgrace of the penalty. + +My arm was too short to make a fighter of me, and I could only strive +to close, that I might get the use of my weight and my great strength +of neck and shoulder. Ringan danced round me, tapping me lightly on +nose and cheek, but hard enough to make the blood flow, I defended +myself as best I could, while my temper rose rapidly and made me +forget my penitence. Time and again I looked for a chance to slip in, +but he was as wary as a fox, and was a yard off before I could get my +arm round him. + +At last in extreme vexation, I lowered my head and rushed blindly for +his chest. Something like the sails of a windmill smote me on the jaw, +and I felt myself falling into a pit of great darkness where little +lights twinkled. + +The next I knew I was sitting propped against the tent-pole with a cold +bandage round my forehead, and Ringan with a napkin bathing my face. + +"Cheer up, man," he cried; "you've got off light, for there's no a +scratch on your lily-white cheek, and the blood-letting from the nose +will clear out the dregs of Moro's hocus." + +I blinked a little, and tried to recall what had happened. All my +ill-humour had gone, and I was now in a hurry to set myself right with +my conscience. He heard my apology with an embarrassed face. + +"Say no more, Andrew. I was as muckle to blame as you, and I've been +giving myself some ill names for that last trick. It was ower hard, +but, man, the temptation was sore." + +He elbowed me to the open air. + +"Now for the questions you've a right to ask. We of the Brethren have +not precisely a chief, as you call it, but there are not many of them +would gainsay my word. Why? you ask. Well, it's not for a modest man to +be sounding his own trumpet. Maybe it's because I'm a gentleman, and +there's that in good blood which awes the commonalty. Maybe it's +because I've no fish of my own to fry. I do not rob for greed, like +Calvert and Williams, or kill for lust, like the departed Cosh. To me +it's a game, which I play by honest rules. I never laid finger on a +bodle's worth of English stuff, and if now and then I ease the Dons of +a pickle silver or send a Frenchman or two to purgatory, what worse am +I doing than His Majesty's troops in Flanders, or your black frigates +that lie off Port Royal? If I've a clear conscience I can more easily +take order with those that are less single-minded. But maybe the chief +reason is that I've some little skill of arms, so that the lad that +questions me is apt to fare like Cosh." + +There was a kind of boastful sincerity about the man which convinced +me. But his words put me in mind of my own business. + +"I came seeking you to ask help. Your friends have been making too free +with my belongings. I would never complain if it were the common risk +of my trade, but I have a notion that there's some sort of design +behind it." Then I told him of my strife with the English merchants. + +"What are your losses?" he asked. + +"The Ayr brig was taken off Cape Charles, and burned to the water. God +help the poor souls in her, for I fear they perished." + +He nodded. "I know. That was one of Cosh's exploits. He has paid by now +for that and other things." + +"Two of my ships were chased through the Capes and far up the Tidewater +of the James not two months back," I went on. + +He laughed. "I did that myself," he said. + +Astonishment and wrath filled me, but I finished my tale. + +"A week ago there was a ship ashore on Accomac. Pirates boarded her, +but they took nothing away save a sum of gold that was mine. Was that +your doing also, Mr. Campbell?" + +"Yes," he said; "but the money's safe. I'll give you a line to Mercer, +and he'll pay it you." + +"I'm much obliged to you, Mr. Campbell," I said, choking with anger. +"But who, in Heaven's name, asked you to manage my business? I thought +you were my friend, and I came to you as such, and here I find you the +chief among my enemies." + +"Patience, Andrew," he said, "and I'll explain everything, for I grant +you it needs some explaining. First, you are right about the English +merchants. They and the Free Companions have long had an understanding, +and word was sent by them to play tricks on your ships. I was absent at +the time, and though the thing was dirty work, as any one could see, +some of the fools thought it a fair ploy, and Cosh was suffered to do +his will. When I got back I heard the story, and was black angry, so I +took the matter into my own keeping. I have ways and means of getting +the news of Virginia, and I know pretty well what you have been doing, +young one. There's spirit in you and some wise notions, but you want +help in the game. Besides, there's a bigger thing before you. So I took +steps to bring you here." + +"You took a roundabout road," said I, by no means appeased. + +"It had to be. D'you think I could come marching into James Town and +collogue with you in your counting-house? Now that you're here, you +have my sworn word that the Free Companions will never lay hand again +on your ventures. Will that content you?" + +"It will," I said; "but you spoke of a bigger thing before me." + +"Yes, and that's the price you are going to pay me for my goodwill. +It's what the lawyers call _consideratio_ for our bargain, and it's the +reason I brought you here. Tell me, Andrew, d'you ken a man Frew who +lives on the South Fork River?" "A North Ireland fellow, with a hatchet +face and a big scar? I saw him a year ago." + +"It stuck in my mind that you had. And d'you mind the advice he gave +you?" + +I remembered it very well, for it was Frew who had clinched my views on +the defencelessness of our West. "He spoke God's truth," I said, "but I +cannot get a Virginian to believe it." + +"They'll believe in time," he said, "though maybe too late to save some +of their scalps. Come to this hillock, and I will show you something." + +From the low swell of ground we looked west to some little hills, and +in the hollow of them a spire of smoke rose into the blue. + +"I'm going to take you there, that you may hear and see something to +your profit. Quick, Moro," he cried to a servant. "Bring food, and have +the horses saddled." + +We breakfasted on some very good beefsteaks, and started at a canter +for the hills. My headache had gone, and I was now in a contented frame +of mind; for I saw the purpose of my errand accomplished, and I had a +young man's eagerness to know what lay before me. As we rode Ringan +talked. + +"You'll have heard tell of Bacon's rising in '76? Governor Berkeley had +ridden the dominion with too harsh a hand, and in the matter of its +defence against the Indians he was slack when he should have been +tight. The upshot was that Nathaniel Bacon took up the job himself, and +after giving the Indians their lesson, turned his mind to the +government of Virginia. He drove Berkeley into Accomac, and would have +turned the whole place tapsalteery if he had not suddenly died of a +bowel complaint. After that Berkeley and his tame planters got the +upper hand, and there were some pretty homings and hangings. There were +two men that were lieutenants to Bacon, and maybe put the notion into +his head. One was James Drummond, a cousin of my own mother's, and he +got the gallows for his trouble. The other was a man Richard Lawrence, +a fine scholar, and a grand hand at planning, though a little slow in a +fight. He kept the ordinary at James Town, and was the one that +collected the powder and kindled the fuse. Governor Berkeley had a long +score to settle with him, but he never got him, for when the thing was +past hope Mr. Richard rode west one snowy night to the hills, and +Virginia saw him no more. They think he starved in the wilderness, or +got into the hands of the wild Indians, and is long ago dead." + +I knew all about Dick Lawrence, for I had heard the tale twenty times. +"But surely they're right," I said, "It's fifteen years since any man +had word of him." + +"Well, you'll see him within an hour," said Ringan, "It's a queer +story, but it seems he fell in with a Monacan war party, and since he +and Bacon had been fighting their deadly foes, the Susquehannocks, they +treated him well, and brought him south into Carolina. You must know, +Andrew, that all this land hereaways, except for the little Algonquin +villages on the shore, is Sioux country, with as many tribes as there +are houses in Clan Campbell. But cheek by jowl is a long strip held by +the Tuscaroras, a murdering lot of devils, of whom you and I'll get +news sooner than we want. The Tuscaroras are bad enough in themselves, +but the worst part is that all the back country in the hills belongs to +their cousins the Cherokees, and God knows how far north their sway +holds. The Long House of the Iroquois controls everything west of the +coast land from Carolina away up through Virginia to New York and the +Canadas. That means that Virginia has on two sides the most powerful +tribes of savages in the world, and if ever the Iroquois found a +general and made a common attack things would go ill with the +Tidewater. I tell you that so that you can understand Lawrence's +doings. He hates the Iroquois like hell, and so he likes their enemies. +He has lived for fifteen years among the Sioux, whiles with the +Catawbas, whiles with the Manahoacs, but mostly with the Monacans. We +of the Free Companions see him pretty often, and bring him the news and +little comforts, like good tobacco and _eau de vie_, that he cannot get +among savages. And we carry messages between him and the Tidewater, for +he has many friends still alive there. There's no man ever had his +knowledge of Indians, and I'm taking you to him, for he has something +to tell you." + +By this time we had come to a place where a fair-sized burn issued from +a shallow glen in the savannah. There was a peeled wand stuck in a +burnt tree above the water, and this Ringan took and broke very +carefully into two equal pieces, and put them back in the hole. From +this point onwards I had the feeling that the long grass and the clumps +of bushes held watchers. They made no noise, but I could have sworn to +the truth of my notion. Ringan, whose senses were keener than mine, +would stop every now and again and raise his hand as if in signal. At +one place we halted dead for five minutes, and at another he dismounted +and cut a tuft of sumach, which he laid over his saddle. Then at the +edge of a thicket he stopped again, and held up both hands above his +head. Instantly a tall Indian stepped from the cover, saluted, and +walked by our side. In five minutes more we rounded a creek of the burn +and were at the encampment. + +'Twas the first time I had ever seen an Indian village. The tents, or +teepees, were of skins stretched over poles, and not of bark, like +those of the woodland tribes. At a great fire in the centre women were +grilling deer's flesh, while little brown children strove and +quarrelled for scraps, I saw few men, for the braves were out hunting +or keeping watch at the approaches. One young lad took the horses, and +led us to a teepee bigger than the others, outside of which stood a +finely-made savage, with heron's feathers in his hair, and a necklace +of polished shells. On his Iron face there was no flicker of welcome or +recognition, but he shook hands silently with the two of us, and struck +a blow on a dry gourd. Instantly three warriors appeared, and took +their place by his side. Then all of us sat down and a pipe was lit and +handed by the chief to Ringan. He took a puff and gave it to one of the +other Indians, who handed it to me. With that ceremony over, the tongue +of the chief seemed to be unloosed. "The Sachem comes," he said, and an +old man sat himself down beside us. + +He was a strange figure to meet in an Indian camp. A long white beard +hung down to his middle, and his unshorn hair draped his shoulders like +a fleece. His clothing was of tanned skin, save that he had a belt of +Spanish leather, and on his feet he wore country shoes and not the +Indian moccasins. The eyes in his head were keen and youthful, and +though he could not have been less than sixty he carried himself with +the vigour of a man in his prime. Below his shaggy locks was a high, +broad forehead, such as some college professor might have borne who had +given all his days to the philosophies. He seemed to have been +disturbed in reading, for he carried in his hand a little book with a +finger marking his place. I caught a glimpse of the title, and saw that +it was Mr. Locke's new "Essay on the Human Understanding." + +Ringan spoke to the chief in his own tongue, but the Sioux language was +beyond me. Mr. Lawrence joined in, and I saw the Indian's eyes kindle. +He shook his head, and seemed to deny something. Then he poured forth a +flood of talk, and when he had finished Ringan spoke to me. + +"He says that the Tuscaroras are stirring. Word has come down from the +hills to be ready for a great ride between the Moon of Stags and the +Corngathering." + +Lawrence nodded. "That's an old Tuscarora habit; but somehow these +ridings never happen." He said something in Sioux to one of the +warriors, and got an emphatic answer, which he translated to me. "He +thinks that the Cherokees have had word from farther north. It looks +like a general stirring of the Long House." + +"Is it the fighting in Canada?" I asked. + +"God knows," he said, "but I don't think so. If that were the cause we +should have the Iroquois pushed down on the top of the Cherokees. But +my information is that the Cherokees are to move north themselves, and +then down to the Tidewater. It is not likely that the Five Nations have +any plan of conquering the lowlands. They're a hill people, and they +know the white man's mettle too well. My notion is that some devilry is +going on in the West, and I might guess that there's a white man in +it." He spoke to the chief, who spoke again to his companion, and +Lawrence listened with contracting brows, while Ringan whistled between +his teeth. + +"They've got a queer story," said Lawrence at last. "They say that when +last they hunted on the Roanoke their young men brought a tale that a +tribe of Cherokees, who lived six days' journey into the hills, had +found a great Sachem who had the white man's magic, and that God was +moving him to drive out the palefaces and hold his hunting lodge in +their dwellings. That is not like an ordinary Indian lie. What do you +make of it, Mr. Campbell?" + +Ringan looked grave, "It's possible enough. There's a heap of +renegades among the tribes, men that have made the Tidewater and even +the Free Companies too warm for them. There's no knowing the mischief a +strong-minded rascal might work. I mind a man at Norfolk, a Scots +redemptioner, who had the tongue of a devil and the strength of a wolf. +He broke out one night and got clear into the wilderness." + +Lawrence turned to me briskly. "You see the case, sir. There's trouble +brewing in the hills, black trouble for Virginia, but we've some +months' breathing space. For Nat Bacon's sake, I'm loath to see the war +paint at James Town. The question is, are you willing to do your +share?" + +"I'm willing enough," I said, "but what can I do? I'm not exactly a +popular character in the Tidewater. If you want me to hammer sense into +the planters, you could not get a worse man for the job. I have told +Governor Nicholson my fears, and he is of my opinion, but his hands are +tied by a penurious Council. If he cannot screw money for troops out of +the Virginians, it's not likely that I could do much." + +Lawrence nodded his wise head. "All you say is true, but I want a +different kind of service from you. You may have noticed in your +travels, Mr. Garvald--for they tell me you are not often out of the +saddle--that up and down the land there's a good few folk that are not +very easy in their minds. Many of these are former troopers of Bacon, +some are new men who have eyes in their heads, some are old settlers +who have been soured by the folly of the Government. With such poor +means as I possess I keep in touch with these gentlemen, and in them we +have the rudiments of a frontier army. I don't say they are many; but +five hundred resolute fellows, well horsed and well armed, and led by +some man who knows the Indian ways, might be a stumbling-block in the +way of an Iroquois raid. But to perfect this force needs time, and, +above all, it needs a man on the spot; for Virginia is not a healthy +place for me, and these savannahs are a trifle distant, I want a man in +James Town who will receive word when I send it, and pass it onto those +who should hear it, I want a discreet man, whose trade takes him about +the country. Mr. Campbell tells me you are such an one. Will you accept +the charge?" + +I was greatly flattered, but a little perplexed. "I'm a law-abiding +citizen," I said, "and I can have no hand in rebellions. I've no +ambition to play Bacon's part." + +Lawrence smiled. "A proof of your discretion, sir. But believe me, +there is no thought of rebellion. We have no quarrel with the Council +and less with His Majesty's Governor. We but seek to set the house in +order against perils which we alone know fully, I approve of your +scruples, and I give you my word they shall not be violated." + +"So be it," I said, "I will do what I can." + +"God be praised," said Mr. Lawrence, "I have here certain secret papers +which Will give you the names of the men we can trust. Messages will +come to you, which I trust you to find the means of sending on. Mercer +has our confidence, and will arrange with you certain matters of arms. +He will also supply you with what money is needed. There are many in +the Tidewater who would look askance at this business, so it must be +done in desperate secrecy; but if there should be trouble I counsel you +to play a bold hand with the Governor. They tell me that you and he are +friendly, and, unless I mistake the man, he can see reason if he is +wisely handled. If the worst comes to the worst, you can take Nicholson +into your confidence." + +"How long have we to prepare?" I asked. + +"The summer months, according to my forecast. It may be shorter or +longer, but I will know better when I get nearer the hills." + +"And what about the Carolina tribes?" I asked. "If we are to hold the +western marches of Virginia, we cannot risk being caught on the flank." + +"That can be arranged," he said. "Our friends the Sioux are not +over-fond of the Long House. If the Tuscaroras ride, I do not think they +will ever reach the James." + +The afternoon was now ending, and we were given a meal of corn-cakes +and roast deer's flesh. Then we took our leave, and Mr. Lawrence's last +word to me was to send him any English books of a serious cast which +came under my eye. This request he made with so much hesitation, but +with so hungry a desire in his face, that I was moved to pity this +ill-fated scholar, wandering in Indian lodges, and famished for lack of +the society of his kind. + +Ringan took me by a new way which bore north of that we had ridden, and +though the dusk began soon to fall, he never faltered in his guiding. +Presently we left the savannah for the woods of the coast, and, +dropping down hill by a very meagre path, we came in three hours to a +creek of the sea. There by a little fire we found Shalah, and the sloop +riding at anchor below a thick covert of trees. + +"Good-bye to you, Andrew," cried Ringan. "You'll be getting news of me +soon, and maybe see me in the flesh on the Tidewater. Remember the word +I told you in the Saltmarket, for I never mention names when I take the +road." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +I HEAR AN OLD SONG. + +When we sailed at daybreak next morning I had the glow of satisfaction +with my own doings which is a safe precursor of misfortunes. I had +settled my business with the Free Companions, and need look for no more +trouble on that score. But what tickled my vanity was my talk with +Ringan and Lawrence at the Monacan lodge and the momentous trust they +had laid on me. With a young man's vanity, I saw myself the saviour of +Virginia, and hailed as such by the proud folk who now scorned me. My +only merits, as I was to learn in time, are a certain grasp of simple +truths that elude cleverer men, and a desperate obstinacy which is +reluctant to admit defeat. But it is the fashion of youth to glory in +what it lacks, and I flattered myself that I had a natural gift for +finesse and subtlety, and was a born deviser of wars. Again and again I +told myself how I and Lawrence's Virginians--grown under my hand to a +potent army--should roll back the invaders to the hills and beyond, +while the Sioux of the Carolinas guarded one flank and the streams of +the Potomac the other. In those days the star of the great Marlborough +had not risen; but John Churchill, the victor of Blenheim, did not +esteem himself a wiser strategist than the raw lad Andrew Garvald, now +sailing north in the long wash of the Atlantic seas. + +The weather grew spiteful, and we were much buffeted about by the +contrary spring winds, so that it was late in the afternoon of the +third day that we turned Cape Henry and came into the Bay of +Chesapeake. Here a perfect hurricane fell upon us, and we sought refuge +in a creek on the shore of Norfolk county. The place was marshy, and it +was hard to find dry land for our night's lodging. Our provisions had +run low, and there seemed little enough for two hungry men who had all +day been striving with salt winds. So, knowing that this was a +neighbourhood studded with great manors, and remembering the +hospitality I had so often found, I left Shalah by the fire with such +food as remained, and set out with our lantern through the woods to +look for a human habitation. + +I found one quicker than I had hoped. Almost at once I came on a track +which led me into a carriage-road and out of the thickets to a big +clearing. The daylight had not yet wholly gone, and it guided me to two +gate-posts, from which an avenue of chestnut trees led up to a great +house. There were lights glimmering in the windows, and when I reached +the yard and saw the size of the barns and outbuildings, I wished I had +happened on a place of less pretensions. But hunger made me bold, and I +tramped over the mown grass of the yard, which in the dusk I could see +to be set with flower-beds, till I stood before the door of as fine a +mansion as I had found in the dominion. From within came a sound of +speech and laughter, and I was in half a mind to turn back to my cold +quarters by the shore. I had no sooner struck the knocker than I wanted +to run away. + +The door was opened instantly by a tall negro in a scarlet livery. He +asked no questions, but motioned me to enter as if I had been an +invited guest. I followed him, wondering dolefully what sort of figure +I must cut in my plain clothes soaked and stained by travel; for it was +clear that I had lighted on the mansion of some rich planter, who was +even now entertaining his friends. The servant led me through an outer +hall into a great room full of people. A few candles in tall +candlesticks burned down the length of a table, round which sat a score +of gentlemen. The scarlet negro went to the tablehead, and said +something to the master, who rose and came to meet me. + +"I am storm-stayed," I said humbly, "and I left my boat on the shore +and came inland to look for a supper." + +"You shall get it," he said heartily. "Sit down, and my servants will +bring you what you need." + +"But I am not fit to intrude, sir. A weary traveller is no guest for +such a table." + +"Tush, man," he cried, "when did a Virginian think the worse of a man +for his clothes? Sit down and say no more. You are heartily welcome." + +He pushed me into a vacant chair at the bottom of the table, and gave +some orders to the negro. Now I knew where I was, for I had seen before +the noble figure of my host. This was Colonel Beverley, who in his +youth had ridden with Prince Rupert, and had come to Virginia long ago +in the Commonwealth time. He sat on the Council, and was the most +respected of all the magnates of the dominion, for he had restrained +the folly of successive Governors, and had ever teen ready to stand +forth alike on behalf of the liberties of the settlers and their duties +to the Crown. His name was highly esteemed at Whitehall, and more than +once he had occupied the Governor's place when His Majesty was slow in +filling it. His riches were large, but he was above all things a great +gentleman, who had grafted on an old proud stock the tolerance and +vigour of a new land. + +The company had finished dining, for the table was covered with fruits +and comfits, and wine in silver goblets. There was sack and madeira, +and French claret, and white Rhenish, and ale and cider for those with +homelier palates. I saw dimly around me the faces of the guests, for +the few candles scarcely illumined the dusk of the great panelled hall +hung with dark portraits. One man gave me good-evening, but as I sat at +the extreme end of the table I was out of the circle of the company. +They talked and laughed, and it seemed to me that I could hear women's +voices at the other end. Meantime I was busy with my viands, and no man +ever punished a venison pie more heartily. As I ate and drank, I smiled +at the strangeness of my fortunes--to come thus straight from the wild +seas and the company of outlaws into a place of silver and damask and +satin coats and lace cravats and orderly wigs. The soft hum of +gentlefolks' speech was all around me, those smooth Virginian voices +compared with which my Scots tongue was as strident as a raven's. But +as I listened, I remembered Ringan and Lawrence, and, "Ah, my silken +friends," thought I, "little you know the judgment that is preparing. +Some day soon, unless God is kind, there will be blood on the lace and +the war-whoop in these pleasant chambers." + +Then a voice said louder than the rest, "Dulcinea will sing to us. She +promised this morning in the garden." + +At this there was a ripple of "Bravas," and presently I heard the +tuning of a lute. The low twanging went on for a little, and suddenly I +was seized with a presentiment. I set down my tankard, and waited with +my heart in my mouth. + +Very clear and pure the voice rose, as fresh as the morning song of +birds. There was youth in it and joy and pride--joy of the fairness of +the earth, pride of beauty and race and strength, "_My dear and only +love_" it sang, as it had sung before; but then it had been a girl's +hope, and now it was a woman's certainty. At the first note, the past +came back to me like yesterday. I saw the moorland gables in the rain, +I heard the swirl of the tempest, I saw the elfin face in the hood +which had cheered the traveller on his way. In that dim light I could +not see the singer, but I needed no vision. The strangeness of the +thing clutched at my heart, for here was the voice which had never been +out of my ears singing again in a land far from the wet heather and the +driving mists of home. + +As I sat dazed and dreaming, I knew that a great thing had befallen me. +For me, Andrew Garvald, the prosaic trader, coming out of the darkness +into this strange company, the foundations of the world had been upset. +All my cares and hopes, my gains and losses, seemed in that moment no +better than dust. Love had come to me like a hurricane. From now I had +but the one ambition, to hear that voice say to me and to mean it +truly, "My dear and only love." I knew it was folly and a madman's +dream, for I felt most deeply my common clay. What had I to offer for +the heart of that proud lady? A dingy and battered merchant might as +well enter a court of steel-clad heroes and contend for the love of a +queen. But I was not downcast. I do not think I even wanted to hope. It +was enough to know that so bright a thing was in the world, for at one +stroke my drab horizon seemed to have broadened into the infinite +heavens. + +The song ended in another chorus of "Bravas." "Bring twenty candles, +Pompey," my host called out, "and the great punch-bowl. We will pledge +my lady in the old Beverley brew." + +Servants set on the table a massive silver dish, into which sundry +bottles of wine and spirits were poured. A mass of cut fruit and sugar +was added, and the whole was set alight, and leaped almost to the +ceiling in a blue flame. Colonel Beverley, with a long ladle, filled +the array of glasses on a salver, which the servants carried round to +the guests. Large branching candelabra had meantime been placed on the +table, and in a glow of light we stood to our feet and honoured the +toast. + +As I stood up and looked to the table's end, I saw the dark, restless +eyes and the heavy blue jowl of Governor Nicholson. He saw me, for I +was alone at the bottom end, and when we were seated, he cried out to +me,-- + +"What news of trade, Mr. Garvald? You're an active packman, for they +tell me you're never off the road." + +At the mention of my name every eye turned towards me, and I felt, +rather than saw, the disfavour of the looks. No doubt they resented a +storekeeper's intrusion into well-bred company, and some were there who +had publicly cursed me for a meddlesome upstart. But I was not looking +their way, but at the girl who sat on my host's right hand, and in +whose dark eyes I thought I saw a spark of recognition. + +She was clad in white satin, and in her hair and bosom spring flowers +had been set. Her little hand played with the slim glass, and her eyes +had all the happy freedom of childhood. But now she was a grown woman, +with a woman's pride and knowledge of power. Her exquisite slimness +and grace, amid the glow of silks and silver, gave her the air of a +fairy-tale princess. There was a grave man in black sat next her, to +whom she bent to speak. Then she looked towards me again, and smiled +with that witching mockery which had pricked my temper in the Canongate +Tolbooth. + +The Governor's voice recalled me from my dream. + +"How goes the Indian menace, Mr. Garvald?" he cried. "You must know," +and he turned to the company, "that our friend combines commerce with +high policy, and shares my apprehensions as to the safety of the +dominion." + +I could not tell whether he was mocking at me or not. I think he was, +for Francis Nicholson's moods were as mutable as the tides. In every +word of his there lurked some sour irony. + +The company took the speech for satire, and many laughed. One young +gentleman, who wore a purple coat and a splendid brocaded vest, laughed +very loud. + +"A merchant's nerves are delicate things," he said, as he fingered his +cravat. "I would have said 'like a woman's,' had I not seen this very +day Miss Elspeth's horsemanship." And he bowed to her very neatly. + +Now I was never fond of being quizzed, and in that company I could not +endure it. + +"We have a saying, sir," I said, "that the farmyard fowl does not fear +the eagle. The men who look grave just now are not those who live +snugly in coast manors, but the outland folk who have to keep their +doors with their own hands." + +It was a rude speech, and my hard voice and common clothes made it +ruder. The gentleman fired in a second, and with blazing eyes asked me +if I intended an insult. I was about to say that he could take what +meaning he pleased, when an older man broke in with, "Tush, Charles, +let the fellow alone. You cannot quarrel with a shopman." + +"I thank you, George, for a timely reminder," said my gentleman, and he +turned away his head with a motion of sovereign contempt. + +"Come, come, sirs," Colonel Beverley cried, "remember the sacred law of +hospitality. You are all my guests, and you have a lady here, whose +bright eyes should be a balm for controversies." + +The Governor had sat with his lips closed and his eyes roving the +table. He dearly loved a quarrel, and was minded to use me to bait +those whom he liked little. + +"What is all this talk about gentility?" he said. "A man is as good as +his brains and his right arm, and no better. I am of the creed of the +Levellers, who would have a man stand stark before his Maker." + +He could not have spoken words better calculated to set the company +against me. My host looked glum and disapproving, and all the silken +gentlemen murmured. The Virginian cavalier had as pretty a notion of +the worth of descent as any Highland land-louper. Indeed, to be honest, +I would have controverted the Governor myself, for I have ever held +that good blood is a mighty advantage to its possessor. + +Suddenly the grave man who sat by Miss Elspeth's side spoke up. By this +time I had remembered that he was Doctor James Blair, the lately come +commissary of the diocese of London, who represented all that Virginia +had in the way of a bishop. He had a shrewd, kind face, like a Scots +dominie, and a mouth that shut as tight as the Governor's. + +"Your tongue proclaims you my countryman, sir," he said. "Did I hear +right that your name was Garvald?" + +"Of Auchencairn?" he asked, when I had assented. + +"Of Auchencairn, or what is left of it," I said. + +"Then, gentlemen," he said, addressing the company, "I can settle the +dispute on the facts, without questioning his Excellency's dogma. Mr. +Garvald is of as good blood as any in Scotland. And that," said he +firmly, "means that in the matter of birth he can hold up his head in +any company in any Christian land." + +I do not think this speech made any man there look on me with greater +favour, but it enormously increased my own comfort. I have never felt +such a glow of gratitude as then filled my heart to the staid cleric. +That he was of near kin to Miss Elspeth made it tenfold sweeter. I +forgot my old clothes and my uncouth looks; I forgot, too, my +irritation with the brocaded gentleman. If her kin thought me worthy, I +cared not a bodle for the rest of mankind. + +Presently we rose from table, and Colonel Beverley summoned us to the +Green Parlour, where Miss Elspeth was brewing a dish of chocolate, then +a newfangled luxury in the dominion. I would fain have made my escape, +for if my appearance was unfit for a dining-hall, it was an outrage in +a lady's withdrawing-room. But Doctor Blair came forward to me and +shook me warmly by the hand, and was full of gossip about Clydesdale, +from which apparently he had been absent these twenty years. "My niece +bade me bring you to her," he said. "She, poor child, is a happy exile, +but she has now and then an exile's longings. A Scots tongue is +pleasant in her ear." + +So I perforce had to follow him into a fine room with an oaken floor, +whereon lay rich Smyrna rugs and the skins of wild beasts from the +wood. There was a prodigious number of soft couches of flowered damask, +and little tables inlaid with foreign woods and jeweller's work. 'Twas +well enough for your fine gentleman in his buckled shoes and silk +stockings to enter such a place, but for myself, in my coarse boots, I +seemed like a colt in a flower garden. The girl sat by a brazier of +charcoal, with the scarlet-coated negro at hand doing her commands. She +was so busy at the chocolate making that when her uncle said, "Elspeth, +I have brought you Mr. Garvald," she had no hand to give me. She looked +up and smiled, and went on with the business, while I stood awkwardly +by, the scorn of the assured gentlemen around me. + +By and by she spoke: "You and I seem fated to meet in odd places. First +it was at Carnwath in the rain, and then at the Cauldstaneslap in a +motley company. Then I think it was in the Tolbooth, Mr. Garvald, when +you were very gruff to your deliverer. And now we are both exiles, and +once more you step in like a bogle out of the night. Will you taste my +chocolate?" + +She served me first, and I could see how little the favour was to the +liking of her little retinue of courtiers. My silken gentleman, whose +name was Grey, broke in on us abruptly. + +"What is this story, sir, of Indian dangers? You are new to the +country, or you would know that it is the old cry of the landless and +the lawless. Every out-at-elbows republican makes it a stick to beat +His Majesty." + +"Are you a republican, Mr. Garvald?" she asked. "Now that I remember, I +have seen you in Whiggamore company." + +"Why, no," I said. "I do not meddle with politics. I am a merchant, and +am well content with any Government that will protect my trade and my +person." + +A sudden perversity had taken me to show myself at my most prosaic and +unromantic. I think it was the contrast with the glamour of those fine +gentlemen. I had neither claim nor desire to be of their company, and +to her I could make no pretence. + +He laughed scornfully. "Yours is a noble cause," he said. "But you may +sleep peacefully in your bed, sir. Be assured that there are a thousand +gentlemen of Virginia whose swords will leap from their scabbards at a +breath of peril, on behalf of their women and their homes. And these," +he added, taking snuff from a gold box, "are perhaps as potent spurs to +action as the whims of a busybody or the gains of a house-keeping +trader." + +I was determined not to be provoked, so I answered nothing. But Miss +Elspeth opened her eyes and smiled sweetly upon the speaker. + +"La, Mr. Grey, I protest you are too severe. Busybody--well, it may be. +I have found Mr. Garvald very busy in other folks' affairs. But I do +assure you he is no house-keeper, I have seen him in desperate conflict +with savage men, and even with His Majesty's redcoats. If trouble ever +comes to Virginia, you will find him, I doubt not, a very bold +moss-trooper." + +It was the, light, laughing tone I remembered well, but now it did not +vex me. Nothing that she could say or do could break the spell that +had fallen on my heart, "I pray it may be so," said Mr. Grey as he +turned aside. + +By this time the Governor had come forward, and I saw that my presence +was no longer desired. I wanted to get back to Shalah and solitude. The +cold bed on the shore would be warmed for me by happy dreams. So I +found my host, and thanked him for my entertainment. He gave me +good-evening hastily, as if he were glad to be rid of me. + +At the hall door some one tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to +find my silken cavalier. + +"It seems you are a gentleman, sir," he said, "so I desire a word with +you. Your manners at table deserved a whipping, but I will condescend +to forget them. But a second offence shall be duly punished." He spoke +in a high, lisping voice, which was the latest London importation. + +I looked him square in the eyes. He was maybe an inch taller than me, a +handsome fellow, with a flushed, petulant face and an overweening pride +in his arched brows. + +"By all means let us understand each other," I said. "I have no wish to +quarrel with you. Go your way and I will go mine, and there need be no +trouble." + +"That is precisely the point," said he. "I do not choose that your way +should take you again to the side of Miss Elspeth Blair. If it does, we +shall quarrel." + +It was the height of flattery. At last I had found a fine gentleman who +did me the honour to regard me with jealous eyes. I laughed loudly with +delight. + +He turned and strolled back to the company. Still laughing, I passed +from the house, lit my lantern, and plunged into the sombre woods. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +GRAVITY OUT OF BED. + +A week later I had a visit from old Mercer. He came to my house in the +evening just after the closing of the store. First of all, he paid out +to me the gold I had lost from my ship at Accomac, with all the gravity +in the world, as if it had been an ordinary merchant's bargain. Then he +produced some papers, and putting on big horn spectacles, proceeded to +instruct me in them. They were lists, fuller than those I had already +got, of men up and down the country whom Lawrence trusted. Some I had +met, many I knew of, but two or three gave me a start. There was a +planter in Henricus who had treated me like dirt, and some names from +Essex county that I did not expect. Especially there were several in +James Town itself--one a lawyer body I had thought the obedient serf of +the London merchants, one the schoolmaster, and another a drunken +skipper of a river boat. But what struck me most was the name of +Colonel Beverley. + +"Are you sure of all these?" I asked. + +"Sure as death," he said. "I'm not saying that they're all friends of +yours, Mr. Garvald. Ye've trampled on a good wheen toes since you came +to these parts. But they're all men to ride the ford with, if that +should come which we ken of." + +Some of the men on the list were poor settlers, and it was our business +to equip them with horse and gun. That was to be my special duty--that +and the establishing of means by which they could be summoned quickly. +With the first Mercer could help me, for he had his hand on all the +lines of the smuggling business, and there were a dozen ports on the +coast where he could land arms. Horses were an easy matter, requiring +only the doling out of money. But the summoning business was to be my +particular care. I could go about the country in my ordinary way of +trade without exciting suspicion, and my house was to be the rendezvous +of every man on the list who wanted news or guidance. + +"Can ye trust your men?" Mercer asked, and I replied that Faulkner was +as staunch as cold steel, and that he had picked the others. + +"Well, let's see your accommodation," and the old fellow hopped to his +feet, and was out of doors before I could get the lantern. + +Mercer on a matter of this sort was a different being from the decayed +landlord of the water-side tavern. His spectacled eyes peered +everywhere, and his shrewd sense judged instantly of a thing's value. +He approved of the tobacco-shed as a store for arms, for he could reach +it from the river by a little-used road through the woods. It was easy +so to arrange, the contents that a passing visitor could guess nothing, +and no one ever penetrated to its recesses but Faulkner and myself. I +summoned Faulkner to the conference, and told him his duties, which, he +undertook with sober interest. He was a dry stick from Fife, who spoke +seldom and wrought mightily. + +Faulkner attended to Mercer's consignments, and I took once more to the +road. I had to arrange that arms from the coast or the river-sides +could be sent inland, and for this purpose I had a regiment of pack +horses that delivered my own stores as well. I had to visit all the men +on the list whom I did not know, and a weary job it was. I repeated +again my toil of the first year, and in the hot Virginian summer rode +the length and breadth of the land. My own business prospered hugely, +and I bought on credit such a stock of tobacco as made me write my +uncle for a fourth ship at the harvest sailing. It seemed a strange +thing, I remember, to be bargaining for stuff which might never be +delivered, for by the autumn the dominion might be at death grips. + +In those weeks I discovered what kind of force Lawrence leaned on. He +who only knew James Town and the rich planters knew little of the true +Virginia. There were old men who had long memories of Indian fights, +and men in their prime who had risen with Bacon, and young men who had +their eyes turned to the unknown West. There were new-comers from +Scotland and North Ireland, and a stout band of French Protestants, +most of them gently born, who had sought freedom for their faith beyond +the sway of King Louis. You cannot picture a hardier or more spirited +race than the fellows I thus recruited. The forest settler who swung an +axe all day for his livelihood could have felled the ordinary fine +gentleman with one blow of his fist. And they could shoot too, with +their rusty matchlocks or clumsy snaphances. In some few the motive was +fear, for they had seen or heard of the tender mercies of the savages. +But in most, I think, it was a love of bold adventure, and especially +the craving to push the white man's province beyond the narrow borders +of the Tidewater. If you say that this was something more than defence, +I claim that the only way to protect a country is to make sure of its +environs. What hope is there of peace if your frontier is the rim of an +unknown forest? + +My hardest task was to establish some method of sending news to the +outland dwellers. For this purpose I had to consort with queer folk. +Shalah, who had become my second shadow, found here and there little +Indian camps, from which he chose young men as messengers. In one place +I would get a settler with a canoe, in another a woodman with a fast +horse; and in a third some lad who prided himself on his legs. The rare +country taverns were a help, for most of their owners were in the +secret. The Tidewater is a flat forest region, so we could not light +beacons as in a hilly land. But by the aid of Shalah's woodcraft I +concocted a set of marks on trees and dwellings which would speak a +language to any initiate traveller. The Indians, too, had their own +silent tongue, by which they could send messages over many leagues in a +short space. I never learned the trick of it, though I tried hard with +Shalah as interpreter; for that you must have been suckled in a wigwam. + +When I got back to James Town, Faulkner would report on his visitors, +and he seems to have had many. Rough fellows would ride up at the +darkening, bringing a line from Mercer, or more often an agreed +password, and he had to satisfy their wants and remember their news. So +far I had had no word from Lawrence, though Mercer reported that Ringan +was still sending arms. That tobacco-shed of mine would have made a +brave explosion if some one had kindled it, and, indeed, the thing more +than once was near happening through a negro's foolishness. I spent all +my evenings, when at home, in making a map of the country. I had got a +rough chart from the Surveyor-General, and filled up such parts as I +knew, and over all I spread a network of lines which meant my ways of +sending news. For instance, to get to a man in Essex county, the word +would be passed by Middle Plantation to York Ferry. Thence in an +Indian's canoe it would be carried to Aird's store on the Mattaponey, +from which a woodman would take it across the swamps to a clump of +hemlocks. There he would make certain marks, and a long-legged lad from +the Rappahannock, riding by daily to school, would carry the tidings to +the man I wanted. And so forth over the habitable dominion. I +calculated that there were not more than a dozen of Lawrence's men who +within three days could not get the summons and within five be at the +proper rendezvous. + +One evening I was surprised by a visit from Colonel Beverley. He came +openly on a fine bay horse with two mounted negroes as attendants. I +had parted from him dryly, and had been surprised to find that he was +one of us; but when I had talked with him a little, it appeared that he +had had a big share in planning the whole business. We mentioned no +names, but I gathered that he knew Lawrence, and was at least aware of +Ringan. He warned me, I remember, to be on my guard against some of the +young bloods, who might visit me to make mischief. "It's not that they +know anything of our affairs," he said, "but that they have got a +prejudice against yourself, Mr. Garvald. They are foolish, hot-headed +lads, very puffed up by their pride of gentrice, and I do not like the +notion of their playing pranks in that tobacco-shed." + +I asked him a question which had long puzzled me, why the natural +defence of a country should be kept so secret. "The Governor, at any +rate," I said, "would approve, and we are not asking the burgesses for +a single guinea." + +"Yes, but the Governor would play a wild hand," was the answer. "He +would never permit the thing to go on quietly, but would want to ride +at the head of the men, and the whole fat would be in the fire. You +must know. Mr. Garvald, that politics run high in our Virginia. There +are scores of men who would see in our enterprise a second attempt like +Bacon's, and, though they might approve of our aims, would never hear +of one of Bacon's folk serving with us. I was never a Bacon's man, for +I was with Berkeley in Accomac and at the taking of James Town, but I +know the quality of the rough fellows that Bacon led, and I want them +all for this adventure. Besides, who can deny that there is more in our +plans than a defence against Indians? There are many who feel with me +that Virginia can never grow to the fullness of a nation so long as she +is cooped up in the Tidewater. New-comers arrive by every ship from +England, and press on into the wilderness. But there can be no conquest +of the wilderness till we have broken the Indian menace, and pushed our +frontier up to the hills--ay, and beyond them. But tell that to the +ordinary planter, and he will assign you to the devil. He fears these +new-comers, who are simple fellows that do not respect his grandeur. He +fears that some day they may control the assembly by their votes. He +wants the Tidewater to be his castle, with porters and guards to hound +away strangers. Man alive, if you had tried to put reason into some of +their heads, you would despair of human nature. Let them get a hint of +our preparations, and there will be petitions to Council and a howling +about treason, and in a week you will be in gaol, Mr. Garvald. So we +must move cannily, as you Scots say." + +That conversation made me wary, and I got Faulkner to keep a special +guard on the place when I was absent. At the worst, he could summon +Mercer, who would bring a rough crew from the water-side to his aid. +Then once more I disappeared into the woods. + +In these days a new Shalah revealed himself. I think he had been +watching me closely for the past months, and slowly I had won his +approval. He showed it by beginning to talk as he loped by my side in +our forest wanderings. The man was like no Indian I have ever seen. He +was a Senecan, and so should have been on the side of the Long House; +but it was plain that he was an outcast from his tribe, and, indeed, +from the whole Indian brotherhood. I could not fathom him, for he +seemed among savages to be held in deep respect, and yet here he was, +the ally of the white man against his race. His lean, supple figure, +his passionless face, and his high, masterful air had a singular +nobility in them. To me he was never the servant, scarcely even the +companion, for he seemed like a being from another world, who had a +knowledge of things hid from human ken. In woodcraft he was a master +beyond all thought of rivalry. Often, when time did not press, he would +lead me, clumsy as I was, so that I could almost touch the muzzle of a +crouching deer, or lay a hand on a yellow panther, before it slipped +like a live streak of light into the gloom. He was an eery fellow, too. +Once I found him on a high river bank at sunset watching the red glow +behind the blue shadowy forest. + +"There is blood in the West," he said, pointing like a prophet with his +long arm, "There is blood in the hills which is flowing to the waters. +At the Moon of Stags it will flow, and by the Moon of Wildfowl it will +have stained the sea." + +He had always the hills at the back of his head. Once, when we caught a +glimpse of them from a place far up the James River, he stood like a +statue gazing at the thin line which hung like a cloud in the west. I +am upland bred, and to me, too, the sight was a comfort as I stood +beside him. + +"The _Manitou_ in the hills is calling," he said abruptly. "I wait a +little, but not long. You too will follow, brother, to where the hawks +wheel and the streams fall in vapour. There we shall find death or +love, I know not which, but it will be a great finding. The gods have +written it on my heart." + +Then he turned and strode away, and I did not dare to question him. +There was that about him which stirred my prosaic soul into a wild +poetry, till for the moment I saw with his eyes, and heard strange +voices in the trees. + +Apart from these uncanny moods he was the most faithful helper in my +task. Without him I must have been a mere child. I could not read the +lore of the forest; I could not have found my way as he found it +through pathless places. From him, too, I learned that we were not to +make our preparations unwatched. + +Once, as we were coming from the Rappahannock to the York, he darted +suddenly into the undergrowth below the chestnuts. My eye could see no +clue on the path, and, suspecting nothing, I waited on him to return. +Presently he came, and beckoned me to follow. Thirty yards into the +coppice we found a man lying dead, with a sharp stake holding him to +the ground, and a raw, red mass where had been once his head. + +"That was your messenger, brother," he whispered, "the one who was to +carry word from the Mattaponey to the north. See, he has been dead for +two suns." + +He was one of the tame Algonquins who dwelt by Aird's store. + +"Who did it?" I asked, with a very sick stomach. + +"A Cherokee. Some cunning one, and he left a sign to guide us." + +He showed me a fir-cone he had picked up from the path, with the sharp +end cut short and a thorn stuck in the middle. + +The thing disquieted me horribly, for we had heard no word yet of any +movement from the West. And yet it seemed that our enemy's scouts had +come far down into the Tidewater, and knew enough to single out for +death a man we had enrolled for service. Shalah slipped off without a +word, and I was left to continue my journey alone. I will not pretend +that I liked the business. I saw an Indian in every patch of shadow, +and looked pretty often to my pistols before I reached the security of +Aird's house. + +Four days later Shalah appeared at James Town. "They were three," he +said simply. "They came from the hills a moon ago, and have been making +bad trouble on the Rappahannock. I found them at the place above the +beaver traps of the Ooniche. They return no more to their people." + +After that we sent out warnings, and kept a close eye on the different +lodges of the Algonquins. But nothing happened till weeks later, when +the tragedy on the Rapidan fell on us like a thunderclap. + + * * * * * + +All this time I had been too busy to go near the town or the +horse-racings and holiday meetings where I might have seen Elspeth. But +I do not think she was ever many minutes out of my mind. Indeed, I was +almost afraid of a meeting, lest it should shatter the bright picture +which comforted my solitude. But one evening in June as I jogged home +from Middle Plantation through the groves of walnuts, I came suddenly +at the turn of the road on a party. Doctor James Blair, mounted on a +stout Flanders cob, held the middle of the path, and at his side rode +the girl, while two servants followed with travelling valises. I was +upon them before I could rein up, and the Doctor cried a hearty +good-day. So I took my place by Elspeth, and, with my heart beating +wildly, accompanied them through the leafy avenues and by the green +melon-beds in the clearings till we came out on the prospect of the +river. + +The Doctor had a kindness for me, and was eager to talk of his doings. +He was almost as great a moss-trooper as myself, and, with Elspeth for +company, had visited near every settlement in the dominion. Education +and Christian privileges were his care, and he deplored the backward +state of the land. I remember that even then he was full of his scheme +for a Virginian college to be established at Middle Plantation, and he +wrote weekly letters to his English friends soliciting countenance and +funds. Of the happy issue of these hopes, and the great college which +now stands at Williamsburg, there is no need to remind this generation. + +But in that hour I thought little of education. The Doctor boomed away +in his deep voice, and I gave him heedless answers. My eyes were ever +wandering to the slim figure at my side. She wore a broad hat of straw, +I remember, and her skirt and kirtle were of green, the fairies' +colour. I think she was wearied with the sun, for she spoke little; but +her eyes when they met mine were kind. That day I was not ashamed of my +plain clothes or my homely face, for they suited well with the road. My +great boots of untanned buckskin were red with dust, I was bronzed like +an Indian, and the sun had taken the colour out of my old blue coat. +But I smacked of travel and enterprise, which to an honest heart are +dearer than brocade. Also I had a notion that my very homeliness +revived in her the memories of our common motherland. I had nothing to +say, having acquired the woodland habit of silence, and perhaps it was +well. My clumsy tongue would have only broken the spell which the +sunlit forests had woven around us. + +As we reached my house a cavalier rode up with a bow and a splendid +sweep of his hat. 'Twas my acquaintance, Mr. Grey, come to greet the +travellers. Elspeth gave me her hand at parting, and I had from the +cavalier the finest glance of hate and jealousy which ever comforted +the heart of a backward lover. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A WORD AT THE HARBOUR-SIDE. + +The next Sunday I was fool enough to go to church, for Doctor Blair was +announced to preach the sermon. Now I knew very well what treatment I +should get, and that it takes a stout fellow to front a conspiracy of +scorn. But I had got new courage from my travels, so I put on my best +suit of murrey-coloured cloth, my stockings of cherry silk, the gold +buckles which had been my father's, my silk-embroidered waistcoat, +freshly-ironed ruffles, and a new hat which had cost forty shillings in +London town. I wore my own hair, for I never saw the sense of a wig +save for a bald man, but I had it deftly tied. I would have cut a great +figure had there not been my bronzed and rugged face to give the lie to +my finery. + +It was a day of blistering heat. The river lay still as a lagoon, and +the dusty red roads of the town blazed like a furnace. Before I had got +to the church door I was in a great sweat, and stopped in the porch to +fan myself. Inside 'twas cool enough, with a pleasant smell from the +cedar pews, but there was such a press of a congregation that many were +left standing. I had a good place just below the choir, where I saw the +Governor's carved chair, with the Governor's self before it on his +kneeling-cushion making pretence to pray. Round the choir rail and +below the pulpit clustered many young exquisites, for this was a +sovereign place from which to show off their finery. I could not get a +sight of Elspeth. + +Doctor Blair preached us a fine sermon from the text, "_My people shall +dwell in a pleasant habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet +resting-places!"_ But his hearers were much disturbed by the continual +chatter of the fools about the choir rail. Before he had got to the +Prayer of Chrysostom the exquisites were whispering like pigeons in a +dovecot, exchanging snuff-boxes, and ogling the women. So intolerable +it grew that the Doctor paused in his discourse and sternly rebuked +them, speaking of the laughter of fools which is as the crackling of +thorns under a pot. This silenced them for a little, but the noise +broke out during the last prayer, and with the final word of the +Benediction my gentlemen thrust their way through the congregation, +that they might be the first at the church door. I have never seen so +unseemly a sight, and for a moment I thought that Governor Nicholson +would call the halberdiers and set them in the pillory. He refrained, +though his face was dark with wrath, and I judged that there would be +some hard words said before the matter was finished. + +I must tell you that during the last week I had been coming more into +favour with the prosperous families of the colony. Some one may have +spoken well of me, perhaps the Doctor, or they may have seen the +justice of my way of trading. Anyhow, I had a civil greeting from +several of the planters, and a bow from their dames. But no sooner was +I in the porch than I saw that trouble was afoot with the young bloods. +They were drawn up on both sides the path, bent on quizzing me. I +sternly resolved to keep my temper, but I foresaw that it would not be +easy. + +"Behold the shopman in his Sunday best," said one. + +"I thought that Sawney wore bare knees on his dirty hills," said +another. + +One pointed to my buckles. "Pinchbeck out of the store," he says. + +"Ho, ho, such finery!" cried another. "See how he struts like a +gamecock." + +"There's much ado when beggars ride," said a third, quoting the +proverb. + +It was all so pitifully childish that it failed to provoke me. I +marched down the path with a smile on my face, which succeeded in +angering them. One young fool, a Norton from Malreward, would have +hustled me, but I saw Mr. Grey hold him back. "No brawling here, +Austin," said my rival. + +They were not all so discreet. One of the Kents of Gracedieu tried to +trip me by thrusting his cane between my legs. But! was ready for him, +and, pulling up quick and bracing my knees, I snapped the thing short, +so that he was left to dangle the ivory top. + +Then he did a wild thing. He flung the remnant at my face, so that the +ragged end scratched my cheek. When I turned wrathfully I found a +circle of grinning faces. + +It is queer how a wound, however slight, breaks a man's temper and +upsets his calm resolves, I think that then and there I would have been +involved in a mellay, had not a voice spoke behind me. + +"Mr. Garvald," it said, "will you give me the favour of your arm? We +dine to-day with his Excellency." + +I turned to find Elspeth, and close behind her Doctor Blair and +Governor Nicholson. + +All my heat left me, and I had not another thought for my tormentors. +In that torrid noon she looked as cool and fragrant as a flower. Her +clothes were simple compared with the planters' dames, but of a far +more dainty fashion. She wore, I remember, a gown of pale sprigged +muslin, with a blue kerchief about her shoulders and blue ribbons +in her wide hat. As her hand lay lightly on my arm I did not think +of my triumph, being wholly taken up with the admiration of her grace. +The walk was all too short, for the Governor's lodging was but a +stone's-throw distant. When we parted at the door I hoped to find some +of my mockers still lingering, for in that hour I think I could have +flung any three of them into the river. + +None were left, however, and as I walked homewards I reflected very +seriously that the baiting of Andrew Garvald could not endure for long. +Pretty soon I must read these young gentry a lesson, little though I +wanted to embroil myself in quarrels. I called them "young" in scorn, +but few of them, I fancy, were younger than myself. + +Next day, as it happened, I had business with Mercer at the water-side, +and as I returned along the harbour front I fell in with the Receiver +of Customs, who was generally called the Captain of the Castle, from +his station at Point Comfort. He was an elderly fellow who had once +been a Puritan, and still cherished a trace of the Puritan modes of +speech. I had often had dealings with him, and had found him honest, +though a thought truculent in manner. He had a passion against all +smugglers and buccaneers, and, in days to come, was to do good service +in ridding Accomac of these scourges. He feared God, and did not +greatly fear much else. + +He was sitting on the low wall smoking a pipe, and had by him a very +singular gentleman. Never have I set eyes on a more decorous merchant. +He was habited neatly and soberly in black, with a fine white cravat +and starched shirt-bands. He wore a plain bob-wig below a huge +flat-brimmed hat, and big blue spectacles shaded his eyes. His mouth +was as precise as a lawyer's, and altogether he was a very whimsical, +dry fellow to find at a Virginian port. + +The Receiver called me to him and asked after a matter which we had +spoken of before. Then he made me known to his companion, who was a Mr. +Fairweather, a merchant out of Boston. + +"The Lord hath given thee a pleasant dwelling, friend," said the +stranger, snuffling a little through his nose. + +From his speech I knew that Mr. Fairweather was of the sect of the +Quakers, a peaceable race that Virginia had long ill-treated. + +"The land is none so bad," said the Receiver, "but the people are a +perverse generation. Their hearts are set on vanity, and puffed up with +pride. I could wish, Mr. Fairweather, that my lines had fallen among +your folk in the north, where, I am told, true religion yet +flourisheth. Here we have nothing but the cold harangues of the +Commissary, who seeketh after the knowledge that perisheth rather than +the wisdom which is eternal life." + +"Patience, friend," said the stranger. "Thee is not alone in thy +crosses. The Lord hath many people up Boston way, but they are sore +beset by the tribulations of Zion. On land there is war and rumour of +war, and on the sea the ships of the godly are snatched by every manner +of ocean thief. Likewise we have dissension among ourselves, and a +constant strife with the froward human heart. Still is Jerusalem +troubled, and there is no peace within her bulwarks." + +"Do the pirates afflict you much in the north?" asked the Receiver with +keen interest. The stranger turned his large spectacles upon him, and +then looked blandly at me. Suddenly I had a notion that I had seen that +turn of the neck and poise of the head before. + +"Woe is me," he cried in a stricken voice. "The French have two fair +vessels of mine since March, and a third is missing. Some say it ran +for a Virginian port, and I am here to seek it. Heard thee ever, +friend, of a strange ship in the James or the Potomac?" + +"There be many strange ships," said the Receiver, "for this dominion is +the goal for all the wandering merchantmen of the earth. What was the +name of yours?" + +"A square-rigged schooner out of Bristol, painted green, with a white +figurehead of a winged heathen god." + +"And the name?" + +"The name is a strange one. It is called _The Horn of Diarmaid_, but I +seek to prevail on the captain to change it to _The Horn of Mercy_." + +"No such name is known to me," and the Receiver shook his head. "But I +will remember it, and send you news." + +I hope I did not betray my surprise, but for all that it was +staggering. Of all disguises and of all companies this was the most +comic and the most hazardous. I stared across the river till I had +mastered my countenance, and when I looked again at the two they were +soberly discussing the harbour dues of Boston. + +Presently the Receiver's sloop arrived to carry him to Point Comfort. +He nodded to me, and took an affectionate farewell of the Boston man. I +heard some good mouth-filling texts exchanged between them. + +Then, when we were alone, the Quaker turned to me. "Man, Andrew," he +said, "it was a good thing that I had a Bible upbringing. I can manage +the part fine, but I flounder among the 'thees' and 'thous.' I would be +the better of a drink to wash my mouth of the accursed pronouns. Will +you be alone to-night about the darkening? Then I'll call in to see +you, for I've much to tell you." + + * * * * * + +That evening about nine the Quaker slipped into my room. + +"How about that tobacco-shed?" he asked. "Is it well guarded?" + +"Faulkner and one of the men sleep above it, and there are a couple of +fierce dogs chained at the door. Unless they know the stranger, he will +be apt to lose the seat of his breeches." + +The Quaker nodded, well pleased. "That is well, for I heard word in the +town that to-night you might have a visitor or two." Then he walked to +a stand of arms on the wall and took down a small sword, which he +handled lovingly. "A fair weapon, Andrew," said he. "My new sect +forbids me to wear a blade, but I think I'll keep this handy beside me +in the chimney corner." + +Then he gave me the news. Lawrence had been far inland with the +Monacans, and had brought back disquieting tales. The whole nation of +the Cherokees along the line of the mountains was unquiet. Old family +feuds had been patched up, and there was a coming and going of +messengers from Chickamauga to the Potomac. + +"Well, we're ready for them," I said, and I told him the full story of +our preparations. + +"Ay, but that is not all. I would not give much for what the Cherokees +and the Tuscaroras could do. There might be some blood shed and a good +few blazing roof-trees in the back country, but no Indian raid would +stand against our lads. But I have a notion--maybe it's only a notion, +though Lawrence is half inclined to it himself--that there's more in +this business than a raid from the hills. There's something stirring in +the West, away in the parts that no White man has ever travelled. From +what I learn there's a bigger brain than an Indian's behind it." + +"The French?" I asked. + +"Maybe, but maybe not. What's to hinder a blackguard like Cosh, with +ten times Cosh's mind, from getting into the Indian councils, and +turning the whole West loose on the Tidewater?? + +"Have you any proof?" I asked, much alarmed. + +"Little at present. But one thing I know. There's a man among the +tribes that speaks English." + +"Great God, what a villain!" I cried, "But how do you know?" + +"Just this way. The Monacans put an arrow through the neck of a young +brave, and they found this in his belt." + +He laid before me a bit of a printed Bible leaf. About half was blank +paper, for it came at the end of the Book of Revelation. On the blank +part some signs had been made in rude ink which I could not understand. + +"But this is no proof," I said. "It's only a relic from some plundered +settlement. Can you read those marks?" + +"I cannot, nor could the Monacans. But look at the printed part." + +I looked again, and saw that some one had very carefully underlined +certain words. These made a sentence, and read, "_John, servant of the +prophecy, is at hand._" + +"The underlining may have been done long ago," I hazarded. + +"No, the ink is not a month old," he said, and I could do nothing but +gape. + +"Well what's your plan?" I said at last. + +"None, but I would give my right hand to know what is behind the hills. +That's our weakness, Andrew. We have to wait here, and since we do not +know the full peril, we cannot fully prepare. There may be mischief +afoot which would rouse every sleepy planter out of bed, and turn the +Tidewater into an armed camp. But we know nothing. If we had only a +scout--". + +"What about Shalah?" I asked. + +"Can you spare him?" he replied; and I knew I could not. + +"I see nothing for it," I said, "but to wait till we are ready, and +then to make a reconnaissance, trusting to be in time. This is the +first week of July. In another fortnight every man on our list will be +armed, and every line of communication laid. Then is our chance to make +a bid for news." + +He nodded, and at that moment came the growling of dogs from the sheds. +Instantly his face lost its heavy preoccupation, and under his Quaker's +mask became the mischievous countenance of a boy. "That's your +friends," he said. "Now for a merry meeting." + +In the sultry weather I had left open window and door, and every sound +came clear from the outside. I heard the scuffling of feet, and some +confused talk, and presently there stumbled into my house half a dozen +wild-looking figures. They blinked in the lamplight, and one begged to +know if "Mr. Garbled" were at home. All had decked themselves for this +play in what they fancied was the dress of pirates--scarlet sashes, and +napkins or turbans round their heads, big boots, and masks over their +eyes. I did not recognize a face, but I was pretty clear that Mr. Grey +was not of the number, and I was glad, for the matter between him and +me was too serious for this tomfoolery. All had been drinking, and one +at least was very drunk. He stumbled across the floor, and all but fell +on Ringan in his chair. + +"Hullo, old Square-Toes," he hiccupped; "what the devil are you?" + +"Friend, thee is shaky on thy legs," said Ringan, in a mild voice, "It +were well for thee to be in bed." + +"Bed," cried the roysterer; "no bed for me this night! Where is that +damnable Scots packman?" + +I rose very quietly, and lit another lamp. Then I shut the window, and +closed the shutters. "Here I am," I said, "very much at your service, +gentlemen." + +One or two of the sober ones looked a little embarrassed, but the +leader, who I guessed was the youth from Gracedieu, was brave enough. + +"The gentlemen of Virginia," he said loudly, "being resolved that the +man Garvald is an offence to the dominion, have summoned the Free +Companions to give him a lesson. If he will sign a bond to leave the +country within a month, we are instructed to be merciful. If not, we +have here tar and feathers and sundry other adornments, and to-morrow's +morn will behold a pretty sight. Choose, you Scots swine." In the +excess of his zeal, he smashed with the handle of his sword a clock I +had but lately got from Glasgow. + +Ringan signed to me to keep my temper. He pretended to be in a great +taking. + +"I am a man of peace," he cried, "but I cannot endure to see my friend +outraged. Prithee, good folk, go away. See, I will give thee a guinea +each to leave us alone." + +This had the desired effect of angering them. "Curse your money," one +cried. "You damned traders think that you can buy a gentleman. Take +that for your insult." And he aimed a blow with the flat of his sword, +which Ringan easily parried. + +"I had thought thee a pirate," said the mild Quaker, "but thee tells me +thee is a gentleman." + +"Hold your peace, Square-Toes," cried the leader, "and let's get to +business." + +"But if ye be gentlefolk," pleaded Ringan, "ye will grant a fair field. +I am no fighter, but I will stand by my friend." + +I, who had said nothing, now broke in. "It is a warm evening for +sword-play, but if it is your humour, so be it." + +This seemed to them hugely comic. "La!" cried one. "Sawney with a +sword!" And he plucked forth his own blade, and bent it on the floor. + +Ringan smiled gently, "Thee must grant me the first favour," he said, +"for I am the challenger, if that be the right word of the carnally +minded." And standing up, he picked up the blade from beside him, and +bowed to the leader from Gracedieu. + +Nothing loath he engaged, and the others stood back expecting a high +fiasco. They saw it. Ringan's sword played like lightning round the +wretched youth, it twitched the blade from his grasp, and forced him +back with a very white face to the door. In less than a minute, it +seemed, he was there, and as he yielded so did the door, and he +disappeared into the night. He did not return, so I knew that Ringan +must have spoke a word to Faulkner. + +"Now for the next bloody-minded pirate," cried Ringan, and the next +with a very wry face stood up. One of the others would have joined in, +but, crying, "For shame, a fair field," I beat down his sword. + +The next took about the same time to reach the door, and disappeared +into the darkness, and the third about half as long. Of the remaining +three, one sulkily declined to draw, and the other two were over drunk +for anything. They sat on the floor and sang a loose song. + +"It seems, friends," said the Quaker, "that ye be more ready with words +than with deeds. I pray thee"--this to the sober one--"take off these +garments of sin. We be peaceful traders, and cannot abide the thought +of pirates." + +He took them off, sash, breeches, jerkin, turban, and all, and stood up +in his shirt. The other two I stripped myself, and so drunk were they +that they entered into the spirit of the thing, and themselves tore at +the buttons. Then with Ringan's sword behind them, the three marched +out of doors. + +There we found their companions stripped and sullen, with Faulkner and +the men to guard them. We made up neat parcels of their clothes, and I +extorted their names, all except one who was too far gone in drink. + +"To-morrow, gentlemen," I said, "I will send back your belongings, +together with the tar and feathers, which you may find useful some +other day. The night is mild, and a gentle trot will keep you from +taking chills. I should recommend hurry, for in five minutes the dogs +will be loosed. A pleasant journey to you." + +They moved off, and then halted and apparently were for returning. But +they thought better of it, and presently they were all six of them +racing and stumbling down the hill in their shifts. + +The Quaker stretched his legs and lit a pipe. "Was it not a scurvy +trick of fate," he observed to the ceiling, "that these poor lads +should come here for a night's fooling, and find the best sword in the +Five Seas?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +I STUMBLE INTO A GREAT FOLLY. + +I never breathed a word about the night's doings, nor for divers +reasons did Ringan; but the story got about, and the young fools were +the laughing-stock of the place. But there was a good deal of wrath, +too, that a trader should have presumed so far, and I felt that things +were gathering to a crisis with me. Unless I was to suffer endlessly +these petty vexations, I must find a bold stroke to end them. It +annoyed me that when so many grave issues were in the balance I should +have these troubles, as if a man should be devoured by midges when +waiting on a desperate combat. + +The crisis came sooner than I looked for. There was to be a great +horse-racing at Middle Plantation the next Monday, which I had half a +mind to attend, for, though I cared nothing for the sport, it would +give me a chance of seeing some of our fellows from the York River. One +morning I met Elspeth in the street of James Town, and she cried +laughingly that she looked to see me at the races. After that I had no +choice but go; so on the Monday morning I dressed myself with care, +mounted my best horse, and rode to the gathering. + +'Twas a pretty sight to see the spacious green meadow, now a little +yellowing with the summer heat, set in the girdle of dark and leafy +forest. I counted over forty chariots which had brought the rank of the +countryside, each with its liveried servant and its complement of +outriders. The fringe of the course blazed with ladies' finery, and a +tent had been set up with a wide awning from which the fashionables +could watch the sport. On the edge of the woods a multitude of horses +were picketed, and there were booths that sold food and drink, +merry-go-rounds and fiddlers, and an immense concourse of every +condition of folk, black slaves and water-side Indians, squatters from +the woods, farmers from all the valleys, and the scum and ruck of the +plantations. I found some of my friends, and settled my business with +them, but my eyes were always straying to the green awning where I knew +that Elspeth sat. + +I am no judge of racing, but I love the aspect of sleek, slim horses, +and I could applaud a skill in which I had no share. I can keep my +seat on most four-legged beasts, but my horsemanship is a clumsy, +rough-and-ready affair, very different from the effortless grace of your +true cavalier. Mr. Grey's prowess, especially, filled me with awe. He +would leap an ugly fence without moving an inch in his saddle, and both +in skill and the quality of his mounts he was an easy victor. The sight +of such accomplishments depressed my pride, and I do not think I would +have ventured near the tent had it not been for the Governor. + +He saw me on the fringe of the crowd, and called me to him. "What +bashfulness has taken you to-day, sir?" he cried, "That is not like +your usual. There are twenty pretty dames here who pine for a word from +you." + +I saw his purpose well enough. He loved to make mischief, and knew that +the sight of me among the Virginian gentry would infuriate my +unfriends. But I took him at his word and elbowed my way into the +enclosure. + +Then I wished to Heaven I had stayed at home. I got insolent glances +from the youths, and the cold shoulder from the ladies. Elspeth smiled +when she saw me, but turned the next second to gossip with her little +court. She was a devout lover of horses, and had eyes for nothing but +the racing. Her cheeks were flushed, and it was pretty to watch her +excitement; how she hung breathless on the movements of the field, and +clapped her hands at a brave finish. Pretty, indeed, but exasperating +to one who had no part in that pleasant company. + +I stood gloomily by the rail at the edge of the ladies' awning, acutely +conscious of my loneliness. Presently Mr. Grey, whose racing was over, +came to us, and had a favour pinned in his coat by Elspeth's fingers. +He was evidently high in her good graces, for he sat down by her and +talked gleefully. I could not but admire his handsome eager face, and +admit with a bitter grudge that you would look long to find a comelier +pair. + +All this did not soothe my temper, and after an hour of it I was in +desperate ill-humour with the world. I had just reached the conclusion +that I had had as much as I wanted, when I heard Elspeth's voice +calling me. + +"Come hither, Mr. Garvald," she said. "We have a dispute which a third +must settle. I favour the cherry, and Mr. Grey fancies the blue; but I +maintain that blue crowds cherry unfairly at the corners. Use your +eyes, sir, at the next turning." + +I used my eyes, which are very sharp, and had no doubt of it. + +"That is a matter for the Master of the Course," said Mr. Grey. "Will +you uphold your view before him, sir?" + +I said that I knew too little of the sport to be of much weight as a +witness. To this he said nothing, but offered to wager with me on the +result of the race, which was now all but ending. "Or no," said he, "I +should not ask you that. A trader is careful of his guineas." + +Elspeth did not hear, being intent on other things, and I merely +shrugged my shoulders, though my fingers itched for the gentleman's +ears. + +In a little the racing ceased, and the ladies made ready to leave. +Doctor Blair appeared, protesting that the place was not for his cloth, +and gave Elspeth his arm to escort her to his coach. She cried a merry +good-day to us, and reminded Mr. Grey that he had promised to sup with +them on the morrow. When she had gone I spied a lace scarf which she +had forgotten, and picked it up to restore it. + +This did not please the other. He snatched it from me, and when I +proposed to follow, tripped me deftly, and sent me sprawling among the +stools. As I picked myself up, I saw him running to overtake the +Blairs. + +This time there was no discreet girl to turn the edge of my fury. All +the gibes and annoyances of the past months rushed into my mind, and +set my head throbbing. I was angry, but very cool with it all, for I +saw that the matter had now gone too far for tolerance. Unless I were +to be the butt of Virginia, I must assert my manhood. + +I nicked the dust from my coat, and walked quietly to where Mr. Grey +was standing amid a knot of his friends, who talked of the races and +their losses and gains. He saw me coming, and said something which made +them form a staring alley, down which I