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diff --git a/old/aovnn10.txt b/old/aovnn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d3ed0ff --- /dev/null +++ b/old/aovnn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13202 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Alice of Old Vincennes +by Maurice Thompson + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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You laughed at me when I became enthusiastic +regarding the possible historical importance at that ancient find, +alas! fragmentary epistle; but the old saying about the beatitude +of him whose cachinations are latest comes handy to me just now, +and I must remind you that "I told you so." True enough, it was +history pure and simple that I had in mind while enjoying the +large hospitality of your gulf-side home. Gaspard Roussillon's +letter then appealed to my greed for materials which would help +along the making of my little book "The Story of Louisiana." +Later, however, as my frequent calls upon you for both documents +and suggestions have informed you, I fell to strumming a different +guitar. And now to you I dedicate this historical romance of old +Vincennes, as a very appropriate, however slight, recognition of +your scholarly attainments, your distinguished career in a noble +profession, and your descent from one of the earliest French +families (if not the very earliest) long resident at that strange +little post on the Wabash, now one of the most beautiful cities +between the greet river and the ocean. + +Following, with ever tantalized expectancy, the broken and breezy +hints in the Roussillon letter, I pursued a will-o'-the-wisp, +here, there, yonder, until by slowly arriving increments I +gathered up a large amount of valuable facts, which when I came to +compare them with the history of Clark's conquest of the Wabash +Valley, fitted amazingly well into certain spaces heretofore left +open in that important yet sadly imperfect record. + +You will find that I was not so wrong in suspecting that Emile +Jazon, mentioned in the Roussillon letter, was a brother of Jean +Jazon and a famous scout in the time of Boone and Clark. He was, +therefore, a kinsman of yours on the maternal side, and I +congratulate you. Another thing may please you, the success which +attended my long and patient research with a view to clearing up +the connection between Alice Roussillon's romantic life, as +brokenly sketched in M. Roussillon's letter, and the capture of +Vincennes by Colonel George Rogers Clark. + +Accept, then, this book, which to those who care only for history +will seem but an idle romance, while to the lovers of romance it +may look strangely like the mustiest history. In my mind, and in +yours I hope, it will always be connected with a breezy summer- +house on a headland of the Louisiana gulf coast, the rustling of +palmetto leaves, the fine flash of roses, a tumult of mocking-bird +voices, the soft lilt of Creole patois, and the endless dash and +roar of a fragrant sea over which the gulls and pelicans never +ceased their flight, and beside which you smoked while I dreamed. + +MAURICE THOMPSON. +JULY, 1900. + + + + + +Contents + + I. Under the Cherry Tree + II. A Letter from Afar + III. The Rape of the Demijohn + IV. The First Mayor of Vincennes + V. Father Gibault + VI. A Fencing Bout + VII. The Mayor's Party + VIII. The Dilemma of Captain Helm + IX. The Honors of War + X. M. Roussillon Entertains Colonel Hamilton + XI. A Sword and a Horse Pistol + XII. Manon Lescaut, and a Rapier-Thrust + XIII. A Meeting in the Wilderness + XIV. A Prisoner of Love + XV. Virtue in a Locket + XVI. Father Beret's Old Battle + XVII. A March through Cold Water +XVIII. A Duel by Moonlight + XIX. The Attack + XX. Alice's Flag + XXI. Some Transactions in Scalps + XXII. Clark Advises Alice +XXIII. And So It Ended + + + + + +Alice of Old Vincennes + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +UNDER THE CHERRY TREE + + +Up to the days of Indiana's early statehood, probably as late as +1825, there stood, in what is now the beautiful little city of +Vincennes on the Wabash, the decaying remnant of an old and +curiously gnarled cherry tree, known as the Roussillon tree, le +cerisier de Monsieur Roussillon, as the French inhabitants called +it, which as long as it lived bore fruit remarkable for richness +of flavor and peculiar dark ruby depth of color. The exact spot +where this noble old seedling from la belle France flourished, +declined, and died cannot be certainly pointed out; for in the +rapid and happy growth of Vincennes many land-marks once notable, +among them le cerisier de Monsieur Roussillon, have been destroyed +and the spots where they stood, once familiar to every eye in old +Vincennes, are now lost in the pleasant confusion of the new town. + +The security of certain land titles may have largely depended upon +the disappearance of old, fixed objects here and there. Early +records were loosely kept, indeed, scarcely kept at all; many were +destroyed by designing land speculators, while those most +carefully preserved often failed to give even a shadowy trace of +the actual boundaries of the estates held thereby; so that the +position of a house or tree not infrequently settled an important +question of property rights left open by a primitive deed. At all +events the Roussillon cherry tree disappeared long ago, nobody +living knows how, and with it also vanished, quite as +mysteriously, all traces of the once important Roussillon estate. +Not a record of the name even can be found, it is said, in church +or county books. + +The old, twisted, gum-embossed cherry tree survived every other +distinguishing feature of what was once the most picturesque and +romantic place in Vincennes. Just north of it stood, in the early +French days, a low, rambling cabin surrounded by rude verandas +overgrown with grapevines. This was the Roussillon place, the most +pretentious home in all the Wabash country. Its owner was Gaspard +Roussillon, a successful trader with the Indians. He was rich, for +the time and the place, influential to a degree, a man of some +education, who had brought with him to the wilderness a bundle of +books and a taste for reading. + +From faded letters and dimly remembered talk of those who once +clung fondly to the legends and traditions of old Vincennes, it is +drawn that the Roussillon cherry tree stood not very far away from +the present site of the Catholic church, on a slight swell of +ground overlooking a wide marshy flat and the silver current of +the Wabash. If the tree grew there, then there too stood the +Roussillon house with its cosy log rooms, its clay-daubed chimneys +and its grapevine-mantled verandas, while some distance away and +nearer the river the rude fort with its huddled officers' quarters +seemed to fling out over the wild landscape, through its squinting +and lopsided port-holes, a gaze of stubborn defiance. + +Not far off was the little log church, where one good Father +Beret, or as named by the Indians, who all loved him, Father +Blackrobe, performed the services of his sacred calling; and +scattered all around were the cabins of traders, soldiers and +woodsmen forming a queer little town, the like of which cannot now +be seen anywhere on the earth. + +It is not known just when Vincennes was first founded; but most +historians make the probable date very early in the eighteenth +century, somewhere between 1710 and 1730. In 1810 the Roussillon +cherry tree was thought by a distinguished botanical letter- +writer to be at least fifty years old, which would make the date +of its planting about 1760. Certainly as shown by the time-stained +family records upon which this story of ours is based, it was a +flourishing and wide-topped tree in early summer of 1778, its +branches loaded to drooping with luscious fruit. So low did the +dark red clusters hang at one point that a tall young girl +standing on the ground easily reached the best ones and made her +lips purple with their juice while she ate them. + +That was long ago, measured by what has come to pass on the gentle +swell of rich country from which Vincennes overlooks the Wabash. +The new town flourishes notably and its appearance marks the +latest limit of progress. Electric cars in its streets, electric +lights in its beautiful homes, the roar of railway trains coming +and going in all directions, bicycles whirling hither and thither, +the most fashionable styles of equipages, from brougham to pony- +phaeton, make the days of flint-lock guns and buckskin trousers +seem ages down the past; and yet we are looking back over but a +little more than a hundred and twenty years to see Alice +Roussillon standing under the cherry tree and holding high a +tempting cluster of fruit, while a very short, hump-backed youth +looks up with longing eyes and vainly reaches for it. The tableau +is not merely rustic, it is primitive. "Jump!" the girl is saying +in French, "jump, Jean; jump high!" + +Yes, that was very long ago, in the days when women lightly braved +what the strongest men would shrink from now. + +Alice Roussillon was tall, lithe, strongly knit, with an almost +perfect figure, judging by what the master sculptors carved for +the form of Venus, and her face was comely and winning, if not +absolutely beautiful; but the time and the place were vigorously +indicated by her dress, which was of coarse stuff and simply +designed. Plainly she was a child of the American wilderness, a +daughter of old Vincennes on the Wabash in the time that tried +men's souls. + +"Jump, Jean!" she cried, her face laughing with a show of cheek- +dimples, an arching of finely sketched brows and the twinkling of +large blue-gray eyes. + +"Jump high and get them!" + +While she waved her sun-browned hand holding the cherries aloft, +the breeze blowing fresh from the southwest tossed her hair so +that some loose strands shone like rimpled flames. The sturdy +little hunchback did leap with surprising activity; but the +treacherous brown hand went higher, so high that the combined +altitude of his jump and the reach of his unnaturally long arms +was overcome. Again and again he sprang vainly into the air +comically, like a long-legged, squat-bodied frog. + +"And you brag of your agility and strength, Jean," she laughingly +remarked; "but you can't take cherries when they are offered to +you. What a clumsy bungler you are." + +"I can climb and get some," he said with a hideously happy grin, +and immediately embraced the bole of the tree, up which he began +scrambling almost as fast as a squirrel. + +When he had mounted high enough to be extending a hand for a hold +on a crotch, Alice grasped his leg near the foot and pulled him +down, despite his clinging and struggling, until his hands clawed +in the soft earth at the tree's root, while she held his captive +leg almost vertically erect. + +It was a show of great strength; but Alice looked quite +unconscious of it, laughing merrily, the dimples deepening in her +plump cheeks, her forearm, now bared to the elbow, gleaming white +and shapely while its muscles rippled on account of the jerking +and kicking of Jean. + +All the time she was holding the cherries high in her other hand, +shaking them by the twig to which their slender stems attached +them, and saying in a sweetly tantalizing tone: + +"What makes you climb downward after cherries. Jean? What a +foolish fellow you are, indeed, trying to grabble cherries out of +the ground, as you do potatoes! I'm sure I didn't suppose that you +knew so little as that." + +Her French was colloquial, but quite good, showing here and there +what we often notice in the speech of those who have been educated +in isolated places far from that babel of polite energies which we +call the world; something that may be described as a bookish cast +appearing oddly in the midst of phrasing distinctly rustic and +local,--a peculiarity not easy to transfer from one language to +another. + +Jean the hunchback was a muscular little deformity and a wonder of +good nature. His head looked unnaturally large, nestling +grotesquely between the points of his lifted and distorted +shoulders, like a shaggy black animal in the fork of a broken +tree. He was bellicose in his amiable way and never knew just when +to acknowledge defeat. How long he might have kept up the hopeless +struggle with the girl's invincible grip would be hard to guess. +His release was caused by the approach of a third person, who wore +the robe of a Catholic priest and the countenance of a man who had +lived and suffered a long time without much loss of physical +strength and endurance. + +This was Pere Beret, grizzly, short, compact, his face deeply +lined, his mouth decidedly aslant on account of some lost teeth, +and his eyes set deep under gray, shaggy brows. Looking at him +when his features were in repose a first impression might not have +been favorable; but seeing him smile or hearing him speak changed +everything. His voice was sweetness itself and his smile won you +on the instant. Something like a pervading sorrow always seemed to +be close behind his eyes and under his speech; yet he was a +genial, sometimes almost jolly, man, very prone to join in the +lighter amusements of his people. + +"Children, children, my children," he called out as he approached +along a little pathway leading up from the direction of the +church, "what are you doing now? Bah there, Alice, will you pull +Jean's leg off?" + +At first they did not hear him, they were so nearly deafened by +their own vocal discords. + +"Why are you standing on your head with your feet so high in air, +Jean?" he added. "It's not a polite attitude in the presence of a +young lady. Are you a pig, that you poke your nose in the dirt?" + +Alice now turned her bright head and gave Pere Beret a look of +frank welcome, which at the same time shot a beam of willful self- +assertion. + +"My daughter, are you trying to help Jean up the tree feet +foremost?" the priest added, standing where he had halted just +outside of the straggling yard fence. + +He had his hands on his hips and was quietly chuckling at the +scene before him, as one who, although old, sympathized with the +natural and harmless sportiveness of young people and would as +lief as not join in a prank or two. + +"You see what I'm doing, Father Beret," said Alice, "I am +preventing a great damage to you. You will maybe lose a good many +cherry pies and dumplings if I let Jean go. He was climbing the +tree to pilfer the fruit; so I pulled him down, you understand." + +"Ta, ta!" exclaimed the good man, shaking his gray head; "we must +reason with the child. Let go his leg, daughter, I will vouch for +him; eh, Jean?" + +Alice released the hunchback, then laughed gayly and tossed the +cluster of cherries into his hand, whereupon he began munching +them voraciously and talking at the same time. + +"I knew I could get them," he boasted; "and see, I have them now." +He hopped around, looking like a species of ill-formed monkey. + +Pere Beret came and leaned on the low fence close to Alice. She +was almost as tall as he. + +"The sun scorches to-day," he said, beginning to mop his furrowed +face with a red-flowered cotton handkerchief; "and from the look +of the sky yonder," pointing southward, "it is going to bring on a +storm. How is Madame Roussillon to-day?" + +"She is complaining as she usually does when she feels extremely +well," said Alice; "that's why I had to take her place at the oven +and bake pies. I got hot and came out to catch a bit of this +breeze. Oh, but you needn't smile and look greedy, Pere Beret, the +pies are not for your teeth!" + +"My daughter, I am not a glutton, I hope; I had meat not two hours +since--some broiled young squirrels with cress, sent me by Rene de +Ronville. He never forgets his old father." + +"Oh, I never forget you either, mon pere; I thought of you to-day +every time I spread a crust and filled it with cherries; and when +I took out a pie all brown and hot, the red juice bubbling out of +it so good smelling and tempting, do you know what I said to +myself?" + +"How could I know, my child?" + +"Well, I thought this: 'Not a single bite of that pie does Father +Beret get.'" + +"Why so, daughter?" + +"Because you said it was bad of me to read novels and told Mother +Roussillon to hide them from me. I've had any amount of trouble +about it." + +"Ta, ta! read the good books that I gave you. They will soon kill +the taste for these silly romances." + +"I tried," said Alice; "I tried very hard, and it's no use; your +books are dull and stupidly heavy. What do I care about something +that a queer lot of saints did hundreds of years ago in times of +plague and famine? Saints must have been poky people, and it is +poky people who care to read about them, I think. I like reading +about brave, heroic men and beautiful women, and war and love." + +Pere Beret looked away with a curious expression in his face, his +eyes half closed. + +"And I'll tell you now, Father Beret," Alice went on after a +pause, "no more claret and pies do you get until I can have my own +sort of books back again to read as I please." She stamped her +moccasin-shod foot with decided energy. + +The good priest broke into a hearty laugh, and taking off his cap +of grass-straw mechanically scratched his bald head. He looked at +the tall, strong girl before him for a moment or two, and it would +have been hard for the best physiognomist to decide just how much +of approval and how much of disapproval that look really +signified. + +Although, as Father Beret had said, the sun's heat was violent, +causing that gentle soul to pass his bundled handkerchief with a +wiping circular motion over his bald and bedewed pate, the wind +was momently freshening, while up from behind the trees on the +horizon beyond the river, a cloud was rising blue-black, tumbled, +and grim against the sky. + +"Well," said the priest, evidently trying hard to exchange his +laugh for a look of regretful resignation, "you will have your own +way, my child, and--" + +"Then you will have pies galore and no end of claret!" she +interrupted, at the same time stepping to the withe-tied and peg- +latched gate of the yard and opening it. "Come in, you dear, good +Father, before the rain shall begin, and sit with me on the +gallery" (the creole word for veranda) "till the storm is over." + +Father Beret seemed not loath to enter, albeit he offered a weak +protest against delaying some task he had in hand. Alice reached +forth and pulled him in, then reclosed the queer little gate and +pegged it. She caressingly passed her arm through his and looked +into his weather-stained old face with childlike affection. + +There was not a photographer's camera to be had in those days; but +what if a tourist with one in hand could have been there to take a +snapshot at the priest and the maiden as they walked arm in arm to +that squat little veranda! The picture to-day would be worth its +weight in a first-water diamond. It would include the cabin, the +cherry-tree, a glimpse of the raw, wild background and a sharp +portrait-group of Pere Beret, Alice, and Jean the hunchback. To +compare it with a photograph of the same spot now would give a +perfect impression of the historic atmosphere, color and +conditions which cannot be set in words. But we must not belittle +the power of verbal description. What if a thoroughly trained +newspaper reporter had been given the freedom of old Vincennes on +the Wabash during the first week of June, 1778, and we now had his +printed story! What a supplement to the photographer's pictures! +Well, we have neither photographs nor graphic report; yet there +they are before us, the gowned and straw-capped priest, the fresh- +faced, coarsely-clad and vigorous girl, the grotesque little +hunchback, all just as real as life itself. Each of us can see +them, even with closed eyes. Led by that wonderful guide, +Imagination, we step back a century and more to look over a scene +at once strangely attractive and unspeakably forlorn. + +What was it that drew people away from the old countries, from the +cities, the villages and the vineyards of beautiful France, for +example, to dwell in the wilderness, amid wild beasts and wilder +savage Indians, with a rude cabin for a home and the exposures and +hardships of pioneer life for their daily experience? + +Men like Gaspard Roussillon are of a distinct stamp. Take him as +he was. Born in France, on the banks of the Rhone near Avignon, he +came as a youth to Canada, whence he drifted on the tide of +adventure this way and that, until at last he found himself, with +a wife, at Post Vincennes, that lonely picket of religion and +trade, which was to become the center of civilizing energy for the +great Northwestern Territory. M. Roussillon had no children of his +own; so his kind heart opened freely to two fatherless and +motherless waifs. These were Alice, now called Alice Roussillon, +and the hunchback, Jean. The former was twelve years old, when he +adopted her, a child of Protestant parents, while Jean had been +taken, when a mere babe, after his parents had been killed and +scalped by Indians. Madame Roussillon, a professed invalid, whose +appetite never failed and whose motherly kindness expressed itself +most often through strains of monotonous falsetto scolding, was a +woman of little education and no refinement; while her husband +clung tenaciously to his love of books, especially to the romances +most in vogue when he took leave of France. + +M. Roussillon had been, in a way, Alice's teacher, though not +greatly inclined to abet Father Beret in his kindly efforts to +make a Catholic of the girl, and most treacherously disposed +toward the good priest in the matter of his well-meant attempts to +prevent her from reading and re-reading the aforesaid romances. +But for many weeks past Gaspard Roussillon had been absent from +home, looking after his trading schemes with the Indians; and Pere +Beret acting on the suggestion of the proverb about the absent cat +and the playing mouse, had formed an alliance offensive and +defensive with Madame Roussillon, in which it was strictly +stipulated that all novels and romances were to be forcibly taken +and securely hidden away from Mademoiselle Alice; which, to the +best of Madame Roussillon's ability, had accordingly been done. + +Now, while the wind strengthened and the softly booming summer +shower came on apace, the heavy cloud lifting as it advanced and +showing under it the dark gray sheet of the rain, Pere Beret and +Alice sat under the clapboard roof behind the vines of the veranda +and discussed, what was generally uppermost in the priest's mind +upon such occasions, the good of Alice's immortal soul,--a subject +not absorbingly interesting to her at any time. + +It was a standing grief to the good old priest, this strange +perversity of the girl in the matter of religious duty, as he saw +it. True she had a faithful guardian in Gaspard Roussillon; but, +much as he had done to aid the church's work in general, for he +was always vigorous and liberal, he could not be looked upon as a +very good Catholic; and of course his influence was not effective +in the right direction. But then Pere Beret saw no reason why, in +due time and with patient work, aided by Madame Roussillon and +notwithstanding Gaspard's treachery, he might not safely lead +Alice, whom he loved as a dear child, into the arms of the Holy +Church, to serve which faithfully, at all hazards and in all +places, was his highest aim. + +"Ah, my child," he was saying, "you are a sweet, good girl, after +all, much better than you make yourself out to be. Your duty will +control you; you do it nobly at last, my child." + +"True enough, Father Beret, true enough!" she responded, laughing, +"your perception is most excellent, which I will prove to you +immediately." + +She rose while speaking and went into the house. + +"I'll return in a minute or two," she called back from a region +which Pere Beret well knew was that of the pantry; "don't get +impatient and go away!" + +Pere Beret laughed softly at the preposterous suggestion that he +would even dream of going out in the rain, which was now roaring +heavily on the loose board roof, and miss a cut of cherry pie--a +cherry pie of Alice's making! And the Roussillon claret, too, was +always excellent. "Ah, child," he thought, "your old Father is not +going away." + + She presently returned, bearing on a wooden tray a ruby-stained +pie and a short, stout bottle flanked by two glasses. + +"Of course I'm better than I sometimes appear to be," she said, +almost humbly, but with mischief still in her voice and eyes, "and +I shall get to be very good when I have grown old. The sweetness +of my present nature is in this pie." + +She set the tray on a three-legged stool which she pushed close to +him. + +"There now," she said, "let the rain come, you'll be happy, rain +or shine, while the pie and wine last, I'll be bound." + +Pere Beret fell to eating right heartily, meantime handing Jean a +liberal piece of the luscious pie. + +"It is good, my daughter, very good, indeed," the priest remarked +with his mouth full. "Madame Roussillon has not neglected your +culinary education." Alice filled a glass for him. It was Bordeaux +and very fragrant. The bouquet reminded him of his sunny boyhood +in France, of his journey up to Paris and of his careless, joy- +brimmed youth in the gay city. How far away, how misty, yet how +thrillingly sweet it all was! He sat with half closed eyes awhile, +sipping and dreaming. + +The rain lasted nearly two hours; but the sun was out again when +Pere Beret took leave of his young friend. They had been having +another good-natured quarrel over the novels, and Madame +Roussillon had come out on the veranda to join in. + +"I've hidden every book of them," said Madame, a stout and swarthy +woman whose pearl-white teeth were her only mark of beauty. Her +voice indicated great stubbornness. + +"Good, good, you have done your very duty, Madame," said Pere +Beret, with immense approval in his charming voice. + +"But, Father, you said awhile ago that I should have my own way +about this," Alice spoke up with spirit; "and on the strength of +that remark of yours I gave you the pie and wine. You've eaten my +pie and swigged the wine, and now--" + +Pere Beret put on his straw cap, adjusting it carefully over the +shining dome out of which had come so many thoughts of wisdom, +kindness and human sympathy. This done, he gently laid a hand on +Alice's bright crown of hair and said: + +"Bless you, my child. I will pray to the Prince of Peace for you +as long as I live, and I will never cease to beg the Holy Virgin +to intercede for you and lead you to the Holy Church." + +He turned and went away; but when he was no farther than the gate, +Alice called out: + +"O Father Beret, I forgot to show you something!" + +She ran forth to him and added in a low tone: + +"You know that Madame Roussillon has hidden all the novels from +me." + +She was fumbling to get something out of the loose front of her +dress. + +"Well, just take a glance at this, will you?" and she showed him a +little leather bound volume, much cracked along the hinges of the +back. + +It was Manon Lescaut, that dreadful romance by the famous Abbe +Prevost. + +Pere Beret frowned and went his way shaking his head; but before +he reached his little hut near the church he was laughing in spite +of himself. + +"She's not so bad, not so bad," he thought aloud, "it's only her +young, independent spirit taking the bit for a wild run. In her +sweet soul she is as good as she is pure." + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A LETTER FROM AFAR + + +Although Father Beret was for many years a missionary on the +Wabash, most of the time at Vincennes, the fact that no mention of +him can be found in the records is not stranger than many other +things connected with the old town's history. He was, like nearly +all the men of his calling in that day, a self-effacing and modest +hero, apparently quite unaware that he deserved attention. He and +Father Gibault, whose name is so beautifully and nobly connected +with the stirring achievements of Colonel George Rogers Clark, +were close friends and often companions. Probably Father Gibault +himself, whose fame will never fade, would have been to-day as +obscure as Father Beret, but for the opportunity given him by +Clark to fix his name in the list of heroic patriots who assisted +in winning the great Northwest from the English. + +Vincennes, even in the earliest days of its history, somehow kept +up communication and, considering the circumstances, close +relations with New Orleans. It was much nearer Detroit; but the +Louisiana colony stood next to France in the imagination and +longing of priests, voyageurs, coureurs de bois and reckless +adventurers who had Latin blood in their veins. Father Beret first +came to Vincennes from New Orleans, the voyage up the Mississippi, +Ohio, and Wabash, in a pirogue, lasting through a whole summer and +far into the autumn. Since his arrival the post had experienced +many vicissitudes, and at the time in which our story opens the +British government claimed right of dominion over the great +territory drained by the Wabash, and, indeed, over a large, +indefinitely outlined part of the North American continent lying +above Mexico; a claim just then being vigorously questioned, +flintlock in hand, by the Anglo-American colonies. + +Of course the handful of French people at Vincennes, so far away +from every center of information, and wholly occupied with their +trading, trapping and missionary work, were late finding out that +war existed between England and her colonies. Nor did it really +matter much with them, one way or another. They felt secure in +their lonely situation, and so went on selling their trinkets, +weapons, domestic implements, blankets and intoxicating liquors to +the Indians, whom they held bound to them with a power never +possessed by any other white dwellers in the wilderness. Father +Beret was probably subordinate to Father Gibault. At all events +the latter appears to have had nominal charge of Vincennes, and it +can scarcely be doubted that he left Father Beret on the Wabash, +while he went to live and labor for a time at Kaskaskia beyond the +plains of Illinois. + +It is a curious fact that religion and the power of rum and brandy +worked together successfully for a long time in giving the French +posts almost absolute influence over the wild and savage men by +whom they were always surrounded. The good priests deprecated the +traffic in liquors and tried hard to control it, but soldiers of +fortune and reckless traders were in the majority, their interests +taking precedence of all spiritual demands and carrying everything +along. What could the brave missionaries do but make the very best +of a perilous situation? + +In those days wine was drunk by almost everybody, its use at table +and as an article of incidental refreshment and social pleasure +being practically universal; wherefore the steps of reform in the +matter of intemperance were but rudimentary and in all places +beset by well-nigh insurmountable difficulties. In fact the +exigencies of frontier life demanded, perhaps, the very stimulus +which, when over indulged in, caused so much evil. Malaria loaded +the air, and the most efficacious drugs now at command were then +undiscovered or could not be had. Intoxicants were the only +popular specific. Men drank to prevent contracting ague, drank +again, between rigors, to cure it, and yet again to brace +themselves during convalescence. + +But if the effect of rum as a beverage had strong allurement for +the white man, it made an absolute slave of the Indian, who never +hesitated for a moment to undertake any task, no matter how hard, +bear any privation, even the most terrible, or brave any danger, +although it might demand reckless desperation, if in in the end a +well filled bottle or jug appeared as his reward. + +Of course the traders did not overlook such a source of power. +Alcoholic liquor became their implement of almost magical work in +controlling the lives, labors, and resources of the Indians. The +priests with their captivating story of the Cross had a large +influence in softening savage natures and averting many an awful +danger; but when everything else failed, rum always came to the +rescue of a threatened French post. + +We need not wonder, then, when we are told that Father Beret made +no sign of distress or disapproval upon being informed of the +arrival of a boat loaded with rum, brandy or gin. It was Rene de +Ronville who brought the news, the same Rene already mentioned as +having given the priest a plate of squirrels. He was sitting on +the doorsill of Father Beret's hut, when the old man reached it +after his visit at the Roussillon home, and held in his hand a +letter which he appeared proud to deliver. + +"A batteau and seven men, with a cargo of liquor, came during the +rain," he said, rising and taking off his curious cap, which, made +of an animal's skin, had a tail jauntily dangling from its crown- +tip; "and here is a letter for you, Father. The batteau is from +New Orleans. Eight men started with it; but one went ashore to +hunt and was killed by an Indian." + +Father Beret took the letter without apparent interest and said: + +"Thank you, my son, sit down again; the door-log is not wetter +than the stools inside; I will sit by you." + +The wind had driven a flood of rain into the cabin through the +open door, and water twinkled in puddles here and there on the +floor's puncheons. They sat down side by side, Father Beret +fingering the letter in an absent-minded way. + +"There'll be a jolly time of it to-night," Rene de Ronville +remarked, "a roaring time." + +"Why do you say that, my son?" the priest demanded. + +"The wine and the liquor," was the reply; "much drinking will be +done. The men have all been dry here for some time, you know, and +are as thirsty as sand. They are making ready to enjoy themselves +down at the river house." + +"Ah, the poor souls!" sighed Father Beret, speaking as one whose +thoughts were wandering far away. + +"Why don't you read your letter, Father?" Rene added. + +The priest started, turned the soiled square of paper over in his +hand, then thrust it inside his robe. + +"It can wait," he said. Then, changing his voice; "the squirrels +you gave me were excellent, my son. It was good of you to think of +me," he added, laying his hand on Rene's arm. + +"Oh, I'm glad if I have pleased you, Father Beret, for you are so +kind to me always, and to everybody. When I killed the squirrels I +said to myself: 'These are young, juicy and tender, Father Beret +must have these,' so I brought them along." + +The young man rose to go; for he was somehow impressed that Father +Beret must wish opportunity to read his letter, and would prefer +to be left alone with it. But the priest pulled him down again. + +"Stay a while," he said, "I have not had a talk with you for some +time." + +Rene looked a trifle uneasy. + +"You will not drink any to-night, my son," Father Beret added. +"You must not; do you hear?" + +The young man's eyes and mouth at once began to have a sullen +expression; evidently he was not pleased and felt rebellious; but +it was hard for him to resist Father Beret, whom he loved, as did +every soul in the post. The priest's voice was sweet and gentle, +yet positive to a degree. Rene did not say a word. + +"Promise me that you will not taste liquor this night," Father +Beret went on, grasping the young man's arm more firmly; "promise +me, my son, promise me." + +Still Rene was silent. The men did not look at each other, but +gazed away across the country beyond the Wabash to where a glory +from the western sun flamed on the upper rim of a great cloud +fragment creeping along the horizon. Warm as the day had been, a +delicious coolness now began to temper the air; for the wind had +shifted into the northwest. A meadowlark sang dreamingly in the +wild grass of the low lands hard by, over which two or three +prairie hawks hovered with wings that beat rapidly. + +"Eh bien, I must go," said Rene presently, getting to his feet +nimbly and evading Father Beret's hand which would have held him. + +"Not to the river house, my son?" said the priest appealingly. + +"No, not there; I have another letter; one for M'sieu' Roussillon; +it came by the boat too. I go to give it to Madame Roussillon." + +Rene de Ronville was a dark, weather-stained young fellow, neither +tall nor short, wearing buckskin moccasins, trousers and tunic. +His eyes were dark brown, keen, quick-moving, set well under heavy +brows. A razor had probably never touched his face, and his thin, +curly beard crinkled over his strongly turned cheeks and chin, +while his moustaches sprang out quite fiercely above his full- +lipped, almost sensual mouth. He looked wiry and active, a man not +to be lightly reckoned with in a trial of bodily strength and will +power. + +Father Beret's face and voice changed on the instant. He laughed +dryly and said, with a sly gleam in his eyes: + +"You could spend the evening pleasantly with Madame Roussillon and +Jean. Jean, you know, is a very amusing fellow." + +Rene brought forth the letter of which he had spoken and held it +up before Father Beret's face. + +"Maybe you think I haven't any letter for M'sieu' Roussillon," he +blurted; "and maybe you are quite certain that I am not going to +the house to take the letter." + +"Monsieur Roussillon is absent, you know," Father Beret suggested. +"But cherry pies are just as good while he's gone as when he's at +home, and I happen to know that there are some particularly +delicious ones in the pantry of Madame Roussillon. Mademoiselle +Alice gave me a juicy sample; but then I dare say you do not care +to have your pie served by her hand. It would interfere with your +appetite; eh, my son?" + +Rene turned short about wagging his head and laughing, and so with +his back to the priest he strode away along the wet path leading +to the Roussillon place. + +Father Beret gazed after him, his face relaxing to a serious +expression in which a trace of sadness and gloom spread like an +elusive twilight. He took out his letter, but did not glance at +it, simply holding it tightly gripped in his sinewy right hand. +Then his old eyes stared vacantly, as eyes do when their sight is +cast back many, many years into the past. The missive was from +beyond the sea--he knew the handwriting--a waft of the flowers of +Avignon seemed to rise out of it, as if by the pressure of his +grasp. + +A stoop-shouldered, burly man went by, leading a pair of goats, a +kid following. He was making haste excitedly, keeping the goats at +a lively trot. + +"Bon jour, Pere Beret," he flung out breezily, and walked rapidly +on. + +"Ah, ah; his mind is busy with the newly arrived cargo," thought +the old priest, returning the salutation; "his throat aches for +the liquor,--the poor man." + +Then he read again the letter's superscription and made a +faltering move, as if to break the seal. His hands trembled +violently, his face looked gray and drawn. + +"Come on, you brutes," cried the receding man, jerking the thongs +of skin by which he led the goats. + +Father Beret rose and turned into his damp little hut, where the +light was dim on the crucifix hanging opposite the door against +the clay-daubed wall. It was a bare, unsightly, clammy room; a +rude bed on one side, a shelf for table and two or three wooden +stools constituting the furniture, while the uneven puncheons of +the floor wabbled and clattered under the priest's feet. + +An unopened letter is always a mysterious thing. We who receive +three or four mails every day, scan each little paper square with +a speculative eye. Most of us know what sweet uncertainty hangs on +the opening of envelopes whose contents may be almost anything +except something important, and what a vague yet delicious thrill +comes with the snip of the paper knife; but if we be in a foreign +land and long years absent from home, then is a letter subtly +powerful to move us, even more before it is opened than after it +is read. + +It had been many years since a letter from home had come to Father +Beret. The last, before the one now in his hand, had made him ill +of nostalgia, fairly shaking his iron determination never to quit +for a moment his life work as a missionary. Ever since that day he +had found it harder to meet the many and stern demands of a most +difficult and exacting duty. Now the mere touch of the paper in +his hand gave him a sense of returning weakness, dissatisfaction, +and longing. The home of his boyhood, the rushing of the Rhone, a +seat in a shady nook of the garden, Madeline, his sister, +prattling beside him, and his mother singing somewhere about the +house--it all came back and went over him and through him, making +his heart sink strangely, while another voice, the sweetest ever +heard--but she was ineffable and her memory a forbidden fragrance. + +Father Beret tottered across the forlorn little room and knelt +before the crucifix holding his clasped hands high, the letter +pressed between than. His lips moved in prayer, but made no sound; +his whole frame shook violently. + +It would be unpardonable desecration to enter the chamber of +Father Beret's soul and look upon his sacred and secret trouble; +nor must we even speculate as to its particulars. The good old man +writhed and wrestled before the cross for a long time, until at +last he seemed to receive the calmness and strength he prayed for +so fervently; then he rose, tore the letter into pieces so small +that not a word remained whole, and squeezed them so firmly +together that they were compressed into a tiny, solid ball, which +he let fall through a crack between the floor puncheons. After +waiting twenty years for that letter, hungry as his heart was, he +did not even open it when at last it arrived. He would never know +what message it bore. The link between him and the old sweet days +was broken forever. Now with God's help he could do his work to +the end. + +He went and stood in his doorway, leaning against the side. Was it +a mere coincidence that the meadowlark flew up just then from its +grass-tuft, and came to the roof's comb overhead, where it lit +with a light yet audible stroke of its feet and began fluting its +tender, lonesome-sounding strain? If Father Beret heard it he gave +no sign of recognition; very likely he was thinking about the +cargo of liquor and how he could best counteract its baleful +influence. He looked toward the "river house," as the inhabitants +had named a large shanty, which stood on a bluff of the Wabash not +far from where the road-bridge at present crosses, and saw men +gathering there. + +Meantime Rene de Ronville had delivered Madame Roussillon's letter +with due promptness. Of course such a service demanded pie and +claret. What still better pleased him, Alice chose to be more +amiable than was usually her custom when he called. They sat +together in the main room of the house where M. Roussillon kept +his books, his curiosities of Indian manufacture collected here +and there, and his surplus firearms, swords, pistols, and knives, +ranged not unpleasingly around the walls. + +Of course, along with the letter, Rene bore the news, so +interesting to himself, of the boat's tempting cargo just +discharged at the river house. Alice understood her friend's +danger--felt it in the intense enthusiasm of his voice and manner. +She had once seen the men carousing on a similar occasion when she +was but a child, and the impression then made still remained in +her memory. Instinctively she resolved to hold Rene by one means +or another away from the river house if possible. So she managed +to keep him occupied eating pie, sipping watered claret and +chatting until night came on and Madame Roussillon brought in a +lamp. Then he hurriedly snatched his cap from the floor beside him +and got up to go. + +"Come and look at my handiwork," Alice quickly said; "my shelf of +pies, I mean." She led him to the pantry, where a dozen or more of +the cherry pates were ranged in order. "I made every one of them +this morning and baked them; had them all out of the oven before +the rain came up. Don't you think me a wonder of cleverness and +industry? Father Beret was polite enough to flatter me; but you-- +you just eat what you want and say nothing! You are not polite, +Monsieur Rene de Ronville." + +"I've been showing you what I thought of your goodies," said Rene; +"eating's better than talking, you know; so I'll just take one +more," and he helped himself. "Isn't that compliment enough?" + +"A few such would make me another hot day's work," she replied, +laughing. "Pretty talk would be cheaper and more satisfactory in +the long run. Even the flour in these pates I ground with my own +hand in an Indian mortar. That was hard work too." + +By this time Rene had forgotten the river house and the liquor. +With softening eyes he gazed at Alice's rounded cheeks and sheeny +hair over which the light from the curious earthen lamp she bore +in her hand flickered most effectively. He loved her madly; but +his fear of her was more powerful than his love. She gave him no +opportunity to speak what he felt, having ever ready a quick, +bright change of mood and manner when she saw him plucking up +courage to address her in a sentimental way. Their relations had +long been somewhat familiar, which was but natural, considering +their youth and the circumstances of their daily life; but Alice +somehow had kept a certain distance open between them, so that +very warm friendship could not suddenly resolve itself into a +troublesome passion on Rene's part. + +We need not attempt to analyze a young girl's feeling and motives +in such a case; what she does and what she thinks are mysteries +even to her own understanding. The influence most potent in +shaping the rudimentary character of Alice Tarleton (called +Roussillon) had been only such as a lonely frontier post could +generate. Her associations with men and women had, with few +exceptions, been unprofitable in an educational way, while her +reading in M. Roussillon's little library could not have given her +any practical knowledge of manners and life. + +She was fond of Rene de Ronville, and it would have been quite in +accordance with the law of ordinary human forces, indeed almost +the inevitable thing, for her to love and marry him in the +fullness of time; but her imagination was outgrowing her +surroundings. Books had given her a world of romance wherein she +moved at will, meeting a class of people far different from those +who actually shared her experiences. Her day-dreams and her night- +dreams partook much more of what she had read and imagined than of +what she had seen and heard in the raw little world around her. + +Her affection for Rene was interfered with by her large admiration +for the heroic, masterful and magnetic knights who charged through +the romances of the Roussillon collection. For although Rene was +unquestionably brave and more than passably handsome, he had no +armor, no war-horse, no shining lance and embossed shield--the +difference, indeed, was great. + +Those who love to contend against the fatal drift of our age +toward over-education could find in Alice Tarleton, foster +daughter of Gaspard Roussillon, a primitive example, an elementary +case in point. What could her book education do but set up +stumbling blocks in the path of happiness? She was learning to +prefer the ideal to the real. Her soul was developing itself as +best it could for the enjoyment of conditions and things +absolutely foreign to the possibilities of her lot in life. + +Perhaps it was the light and heat of imagination, shining out +through Alice's face, which gave her beauty such a fascinating +power. Rene saw it and felt its electrical stroke send a sweet +shiver through his heart, while he stood before her. + +"You are very beautiful to-night Alice," he presently said, with a +suddenness which took even her alertness by surprise. A flush rose +to his dark face and immediately gave way to a grayish pallor. His +heart came near stopping on the instant, he was so shocked by his +own daring; but he laid a hand on her hair, stroking it softly. + +Just a moment she was at a loss, looking a trifle embarrassed, +then with a merry laugh she stepped aside and said: + +"That sounds better, Monsieur Rene de Ronville much better; you +will be as polite as Father Beret after a little more training." + +She slipped past him while speaking and made her way back again to +the main room, whence she called to him: + +"Come here, I've something to show you." + +He obeyed, a sheepish trace on his countenance betraying his self- +consciousness. + +When he came near Alice she was taking from its buckhorn hook on +the wall a rapier, one of a beautiful pair hanging side by side. + +"Papa Roussillon gave me these," she said with great animation. +"He bought them of an Indian who had kept them a long time; where +he came across them he would not tell; but look how beautiful! Did +you ever see anything so fine?" + +Guard and hilt were of silver; the blade, although somewhat +corroded, still showed the fine wavy lines of Damascus steel and +traces of delicate engraving, while in the end of the hilt was set +a large oval turquoise. + +"A very queer present to give a girl," said Rene; "what can you do +with them?" + +A captivating flash of playfulness came into her face and she +sprang backward, giving the sword a semicircular turn with her +wrist. The blade sent forth a keen hiss as it cut the air close, +very close to Rene's nose. He jerked his head and flung up his +hand. + +She laughed merrily, standing beautifully poised before him, the +rapier's point slightly elevated. Her short skirt left her feet +and ankles free to show their graceful proportions and the perfect +pose in which they held her supple body. + +"You see what I can do with the colechemarde, eh, Monsieur Rene de +Ronville!" she exclaimed, giving him a smile which fairly blinded +him. "Notice how very near to your neck I can thrust and yet not +touch it. Now!" + +She darted the keen point under his chin and drew it away so +quickly that the stroke was like a glint of sunlight. + +"What do you think of that as a nice and accurate piece of skill?" + +She again resumed her pose, the right foot advanced, the left arm +well back, her lissome, finely developed body leaning slightly +forward. + +Rene's hands were up before his face in a defensive position, +palms outward. + +Just then a chorus of men's voices sounded in the distance. The +river house was beginning its carousal with a song. Alice let fall +her sword's point and listened. + +Rene looked about for his cap. + +"I must be going," he said. + +Another and louder swish of the rapier made him pirouette and +dodge again with great energy. + +"Don't," he cried, "that's dangerous; you'll put out my eyes; I +never saw such a girl!" + +She laughed at him and kept on whipping the air dangerously near +his eyes, until she had driven him backward as far as he could +squeeze himself into a comer of the room. + +Madame Roussillon came to the door from the kitchen and stood +looking in and laughing, with her hands on her hips. By this time +the rapier was making a criss-cross pattern of flashing lines +close to the young man's head while Alice, in the enjoyment of her +exercise, seemed to concentrate all the glowing rays of her beauty +in her face, her eyes dancing merrily. + +"Quit, now, Alice," he begged, half in fun and half in abject +fear; "please quit--I surrender!" + +She thrust to the wall on either side of him, then springing +lightly backward a pace, stood at guard. Her thick yellow hair had +fallen over her neck and shoulders in a loose wavy mass, out of +which her face beamed with a bewitching effect upon her captive. + +Rene, glad enough to have a cessation of his peril, stood laughing +dryly; but the singing down at the river house was swelling louder +and he made another movement to go. + +"You surrendered, you remember," cried Alice, renewing the sword- +play; "sit down on the chair there and make yourself comfortable. +You are not going down yonder to-night; you are going to stay here +and talk with me and Mother Roussillon; we are lonesome and you +are good company." + +A shot rang out keen and clear; there was a sudden tumult that +broke up the distant singing; and presently more firing at varying +intervals cut the night air from the direction of the river. + +Jean, the hunchback, came in to say that there was a row of some +sort; he had seen men running across the common as if in pursuit +of a fugitive; but the moonlight was so dim that he could not be +sure what it all meant. + +Rene picked up his cap and bolted out of the house. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE RAPE OF THE DEMIJOHN + + +The row down at the river house was more noise than fight, so far +as results seemed to indicate. It was all about a small dame +jeanne of fine brandy, which an Indian by the name of Long-Hair +had seized and run off with at the height of the carousal. He must +have been soberer than his pursuers, or naturally fleeter; for not +one of them could catch him, or even keep long in sight of him. +Some pistols were emptied while the race was on, and two or three +of the men swore roundly to having seen Long-Hair jump sidewise +and stagger, as if one of the shots had taken effect. But, +although the moon was shining, he someway disappeared, they could +not understand just how, far down beside the river below the fort +and the church. + +It was not a very uncommon thing for an Indian to steal what he +wanted, and in most cases light punishment followed conviction; +but it was felt to be a capital offense for an Indian or anybody +else to rape a demijohn of fine brandy, especially one sent as a +present, by a friend in New Orleans, to Lieutenant Governor +Abbott, who had until recently been the commandant of the post. +Every man at the river house recognized and resented the enormity +of Long-Hair's crime and each was, for the moment, ready to be his +judge and his executioner. He had broken at once every rule of +frontier etiquette and every bond of sympathy. Nor was Long-Hair +ignorant of the danger involved in his daring enterprise. He had +beforehand carefully and stolidly weighed all the conditions, and +true to his Indian nature, had concluded that a little wicker +covered bottle of brandy was well worth the risk of his life. So +he had put himself in condition for a great race by slipping out +and getting rid of his weapons and all surplus weight of clothes. + +This incident brought the drinking bout at the river house to a +sudden end; but nothing further came of it that night, and no +record of it would be found in these pages, but for the fact that +Long-Hair afterwards became an important character in the stirring +historical drama which had old Vincennes for its center of energy. + +Rene de Ronville probably felt himself in bad luck when he arrived +at the river house just too late to share in the liquor or to join +in chasing the bold thief. He listened with interest, however, to +the story of Long-Hair's capture of the commandant's demijohn and +could not refrain from saying that if he had been present there +would have been a quite different result. + +"I would have shot him before he got to that door," he said, +drawing his heavy flint-lock pistol and going through the motions +of one aiming quickly and firing. Indeed, so vigorously in earnest +was he with the pantomime, that he actually did fire, +unintentionally of course,--the ball burying itself in the door- +jamb. + +He was laughed at by those present for being more excited than +they who witnessed the whole thing. One of them, a leathery-faced +and grizzled old sinner, leered at him contemptuously and said in +queer French, with a curious accent caught from long use of +backwoods English: + +"Listen how the boy brags! Ye might think, to hear Rene talk, that +he actually amounted to a big pile." + +This personage was known to every soul in Vincennes as Oncle +Jazon, and when Oncle Jazon spoke the whole town felt bound to +listen. + +"An' how well he shoots, too," he added with an intolerable wink; +"aimed at the door and hit the post. Certainly Long-Hair would +have been in great danger! O yes, he'd 'ave killed Long-Hair at +the first shot, wouldn't he though!" + +Oncle Jazon had the air of a large man, but the stature of a small +one; in fact he was shriveled bodily to a degree which suggested +comparison with a sun-dried wisp of hickory bark; and when he +chuckled, as he was now doing, his mouth puckered itself until it +looked like a scar on his face. From cap to moccasins he had every +mark significant of a desperate character; and yet there was about +him something that instantly commanded the confidence of rough +men,--the look of self-sufficiency and superior capability always +to be found in connection with immense will power. His sixty years +of exposure, hardship, and danger seemed to have but toughened his +physique and strengthened his vitality. Out of his small hazel +eyes gleamed a light as keen as ice. + +"All right, Oncle Jazon," said Rene laughing and blowing the smoke +out of his pistol; "'twas you all the same who let Long-Hair trot +off with the Governor's brandy, not I. If you could have hit even +a door-post it might have been better." + +Oncle Jazon took off his cap and looked down into it in a way he +had when about to say something final. + +"Ventrebleu! I did not shoot at Long-Hair at all," he said, +speaking slowly, "because the scoundrel was unarmed. He didn't +have on even a knife, and he was havin' enough to do dodgin' the +bullets that the rest of 'em were plumpin' at 'im without any +compliments from me to bother 'im more." + +"Well," Rene replied, turning away with a laugh, "if I'd been +scalped by the Indians, as you have, I don't think there would be +any particular reason why I should wait for an Indian thief to go +and arm himself before I accepted him as a target." + +Oncle Jazon lifted a hand involuntarily and rubbed his scalpless +crown; then he chuckled with a grotesque grimace as if the +recollection of having his head skinned were the funniest thing +imaginable. + +"When you've killed as many of 'em as Oncle Jazon has," remarked a +bystander to Rene, "you'll not be so hungry for blood, maybe." + +"Especially after ye've took fifty-nine scalps to pay for yer +one," added Oncle Jazon, replacing his cap over the hairless area +of his crown. + +The men who had been chasing Long-Hair, presently came straggling +back with their stories--each had a distinct one--of how the +fugitive escaped. They were wild looking fellows, most of them +somewhat intoxicated, all profusely liberal with their stock of +picturesque profanity. They represented the roughest element of +the well-nigh lawless post. + +"I'm positive that he's wounded," said one. "Jacques and I shot at +him together, so that our pistols sounded just as if only one had +been fired--bang! that way--and he leaped sideways for all the +world like a bird with a broken leg. I thought he'd fall; but ve! +he ran faster'n ever, and all at once he was gone; just +disappeared." + +"Well, to-morrow we'll get him," said another. "You and I and +Jacques, we'll take up his trail, the thief, and follow him till +we find him. He can't get off so easy." + +"I don't know so well about that," said another; "it's Long-Hair, +you must remember, and Long-Hair is no common buck that just +anybody can find asleep. You know what Long-Hair is. Nobody's ever +got even with 'im yet. That's so, ain't it? Just ask Oncle Jazon, +if you don't believe it!" + +The next morning Long-Hair was tracked to the edge. He had been +wounded, but whether seriously or not could only be conjectured. A +sprinkle of blood, here and there quite a dash of it, reddened the +grass and clumps of weeds he had run through, and ended close to +the water into which it looked as if he had plunged with a view to +baffling pursuit. Indeed pursuit was baffled. No further trace +could be found, by which to follow the cunning fugitive. Some of +the men consoled themselves by saying, without believing, that +Long-Hair was probably lying drowned at the bottom of the river. + +"Pas du tout," observed Oncle Jazon, his short pipe askew far over +in the corner of his mouth, "not a bit of it is that Indian +drowned. He's jes' as live as a fat cat this minute, and as drunk +as the devil. He'll get some o' yer scalps yet after he's guzzled +all that brandy and slep' a week." + +It finally transpired that Oncle Jazon was partly right and partly +wrong. Long-Hair was alive, even as a fat cat, perhaps; but not +drunk, for in trying to swim with the rotund little dame jeanne +under his arm he lost hold of it and it went to the bottom of the +Wabash, where it may be lying at this moment patiently waiting for +some one to fish it out of its bed deep in the sand and mud, and +break the ancient wax from its neck! + +Rene de Ronville, after the chase of Long-Hair had been given +over, went to tell Father Beret what had happened, and finding the +priest's hut empty turned into the path leading to the Roussillon +place, which was at the head of a narrow street laid out in a +direction at right angles to the river's course. He passed two or +three diminutive cabins, all as much alike as bee-hives. Each had +its squat veranda and thatched or clapboarded roof held in place +by weight-poles ranged in roughly parallel rows, and each had the +face of the wall under its veranda neatly daubed with a grayish +stucco made of mud and lime. You may see such houses today in some +remote parts of the creole country of Louisiana. + +As Rene passed along he spoke with a gay French freedom to the +dames and lasses who chanced to be visible. His air would be +regarded as violently brigandish in our day; we might even go so +far as to think his whole appearance comical. His jaunty cap with +a tail that wagged as he walked, his short trousers and leggins of +buckskin, and his loose shirt-like tunic, drawn in at the waist +with a broad belt, gave his strong figure just the dash of +wildness suited to the armament with which it was weighted. A +heavy gun lay in the hollow of his shoulder under which hung an +otter-skin bullet-pouch with its clear powder-horn and white bone +charger. In his belt were two huge flint-lock pistols and a long +case-knife. + +"Bon jour, Ma'm'selle Adrienne," he cheerily called, waving his +free hand in greeting to a small, dark lass standing on the step +of a veranda and indolently swinging a broom. "Comment allez-vous +auj ourd'hui?" + +"J'm'porte tres bien, merci, Mo'sieu Rene," was the quick +response; "et vous?" + +"Oh, I'm as lively as a cricket." + +"Going a hunting?" + +"No, just up here a little way--just on business--up to Mo'sieu +Roussillon's for a moment." + +"Yes," the girl responded in a tone indicative of something very +like spleen, "yes, undoubtedly, Mo'sieu de Ronville; your business +there seems quite pressing of late. I have noticed your +industrious application to that business." + +"Ta-ta, little one," he wheedled, lowering his voice; "you mustn't +go to making bug-bears out of nothing." + +"Bug-bears!" she retorted, "you go on about your business and I'll +attend to mine," and she flirted into the house. + +Rene laughed under his breath, standing a moment as if expecting +her to come out again; but she did not, and he resumed his walk +singing softly-- + +"Elle a les joues vermeilles, vermeilles, Ma belle, ma belle +petite." + +But ten to one he was not thinking of Madamoiselle Adrienne +Bourcier. His mind, however, must have been absorbingly occupied; +for in the straight, open way he met Father Beret and did not see +him until he came near bumping against the old man, who stepped +aside with astonishing agility and said-- + +"Dieu vous benisse, mon fils; but what is your great hurry--where +can you be going in such happy haste?" Rene did not stop to parley +with the priest. He flung some phrase of pleasant greeting back +over his shoulder as he trudged on, his heart beginning a tattoo +against his ribs when the Roussillon place came in sight, and he +took hold of his mustache to pull it, as some men must do in +moments of nervousness and bashfulness. If sounds ever have color, +the humming in his ears was of a rosy hue; if thoughts ever exhale +fragrance, his brain overflowed with the sweets of violet and +heliotrope. + +He had in mind what he was going to say when Alice and he should +be alone together. It was a pretty speech, he thought; indeed a +very thrilling little speech, by the way it stirred his own nerve- +centers as he conned it over. + +Madame Roussillon met him at the door in not a very good humor. + +"Is Mademoiselle Alice here?" he ventured to demand. + +"Alice? no, she's not here; she's never here just when I want her +most. V'la le picbois et la grive--see the woodpecker and the +robin--eating the cherries, eating every one of them, and that +girl running off somewhere instead of staying here and picking +them," she railed in answer to the young man's polite inquiry. "I +haven't seen her these four hours, neither her nor that rascally +hunchback, Jean. They're up to some mischief, I'll be bound!" + +Madame Roussillon puffed audibly between phrases; but she suddenly +became very mild when relieved of her tirade. + +"Mais entrez," she added in a pleasant tone, "come in and tell me +the news." + +Rene's disappointment rushed into his face, but he managed to +laugh it aside. + +"Father Beret has just been telling me," said Madame Roussillon, +"that our friend Long-Hair made some trouble last night. How about +it?" + +Rene told her what he knew and added that Long-Hair would +probably never be seen again. + +"He was shot, no doubt of it," he went on, "and is now being +nibbled by fish and turtles. We tracked him by his blood to where +he jumped into the Wabash. He never came out." + +Strangely enough it happened that, at the very time of this chat +between Madame Roussillon and Rene Alice was bandaging Long-Hair's +wounded leg with strips of her apron. It was under some willows +which overhung the bank of a narrow and shallow lagoon or slough, +which in those days extended a mile or two back into the country +on the farther side of the river. Alice and Jean went over in a +pirogue to see if the water lilies, haunting a pond there, were +yet beginning to bloom. They landed at a convenient spot some +distance up the little lagoon, made the boat fast by dragging its +prow high ashore, and were on the point of setting out across a +neck of wet, grassy land to the pond, when a deep grunt, not +unlike that of a self-satisfied pig, attracted them to the +willows, where they discovered Long-Hair, badly wounded, weltering +in some black mud. + +His hiding-place was cunningly chosen, save that the mire troubled +him, letting him down by slow degrees, and threatening to engulf +him bodily; and he was now too weak to extricate himself. He +lifted his head and glared. His face was grimy, his hair matted +with mud. Alice, although brave enough and quite accustomed to +startling experiences, uttered a cry when she saw those snaky eyes +glistening so savagely amid the shadows. But Jean was quick to +recognize Long-Hair; he had often seen him about town, a figure +not to be forgotten. + +"They've been hunting him everywhere," he said in a half whisper +to Alice, clutching the skirt of her dress. "It's Long-Hair, the +Indian who stole the brandy; I know him." + +Alice recoiled a pace or two. + +"Let's go back and tell 'em," Jean added, still whispering, "they +want to kill him; Oncle Jazon said so. Come on!" + +He gave her dress a jerk; but she did not move any farther back; +she was looking at the blood oozing from a wound in the Indian's +leg. + +"He is shot, he is hurt, Jean, we must help him," she presently +said, recovering her self-control, yet still pale. "We must get +him out of that bad place." + +Jean caught Alice's merciful spirit with sympathetic readiness, +and showed immediate willingness to aid her. + +It was a difficult thing to do; but there was a will and of course +a way. They had knives with which they cut willows to make a +standing place on the mud. While they were doing this they spoke +friendly words to Long-Hair, who understood French a little, and +at last they got hold of his arms, tugged, rested, tugged again, +and finally managed to help him to a dry place, still under the +willows, where he could lie more at ease. Jean carried water in +his cap with which they washed the wound and the stolid savage +face. Then Alice tore up her cotton apron, in which she had hoped +to bear home a load of lilies, and with the strips bound the wound +very neatly. It took a long time, during which the Indian remained +silent and apparently quite indifferent. + +Long-Hair was a man of superior physique, tall, straight, with the +muscles of a Vulcan; and while he lay stretched on the ground half +clad and motionless, he would have been a grand model for an +heroic figure in bronze. Yet from every lineament there came a +strange repelling influence, like that from a snake. Alice felt +almost unbearable disgust while doing her merciful task; but she +bravely persevered until it was finished. + +It was now late in the afternoon, and the sun would be setting +before they could reach home. + +"We must hurry back, Jean," Alice said, turning to depart. "It +will be all we can do to reach the other side in daylight. I'm +thinking that they'll be out hunting for us too, if we don't move +right lively. Come." + +She gave the Indian another glance when she had taken but a step. +He grunted and held up something in his hand--something that shone +with a dull yellow light. It was a small, oval, gold locket which +she had always worn in her bosom. She sprang and snatched it from +his palm. + +"Thank you," she exclaimed, smiling gratefully. "I am so glad you +found it." + +The chain by which the locket had hung was broken, doubtless by +some movement while dragging Long-Hair out of the mud, and the +lid had sprung open, exposing a miniature portrait of Alice, +painted when she was a little child, probably not two years old. +It was a sweet baby face, archly bright, almost surrounded with a +fluff of golden hair. The neck and the upper line of the plump +shoulders, with a trace of richly delicate lace and a string of +pearls, gave somehow a suggestion of patrician daintiness. + +Long-Hair looked keenly into Alice's eyes, when she stooped to +take the locket from his hand, but said nothing. + +She and Jean now hurried away, and, so vigorously did they paddle +the pirogue, that the sky was yet red in the west when they +reached home and duly received their expected scolding from Madame +Roussillon. + +Alice sealed Jean's lips as to their adventure; for she had made +up her mind to save Long-Hair if possible, and she felt sure that +the only way to do it would be to trust no one but Father Beret. + +It turned out that Long-Hair's wound was neither a broken bone nor +a cut artery. The flesh of his leg, midway between the hip and the +knee, was pierced; the bullet had bored a neat hole clean through. +Father Beret took the case in hand, and with no little surgical +skill proceeded to set the big Indian upon his feet again. The +affair had to be cleverly managed. Food, medicines and clothing +were surreptitiously borne across the river; a bed of grass was +kept fresh under Long-Hair's back; his wound was regularly +dressed; and finally his weapons--a tomahawk, a knife, a strong +bow and a quiver of arrows--which he had hidden on the night of +his bold theft, were brought to him. + +"Now go and sin no more," said good Father Beret; but he well knew +that his words were mere puffs of articulate wind in the ear of +the grim and silent savage, who limped away with an air of stately +dignity into the wilderness. + +A load fell from Alice's mind when Father Beret informed her of +Long-Hair's recovery and departure. Day and night the dread lest +some of the men should find out his hiding-place and kill him had +depressed and worried her. And now, when it was all over, there +still hovered like an elusive shadow in her consciousness a vague +haunting impression of the incident's immense significance as an +influence in her life. To feel that she had saved a man from death +was a new sensation of itself; but the man and the circumstances +were picturesque; they invited imagination; they furnished an +atmosphere of romance dear to all young and healthy natures, and +somehow stirred her soul with a strange appeal. + +Long-Hair's imperturbable calmness, his stolid, immobile +countenance, the mysterious reptilian gleam of his shifty black +eyes, and the soulless expression always lurking in them, kept a +fascinating hold on the girl's memory. They blended curiously with +the impressions left by the romances she had read in M. +Roussillon's mildewed books. + +Long-Hair was not a young man; but it would have been impossible +to guess near his age. His form and face simply showed long +experience and immeasurable vigor. Alice remembered with a +shuddering sensation the look he gave her when she took the locket +from his hand. It was of but a second's duration, yet it seemed to +search every nook of her being with its subtle power. + +Romancers have made much of their Indian heroes, picturing them as +models of manly beauty and nobility; but all fiction must be taken +with liberal pinches of salt. The plain truth is that dark savages +of the pure blood often do possess the magnetism of perfect +physical development and unfathomable mental strangeness; but real +beauty they never have. Their innate repulsiveness is so great +that, like the snake's charm, it may fascinate; yet an +indescribable, haunting disgust goes with it. And, after all, if +Alice had been asked to tell just how she felt toward the Indian +she had labored so hard to save, she would promptly have said: + +"I loathe him as I do a toad!" + +Nor would Father Beret, put to the same test, have made a +substantially different confession. His work, to do which his life +went as fuel to fire, was training the souls of Indians for the +reception of divine grace; but experience had not changed his +first impression of savage character. When he traveled in the +wilderness he carried the Word and the Cross; but he was also +armed with a gun and two good pistols, not to mention a dangerous +knife. The rumor prevailed that Father Beret could drive a nail at +sixty yards with his rifle, and at twenty snuff a candle with +either one of his pistols. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FIRST MAYOR OF VINCENNES + + +Governor Abbott probably never so much as heard of the dame jeanne +of French brandy sent to him by his creole friend in New Orleans. +He had been gone from Vincennes several months when the batteau +arrived, having been recalled to Detroit by the British +authorities; and he never returned. Meantime the little post with +its quaint cabins and its dilapidated block-house, called Fort +Sackville, lay sunning drowsily by the river in a blissful state +of helplessness from the military point of view. There was no +garrison; the two or three pieces of artillery, abandoned and +exposed, gathered rust and cobwebs, while the pickets of the +stockade, decaying and loosened in the ground by winter freezes +and summer rains, leaned in all directions, a picture of decay and +inefficiency. + +The inhabitants of the town, numbering about six hundred, lived +very much as pleased them, without any regular municipal +government, each family its own tribe, each man a law unto +himself; yet for mutual protection, they all kept in touch and had +certain common rights which were religiously respected and +defended faithfully. A large pasturing ground was fenced in where +the goats and little black cows of the villagers browsed as one +herd, while the patches of wheat, corn and vegetables were not +inclosed at all. A few of the thriftier and more important +citizens, however, had separate estates of some magnitude, +surrounding their residences, kept up with care and, if the time +and place be taken into account, with considerable show of taste. + +Monsieur Gaspard Roussillon was looked upon as the aristocrat par +excellence of Vincennes, notwithstanding the fact that his name +bore no suggestion of noble or titled ancestry. He was rich and in +a measure educated; moreover the successful man's patent of +leadership, a commanding figure and a suave manner, came always to +his assistance when a crisis presented itself. He traded shrewdly, +much to his own profit, but invariably with the excellent result +that the man, white or Indian, with whom he did business felt +himself especially favored in the transaction. By the exercise of +firmness, prudence, vast assumption, florid eloquence and a kindly +liberality he had greatly endeared himself to the people; so that +in the absence of a military commander he came naturally to be +regarded as the chief of the town, Mo'sieu' le maire. + +He returned from his extended trading expedition about the middle +of July, bringing, as was his invariable rule, a gift for Alice. +This time it was a small, thin disc of white flint, with a hole in +the center through which a beaded cord of sinew was looped. The +edge of the disc was beautifully notched and the whole surface +polished so that it shone like glass, while the beads, made of +very small segments of porcupine quills, were variously dyed, +making a curiously gaudy show of bright colors. + +"There now, ma cherie, is something worth fifty times its weight +in gold," said M. Roussillon when he presented the necklace to his +foster daughter with pardonable self-satisfaction. "It is a sacred +charm-string given me by an old heathen who would sell his soul +for a pint of cheap rum. He solemnly informed me that whoever wore +it could not by any possibility be killed by an enemy." + +Alice kissed M. Roussillon. + +"It's so curious and beautiful," she said, holding it up and +drawing the variegated string through her fingers. Then, with her +mischievous laugh, she added; "and I'm glad it is so powerful +against one's enemy; I'll wear it whenever I go where Adrienne +Bourcier is, see if I don't!" + +"Is she your enemy? What's up between you and la petite Adrienne, +eh?" M. Roussillon lightly demanded. "You were always the best of +good friends, I thought. What's happened?" + +"Oh, we are good friends," said Alice, quickly, "very good +friends, indeed; I was but chaffing." + +"Good friends, but enemies; that's how it is with women. Who's the +young man that's caused the coolness? I could guess, maybe!" He +laughed and winked knowingly. "May I be so bold as to name him at +a venture?" + +"Yes, if you'll be sure to mention Monsieur Rene de Ronville," she +gayly answered. "Who but he could work Adrienne up into a perfect +green mist of jealousy?" + +"He would need an accomplice, I should imagine; a young lady of +some beauty and a good deal of heartlessness." + +"Like whom, for example?" and she tossed her bright head. "Not me, +I am sure." + +"Poh! like every pretty maiden in the whole world, ma petite +coquette; they're all alike as peas, cruel as blue jays and as +sweet as apple-blossoms." He stroked her hair clumsily with his +large hand, as a heavy and roughly fond man is apt to do, adding +in an almost serious tone: + +"But my little girl is better than most of them, not a foolish +mischief-maker, I hope." + +Alice was putting her head through the string of beads and letting +the translucent white disc fall into her bosom. + +"It's time to change the subject," she said; "tell me what you +have seen while away. I wish I could go far off and see things. +Have you been to Detroit, Quebec, Montreal?" + +"Yes, I've been to all, a long, hard journey, but reasonably +profitable. You shall have a goodly dot when you get married, my +child." + +"And did you attend any parties and balls?" she inquired quickly, +ignoring his concluding remark. "Tell me about them. How do the +fine ladies dress, and do they wear their hair high with great big +combs? Do they have long skirts and--" + +"Hold up, you double-tongued chatterbox!" he interrupted; "I can't +answer forty questions at once. Yes, I danced till my legs ached +with women old and girls young; but how could I remember how they +were dressed and what their style of coiffure was? I know that +silk rustled and there was a perfume of eau de Cologne and +mignonette and my heart expanded and blazed while I whirled like a +top with a sweet lady in my arms." + +"Yes, you must have cut a ravishing figure!" interpolated Madame +Roussillon with emphatic disapproval, her eyes snapping. "A bull in +a lace shop. How delighted the ladies must have been!" + +"Never saw such blushing faces and burning glances--such +fluttering breasts, such--" + +"Big braggart," Madame Roussillon broke in contemptuously, "it's a +piastre to a sou that you stood gawping in through a window while +gentlemen and ladies did the dancing. I can imagine how you looked +--I can!" and with this she took her prodigious bulk at a waddling +gait out of the room. "I remember how you danced even when you +were not clumsy as a pig on ice!" she shrieked back over her +shoulder. + +"Parbleu! true enough, my dear," he called after her, "I should +think you could--you mind how we used trip it together. You were +the prettiest dancer them all, and the young fellows all went to +the swords about you!" + +"But tell me more," Alice insisted; "I want to know about what you +saw in the great towns--in the fine houses--how the ladies looked, +how they acted--what they said--the dresses they wore--how--" + +"Ciel! you will split my ears, child; can't you fill my pipe and +bring it to me with a coal on it? Then I'll try to tell you what I +can," he cried, assuming a humorously resigned air. "Perhaps if I +smoke I can remember everything." + +Alice gladly ran to do what he asked. Meantime Jean was out on the +gallery blowing a flute that M. Roussillon had brought him from +Quebec. + +The pipe well filled and lighted apparently did have the effect to +steady and encourage M. Roussillon's memory; or if not his memory, +then his imagination, which was of that fervid and liberal sort +common to natives of the Midi, and which has been exquisitely +depicted by the late Alphonse Daudet in Tartarin and Bompard. He +leaned far back in a strong chair, with his massive legs stretched +at full length, and gazed at the roof-poles while he talked. + +He sympathized fully, in his crude way, with Alice's lively +curiosity, and his affection for her made him anxious to appease +her longing after news from the great outside world. If the sheer +truth must come out, however, he knew precious little about that +world, especially the polite part of it in which thrived those +femininities so dear to the heart of an isolated and imaginative +girl. Still, as he, too, lived in Arcadia, there was no great +effort involved when he undertook to blow a dreamer's flute. + +In the first place he had not been in Quebec or Montreal during +his absence from home. Most of the time he had spent disposing of +pelts and furs at Detroit and in extending his trading relations +with other posts; but what mattered a trifling want of facts when +his meridional fancy once began to warm up? A smattering of social +knowledge gained at first hand in his youthful days in France +while he was a student whose parents fondly expected him to +conquer the world, came to his aid, and besides he had saturated +himself all his life with poetry and romance. Scudery, Scarron, +Prevost, Madame La Fayette and Calprenede were the chief sources +of his information touching the life and manners, morals and +gayeties of people who, as he supposed, stirred the surface of +that resplendent and far-off ocean called society. Nothing suited +him better than to smoke a pipe and talk about what he had seen +and done; and the less he had really seen and done the more he had +to tell. + +His broad, almost over-virile, kindly and contented face beamed +with the warmth of wholly imaginary recollections while he +recounted with minute circumstantiality to the delighted Alice his +gallant adventures in the crowded and brilliant ball-rooms of the +French-Canadian towns. The rolling burr of his bass voice, deep +and resonant, gave force to the improvised descriptions. + +Madame Roussillon heard the heavy booming and presently came +softly back into the door from the kitchen to listen. She leaned +against the facing in an attitude of ponderous attention, a hand, +on her bulging hip. She could not suppress her unbounded +admiration of her liege lord's manly physique, and jealous to +fierceness as she was of his experiences so eloquently and +picturesquely related, her woman's nature took fire with enjoyment +of the scenes described. + +This is the mission of the poet and the romancer--to sponge out +of existence, for a time, the stiff, refractory, and unlovely +realities and give in their place a scene of ideal mobility and +charm. The two women reveled in Gaspard Roussillon's revelations. +They saw the brilliant companies, the luxurious surroundings, +heard the rustle of brocade and the fine flutter of laces, the hum +of sweet voices, breathed in the wafts of costly perfumeries, +looked on while the dancers whirled and flickered in the confusion +of lights; and over all and through all poured and vibrated such +ravishing music as only the southern imagination could have +conjured up out of nothing. + +Alice was absolutely charmed. She sat on a low wooden stool and +gazed into Gaspard Roussillon's face with dilating eyes in which +burned that rich and radiant something we call a passionate soul. +She drank in his flamboyant stream of words with a thirst which +nothing but experience could ever quench. He felt her silent +applause and the admiring involuntary absorption that possessed +his wife; the consciousness of his elementary magnetism augmented +the flow of his fine descriptions, and he went on and on, until +the arrival of Father Beret put an end to it all. + +The priest, hearing of M. Roussillon's return, had come to inquire +about some friends living at Detroit. He took luncheon with the +family, enjoying the downright refreshing collation of broiled +birds, onions, meal-cakes and claret, ending with a dish of +blackberries and cream. + +M. Roussillon seized the first opportunity to resume his +successful romancing, and presently in the midst of the meal began +to tell Father Beret about what he had seen in Quebec. + +"By the way," he said, with expansive casualness in his voice, "I +called upon your old-time friend and co-adjutor, Father +Sebastien, while up there. A noble old man. He sent you a thousand +good messages. Was mightily delighted when I told him how happy +and hale you have always been here. Ah, you should have seen his +dear old eyes full of loving tears. He would walk a hundred miles +to see you, he said, but never expected to in this world. +Blessings, blessings upon dear Father Beret, was what he murmured +in my ear when we were parting. He says that he will never leave +Quebec until he goes to his home above--ah!" + +The way in which M. Roussillon closed his little speech, his large +eyes upturned, his huge hands clasped in front of him, was very +effective. + +"I am under many obligations, my son," said Father Beret, "for +what you tell me. It was good of you to remember my dear old +friend and go to him for his loving messages to me. I am very, +very thankful. Help me to another drop of wine, please." + +Now the extraordinary feature of the situation was that Father +Beret had known positively for nearly five years that Father +Sebastien was dead and buried. + +"Ah, yes," M. Roussillon continued, pouring the claret with one +hand and making a pious gesture with the other; "the dear old man +loves you and prays for you; his voice quavers whenever he speaks +of you." + +"Doubtless he made his old joke to you about the birth-mark on my +shoulder," said Father Beret after a moment of apparently +thoughtful silence. "He may have said something about it in a +playful way, eh?" + +"True, true, why yes, he surely mentioned the same," assented M. +Roussillon, his face assuming an expression of confused memory; +"it was something sly and humorous, I mind; but it just escapes my +recollection. A right jolly old boy is Father Sebastien; indeed +very amusing at times." + +"At times, yes," said Father Beret, who had no birth-mark on his +shoulder, and had never had one there, or on any other part of his +person. + +"How strange!" Alice remarked, "I, too, have a mark on my +shoulder--a pink spot, just like a small, five-petaled flower. We +must be of kin to each other, Father Beret." + +The priest laughed. + +"If our marks are alike, that would be some evidence of kinship," +he said. + +"But what shape is yours, Father?" + +"I've never seen it," he responded. + +"Never seen it! Why?" + +"Well, it's absolutely invisible," and he chuckled heartily, +meantime glancing shrewdly at M. Roussillon out of the tail of his +eye. + +"It's on the back part of his shoulder," quickly spoke up M. +Roussillon, "and you know priests never use looking-glasses. The +mark is quite invisible therefore, so far as Father Beret is +concerned!" + +"You never told me of your birth-mark before, my daughter," said +Father Beret, turning to Alice with sudden interest. "It may some +day be good fortune to you." + +"Why so, Father?" + +"If your family name is really Tarleton, as you suppose from the +inscription on your locket, the birth-mark, being of such singular +shape, would probably identify you. It is said that these marks +run regularly in families. With the miniature and the +distinguishing birth-mark you have enough to make a strong case +should you once find the right Tarleton family." + +"You talk as they write in novels," said Alice. "I've read about +just such things in them. Wouldn't it be grand if I should turn +out to be some great personage in disguise!" + +The mention of novels reminded Father Beret of that terrible book, +Manon Lescaut, which he last saw in Alice's possession, and he +could not refrain from mentioning it in a voice that shuddered. + +"Rest easy, Father Beret," said Alice; "that is one novel I have +found wholly distasteful to me. I tried to read it, but could not +do it, I flung it aside in utter disgust. You and mother +Roussillon are welcome to hide it deep as a well, for all I care. +I don't enjoy reading about low, vile people and hopeless +unfortunates; I like sweet and lovely heroines and strong, high- +souled, brave heroes." + +"Read about the blessed saints, then, my daughter; you will find +in them the true heroes and heroines of this world," said Father +Beret. + +M. Roussillon changed the subject, for he always somehow dreaded +to have the good priest fall into the strain of argument he was +about to begin. A stray sheep, no matter how refractory, feels a +touch of longing when it hears the shepherd's voice. M. Roussillon +was a Catholic, but a straying one, who avoided the confessional +and often forgot mass. Still, with all his reckless independence, +and with all his outward show of large and breezy self- +sufficiency, he was not altogether free from the hold that the +church had laid upon him in childhood and youth. Moreover, he was +fond of Father Beret and had done a great deal for the little +church of St. Xavier and the mission it represented; but he +distinctly desired to be let alone while he pursued his own +course; and he had promised the dying woman who gave Alice to him +that the child should be left as she was, a Protestant, without +undue influence to change her from the faith of her parents. This +promise he had kept with stubborn persistence and he meant to keep +it as long as he lived. Perhaps the very fact that his innermost +conscience smote him with vague yet telling blows at times for +this departure from the strict religion of his fathers, may have +intensified his resistance of the influence constantly exerted +upon Alice by Father Beret and Madame Roussillon, to bring her +gently but surely to the church. Perverseness is a force to be +reckoned with in all original characters. + +A few weeks had passed after M. Roussillon's return, when that +big-hearted man took it into his head to celebrate his successful +trading ventures with a moonlight dance given without reserve to +all the inhabitants of Vincennes. It was certainly a democratic +function that he contemplated, and motley to a most picturesque +extent. + +Rene de Ronville called upon Alice a day or two previous to the +occasion and duly engaged her as his partenaire; but she insisted +upon having the engagement guarded in her behalf by a condition so +obviously fanciful that he accepted it without argument. + +"If my wandering knight should arrive during the dance, you +promise to stand aside and give place to him," she stipulated. +"You promise that? You see I'm expecting him all the time. I +dreamed last night that he came on a great bay horse and, +stooping, whirled me up behind the saddle, and away we went!" + +There was a childish, half bantering air in her look; but her +voice sounded earnest and serious, notwithstanding its delicious +timbre of suppressed playfulness. + +"You promise me?" she insisted. + +"Oh, I promise to slink away into a corner and chew my thumb, the +moment he comes," Rene eagerly assented. "Of course I'm taking a +great risk, I know; for lords and barons and knights are very apt +to appear Suddenly in a place like this." + +"You may banter and make light if you want to," she said, pouting +admirably. "I don't care. All the same the laugh will jump to the +other corner of your mouth, see if it doesn't. They say that what +a person dreams about and wishes for and waits for and believes +in, will come true sooner or later." + +"If that's so," said Rene, "you and I will get married; for I've +dreamed it every night of the year, wished for it, waited for it +and believed in it, and--" + +It was a madly sudden rush. He made it on an impulse quite +irresistible, as hypnotized persons are said to do in response to +the suggestion of the hypnotist, and his heart was choking his +throat before he could end his speech. Alice interrupted him with +a hearty burst of laughter. + +"A very pretty twist you give to my words, I must declare," she +said; "but not new by any means. Little Adrienne Bourcier could +tell you that. She says that you have vowed to her over and over +that you dream about her, and wish for her, and wait for her, +precisely as you have just said to me," + +Rene's brown face flushed to the temples, partly with anger, +partly with the shock of mingled surprise and fear. He was guilty, +and the guilt showed in his eyes and paralyzed his tongue, so that +he sat there before Alice with his under jaw sagging ludicrously. + +"Don't you rather think, Monsieur Rene de Ronville," she presently +added in a calmly advisory tone, "that you had better quit trying +to say such foolish things to me, and just be my very good friend? +If you don't, I do, which comes to the same thing. What's more, I +won't be your partenaire at the dance unless you promise me on +your word of honor that you will dance two dances with Adrienne to +every one that you have with me. Do you promise?" + +He dared not oppose her outwardly, although in his heart +resistance amounted to furious revolt and riot. + +"I promise anything you ask me to," he said resignedly, almost +sullenly; "anything for you." + +"Well, I ask nothing whatever on my own account," Alice quickly +replied; "but I do tell you firmly that you shall not maltreat +little Adrienne Bourcier and remain a friend of mine. She loves +you, Rene de Ronville, and you have told her that you love her. If +you are a man worthy of respect you will not desert her. Don't you +think I am right?" + +Like a singed and crippled moth vainly trying to rise once again +to the alluring yet deadly flame, Rene de Ronville essayed to +break out of his embarrassment and resume equal footing with the +girl so suddenly become his commanding superior; but the effort +disclosed to him as well as to her that he had fallen to rise no +more. In his abject defeat he accepted the terms dictated by Alice +and was glad when she adroitly changed her manner and tone in +going on to discuss the approaching dance. + +"Now let me make one request of you," he demanded after a while. +"It's a small favor; may I ask it?" + +"Yes, but I don't grant it in advance." + +"I want you to wear, for my sake, the buff gown which they say +was your grandmother's." + +"No, I won't wear it." + +"But why, Alice?" + +"None of the other girls have anything like such a dress; it would +not be right for me to put it on and make them all feel that I had +taken the advantage of them, just because I could; that's why." + +"But then none of them is beautiful and educated like you," he +said; "you'll outshine them anyway." + +"Save your compliments for poor pretty little Adrienne," she +firmly responded, "I positively do not wish to hear them. I have +agreed to be your partenaire at this dance of Papa Roussillon's, +but it is understood between us that Adrienne is your sweet-heart. +I am not, and I'm not going to be, either. So for your sake and +Adrienne's, as well as out of consideration for the rest of the +girls who have no fine dresses, I am not going to wear the buff +brocade gown that belonged to Papa Roussillon's mother long ago. I +shall dress just as the rest do." + +It is safe to say that Rene de Ronville went home with a +troublesome bee in his bonnet. He was not a bad-hearted fellow. +Many a right good young man, before him and since, has loved an +Adrienne and been dazzled by an Alice. A violet is sweet, but a +rose is the garden's queen. The poor youthful frontiersman ought +to have been stronger; but he was not, and what have we to say? + +As for Alice, since having a confidential talk with Adrienne +Bourcier recently, she had come to realize what M. Roussillon +meant when he said; "But my little girl is better than most of +them, not a foolish mischief-maker, I hope." She saw through the +situation with a quick understanding of what Adrienne might suffer +should Rene prove permanently fickle. The thought of it aroused +all her natural honesty and serious nobleness of character, which +lay deep under the almost hoydenish levity usually observable in +her manner. Crude as her sense of life's larger significance was, +and meager as had been her experience in the things which count +for most in the sum of a young girl's existence under fair +circumstances, she grasped intuitively the gist of it all. + +The dance did not come off; it had to be postponed indefinitely on +account of a grave change in the political relations of the little +post. A day or two before the time set for that function a rumor +ran through the town that something of importance was about to +happen. Father Gibault, at the head of a small party, had arrived +from Kaskaskia, far away on the Mississippi, with the news that +France and the American Colonies had made common cause against the +English in the great war of which the people of Vincennes neither +knew the cause nor cared a straw about the outcome. + +It was Oncle Jazon who came to the Roussillon place to tell M. +Roussillon that he was wanted at the river house. Alice met him at +the door. + +"Come in, Oncle Jazon," she cheerily said, "you are getting to be +a stranger at our house lately. Come in; what news do you bring? +Take off your cap and rest your hair, Oncle Jazon." + +The scalpless old fighter chuckled raucously and bowed to the best +of his ability. He not only took off his queer cap, but looked +into it with a startled gaze, as if he expected something +infinitely dangerous to jump out and seize his nose. + +"A thousand thanks, Ma'm'selle," he presently said, "will ye +please tell Mo'sieu' Roussillon that I would wish to see 'im?" + +"Yes, Oncle Jazon; but first be seated, and let me offer you just +a drop of eau de vie; some that Papa Roussillon brought back with +him from Quebec. He says it's old and fine." + +She poured him a full glass, then setting the bottle on a little +stand, went to find M. Roussillon. While she was absent Oncle +Jazon improved his opportunity to the fullest extent. At least +three additional glasses of the brandy went the way of the first. +He grinned atrociously and smacked his corrugated lips; but when +Gaspard Roussillon came in, the old man was sitting at some +distance from the bottle and glass gazing indifferently out across +the veranda. He told his story curtly. Father Gibault, he said, +had sent him to ask M. Roussillon to come to the river house, as +he had news of great importance to communicate. + +"Ah, well, Oncle Jazon, we'll have a nip of brandy together before +we go," said the host. + +"Why, yes, jes" one agin' the broilin' weather," assented Oncle +Jazon; "I don't mind jes' one." + +"A very rich friend of mine in Quebec gave me this brandy, Oncle +Jazon," said M. Roussillon, pouring the liquor with a grand +flourish; "and I thought of you as soon as I got it. Now, says I +to myself, if any man knows good brandy when he tastes it, it's +Oncle Jazon, and I'll give him a good chance at this bottle just +the first of all my friends." + +"It surely is delicious," said Oncle Jazon, "very delicious." He +spoke French with a curious accent, having spent long years with +English-speaking frontiersmen in the Carolinas and Kentucky, so +that their lingo had become his own. + +As they walked side by side down the way to the river house they +looked like typical extremes of rough, sun-burned and weather- +tanned manhood; Oncle Jazon a wizened, diminutive scrap, wrinkled +and odd in every respect; Gaspard Roussillon towering six feet +two, wide shouldered, massive, lumbering, muscular, a giant with +long curling hair and a superb beard. They did not know that they +were going down to help dedicate the great Northwest to freedom. + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FATHER GIBAULT + + +Great movements in the affairs of men are like tides of the seas +which reach and affect the remotest and quietest nooks and inlets, +imparting a thrill and a swell of the general motion. Father +Gibault brought the wave of the American Revolution to Vincennes. +He was a simple missionary; but he was, besides, a man of great +worldly knowledge and personal force. Colonel George Rogers Clark +made Father Gibault's acquaintance at Kaskaskia, when the fort and +its garrison surrendered to his command, and, quickly discerning +the fine qualities of the priest's character, sent him to the post +on the Wabash to win over its people to the cause of freedom and +independence. Nor was the task assumed a hard one, as Father +Gibault probably well knew before he undertook it. + +A few of the leading men of Vincennes, presided over by Gaspard +Roussillon, held a consultation at the river house, and it was +agreed that a mass meeting should be called bringing all of the +inhabitants together in the church for the purpose of considering +the course to be taken under the circumstances made known by +Father Gibault. Oncle Jazon constituted himself an executive +committee of one to stir up a noise for the occasion. + +It was a great day for Vincennes. The volatile temperament of the +French frontiersmen bubbled over with enthusiasm at the first hint +of something new, and revolutionary in which they might be +expected to take part. Without knowing in the least what it was +that Father Gibault and Oncle Jazon wanted of them, they were all +in favor of it at a venture. + +Rene de Ronville, being an active and intelligent young man, was +sent about through the town to let everybody know of the meeting. +In passing he stepped into the cabin of Father Beret, who was +sitting on the loose puncheon floor, with his back turned toward +the entrance and so absorbed in trying to put together a great +number of small paper fragments that he did not hear or look up. + +"Are you not going to the meeting, Father?" Rene bluntly demanded. +In the hurry that was on him he did not remember to be formally +polite, as was his habit. + +The old priest looked up with a startled face. At the same time he +swept the fragments of paper together and clutched them hard in +his right hand. "Yes, yes, my son--yes I am going, but the time +has not yet come for it, has it?" he stammered. "Is it late?" + +He sprang to his feet and appeared confused, as if caught in doing +something very improper. + +Rene wondered at this unusual behavior, but merely said: + +"I beg pardon, Father Beret, I did not mean to disturb you," and +went his way. + +Father Beret stood for some minutes as if dazed, then squeezed the +paper fragments into a tight ball, just as they were when he took +them from under the floor some time before Rene came in, and put +it in his pocket. A little later he was kneeling, as we have seen +him once before, in silent yet fervent prayer, his clasped hands +lifted toward the crucifix on the wall. + +"Jesus, give me strength to hold on and do my work," he murmured +beseechingly, "and oh, free thy poor servant from bitter +temptation." + +Father Gibault had come prepared to use his eloquence upon the +excitable Creoles, and with considerable cunning he addressed a +motley audience at the church, telling them that an American force +had taken Kaskaskia and would henceforth hold it; that France had +joined hands with the Americans against the British, and that it +was the duty of all Frenchmen to help uphold the cause of freedom +and independence. + +"I come," said he, "directly from Colonel George Rogers Clark, a +noble and brave officer of the American army, who told me the news +that I have brought to you. He sent me here to say to you that if +you will give allegiance to his government you shall be protected +against all enemies and have the full freedom of citizens. I think +you should do this without a moment's hesitation, as I and my +people at Kaskaskia have already done. But perhaps you would like +to have a word from your distinguished fellow-citizen, Monsieur +Gaspard Roussillon. Speak to your friends, my son, they will be +glad to take counsel of your wisdom." + +There was a stir and a craning of necks. M. Roussillon presently +appeared near the little chancel, his great form towering +majestically. He bowed and waved his hand with the air of one who +accepts distinction as a matter of course; then he took his big +silver watch and looked at it. He was the only man in Vincennes +who owned a watch, and so the incident was impressive. Father +Gibault looked pleased, and already a murmur of applause went +through the audience. M. Roussillon stroked the bulging crystal of +the time-piece with a circular motion of his thumb and bowed +again, clearing his throat resonantly, his face growing purplish +above his beard. + +"Good friends," he said, "what France does all high-class +Frenchmen applaud." He paused for a shout of approbation, and was +not disappointed. "The other name for France is glory," he added, +"and all true Frenchmen love both names. I am a true Frenchman!" +and he struck his breast a resounding blow with the hand that +still held the watch. A huge horn button on his buckskin jerkin +came iu contact with the crystal, and there was a smash, followed +by a scattered tinkling of glass fragments. + +All Vincennes stood breathless, contemplating the irreparable +accident. M. Roussillon had lost the effect of a great period in +his speech, but he was quick. Lifting the watch to his ear, he +listened a moment with superb dignity, then slowly elevating his +head and spreading his free hand over his heart he said: + +"The faithful time-piece still tells off the seconds, and the +loyal heart of its owner still throbs with patriotism." + +Oncle Jazon, who stood in front of the speaker, swung his +shapeless cap as high as he could and yelled like a savage. Then +the crowd went wild for a time. + +"Vive la France! A bas l' Angleterre!" Everybody shouted at the +top of his voice. + +"What France does we all do," continued M. Roussillon, when the +noise subsided. "France has clasped hands with George Washington +and his brave compatriots; so do we." + +"Vive Zhorzh Vasinton!" shrieked Oncle Jazon in a piercing treble, +tiptoeing and shaking his cap recklessly under M. Roussillon's +nose. + +The orator winced and jerked his head back, but nobody saw it, +save perhaps Father Gibault, who laughed heartily. + +Great sayings come suddenly, unannounced and unexpected. They have +the mysterious force of prophetic accident combined with happy +economy of phrasing. The southern blood in M. Roussillon's veins +was effervescing upon his brain; his tongue had caught the fine +freedom and abandon of inspired oratory. He towered and glowed; +words fell melodiously from his lips; his gestures were +compelling, his visage magnetic. In conclusion he said: + +"Frenchmen, America is the garden-spot of the world and will one +day rule it, as did Rome of old. Where freedom makes her home, +there is the centre of power!" + +It was in a little log church on the verge of a hummock +overlooking a marshy wild meadow. Westward for two thousand miles +stretched the unbroken prairies, woods, mountains, deserts +reaching to the Pacific; southward for a thousand miles rolled the +green billows of the wilderness to the warm Gulf shore; northward +to the pole and eastward to the thin fringe of settlements beyond +the mountains, all was houseless solitude. + +If the reader should go to Vincennes to-day and walk southward +along Second Street to its intersection with Church Street, the +spot then under foot would be probably very near where M. +Roussillon stood while uttering his great sentence. Mind you, the +present writer does not pretend to know the exact site of old +Saint Xavier church. If it could be fixed beyond doubt the spot +should have an imperishable monument of Indiana stone. + +When M, Roussillon ceased speaking the audience again exhausted +its vocal resources; and then Father Gibault called upon each man +to come forward and solemnly pledge his loyalty to the American +cause. Not one of them hesitated. + +Meantime a woman was doing her part in the transformation of Post +Vincennes from a French-English picket to a full-fledged American +fort and town. Madame Godere, finding out what was about to +happen, fell to work making a flag in imitation of that under +which George Washington was fighting. Alice chanced to be in the +Godere home at the time and joined enthusiastically in the sewing. +It was an exciting task. Their fingers trembled while they worked, +and the thread, heavily coated with beeswax, squeaked as they drew +it through the cloth. + +"We shall not be in time," said Madame Godere; "I know we shall +not. Everything hinders me. My thread breaks or gets tangled and +my needle's so rusty I can hardly stick it through the cloth. O +dear!" + +Alice encouraged her with both words and work, and they had almost +finished when Rene came with a staff which he had brought from the +fort. + +"Mon dieu, but we have had a great meeting!" he cried. He was +perspiring with excitement and fast walking; leaning on the staff +he mopped his face with a blue handkerchief. + +"We heard much shouting and noise," said Madame Godere, "M. +Roussillon's voice rose loud above the rest. He roared like a +lion." + +"Ah, he was speaking to us; he was very eloquent," Rene replied. +"But now they are waiting at the fort for the new flag. I have +come for it." + +"It is ready," said Madame Godere. + +With flying fingers Alice sewed it to the staff. + +"Voici!" she cried, "vive la republique Americaine!" She lifted +the staff and let the flag droop over her from head to foot. + +"Give it to me," said Rene, holding forth a hand for it, "and I'll +run to the fort with it." + +"No," said Alice, her face suddenly lighting up with resolve. "No, +I am going to take it myself," and without a moment's delay off +she went. + +Rene was so caught by surprise that he stood gazing after her +until she passed behind a house, where the way turned, the shining +flag rippling around her, and her moccasins twinkling as she ran. + +At the blockhouse, awaiting the moment when the symbol of freedom +should rise like a star over old Vincennes the crowd had +picturesquely broken into scattered groups. Alice entered through +a rent in the stockade, as that happened to be a shorter route +than through the gate, and appeared suddenly almost in their +midst. + +It was a happy surprise, a pretty and catching spectacular +apparition of a sort to be thoroughly appreciated by the lively +French fancy of the audience. The caught the girl's spirit, or it +caught them, and they made haste to be noisy. + +"V'la! V'la! l'p'tite Alice et la bannlere de Zhorzh Vasinton! +(Look, look, little Alice and George Washington's flag!)" shouted +Oncle Jazon. He put his wiry little legs through a sort of pas de +zephyr and winked at himself with concentrated approval. + +All the men danced around and yelled till they were hoarse. + +By this time Rene had reached Alice's side; but she did not see +him; she ran into the blockhouse and climbed up a rude ladder-way; +then she appeared on the roof, still accompanied by Rene, and +planted the staff in a crack of the slabs, where it stood bravely +up, the colors floating free. + +She looked down and saw M. Roussillon, Father Gibault and Father +Beret grouped in the centre of the area. They were waving their +hands aloft at her, while a bedlam of voices sent up applause +which went through her blood like strong wine. She smiled +radiantly, and a sweet flush glowed in her cheeks. + +No one of all that wild crowd could ever forget the picture +sketched so boldly at that moment when, after planting the staff, +Alice stepped back a space and stood strong and beautiful against +the soft blue sky. She glanced down first, then looked up, her +arms folded across her bosom. It was a pose as unconsciously taken +as that of a bird, and the grace of it went straight to the hearts +of those below. + +She turned about to descend, and for the first time saw that Rene +had followed her. His face was beaming. + +"What a girl you are!" he exclaimed, in a tone of exultant +admiration. "Never was there another like you!" + +Alice walked quickly past him without speaking; for down in the +space where some women were huddled aside from the crowd, looking +on, she had seen little Adrienne Bourcier. She made haste to +descend. Now that her impulsively chosen enterprise was completed +her boldness deserted her and she slipped out through a +dilapidated postern opposite the crowd. On her right was the +river, while southward before her lay a great flat plain, beyond +which rose some hillocks covered with forest. The sun blazed +between masses of slowly drifting clouds that trailed creeping +fantastic shadows across the marshy waste. + +Alice walked along under cover of the slight landswell which then, +more plainly marked than it is now, formed the contour line of +hummock upon which the fort and village stood. A watery swale +grown full of tall aquatic weeds meandered parallel with the +bluff, so to call it, and there was a soft melancholy whispering +of wind among the long blades and stems. She passed the church and +Father Beret's hut and continued for some distance in the +direction of that pretty knoll upon which the cemetery is at +present so tastefully kept. She felt shy now, as if to run away +and hide would be a great relief. Indeed, so relaxed were her +nerves that a slight movement in the grass and cat-tail flags near +by startled her painfully, making her jump like a fawn. + +"Little friend not be 'fraid," said a guttural voice in broken +French. "Little friend not make noise." + +At a glance she recognized Long-Hair, the Indian, rising out of +the matted marsh growth. It was a hideous vision of embodied +cunning, soullessness and murderous cruelty. + +"Not tell white man you see me?" he grunted interrogatively, +stepping close to her. He looked so wicked that she recoiled and +lifted her hands defensively. + +She trembled from head to foot, and her voice failed her; but she +made a negative sign and smiled at him, turning as white as her +tanned face could become. + +In his left hand he held his bow, while in his right he half +lifted a murderous looking tomahawk. + +"What new flag mean?" he demanded, waving the bow's end toward the +fort and bending his head down close to hers. "Who yonder?" + +"The great American Father has taken us under his protection," she +explained. "We are big-knives now." It almost choked her to speak. + +"Ugh! heap damn fools," he said with a dark scowl. "Little friend +much damn fool." + +He straightened up his tall form and stood leering at her for some +seconds, then added: + +"Little friend get killed, scalped, maybe." + +The indescribable nobility of animal largeness, symmetry and +strength showed in his form and attitude, but the expression of +his countenance was absolutely repulsive--cold, hard, beastly. + +He did not speak again, but turned quickly, and stooping low, +disappeared like a great brownish red serpent in the high grass, +which scarcely stirred as he moved through it. + +Somehow that day made itself strangely memorable to Alice. She had +been accustomed to stirring scenes and sudden changes of +conditions; but this was the first time that she had ever joined +actively in a public movement of importance. Then, too, Long- +Hair's picturesque and rudely dramatic reappearance affected her +imagination with an indescribable force. Moreover, the pathetic +situation in the love affair between Rene and Adrienne had taken +hold of her conscience with a disturbing grip. But the shadowy +sense of impending events, of which she could form no idea, was +behind it all. She had not heard of Brandywine, or Bunker Hill, or +Lexington, or Concord; but something like a waft of their +significance had blown through her mind. A great change was coming +into her idyllic life. She was indistinctly aware of it, as we +sometimes are of an approaching storm, while yet the sky is +sweetly blue and serene. When she reached home the house was full +of people to whom M. Roussillon, in the gayest of moods, was +dispensing wine and brandy. + +"Vive Zhorzh Vasinton!" shouted Oncle Jazon as soon as he saw her. + +And then they all talked at once, saying flattering things about +her. Madame Roussillon tried to scold as usual; but the lively +chattering of the guests drowned her voice. + +"I suppose the American commander will send a garrison here," some +one said to Father Gibault, "and repair the fort." + +"Probably," the priest replied, "in a very few weeks. Meantime we +will garrison it ourselves." + +"And we will have M. Roussillon for commander," spoke up Rene de +Ronville, who was standing by. + +"A good suggestion," assented Father Gibault; "let us organize at +once." + +Immediately the word was passed that there would be a meeting at +the fort that evening for the purpose of choosing a garrison and a +commander. Everybody went promptly at the hour set. M. Roussillon +was elected Captain by acclamation, with Rene de Ronville as his +Lieutenant. It was observed that Oncle Jazon had resumed his +dignity, and that he looked into his cap several times without +speaking. + +Meantime certain citizens, who had been in close relations with +Governor Abbott during his stay, quietly slipped out of town, +manned a batteau and went up the river, probably to Ouiatenon +first and then to Detroit. Doubtless they suspected that things +might soon grow too warm for their comfort. + +It was thus that Vincennes and Fort Sackville first acknowledged +the American Government and hoisted the flag which, as long as it +floated over the blockhouse, was lightly and lovingly called by +everyone la banniere d'Alice Roussillon. + +Father Gibault returned to Fort Kaskaskia and a little later +Captain Leonard Helm, a jovial man, but past the prime of life, +arrived at Vincennes with a commission from Col. Clark authorizing +him to supersede M. Roussillon as commander, and to act as Indian +agent for the American Government in the Department of the Wabash. +He was welcomed by the villagers, and at once made himself very +pleasing to them by adapting himself to their ways and entering +heartily into their social activities. + +M. Roussillon was absent when Captain Helm and his party came. +Rene de Ronville, nominally in command of the fort, but actually +enjoying some excellent grouse shooting with a bell-mouthed old +fowling piece on a distant prairie, could not be present to +deliver up the post; and as there was no garrison just then +visible, Helm took possession, without any formalities. + +"I think, Lieutenant, that you'd better look around through the +village and see if you can scare up this Captain what's-his-name," +said the new commander to a stalwart young officer who had come +with him. "I can't think of these French names without getting my +brain in a twist. Do you happen to recollect the Captain's name, +Lieutenant?" + +"Yes, sir; Gaspard Roussillon it reads in Colonel Clark's order; +but I am told that he's away on a trading tour," said the young +man. + +"You may be told anything by these hair-tongued parlyvoos," Helm +remarked. "It won't hurt, anyway, to find out where he lives and +make a formal call, just for appearance sake, and to enquire about +his health. I wish you would try it, sir, and let me know the +result." + +The Lieutenant felt that this was a peremptory order and turned +about to obey promptly. + +"And I say, Beverley, come back sober, if you possibly can," Helm +added in his most genial tone, thinking it a great piece of humor +to suggest sobriety to a man whose marked difference from men +generally, of that time, was his total abstinence from +intoxicating drinks. + +Lieutenant Fitzhugh Beverley was a Virginian of Virginians. His +family had long been prominent in colonial affairs and boasted a +record of great achievements both in peace and in war. He was the +only son of his parents and heir to a fine estate consisting of +lands and slaves; but, like many another of the restless young +cavaliers of the Old Dominion, he had come in search of adventure +over into Kentucky, along the path blazed by Daniel Boone; and +when Clark organized his little army, the young man's patriotic +and chivalrous nature leaped at the opportunity to serve his +country under so gallant a commander. + +Beverley was not a mere youth, although yet somewhat under thirty. +Educated abroad and naturally of a thoughtful and studious turn, +he had enriched his mind far beyond the usual limit among young +Americans of the very best class in that time; and so he appeared +older than he really was: an effect helped out by his large and +powerful form and grave dignity of bearing. Clark, who found him +useful in emergencies, cool, intrepid, daring to a fault and +possessed of excellent judgement, sent him with Helm, hoping that +he would offset with his orderly attention to details the somewhat +go-as-you-please disposition of that excellent officer. + +Beverley set out in search of the French commander's house, +impressed with no particular respect for him or his office. +Somehow Americans of Anglo-Saxon blood were slow to recognize any +good qualities whatever in the Latin Creoles of the West and +South. It seemed to them that the Frenchman and the Spaniard were +much too apt to equalize themselves socially and matrimonially +with Indians and negroes. The very fact that for a century, while +Anglo-Americans had been in constant bloody warfare with savages, +Frenchmen had managed to keep on easy and highly profitable +trading terms with them, tended to confirm the worst implication. +"Eat frogs and save your scalp," was a bit of contemptuous +frontier humor indicative of what sober judgement held in reserve +on the subject. + +Intent upon his formal mission, Lieutenant Beverley stalked boldly +into the inclosure at Roussillon place and was met on the gallery +by Madame Roussillon in one of her worst moods. She glared at him +with her hands on her hips, her mouth set irritably aslant upward, +her eyebrows gathered into a dark knot over her nose. It would be +hard to imagine a more forbidding countenance; and for +supplementary effect out popped hunchback Jean to stand behind +her, with his big head lying back in the hollow of his shoulders +and his long chin elevated, while he gawped intently up into +Beverley's face. + +"Bon jour, Madame" said the Lieutenant, lifting his hat and +speaking with a pleasant accent. "Would it be agreeable to Captain +Roussillon for me to see him a moment?" + +Despite Beverley's cleverness in using the French language, he had +a decided brusqueness of manner and a curt turn of voice not in +the least Gallic. True, the soft Virginian intonation marked every +word, and his obeisance was as low as if Madame Roussillon had +been a queen; but the light French grace was wholly lacking. + +"What do you want of my husband?" Madame Roussillon demanded. + +"Nothing unpleasant, I assure you, Madame," said Beverley. + +"Well, he's not at home, Mo'sieu; he's up the river for a few +days." + +She relaxed her stare, untied her eyebrows, and even let fall her +hands from her shelf-like hips. + +"Thank you, Madame," said Beverley, bowing again, "I am sorry not +to have seen him." + +As he was turning to go a shimmer of brown hair streaked with gold +struck upon his vision from just within the door. He paused, as if +in response to a military command, while a pair of gray eyes met +his with a flash. The cabin room was ill lighted; but the +crepuscular dimness did not seem to hinder his sight. Beyond the +girl's figure, a pair of slender swords hung crossed aslant on the +wall opposite the low door. + +Beverley had seen, in the old world galleries, pictures in which +the shadowy and somewhat uncertain background thus forced into +strongest projection the main figure, yet without clearly defining +it. The rough frame of the doorway gave just the rustic setting +suited to Alice's costume, the most striking part of which was a +grayish short gown ending just above her fringed buckskin +moccasins. Around her head she had bound a blue kerchief, a wide +corner of which lay over her crown like a loose cap. Her bright +hair hung free upon her shoulders in tumbled half curls. As a +picture, the figure and its entourage might have been artistically +effective; but as Beverley saw it in actual life the first +impression was rather embarrassing. Somehow he felt almost +irresistibly invited to laugh, though he had never been much given +to risibility. The blending, or rather the juxtaposition, of +extremes--a face, a form immediately witching, and a costume odd +to grotesquery--had made an assault upon his comprehension at +once so sudden and so direct that his dignity came near being +disastrously broken up. A splendidly beautiful child comically +clad would have made much the same half delightful, half +displeasing impression. + +Beverley could not stare at the girl, and no sooner had he turned +his back upon her than the picture in his mind changed like a +scene in a kaleidoscope. He now saw a tall, finely developed +figure and a face delicately oval, with a low, wide forehead, +arched brows, a straight, slightly tip-tilted nose, a mouth sweet +and full. dimpled cheeks, and a strong chin set above a faultless +throat. His imagination, in casting off its first impression, was +inclined to exaggerate Alice's beauty and to dwell upon its +picturesqueness. He smiled as he walked back to the fort, and even +found himself whistling gayly a snatch from a rollicking fiddle- +tune that he had heard when a boy. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A FENCING BOUT + + +A few days after Helm's arrival, M. Roussillon returned to +Vincennes, and if he was sorely touched in his amour propre by +seeing his suddenly acquired military rank and title drop away, he +did not let it be known to his fellow citizens. He promptly called +upon the new commander and made acquaintance with Lieutenant +Fitzhugh Beverley, who just then was superintending the work of +cleaning up an old cannon in the fort and mending some breaks in +the stockade. + +Helm formed a great liking for the big Frenchman, whose breezy +freedom of manner and expansive good humor struck him favorably +from the beginning. M. Roussillon's ability to speak English with +considerable ease helped the friendship along, no doubt; at all +events their first interview ended with a hearty show of good +fellowship, and as time passed they became almost inseparable +companions during M. Roussillon's periods of rest from his trading +excursions among the Indians. They played cards and brewed hot +drinks over which they told marvelous stories, the latest one +invariably surpassing all its predecessors. + +Helm had an eye to business, and turned M. Roussillon's knowledge +of the Indians to valuable account, so that he soon had very +pleasant relations with most of the tribes within reach of his +agents. This gave a feeling of great security to the people of +Vincennes. They pursued their narrow agricultural activities with +excellent results and redoubled those social gayeties which, even +in hut and cabin under all the adverse conditions of extreme +frontier life, were dear to the volatile and genial French +temperament. + +Lieutenant Beverley found much to interest him in the quaint town; +but the piece de resistance was Oncle Jazon, who proved to be both +fascinating and unmanageable; a hard nut to crack, yet possessing +a kernel absolutely original in flavor. Beverley visited him one +evening in his hut--it might better be called den--a curiously +built thing, with walls of vertical poles set in a quadrangular +trench dug in the ground, and roofed with grass. Inside and out it +was plastered with clay, and the floor of dried mud was as smooth +and hard as concrete paving. In one end there was a wide fireplace +grimy with soot, in the other a mere peep-hole for a window: a +wooden bench, a bed of skins and two or three stools were barely +visible in the gloom. In the doorway Oncle Jazon sat whittling a +slender billet of hickory into a ramrod for his long flint-lock +American rifle. + +"Maybe ye know Simon Kenton," said the old man, after he and +Beverley had conversed for a while, "seeing that you are from +Kentucky--eh?" + +"Yes, I do know him well; he's a warm personal friend of mine," +said Beverley with quick interest, for it surprised him that Oncle +Jazon should know anything about Kenton. "Do you know him, +Monsieur Jazon?" + +Oncle Jazon winked conceitedly and sighted along his rudimentary +ramrod to see if it was straight; then puckering his lips, as if +on the point of whistling, made an affirmative noise quite +impossible to spell. + +"Well, I'm glad you are acquainted with Kenton," said Beverley. +"Where did you and he come together?" + +Oncle Jazon chuckled reminiscently and scratched the skinless, +cicatrized spot where his scalp had once flourished. + +"Oh, several places," he answered. "Ye see thet hair a hangin' +there on the wall?" He pointed at a dry wisp dangling under a peg +in a log barely visible by the bad light. "Well, thet's my scalp, +he! he! he!" He snickered as if the fact were a most enjoyable +joke. "Simon Kenton can tell ye about thet little affair! The +Indians thought I was dead, and they took my hair; but I wasn't +dead; I was just a givin' 'em a 'possum act. When they was gone I +got up from where I was a layin' and trotted off. My head was sore +and ventrebleu! but I was mad, he! he! he!" + +All this time he spoke in French, and the English but poorly +paraphrases his odd turns of expression. His grimaces and grunts +cannot even be hinted. + +It was a long story, as Beverley received it, told scrappily, but +with certain rude art. In the end Oncle Jazon said with unctuous +self-satisfaction: + +"Accidents will happen. I got my chance at that damned Indian who +skinned my head, and I jes took a bead on 'im with my old rifle. I +can't shoot much, never could, but I happened to hit 'im square in +the lef' eye, what I shot at, and it was a hundred yards. Down he +tumbles, and I runs to 'im and finds my same old scalp a hangin' +to his belt. Well, I lifted off his hair with my knife, and untied +mine from the belt, and then I had both scalps, he! he! he! You +ask Simon Kenton when ye see 'im. He was along at the same time, +and they made 'im run the ga'ntlet and pretty nigh beat the life +out o' 'im. Ventrebleu!" + +Beverley now recollected hearing Kenton tell the same grim story +by a camp-fire in the hills of Kentucky. Somehow it had caught a +new spirit in the French rendering, which linked it with the old +tales of adventure that he had read in his boyhood, and it +suddenly endeared Oncle Jazon to him. The rough old scrap of a man +and the powerful youth chatted together until sundown, smoking +their pipes, each feeling for what was best in the other, half +aware that in the future they would be tested together in the fire +of wild adventure. Every man is more or less a prophet at certain +points in his life. + +Twilight and moonlight were blending softly when Beverley, on his +way back to the fort, departing from a direct course, went along +the river's side southward to have a few moments of reflective +strolling within reach of the water's pleasant murmur and the +town's indefinite evening stir. Rich sweetness, the gift of early +autumn, was on the air blowing softly out of a lilac west and +singing in the willow fringe that hung here and there over the +bank. + +On the farther side of the river's wide flow, swollen by recent +heavy rains, Beverley saw a pirogue, in one end of which a dark +figure swayed to the strokes of a paddle. The slender and shallow +little craft was bobbing on the choppy waves and taking a zig-zag +course among floating logs and masses of lighter driftwood, while +making slow but certain headway toward the hither bank. + +Beverley took a bit of punk and a flint and steel from his pocket, +relit his pipe and stood watching the skilful boatman conduct his +somewhat dangerous voyage diagonally against the rolling current. +It was a shifting, hide-and-seek scene, its features appearing and +disappearing with the action of the waves and the doubtful light +reflected from fading clouds and sky. Now and again the man stood +up in his skittish pirogue, balancing himself with care, to use a +short pole in shoving driftwood out of his way; and more than once +he looked to Beverley as if he had plunged head-long into the +dark water. + +The spot, as nearly as it can be fixed, was about two hundred +yards below where the public road-bridge at present spans the +Wabash. The bluff was then far different from what it is now, +steeper and higher, with less silt and sand between it and the +water's edge. Indeed, swollen as the current was, a man could +stand on the top of the bank and easily leap into the deep water. +At a point near the middle of the river a great mass of drift-logs +and sand had long ago formed a barrier which split the stream so +that one current came heavily shoreward on the side next the town +and swashed with its muddy foam, making a swirl and eddy just +below where Beverley stood. + +The pirogue rounded the upper angle of this obstruction, not +without difficulty to its crew of one, and swung into the rapid +shoreward rush, as was evidently planned for by the steersman, who +now paddled against the tide with all his might to keep from being +borne too far down stream for a safe landing place. + +Beverley stood at ease idly and half dreamily looking on, when +suddenly something caused a catastrophe, which for a moment he did +not comprehend. In fact the man in the pirogue came to grief, as a +man in a pirogue is very apt to do, and fairly somersaulted +overboard into the water. Nothing serious would have threatened +(for the man could swim like an otter) had not a floating, half +submerged log thrust up some short, stiff stumps of boughs, upon +the points of which the man struck heavily and was not only hurt, +but had his clothes impaled securely by one of the ugly spears, so +that he hung in a helpless position, while the water's motion +alternately lifted and submerged him, his arms beating about +wildly. + +When Beverley heard a strangling cry for help, he pulled himself +promptly together, flung off his coat, as if by a single motion, +and leaped down the bank into the water. He was a swimmer whose +strokes counted for all that prodigious strength and excellent +training could afford; he rushed through the water with long +sweeps, making a semicircle, rounding against the current, so as +to swing down upon the drowning man. + +Less than a half-hour later a rumor by some means spread +throughout the town that Father Beret and Lieutenant Beverley were +drowned in the Wabash. But when a crowd gathered to verify the +terrible news it turned out to be untrue. Gaspard Roussillon had +once more distinguished himself by an exhibition of heroic nerve +and muscle. + +"Ventrebleu! Quel homme!" exclaimed Oncle Jazon, when told that M. +Roussillon had come up the bank of the Wabash with Lieutenant +Beverley under one arm and Father Beret under the other, both men +apparently dead. + +"Bring them to my house immediately," M. Roussillon ordered, as +soon as they were restored to consciousness; and he shook himself, +as a big wet animal sometimes does, covering everybody near him +with muddy water. Then he led the way with melodramatic strides. + +In justice to historical accuracy there must be a trifling reform +of what appeared on the face of things to be grandly true. Gaspard +Roussillon actually dragged Father Beret and Lieutenant Beverley +one at a time out of the eddy water and up the steep river bank. +That was truly a great feat; but the hero never explained. When +men arrived he was standing between the collapsed forms, panting +and dripping. Doubtless he looked just as if he had dropped them +from under his arms, and why shouldn't he have the benefit of a +great implication? + +"I've saved them both," he roared; from which, of course, the +ready creole imagination inferred the extreme of possible heroic +performance. + +"Bring them to my house immediately," and it was accordingly done. + +The procession, headed by M. Roussillon, moved noisily, for the +French tongue must shake off what comes to it on the thrill of +every exciting moment. The only silent Frenchman is the dead one. + +Father Beret was not only well-nigh drowned, but seriously hurt. +He lay for a week on a bed in M. Roussillon's house before he +could sit up. Alice hung over him night and day, scarcely sleeping +or eating until he was past all danger. As for Beverley, he shook +off all the effects of his struggle in a little while. Next day he +was out, as well and strong as ever, busy with the affairs of his +office. Nor was he less happy on account of what the little +adventure had cast into his experience. It is good to feel that +one has done an unselfish deed, and no young man's heart repels +the freshness of what comes to him when a beautiful girl first +enters his life. + +Naturally enough Alice had some thoughts of Beverley while she was +so attentively caring for Father Beret. She had never before seen +a man like him, nor had she read of one. Compared with Rene de +Ronville, the best youth of her acquaintance, he was in every way +superior; this was too evident for analysis; but referred to the +romantic standard taken out of the novels she had read, he somehow +failed; and yet he loomed bravely in her vision, not exactly a +knight of the class she had most admired, still unquestionably a +hero of large proportions. + +Beverley stepped in for a few minutes every day to see Father +Beret, involuntarily lengthening his visit by a sliding ratio as +he became better acquainted. He began to enjoy the priest's +conversation, with its sly worldly wisdom cropping up through +fervid religious sentiments and quaint humor. Alice must have +interested him more than he was fully aware of; for his eyes +followed her, as she came and went, with a curious criticism of +her half-savage costume and her springy, Dryad-like suppleness, +which reminded him of the shyest and gracefulest wild birds; and +yet a touch of refinement, the subtlest and best, showed in all +her ways. He studied her, as he would have studied a strange, +showy and originally fragrant flower, or a bird of oddly +attractive plumage. While she said little to him or to anyone else +in his presence, he became aware of the willfulness and joyous +lightness which played on her nature's changeable surface. He +wondered at her influence over Father Beret, whom she controlled +apparently without effort. But in due time he began to feel a +deeper character, a broader intelligence, behind her superficial +sauvagerie; and he found that she really had no mean smattering of +books in the lighter vein. + +A little thing happened which further opened his eyes and +increased the interest that her beauty and elementary charm of +style aroused in him gradually, apace with their advancing +acquaintanceship. + +Father Beret had got well and returned to his hut and his round of +spiritual duties; but Beverley came to Roussillon place every day +all the same. For a wonder Madame Roussillon liked him, and at +most times held the scolding side of her tongue when he was +present. Jean, too, made friendly advances whenever opportunity +afforded. Of course Alice gave him just the frank cordiality of +hospitable welcome demanded by frontier conditions. She scarcely +knew whether she liked him or not; but he had a treasury of +information from which he was enriching her with liberal +carelessness day by day. The hungriest part of her mind was being +sumptuously banqueted at his expense. Mere intellectual greediness +drew her to him. + +Naturally they soon threw off such troubling formalities as at +first rose between them, and began to disclose to each other their +true characteristics. Alice found in Beverley a large target for +the missiles of her clever and tantalizing perversity. He in turn +practiced a native dignity and an acquired superiority of manner +to excellent effect. It was a meeting of Greek with Greek in a new +Arcadia. To him here was Diana, strong, strange, simple, even +crude almost to naturalness, yet admirably pure in spirit and +imbued with highest womanly aspirations. To her Beverley +represented the great outside area of life. He came to her from +wonderland, beyond the wide circle of houseless woods and +prairies. He represented gorgeous cities, teeming parks of +fashion, boulevards, salons, halls of social splendor, the +theater, the world of woman's dreams. + +Now, there is an antagonism, vague yet powerful, generated between +natures thus cast together from the opposite poles of experience +and education: an antagonism practically equivalent to the most +vigorous attraction. What one knows the other is but half aware +of; neither knowledge nor ignorance being mutual, there is a +scintillation of exchange, from opposing vantage grounds, followed +by harmless snaps of thunder. Culture and refinement take on airs-- +it is the deepest artificial instinct of enlightenment to pose-- +in the presence of naturalness; and there is a certain style of +ignorance which attitudinizes before the gate of knowledge. The +return to nature has always been the dream of the conventionalized +soul, while the simple Arcadian is forever longing for the +maddening honey of sophistication. + +Innate jealousies strike together like flint and steel dashing off +sparks by which nearly everything that life can warm its core +withal is kindled and kept burning. What I envy in my friend I +store for my best use. I thrust and parry, not to kill, but to +learn my adversary's superior feints and guards. And this hint of +sword play leads back to what so greatly surprised and puzzled +Beverley one day when he chanced to be examining the pair of +colechemardes on the wall. + +He took one down, and handling it with the indescribable facility +possible to none save a practical swordsman, remarked: + +"There's a world of fascination in these things; I like nothing +better than a bout at fencing. Does your father practice the art?" + +"I have no father, no mother," she quickly said; "but good Papa +Roussillon does like a little exercise with the colechemarde." + +"Well, I'm glad to hear it, I shall ask to teach him a trick or +two," Beverley responded in the lightest mood. "When will he +return from the woods?" + +"I can't tell you; he's very irregular in such matters," she said. +Then, with a smile half banter and half challenge, she added; "if +you are really dying for some exercise, you shall not have to wait +for him to come home, I assure you, Monsieur Beverley." + +"Oh, it's Monsieur de Ronville, perhaps, that you will offer up as +a victim to my skill and address," he slyly returned; for he was +suspecting that a love affair in some stage of progress lay +between her and Rene. + +She blushed violently, but quickly overcoming a combined rush of +surprise and anger, added with an emphasis as charming as it was +unexpected. + +"I myself am, perhaps, swordsman enough to satisfy the impudence +and vanity of Monsieur Beverley, Lieutenant in the American army." + +"Pardon me, Mademoiselle; forgive me, I beg of you," he exclaimed, +earnestly modulating his voice to sincerest beseechment; "I really +did not mean to be impudent, nor--" + +Her vivacity cleared with a merry laugh. + +"No apologies, I command you," she interposed. "We will have them +after I have taught you a fencing lesson." + +From a shelf she drew down a pair of foils and presenting the +hilts, bade him take his choice. + +"There isn't any difference between them that I know of," she +said, and then added archly; "but you will feel better at last, +when all is over and the sting of defeat tingles through you, if +you are conscious of having used every sensible precaution." + +He looked straight into her eyes, trying to catch what was in her +mind, but there was a bewildering glamour playing across those +gray, opal-tinted wells of mystery, from which he could draw only +a mischievous smile-glint, direct, daring, irresistible. + +"Well," he said, taking one of the foils, "what do you really +mean? Is it a challenge without room for honorable retreat?" + +"The time for parley is past," she replied, "follow me to the +battle-ground." + +She led the way to a pleasant little court in the rear of the +cabin's yard, a space between two wings and a vine-covered +trellis, beyond which lay a well kept vineyard and vegetable +garden. Here she turned about and faced him, poising her foil with +a fine grace. + +"Are you ready?" she inquired. + +He tried again to force a way into the depths of her eyes with +his; but he might as well have attacked the sun; so he stood in a +confusion of not very well defined feelings, undecided, +hesitating, half expecting that there would be some laughable turn +to end the affair. + +"Are you afraid, Monsieur Beverley?" she demanded after a short +waiting in silence. + +He laughed now and whipped the air with his foil. + +"You certainly are not in earnest?" he said interrogatively. "Do +you really mean that you want to fence with me?" + +"If you think because I'm only a girl you can easily beat me, try +it," she tauntingly replied making a level thrust toward his +breast. + +Quick as a flash he parried, and then a merry clinking and +twinkling of steel blades kept time to their swift movements. +Instantly, by the sure sense which is half sight, half feeling-- +the sense that guides the expert fencer's hand and wrist--Beverley +knew that he had probably more than his match, and in ten seconds +his attack was met by a time thrust in opposition which touched +him sharply. + +Alice sprang far back, lowered her point and laughed. + +"Je vous salue, Monsieur Beverley!" she cried, with childlike show +of delight. "Did you feel the button?" + +"Yes, I felt it," he said with frank acknowledgment in his voice, +"it was cleverly done. Now give me a chance to redeem myself." + +He began more carefully and found that she, too, was on her best +mettle; but it was a short bout, as before. Alice seemed to give +him an easy opening and he accepted it with a thrust; then +something happened that he did not understand. The point of his +foil was somehow caught under his opponent's hilt-guard while her +blade seemed to twist around his; at the same time there was a +wring and a jerk, the like of which he had never before felt, and +he was disarmed, his wrist and fingers aching with the wrench they +had received. + +Of course the thing was not new; he had been disarmed before; but +her trick of doing it was quite a mystery to him, altogether +different from any that he had ever seen. + +"Vous me pardonnerez, Monsieur" she mockingly exclaimed, picking +up his weapon and offering the hilt to him. "Here is your sword!" + +"Keep it," he said, folding his arms and trying to look +unconcerned, "you have captured it fairly. I am at your mercy; be +kind to me." + +Madame Roussillon and Jean, the hunchback, hearing the racket of +the foils had come out to see and were standing agape. + +"You ought to be ashamed, Alice," said the dame in scolding +approval of what she had done; "girls do not fence with +gentlemen." + +"This girl does," said Alice. + +"And with extreme disaster to this gentleman," said Beverley, +laughing in a tone of discomfiture and resignation. + +"Ah, Mo'sieu', there's nothing but disaster where she goes," +complained Madame Roussillon, "she is a destroyer of everything. +Only yesterday she dropped my pink bowl and broke it, the only one +I had." + +"And just to think," said Beverley, "what would have been the +condition of my heart had we been using rapiers instead of +leather-buttoned foils! She would have spitted it through the very +center." + +"Like enough," replied the dame indifferently. "She wouldn't +wince, either,--not she." + +Alice ran into the house with the foils and Beverley followed. + +"We must try it over again some day soon," he said; "I find that +you can show me a few points. Where did you learn to fence so +admirably? Is Monsieur Roussillon your master?" + +"Indeed he isn't," she quickly replied, "he is but a bungling +swordsman. My master--but I am not at liberty to tell you who has +taught me the little I know." + +"Well, whoever he is I should be glad to have lessons from him." + +"But you'll never get them." + +"Why?" + +"Because." + +"A woman's ultimatum." + +"As good as a man's!" she bridled prettily; "and sometimes better-- +at the foils for example. Vous--comprenez, n'est ce pas?" + +He laughed heartily. + +"Yes, your point reaches me," he said, "but sperat et in saeva +victus gladiatur arena, as the old Latin poet wisely remarks." The +quotation was meant to tease her. + +"Yes, Montaigne translated that or something in his book," she +commented with prompt erudition. "I understand it." + +Beverley looked amazed. + +"What do you know about Montaigne?" he demanded with a blunt +brevity amounting to something like gruffness. + +"Sh', Monsieur, not too loud," she softly protested, looking +around to see that neither Madame Roussillon nor Jean had followed +them into the main room. "It is not permitted that I read that old +book; but they do not hide it from me, because they think I can't +make out its dreadful spelling." + +She smiled so that her cheeks drew their dimples deep into the +delicately tinted pink-and-brown, where wind and sun and wholesome +exercise had set the seal of absolute health, and took from a +niche in the logs of the wall a stained and dog-eared volume. He +looked, and it was, indeed, the old saint and sinner, Montaigne. + +Involuntarily he ran his eyes over the girl from head to foot, +comparing her show of knowledge with the outward badges of abject +rusticity, and even wildness, with which she was covered. + +"Well," he said, "you are a mystery." + +"You think it surprising that I can read a book! Frankly I can't +understand half of this one. I read it because--well just because +they want me to read about nothing but sickly old saints and woe- +begone penitents. I like something lively. What do I care for all +that uninteresting religious stuff?" + +"Montaigne IS decidedly lively in spots," Beverley remarked. "I +shouldn't think a girl--I shouldn't think you'd particularly enjoy +his humors." + +"I don't care for the book at all," she said, flushing quickly, +"only I seem to learn about the world from it. Sometimes it seems +as if it lifted me up high above all this wild, lonely and +tiresome country, so that I can see far off where things are +different and beautiful. It is the same with the novels; and they +don't permit me to read them either; but all the same I do." + +When Beverley, taking his leave, passed through the gate at +Roussillon place, he met Rene de Ronville going in. It was a +notable coincidence that each young man felt something troublesome +rise in his throat as he looked into the other's eyes. + +A week of dreamy autumn weather came on, during which Beverley +managed to be with Alice a great deal, mostly sitting on the +Roussillon gallery, where the fading vine leaves made fairy +whispering, and where the tempered breeze blew deliciously cool +from over the distant multi-colored woods. The men of Vincennes +were gathering their Indian corn early to dry it on the cob for +grating into winter meal. Many women made wine from the native +grapes and from the sweeter and richer fruit of imported vines. +Madame Roussillon and Alice stained their hands a deep purple +during the pressing season, and Beverley found himself engaged in +helping them handle the juicy crop, while around the overflowing +earthen pots the wild bees, wasps and hornets hummed with an +incessant, jarring monotony. + +Jean, the hunchback, gathered ample stores of hickory nuts, +walnuts, hazel-nuts and pin-oak acorns. Indeed, the whole +population of the village made a great spurt of industry just +before the falling of winter; and presently, when every +preparation had been completed for the dreaded cold season, M. +Roussillon carried out his long-cherished plan, and gave a great +party at the river house. After the most successful trading +experience of all his life he felt irrepressibly liberal. + +"Let's have one more roaring good time," he said, "that's what +life is for." + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MAYOR'S PARTY + + +Beverley was so surprised and confused in his mind by the ease +with which he had been mastered at swordplay by a mere girl, that +he felt as if just coming out of a dream. In fact the whole affair +seemed unreal, yet so vivid and impressive in all its main +features, that he could not emerge from it and look it calmly over +from without. His experience with women had not prepared him for a +ready understanding and acceptance of a girl like Alice. While he +was fully aware of her beauty, freshness, vivacity and grace, this +Amazonian strength of hers, this boldness of spirit, this curious +mixture of frontier crudeness and a certain adumbration--so to +call it--of patrician sensibilities and aspirations, affected him +both pleasantly and unpleasantly. He did not sympathize promptly +with her semi-barbaric costume; she seemed not gently feminine, as +compared with the girls of Virginia and Maryland. He resented her +muscular development and her independent disposition. She was far +from coarseness, however, and, indeed, a trace of subtle +refinement, although not conventional, imbued her whole character. + +But why was he thinking so critically about her? Had his +selfishness received an incurable shock from the button of her +foil? A healthy young man of the right sort is apt to be jealous +of his physical prowess--touch him there and he will turn the +world over to right himself in, his own admiration and yours. But +to be beaten on his highest ground of virility by a dimple-faced +maiden just leaving her teens could not offer Beverley any open +way to recoupment of damages. + +He tried to shake her out of his mind, as a bit of pretty and +troublesome rubbish, what time he pursued his not very exacting +military duties. But the more he shook the tighter she clung, and +the oftener he went to see her. + +Helm was a good officer in many respects, and his patriotism was +of the best; but he liked jolly company, a glass of something +strong and a large share of ease. Detroit lay many miles +northeastward across the wilderness, and the English, he thought, +would scarcely come so far to attack his little post, especially +now that most of the Indians in the intervening country had +declared in favor of the Americans. Recently, too, the weather had +been favoring him by changing from wet to dry, so that the upper +Wabash and its tributaries were falling low and would soon be very +difficult to navigate with large batteaux. + +Very little was done to repair the stockade and dilapidated +remnant of a blockhouse. There were no sufficient barracks, a mere +shed in one angle serving for quarters, and the old cannon could +not have been used to any effect in case of attack. As for the +garrison, it was a nominal quantity, made up mostly of men who +preferred hunting and fishing to the merest pretense of military +duty. + +Gaspard Roussillon assumed to know everything about Indian affairs +and the condition of the English at Detroit. His optimistic +eloquence lulled Helm to a very pleasant sense of security. +Beverley was not so easy to satisfy; but his suggestions regarding +military discipline and a vigorous prosecution of repairs to the +blockhouse and stockade were treated with dilatory geniality by +his superior officer. The soft wonder of a perfect Indian summer +glorified land, river and sky. Why not dream and bask? Why not +drink exhilarating toddies? + +Meantime the entertainment to be given by Gaspard Roussillon +occupied everybody's imagination to an unusual extent. Rene de +Ronville, remembering but not heeding the doubtful success of his +former attempt, went long beforehand to claim Alice as his +partenaire; but she flatly refused him, once more reminding him of +his obligations to little Adrienne Bourcier. He would not be +convinced. + +"You are bound to me," he said, "you promised before, you know, +and the party was but put off. I hold you to it; you are my +partenaire, and I am yours, you can't deny that." + +"No you are not my partenaire," she firmly said; then added +lightly, "Feu mon partenaire, you are dead and buried as my +partner at that dance." + +He glowered in silence for a few moments, then said: + +"It is Lieutenant Beverley, I suppose." + +She gave him a quick contemptuous look, but turned it instantly +into one of her tantalising smiles. + +"Do you imagine that?" she demanded. + +"Imagine it! I know it," he said with a hot flush. "Have I no +sense?" + +"Precious little," she replied with a merry laugh. + +"You think so." + +"Go to Father Beret, tell him everything, and then ask him what he +thinks," she said in a calm, even tone, her face growing serious. + +There was an awkward silence. + +She had touched Rene's vulnerable spot; he was nothing if not a +devout Catholic, and his conscience rooted itself in what good +Father Beret had taught him. + +The church, no matter by what name it goes, Catholic or +Protestant, has a saving hold on the deepest inner being of its +adherents. No grip is so hard to shake off as that of early +religious convictions. The still, small voice coming down from the +times "When shepherds watched their flocks by night," in old +Judea, passes through the priest, the minister, the preacher; it +echoes in cathedral, church, open-air meeting; it gently and +mysteriously imparts to human life the distinctive quality which +is the exponent of Christian civilization. Upon the receptive +nature of children it makes an impress that forever afterward +exhales a fragrance and irradiates a glory for the saving of the +nations. + +Father Beret was the humble, self-effacing, never-tiring agent of +good in his community. He preached in a tender sing-song voice the +sweet monotonies of his creed and the sublime truths of Christ's +code. He was indeed the spiritual father of his people. No wonder +Rene's scowling expression changed to one of abject self-concern +when the priest's name was suddenly connected with his mood. The +confessional loomed up before the eyes of his conscience, and his +knees smote together, spiritually if not physically. + +"Now," said Alice, brusquely, but with sweet and gentle firmness, +"go to your fiancee, go to pretty and good Adrienne, and ask her +to be your partenaire. Refresh your conscience with a noble +draught of duty and make that dear little girl overflow with joy. +Go, Rene de Ronville." + +In making over what she said into English, the translation turns +out to be but a sonorous paraphrase. Her French was of that mixed +creole sort, a blending of linguistic elegance and patois, +impossible to imitate. Like herself it was beautiful, crude, +fascinating, and something in it impressed itself as +unimpeachable, despite the broken and incongruous diction. Rene +felt his soul cowering, even slinking; but he fairly maintained a +good face, and went away without saying another word. + +"Ciel, ciel, how beautiful she is!" he thought, as he walked along +the narrow street in the dreamy sunshine. "But she is not for me, +not for me." + +He shook himself and tried to be cheerful. In fact he hummed a +Creole ditty, something about + +"La belle Jeanette, qu' a brise mon coeur." + +Days passed, and at last the time of the great event arrived. It +was a frosty night, clear, sparkling with stars, a keen breath +cutting down from the northwest. M. Roussillon, Madame Roussillon, +Alice and Lieutenant Beverley went together to the river house, +whither they had been preceded by almost the entire population of +Vincennes. Some fires had been built outside; the crowd proving +too great for the building's capacity, as there had to be ample +space for the dancers. Merry groups hovered around the flaming +logs, while within the house a fiddle sang its simple and +ravishing tunes. Everybody talked and laughed; it was a lively +racket of clashing voices and rhythmical feet. + +You would have been surprised to find that Oncle Jazon was the +fiddler; but there he sat, perched on a high stool in one corner +of the large room, sawing away as if for dear life, his head +wagging, his elbow leaping back and forth, while his scalpless +crown shone like the side of a peeled onion and his puckered mouth +wagged grotesquely from side to side keeping time to his tuneful +scraping. + +When the Roussillon party arrived it attracted condensed +attention. Its importance, naturally of the greatest in the +assembled popular mind, was enhanced--as mathematicians would +say, to the nth power--by the gown of Alice. It was resplendent +indeed in the simple, unaccustomed eyes upon which it flashed with +a buff silken glory. Matrons stared at it; maidens gazed with +fascinated and jealous vision; men young and old let their eyes +take full liberty. It was as if a queen, arrayed in a robe of +state, had entered that dingy log edifice, an apparition of +dazzling and awe-inspiring beauty. Oncle Jazon caught sight of +her, and snapped his tune short off. The dancers swung together +and stopped in confusion. But she, fortified by a woman's +strongest bulwark, the sense of resplendency, appeared quite +unconscious of herself. + +Little Adrienne, hanging in blissful delight upon Rene's strong +arm, felt the stir of excitement and wondered what was the matter, +being too short to see over the heads of those around her. + +"What is it? what is it?" she cried, tiptoeing and tugging at her +companion's sleeve. "Tell me, Rene, tell me, I say." + +Rene was gazing in dumb admiration into which there swept a +powerful anger, like a breath of flame. He recollected how Alice +had refused to wear that dress when he had asked her, and now she +had it on. Moreover, there she stood beside Lieutenant Beverley, +holding his arm, looking up into his face, smiling, speaking to +him. + +"I think you might tell me what has happened," said Adrienne, +pouting and still plucking at his arm. "I can't see a thing, and +you won't tell me." + +"Oh, it's nothing," he presently answered, rather fretfully. Then +he stooped, lowered his voice and added; "it's Mademoiselle +Roussillon all dressed up like a bride or something. She's got on +a buff silk dress that Mo'sieu' Roussillon's mother had in +France." + +"How beautiful she must look!" cried the girl. "I wish I could see +her." + +Rene put a hand on each side of her slender waist and lifted her +high, so that her pretty head rose above the crowding people. +Alice chanced to turn her face that way just then and saw the +unconventional performance. Her eyes met those of Adrienne and she +gave a nod of smiling recognition. It was a rose beaming upon a +gilliflower. + +M. Roussillon naturally understood that all this stir and crowding +to see was but another demonstration of his personal popularity. +He bowed and waved a vast hand. + +But the master of ceremonies called loudly for the dancers to take +their places. Oncle Jazon attacked his fiddle again with startling +energy. Those who were not to dance formed a compact double line +around the wall, the shorter ones in front, the taller in the +rear. And what a scene it was! but no person present regarded it +as in any way strange or especially picturesque, save as to the +gown of Alice, which was now floating and whirling in time to +Oncle Jazon's mad music. The people outside the house cheerfully +awaited their turn to go in while an equal number went forth to +chat and sing around the fires. + +Beverley was in a young man's seventh heaven. The angels formed a +choir circling around his heart, and their song brimmed his +universe from horizon to horizon. + +When he called at Roussillon place, and Alice appeared so +beautifully and becomingly robed, it was another memorable +surprise. She flashed a new and subtly stimulating light upon him. +The old gown, rich in subdued splendor of lace and brocade, was +ornamented at the throat with a heavy band of pearls, just above +which could be seen a trace of the gold chain that supported her +portrait locket. There, too, with a not unbecoming gleam of +barbaric colors, shone the string of porcupine beads to which the +Indian charmstone hidden in her bosom was attached. It all +harmonized with the time, the place, the atmosphere. Anywhere else +it would have been preposterous as a decorative presentment, but +here, in this little nook where the coureurs de bois, the half- +breeds, the traders and the missionaries had founded a centre of +assembly, it was the best possible expression in the life so +formed at hap-hazard, and so controlled by the coarsest and +narrowest influences. To Fitzhugh Beverley, of Beverley Hall, the +picture conveyed immediately a sweet and pervading influence. + +Alice looked superbly tall, stately and self-possessed in her +transforming costume, a woman of full stature, her countenance +gravely demure yet reserving near the surface the playful dimples +and mischievous smiles so characteristic of her more usual manner. +A sudden mood of the varium et mutabile semper femina had led her +to wear the dress, and the mood still illuminated her. + +Beverley stood before her frankly looking and admiring. The +underglow in her cheeks deepened and spread over her perfect +throat; her eyes met his a second, then shyly avoided him. He +hardly could have been sure which was master, her serenity or her +girlish delight in being attractively dressed; but there could be +no doubt as to her self-possession; for, saving the pretty blush +under his almost rude gaze of admiration, she bore herself as +firmly as any fine lady he remembered. + +They walked together to the river house, she daintily holding up +her skirts, under the insistent verbal direction of Madame +Roussillon, and at the same time keeping a light, strangely +satisfying touch on his arm. When they entered the room there was +no way for Beverley to escape full consciousness of the excitement +they aroused; but M. Roussillon's assumption broke the force of +what would have otherwise been extremely embarrassing. + +"It is encouraging, very encouraging," murmured the big man to +Beverley in the midst of the staring and scrambling and craning of +necks, "to have my people admire and love me so; it goes to the +middle of my heart." And again he bowed and waved his hand with an +all-including gesture, while he swept his eyes over the crowd. + +Alice and Beverley were soon in the whirl of the dance, forgetful +of everything but an exhilaration stirred to its utmost by Oncle +Jazon's music. + +A side remark here may be of interest to those readers who enjoy +the dream that on some fortunate day they will invade a lonely +nook, where amid dust and cobwebs, neglected because unrecognized, +reposes a masterpiece of Stradivari or some other great fiddle- +maker. Oncle Jazon knew nothing whatever about old violins. He was +a natural musician, that was all, and flung himself upon his +fiddle with the same passionate abandon that characterizes a +healthy boy's assault when a plum pudding is at his mercy. But his +fiddle was a Carlo Bergonzi; and now let the search be renewed, +for the precious instrument was certainly still in Vincennes as +late as 1819, and there is a vague tradition that Governor +Whitcomb played on it not long before he died. The mark by which +it may be identified is the single word "Jazon" cut in the back of +its neck by Oncle Jazon himself. + +When their dance was ended Alice and Beverley followed the others +of their set out into the open air while a fresh stream of eager +dancers poured in. Beverley insisted upon wrapping Alice in her +mantle of unlined beaver skin against the searching winter breath. +They did not go to the fire, but walked back and forth, chatting +until their turn to dance should come again, pausing frequently to +exchange pleasantries with some of the people. Curiously enough +both of them had forgotten the fact that other young men would be +sure to ask Alice for a dance, and that more than one pretty +creole lass was rightfully expecting a giddy turn with the +stalwart and handsome Lieutenant Beverley. + +Rene de Ronville before long broke rudely into their selfish dream +and led Alice into the house. This reminded Beverley of his social +duty, wherefore seeing little Adrienne Bourcier he made a rush and +secured her at a swoop from the midst of a scrambling circle of +mutually hindered young men. + +"Allons, ma petite!" he cried, quite in the gay tone of the +occasion, and swung her lightly along with him. + +It was like an eagle dancing with a linnet, or a giant with a +fairy, when the big Lieutenant led out la petite Adrienne, as +everybody called her. The honor of Beverley's attention sat +unappreciated on Adrienne's mind, for all her thoughts went with +her eyes toward Rene and Alice. Nor was Beverley so absorbed in +his partner's behalf that he ever for a moment willingly lost +sight of the floating buff gown, the shining brown hair and the +beautiful face, which formed, indeed, the center of attraction for +all eyes. + +Father Beret was present, sharing heartily in the merriment of his +flock. Voices greeted him on all sides with intonations of tender +respect. The rudest man there was loyal to the kind-hearted +priest, and would as soon have thought of shooting him as of +giving him any but the most reverent attention. It is to be noted, +however, that their understanding of reverence included great +freedom and levity not especially ecclesiastical in its nature. +Father Beret understood the conditions around him and had the +genius to know what not to hear, what not to see; but he never +failed when a good word or a fatherly touch with his hand seemed +worth trying on a sheep that appeared to be straying dangerously +far from the fold. Upon an occasion like this dance at the river +house, he was no less the faithful priest because of his genial +sympathy with the happiness of the young people who looked to him +for spiritual guidance. + +It was some time before Beverley could again secure Alice for a +dance, and he found it annoying him atrociously to see her smile +sweetly on some buckskin-clad lout who looked like an Indian and +danced like a Parisian. He did not greatly enjoy most of his +partners; they could not appeal to any side of his nature just +then. Not that he at all times stood too much on his aristocratic +traditions, or lacked the virile traits common to vigorous and +worldly-minded men; but the contrast between Alice and the other +girls present was somehow an absolute bar to a democratic freedom +of the sort demanded by the occasion. He met Father Beret and +passed a few pleasant words with him. + +"They have honored your flag, my son, I am glad to see," the +priest said, pointing with a smile to where, in one corner, the +banner that bore Alice's name was effectively draped. + +Beverley had not noticed it before, and when he presently got +possession of Alice he asked her to tell him the story of how she +planted it on the fort, although he had heard it to the last +detail from Father Beret just a moment ago. They stood together +under its folds while she naively sketched the scene for him, even +down to her picturesquely disagreeable interview with Long-Hair, +mention of whom led up to the story of the Indian's race with the +stolen dame jeanne of brandy under his arm on that memorable +night, and the subsequent services performed for him by Father +Beret and her, after she and Jean had found him in the mud beyond +the river. + +The dancing went on at a furious pace while they stood there. Now +and again a youth came to claim her, but she said she was tired +and begged to rest awhile, smiling so graciously upon each one +that his rebuff thrilled him as if it had been the most flattering +gift of tender partiality, while at the same time he suspected +that it was all for Beverley. + +Helm in his most jovial mood was circulating freely among those +who formed the periphery of the dancing-area; he even ventured a +few clumsy capers in a cotillion with Madame Godere for partner. +She danced well; but he, as someone remarked, stumbled all over +himself. + +There was but one thing to mar the evening's pleasure: some of the +men drank too much and grew boisterous. A quarrel ended in a noisy +but harmless fight near one of the fires. M. Roussillon rushed to +the spot, seized the combatants, tousled them playfully, as if +they had been children, rubbed their heads together, laughed +stormily and so restored the equilibrium of temper. + +It was late when fathers and mothers in the company began to +suggest adjournment. Oncle Jazon's elbow was tired and the +enthusiasm generated by his unrecognized Bergonzi became fitful, +while the relaxing crowd rapidly encroached upon the space set +apart for the dancers. In the open lamps suspended here and there +the oil was running low, and the rag wicks sputtered and winked +with their yellow flames. + +"Well," said M. Roussillon, coming to where Alice and Beverley +stood insulated and isolated by their great delight in each +other's company, "it's time to go home." + +Beverley looked at his watch; it was a quarter to three! + +Alice also looked at the watch, and saw engraved and enameled on +its massive case the Beverley crest, but she did not know what it +meant. There was something of the sort in the back of her locket, +she remembered with satisfaction. + +Just then there was a peculiar stir in the flagging crowd. Someone +had arrived, a coureur de bois from the north. Where was the +commandant? the coureur had something important for him. + +Beverley heard a remark in a startled voice about the English +getting ready for a descent upon the Wabash valley. This broke the +charm which thralled him and sent through his nerves the bracing +shock that only a soldier can feel when a hint of coming battle +reaches him. + +Alice saw the flash in his face. + +"Where is Captain Helm? I must see him immediately. Excuse me," he +said, abruptly turning away and looking over the heads of the +people; "yonder he is, I must go to him." + +The coureur de bois, Adolphe Dutremble by name, was just from the +head waters of the Wabash. He was speaking to Helm when Beverley +came up. M. Roussillon followed close upon the Lieutenant's heels, +as eager as he to know what the message amounted to; but Helm took +the coureur aside, motioning Beverley to join them. M. Roussillon +included himself in the conference. + +After all it was but the gossip of savages that Dutremble +communicated; still the purport was startling in the extreme. +Governor Hamilton, so the story ran, had been organizing a large +force; he was probably now on his way to the portage of the Wabash +with a flotilla of batteaux, some companies of disciplined +soldiers, artillery and a strong body of Indians. + +Helm listened attentively to Dutremble's lively sketch, then +cross-questioned him with laconic directness. + +"Send Mr. Jazon to me," he said to M. Roussillon, as if speaking +to a servant. + +The master Frenchman went promptly, recognizing Captain Helm's +right to command, and sympathizing With his unpleasant military +predicament if the news should prove true. + +Oncle Jazon came in a minute, his fiddle and bow clamped under his +arm, to receive a verbal commission, which sent him with some +scouts of his own choosing forthwith to the Wabash portage, or far +enough to ascertain what the English commander was doing. + +After the conference Beverley made haste to join Alice; but he +found that she had gone home. + +"One hell of a fix we'll be in if Hamilton comes down here with a +good force," said Helm. + +Beverley felt like retorting that a little forethought, zeal and +preparation might have lessened the prospective gloom. He had been +troubled all the time about Helm's utter lack of military +precaution. True, there was very little material out of which that +optimistic officer could have formed a body of resistance against +the army probably at Hamilton's command; but Beverley was young, +energetic, bellicose, and to him everything seemed possible; he +believed in vigilance, discipline, activity, dash; he had a great +faith in the efficacy of enthusiasm. + +"We must organize these Frenchmen," he said; "they will make good +fighters if we can once get them to act as a body. There's no time +to be lost; but we have time enough in which to do a great deal +before Hamilton can arrive, if we go at it in earnest." + +"Your theory is excellent, Lieutenant, but the practice of it +won't be worth a damn," Helm replied with perfect good nature. +"I'd like to see you organize these parly-voos. There ain't a +dozen of 'em that wouldn't accept the English with open arms. I +know 'em. They're good hearted, polite and all that; they'll +hurrah for the flag; that's easy enough; but put 'em to the test +and they'll join in with the strongest side, see if they don't. Of +course there are a few exceptions. There's Jazon, he's all right, +and I have faith in Bosseron, and Legrace, and young Ronville." + +"Roussillon--" Beverley began. + +"Is much of a blow-hard," Helm interrupted with a laugh. "Barks +loud, but his biting disposition is probably not vicious." + +"He and Father Beret control the whole population at all events," +said Beverley. + +"Yes, and such a population!" + +While joining in Captain Helm's laugh at the expense of Vincennes, +Beverley took leave to indulge a mental reservation in favor of +Alice. He could not bear to class her with the crowd of noisy, +thoughtless, mercurial beings whom he heard still singing gay +snatches and calling to one another from distance to distance, as +they strolled homeward in groups and pairs. Nor could the +impending danger of an enforced surrender to the English and +Indians drive from his mind her beautiful image, while he lay for +the rest of the night between sleeping and waking on his primitive +bed, alternately hearing over again her every phrase and laugh, +and striving to formulate some definite plan for defending the +town and fort. His heart was full of her. She had surprised his +nature and filled it, as with a wonderful, haunting song. His +youth, his imagination, all that was fresh and spontaneously +gentle and natural in him, was flooded with the magnetic splendor +of her beauty. And yet, in his pride (and it was not a false +pride, but rather a noble regard for his birthright) he vaguely +realized how far she was from him, how impossible. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DILEMMA OF CAPTAIN HELM + + +Oncle Jazon, feeling like a fish returned to the water after a +long and torturing captivity in the open air, plunged into the +forest with anticipations of lively adventure and made his way +toward the Wea plains. It was his purpose to get a boat at the +village of Ouiatenon and pull thence up the Wabash until he could +find out what the English were doing. He chose for his companions +on this dangerous expedition two expert coureurs de bois, +Dutremble and Jacques Bailoup. Fifty miles up the river they fell +in with some friendly Indians, well known to them all, who were +returning from the portage. + +The savages informed them that there were no signs of an English +advance in that quarter. Some of them had been as far as the St. +Joseph river and to within a short distance of Detroit without +seeing a white man or hearing of any suspicious movements on the +part of Hamilton. So back came Oncle Jazon with his pleasing +report, much disappointed that he had not been able to stir up +some sort of trouble. + +It was Helm's turn to laugh. + +"What did I tell you?" he cried, in a jolly mood, slapping +Beverley on the shoulder. "I knew mighty well that it was all a +big story with nothing in it. What on earth would the English be +thinking about to march an army away off down here only to capture +a rotten stockade and a lot of gabbling parly-voos?" + +Beverley, while he did not feel quite as confident as his chief, +was not sorry that things looked a little brighter than he had +feared they would turn out to be. Secretly, and without +acknowledging it to himself, he was delighted with the life he was +living. The Arcadian atmosphere of Vincennes clothed him in its +mists and dreams. No matter what way the weather blew its breath, +cold or warm, cloudy or fair, rain or snow, the peace in his soul +changed not. His nature seemed to hold all of its sterner and +fiercer traits in abeyance while he domiciled himself absolutely +within his narrow and monotonous environment. Since the dance at +the river house a new content, like a soft and diffused sweetness, +had crept through his blood with a vague, tingling sense of joy. + +He began to like walking about rather aimlessly in the town's +narrow streets, with the mud-daubed cabins on either hand. This +simple life under low, thatched roofs had a charm. When a door was +opened he could see a fire of logs on the ample hearth shooting +its yellow tongues up the sooty chimney-throat. Soft creole voices +murmured and sang, or jangled their petty domestic discords. Women +in scant petticoats, leggings and moccasins swept snow from the +squat verandas, or fed the pigs in little sties behind the cabins. +Everybody cried cheerily: "Bon jour, Monsieur, comment allez- +vous?" as he went by, always accompanying the verbal salute with a +graceful wave of the hand. + +When he walked early in the morning a waft of broiling game and +browning corn scones was abroad. Pots and kettles occupied the +hearths with glowing coals heaped around and under. Shaggy dogs +whined at the doors until the mensal remnants were tossed out to +them in the front yard. + +But it was always a glimpse of Alice that must count for +everything in Beverley's reckonings, albeit he would have +strenuously denied it. True he went to Roussillon place almost +every day, it being a fixed part of his well ordered habit, and +had a talk with her. Sometimes, when Dame Roussillon was very busy +and so quite off her guard, they read together in a novel, or in +certain parts of the odd volume of Montaigne. This was done more +for the sweetness of disobedience than to enjoy the already +familiar pages. + +Now and again they repeated their fencing bout; but never with the +result which followed the first. Beverley soon mastered Alice's +tricks and showed her that, after all, masculine muscle is not to +be discounted at its own game by even the most wonderful womanly +strength and suppleness. She struggled bravely to hold her vantage +ground once gained so easily, but the inevitable was not to be +avoided. At last, one howling winter day, he disarmed her by the +very trick that she had shown him. That ended the play and they +ran shivering into the house. + +"Ah," she cried, "it isn't fair. You are so much bigger than I; +you have so much longer arms; so much more weight and power. It +all counts against me! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" She +was rosy with the exhilarating exercise and the biting of the +frosty breeze. Her beauty gave forth a new ray. + +Deep in her heart she was pleased to have him master her so +superbly; but as the days passed she never said so, never gave +over trying to make him feel the touch of her foil. She did not +know that her eyes were getting through his guard, that her +dimples were stabbing his heart to its middle. + +"You have other advantages," he replied, "which far overbalance my +greater stature and stronger muscles." Then after a pause he +added: "After all a girl must be a girl." + +Something in his face, something in her heart, startled her so +that she made a quick little move like that of a restless bird. + +"You are beautiful and that makes my eyes and my hand uncertain," +he went on. "Were I fencing with a man there would be no glamour." + +He spoke in English, which he did not often do in conversation +with her. It was a sign that he was somewhat wrought upon. She +followed his rapid words with difficulty; but she caught from them +a new note of feeling. He saw a little pale flare shoot across her +face and thought she was angry. + +"You should not use your dimples to distract my vision," he +quickly added, with a light laugh. "It would be no worse for me to +throw my hat in your face!" + +His attempt at levity was obviously weak; she looked straight into +his eyes, with the steady gaze of a simple, earnest nature shocked +by a current quite strange to it. She did not understand him, and +she did. Her fine intuition gathered swiftly together a hundred +shreds of impression received from him during their recent growing +intimacy. He was a patrician, as she vaguely made him out, a man +of wealth, whose family was great. He belonged among people of +gentle birth and high attainments. She magnified him so that he +was diffused in her imagination, as difficult to comprehend as a +mist in the morning air--and as beautiful. + +"You make fun of me," she said, very deliberately, letting her +eyes droop; then she looked up again suddenly and continued, with +a certain naive expression of disappointment gathering in her +face. "I have been too free with you. Father Beret told me not to +forget my dignity when in your company. He told me you might +misunderstand me. I don't care; I shall not fence with you again." +She laughed, but there was no joyous freedom in the sound. + +"Why, Alice--my dear Miss Roussillon, you do me a wrong; I beg a +thousand pardons if I've hurt you," he cried, stepping nearer to +her, "and I can never forgive myself. You have somehow +misunderstood me, I know you have!" + +On his part it was exaggerating a mere contact of mutual feelings +into a dangerous collision. He was as much self-deceived as was +she, and he made more noise about it. + +"It is you who have misunderstood me," she replied, smiling +brightly now, but with just a faint, pitiful touch of regret, or +self-blame lingering in her voice. "Father Beret said you would. I +did not believe him; but--" + +"And you shall not believe him," said Beverley. "I have not +misunderstood you. There has been nothing. You have treated me +kindly and with beautiful friendliness. You have not done or said +a thing that Father Beret or anybody else could criticise. And if +I have said or done the least thing to trouble you I repudiate it-- +I did not mean it. Now you believe me, don't you, Miss +Roussillon?" + +He seemed to be falling into the habit of speaking to her in +English. She understood it somewhat imperfectly, especially when +in an earnest moment he rushed his words together as if they had +been soldiers he was leading at the charge-step against an enemy. +His manner convinced her, even though his diction fell short. + +"Then we'll talk about something else," she said, laughing +naturally now, and retreating to a chair by the hearthside. "I +want you to tell me all about yourself and your family, your home +and everything." + +She seated herself with an air of conscious aplomb and motioned +him to take a distant stool. + +There was a great heap of dry logs in the fireplace, with pointed +flames shooting out of its crevices and leaping into the gloomy, +cave-like throat of the flue. Outside a wind passed heavily across +the roof and bellowed in the chimney-top. + +Beverley drew the stool near Alice, who, with a charred stick, +used as a poker, was thrusting at the glowing crevices and sending +showers of sparks aloft. + +"Why, there wouldn't be much to tell," he said, glad to feel +secure again. "Our home is a big old mansion named Beverley Hall +on a hill among trees, and half surrounded with slave cabins. It +overlooks the plantation in the valley where a little river goes +wandering on its way." He was speaking French and she followed him +easily now, her eyes beginning to fling out again their natural +sunny beams of interest. "I was born there twenty-six years ago +and haven't done much of anything since. You see before you, +Mademoiselle, a very undistinguished young man, who has signally +failed to accomplish the dream of his boyhood, which was to be a +great artist like Raphael or Angelo. Instead of being famous I am +but a poor Lieutenant in the forces of Virginia." + +"You have a mother, father, brothers and sisters?" she +interrogated. She did not understand his allusion to the great +artists of whom she knew nothing. She had never before heard of +them. She leaned the poker against the chimney jamb and turned her +face toward him. + +"Mother, father, and one sister," he said, "no brothers. We were a +happy little group. But my sister married and lives in Baltimore. +I am here. Father and mother are alone in the old house. Sometimes +I am terribly homesick." He was silent a moment, then added: "But +you are selfish, you make me do all the telling. Now I want you to +give me a little of your story, Mademoiselle, beginning as I did, +at the first." + +"But I can't," she replied with childlike frankness, "for I don't +know where I was born, nor my parents' names, nor who I am. You +see how different it is with me. I am called Alice Roussillon, but +I suppose that my name is Alice Tarleton; it is not certain, +however. There is very little to help out the theory. Here is all +the proof there is. I don't know that it is worth anything." + +She took off her locket and handed it to him. + +He handled it rather indifferently, for he was just then studying +the fine lines of her face. But in a moment he was interested. + +"Tarleton, Tarleton," he repeated. Then he turned the little disc +of gold over and saw the enameled drawing on the back,--a crest +clearly outlined. + +He started. The crest was quite familiar. + +"Where did you get this?" he demanded in English, and with such +blunt suddenness that she was startled. "Where did it come from?" + +"I have always had it." + +"Always? It's the Tarleton crest. Do you belong to that family?" + +"Indeed I do not know. Papa Roussillon says he thinks I do." + +"Well, this is strange and interesting," said Beverley, rather to +himself than addressing her. He looked from the miniature to the +crest and back to the miniature again, then at Alice. "I tell you +this is strange," he repeated with emphasis. "It is exceedingly +strange." + +Her cheeks flushed quickly under their soft brown and her eyes +flashed with excitement. + +"Yes, I know." Her voice fluttered; her hands were clasped in her +lap. She leaned toward him eagerly. "It is strange. I've thought +about it a great deal." + +"Alice Tarleton; that is right; Alice is a name of the family. +Lady Alice Tarleton was the mother of the first Sir Garnett +Tarleton who came over in the time of Yardley. It's a great +family. One of the oldest and best in Virginia." He looked at her +now with a gaze of concentrated interest, under which her eyes +fell. "Why, this is romantic!" he exclaimed, "absolutely romantic. +And you don't know how you came by this locket? You don't know who +was your father, your mother?" + +"I do not know anything." + +"And what does Monsieur Roussillon know?" + +"Just as little." + +"But how came he to be taking you and caring for you? He must know +how he got you, where he got you, of whom he got you? Surely he +knows--" + +"Oh, I know all that. I was twelve years old when Papa Roussillon +took me, eight years ago. I had been having a hard life, and but +for him I must have died. I was a captive among the Indians. He +took me and has cared for me and taught me. He has been very, very +good to me. I love him dearly." + +"And don't you remember anything at all about when, where, how the +Indians got you?" + +"No." She shook her head and seemed to be trying to recollect +something. "No, I just can't remember; and yet there has always +been something like a dream in my mind, which I could not quite +get hold of. I know that I am not a Catholic. I vaguely remember a +sweet woman who taught me to pray like this: 'Our Father who art +in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.'" + +And Alice went on through the beautiful and perfect prayer, which +she repeated in English with infinite sweetness and solemnity, her +eyes uplifted, her hands clasped before her. Beverley could have +sworn that she was a shining saint, and that he saw an aureole. + +"I know," she continued, "that sometime, somewhere, to a very dear +person I promised that I never, never, never would pray any prayer +but that. And I remember almost nothing else about that other +life, which is far off back yonder in the past, I don't know +where,--sweet, peaceful, shadowy; a dream that I have all but lost +from my mind." + +Beverley's sympathy was deeply moved. He sat for some minutes +looking at her without speaking. She, too, was pensive and silent, +while the fire sputtered and sang, the great logs slowly melting, +the flames tossing wisps of smoke into the chimney still booming +to the wind. + +"I know, too, that I am not French," she presently resumed, "but I +don't know just how I know it. My first words must have been +English, for I have always dreamed of talking in that language, +and my dimmest half recollections of the old days are of a large, +white house, and a soft-voiced black woman, who sang to me in that +language the very sweetest songs in the world." + +It must be borne in mind that all this was told by Alice in her +creole French, half bookish, half patois, of which no translation +can give any fair impression. + +Beverley listened, as one who hears a clever reader intoning a +strange and captivating poem. He was charmed. His imagination +welcomed the story and furnished it with all that it lacked of +picturesque completeness. In those days it was no uncommon thing +for a white child to be found among the Indians with not a trace +left by which to restore it to its people. He had often heard of +such a case. But here was Alice right before him, the most +beautiful girl that he had ever seen, telling him the strangest +story of all. To his mind it was clear that she belonged to the +Tarleton family of Virginia. Youth always concludes a matter at +once. He knew some of the Tarletons; but it was a widely scattered +family, its members living in almost every colony in America. The +crest he recognized at a glance by the dragon on the helmet with +three stars. It was not for a woman to bear; but doubtless it had +been enameled on the locket merely as a family mark, as was often +done in America. + +"The black woman was your nurse, your mammy," he said. "I know by +that and by your prayer in English, as well as by your locket, +that you are of a good old family." + +Like most Southerners, he had strong faith in genealogy, and he +held at his tongue's tip the names of all the old families. The +Carters, the Blairs, the Fitzhughs, the Hansons, the Randolphs, +the Lees, the Ludwells, the Joneses, the Beverleys, the Tarletons-- +a whole catalogue of them stretched back in his memory. He knew +the coat of arms displayed by each house. He could repeat their +legends. + +"I wish you could tell me more," he went on. "Can't you recollect +anything further about your early childhood, your first +impressions--the house, the woman who taught you to pray, the old +black mammy? Any little thing might be of priceless value as +evidence." + +Alice shrugged her shoulders after the creole fashion with +something of her habitual levity of manner, and laughed. His +earnestness seemed disproportioned to the subject, as she fancied +he must view it, although to her it had always been something to +dream over. It was impossible for her to realize, as he did, the +importance of details in solving a problem like that involved in +her past history. Nor could she feel the pathos and almost tragic +fascination with which her story had touched him. + +"There is absolutely nothing more to tell," she said. "All my life +I have tried to remember more, but it's impossible; I can't get +any further back or call up another thing. There's no use trying. +It's all like a dream--probably it is one. I do have such dreams. +In my sleep I can lift myself into the air, just as easy, and fly +back to the same big white house that I seem to remember. When you +told me about your home it was like something that I had often +seen before. I shall be dreaming about it next!" + +Beverley cross-questioned her from every possible point of view; +he was fascinated with the mystery; but she gave him nothing out +of which the least further light could be drawn. A half-breed +woman, it seemed, had been her Indian foster-mother; a silent, +grave, watchful guardian from whom not a hint of disclosure ever +fell. She was, moreover, a Christian woman, had received her +conversion from an English-speaking Protestant missionary. She +prayed with Alice, thus keeping in the child's mind a perfect +memory of the Lord's prayer. + +"Well," said Beverley at last, "you are more of a mystery to me, +the longer I know you." + +"Then I must grow every day more distasteful to you." + +"No, I love mystery." + +He went away feeling a new web of interest binding him to this +inscrutable maiden whose life seemed to him at once so full of +idyllic happiness and so enshrouded in tantalizing doubt. At the +first opportunity he frankly questioned M. Roussillon, with no +helpful result. The big