strolled. He kept regarding me +with bright, watchful eyes. + +"I have been very patient, sir," I said, "but there is a limit to what +a man may endure from a mannerless fool." And I gave him a hearty slap +on the face. + +Instantly there was a dead silence, in which the sound seemed to linger +intolerably. He had grown very white, and his eyes were wicked. + +"I am obliged to you, sir," he said. "You are some kind of ragged +gentleman, so no doubt you will give me satisfaction." + +"When and where you please," I said sedately. + +"Will you name your friend now?" he asked. "These matters demand quick +settlement." + +To whom was I to turn? I knew nobody of the better class who would act +for me. For a moment I thought of Colonel Beverley, but his age and +dignity were too great to bring him into this squabble of youth. Then a +notion struck me. + +"If you will send your friend to my man, John Faulkner, he will make +all arrangements. He is to be found any day in my shop." + +With this defiance, I walked nonchalantly out of the dumbfoundered +group, found my horse, and rode homewards. + +My coolness did not last many minutes, and long ere I had reached James +Town I was a prey to dark forebodings. Here was I, a peaceful trader, +who desired nothing more than to live in amity with all men, involved +in a bloody strife. I had sought it, and yet it had been none of my +seeking. I had graver thoughts to occupy my mind than the punctilios of +idle youth, and yet I did not see how the thing could have been +shunned. It was my hard fate to come athwart an obstacle which could +not be circumvented, but must be broken. No friend could help me in the +business, not Ringan, nor the Governor, nor Colonel Beverley. It was my +own affair, which I must go through with alone. I felt as solitary as a +pelican. + +Remember, I was not fighting for any whimsy about honour, nor even for +the love of Elspeth. I had openly provoked Grey because the hostility +of the young gentry had become an intolerable nuisance in my daily +life. So, with such pedestrian reasons in my mind, I could have none of +the heady enthusiasm of passion. I wanted him and his kind cleared out +of my way, like a noisome insect, but I had no flaming hatred of him to +give me heart. + +The consequence was that I became a prey to dismal fear. That bravery +which knows no ebb was never mine. Indeed, I am by nature timorous, for +my fancy is quick, and I see with horrid clearness the incidents of a +peril. Only a shamefaced conscience holds me true, so that, though I +have often done temerarious deeds, it has always been because I feared +shame more than the risk, and my knees have ever been knocking together +and my lips dry with fright. I tried to think soberly over the future, +but could get no conclusion save that I would not do murder. My +conscience was pretty bad about the whole business. I was engaged in +the kind of silly conflict which I had been bred to abhor; I had none +of the common gentleman's notions about honour; and I knew that if by +any miracle I slew Grey I should be guilty in my own eyes of murder. I +would not risk the guilt. If God had determined that I should perish +before my time, then perish I must. + +This despair brought me a miserable kind of comfort. When I reached +home I went straight to Faulkner. + +"I have quarrelled to-day with a gentleman, John, and have promised him +satisfaction. You must act for me in the affair. Some one will come to +see you this evening, and the meeting had better be at dawn to-morrow." + +He opened his eyes very wide. "Who is it, then?" he asked. + +"Mr. Charles Grey of Grey's Hundred," I replied. + +This made him whistle low, "He's a fine swordsman," he said. "I never +heard there was any better in the dominion. You'll be to fight with +swords?" + +I thought hard for a minute. I was the challenged, and so had the +choice of weapons. "No," said I, "you are to appoint pistols, for it is +my right." + +At this Faulkner slowly grinned. "It's a new weapon for these affairs. +What if they'll not accept? But it's no business of mine, and I'll +remember your wishes." And the strange fellow turned again to his +accounts. + +I spent the evening looking over my papers and making various +appointments in case I did not survive the morrow. Happily the work I +had undertaken for Lawrence was all but finished, and of my ordinary +business Faulkner knew as much as myself. I wrote a letter to Uncle +Andrew, telling him frankly the situation, that he might know how +little choice I had. It was a cold-blooded job making these +dispositions, and I hope never to have the like to do again. Presently +I heard voices outside, and Faulkner came to the door with Mr. George +Mason, the younger, of Thornby, who passed for the chief buck in +Virginia. He gave me a cold bow. + +"I have settled everything with this gentleman, but I would beg of you, +sir, to reconsider your choice of arms. My friend will doubtless be +ready enough to humour you, but you have picked a barbarous weapon for +Christian use." + +"It's my only means of defence," I said. + +"Then you stick to your decision?" + +"Assuredly," said I, and, with a shrug of the shoulders, he departed. + +I did not attempt to sleep. Faulkner told me that we were to meet the +next morning half an hour after sunrise at a place in the forest a mile +distant. Each man was to fire one shot, but two pistols were allowed in +case of a misfire. All that night by the light of a lamp I got my +weapons ready. I summoned to my recollection all the knowledge I had +acquired, and made sure that nothing should be lacking so far as human +skill would go. I had another pistol besides the one I called +"Elspeth," also made in Glasgow, but a thought longer in the barrel. +For this occasion I neglected cartouches, and loaded in the old way. I +tested my bullets time and again, and weighed out the powder as if it +had been gold dust. It was short range, so I made my charges small. I +tried my old device of wrapping each bullet in soft wool smeared with +beeswax. All this passed the midnight hours, and then I lay down for a +little rest, but not for sleep. + +I was glad when Faulkner summoned me half an hour before sunrise. I +remember that I bathed head and shoulders in cold water, and very +carefully dressed myself in my best clothes. My pistols lay in the box +which Faulkner carried. I drank a glass of wine, and as we left I took +a long look at the place I had created, and the river now lit with the +first shafts of morning. I wondered incuriously if I should ever see it +again. + +My tremors had all gone by now, and I was in a mood of cold, +thoughtless despair. The earth had never looked so bright as we rode +through the green aisles all filled with the happy song of birds. Often +on such a morning I had started on a journey, with my heart grateful +for the goodness of the world. Could I but keep the road, I should come +in time to the swampy bank of the York; and then would follow the +chestnut forest: and the wide marshes towards the Rappahannock; and +everywhere I should meet friendly human faces, and then at night I +should eat a hunter's meal below the stars. But that was all past, and +I was moving towards death in a foolish strife in which I had no heart, +and where I could find no honour, I think I laughed aloud at my +exceeding folly. + +We turned from the path into an alley which led to an open space on the +edge of a derelict clearing. There, to my surprise, I found a +considerable company assembled. Grey was there with his second, and a +dozen or more of his companions stood back in the shadow of the trees. +The young blood of Virginia had come out to see the trader punished. + +During the few minutes while the seconds were busy pacing the course +and arranging for the signal, I had no cognizance of the world around +me. I stood with abstracted eyes watching a grey squirrel in one of the +branches, and trying to recall a line I had forgotten in a song. There +seemed to be two Andrew Garvalds that morning, one filled with an +immense careless peace, and the other a weak creature who had lived so +long ago as to be forgotten. I started when Faulkner came to place me, +and followed him without a word. But as I stood up and saw Grey twenty +paces off, turning up his wristbands and tossing his coat to a friend, +I realized the business I had come on. A great flood of light was +rolling down the forest aisles, but it was so clear and pure that it +did not dazzle. I remember thinking in that moment how intolerable had +become the singing of birds. + +I deadened my heart to memories, took my courage in both hands, and +forced myself to the ordeal. For it is an ordeal to face powder if you +have not a dreg of passion in you, and are resolved to make no return. +I am left-handed, and so, in fronting my opponent, I exposed my heart. +If Grey were the marksman I thought him, now was his chance for +revenge. + +My wits were calm now, and my senses very clear. I heard a man say +slowly that he would count three and then drop his kerchief, and at the +dropping we should fire. Our eyes were on him as he lifted his hand and +slowly began,--"One--two--" + +Then I looked away, for the signal mattered nothing to me. I suddenly +caught Grey's eyes, and something whistled past my ear, cutting the +lobe and shearing off a lock of hair. I did not heed it. What filled my +mind was the sight of my enemy, very white and drawn in the face, +holding a smoking pistol and staring at me. + +I emptied my pistol among the tree-tops. + +No one moved. Grey continued to stare, leaning a little forward, with +his lips working. + +Then I took from Faulkner my second pistol. My voice came out of my +throat, funnily cracked as if from long disuse. + +"Mr. Grey," I cried, "I would not have you think that I cannot shoot." + +Forty yards from me on the edge of the covert a turkey stood, with its +foolish, inquisitive head. The sound of the shots had brought the bird +out to see what was going on. It stood motionless, blinking its eyes, +the very mark I desired. + +I pointed to it with my right hand, flung forward my pistol, and fired. +It rolled over as dead as stone, and Faulkner walked to pick it up. He +put back my pistols in the box, and we turned to seek the horses.... + +Then Grey came up to me. His mouth was hard-set, but the lines were not +of pride. I saw that he too had been desperately afraid, and I rejoiced +that others beside me had been at breaking-point. + +"Our quarrel is at an end, sir?" he said, and his voice was hesitating. + +"Why, yes," I said. "It was never my seeking, though I gave the +offence." + +"I have behaved like a cub, sir," and he spoke loud, so that all could +hear. "You have taught me a lesson in gentility. Will you give me your +hand?" + +I could find no words, and dumbly held out my right hand. + +"Nay, sir," he said, "the other, the one that held the trigger. I count +it a privilege to hold the hand of a brave man." + +I had been tried too hard, and was all but proving my bravery by +weeping like a bairn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A WILD WAGER. + +That July morning in the forest gave me, if not popularity, at any rate +peace. I had made good my position. Henceforth the word went out that I +was to be let alone. Some of the young men, indeed, showed signs of +affecting my society, including that Mr. Kent of Gracedieu who had been +stripped by Ringan. The others treated me with courtesy, and I replied +with my best manners. Most of them were of a different world to mine, +and we could not mix, so 'twas right that our deportment should be that +of two dissimilar but amiable nations bowing to each other across a +frontier. + +All this was a great ease, but it brought one rueful consequence. +Elspeth grew cold to me. Women, I suppose, have to condescend, and +protect, and pity. When I was an outcast she was ready to shelter me; +but now that I was in some degree of favour with others the need for +this was gone, and she saw me without illusion in all my angularity and +roughness. She must have heard of the duel, and jumped to the +conclusion that the quarrel had been about herself, which was not the +truth. The notion irked her pride, that her name should ever be brought +into the brawls of men. When I passed her in the streets she greeted me +coldly, and all friendliness had gone out of her eyes. + + * * * * * + +My days were so busy that I had little leisure for brooding, but at odd +moments I would fall into a deep melancholy. She had lived so +constantly in my thoughts that without her no project charmed me. What +mattered wealth or fame, I thought, if she did not approve? What +availed my striving, if she were not to share in the reward? I was in +this mood when I was bidden by Doctor Blair to sup at his house. + +I went thither in much trepidation, for I feared a great company, in +which I might have no chance of a word from her. But I found only the +Governor, who was in a black humour, and disputed every word that fell +from the Doctor's mouth. This turned the meal into one long wrangle, in +which the high fundamentals of government in Church and State were +debated by two choleric gentlemen. The girl and I had no share in the +conversation; indeed, we were clearly out of place: so she could not +refuse when I proposed a walk in the garden. The place was all cool and +dewy after the scorching day, and the bells of the flowers made the air +heavy with fragrance. Somewhere near a man was playing on the +flageolet, a light, pretty tune which set her feet tripping. + +I asked her bluntly wherein I had offended. + +"Offended!" she cried, "Why should I take offence? I see you once in a +blue moon. You flatter yourself strangely, Mr. Garvald, if you think +you are ever in my thoughts." + +"You are never out of mine," I said dismally. + +At this she laughed, something of the old elfin laughter which I had +heard on the wet moors. + +"A compliment!" she cried, "To be mixed up eternally with the weights +of tobacco and the prices of Flemish lace. You are growing a very +pretty courtier, sir." + +"I am no courtier," I said. "I think brave things of you, though I have +not the words to fit them. But one thing I will say to you. Since ever +you sang to the boy that once was me your spell has been on my soul. +And when I saw you again three months back that spell was changed from +the whim of youth to what men call love. Oh, I know well there is no +hope for me. I am not fit to tie your shoe-latch. But you have made a +fire in my cold life, and you will pardon me if I dare warm my hands. +The sun is brighter because of you, and the flowers fairer, and the +birds' song sweeter. Grant me this little boon, that I may think of +you. Have no fears that I will pester you with attentions. No priest +ever served his goddess with a remoter reverence than mine for you." + +She stopped in an alley of roses and looked me in the face. In the dusk +I could not see her eyes. + +"Fine words," she said. "Yet I hear that you have been wrangling over +me with Mr. Charles Grey, and exchanging pistol shots. Is that your +reverence?" + +In a sentence I told her the truth. "They forced my back to the wall," +I said, "and there was no other way. I have never uttered your name to +a living soul." + +Was it my fancy that when she spoke again there was a faint accent of +disappointment? + +"You are an uncomfortable being, Mr. Garvald. It seems you are +predestined to keep Virginia from sloth. For myself I am for the roses +and the old quiet ways." + +She plucked two flowers, one white and one of deepest crimson. + +"I pardon you," she said, "and for token I will give you a rose. It is +red, for that is your turbulent colour. The white flower of peace shall +be mine." + +I took the gift, and laid it in my bosom. + + * * * * * + +Two days later, it being a Monday, I dined with his Excellency at the +Governor's house at Middle Plantation. The place had been built new for +my lord Culpepper, since the old mansion at James Town had been burned +in Bacon's rising. The company was mainly of young men, but three +ladies--the mistresses of Arlington and Cobwell Manors, and Elspeth in +a new saffron gown--varied with their laces the rich coats of the men. +I was pleasantly welcomed by everybody. Grey came forward and greeted +me, very quiet and civil, and I sat by him throughout the meal. The +Governor was in high good humour, and presently had the whole company +in the same mood. Of them all, Elspeth was the merriest. She had the +quickest wit and the deftest skill in mimicry, and there was that in +her laughter which would infect the glummest. + +That very day I had finished my preparations. The train was now laid, +and the men were ready, and a word from Lawrence would line the West +with muskets. But I had none of the satisfaction of a completed work. +It was borne in upon me that our task was scarcely begun, and that the +peril that threatened us was far darker than we had dreamed. Ringan's +tale of a white leader among the tribes was always in my head. The hall +where we sat was lined with portraits of men who had borne rule in +Virginia. There was Captain John Smith, trim-bearded and bronzed; and +Argall and Dale, grave and soldierly; there was Francis Wyat, with the +scar got in Indian wars; there hung the mean and sallow countenance of +Sir John Harvey. There, too, was Berkeley, with his high complexion and +his love-locks, the great gentleman of a vanished age; and the gross +rotundity of Culpepper; and the furtive eye of my lord Howard, who was +even now the reigning Governor. There was a noble picture of King +Charles the Second, who alone of monarchs was represented. Soft-footed +lackeys carried viands and wines, and the table was a mingling of +silver and roses. The afternoon light came soft through the trellis, +and you could not have looked for a fairer picture of settled ease. Yet +I had that in my mind which shattered the picture. We were feasting +like the old citizens of buried Pompeii, with the lava even now, +perhaps, flowing hot from the mountains. I looked at the painted faces +on the walls, and wondered which I would summon to our aid if I could +call men from the dead. Smith, I thought, would be best; but I +reflected uneasily that Smith would never have let things come to such +a pass. At the first hint of danger he would have been off to the West +to scotch it in the egg. + +I was so filled with sober reflections that I talked little; but there +was no need of me. Youth and beauty reigned, and the Governor was as +gay as the youngest. Many asked me to take wine with them, and the +compliment pleased me. There was singing, likewise--Sir William +Davenant's song to his mistress, and a Cavalier rant or two, and a +throat ditty of the seas; and Elspeth sang very sweetly the old air of +"Greensleeves." We drank all the toasts of fashion--His Majesty of +England, confusion to the French, the health of Virginia, rich +harvests, full cellars, and pretty dames. Presently when we had waxed +very cheerful, and wine had risen to several young heads, the Governor +called on us to brim our glasses. + +"Be it known, gentlemen, and you, fair ladies," he cried, "that to-day +is a more auspicious occasion than any Royal festival or Christian holy +day. To-day is Dulcinea's birthday. I summon you to drink to the flower +of the West, the brightest gem in Virginia's coronal." + +At that we were all on our feet. The gentlemen snapped the stems of +their glasses to honour the sacredness of the toast, and there was such +a shouting and pledging as might well have turned a girl's head. +Elspeth sat still and smiling. The mockery had gone out of her eyes, +and I thought they were wet. No Queen had ever a nobler salutation, and +my heart warmed to the generous company. Whatever its faults, it did +due homage to beauty and youth. + +Governor Francis was again on his feet. + +"I have a birthday gift for the fair one. You must know that once at +Whitehall I played at cartes with my lord Culpepper, and the stake on +his part was one-sixth portion of that Virginian territory which is his +freehold. I won, and my lord conveyed the grant to me in a deed +properly attested by the attorneys. We call the place the Northern +Neck, and 'tis all the land between the Rappahannock and the Potomac as +far west as the sunset. It is undivided, but my lord stipulated that my +portion should lie from the mountains westward. What good is such an +estate to an aging bachelor like me, who can never visit it? But 'tis a +fine inheritance for youth, and I propose to convey it to Dulcinea as a +birthday gift. Some day, I doubt not, 'twill be the Eden of America." + +At this there was a great crying out and some laughter, which died away +when it appeared that the Governor spoke in all seriousness. + +"I make one condition," he went on. "Twenty years back there was an old +hunter, called Studd, who penetrated the mountains. He travelled to the +head-waters of the Rapidan, and pierced the hills by a pass which he +christened Clearwater Gap. He climbed the highest mountain in those +parts, and built a cairn on the summit, in which he hid a powder-horn +with a writing within. He was the first to make the journey, and none +have followed him. The man is dead now, but he told me the tale, and I +will pledge my honour that it is true. It is for Dulcinea to choose a +champion to follow Studd's path and bring back his powder-horn. On the +day I receive it she takes sasine of her heritage. Which of you +gallants offers for the venture?" + +To this day I do not know what were Francis Nicholson's motives. He +wished the mountains crossed, but he cannot have expected to meet a +pathfinder among the youth of the Tidewater. I think it was the whim of +the moment. He would endow Elspeth, and at the same time test her +cavaliers. To the ordinary man it seemed the craziest folly. Studd had +been a wild fellow, half Indian in blood and wholly Indian in habits, +and for another to travel fifty miles into the heart of the desert was +to embrace destruction. The company sat very silent. Elspeth, with a +blushing cheek, turned troubled eyes on the speaker. + +As for me, I had found the chance I wanted. I was on my feet in a +second. "I will go," I said; and I had hardly spoken when Grey was +beside me, crying, "And I." + +Still the company sat silent. 'Twas as if the shadow of a sterner life +had come over their young gaiety. Elspeth did not look at me, but sat +with cast-down eyes, plucking feverishly at a rose. The Governor +laughed out loud. + +"Brave hearts!" he cried. "Will you travel together?" + +I looked at Grey. "That can hardly be," he said. + +"Well, we must spin for it," said Nicholson, taking a guinea from his +pocket. "Royals for Mr. Garvald, quarters for Mr. Grey," he cried as he +spun it. + +It fell Royals. We had both been standing, and Grey now bowed to me and +sat down. His face was very pale and his lips tightly shut. + +The Governor gave a last toast "Let us drink," he called, "to +Dulcinea's champion and the fortunes of his journey." At that there was +such applause you might have thought me the best-liked man in the +dominion. I looked at Elspeth, but she averted her eyes. + +As we left the table I stepped beside Grey. "You must come with me," I +whispered. "Nay, do not refuse. When you know all you will come +gladly." And I appointed a meeting on the next day at the Half-way +Tavern. + +I got to my house at the darkening, and found Ringan waiting for me. + +This time he had not sought a disguise, but he kept his fiery head +covered with a broad hat, and the collar of his seaman's coat enveloped +his lower face. To a passer-by in the dusk he must have seemed an +ordinary ship's captain stretching his legs on land. + +He asked for food and drink, and I observed that his manner was very +grave. + +"Are things in train, Andrew?" he asked. + +I told him "to the last stirrup buckle." + +"It's as well," said he, "for the trouble has begun." + +Then he told me a horrid tale. The Rapidan is a stream in the north of +the dominion, flowing into the Rappahannock on its south bank. Two +years past a family of French folk--D'Aubigny was their name--had made +a home in a meadow by that stream and built a house and a strong +stockade, for they were in dangerous nearness to the hills, and had no +neighbours within forty miles. They were gentlefolk of some substance, +and had carved out of the wilderness a very pretty manor with orchards +and flower gardens. I had never been to the place, but I had heard the +praise of it from dwellers on the Rappahannock. No Indians came near +them, and there they abode, happy in their solitude--a husband and +wife, three little children, two French servants, and a dozen negroes. + +A week ago tragedy had come like a thunderbolt. At night the stockade +was broke, and the family woke from sleep to hear the war-whoop and see +by the light of their blazing byres a band of painted savages. It seems +that no resistance was possible, and they were butchered like sheep. +The babes were pierced with stakes, the grown folk were scalped and +tortured, and by sunrise in that peaceful clearing there was nothing +but blood-stained ashes. + +Word had come down the Rappahannock. Ringan said he had heard it in +Accomac, and had sailed to Sabine to make sure. Men had ridden out from +Stafford county, and found no more than a child's toy and some bloody +garments. + +"Who did it?" I asked, with fury rising in my heart. + +"It's Cherokee work. There's nothing strange in it, except that such a +deed should have been dared. But it means the beginning of our +business. D'you think the Stafford folk will sleep in their beds after +that? And that's precisely what perplexes me. The Governor will be +bound to send an expedition against the murderers, and they'll not be +easy found. But while the militia are routing about on the Rapidan, +what hinders the big invasion to come down the James or the +Chickahominy or the Pamunkey or the Mattaponey and find a defenceless +Tidewater? As I see it, there's deep guile in this business. A Cherokee +murder is nothing out of the way, but these blackguards were not +killing for mere pleasure. As I've said before, I would give my right +hand to have better information. It's this land business that fickles +one. If it were a matter of islands and ocean bays, I would have long +ago riddled out the heart of it." + +"We're on the way to get news," I said, and I told him of my wager that +evening. + +"Man, Andrew!" he cried, "it's providential. There's nothing to hinder +you and me and a few others to ride clear into the hills, with the +Tidewater thinking it no more than a play of daft young men. You must +see Nicholson, and get him to hold his hand till we send him word. In +two days Lawrence will be here, and we can post our lads on each of the +rivers, for it's likely any Indian raid will take one of the valleys. +You must see that Governor of yours first thing in the morning, and get +him to promise to wait on your news. Then he can get out his militia, +and stir up the Tidewater. Will he do it, think you?" + +I said I thought he would. + +"And there's one other thing. Would he agree to turning a blind eye to +Lawrence, if he comes back? He'll not trouble them in James Town, but +he's the only man alive to direct our own lads." + +I said I would try, but I was far from certain. It was hard to forecast +the mind of Governor Francis. + +"Well, Lawrence will come whether or no. You can sound the man, and if +he's dour let the matter be. Lawrence is now on the Roanoke, and his +plan is to send out the word to-morrow and gather in the posts. He'll +come to Frew's place on the South Fork River, which is about the middle +of the frontier line. To-day is Monday, to-morrow the word will go out, +by Friday the men will be ready, and Lawrence will be in Virginia. The +sooner you're off the better, Andrew. What do you say to Wednesday?" + +"That day will suit me fine," I said; "but what about my company?" + +"The fewer the better. Who were you thinking of?" + +"You for one," I said, "and Shalah for a second." + +He nodded. + +"I want two men from the Rappahannock--a hunter of the name of +Donaldson and the Frenchman Bertrand." + +"That makes five. Would you like to even the number?" + +"Yes," I said. "There's a gentleman of the Tidewater, Mr. Charles Grey, +that I've bidden to the venture." + +Ringan whistled. "Are you sure that's wise? There'll be little use for +braw clothes and fine manners in the hills." + +"All the same there'll be a use for Mr. Grey. When will you join us?" + +"I've a bit of business to do hereaways, but I'll catch you up. Look +for me at Aird's store on Thursday morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +I GATHER THE CLANS. + +I was at the Governor's house next day before he had breakfasted. He +greeted me laughingly. + +"Has the champion come to cry forfeit?" he asked. "It is a long, sore +road to the hills, Mr. Garvald." + +"I've come to make confession," I said, and I plunged into my story of +the work of the last months. + +He heard me with lowering brows, "Who the devil made you Governor of +this dominion, sir? You have been levying troops without His Majesty's +permission. Your offence is no less than high treason. I've a pretty +mind to send you to the guard-house." + +"I implore you to hear me patiently," I cried. Then I told him what I +had learned in the Carolinas and at the outland farms. "You yourself +told me it was hopeless to look for a guinea from the Council. I was +but carrying out your desires. Can you blame me if I've toiled for the +public weal and neglected my own fortunes?" + +He was scarcely appeased. "You're a damnable kind of busybody, sir, the +breed of fellow that plunges states into revolutions. Why, in Heaven's +name, did you not consult me?" + +"Because it was wiser not to," I said stoutly. "Half my recruits are +old soldiers of Bacon. If the trouble blows past, they go back to their +steadings and nothing more is heard of it. If trouble comes, who are +such natural defenders of the dominion as the frontier dwellers? All I +have done is to give them the sinews of war. But if Governor Nicholson +had taken up the business, and it were known that he had leaned on old +rebels, what would the Council say? What would have been the view of my +lord Howard and the wiseacres in London?" + +He said nothing, but knit his brows. My words were too much in tune +with his declared opinions for him to gainsay them. + +"It comes to this, then," he said at length. "You have raised a body of +men who are waiting marching orders. What next, Mr. Garvald?" + +"The next thing is to march. After what befell on the Rapidan, we +cannot sit still." + +He started. "I have heard nothing of it." + +Then I told him the horrid tale. He got to his feet and strode up and +down the room, with his dark face working. + +"God's mercy, what a calamity! I knew the folk. They came here with +letters from his Grace of Shrewsbury. Are you certain your news is +true?" + +"Alas! there is no doubt. Stafford county is in a ferment, and the next +post from the York will bring you word." + +"Then, by God, it is for me to move. No Council or Assembly will dare +gainsay me. I can order a levy by virtue of His Majesty's commission." + +"I have come to pray you to hold your hand till I send you better +intelligence," I said. + +His brows knit again. "But this is too much. Am I to refrain from doing +my duty till I get your gracious consent, sir?" + +"Nay, nay," I cried. "Do not misunderstand me. This thing is far graver +than you think, sir. If you send your levies to the Rapidan, you leave +the Tidewater defenceless, and while you are hunting a Cherokee party +in the north, the enemy will be hammering at your gates." + +"What enemy?" he asked. + +"I do not know, and that is what I go to find out." Then I told him all +I had gathered about the unknown force in the hills, and the apparent +strategy of a campaign which was beyond an Indian's wits. "There is a +white man at the back of it," I said, "a white man who talks in Bible +words and is mad for devastation." + +His face had grown very solemn. He went to a bureau, unlocked it, and +took from a drawer a bit of paper, which he tossed to me. + +"I had that a week past to-morrow. My servant got it from an Indian in +the woods." + +It was a dirty scrap, folded like a letter, and bearing the +superscription, "_To the man Francis Nicholson, presently Governor in +Virginia_." I opened it and read:-- + +"_Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield: +but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the +armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied_." + +"There," I cried, "there is proof of my fears. What kind of Indian +sends a message like that? Trust me, sir, there is a far more hellish +mischief brewing than any man wots of." + +"It looks not unlike it," he said grimly. "Now let's hear what you +propose." + +"I can have my men at their posts by the week end. We will string them +out along the frontier, and hold especially the river valleys. If +invasion comes, then at any rate the Tidewater will get early news of +it. Meantime I and my friends, looking for Studd's powder-horn, with a +mind to confirm your birthday gift to Miss Elspeth Blair, will push on +to the hills and learn what is to be learned there." + +"You will never come back," he said tartly. "An Indian stake and a +bloody head will be the end of all of you." + +"Maybe," I said, "though I have men with me that can play the Indian +game. But if in ten days' time from now you get no word, then you can +fear the worst, and set your militia going. I have a service of posts +which will carry news to you as quick as a carrier pigeon. Whatever we +learn you shall hear of without delay, and you can make your +dispositions accordingly. If the devils find us first, then get in +touch with my men at Frew's homestead on the South Fork River, for that +will be the headquarters of the frontier army." + +"Who will be in command there when you are gallivanting in the hills?" +he asked. + +"One whose name had better not be spoken. He lies under sentence of +death by Virginian law; but, believe me, he is an honest soul and a +good patriot, and he is the one man born to lead these outland troops." + +He smiled, "His Christian name is Richard, maybe? I think I know your +outlaw. But let it pass. I ask no names. In these bad times we cannot +afford to despise any man's aid." + +He pulled out a chart of Virginia, and I marked for him our posts, and +indicated the line of my own journey. + +"Have you ever been in the wars, Mr. Garvald?" he asked. + +I told him no. + +"Well, you have a very pretty natural gift for the military art. Your +men will screen the frontier line, and behind that screen I will get +our militia force in order, while meantime you are reconnoitring the +enemy. It's a very fair piece of strategy. But I am mortally certain +you yourself will never come back." + +The odd thing was that at that moment I did not fear for myself. I had +lived so long with my scheme that I had come to look upon it almost +like a trading venture, in which one calculates risks and gains on +paper, and thinks no more of it. I had none of the black fright which I +had suffered before my meeting with Grey. Happily, though a young man's +thoughts may be long, his fancy takes short views. I was far more +concerned with what might happen in my absence in the Tidewater than +with our fate in the hills. + +"It is a gamble," I said, "but the stakes are noble, and I have a +private pride in its success." + +"Also the goad of certain bright eyes," he said, smiling. "Little I +thought, when I made that offer last night, I was setting so desperate +a business in train. There was a good Providence in that. For now we +can give out that you are gone on a madcap ploy, and there will be no +sleepless nights in the Tidewater. I must keep their souls easy, for +once they are scared there will be such a spate of letters to New York +as will weaken the courage of our Northern brethren. For the militia I +will give the excuse of the French menace. The good folk will laugh at +me for it, but they will not take fright. God's truth, but it is a +devilish tangle. I could wish I had your part, sir, and be free to ride +out on a gallant venture. Here I have none of the zest of war, but only +a thousand cares and the carking task of soothing fools." + +We spoke of many things, and I gave him a full account of the +composition and strength of our levies. When I left he paid me a +compliment, which, coming from so sardonic a soul, gave me peculiar +comfort. + +"I have seen something of men and cities, sir," he said, "and I know +well the foibles and the strength of my countrymen; but I have never +met your equal for cold persistence. You are a trader, and have turned +war into a trading venture. I do believe that when you are at your last +gasp you will be found calmly casting up your accounts with life. And I +think you will find a balance on the right side. God speed you, Mr. +Garvald. I love your sober folly." + + * * * * * + +I had scarcely left him when I met a servant of the Blairs, who handed +me a letter. 'Twas from Elspeth--the first she had ever written me. I +tore it open, and found a very disquieting epistle. Clearly she had +written it in a white heat of feeling. "_You spoke finely of +reverence_," she wrote, "_and how you had never named my name to a +mortal soul. But to-night you have put me to open shame. You have +offered yourself for a service which I did not seek. What care I for +his Excellency's gifts? Shall it be said that I was the means of +sending a man into deadly danger to secure me a foolish estate? You +have offended me grossly, and I pray you spare me further offence, I +command you to give up this journey. I will not have my name bandied +about in this land as a wanton who sets silly youth by the ears to +gratify her pride. If you desire to retain a shred of my friendship, go +to his Excellency and tell him that by my orders you withdraw from the +wager."_ + +This letter did not cloud my spirits as it should. For one thing, she +signed it "Elspeth," and for another, I had the conceited notion that +what moved her most was the thought that I was running into danger. I +longed to have speech with her, but I found from the servant that +Doctor Blair had left that morning on a journey of pastoral visitation, +and had taken her with him. The man did not know their destination, but +believed it to be somewhere in the north. The thought vaguely +disquieted me. In these perilous times I wished to think of her as safe +in the coastlands, where a ship would give a sure refuge. + +I met Grey that afternoon at the Half-way Tavern. In the last week he +seemed to have aged and grown graver. There was now no hint of the +light arrogance of old. He regarded me curiously, but without +hostility. + +"We have been enemies," I said, "and now, though there may be no +friendship, at any rate there is a truce to strife. Last night I begged +of you to come with me on this matter of the Governor's wager, but +'twas not the wager I thought of." + +Then I told him the whole tale. "The stake is the safety of this land, +of which you are a notable citizen. I ask you, because I know you are a +brave man. Will you leave your comfort and your games for a season, and +play for higher stakes at a more desperate hazard?" + +I told him everything, even down to my talk with the Governor. I did +not lessen the risks and hardships, and I gave him to know that his +companions would be rough folk, whom he may well have despised. He +heard me out with his eyes fixed on the ground. Then suddenly he raised +a shining face. + +"You are a generous enemy, Mr. Garvald. I behaved to you like a peevish +child, and you retaliate by offering me the bravest venture that man +ever conceived. I am with you with all my heart. By God, sir, I am sick +of my cushioned life. This is what I have been longing for in my soul +since I was born...." + +That night I spent making ready. I took no servant, and in my +saddle-bags was stored the little I needed. Of powder and shot I had +plenty, and my two pistols and my hunting musket. I gave Faulkner +instructions, and wrote a letter to my uncle to be sent if I did not +return. Next morning at daybreak we took the road. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE FORD OF THE RAPIDAN. + +'Twas the same high summer weather through which I had ridden a +fortnight ago with a dull heart on my way to the duel. Now Grey rode by +my side, and my spirits were as light as a bird's. I had forgotten the +grim part of the enterprise, the fate that might await me, the horrors +we should certainly witness. I thought only of the joys of movement +into new lands with tried companions. These last months I had borne a +pretty heavy weight of cares. Now that was past. My dispositions +completed, the thing was in the hands of God, and I was free to go my +own road. Mocking-birds and thrushes cried in the thickets, squirrels +flirted across the path, and now and then a shy deer fled before us. +There come moments to every man when he is thankful to be alive, and +every breath drawn is a delight; so at that hour I praised my Maker for +His good earth, and for sparing me to rejoice in it. + +Grey had met me with a certain shyness; but as the sun rose and the +land grew bright he, too, lost his constraint, and fell into the same +happy mood. Soon we were smiling at each other in the frankest +comradeship, we two who but the other day had carried ourselves like +game-cocks. He had forgotten his fine manners and his mincing London +voice, and we spoke of the outland country of which he knew nothing, +and of the hunting of game of which he knew much, exchanging our +different knowledges, and willing to learn from each other. Long ere we +had reached York Ferry I had found that there was much in common +between the Scots trader and the Virginian cavalier, and the chief +thing we shared was youth. + +Mine, to be sure, was more in the heart, while Grey wore his open and +fearless. He plucked the summer flowers and set them in his hat. He was +full of catches and glees, so that he waked the echoes in the forest +glades. Soon I, too, fell to singing in my tuneless voice, and I +answered his "My lodging is on the cold ground" with some Scots ballad +or a song of Davie Lindsay. I remember how sweetly he sang Colonel +Lovelace's ode to Lucasta, writ when going to the wars:-- + + "True, a new mistress now I chase, + The first foe in the field; + And with a stronger faith embrace + A sword, a horse, a shield." + + "Yet this inconstancy is such + As thou too shalt adore: + I could not love thee, dear, so much, + Loved I not Honour more." + +I wondered if that were my case--if I rode out for honour, and not for +the pure pleasure of the riding. And I marvelled more to see the two of +us, both lovers of one lady and eager rivals, burying for the nonce our +feuds, and with the same hope serving the same cause. + +We slept the night at Aird's store, and early the next morning found +Ringan. A new Ringan indeed, as unlike the buccaneer I knew as he was +unlike the Quaker. He was now the gentleman of Breadalbane, dressed for +the part with all the care of an exquisite. He rode a noble roan, in +his Spanish belt were stuck silver-hafted pistols, and a long sword +swung at his side. When I presented Grey to him, he became at once the +cavalier, as precise in his speech and polite in his deportment as any +Whitehall courtier. They talked high and disposedly of genteel matters, +and you would have thought that that red-haired pirate had lived his +life among proud lords and high-heeled ladies. That is ever the way of +the Highlander. He alters like a clear pool to every mood of the sky, +so that the shallow observer might forget how deep the waters are. + +Presently, when we had ridden into the chestnut forests of the +Mattaponey, he began to forget his part. Grey, it appeared, was a +student of campaigns, and he and Ringan were deep in a discussion of +Conde's battles, in which both showed surprising knowledge. But the +glory of the weather and of the woodlands, new as they were to a +seafarer, set his thoughts wandering, and he fell to tales of his past +which consorted ill with his former decorum. There was a madcap zest in +his speech, something so merry and wild, that Grey, who had fallen back +into his Tidewater manners, became once more the careless boy. We +stopped to eat in a glade by a slow stream, and from his saddle-bags +Ringan brought out strange delicacies. There were sugared fruits from +the Main, and orange sirop from Jamaica, and a kind of sweet punch made +by the Hispaniola Indians. As we ate and drank he would gossip about +the ways of the world; and though he never mentioned his own doings, +there was such an air of mastery about him as made him seem the centre +figure of his tales, I could see that Grey was mightily captivated, and +all afternoon he plied him with questions, and laughed joyously at his +answers. As we camped that night, while Grey was minding his horse +Ringan spoke of him to me. + +"I like the lad, Andrew. He has the makings of a very proper gentleman, +and he has the sense to be young. What I complain of in you is that +you're desperate old. I wonder whiles if you ever were a laddie. For +me, though I'm ten years the elder of the pair of you, I've no more +years than your friend, and I'm a century younger than you. That's the +Highland way. There's that in our blood that keeps our eyes young +though we may be bent double. With us the heart is aye leaping till +Death grips us. To my mind it's a lovable character that I fain would +cherish. If I couldn't sing on a spring morning or say a hearty grace +over a good dinner I'd be content to be put away in a graveyard." + +And that, I think, is the truth. But at the time I was feeling pretty +youthful, too, though my dour face and hard voice were a bad clue to my +sentiments. + +Next day on the Rappahannock we found Shalah, who had gone on to warn +the two men I proposed to enlist. One of them, Donaldson, was a big, +slow-spoken, middle-aged farmer, the same who had been with Bacon in +the fight at Occaneechee Island. He just cried to his wife to expect +him back when she saw him, slung on his back an old musket, cast a long +leg over his little horse, and was ready to follow. The other, the +Frenchman Bertrand, was a quiet, slim gentleman, who was some kin to +the murdered D'Aubignys. I had long had my eye on him, for he was very +wise in woodcraft, and had learned campaigning under old Turenne. He +kissed his two children again and again, and his wife clung to his +arms. There were tears in the honest fellow's eyes as he left, and I +thought all the more of him, for he is the bravest man who has most to +risk. I mind that Ringan consoled the lady in the French tongue, which +I did not comprehend, and would not be hindered from getting out his +saddle-bags and comforting the children with candied plums. He had near +as grave a face as Bertrand when we rode off, and was always looking +back to the homestead. He spoke long to the Frenchman in his own +speech, and the sad face of the latter began to lighten. + +I asked him what he said. + +"Just that he was the happy man to have kind hearts to weep for him. A +fine thing for a landless, childless fellow like me to say! But it's +gospel truth, Andrew. I told him that his bairns would be great folks +some day, and that their proudest boast would be that their father had +ridden on this errand. Oh, and all the rest of the easy consolations. +If it had been me, I would not have been muckle cheered. It's well I +never married, for I would not have had the courage to leave my +fireside." + +We were now getting into a new and far lovelier country. The heavy +forests and swamps which line the James and the York had gone, and +instead we had rolling spaces of green meadowland, and little hills +which stood out like sentinels of the great blue chain of mountains +that hung in the west. Instead of the rich summer scents of the +Tidewater, we had the clean, sharp smell of uplands, and cool winds +relieved the noontide heat. By and by we struck the Rapidan, a water +more like our Scots rivers, flowing in pools and currents, very +different from the stagnant reaches of the Pamunkey. We were joined for +a little bit by two men from Stafford county, who showed us the paths +that horses could travel. + +It was late in the afternoon that we reached a broad meadow hemmed in +by noble cedars. I knew without telling that we were come to the scene +of the tragedy, and with one accord we fell silent. The place had been +well looked after, for a road had been made through the woods, and had +been carried over marshy places on a platform of cedar piles. Presently +we came to a log fence with a gate, which hung idly open. Within was a +paddock, and beyond another fence, and beyond that a great pile of +blackened timber. The place was so smiling and homelike under the +westering sun that one looked to see a trim steading with the smoke of +hearth fires ascending, and to hear the cheerful sounds of labour and +of children's voices. Instead there was this grim, charred heap, with +the light winds swirling the ashes. + +Every man of us uncovered his head as he rode towards the melancholy +place. I noticed a little rosary, which had been carefully tended, but +horses had ridden through it, and the blossoms were trailing crushed on +the ground. There was a flower garden too, much trampled, and in one +corner a little stream of water had been led into a pool fringed with +forget-me-nots. A tiny water-wheel was turning in the fall, a +children's toy, and the wheel still turned, though its owners had gone. +The sight of that simple thing fairly brought my heart to my mouth. + +That inspection was a gruesome business. One of the doorposts of the +house still stood, and it was splashed with blood. On the edge of the +ashes were some charred human bones. No one could tell whose they were, +perhaps a negro's, perhaps the little mistress of the water-wheel. I +looked at Ringan, and he was smiling, but his eyes were terrible. The +Frenchman Bertrand was sobbing like a child. + +We took the bones, and made a shallow grave for them in the rosary. We +had no spades, but a stake did well enough to dig a resting-place for +those few poor remains. I said over them the Twenty-third Psalm: "_Yea, +though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no +evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff shall comfort me_." + +Then suddenly our mood changed. Nothing that we could do could help the +poor souls whose bones lay among the ashes. But we could bring their +murderers to book, and save others from a like fate. + +We moved away from the shattered place to the ford in the river where +the road ran north. There we looked back. A kind of fury seized me as I +saw that cruel defacement. In a few hours we ourselves should be beyond +the pale, among those human wolves who were so much more relentless +than any beasts of the field. As I looked round our little company, I +noted how deep the thing had bitten into our souls. Ringan's eyes still +danced with that unholy blue light. Grey was very pale, and his jaw was +set grimly. Bertrand had ceased from sobbing, and his face had the +far-away wildness of the fanatic, such a look as his forbears may have +worn at the news of St. Bartholomew. The big man Donaldson looked +puzzled and sombre. Only Shalah stood impassive and aloof, with no +trace of feeling on the bronze of his countenance. + +"This is the place for an oath," I said. "We are six men against an +army, but we fight for a holy cause. Let us swear to wipe out this deed +of blood in the blood of its perpetrators. God has made us the +executors of His judgments against horrid cruelty." + +We swore, holding our hands high, that, when our duty to the dominion +was done, we should hunt down the Cherokees who had done this deed till +no one of them was left breathing. At that moment of tense nerves, no +other purpose would have contented us. + +"How will we find them?" quoth Ringan. "To sift a score of murderers +out of a murderous nation will be like searching the ocean for a wave." + +Then Shalah spoke. + +"The trail is ten suns old, but I can follow it. The men were of the +Meebaw tribe by this token." And he held up a goshawk's feather. "The +bird that dropped that lives beyond the peaks of Shubash. The Meebaw +are quick hunters and gross eaters, and travel slow. We will find them +by the Tewawha." + +"All in good time," I said. "Retribution must wait till we have +finished our task. Can you find the Meebaw men again?" + +"Yea," said Shalah, "though they took wings and flew over the seas I +should find them." + +Then we hastened away from that glade, none speaking to the other. We +camped an hour's ride up the river, in a place secure against surprises +in a crook of the stream with a great rock at our back. We were outside +the pale now, and must needs adopt the precautions of a campaign; so we +split the night into watches, I did my two hours sentry duty at that +dead moment of the dark just before the little breeze which is the +precursor of dawn, and I reflected very soberly on the slender chances +of our returning from this strange wild world and its cruel mysteries. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +I RETRACE MY STEPS. + +Next morning we passed through the foothills into an open meadow +country. As I lifted up my eyes I saw for the first time the mountains +near at hand. There they lay, not more than ten miles distant, woody +almost to the summit, but with here and there a bold finger of rock +pointing skywards. They looked infinitely high and rugged, far higher +than any hills I had ever seen before, for my own Tinto or Cairntable +would to these have been no more than a footstool. I made out a clear +breach in the range, which I took to be old Studd's Clearwater Gap. The +whole sight intoxicated me. I might dream of horrors in the low coast +forests among their swampy creeks, but in that clear high world of the +hills I believed lay safety. I could have gazed at them for hours, but +Shalah would permit of no delay. He hurried us across the open meadows, +and would not relax his pace till we were on a low wooded ridge with +the young waters of the Rapidan running in a shallow vale beneath. + +Here we halted in a thick clump of cedars, while he and Ringan went +forward to spy out the land. In that green darkness, save by folk +travelling along the ridge, we could not be detected, and I knew +enough of Indian ways to believe that any large party would keep the +stream sides. We lit a fire without fear, for the smoke was hid in the +cedar branches, and some of us roasted corn-cakes. Our food in the +saddle-bags would not last long, and I foresaw a ticklish business when +it came to hunting for the pot. A gunshot in these narrow glens would +reverberate like a cannon. + +We dozed peacefully in the green shade, and smoked our pipes, waiting +for the return of our envoys. They came towards sundown, slipping among +us like ghosts. + +Ringan signalled to me, and we put our coats over the horses' heads to +prevent their whinnying. He stamped out the last few ashes of the fire, +and Shalah motioned us all flat on our faces. Then I crawled to the +edge of the ridge, and looked down through a tangle of vines on the +little valley. + +Our precautions had been none too soon, for a host was passing below, +as stealthily as if it had been an army of the sheeted dead. Most were +mounted, and it was marvellous to see the way in which they managed +their horses, so that the beasts seemed part of the riders, and partook +of their vigilance. Some were on foot, and moved with the long, loping, +in-toed Indian stride. I guessed their number at three hundred, but +what awed me was their array. This was no ordinary raid, but an +invading army. My sight, as I think I have said, is as keen as a +hawk's, and I could see that most of them carried muskets as well as +knives and tomahawks. The war-paint glistened on each breast and +forehead, and in the oiled hair stood the crested feathers, dyed +scarlet for battle. My spirits sank as I reflected that now we were cut +off from the Tidewater. + +When the last man had gone we crawled back to the clump, now gloomy +with the dusk of evening. I saw that Ringan was very weary, but Shalah, +after stretching his long limbs, seemed fresh as ever. + +"Will you come with me, brother?" he said. "We must warn the +Rappahannock." + +"Who are they?" I asked. + +"Cherokees. More follow them. The assault is dearly by the line of the +Rappahannock. If we hasten we may yet be in time." + +I knew what Shalah's hastening meant. I suppose I was the one of us +best fitted for a hot-foot march, and that that was the reason why the +Indian chose me. All the same my heart misgave me. He ate a little +food, while I stripped off the garments I did not need, carrying only +the one pistol. I bade the others travel slowly towards the mountains, +scouting carefully ahead, and promised that we should join them before +the next sundown. Then Shalah beckoned me, and I plunged after him into +the forest. + +On our first visit to Ringan at the land-locked Carolina harbour I had +thought Shalah's pace killing, but that was but a saunter to what he +now showed me. We seemed to be moving at right angles to the Indian +march. Once out of the woods of the ridge, we crossed the meadows, +mostly on our bellies, taking advantage of every howe and crinkle. I +followed him as obediently as a child. When he ran so did I; when he +crawled my forehead was next his heel. After the grass-lands came +broken hillocks with little streams in the bottoms. Through these we +twisted, moving with less care, and presently we had left the hills and +were looking over a wide, shadowy plain. + +The moon was three-quarters full, and was just beginning to climb the +sky. Shalah sniffed the wind, which blew from the south-west, and set +off at a sharp angle towards the north. We were now among the woods +again, and the tangled undergrowth tried me sore. We had been going for +about three hours, and, though I was hard and spare from much travel in +the sun, my legs were not used to this furious foot marching. My feet +grew leaden, and, to make matters worse, we dipped presently into a big +swamp, where we mired to the knees and often to the middle. It would +have been no light labour at any time to cross such a place, pulling +oneself by the tangled shrubs on to the rare patches of solid ground. +But now, when I was pretty weary, the toil was about the limit of my +strength. When we emerged on hard land I was sobbing like a stricken +deer. But Shalah had no mercy. He took me through the dark cedars at +the same tireless pace, and in the gloom I could see him flitting +ahead of me, his shoulders squared, and his limbs as supple as a +race-horse's. I remember I said over in my head all the songs and verses +I knew, to keep my mind from my condition. I had long ago got and lost +my second wind and whatever other winds there be, and was moving less by +bodily strength than by sheer doggedness of spirit. Weak tears were +running down my cheeks, my breath rasped in my throat, but I was in the +frame of mind that if death had found me next moment my legs would +still have twitched in an effort to run. + +At an open bit of the forest Shalah stopped and looked at the sky. I +blundered into him, and then from sheer weakness rolled on the ground. +He grunted and turned to me. I felt his cool hand passing over my brow +and cheek, and his fingers kneading the muscles of my forlorn legs. +'Twas some Indian device, doubtless, but its power was miraculous. +Under his hands my body seemed to be rested and revived. New strength +stole into my sinews, new vigour into my blood. The thing took maybe +five minutes--not more; but I scrambled to my feet a man again. Indeed +I was a better man than when I started, for this Indian wizardry had +given me an odd lightness of head and heart. When we took up the +running, my body, instead of a leaden clog, seemed to be a thing of air +and feathers. + +It was now hard on midnight, and the moon was high in the heavens. We +bore somewhat to the right, and I judged that our circuit was +completed, and that the time had come to steal in front of the Indian +route. The forest thinned, and we traversed a marshy piece, of country +with many single great trees. Often Shalah would halt for a second, +strain his ears, and sniff the light wind like a dog. He seemed to find +guidance, but I got none, only the hoot of an owl or the rooty smell of +the woodland. + +At last we struck a little stream, and followed its course between high +banks of pine. Suddenly Shalah's movements became stealthy. Crouching +in every patch of shade, and crossing open spaces on our bellies, we +turned from the stream, surmounted a knoll, and came down on a wooded +valley. Shalah looked westwards, held up his hand, and stood poised for +a minute like a graven image. Then he grunted and spoke. "We are safe," +he said. "They are behind us, and are camped for the night," How he +knew that I cannot tell; but I seemed to catch on the breeze a whiff of +the rancid odour of Indian war-paint. + +For another mile we continued our precautions, and then moved more +freely in the open. Now that the chief peril was past, my fatigue came +back to me worse than ever. I think I was growing leg-weary, as I had +seen happen to horses, and from that ailment there is no relief. My +head buzzed like a beehive, and when the moon set I had no power to +pick my steps, and stumbled and sprawled in the darkness. I had to ask +Shalah for help, though it was a sore hurt to my pride, and, leaning on +his arm, I made the rest of the journey. + +I found myself splashing in a strong river. We crossed by a ford, so we +had no need to swim, which was well for me, for I must have drowned. +The chill of the water revived me somewhat, and I had the strength to +climb the other bank. And then suddenly before me I saw a light, and a +challenge rang out into the night. + +The voice was a white man's, and brought me to my bearings. Weak as I +was, I had the fierce satisfaction that our errand had not been idle. I +replied with the password, and a big fellow strode out from a stockade. + +"Mr. Garvald!" he said, staring. "What brings you here? Where are the +rest of you?" He looked at Shalah and then at me, and finally took my +arm and drew me inside. + +There were a score in the place--Rappahannock farmers, a lean, watchful +breed, each man with his musket. One of them, I mind, wore a rusty +cuirass of chain armour, which must have been one of those sent out by +the King in the first days of the dominion. They gave me a drink of rum +and water, and in a little I had got over my worst weariness and could +speak. + +"The Cherokees are on us," I said, and I told them of the army we had +followed. + +"How many?" they asked. + +"Three hundred for a vanguard, but more follow." + +One man laughed, as if well pleased. "I'm in the humour for Cherokees +just now. There's a score of scalps hanging outside, if you could see +them, Mr. Garvald." + +"What scalps?" I asked, dumbfoundered. + +"The Rapidan murderers. We got word of them in the woods yesterday, and +six of us went hunting. It was pretty shooting. Two got away with some +lead in them, the rest are in the Tewawha pools, all but their +topknots. I've very little notion of Cherokees." + +Somehow the news gave me intense joy. I thought nothing of the +barbarity of it, or that white men should demean themselves to the +Indian level. I remembered only the meadow by the Rapidan, and the +little lonely water-wheel. Our vow was needless, for others had done +our work. + +"Would I had been with you!" was all I said. "But now you have more +than a gang of Meebaw raiders to deal with. There's an invasion coming +down from the hills, and this is the first wave of it, I want word sent +to Governor Nicholson at James Town. I was to tell him where the +trouble was to be feared, and in a week you'll have a regiment at your +backs. Who has the best horse? Simpson? Well, let Simpson carry the +word down the valley. If my plans are working well, the news should be +at James Town by dawn to-morrow." + +The man called Simpson got up, saddled his beast, and waited my +bidding. "This is the word to send," said I. "Say that the Cherokees +are attacking by the line of the Rappahannock. Say that I am going into +the hills to find if my fears are justified. Never mind what that +means. Just pass on the words. They will understand them at James Town. +So much for the Governor. Now I want word sent to Frew's homestead on +the South Fork. Who is to carry it?" + +One old fellow, who chewed tobacco without intermission, spat out the +leaf, and asked me what news I wanted to send. + +"Just that we are attacked," I said. + +"That's a simple job," he said cheerfully. "All down the Border posts +we have a signal. Only yesterday we got word of it from the place you +speak of. A mile from here is a hillock within hearing of the stockade +at Robertson's Ford. One shot fired there will tell them what you want +them to know. Robertson's will fire twice for Appleby's to hear, and +Appleby's will send on the message to Dopple's. There are six posts +between here and the South Fork, so when the folk at Frew's hear seven +shots they will know that the war is on the Rappahannock." + +I recognized old Lawrence's hand in this. It was just the kind of +device that he would contrive. I hoped it would not miscarry, for I +would have preferred a messenger; but after all the Border line was his +concern. + +Then I spoke aside to Shalah. In his view the Cherokees would not +attack at dawn. They were more likely to wait till their supports +overtook them, and then, to make a dash for the Rappahannock farms. +Plunder was more in the line of these gentry than honest fighting. I +spoke to the leader of the post, and he was for falling upon them in +the narrows of the Rapidan. Their victory over the Meebaws had fired +the blood of the Borderers, and made them contemptuous of the enemy. +Still, in such a predicament, when we had to hold a frontier with a +handful, the boldest course was likely to be the safest. I could only +pray that Nicholson's levies would turn up in time to protect the +valley. + +"Time passes, brother," said Shalah. "We came by swiftness, but we +return by guile. In three hours it will be dawn. Sleep till then, for +there is much toil before thee." + +I saw the wisdom of his words, and went promptly to bed in a corner of +the stockade. As I was lying down a man spoke to me, one Rycroft, at +whose cabin I had once sojourned for a day. + +"What brings the parson hereaways in these times?" he asked. + +"What parson?" I asked. + +"The man they call Doctor Blair." + +"Great God!" I cried, "what about him?" + +"He was in Stafford county when I left, hunting for schoolmasters. Ay, +and he had a girl with him." + +I sat upright with a start. "Where is he now?" I asked. + +"I saw him last at Middleton's Ford. I think he was going down the +river. I warned him this was no place for parsons and women, but he +just laughed at me. It's time he was back in the Tidewater." + +So long as they were homeward-bound I did not care; but it gave me a +queer fluttering of the heart to think that Elspeth but yesterday +should have been near this perilous Border. I soon fell asleep, for I +was mighty tired, but I dreamed evilly. I seemed to see Doctor Blair +hunted by Cherokees, with his coat-tails flying and his wig blown away, +and what vexed me was that I could not find Elspeth anywhere in the +landscape. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +OUR ADVENTURE RECEIVES A RECRUIT. + +At earliest light, with the dew heavy on the willows and the river line +a coil of mist, Shalah woke me for the road. We breakfasted off fried +bacon, some of which I saved for the journey, for the Indian was +content with one meal a day. As we left the stockade I noted the row of +Meebaw scalps hanging, grim and bloody, from the poles. The Borderers +were up and stirring, for they looked to take the Indians in the river +narrows before the morning was old. + +No two Indian war parties ever take the same path, so it was Shalah's +plan to work back to the route we had just travelled, by which the +Cherokees had come yesterday. This sounds simple enough, but the danger +lay in the second party. By striking to right or left we might walk +into it, and then good-bye to our hopes of the hills. But the whole +thing was easier to me than the cruel toil of yesterday. There was need +of stealth and woodcraft, but not of yon killing speed. + +For the first hour we went up a northern fork of the Rappahannock, then +crossed the water at a ford, and struck into a thick pine forest. I was +feeling wonderfully rested, and found no discomfort in Shalah's long +strides. My mind was very busy on the defence of the Borders, and I +kept wondering how long the Governor's militia would take to reach the +Rappahannock, and whether Lawrence could reinforce the northern posts +in time to prevent mischief in Stafford county. I cast back to my +memory of the tales of Indian war, and could not believe but that the +white man, if warned and armed, would roll back the Cherokees. 'Twas +not them I feared, but that other force now screened behind the +mountains, who had for their leader some white madman with a fire in +his head and Bible words on his lips. Were we of Virginia destined to +fight with such fanatics as had distracted Scotland--fanatics naming +the name of God, but leading in our case the armies of hell? + +It was about eleven in the forenoon, I think, that Shalah dropped his +easy swing and grew circumspect. The sun was very hot, and the noon +silence lay dead on the woodlands. Scarcely a leaf stirred, and the +only sounds were the twittering grasshoppers and the drone of flies. +But Shalah found food for thought. Again and again he became rigid, and +then laid an ear to the ground. His nostrils dilated like a horse's, +and his eyes were restless. We were now in a shallow vale, through +which a little stream flowed among broad reed-beds. At one point he +kneeled on the ground and searched diligently. + +"See," he said, "a horse's prints not two hours old--a horse going +west." + +Presently I myself found a clue. I picked up from a clump of wild +onions a thread of coloured wool. This was my own trade, where I knew +more than Shalah. I tested the thing in my mouth and between my +fingers. + +"This is London stuff," I said. "The man who had this on his person +bought his clothes from the Bristol merchants, and paid sweetly for +them. He was no Rappahannock farmer." + +Shalah trailed like a bloodhound, following the hoof-marks out of the +valley meadow to a ridge of sparse cedars where they showed clear on +the bare earth, and then to a thicker covert where they were hidden +among strong grasses. Suddenly he caught my shoulder, and pulled me to +the ground. We crawled through a briery place to where a gap opened to +the vale on our left. + +A party of Indians were passing. They were young men with the fantastic +markings of young braves. All were mounted on the little Indian horses. +They moved at leisure, scanning the distance with hands shading eyes. + +We wormed our way back to the darkness of the covert. "The advance +guard of the second party," Shalah whispered. "With good fortune, we +shall soon see the rest pass, and then have a clear road for the +hills." + +"I saw no fresh scalps," I said, "so they seem to have missed our man +on the horse." I was proud of my simple logic. + +All that Shalah replied was, "The rider was a woman.' + +"How, in Heaven's name, can you tell?" I asked. + +He held out a long hair. "I found it among the vines at the level of a +rider's head." + +This was bad news indeed. What folly had induced a woman to ride so far +across the Borders? It could be no settler's wife, but some dame from +the coast country who had not the sense to be timid. 'Twas a grievous +affliction for two men on an arduous quest to have to protect a foolish +female with the Cherokees all about them. + +There was no help for it, and as swiftly as possible and with all +circumspection Shalah trailed the horse's prints. They kept the high +ground, in very broken country, which was the reason why the rider had +escaped the Indians' notice. Clearly they were moving slowly, and from +the frequent halts and turnings I gathered that the rider had not much +purpose about the road. + +Then we came on a glade where the rider had dismounted and let the +beast go. The horse had wandered down the ridge to the right in search +of grazing, and the prints of a woman's foot led to the summit of a +knoll which raised itself above the trees. + +There, knee-deep in a patch of fern, I saw what I had never dreamed of, +what sent the blood from my heart in a cold shudder of fear: a girl, +pale and dishevelled, was trying to part some vines. A twig crackled +and she looked round, showing a face drawn with weariness and eyes +large with terror. + +It was Elspeth! + +At the sight of Shalah she made to scream, but checked herself. It was +well, for a scream would have brought all of us to instant death. + +For Shalah at that moment dropped to earth and wriggled into a covert +overlooking the vale. I had the sense to catch the girl and pull her +after him. He stopped dead, and we two lay also like mice. My heart was +going pretty fast, and I could feel the heaving of her bosom. + +The shallow glen was full of folk, most of them going on foot. I +recognized the Cherokee head-dress and the long hickory bows which +those carried who had no muskets. 'Twas by far the biggest party we had +seen, and, though in that moment I had no wits to count them, Shalah +told me afterwards they must have numbered little short of a thousand. +Some very old fellows were there, with lean, hollow cheeks, and scanty +locks, but the most were warriors in their prime. I could see it was a +big war they were out for, since some of the horses carried heavy loads +of corn, and it is never the Indian fashion to take much provender for +a common raid. In all Virginia's history there had been no such +invasion, for the wars of Opechancanough and Berkeley and the fight of +Bacon against the Susquehannocks were mere bickers compared with this +deliberate downpour from the hills. + +As we lay there, scarce daring to breathe, I saw that we were in deadly +peril. The host was so great that some marched on the very edge of our +thicket. I could see through the leaves the brown Skins not a yard +away. The slightest noise would bring the sharp Indian eyes peering +into the gloom, and we must be betrayed. + +In that moment, which was one of the gravest of my life, I had happily +no leisure to think of myself. My whole soul sickened with anxiety for +the girl. I knew enough of Indian ways to guess her fate. For Shalah +and myself there might be torture, and at the best an arrow in our +hearts, but for her there would be things unspeakable. I remembered the +little meadow on the Rapidan, and the tale told by the grey ashes. +There was only one shot in my pistol, but I determined that it should +be saved for her. In such a crisis the memory works wildly, and I +remember feeling glad that I had stood up before Grey's fire. The +thought gave me a comforting assurance of manhood. + +Those were nightmare minutes. The girl was very quiet, in a stupor of +fatigue and fear. Shalah was a graven image, and I was too tensely +strung to have any of the itches and fervours which used to vex me in +hunting the deer when stillness was needful. Through the fretted +greenery, I saw the dim shadows of men passing swiftly. The thought of +the horse worried me. If the confounded beast grazed peaceably down the +other side of the hill, all might be well. So long as he was out of +sight any movement he made would be set down by the Indians to some +forest beast, for animals' noises are all alike in a wood. But if he +returned to us, there would be the devil to pay, for at a glimpse of +him our thicket would be alive with the enemy. + +In the end I found it best to shut my eyes and commend our case to our +Maker. Then I counted very slowly to myself up to four hundred, and +looked again. The vale was empty. + +We lay still, hardly believing in our deliverance, for the matter of a +quarter of an hour, and then Shalah, making a sign to me to remain, +turned and glided up lull. I put my hand behind me, found Elspeth's +cheek, and patted it. She stretched out a hand and clutched mine +feverishly, and thus we remained till, after what seemed an age, Shalah +returned. + +He was on his feet and walking freely. He had found the horse, too, and +had it by the bridle. + +"The danger is past," he said gravely. "Let us go back to the glade and +rest." + +I helped Elspeth to her feet, and on my arm she clambered to the grassy +place in the woods. I searched my pockets, and gave her the remnants +of the bread and bacon I had brought from the Rappahannock post. +Better still, I remembered that I had in my breast a little flask of +eau-de-vie, and a mouthful of it revived her greatly. She put her hands +to her head, and began to tidy her dishevelled hair, which is a sure +sign in a woman that she is recovering her composure. + +"What brought you here?" I asked gently. + +She had forgotten that I was in her black books, and that in her letter +she forbade my journey. Indeed, she looked at me as a child in a pickle +may look at an upbraiding parent. + +"I was lost," she cried. "I did not mean to go far, but the night came +down and I could not find the way back. Oh, it has been a hideous +nightmare! I have been almost mad in the dark woods." + +"But how did you get here?" I asked, still hopelessly puzzled. + +"I was with Uncle James on the Rappahannock. He heard something that +made him anxious, and he was going back to the Tidewater yesterday. But +a message came for him suddenly, and he left me at Morrison's farm, and +said he would be back by the evening. I did not want to go home before +I had seen the mountains where my estate is--you know, the land that +Governor Francis said he would give me for my birthday. They told me +one could see the hills from near at hand, and a boy that I asked said +I would get a rare view if I went to the rise beyond the river. So I +had Paladin saddled, and crossed the ford, meaning to be back long ere +sunset. But the trees were so thick that I could see nothing from the +first rise, and I tried to reach a green hill that looked near. Then it +began to grow dark, and I lost my head, and oh! I don't know where I +wandered. I thought every rustle in the bushes was a bear or a panther. +I feared the Indians, too, for they told me they were unsafe in this +country. All night long I tried to find a valley running east, but the +moonlight deceived me, and I must have come farther away every hour. +When day came I tied Paladin to a tree and slept a little, and then I +rode on to find a hill which would show me the lie of the land. But it +was very hot, and I was very weary. And then you came, and those +dreadful wild men. And--and----" She broke down and wept piteously. + +I comforted her as best I could, telling her that her troubles were +over now, and that I should look after her. "You might have met with us +in the woods last night," I said, "so you see you were not far from +friends." But the truth was that her troubles were only beginning, and +I was wretchedly anxious. My impulse was to try to get her back to the +Rappahannock; but, on putting this to Shalah, he shook his head. + +"It is too late," he said. "If you seek certain death, go towards the +Rappahannock. She must come with us to the mountains. The only safety +is in the hill-tops." + +This seemed a mad saying. To be safe from Indians we were to go into +the heart of Indian country. But Shalah expounded it. The tribes, he +said, dwelt only in the lower glens of the range, and never ventured to +the summits, believing them to be holy land where a great _manitou_ +dwelt. The Cherokees especially shunned the peaks. If we could find a +way clear to the top we might stay there in some security, till we +learned the issue of the war, and could get word to our friends. +"Moreover," he said, "we have yet to penetrate the secret of the hills. +That was the object of our quest, brother." + +Shalah was right, and I had forgotten all about it. I could not suffer +my care for Elspeth to prevent a work whose issue might mean the +salvation of Virginia. We had still to learn the truth about the +massing of Indians in the mountains, of which the Cherokee raids were +but scouting ventures. The verse of Grey's song came into my head:-- + + "I could not love thee, dear, so much, + Loved I not Honour more." + +Besides--and this was the best reason--there was +no other way. We had gone too far to turn back, and, as our proverb +says, "It is idle to swallow the cow and choke on the tail." + +I put it all to Elspeth. + +She looked very scared. "But my uncle will go mad if he does not find +me." + +"It will be worse for him if he is never to find you again. Shalah says +it would be as easy to get you back over the Rappahannock as for a +child to cross a winter torrent. I don't say it's pleasant either way, +but there's a good hope of safety in the hills, and there's none +anywhere else." + +She sat for a little with her eyes downcast. "I am in your hands," she +said at last, "Oh, the foolish girl I have been! I will be a drag and a +danger to you all." + +Then I took her hand. "Elspeth," I said, "it's me will be the proud man +if I can save you. I would rather be the salvation of you than the King +of the Tidewater. And so says Shalah, and so will say all of us." + +But I do not think she heard me. She had checked her tears, but her +wits were far away, grieving for her uncle's pain, and envisaging the +desperate future. At the first water we reached she bathed her face and +eyes, and using the pool as a mirror, adjusted her hair. Then she +smiled bravely, "I will try to be a true comrade, like a man," she +said. "I think I will be stronger when I have slept a little." + +All that afternoon we stole from covert to covert. It was hot and +oppressive in the dense woods, where the breeze could not penetrate. +Shalah's eagle eyes searched every open space before we crossed, but we +saw nothing to alarm us. In time we came to the place where we had left +our party, and it was easy enough to pick up their road. They had +travelled slowly, keeping to the thickest trees, and they had taken no +pains to cover their tracks, for they had argued that if trouble came +it would come from the front, and that it was little likely that any +Indian would be returning thus soon and could take up their back trail. + +Presently we came to a place where the bold spurs of the hills overhung +us, and the gap we had seen opened up into a deep valley. Shalah went +in advance, and suddenly we heard a word pass. We entered a cedar +glade, to find our four companions unsaddling the horses and making +camp. + +The sight of the girl held them staring. Grey grew pale and then +flushed scarlet. He came forward and asked me abruptly what it meant. +When I told him he bit his lips. + +"There is only one thing to be done," he said. "We must take Miss Blair +back to the Tidewater. I insist, sir. I will go myself. We cannot +involve her in our dangers." + +He was once again the man I had wrangled with. His eyes blazed, and he +spoke in a high tone of command. But I could not be wroth with him; +indeed, I liked him for his peremptoriness. It comforted me to think +that Elspeth had so warm a defender. + +I nodded to Shalah. "Tell him," I said, and Shalah spoke with him. He +took long to convince, but at, the end he said no more, and went to +speak to Elspeth. I could see that she lightened his troubled mind a +little, for, having accepted her fate, she was resolute to make the +best of it, I even heard her laugh. + +That night we made her a bower of green branches, and as we ate our +supper round our modest fire she sat like a queen among us. It was odd +to see the way in which her presence affected each of us. With her Grey +was the courtly cavalier, ready with a neat phrase and a line from the +poets. Donaldson and Shalah were unmoved; no woman could make any +difference to their wilderness silence. The Frenchman Bertrand grew +almost gay. She spoke to him in his own tongue, and he told her all +about the little family he had left and his days in far-away France. But +in Ringan was the oddest change. Her presence kept him tongue-tied, and +when she spoke to him he was embarrassed into stuttering. He was eager +to serve her in everything, but he could not look her in the face or +answer readily when she spoke. This man, so debonair and masterful +among his fellows, was put all out of countenance by a wearied girl. I +do not suppose he had spoken to a gentlewoman for ten years. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +CLEARWATER GLEN. + +Next morning we came into Clearwater Glen. + +Shalah spoke to me of it before we started. He did not fear the +Cherokees, who had come from the far south of the range and had never +been settled in these parts. But he thought that there might be others +from the back of the hills who would have crossed by this gap, and +might be lying in the lower parts of the glen. It behoved us, +therefore, to go very warily. Once on the higher ridges, he thought we +might be safe for a time. An invading army has no leisure to explore +the rugged summits of a mountain. + +The first sight of the place gave me a strong emotion of dislike. A +little river brawled in a deep gorge, falling in pools and linns like +one of my native burns. All its course was thickly shaded with bushes +and knotted trees. On either bank lay stretches of rough hill pasture, +lined with dark and tangled forests, which ran up the hill-side till +the steepness of the slope broke them into copses of stunted pines +among great bluffs of rock and raw red scaurs. The glen was very +narrow, and the mountains seemed to beetle above it so as to shut out +half the sunlight. The air was growing cooler, with the queer, acrid +smell in it that high hills bring. I am a great lover of uplands, and +the sourest peat-moss has a charm for me, but to that strange glen I +conceived at once a determined hate. It is the way of some places with +some men. The senses perceive a hostility for which the mind has no +proof, and in my experience the senses are right. + +Part of my discomfort was due to my bodily health. I had proudly +thought myself seasoned by those hot Virginian summers, in which I had +escaped all common ailments. But I had forgotten what old hunters had +told me, that the hills will bring out a fever which is dormant in the +plains. Anyhow, I now found that my head was dizzy and aching, and my +limbs had a strange trembling. The fatigue of the past day had dragged +me to the limits of my strength and made me an easy victim. My heart, +too, was full of cares. The sight of Elspeth reminded me how heavy was +my charge. 'Twas difficult enough to scout well in this tangled place, +but, forbye my duty to the dominion, I had the business of taking one +who was the light of my life into this dark land of bloody secrets. + +The youth and gaiety were going out of my quest. I could only plod +along dismally, attentive to every movement of Shalah, praying +incessantly that we might get well out of it all. To make matters +worse, the travelling became desperate hard. In the Tidewater there +were bridle paths, and in the vales of the foothills the going had been +good, with hard, dry soil in the woods, and no hindrances save a +thicket of vines or a rare windfall. But in this glen, where the hill +rains beat, there was no end to obstacles. The open spaces were marshy, +where our horses sank to the hocks. The woods were one medley of fallen +trees, rotting into touchwood, hidden boulders, and matted briers. +Often we could not move till Donaldson and Bertrand with their hatchets +had hewn some sort of road. All this meant slow progress, and by midday +we had not gone half-way up the glen to the neck which meant the ridge +of the pass. + +This was an occasion when Ringan showed at his best. He had lost his +awe of Elspeth, and devoted himself to making the road easy for her. +Grey, who would fain have done the same, was no match for the seafarer, +and had much ado to keep going himself. Ringan's cheery face was better +than medicine. His eyes never lost their dancing light, and he was +ready ever with some quip or whimsy to tide over the worst troubles. We +kept very still, but now and again Elspeth's laugh rang out at his +fooling, and it did my heart good to hear it. + +After midday the glen seemed to grow darker, and I saw that the blue +sky, which I had thought changeless, was becoming overcast. As I looked +upwards I saw the high ridge blotted out and a white mist creeping +down. I had noticed for some time that Shalah was growing uneasy. He +would halt us often, while he went a little way on, and now he turned +with so grim a look that we stopped without bidding. + +He slipped into the undergrowth, while we waited in that dark, lonesome +place. Even Ringan was sober now. + +Elspeth asked in a low voice what was wrong, and I told her that the +Indian was uncertain of the best road. + +"Best road!" she laughed. "Then pray show me what you call the worst." + +Ringan grinned at me ruefully. "Where do you wish yourself at this +moment, Andrew?" + +"On the top of this damned mountain," I grunted. + +"Not for me," he said. "Give me the Dry Tortugas, on a moonlight night +when the breaming fires burn along the shore, and the lads are singing +'Spanish Ladies.' Or, better still, the little isle of St. John the +Baptist, with the fine yellow sands for careening, and Mother Daria +brewing bobadillo and the trades blowing fresh in the tops of the +palms. This land is a gloomy sort of business. Give me the bright, +changeful sea." + +"And I," said Elspeth, "would be threading rowan berries for a necklace +in the heather of Medwyn Glen. It must be about four o'clock of a +midsummer afternoon and a cloudless sky, except for white streamers +over Tinto. Ah, my own kind countryside!" + +Ringan's face changed. + +"You are right, my lady. No Tortugas or Spanish isles for Ninian +Campbell. Give him the steeps of Glenorchy on an October morn when the +deer have begun to bell. My sorrow, but we are far enough from our +desires--all but Andrew, who is a prosaic soul. And here comes Shalah +with ugly news!" + +The Indian spoke rapidly to me. "The woods are full of men. I do not +think we are discovered, but we cannot stay here. Our one hope is to +gain the cover of the mist. There is an open space beyond this thicket, +and we must ride our swiftest. Quick, brother." + +"The men?" I gasped. "Cherokees?" + +"Nay," he said, "not Cherokees. I think they are those you seek from +beyond the mountains." + +The next half-hour is a mad recollection, wild and confused, and +distraught with anxiety. The thought of Elspeth among savages maddened +me, the more so as she had just spoken of Medwyn Glen, and had sent my +memory back to fragrant hours of youth. We scrambled out of the thicket +and put our weary beasts to a gallop. Happily it was harder ground, +albeit much studded with clumps of fern, and though we all slipped and +stumbled often, the horses kept their feet. I was growing so dizzy in +the head that I feared every moment I would fall off. The mist had now +come low down the hill, and lay before us, a line, of grey vapour drawn +from edge to edge of the vale. It seemed an infinite long way off. + +Shalah on foot kept in the rear, and I gathered from him that the +danger he feared was behind. Suddenly as I stared ahead something fell +ten yards in advance of us in a long curve, and stuck, quivering in the +soil. + +It was an Indian arrow. + +We would have reined up if Shalah had not cried on us to keep on. I do +not think the arrow was meant to strike us. 'Twas a warning, a grim +jest of the savages in the wood. + +Then another fell, at the same distance before our first rider. + +Still Shalah cried us on. I fell back to the rear, for if we were to +escape I thought there might be need of fighting there. I felt in my +belt for my loaded pistols. + +We were now in a coppice again, where the trees were short and sparse. +Beyond that lay another meadow, and, then, not a quarter-mile distant, +the welcome line of the mist, every second drawing down on us. + +A third time an arrow fell. Its flight was shorter and dropped almost +under the nose of Elspeth's horse, which swerved violently, and would +have unseated a less skilled horsewoman. + +"On, on," I cried, for we were past the need for silence, and when I +looked again, the kindly fog had swallowed up the van of the party. + +I turned and gazed back, and there I saw a strange sight. A dozen men +or more had come to the edge of the trees on the hill-side. They were +quite near, not two hundred yards distant, and I saw them clearly. They +carried bows or muskets, but none offered to use them. They were tall +fellows, but lighter in the colour than any Indians I had seen. Indeed, +they were as fair as many an Englishman, and their slim, golden-brown +bodies were not painted in the maniac fashion of the Cherokees. They +stood stock still, watching us with a dreadful impassivity which was +more frightening to me than violence. Then I, too, was overtaken by the +grey screen. + +"Will they follow?" I asked Shalah. + +"I do not think so. They are not hill-men, and fear the high places +where the gods smoke. Further-more, there is no need." + +"We have escaped, then?" I asked, with a great relief in my voice. + +"Say rather we have been shepherded by them into a fold. They will find +us when they desire us." + +It was a perturbing thought, but at any rate we were safe for the +moment, and I resolved to say nothing to alarm the others. We overtook +them presently, and Shalah became our guide. Not that more guiding was +needed than Ringan or I could have given, for the lift of the ground +gave us our direction, and there was the sound of a falling stream. To +an upland-bred man mist is little of a hindrance, unless on a +featureless moor. + +Ever as we jogged upward the air grew colder. Rain was blowing in our +teeth, and the ferny grass and juniper clumps dripped with wet. Almost +it might have been the Pentlands or the high mosses between Douglas +Water and Clyde. To us coming fresh from the torrid plains it was +bitter weather, and I feared for Elspeth, who was thinly clad for the +hill-tops. Ringan seemed to feel the cold the worst of us, for he had +spent his days in the hot seas of the south. He put his horse-blanket +over his shoulders, and cut a comical figure with his red face peeping +from its folds. + +"Lord," he would cry, "I wish I was in the Dry Tortugas or snug in the +beach-house at the Isle o' Pines. This minds me painfully of my young +days, when I ran in a ragged kilt in the cold heather of Cruachan. I +must be getting an old man, Andrew, for I never thought the hills could +freeze my blood." + +Suddenly the fog lightened a little, the slope ceased, and we had that +gust of freer air which means the top of the pass. My head was less +dizzy now, and I had a momentary gladness that at any rate we had done +part of what we set out to do. + +"Clearwater Gap!" I cried. "Except for old Studd, we are the first +Christians to stand on this watershed." + +Below us lay a swimming hollow of white mist, hiding I knew not what +strange country. + +From the vales below I had marked the lie of the land on each side of +the gap. The highest ground was to the right, so we turned up the +ridge, which was easier than the glen and better travelling. Presently +we were among pines again, and got a shelter from the driving rain. My +plan was to find some hollow far up the mountain side, and there to +make our encampment. After an hour's riding, we came to the very place +I had sought. A pocket of flat land lay between two rocky knolls, with +a ring of good-sized trees around it. The spot was dry and hidden, and +what especially took my fancy was a spring of water which welled up in +the centre, and from which a tiny stream ran down the hill. 'Twas a +fine site for a stockade, and so thought Shalah and the two Borderers. + +There was much to do to get the place ready, and Donaldson and Bertrand +fell to with their axes to fell trees for the fort. Now that we had +reached the first stage in our venture, my mind was unreasonably +comforted. With the buoyancy of youth, I argued that since we had got +so far we must get farther. Also the fever seemed to be leaving my +bones and my head clearing. Elspeth was almost merry. Like a child +playing at making house, she ordered the men about on divers errands. +She was a fine sight, with the wind ruffling her hair and her cheeks +reddened from the rain. + +Ringan came up to me. "There are three Hours of daylight in front of +us. What say you to make for the top of the hills and find Studd's +cairn? I need some effort to keep my blood running." + +I would gladly have stayed behind, for the fever had tired me, but I +could not be dared by Ringan and not respond. So we set off at a great +pace up the ridge, which soon grew very steep, and forced us to a +crawl. There were places where we had to scramble up loose cliffs amid +a tangle of vines, and then we would dip into a little glade, and then +once again breast a precipice. By and by the trees dropped away, and +there was nothing but low bushes and boulders and rank mountain +grasses. In clear air we must have had a wonderful prospect, but the +mist hung close around us, the drizzle blurred our eyes, and the most +we saw was a yard or two of grey vapour. It was easy enough to find the +road, for the ridge ran upwards as narrow as a hog's back. + +Presently it ceased, and with labouring breath we walked a step or two +in flat ground. Ringan, who was in front, stumbled over a little heap +of stones about a foot high. + +"Studd had a poor notion of a cairn," he said, as he kicked them down. +There was nothing beneath but bare soil. + +But the hunter had spoken the truth. A little digging in the earth +revealed the green metal of an old powder-flask with a wooden stopper. +I forced it open, and shook from its inside a twist of very dirty +paper. There were some rude scratchings on it with charcoal, which I +read with difficulty. + + _Salut to Adventrs_. + _Robbin Studd on ye Sumit of Mountaine ye 3rd_ + _dy of June, yr_ 1672 _hathe sene ye_ + _Promissd Lande_. + +Somehow in that bleak place this scrap of a human message wonderfully +uplifted our hearts. Before we had thought only of our danger and +cares, but now we had a vision of the reward. Down in the mists lay a +new world. Studd had seen it, and we should see it; and some day the +Virginian people would drive a road through Clearwater Gap and enter +into possession. It is a subtle joy that which fills the heart of the +pioneer, and mighty unselfish too. He does not think of payment, for +the finding is payment enough. He does not even seek praise, for it is +the unborn generations that will call him blessed. He is content, like +Moses, to leave his bones in the wilderness if his people may pass over +Jordan. + +Ringan turned his flask in his hands. "A good man, this old Studd," he +said. "I like his words, _Salute to Adventurers_. He was thinking of +the folk that should come after him, which is the mark of a big mind, +Andrew. Your common fellow would have writ some glorification of his +own doings, but Studd was thinking of the thing he had done and not of +himself. You say he's dead these ten years. Maybe he's looking down at +us and nodding his old head well pleased. I would like fine to drink +his health." + +We ran down the hill, and came to the encampment at the darkening. +Ringan, who had retained the flask, presented it to Elspeth with a bow. + +"There, mistress," he says, "there's the key of your new estate." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE STOCKADE AMONG THE PINES. + +It took us a heavy day's work to get the stockade finished. There were +only the two axes in the party, besides Shalah's tomahawk, and no one +can know the labour of felling and trimming trees tin he has tried it. +We found the horses useful for dragging trunks, and but for them should +have made a poor job of it. Grey's white hands were all cut and +blistered, and, though I boasted of my hardiness, mine were little +better. Ringan was the surprise, for you would not think that sailing a +ship was a good apprenticeship to forestry. But he was as skilful as +Bertrand and as strong as Donaldson, and he had a better idea of +fortification than us all put together. + +The palisade which ran round the camp was six feet high, made of logs +lashed to upright stakes. There was a gate which could be barred +heavily, and loopholes were made every yard or so for musket fire. On +one side--that facing the uplift of the ridge--the walls rose to nine +feet. Inside we made a division. In one half the horses were picketed +at night, and the other was our dwelling. + +For Elspeth we made a bower in one corner, which we thatched with pine +branches; but the rest of us slept in the open round the fire. It was a +rough place, but a strong one, for our water could not be cut off, and, +as we had plenty of ball and powder, a few men could hold it against a +host. To each was allotted his proper station, in case of attack, and +we kept watch in succession like soldiers in war. Ringan, who had +fought in many places up and down the world, was our general in these +matters, and a rigid martinet we found him. Shalah was our scout, and +we leaned on him for all woodland work; but inside the palisade +Ringan's word was law. + +Our plan was to make this stockade the centre for exploring the hills +and ascertaining the strength and purposes of the Indian army. We +hoped, and so did Shalah, that our enemies would have no leisure to +follow us to the high ridges; that what risk there was would be run by +the men on their spying journeys; but that the stockade would be +reasonably safe. It was my intention, as soon as I had sufficient news, +to send word to Lawrence, and we thought that presently the +Rappahannock forces would have driven the Cherokees southward, and the +way would be open to get Elspeth back to the Tidewater. + +The worst trouble, as I soon saw, was to be the matter of food. The +supplies we had carried were all but finished by what we ate after the +stockade was completed. After that there remained only a single bag of +flour, another bag of Indian meal, and a pound or two of boucanned +beef, besides three flasks of eau-de-vie, which Ringan had brought in a +leather casket. The forest berries were not yet ripe, and the only food +to be procured was the flesh of the wild game. Happily in Donaldson and +Bertrand we had two practised trappers; but they were doubtful about +success, for they had no knowledge of what beasts lived in the hills. I +have said that we had plenty of powder and ball, but I did not relish +the idea of shooting in the woods, for the noise would be a signal to +our foes. Still, food we must have, and I thought I might find a +secluded place where the echoes of a shot would be muffled. + +The next morning I parcelled up the company according to their duties, +for while Ringan was captain of the stockade, I was the leader of the +venture. I sent out Bertrand and Donaldson to trap in the woods; +Ringan, with Grey and Shalah, stayed at home to strengthen still +further the stockade and protect Elspeth; while I took my musket and +some pack-thongs and went up the hill-side to look for game. We were +trysted to be back an hour before sundown, and if some one of us did +not find food we should go supperless. + +That day is a memory which will never pass from me. The weather was +grey and lowering, and though the rain had ceased, the air was still +heavy with it, and every bush and branch dripped with moisture. It was +a poor day for hunting, for the eye could not see forty yards; but it +suited my purpose, since the dull air would deaden the noise of my +musket. I was hunting alone in a strange land among imminent perils, +and my aim was not to glorify my skill, but to find the means of life. +The thought strung me up to a mood where delight was more notable than +care. I was adventuring with only my hand to guard me in those ancient, +haunted woods, where no white man had ever before travelled. To +experience such moments is to live with the high fervour which God gave +to mortals before towns and laws laid their dreary spell upon them. + +Early in the day I met a bear--the second I had seen in my life. I did +not want him, and he disregarded me and shuffled grumpily down the +hill-side. I had to be very careful, I remember, to mark my path, so +that I could retrace it, and I followed the Border device of making a +chip here and there in the bark of trees, and often looking backward to +remember the look of the place when seen from the contrary side. Trails +were easy to find on the soft ground, but besides the bear I saw none +but those of squirrel and rabbit, and a rare opossum. But at last, in a +marshy glen, I found the fresh slot of a great stag. For two hours and +more I followed him far north along the ridge, till I came up with him +in a patch of scrub oak. I had to wait long for a shot, but when at +last he rose I planted a bullet fairly behind his shoulder, and he +dropped within ten paces. His size amazed me, for he was as big as a +cart-horse in body, and carried a spread of branching antlers like a +forest tree. To me, accustomed to the little deer of the Tidewater, +this great creature seemed a portent, and I guessed that he was that +elk which I had heard of from the Border hunters. Anyhow he gave me +wealth of food. I hid some in a cool place, and took the rest with me, +packed in bark, in a great bundle on my shoulders. + +The road back was easier than I had feared, for I had the slope of the +hill to guide me; but I was mortally weary of my load before I plumped +it down inside the stockade. Presently Bertrand and Donaldson returned. +They brought only a few rabbits, but they had set many traps, and in a +hill burn they had caught some fine golden-bellied trout. Soon venison +steaks and fish were grilling in the embers, and Elspeth set to baking +cakes on a griddle. Those left behind had worked well, and the palisade +was as perfect as could be contrived. A runlet of water had been led +through a hollow trunk into a trough--also hewn from a log--close by +Elspeth's bower, where she could make her toilet unperplexed by other +eyes. Also they had led a stream into the horses' enclosure, so that +they could be watered with ease. + +The weather cleared in the evening, as it often does in a hill country. +From the stockade we had no prospect save the reddening western sky, +but I liked to think that in a little walk I could see old Studd's +Promised Land. That was a joy I reserved for myself on the morrow, I +look back on that late afternoon with delight as a curious interlude of +peace. We had forgotten that we were fugitives in a treacherous land, I +for one had forgotten the grim purpose of our quest, and we cooked +supper as if we were a band of careless folk taking our pleasure in the +wilds. Wood-smoke is always for me an intoxication like strong drink. +It seems the incense of nature's altar, calling up the shades of the +old forest gods, smacking of rest and comfort in the heart of solitude. +And what odour can vie for hungry folk with that of roasting meat in +the clear hush of twilight? The sight of that little camp is still in +my memory. Elspeth flitted about busied with her cookery, the glow of +the sunset lighting up her dark hair. Bertrand did the roasting, +crouched like a gnome by the edge of the fire. Grey fetched and carried +for the cooks, a docile and cheerful servant, with nothing in his look +to recall the proud gentleman of the Tidewater. Donaldson sat on a log, +contentedly smoking his pipe, while Ringan, whistling a strathspey, +attended to the horses. Only Shalah stood aloof, his eyes fixed +vacantly on the western sky, and his ear intent on the multitudinous +voices of the twilit woods. + +Presently food was ready, and our rude meal in that darkling place was +a merry one. Elspeth sat enthroned on a couch of pine branches--I can +see her yet shielding her face from the blaze with one little hand, and +dividing her cakes with the other. Then we lit our pipes, and fell to +the long tales of the camp-fire. Ringan had a story of a black-haired +princess of Spain, and how for love of her two gentlemen did marvels on +the seas. The chief one never returned to claim her, but died in a +fight off Cartagena, and wrote a fine ballad about his mistress which +Ringan said was still sung in the taverns of the Main. He gave a verse +of it, a wild, sad thing, with tears in it and the joy of battle. After +that we all sang, all but me, who have no voice. Bertrand had a lay of +Normandy, about a lady who walked in the apple-orchards and fell in +love with a wandering minstrel; and Donaldson sang a rough ballad of +Virginia, in which a man weighs the worth of his wife against a tankard +of apple-jack. Grey sang an English song about the north-country maid +who came to London, and a bit of the chanty of the Devon men who sacked +Santa Fe and stole the Almirante's daughter. As for Elspeth, she sang +to a soft Scots tune the tale of the Lady of Cassilis who followed the +gipsy's piping. In it the gipsy tells of what he can offer the lady, +and lo! it was our own case!-- + + "And ye shall wear no silken gown, + No maid shall bind your hair; + The yellow broom shall be your gem, + Your braid the heather rare. + + "Athwart the moor, adown the hill, + Across the world away! + The path is long for happy hearts + That sing to greet the day, + My love, + That sing to greet the day." + +I remember, too, the last verse of it:-- + + "And at the last no solemn stole + Shall on thy breast be laid; + No mumbling priest shall speed thy soul, + No charnel vault thee shade. + But by the shadowed hazel copse, + Aneath the greenwood tree, + Where airs are soft and waters sing, + Thou'lt ever sleep by me, + My love, + Thou'lt ever sleep by me." + +Then we fell to talking about the things in the West that no man had +yet discovered, and Shalah, to whom our songs were nothing, now lent an +ear. + +"The first Virginians," said Grey, "thought that over the hills lay the +western ocean and the road to Cathay. I do not know, but I am confident +that but a little way west we should come to water. A great river or +else the ocean." + +Ringan differed. He held that the land of America was very wide in +those parts, as wide as south of the isthmus where no man had yet +crossed it. Then he told us of a sea-captain who had travelled inland +in Mexico for five weeks and come to a land where gold was as common as +chuckiestones, and a great people dwelt who worshipped a god who lived +in a mountain. And he spoke of the holy city of Manoa, which Sir Walter +Raleigh sought, and which many had seen from far hill-tops. Likewise of +the wonderful kings who once dwelt in Peru, and the little isle in the +Pacific where all the birds were nightingales and the Tree of Life +flourished; and the mountain north of the Main which was all one +emerald. "I think," he said, "that, though no man has ever had the +fruition of these marvels, they are likely to be more true than false. +I hold that God has kept this land of America to the last to be the +loadstone of adventurers, and that there are greater wonders to be seen +than any that man has imagined. The pity is that I have spent my best +years scratching like a hen at its doorstep instead of entering. I have +a notion some day to travel straight west to the sunset. I think I +should find death, but I might see some queer things first." + +Then Shalah spoke:-- + +"There was once a man of my own people who, when he came to man's +strength, journeyed westward with a wife. He travelled all his days, +and when his eyes were dim with age he saw a great water. His spirit +left him on its shore, but on his road he had begotten a son, and that +son journeyed back towards the rising sun, and came after many years to +his people again. I have spoken with him of what he had seen." + +"And what was that?" asked Ringan, with eager eyes. + +"He told of plains so great that it is a lifetime to travel over them, +and of deserts where the eagle flying from the dawn dies of drought by +midday, and of mountains so high that birds cannot cross them but are +changed by cold into stone, and of rivers to which our little waters +are as reeds to a forest cedar. But especially he spoke of the fierce +warriors that ride like the wind on horses. It seems, brother, that he +who would reach that land must reach also the Hereafter." + +"That's the place for me," Ringan cried. "What say you, Andrew? When +this affair is over, shall we make a bid for these marvels? I can cull +some pretty adventurers from the Free Companions." + +"Nay, I am for moving a step at a time," said I. "I am a trader, and +want one venture well done before I begin on another, I shall be +content if we safely cross these mountains on which we are now +perched." + +Ringan shook his head. "That was never the way of the Highlands, +'Better a bone on the far-away hills than a fat sheep in the meadows,' +says the Gael. What say you, mistress?" and he turned to Elspeth. + +"I think you are the born poet," said she, smiling, "and that Mr. +Garvald is the sober man of affairs. You will leap for the top of the +wall and get a prospect while Mr. Garvald will patiently pull it down." + +"Oh, I grant that Andrew has the wisdom," said Ringan. "That's why him +and me's so well agreed. It's because we differ much, and so fit +together like opposite halves of an apple.... Is your traveller still +in the land of the living?" he asked Shalah. + +But the Indian had slipped away from the fireside circle, and I saw him +without in the moonlight standing rigid on a knoll and gazing at the +skies. + + * * * * * + +Next day dawned cloudless, and Shalah and I spent it in a long +journey along the range. We kept to the highest parts, and at every +vantage-ground we scanned the glens for human traces. By this time I +had found my hill legs, and could keep pace even with the Indian's +swift stride. The ridge of mountains, you must know, was not a single +backbone, but broken up here and there by valleys into two and even +three ranges. This made our scouting more laborious, and prevented us +from getting the full value out of our high station. Mostly we kept in +cover, and never showed on a skyline. But we saw nothing to prove the +need of this stealth. Only the hawks wheeled, and the wild pigeons +crooned; the squirrels frisked among the branches; and now and then a +great deer would leap from its couch and hasten into the coverts. + +But, though we got no news, that journey brought to me a revelation, +for I had my glimpse of Studd's Promised Land. It came to me early in +the day, as we halted in a little glade, gay with willowherb and +goldenrod, which hung on a shelf of the hills looking westwards. The +first streamers of morn had gone, the mists had dried up from the +valleys, and I found myself looking into a deep cleft and across at a +steep pine-clad mountain. Clearly the valley was split by this mountain +into two forks, and I could see only the cool depth of it and catch a +gleam of broken water a mile or two below. But looking more to the +north, I saw where the vale opened, and then I had a vision worthy of +the name by which Studd had baptized it. An immense green pasture land +ran out to the dim horizon. There were forests scattered athwart it, +and single great trees, and little ridges, too, but at the height where +we stood it seemed to the eye to be one verdant meadow as trim and +shapely as the lawn of a garden. A noble river, the child of many hill +streams, twined through it in shining links. I could see dots, which I +took to be herds of wild cattle grazing, but no sign of any human +dweller. + +"What is it?" I asked unthinkingly. + +"The Shenandoah," Shalah said, and I never stopped to ask how he knew +the name. He was gazing at the sight with hungry eyes, he whose gaze +was, for usual, so passionless. + +That prospect gave me a happy feeling of comfort; why, I cannot tell, +except that the place looked so bright and habitable. Here was no sour +wilderness, but a land made by God for cheerful human dwellings. Some +day there would be orchards and gardens among those meadows, and miles +of golden corn, and the smoke of hearth fires. Some day I would enter +into that land of Canaan which now I saw from Pisgah. Some day--and I +scarcely dared the thought--my children would call it home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +A HAWK SCREAMS IN THE EVENING + +Those two days in the stockade were like a rift of sun in a stormy day, +and the next morn the clouds descended. The face of nature seemed to be +a mirror of our fortunes, for when I woke the freshness had gone out of +the air, and in the overcast sky there was a forewarning of storm. But +the little party in the camp remained cheerful enough. Donaldson and +Bertrand went off to their trapping; Elspeth was braiding her hair, the +handsomest nymph that ever trod these woodlands, and trying in vain to +discover from the discreet Ringan where he came from, and what was his +calling. The two Borderers knew well who he was; Grey, I think, had a +suspicion; but it never entered the girl's head that this debonair +gentleman bore the best known name in all the Americas. She fancied he +was some exiled Jacobite, and was ready to hear a pitiful romance. This +at another time she would have readily got; but Ringan for the nonce +was in a sober mood, and though he would talk of Breadalbane, was chary +of touching on more recent episodes. All she learned was that he was a +great traveller, and had tried most callings that merit a gentleman's +interest. + +The day before, Shalah and I had explored the range to the south, +keeping on the west side where we thought the enemy were likely to +gather. This day we looked to the side facing the Tidewater, a +difficult job, for it was eaten into by the upper glens of many rivers. +The weather grew hot and oppressive, and over the lowlands of Virginia +there brooded a sullen thundercloud. It oppressed my spirits, and I +found myself less able to keep up with Shalah. The constant sight of +the lowlands filled me with anxiety for what might be happening in +those sullen blue flats. Gone was the glad forgetfulness of yesterday. +The Promised Land might smile as it pleased, but we were still on the +flanks of Pisgah with the Midianites all about us. + +My recollection of that day is one of heavy fatigue and a pressing +hopelessness. Shalah behaved oddly, for he was as restive as a +frightened stag. No covert was unsuspected by him, and if I ventured to +raise my head on any exposed ground a long brown arm pulled me down. He +would make no answer to my questions except a grunt. All this gave me +the notion that the hills were full of the enemy, and I grew as restive +as the Indian. The crackle of a branch startled me, and the movement of +a scared beast brought my heart to my throat. + +Then from a high place he saw something which sent us both crawling +into the thicket. We made a circuit of several miles round the head of +a long ravine, and came to a steep bank of red screes. Up this we +wormed our way, as flat as snakes, with our noses in the dusty earth. I +was dripping with sweat, and cursing to myself this new madness of +Shalah's. Then I found a cooler air blowing on the top of my prostrate +skull, and I judged that we were approaching the scarp of a ridge. +Shalah's hand held me motionless. He wriggled on a little farther, and +with immense slowness raised his head. His hand now beckoned me +forward, and in a few seconds I was beside him and was lifting my eyes +over the edge of the scarp. + +Below us lay a little plain, wedged in between two mountains, and +breaking off on one side into a steep glen. It was just such a shelf as +I had seen in the Carolinas, only a hundred times greater, and it lay +some five hundred feet below us. Every part of the hollow was filled +with men. Thousands there must have been, around their fires and +teepees, and coming or going from the valley. They were silent, like +all savages, but the low hum rose from the place which told of human +life. + +I tried to keep my eyes steady, though my heart was beating like a +fanner. The men were of the same light colour and slimness as those I +had seen on the edge of the mist in Clearwater Glen. Indeed, they were +not unlike Shalah, except that he was bigger than the most of them. I +was not learned in Indian ways, but a glance told me that these folk +never came out of the Tidewater, and were no Cherokees of the hills or +Tuscaroras from the Carolinas. They were a new race from the west or +the north, the new race which had so long been perplexing us. Somewhere +among them was the brain which had planned for the Tidewater a sudden +destruction. + +Shalah slipped noiselessly backward, and I followed him down the scree +slope, across the ravine, and then with infinite caution through the +sparse woods till we had put a wide shoulder of hill between us and the +enemy. After that we started running, such a pace as made the rush back +to the Rappahannock seem an easy saunter. Shalah would avoid short-cuts +for no reason that I could see, and make long circuits in places where +I had to go on hands and feet. I was weary before we set out, and soon +I began to totter like a drunken man. The Indian's arm pulled me up +countless times, and his face, usually so calm, was now sharp with +care. "You cannot fail here, brother," he would say, "On our speed hang +the lives of all." That put me on my mettle, for it was Elspeth's +safety I now strove for, and the thought gave life to my leaden limbs. +Every minute the air grew heavier, and the sky darker, so that when +about five in the afternoon we passed the Gap and struggled up the last +hill to the stockade, it seemed as if night had already fallen. + +Elspeth and Ringan were there, and the two trappers had just returned. +I could do nothing but pant on the ground, but Shalah cried out for +news of Grey. He heard that he had gone into the woods with his musket +two hours past. At this he flung up his hands with a motion of despair. +"We cannot wait," he said to Ringan. "Close the gate and put every man +to his post, for the danger is at hand." + +Ringan gave his orders. The big log gate was barred, the fire trampled +out, and we waited in that thunderous darkness. A long draught of cold +water had revived me, and I could think clearly of Elspeth. Her bower +was in the safest part of the stockade, but she would not stay there, I +could see terror in her eyes, but she gave no sign of it. She made +ready our supper of cold meat as if she had no other thought in the +world. + +Waiting on an attack is a hard trial for mortal nerves. I am not +ashamed to confess that in those minutes my courage was little to boast +of. I envied Ringan his ease, and Bertrand his light cheerfulness, and +Donaldson his unshaken gravity, and especially I envied Shalah his +godlike calm. But most of all I envied Elspeth the courage which could +know desperate fear and never show it. Most likely I did myself some +wrong. Most likely my own face was firm enough, but, if it were, 'twas +a poor clue to the brain behind it. I fell to wondering about Grey +still travelling in the woods. Was there any hope for him? Was there +hope, indeed, for any one of us penned in a wooden palisade fifty miles +from aid, a handful against an army? + +Presently in the lowering silence came the scream of a hawk. + +An uncommon sound, half croak, half cry, which only hill dwellers know, +but 'tis an eery noise in the wilderness. It came again, less near, and +a third time from a great distance. I thought it queer, for a hawk does +not scream twice in the same hour. I looked at Shalah, who stood by the +gate, every sinew in his body taut with expectation. He caught my eye. + +"That hawk never flew on wings," he said. + +Then an owl hooted, and from near at hand came the cough of a deer. The +thicket was alive with life, which mimicked the wild things of the +woods. + +Then came a sound which drowned all others. From the inky sky