Frenchman told the same meager story. The +woman was dying in the time of a great epidemic, which killed most +of her tribe. She gave Alice to M. Roussillon, but told him not a +word about her ancestry or previous life. That was all. + +A wise old man, when he finds himself in a blind alley, no sooner +touches the terminal wall than he faces about and goes back the +way he came. Under like circumstances a young man must needs try +to batter the wall down with his head. Beverley endeavored to +break through the web of mystery by sheer force. It seemed to him +that a vigorous attempt could not fail to succeed; but, like the +fly in the spider's lines, he became more hopelessly bound at +every move he made. Moreover against his will he was realizing +that he could no longer deceive himself about Alice. He loved her, +and the love was mastering him body and soul. Such a confession +carries with it into an honest masculine heart a sense of +contending responsibilities. In Beverley's case the clash was +profoundly disturbing. And now he clutched the thought that Alice +was not a mere child of the woods, but a daughter of an old family +of cavaliers! + +With coat buttoned close against the driving wind, he strode +toward the fort in one of those melodramatic moods to which youth +in all climes and times is subject. It was like a slap in the face +when Captain Helm met him at the stockade gate and said: + +"Well, sir, you are good at hiding." + +"Hiding! what do you mean, Captain Helm?" he demanded, not in the +mildest tone. + +"I mean, sir, that I've been hunting you for an hour and more, +over the whole of this damned town. The English and Indians are +upon us, and there's no time for fooling. Where are all the men?" + +Beverley comprehended the situation in a second. Helm's face was +congested with excitement. Some scouts had come in with the news +that Governor Hamilton, at the head of five or six hundred +soldiers and Indians, was only three or four miles up the river. + +"Where are all the men?" Helm repeated. + +"Buffalo hunting, most of them," said Beverley. + +"What in hell are they off hunting buffaloes for?" raged the +excited captain. + +"You might go to hell and see," Beverley suggested, and they both +laughed in sheer masculine contempt of a predicament too grave for +anything but grim mirth. + +What could they do? Even Oncle Jazon and Rene de Ronville were off +with the hunters. Helm sent for M. Roussillon in the desperate +hope that he could suggest something; but he lost his head and +hustled off to hide his money and valuables. Indeed the French +people all felt that, so far as they were concerned, the chief +thing was to save what they had. They well knew that it mattered +little which of the two masters held over them--they must shift +for themselves. In their hearts they were true to France and +America; but France and America could not now protect them against +Hamilton; therefore it would be like suicide to magnify patriotism +or any other sentiment objectionable to the English. So they acted +upon M. Roussillon's advice and offered no resistance when the new +army approached. + +"My poor people are not disloyal to your flag and your cause," +said good Father Beret next morning to Captain Helm, "but they are +powerless. Winter is upon us. What would you have us do? This +rickety fort is not available for defense; the men are nearly all +far away on the plains. Isn't it the part of prudence and common +sense to make the best of a desperate situation? Should we resist, +the British and their savage allies would destroy the town and +commit outrages too horrible to think about. In this case +diplomacy promises much more than a hopeless fight against an +overwhelming force." + +"I'll fight 'em," Helm ground out between his teeth, "if I have to +do it single-handed and alone! I'll fight 'em till hell freezes +over!" + +Father Beret smiled grimly, as if he, too, would enjoy a lively +skirmish on the ice of Tophet, and said: + +"I admire your courage, my son. Fighting is perfectly proper upon +fair occasion. But think of the poor women and children. These old +eyes of mine have seen some terrible things done by enraged +savages. Men can die fighting; but their poor wives and daughters-- +ah, I have seen, I have seen!" + +Beverley felt a pang of terror shoot through his heart as Father +Beret's simple words made him think of Alice in connection with an +Indian massacre. + +"Of course, of course it's horrible to think of," said Helm; "but +my duty is clear, and that flag," he pointed to where la banniere +d'Alice Roussillon was almost blowing away in the cold wind, "that +flag shall not come down save in full honor." + +His speech sounded preposterously boastful and hollow; but he was +manfully in earnest; every word came from his brave heart. + +Father Beret's grim smile returned, lighting up his strongly +marked face with the strangest expression imaginable. + +"We will get all the women inside the fort," Helm began to say. + +"Where the Indians will find them ready penned up and at their +mercy," quickly interpolated the priest "That will not do." + +"Well, then, what can be done?" Beverley demanded, turning with a +fierce stare upon Father Beret. "Don't stand there objecting to +everything, with not a suggestion of your own to offer." + +"I know what is best for my people," the old man replied softly, +still smiling, "I have advised them to stay inside their houses +and take no part in the military event. It is the only hope of +averting an indiscriminate massacre, and things worse." + +The curt phrase, "things worse," went like a bullet-stroke through +Beverley's heart. It flashed an awful picture upon his vision. +Father Beret saw his face whiten and his lips set themselves to +resist a great emotion. + +"Do not be angry with me, my son," he said, laying a hand on the +young man's arm. "I may be wrong, but I act upon long and +convincing experience." + +"Experience or no experience," Helm exclaimed with an oath, "this +fort must be manned and defended. I am commanding here!" + +"Yes, I recognize your authority," responded the priest in a firm +yet deferential tone, "and I heartily wish you had a garrison; but +where is your command, Captain Helm?" Then it was that the doughty +Captain let loose the accumulated profanity with which he had been +for some time well-nigh bursting. He tiptoed in order to curse +with extremest violence. His gestures were threatening. He shook +his fists at Father Beret, without really meaning offence. + +"Where is my garrison, you ask! Yes, and I can tell you. It's +where you might expect a gang of dad blasted jabbering French +good-for-nothings to be, off high-gannicking around shooting +buffaloes instead of staying here and defending their wives, +children, homes and country, damn their everlasting souls! The few +I have in the fort will sneak off, I suppose." + +"The French gave you this post on easy terms, Captain," blandly +retorted Father Beret. + +"Yes, and they'll hand it over to Hamilton, you think, on the same +basis," cried Helm, "but I'll show you! I'll show you, Mr. +Priest!" + +"Pardon me, Captain, the French are loyal to you and to the flag +yonder. They have sworn it. Time will prove it. But in the present +desperate dilemma we must choose the safer horn." + +Saying this Father Beret turned about and went his way. He was +chuckling heartily as he passed out of the gate. + +"He is right," said Beverley after a few moments of reflection, +during which he was wholly occupied with Alice, whose terrified +face in his anticipation appealed to him from the midst of howling +savages, smoking cabins and mangled victims of lust and massacre. +His imagination painted the scene with a merciless realism that +chilled his blood. All the sweet romance fell away from Vincennes. + +"Well, sir, right or wrong, your, duty is to obey orders," said +Helm with brutal severity. + +"We had better not quarrel, Captain," Beverley replied. "I have +not signified any unwillingness to obey your commands. Give them, +and you will have no cause to grumble." + +"Forgive me, old fellow," cried the impulsive commander. "I know +you are true as steel. I s'pose I'm wound up too tight to be +polite. But the time is come to do something. Here we are with but +five or six men--" + +He was interrupted by the arrival of two more half-breed scouts. + +Only three miles away was a large flotilla of boats and canoes +with cannon, a force of Indians on land and the British flag +flying,--that was the report. + +"They are moving rapidly," said the spokesman, "and will be here +very soon. They are at least six hundred strong, all well armed." + +"Push that gun to the gate, and load it to the muzzle, Lieutenant +Beverley," Helm ordered with admirable firmness, the purple flush +in his face giving way to a grayish pallor. "We are going to die +right here, or have the honors of war." + +Beverley obeyed without a word. He even loaded two guns instead of +one--charging each so heavily that the last wad looked as if ready +to leap from the grimy mouth. + +Helm had already begun, on receiving the first report, a hasty +letter to Colonel Clark at Kaskaskia. He now added a few words and +at the last moment sent it out by a trusted man, who was promptly +captured by Hamilton's advance guard. The missive, evidently +written in installments during the slow approach of the British, +is still in the Canadian archives, and runs thus: + +"Dear Sir--At this time there is an army within three miles of +this place; I heard of their coming several days beforehand. I +sent spies to find the certainty--the spies being taken prisoner +I never got intelligence till they got within three miles of town. +As I had called the militia and had all assurances of their +integrity I ordered at the firing of a cannon every man to appear, +but I saw but few. Captain Buseron behaved much to his honor and +credit, but I doubt the conduct of a certain gent. Excuse haste, +as the army is in sight. My determination is to defend the +garrison, (sic) though I have but twenty-one men but what has left +me. I refer you to Mr. Wmes (sic) for the rest. The army is within +three hundred yards of the village. You must think how I feel; not +four men that I really depend upon; but am determined to act +brave--think of my condition. I know it is out of my power to +defend the town, as not one of the militia will take arms, though +before sight of the army no braver men. There is a flag at a small +distance, I must conclude. + +"Your humble servant, + +"Leo'd Helm. Must stop." + +"To Colonel Clark." + +Having completed this task, the letter shows under what a nervous +strain, Helm turned to his lieutenant and said: + +"Fire a swivel with a blank charge. We'll give these weak-kneed +parly-voos one more call to duty. Of course not a frog-eater of +them all will come. But I said that a gun should be the signal. +Possibly they didn't hear the first one, the damned, deaf, +cowardly hounds!" + +Beverley wheeled forth the swivel and rammed a charge of powder +home. But when he fired it, the effect was far from what it should +have been. Instead of calling in a fresh body of militia, it +actually drove out the few who up to that moment had remained as a +garrison; so that Captain Helm and his Lieutenant found themselves +quite alone in the fort, while out before the gate, deployed in +fine open order, a strong line of British soldiers approached with +sturdy steps, led by a tall, erect, ruddy-faced young officer. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE HONORS OF WAR + + +Gaspard Roussillon was thoroughly acquainted with savage warfare, +and he knew all the pacific means so successfully and so long used +by French missionaries and traders to control savage character; +but the emergency now upon him was startling. It confused him. The +fact that he had taken a solemn oath of allegiance to the American +government could have been pushed aside lightly enough upon +pressing occasion, but he knew that certain confidential agents +left in Vincennes by Governor Abbott had, upon the arrival of +Helm, gone to Detroit, and of course they had carried thither a +full report of all that happened in the church of St. Xavier, when +Father Gibault called the people together, and at the fort, when +the British flag was hauled down and la banniere d'Alice +Roussillon run up in its place. His expansive imagination did full +credit to itself in exaggerating the importance of his part in +handing the post over to the rebels. And what would Hamilton think +of this? Would he consider it treason? The question certainly bore +a tragic suggestion. + +M. Roussillon lacked everything of being a coward, and treachery +had no rightful place in his nature. He was, however, so in the +habit of fighting windmills and making mountains of molehills that +he could not at first glance see any sudden presentment with a +normal vision. He had no love for Englishmen and he did like +Americans, but he naturally thought that Helm's talk of fighting +Hamilton was, as his own would have been in a like case, talk and +nothing more. The fort could not hold out an hour, he well knew. +Then what? Ah, he but too well realized the result. + +Resistance would inflame the English soldiers and madden the +Indians. There would be a massacre, and the belts of savages would +sag with bloody scalps. He shrugged his shoulders and felt a chill +creep up his back. + +The first thing M. Roussillon did was to see Father Beret and take +counsel of him; then he hurried home to dig a great pit under his +kitchen floor in which he buried many bales of fur and all his +most valuable things. He worked like a giant beaver all night +long. Meantime Father Beret went about over the town quietly +notifying the inhabitants to remain in their houses until after +the fort should surrender, which he was sure would happen the next +day. + +"You will be perfectly safe, my children," he said to them. "No +harm can come to you if you follow my directions." + +Relying implicitly upon him, they scrupulously obeyed in every +particular. + +He did not think it necessary to call at Roussillon place, having +already given M. Roussillon the best advice he could command. + +Just at the earliest break of day, while yet the gloom of night +scarcely felt the sun's approach, a huge figure made haste along +the narrow streets in the northern part of the town. If any person +had been looking out through the little holes, called windows, in +those silent and rayless huts, it would have been easy to +recognize M. Roussillon by his stature and his gait, dimly +outlined as he was. A thought, which seemed to him an inspiration +of genius, had taken possession of him and was leading him, as if +by the nose, straight away to Hamilton's lines. He was freighted +with eloquence for the ear of that commander, and as he strode +along facing the crisp morning air he was rehearsing under his +breath, emphasizing his periods in tragic whispers with sweeping +gestures and liberal facial contortions. So absorbed was he in his +oratorical soliloquy that he forgot due military precaution and +ran plump into the face of a savage picket guard who, without +respect for the great M. Roussillon's dignity, sprang up before +him, grunted cavernously, flourished a tomahawk and spoke in +excellent and exceedingly guttural Indian: + +"Wah, surrender!" + +It is probable that no man ever complied with a modest request in +a more docile spirit than did M. Roussillon upon that occasion. In +fact his promptness must have been admirable, for the savage +grunted approval and straightway conducted him to Hamilton's +headquarters on a batteau in the river. + +The British commander, a hale man of sandy complexion and probably +under middle age, was in no very pleasant humor. Some of his +orders had been misunderstood by the chief of his Indian allies, +so that a premature exposure of his approach had been made to the +enemy. + +"Well, sir, who are you?" he gruffly demanded, when M. Roussillon +loomed before him. + +"I am Gaspard Roussillon, the Mayor of Vincennes," was the lofty +reply. "I have come to announce to you officially that my people +greet you loyally and that my town is freely at your command." He +felt as important as if his statements had been true. + +"Humph, that's it, is it? Well, Mr. Mayor, you have my +congratulations, but I should prefer seeing the military commander +and accepting his surrender. What account can you give me of the +American forces, their numbers and condition?" + +M. Roussillon winced, inwardly at least, under Hamilton's very +undeferential air and style of address. It piqued him cruelly to +be treated as a person without the slightest claim to respect. He +somehow forgot the rolling and rhythmical eloquence prepared for +the occasion. + +"The American commander naturally would not confide in me, +Monsieur le Gouverneur, not at all; we are not very friendly; he +ousted me from office, he offended me--" he was coughing and +stammering. + +"Oh, the devil! what do I care? Answer my question, sir," Hamilton +gruffly interrupted. "Tell me the number of American troops at the +fort, sir." + +"I don't know exactly. I have not had admittance to the fort. I +might be deceived as to numbers; but they're strong, I believe, +Monsieur le Gouverneur, at least they make a great show and much +noise." + +Hamilton eyed the huge bulk before him for a moment, then turning +to a subaltern said: + +"Place this fellow under guard and see that he doesn't get away. +Send word immediately to Captain Farnsworth that I wish to see him +at once." + +The interview thereupon closed abruptly. Hamilton's emissaries had +given him a detailed account of M. Roussillon's share in +submitting Vincennes to rebel dominion, and he was not in the +least inclined toward treating him graciously. + +"I would suggest to you, Monsieur le Gouverneur, that my official +position demands--" M. Roussillon began; but he was fastened upon +by two guards, who roughly hustled him aft and bound him so +rigidly that he could scarcely move finger or toe. + +Hamilton smiled coldly and turned to give some orders to a +stalwart, ruddy young officer who in a canoe had just rowed +alongside the batteau. + +"Captain Farnsworth," he said, acknowledging the military salute, +"you will take fifty men and make everything ready for a +reconnaissance in the direction of the fort. We will move down the +river immediately and choose a place to land. Move lively, we have +no time to lose." + +In the meantime Beverley slipped away from the fort and made a +hurried call upon Alice at Roussillon place. There was not much +they could say to each other during the few moments at command. +Alice showed very little excitement; her past experience had +fortified her against the alarms of frontier life; but she +understood and perfectly appreciated the situation. + +"What are you going to do?" Beverley demanded in sheer despair. He +was not able to see any gleam of hope out of the blackness which +had fallen around him and into his soul. + +"What shall you do?" he repeated. + +"Take the chances of war," she said, smiling gravely. "It will all +come out well, no doubt." + +"I hope so, but--but I fear not." + +His face was gray with trouble. "Helm is determined to fight, and +that means--" + +"Good!" she interrupted with spirit. "I am so glad of that. I wish +I could go to help him! If I were a man I'd love to fight! I think +it's just delightful." + +"But it is reckless bravado; it is worse than foolishness," said +Beverley, not feeling her mood. "What can two or three men do +against an army?" + +"Fight and die like men," she replied, her whole countenance +lighting up. "Be heroic!" + +"We will do that, of course; we--I do not fear death; but you-- +you--" His voice choked him. + +A gun shot rang out clear in the distance, and he did not finish +speaking. + +"That's probably the beginning," he added in a moment, extending +both hands to her. "Good bye. I must hurry to the fort. Good bye." + +She drew a quick breath and turned so white that her look struck +him like a sudden and hard blow. He stood for a second, his arms +at full reach, then: + +"My God, Alice, I cannot, cannot leave you!" he cried, his voice +again breaking huskily. + +She made a little movement, as if to take hold of his hands: but +in an instant she stepped back a pace and said; + +"Don't fear about me. I can take care of myself. I'm all right. +You'd better return to the fort as quickly as you can. It is your +country, your flag, not me, that you must think of now." + +She folded her arms and stood boldly erect. + +Never before, in all his life, had he felt such a rebuke. He gave +her a straight, strong look in the eyes. + +"You are right, Alice." he cried, and rushed from the house to the +fort. + +She held her rigid attitude for a little while after she heard him +shut the front gate of the yard so forcibly that it broke in +pieces, then she flung her arms wide, as if to clasp something, +and ran to the door; but Beverley was out of sight. She turned and +dropped into a chair. Jean came to her out of the next room. His +queer little face was pale and pinched; but his jaw was set with +the expression of one who has known danger and can meet it +somehow. + +"Are they going to scalp us?" he half whispered presently, with a +shuddering lift of his distorted shoulders. + +Her face was buried in her hands and she did not answer. Childlike +he turned from one question to another inconsequently. + +"Where did Papa Roussillon go to?" he next inquired. "Is he going +to fight?" + +She shook her head. + +"They'll tear down the fort, won't they?" + +If she heard him she did not make any sign. + +"They'll kill the Captain and Lieutenant and get the fine flag +that you set so high on the fort, won't they, Alice?" + +She lifted her head and gave the cowering hunchback such a stare +that he shut his eyes and put up a hand, as if afraid of her. Then +she impulsively took his little misshapen form in her arms and +hugged it passionately. Her bright hair fell all over him, almost +hiding him. Madame Roussillon was lying on a bed in an adjoining +room moaning diligently, at intervals handling her rosary and +repeating a prayer. The whole town was silent outside. + +"Why don't you go get the pretty flag down and hide it before they +come?" Jean murmured from within the silken meshes of Alice's +hair. + +In his small mind the gaudy banner was the most beautiful of all +things. Every day since it was set up he had gone to gaze at it as +it fluttered against the sky. The men had frequently said in his +presence that the enemy would take it down if they captured the +fort. + +Alice heard his inquisitive voice; but it seemed to come from far +off; his words were a part of the strange, wild swirl in her +bosom. Beverley's look, as he turned and left her, now shook every +chord of her being. He had gone to his death at her command. How +strong and true and brave he was! In her imagination she saw the +flag above him, saw him die like a panther at bay, saw the gay rag +snatched down and torn to shreds by savage hands. It was the +tragedy of a single moment, enacted in a flashlight of +anticipation. + +She released Jean so suddenly that he fell to the floor. She +remembered what she had said to Beverley on the night of the dance +when they were standing under the flag. + +"You made it and set it up," he lightly remarked; "you must see +that no enemy ever gets possession of it, especially the English." + +"I'll take it down and hide it when there's danger of that," she +said in the same spirit. + +And now she stood there looking at Jean, without seeing him, and +repeated the words under her breath. + +"I'll take it down and hide it. They shan't have it." + +Madame Roussillon began to call from the other room in a loud, +complaining voice; but Alice gave no heed to her querulous +demands. + +"Stay here, Jean, and take care of Mama Roussillon," she presently +said to the hunchback. "I am going out; I'll be back soon; don't +you dare leave the house while I'm gone; do you hear?" + +She did not wait for his answer; but snatching a hood-like fur cap +from a peg on the wall, she put it on and hastily left the house. + +Down at the fort Helm and Beverley were making ready to resist +Hamilton's attack, which they knew would not be long deferred. The +two heavily charged cannon were planted so as to cover the space +in front of the gate, and some loaded muskets were ranged near by +ready for use. + +"We'll give them one hell of a blast," growled the Captain, +"before they overpower us." + +Beverley made no response in words; but he was preparing a bit of +tinder on the end of a stick with which to fire the cannon. Not +far away a little heap of logs was burning in the fort's area. + +The British officer, already mentioned as at the head of the line +advancing diagonally from the river's bank, halted his men at a +distance of three hundred yards from the fort, and seemed to be +taking a deliberately careful survey of what was before him. + +"Let 'em come a little nearer, Lieutenant," said Helm, his jaw +setting itself like a lion's. "When we shoot we want to hit." + +He stooped and squinted along his gun. + +"When they get to that weedy spot out yonder," he added, "just +opposite the little rise in the river bank, we'll turn loose on +'em." + +Beverley had arranged his primitive match to suit his fancy, and +for probably the twentieth time looked critically to the powder in +the beveled touch-hole of his old cannon. He and Helm were facing +the enemy, with their backs to the main area of the stockade, when +a well known voice attracted their attention to the rear. + +"Any room for a feller o' my size in this here crowded place?" it +demanded in a cracked but cheerful tenor. "I'm kind o' outen +breath a runnin' to git here." + +They turned about. It was Oncle Jazon with his long rifle on his +shoulder and wearing a very important air. He spoke in English, +using the backwoods lingo with the ease of long practice. + +"As I's a comin' in f'om a huntin' I tuck notice 'at somepin' was +up. I see a lot o' boats on the river an' some fellers wi' guns a +scootin' around, so I jes' slipped by 'em all an' come in the back +way. They's plenty of 'em, I tell you what! I can't shoot much, +but I tuck one chance at a buck Indian out yander and jes' +happened to hit 'im in the lef' eye. He was one of the gang 'at +scalped me down yander in Kaintuck." + +The greasy old sinner looked as if he had not been washed since he +was born. He glanced about with furtive, shifty eyes, grimaced and +winked, after the manner of an animal just waking from a lazy nap. + +"Where's the rest o' the fighters?" he demanded quizzically, +lolling out his tongue and peeping past Helm so as to get a +glimpse of the English line. "Where's yer garrison? Have they all +gone to breakfas'?" + +The last question set Helm off again cursing and swearing in the +most melodramatic rage. + +Oncle Jazon turned to Beverley and said in rapid French: "Surely +the man's not going to fight those fellows yonder?" + +Beverley nodded rather gloomily. + +"Well," added the old man, fingering his rifle's stock and taking +another glance through the gate, "I can't shoot wo'th a cent, +bein' sort o' nervous like; but I'll stan' by ye awhile, jes' for +luck. I might accidentally hit one of 'em." + +When a man is truly brave himself there is nothing that touches +him like an exhibition of absolutely unselfish gameness in +another. A rush of admiration for Oncle Jazon made Beverley feel +like hugging him. + +Meantime the young British officer showed a flag of truce, and, +with a file of men, separated himself from the line, now +stationary, and approached the stockade. At a hundred yards he +halted the file and came on alone, waving the white clout. He +boldly advanced to within easy speaking distance and shouted: + +"I demand the surrender of this fort." + +"Well, you'll not get it, young man," roared Helm, his profanity +well mixed in with the words, "not while there's a man of us +left!" + +"Ye'd better use sof' soap on 'im, Cap'n," said Oncle Jazon in +English, "cussin' won't do no good." While he spoke he rubbed the +doughty Captain's arm and then patted it gently. + +Helm, who was not half as excited as he pretended to be, knew that +Oncle Jazon's remark was the very essence of wisdom; but he was +not yet ready for the diplomatic language which the old trooper +called "soft soap." + +"Are you the British commander?" he demanded. + +"No," said the officer, "but I speak for him." + +"Not to me by a damned sight, sir. Tell your commander that I will +hear what he has to say from his own mouth. No understrapper will +be recognized by me." + +That ended the conference. The young officer, evidently indignant, +strode back to his line, and an hour later Hamilton himself +demanded the unconditional surrender of the fort and garrison. + +"Fight for it," Helm stormed forth. "We are soldiers." + +Hamilton held a confab with his officers, while his forces, under +cover of the town's cabins, were deploying so as to form a half +circle about the stockade. Some artillery appeared and was planted +directly opposite the gate, not three hundred yards distant. One +blast of that battery would, as Helm well knew, level a large part +of the stockade. + +"S'posin' I hev' a cannon, too, seein' it's the fashion," said +Oncle Jazon. "I can't shoot much, but I might skeer 'em. This +little one'll do me." + +He set his rifle against the wall and with Beverley's help rolled +one of the swivels alongside the guns already in position. + +In a few minutes Hamilton returned under the white flag and +shouted: + +"Upon what terms will you surrender?" + +"All the honors of war," Helm firmly replied. "It's that or fight, +and I don't care a damn which!" + +Hamilton half turned away, as if done with the parley, then facing +the fort again, said: + +"Very well, sir, haul down your flag." + +Helm was dumfounded at this prompt acceptance of his terms. Indeed +the incident is unique in history. + +As Hamilton spoke he very naturally glanced up to where la +banniere d'Alice Roussillon waved brilliantly. Someone stood +beside it on the dilapidated roof of the old blockhouse, and was +already taking it from its place. His aid, Captain Farnsworth, saw +this, and the vision made his heart draw in a strong, hot flood It +was a girl in short skirts and moccasins, with a fur hood on her +head, her face, thrillingly beautiful, set around with fluffs of +wind-blown brown-gold hair. Farnsworth was too young to be +critical and too old to let his eyes deceive him. Every detail of +the fine sketch, with its steel-blue background of sky, flashed +into his mind, sharp-cut as a cameo. Involuntarily he took off his +hat. + +Alice had come in by way of the postern. She mounted to the roof +unobserved, and made her way to the flag, just at the moment when +Helm, glad at heart to accept the easiest way out of a tight +place, asked Oncle Jazon to lower it. + +Beverley was thinking of Alice, and when he looked up he could +scarcely realize that he saw her; but the whole situation was +plain the instant she snatched the staff from its place; for he, +too, recollected what she had said at the river house. The memory +and the present scene blended perfectly during the fleeting +instant that she was visible. He saw that Alice was smiling +somewhat as in her most mischievous moods, and when she jerked the +staff from its fastening she lifted it high and waved it once, +twice, thrice defiantly toward the British lines, then fled down +the ragged roof-slope with it and disappeared. The vision remained +in Beverley's eyes forever afterward. The English troops, thinking +that the flag was taken down in token of surrender, broke into a +wild tumult of shouting. + +Oncle Jazon intuitively understood just what Alice was doing, for +he knew her nature and could read her face. His blood effervesced +in an instant. + +"Vive Zhorzh Vasinton! Vive la banniere d'Alice Roussillon!" he +screamed, waving his disreputable cap round his scalpless head. +"Hurrah for George Washington! Hurrah for Alice Roussillon's +flag!" + +It was all over soon. Helm surrendered himself and Beverley with +full honors. As for Oncle Jazon, he disappeared at the critical +moment. It was not just to his mind to be a prisoner of war, +especially under existing conditions; for Hamilton's Indian allies +had some old warpath scores to settle with him dating back to the +days when he and Simon Kenton were comrades in Kentucky. + +When Alice snatched the banner and descended with it to the +ground, she ran swiftly out through the postern, as she had once +before done, and sped along under cover of the low bluff or swell, +which, terrace-like, bounded the flat "bottom" lands southward of +the stockade. She kept on until she reached a point opposite +Father Beret's hut, to which she then ran, the flag streaming +bravely behind her in the wind, her heart beating time to her +steps. + +It was plainly a great surprise to Father Beret, who looked up +from his prayer when she rushed in, making a startling clatter, +the loose puncheons shaking together under her reckless feet. + +"Oh, Father, here it is! Hide it, hide it, quick!" + +She thrust the flag toward him. + +"They shall not have it! They shall never have it!" + +He opened wide his shrewd, kindly eyes; but did not fairly +comprehend her meaning. + +She was panting, half laughing, half crying. Her hair, wildly +disheveled, hung in glorious masses over her shoulders. Her face +beamed triumphantly, + +"They are taking the fort," she breathlessly added, again urging +the flag upon him, "they're going in, but I got this and ran away +with it. Hide it, Father, hide it, quick, quick, before they +come!" + +The daring light in her eyes, the witching play of her dimples, +the madcap air intensified by her attitude and the excitement of +the violent exercise just ended--something compounded of all +these and more--affected the good priest strangely. Involuntarily +he crossed himself, as if against a dangerous charm. + +"Mon Dieu, Father Beret," she exclaimed with impatience, "haven't +you a grain of sense left? Take this flag and hide it, I tell you! +Don't stay there gazing and blinking. Here, quick! They saw me +take it, they may be following me. Hurry, hide it somewhere!" + +He comprehended now, rising from his knees with a queer smile +broadening on his face. She put the banner into his hands and gave +him a gentle push. + +"Hide it, I tell you, hide it, you dear old goose!" + +Without sneaking he turned the staff over and over in his hand, +until the flag was closely wrapped around it, then stooping he +lifted a puncheon and with it covered the gay roll from sight. + +Alice caught him in her arms and kissed him vigorously on the +cheek. Her warm lips made the spot tingle. + +"Don't you dare to let any person have it! It's the flag of George +Washington." + +She gave him a strong squeeze. + +He pushed her from him with both hands and hastily crossed +himself; but his eyes were laughing. + +"You ought to have seen me; I waved the flag at them--at the +English--and one young officer took off his hat to me! Oh, Father +Beret, it was like what is in a novel. They'll get the fort, but +not the banner! Not the banner! I've saved it, I've saved it!" + +Her enthusiasm gave a splendor to her countenance, heightening its +riches of color and somehow adding to its natural girlish +expression an audacious sweetness. The triumphant success of her +undertaking lent the dignity of conscious power to her look, a +dignity which always sits well upon a young and somewhat +immaturely beautiful face. + +Father Beret could not resist her fervid eloquence, and he could +not run away from her or stop up his ears while she went on. So he +had to laugh when she said: + +"Oh, if you had seen it all you would have enjoyed it. There was +Oncle Jazon squatting behind the little swivel, and there were +Captain Helm and Lieutenant Beverley holding their burning sticks +over the big cannon ready to shoot--all of them so intent that +they didn't see me--and yonder came the English officer and his +army against the three. When they got close to the gate the +officer called out: 'Surrender!' and then Captain Helm yelled +back: 'Damned if I do! Come another step and I'll blow you all to +hell in a second!' I was mightily in hopes that they'd come on; I +wanted to see a cannon ball hit that English commander right in +the face; he looked so arrogant." + +Father Beret shook his head and tried to look disapproving and +solemn. + +Meantime down at the fort Hamilton was demanding the flag. He had +seen Alice take it down, and supposed that it was lowered +officially and would be turned over to him. Now he wanted to +handle it as the best token of his bloodless but important +victory. + +"I didn't order the flag down until after I had accepted your +terms," said Helm, "and when my man started to obey, we saw a +young lady snatch it and run away with it." + +"Who was the girl?" + +"I do not inform on women," said Helm. + +Hamilton smiled grimly, with a vexed look in his eyes, then turned +to Captain Farnsworth and ordered him to bring up M. Roussillon, +who, when he appeared, still had his hands tied together. + +"Tell me the name of the young woman who carried away the flag +from the fort. You saw her, you know every soul in this town. Who +was it, sir?" + +It was a hard question for M. Roussillon to answer. Although his +humiliating captivity had somewhat cowed him, still his love for +Alice made it impossible for him to give the information demanded +by Hamilton. He choked and stammered, but finally managed to say: + +"I assure you that I don't know--I didn't look--I didn't see--It +was too far off for me to--I was some-what excited--I--" + +"Take him away. Keep him securely bound," said Hamilton. "Confine +him. We'll see how long it will take to refresh his mind. We'll +puncture the big windbag." + +While this curt scene was passing, the flag of Great Britain rose +over the fort to the lusty cheering of the victorious soldiers. + +Hamilton treated Helm and Beverley with extreme courtesy. He was a +soldier, gruff, unscrupulous and cruel to a degree; but he could +not help admiring the daring behavior of these two officers who +had wrung from him the best terms of surrender. He gave them full +liberty, on parole of honor not to attempt escape or to aid in any +way an enemy against him while they were prisoners. + +Nor was it long before Helm's genial and sociable disposition won +the Englishman's respect and confidence to such an extent that the +two became almost inseparable companions, playing cards, brewing +toddies, telling stories, and even shooting deer in the woods +together, as if they had always been the best of friends. + +Hamilton did not permit his savage allies to enter the town, and +he immediately required the French inhabitants to swear allegiance +to Great Britain, which they did with apparent heartiness, all +save M. Roussillon, who was kept in close confinement and bound +like a felon, chafing lugubriously and wearing the air of a +martyr. His prison was a little log pen in one corner of the +stockade, much open to the weather, its gaping cracks giving him a +dreary view of the frozen landscape through which the Wabash +flowed in a broad steel-gray current. Helm, who really liked him, +tried in vain to procure his release; but Hamilton was inexorable +on account of what he regarded as duplicity in M. Roussillon's +conduct. + +"No, I'll let him reflect," he said; "there's nothing like a +little tyranny to break up a bad case of self-importance. He'll +soon find out that he has over-rated himself!" + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +M. ROUSSILLON ENTERTAINS COLONEL HAMILTON + + +A day or two after the arrival of Hamilton the absent garrison of +buffalo hunters straggled back to Vincennes and were duly sworn to +demean themselves as lawful subjects of Great Britain. Rene de +Ronville was among the first to take the oath, and it promptly +followed that Hamilton ordered him pressed into service as a wood- +chopper and log-hauler during the erection of a new blockhouse, +large barracks and the making of some extensive repairs of the +stockade. Nothing could have been more humiliating to the proud +young Frenchman. Every day he had to report bright and early to a +burly Irish Corporal and be ordered about, as if he had been a +slave, cursed at, threatened and forced to work until his hands +were blistered and his muscles sore. The bitterest part of it all +was that he had to trudge past both Roussillon place and the +Bourcier cabin with the eyes of Alice and Adrienne upon him. + +Hamilton did not forget M. Roussillon in this connection. The +giant orator soon found himself face to face with a greater trial +even than Rene's. He was calmly told by the English commander that +he could choose between death and telling who it was that stole +the flag. + +"I'll have you shot, sir, to-morrow morning if you prevaricate +about this thing any longer," said Hamilton, with a right deadly +strain in his voice. "You told me that you knew every man, woman +and child in Vincennes at sight. I know that you saw that girl +take the flag--lying does not serve your turn. I give you until +this evening to tell me who she is; if you fail, you die at +sunrise to-morrow." + +In fact, it may be that Hamilton did not really purpose to carry +out this blood-thirsty threat; most probably he relied upon M. +Roussillon's imagination to torture him successfully; but the +effect, as time proved, could not be accurately foreseen. + +Captain Farnsworth had energy enough for a dozen ordinary men. +Before he had been in Vincennes twelve hours he had seen every +nook and corner of its surface. Nor was his activity due +altogether to military ardor, although he never let pass an +opportunity to serve the best interests of his commander; all the +while his mind was on the strikingly beautiful girl whose saucy +countenance had so dazzled him from the roof-top of the fort, what +time she wrenched away the rebel flag. + +"I'll find her, high or low," he thought, "for I never could fail +to recognize that face. She's a trump." + +It was not in Alice's nature to hide from the English. They had +held the town and fort before Helm came, and she had not found +them troublesome under Abbott. She did not know that M. Roussillon +was a prisoner, the family taking it for granted that he had gone +away to avoid the English. Nor was she aware that Hamilton felt so +keenly the disappearance of the flag. What she did know, and it +gladdened her greatly, was that Beverley had been well treated by +his captor. With this in her heart she went about Roussillon place +singing merry snatches of Creole songs; and when at the gate, +which still hung lop-sided on account of Beverley's force in +shutting it, she came unexpectedly face to face with Captain +Farnsworth, there was no great surprise on her part. + +He lifted his hat and bowed very politely; but a bold smile broke +over his somewhat ruddy face. He spoke in French, but in a +drawling tone and with a bad accent: + +"How do you do, Mademoiselle; I am right glad to see you again." + +Alice drew back a pace or two. She was quick to understand his +allusion, and she shrank from him, fearing that he was going to +inquire about the flag. + +"Don't be afraid," he laughed. "I am not so dangerous. I never did +hurt a girl in all my life. In fact, I am fond of them when +they're nice." + +"I am not in the least afraid," she replied, assuming an air of +absolute dismissal, "and you don't look a bit ferocious, Monsieur. +You may pass on, if you please." + +He flushed and bit his lip, probably to keep back some hasty +retort, and thought rapidly for a moment. She looked straight at +him with eyes that stirred and dazzled him. He was handsome in a +coarse way, like a fine young animal, well groomed, well fed, +magnetic, forceful; but his boldness, being of a sort to which she +had not been accustomed, disturbed her vaguely and strangely. + +"Suppose that I don't pass on?" he presently ventured, with just a +suspicion of insolence in his attitude, but laughing until he +showed teeth of remarkable beauty and whiteness. "Suppose that I +should wish to have a little chat with you, Mademoiselle?" + +"I have been told that there are men in the world who think +themselves handsome, and clever, and brilliant, when in fact they +are but conceited simpletons," she remarked, rather indifferently, +muffling herself in her fur wrap. "You certainly would be a fairly +good hitching-post for our horses if you never moved." Then she +laughed out of the depth of her hood, a perfectly merry laugh, but +not in the least flattering to Captain Farnsworth's vanity. He +felt the scorn that it conveyed. + +His face grew redder, while a flash from hers made him wish that +he had been more gracious in his deportment. Here, to his +surprise, was not a mere creole girl of the wild frontier. + +Her superiority struck him with the force of a captivating +revelation, under the light of which he blinked and winced. + +She laid a shapely hand on the broken gate and pushed it open. + +"I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle;" his manner softened as he +spoke; "I beg your pardon; but I came to speak to you about the +flag--the flag you took away from the fort." + +She had been half expecting this; but she was quite unprepared, +and in spite of all she could do showed embarrassment. + +"I have come to get the flag; if you will kindly bring it to me, +or tell me where it is I--" + +She quickly found words to interrupt him with, and at the same +time by a great effort pulled herself together. + +"You have come to the wrong place," she flung in. "I assure you +that I haven't the flag." + +"You took it down, Mademoiselle." + +"Oh, did I?" + +"With bewitching grace you did, Mademoiselle. I saw and admired. +Will you fetch it, please?" + +"Indeed I won't." + +The finality in her voice belied her face, which beamed without a +ray of stubbornness or perversity. He did not know how to +interpret her; but he felt that he had begun wrong. He half +regretted that he had begun at all. + +"More depends upon returning that flag than you are probably aware +of," he presently said in a more serious tone. "In fact, the life +of one of your townsmen, and a person of some importance here I +believe, will surely be saved by it. You'd better consider, +Mademoiselle. You wouldn't like to cause the death of a man." + +She did not fairly grasp the purport of his words; yet the change +in his manner, and the fact that he turned from French to English +in making the statement, aroused a sudden feeling of dread or dark +apprehension in her breast. The first distinct thought was of +Beverley--that some deadly danger threatened him. + +"Who is it?" she frankly demanded. + +"It's the Mayor, the big man of your town, Monsieur Roussillon, I +think he calls himself. He's got himself into a tight place. He'll +be shot to-morrow morning if that flag is not produced. Governor +Hamilton has so ordered, and what he orders is done." + +"You jest, Monsieur." + +"I assure you that I speak the plain truth." + +"You will probably catch Monsieur Roussillon before you shoot +him." She tossed her head. + +"He is already a prisoner in the fort." + +Alice turned pale. + +"Monsieur, is this true?" Her voice had lost its happy tone. "Are +you telling me that to--" + +"You can verify it, Mademoiselle, by calling upon the commander at +the fort. I am sorry that you doubt my veracity. If you will go +with me I will show you M. Roussillon a tightly bound prisoner." + +Jean had crept out of the gate and was standing just behind Alice +with his feet wide apart, his long chin elevated, his head resting +far back between his upthrust shoulders, his hands in his pockets, +his uncanny eyes gazing steadily at Farnsworth. He looked like a +deformed frog ready to jump. + +Alice unmistakably saw truth in the Captain's countenance and felt +it in his voice. The reality came to her with unhindered effect. +M. Roussillon's life depended upon the return of the flag. She put +her hands together and for a moment covered her eyes with them. + +"I will go now, Mademoiselle," said Farnsworth; "but I hope you +will be in great haste about returning the flag." + +He stood looking at her. He was profoundly touched and felt that +to say more would be too brutal even for his coarse nature; so he +simply lifted his hat and went away. + +Jean took hold of Alice's dress as she turned to go back into the +house. + +"Is he going to take the flag? Can he find it? What does he want +with it? What did you do with the flag, Alice?" he whined, in his +peculiar, quavering voice. "Where is it?" + +Her skirt dragged him along as she walked. + +"Where did you put it, Alice?" + +"Father Beret hid it under his floor," she answered, +involuntarily, and almost unconsciously. "I shall have to take it +back and give it up." + +"No--no--I wouldn't," he quavered, dancing across the veranda as +she quickened her pace and fairly spun him along. "I wouldn't let +'em have it at all." + +Alice's mind was working with lightning speed. Her imagination +took strong grip on the situation so briefly and effectively +sketched by Captain Farnsworth. Her decision formed itself +quickly. + +"Stay here, Jean. I am going to the fort. Don't tell Mama +Roussillon a thing. Be a good boy." + +She was gone before Jean could say a word. She meant to face +Hamilton at once and be sure what danger menaced M. Roussillon. Of +course, the flag must be given up if that would save her foster +father any pain; and if his life were in question there could not +be too great haste on her part. + +She ran directly to the stockade gate and breathlessly informed a +sentinel that she must see Governor Hamilton, into whose presence +she was soon led. Captain Farnsworth had preceded her but a minute +or two, and was present when she entered the miserable shed room +where the commander was having another talk with M. Roussillon. + +The meeting was a tableau which would have been comical but for +the pressure of its tragic possibilities. Hamilton, stern and +sententious, stood frowning upon M. Roussillon, who sat upon the +ground, his feet and hands tightly bound, a colossal statue of +injured innocence. + +Alice, as soon as she saw M. Roussillon, uttered a cry of +sympathetic endearment and flung herself toward him with open +arms. She could not reach around his great shoulders; but she did +her best to include the whole bulk. + +"Papa! Papa Roussillon!" she chirruped between the kisses that she +showered upon his weather-beaten face. + +Hamilton and Farnsworth regarded the scene with curious and +surprised interest. M. Roussillon began speaking rapidly; but +being a Frenchman he could not get on well with his tongue while +his hands were tied. He could shrug his shoulders; that helped him +some. + +"I am to be shot, MA PETITE," he pathetically growled in his deep +bass voice; "shot like a dog at sunrise to-morrow." + +Alice kissed M. Roussillon's rough cheek once more and sprang to +her feet facing Hamilton. + +"You are not such a fiend and brute as to kill Papa Roussillon," +she cried. "Why do you want to injure my poor, good papa?" + +"I believe you are the young lady that stole the flag?" Hamilton +remarked, smiling contemptuously. + +She looked at him with a swift flash of indignation as he uttered +these words. + +"I am not a thief. I could not steal what was my own. I helped to +make that flag. It was named after me. I took it because it was +mine. You understand me, Monsieur." + +"Tell where it is and your father's life will be spared." + +She glanced at M. Roussillon. + +"No, Alice," said he, with a pathetically futile effort to make a +fine gesture, "don't do it. I am brave enough to die. You would +not have me act the coward." + +No onlooker would have even remotely suspected the fact that M. +Roussillon had chanced to overhear a conversation between Hamilton +and Farnsworth, in which Hamilton stated that he really did not +intend to hurt M. Roussillon in any event; he merely purposed to +humiliate the "big wind-bag!" + +"Ah, no; let me die bravely for honor's sake--I fear death far +less than dishonor! They can shoot me, my little one, but they +cannot break my proud spirit." He tried to strike his breast over +his heart. + +"Perhaps it would be just as well to let him be shot," said +Hamilton gruffly, and with dry indifference. "I don't fancy that +he's of much value to the community at best. He'll make a good +target for a squad, and we need an example." + +"Do you mean it?--you ugly English brute--would you murder him?" +she stamped her foot. + +"Not if I get that flag between now and sundown. Otherwise I shall +certainly have him shot. It is all in your hands, Mademoiselle. +You can tell me where the flag is." Hamilton smiled again with +exquisite cruelty. + +Farnsworth stood by gazing upon Alice in open admiration. Her +presence had power in it, to which he was very susceptible. + +"You look like a low, dishonorable, soulless tyrant," she said to +Hamilton, "and if you get my flag, how shall I know that you will +keep your promise and let Papa Roussillon go free?" + +"I am sorry to say that you will have to trust me, unless you'll +take Captain Farnsworth for security. The Captain is a gentleman, +I assure you. Will you stand good for my veracity and sincerity, +Captain Farnsworth?" + +The young man smiled and bowed. + +Alice felt the irony; and her perfectly frank nature preferred to +trust rather than distrust the sincerity of others. She looked at +Farnsworth, who smiled encouragingly. + +"The flag is under Father Beret's floor," she said. + +"Under the church floor?" + +"No, under the floor of his house." + +"Where is his house?" + +She gave full directions how to reach it. + +"Untie the prisoner," Hamilton ordered, and it was quickly done. +"Monsieur Roussillon, I congratulate you upon your narrow escape. +Go to the priest's house, Monsieur, and bring me that flag. It +would be well, I assure you, not to be very long about it. Captain +Farnsworth, you will send a guard with Monsieur Roussillon, a +guard of honor, fitting his official dignity, a Corporal and two +men. The honorable Mayor of this important city should not go +alone upon so important an errand. He must have his attendants." + +"Permit me to go myself and get it," said Alice, "I can do it +quickly. May I, please, Monsieur?" + +Hamilton looked sharply at her. + +"Why, certainly, Mademoiselle, certainly. Captain Farnsworth, you +will escort the young lady." + +"It is not necessary, Monsieur." + +"Oh, yes, it is necessary, my dear young lady, very necessary; so +let's not have further words. I'll try to entertain his honor, the +Mayor, while you go and get the flag. I feel sure, Mademoiselle, +that you'll return with it in a few minutes. But you must not go +alone." + +Alice set forth immediately, and Farnsworth, try as hard as he +would, could never reach her side, so swift was her gait. + +When they arrived at Father Beret's cabin, she turned and said +with imperious severity: + +"Don't you come in; you stay out here: I'll get it in a minute." + +Farnsworth obeyed her command. + +The door was wide open, but Father Beret was not inside; he had +gone to see a sick child in the outskirts of the village. Alice +looked about and hesitated. She knew the very puncheon that +covered the flag; but she shrank from lifting it. There seemed +nothing else to do, however; so, after some trouble with herself, +she knelt upon the floor and turned the heavy slab over with a +great thump. The flag did not appear. She peeped under the other +puncheons. It was not there. The only thing visible was a little +ball of paper fragments not larger than an egg. + +Farnsworth heard her utter a low cry of surprise or dismay, and +was on the point of going in when Father Beret, coming around the +corner of the cabin, confronted him. The meeting was so sudden and +unexpected that both men recoiled slightly, and then, with a +mutual stare, saluted. + +"I came with a young lady to get the flag," said Farnsworth. "She +is inside. I hope there is no serious intrusion. She says the flag +is hidden under your floor." + +Father Beret said nothing, but frowning as if much annoyed, +stepped through the doorway to Alice's side, and stooping where +she knelt, laid a hand on her shoulder as she glanced up and +recognized him. + +"What are you doing, my child?" + +"Oh, Father, where is the flag?" It was all that she could say. +"Where is the flag?" + +"Why, isn't it there?" + +"No, you see it isn't there! Where is it?" + +The priest stood as if dumfounded, gazing into the vacant space +uncovered by the puncheon. + +"Is it gone? Has some one taken it away?" + +They turned up all the floor to no avail. La banniere d'Alice +Roussillon had disappeared, and Captain Farnsworth went forthwith +to report the fact to his commander. When he reached the shed at +the angle of the fort he found Governor Hamilton sitting stupid +and dazed on the ground. One jaw was inflamed and swollen and an +eye was half closed and bloodshot. He turned his head with a +painful, irregular motion and his chin sagged. + +Farnsworth sprang to him and lifted him to his feet; but he could +scarcely stand. He licked his lips clumsily. + +"What is the matter? What hurt you?" + +The Governor rubbed his forehead trying to recollect. + +"He struck me," he presently said with difficulty. "He hit me with +his fist Where--where is he?" + +"Who?" + +"That big French idiot--that Roussillon--go after him, take him, +shoot him--quick! I have been stunned; I don't know how long he's +been gone. Give the alarm--do something!" + +Hamilton, as he gathered his wits together, began to foam with +rage, and his passion gave his bruised and swollen face a terrible +look. + +The story was short, and may be quickly told. M. Roussillon had +taken advantage of the first moment when he and Hamilton were left +alone. One herculean buffet, a swinging smash of his enormous fist +on the point of the Governors jaw, and then he walked out of the +fort unchallenged, doubtless on account of his lordly and +masterful air. + +"Ziff!" he exclaimed, shaking himself and lifting his shoulders, +when he had passed beyond hearing of the sentinel at the gate, +"ziff! I can punch a good stiff stroke yet, Monsieur le +Gouverneur. Ah, ziff!" and he blew like a porpoise. + +Every effort was promptly made to recapture M. Roussillon; but his +disappearance was absolute; even the reward offered for his scalp +by Hamilton only gave the Indians great trouble--they could not +find the man. + +Such a beginning of his administration of affairs at Vincennes did +not put Hamilton into a good humor. He was overbearing and +irascible at best, and under the irritation of small but +exceedingly unpleasant experiences he made life well-nigh +unendurable to those upon whom his dislike chanced to fall. +Beverley quickly felt that it was going to be very difficult for +him and Hamilton to get along agreeably. With Helm it was quite +different; smoking, drinking, playing cards, telling good stories-- +in a word, rude and not unfrequently boisterous conviviality drew +him and the commandant together. + +Under Captain Farnsworth's immediate supervision the fort was soon +in excellent repair and a large blockhouse and comfortable +quarters for the men were built. Every day added to the strength +of the works and to the importance of the post as a strategic +position for the advance guard of the British army. + +Hamilton was ambitious to prove himself conspicuously valuable to +his country. He was dreaming vast dreams and laying large plans. +The Indians were soon anxious to gain his favor; and to bind them +securely to him he offered liberal pay in rum and firearms, +blankets, trinkets and ammunition for the scalps of rebels. He +kept this as secret as possible from his prisoners; but Beverley +soon suspected that a "traffic in hair," as the terrible business +had been named, was going on. Savages came in from far away with +scalps yet scarcely dry dangling at their belts. It made the young +Virginian's blood chill in his heart, and he regretted that he had +given Hamilton his parole of honor not to attempt to escape. + +Among the Indians occasionally reporting to Hamilton with their +ghastly but valuable trophies was Long-Hair, who slipped into the +fort and out again rather warily, not having much confidence in +those Frenchmen who had once upon a time given him a memorable run +for his life. + +Winter shut down, not cold, but damp, changeable, raw. The work on +the fort was nearly completed, and Rene de Ronville would have +soon been relieved of his servile and exasperating employment +under the Irish Corporal; but just at the point of time when only +a few days' work remained for him, he became furious, on account +of an insulting remark, and struck the Corporal over the head with +a handspike. This happened in a wood some miles from town, where +he was loading logs upon a sled. There chanced to be no third +person present when the deed was done, and some hours passed +before they found the officer quite cold and stiff beside the +sled. His head was crushed to a pulp. + +Hamilton, now thoroughly exasperated, began to look upon the +French inhabitants of Vincennes as all like M. Roussillon and +Rene, but waiting for an opportunity to strike him unawares. He +increased his military vigilance, ordered the town patrolled day +and night, and forbade public gatherings of the citizens, while at +the same time he forced them to furnish him a large amount of +provisions. + +When little Adrienne Bourcier heard of Renews terrible act, +followed by his successful escape to the woods, and of the +tempting reward offered by Hamilton for his scalp, she ran to +Roussillon place well-nigh crazed with excitement. She had always +depended upon Alice for advice, encouragement and comfort in her +troubles; but in the present case there was not much that her +friend could do to cheer her. With M. Roussillon and Rene both +fugitives, tracked by wily savages, a price on their heads, while +every day added new dangers to the French inhabitants of +Vincennes, no rosy view could possibly be taken of the situation. +Alice did her best, however, to strengthen her little friend's +faith in a happy outcome. She quoted what she considered +unimpeachable authority to support her optimistic argument. + +"Lieutenant Beverley says that the Americans will be sure to drive +Hamilton out of Vincennes, or capture him. Probably they are not +so very far away now, and Rene may join them and come back to help +punish these brutal Englishmen. Don't you wish he would, Adrienne? +Wouldn't it be romantic?" + +"He's armed, I know that," said Adrienne, brightening a little, +"and he's brave, Alice, brave as can be. He came right back into +town the other night and got his gun and pistols. He was at our +house, too, and, oh!--" + +She burst out crying again. "O Alice! It breaks my heart to think +that the Indians will kill him. Do you think they will kill him, +Alice?" + +"He'll come nearer killing them," said Alice confidently, with her +strong, warm arms around the tiny lass; "he's a good woodsman, a +fine shot--he's not so easy to kill, my dear. If he and Papa +Roussillon should get together by chance they would be a match for +all the Indians in the country. Anyway, I feel that it's much +better for them to take their chances in the woods than to be in +the hands of Governor Hamilton. If I were a man I'd do just as +Papa Roussillon and Rene did; I'd break the bigoted head of every +Englishman that mistreated me, I'll do it, girl as I am, if they +annoy me, see if I don't!" + +She was thinking of Captain Farnsworth, who had been from the +first untiring in his efforts to gain something more than a +passing acquaintance. As yet he had not made himself unbearable; +but Alice's fine intuition led her to the conclusion that she must +guard against him from the outset. + +Adrienne's simple heart could not grasp the romantic criterion +with which Alice was wont to measure action. Her mind was single, +impulsive, narrow and direct in all its movements. She loved, +hated, desired, caressed, repulsed, not for any assignable reason +more solid or more luminous than "because." She adored Rene and +wanted him near her. He was a hero in her imagination, no matter +what he did. Little difference was it to her whether he hauled +logs for the English or smoked his pipe in idleness by the winter +fire--what could it matter which flag he served under, so that he +was true to her? Or whom he served if she could always have him +coming to see her and calling her his little pet? He might crush +an Irish Corporal's head every day, if he would but stroke her +hair and say: "My sweet little one." + +"Why couldn't he be quiet and do as your man, Lieutenant Beverley, +did?" she cried in a sudden change of mood, the tears streaming +down her cheeks. "Lieutenant Beverley surrendered and took the +consequences. He didn't kill somebody and run off to be hunted +like a bear. No wonder you're happy, Alice; I'd be happy, too, if +Rene were here and came to spend half of every day with me. I--" + +"Why, what a silly girl you are!" Alice exclaimed, her face +reddening prettily. "How foolishly you prattle! I'm sure I don't +trouble myself about Lieutenant Beverley--what put such absurd +nonsense into your head, Adrienne?" + +"Because, that's what, and you know it's so, too. You love him +just as much as I love Rene, and that's just all the love in the +world, and you needn't deny it, Alice Roussillon!" + +Alice laughed and hugged the wee, brown-faced mite of a girl until +she almost smothered her. + +It was growing dusk when Adrienne left Roussillon place to go +home. The wind cut icily across the commons and moaned as it +whirled around the cabins and cattle-sheds. She ran briskly, +muffled in a wrap, partly through fear and partly to keep warm, +and had gone two-thirds of her way when she was brought to an +abrupt stop by the arms of a man. She screamed sharply, and Father +Beret, who was coming out of a cabin not far away, heard and knew +the voice. + +"Ho-ho, my little lady!" cried Adrienne's captor in a breezy, +jocund tone, "you wouldn't run over a fellow, would you?" The +words were French, but the voice was that of Captain Farnsworth, +who laughed while he spoke. "You jump like a rabbit, my darling! +Why, what a lively little chick of a girl it is!" + +Adrienne screamed and struggled recklessly. + +"Now don't rouse up the town," coaxed the Captain. He was just +drunk enough to be quite a fool, yet sufficiently sober to imagine +himself the most proper person in the world. "I don't mean you any +harm, Mademoiselle; I'll just see you safe home, you know; 'scort +you to your residence; come on, now--that's a good girl." + +Father Beret hurried to the spot, and when in the deepening gloom +he saw Adrienne flinging herself violently this way and that, +helplessly trying to escape from the clasp of a man, he did to +perfection what a priest is supposed to be the least fitted to do. +Indeed, considering his age and leaving his vocation out of the +reckoning, his performance was amazing. It is not certain that the +blow dealt upon Governor Hamilton's jaw by M. Roussillon was a +stiffer one than that sent straight from the priest's shoulder +right into the short ribs of Captain Farnsworth, who there-upon +released a mighty grunt and doubled himself up. + +Adrienne recognized her assailant at the first and used his name +freely during the struggle. When Father Beret appeared she cried +out to him-- + +"Oh, Father--Father Beret! help me! help me!" + +When Farnsworth recovered from the breath-expelling shock of the +jab in his side and got himself once more in a vertical position, +both girl and priest were gone. He looked this way and that, +rapidly becoming sober, and beginning to wonder how the thing +could have happened so easily. His ribs felt as if they had been +hit with a heavy hammer. + +"By Jove!" he muttered all to himself, "the old prayer-singing +heathen! By Jove!" And with this very brilliant and relevant +observation he rubbed his sore side and went his way to the fort. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A SWORD AND A HORSE PISTOL + + +We hear much about the "days that tried men's souls"; but what +about the souls of women in those same days? Sitting in the +liberal geniality of the nineteenth century's sunset glow, we +insist upon having our grumble at the times and the manners of our +generation; but if we had to exchange places, periods and +experiences with the people who lived in America through the last +quarter of the eighteenth century, there would be good ground for +despairing ululations. And if our men could not bear it, if it +would try their souls too poignantly, let us imagine the effect +upon our women. No, let us not imagine it; but rather let us give +full credit to the heroic souls of the mothers and the maidens who +did actually bear up in the center of that terrible struggle and +unflinchingly help win for us not only freedom, but the vast +empire which at this moment is at once the master of the world and +the model toward which all the nations of the earth are slowly but +surely tending. + +If Alice was an extraordinary girl, she was not aware of it; nor +had she ever understood that her life was being shaped by +extraordinary conditions. Of course it could not but be plain to +her that she knew more and felt more than the girls of her narrow +acquaintance; that her accomplishments were greater; that she +nursed splendid dreams of which they could have no proper +comprehension, but until now she had never even dimly realized +that she was probably capable of being something more than a mere +creole lass, the foster daughter of Gaspard Roussillon, trader in +pelts and furs. Even her most romantic visions had never taken the +form of personal desire, or ambition in its most nebulous stage; +they had simply pleased her fresh and natural fancy and served to +gild the hardness and crudeness of her life,--that was all. + +Her experiences had been almost too terrible for belief, viewed at +our distance from them; she had passed through scenes of +incredible horror and suffering, but her nature had not been +chilled, stunted or hardened. In body and in temper her +development had been sound and beautiful. It was even thus that +our great-grandmothers triumphed over adversity, hardship, +indescribable danger. We cannot say that the strong, lithe, happy- +hearted Alice of old Vincennes was the only one of her kind. Few +of us who have inherited the faded portraits of our revolutionary +forbears can doubt that beauty, wit and great lovableness +flourished in the cabins of pioneers all the way from the Edisto +to the Licking, from the Connecticut to the Wabash. + +Beverley's advent could not fail to mean a great deal in the life +of a girl like Alice; a new era, as it were, would naturally begin +for her the moment that his personal influence touched her +imagination; but it is well not to measure her too strictly by the +standard of our present taste and the specialized forms of our +social and moral code. She was a true child of the wilderness, a +girl who grew, as the wild prairie rose grew, not on account of +innumerable exigencies, accidents and hardships, but in spite of +them. She had blushed unseen, and had wasted divine sweets upon a +more than desert air. But when Beverley came near her, at first +carelessly droning his masculine monotonies, as the wandering bee +to the lonely and lovely rose, and presently striking her soul as +with the wings of Love, there fell a change into her heart of +hearts, and lo! her haunting and elusive dreams began to condense +and take on forms that startled her with their wonderful splendor +and beauty. These she saw all the time, sleeping or waking; they +made bright summer of the frozen stream and snapping gale, the +snowdrifts and the sleet. In her brave young heart, swelled the +ineffable song--the music never yet caught by syrinx or flute or +violin, the words no tongue can speak. + +Ah, here may be the secret of that vigorous, brave, sweet life of +our pioneer maids, wives, and mothers. It was love that gave those +tender hearts the iron strength and heroic persistence at which +the world must forever wonder. And do we appreciate those women? +Let the Old World boast its crowned kings, its mailed knights, its +ladies of the court and castle; but we of the New World, we of the +powerful West, let us brim our cups with the wine of undying +devotion, and drink to the memory of the Women of the Revolution, +--to the humble but good and marvelously brave and faithful women +like those of old Vincennes. + +But if Alice was being radically influenced by Beverley, he in +turn found a new light suffusing his nature, and he was not +unaware that it came out of her eyes, her face, her smiles, her +voice, her soul. It was the old, well-known, inexplicable, mutual +magnetism, which from the first has been the same on the highest +mountain-top and in the lowest valley. The queen and the milkmaid, +the king and the hind may come together only to find the king +walking off with the lowly beauty and her fragrant pail, while +away stalks the lusty rustic, to be lord and master of the queen. +Love is love, and it thrives in all climes, under all conditions. + +There is an inevitable and curious protest that comes up unbidden +between lovers; it takes many forms in accordance with particular +circumstances. It is the demand for equality and perfection. Love +itself is without degrees--it is perfect--but when shall it see +the perfect object? It does see it, and it does not see it, in +every beloved being. Beverley found his mind turning, as on a +pivot, round and round upon the thought that Alice might be +impossible to him. The mystery of her life seemed to force her +below the line of his aristocratic vision, so that he could not +fairly consider her, and yet with all his heart he loved her. +Alice, on the other hand, had her bookish ideal to reckon with, +despite the fact that she daily dashed it contemptuously down. She +was different from Adrienne Bourcier, who bewailed the absence of +her un-tamable lover; she wished that Beverley had not, as she +somehow viewed it, weakly surrendered to Hamilton. His apparently +complacent acceptance of idle captivity did not comport with her +dream of knighthood and heroism. She had been all the time half +expecting him to do something that would stamp him a hero. + +Counter protests of this sort are never sufficiently vigorous to +take a fall out of Love; they merely serve to worry his temper by +lightly hindering his feet. And it is surprising how Love does +delight himself with being entangled. + +Both Beverley and Alice day by day felt the cord tightening which +drew their hearts together--each acknowledged it secretly, but +strove not to evince it openly. Meantime both were as happy and as +restlessly dissatisfied as love and uncertainty could make them. + +Amid the activities in which Hamilton was engaged--his dealings +with the Indians and the work of reconstructing the fort--he found +time to worry his temper about the purloined flag. Like every +other man in the world, he was superstitious, and it had come into +his head that to insure himself and his plans against disaster, he +must have the banner of his captives as a badge of his victory. It +was a small matter; but it magnified itself as he dwelt upon it. +He suspected that Alice had deceived him. He sharply questioned +Father Beret, only to be half convinced that the good priest told +the truth when he said that he knew nothing whatever on the +subject beyond the fact that the banner had mysteriously +disappeared from under his floor. + +Captain Farnsworth scarcely sympathized with his chief about the +flag, but he was nothing if not anxious to gain Hamilton's highest +confidence. His military zeal knew no bounds, and he never let +pass even the slightest opportunity to show it. Hence his +persistent search for a clue to the missing banner. He was no +respecter of persons. He frankly suspected both Alice and Father +Beret of lying. He would himself have lied under the existing +circumstances, and he considered himself as truthful and +trustworthy as priest or maiden. + +"I'll get that flag for you," he said to Hamilton, "if I have to +put every man, woman and child in this town on the rack. It lies, +I think, between Miss Roussillon and the priest, although both +insistently deny it. I've thought it over in every way, and I +can't see how they can both be ignorant of where it is, or at +least who got it." + +Hamilton, since being treated to that wonderful blow on the jaw, +was apt to fall into a spasm of anger whenever the name Roussillon +was spoken in his hearing. Involuntarily he would put his hand to +his cheek, and grimace reminiscently. + +"If it's that girl, make her tell," he savagely commanded. "Let's +have no trifling about it. If it's the priest, then make him tell, +or tie him up by the thumbs. Get that flag, or show some good +reason for your failure. I'm not going to be baffled." + +The Captain's adventure with Father Beret came just in time to +make it count against that courageous and bellicose missionary in +more ways than one. Farnsworth did not tell Hamilton or any other +person about what the priest had done to him, but nursed his sore +ribs and his wrath, waiting patiently for the revenge that he +meant soon to take. + +Alice heard from Adrienne the story of Farnsworth's conduct and +his humiliating discomfiture at the hands of Father Beret. She was +both indignant and delighted, sympathizing with Adrienne and +glorying in the priest's vigorous pugilistic achievement. + +"Well," she remarked, with one of her infectious trills of +laughter, "so far the French have the best of it, anyway! Papa +Roussillon knocked the Governor's cheek nearly off, then Rene +cracked the Irish Corporal's head, and now Father Beret has taught +Captain Farnsworth a lesson in fisticuffs that he'll not soon +forget! If the good work can only go on a little longer we shall +see every English soldier in Vincennes wearing the mark of a +Frenchman's blow." Then her mood suddenly changed from smiling +lightness to almost fierce gravity, and she added: + +"Adrienne Bourcier, if Captain Farnsworth ever offers to treat me +as he did you, mark my words, I'll kill him--kill him, indeed I +will! You ought to see me!" + +"But he won't dare touch you," said Adrienne, looking at her +friend with round, admiring eyes. "He knows very well that you are +not little and timid like me. He'd be afraid of you." + +"I wish he would try it. How I would love to shoot him into +pieces, the hateful wretch! I wish he would." + +The French inhabitants all, or nearly all, felt as Alice did; but +at present they were helpless and dared not say or do anything +against the English. Nor was this feeling confined to the Creoles +of Vincennes; it had spread to most of the points where trading +posts existed. Hamilton found this out too late to mend some of +his mistakes; but he set himself on the alert and organized +scouting bodies of Indians under white officers to keep him +informed as to the American movements in Kentucky and along the +Ohio. One of these bands brought in as captive Colonel Francis +Vigo, of St. Louis, a Spaniard by birth, an American by adoption, +a patriot to the core, who had large influence over both Indians +and Creoles in the Illinois country. + +Colonel Vigo was not long held a prisoner. Hamilton dared not +exasperate the Creoles beyond their endurance, for he knew that +the savages would closely sympathize with their friends of long +standing, and this might lead to revolt and coalition against +him,--a very dangerous possibility. Indeed, at least one of the +great Indian chieftains had already frankly informed him that he +and his tribe were loyal to the Americans. Here was a dilemma +requiring consummate diplomacy. Hamilton saw it, but he was not of +a diplomatic temper or character. With the Indians he used a +demoralizing system of bribery, while toward the whites he was too +often gruff, imperious, repellant. Helm understood the whole +situation and was quick to take advantage of it. His personal +relations with Hamilton were easy and familiar, so that he did not +hesitate to give advice upon all occasions. Here his jovial +disposition helped him. + +"You'd better let Vigo return to St. Louis," he said. They had a +bowl of something hot steaming between them. "I know him. He's +harmless if you don't rub him too hard the wrong way. He'll go +back, if you treat him well, and tell Clark how strong you are +here and how foolish it would be to think of attacking you. Clark +has but a handful of men, poorly supplied and tired with long, +hard marches. If you'll think a moment you cannot fail to +understand that you'd better be friends with this man Vigo. He and +Father Gibault and this old priest here, Beret, carry these +Frenchmen in their pockets. I'm not on your side, understand, I'm +an American, and I'd blow the whole of you to kingdom come in a +minute, if I could; but common sense is common sense all the same. +There's no good to you and no harm to Clark in mistreating, or +even holding this prisoner. What harm can he do you by going back +to Clark and telling him the whole truth? Clark knew everything +long before Vigo reached here. Old Jazon, my best scout, left here +the day you took possession, and you may bet he got to Kaskaskia +in short order. He never fails. But he'll tell Clark to stay where +he is, and Vigo can do no more." + +What effect Helm's bold and apparently artless talk had upon +Hamilton's mind is not recorded; but the meager historical facts +at command show that Vigo was released and permitted to return +under promise that he would give no information to the enemy ON +HIS WAY to Kaskaskia. + +Doubtless this bit of careless diplomacy on the Governor's part +did have a somewhat soothing effect upon a large class of +Frenchmen at Vincennes; but Farnsworth quickly neutralized it to a +serious extent by a foolish act while slightly under the influence +of liquor. + +He met Father Beret near Roussillon place, and feeling his ribs +squirm at sight of the priest, he accosted him insolently, +demanding information as to the whereabouts of the missing flag. + +A priest may be good and true--Father Beret certainly was--and yet +have the strongest characteristics of a worldly man. This thing of +being bullied day after day, as had recently been the rule, +generated nothing to aid in removing a refractory desire from the +priest's heart--the worldly desire to repeat with great increment +of force the punch against Famsworth's lower ribs. + +"I order you, sir, to produce that rebel flag," said Farnsworth. +"You will obey forthwith or take the consequences. I am no longer +in the humor to be trifled with. Do you understand?" + +"I might be forced to obey you, if I could," said the priest, +drawing his robe about him; "but, as I have often told you, my +son, I do not know where the flag is or who took it. I do not even +suspect any person of taking it. All that I know about it is the +simple fact that it is gone." + +Father Beret's manner and voice were very mild, but there must +have been a hint of sturdy defiance somewhere in them. At all +events Farnsworth was exasperated and fell into a white rage. +Perhaps it was the liquor he had been drinking that made him +suddenly desperate. + +"You canting old fool!" he cried, "don't lie to me any longer; I +won't have it. Don't stand there grinning at me. Get that flag, or +I'll make you." + +"What is impossible, my son, is possible to God alone. Apud +homines hoc impossible est, apud Deum autem omnia possibilia +sunt." + +"None of your Jesuit Latin or logic to me--I am not here to argue, +but to command. Get that flag. Be in a hurry about it, sir." + +He whipped out his sword, and in his half drunken eyes there +gathered the dull film of murderous passion. + +"Put up your weapon, Captain; you will not attack an unarmed +priest. You are a soldier, and will not dare strike an old, +defenceless man." + +"But I will strike a black-robed and black-hearted French rebel. +Get that flag, you grinning fool!" + +The two men stood facing each other. Father Beret's eyes did not +stir from their direct, fearless gaze. What Farnsworth had called +a grin was a peculiar smile, not of merriment, a grayish flicker +and a slight backward wrinkling of the cheeks. The old man's arms +were loosely crossed upon his sturdy breast. + +"Strike if you must," he said very gently, very firmly. "I never +yet have seen the man that could make me afraid." His speech was +slightly sing-song in tone, as it would have been during a prayer +or a blessing. + +"Get the flag then!" raged Farnsworth, in whose veins the heat of +liquor was aided by an unreasoning choler. + +"I cannot," said Father Beret. + +"Then take the consequences!" + +Farnsworth lifted his sword, not to thrust, but to strike with its +flat side, and down it flashed with a noisy whack. Father Beret +flung out an arm and deftly turned the blow aside. It was done so +easily that Farnsworth sprang back glaring and surprised. + +"You old fool!" he cried, leveling his weapon for a direct lunge. +"You devilish hypocrite!" + +It was then that Father Beret turned deadly pale and swiftly +crossed himself. His face looked as if he saw something startling +just beyond his adversary. Possibly this sudden change of +expression caused Farnsworth to hesitate for a mere point of time. +Then there was the swish of a woman's skirts; a light step +pattered on the frozen ground, and Alice sprang between the men, +facing Farnsworth. As she did this something small and yellow,-- +the locket at her throat,--fell and rolled under her feet. Nobody +saw it. + +In her hand she held an immense horse pistol, which she leveled in +the Captain's face, its flaring, bugle-shaped muzzle gaping not a +yard from his nose. The heavy tube was as steady as if in a vise. + +"Drop that sword!" + +That was all she said; but her finger was pressing the trigger, +and the flint in the backward slanting hammer was ready to click +against the steel. The leaden slugs were on the point of leaping +forth. + +"Drop that sword!" + +The repetition seemed to close the opportunity for delay. + +Farnsworth was on his guard in a twinkling. He set his jaw and +uttered an ugly oath; then quick as lightning he struck sidewise +at the pistol with his blade. It was a move which might have taken +a less alert person than Alice unawares; but her training in +sword-play was ready in her wrist and hand. An involuntary turn, +the slightest imaginable, set the heavy barrel of her weapon +strongly against the blow, partly stopping it, and then the gaping +muzzle spat its load of balls and slugs with a bellow that awoke +the drowsy old village. + +Farnsworth staggered backward, letting fall his sword. There was a +rent in the clothing of his left shoulder. He reeled; the blood +spun out; but he did not fall, although he grew white. + +Alice stood gazing at him with a look on her face he would never +forget. It was a look that changed by wonderful swift gradations +from terrible hate to something like sweet pity. The instant she +saw him hurt and bleeding, his countenance relaxing and pale, her +heart failed her. She took a step toward him, her hand opened, and +with a thud the heavy old pistol fell upon the ground beside her. + +Father Beret sprang nimbly to sustain Farnsworth, snatching up the +pistol as he passed around Alice. + +"You are hurt, my son," he gently said, "let me help you." He +passed his arm firmly under that of Farnsworth, seeing that the +Captain was unsteady on his feet. + +"Lean upon me. Come with me, Alice, my child, I will take him into +the house." + +Alice picked up the Captain's sword and led the way. + +It was all done so quickly that Farnsworth, in his half dazed +condition, scarcely realized what was going on until he found +himself on a couch in the Roussillon home, his wound (a jagged +furrow plowed out by slugs that the sword's blade had first +intercepted) neatly dressed and bandaged, while Alice and the +priest hovered over him busy with their careful ministrations. + +Hamilton and Helm were, as usual, playing cards at the former's +quarters when a guard announced that Mademoiselle Roussillon +wished an audience with the Governor. + +"Bring the girl in," said Hamilton, throwing down his cards and +scowling darkly. + +"Now you'd better be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove," +remarked Helm. "There is something up, and that gun-shot we heard +awhile ago may have a good deal to do with it. At any rate, you'll +find kindness your best card to play with Alice Roussillon just at +the present stage of the game." + +Of course they knew nothing of what had happened to Farnsworth; +but they had been discussing the strained relations between the +garrison and the French inhabitants when the roar of Alice's big- +mouthed pistol startled them. Helm was slyly beating about to try +to make Hamilton lose sight of the danger from Clark's direction. +To do this he artfully magnified the insidious work that might be +done by the French and their Indian friends should they be driven +to desperation by oppressive or exasperating action on the part of +the English. + +Hamilton felt the dangerous uncertainty upon which the situation +rested; but, like many another vigorously self-reliant man, he +could not subordinate his passions to the dictates of policy. When +Alice was conducted into his presence he instantly swelled with +anger. It was her father who had struck him and escaped, it was +she who had carried off the rebel flag at the moment of victory. + +"Well, Miss, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?" he +demanded with a supercilious air, bending a card between his thumb +and finger on the rude table. + +She stood before him tall and straight, well bundled in furs. She +was not pale; her blood was too rich and brilliant for that; but +despite a half-smile and the inextinguishable dimples, there was a +touch of something appealingly pathetic in the lines of her mouth. +She did not waver or hesitate, however, but spoke promptly and +distinctly. + +"I have come, Monsieur, to tell you that I have hurt Captain +Farnsworth. He was about to kill Father Beret, and I shot him. He +is in our house and well cared for. I don't think his wound is +bad. And--" here she hesitated at last and let her gaze fall,--"so +here I am." Then she lifted her eyes again and made an inimitable +French gesture with her shoulders and arms. "You will do as you +please, Monsieur, I am at your mercy." + +Hamilton was astounded. Helm sat staring phlegmatically. Meantime +Beverley entered the room and stopped hat in hand behind Alice. He +was flushed and evidently excited; in fact, he had heard of the +trouble with Farnsworth, and seeing Alice enter the floor of +Hamilton's quarters he followed her in, his heart stirred by no +slight emotion. He met the Governor's glare and parried it with +one of equal haughtiness. The veins on his forehead swelled and +turned dark. He was in a mood to do whatever desperate act should +suggest itself. + +When Hamilton fairly comprehended the message so graphically +presented by Alice, he rose from his seat by the fire. + +"What's this you tell me?" he blurted. "You say you've shot +Captain Farnsworth?" + +"Oui, Monsieur" + +He stared a moment, then his features beamed with hate. + +"And I'll have you shot for it, Miss, as sure as you stand there +in your silly impudence ogling me so brazenly!" + +He leaned toward her as he spoke and sent with the words a shock +of coarse, passionate energy from which she recoiled as if +expecting a blow to follow it. + +An irresistible impulse swept Beverley to Alice's side, and his +attitude was that of a protector. Helm sprang up. + +A Lieutenant came in and respectfully, but with evident over- +haste, reported that Captain Farnsworth had been shot and was at +Roussillon place in care of the surgeon. + +"Take this girl into custody. Confine her and put a strong guard +over her." + +In giving the order Hamilton jerked his thumb contemptuously +toward Alice, and at the same time gave Beverley a look of supreme +defiance and hatred. When Helm began to speak he turned fiercely +upon him and stopped him with: + +"None of your advice, sir. I have had all I want of it. Keep your +place or I'll make you." + +Then to Beverley: + +"Retire, sir. When I wish to see you I'll send for you. At present +you are not needed here." + +The English Lieutenant saluted his commander, bowed respectfully +to Alice and said: + +"Come with me, Miss, please." + +Helm and Beverley exchanged a look of helpless and enquiring rage. +It was as if they had said: "What can we do? Must we bear it?" +Certainly they could do nothing. Any interference on their part +would be sure to increase Alice's danger, and at the same time add +to the weight of their own humiliation. + +Alice silently followed the officer out of the room. She did not +even glance toward Beverley, who moved as if to interfere and was +promptly motioned back by the guard. His better judgement +returning held him from a rash and futile act, until Hamilton +spoke again, saying loudly as Alice passed through the door: + +"I'll see who's master of this town if I have to shoot every +French hoyden in it!" + +"Women and children may well fear you, Colonel Hamilton," said +Beverley. "That young lady is your superior." + +"You say that to me, sir!" + +"It is the best I could possibly say of you." + +"I will send you along with the wench if you do not guard your +language. A prisoner on parole has no license to be a blackguard." + +"I return you my parole, sir, I shall no longer regard it as +binding," said Beverley, by a great effort, holding back a blow; +"I will not keep faith with a scoundrel who does not know how to +be decent in the presence of a young girl. You had better have me +arrested and confined. I will escape at the first opportunity and +bring a force here to reckon with you for your villainy. And if +you dare hurt Alice Roussillon I will have you hanged like a dog!" + +Hamilton looked at him scornfully, smiling as one who feels safe +in his authority and means to have his own way with his victim. +Naturally he regarded Beverley's words as the merest vaporings of +a helpless and exasperated young man. He saw very clearly that +love was having a hand in the affair, and he chuckled inwardly, +thinking what a fool Beverley was. + +"I thought I ordered you to leave this room," he said with an air +and tone of lofty superiority, "and I certainly mean to be obeyed. +Go, sir, and if you attempt to escape, or in any way break your +parole, I'll have you shot." + +"I have already broken it. From this moment I shall not regard it. +You have heard my statement. I shall not repeat it. Govern +yourself accordingly." + +With these words Beverley turned and strode out of the house, +quite beside himself, his whole frame quivering. + +Hamilton laughed derisively, then looked at Helm and said: + +"Helm, I like you; I don't wish to be unkind to you; but +positively you must quit breaking in upon my affairs with your +ready-made advice. I've given you and Lieutenant Beverley too much +latitude, perhaps. If that young fool don't look sharp he'll get +himself into a beastly lot of trouble. You'd better give him a +talk. He's in a way to need it just now." + +"I think so myself," said Helm, glad to get back upon fair footing +with the irascible Governor. "I'll wait until he cools off +somewhat, and then I can manage him. Leave him to me." + +"Well, come walk with me to see what has really happened to +Farnsworth. He's probably not much hurt, and deserves what he's +got. That girl has turned his head. I think I understand the whole +affair. A little love, a little wine, some foolishness, and the +wench shot him." + +Helm genially assented; but they were delayed for some time by an +officer who came in to consult with Hamilton on some pressing +Indian affairs. When they reached Roussillon place they met +Beverley coming out; but he did not look at them. He was scarcely +aware of them. A little way outside the gate, on going in, he had +picked up Alice's locket and broken chain, which he mechanically +put into his pocket. It was all like a dream to him, and yet he +had a clear purpose. He was going away from Vincennes, or at least +he would try, and woe be to Hamilton on his coming back. It was so +easy for an excited young mind to plan great things and to expect +success under apparently impossible conditions. Beverley gave Jean +a note for Alice; it was this that took him to Roussillon place; +and no sooner fell the night than he shouldered a gun furnished +him by Madame Godere, and guided by the woodsman's fine craft, +stole away southward, thinking to swim the icy Wabash some miles +below, and then strike across the plains of Illinois to Kaskaskia. + +It was a desperate undertaking; but in those days desperate +undertakings were rather the rule than the exception. Moreover, +love was the leader and Beverley the blind follower. Nothing could +daunt him or turn him back, until he found an army to lead against +Hamilton. It seems but a romantic burst of indignation, as we look +back at it, hopelessly foolish, with no possible end but death in +the wilderness. Still there was a method in love's madness, and +Beverley, with his superb physique, his knowledge of the +wilderness and his indomitable self-reliance, was by no means +without his fighting chance for success. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MANON LESCAUT. AND A RAPIER-THRUST + + +Beverley's absence was not noticed by Hamilton until late on the +following day, and even then he scouted Helm's suggestion that the +young man was possibly carrying out his threat to disregard his +parole. + +"He would be quite justified in doing it; you know that very +well," said Helm with a laugh, "and he's just the man to undertake +what is impossible. Of course, however, he'll get scalped for his +trouble, and that will cost you something, I'm happy to say." + +"It's a matter of small importance," Hamilton replied; "but I'll +wager you the next toddy that he's not at the present moment a +half-mile from this spot. He may be a fool, I readily grant that +he is, but even a fool is not going to set out alone in this kind +of weather to go to where your rebel friends are probably toasting +their shins by a fire of green logs and half starving over yonder +on the Mississippi." + +"Joking aside, you are doubtless right. Beverley is hot-headed, +and if he could he'd get even with you devilish quick; but he +hasn't left Vincennes, I think. Miss Roussillon would keep him +here if the place were on fire!" + +Hamilton laughed dryly. He had thought just what Helm was saying. +Beverley's attentions to Alice had not escaped his notice. + +"Speaking of that girl," he remarked after a moment's silence, +"what am I do to do with her? There's no place to keep her, and +Farnsworth insists that she wasn't to blame." He chuckled again +and added: + +"It's true as gospel. He's in love with her, too. Seems to be glad +she shot him. Says he's ashamed of himself for ever suspecting her +of anything but being a genuine angel. Why, he's got as flabby as +a rabbit and mumbles like a fool!" + +"Same as you or I at his age," said Helm, taking a chew of +tobacco. "She IS a pretty thing. Beverley don't know his foot from +his shoulder-blade when she's anywhere near him. Boys are boys. +I'm a sort of a boy myself." + +"If she'd give up that flag he'd let her go," said Hamilton. "I hate +like the devil to confine her; it looks brutal, and makes me feel +like a tyrant." + +"Have you ever happened to notice the obvious fact, Governor +Hamilton, that Alice Roussillon and Father Beret are not all the +French in Vincennes?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that I don't for a moment believe that either the girl or +the priest knows a thing about where that flag is. They are both +as truthful and honorable as people ever get to be. I know them. +Somebody else got that flag from under the priest's floor. You may +depend upon that. If Miss Roussillon knew where it is she'd say +so, and then dare you to make her tell where it's hidden." "Oh, +the whole devilish town is rotten with treason; that's very clear. +There's not a loyal soul in it outside of my forces." + +"Thank you for not including me among the loyalists." + +"Humph, I spoke of these French people; they pretend to be true; +but I believe they are all traitors," + +"You can manage them if you try. A little jolly kindness goes a +long way with 'em. _I_ had no trouble while _I_ held the town." + +Hamilton bit his lip and was silent. Helm was exasperatingly good +tempered, and his jocularity was irresistible. While he was yet +speaking a guard came up followed by Jean, the hunchback, and +saluting said to Hamilton: + +"The lad wants to see the young lady, sir." + +Hamilton gazed quizzically at Jean, who planted himself in his +habitual attitude before him and stared up into his face with the +grotesque expression which seems to be characteristic of +hunchbacks and unfledged birds--the look of an embodied and +hideous joke. + +"Well, sir, what will you have?" the Governor demanded. + +"I want to see Alice, if you please." + +"What for?" + +"I want to give her a book to read." + +"Ah, indeed. Where is it? Let me see it" + +Jean took from the breast of his loose jerkin a small volume, dog- +eared and mildewed, and handed it to Hamilton. Meantime he stood +first on one foot, then the other, gnawing his thumb-nail and +blinking rapidly. + +"Well, Helm, just look here!" + +"What?" + +"Manon Lescaut." + +"And what's that?" + +"Haven't you ever read it?" + +"Read what?" + +"This novel--Manon Lescaut." + +"Never read a novel in my life. Never expect to." + +Hamilton laughed freely at Helm's expense, then turned to Jean and +gave him back the book. + +It would have been quite military, had he taken the precaution to +examine between the pages for something hidden there, but he did +not. + +"Go, give it to her," he said, "and tell her I send my +compliments, with great admiration of her taste in literature." He +motioned the soldier to show Jean to Alice. "It's a beastly French +story," he added, addressing Helm; "immoral enough to make a +pirate blush. That's the sort of girl Mademoiselle Roussillon is!" + +"I don't care what kind of a book she reads," blurted Helm, "she's +a fine, pure, good girl. Everybody likes her. She's the good angel +of this miserable frog-hole of a town. You'd like her yourself, if +you'd straighten up and quit burning tow in your brain all the +time. You're always so furious about something that you never have +a chance to be just to yourself, or pleasant to anybody else." + +Hamilton turned fiercely on Helm, but a glimpse of the Captain's +broad good-humored face heartily smiling, dispelled his anger. +There was no ground upon which to maintain a quarrel with a person +so persistently genial and so absurdly frank. And in fact Hamilton +was not half so bad as his choleric manifestations seemed to make +him out. Besides, Helm knew just how far to go, just when to stop. + +"If I had got furious at you every time there was overwhelming +provocation for it," Hamilton said, "you'd have been long since +hanged or shot. I fancy that I have shown angelic forbearance. +I've given you somewhat more than a prisoner's freedom." + +"So you have, so you have," assented Helm. "I've often been +surprised at your generous partiality in my case. Let's have some +hot water with something else in it, what do you say? I won't give +you any more advice for five minutes by your watch." + +"But I want some advice at once." + +"What about?" + +"That girl." + +"Turn her loose. That's easy and reputable." + +"I'll have to, I presume; but she ought to be punished." + +"If you'll think less about punishment, revenge and getting even +with everybody and everything, you'll soon begin to prosper." + +Hamilton winced, but smiled as one quite sure of himself. + +Jean followed the soldier to a rickety log pen on the farther side +of the stockade, where he found the prisoner restlessly moving +about like a bird in a rustic cage. It had no comforts, that +gloomy little room. There was no fireplace, the roof leaked, and +the only furniture consisted of a bench to sit on and a pile of +skins for bed. Alice looked charmingly forlorn peeping out of the +wraps in which she was bundled against the cold, her hair fluffed +and rimpled in shining disorder around her face. + +The guard let Jean in and closed the door, himself staying +outside. + +Alice was as glad to see the poor lad as if they had been parted +for a year. She hugged him and kissed his drawn little face. + +"You dear, good Jean!" she murmured, "you did not forget me." + +"I brought you something," he whispered, producing the book. + +Alice snatched it, looked at it, and then at Jean. + +"Why, what did you bring this for? you silly Jean! I didn't want +this. I don't like this book at all. It's hateful. I despise it. +Take it back." + +"There's something in it for you, a paper with writing on it; +Lieutenant Beverley wrote it on there. It's shut up between the +leaves about the middle." + +"Sh-s-sh! not so loud, the guard'll hear you," Alice breathlessly +whispered, her whole manner changing instantly. She was trembling, +and the color had been whisked from her face, as the flame from a +candle in a sudden draught. + +She found the note and read it a dozen times without a pause, her +eyes leaping along the lines back and forth with pathetic +eagerness and concentration. Presently she sat down on the bench +and covered her face with her hands. A tremor first, then a +convulsive sobbing, shook her collapsed form. Jean regarded her +with a drolly sympathetic grimace, elevating his long chin and +letting his head settle back between his shoulders. + +"Oh, Jean, Jean!" she cried at last, looking up and reaching out +her arms; "O Jean, he is gone, gone, gone!" + +Jean stepped closer to her while she sobbed again like a little +child. + +She pulled him to her and held him tightly against her breast +while she once more read the note through blinding tears. The +words were few, but to her they bore the message of desolation and +despair. A great, haunting, hollow voice in her heart repeated +them until they echoed from vague distance to distance. + +It was written with a bit of lead on the half of a mildewed fly- +leaf torn from the book: + +"Dear Alice: + +"I am going away. When you read this, think of me as hurrying +through the wilderness to reach our army and bring it here. Be +brave, as you always have been; be good, as you cannot help being; +wait and watch for me; love me, as I love you. I will come. Do not +doubt it, I will come, and I will crush Hamilton and his command. +Courage, Alice dear; courage, and wait for me. "Faithfully ever, +"Beverley." + +She kissed the paper with passionate fervor, pouring her tears +upon it in April showers between which the light of her eyes +played almost fiercely, so poignant was her sense of a despair +which bordered upon desperation. "Gone, gone!" It was all she +could think or say. "Gone, gone." + +Jean took the offending novel back home with him, hidden under his +jerkin; but Beverley's note lay upon Alice's heart, a sweet +comfort and a crushing weight, when an hour later Hamilton sent +for her and she was taken before him. Her face was stained with +tears and she looked pitifully distressed and disheveled; yet +despite all this her beauty asserted itself with subtle force. + +Hamilton felt ashamed looking at her, but put on sternness and +spoke without apparent sympathy: + +"Miss Roussillon, you came near committing a great crime. As it +is, you have done badly enough; but I wish not to be unreasonably +severe. I hope you are sorry for your act, and feel like doing +better hereafter." + +She was trembling, but her eyes looked steadily straight into his. +They were eyes of baby innocence, yet they irradiated a strong +womanly spirit just touched with the old perverse, mischievous +light which she could neither banish nor control. When she did not +make reply, Hamilton continued: + +"You may go home now, and I shall expect to have no more trouble +on your account." He made a gesture indicative of dismissal; then, +as she turned from him, he added, somewhat raising his voice: + +"And further, Miss Roussillon, that flag you took from here must +positively be returned. See that it is done." + +She lifted her head high and walked away, not deigning to give him +a word. + +"Humph! what do you think now of your fine young lady?" he +demanded, turning to Helm with a sneering curl of his mouth. "She +gives thanks copiously for a kindness, don't you think?" + +"Poor girl, she was scared nearly out of her life," said Helm. +"She got away from you, like a wounded bird from a snare. I never +saw a face more pitiful than hers." + +"Much pity she needs, and greatly like a wounded bird she acts, I +must say; but good riddance if she'll keep her place hereafter. I +despise myself when I have to be hard with a woman, especially a +pretty one. That girl's a saucy and fascinating minx, and as +dangerous as twenty men. I'll keep a watch on her movements from +this on, and if she gets into mischief again I'll transport her to +Detroit, or give her away to the Indians, She must stop her high- +handed foolishness." + +Helm saw that Hamilton was talking mere wind, VOX ET PRAETEREA +NIHIL, and he furthermore felt that his babbling signified no harm +to Alice; but Hamilton surprised him presently by saying: + +"I have just learned that Lieutenant Beverley is actually gone. +Did you know of his departure?" + +"What are you saying, sir?" + +Helm jumped to his feet, not angry, but excited. + +"Keep cool, you need not answer if you prefer silence or evasion. +You may want to go yourself soon." + +Helm burst out laughing, but quickly growing serious said: + +"Has Beverley been such a driveling fool as that? Are you in +earnest?" + +"He killed two of my scouts, wounded another, and crossed the +Wabash in their canoe. He is going straight towards Kaskaskia." + +"The idiot! Hurrah for him! If you catch your hare you may roast +him, but catch him first, Governor!" + +"You'll joke out of the other corner of your mouth, Captain Helm, +if I find out that you gave him aid or countenance in breaking his +parole." + +"Aid or countenance! I never saw him after he walked out of this +room. You gave him a devil of a sight more aid and countenance +than I did. What are you talking about! Broke his parole! He did +no such thing. He returned it to you fairly, as you well know. He +told you he was going." + +"Well, I've sent twenty of my swiftest Indians after him to bring +him back. I'll let you see him shot. That ought to please you." + +"They'll never get him, Governor. I'll bet high on him against +your twenty scalp-lifters any day. Fitzhugh Beverley is the best +Indian fighter, Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton excepted, in the +American colonies." + +On her way home Alice met Father Beret, who turned and walked +beside her. He was so overjoyed at her release that he could +scarcely speak; but held her hand and stroked it gently while she +told him her story. It was beginning to rain, a steady, cold +shower, when they reached the house, and for many days and nights +thereafter the downfall continued almost incessantly. + +"Dear child," said Father Beret, stopping at the gate and looking +beseechingly into Alice's face, "you must stay at home now--stay +in the house--it will be horribly dangerous for you to pass about +in the village after your--after what has happened." + +"Do not fear, Father, I will be careful. Aren't you coming in? +I'll find you a cake and a glass of wine." + +"No, child, not now." + +"Then good-bye, good-bye," she said, turning from him to run into +the house. "Come soon, I shall be so lonesome." + +On the veranda she suddenly stopped, running her fingers about her +neck and into her bosom. + +"Oh, Father, Father Beret, I've lost my locket!" she cried. "See +if I dropped it there." + +She went back to the gate, searching the ground with her eyes. Of +course she did not find the locket. It was miles and miles away +close to the heart of her lover. If she could but have known this, +it would have comforted her. Beverley had intended to leave it +with Jean, but in his haste and excitement he forgot; writing the +note distracted his attention; and so he bore Alice's picture on +his breast and in his heart while pursuing his long and perilous +journey. + +Four of Hamilton's scouts came upon Beverley twenty miles south of +Vincennes, but having the advantage of them, he killed two almost +immediately, and after a running fight, the other two attempted +escape in a canoe on the Wabash. Here, firing from a bluff, he +wounded a third. Both then plunged head-foremost into the water, +and by keeping below the surface, got away. The adventure gave +Beverley new spirit and self-reliance; he felt that he could +accomplish anything necessary to his undertaking. In the captured +pirogue he crossed the river, and, to make his trail hard to find, +sent the little craft adrift down the current. + +Then alone, in the dead of winter, he took his bearings and struck +across the dreary, houseless plain toward St. Louis. + +As soon as Hamilton's discomfited scouts reported to him, he sent +Long-Hair with twenty picked savages, armed and supplied for +continuous and rapid marching, in pursuit of Beverley. There was a +large reward for bringing him in alive, a smaller one for his +scalp. + +When Alice heard of all this, her buoyant and happy nature seemed +entirely to desert her for a time. She was proud to find out that +Beverley had shown himself brave and capable; it touched her love +of heroism; but she knew too much about Indian warfare to hope +that he could hold his own against Long-Hair, the wiliest and +boldest of scalp-hunters, and twenty of the most experienced +braves in Hamilton's forces. He would almost certainly be killed +and scalped, or captured and brought back to be shot or hanged in +Vincennes. The thought chilled and curdled her blood. + +Both Helm and Father Beret tried to encourage and comfort her by +representing the probabilities in the fairest light. + +"It's like hunting for a needle in a haystack, going out to find a +man in that wilderness," said Helm with optimistic cheerfulness; +"and besides Beverley is no easy dose for twenty red niggers to +take. I've seen him tried at worse odds than that, and he got out +with a whole skin, too. Don't you fret about him, Miss +Roussillon." + +Little help came to her from attempts of this sort. She might +brighten up for a while, but the dark dread, and the terrible +gnawing at her heart, the sinking and despairing in her soul, +could not be cured. + +What added immeasurably to her distress was the attention of +Farnsworth, whose wound troubled him but a short time. He seemed +to have had a revelation and a change of spirit since the +unfortunate rencounter and the subsequent nursing at Alice's +hands. He was grave, earnest, kindly, evidently striving to play a +gentle and honorable part. She could feel that he carried a load +of regret, that he wanted to pay a full price in good for the evil +that he had done; his sturdy English heart was righting itself +nobly, yet she but half understood him, until his actions and +words began to betray his love; and then she hated him +unreasonably. Realizing this, Farnsworth bore himself more like a +faithful dog than in the manner hitherto habitual to him. He +simply shadowed Alice and would not be rebuffed. + +There can be nothing more painful to a finely sympathetic nature +than regret for having done a kindness. Alice experienced this to +the fullest degree. She had nursed Farnsworth but a little while, +yet it was a while of sweet influence. Her tender woman nature +felt the blessedness of doing good to her enemy lying helpless in +her house and hurt by her own hand. But now she hated the man, and +with all her soul she was sorry that she had been kind to him; for +out of her kindness he had drawn the spell of a love under which +he lived a new life, and all for her. Yet deep down in her +consciousness the pity and the pathos of the thing hovered +gloomily and would not be driven out. + +The rain in mid-winter gave every prospect a sad, cold, sodden +gray appearance. The ground was soaked, little rills ran in the +narrow streets, the small streams became great rivers, the Wabash +overflowed its banks and made a sea of all the lowlands on either +side. It was hard on the poor dwellers in the thatched and mostly +floorless cabins, for the grass roofs gradually let the water +through and puddles formed on the ground inside. Fuel was distant +and had to be hauled in the pouring rain; provisions were scarce +and hunting almost impossible. Many people, especially children, +were taken ill with colds and fever. Alice found some relief from +her trouble in going from cabin to cabin and waiting upon the +sufferers; but even here Farnsworth could not be got rid of; he +followed her night and day. Never was a good soldier, for he was +that from head to foot, more lovelorn and love-docile. The maiden +had completely subdued the man. + +About this time, deep in a rainy and pitch-black night, Gaspard +Roussillon came home. He tapped on the door again and again. Alice +heard, but she hesitated to speak or move. Was she growing +cowardly? Her heart beat like a drum. There was but one person in +all the world that she could think of--it was not M. Roussillon. +Ah, no, she had well-nigh forgotten her gigantic foster father. + +"It is I, ma cherie, it is Gaspard, my love, open the door," came +in a booming half-whisper from without. "Alice, Jean, it is your +Papa Roussillon, my dears. Let me in." + +Alice was at the door in a minute, unbarring it. M. Roussillon +entered, armed to the teeth, the water dribbling from his buckskin +clothes. + +"Pouf!" he exclaimed, "my throat is like dust." His thoughts were +diving into the stores under the floor. "I am famished. Dear +children, dear little ones! They are glad to see papa! Where is +your mama?" + +He had Alice in his arms and Jean clung to his legs. Madame +Roussillon, to be sure of no mistake, lighted a lamp with a brand +that smoldered on the hearth and held it up, then, satisfied as to +her husband's identity, set it on a shelf and flung herself into +the affectionate group with clumsy abandon, making a great noise. + +"Oh, my dear Gaspard!" she cried as she lunged forward. "Gaspard, +Gaspard!" Her voice fairly lifted the roof; her great weight, +hurled with such force, overturned everybody, and all of them +tumbled in a heap, the rotund and solid dame sitting on top. + +"Ouf! not so impetuous, my dear, "puffed M. Roussillon, freeing +himself from her unpleasant pressure and scrambling to his feet. +"Really you must have fared well in my absence, Madame, you are +much heavier." He laughed and lifted her up as if she had been a +child, kissing her resonantly. + +His gun had fallen with a great clatter. He took it from the floor +and examined it to see if it had been injured, then set it in a +corner. + +"I am afraid we have been making too much noise," said Alice, +speaking very low. "There is a patrol guard every night now. If +they should hear you--" + +"Shh!" whispered M. Roussillon, "we will be very still. Alice, is +there something to eat and a drop of wine handy? I have come many +miles; I am tired, hungry, thirsty,--ziff!" + +Alice brought some cold roast venison, a loaf, and a bottle of +claret. These she set before him on a little table. + +"Ah, this is comfort," he said after he had gulped a full cup. +"Have you all been well?" + +Then he began to tell where he had been, what he had seen, and the +many things he had done. A Frenchman must babble while he eats and +drinks. A little wine makes him eloquent. He talks with his hands, +shoulders, eyes. Madame Roussillon, Alice and Jean, wrapped in +furs, huddled around him to hear. He was very entertaining, and +they forgot the patrol until a noise startled them. It was the low +of a cow. They laughed and the master of the house softened his +voice. + +M. Roussillon had been the guest of a great Indian chieftain, who +was called the "Gate of the Wabash," because he controlled the +river. The chief was an old acquaintance and treated him well. + +"But I wanted to see you all," Gaspard said. "I was afraid +something might have happened to you. So I came back just to peep +in. I can't stay, of course; Hamilton would kill me as if I were a +wolf. I can remain but an hour and then slip out of town again +before daylight conies. The rain and darkness are my friends." + +He had seen Simon Kenton, who said he had been in the neighborhood +of Vincennes acting as a scout and spy for Clark. Presently and +quite casually he added: + +"And I saw Lieutenant Beverley, too. I suppose you know that he +has escaped from Hamilton, and--" Here a big mouthful of venison +interfered. + +Alice leaned toward him white and breathless, her heart standing +still. + +Then the door, which had been left unbarred, was flung open and, +along with a great rush of wind and rain, the patrol guard, five +in number, sprang in. + +M. Roussillon reached his gun with one hand, with the other swung +a tremendous blow as he leaped against the intruders. Madame +Roussillon blew out the light. No cave in the depth of earth was +ever darker than that room. The patrolmen could not see one +another or know what to do; but M. Roussillon laid about him with +the strength of a giant. His blows sounded as if they smashed +bones. Men fell heavily thumping on the floor where he rushed +along. Some one fired a pistol and by its flash they all saw him; +but instantly the darkness closed again, and before they could get +their bearings he was out and gone, his great hulking form making +its way easily over familiar ground where his would-be captors +could have proceeded but slowly, even with a light to guide them. +There was furious cursing among the patrolmen as they tumbled +about in the room, the unhurt ones trampling their prostrate +companions and striking wildly at each other in their blindness +and confusion. At last one of them bethought him to open a dark +lantern with which the night guards were furnished. Its flame was +fluttering and gave forth a pale red light that danced weirdly on +the floors and walls. + +Alice had snatched down one of her rapiers when the guards first +entered. They now saw her facing them with her slender blade +leveled, her back to the wall, her eyes shining dangerously. +Madame Roussillon had fled into the adjoining room. Jean had also +disappeared. The officer, a subaltern, in charge of the guard, +seeing Alice, and not quickly able to make out that it was a woman +thus defying him, crossed swords with her. There was small space +for action; moreover the officer being not in the least a +swordsman, played awkwardly, and quick as a flash his point was +down. The rapier entered just below his thread with a dull +chucking stab. He leaped backward, feeling at the same time a pair +of arms clasp his legs. It was Jean, and the Lieutenant, thus +unexpectedly tangled, fell to the floor, breaking but not +extinguishing the guard's lantern as he went down. The little +remaining oil spread and flamed up brilliantly, as if eager for +conflagration, sputtering along the uneven boards. + +"Kill that devil!" cried the Lieutenant, in a strangling voice, +while trying to regain his feet. "Shoot! Bayonet!" + +In his pain, rage and haste, he inadvertently set his hand in the +midst of the blazing oil, which clung to the flesh with a seething +grip. + +"Hell!" he screamed, "fire, fire!" + +Two or three bayonets were leveled upon Alice. Some one kicked +Jean clean across the room, and he lay there curled up in his +hairy night-wrap looking like an enormous porcupine. + +At this point a new performer came upon the stage, a dark-robed +thing, so active that its outlines changed elusively, giving it no +recognizable features. It might have been the devil himself, or +some terrible unknown wild animal clad somewhat to resemble a man, +so far as the startled guards could make out. It clawed right and +left, hurled one of them against the wall, dashed another through +the door into Madame Roussillon's room, where the good woman was +wailing at the top of her voice, and felled a third with a stroke +like that of a bear's paw. + +Consternation was at high tide when Farnsworth, who always slept +with an ear open, reached Roussillon place and quickly quieted +things. He was troubled beyond expression when he found out the +true state of the affair, for there was nothing that he could do +but arrest Alice and take her to Hamilton. It made his heart sink. +He would have thought little of ordering a file of soldiers to +shoot a man under the same conditions; but to subject her again to +the Governor's stern cruelty--how could he do it? This time there +would be no hope for her. + +Alice stood before him flushed, disheveled, defiant, sword in +hand, beautiful and terrible as an angel. The black figure, man or +devil, had disappeared as strangely as it had come. The sub- +Lieutenant was having his slight wound bandaged. Men were raging +and cursing under their breath, rubbing their bruised heads and +limbs. + +"Alice--Mademoiselle Roussillon, I am so sorry for this," said +Captain Farnsworth. "It is painful, terrible--" + +He could not go on, but stood before her unmanned. In the feeble +light his face was wan and his hurt shoulder, still in bandages, +drooped perceptibly. + +"I surrender to you," she presently said in French, extending the +hilt of her rapier to him. "I had to defend myself when attacked +by your Lieutenant there. If an officer finds it necessary to set +upon a girl with his sword, may not the girl guard her life if she +can?" + +She was short of breath, so that her voice palpitated with a +touching plangency that shook the man's heart. + +Farnsworth accepted the sword; he could do nothing less. His duty +admitted of no doubtful consideration; yet he hesitated, feeling +around in his mind for a phrase with which to evade the +inevitable. + +"It will be safer for you at the fort, Mademoiselle; let me take +you there." + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A MEETING IN THE WILDERNESS + + +Beverley set out on his mid-winter journey to Kaskaskia with a +tempest in his heart, and it was, perhaps, the storm's energy that +gave him the courage to face undaunted and undoubting what his +experience must have told him lay in his path. He was young and +strong; that meant a great deal; he had taken the desperate +chances of Indian warfare many times before this, and the danger +counted as nothing, save that it offered the possibility of +preventing him from doing the one thing in life he now cared to +do. What meant suffering to him, if he could but rescue Alice? And +what were life should he fail to rescue her? The old, old song +hummed in his heart, every phrase of it distinct above the tumult +of the storm. Could cold and hunger, swollen streams, ravenous +wild beasts and scalp-hunting savages baffle him? No, there is no +barrier that can hinder love. He said this over and over to +himself after his rencounter with the four Indian scouts on the +Wabash. He repeated it with every heart-beat until he fell in with +some friendly red men, who took him to their camp, where to his +great surprise he met M. Roussillon. It was his song when again he +strode off toward the west on his lonely way. + +We need not follow him step by step; the monotony of the woods and +prairies, the cold rains, alternating with northerly winds and +blinding snow, the constant watchfulness necessary to guard +against a meeting with hostile savages, the tiresome tramping, +wading and swimming, the hunger, the broken and wretched sleep in +frozen and scant wraps,--why detail it all? + +There was but one beautiful thing about it--the beauty of Alice as +she seemed to walk beside him and hover near him in his dreams. He +did not know that Long-Hair and his band were fast on his track; +but the knowledge could not have urged him to greater haste. He +strained every muscle to its utmost, kept every nerve to the +highest tension. Yonder towards the west was help for Alice; that +was all he cared for. + +But if Long-Hair was pursuing him with relentless greed for the +reward offered by Hamilton, there were friendly footsteps still +nearer behind him; and one day at high noon, while he was bending +over a little fire, broiling some liberal cuts of venison, a +finger tapped him on the shoulder. He sprang up and grappled Oncle +Jazon; at the same time, standing near by, he saw Simon Kenton, +his old-time Kentucky friend. The pungled features of one and the +fine, rugged face of the other swam as in a mist before Beverley's +eyes. Kenton was laughing quietly, his strong, upright form +shaking to the force of his pleasure. He was in the early prime of +a vigorous life, not handsome, but strikingly attractive by reason +of a certain glow in his face and a kindly flash in his deep-set +eyes. + +"Well, well, my boy!" he exclaimed, laying his left hand on +Beverley's shoulder, while in the other he held a long, heavy +rifle. "I'm glad to see ye, glad to see + +"Thought we was Injuns, eh?" said Oncle Jazon. "An' ef we had 'a' +been we'd 'a' been shore o' your scalp!" The wizzened old creole +cackled gleefully. + +"And where are ye goin'?" demanded Kenton. "Ye're making what +lacks a heap o' bein' a bee-line for some place or other." + +Beverley was dazed and vacant-minded; things seemed wavering and +dim. He pushed the two men from him and gazed at them without +speaking. Their presence and voices did not convince him. + +"Yer meat's a burnin'," said Oncle Jazon, stooping to turn it on +the smouldering coals. "Ye must be hungry. Cookin' enough for a +regiment." + +Kenton shook Beverley with rough familiarity, as if to rouse his +faculties. + +"What's the matter? Fitz, my lad, don't ye know Si Kenton? It's +not so long since we were like brothers, and now ye don't speak to +me! Ye've not forgot me, Fitz!" + +"Mebby he don't like ye as well as ye thought he did," drawled +Oncle Jazon. "I HEV known o' fellers a bein' mistaken jes' thet +way." + +Beverley got his wits together as best he could, taking in the +situation by such degrees as seemed at the time unduly slow, but +which were really mere momentary falterings. + +"Why, Kenton! Jazon!" he presently exclaimed, a cordial gladness +blending with his surprise. "How did you get here? Where did you +come from?" + +He looked from one to the other back and forth with a wondering +smile breaking over his bronzed and determined face. + +"We've been hot on yer trail for thirty hours," said Kenton. +"Roussillon put us on it back yonder. But what are ye up to? Where +are ye goin'?" + +"I'm going to Clark at Kaskaskia to bring him yonder." He waved +his hand eastward. "I am going to take Vincennes and kill +Hamilton." + +'Well, ye're taking a mighty queer course, my boy, if ye ever +expect to find Kaskaskia. Ye're already twenty miles too far +south." + +"Carryin' his gun on the same shoulder all the time," said Oncle +Jazon, "has made 'im kind o' swing in a curve like. 