descended +a jagged line of light, and in the same second the crash of the thunder +broke. Never have I seen such a storm. Down in the Tidewater we had +thunderstorms in plenty during the summer-time, but they growled and +passed and scarce ruffled the even blue of the sky. But here it looked +as if we had found the home of the lightnings, where all the +thunderbolts were forged. It blazed around us like a steady fire. By a +miracle the palisade was not struck, but I heard a rending and +splintering in the forest where tall trees had met their doom. The +noise deafened me, and confused my senses. Out of the loophole I could +see the glade that sloped down to the Gap, and it was as bright as if +it had been high noonday. The clumps of fern and grass stood out yellow +and staring against the inky background of the trees. I remember I +noted a rabbit run confusedly into the open, and then at a fresh flare +of lightning scamper back. + +Something was crouching and shivering at my side. I found it was +Elspeth, whose courage was no match for the terrors of the heavens. She +snuggled against me for companionship, and hid her face in the sleeve +of my coat. + +Suddenly came a cry from Shalah on my left. He pointed his hand to the +glade, and in it I saw a man running. A new burst of light sprang up, +for some dry tindery creepers had caught fire, and were blazing to +heaven. It lit a stumbling figure which I saw was Grey, and behind him +was a lithe Indian running on his trail. + +"Open the gate," I cried, and I got my musket in the loophole. + +The fugitive was all but spent. He ran, bowed almost to the ground, +with a wild back glance ever and again over his shoulder. His pursuer +gained on him with great strides, and in his hand he carried a bare +knife. I dared not shoot, for Grey was between me and his enemy. + +'Twas as well I could not, for otherwise Grey would never have reached +us alive. We cried to him to swerve, and the sound of our voices +brought up that last flicker of hope which waits till the end in every +man. He seemed actually to gain a yard, and now he was near enough for +us to see his white face and staring eyes. Then he stumbled, and the +man with the knife was almost on him. But he found his feet again, and +swerved like a hunted hare in one desperate bound. This gave me my +chance: my musket cracked, and the Indian pitched quietly to the +ground. The knife flew out of his hand and almost touched Grey's heel. + +With the sound Shalah had leaped from the gate, picked up Grey like a +child, and in a second had him inside the palisade and the bars down. +He was none too soon, for as his pursuer fell a flight of arrows broke +from the thicket, and had I shot earlier Grey had died of them. As it +was they were too late. The bowmen rushed into the glade, and five +muskets from our side took toll of them. My last vision was of leaping +yellow devils capering from among blazing trees. + +Then without warning it was dark again, and from the skies fell a +deluge of rain. In a minute the burning creepers were quenched, and the +whole world was one pit of ink, with the roar as of a thousand torrents +about our ears. As the vividness of the lightning, so was the weight of +the rain. Ringan cried to us to stand to our places, for now was the +likely occasion for attack; but no human being could have fought in +such weather. Indeed, we could not hear him, and he had to stagger +round and shout his command into each several ear. The might of the +deluge almost pressed me to the earth, I carried Elspeth into her +bower, but the roof of branches was speedily beaten down, and it was no +better than a peat bog. + +That overwhelming storm lasted for maybe a quarter of an hour, and then +it stopped as suddenly as it came. Inside the palisade the ground swam +like a loch, and from the hill-side came the rumour of a thousand +swollen streams. That, with the heavy drip of laden branches, made +sound enough, but after the thunder and the downpour it seemed silence +itself. Presently when I looked up I saw that the black wrack was +clearing from the sky, and through a gap there shone a watery star. + +Ringan took stock of our defences, and doled out to each a portion of +sodden meat. Grey had found his breath by this time, and had got a +spare musket, for his own had been left in the woods. Elspeth had had +her wits sorely jangled by the storm, and in the revulsion was on the +brink of tears. She was very tender towards Grey's condition, and the +sight gave me no jealousy, for in that tense hour all things were +forgotten but life and death. Donaldson, at Ringan's bidding, saw to +the feeding of the horses as if he were in his own stable on the +Rappahannock. It takes all sorts of men to make a world, but I thought +at the time that for this business the steel nerves of the Borderer +were worth many quicker brains and more alert spirits. + +The hours marched sombrely towards midnight, while we stayed every man +by his post. I asked Shalah if the enemy had gone, and he shook his +head. He had the sense of a wild animal to detect danger in the forest +when the eye and ear gave no proof. He stood like a stag, sniffing the +night air, and peering with his deep eyes into the gloom. Fortunately, +though the moon was all but full, the sky was so overcast that only the +faintest yellow glow broke into the darkness of the hill-tops. + +It must have been an hour after midnight when we got our next warning +of the enemy. Suddenly a firebrand leaped from farther up the hill, and +flew in a wide curve into the middle of the stockade. It fell on the +partition between the horses and ourselves and hung crackling there. A +shower of arrows followed it, which missed us, for we were close to the +edges of the palisade. But the sputtering torch was a danger, for +presently it would show our position; so Bertrand very gallantly pulled +it down, stamped it out, and got back to his post unscathed. + +Yet the firebrand had done its work, for it had showed the savages +where the horses stood picketed. Another followed, lighting in their +very midst, and setting them plunging at their ropes. + +I heard Ringan curse deeply, for we had not thought of this stratagem. +And the next second I became aware that there was some one among the +horses. At first I thought that the palisade had been stormed, and then +I heard a soft voice which was no Indian's. Heedless of orders, I flung +myself at the rough gate, and in a trice was beside the voice. + +Elspeth was busy among the startled beasts. She had a passion for +horses, and had, as we say, the "cool" hand with them, for she would +soothe a frightened stallion by rubbing his nose and whispering in his +ear. By the time I got to her she had stamped out the torch, and was +stroking Grey's mare, which was the worst scared. Her own fear had +gone, and in that place of plunging hooves and tossing manes she was as +calm as in a summer garden. "Let me be, Andrew," she said. "I am better +at this business than you." + +She had the courage of a lion, but 'twas a wild courage, without +foresight. Another firebrand came circling through the darkness, and +broke on the head of Donaldson's pony. I caught the girl and swung her +off her feet into safety. And then on the heels of the torch came a +flight of arrows, fired from near at hand. + +By the mercy of God she was unharmed. I had one through the sleeve of +my coat, but none reached her. One took a horse in the neck, and the +poor creature screamed pitifully. Presently there was a wild confusion +of maddened beasts, with the torch burning on the ground and lighting +the whole place for the enemy. I had Elspeth in my arms, and was +carrying her to the gate, when over the palisade I saw yellow limbs and +fierce faces. + +They saw it too--Ringan and the rest--and it did not need his cry to +keep our posts to tell us the right course. The inner palisade which +shut off the horses must now be our line of defence, and the poor +beasts must be left to their fate. But Elspeth and I had still to get +inside it. + +Her ankle had caught in a picket rope, which in another second would +have wrenched it cruelly, had I not slashed it free with my knife. This +sent the horse belonging to it in wild career across the corral, and I +think 'twas that interruption which saved our lives. It held back the +savages for an instant of time, and prevented them blocking our escape. +It all took place in the flutter of an eye-lid, though it takes long in +the telling. I pushed Elspeth through the door, and with all my +strength tore at the bars. + +But they would not move. Perhaps the rain had swollen the logs, and +they had jammed too tightly to let the bar slide in the groove. So I +found myself in that gate, the mad horses and the savages before me, +and my friends at my back, with only my arm to hold the post. + +I had my musket and my two pistols--three shots, for there would be no +time to reload. A yellow shadow slipped below a horse's belly, and +there came the cry of an animal's agony. Then another and another, and +yet more. But no one came near me in the gateway. I could not see +anything to shoot at--only lithe shades and mottled shadows, for the +torch lay on the wet ground, and was sputtering to its end. The moaning +of the horses maddened me, and I sent a bullet through the head of my +own poor beast, which was writhing horribly. Elspeth's horse got the +contents of my second pistol. + +And then it seemed that the raiders had gone. There was one bit of the +far palisade which was outlined for me dimly against a gap in the +trees. I saw a figure on it, and whipped my musket to my shoulder. +Something flung up its arms and toppled back among the dying beasts. + +Then a hand--Donaldson's, I think--clutched me and pulled me back. With +a great effort the bars were brought down, and I found myself beside +Elspeth. All her fortitude had gone now, and she was sobbing like a +child. + +Gradually the moaning of the horses ceased, and the whole world seemed +cold and silent as a stone. We stood our watch till a wan sunrise +struggled up the hill-side. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +HOW A FOOL MUST GO HIS OWN ROAD. + +It was a sorry party that looked at each other in the first light of +dawn. + +Our eyes were hollow with suspense, and all but Shalah had the hunted +look of men caught in a trap. Not till the sun had got above the +tree-tops did we venture to leave our posts and think of food. It was +now that Elspeth's spirit showed supreme. The courage of that pale girl +put us all to the blush. She alone carried her head high and forced an +air of cheerfulness. She lit the fire with Donaldson's help, and +broiled some deer's flesh for our breakfast, and whistled gently as she +wrought, bringing into our wild business a breath of the orderly +comfort of home. I had seen her in silk and lace, a queen among the +gallants, but she never looked so fair as on that misty morning, her +hair straying over her brow, her plain kirtle soiled and sodden, but +her eyes bright with her young courage. + +During the last hours of that dark vigil my mind had been torn with +cares. If we escaped the perils of the night, I asked myself, what +then? Here were the seven of us, pinned in a hill-fort, with no help +within fifty miles, and one of the seven was a woman! I judged that the +Indian force was large, and there was always the mighty army waiting +farther south in that shelf of the hills. If they sought to take us, it +must be a matter of a day or two at the most till they succeeded. If +they only played with us--which is the cruel Indian way--we might +resist a little, but starvation would beat us down. Where were we to +get food, with the forests full of our subtle enemies? To sit still +would mean to wait upon death, and the waiting would not be long. + +There was the chance, to be sure, that the Indians would be drawn off +in the advance towards the east. But here came in a worse anxiety. I +had come to get news to warn the Tidewater. That news I had got. The +mighty gathering which Shalah's eyes and mine had beheld in that upland +glen was the peril we had foreseen. What good were easy victories over +raiding Cherokees when this deadly host waited on the leash? I had no +doubt that the Cherokees were now broken. Stafford county would be full +of Nicholson's militia, and Lawrence's strong hand lay on the line of +the Borders. But what availed it? While Virginia was flattering herself +that she had repelled the savages, and the Rappahannock men were +notching their muskets with the tale of the dead, a wave was gathering +to sweep down the Pamunkey or the James, and break on the walls of +James Town. I did not think that Nicholson, forewarned and prepared, +could stem the torrent; and if it caught him unawares the proud +Tidewater would break like a rotten reed. + +I had been sent to scout. Was I to be false to the word I had given, +and let any risk to myself or others deter me from taking back the +news? The Indian army tarried; why, I did not know--perhaps some mad +whim of their soothsayers, perhaps the device of a wise general; but at +any rate they tarried. If a war party could spend a night in baiting us +and slaying our horses, there could be no very instant orders for the +road. If this were so, a bold man might yet reach the Border line. At +that moment it seemed to me a madman's errand. Even if I slipped past +the watchers in the woods and the glens, the land between would be +strewn with fragments of the Cherokee host, and I had not the Indian +craft. But it was very seriously borne in upon me that 'twas my duty to +try. God might prosper a bold stroke, and in any case I should be true +to my trust. + +But what of Elspeth? The thought of leaving her was pure torment. In +our hideous peril 'twas scarcely to be endured that one should go. I +told myself that if I reached the Border I could get help, but my heart +warned me that I lied. My news would leave no time there for riding +hillward to rescue a rash adventure. We were beyond the pale, and must +face the consequences. That we all had known, and reckoned with, but we +had not counted that our risk would be shared by a woman. Ah I that +luckless ride of Elspeth's! But for that foolish whim she would be safe +now in the cool house at Middle Plantation, with a ship to take her to +safety if the worst befell. And now of all the King's subjects in that +hour we were the most ill-fated, islanded on a sand heap with the tide +of savage war hourly eating into our crazy shelter. + +Before the daylight came, as I stood with my cheek to my musket, I had +come to a resolution. In a tangle of duties a man must seize the +solitary clear one, and there could be no doubt of what mine was, I +must try for the Tidewater, and I must try alone, Shalah had the best +chance to get through, but without Shalah the stockade was no sort of +refuge. Ringan was wiser and stronger than I, but I thought I had more +hill-craft, and, besides, the duty was mine, not his. Grey had no +knowledge of the wilds, and Donaldson and Bertrand could not handle the +news as it should be handled, in the unlikely event of their getting +through alive. No, there were no two ways of it. I must make the +effort, though in that leaden hour of weariness and cold it seemed as +if my death-knell were ringing. + +Morn showed a grey world, strewn with the havoc of the storm. The +eagles were already busy among the dead horses, and our first job was +to bury the poor beasts. Just outside the stockade we dug as best we +could a shallow trench, while the muskets of the others kept watch over +us. There we laid also the body of the man I had shot in the night. He +was a young savage, naked to the waist, and curiously tattooed on the +forehead with the device of what seemed to be a rising or setting sun. +I observed that Shalah looked closely at this, and that his face wore +an unusual excitement. He said something in his own tongue, and, when +the trench was dug, laid the dead man in it so that his head pointed +westwards. + +We wrought in a dogged silence, and Elspeth's cheery whistling was the +only sound in that sullen morning. It fairly broke my heart. She was +whistling the old tune of "Leezie Lindsay," a merry lilt with the hill +wind and the heather in it. The bravery of the poor child was the +hardest thing of all to bear when I knew that in a few hours' time the +end might come. The others were only weary and dishevelled and ill at +ease, but on me seemed to have fallen the burden of the cares of the +whole earth. + +Shalah had disappeared for a little, and came back with the word that +the near forests were empty. So I summoned a council, and talked as we +breakfasted. I had looked into the matter of the food, and found that +we had sufficient for three days. We had boucanned a quantity of deer's +flesh two days before, and this, with the fruit of yesterday's +trapping, made a fair stock in our larder. + +Then I announced my plan. "I am going to try to reach Lawrence," I +said. + +No one spoke. Shalah lifted his head, and looked at me gravely. + +"Does any man object?" I asked sharply, for my temper was all of an +edge. + +"Your throat will be cut in the first mile," said Donaldson gruffly. + +"Maybe it will, but maybe not. At any rate, I can try. You have not +heard what Shalah and I found in the hills yesterday. Twelve miles +south there is a glen with a plateau at its head, and that plateau is +as full of Indians as a beehive. Ay, Ringan, you and Lawrence were +right. The Cherokees are the least of the trouble. There's a great army +come out of the West, men that you and I never saw the like of before, +and they are waiting till the Cherokees have drawn the fire of the +Borderers, and then they will bring hell to the Tidewater. You and I +know that there's some sort of madman in command, a man that quotes the +Bible and speaks English; but madman or not, he's a great general, and +woe betide Virginia if he gets among the manors. I was sent to the +hills to get news, and I've got it. Would it not be the part of a +coward to bide here and make no effort to warn our friends?" + +"What good would a warning do?" said Ringan. "Even if you got through +to Lawrence--which is not very likely--d'you think a wheen Borderers in +a fort will stay such an army? It would only mean that you lost your +life on the South Fork instead of in the hills, and there's little +comfort in that." + +"It's not like you to give such counsel," I said sadly. "A man cannot +think whether his duty will succeed as long as it's there for him to do +it. Maybe my news would make all the differ. Maybe there would be time +to get Nicholson's militia to the point of danger. God has queer ways +of working, if we trust Him with honest hearts. Besides, a word on the +Border would save the Tidewater folk, for there are ships on the James +and the York to flee to if they hear in time. Let Virginia go down and +be delivered over to painted savages, and some day soon we will win it +back; but we cannot bring life to the dead. I want to save the lowland +manors from what befell the D'Aubignys on the Rapidan, and if I can +only do that much I will be content. Will you counsel me, Ringan, to +neglect my plain duty?" + +"I gave no counsel," said Ringan hurriedly. "I was only putting the +common sense of it. It's for you to choose." + +Here Grey broke in. "I protest against this craziness. Your first duty +is to your comrades and to this lady. If you desert us we lose our best +musket, and you have as little chance of reaching the Tidewater as the +moon. Arc you so madly enamoured of death, Mr. Garvald?" He spoke in +the old stiff tones of the man I had quarrelled with. + +I turned to Shalah. "Is there any hope of getting to the South Fork?" + +He looked me very full in the face. "As much hope as a dove has who +falls broken-winged into an eyrie of falcons! As much hope as the deer +when the hunter's knife is at its throat! Yet the dove may escape, and +the deer may yet tread the forest. While a man draws breath there is +hope, brother." + +"Which I take to mean that the odds are a thousand against one," said +Grey. + +"Then it's my business to stake all on the one," I cried. "Man, don't +you see my quandary? I hold a solemn trust, which I have the means of +fulfilling, and I'm bound to try. It's torture to me to leave you, but +you will lose nothing. Three men could hold this place as well as six, +if the Indians are not in earnest, and, if they are, a hundred would be +too few. Your danger will be starvation, and I will be a mouth less to +feed. If I get to the Border I will find help, for we cannot stay here +for ever, and how d'you think we are to get Miss Blair by ourselves to +the Rappahannock with every mile littered with fighting clans? I must +go, or I will never have another moment's peace in life." + Grey was not convinced. "Send the Indian," he said. + +"And leave the stockade defenceless," I cried. "It's because he stays +behind that I dare to go. Without him we are all bairns in the dark." + +"That's true, anyway," said Ringan, and fell to whittling a stick. + +"For three days," I continued, "you have food enough, and if by the end +of it you are not attacked you may safely go hunting for more. If +nothing happens in a week's time you will know that I have failed, and +you can send another messenger. Ringan would be the best." + +"That can hardly be," he said, "because I'm coming with you now." + +I could only stare blankly. + +"Two's better than one for this kind of business, and I am no use +here--only _fruges consumere natus_, as I learned from the Inveraray +dominie. It's my concern as much as yours, for I brought you here, and +I'm trysted with Lawrence to take back word. I'm loath to leave my +friends, but my place is at your side, Andrew. So say no more about +it." + +I knew it was idle to protest. Ringan was as obstinate as a Spanish +mule when he chose, and, besides, there was reason in what he said. Two +were better than one both for speed in travel and for fighting if the +need came, and though I had more woodcraft than he, he had ten times my +wisdom. There was something about his matter-of-fact tone which took +the enterprise out of the land of impossibilities into a more sober +realm. I even began to dream of success. + +But when. I looked at Elspeth her eyes were so full of grief and care +that my spirits sank again. + +"Tell me," I cried, "that you think I am doing right, God knows it is +hard to leave you, and I carry the sorest heart in Virginia. But you +would not have me stay idle when my plain duty commands. Say that you +bid me go, Elspeth." + +"I bid you go," she said bravely, "and I will pray God to keep you +safe." But her eyes belied her voice, for they were swimming with +tears. At that moment I got the conviction that I was more to her than +a mere companion, that by some miracle I had won a place in that proud +and loyal heart. It seemed a cruel stroke of fate that I should get +this hope at the very moment when I was to leave her and go into the +shadow of death. + +But that was no hour to think of love, I took every man apart and swore +him, though there was little need, to stand by the girl at all costs. + +To Grey I opened my inmost thoughts. + +"You and I serve one mistress," I said, "and now I confide her to your +care. All that I would have done I am assured you will do. My heart is +easier when I know that you are by her side. Once we were foes, and +since then we have been friends, and now you are the dearest friend on +earth, for I leave you with all I cherish." + +He flushed deeply and gave me his hand. + +"Go in peace, sir," he said. "If God wills that we perish, my last act +will be to assure an easy passage to heaven for her we worship. If we +meet again, we meet as honourable rivals, and may that day come soon." + +So with pistols in belt, and a supply of cartouches and some little +food in our pockets, Ringan and I were enfolded in the silence of the +woods. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE HORN OF DIARMAID SOUNDS. + +We reached the gap, and made slantwise across the farther hill. I did +not dare to go clown Clearwater Glen, and, besides, I was aiming for a +point farther south than the Rappahannock. In my wanderings with Shalah +I had got a pretty good idea of the lie of the mountains on their +eastern side, and I had remarked a long ridge which flung itself like a +cape far into the lowlands. If we could leave the hills by this, I +thought we might strike the stream called the North Fork, which would +bring us in time to the neighbourhood of Frew's dwelling. The ridges +were our only safe path, for they were thickly overgrown with woods, +and the Indian bands were less likely to choose them for a route. The +danger was in the glens, where the trees were sparser and the broad +stretches of meadow made better going for horses. + +The movement of my legs made me pluck up heart. I was embarked at any +rate in a venture, and had got rid of my desperate indecision. The two +of us held close together, and chose the duskiest thickets, crawling +belly-wise over the little clear patches and avoiding the crown of the +ridge like the plague. The weather helped us, for the skies hung grey +and low, with wisps of vapour curling among the trees. The glens were +pits of mist, and my only guide was my recollection of what I had seen, +and the easterly course of the streams. + +By midday we had mounted to the crest of a long scarp which fell away +in a narrow and broken promontory towards the plains. So far we had +seen nothing to give us pause, and the only risk lay in some Indian +finding and following our trail. We lay close in a scrubby wood, and +rested for a little, while we ate some food. Everything around us +dripped with moisture, and I could have wrung pints from my coat and +breeches. + +"Oh for the Dry Tortugas!" Ringan sighed. "What I would give for a hot +sun and the kindly winds o' the sea! I thought I pined for the hills, +Andrew, but I would not give a clean beach and a warm sou'-wester for +all the mountains on earth." + +Then again: "Yon's a fine lass," he would say. + +I did not reply, for I had no heart to speak of what I had left behind. + +"Cheer up, young one," he cried. "There was more lost at Flodden. A +gentleman-adventurer must live by the hour, and it's surprising how +Fortune favours them that trust her. There was a man I mind, in +Breadalbane...." And here he would tell some tale of how light came out +of black darkness for the trusting heart. + +"Man, Ringan," I said, "I see your kindly purpose. But tell me, did +ever you hear of such a tangle as ours being straightened out? + +"Why, yes," he said. "I've been in worse myself, and here I am. I have +been in a cell at Cartagena, chained to a man that had died of the +plague, with the gallows preparing for me at cock-crow. But in the +night some friends o' mine came into the bay, and I had the solemn joy +of stepping out of yon cell over the corp of the Almirante. I've been +mad with fever, and jumped into the Palmas River among the alligators, +and not one of them touched me, though I was swimming about crying that +the water was burning oil. And then a lad in a boat gave me a clout on +the head that knocked the daftness out of me, and in a week I was +marching on my own deck, with my bonnet cocked like a king's captain. +I've been set by my unfriends on a rock in the Florida Keys, with a keg +of dirty water and a bunch of figs, and the sun like to melt my brains, +and two bullet holes in my thigh. But I came out of the pickle, and +lived to make the men that put me there sorry they had been born. Ay, +and I've seen my grave dug, and my dead clothes ready, and in a week I +was making napkins out of them. There's a wonderful kindness in +Providence to mettled folk." + +"Ay, Ringan, but that was only the risk of your own neck. I think I +could endure that. But was there ever another you liked far better than +yourself, that you had to see in deadly peril?" + +"No. I'll be honest with you, there never was. I grant you that's the +hardest thing to thole. But you'll keep a stiff lip even to that, +seeing you are the braver of the two of us." + +At that I cried out in expostulation, but Ringan was firm. + +"Ay, the braver by far, and I'll say it again. I'm a man of the dancing +blood, with a rare appetite for frays and forays. You are the sedate +soul that would be happier at home in the chimney corner. And yet you +are the most determined of the lot of us, though you have no pleasure +in it. Why? Just because you are the bravest. You can force yourself to +a job when flesh and spirit cry out against it. I let no man alive cry +down my courage, but I say freely that it's not to be evened with +yours." + +I was not feeling very courageous. As we sped along the ridge in the +afternoon I seemed to myself like a midge lost in a monstrous net. The +dank, dripping trees and the misty hills seemed to muffle and deaden +the world. I could not believe that they ever would end; that anywhere +there was a clear sky and open country. And I had always the feeling +that in those banks of vapour lurked deadly enemies who any moment +might steal out and encompass us. + +But about four o'clock the weather lightened, and from the cock's-comb +on which we moved we looked down into the lower glens. I saw that we +had left the main flanks of the range behind us, and were now fairly on +a cape which jutted out beyond the other ridges. It behoved us now to +go warily, and where the thickets grew thin we moved like hunters, in +every hollow and crack that could shelter a man. Ringan led, and led +well, for he had not stalked the red deer on the braes of Breadalbane +for nothing. But no sign of life appeared in the green hollows on +either hand, neither in the meadow spaces nor by the creeks of the +growing streams. The world was dead silent; not even a bird showed in +the whole firmament. + +Lower and lower we went, till the end of the ridge was before us, a +slope which melted into the river plains. A single shaft of bright +sunshine broke from the clouds behind us, and showed the tumbled +country of low downs and shallow vales which stretched to the Tidewater +border. I had a momentary gleam of hope, as sudden and transient as +that ray of light. We were almost out of the hills, and, that +accomplished, we were most likely free of the Indian forces that +gathered there. I had come to share the Rappahannock men's opinion +about the Cherokees. If we could escape the strange tribes from the +west, I looked for no trouble at the hands of those common raiders. + +The thicket ended with the ridge, and there was a quarter-mile of +broken meadow before the forest began. It was a queer place, that patch +of green grass set like an arena for an audience on the mountain side. +A fine stream ran through it, coming down the glen on our right, and +falling afterwards into a dark, woody ravine. I mistrusted the look of +it, for there was no cover, and 'twas in full view of the whole flanks +of the hills. + +Ringan, too, was disturbed. "Twould be wiser like to wait for darkness +before trying that bit," he said. "We'll be terrible kenspeckle to the +gentry we ken of." + +But I would not hear of delay. Now that we were all but out of the +hills I was mad to get forward. I thought foolishly that every minute +we delayed there we increased our peril, and I longed for the covering +of the lowland forest. Besides, I thought that by using some of the +crinkles in the meadow we could be sheltered from any eyes on the +slopes. + +Ringan poked his head out of the covert and took a long gaze. "The +place seems empty enough, but I cannot like it. Have you your pistols +handy, Andrew? I see what looks like an Indian track, and if we were to +meet a brave or two, it would be a pity to let them betray us." + +I looked at my pistols to see if the damp woods had spoiled the +priming. + +"Well, here's for fortune," said Ringan, and we scrambled off the +ridge, and plunged into the lush grasses of the meadow. + +Had we kept our heads and crossed as prudently as we had made the +morning's journey, all might have been well. But a madcap haste seemed +to possess us. We tore through the herbage as if we had been running a +race in the yard of a peaceful manor. The stream stayed us a little, +for it could not be forded without a wetting, and I went in up to the +waist. As we scrambled up the far bank some impulse made me turn my +head. + +There, coming down the water, was a band of Indians. + +They were still some distance off, but they saw us, and put their +horses to the gallop. I cried to Ringan to run for the shelter of the +woods, for in the open we were at their mercy. He cast one glance over +his shoulder, and set a pace which came near to foundering me. + +We got what we wanted earlier than we had hoped. The woods in front +rose in a high bluff, and down a little ravine a burn trickled. The +sides were too steep and matted for horses to travel, and he who stood +in the ravine had his back and flanks defended. + +"Now for a fight, Andrew lad," cried Ringan, his eyes dancing. "Stick +you to the pistols, and I'll show them something in the way of +sword-play." + +The Indians wheeled up to the edge of the ravine, and I saw to my joy +that they did not carry bows. + +One had a musket, but it looked as if he had no powder left, for it +swung idly on his back. They had tomahawks at their belts and long +shining knives with deerhorn handles. I only got a glimpse of them, but +'twas enough to show me they were of that Western nation that I +dreaded. + +They were gone in an instant. + +"That looks bad for us, Andrew," Ringan said. "If they had come down on +us yelling for our scalps, we would have had a merry meeting. But +they're either gone to bring their friends or they're trying to take us +in the back. I'll guard the front, and you keep your eyes on the hinder +parts, though a jackdaw could scarcely win over these craigs." + +A sudden burst of sun came out, while Ringan and I waited uneasily. The +great blue roll of mountain we had left was lit below the mist with a +glory of emerald and gold. Ringan was whistling softly through his +teeth, while I scanned the half moon of rock and matted vines which +made our shelter. There was no sound in the air but the tap of a +woodpecker and the trickling of the little runlets from the wet sides. + +The mind in a close watch falls under a spell, so that while the senses +are alert the thoughts are apt to wander. As I have said before, I have +the sharpest sight, and as I watched a point of rock it seemed to move +ever so slightly. I rubbed my eyes and thought it fancy, and a sudden +noise above made me turn my head. It was only a bird, and as I looked +again at the rock it seemed as if a spray of vine had blown athwart it, +which was not there before. I gazed intently, and, following the spray +into the shadow, I saw something liquid and mottled like a toad's skin. +As I stared it flickered and shimmered. 'Twas only the light on a wet +leaf, I told myself; but surely it had not been there before. A sudden +suspicion seized me, and I lifted my pistol and fired. + +There was a shudder in the thicket, and an Indian, shot through the +head, rolled into the burn. + +At the sound I heard Ringan cry out, and there came a great war-whoop +from the mouth of the ravine. I gave one look, and then turned to my +own business, for as the dead man fell another leaped from the matted +cliffs. + +My second pistol missed fire. In crossing the stream I must have damped +the priming. + +What happened next is all confusion in my mind. I dodged the fall of +the knife, and struck hard with my pistol butt at the uplifted arm. I +felt no fear, only intense anger at my folly in not having looked +better to my priming. But the shock of the man's charge upset me, and +the next I knew of it we were wrestling on the ground. + +I had his right arm by the wrist, but I was no match for him in +suppleness, and in the position in which we lay I could not use the +weight of my shoulders. The most I could do was to keep him from +striking, and to effect that my strength was stretched to its +uttermost. My eyes filmed with weariness, and my breath came in gasps, +for, remember, I had been up all night, and that day had already +travelled many miles. I remember yet the sickly smell of his greasy +skin and the red hate of his eyes. As we struggled I could see Ringan +holding the mouth of the ravine with his sword. One of his foes he had +shot, and the best blade in the Five Seas was now engaged with three +Indian knives. I heard his happy whistling, and a grunt now and then +from a wounded foe. He had enough to do, and could give me no aid. And +as I realized this I felt the grip of my arms growing slacker, and knew +that in a second or two I should feel that long Indian steel. + +I made a desperate effort, and swung round so that I got my left +shoulder on his knife arm. That brought my right shoulder close to his +mouth, and he bit me to the bone. The wound did me good, for it +maddened me, and I got a knee loose, and forced it into his loins. For +a moment I dreamed of victory, but I had not counted on the wiles of a +savage. He lay quite limp for a second, and, as I relaxed my effort a +little, seized the occasion to slip from beneath me and let me roll +into the burn. The next instant he was above me, and I saw the knife +against the sky. + +I thought that all was over. He pushed back his hair from his eyes, and +the steel quivered. And then something thrust between me and the point, +there was a leap and a shudder, and I was gazing at emptiness. + +I lay gazing, for I seemed bereft of wits. Then a voice cried, "Are you +hurt, Andrew?" and I got to my feet. + +My enemy lay in the pool of the burn, with a hole through his throat +from Ringan's sword. A little farther off lay the savage I had shot. At +the mouth of the ravine lay three dead Indians. The last of the six +must have fled. + +Ringan had sheathed his blade, and was looking at me with a queer smile +on his face. + +"Yon was a merry bout, Andrew," he said, and his voice sounded very far +away. Then he swayed into my arms, and I saw that his vest was dark +with blood. + +"What is it?" I cried in wild fear. "Are you hurt, Ringan?" I laid him +on a bed of moss, and opened his shirt. In his breast was a gaping +wound from which the bright blood was welling. + +He lay with his eyes closed while I strove to stanch the flow. Then he +choked, and as I raised his head there came a gush of blood from his +lips. + +"That man of yours...." he whispered. "I got his knife before he got my +sword.... I doubt it went deep...." + +"O Ringan," I cried, "it's me that's to blame. You got it trying to +save me. You're not going to leave me, Ringan?" + +He was easier now, and the first torrent of blood had subsided. But his +breath laboured, and there was pain in his eyes. + +"I've got my call," he said faintly. "Who would have thought that +Ninian Campbell would meet his death from an Indian shabble? They'll no +believe it at Tortuga. Still and on...." + +I brought him water in my hat, and for a moment he breathed freely. He +motioned me to put my ear close. + +"You'll send word to the folk in Breadalbane.... Just say that I came +by an honest end.... Cheer up, lad. You'll live to see happy days +yet.... But keep mind of me, Andrew.... Man, I liked you well, and +would have been blithe to keep you company a bit longer...." + +I was crying like a child. There was a little gold charm on a cord +round his neck, now dyed with his blood. He motioned me to look at it. + +"Give it to the lass," he whispered. "I had once a lass like yon, and I +aye wore it for her sake. I've had a roving life, with many ill deeds +in it, but doubtless the Almighty will make allowances. Can you say a +bit prayer, Andrew?" + +As well as I could, I repeated that Psalm I had said over the graves by +the Rapidan. He looked at me with eyes as clear and honest as a +child's. + +"'In death's dark vale I will fear no ill,'" he repeated after me. +"That minds me of lang syne. I never feared muckle on earth, and I'll +not begin now." + +I saw that the end was very near. The pain had gone, and there was a +queer innocence in his lean face. His eyes shut and opened again, and +each time the light was dimmer. + +Suddenly he lifted himself. "The Horn of Diarmaid has sounded," he +cried, and dropped back in my arms. + +That was the last word he spoke. + +I watched by him till the dark fell, and long after. Then as the moon +rose I bestirred myself, and looked for a place of burial. I would not +have him lie in that narrow ravine, so I carried him into the meadow, +and found a hole which some wild beast had deserted. Painfully and +slowly with my knife I made it into a shallow grave, where I laid him, +with some boulders above. Then I think I flung myself on the earth and +wept my fill. I had lost my best of friends, and the ache of regret and +loneliness was too bitter to bear. I asked for nothing better than to +join him soon on the other side. + +After a while I forced myself to rise. He had praised my courage that +very day, and if I was to be true to him I must be true to my trust. I +told myself that Ringan would never have countenanced this idle grief. +I girt on his sword, and hung the gold charm round my neck. Then I took +my bearings as well as I could, re-loaded my pistols, and marched into +the woods, keeping to the course of the little river. + +As I went I remember that always a little ahead I seemed to hear the +merry lilt of Ringan's whistling. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +I SUFFER THE HEATHEN'S RAGE + +As I stumbled through the moonlit forest I heard Ringan's tunes ever +crooning among the trees. First it was the old mad march of "Bundle and +go," which the pipers play when the clans are rising. Then it changed +to the lilt of "Colin's Cattle," which is an air that the fairies made, +and sung in the ear of a shepherd who fell asleep in one of their holy +places. And then it lost all mortal form, and became a thing as faint +as the wind in the tree-tops or the humming of bees in clover. My weary +legs stepped out to this wizard music, and the spell of it lulled my +fevered thoughts into the dull patience of the desperate. + +At an open space where I could see the sky I tried to take further +bearings. I must move south-east by east, and in time I must come to +Lawrence. I do not think I had any hope of getting there, for I knew +that long ere this the man who escaped must have returned with others, +and that now they would be hot on my trail. What could one lad do in a +wide woodland against the cunningest trackers on earth? But Ringan had +praised my courage, and I could not fail him. I should go on till I +died, and I did not think that would be very long. My pistols, +re-loaded, pressed against my side, and Ringan's sword swung by my +thigh. I was determined to make a good ending, since that was all now +left to me. In that hour I had forgotten about everything--about the +peril of Virginia, even about Elspeth and the others in the fort on the +hill-top. There comes a time to every one when the world narrows for him +to a strait alley, with Death at the end of it, and all his thoughts are +fixed on that waiting enemy of mankind. + +My senses were blunted, and I took no note of the noises of the forest. +As I passed down a ravine a stone dropped behind me, but I did not +pause to wonder why. A twig crackled on my left, but it did not +disquiet me, and there was a rustling in the thicket which was not the +breeze. I marked nothing, as I plodded on with vacant mind and eye. So +when I tripped on a vine and fell, I was scarcely surprised when I +found I could not rise. Men had sprung up silently around me, and I was +pinned by many hands. + +They trussed me with ropes, binding my hands cruelly behind my back, +and swathing my legs till not a muscle could move. My pistols hung +idle, and the ropes drove the hafts into my flesh. This is the end, +thought I, and I did not even grieve at my impotence. My courage now +was of the passive kind, not to act but to endure. Always I kept +telling myself that I must be brave, for Ringan had praised my courage, +and I had a conviction that nothing that man could do would shake me. +Thanks be to God, my quick fancy was dulled, and I did not try to look +into the future. I lived for the moment, and I was resolved that the +moment should find me unmoved. + +They carried me to where their horses were tied up in a glade, and +presently we were galloping towards the hills, myself an inert bundle +strapped across an Indian saddle. The pain of the motion was great, but +I had a kind of grim comfort in bearing it. After a time I think my +senses left me, and I slipped into a stupor, from which I woke with a +fiery ache at every joint and eyes distended with a blinding heat. Some +one tossed me on the ground, where I lay with my cheek in a cool, wet +patch of earth. Then I felt my bonds being unloosed, and a strong arm +pulled me to my feet. When it let go I dropped again, and not till many +hands had raised me and set me on a log could I look round at my +whereabouts. + +I was in a crook of a hill glen, lit with a great radiance of +moonlight. Fires dotted the flat, and Indian tents, and there seemed to +me hundreds of savages crowding in on me. I do not suppose that I +showed any fear, for my bodily weakness had made me as impassive as any +Indian. + +Presently a voice spoke to me, but I could not understand the words. I +shook my head feebly, and another spoke. This time I knew that the +tongue was Cherokee, a speech I could recognize but could not follow. +Again I shook my head, and a third took up the parable. This one spoke +the Powhatan language, which I knew, and I replied in the same tongue. + +There was a tall man wearing in his hair a single great feather, whom I +took to be the chief. He spoke to me through the interpreter, and asked +me whence I came. + +I told him I was a hunter who had strayed in the hills. He asked where +the other was. + +"He is dead," I said, "dead of your knives. But five of your braves +atoned for him." + +"You speak truth," he said gravely. "But the Children of the West Wind +do not suffer the death of, their sons to go unrewarded. For each one +of the five, three Palefaces shall eat the dust in the day of our +triumph." + +"Be it so," said I stoutly, though I felt a dreadful nausea coming over +me. I was determined to keep my head high, if only my frail body would +not fail me. + +"The Sons of the West Wind," he spoke again, "have need of warriors. +You can atone for the slaughter you have caused, and the blood feud +will be forgotten. In the space of five suns we shall sweep the +Palefaces into the sea, and rule all the land to the Eastern waters. My +brother is a man of his hands, and valour is dear to the heart of +Onotawah. If he casts in his lot with the Children of the West Wind a +wigwam shall be his, and a daughter of our race to wife, and six of our +young men shall follow his commands. Will my brother march with us +against those whom God has delivered to us for our prey?" + +"Does the eagle make terms with the kite?" I asked, "and fly with them +to raid his own eyrie? Yes, I will join with you, and march with you +till I have delivered you to, perhaps, a score of the warriors of my +own people. Then I will aid them in making carrion of you." + +Heaven knows what wrought on me to speak like this, I, a poor, broken +fellow, face to face with a hundred men-at-arms. I think my mind had +forsaken me altogether, and I spoke like a drunken man with a tongue +not my own. I had only the one idea in my foolish head--to be true to +Ringan, and to meet the death of which I was assured with an +unflinching face. Yet perhaps my very madness was the course of +discretion. You cannot move an Indian by pity, and he will show mercy +only to one who, like a gamecock, asks nothing less. + +The chief heard me gravely, and spoke to the others. One cried out +something in a savage voice, and for a moment a fierce argument was +raised, which the chief settled with uplifted hand. + +"My brother speaks bold words," he said. "The spirits of his fathers +cry out for the companionship of such a hero. When the wrongs of our +race have been avenged, I wish him good hunting in the Kingdom of the +Sunset." + +They took me and stripped me mother naked. Has any man who reads this +tale ever faced an enemy in his bare feet? If so, he will know that the +heart of man is more in his boots than philosophers wot of. Without +them he feels lost and unprepared, and the edge gone from his spirit. +But without his clothes he is in a far worse case. The winds of heaven +play round his nakedness; every thorn and twig is his assailant, and +the whole of him seems a mark for the arrows of his foes. That +stripping was the thing that brought me to my senses. I recognized that +I was to be the subject of those hellish tortures which the Indians +use, the tales of which are on every Borderer's lips. + +And yet I did not recognize it fully, or my courage must have left me +then and there. My imagination was still limping, and I foresaw only a +death of pain, not the horrid incidents of its preparation. Death I +could face, and I summoned up every shred of my courage. Ringan's voice +was still in my ear, his airy songs still sang themselves in my brain. +I would not shame him, but oh! how I envied him lying, all troubles +past, in his quiet grave! + +The night was mild, and the yellow radiance of the moon seemed almost +warmth-giving. I sat on that log in a sort of stupor, watching my +enemies preparing my entertainment. One thing I noted, that there were +no women in the camp. I remembered that I had heard that the most +devilish tortures were those which the squaws devised, and that the +Indian men were apt to be quicker and more merciful in their +murderings. + +Then I was lifted up and carried to a flat space beside the stream, +where the trunk of a young pine had been set upright in the ground. A +man, waving a knife, and singing a wild song, danced towards me. He +seized me by the hair, and I actually rejoiced, for I knew that the +pain of scalping would make me oblivious of all else. But he only drew +the sharp point of the knife in a circle round my head, scarce breaking +the skin. + +I had grace given me to keep a stout face, mainly because I was +relieved that this was to be my fate. He put the knife back in his +girdle, and others laid hold on me. + +They smeared my lower limbs with some kind of grease which smelt of +resin. One savage who had picked up a brand from one of the little +fires dropped some of the stuff on it, and it crackled merrily. He +grinned at me--a slow, diabolical grin. + +They lashed me to the stake with ropes of green vine. Then they piled +dry hay a foot deep around me, and laid above it wood and green +branches. To make the fuel still greener, they poured water on it. At +the moment I did not see the object of these preparations, but now I +can understand it. The dry hay would serve to burn my legs, which had +already been anointed with the inflammable grease. So I should suffer a +gradual torture, for it would be long ere the flames reached a vital +part. I think they erred, for they assumed that I had the body of an +Indian, which does not perish till a blow is struck at its heart; +whereas I am confident that any white man would be dead of the anguish +long ere the fire had passed beyond his knees. + +I think that was the most awful moment of my life. Indeed I could not +have endured it had not my mind been drugged and my body stupid with +fatigue. Men have often asked me what were my thoughts in that hour, +while the faggots were laid about my feet. I cannot tell, for I have no +very clear memory. The Power which does not break the bruised reed +tempered the storm to my frailty. I could not envisage the future, and +so was mercifully enabled to look only to the moment. I knew that pain +was coming; but I was already in pain, and the sick man does not +trouble himself about degrees of suffering. Death, too, was coming; but +for that I had been long ready. The hardest thing that man can do is to +endure, but this was to me no passive endurance; it was an active +struggle to show a fortitude worthy of the gallant dead. + +So I must suppose that I hung there in my bonds with a motionless face +and a mouth which gave out no cry. They brought the faggots, and poured +on water, and I did not look their way. Some score of braves began a +war dance, circling round me, waving their tomahawks, and singing their +wild chants. For me they did not break the moonlit silence, I was +hearing other sounds and seeing far other sights. An old sad song of +Ringan's was in my ears, something about an exile who cried out in +France for the red heather and the salt winds of the Isles. + +"_Nevermore the deep fern_," it ran, "_or the bell of the dun deer, far +my castle is wind-blown sands, and my homelands are a stranger's."_ + +And the air brought back in a flash my own little house on the grey +hill-sides of Douglasdale, the cluck of hens about the doors on a hot +summer morn, the crying of plovers in the windy Aprils, the smell of +peatsmoke when the snow drifted over Cairntable. Home-sickness has +never been my failing, but all at once I had a vision of my own land, +the cradle of my race, well-beloved and unforgotten over the leagues of +sea. Somehow the thought strengthened me. I had now something besides +the thought of Ringan to keep my heart firm. If all hell laid hold on +me, I must stand fast for the honour of my own folk. + +The edge of the pile was lit, and the flames crackled through the hay +below the faggots. The smoke rose in clouds, and made me sneeze. +Suddenly there came a desperate tickling in my scalp where the knife +had pricked. Little things began to tease me, notably the ache of my +swollen wrists, and the intolerable cramp in my legs. + +Then came a sharp burst of pain as a tongue of flame licked on my +anointed ankles. Anguish like hell-fire ran through my frame. I think I +would have cried out if my tongue had had the power. Suddenly I +envisaged the dreadful death which was coming. All was wiped from my +mind, all thought of Ringan, and home, and honour; everything but this +awful fear. Happily the smoke hid my face, which must have been +distraught with panic. The seconds seemed endless. I prayed that +unconsciousness would come. I prayed for death, I prayed for respite. I +was mad with the furious madness of a tortured animal, and the immortal +soul had fled from me and left only a husk of pitiful and shrinking +flesh. + +Suddenly there came a lull. A dozen buckets of water were flung on the +pile, and the flames fell to smouldering ashes. The smoke thinned, and +I saw the circle of my tormentors. + +The chief spoke, and asked me if my purpose still held. + +With the cool shock of the water one moment of bodily comfort returned +to me, and with it a faint revival of my spirit. But it was of no set +intention that I answered as I did. My bones were molten with fright, +and I had not one ounce of bravery in me. Something not myself took +hold on me, and spoke for me. Ringan's tunes, a brisk one this time, +lilted in my ear. + +I could not believe my own voice. But I rejoice to say that my reply +was to consign every Indian in America to the devil. + +I shook with fear when I had spoken. I looked to see them bring dry +fuel and light the pile again. But I had played a wiser part than I +knew. The chief gave an order, the faggots were cleared, my bonds were +cut, and I was led away from the stake. + +The pain of my cramped and scorched limbs was horrible, but I had just +enough sense left to shut my teeth and make no sound. + +The chief looked at me long and calmly as I drooped before him, for +there was no power in my legs. He was an eagle-faced savage, with the +most grave and searching eyes. + +"Sleep, brother," he said. "At dawn we will take further counsel." + +I forced some kind of lightness into my voice, "Sleep will be +grateful," I said, "for I have come many miles this day, and the +welcome I have got this evening has been too warm for a weary man." + +The Indian nodded. The jest was after his own taste. + +I was carried to a teepee and shown a couch of dry fern. A young man +rubbed some oil on my scorched legs, which relieved the pain of them. +But no pain on earth could have kept me awake. I did not glide but +pitched headforemost into sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +EVENTS ON THE HILL-SIDE. + +My body was too sore to suffer me to sleep dreamlessly, but my dreams +were pleasant. I thought I was in a sunny place with Elspeth, and that +she had braided a coronet of wild flowers for her hair. They were +simple flowers, such as I had known in childhood and had not found in +Virginia--yarrow, and queen of the meadow, and bluebells, and the +little eyebright. A great peace filled me, and Ringan came presently to +us and spoke in his old happy speech. 'Twas to the accompaniment of +Elspeth's merry laughter that I wakened, to find myself in a dark, +strange-smelling place, with a buffalo robe laid over me, and no stitch +of clothing on my frame. + +That wakening was bitter indeed. I opened my eyes to another day of +pain and peril, with no hope of deliverance. For usual I am one of +those who rise with a glad heart and a great zest for whatever the +light may bring. Now, as I moved my limbs, I found aches everywhere, +and but little strength in my bones. Slowly the events of the last day +came back to me--the journey in the dripping woods, the fight in the +ravine, the death of my comrade, the long horror of the hours of +torture. No man can be a hero at such an awakening. I had not the +courage of a chicken in my soul, and could have wept with weakness and +terror. + +I felt my body over, and made out that I had taken no very desperate +hurt. My joints were swollen with the bonds, and every sinew seemed as +stiff as wire. The skin had been scorched on my shins and feet, and was +peeling off in patches, but the ointment which had been rubbed on it +had taken the worst ache out of the wounds. I tottered to my feet, and +found that I could stand, and even move slowly like an old man. My +clothes had been brought back and laid beside me, and with much +difficulty I got into them; but I gave up the effort to get my +stockings and boots over my scorched legs. My pistols, too, had been +restored, and Ringan's sword, and the gold amulet he had entrusted to +me. Somehow, in the handling of me, my store of cartouches had +disappeared from my pockets. My pistols were loaded and ready for use, +but that was the extent of my defences, for I was no more good with +Ringan's sword than with an Indian bow. + +A young lad brought me some maize porridge and a skin of water. I could +eat little of the food, but I drank the water to the last drop, for my +throat was as dry as the nether pit. After that I lay down on my couch +again, for it seemed to me that I would need to treasure every atom of +my strength. The meal had put a little heart in me--heart enough to +wait dismally on the next happening. + +Presently the chief whom they called Onotawah stood at the tent door, +and with him a man who spoke the Powhatan tongue. + +"Greeting, brother," he said. + +"Greeting," I answered, in the stoutest tone I could muster. + +"I come from the council of the young men, where the blood of our kin +cries for the avenger. The Sons of the West Wind have seen the courage +of the stranger, and would give him the right of combat as a free man +and a brave. Is my brother ready to meet our young men in battle?" + +I was about as fit to right as an old horse to leap a fence, but I had +the wit to see that my only hope lay in a bold front. At any rate, a +clean death in battle was better than burning, and my despair was too +deep to let me quibble about the manner of leaving this world. + +"You see my condition," I said. "I am somewhat broken with travel and +wounds, but, such as I am, I am willing to meet your warriors. Send +them one at a time or in battalions, and I am ready for them." + +It was childish brag, but I think I must have delivered it with some +spirit, for I saw approbation in his eye. + +"When we fight, we fight not as butchers but as men-at-arms," he said. +"The brother of one of the dead will take on himself the cause of our +tribe. If he slay you, our honour is avenged. If he be slain, we save +you alive, and carry you with us as we march to the rising sun." + +"I am content," I said, though I was very little content. What earthly +chance stood I against a lithe young brave, accustomed from his +childhood to war? I thought of a duel hand-to-hand with knives or +tomahawks, for I could not believe that I would be allowed to keep my +pistols. It was a very faint-hearted combatant who rose and staggered +after Onotawah into the clear morning. The cloudy weather had gone, and +the glen where we lay was filled with sun and bright colours. Even in +my misery I saw the fairness of the spectacle, and the cool plunge of +the stream was grateful to my throbbing eyes. + +The whole clan was waiting, a hundred warriors as tall and clean-limbed +as any captain could desire. I bore no ill-will to my captors; indeed, +I viewed them with a respect I had never felt for Indians before. They +were so free in their walk, so slim and upstanding, so hawklike in eye +and feature, and withal so grave, that I could not but admire them. If +the Tidewater was to perish, 'twould be at the hands of no unworthy +foes. + +A man stood out from the others, a tall savage with a hard face, who +looked at me with eyes of hate. I recognized my opponent, whom the +chief called by some name like Mayoga. + +Before us on the hill-side across the stream was a wood, with its +limits cut as clear on the meadow as a coppice in a nobleman's park. +'Twas maybe half a mile long as it stretched up the slope, and about +the same at its greatest width. The shape was like a stout bean with a +hollow on one side, and down the middle ran the gorge of a mountain +stream. + +Onotawah pointed to the wood. "Hearken, brother, to the customs of our +race in such combats. In that thicket the twain of you fight. Mayoga +will enter at one end and you at the other, and once among the trees it +is his business to slay you as he pleases and as he can." + +"What, are the weapons?" I asked. + +"What you please. You have a sword and your little guns." + +Mayoga laughed loud. "My bow is sufficient," he cried. "See, I leave +knife and tomahawk behind," and he cast them on the grass. + +Not to be outdone, I took off my sword, though that was more an +encumbrance than a weapon. + +"I have but the two shots," I said. + +"Then I will take but the two arrows," cried my opponent, shaking the +rest out of his quiver; and at this there was a murmur of applause. +There were some notions of decency among these Western Indians. + +I bade him take a quiverful. "You will need them," said I, looking as +truculent as my chicken heart would permit me. + +They took me to the eastern side of the wood, and there we waited for +the signal, which was a musket shot, telling me that Mayoga was ready +to enter at the opposite end. My companions were friendly enough, and +seemed to look on the duel as a kind of sport. I could not understand +their tongue, but I fancy that they wagered among themselves on the +issue, if, indeed, that was in doubt, or, at any rate, on the time +before I should fall. They had forgotten that they had tortured me the +night before, and one clapped me on the shoulder and seemed to +encourage me. Another pointed to my raw shins, and wound some kind of +soft healing fibre round my feet and ankles. I did my best to keep a +stout face, and when the shot came, I waved my hand to them and plunged +boldly into the leafy darkness. + +But out of the presence of men my courage departed, and I became the +prey of dismal fear. How was I, with my babyish woodcraft, to contend +for a moment against an Indian who was as subtle and velvet-footed as a +wild beast? The wood was mostly of great oaks and chestnuts, with a +dense scrub of vines and undergrowth, and in the steepest parts of the +hill-side many mossgrown rocks. I found every movement painful in that +rough and matted place. For one thing, I made an unholy noise. My +tender limbs shrank from every stone and twig, and again and again I +rolled over with the pain of it. Sweat blinded my eyes, and the +fatigues of yesterday made my breath labour like a foundered horse. + +My first plan--if the instinct of blind terror can be called a plan-- +was to lie hid in some thick place and trust to getting the first shot +at my enemy when he found me. But I realized that I could not do this. +My broken nerves would not suffer me to lie hidden. Better the torture +of movement than such terrible patience. So I groped my way on, +starting at every movement in the thicket. Once I roused a deer, which +broke off in front of me towards my adversary. That would tell him my +whereabouts, I thought, and for some time I lay still with a +palpitating heart. But soon the silence resumed its sway, a deathlike +silence, with far off the faint tinkle of water. + +By and by I reached the stream, the course of which made an open space +a few yards wide in the trees. The sight of its cool foaming current +made me reckless. I dipped my face in it, drank deep of it, and let it +flow over my burning legs. Then I scrambled up the other bank, and +entered my enemy's half of the wood. He had missed a fine chance, I +thought, in not killing me by the water's edge; and this escape, and +the momentary refreshment of the stream, heartened me enough to carry +me some way into his territory. + +The wood was thinner here, and the ground less cumbered. I moved from +tree to tree, crawling in the open bits, and scanning each circle of +green dusk before I moved. A red-bird fluttered on my right, and I lay +long watching its flight. Something moved ahead of me, but 'twas only a +squirrel. + +Then came a mocking laugh behind me. I turned sharply, but saw nothing. +Far up in the branches there sounded the slow flap of an owl's flight. +Many noises succeeded, and suddenly came one which froze my blood--the +harsh scream of a hawk. My enemy was playing with me, and calling the +wild things to mock me. + +I went on a little, and then turned up the hill to where a clump of +pines made a darker patch in the woodland. All was quiet again, and my +eyes searched the dusk for the sign of human life. Then suddenly I saw +something which stiffened me against a trunk. + +Forty paces off in the dusk a face was looking from behind a tree. It +was to the west of me, and was looking downhill towards a patch of +undergrowth. I noted the long feather, the black forelock, the red skin +of the forehead. + +At the sight for the first time the zest of the pursuit filled me, and +I forgot my pain. Had I outwitted my wily foe, and by some miracle +stolen a march on him? I dared not believe it; but yet, as I rubbed my +eyes, I could not doubt it. I had got my chance, and had taken him +unawares. The face still peered intently downhill. I lifted a pistol, +took careful aim, and fired at the patch of red skin. + +A thousand echoes rang through the wood. The bullet had grazed the tree +trunk, and the face was gone. But whither? Did a dead man lie behind +the trunk, or had a wounded man crawled into cover? + +I waited breathlessly for a minute or two, and then went forward, with +my second pistol at the cock. + +There was nothing behind the tree. Only a piece of red bark with a +bullet hole through it, some greasy horsehair, and a feather. And then +from many quarters seemed to come a wicked laughter, I leaned against +the trunk, with a deadly nausea clutching at my heart. Poor fool, I had +rejoiced for a second, only to be dashed into utter despair! + +I do not think I had ever had much hope, but now I was convinced that +all was over. The water had made my burns worse, and disappointment had +sapped the little remnants of my strength. My one desire was to get out +of this ghoulish thicket and die by the stream-side. The cool sound of +it would be a fitting dirge for a foolish fellow who had wandered far +from his home. + +I could hear the plunge of it, and struggled towards it. I was long +past taking any care. I stumbled and slipped along the hill-side, my +breath labouring, and a moaning at my lips from sheer agony and +weakness. If an arrow sped between my ribs I would still reach the +water, for I was determined to die with my legs in its flow. + +Suddenly it was before me. I came out on a mossy rock above a deep, +clear pool, into which a cascade tumbled. I knelt feebly on the stone, +gazing at the blue depths, and then I lifted my eyes. + +There on a rock on the other side stood my enemy. + +He had an arrow fitted to his bow, and as I looked he shot. It struck +me on the right arm, pinning it just above the elbow. The pistol, which +I had been carrying aimlessly, slipped from my nerveless hand to the +moss on which I kneeled. + +That sudden shock cleared my wits. I was at his mercy, and he knew it. +I could see every detail of him twenty yards off across the water. He +stood there as calm and light as if he had just arisen from rest, his +polished limbs shining in the glow of the sun, the muscles on his right +arm rippling as he moved his bow. Madman that I was, ever to hope to +contend with such dauntless youth, such tireless vigour! There was a +cruel, thin-lipped smile on his face. He had me in his clutches like a +cat with a mouse, and he was going to get the full zest of it. I +kneeled before him, with my strength gone, my right arm crippled. He +could choose his target at his leisure, for I could not resist. I saw +the gloating joy in his eyes. He knew his power, and meant to miss +nothing of its savour. + +Yet in that fell predicament God gave me back my courage. But I took a +queer way of showing it. I began to whimper as if in abject fear. Every +limb was relaxed in terror, and I grovelled on my knees before him. I +made feeble plucks at the arrow in my right arm, and my shoulder +drooped almost to the sod. But all the time my other hand was behind my +back, edging its way to the pistol. My fingers clutched at the butt, +and slowly I began to withdraw it till I had it safe in the shadow of +my pocket. + +My enemy did not know that I was left-handed. + +He fitted a second arrow to his bow, while his lips curved maliciously. +All the demoniac, pantherlike cruelty of his race looked at me out of +his deep eyes. He was taking his time about it, unwilling to lose the +slightest flavour of his vengeance. I played up to him nobly, squirming +as if in an agony of terror. But by this time I had got a comfortable +posture on the rock, and my left shoulder was towards him. + +At last he made his choice, and so did I. I never thought that I could +miss, for if I had had any doubt I should have failed. I was as +confident in my sureness as any saint in the mercy of God. + +He raised his bow, but it never reached his shoulder. My left arm shot +out, and my last bullet went through his brain. + +He toppled forward and plunged into the pool. The grease from his body +floated up, and made a scum on the surface. + +Then I broke off the arrow and pulled it out of my arm, putting the +pieces in my pocket. The water cleared, and I could see him lying in +the cool blue depths, his eyes staring, his mouth open, and a little +dark eddy about his forehead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +SHALAH. + +I came out of the wood a new being. My wounded arm and my torn and +inflamed limbs were forgotten. I held my head high, and walked like a +free man. It was not that I had slain my enemy and been delivered from +deadly peril, nor had I any clearer light on my next step. But I had +suddenly got the conviction that God was on my side, and that I need +not fear what man could do unto me. You may call it the madness of a +lad whose body and spirit had been tried to breaking-point. But, +madness or no, it gave me infinite courage, and in that hour I would +have dared every savage on earth. + +I found some Indians at the edge of the wood, and told one who spoke +Powhatan the issue of the fight. I flung the broken arrow on the +ground. + +"That is my token," I said. "You will find the other in the pool below +the cascade." + +Then I strode towards the tents, looking every man I passed squarely in +the eyes. No one spoke, no one hindered me; every face was like a +graven image. + +I reached the teepee in which I had spent the night, and flung myself +down on the rude couch. In a minute I was sunk in a heavy sleep. + +I woke to see two men standing in the tent door. One was the chief +Onotawah, and the other a tall Indian who wore no war paint. + +They came towards me, and the light fell on the face of the second. To +my amazement I recognized Shalah. He put a finger on his lip, and, +though my heart clamoured for news, I held my peace. + +They squatted on a heap of skins and spoke in their own tongue. Then +Shalah addressed me in English. + +"The maiden is safe, brother. There will be no more fighting at the +stockade. Those who assaulted us were of my own tribe, and yesterday I +reasoned with them." + +Then he spoke to the chief, and translated for me. + +"He says that you have endured the ordeal of the stake, and have slain +your enemy in fight, and that now you will go before the great Sachem +for his judgment. That is the custom of our people." + +He turned to Onotawah again, and his tone was high and scornful. He +spoke as if he were the chief and the other were the minion, and, what +was strangest of all, Onotawah replied meekly. Shalah rose to his feet +and strode to the door, pointing down the glen with his hand. He seemed +to menace the other, his nostrils quivered with contempt, and his voice +was barbed with passion. Onotawah bowed his head and said nothing. + +Then he seemed to dismiss him, and the proud chief walked out of the +teepee like a disconsolate schoolboy. + +Instantly Shalah turned to me and inquired about my wounds. He looked +at the hole in my arm and at my scorched legs, and from his belt took a +phial of ointment, which he rubbed on the former. He passed his cool +hands over my brow, and felt the beating of my heart. + +"You are weary, brother, and somewhat scarred, but there is no grave +hurt. What of the Master?" + +I told him of Ringan's end. He bent his head, and then sprang up and +held his hands high, speaking in a strange tongue. I looked at his +eyes, and they were ablaze with fire. + +"My people slew him," he cried. "By the shades of my fathers, a score +shall keep him company as slaves in the Great Hunting-ground." + +"Talk no more of blood," I said. "He was amply avenged. 'Twas I who +slew him, for he died to save me. He made a Christian end, and I will +not have his memory stained by more murders. But oh, Shalah, what a man +died yonder!" + +He made me tell every incident of the story, and he cried out, +impassive though he was, at the sword-play in the neck of the gorge. + +"I have seen it," he cried. "I have seen his bright steel flash and men +go down like ripe fruit. Tell me, brother, did he sing all the while, +as was his custom? Would I had been by his side!" + +Then he told me of what had befallen at the stockade. + +"The dead man told me a tale, for by the mark on his forehead I knew +that he was of my own house. When you and the Master had gone I went +into the woods and picked up the trail of our foes. I found them in a +crook of the hills, and went among them in peace. They knew me, and my +word was law unto them. No living thing will come near the stockade +save the wild beasts of the forest. Be at ease in thy mind, brother." + +The news was a mighty consolation, but I was still deeply mystified. + +"You speak of your tribe. But these men were no Senecas." + +He smiled gravely. "Listen, brother," he said. "The white men of the +Tidewater called me Seneca, and I suffered the name. But I am of a +greater and princelier house than the Sons of the Cat. Some little +while ago I spoke to you of the man who travelled to the Western Seas, +and of his son who returned to his own people. I am the son of him who +returned. I spoke of the doings of my own kin." + +"But what is your nation, then?" I cried. + +"One so great that these little clanlets of Cherokee and Monacan, and +even the multitudes of the Long House, are but slaves and horseboys by +their side. We dwelt far beyond these mountains towards the setting +sun, in a plain where the rivers are like seas, and the cornlands wider +than all the Virginian manors. But there came trouble in our royal +house, and my father returned to find a generation which had forgotten +the deeds of their forefathers. So he took his own tribe, who still +remembered the House of the Sun, and, because his heart was unquiet +with longing for that which is forbidden to man, he journeyed +eastward, and found a new home in a valley of these hills. Thine eyes +have seen it. They call it the Shenandoah." + +I remembered that smiling Eden I had seen from that hill-top, and how +Shalah had spoken that very name. + +"We dwelt there," he continued, "while I grew to manhood, living +happily in peace, hunting the buffalo and deer, and tilling our +cornlands. Then the time came when the Great Spirit called for my +father, and I was left with the kingship of the tribe. Strange things +meantime had befallen our nation in the West. Broken clans had come +down from the north, and there had been many battles, and there had +been blight, and storms, and sickness, so that they were grown poor and +harassed. Likewise men had arisen who preached to them discontent, and +other races of a lesser breed had joined themselves to them. My own +tribe had become fewer, for the young men did not stay in our valley, +but drifted back to the West, to that nation we had come from, or went +north to the wars with the white man, or became lonely hunters in the +hills. Then from the south along the mountain crests came another +people, a squat and murderous people, who watched us from the ridges +and bided their chance." + +"The Cherokees?" I asked. + +"Even so. I speak of a hundred moons back, when I was yet a stripling, +with little experience in war. I saw the peril, but I could not think +that such a race could vie with the Children of the Sun. But one black +night, in the Moon of Wildfowl, the raiders descended in a torrent and +took us unprepared. What had been a happy people dwelling with full +barns and populous wigwams became in a night a desolation. Our wives +and children were slain or carried captive, and on every Cherokee belt +hung the scalps of my warriors. Some fled westwards to our nation, but +they were few that lived, and the tribe of Shalah went out like a torch +in a roaring river. + +"I slew many men that night, for the gods of my fathers guided my arm. +Death I sought, but could not find it; and by and by I was alone in the +woods, with twenty scars and a heart as empty as a gourd. Then I turned +my steps to the rising sun and the land of the white man, for there was +no more any place for me in the councils of my own people. + +"All this was many moons ago, and since then I have been a wanderer +among strangers. While I reigned in my valley I heard of the white +man's magic and of the power of his gods, and I longed to prove them. +Now I have learned many things which were hid from the eyes of our +oldest men. I have learned that a man may be a great brave, and yet +gentle and merciful, as was the Master, I have learned that a man may +be a lover of peace and quiet ways and have no lust of battle in his +heart, and yet when the need comes be more valiant than the best, even +as you, brother. I have learned that the God of the white men was +Himself a man who endured the ordeal of the stake for the welfare of +His enemies. I have seen cruelty and cowardice and folly among His +worshippers; but I have also seen that His faith can put spirit into a +coward's heart, and make heroes of mean men. I do not grudge my years +of wandering. They have taught me such knowledge as the Sachems of my +nation never dreamed of, and they have given me two comrades after my +own heart. One was he who died yesterday, and the other is now by my +side." + +These words of Shalah did not make me proud, for things were too +serious for vanity. But they served to confirm in me my strange +exaltation. I felt as one dedicated to a mighty task. + +"Tell me, what is the invasion which threatens the Tidewater?" + +"The whole truth is not known to me; but from the speech of my +tribesmen, it seems that the Children of the West Wind, twelve moons +ago, struck their tents and resolved to seek a new country. There is a +restlessness comes upon all Indian peoples once in every five +generations. It fell upon my grandfather, and he travelled towards the +sunset, and now it has fallen upon the whole race of the Sun. As they +were on the eve of journeying there came to them a prophet, who told +them that God would lead them not towards the West, as was the +tradition of the elders, but eastwards to the sea and the dwellings of +the Palefaces." + +"Is that the crazy white man we have heard of?" + +"He is of your race, brother. What his spell is I know not, but it +works mightily among my people. They tell me that he hath bodily +converse with devils, and that God whispers His secrets to him in the +night-watches. His God hath told him--so runs the tale--that He hath +chosen the Children of the Sun for His peculiar people, and laid on +them the charge of sweeping the white men off the earth and reigning in +their stead from the hills to the Great Waters." + +"Do you believe in this madman, Shalah?" I asked. + +"I know not," he said, with a troubled face. "I fear one possessed of +God. But of this I am sure, that the road of the Children of the West +Wind lies not eastward but westward, and that no good can come of war +with the white man. This Sachem hath laid his magic on others than our +people, for the Cherokee nation and all the broken clans of the hills +acknowledge him and do his bidding. He is a soldier as well as a +prophet, for he has drilled and disposed his army like a master of +war." + +"Will your tribe ally themselves with Cherokee murderers?" + +"I asked that question of this man Onotawah, and he liked it little. He +says that his people distrust this alliance with a race they scorn, and +I do not think they pine for the white man's war. But they are under +the magic of this prophet, and presently, when blood begins to flow, +they will warm to their work. In time they will be broken, but that +time will not be soon, and meanwhile there will be nothing left alive +between the hills and the bay of Chesapeake." + +"Do you know their plans?" I asked. + +"The Cherokees have served their purpose," he said. "Your forecast was +right, brother. They have drawn the fire of the Border, and been driven +in a rabble far south to the Roanoke and the Carolina mountains. That +is as the prophet planned. And now, while the white men hang up their +muskets and rejoice heedlessly in their triumph, my nation prepares to +strike. To-night the moon is full, and the prophet makes intercession +with his God. To-morrow at dawn they march, and by twilight they will +have swarmed across the Border." + +"Have you no power over your own people?" + +"But little," he answered. "I have been too long absent from them, and +my name is half forgotten. Yet, were they free of this prophet, I think +I might sway them, for I know their ways, and I am the son of their +ancient kings. But for the present his magic holds them in thrall. They +listen in fear to one who hath the ear of God." + +I arose, stretched my arms, and yawned. + +"They carry me to this Sachem," I said. "Well and good. I will outface +this blasphemous liar, whoever he may be. If he makes big magic, I will +make bigger. The only course is the bold course. If I can humble this +prophet man, will you dissuade your nation from war and send them back +to the sunset?" + +"Assuredly," he said wonderingly. "But what is your plan, brother?" + +"None," I answered. "God will show me the way. Honesty may trust in Him +as well as madness." + +"By my father's shade, you are a man, brother," and he gave me the +Indian salute. + +"A very weary, feckless cripple of a man," I said, smiling. "But the +armies of Heaven are on my side, Shalah. Take my pistols and Ringan's +sword. I am going into this business with no human weapons." And as +they set me on an Indian horse and the whole tribe turned their eyes to +the higher glens, I actually rejoiced. Light-hearted or light-headed, I +know not which I was, but I know that I had no fear. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HOW I STROVE ALL NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL. + +It was late in the evening ere we reached the shelf in the high glens +which was the headquarters of the Indian host. I rode on a horse, +between Onotawah and Shalah, as if I were a chief and no prisoner. On +the road we met many bands of Indians hastening to the trysting-place, +for the leader had flung his outposts along the whole base of the +range, and the chief warriors returned to the plateau for the last +ritual. No man spoke a word, and when we met other companies the only +greeting was by uplifted hands. + +The shelf was lit with fires, and there was a flare of torches in the +centre. I saw an immense multitude of lean, dark faces--how many I +cannot tell, but ten thousand at the least. It took all my faith to +withstand the awe of the sight. For these men were not the common +Indian breed, but a race nurtured and armed for great wars, disciplined +to follow one man, and sharpened to a needle-point in spirit. Perhaps +if I had been myself a campaigner I should have been less awed by the +spectacle; but having nothing with which to compare it, I judged this a +host before which the scattered Border stockades and Nicholson's scanty +militia would go down like stubble before fire. + +At the head of the plateau, just under the brow of the hill, and facing +the half-circle of level land, stood a big tent of skins. Before it was +a square pile of boulders about the height of a man's waist, heaped on +the top with brushwood so that it looked like a rude altar. Around this +the host had gathered, sitting mostly on the ground with knees drawn to +the chin, but some few standing like sentries under arms. I was taken +to the middle of the half-circle, and Shalah motioned me to dismount, +while a stripling led off the horses. My legs gave under me, for they +were still very feeble, and I sat hunkered up on the sward like the +others. I looked for Shalah and Onotawah, but they had disappeared, and +I was left alone among those lines of dark, unknown faces. + +I waited with an awe on my spirits against which I struggled in vain. +The silence of so vast a multitude, the sputtering torches, lighting +the wild amphitheatre of the hills, the strange clearing with its +altar, the mystery of the immense dusky sky, and the memory of what I +had already endured--all weighed on me with the sense of impending +doom. I summoned all my fortitude to my aid. I told myself that Ringan +believed in me, and that I had the assurance that God would not see me +cast down. But such courage as I had was now a resolve rather than any +exhilaration of spirits. A brooding darkness lay on me like a cloud. + +Presently the hush grew deeper, and from the tent a man came. I could +not see him clearly, but the flickering light told me that he was very +tall, and that, like the Indians, he was naked to the middle. He stood +behind the altar, and began some incantation. + +It was in the Indian tongue which I could not understand. The voice was +harsh and discordant, but powerful enough to fill that whole circle of +hill. It seemed to rouse the passion of the hearers, for grave faces +around me began to work, and long-drawn sighs came from their lips. + +Then at a word from the figure four men advanced, bearing something +between them, which they laid on the altar. To my amazement I saw that +it was a great yellow panther, so trussed up that it was impotent to +hurt. How such a beast had ever been caught alive I know not. I could +see its green cat's eyes glowing in the dark, and the striving of its +muscles, and hear the breath hissing from its muzzled jaws. + +The figure raised a knife and plunged it into the throat of the great +cat. The slow lapping of blood broke in on the stillness. Then the +voice shrilled high and wild. I could see that the man had marked his +forehead with blood, and that his hands were red and dripping. He +seemed to be declaiming some savage chant, to which my neighbours began +to keep time with their bodies. Wilder and wilder it grew, till it +ended in a scream like a seamew's. Whoever the madman was, he knew the +mystery of Indian souls, for in a little he would have had that host +lusting blindly for death. I felt the spell myself, piercing through my +awe and hatred of the spell-weaver, and I won't say but that my weary +head kept time with the others to that weird singing. + +A man brought a torch and lit the brushwood on the altar. Instantly a +flame rose to heaven, through which the figure of the magician showed +fitfully like a mountain in mist. That act broke the wizardry for me. +To sacrifice a cat was monstrous and horrible, but it was also +uncouthly silly. I saw the magic for what it was, a maniac's trickery. +In the revulsion I grew angry, and my anger heartened me wonderfully. +Was this stupendous quackery to bring ruin to the Tidewater? Though I +had to choke the life with my own hands out of that warlock's throat, I +should prevent it. + +Then from behind the fire the voice began again. But this time I +understood it. The words were English. I was amazed, for I had +forgotten that I knew the wizard to be a white man. + +"_Thus saith the Lord God_," it cried, "_Woe to the bloody city! I will +make the pile great for fire. Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume +the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned_." + +He poked the beast on the altar, and a bit of burning yellow fur fell +off and frizzled on the ground. + +It was horrid beyond words, lewd and savage and impious, and +desperately cruel. And the strange thing was that the voice was +familiar. + +"_O thou that dwellest upon many waters_," it went on again, "_abundant +in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. +The Lord of Hosts hath sworn by Himself, saying, Surely I will fill +thee with men as with caterpillars_...." + +With that last word there came over me a flood of recollection. It was +spoken not in the common English way, but in the broad manner of my own +folk.... I saw in my mind's eye a wet moorland, and heard a voice +inveighing against the wickedness of those in high places.... I smelled +the foul air of the Canongate Tolbooth, and heard this same man +testifying against the vanity of the world.... "_Cawterpillars!_" It +was the voice that had once bidden me sing "Jenny Nettles." + +Harsh and strident and horrible, it was yet the voice I had known, now +blaspheming Scripture words behind that gruesome sacrifice. I think I +laughed aloud. I remembered the man I had pursued my first night in +Virginia, the man who had raided Frew's cabin. I remembered Ringan's +tale of the Scots redemptioner that had escaped from Norfolk county, +and the various strange writings which had descended from the hills. +Was it not the queerest fate that one whom I had met in my boyish +scrapes should return after six years and many thousand miles to play +once more a major part in my life! The nameless general in the hills +was Muckle John Gib, once a mariner of Borrowstoneness, and some time +leader of the Sweet-Singers. I felt the smell of wet heather, and the +fishy odours of the Forth; I heard the tang of our country speech, and +the swirl of the gusty winds of home. + +But in a second all thought of mirth was gone, and a deep solemnity +fell upon me. God had assuredly directed my path, for He had brought +the two of us together over the widest spaces of earth. I had no fear +of the issue. I should master Muckle John as I had mastered him before. +My awe was all for God's mysterious dealing, not for that poor fool +posturing behind his obscene sacrifice. His voice rose and fell in +eldritch screams and hollow moans. He was mouthing the words of some +Bible Prophet. + +"_A Sword is upon her horses, and upon her chariots, and upon all the +mingled people that are in the midst of her, and they shall become as +women. A Sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed; a +drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is the +land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols_." + +Every syllable brought back some memory. He had the whine and sough in +his voice that our sectaries prized, and I could shut my eyes and +imagine I was back in the little kirk of Lesmahagow on a hot summer +morn. And then would come the scream of madness, the high wail of the +Sweet-Singer. + +"_Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a King of kings from +the north, with horses and with chariots, and with horsemen and +companies and muck people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters +in the field_...." + +"Fine words," I thought; "but Elspeth laid her whip over your +shoulders, my man." + +"... _With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets. +He shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall +go down to the ground.... And I will cause the music of thy songs to +cease, and the sound of thy harps shall no more be heard."_ + +I had a vision of Elspeth's birthday party when we sat round the +Governor's table, and I had wondered dismally how long it would be +before our pleasant songs would be turned to mourning. + +The fires died down, the smoke thinned, and the full moon rising over +the crest of the hills poured her light on us. The torches flickered +insolently in that calm radiance. The voice, too, grew lower and the +incantation ceased. Then it began again in the Indian tongue, and the +whole host rose to their feet. Muckle John, like some old priest of +Diana, flung up his arms to the heavens, and seemed to be invoking his +strange gods. Or he may have been blessing his flock--I know not which. +Then he turned and strode back to his tent, just as he had done on that +night in the Cauldstaneslap.... + +A hand was laid on my arm and Onotawah stood by me. He motioned me to +follow him, and led me past the smoking altar to a row of painted white +stones around the great wigwam. This he did not cross, but pointed to +the tent door, I pushed aside the flap and entered. + +An Indian lamp--a wick floating in oil--stood on a rough table. But its +thin light was unneeded, for the great flood of moonshine, coming +through the slits of the skins, made a clear yellow twilight. By it I +marked the figure of Muckle John on his knees. + +"Good evening to you, Mr. Gib," I said. + +The figure sprang to its feet and strode over to me. + +"Who are ye," it cried, "who speaks a name that is no more spoken on +earth?" + +"Just a countryman of yours, who has forgathered with you before. Have +you no mind of the Cauldstaneslap and the Canongate Tolbooth?" + +He snatched up the lamp and peered into my face, but he was long past +recollection. + +"I know ye not. But if ye be indeed one from that idolatrous country of +Scotland, the Lord hath sent you to witness the triumph of His servant, +Know that I am no longer the man John Gib, but the chosen of the Lord, +to whom He hath given a new name, even Jerubbaal, saying let Baal plead +against him, because he hath thrown down his altar." + +"That's too long a word for me to remember, Mr. Gib, so by your leave +I'll call you as you were christened." + +I had forced myself to a slow coolness, and my voice seemed to madden +him. + +"Ye would outface me," he cried. "I see ye are an idolater from the +tents of Shem, on whom judgment will be speedy and surprising. Know ye +not what the Lord hath prepared for ye? Down in your proud cities ye +are feasting and dicing and smiling on your paramours, but the writing +is on the wall, and in a little ye will be crying like weaned bairns +for a refuge against the storm of God. Your strong men shall be slain, +and your virgins shall be led captive, and your little children shall +be dashed against a stone. And in the midst of your ruins I, even I, +will raise a temple to the God of Israel, and nations that know me not +will run unto me because of the Lord my God." + +I had determined on my part, and played it calmly. + +"And what will you do with your Indian braves?" I asked. + +"Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place to +lie down in, for my people that have sought me," he answered. + +"A bonny spectacle," I said. "Man, if you dare to cross the Border you +will be whipped at a cart-tail and clapped into Bedlam as a crazy +vagabond." + +"Blasphemer," he shrieked, and ran at me with the knife he had used on +the panther. + +It took all my courage to play my game. I stood motionless, looking at +him, and his head fell. Had I moved he would have struck, but to his +mad eyes my calmness was terrifying. + +"It sticks in my mind," I said, "that there is a commandment, Do no +murder. You call yourself a follower of the Lord. Let me tell you that +you are no more than a bloody-minded savage, a thousandfold more guilty +than those poor creatures you are leading astray. You serve Baal, not +God, John Gib, and the devil in hell is banking his fires and counting +on your company." + +He gibbered at me like a bedlamite, but I knew what I was doing. I +raised my voice, and spoke loud and clear, while my eyes held his in +that yellow dusk. + +"Priest of Baal," I cried, "lying prophet! Go down on your knees and +pray for mercy. By the living God, the flames of hell are waiting for +you. The lightnings tremble in the clouds to scorch you up and send +your black soul to its own place." + +His hands pawed at my throat, but the horror was descending on him. He +shrieked like a wild beast, and cast fearful eyes behind him. Then he +rushed into the dark corners, stabbing with his knife, crying that the +devils were loosed. I remember how horribly he frothed at the mouth. + +"Avaunt," he howled. "Avaunt, Mel and Abaddon! Avaunt, Evil-Merodach +and Baal-Jezer! Ha! There I had ye, ye muckle goat. The stink of hell +is on ye, but ye shall not take the elect of the Lord." + +He crawled on his belly, stabbing his knife into the ground. I easily +avoided him, for his eyes saw nothing but his terrible phantoms. Verily +Shalah had spoken truth when he said that this man had bodily converse +with the devils. + +Then I threw him--quite easily, for his limbs were going limp in the +extremity of his horror. He lay gasping and foaming, his eyes turning +back in his head, while I bound his arms to his sides with my belt. I +found some cords in the tent, and tied his legs together. He moaned +miserably for a little, and then was silent. + + * * * * * + +I think I must have sat by him for three hours. The world was very +still, and the moon set, and the only light was the flickering lamp. +Once or twice I heard a rustle by the tent door. Some Indian guard was +on the watch, but I knew that no Indian dared to cross the forbidden +circle. + +I had no thoughts, being oppressed with a great stupor of weariness. I +may have dozed a little, but the pain of my legs kept me from +slumbering. + +Once or twice I looked at him, and I noticed that the madness had gone +out of his face, and that he was sleeping peacefully. I wiped the froth +from his lips, and his forehead was cool to my touch. + +By and by, as I held the lamp close, I observed that his eyes were +open. It was now time for the gamble I had resolved on. I remembered +that morning in the Tolbooth, and how the madness had passed, leaving +him a simple soul. I unstrapped the belt, and cut the cords about his +legs. + +"Do you feel better now, Mr. Gib?" I asked, as if it were the most +ordinary question in the world. + +He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Was it a dwam?" he inquired. "I get +them whiles." + +"It was a dwam, but I think it has passed." + +He still rubbed his eyes, and peered about him, like a big collie dog +that has lost its master. + +"Who is it that speirs?" he said. "I ken the voice, but I havena heard +it this long time." + +"One who is well acquaint with Borrowstoneness and the links of Forth," +said I. + +I spoke in the accent of his own country-side, and it must have woke +some dim chord in his memory, I made haste to strike while the iron was +hot. + +"There was a woman at Cramond..." I began. + +He got to his feet and looked me in the face. "Ay, there was," he said, +with an odd note in his voice. "What about her?" I could see that his +hand was shaking. + +"I think her name was Alison Steel." + +"What ken ye of Alison Steel?" he asked fiercely. "Quick, man, what +word have ye frae Alison?" + +"You sent me with a letter to her. D'you not mind your last days in +Edinburgh, before they shipped you to the Plantations?" + +"It comes back to me," he cried. "Ay, it comes back. To think I should +live to hear of Alison! What did she say?" + +"Just this. That John Gib was a decent man if he would resist the devil +of pride. She charged me to tell you that you would never be out of her +prayers, and that she would live to be proud of you. 'John will never +shame his kin,' quoth she." + +"Said she so?" he said musingly. "She was aye a kind body. We were to +be married at Martinmas, I mind, if the Lord hadna called me." + +"You've need of her prayers," I said, "and of the prayers of every +Christian soul on earth. I came here yestereen to find you mouthing +blasphemies, and howling like a mad tyke amid a parcel of heathen. And +they tell me you're to lead your savages on Virginia, and give that +smiling land to fire and sword. Think you Alison Steel would not be +black ashamed if she heard the horrid tale?" + +"'Twas the Lord's commands," he said gloomily, but there was no +conviction in his words. + +I changed my tone. "Do you dare to speak such blasphemy?" I cried. "The +Lord's commands! The devil's commands! The devil of your own sinful +pride! You are like the false prophets that made Israel to sin. What +brings you, a white man, at the head of murderous savages?" + +"Israel would not hearken, so I turned to the Gentiles," said he. + +"And what are you going to make of your Gentiles? Do you think you've +put much Christianity into the heart of the gentry that were watching +your antics last night?" + +"They have glimmerings of grace," he said. + +"Glimmerings of moonshine! They are bent on murder, and so are you, and +you call that the Lord's commands. You would sacrifice your own folk to +the heathen hordes. God forgive you, John Gib, for you are no +Christian, and no Scot, and no man." + +"Virginia is an idolatrous land," said he; but he could not look up at +me. + +"And are your Indians not idolaters? Are you no idolater, with your +burnt offerings and heathen gibberish? You worship a Baal and a Moloch +worse than any Midianite, for you adore the devils of your own rotten +heart." + +The big man, with all the madness out of him, put his towsy head in his +hands, and a sob shook his great shoulders. + +"Listen to me, John Gib. I am come from your own country-side to save +you from a hellish wickedness, I know the length and breadth of +Virginia, and the land is full of Scots, men of the Covenant you have +forsworn, who are living an honest life on their bits of farms, and +worshipping the God you have forsaken. There are women there like +Alison Steel, and there are men there like yourself before you +hearkened to the devil. Will you bring death to your own folk, with +whom you once shared the hope of salvation? By the land we both have +left, and the kindly souls we both have known, and the prayers you said +at your mother's knee, and the love of Christ who died for us, I adjure +you to flee this great sin. For it is the sin against the Holy Ghost, +and that knows no forgiveness." + +The man was fairly broken down. "What must I do?" he cried. "I'm all in +a creel. I'm but a pipe for the Lord to sound through." + +"Take not that Name in vain, for the sounding is from your own corrupt +heart. Mind what Alison Steel said about the devil of pride, for it was +that sin by which the angels fell." + +"But I've His plain commands," he wailed. "He hath bidden me cast down +idolatry, and bring the Gentiles to His kingdom." + +"Did He say anything about Virginia? There's plenty idolatry elsewhere +in America to keep you busy for a lifetime, and you can lead your +Gentiles elsewhere than against your own kin. Turn your face westward, +John Gib. I, too, can dream dreams and see visions, and it is borne in +on me that your road is plain before you. Lead this great people away +from the little shielings of Virginia, over the hills and over the +great mountains and the plains beyond, and on and on till you come to +an abiding city. You will find idolaters enough to dispute your road, +and you can guide your flock as the Lord directs you. Then you will be +clear of the murderer's guilt who would stain his hands in kindly +blood." + +He lifted his great head, and the marks of the sacrifice were still on +his brow. + +"D'ye think that would be the Lord's will?" he asked innocently. + +"I declare it unto you," said I. "I have been sent by God to save your +soul. I give you your marching orders, for though you are half a madman +you are whiles a man. There's the soul of a leader in you, and I would +keep you from the shame of leading men to hell. To-morrow morn you will +tell these folk that the Lord has revealed to you a better way, and by +noon you will be across the Shenandoah. D'you hear my word?" + +"Ay," he said. "We will march in the morning." + +"Can you lead them where you will?" + +His back stiffened, and the spirit of a general looked out of his eyes. + +"They will follow where I bid. There's no a man of them dare cheep at +what I tell them." + +"My work is done," I said. "I go to whence I came. And some day I shall +go to Cramond and tell Alison that John Gib is no disgrace to his kin." + +"Would you put up a prayer?" he said timidly. "I would be the better of +one." + +Then for the first and last time in my life I spoke aloud to my Maker +in another's presence, and it was surely the strangest petition ever +offered. + +"Lord," I prayed, "Thou seest Thy creature, John Gib, who by the +perverseness of his heart has come to the edge of grievous sin. Take +the cloud from his spirit, arrange his disordered wits, and lead him to +a wiser life. Keep him in mind of his own land, and of her who prays +for him. Guide him over hills and rivers to an enlarged country, and +make his arm strong against his enemies, so be they are not of his own +kin. And if ever he should hearken again to the devil, do Thou blast +his body with Thy fires, so that his soul may be saved." + +"Amen," said he, and I went out of the tent to find the grey dawn +beginning to steal up the sky. + +Shalah was waiting at the entrance, far inside the white stones. 'Twas +the first time I had ever seen him in a state approaching fear. + +"What fortune, brother?" he asked, and his teeth chattered. + +"The Tidewater is safe. This day they march westwards to look for their +new country." + +"Thy magic is as the magic of Heaven," he said reverently. "My heart +all night has been like water, for I know no charm which hath prevailed +against the mystery of the Panther." + +"'Twas no magic of mine," said I. "God spoke to him through my lips in +the night watches." + +We took our way unchallenged through the sleeping host till we had +climbed the scarp of the hills. + +"What brought you to the tent door?" I asked. + +"I abode there through the night, I heard the strife with the devils, +and my joints were loosened. Also I heard thy voice, brother, but I +knew not thy words." + +"But what did you mean to do?" I asked again. + +"It was in my mind to do my little best to see that no harm befell +thee. And if harm came, I had the thought of trying my knife on the +ribs of yonder magician." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +HOW THREE SOULS FOUND THEIR HERITAGE. + +In that hour I had none of the exhilaration of success. So strangely +are we mortals made that, though I had won safety for myself and my +people, I could not get the savour of it. I had passed too far beyond +the limits of my strength. Now that the tension of peril was gone, my +legs were like touchwood, which a stroke would shatter, and my foolish +head swam like a merry-go-round. Shalah's arm was round me, and he +lifted me up the steep bits till we came to the crown of the ridge. +There we halted, and he fed me with sops of bread dipped in eau-de-vie, +for he had brought Ringan's flask with him. The only result was to make +me deadly sick. I saw his eyes look gravely at me, and the next I knew +I was on his back. I begged him to set me down and leave me, and I +think I must have wept like a bairn. All pride of manhood had flown in +that sharp revulsion, and I had the mind of a lost child. + +As the light grew some strength came back to me, and presently I was +able to hobble a little on my rickety shanks. We kept the very crest of +the range, and came by and by to a promontory of clear ground, the +same, I fancy, from which I had first seen the vale of the Shenandoah. +There we rested in a nook of rock, while the early sun warmed us, and +the little vapours showed, us in glimpses the green depths and the +far-shining meadows. + +Shalah nudged my shoulder, and pointed to the south, where a glen +debouched from the hills. A stream of mounted figures was pouring out +of it, heading for the upper waters of the river where the valley +broadened again. For all my sickness my eyes were sharp enough to +perceive what manner of procession it was. All were on horseback, +riding in clouds and companies without the discipline of a march, but +moving as swift as a flight of wildfowl at twilight. Before the others +rode a little cluster of pathfinders, and among them I thought I could +recognize one taller than the rest. + +"Your magic hath prevailed, brother," Shalah said. "In an hour's time +they will have crossed the Shenandoah, and at nightfall they will camp +on the farther mountains." + +That sight gave me my first assurance of success. At any rate, I had +fulfilled my trust, and if I died in the hills Virginia would yet bless +her deliverer. + +And yet my strongest feeling was a wild regret. These folk were making +for the untravelled lands of the sunset. You would have said I had got +my bellyful of adventure, and should now have sought only a quiet life. +But in that moment of bodily weakness and mental confusion I was shaken +with a longing to follow them, to find what lay beyond the farthest +cloud-topped mountain, to cross the wide rivers, and haply to come to +the infinite and mystic Ocean of the West. + +"Would to God I were with them!" I sighed. + +"Will you come, brother?" Shalah whispered, a strange light in his +eyes. "If we twain joined the venture, I think we should not be the +last in it. Shalah would make you a king. What is your life in the +muddy Tidewater but a thing of little rivalries and petty wrangles and +moping over paper? The hearth will soon grow cold, and the bright eyes +of the fairest woman will dull with age, and the years will find you +heavy and slow, with a coward's shrinking from death. What say you, +brother? While the blood is strong in the veins shall we ride westward +on the path of a king?" + +His eyes were staring like a hawk's over the hills, and, light-headed +as I was, I caught the infection of his ardour. For, remember, I was so +low in spirit that all my hopes and memories were forgotten, and I was +in that blank apathy which is mastered by another's passion. For a +little the life of Virginia seemed unspeakably barren, and I quickened +at the wild vista which Shalah offered. I might be a king over a proud +people, carving a fair kingdom out of the wilderness, and ruling it +justly in the fear of God. These western Indians were the stuff of a +great nation. I, Andrew Garvald, might yet find that empire of which +the old adventurers dreamed. + +With shame I set down my boyish folly. It did not last, long, for to my +dizzy brain there came the air which Elspeth had sung, that song of +Montrose's which had been, as it were, the star of all my wanderings. + + "For, if Confusion have a part, + Which virtuous souls abhor--" + +Surely it was confusion that had now overtaken me. Elspeth's clear +voice, her dark, kind eyes, her young and joyous grace, filled again my +memory. Was not such a lady better than any savage kingdom? Was not the +service of my own folk nobler than any principate among strangers? +Could the rivers of Damascus vie with the waters of Israel? + +"Nay, Shalah," I said. "Mine is a quieter destiny. I go back to the +Tidewater, but I shall not stay there. We have found the road to the +hills, and in time I will plant the flag of my race on the Shenandoah." + +He bowed his head. "So be it. Each man to his own path, but I would +ours had run together. Your way is the way of the white man. You +conquer slowly, but the line of your conquest goes not back. Slowly it +eats its way through the forest, and fields and manors appear in the +waste places, and cattle graze in the coverts of the deer. Listen, +brother. Shalah has had his visions when his eyes were unsealed in the +night watches. He has seen the white man pressing up from the sea, and +spreading over the lands of his fathers. He has seen the glens of the +hills parcelled out like the meadows of Henricus, and a great multitude +surging ever on to the West. His race is doomed by God to perish before +the stranger; but not yet awhile, for the white man comes slowly. It +hath been told that the Children of the West Wind must seek their +cradle, and while there is time he would join them in that quest. The +white men follow upon their heels, but in his day and in that of his +son's sons they will lead their life according to the ancient ways. He +hath seen the wisdom of the stranger, and found among them men after +his own heart; but the Spirit of his fathers calls, and now he returns +to his own people." + +"What will you do there?" I asked. + +"I know not. I am still a prince among them, and will sway their +councils. It may be fated that I slay yonder magician and reign in his +stead." + +He got to his feet and looked proudly westward. + +"In a little I shall overtake them. But I would my brother had been of +my company." + +Slowly we travelled north along the crests, for though my mind was now +saner, I had no strength in my body. The hill mists came down on us, +and the rain drove up from the glens. I was happy now for all my +weakness, for I was lapped in a great peace. The raw weather, which had +once been a horror of darkness to me, was now something kindly and +homelike. The wet smells minded me of my own land, and the cool buffets +of the squalls were a tonic to my spirit. I wandered into pleasant +dreams, and scarce felt the roughness of the ground on my bare feet and +the aches in every limb. + +Long ere we got to the Gap I was clean worn out. I remember that I fell +constantly, and could scarcely rise. Then I stumbled, and the last +power went out of will and sinew. I had a glimpse of Shalah's grave +face as I slipped into unconsciousness. + +I woke in a glow of firelight. Faces surrounded me, dim wraith-like +figures still entangled in the meshes of my dreams. Slowly the scene +cleared, and I recognized Grey's features, drawn and constrained, and +yet welcoming. Bertrand was weeping after his excitable fashion. + +But there was a face nearer to me, and with that face in my memory I +went off into pleasant dreams. Somewhere in them mingled the words of +the old spaewife, that I should miss love and fortune in the sunshine +and find them in the rain. + +The strength of youth is like a branch of yew, for if it is bent it +soon straightens. By the third day I was on my feet again, with only +the stiffness of healing wounds to remind me of those desperate +passages. When I could look about me I found that men had arrived from +the Rappahannock, and among them Elspeth's uncle, who had girded on a +great claymore, and looked, for all his worn face and sober habit, a +mighty man of war. With them came news of the rout of the Cherokees, +who had been beaten by Nicholson's militia in Stafford county and +driven down the long line of the Border, paying toll to every stockade. +Midway Lawrence had fallen upon them and driven the remnants into the +hills above the head waters of the James. It would be many a day, I +thought, before these gentry would bring war again to the Tidewater. +The Rappahannock men were in high feather, convinced that they had +borne the brunt of the invasion. 'Twas no business of mine to enlighten +them, the more since of the three who knew the full peril, Shalah was +gone and Ringan was dead. My tale should be for the ear of Lawrence and +the Governor, and for none else. The peace of mind of Virginia should +not be broken by me. + +Grey came to me on the third morning to say good-bye. He was going back +to the Tidewater with some of the Borderers, for to stay longer with us +had become a torture to him. There was no ill feeling in his proud +soul, and he bore defeat as a gentleman should. + +"You have fairly won, Mr. Garvald," he said. "Three nights ago I saw +clearly revealed the inclination of the lady, and I am not one to +strive with an unwilling maid. I wish you joy of a great prize. You +staked high for it, and you deserve your fortune. As for me, you have +taught me much for which I owe you gratitude. Presently, when my heart +is less sore, I desire that we should meet in friendship, but till then +I need a little solitude to mend broken threads." + +There was the true gentleman for you, and I sorrowed that I should ever +have misjudged him. He shook my hand in all brotherliness, and went +down the glen with Bertrand, who longed to see his children again. + +Elspeth remained, and concerning her I fell into my old doubting mood. +The return of my strength had revived in me the passion which had dwelt +somewhere in my soul from, the hour she first sang to me in the rain. +She had greeted me as girl greets her lover, but was that any more than +the revulsion from fear and the pity of a tender heart? Doubts +oppressed me, the more as she seemed constrained and uneasy, her eyes +falling when she met mine, and her voice full no longer of its frank +comradeship. + +One afternoon we went to a place in the hills where the vale of the +Shenandoah could be seen. The rain had gone, and had left behind it a +taste of autumn. The hill berries were ripening, and a touch of flame +had fallen on the thickets. + +Soon the great valley lay below us, running out in a golden haze to the +far blue mountains. + +"Ah!" she sighed, like one who comes from a winter night into a firelit +room. She was silent, while her eyes drank in its spacious comfort. + +"That is your heritage, Elspeth. That is the birthday gift to which old +Studd's powder-flask is the key." + +"Nay, yours," she said, "for you won it." + +The words died on her lips, for her eyes were abstracted. My legs were +still feeble, and I had leaned a little on her strong young arm as we +came up the hill, but now she left me and climbed on a rock, where she +sat like a pixie. The hardships of the past had thinned her face and +deepened her eyes, but her grace was the more manifest. Fresh and dewy +as morning, yet with a soul of steel and fire--surely no lovelier +nymph ever graced a woodland. I felt how rough and common was my own +clay in contrast with her bright spirit. + +"Elspeth," I said hoarsely, "once I told you what was in my heart." + +Her face grew grave. "And have you not seen what is in mine?" she +asked. + +"I have seen and rejoiced, and yet I doubt." + +"But why?" she asked again. "My life is yours, for you have preserved +it. I would be graceless indeed if I did not give my best to you who +have given all for me." + +"It is not gratitude I want. If you are only grateful, put me out of +your thoughts, and I will go away and strive to forget you. There were +twenty in the Tidewater who would have done the like." + +She looked down on me from the rock with the old quizzing humour in her +eyes. + +"If gratitude irks you, sir, what would you have?" + +"All," I cried; "and yet, Heaven knows, I am not worth it. I am no man +to capture a fair girl's heart. My face is rude and my speech harsh, +and I am damnably prosaic. I have not Ringan's fancy, or Grey's +gallantry; I am sober and tongue-tied and uncouth, and my mind runs +terribly on facts and figures. O Elspeth, I know I am no hero of +romance, but a plain body whom Fate has forced into a month of +wildness. I shall go back to Virginia, and be set once more at my +accompts and ladings. Think well, my dear, for I will have nothing less +than all. Can you endure to spend your days with a homely fellow like +me?" + +"What does a woman desire?" she asked, as if from herself, and her +voice was very soft as she gazed over the valley. "Men think it is a +handsome face or a brisk air or a smooth tongue. And some will have it +that it is a deep purse or a high station. But I think it is the honest +heart that goes all the way with a woman's love. We are not so blind as +to believe that the glitter is the gold. We love romance, but we seek +it in its true home. Do you think I would marry you for gratitude, +Andrew?" + +"No," I said. + +"Or for admiration?" + +"No," said I. + +"Or for love?" + +"Yes," I said, with a sudden joy. + +She slipped from the rock, her eyes soft and misty. Her arms were about +my neck, and I heard from her the words I had dreamed of and yet scarce +hoped for, the words of the song sung long ago to a boy's ear, and +spoken now with the pure fervour of the heart--"My dear and only love." + +Years have flown since that day on the hills, and much has befallen; +but the prologue is the kernel of my play, and the curtain which rose +after that hour revealed things less worthy of chronicle. Why should I +tell of how my trade prospered mightily, and of the great house we +built at Middle Plantation; of my quarrels with Nicholson, which were +many; of how we carved a fair estate out of Elspeth's inheritance, and +led the tide of settlement to the edge of the hills? These things would +seem a pedestrian end to a high beginning. Nor would I weary the reader +with my doings in the Assembly, how I bearded more Governors than one, +and disputed stoutly with His Majesty's Privy Council in London. The +historian of Virginia--now by God's grace a notable land--may, +perhaps, take note of these things, but it is well for me to keep +silent. It is of youth alone that I am concerned to write, for it is a +comfort to my soul to know that once in my decorous progress through +life I could kick my heels and forget to count the cost; and as youth +cries farewell, so I end my story and turn to my accounts. + +Elspeth and I have twice voyaged to Scotland. The first time my uncle +and mother were still in the land of the living, but they died in the +same year, and on our second journey I had much ado in settling their +estates. My riches being now considerable, I turned my attention to the +little house of Auchencairn, which I enlarged and beautified, so that +if we have the wish we may take up our dwelling there. We have found in +the West a goodly heritage, but there is that in a man's birth place +which keeps tight fingers on his soul, and I think that we desire to +draw our last breath and lay our bones in our own grey country-side. +So, if God grants us length of days, we may haply return to Douglasdale +in the even, and instead of our noble forests and rich meadows, look +upon the bleak mosses and the rainy uplands which were our childhood's +memory. + +That is the fancy at the back of both our heads. But I am very sure +that our sons will be Virginians. + +THE END. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Salute to Adventurers, by John Buchan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALUTE TO ADVENTURERS *** + +***** This file should be named 10046.txt or 10046.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/4/10046/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Aldarondo, +Carol David and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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