'Tain't good +luck no how to carry yer gun on yer lef' shoulder. When you do it +meks yer take a longer step with yer right foot than ye do with +yer lef' an' ye can't walk a straight line to save yer liver. +Ventreblue! La venaison brule encore! Look at that dasted meat +burnin' agin!" + +He jumped back to the fire to turn the scorching cuts. + +Beverley wrung Kenton's hand and looked into his eyes, as a man +does when an old friend comes suddenly out of the past, so to say, +and brings the freshness and comfort of a strong, true soul to +brace him in his hour of greatest need. + +"Of all men in the world, Simon Kenton, you were the least +expected; but how glad I am! How thankful! Now I know I shall +succeed. We are going to capture Vincennes, Kenton, are we not? We +shall, sha'n't we, Jazon? Nothing, nothing can prevent us, can +it?" + +Kenton heartily returned the pressure of the young man's hand, +while Oncle Jazon looked up quizzically and said: + +"We're a tol'ble 'spectable lot to prevent; but then we might git +pervented. I've seed better men an' us purty consid'ble pervented +lots o' times in my life." + +In speaking the colloquial dialect of the American backwoodsmen, +Oncle Jazon, despite years of practice among them, gave to it a +creole lisp and some turns of pronunciation not to be indicated by +any form of spelling. It added to his talk a peculiar soft +drollery. When he spoke French it was mostly that of the COUREURS +DE BOIS, a PATOIS which still lingers in out-of-the-way nooks of +Louisiana. + +"For my part," said Kenton, "I am with ye, old boy, in anything ye +want to do. But now ye've got to tell me everything. I see that +ye're keeping something back. What is it?" He glanced sidewise +slyly at Oncle Jazon. + +Beverley was frank to a fault; but somehow his heart tried to keep +Alice all to itself. He hesitated; then-- + +"I broke my parole with Governor Hamilton," he said. "He forced me +to do it. I feel altogether justified. I told him beforehand that +I should certainly leave Vincennes and go get a force to capture +and kill him; and I'll do it, Simon Kenton, I'll do it!" + +"I see, I see," Kenton assented, "but what was the row about? What +did he do to excite ye--to make ye feel justified in breakin' over +yer parole in that high-handed way? Fitz, I know ye too well to be +fooled by ye--you've got somethin' in mind that ye don't want to +tell. Well, then don't tell it. Oncle Jazon and I will go it +blind, won't we, Jazon?" + +"Blind as two moles," said the old man; "but as for thet secret," +he added, winking both eyes at once, "I don't know as it's so +mighty hard to guess. It's always safe to 'magine a woman in the +case. It's mostly women 'at sends men a trottin' off 'bout +nothin', sort o' crazy like." + +Beverley looked guilty and Oncle Jazon continued: "They's a poo'ty +gal at Vincennes, an' I see the young man a steppin' into her +house about fifteen times a day 'fore I lef' the place. Mebbe +she's tuck up wi' one o' them English officers. Gals is slippery +an' onsartin'." + +"Jazon!" cried Beverley, "stop that instantly, or I'll wring your +old neck." His anger was real and he meant what he said. He +clenched his hands and glowered. + +Oncle Jazon, who was still squatting by the little fire, tumbled +over backwards, as if Beverley had kicked him; and there he lay on +the ground with his slender legs quivering akimbo in the air, +while he laughed in a strained treble that sounded like the +whining of a screech-owl. + +The old scamp did not know all the facts in Beverley's case, nor +did he even suspect what had happened; but he was aware of the +young man's tender feeling for Alice, and he did shrewdly +conjecture that she was a factor in the problem. + +The rude jest at her expense did not seem to his withered and +toughened taste in the least out of the way. Indeed it was a +delectable bit of humor from Oncle Jazon's point of view. + +"Don't get mad at the old man," said Kenton, plucking Beverley +aside. "He's yer friend from his heels to his old scalped crown. +Let him have his fun." Then lowering his voice almost to a whisper +he continued: + +"I was in Vincennes for two days and nights spyin' around. Madame +Godere hid me in her house when there was need of it. I know how +it is with ye; I got all the gossip about ye and the young lady, +as well as all the information about Hamilton and his forces that +Colonel Clark wants. I'm goin' to Kaskaskia; but I think it quite +possible that Clark will be on his march to Vincennes before we +get there; for Vigo has taken him full particulars as to the fort +and its garrison, and I know that he's determined to capture the +whole thing or die tryin'." + +Beverley felt his heart swell and his blood leap strong in his +veins at these words. + +"I saw ye while I was in Vincennes," Kenton added, "but I never +let ye see me. Ye were a prisoner, and I had no business with ye +while your parole held. I felt that it was best not to tempt ye to +give me aid, or to let ye have knowledge of me while I was a spy. +I left two days before ye did, and should have been at Kaskaskia +by this time if I hadn't run across Jazon, who detained me. He +wanted to go with me, and I waited for him to repair the stock of +his old gun. He tinkered at it 'tween meals and showers for half a +week at the Indian village back yonder before he got it just to +suit him. But I tell ye he's wo'th waiting for any length of time, +and I was glad to let him have his way." + +Kenton, who was still a young man in his early thirties, respected +Beverley's reticence on the subject uppermost in his mind. Madame +Godere had told the whole story with flamboyant embellishments; +Kenton tiad seen Alice, and, inspired with the gossip and a +surreptitious glimpse of her beauty, he felt perfectly familiar +with Beverley's condition. He was himself a victim of the tender +passion to the extent of being an exile from his Virginia home, +which he had left on account of dangerously wounding a rival. But +he was well touched with the backwoodsman's taste for joke and +banter. He and Oncle Jazon, therefore, knowing the main feature of +Beverley's predicament, enjoyed making the most of their +opportunity in their rude but perfectly generous and kindly way. + +By indirection and impersonal details, as regarded his feelings +toward Alice, Beverley in due time made his friends understand +that his whole ambition was centered in rescuing her. Nor did the +motive fail to enlist their sympathy to the utmost. If all the +world loves a lover, all men having the best virile instinct will +fight for a lover's cause. Both Kenton and Oncle Jazon were +enthusiastic; they wanted nothing better than an opportunity to +aid in rescuing any girl who had shown so much patriotism and +pluck. But Oncle Jazon was fond of Alice, and Beverley's story +affected him peculiarly on her account. + +"They's one question I'm a goin' to put to ye, young man," he +said, after he had heard everything and they had talked it all +over, "an' I want ye to answer it straight as a bullet f'om yer +gun." + +"Of course, Jazon, go ahead," said Beverley. "I shall be glad to +answer." But his mind was far away with the gold-haired maiden in +Hamilton's prison. He scarcely knew what he was saying. + +"Air ye expectin' to marry Alice Roussillon?" + +The three men were at the moment eating the well broiled venison. +Oncle Jazon's puckered lips and chin were dripping with the +fragrant grease and juice, which also flowed down his sinewy, +claw-like fingers. Overhead in the bare tops of the scrub oaks +that covered the prairie oasis, the February wind sang a shrill +and doleful song. + +Beverley started as if a blow had been aimed at him. Oncle Jazon's +question, indeed, was a blow as unexpected as it was direct and +powerful. + +"I know it's poo'ty p'inted," the old man added after a short +pause, "an' ye may think 'at I ain't got no business askin' it; +but I have. That leetle gal's a pet o' mine, an' I'm a lookin' +after her, an' expectin' to see 'at she's not bothered by nobody +who's not goin' to do right by her. Marryin' is a mighty good +thing, but--" + +"What do ye know about matrimony, ye old raw-headed bachelor?" +demanded Kenton, who felt impelled to relieve Beverley of the +embarrassment of an answer. "Ye wouldn't know a wife from a sack +o' meal!" + +"Now don't git too peart an' fast, Si Kenton," cried Oncle Jazon, +glaring truculently at his friend, but at the same time showing a +dry smile that seemed to be hopelessly entangled in criss-cross +wrinkles. "Who told ye I was a bach'lor? Not by a big jump. I've +been married mighty nigh on to twenty times in my day. Mos'ly +Injuns, o' course; but a squaw's a wife w'en ye marries her, an' I +know how it hurts a gal to be dis'p'inted in sich a matter. That's +w'y I put the question I did. I'm not goin' to let no man give +sorry to that little Roussillon gal; an' so ye've got my say. Ye +seed her raise thet flag on the fort, Lieutenant Beverley, an' ye +seed her take it down an' git away wi' it. You know 'at she +deserves nothin' but the best; an' by the Holy Virgin, she's got +to have it, or I'm a goin' to know several reasons why. Thet's +what made me put the question straight to ye, young man, an' I +expects a straight answer." + +Beverley's face paled; but not with anger. He grasped one of Oncle +Jazon's greasy hands and gave it such a squeeze that the old +fellow grimaced painfully. + +"Thank you, Oncle Jazon, thank you!" he said, with a peculiar +husky burr in his voice. "Alice will never suffer if I can help +it. Let the subject drop now, my friend, until we have saved her +from the hands of Hamilton." In the power of his emotion he +continued to grip the old man's hand with increasing severity of +pressure. + +"Ventrebleu! let go! Needn't smash a feller's fingers 'bout it!" +screeched Oncle Jazon. "I can't shoot wo'th a cent, nohow, an' ef +ye cripple up my trigger-finger--" + +Kenton had been peeping under the low-hanging scrub-oak boughs +while Oncle Jazon was speaking these last words; and now he +suddenly interrupted: + +"The devil! look yonder!" he growled out in startling tone. +"Injuns!" + +It was a sharp snap of the conversation's thread, and at the same +time our three friends realized that they had been careless in not +keeping a better look-out. They let fall the meat they had not +yet finished eating and seized their guns. + +Five or six dark forms were moving toward them across a little +point of the prairie that cut into the wood a quarter of a mile +distant. + +"Yander's more of 'em," said Oncle Jazon, as if not in the least +concerned, wagging his head in an opposite direction, from which +another squad was approaching. + +That he duly appreciated the situation appeared only in the +celerity with which he acted. + +Kenton at once assumed command, and his companions felt his +perfect fitness. There was no doubt from the first as to what the +Indians meant; but even if there had been it would have soon +vanished; for in less than three minutes twenty-one savages were +swiftly and silently forming a circle inclosing the spot where the +three white men, who had covered themselves as best they could +with trees, waited in grim steadiness for the worst. + +Quite beyond gunshot range, but near enough for Oncle Jazon to +recognize Long-Hair as their leader, the Indians halted and began +making signs to one another all round the line. Evidently they +dreaded to test the marksmanship of such riflemen as they knew +most border men to be. Indeed, Long-Hair had personal knowledge of +what might certainly be expected from both Kenton and Oncle Jazon; +they were terrible when out for fight; the red warriors from +Georgia to the great lakes had heard of them; their names smacked +of tragedy. Nor was Beverley without fame among Long-Hair's +followers, who had listened to the story of his fighting +qualities, brought to Vincennes by the two survivors of the +scouting party so cleverly defeated by him. + +"The liver-colored cowards," said Kenton, "are afeared of us in a +shootin'-match; they know that a lot of 'em would have to die if +they should undertake an open fight with us. It's some sort of a +sneakin' game they are studyin' about just now." + +"I'm a gittin' mos' too ole to shoot wo'th a cent," said Oncle +Jazon, "but I'd give half o' my scalp ef thet Long-Hair would come +clost enough fo' me to git a bead onto his lef' eye. It's tol'ble +plain 'at we're gone goslins this time, I'm thinkin'; still it'd +be mighty satisfyin' if I could plug out a lef' eye or two 'fore I +go." + +Beverley was silent; the words of his companions were heard by +him, but not noticed. Nothing interested him save the thought of +escaping and making his way to Clark. To fail meant infinitely +more than death, of which he had as small fear as most brave men, +and to succeed meant everything that life could offer. So, in the +unlimited selfishness of love, he did not take his companions into +account. + +The three stood in a close-set clump of four or five scrub oaks at +the highest point of a thinly wooded knoll that sloped down in all +directions to the prairie. Their view was wide, but in places +obstructed by the trees. + +"Men," said Kenton, after a thoughtful and watchful silence, "the +thing looks kind o' squally for us. I don't see much of a chance +to get out of this alive; but we've got to try." + +He showed by the density of his voice and a certain gray film in +his face that he felt the awful gravity of the situation; but he +was calm and not a muscle quivered. + +"They's jes' two chances for us," said Oncle Jazon, "an' them's as +slim as a broom straw. We've got to stan' here an' fight it out, +or wait till night an' sneak through atween 'em an' run for it." + +"I don't see any hope o' sneakin' through the line," observed +Kenton. "It's not goin' to be dark tonight." + +"Wa-a-l," Oncle Jazon drawled nonchalantly while he took in a quid +of tobacco, "I've been into tighter squeezes 'an this, many a +time, an' I got out, too." + +"Likely enough," said Kenton, still reflecting while his eyes +roamed around the circle of savages. + +"I fit the skunks in Ferginny 'fore you's thought of, Si Kenton, +an' down in Car'lina in them hills. If ye think I'm a goin' to be +scalped where they ain't no scalp, 'ithout tryin' a few dodges, +yer a dad dasteder fool an' I used to think ye was, an' that's +makin' a big compliment to ye." + +"Well, we don't have to argy this question, Oncle Jazon; they're a +gittin' ready to run in upon us, and we've got to fight. I say, +Beverley, are ye ready for fast shootin'? Have ye got a plenty of +bullets?" + +"Yes, Roussillon gave me a hundred. Do you think--" + +He was interrupted by a yell that leaped from savage mouth to +mouth all round the circle, and then the charge began. + +"Steady, now," growled Kenton, "let's not be in a hurry. Wait till +they come nigh enough to hit 'em before we shoot." + +The time was short; for the Indians came on at almost race-horse +speed. + +Oncle Jazon fired first, the long, keen crack of his small-bore +rifle splitting the air with a suggestion of vicious energy, and a +lithe young warrior, who was outstripping all his fellows, leaped +high and fell paralyzed. + +"Can't shoot wo'th a cent," muttered the old man, deftly beginning +to reload his gun the while; "but I jes' happened to hit that +buck. He'll never git my scalp, thet's sartin an' sure." + +Beverley and Kenton each likewise dropped an Indian; but the shots +did not even check the rush. Long-Hair had planned to capture his +prey, not kill it. Every savage had his orders to take the white +men alive; Hamilton's larger reward depended on this. + +Right on they came, as fast as their nimble legs could carry them, +yelling like demons; and they reached the grove before the three +white men could reload their guns. Then every warrior took cover +behind a tree and began scrambling forward from bole to bole, thus +approaching rapidly without much exposure. + +"Our 'taters is roasted brown," muttered Oncle Jazon. He crossed +himself. Possibly he prayed; but he was priming his old gun the +next instant. + +Kenton fired again, making a hurried and ineffectual attempt to +stop the nearest warrior, who saved himself by quickly skipping +behind a tree. Beverley's gun snapped, the flint failing to make +fire; but Oncle Jazon bored a little hole through the head of the +Indian nearest him; and then the final rush was made from every +direction. + +A struggle ensued, which for desperate energy has probably never +been surpassed. Like three lions at bay, the white men met the +shock, and lion-like they fought in the midst of seventeen +stalwart and determined savages. + +"Don't kill them, take them alive; throw them down and hold them!" +was Long-Hair's order loudly shouted in the tongue of his tribe. + +Both Kenton and Jazon understood every word and knew the +significance of such a command from the leader. It naturally came +into Kenton's mind that Hamilton had been informed of his visit to +Vincennes and had offered a reward for his capture. This being +true, death as a spy would be the certain result if he were taken +back. He might as well die now. As for Beverley, he thought only +of Alice, yonder as he had left her, a prisoner in Hamilton's +hands, Oncle Jazon, if he thought at all, probably considered +nothing but present escape, though he prayed audibly to the +Blessed Virgin, even while he lay helpless upon the ground, pinned +down by the weight of an enormous Indian. He could not move any +part of himself, save his lips, and these mechanically put forth +the wheezing supplication. + +Beverley and Kenton, being young and powerful, were not so easily +mastered. For a while, indeed, they appeared to be more than +holding their own. They time and time again scattered the entire +crowd by the violence of their muscular efforts; and after it had +finally closed in upon them in a solid body they swayed and swung +it back and forth and round and round until the writhing, savage +mass looked as if caught in the vortex of a whirlwind. But such +tremendous exertion could not last long. Eight to one made too +great a difference between the contending parties, and the only +possible conclusion of the struggle soon came. Seized upon by +desperate, clinging, wolf-like assailants, the white men felt +their arms, legs and bodies weighted down and their strength fast +going. + +Kenton fell next after Oncle Jazon, and was soon tightly bound +with rawhide thongs. He lay on his back panting and utterly +exhausted, while Beverley still kept up the unequal fight. + +Long-Hair sprang in at the last moment to make doubly certain the +securing of his most important captive. He flung his long and +powerful arms around Beverley from behind and made a great effort +to throw him upon the ground. The young man, feeling this fresh +and vigorous clasp, turned himself about to put forth one more +mighty spurt of power. He lifted the stalwart Indian bodily and +dashed him headlong against the buttressed root of a tree half a +rod distant, breaking the smaller bone of his left fore-arm and +well-nigh knocking him senseless. + +It was a fine exhibition of manly strength; but there could be +nothing gained by it. A blow on the back of his head the next +instant stretched Beverley face downward and unconscious on the +ground. The savages turned him over and looked satisfied when they +found that he was not dead. They bound him with even greater care +than they had shown in securing the others, while Long-Hair stood +by stolidly looking on, meantime supporting his broken fore-arm in +his hand. + +"Ugh! dog!" he grunted, and gave Beverley a kick in the side. Then +turning a fiendish stare upon Oncle Jazon he proceeded to deliver +against his old, dry ribs three or four like contributions with +resounding effect. "Polecat! Little old greasy woman!" he snarled, +"make good fire for warrior to dance by!" Kenton also received his +full share of the kicks and verbal abuse, after which Long-Hair +gave orders for fires to be built. Then he looked to his hurt arm +and had the bone set and bandaged, never so much as wincing the +while. + +It was soon apparent that the Indians purposed to celebrate their +successful enterprise with a feast. They cooked a large amount of +buffalo steak; then, each with his hands full of the savory meat, +they began to dance around the fires, droning meantime an +atrociously repellant chant. + +"They're a 'spectin' to hev a leetle bit o' fun outen us," +muttered Oncle Jazon to Beverley, who lay near him. "I onderstan' +what they're up to, dad dast 'em! More'n forty years ago, in +Ca'lina, they put me an' Jim Hipes through the ga'ntlet, an' arter +thet, in Kaintuck, me an' Si Kenton tuck the run. Hi, there, Si! +where air ye?" + +"Shut yer fool mouth," Kenton growled under his breath. "Ye'll +have that Injun a kickin' our lights out of us again." + +Oncle Jazon winked at the gray sky and puckered his mouth so that +it looked like a nutgall on an old, dry leaf. + +"What's the diff'ence?" he demanded. "I'd jest as soon be kicked +now as arter while; it's got to come anyhow." + +Kenton made no response. The thongs were torturing his arms and +legs. Beverley was silent, but consciousness had returned, and +with it a sense of despair. All three of the prisoners lay face +upward quite unable to move, knowing full well that a terrible +ordeal awaited them. Oncle Jazon's grim humor could not be +quenched, even by the galling agony of the thongs that buried +themselves in the flesh, and the anticipation of torture beside +which death would seem a luxury. + +"Yap! Long-Hair, how's yer arm?" he called jeeringly. "Feels pooty +good, hay?" + +Long-Hair, who was not joining in the dance and song, turned when +he heard these taunting words, and mistaking whence they came, +went to Beverley's side and kicked him again and again. + +Oncle Jazon heard the loud blows, and considered the incident a +remarkably good joke. + +"He, he, he!" he snickered, as soon as Long-Hair walked away +again. "I does the talkin' an' somebody else gits the thumpin'! +He, he, he! I always was devilish lucky. Them kicks was good solid +jolts, wasn't they, Lieutenant? Sounded like they was. He, he, +he!" + +Beverley gave no heed to Oncle Jazon's exasperating pleasantry; +but Kenton, sorely chafing under the pressure of his bonds, could +not refrain from making retort in kind. + +"I'd give ye one poundin' that ye'd remember, Emile Jazon, if I +could get to ye, ye old twisted-face, peeled-headed, crooked- +mouthed, aggravatin' scamp!" he exclaimed, not thinking how high +his naturally strong voice was lifted. "I can stand any fool but a +damn fool!" + +Long-Hair heard the concluding epithet and understood its meaning. +Moreover, he thought himself the target at which it was so +energetically launched. Wherefore he promptly turned back and gave +Kenton a kicking that made his body resound not unlike a drum. + +And here it was that Oncle Jazon overreached himself. He was so +delighted at Kenton's luck that he broke forth giggling and +thereby drew against his own ribs a considerable improvement of +Long-Hair's pedal applications. + +"Ventrebleu!" whined the old man, when the Indian had gone away +again. "Holy Mary! Jee-ru-sa-lem! They's nary bone o' me left +'at's not splintered as fine as toothpickers! S'pose yer satisfied +now, ain't ye, Si Kenton? Ef ye ain't I'm shore to satisfy ye the +fust time I git a chance at ye, ye blab-mouthed eejit!" + +Before this conversation was ended a rain began to fall, and it +rapidly thickened from a desultory shower to a roaring downpour +that effectually quenched not only the fires around which the +savages were dancing, but the enthusiasm of the dancers as well. +During the rest of the afternoon and all night long the fall was +incessant, accompanied by a cold, panting, wailing southwest wind. + +Beverley lay on the ground, face upward, the rawhide strings +torturing his limbs, the chill of cold water searching his bones. +He could see nothing but the dim, strange canopy of flying rain, +against which the bare boughs of the scrub oaks were vaguely +outlined; he could hear nothing but the cry of the wind and the +swash of the water which fell upon him and ran under him, bubbling +and gurgling as if fiendishly exultant. + +The night dragged on through its terrible length, dealing out its +indescribable horrors, and at last morning arrived, with a stingy +and uncertain gift of light slowly increasing until the dripping +trees appeared forlornly gray and brown against clouds now +breaking into masses that gave but little rain. + +Beverley lived through the awful trial and even had the hardihood +to brighten inwardly with the first flash of sunlight that shot +through a cloud-crack on the eastern horizon. He thought of Alice, +as he had done all night; but now the thought partook somehow of +the glow yonder above old Vincennes, although he could only see +its reflection. + +There was great stir among the Indians. Long-Hair stalked about +scrutinizing the ground. Beverley saw him come near time and again +with a hideous, inquiring scowl on his face. Grunts and laconic +exclamations passed from mouth to mouth, and presently the import +of it all could not be mistaken. Kenton and Jazon were gone--had +escaped during the night--and the rain had completely obliterated +their tracks. + +The Indians were furious. Long-Hair sent out picked parties of his +best scouts with orders to scour the country in all directions, +keeping with himself a few of the older warriors. Beverley was fed +what he would eat of venison, and Long-Hair made him understand +that he would have to suffer some terrible punishment on account +of the action of his companions. + +Late in the day the scouts straggled back with the report that no +track or sign of the fugitives had been discovered, and +immediately a consultation was held. Most of the warriors, +including all of the young bucks, demanded a torture entertainment +as compensation for their exertions and the unexpected loss of +their own prisoners; for it had been agreed that Beverley belonged +exclusively to Long-Hair, who objected to anything which might +deprive him of the great reward offered by Hamilton for the +prisoner if brought to him alive. + +In the end it was agreed that Beverley should be made to run the +gauntlet, provided that no deadly weapons were used upon him +during the ordeal. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A PRISONER OF LOVE + + +Alice put on her warmest clothes and followed Captain Farnsworth +to the fort, realizing that no pleasant experience awaited her. +The wind and rain still prevailed when they were ready to set +forth, and, although it was not extremely cold, a searching chill +went with every throb that marked the storm's waves. No lights +shone in the village houses. Overhead a gray gloom covered stars +and sky, making the darkness in the watery streets seem densely +black. Farnsworth offered Alice his arm, but she did not accept +it. + +"I know the way better than you do," she said. "Come on, and don't +be afraid that I am going to run. I shall not play any trick on +you." + +"Very well, Mademoiselle, as you like. I trust you." + +He followed her from the house. He was so filled with the +bitterness of what he was doing that he carried her sword in his +hand all the way to the fort, quite unaware that its point often +touched her dress so that she plainly felt it. Indeed, she thought +he was using that ruffianly and dangerous means of keeping pace +with her. He had sent the patrol on its rounds, taking upon +himself the responsibility of delivering her to Hamilton. She +almost ran, urged by the strange excitement that burned in her +heart, and he followed somewhat awkwardly, stumbling over the +unfamiliar way in the rain and darkness. + +At every step he was wishing that she would escape from him. +Coarse as his nature was and distorted by hardening experiences, +it was rooted in good English honesty and imbued with a chivalric +spirit. When, as happened too often, he fell under the influence +of liquor, the bad in him promptly came uppermost; but at all +other times his better traits made him a good fellow to meet, +genial, polite, generous, and inclined to recognize the finer +sentiments of manliness. To march into his commander's presence +with Alice as his prisoner lacked everything of agreeing with his +taste; yet he had not been willing to give her over into the hands +of the patrol. If his regard for military obligation had not been +exceptionally strong, even for an English soldier, he would have +given way to the temptation of taking her to some place of hiding +and safety, instead of brutally subjecting her to Hamilton's harsh +judgment. He anticipated a trying experience for her on account of +this new transgression. + +They hastened along until a lantern in the fort shot a hazy gleam +upon them. + +"Stop a moment, Mademoiselle," Farnsworth called. "I say, Miss +Roussillon, stop a moment, please." + +Alice halted and turned facing him so short and so suddenly that +the rapier in his hand pricked through her wraps and slightly +scratched her arm. + +"What do you mean, sir?" she demanded, thinking that he had thrust +purposely. "Do I deserve this brutality?" + +"You mistake me, Miss Roussillon. I cannot be brutal to you now. +Do not fear me; I only had a word to say." + +"Oh, you deem it very polite and gentle to jab me with your sword, +do you? If I had one in my hand you would not dare try such a +thing, and you know it very well." + +He was amazed, not knowing that the sword-point had touched her. +He could not see her face, but there was a flash in her voice that +startled him with its indignant contempt and resentment. + +"What are you saying, Miss Roussillon? I don't understand you. +When did I ever--when did I jab you with my sword? I never thought +of such a thing." + +"This moment, sir, you did, and you know you did. My arm is +bleeding now." + +She spoke rapidly in French; but he caught her meaning, and for +the first became aware of the rapier in his hand. Even then its +point was toward her and very near her breast. He lowered it +instantly while the truth rushed into his mind. + +"Forgive me," he murmured, his words barely audible in the tumult +of wind and rain, but charged with the intensest feeling. + +"Forgive me; I did not know--it was an accident--I could not do +such a thing purposely. Believe me, believe me, Miss Roussillon. I +did not mean it." + +She stood facing him, trying to look right into his eyes. A +quality in his voice had checked her hot anger. She could only see +his dim outlines in the dull gleam from the fort's lantern. He +seemed to be forlornly wretched. + +"I should like to believe you," she presently said, "but I cannot. +You English are all, all despicable, mean, vile!" + +She was remembering the young officer who had assaulted her with +his sword in the house a while ago. And (what a strange thing the +human brain is!) she at the same time comforted herself with the +further thought that Beverley would never, never, be guilty of +rudeness to a woman. + +"Some time you shall not say that," Farnsworth responded. "I asked +you to stop a moment that I might beg you to believe how +wretchedly sorry I am for what I am doing. But you cannot +understand me now. Are you really hurt, Miss Roussillon? I assure +you that it was purely accidental." + +"My hurt is nothing," she said. + +"I am very glad." + +"Well, then, shall we go on to the fort?" + +"You may go where you please, Mademoiselle." + +She turned her back upon him and without an answering word walked +straight to the lantern that hung by the gate of the stockade, +where a sentinel tramped to and fro. A few moments later Captain +Farnsworth presented her to Hamilton, who had been called from his +bed when the news of the trouble at Roussillon place reached the +fort. + +"So you've been raising hell again, have you, Miss?" he growled, +with an ugly frown darkening his face. + +"I beg your pardon," said Farnsworth, "Miss Roussillon was not to +blame for--" + +"In your eyes she'd not be to blame, sir, if she burned up the +fort and all of us in it," Hamilton gruffly interrupted. "Miss, +what have you been doing? What are you here for? Captain +Farnsworth, you will please state the particulars of the trouble +that I have just heard about. And I may as well notify you that I +wish to hear no special lover's pleading in this girl's behalf." + +Farnsworth's face whitened with anger; he bit his lip and a shiver +ran through his frame; but he had to conquer the passion. In a few +words, blunt and direct as musket-balls, he told all the +circumstances of what had taken place, making no concealments to +favor Alice, but boldly blaming the officer of the patrol, +Lieutenant Barlow, for losing his head and attacking a young girl +in her own home. + +"I will hear from Barlow," said Hamilton, after listening +attentively to the story. "But take this girl and confine her. +Show her no favors. I hold you responsible for her until to-morrow +morning. You can retire." + +There was no room for discussion. Farnsworth saluted and turned to +Alice. + +"Come with me," he gently said. + +Hamilton looked after them as they went out of his room, a curious +smile playing around his firmly set lips. + +"She's the most beautiful vixen that I ever saw," he thought. "She +doesn't look to be a French girl, either--decidedly English." He +shrugged his shoulders, then laughed dryly. "Farnsworth's as crazy +as can be, the beggar; in love with her so deep that he can't see +out. By Jove, she IS a beauty! Never saw such eyes. And plucky to +beat the devil. I'll bet my head Barlow'll be daft about her +next!" + +Still, notwithstanding the lightness of his inward comments, +Hamilton regarded the incident as rather serious. He knew that the +French inhabitants were secretly his bitter enemies, yet probably +willing, if he would humor their peculiar social, domestic and +commercial prejudices, to refrain from active hostilities, and +even to aid him in furnishing his garrison with a large amount of +needed supplies. The danger just now was twofold; his Indian +allies were deserting him, and a flotilla loaded with provisions +and ammunition from Detroit had failed to arrive. He might, if the +French rose against him and were joined by the Indians, have great +difficulty defending the fort. It was clear that M. Roussillon had +more influence with both creoles and savages than any other person +save Father Beret. Urgent policy dictated that these two men +should somehow be won over. But to do this it would be necessary +to treat Alice in such a way that her arrest would aid, instead of +operating against the desired result,--a thing not easy to manage. + +Hamilton was not a man of fine scruples, but he may have been, +probably was, better than our American historians have made him +appear. His besetting weakness, which, as a matter of course, he +regarded as the highest flower of efficiency, was an +uncontrollable temper, a lack of fine human sympathy and an +inability to forgive. In his calmest moments, when prudence +appealed to him, he would resolve to use diplomatic means; but no +sooner was his opinion questioned or his purpose opposed than +anger and the thirst for revenge overpowered every gentler +consideration. He returned to his bed that night fully resolved +upon a pleasant and successful interview with Alice next morning. + +Captain Farnsworth took his fair prisoner straight-way from +Hamilton's presence to a small room connected with a considerable +structure in a distant angle of the stockade. Neither he nor Alice +spoke on the way. With a huge wooden key he unlocked the door and +stepped aside for her to enter. A dim lamp was burning within, its +yellowish light flickering over the scant furniture, which +consisted of a comfortable bed, a table with some books on it, +three chairs, a small looking-glass on the wall, a guitar and some +articles of men's clothing hanging here and there. A heap of dull +embers smouldered in the fireplace. Alice did not falter at the +threshold, but promptly entered her prison. + +"I hope you can be comfortable," said Farnsworth in a low tone. +"It's the best I can give you." + +"Thank you," was the answer spoken quite as if he had handed her a +glass of water or picked up her handkerchief. + +He held the door a moment, while she stopped, with her back toward +him, in the middle of the room; then she heard him close and lock +it. The air was almost too warm after her exposure to the biting +wind and cold dashes of rain. She cast off her outer wraps and +stood by the fireplace. At a glance she comprehended that the +place was not the one she had formerly occupied as a prisoner, and +that it belonged to a man. A long rifle stood in a corner, a +bullet-pouch and powder-horn hanging on a projecting hickory +ramrod; a heavy fur top-coat lay across one of the chairs. + +Alice felt her situation bitterly enough; but she was not of the +stuff that turns to water at the touch of misfortune. Pioneer +women took hardships as a matter of course, and met calamity with +admirable fortitude. There was no wringing of hands, no frantic +wailing, no hollow, despairing groan. While life lasted hope +flourished, even in most tragic surroundings; and not unfrequently +succor came, at the last verge of destruction, as the fitting +reward of unconquerable courage. A girl like Alice must be +accepted in the spirit of her time and surroundings. She was born +amid experiences scarcely credible now, and bred in an area and an +atmosphere of incomparable dangers. Naturally she accepted +conditions of terrible import with a sang froid scarcely possible +to a girl of our day. She did not cry, she did not sink down +helpless when she found herself once more imprisoned with some +uncertain trial before her; but simply knelt and repeated the +Lord's prayer, then went to bed and slept; even dreamed the dream +of a maid's first love. + +Meantime Farnsworth, who had given Alice his own apartment, took +what rest he could on the cold ground under a leaky shed hard by. +His wound, not yet altogether healed, was not benefited by the +exposure. + +In due time next morning Hamilton ordered Alice brought to his +office, and when she appeared he was smiling with as near an +approach to affability as his disposition would permit. He rose +and bowed like a courtier. + +"I hope you rested well, Mademoiselle," he said in his best +French. He imagined that the use of her language would be +agreeable to begin with. + +The moment that Alice saw him wearing that shallow veneering of +pleasantness on his never prepossessing visage, she felt a mood of +perversity come over her. She, too. smiled, and he mistook her +expression for one of reciprocal amenity. She noticed that her +sword was on his table. + +"I am sorry, Monsieur, that I cannot say as much to you," she +glibly responded. "If you lay upon a bed of needles the whole +night through, your rest was better than you deserved. My own +sleep was quite refreshing, thank you." + +Instantly Hamilton's choler rose. He tried to suppress it at +first; but when he saw Alice actually laughing, and Farnsworth +(who had brought her in) biting his lip furiously to keep from +adding an uproarious guffaw, he lost all hold of himself. He +unconsciously picked up the rapier and shook it till its blade +swished. + +"I might have known better than to expect decency from a wench of +your character," he said. "I hoped to do you a favor; but I see +that you are not capable of accepting kindness politely." + +"I am sure, Monsieur, that I have but spoken the truth plainly to +you. You would not have me do otherwise, I hope." + +Her voice, absolutely witching in its softness, freshness and +suavity, helped the assault of her eyes, while her dimples +twinkled and her hair shone. Hamilton felt his heart move +strangely; but he could not forbear saying in English: + +"If you are so devilish truthful, Miss, you will probably tell me +where the flag is that you stole and hid." + +It was always the missing banner that came to mind when he saw +her. + +"Indeed I will do nothing of the sort," she promptly replied. +"When you see that flag again you will be a prisoner and I will +wave it high over your head." + +She lifted a hand as she spoke and made the motion of shaking a +banner above him. It was exasperation sweetened almost to delight +that took hold of the sturdy Briton. He liked pluck, especially in +a woman; all the more if she was beautiful. Yet the very fact that +he felt her charm falling upon him set him hard against her, not +as Hamilton the man, but as Hamilton the commander at Vincennes. + +"You think to fling yourself upon me as you have upon Captain +Farnsworth," he said, with an insulting leer and in a tone of +prurient innuendo. "I am not susceptible, my dear." This more for +Farnsworth's benefit than to insult her, albeit he was not in a +mood to care. + +"You are a coward and a liar!" she exclaimed, her face flushing +with hot shame. "You stand here," she quickly added, turning +fiercely upon Farnsworth, "and quietly listen to such words! You, +too, are a coward if you do not make him retract! Oh, you English +are low brutes!" + +Hamilton laughed; but Farnsworth looked dark and troubled, his +glance going back and forth from Alice to his commander, as if +another word would cause him to do something terrible. + +"I rather think I've heard all that I care to hear from you, +Miss," Hamilton presently said. "Captain Farnsworth, you will see +that the prisoner is confined in the proper place, which, I +suggest to you, is not your sleeping quarters, sir." + +"Colonel Hamilton," said Farnsworth in a husky voice, "I slept on +the ground under a shed last night in order that Miss Roussillon +might be somewhat comfortable." + +"Humph! Well, see that you do not do it again. This girl is guilty +of harboring a spy and resisting a lawful attempt of my guards to +capture him. Confine her in the place prepared for prisoners and +see that she stays there until I am ready to fix her punishment." + +"There is no place fit for a young girl to stay in," Farnsworth +ventured. "She can have no comfort or--" + +"Take her along, sir; any place is good enough for her so long as +she behaves like a--" + +"Very well," Farnsworth bluntly interrupted, thus saving Alice the +stroke of a vile comparison. "Come with me, please, Miss +Roussillon." + +He pulled her toward the door, then dropped the arm he had grasped +and murmured an apology. + +She followed him out, holding her head high. No one looking on +would have suspected that a sinking sensation in her heart made it +difficult for her to walk, or that her eyes, shining like stars, +were so inwardly clouded with distress that she saw her way but +dimly. + +It was a relief to Hamilton when Helm a few minutes later entered +the room with something breezy to say. + +"What's up now, if I may ask?" the jolly American demanded. +"What's this I hear about trouble with the French women? Have they +begun a revolution?" + +"That elephant, Gaspard Roussillon, came back into town last +night," said Hamilton sulkily. + +"Well, he went out again, didn't he?" + +"Yes, but--" + +"Stepped on somebody's toe first, eh?" + +"The guard tried to capture him, and that girl of his wounded +Lieutenant Barlow in the neck with a sword. Roussillon fought like +a tiger and the men swear that the devil himself appeared on the +scene to help the Frenchman out." + +"Moral: Be generous in your dealings with Frenchmen and +Frenchwomen and so get the devil on your side." + +"I've got the girl a prisoner, and I swear to you that I'll have +her shot this time if--" + +"Why not shoot her yourself? You oughtn't to shirk a dirty job +like that and force it upon your men." + +Hamilton laughed and elevated his shoulders as if to shake off an +annoying load. Just then a young officer with a white bandage +around his neck entered and saluted. He was a small, soft-haired, +blue-eyed man of reckless bearing, with marks of dissipation +sharply cut into his face. He saluted, smiling self-consciously. + +"Well, Barlow," said Hamilton, "the kitten scratched you, did +she?" + +"Yes, slightly, and I don't think I've been treated fairly in the +matter, sir." + +"How so?" + +"I stood the brunt and now Captain Farnsworth gets the prize." He +twisted his mouth in mock expression of maudlin disappointment. +"I'm always cheated out of the sweets. I never get anything for +gallant conduct on the field." + +"Poor boy! It is a shame. But I say, Lieutenant, has Roussillon +really escaped, or is he hidden somewhere in town? Have you been +careful?" + +"Oh, it's the Indians. They all swear by these Frenchmen. You +can't get any help from them against a fellow like Roussillon. In +fact they aid him; he's among them now." + +"Moral again," Helm interposed; "keep on the good side of the +French!" + +"That's sensible talk, sir," assented Barlow. + +"Bah!" exclaimed Hamilton. "You might as well talk of keeping on +the good side of the American traitors--a bloody murrain seize the +whole race!" + +"That's what I say," chimed in the Lieutenant, with a sly look at +Helm. + +"They have been telling me a cock-and-bull story concerning the +affair at the Roussillon cabin," Hamilton said, changing his +manner. "What is this about a disguised and wonderful man who +rushed in and upset the whole of you. I want no romancing; give me +the facts." + +Barlow's dissolute countenance became troubled. + +"The facts," he said, speaking with serious deliberation, "are not +clear. It was like a clap of thunder, the way that man performed. +As you say, he did fling the whole squad all of a heap, and it was +done that quickly," he snapped his thumb and finger +demonstratively with a sharp report; "nobody could understand it." + +Hamilton looked at his subaltern with a smile of unlimited +contempt and said: + +"A pretty officer of His Majesty's army, you are, Lieutenant +Barlow! First a slip of a girl shows herself your superior with +the sword and wounds you, then a single man wipes up the floor of +a house with you and your guard, depriving you at the same time of +both vision and memory, so that you cannot even describe your +assailant!" + +"He was dressed like a priest," muttered Barlow, evidently +frightened at his commander's scathing comment. "That was all +there was to see." + +"A priest! Some of the men say the devil. I wonder--" Hamilton +hesitated and looked at the floor. + +"This Father Beret, he is too old for such a thing, isn't he?" + +"I have thought of him--it was like him--but he is, as you say, +very old to be so tremendously strong and active. Why, I tell you +that men went from his hands against the walls and floor as if +shot out of a mortar. It was the strangest and most astounding +thing I ever heard of." + +A little later Barlow seized a favorable opportunity and withdrew. +The conversation was not to his liking. + +Hamilton sent for Father Beret and had a long talk with him, but +the old man looked so childishly inoffensive in spirit and so +collapsed physically that it seemed worse than foolishness to +accuse him of the exploit over which the entire garrison was +wondering. Farnsworth sat by during the interview. He looked the +good priest curiously and critically over from head to foot, +remembering, but not mentioning, the most unclerical punch in the +side received from that energetic right arm now lying so flabbily +across the old man's lap. + +When the talk ended and Father Beret humbly took his leave, +Hamilton turned to Farnsworth and said: + +"What do you think of this affair? I have cross-questioned all +the men who took part in it, and every one of them says simply +priest or devil. I think old Beret is both; but plainly he +couldn't hurt a chicken, you can see that at a glance." + +Farnsworth smiled, rubbing his side reminiscently; but he shook +his head. + +"I'm sure it's puzzling, indeed." + +Hamilton sat in thoughtful silence for a while, then abruptly +changed the subject. + +"I think, Captain, that you had better send out Lieutenant Barlow +and some of the best woodsmen to kill some game. We need fresh +venison, and, by George! I'm not going to depend upon these French +traitors any longer. I have set my foot down; they've got to do +better or take the consequences." He paused for a breath, then +added: "That girl has done too much to escape severest punishment. +The garrison will be demoralized if this thing goes on without an +example of authority rigidly enforced. I am resolved that there +shall be a startling and effective public display of my power to +punish. She shot you; you seem to be glad of it, but it was a +grave offence. She has stabbed Barlow; that is another serious +crime; but worst of all she aided a spy and resisted arrest. She +must be punished." + +Farnsworth knew Hamilton's nature, and he now saw that Alice was +in dreadful danger of death or something even worse. Whenever his +chief talked of discipline and the need of maintaining his +authority, there was little hope of softening his decisions. +Moreover, the provocation to apply extreme measures really seemed +sufficient, regarded from a military point of view, and Captain +Farnsworth was himself, under ordinary circumstances, a +disciplinarian of the strictest class. The fascination, however, +by which Alice held him overbore every other influence, and his +devotion to her loosened every other tie and obligation to a most +dangerous extent. No sooner had he left headquarters and given +Barlow his instructions touching the hunting expedition, than his +mind began to wander amid visions and schemes by no means +consistent with his military obligations. In order to reflect +undisturbed he went forth into the dreary, lane-like streets of +Vincennes and walked aimlessly here and there until he met Father +Beret. + +Farnsworth saluted the old man, and was passing him by, when +seeing a sword in his hand, half hidden in the folds of his worn +and faded cassock, he turned and addressed him. + +"Why are you armed this morning, Father?" he demanded very +pleasantly. "Who is to suffer now?" + +"I am not on the war-path, my son," replied the priest. "It is but +a rapier that I am going to clean of rust spots that are gathering +on its blade." + +"Is it yours, Father? Let me see it." He held out his hand. + +"No, not mine." + +Father Beret seemed not to notice Farnsworth's desire to handle +the weapon, and the young man, instead of repeating his words, +reached farther, nearly grasping the scabbard. + +"I cannot let you take it, my son," said Father Beret "You have +its mate, that should satisfy you." + +"No, Colonel Hamilton took it," Farnsworth quickly replied. "If I +could I would gladly return it to its owner. I am not a thief, +Father, and I am ashamed of--of--what I did when I was drunk." + +The priest looked sharply into Farnsworth's eyes and read there +something that reassured him. His long experience had rendered him +adept at taking a man's value at a glance. He slightly lifted his +face and said: "Ah, but the poor little girl! why do you persecute +her? She really does not deserve it. She is a noble child. Give +her back to her home and her people. Do not soil and spoil her +sweet life." + +It was the sing-song voice used by Father Beret in his sermons and +prayers; but something went with it indescribably touching. +Farnsworth felt a lump rise in his throat and his eyes were ready +to show tears. "Father," he said, with difficulty making his words +distinct, "I would not harm Miss Roussillon to save my own life, +and I would do anything--" he paused slightly, then added with +passionate force; "I would do anything, no matter what, to save +her from the terrible thing that now threatens her." + +Father Beret's countenance changed curiously as he gazed at the +young man and said: + +"If you really mean what you say, you can easily save her, my +son." + +"Father, by all that is holy, I mean just what I say." + +"Swear not at all, my son, but give me your hand." + +The two men stood with a tight grip between them and exchanged a +long, steady, searching gaze. + +A drizzling rain had begun to fall again, with a raw wind creeping +from the west. + +"Come with me to my house, my son," Father Beret presently added; +and together they went, the priest covering Alice's sword from the +rain with the folds of his cassock. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +VIRTUE IN A LOCKET + + +Long-Hair stood not upon ceremony in conveying to Beverley the +information that he was to run the gauntlet, which, otherwise +stated, meant that the Indians would form themselves in two +parallel lines facing each other about six feet apart, and that +the prisoner would be expected to run down the length of the space +between, thus affording the warriors an opportunity, greatly +coveted and relished by their fiendish natures, to beat him +cruelly during his flight. This sort of thing was to the Indians, +indeed, an exquisite amusement, as fascinating to them as the +theater is to more enlightened people. No sooner was it agreed +upon that the entertainment should again be undertaken than all +the younger men began to scurry around getting everything ready +for it. Their faces glowed with a droll cruelty strange to see, +and they further expressed their lively expectations by playful +yet curiously solemn antics. + +The preparations were simple and quickly made. Each man armed +himself with a stick three feet long and about three-quarters of +an inch in diameter. Rough weapons they were, cut from boughs of +scrub-oak, knotty and tough as horn. Long-Hair unbound Beverley +and stripped his clothes from his body down to the waist. Then the +lines formed, the Indians in each row standing about as far apart +as the width of the space in which the prisoner was to run. This +arrangement gave them free use of their sticks and plenty of room +for full swing of their lithe bodies. + +In removing Beverley's clothes Long-Hair found Alice's locket +hanging over the young man's heart. He tore it rudely off and +grunted, glaring viciously, first at it, then at Beverley. He +seemed to be mightily wrought upon. + +"White man damn thief," he growled deep in his throat; "stole from +little girl!" + +He put the locket in his pouch and resumed his stupidly +indifferent expression. + +When everything was ready for the delightful entertainment to +begin, Long-Hair waved his tomahawk three times over Beverley's +head, and pointing down between the waiting lines said: + +"Ugh, run!" + +But Beverley did not budge. He was standing erect, with his arms, +deeply creased where the thongs had sunk, folded across his +breast. A rush of thoughts and feelings had taken tumultuous +possession of him and he could not move or decide what to do. A +mad desire to escape arose in his heart the moment that he saw +Long-Hair take the locket. It was as if Alice had cried to him and +bidden him make a dash for liberty. + +"Ugh, run!" + +The order was accompanied with a push of such violence from Long- +Hair's left elbow that Beverley plunged and fell, for his limbs, +after their long and painful confinement in the raw-hide bonds, +were stiff and almost useless. Long-Hair in no gentle voice bade +him get up. The shock of falling seemed to awaken his dormant +forces; a sudden resolve leaped into his brain. He saw that the +Indians had put aside their bows and guns, most of which were +leaning against the boles of trees here and yonder. What if he +could knock Long-Hair down and run away? This might possibly be +easy, considering the Indian's broken arm. His heart jumped at the +possibility. But the shrewd savage was alert and saw the thought +come into his face. + +"You try git 'way, kill dead!" he snarled, lifting his tomahawk +ready for a stroke. "Brains out, damn!" + +Beverley glanced down the waiting and eager lines. Swiftly he +speculated, wondering what would be his chance for escape were he +to break through. But he did not take his own condition into +account. + +"Ugh, run!" + +Again the elbow of Long-Hair's hurt arm pushed him toward the +expectant rows of Indians, who flourished their clubs and uttered +impatient grunts. + +This time he did not fall; but in trying to run he limped stiffly +at first, his legs but slowly and imperfectly regaining their +strength and suppleness from the action. Just before reaching the +lines, however, he stopped short. Long-Hair, who was close behind +him, took hold of his shoulder and led him back to the starting +place. The big Indian's arm must have given him pain when he thus +used it, but he did not wince. "Fool--kill dead!" he repeated two +or three times, holding his tomahawk on high with threatening +motions and frequent repetitions of his one echo from the +profanity of civilization. He was beginning to draw his mouth down +at the corners, and his eyes were narrowed to mere slits. + +Beverley understood now that he could not longer put off the +trial. He must choose between certain death and the torture of the +gauntlet, as frontiersmen named this savage ordeal. An old man +might have preferred the stroke of the hatchet to such an +infliction as the clubs must afford, considering that, even after +all the agony, his captivity and suffering would be only a little +nearer its end. Youth, however, has faith in the turn of fortune's +wheel, and faith in itself, no matter how dark the prospect. Hope +blows her horn just over the horizon, and the strain bids the +young heart take courage and beat strong. Moreover, men were men, +who led the van in those days on the outmost lines of our march to +the summit of the world. Beverley was not more a hero than any +other young, brave, unconquerable patriot of the frontier army. +His situation simply tried him a trifle harder than was common. +But it must be remembered that he had Love with him, and where +Love is there can be no cowardice, no surrender. + +Long-Hair once again pushed him and said + +"Ugh, run!" + +Beverley made a direct dash for the narrow lane between the braced +and watchful lines. Every warrior lifted his club; every copper +face gleamed stolidly, a mask behind which burned a strangely +atrocious spirit. The two savages standing at the end nearest +Beverley struck at him the instant he reached than, but they taken +quite by surprise when he checked himself between them and, +leaping this way and that, swung out two powerful blows, left and +right, stretching one of them flat and sending the other reeling +and staggering half a dozen paces backward with the blood +streaming from his nose. + +This done, Beverley turned to run away, but his breath was already +short and his strength rapidly going. + +Long-Hair, who was at his heels, leaped before him when he had +gone but a few steps and once more flourished the tomahawk. To +struggle was useless, save to insist upon being brained outright, +which just then had no part in Beverley's considerations. Long- +Hair kicked his victim heavily, uttering laconic curses meanwhile, +and led him back again to the starting-point. + +A genuine sense of humor seems almost entirely lacking in the mind +of the American Indian. He smiles at things not in the least +amusing to us and when he laughs, which is very seldom, the cause +of his merriment usually lies in something repellantly cruel and +inhuman. When Beverley struck his two assailants, hurting them so +that one lay half stunned, while the other spun away from his fist +with a smashed nose, all the rest of the Indians grunted and +laughed raucously in high delight. They shook their clubs, danced, +pointed at their discomfited fellows and twisted their painted +faces into knotted wrinkles, their eyes twinkling with devilish +expression of glee quite indescribable. + +"Ugh, damn, run!" said Long-Half, this time adding a hard kick to +the elbow-shove he gave Beverley. + +The young man, who had borne all he could, now turned upon him +furiously and struck straight from the shoulder, setting the whole +weight of his body into the blow. Long-Hair stepped out of the way +and quick as a flash brought the flat side of his tomahawk with +great force against Beverley's head. This gave the amusement a +sudden and disappointing end, for the prisoner fell limp and +senseless to the ground. No more running the gauntlet for him that +day. Indeed it required protracted application of the best Indian +skill to revive him so that he could fairly be called a living +man. There had been no dangerous concussion, however, and on the +following morning camp was broken. + +Beverley, sore, haggard, forlornly disheveled, had his arms bound +again and was made to march apace with his nimble enemies, who set +out swiftly eastward, their disappointment at having their sport +cut short, although bitter enough, not in the least indicated by +any facial expression or spiteful act. + +Was it really a strange thing, or was it not, that Beverley's mind +now busied itself unceasingly with the thought that Long-Hair had +Alice's picture in his pouch? One might find room for discussion +of a cerebral problem like this; but our history cannot be delayed +with analyses and speculations; it must run its direct course +unhindered to the end. Suffice it to record that, while tramping +at Long-Hair's side and growing more and more desirous of seeing +the picture again, Beverley began trying to converse with his +taciturn captor. He had a considerable smattering of several +Indian dialects, which he turned upon Long-Hair to the best of +his ability, but apparently without effect. Nevertheless he +babbled at intervals, always upon the same subject and always +endeavoring to influence that huge, stolid, heartless savage in +the direction of letting him see again the child face of the +miniature. + +A stone, one of our travel-scarred and mysterious western granite +bowlders brought from the far north by the ancient ice, would show +as much sympathy as did the face of Long-Hair. Once in a while he +gave Beverley a soulless glance and said "damn" with utter +indifference. Nothing, however, could quench or even in the +slightest sense allay the lover's desire. He talked of Alice and +the locket with constantly increasing volubility, saying over and +over phrases of endearment in a half-delirious way, not aware that +fever was fermenting his blood and heating his brain. Probably he +would have been very ill but for the tremendous physical exercise +forced upon him. The exertion kept him in a profuse perspiration +and his robust constitution cast off the malarial poison. Meantime +he used every word and phrase, every grunt and gesture of Indian +dialect that he could recall, in the iterated and reiterated +attempt to make Long-Hair understand what he wanted. + +When night came on again the band camped under some trees beside a +swollen stream. There was no rain falling, but almost the entire +country lay under a flood of water. Fires of logs were soon +burning brightly on the comparatively dry bluff chosen by the +Indians. The weather was chill, but not cold. Long-Hair took +great pains, however, to dry Beverley's clothes and see that he +had warm wraps and plenty to eat. Hamilton's large reward would +not be forthcoming should the prisoner die, Beverley was good +property, well worth careful attention. To be sure his scalp, in +the worst event, would command a sufficient honorarium, but not +the greatest. Beverley thought of all this while the big Indian +was wrapping him snugly in skins and blankets for the night, and +there was no comfort in it, save that possibly if he were returned +to Hamilton he might see Alice again before he died. + +A fitful wind cried dolefully in the leafless treetops, the stream +hard by gave forth a rushing sound, and far away some wolves +howled like lost souls. Worn out, sore from head to foot, +Beverley, deep buried in the blankets and skins, soon fell into a +profound sleep. The fires slowly crumbled and faded; no sentinel +was posted, for the Indians did not fear an attack, there being no +enemies that they knew of nearer than Kaskaskia. The camp +slumbered as one man. + +At about the mid-hour of the night Long-Hair gently awoke his +prisoner by drawing a hand across his face, then whispered in his +ear: + +"Damn, still!" + +Beverley tried to rise, uttering a sleepy ejaculation under his +breath. "No talk," hissed Long-Hair. "Still!" + +There was something in his voice that not only swept the last film +of sleep out of Beverley's brain, but made it perfectly clear to +him that a very important bit of craftiness was being performed; +just what its nature was, however, he could not surmise. One thing +was obvious, Long-Hair did not wish the other Indians to know of +the move he was making. Deftly he slipped the blankets from around +Beverley, and cut the thongs at his ankles. + +"Still!" he whispered. "Come 'long." + +Under such circumstances a competent mind acts with lightning +celerity. Beverley now understood that Long-Hair was stealing him +away from the other savages and that the big villain meant to +cheat them out of their part of the reward. Along with this +discovery came a fresh gleam of hope. It would be far easier to +escape from one Indian than from nearly a score. Ah, he would +follow Long-Hair, indeed he would! The needed courage came with +the thought, and so with immense labor he crept at the heels of +that crawling monster. It was a painful process, for his arms were +still fast bound at the wrists with the raw-hide strings; but +what was pain to him? He shivered with joy, thinking of what might +happen. The voice of the wind overhead and the noisy bubbling of +the stream near by were cheerful and cheering sounds to him now. +So much can a mere shadow of hope do for a human soul on the verge +of despair! Already he was planning or trying to plan some way by +which he could kill Long-Hair when they should reach a safe +distance from the sleeping camp. + +But how could the thing be done? A man with his hands tied, though +they are in front of him, is in no excellent condition to cope +with a free and stalwart savage armed to the teeth. Still +Beverley's spirits rose with every rod of distance that was added +to their slow progress. + +Their course was nearly parallel with that of the stream, but +slightly converging toward it, and after they had gone about a +furlong they reached the bank. Here Long-Hair stopped and, without +a word, cut the thongs from Beverley's wrists. This was +astounding; the young man could scarcely realize it, nor was he +ready to act. + +"Swim water," Long-Hair said in a guttural murmur barely audible. +"Swim, damn!" + +Again it was necessary for Beverley's mind to act swiftly and with +prudence. The camp was yet within hailing distance. A false move +now would bring the whole pack howling to the rescue. Something +told him to do as Long-Hair ordered, so with scarcely a +perceptible hesitation he scrambled down the bushy bank and +slipped into the water, followed by Long-Hair, who seized him by +one arm when he began to swim, and struck out with him into the +boiling and tumbling current. + +Beverley had always thought himself a master swimmer, but Long- +Hair showed him his mistake. The giant Indian, with but one hand +free to use, fairly rushed through that deadly cold and turbulent +water, bearing his prisoner with him despite the wounded arm, as +easily as if towing him at the stern of a pirogue. True, his +course was down stream for a considerable distance, but even when +presently he struck out boldly for the other bank, breasting a +current in which few swimmers could have lived, much less made +headway, he still swung forward rapidly, splitting the waves and +scarcely giving Beverley freedom enough so that he could help in +the progress. It was a long, cold struggle, and when at last they +touched the sloping low bank on the other side, Long-Hair had +fairly to lift his chilled and exhausted prisoner to the top. + +"Ugh, cold," he grunted, beginning to pound and rub Beverley's +arms, legs and body. "Make warm, damn heap!" + +All this he did with his right hand, holding the tomahawk in his +left. + +It was a strange, bewildering experience out of which the young +man could not see in any direction far enough to give him a hint +upon which to act. In a few minutes Long-Hair jerked him to his +feet and said: + +"Go." + +It was just light enough to see that the order had a tomahawk to +enforce it withal. Long-Hair indicated the direction and drove +Beverley onward as fast as he could. + +"Try run 'way, kill, damn!" he kept repeating, while with his left +hand on the young man's shoulder he guided him from behind +dexterously through the wood for some distance. Then he stopped +and grunted, adding his favorite expletive, which he used with not +the least knowledge of its meaning. To him the syllable "damn" was +but a mouthful of forcible wind. + +They had just emerged from a thicket into an open space, where the +ground was comparatively dry. Overhead the stars were shining in +great clusters of silver and gold against a dark, cavernous +looking sky, here and there overrun with careering black clouds. +Beverley shivered, not so much with cold as on account of the +stress of excitement which amounted to nervous rigor. Long-Hair +faced him and leaned toward him, until his breathing was audible +and his massive features were dimly outlined. A dragon of the +darkest age could not have been more repulsive. + +"Ugh, friend, damn!" + +Beverley started when these words were followed by a sentence in +an Indian dialect somewhat familiar to him, a dialect in which he +had tried to talk with Long-Hair during the day's march. The +sentence, literally translated, was: + +"Long-Hair is friendly now." + +A blow in the face could not have been so surprising. Beverley not +only started, but recoiled as if from a sudden and deadly +apparition. The step between supreme exhilaration and utter +collapse is now and then infinitesimal. There are times, moreover, +when an expression on the face of Hope makes her look like the +twin sister of Despair. The moment falling just after Long-Hair +spoke was a century condensed in a breath. + +"Long-Hair is friendly now; will white man be friendly?" + +Beverley heard, but the speech seemed to come out of vastness and +hollow distance; he could not realize it fairly. He felt as if in +a dream, far off somewhere in loneliness, with a big, shadowy form +looming before him. He heard the chill wind in the thickets round +about, and beyond Long-Hair rose a wall of giant trees. + +"Ugh, not understand?" the savage presently demanded in his broken +English. + +"Yes, yes," said Beverley, "I understand." + +"Is the white man friendly now?" Long-Hair then repeated in his +own tongue, with a certain insistence of manner and voice. + +"Yes, friendly." + +Beverley said this absently in a tone of perfunctory dryness. His +throat was parched, his head seemed to waver. But he was beginning +to comprehend that Long-Hair, for some inscrutable reason of his +own, was desirous of making a friendship between them. The thought +was bewildering. + +Long-Hair fumbled in his pouch and took out Alice's locket, which +he handed to Beverley. "White man love little girl?" he inquired +in a tone that bordered upon tenderness, again speaking in Indian. + +Beverley clutched the disk as soon as he saw it gleam in the star- +light. + +"White man going to have little girl for his squaw--eh?" + +"Yes, yes," cried Beverley without hearing his own voice. He was +trying to open the locket but his hands were numb and trembling. +When at last he did open it he could not see the child face +within, for now even the star-light was shut off by a scudding +black cloud. + +"Little girl saved Long-Hair's life. Long-Hair save white warrior +for little girl." + +A dignity which was almost noble accompanied these simple +sentences. Long-Hair stood proudly erect, like a colossal dark +statue in the dimness. + +The great truth dawned upon Beverley that here was a +characteristic act. He knew that an Indian rarely failed to repay +a kindness or an injury, stroke for stroke, when opportunity +offered. Long-Hair was a typical Indian. That is to say, a type of +inhumanity raised to the last power; but under his hideous +atrocity of nature lay the indestructible sense of gratitude so +fixed and perfect that it did its work almost automatically. + +It must be said, and it may or may not be to the white man's +shame, that Beverley did not respond with absolute promptness and +sincerity to Long-Hair's generosity. He had suffered terribly at +the hands of this savage. His arms and legs were raw from the +biting of the thongs; his body ached from the effect of blows and +kicks laid upon him while bound and helpless. Perhaps he was not a +very emotional man. At all events there was no sudden recognition +of the favor he was receiving. And this pleased Long-Hair, for the +taste of the American Indian delights in immobility of countenance +and reserve of feeling under great strain. + +"Wait here a little while," Long-Hair presently said, and without +lingering for reply, turned away and disappeared in the wood. +Beverley was free to run if he wished to, and the thought did +surge across his mind; but a restraining something, like a hand +laid upon him, would not let his limbs move. Down deep in his +heart a calm voice seemed to be repeating Long-Hair's Indian +sentence--"Wait here a little while." + +A few minutes later Long-Hair returned bearing two guns, +Beverley's and his own, the latter, a superb weapon given him by +Hamilton. He afterward explained that he had brought these, with +their bullet-pouches and powder-horns, to a place of concealment +near by before he awoke Beverley. This meant that he had swum the +cold river three times since night-fall; once over with the guns +and accouterments; once back to camp, then over again with +Beverley! All this with a broken arm, and to repay Alice for her +kindness to him. + +Beverley may have been slow, but at last his appreciation was, +perhaps, all the more profound. As best he could he expressed it +to Long-Hair, who showed no interest whatever in the statement. +Instead of responding in Indian, he said "damn" without emphasis. +It was rather as if he had yawned absently, being bored. + +Delay could not be thought of. Long-Hair explained briefly that he +thought. Beverley must go to Kaskaskia. He had come across the +stream in the direction of Vincennes in order to set his warriors +at fault. The stream must be recrossed, he said, farther down, and +he would help Beverley a certain distance on his way, then leave +him to shift for himself. He had a meager amount of parched corn +and buffalo meat in his pouch, which would stay hunger until they +could kill some game. Now they must go. + +The resilience of a youthful and powerful physique offers many a +problem to the biologist. Vital force seems to find some +mysterious reservoir of nourishment hidden away in the nerve- +centers. Beverley set out upon that seemingly impossible +undertaking with renewed energy. It could not have been the ounce +of parched corn and bit of jerked venison from which he drew so +much strength; but on the other hand, could it have been the +miniature of Alice, which he felt pressing over his heart once +more, that afforded a subtle stimulus to both mind and body? They +flung miles behind them before day-dawn, Long-Hair leading, +Beverley pressing close at his heels. Most of the way led over +flat prairies covered with water, and they therefore left no track +by which they could be followed. + +Late in the forenoon Long-Hair killed a deer at the edge of a +wood. Here they made a fire and cooked a supply which would last +them for a day or two, and then on they went again. But we cannot +follow them step by step. When Long-Hair at last took leave of +Beverley, the occasion had no ceremony. It was an abrupt, +unemotional parting. The stalwart Indian simply said in his own +dialect, pointing westward: + +"Go that way two days. You will find your friends." + +Then, without another look or word, he turned about and stalked +eastward at a marvelously rapid gait. In his mind he had a good +tale to tell his warrior companions when he should find them +again: how Beverley escaped that night and how he followed him a +long, long chase, only to lose him at last under the very guns of +the fort at Kaskaskia. But before he reached his band an incident +of some importance changed his story to a considerable degree. It +chanced that he came upon Lieutenant Barlow, who, in pursuit of +game, had lost his bearings and, far from his companions, was +beating around quite bewildered in a watery solitude. Long-Hair +promptly murdered the poor fellow and scalped him with as little +compunction as he would have skinned a rabbit; for he had a clever +scheme in his head, a very audacious and outrageous scheme, by +which he purposed to recoup, to some extent, the damages sustained +by letting Beverley go. + +Therefore, when he rejoined his somewhat disheartened and +demoralized band he showed them the scalp and gave them an +eloquent account of how he tore it from Beverley's head after a +long chase and a bloody hand to hand fight. They listened, +believed, and were satisfied. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +FATHER BERET'S OLD BATTLE + + +The room in which Alice was now imprisoned formed part of the +upper story of a building erected by Hamilton in one of the four +angles of the stockade. It had no windows and but two oblong port- +holes made to accommodate a small swivel, which stood darkly +scowling near the middle of the floor. From one of these apertures +Alice could see the straggling roofs and fences of the dreary +little town, while from the other a long reach of watery prairie, +almost a lake, lay under view with the rolling, muddy Wabash +gleaming beyond. There seemed to be no activity of garrison or +townspeople. Few sounds broke the silence of which the cheerless +prison room seemed to be the center. + +Alice felt all her courage and cheerfulness leaving her. She was +alone in the midst of enemies. No father or mother, no friend--a +young girl at the mercy of soldiers, who could not be expected to +regard her with any sympathy beyond that which is accompanied with +repulsive leers and hints. Day after day her loneliness and +helplessness became more agonizing. Farnsworth, it is true, did +all he could to relieve the strain of her situation; but Hamilton +had an eye upon what passed and soon interfered. He administered a +bitter reprimand, under which his subordinate writhed in +speechless anger and resentment. + +"Finally, Captain Farnsworth," he said in conclusion, "you will +distinctly understand that this girl is my prisoner, not yours; +that I, not you, will direct how she is to be held and treated, +and that hereafter I will suffer no interference on your part. I +hope you fully understand me, sir, and will govern yourself +accordingly." + +Smarting, or rather smothering, under the outrageous insult of +these remarks, Farnsworth at first determined to fling his +resignation at the Governor's feet and then do whatever desperate +thing seemed most to his mood. But a soldier's training is apt to +call a halt before the worst befalls in such a case. Moreover, in +the present temptation, Farnsworth had a special check and +hindrance. He had had a conference with Father Beret, in which the +good priest had played the part of wisdom in slippers, and of +gentleness more dove-like than the dove's. A very subtle +impression, illuminated with the "hope that withers hope," had +come of that interview; and now Farnsworth felt its restraint. He +therefore saluted Hamilton formally and walked away. + +Father Beret's paternal love for Alice,--we cannot characterize it +more nicely than to call it paternal,--was his justification for +a certain mild sort of corruption insinuated by him into the heart +of Farnsworth. He was a crafty priest, but his craft was always +used for a good end. Unquestionably Jesuitic was his mode of +circumventing the young man's military scruples by offering him a +puff of fair weather with which to sail toward what appeared to be +the shore of delight. He saw at a glance that Farnsworth's love +for Alice was a consuming passion in a very ardent yet decidedly +weak heart. Here was the worldly lever with which Father Beret +hoped to raze Alice's prison and free her from the terrible doom +with which she was threatened. + +The first interview was at Father Beret's cabin, to which, as will +be remembered, the priest and Farnsworth went after their meeting +in the street. It actually came to nothing, save an indirect +understanding but half suggested by Father Beret and never openly +sanctioned by Captain Farnsworth. The talk was insinuating on the +part of the former, while the latter slipped evasively from every +proposition, as if not able to consider it on account of a curious +obtuseness of perception. Still, when they separated they shook +hands and exchanged a searching look perfectly satisfactory to +both. + +The memory of that interview with the priest was in Farnsworth's +mind when, boiling with rage, he left Hamilton's presence and went +forth into the chill February air. He passed out through the +postern and along the sodden and queachy aedge of the prairie, +involuntarily making his way to Father Beret's cabin. His +indignation was so great that he trembled from head to foot at +every step. The door of the place was open and Father Beret was +eating a frugal meal of scones and sour wine (of his own make, he +said), which he hospitably begged to share with his visitor. A +fire smouldered on the hearth, and a flat stone showed, by the +grease smoking over its hot surface, where the cakes had been +baked. + +"Come in, my son," said the priest, "and try the fare of a poor +old man. It is plain, very plain, but good." He smacked his lips +sincerely and fingered another scone. "Take some, take some." + +Farnsworth was not tempted. The acid bouquet of the wine filled +the room with a smack of vinegar, and the smoke from rank +scorching fat and wheat meal did not suggest an agreeable feast. + +"Well, well, if you are not hungry, my son, sit down on the stool +there and tell me the news." + +Farnsworth took the low seat without a word, letting his eyes +wander over the walls. Alice's rapier, the mate to that now worn +by Hamilton, hung in its curiously engraved scabbard near one +corner. The sight of it inflamed Farnsworth. + +"It's an outrage," he broke forth. "Governor Hamilton sent a man +to Roussillon place with orders to bring him the scabbard of Miss +Roussillon's sword, and he now wears the beautiful weapon as if he +had come by it honestly. Damn him!" + +"My dear, dear son, you must not soil your lips with such +language!" Father Beret let fall the half of a well bitten cake +and held up both hands. + +"I beg your pardon, Father; I know I ought to be more careful in +your presence; but--but--the beastly, hellish scoundrel--" + +"Bah! doucement, mon fils, doucement." The old man shook his head +and his finger while speaking. "Easy, my son, easy. You would be a +fine target for bullets were your words to reach Hamilton's ears. +You are not permitted to revile your commander." + +"Yes, I know; but how can a man restrain himself under such +abominable conditions?" + +Father Beret shrewdly guessed that Hamilton had been giving the +Captain fresh reason for bitter resentment. Moreover, he was sure +that the moving cause had been Alice. So, in order to draw out +what he wished to hear, he said very gently: + +"How is the little prisoner getting along?" + +Farnsworth ground his teeth and swore; but Father Beret appeared +not to hear; he bit deep into a scone, took a liberal sip of the +muddy red wine and added: + +"Has she a comfortable place? Do you think Governor Hamilton would +let me visit her?" + +"It is horrible!" Farnsworth blurted. "She's penned up as if she +were a dangerous beast, the poor girl. And that damned scoundrel-- +" + +"Son, son!" + +"Oh, it's no use to try, I can't help it, Father. The whelp--" + +"We can converse more safely and intelligently if we avoid +profanity, and undue emotion, my son. Now, if you will quit +swearing, I will, and if you will be calm, so will I." + +Farnsworth felt the sly irony of this absurdly vicarious +proposition. Father Beret smiled with a kindly twinkle in his +deep-set eyes. + +"Well, if you don't use profane language, Father, there's no +telling how much you think in expletives. What is your opinion of +a man who tumbles a poor, defenseless girl into prison and then +refuses to let her be decently cared for? How do you express +yourself about him?" + +"My son, men often do things of which they ought to be ashamed. I +heard of a young officer once who maltreated a little girl that he +met at night in the street. What evil he would have done, had not +a passing kind-hearted man reminded him of his honor by a friendly +punch in the ribs, I dare not surmise." + +"True, and your sarcasm goes home as hard as your fist did, +Father. I know that I've been a sad dog all my life. Miss +Roussillon saved you by shooting me, and I love her for it. Lay +on, Father, I deserve more than you can give me." + +"Surely you do, my son, surely you do; but my love for you will +not let me give you pain. Ah, we priests have to carry all men's +loads. Our backs are broad, however, very broad, my son." + +"And your fists devilish heavy, Father, devilish heavy." + +The gentle smile again flickered over the priest's weather-beaten +face as he glanced sidewise at Farnsworth and said: + +"Sometimes, sometimes, my son, a carnal weapon must break the way +for a spiritual one. But we priests rarely have much physical +strength; our dependence is upon--" + +"To be sure; certainly," Farnsworth interrupted, rubbing his side, +"your dependence is upon the first thing that offers. I've had +many a blow; but yours was the solidest that ever jarred tny +mortal frame, Father Beret." + +The twain began to laugh. There is nothing like a reminiscence to +stir up fresh mutual sympathy. + +"If your intercostals were somewhat sore for a time, on account of +a contact with priestly knuckles, doubtless there soon set in a +corresponding uneasiness in the region of your conscience. Such +shocks are often vigorously alterative and tonic--eh, my son?" + +"You jolted me sober, Father, and then I was ashamed of myself. +But where does all your tremendous strength lie? You don't look +strong." + +While speaking Farnsworth leaned near Father Beret and grasped his +arm. The young man started, for his fingers, instead of closing +around a flabby, shrunken old man's limb, spread themselves upon a +huge, knotted mass of iron muscles. With a quick movement Father +Beret shook off Farnsworth's hand, and said: + +"I am no Samson, my son. Non sum qualis eram." Then, as if +dismissing a light subject for a graver one, he sighed and added; +"I suppose there is nothing that can be done for little Alice." + +He called the tall, strong girl "little Alice," and so she seemed +to him. He could not, without direct effort, think of her as a +magnificently maturing woman. She had always been his spoiled pet +child, perversely set against the Holy Church, but dear to him +nevertheless. + +"I came to you to ask that very question, Father," said +Farnsworth. + +"And what do I know? Surely, my son, you see how utterly helpless +an old priest is against all you British. And besides--" + +"Father Beret," Farnsworth huskily interrupted, "is there a place +that you know of anywhere in which Miss Roussillon could be +hidden, if--" + +"My dear son." + +"But, Father, I mean it." + +"Mean what? Pardon an old man's slow understanding. What are you +talking about, my son?" + +Father Beret glanced furtively about, then quickly stepped through +the doorway, walked entirely around the house and came in again +before Farnsworth could respond. Once more seated on his stool he +added interrogatively: + +"Did you think you heard something moving outside?" + +"No." + +"You were saying something when I went out. Pardon my +interruption." + +Farnsworth gave the priest a searching and not wholly confiding +look. + +"You did not interrupt me, Father Beret. I was not speaking. Why +are you so watchful? Are you afraid of eavesdroppers?" + +"You were speaking recklessly. Your words were incendiary: +ardentia verba. My son, you were suggesting a dangerous thing. +Your life would scarcely satisfy the law were you convicted of +insinuating such treason. What if one of your prowling guards had +overheard you? Your neck and mine might feel the halter. Quod +avertat dominus." He crossed himself and in a solemn voice added +in English: + +"May the Lord forbid! Ah, my son, we priests protect those we +love." + +"And I, who am not fit to tie a priest's shoe, do likewise. +Father, I love Alice Roussillon." + +"Love is a holy thing, my son. Amare divinum est et humanum." + +"Father Beret, can you help me?" + +"Spiritually speaking, my son?" + +"I mean, can you hide Mademoiselle Roussillon in some safe place, +if I take her out of the prison yonder? That's just what I mean. +Can you do it?" + +"Your question is a remarkable one. Have you thought upon it from +all directions, my son? Think of your position, your duty as an +officer." + +A shrewd polemical expression beamed from Father Beret's eyes, and +a very expert physiogomist might have suspected duplicity from +certain lines about the old man's mouth. + +"I simply know that I cannot stand by and see Alice--Mademoiselle +Roussillon, forced to suffer treatment too beastly for an Indian +thief. That's the only direction there is for me to look at it +from, and you can understand my feelings if you will; you know +that very well, Father Beret. When a man loves a girl, he loves +her; that's the whole thing.". + +The quiet, inscrutable half-smile flickered once more on Father +Beret's face; but he sat silent some time with a sinewy forefinger +lying alongside his nose. When at last he spoke it was in a tone +of voice indicative of small interest in what he was saying. His +words rambled to their goal with the effect of happy accident. + +"There are places in this neighborhood in which a human being +would be as hard to find as the flag that you and Governor +Hamilton have so diligently and unsuccessfully been in quest of +for the past month or two. Really, my son, this is a mysterious +little town." + +Farnsworth's eyes widened and a flush rose in his swarthy cheeks. + +"Damn the flag!" he exclaimed. "Let it lie hidden forever; what do +I care? I tell you, Father Beret, that Alice Roussillon is in +extreme danger. Governor Hamilton means to put some terrible +punishment on her. He has a devil's vindictiveness. He showed it +to me clearly awhile ago." + +"You showed something of the same sort to me, once upon a time, my +son." + +"Yes, I did, Father Beret, and I got a load of slugs in my +shoulder for it from that brave girl's pistol. She saved your +life. Now I ask you to help me save hers; or, if not her life, +what is infinitely more, her honor." + +"Her honor!" cried Father Beret, leaping to his feet so suddenly +and with such energy that the cabin shook from base to roof. "What +do you say, Captain Farnsworth? What do you mean?" + +The old man was transformed. His face was terrible to see, with +its narrow, burning eyes deep under the shaggy brows, its dark +veins writhing snakelike on the temples and forehead, the +projected mouth and chin, the hard lines of the jaws, the iron- +gray gleam from all the features--he looked like an aged tiger +stiffened for a spring. + +Farnsworth was made of right soldierly stuff; but he felt a +distinct shiver flit along his back. His past life had not lacked +thrilling adventures and strangely varied experiences with +desperate men. Usually he met sudden emergencies rather calmly, +sometimes with phlegmatic indifference. This passionate outburst +on the priest's part, however, surprised him and awed him, while +it stirred his heart with a profound sympathy unlike anything he +had ever felt before. + +Father Beret mastered himself in a moment, and passing his hand +over his face, as if to brush away the excitement, sat down again +on his stool. He appeared to collapse inwardly. + +"You must excuse the weakness of an old man, my son," he said, in +a voice hoarse and shaking. "But tell me what is going to be done +with Alice. Your words--what you said--I did not understand." + +He rubbed his forehead slowly, as one who has difficulty in trying +to collect his thoughts. + +"I do not know what Governor Hamilton means to do, Father Beret. +It will be something devilish, however,--something that must not +happen," said Farnsworth. + +Then he recounted all that Hamilton had done and said. He +described the dreary and comfortless room in which Alice was +confined, the miserable fare given her, and how she would be +exposed to the leers and low remarks of the soldiers. She had +already suffered these things, and now that she could no longer +have any protection, what was to become of her? He did not attempt +to overstate the case; but presented it with a blunt sincerity +which made a powerfully realistic impression. + +Father Beret, like most men of strong feeling who have been +subjected to long years of trial, hardship, multitudinous dangers +and all sorts of temptation, and who have learned the lessons of +self-control, had an iron will, and also an abiding distrust of +weak men. He saw Farnsworth's sincerity; but he had no faith in +his constancy, although satisfied that while resentment of +Hamilton's imperiousness lasted, he would doubtless remain firm in +his purpose to aid Alice. Let that wear off, as in a short time it +would, and then what? The old man studied his companion with eyes +that slowly resumed their expression of smouldering and almost +timid geniality. His priestly experience with desperate men was +demanding of him a proper regard for that subtlety of procedure +which had so often compassed most difficult ends. + +He listened in silence to Farnsworth's story. When it came to an +end he began to offer some but half relevant suggestions in the +form of indirect cross-questions, by means of which he gradually +drew out a minute description of Alice's prison, the best way to +reach it, the nature of its door-fastenings, where the key was +kept, and everything, indeed, likely to be helpful to one +contemplating a jail delivery. Farnsworth was inwardly delighted. +He felt Father Beret's cunning approach to the central object and +his crafty method of gathering details. + +The shades of evening thickened in the stuffy cabin room while the +conversation went on. Father Beret presently lifted a puncheon in +one corner of the floor and got out a large bottle, which bore a +mildewed and faded French label, and with it a small iron cup. +There was just light enough left to show a brownish sparkle when, +after popping out the cork, he poured a draught in the fresh cup +and in his own. + +"We may think more clearly, my son, if we taste this old liquor. I +have kept it a long while to offer upon a proper occasion. The +occasion is here." + +A ravishing bouquet quickly imbued the air. It was itself an +intoxication. + +"The Brothers of St. Martin distilled this liquor," Father Beret +added, handing the cup to Farnsworth, "not for common social +drinking, my son, but for times when a man needs extraordinary +stimulation. It is said to be surpassingly good, because St. +Martin blessed the vine." + +The doughty Captain felt a sudden and imperious thirst seize his +throat. The liquor flooded his veins before his lips touched the +cup. He had been abstaining lately; now his besetting appetite +rushed upon him. At one gulp he took in the fiery yet smooth and +captivating draught. Nor did he notice that Father Beret, instead +of joining him in the potation, merely lifted his cup and set it +down again, smacking his lips gusto. + +There followed a silence, during which the aromatic breath of the +bottle increased its dangerous fascination. Then Father Beret +again filled Farnsworth's cup and said: + +"Ah, the blessed monks, little thought they that their matchless +brew would ever be sipped in a poor missionary's hut on the +Wabash! But, after all, my son, why not here as well as in sunny +France? Our object justifies any impropriety of time and place." + +"You are right, Father. I drink to our object. Yes, I say, to our +object." + +In fact, the drinking preceded his speech, and his tongue already +had a loop in it The liquor stole through him, a mist of +bewildering and enchanting influence. The third cup broke his +sentences into unintelligible fragments; the fourth made his +underjaw sag loosely, the fifth and sixth, taken in close +succession, tumbled him limp on the floor, where he slept +blissfully all night long, snugly covered with some of Father +Beret's bed clothes. + +"Per casum obliquum, et per indirectum," muttered the priest, when +he had returned the bottle and cup to their hiding-place." The end +justifies the means. Sleep well, my son. Ah, little Alice, little +Alice, your old Father will try--will try!" + +He fumbled along the wall in the dark until he found the rapier, +which he took down; then he went out and sat for some time +motionless beside the door, while the clouds thickened overhead. +It was late when he arose and glided away shadow-like toward the +fort, over which the night hung black, chill and drearily silent. +The moon was still some hours high, smothered by the clouds; a fog +slowly drifted from the river. + +Meantime Hamilton and Helm had spent a part of the afternoon and +evening, as usual, at cards. Helm broke off the game and went to +his quarters rather early for him, leaving the Governor alone and +in a bad temper, because Farnsworth, when he had sent for him, +could not be found. Three times his orderly returned in as many +hours with the same report; the Captain had not been seen or heard +of. Naturally this sudden and complete disappearance, immediately +after the reprimand, suggested to Hamilton an unpleasant +possibility. What if Farnsworth had deserted him? Down deep in his +heart he was conscious that the young man had good cause for +almost any desperate action. To lose Captain Farnsworth, however, +would be just now a calamity. The Indians were drifting over +rapidly to the side of the Americans, and every day showed that +the French could not long be kept quiet. + +Hamilton sat for some time after Helm's departure, thinking over +what he now feared was a foolish mistake. Presently he buckled on +Alice's rapier, which he had lately been wearing as his own, and +went out into the main area of the stockade. A sentinel was +tramping to and fro at the gate, where a hazy lantern shone. The +night was breathless and silent. Hamilton approached the soldier +on duty and asked him if he had seen Captain Farnsworth, and +receiving a negative reply, turned about puzzled and thoughtful to +walk back and forth in the chill, foggy air. + +Presently a faint yellow light attracted his attention. It shone +through a porthole in an upper room of the block-house at the +farther angle of the stockade. In fact, Alice was reading by a +sputtering lamp a book Farnsworth had sent her, a volume of +Ronsard that he had picked up in Canada. Hamilton made his way in +that direction, at first merely curious to know who was burning +oil so late; but after a few paces he recognized where the light +came from, and instantly suspected that Captain Farnsworth was +there. Indeed he felt sure of it. Somehow he could not regard +Alice as other than a saucy hoyden, incapable of womanly virtue. +His experience with the worst element of Canadian French life and +his peculiar cast of mind and character colored his impression of +her. He measured her by the women with whom the coureurs de bois +and half-breed trappers consorted in Detroit and at the posts +eastward to Quebec. + +Alice, unable to sleep, had sought forgetfulness of her bitter +captivity in the old poet's charming lyrics. She sat on the floor, +some blankets and furs drawn around her, the book on her lap, the +stupidly dull lamp hanging beside her on a part of the swivel. Her +hair lay loose over her neck and shoulders and shimmered around +her face with a cloud-like effect, giving to the features in their +repose a setting that intensified their sweetness and sadness. In +a very low but distinct voice was reading, with a slightly +quavering emotion: + + "Mignonne, allons voir si la rose, + Que ce matin avoit desclose + Sa robe de pourpe au soleil." + +When Hamilton, after stealthily mounting the rough stairway which +led to her door, peeped in through a space between the slabs and +felt a stroke of disappointment, seeing at a glance that +Farnsworth was not there. He gazed for some time, not without a +sense of villainy, while she continued her sweetly monotonous +reading. If his heart had been as hard as the iron swivel-balls +that lay beside Alice, he must still have felt a thrill of +something like tender sympathy. She now showed no trace of the +vivacious sauciness which had heretofore always marked her +features when she was in his presence. A dainty gentleness, +touched with melancholy, gave to her face an appealing look all +the more powerful on account of its unconscious simplicity of +expression. + +The man felt an impulse pure and noble, which would have borne him +back down the ladder and away from the building, had not a +stronger one set boldly in the opposite direction. There was a +short struggle with the seared remnant of his better nature, and +then he tried to open the door; but it was locked. + +Alice heard the slight noise and breaking off her reading turned +to look. Hamilton made another effort to enter before he +recollected that the wooden key, or notched lever, that controlled +the cumbrous wooden lock, hung on a peg beside the door. He felt +for it along the wall, and soon laid his hand on it. Then again he +peeped through to see Alice, who was now standing upright near the +swivel. She had thrown her hair back from her face and neck; the +lamp's flickering light seemed suddenly to have magnified her +stature and enhanced her beauty. Her book lay on the tumbled wraps +at her feet, and in either hand she grasped a swivel-shot. + +Hamilton's combative disposition came to the aid of his baser +passion when he saw once more a defiant flash from his prisoner's +face. It was easy for him to be fascinated by opposition. Helm had +profited by this trait as much as others had suffered by it; but, +in the case of Alice, Hamilton's mingled resentment and admiration +were but a powerful irritant to the coarsest and most dangerous +side of his nature. + +After some fumbling and delay he fitted the key with a steady hand +and moved the wooden bolt creaking and jolting from its slot. Then +flinging the clumsy door wide open, he stepped in. + +Alice started when she recognized the midnight intruder, and a +second deeper look into his countenance made her brave heart +recoil, while with a sinking sensation her breath almost stopped. +It was but a momentary weakness, however, followed by vigorous +reaction. + +"What are you here for, sir?" she demanded. "What do you want?" + +"I am neither a burglar nor a murderer, Mademoiselle," he +responded, lifting his hat and bowing, with a smile not in the +least reassuring. + +"You look like both. Stop where you are!" + +"Not so loud, my dear Miss Roussillon; I am not deaf. And besides +the garrison needs to sleep." + +"Stop, sir; not another step." + +She poised herself, leaning slightly backward, and held the iron +ball in her right hand ready to throw it at him. + +He halted, still smiling villainously. + +"Mademoiselle, I assure you that your excitement is quite +unnecessary. I am not here to harm you." + +"You cannot harm me, you cowardly wretch!" + +"Humph! Pride goes before a fall, wench," he retorted, taking a +half-step backward. Then a thought arose in his mind which added a +new shade to the repellent darkness of his countenance. + +"Miss Roussillon," he said in English and with a changed voice, +which seemed to grow harder, each word deliberately emphasized, "I +have come to break some bad news to you." + +"You would scarcely bring me good news, sir, and I am not curious +to hear the bad." + +He was silent for a little while, gazing at her with the sort of +admiration from which a true woman draws away appalled. He saw how +she loathed him, saw how impossible it was for him to get a line +nearer to her by any turn of force or fortune. Brave, high- +headed, strong as a young leopard, pure and sweet as a rose, she +stood before him fearless, even aggressive, showing him by every +line of her face and form that she felt her infinite superiority +and meant to maintain it. Her whole personal expression told him +he was defeated; therefore he quickly seized upon a suggestion +caught from a transaction with Long-Hair, who had returned a few +hours before from his pursuit of Beverley. + +"It pains me, I assure you, Miss Roussillon, to tell you what will +probably grieve you deeply," he presently added; "but I have not +been unaware of your tender interest in Lieutenant Beverley, and +when I had bad news from him, I thought it my duty to inform you." + +He paused, feeling with a devil's satisfaction the point of his +statement go home to the girl's heart. + +The wind was beginning to blow outside, shaking open the dark +clouds and letting gleams of moonlight flicker on the thinning +fog. A ghostly ray came through a crack between the logs and lit +Alice's face with a pathetic wanness. She moved her lips as if +speaking, but Hamilton heard no sound. + +"The Indian, Long-Hair, whom I sent upon Lieutenant Beverley's +trail, reported to me this afternoon that his pursuit had been +quite successful. He caught his game." + +Alice's voice came to her now. She drew in a quivering breath of +relief. + +"Then he is here--he is--you have him a prisoner again?" + +"A part of him, Miss Roussillon. Enough to be quite sure that +there is one traitor who will trouble his king no more. Mr. Long- +Hair brought in the Lieutenant's scalp." + +Alice received this horrible statement in silence; but her face +blanched and she stood as if frozen by the shock. The shifty moon- +glimmer and the yellow glow of the lamp showed Hamilton to what an +extent his devilish cruelty hurt her, and somehow it chilled him +as if by reflection; but he could not forego another thrust. + +"He deserved hanging, and would have got it had he been brought to +me alive. So after all, you should be satisfied. He escaped my +vengeance and Long-Hair got his pay. You see I am the chief +sufferer." + +These words, however, fell without effect upon the girl's ears, in +which was booming the awful, storm-like roar of her excitement. +She did not see her persecutor standing there; her vision, +unhindered by walls and distance, went straight away to a place in +the wilderness, where all mangled and disfigured Beverley lay +dead. A low cry broke from her lips; she dropped the heavy swivel- +balls; and then, like a bird, swiftly, with a rustling swoop, she +went past Hamilton and down the stair. + +For perhaps a full minute the man stood there motionless, +stupefied, amazed; and when at length he recovered himself, it was +with difficulty that he followed her. Everything seemed to hinder +him. When he reached the open air, however, he quickly regained +his activity of both mind and body, and looked in all directions. +The clouds were breaking into parallel masses with streaks of sky +between. The moon hanging aslant against the blue peeped forth +just in time to show him a flying figure which, even while he +looked, reached the postern, opened it and slipped through. + +With but a breath of hesitation between giving the alarm and +following Alice silently and alone, he chose the latter. He was a +swift runner and light footed. With a few bounds he reached the +little gate, which was still oscillating on its hinges, darted +through and away, straining every muscle in desperate pursuit, +gaining rapidly in the race, which bore eastward along the course +twice before chosen by Alice in leaving the stockade. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A MARCH THROUGH COLD WATER + + +On the fifth day of February, 1779, Colonel George Rogers Clark +led an army across the Kaskaskia River and camped. This was the +first step in his march towards the Wabash. An army! Do not smile. +Fewer than two hundred men, it is true, answered the roll-call, +when Father Gibault lifted the Cross and blessed them; but every +name told off by the company sergeants belonged to a hero, and +every voice making response struck a full note in the chorus of +freedom's morning song. + +It was an army, small indeed, but yet an army; even though so +rudely equipped that, could we now see it before us, we might +wonder of what use it could possibly be in a military way. + +We should nevertheless hardly expect that a hundred and seventy of +our best men, even if furnished with the latest and most deadly +engines of destruction, could do what those pioneers cheerfully +undertook and gloriously accomplished in the savage wilderness +which was to be the great central area of the United States of +America. + +We look back with a shiver of awe at the three hundred Spartans +for whom Simonides composed his matchless epitaph. They wrought +and died gloriously; that was Greek. The one hundred and seventy +men, who, led by the backwoodsman, Clark, made conquest of an +empire's area for freedom in the west, wrought and lived +gloriously; that was American. It is well to bear in mind this +distinction by which our civilization separates itself from that +of old times. Our heroism has always been of life--our heroes have +conquered and lived to see the effect of conquest. We have fought +all sorts of wars and have never yet felt defeat. Washington, +Jackson, Taylor, Grant, all lived to enjoy, after successful war, +a triumphant peace. "These Americans," said a witty Frenchman, +"are either enormously lucky, or possessed of miraculous vitality. +You rarely kill them in battle, and if you wound them their wounds +are never mortal. Their history is but a chain of impossibilities +easily accomplished. Their undertakings have been without +preparation, their successes in the nature of stupendous +accidents." Such a statement may appear critically sound from a +Gallic point of view; but it leaves out the dominant element of +American character, namely, heroic efficiency. From the first we +have had the courage to undertake, the practical common sense +which overcomes the lack of technical training, and the vital +force which never flags under the stress of adversity. + +Clark knew, when he set out on his march to Vincennes, that he was +not indulging a visionary impulse. The enterprise was one that +called for all that manhood could endure, but not more. With the +genius of a born leader he measured his task by his means. He knew +his own courage and fortitude, and understood the best capacity of +his men. He had genius; that is, he possessed the secret of +extracting from himself and from his followers the last refinement +of devotion to purpose. There was a certainty, from first to last, +that effort would not flag at any point short of the top-most +possible strain. + +The great star of America was no more than a nebulous splendor on +the horizon in 1779. It was a new world forming by the law of +youth. The men who bore the burdens of its exacting life were +mostly stalwart striplings who, before the down of adolescence +fairly sprouted on their chins, could swing the ax, drive a plow, +close with a bear or kill an Indian. Clark was not yet twenty- +seven when he made his famous campaign. A tall, brawny youth, +whose frontier experience had enriched a native character of the +best quality, he marched on foot at the head of his little column, +and was first to test every opposing danger. Was there a stream to +wade or swim? Clark enthusiastically shouted, "Come on!" and in he +plunged. Was there a lack of food? "I'm not hungry," he cried. +"Help yourselves, men!" Had some poor soldier lost his blanket? +"Mine is in my way," said Clark. "Take it, I'm glad to get rid of +it!" His men loved him, and would die rather than fall short of +his expectations. + +The march before them lay over a magnificent plain, mostly +prairie, rich as the delta of the Nile, but extremely difficult to +traverse. The distance, as the route led, was about a hundred and +seventy miles. On account of an open and rainy winter all the +basins and flat lands were inundated, often presenting leagues of +water ranging in depth from a few inches to three of four feet. +Cold winds blew, sometimes with spits of snow and dashes of sleet, +while thin ice formed on the ponds and sluggish streams. By day +progress meant wading ankle-deep, knee-deep, breast-deep, with an +occasional spurt of swimming. By night the brave fellows had to +sleep, if sleep they could, on the cold ground in soaked clothing +under water-heavy blankets. They flung the leagues behind them, +however, cheerfully stimulating one another by joke and challenge, +defying all the bitterness of weather, all the bitings of hunger, +all the toil, danger and deprivation of a trackless and houseless +wilderness, looking only eastward, following their youthful and +intrepid commander to one of the most valuable victories gained by +American soldiers during the War of the Revolution. + +Colonel Clark understood perfectly the strategic importance of +Vincennes as a post commanding the Wabash, and as a base of +communication with the many Indian tribes north of the Ohio and +east of the Mississippi. Francis Vigo (may his name never fade!) +had brought him a comprehensive and accurate report of Hamilton's +strength and the condition of the fort and garrison. This +information confirmed his belief that it would be possible not +only to capture Vincennes, but Detroit as well. + +Just seven days after the march began, the little army encamped +for a night's rest at the edge of a wood; and here, just after +nightfall, when the fires were burning merrily and the smell of +broiling buffalo steaks burdened the damp air, a wizzened old man +suddenly appeared, how or from where nobody had observed He was +dirty and in every way disreputable in appearance, looking like an +animated mummy, bearing a long rifle on his shoulder, and walking +with the somewhat halting activity of a very old, yet vivacious +and energetic simian. Of course it was Oncle Jason, "Oncle Jazon +sui generis," as Father Beret had dubbed him. + +"Well, here I am!" he cried, approaching the fire by which Colonel +Clark and some of his officers were cooking supper, "but ye can't +guess in a mile o' who I am to save yer livers and lights." + +He danced a few stiff steps, which made the water gush out of his +tattered moccasins, then doffed his nondescript cap and nodded his +scalpless head in salutation to the commander. + +Clark looked inquiringly at him, while the old fellow grimaced and +rubbed his shrunken chin. + +"I smelt yer fat a fryin' somepin like a mile away, an' it set my +in'ards to grumblin' for a snack; so I jes thought I'd drap in on +ye an' chaw wittles wi' ye." + +"Your looks are decidedly against you," remarked the Colonel with +a dry smile. He had recognized Oncle Jazon after a little sharp +scrutiny. "I suppose, however, that we can let you gnaw the bones +after we've got off the meat." + +"Thank 'ee, thank 'ee, plenty good. A feller 'at's as hongry as I +am kin go through a bone like a feesh through water." + +Clark laughed and said: + +"I don't see any teeth that you have worth mentioning, but your +gums may be unusually sharp." + +"Ya-a-s, 'bout as sharp as yer wit, Colonel Clark, an' sharper'n +yer eyes, a long shot. Ye don't know me, do ye? Take ernother +squint at me, an' see'f ye kin 'member a good lookin' man!" + +"You have somewhat the appearance of an old scamp by the name of +Jazon that formerly loafed around with a worthless gun on his +shoulder, and used to run from every Indian he saw down yonder in +Kentucky." Clark held out his hand and added cordially: + +"How are you, Jazon, my old friend, and where upon earth have you +come from?" + +Oncle Jazon pounced upon the hand and gripped it in his own +knotted fingers, gazing delightedly up into Clark's bronzed and +laughing face. + +"Where'd I come frum? I come frum ever'wheres. Fust time I ever +got lost in all my born days. Fve been a trompin' 'round in the +water seems like a week, crazy as a pizened rat, not a knowin' +north f'om south, ner my big toe f'om a turnip! Who's got some +tobacker?" + +Oncle Jazon's story, when presently he told it, interested Clark +deeply. In the first place he was glad to hear that Simon Kenton +had once more escaped from the Indians; and the news from +Beverley, although bad enough, left room for hope. Frontiersmen +always regarded the chances better than even, so long as there was +life. Oncle Jazon, furthermore, had much to tell about the +situation at Vincennes, the true feeling of the French +inhabitants, the lukewarm friendship of the larger part of the +Indians for Hamilton, and, indeed, everything that Clark wished to +know regarding the possibilities of success in his arduous +undertaking. The old man's advent cheered the whole camp. He soon +found acquaintances and friends among the French volunteers from +Kaskaskia, with whom he exchanged creole gestures and chatter with +a vivacity apparently inexhaustible. He and Kenton had, with wise +judgement, separated on escaping from the Indian camp, Kenton +striking out for Kentucky, while Oncle Jazon went towards +Kaskaskia. + +The information that Beverley would be shot as soon as he was +returned to Hamilton, caused Colonel Clark serious worry of mind. +Not only the fact that Beverley, who had been a charming friend +and a most gallant officer, was now in such imminent danger, but +the impression (given by Oncle Jazon's account) that he had broken +his parole, was deeply painful to the brave and scrupulously +honorable commander. Still, friendship rose above regret, and +Clark resolved to push his little column forward all the more +rapidly, hoping to arrive in time to prevent the impending +execution. + +Next morning the march was resumed at the break of dawn; but a +swollen stream caused some hours of delay, during which Beverley +himself arrived from the rear, a haggard and weirdly unkempt +apparition. He had been for three days following hard on the +army's track, which he came to far westward. Oncle Jazon saw him +first in the distance, and his old but educated eyes made no +mistake. + +"Yander's that youngster Beverley," he exclaimed. "Ef it ain't I'm +a squaw!" + +Nor did he parley further on the subject; but set off at a rickety +trot to meet and assist the fagged and excited young man. + +Clark had given Oncle Jazon his flask, which contained a few gills +of whisky. This was the first thing offered to Beverley; who +wisely took but a swallow. Oncle Jazon was so elated that he waved +his cap on high, and unconsciously falling into French, yelled in +a piercing voice: + +"VIVE ZHORSH VASINTON! VIVE LA BANNIERE D'ALICE ROUSSILLON!" + +Seeing Beverley reminded him of Alice and the flag. As for +Beverley, the sentiment braced him, and the beloved name brimmed +his heart with sweetness. + +Clark went to meet them as they came in. He hugged the gaunt +Lieutenant with genuine fervor of joy, while Oncle Jazon ran +around them making a series of grotesque capers. The whole +command, hearing Oncle Jazon's patriotic words, set up a wild +shouting on the spur of a general impression that Beverley came as +a messenger bearing glorious news from Washington's army in the +east. + +It was a great relief to Clark when he found out that his favorite +Lieutenant had not broken his parole; but had instead boldly +resurrendered himself, declaring the obligation no longer binding, +and notifying Hamilton of his intention to go away with the +purpose of returning and destroying him and his command. Clark +laughed heartily when this explanation brought out Beverley's +tender interest in Alice; but he sympathized cordially; for he +himself knew what love is. + +Although Beverley was half starved and still suffering from the +kicks and blows given him by Long-Hair and his warriors, his +exhausting run on the trail of Clark aad his band had not worked +him serious harm. All of the officers and men did their utmost to +serve him. He was feasted without stint and furnished with +everything that the scant supply of clothing on the pack horses +could afford for his comfort. He promptly asked for an assignment +to duty in his company and took his place with such high +enthusiasm that his companions regarded him with admiring wonder. +None of them save Clark and Oncle Jazon suspected that love for a +fair-haired girl yonder in Vincennes was the secret of his amazing +zeal and intrepidity. + +In one respect Clark's expedition was sadly lacking in its +equipment for the march. It had absolutely no means of +transporting adequate supplies. The pack-horses were not able to +carry more than a little extra ammunition, a few articles of +clothing, some simple cooking utensils and such tools as were +needed in improvising rafts and canoes. Consequently, although +buffalo and deer were sometimes plentiful, they furnished no +lasting supply of meat, because it could not be transported; and +as the army neared Vincennes wild animals became scarce, so that +the men began to suffer from hunger when within but a few days of +their journey's end. + +Clark made almost superhuman efforts in urging forward his +chilled, water-soaked, foot-sore command; and when hunger added +its torture to the already disheartening conditions, his courage +and energy seemed to burn stronger and brighter. Beverley was +always at his side ready to undertake any task, accept any risk; +his ardor made his face glow, and he seemed to thrive upon +hardships. The two men were a source of inspiration--their +followers could not flag and hesitate while under the influence of +their example. + +Toward the end of the long march a decided fall of temperature +added ice to the water through which our dauntless patriots waded +and swam for miles. The wind shifted northwesterly, taking on a +searching chill. Each gust, indeed, seemed to shoot wintry +splinters into the very marrow of the men's bones. The weaker ones +began to show the approach of utter exhaustion just at the time +when a final spurt of unflinching power was needed. True, they +struggled heroically; but nature was nearing the inexorable limit +of endurance. Without food, which there was no prospect of +getting, collapse was sure to come. + +Standing nearly waist-deep in freezing water and looking out upon +the muddy, sea-like flood that stretched far away to the channel +of the Wabash and beyond, Clark turned to Beverley and said, +speaking low, so as not to be overheard by any other of his +officers or men: + +"Is it possible, Lieutenant Beverley, that we are to fail, with +Vincennes almost in sight of us?" + +"No, sir, it is not possible," was the firm reply. "Nothing must, +nothing can stop us. Look at that brave child! He sets the heroic +example." + +Beverley pointed, as he spoke, at a boy but fourteen years old, +who was using his drum as a float to bear him up while he +courageously swam beside the men. + +Clark's clouded face cleared once more. "You are right," he said, +"come on! we must win or die." + +"Sergeant Dewit," he added, turning to an enormously tall and +athletic man near by, "take that little drummer and his drum on +your shoulder and lead the way. And, sergeant, make him pound that +drum like the devil beating tan-bark!" + +The huge man caught the spirit of his commander's order. In a +twinkling he had the boy astride of his neck with the kettle-drum +resting on his head, and then the rattling music began. Clark +followed, pointing onward with his sword. The half frozen and +tottering soldiers sent up a shout that went back to where Captain +Bowman was bringing up the rear under orders to shoot every man +that straggled or shrank from duty. + +Now came a time when not a mouthful of food was left. A whole day +they floundered on, starving, growing fainter at every step, the +temperature falling, the ice thickening. They camped on high land; +and next morning they heard Hamilton's distant sunrise gun boom +over the water. + +"One half-ration for the men," said Clark, looking disconsolately +in the direction whence the sound had come. "Just five mouthfuls +apiece, even, and I'll have Hamilton and his fort within forty- +eight hours." + +"We will have the provisions, Colonel, or I will die trying to get +them," Beverley responded "Depend upon me." + +They had constructed some canoes in which to transport the weakest +of the men. + +"I will take a dugout and some picked fellows. We will pull to the +wood yonder, and there we shall find some kind of game which has +been forced to shelter from the high water." + +It was a cheerful view of a forlorn hope. Clark grasped the hand +extended by Beverley and they looked encouragement into each +other's eyes. + +Oncle Jazon volunteered to go in the pirogue. He was ready for +anything, everything. + +"I can't shoot wo'th a cent," he whined, as they took their places +in the cranky pirogue; "but I might jes' happen to kill a squir'l +or a elephant or somepin 'nother." + +"Very well," shouted Clark in a loud, cheerful voice, when they +had paddled away to a considerable distance, "bring the meat to +the woods on the hill yonder," pointing to a distant island-like +ridge far beyond the creeping flood. "We'll be there ready to eat +it!" + +He said this for the ears of his men. They heard and answered with +a straggling but determined chorus of approval. They crossed the +rolling current of the Wabash by a tedious process of ferrying, +and at last found themselves once more wading in back-water up to +their armpits, breaking ice an inch thick as they went. It was the +closing struggle to reach the high wooded lands. Many of them fell +exhausted; but their stronger comrades lifted them, holding their +heads above water, and dragged them on. + +Clark, always leading, always inspiring, was first to set foot on +dry land. He shouted triumphantly, waved his sword, and then fell +to helping the men out of the freezing flood. This accomplished, +he ordered fires built; but there was not a soldier of them all +whose hands could clasp an ax-handle, so weak and numbed with cold +were they. He was not to be baffled, however. If fire could not be +had, exercise must serve its purpose. Hastily pouring some powder +into his hand he dampened it and blacked his face. "Victory, men, +victory!" he shouted, taking off his hat and beginning to leap and +dance. "Come on! We'll have a war dance and then a feast, as soon +as the meat arrives that I have sent for. Dance! you brave lads, +dance! Victory! victory!" + +The strong men, understanding their Colonel's purpose, took hold +of the delicate ones; and the leaping, the capering, the tumult of +voices and the stamping of slushy moccasins with which they +assaulted that stately forest must have frightened every wild +thing thereabout into a deadly rigor, dark's irrepressible energy +and optimism worked a veritable charm upon his faithful but almost +dying companions in arms. Their trust in him made them feel sure +that food would soon be forthcoming. The thought afforded a +stimulus more potent than wine; it drove them into an ecstasy of +frantic motion and shouting which soon warmed them thoroughly. + +It is said that fortune favors the brave. The larger meaning of +the sentence may be given thus: God guards those who deserve His +protection. History tells us that just when Clark halted his +command almost in sight of Vincennes--just when hunger was about +to prevent the victory so close to his grasp--a party of his +scouts brought in the haunch of a buffalo captured from some +Indians. The scouts were Lieutenant Beverley and Oncle Jazon. And +with the meat they brought Indian kettles in which to cook it. + +With consummate forethought Clark arranged to prevent his men +doing themselves injury by bolting their food or eating it half- +cooked. Broth was first made and served hot; then small bits of +well broiled steak were doled out, until by degrees the fine +effect of nourishment set in, and all the command felt the fresh +courage of healthy reaction. + +"I ain't no gin'ral, nor corp'ral, nor nothin'," remarked Oncle +Jazon to Colonel Clark, "but 'f I's you I'd h'ist up every dad +dinged ole flag in the rig'ment, w'en I got ready to show myself +to 'em, an' I'd make 'em think, over yander at the fort, 'at I had +'bout ninety thousan' men. Hit'd skeer that sandy faced Gov'nor +over there till he'd think his back-bone was a comin' out'n 'im by +the roots." + +Clark laughed, but his face showed that the old man's suggestion +struck him forcibly and seriously. + +"We'll see about that presently, Oncle Jazon. Wait till we reach +the hill yonder, from which the whole town can observe our +manoeuvres, then we'll try it, maybe." + +Once more the men were lined up, the roll-call gone through with +satisfactorily, and the question put: "Are we ready for another +plunge through the mud and water?" + +The answer came in the affirmative, with a unanimity not to be +mistaken. The weakest heart of them all beat to the time of the +charge step. Again Clark and Beverley clasped hands and took the +lead. + +When they reached the next high ground they gazed in silence +across a slushy prairie plot to where, on a slight elevation, old +Vincennes and Fort Sackville lay in full view. + +Beverley stood apart. A rush of sensations affected him so that he +shook like one whose strength is gone. His vision was blurred. +Fort and town swimming in a mist were silent and still. Save the +British flag twinkling above Hamilton's headquarters, nothing +indicated that the place was not deserted. And Alice? With the +sweet name's echo Beverley's heart bounded high, then sank +fluttering at the recollection that she was either yonder at the +mercy of Hamilton, or already the victim of an unspeakable +cruelty. Was it weakness for him to lift his clasped hands +heavenward and send up a voiceless prayer? + +While he stood thus Oncle Jazon came softly to his side and +touched his arm. Beverley started. + +"The nex' thing'll be to shoot the everlastin' gizzards outen 'em, +won't it?" the old man inquired. "I'm jes' a eetchin' to git a +grip onto that Gov'nor. Ef I don't scelp 'em I'm a squaw." + +Beverley drew a deep breath and came promptly. back from his +dream. It was now Oncle Jazon's turn to assume a reflective, +reminiscent mood. He looked about him with an expression of vague +half tenderness on his shriveled features. + +"I's jes' a thinkin' how time do run past a feller," he presently +remarked. "Twenty-seven years ago I camped right here wi' my wife-- +ninth one, ef I 'member correct--jes' fresh married to 'r; sort +o' honey-moon. 'Twus warm an' sunshiny an' nice. She wus a poorty +squaw, mighty poorty, an' I wus as happy as a tomtit on a sugar- +trough. We b'iled sap yander on them nobs under the maples. It wus +glor'us. Had some several wives 'fore an' lots of 'm sence; but +she wus sweetes' of 'm all. Strange how a feller 'members sich +things an' feels sort o' lonesome like!" + +The old man's mouth drooped at the corners and he hitched up his +buckskin trousers with a ludicrous suggestion of pathos in every +line of his attitude. Unconsciously he sidled closer to Beverley, +remotely feeling that he was giving the young man very effective +sympathy, well knowing that Alice was the sweet burden of his +thoughts. It was thus Oncle Jazon honestly tried to fortify his +friend against what probably lay in store for him. + +But Beverley failed to catch the old man's crude comfort thus +flung at him. The analogy was not apparent. Oncle Jazon probably +felt that his kindness had been ineffectual, for he changed his +tone and added: + +"But I s'pose a young feller like ye can't onderstan' w'at it is +to love a 'oman an' 'en hev 'er quit ye for 'nother feller, an' +him a buck Injin. Wall, wall, wall, that's the way it do go! Of +all the livin' things upon top o' this yere globe, the mos' +onsartin', crinkety-crankety an' slippery thing is a young 'oman +'at knows she's poorty an' 'at every other man in the known world +is blind stavin' crazy in love wi' 'er, same as you are. She'll +drop ye like a hot tater 'fore ye know it, an' 'en look at ye jes' +pine blank like she never knowed ye afore in her life. It's so, +Lieutenant, shore's ye'r born. I know, for I've tried the odd +number of 'em, an' they're all jes' the same." + +By this time Beverley's ears were deaf to Oncle Jazon's querulous, +whining voice, and his thoughts once more followed his wistful +gaze across the watery plain to where the low roofs of the creole +town appeared dimly wavering in the twilight of eventide, which +was fast fading into night. The scene seemed unsubstantial; he +felt a strange lethargy possessing his soul; he could not realize +the situation. In trying to imagine Alice, she eluded him, so that +a sort of cloudy void fell across his vision with the effect of +baffling and benumbing it. He made vain efforts to recall her +voice, things that she had said to him, her face, her smiles; all +he could do was to evoke an elusive, tantalizing, ghostly +something which made him shiver inwardly with a haunting fear that +it meant the worst, whatever the worst might be. Where was she? +Could she be dead, and this the shadowy message of her fate? + +Darkness fell, and a thin fog began to drift in wan streaks above +the water. Not a sound, save the suppressed stir of the camp, +broke the wide, dreary silence. Oncle Jazon babbled until +satisfied that Beverley was unappreciative, or at least +unresponsive. + +"Got to hev some terbacker," he remarked, and shambled away in +search of it among his friends. + +A little later Clark approached hastily and said: + +"I have been looking for you. The march has begun. Bowman and +Charleville are moving; come, there's no time to lose." + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A DUEL BY MOONLIGHT + + +When Hamilton, after running some distance, saw that he was +gaining upon Alice and would soon overtake her, it added fresh +energy to his limbs. He had quickly realized the foolishness of +what he had done in visiting the room of his prisoner at so late +an hour in the night. What would his officers and men think? To +let Alice escape would be extremely embarrassing, and to be seen +chasing her would give good ground for ridicule on the part of his +entire command. Therefore his first thought, after passing through +the postern and realizing fully what sort of predicament +threatened him, was to recapture her and return her to the prison +room in the block-house without attracting attention. This now +promised to be an easier task than he had at first feared; for in +the moonlight, which on account of the dispersing clouds, was fast +growing stronger, he saw her seem to falter and weaken. Certainly +her flight was checked and took an eccentric turn, as if some +obstruction had barred her way. He rushed on, not seeing that, as +Alice swerved, a man intervened. Indeed he was within a few +strides of laying his hand on her when he saw her make the strange +movement. It was as if, springing suddenly aside, she had become +two persons instead of one. But instantly the figures coincided +again, and in becoming taller faced about and confronted him. + +Hamilton stopped short in his tracks. The dark figure was about +five paces from him. It was not Alice, and a sword flashed dimly +but unmistakably in a ray of the moon. The motion visible was that +of an expert swordsman placing himself firmly on his legs, with +his weapon at guard. + +Alice saw the man in her path just in time to avoid running +against him. Lightly as a flying bird, when it whisks itself in a +short semicircle past a tree or a bough, she sprang aside and +swung around to the rear of him, where she could continue her +course toward the town. But in passing she recognized him. It was +Father Beret, and how grim he looked! The discovery was made in +the twinkling of an eye, and its effect was instantaneous, not +only checking the force of her flight, but stopping her and +turning her about to gaze before she had gone five paces farther. + +Hamilton's nerve held, startled as he was, when he realized that +an armed man stood before him. Naturally he fell into the error of +thinking that he had been running after this fellow all the way +from the little gate, where, he supposed, Alice had somehow given +him the slip. It was a mere flash of brain-light, so to call it, +struck out by the surprise of this curious discovery. He felt his +bellicose temper leap up furiously at being balked in a way so +unexpected and withal so inexplicable. Of course he did not stand +there reasoning it all out. The rush of impressions came, and at +the same time he acted with promptness. Changing the rapier, which +he held in his right hand, over into his left, he drew a small +pistol from the breast of his coat and fired. The report was sharp +and loud; but it caused no uneasiness or inquiry in the fort, +owing to the fact that Indians invariably emptied their guns when +coming into the town. + +Hamilton's aim, although hasty, was not bad. The bullet from his +weapon cut through Father Beret's clothes between his left arm and +his body, slightly creasing the flesh on a rib. Beyond him it +struck heavily and audibly. Alice fell limp and motionless to the +soft wet ground, where cold puddles of water were splintered over +with ice. She lay pitifully crumpled, one arm outstretched in the +moonlight. Father Beret heard the bullet hit her, and turned in +time to see her stagger backward with a hand convulsively pressed +over her heart. Her face, slightly upturned as she reeled, gave +the moon a pallid target for its strengthening rays. Sweet, +beautiful, its rigid features flashed for a second and then half +turned away from the light and went down. + +Father Beret uttered a short, thin cry and moved as if to go to +the fallen girl, but just then he saw Hamilton's sword pass over +again into his right hand, and knew that there was no time for +anything but death or fight. The good priest did not shirk what +might have made the readiest of soldiers nervous. Hamilton was +known to be a great swordsman and proud of the distinction. Father +Beret had seen him fence with Farnsworth in remarkable form, +touching him at will, and in ministering to the men in the fort he +had heard them talk of the Governor's incomparable skill. + +A priest is, in perhaps all cases but the last out of a thousand, +a man of peace, not to be forced into a fight; but the exceptional +one out of the ten hundred it is well not to stir up if you are +looking for an easy victim. Hamilton was in the habit of +considering every antagonist immediately conquerable. His +domineering spirit could not, when opposed, reckon with any +possibility of disaster. As he sprang toward Father Beret there +was a mutual recognition and, we speak guardedly, something that +sounded exactly like an exchange of furious execrations. As for +Father Beret's words, they may have been a mere priestly formula +of objurgation. + +The moon was accommodating. With a beautiful white splendor it +entered a space of cloudless sky, where it seemed to slip along +the dusky blue surface among the stars, far over in the west. + +"It's you, is it?" Hamilton exclaimed between teeth that almost +crushed one another. "You prowling hypocrite of hell!" + +Father Beret said something. It was not complimentary, and it +sounded sulphurous, if not profane. Remember, however, that a +priest can scarcely hope to be better than Peter, and Peter did +actually make the Simon pure remark when hard pressed. At all +events Father Beret said something with vigorous emphasis, and met +Hamilton half way. + +Both men, stimulated to the finger-tips by a draught of imperious +passion, fairly plunged to the inevitable conflict. Ah, if Alice +could have seen her beautiful weapons cross, if she could have +heard the fine, far-reaching clink, clink, clink, while sparks +leaped forth, dazzling even in the moonlight; if she could have +noted the admirable, nay, the amazing, play, as the men, regaining +coolness to some extent, gathered their forces and fell cautiously +to the deadly work, it would have been enough to change the cold +shimmer of her face to a flash of warm delight. For she would have +understood every feint, longe, parry, and seen at a glance how +Father Beret set the pace and led the race at the beginning. She +would have understood; for Father Beret had taught her all she +knew about the art of fencing. + +Hamilton quickly felt, and with a sense of its strangeness, the +priest's masterly command of his weapon. The surprise called up +all his caution and cleverness. Before he could adjust himself to +such an unexpected condition he came near being spitted outright +by a pretty pass under his guard. The narrow escape, while it put +him on his best mettle, sent a wave of superstition through his +brain. He recalled what Barlow had jocularly said about the doings +of the devil-priest or priest-devil at Roussillon place on that +night when the patrol guard attempted to take Gaspard Roussillon. +Was this, indeed, Father Beret, that gentle old man, now before +him, or was it an avenging demon from the shades? + +The thought flitted electrically across his mind, while he deftly +parried, feinted, longed, giving his dark antagonist all he could +do to meet the play. Priest or devil, he thought, he cared not +which, he would reach its vitals presently. Yet there lingered +with him a haunting half-fear, or tenuous awe, which may have +aided, rather than hindered his excellent swordsmanship. + +Under foot it was slushy with mud, water and ice, the consistency +varying from a somewhat solid crust to puddles that half inundated +Hamilton's boots and quite overflowed Father Beret's moccasins. An +execrable field for the little matter in hand. They gradually +shifted position. Now it was the Governor, then the priest, who +had advantage as to the light. For some time Father Beret seemed +quite the shiftier and surer fighter, but (was it his age telling +on him?) he lost perceptibly in suppleness. Still Hamilton failed +to touch him. There was a baffling something in the old man's +escape now and again from what ought to have been an inevitable +stroke. Was it luck? It seemed to Hamilton more than that--a sort +of uncanny evasion. Or was it supreme mastery, the last and +subtlest reach of the fencer's craft? + +Youth forced age slowly backward in the struggle, which at times +took on spurts so furious that the slender blades, becoming mere +glints of acicular steel, split the moonlight back and forth, up +and down, so that their meetings, following one another in a well- +nigh continuous stroke, sent a jarring noise through the air. +Father Beret lost inch by inch, until the fighting was almost over +the body of Alice; and now for the first time Hamilton became +aware of that motionless something with the white, luminous face +in profile against the ground; but he did not let even that +unsettle his fencing gaze, which followed the sunken and dusky +eyes of his adversary. A perspiration suddenly flooded his body, +however, and began to drip across his face. His arm was tiring. A +doubt crept like a chill into his heart. Then the priest appeared +to add a cubit to his stature and waver strangely in the soft +light. Behind him, low against the sky, a wide winged owl shot +noiselessly across just above the prairie. + +The soul of a true priest is double: it is the soul of a saint and +the soul of a worldly man. What is most beautiful in this duality +is the supreme courage with which the saintly spirit attacks the +worldly and so often heroically masters it. In the beginning of +the fight Father Beret let a passion of the earthly body take him +by storm. It was well for Governor Henry Hamilton that the priest +was so wrought upon as to unsettle his nerves, otherwise there +would have been an evil heart impaled midway of Father Beret's +rapier. A little later the saintly spirit began to assert itself, +feebly indeed, but surely. Then it was that Father Beret seemed to +be losing agility for a while as he backstepped away from +Hamilton's increasing energy of assault. In his heart the priest +was saying: "I will not murder him. I must not do that. He +deserves death, but vengeance is not mine. I will disarm him." +Step by step he retreated, playing erratically to make an opening +for a trick he meant to use. + +It was singularly loose play, a sort of wavering, shifty, +incomprehensible show of carelessness, that caused Hamilton to +entertain a doubt, which was really a fear, as to what was going +to happen; for, notwithstanding all this neglect of due precaution +on the priest's part, to touch him seemed impossible, miraculously +so, and every plan of attack dissolved into futility in the most +maddening way. + +"Priest, devil or ghost!" raged Hamilton, with a froth gathering +around his mouth; "I'll kill you, or--" + +He made a longe, when his adversary left an opening which appeared +absolutely beyond defence. It was a quick, dextrous, vicious +thrust. The blade leaped toward Father Beret's heart with a +twinkle like lightning. + +At that moment, although warily alert and hopeful that his +opportunity was at hand, Father Beret came near losing his life; +for as he side-stepped and easily parried Hamilton's thrust, which +he had invited, thinking to entangle his blade and disarm him, he +caught his foot in Alice's skirt and stumbled, nearly falling +across her. It would have been easy for Hamilton to run him +through, had he instantly followed up the advantage. But the +moonlight on Alice's face struck his eyes, and by that indirect +ray of vision which is often strangely effective, he recognized +her lying there. It was a disconcerting thing for him, but he +rallied instantly and sprang aside, taking a new position just in +time to face Father Beret again. A chill crept up his back. The +horror which he could not shake off enraged him beyond measure. +Gathering fresh energy, he renewed the assault with desperate +steadiness the highest product of absolutely molten fury. + +Father Beret felt the dangerous access of power in his +antagonist's arm, and knew that a crisis had arrived. He could not +be careless now. Here was a swordsman of the best school calling +upon him for all the skill and strength and cunning that he could +command. Again the saintly element was near being thrown aside by +the worldly in the old man's breast. Alice lying there seemed +mutely demanding that he avenge her. A riotous something in his +blood clamored for a quick and certain act in this drama by +moonlight--a tragic close by a stroke of terrible yet perfectly +fitting justice. + +There was but the space of a breath for the conflict in the +priest's heart, yet during that little time he reasoned the case +and quoted scripture to himself. + +"Domine, percutimus in gladio?" rang through his mind. "Lord, +shall we smite with the sword?" + +Hamilton seemed to make answer to this with a dazzling display of +skill. The rapiers sang a strange song above the sleeping girl, a +lullaby with coruscations of death in every keen note. + +Father Beret was thinking of Alice. His brain, playing double, +calculated with lightning swiftness the chances and movements of +that whirlwind rush of fight, while at the same time it swept +through a retrospect of all the years since Alice came into his +life. How he had watched her grow and bloom; how he had taught +her, trained her mind and soul and body to high things, loved her +with a fatherly passion unbounded, guarded her from the coarse and +lawless influences of her surroundings. Like the tolling of an +infinitely melancholy bell, all this went through his breast and +brain, and, blending with a furious current of whatever passions +were deadly dangerous in his nature, swept as a storm bearing its +awful force into his sword-arm. + +The Englishman was a lion, the priest a gladiator. The stars aloft +in the vague, dark, yet splendid, amphitheater were the audience. +It was a question. Would the thumbs go down or up? Life and death +held the chances even; but it was at the will of Heaven, not of +the stars. "Hoc habet" must follow the stroke ordered from beyond +the astral clusters and the dusky blue. + +Hamilton pressed, nay rushed, the fight with a weight and at a +pace which could not last. But Father Beret withstood him so +firmly that he made no farther headway; he even lost some ground a +moment later. + +"You damned Jesuit hypocrite!" he snarled; "you lowest of a vile +brotherhood of liars!" + +Then he rushed again, making a magnificent show of strength, +quickness and accuracy. The sparks hissed and crackled from the +rasping and ringing blades. + +Father Beret was, in truth, a Jesuit, and as such a zealot; but he +was not a liar or a hypocrite. Being human, he resented an insult. +The saintly spirit in him was strong, yet not strong enough to +breast the indignation which now dashed against it. For a moment +it went down. + +"Liar and scoundrel yourself!" he retorted, hoarsely forcing the +words out of his throat. "Spawn of a beastly breed!" + +Hamilton saw and felt a change pass over the spirit of the old +priest's movements. Instantly the sword leaping against his own +seemed endowed with subtle cunning and malignant treachery. Before +this it had been difficult enough to meet the fine play and hold +fairly even; now he was startled and confused; but he rose to the +emergency with admirable will power and cleverness. + +"Murderer of a poor orphan girl!" Father Beret added with a hot +concentrated accent; "death is too good for you." + +Hamilton felt nearer his grave than ever before in all his wild +experience, for somehow doom, shadowy and formless, like the +atmosphere of an awful dream, enmisted those words; but he was no +weakling to quit at the height of desperate conflict. He was +strong, expert, and game to the middle of his heart. + +"I'll add a traitor Jesuit to my list of dead," he panted forth, +rising yet again to the extremest tension of his power. + +As he did this Father Beret settled himself as you have seen a +mighty horse do in the home stretch of a race. Both men knew that +the moment had arrived for the final act in their impromptu play. +It was short, a duel condensed and crowded into fifteen seconds of +time, and it was rapid beyond the power of words to describe. A +bystander, had there been one, could not have seen what was +finally done or how it was done. Father Beret's sword seemed to be +revolving--it was a halo in front of Hamilton for a mere point of +time. The old priest seemed to crouch and then make a quick motion +as if about to leap backward. A wrench and a snip, as of something +violently jerked from a fastening, were followed by a semicircular +flight of Hamilton's rapier over Father Beret's head to stick in +the ground ten feet behind him. The duel was over, and the whole +terrible struggle had occupied less than three minutes. + +With his wrist strained and his fingers almost broken, Hamilton +stumbled forward and would have impaled himself had not Father +Beret turned the point of his weapon aside as he lowered it. + +"Surrender, or die!" + +That was a strange order for a priest to make, but there could be +no mistaking its authority or the power behind it. Hamilton +regained his footing and looked dazed, wheezing and puffing like a +porpoise, but he clearly understood what was demanded of him. + +"If you call out I'll run you through," Father Beret added, seeing +him move his lips as if to shout for help. + +The level rapier now reinforced the words. Hamilton let the breath +go noiselessly from his mouth and waved his hand in token of +enforced submission. + +"Well, what do you want me to do?" he demanded after a short +pause. "You seem to have me at your mercy. What are your terms?" + +Father Beret hesitated. It was a question difficult to answer. + +"Give me your word as a British officer that you will never again +try to harm any person, not an open, armed enemy, in this town." + +Hamilton's gorge rose perversely. He erected himself with lofty +reserve and folded his arms. The dignity of a Lieutenant Governor +leaped into him and took control. Father Beret correctly +interpreted what he saw. + +"My people have borne much," he said, "and the killing of that +poor child there will be awfully avenged if I but say the word. +Besides, I can turn every Indian in this wilderness against you in +a single day. You are indeed at my mercy, and I will be merciful +if you will satisfy my demand." + +He was trembling with emotion while he spoke and the desire to +kill the man before him was making a frightful struggle with his +priestly conscience; but conscience had the upper hand. Hamilton +stood gazing fixedly, pale as a ghost, his thoughts becoming more +and more clear and logical. He was in a bad situation. Every word +that Father Beret had spoken was true and went home with force. +There was no time for parley or subterfuge; the sword looked as +if, eager to find his heart, it could not be held back another +moment. But the wan, cold face of the girl had more power than the +rapier's hungry point. It made an abject coward of him. + +"I am willing to give you my word," he presently said. "And let me +tell you," he went on more rapidly, "I did not shoot at her. She +was behind you," + +"Your word as a British officer?" + +Hamilton again stiffened and hesitated, but only for the briefest +space, then said: + +"Yes, my word as a British officer." + +Father Beret waved his hand with impatience. + +"Go, then, back to your place in the fort and disturb, my people +no more. The soul of this poor little girl will haunt you forever. +Go!" + +Hamilton stood a little while gazing at the face of Alice with the +horrible wistfulness of remorse. What would he not have given to +rub his eyes and find it all a dream? + +He turned away; a cloud scudded across the moon; here and yonder +in the dim town cocks crowed with a lonesome, desultory effect. + +Father Beret plucked up the rapier that he had wrenched from +Hamilton's hand. It suggested something. + +"Hold!" he called out, "give me the scabbard of this sword." +Hamilton, who was striding vigorously in the direction of the +fort, turned about as the priest hastened to him. + +"Give me the scabbard of this rapier; I want it. Take it off." + +The command was not gently voiced. A hoarse, half-whisper winged +every word with an imperious threat. + +Hamilton obeyed. His hands were not firm; his fingers fumbled +nervously; but he hurried, and Father Beret soon had the rapier +sheathed and secured at his belt beside its mate. + +A good and true priest is a burden-bearer. His motto is: Alter +alterius onera portate; bear ye one another's burdens. His soul is +enriched with the cast-off sorrows of those whom he relieves. +Father Beret scarcely felt the weight of Alice's body when he +lifted it from the ground, so heavy was the pressure of his grief. +All that her death meant, not only to him, but to every person who +knew her, came into his heart as the place of refuge consecrated +for the indwelling of pain. He lifted her and bore her as far +toward Roussillon place as he could; but his strength fell short +just in front of the little Bourcier cottage, and half dead he +staggered across the veranda to the door, where he sank exhausted. + +After a breathing spell he knocked. The household, fast asleep, +did not hear; but he persisted until the door was opened to him +and his burden. + + Captain Farnsworth unclosed his bloodshot eyes, at about eight +o'clock in the morning, quite confused as to his place and +surroundings. He looked about drowsily with a sheepish half- +knowledge of having been very drunk. A purring in his head and a +dull ache reminded him of an abused stomach. He yawned and +stretched himself, then sat up, running a hand through his tousled +hair. Father Beret was on his knees before the cross, still as a +statue, his clasped hands extended upward. + +Farnsworth's face lighted with recognition, and he smiled rather +bitterly. He recalled everything and felt ashamed, humiliated, +self-debased. He had outraged even a priest's hospitality with his +brutish appetite, and he hated himself for it. Disgust nauseated +his soul apace with the physical sinking and squirming that grew +upon him. + +"I'm a shabby, worthless dog!" he muttered, with petulant accent; +"why don't you kick me out, Father?" + +The priest turned a collapsed and bloodless gray face upon him, +smiled in a tired, perfunctory way, crossed himself absently and +said: + +"You have rested well, my son. Hard as the bed is, you have done +it a compliment in the way of sleeping. You young soldiers +understand how to get the most out of things." + +"You are too generous, Father, and I can't appreciate it. I know +what I deserve, and you know it, too. Tell me what a brute and +fool I am; it will do me good. Punch me a solid jolt in the ribs, +like the one you gave me not long ago." + +"Qui sine peccato est, primus lapidem mittat" said the priest. +"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." + +He had gone to the hearth and was taking from the embers an +earthen saucer, or shallow bowl, in which some fragrant broth +simmered and steamed. + +"A man who has slept as long as you have, my son, usually has a +somewhat delicate appetite. Now, here is a soup, not especially +satisfying to the taste of a gourmet like yourself, but possessing +the soothing quality that is good for one just aroused from an +unusual nap. I offer it, my son, propter stomachum tuum, et +frequentes tuas infirmitates (on account of thy stomach, and thine +often infirmities). This soup will go to the right spot." + +While speaking he brought the hot bowl to Farnsworth and set it on +the bedcover before him, then fetched a big horn spoon. + +The fragrance of pungent roots and herbs, blent with a savory waft +of buffalo meat, greeted the Captain's sense, and the anticipation +itself cheered his aching throat. It made him feel greedy and in a +hurry. The first spoonful, a trifle bitter, was not so pleasant at +the beginning, but a moment after he swallowed it a hot prickling +set in and seemed to dart through him from extremity to extremity. + +Slowly, as he ate, the taste grew more agreeable, and all the +effects of his debauch disappeared. It was like magic; his blood +warmed and glowed, as if touched with mysterious fire. + +"What is this in this soup, Father Beret, that makes it so +searching and refreshing?" he demanded, when the bowl was empty. + +Father Beret shook his head and smiled drolly. + +"That I cannot divulge, my son, owing to a promise I had to make +to the aged Indian who gave me the secret. It is the elixir of the +Miamis. Only their consecrated medicine men hold the recipe. The +stimulation is but temporary." + +Just then someone knocked on the door. Father Beret opened it to +one of Hamilton's aides, + +"Your pardon, Father, but hearing Captain Farnsworth's voice I +made bold to knock." + +"What is it, Bobby?" Farnsworth called out. + +"Nothing, only the Governor has been having you looked for in +every nook and corner of the fort and town. You'd better report at +once, or hell be having us drag the river for your body." + +"All right, Lieutenant, go back and keep mum, that's a dear boy, +and I'll shuffle into Colonel Hamilton's august presence before +many minutes." + +The aide laughed and went his way whistling a merry tune. + +"Now I am sure to get what I deserve, with usury at forty per cent +in advance," said Farnsworth dryly, shrugging his shoulders with +undissembled dread of Hamilton's wrath. But the anticipation was +not realized. The Governor received Farnsworth stiffly enough, yet +in a way that suggested a suppressed desire to avoid explanations +on the Captain's part and a reprimand on his own. In fact, +Hamilton was hoping that something would turn up to shield him +from the effect of his terrible midnight adventure, which seemed +the darker the more he thought of it. He had a slow, numb +conscience, lying deep where it was hard to reach, and when a +qualm somehow entered it he endured in secret what most men would +have cast off or confessed. He was haunted, if not with remorse, +at least by a dread of something most disagreeable in connection +with what he had done. Alice's white face had impressed itself +indelibly on his memory, so that it met his inner vision at every +turn. He was afraid to converse with Farnsworth lest she should +come up for discussion; consequently their interview was curt and +formal. + +It was soon discovered that Alice had escaped from the stockade, +and some show of search was made for her by Hamilton's order, but +Farnsworth looked to it that the order was not carried out. He +thought he saw at once that his chief knew where she was. The +mystery perplexed and pained the young man, and caused him to fear +all sorts of evil; but there was a chance that Alice had found a +safe retreat and he knew that nothing but ill could befall her if +she were discovered and brought back to the fort. Therefore his +search for her became his own secret and for his own heart's ease. +And doubtless he would have found her; for even handicapped and +distorted love like his is lynx-eyed and sure on the track of its +object; but a great event intervened and swept away his +opportunity. + +Hamilton's uneasiness, which was that of a strong, misguided +nature trying to justify itself amid a confusion of unmanageable +doubts and misgivings, now vented itself in a resumption of the +repairs he had been making at certain points in the fort. These he +completed just in time for the coming of Clark. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE ATTACK + + +It has already been mentioned that Indians, arriving singly or in +squads, to report at Hamilton's headquarters, were in the habit of +firing their guns before entering the town or the fort, not only +as a signal of their approach, but in order to rid their weapons +of their charges preliminary to cleaning them before setting out +upon another scalp-hunting expedition. A shot, therefore, or even +a volley, heard on the outskirts of the village, was not a +noticeable incident in the daily and nightly experience of the +garrison. Still, for some reason, Governor Hamilton started +violently when, just after nightfall, five or six rifles cracked +sharply a short distance from the stockade. + +He and Helm with two other officers were in the midst of a game of +cards, while a kettle, swinging on a crane in the ample fire- +place, sang a shrill promise of hot apple-jack toddy. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Farnsworth, who, although not in the game, +was amusing himself with looking on; "you jump like a fine lady! I +almost fancied I heard a bullet hit you." + +"You may all jump while you can," remarked Helm. "That's Clark, +and your time's short--He'll have this fort tumbling on your heads +before daylight of to-morrow morning comes." + +As he spoke he arose from his seat at the card table and went to +look after the toddy, which, as an expert, he had under +supervision. + +Hamilton frowned. The mention of Clark was disturbing. Ever since +the strange disappearance of Lieutenant Barlow he had nursed the +fear that possibly Clark's scouts had captured him and that the +American forces might be much nearer than Kaskaskia. Besides, his +nerves were unruly, as they had been ever since the encounter with +Father Beret; and his vision persisted in turning back upon the +accusing cold face of Alice, lying in the moonlight. One little +detail of that scene almost maddened him at times; it was a +sheeny, crinkled wisp of warm looking hair looped across the cheek +in which he had often seen a saucy dimple dance when Alice spoke +or smiled. He was bad enough, but not wholly bad, and the thought +of having darkened those merry eyes and stilled those sweet +dimples tore through him with a cold, rasping pang. + +"Just as soon as this toddy is properly mixed and tempered," said +Helm, with a magnetic jocosity beaming from his genial face, "I'm +going to propose a toast to the banner of Alice Roussillon, which +a whole garrison of British braves has been unable to take!" + +"If you do I'll blow a hole through you as big as the south door +of hell," said Hamilton, in a voice fairly shaken to a husky +quaver with rage. "You may do a great many insulting things; but +not that." + +Helm was in a half stooping attitude with a ladle in one hand, a +cup in the other. He had met Hamilton's glowering look with a +peculiarly innocent smile, as if to say: "What in the world is the +matter now? I never felt in a better humor in all my life. Can't +you take a joke, I wonder?" He did not speak, however, for a +rattling volley of musket and rifle shots hit the top of the clay- +daubed chimney, sending down into the toddy a shower of soot and +dirt. + +In a wink every man was on his feet and staring. + +"Gentlemen," said Helm, with an impressive oath, "that is Clark's +soldiers, and they will take your fort; but they ought not to have +spoiled this apple toddy!" "Oh, the devil!" said Hamilton, +forcibly resuming a calm countenance, "it is only a squad of +drunken Indians coming in. We'll forego excitement; there's no +battle on hand, gentlemen." + +"I'm glad you think so, Governor Hamilton," Helm responded, "but I +should imagine that I ought to know the crack of a Kentucky rifle. +I've heard one occasionally in my life. Besides, I got a whiff of +freedom just now." + +"Captain Helm is right," observed Farnsworth. "That is an attack." + +Another volley, this time nearer and more concentrated, convinced +Hamilton that he was, indeed, at the opening of a fight. Even +while he was giving some hurried orders to his officers, a man was +wounded at one of the port-holes. Then came a series of yells, +answered by a ripple of sympathetic French shouting that ran +throughout the town. The patrol guards came straggling in, +breathless with excitement. They swore to having seen a thousand +men marching across the water-covered meadows. + +Hamilton was brave. The approach of danger stirred him like a +trumpet-strain. His fighting blood rose to full tide, and he gave +his orders with the steadiness and commanding force of a born +soldier. The officers hastened to their respective positions. On +all sides sounds indicative of rapid preparations for the fight +mingled into a confused strain of military energy. Men marched to +their places; cannon were wheeled into position, and soon enough +the firing began in good earnest. + +Late in the afternoon a rumor of Clark's approach had gone abroad +through the village; but not a French lip breathed it to a friend +of the British. The creoles were loyal to the cause of freedom; +moreover, they cordially hated Hamilton, and their hearts beat +high at the prospect of a change in masters at the fort. Every +cabin had its hidden gun and supply of ammunition, despite the +order to disarm issued by Hamilton. There was a hustling to bring +these forth, which was accompanied with a guarded yet +irrepressible chattering, delightfully French and infinitely +volatile. + +"Tiens! je vais frotter mon fusil. J'ai vu un singe!" said Jaques +Bourcier to his daughter, the pretty Adrienne, who was coming out +of the room in which Alice lay. + +"I saw a monkey just now; I must rub up my gun!" He could not be +solemn; not he. The thought of an opportunity to get even with +Hamilton was like wine in his blood. + +If you had seen those hardy and sinewy Frenchmen gliding in the +dusk of evening from cottage to cottage, passing the word that the +Americans had arrived, saying airy things and pinching one another +as they met and hurried on, you would have thought something very +amusing and wholly jocund was in preparation for the people of +Vincennes. + +There was a current belief in the town that Gaspard Roussillon +never missed a good thing and always somehow got the lion's share. +He went out with the ebb to return on the flood. Nobody was +surprised, therefore, when he suddenly appeared in the midst of +his friends, armed to the teeth and emotionally warlike to suit +the occasion. Of course he took charge of everybody and +everything. You could have heard him whisper a bowshot away. + +"Taisons!" he hissed, whenever he met an acquaintance. "We will +surprise the fort and scalp the whole garrison. Aux armes! les +Americains viennent d'arriver!" + +At his own house he knocked and called in vain. He shook the door +violently; for he was thinking of the stores under the floor, of +the grimy bottles, of the fragrant Bordeaux--ah, his throat, how +it throbbed! But where was Madame Roussillon? Where was Alice? +"Jean! Jean!" he cried, forgetting all precaution, "come here, you +scamp, and let me in this minute!" + +A profoundly impressive silence gave him to understand that his +home was deserted. + +"Chiff! frightened and gone to stay with Madame Godere, I suppose-- +and I so thirsty! Bah! hum, hum, apres le vin la bataille, ziff!" + +He kicked in the door and groped his way to the liquors. While he +hastily swigged and smacked he heard the firing begin with a +crackling, desultory volley. He laughed jovially, there in the +dark, between draughts and deep sighs of enjoyment. + +"Et moi aussi," he murmured, like the vast murmur of the sea, "I +want to be in that dance! Pardonnez, messieurs. Moi, je veux +danser, s'il vous plait." + +And when he had filled himself he plunged out and rushed away, +wrought up to the extreme fighting pitch of temper. Diable! if he +could but come across that Lieutenant Barlow, how he would smash +him and mangle him! In magnifying his prowess with the lens of +imagination he swelled and puffed as he lumbered along. + +The firing sounded as if it were between the fort and the river; +but presently when one of Hamilton's cannon spoke, M. Roussillon +saw the yellow spike of flame from its muzzle leap directly toward +the church, and he thought it best to make a wide detour to avoid +going between the firing lines. Once or twice he heard the whine +of a stray bullet high overhead. Before he had gone very far he +met a man hurrying toward the fort. It was Captain Francis +Maisonville, one of Hamilton's chief scouts, who had been out on a +reconnoissance and, cut off from his party by some of Clark's +forces, was trying to make his way to the main gate of the +stockade. + +M. Roussillon knew Maisonville as a somewhat desperate character, +a leader of Indian forays and a trader in human scalps. Surely the +fellow was legitimate prey. + +"Ziff! diable de gredin!" he snarled, and leaping upon him choked +him to the ground, "Je vais vous scalper immediatement!" + +Clark's plan of approach showed masterly strategy. Lieutenant +Bailey, with fourteen regulars, made a show of attack on the east, +while Major Bowman led a company through the town, on a line near +where Main street in Vincennes is now located, to a point north of +the stockade. Charleville, a brave creole, who was at the head of +some daring fellows, by a brilliant dash got position under cover +of a natural terrace at the edge of the prairie, opposite the +fort's southwestern angle. Lieutenant Beverley, in whom the +commander placed highest confidence, was sent to look for a supply +of ammunition, and to gather up all the Frenchmen in the town who +wished to join in the attack. Oncle Jazon and ten other available +men went with him. + +They all made a great noise when they felt that the place was +completely invested. Nor can we deny, much as we would like to, +the strong desire for vengeance which raised those shouting voices +and nerved those steady hearts to do or die in an undertaking +which certainly had a desperate look. Patriotism of the purest +strain those men had, and that alone would have borne them up; but +the recollection of smouldering cabin homes in Kentucky, of women +and children murdered and scalped, of men brave and true burned at +the stake, and of all the indescribable outrages of Indian warfare +incited and rewarded by the commander of the fort yonder, added to +patriotism the terrible urge of that dark passion which clamors +for blood to quench the fire of wrath. Not a few of those wet, +half-frozen, emaciated soldiers of freedom had experienced the +soul rending shock of returning from a day's hunting in the forest +to find home in ashes and loved ones brutally murdered and +scalped, or dragged away to unspeakable outrage under +circumstances too harrowing for description, the bare thought of +which turns our blood cold, even at this distance. Now the +opportunity had arrived for a stroke of retaliation. The thought +was tremendously stimulating. + +Beverley, with the aid of Oncle Jazon, was able to lead his little +company as far as the church before the enemy saw him. Here a +volley from the nearest angle of the stockade had to be answered, +and pretty soon a cannon began to play upon the position. + +"We kin do better some'rs else," was Oncle Jazon's laconic remark +flung back over his shoulder, as he moved briskly away from the +spot just swept by a six-pounder. "Come this yer way, Lieutenant. +I hyer some o' the fellers a talkin' loud jes' beyant Legrace's +place. They ain't no sort o' sense a tryin' to hit anything a +shootin' in the dark nohow." + +When they reached the thick of the town there was a strange stir +in the dusky streets. Men were slipping from house to house, +arming themselves and joining their neighbors. Clark had sent an +order earlier in the evening forbidding any street demonstration +by the inhabitants; but he might as well have ordered the wind not +to blow or the river to stand still. Oncle Jazon knew every man +whose outlines he could see or whose voice he heard. He called +each one by name: + +"Here, Roger, fall in!--Come Louis, Alphonse, Victor, Octave-- +venez ici, here's the American army, come with me!" His rapid +French phrases leaped forth as if shot from a pistol, and his +shrill voice, familiar to every ear in Vincennes, drew the creole +militiamen to him, and soon Beverley's company had doubled its +numbers, while at the same time its enthusiasm and ability to make +a noise had increased in a far greater proportion. In accordance +with an order from Clark they now took position near the northeast +corner of the stockade and began firing, although in the darkness +there was but little opportunity for marksmanship. + +Oncle Jazon had found citizens Legrace and Bosseron, and through +them Clark's men were supplied with ammunition, of which they +stood greatly in need, their powder having got wet during their +long, watery march. By nine o'clock the fort was completely +surrounded, and from every direction the riflemen and musketeers +were pouring in volley after volley. Beverley with his men took +the cover of a fence and some houses sixty yards from the +stockade. Here to their surprise they found themselves below the +line of Hamilton's cannon, which, being planted on the second +floor of the fort, could not be sufficiently depressed to bear +upon them. A well directed musket fire, however, fell from the +loopholes of the blockhouses, the bullets rattling merrily against +the cover behind which the attacking forces lay. + +Beverley was thinking of Alice during every moment of all this +stir and tumult He feared that she might still be a prisoner in +the fort exposed to the very bullets that his men were discharging +at every crack and cranny of those loosely constructed buildings. +Should he ever see her again? Would she care for him? What would +be the end of all this terrible suspense? Those remote forebodings +of evils, formless, shadowy, ineffable, which have harried the +lover's heart since time began, crowded all pleasant anticipations +out of his mind. + +Clark, in passing hurriedly from company to company around the +line, stopped for a little while when he found Beverley. + +"Have you plenty of ammunition?" was his first inquiry. + +"A mighty sight more'n we kin see to shoot with," spoke up Oncle +Jazon. "It's a right smart o' dad burn foolishness to be wastin' +it on nothin'; seems like to me 'at we'd better set the dasted +fort afire an' smoke the skunks out!" + +"Speak when you are spoken to, my man," said the Colonel a trifle +hotly, and trying by a sharp scrutiny to make him out in the gloom +where he crouched. + +"Ventrebleu! I'm not askin' YOU, Colonel Clark, nor no other man, +when I shill speak. I talks whenever I gits ready, an' I shoots +jes' the same way. So ye'd better go on 'bout yer business like a +white man! Close up yer own whopper jawed mouth, ef ye want +anything shet up!" + +"Oho! is that you, Jazon? You're so little I didn't know you! +Certainly, talk your whole damned under jaw off, for all I care," +Clark replied, assuming a jocose tone. Then turning again to +Beverley: "Keep up the firing and the noise; the fort will be ours +in the morning." + +"What's the use of waiting till morning?" Beverley demanded with +impatience. "We can tear that stockade to pieces with our hands in +half an hour." + +"I don't think so, Lieutenant. It is better to play for the sure +thing. Keep up the racket, and be ready for 'em if they rush out. +We must not fail to capture the hair-buyer General." + +He passed on, with something cheerful to say whenever he found a +squad of his devoted men. He knew how to humor and manage those +independent and undisciplined yet heroically brave fellows. What +to see and hear, what to turn aside as a joke, what to insist upon +with inflexible mastery, he knew by the fine instantaneous sense +of genius. There were many men of Oncle Jazon's cast, true as +steel, but refractory as flint, who could not be dominated by any +person, no matter of what stamp or office. To them an order was an +insult; but a suggestion pleased and captured them. Strange as it +may seem, theirs was the conquering spirit of America--the spirit +which has survived every turn of progress and built up the great +body of our independence. + +Beverley submitted to Clark's plan with what patience he could, +and all night long fired shot for shot with the best riflemen in +his squad. It was a fatiguing performance, with apparently little +result beyond forcing the garrison now and again to close the +embrasures. thus periodically silencing the cannon. Toward the +close of the night a relaxation showed itself in the shouting and +firing all round the line. Beverley's men, especially the creoles, +held out bravely in the matter of noise; but even they flagged at +length, their volatility simmering down to desultory bubbling and +half sleepy chattering and chaffing. + +Beverley leaned upon a rude fence, and for a time neglected to +reload his hot rifle. Of course he was thinking of Alice,--he +really could not think in any other direction; but it gave him a +shock and a start when he presently heard her name mentioned by a +little Frenchman near him on the left. + +"There'll never be another such a girl in Post Vincennes as Alice +Roussillon," the fellow said in the soft creole patois, "and to +think of her being shot like a dog!" + +"And by a man who calls himself a Governor, too!" said another. +"Ah, as for myself, I'm in favor of burning him alive when we +capture him. That's me!" + +"Et moi aussi," chimed in a third voice. "That poor girl must be +avenged. The man who shot her must die. Holy Virgin, but if +Gaspard Roussillon were only here!" + +"But he is here; I saw him just after dark. He was in great +fighting temper, that terrible man. Ouf! but I should not like to +be Colonel Hamilton and fall in the way of that Gaspard +Roussillon!" + +"Morbleu! I should say not. You may leave me out of a chance like +that! I shouldn't mind seeing Gaspard handle the Governor, though. +Ah, that would be too good! He'd pay him up for shooting +Mademoiselle Alice." + +Beverley could scarcely hold himself erect by the fence; the +smoky, foggy landscape swam round him heavy and strange. He +uttered a groan, which brought Oncle Jazon to his side in a hurry. + +"Qu' avez-vous? What's the matter?" the old man demanded with +quick sympathy. "Hev they hit ye? Lieutenant, air ye hurt much?" + +Beverley did not hear the old man's words, did not feel his kindly +touch. + +"Alice! Alice!" he murmured, "dead, dead!" + +"Ya-as," drawled Oncle Jazon, "I hearn about it soon as I got +inter town. It's a sorry thing, a mighty sorry thing. But mebby I +won't do a little somepin' to that--" + +Beverley straightened himself and lifted his gun, forgetting that +he had not reloaded it since firing last. He leveled it at the +fort and touched the trigger. Simultaneously with his movement an +embrasure opened and a cannon flashed, its roar flanked on either +side by a crackling of British muskets. Some bullets struck the +fence and flung splinters into Oncle Jazon's face. A cannon ball +knocked a ridge pole from the roof of a house hard by, and sent it +whirling through the air. + +"Ventrebleu!--et apres? What the devil next? Better knock a +feller's eyes out!" the old man cried. "I ain't a doin' nothin' to +ye!" + +He capered around rubbing his leathery face after the manner of a +scalded monkey. Beverley was struck in the breast by a flattened +and spent ball that glanced from a fence-picket. The shock caused +him to stagger and drop his gun; but he quickly picked it up and +turned to his companion. + +"Are you hurt, Oncle Jazon?" he inquired. "Are you hurt?" + +"Not a bit--jes' skeert mos' into a duck fit. Thought a cannon +ball had knocked my whole dang face down my throat! Nothin' but a +handful o' splinters in my poorty count'nance, makin' my head feel +like a porc'-pine. But I sort o' thought I heard somepin' give +you a diff." + +"Something did hit me," said Beverley, laying a hand on his +breast, "but I don't think it was a bullet. They seem to be +getting our range at last. Tell the men to keep well under cover. +They must not expose themselves until we are ready to charge." + +The shock had brought him back to his duty as a leader of his +little company, and with the funeral bell of all his life's +happiness tolling in his agonized heart he turned afresh to +directing the fire upon the block-house. + +About this time a runner came from Clark with an order to cease +firing and let a returning party of British scouts under Captain +Lamothe re-enter the fort unharmed. A strange order it seemed to +both officers and men; but it was implicitly obeyed. Clark's +genius here made another fine strategic flash. He knew that unless +he let the scouts go back into the stockade they would escape by +running away, and might possibly organize an army of Indians with +which to succor Hamilton. But if they were permitted to go inside +they could be captured with the rest of the garrison; hence his +order. + +A few minutes passed in dead silence; then Captain Lamothe and his +party marched close by where Beverley's squad was lying concealed. +It was a difficult task to restrain the creoles, for some of them +hated Lamothe. Oncle Jazon squirmed like a snake while they filed +past all unaware that an enemy lurked so near. When they reached +the fort, ladders were put down for them and they began to clamber +over the wall, crowding and pushing one another in wild haste. +Oncle Jazon could hold in no longer. + +"Ya! ya! ya I" he yelled. "Look out! the ladder is a fallin' wi' +ye!" + +Then all the lurking crowd shouted as one man, and, sure enough, +down came a ladder--men and all in a crashing heap. + +"Silence! silence!" Beverley commanded; but he could not check the +wild jeering and laughing, while the bruised and frightened scouts +hastily erected their ladder again, fairly tumbling over one +another in their haste to ascend, and so cleared the wall, falling +into the stockade to join the garrison. + +"Ventrebleu!" shrieked Oncle Jazon. "They've gone to bed; but +we'll wake 'em up at the crack o' day an' give 'em a breakfas' o' +hot lead!" + +Now the fighting was resumed with redoubled spirit and noise, and +when morning came, affording sufficient light to bring out the +"bead sights" on the Kentucky rifles, the matchless marksmen in +Clark's band forced the British to close the embrasures and +entirely cease trying to use their cannon; but the fight with +small arms went merrily on until the middle of the forenoon. + +Meantime Gaspard Roussillon had tied Francis Maisonville's hands +fast and hard with the strap of his bullet-pouch. + +"Now, I'll scalp you," he said in a rumbling tone, terrible to +hear. And with his words out came his hunting knife from its +sheath. + +"O have mercy, my dear Monsieur Roussillon!" cried the panting +captive; "have mercy!" + +"Mercy! yes, like your Colonel's, that's what you'll get. You +stand by that forban, that scelerat, that bandit, and help him. +Oh, yes, you'll get mercy! Yes, the same mercy that he showed to +my poor little Alice! Your scalp, Monsieur, if you please! A small +matter; it won't hurt much!" + +"But, for the sake of old friendship, Gaspard, for the sake--" + +"Ziff! poor little Alice!" + +"But I swear to you that I--" + +"Tout de meme, Monsieur, je vais vous scalper maintenant." + +In fact he had taken off a part of Maisonville's scalp, when a +party of soldiers, among whom was Maisonville's brother, a brave +fellow and loyal to the American cause, were attracted by his +cries and came to his rescue. + +M. Roussillon struggled savagely, insisting upon completing his +cruel performance; but he was at last overpowered, partly by brute +force and partly by the pleading of Maisonville's brother, and +made to desist. The big man wept with rage when he saw the +bleeding prisoner protected. "Eh bien! I'll keep what I've got," +he roared, "and I'll take the rest of it next time." + +He shook the tuft of hair at Maisonville and glared like a mad +bull. + +Two or three other members of Lamothe's band were captured about +the same time by some of the French militiamen; and Clark, when on +his round cheering and directing his forces, discovered that these +prisoners were being used as shields. Some young creoles, gay with +drink and the stimulating effect of fight, had bound the poor +fellows and were firing from behind them! Of course the commander +promptly put an end to this cruelty; but they considered it +exquisite fun while it lasted. It was in broad daylight, and they +knew that the English in the fort could see what they were doing. + +"It's shameful to treat prisoners in this way," said Clark. "I +will not permit it. Shoot the next man that offers to do such a +thing!" + +One of the creole youths, a handsome, swarthy Adonis in buckskin, +tossed his shapely head with a debonair smile and said: + +"To be sure, mon Colonel! but what have they been doing to us? We +have amused them all winter; it's but fair that they should give +us a little fun now." + +Clark shrugged his broad shoulders and passed on. He understood +perfectly what the people of Vincennes had suffered under +Hamilton's brutal administration. + +At nine o'clock an order was passed to cease firing, and a flag of +truce was seen going from Clark's headquarters to the fort. It was +a peremptory demand for unconditional surrender. Hamilton refused, +and fighting was fiercely resumed from behind rude breastworks +meantime erected. Every loop-hole and opening of whatever sort was +the focus into which the unerring backwoods rifles sent their +deadly bullets. Men began to fall in the fort, and every moment +Hamilton expected an assault in force on all sides of the +stockade. This, if successful, would mean inevitable massacre. +Clark had warned him of the terrible consequences of holding out +until the worst should come. "For," said he in his note to the +Governor, "if I am obliged to storm, you may depend upon such +treatment as is justly due to a murderer." + +Historians have wondered why Hamilton became so excited and acted +so strangely after receiving the note. The phrase, "justly due to +a murderer," is the key to the mystery. When he read it his heart +sank and a terrible fear seized him. "Justly due to a murderer!" +ah, that calm, white, beautiful girlish face, dead in the +moonlight, with the wisp of shining hair across it! "Such +treatment as is justly due to a murderer!" Cold drops of sweat +broke out on his forehead and a shiver went through his body. + +During the truce Clark's weary yet still enthusiastic besiegers +enjoyed a good breakfast prepared for them by the loyal dames of +Vincennes. Little Adrienne Bourcier was one of the handmaidens of +the occasion. She brought to Beverley's squad a basket, almost as +large as herself, heaped high with roasted duck and warm wheaten +bread, while another girl bore two huge jugs of coffee, fragrant +and steaming hot. The men cheered them lustily and complimented +them without reserve, so that before their service was over their +faces were glowing with delight + +And yet Adrienne's heart was uneasy, and full of longing to hear +something of Rene de Ronville. Surely some one of her friends must +know something about him. Ah, there was Oncle Jazon! Doubtless he +could tell her all that she wanted to know. She lingered, after +the food was distributed, and shyly inquired. + +"Hain't seed the scamp," said Oncle Jazon, only he used the patois +most familiar to the girl's ear. "Killed an' scelped long ago, I +reckon." + +His mouth was so full that he spoke mumblingly and with utmost +difficulty. Nor did he glance at Adrienne, whose face took on as +great pallor as her brown complexion could show. + +Beverley ate but little of the food. He sat apart on a piece of +timber that projected from the rough breastwork and gave himself +over to infinite misery of spirit, which was trebled when he took +Alice's locket from his bosom, only to discover that the bullet +which struck him had almost entirely destroyed the face of the +miniature. + +He gripped the dinted and twisted case and gazed at it with the +stare of a blind man. His heart almost ceased to beat and his +breath had the rustling sound we hear when a strong man dies of a +sudden wound. Somehow the defacement of the portrait was taken by +his soul as the final touch of fate, signifying that Alice was +forever and completely obliterated from his life. He felt a blur +pass over his mind. He tried in vain to recall the face and form +so dear to him; he tried to imagine her voice; but the whole +universe was a vast hollow silence. For a long while he was cold, +staring, rigid; then the inevitable collapse came, and he wept as +only a strong man can who is hurt to death, yet cannot die. + +Adrienne approached him, thinking to speak to him about Rene; but +he did not notice her, and she went her way, leaving beside him a +liberal supply of food. + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ALICE'S FLAG + + +Governor Hamilton received the note sent him by Colonel Clark and +replied to it with curt dignity; but his heart was quaking. As a +soldier he was true to the military tradition, and nothing could +have induced him to surrender his command with dishonor. + +"Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton," he wrote to Clark, "begs leave to +acquaint Colonel Clark that he and his garrison are not disposed +to be awed into any action unworthy of British subjects." + +"Very brave words," said Helm, when Hamilton read the note to him, +"but you'll sing a milder tune before many minutes, or you and +your whole garrison will perish in a bloody heap. Listen to those +wild yells! Clark has enough men to eat you all up for breakfast. +You'd better be reasonable and prudent. It's not bravery to court +massacre." + +Hamilton turned away without a word and sent the message; but Helm +saw that he was excited, and could be still further wrought up. + +"You are playing into the hands of your bitterest enemies, the +frog-eaters," he went on. "These creoles, over whom you've held a +hot poker all winter, are crazy to be turned loose upon you; and +you know that they've got good cause to feel like giving you the +extreme penalty. They'll give it to you without a flinch if they +get the chance. You've done enough." + +Hamilton whirled about and glared ferociously. + +"Helm, what do you mean?" he demanded in a voice as hollow as it +was full of desperate passion. + +The genial Captain laughed, as if he had heard a good joke. + +"You won't catch any fish if you swear, and you look blasphemous," +he said with the lightness of humor characteristic of him at all +times. "You'd better say a prayer or two. Just reflect a moment +upon the awful sins you have committed and--" + +A crash of coalescing volleys from every direction broke off his +levity. Clark was sending his response to Hamilton's lofty note. +The guns of freedom rang out a prophecy of triumph, and the +hissing bullets clucked sharply as they entered the solid logs of +the walls or whisked through an aperture and bowled over a man. +The British musketeers returned the fire as best they could, with +a courage and a stubborn coolness which Helm openly admired, +although he could not hide his satisfaction whenever one of them +was disabled. + +"Lamothe and his men are refusing to obey orders," said Farnsworth +a little later, hastily approaching Hamilton, his face flushed and +a gleam of hot anger in his eyes. "They're in a nasty mood; I can +do nothing with them; they have not fired a shot." + +"Mutiny?" Hamilton demanded. + +"Not just that. They say they do not wish to fire on their kinsmen +and friends. They are all French, you know, and they see their +cousins, brothers, uncles and old acquaintances out there in +Clark's rabble. I can do nothing with them." + +"Shoot the scoundrels, then!" + +"It will be a toss up which of us will come out on top if we try +that. Besides, if we begin a fight inside, the Americans will make +short work of us." + +"Well, what in hell are we to do, then?" + +"Oh, fight, that's all," said Farnsworth apathetically turning to +a small loop-hole and leveling a field glass through it. "We might +make a rush from the gates and stampede them," he presently added. +Then he uttered an exclamation of great surprise. + +"There's Lieutenant Beverley out there," he exclaimed. + +"You're mistaken, you're excited," Hamilton half sneeringly +remarked, yet not without a shade of uneasiness in his expression. +"You forget, sir." + +"Look for yourself, it's easily settled," and Farnsworth proffered +the glass. "He's there, to a certainty, sir." + +"I saw Beverley an hour ago," said Helm. "I knew all the time that +he'd be on hand." + +It was a white lie. Captain Helm was as much surprised as his +captors at what he heard; but he could not resist the temptation +to be annoying. + +Hamilton looked as Farnsworth directed, and sure enough, there was +the young Virginian Lieutenant, standing on a barricade, his hat +off, cheering his men with a superb show of zeal. Not a hair of +his head was missing, so far as the glass could be relied upon to +show. + +Oncle Jazon's quick old eyes saw the gleam of the telescope tube +in the loop-hole. + +"I never could shoot much," he muttered, and then a little bullet +sped with absolute accuracy from his disreputable looking rifle +and shattered the object-lens, just as Hamilton moved to withdraw +the glass, uttering an ejaculation of intense excitement. + +"Such devils of marksmen!" said he, and his face was haggard. +"That infernal Indian lied." + +"I could have told you all the time that the scalp Long-Hair +brought to you was not Beverley's," said Helm indifferently. "I +recognized Lieutenant Barlow's hair as soon as I saw it." + +This was another piece of off-hand romance. Helm did not dream +that he was accidentally sketching a horrible truth. + +"Barlow's!" exclaimed Farnsworth. + +"Yes, Barlow's, no mistake--" + +Two more men reeled from a port-hole, the blood spinning far out +of their wounds. Indeed, through every aperture in the walls the +bullets were now humming like mad hornets. + +"Close that port-hole!" stormed Hamilton; then turning to +Farnsworth he added: "We cannot endure this long. Shut up every +place large enough for a bullet to get through. Go all around, +give strict orders to all. See that the men do not foolishly +expose themselves. Those ruffians out there have located every +crack." + +His glimpse of Beverley and the sinister remark of Helm had +completely unmanned him before his men fell. Now it rushed upon +him that if he would escape the wrath of the maddened creoles and +the vengeance of Alice's lover, he must quickly throw himself upon +the mercy of Clark. It was his only hope. He chafed inwardly, but +bore himself with stern coolness. He presently sought Farnsworth, +pulled him aside and suggested that something must be done to +prevent an assault and a massacre. The sounds outside seemed to +forebode a gathering for a desperate rush, and in his heart he +felt all the terrors of awful anticipation. + +"We are completely at their mercy, that is plain," he said, +shrugging his shoulders and gazing at the wounded men writhing in +their agony. "What do you suggest?" + +Captain Farnsworth was a shrewd officer. He recollected that +Philip Dejean, justice of Detroit, was on his way down the Wabash +from that post, and probably near at hand, with a flotilla of men +and supplies. Why not ask for a few days of truce? It could do no +harm, and if agreed to, might be their salvation. Hamilton jumped +at the thought, and forthwith drew up a note which he sent out +with a white flag. Never before in all his military career had he +been so comforted by a sudden cessation of fighting. His soul +would grovel in spite of him. Alice's cold face now had Beverley's +beside it in his field of inner vision--a double assurance of +impending doom, it seemed to him. + +There was short delay in the arrival of Colonel Clark's reply, +hastily scrawled on a bit of soiled paper. The request for a truce +was flatly refused; but the note closed thus: + +"If Mr. Hamilton is Desirous of a Conferance with Col. Clark he +will meet him at the Church with Captn. Helms." + +The spelling was not very good, and there was a redundancy of +capital letters; yet Hamilton understood it all; and it was very +difficult for him to conceal his haste to attend the proposed +conference. But he was afraid to go to the church--the thought +chilled him. He could not face Father Beret, who would probably be +there. And what if there should be evidences of the funeral?--what +if?--he shuddered and tried to break away from the vision in his +tortured brain. + +He sent a proposition to Clark to meet him on the esplanade before +the main gate of the fort; but Clark declined, insisting upon the +church. And thither he at last consented to go. It was an immense +brace to his spirit to have Helm beside him during that walk, +which, although but eighty yards in extent, seemed to him a matter +of leagues. On the way he had to pass near the new position taken +up by Beverley and his men. It was a fine test of nerve, when the +Lieutenant's eyes met those of the Governor. Neither man permitted +the slightest change of countenance to betray his feelings. In +fact, Beverley's face was as rigid as marble; he could not have +changed it. + +But with Oncle Jazon it was a different affair. He had no dignity +to preserve, no fine military bearing to sustain, no terrible tug +of conscience, no paralyzing grip of despair on his heart. When he +saw Hamilton going by, bearing himself so superbly, it affected +the French volatility in his nature to such an extent that his +tongue could not be controlled. + +"Va t'en, bete, forban, meurtrier! Skin out f'om here! beast, +robber, murderer!" he cried, in his keen screech-owl voice. "I'll +git thet scelp o' your'n afore sundown, see 'f I don't! Ye onery +gal-killer an' ha'r buyer!" + +The blood in Hamilton's veins caught no warmth from these remarks; +but he held his head high and passed stolidly on, as if he did not +hear a word. Helm turned the tail of an eye upon Oncle Jazon and +gave him a droll, quizzical wink of approval. In response the old +man with grotesque solemnity drew his buckhorn handled knife, +licked its blade and returned it to its sheath,--a bit of +pantomime well understood and keenly enjoyed by the onlooking +creoles. + +"Putois! coquin!" they jeered, "goujat! poltron!" + +Beverley heard the taunting racket, but did not realize it, which +was well enough, for he could not have restrained the bitter +effervescence. He stood like a statue, gazing fixedly at the now +receding figure, the lofty, cold-faced man in whom centered his +hate of hates. Clark had requested him to be present at the +conference in the church; but he declined, feeling that he could +not meet Hamilton and restrain himself. Now he regretted his +refusal, half wishing that--no, he could not assassinate an enemy +under a white flag. In his heart he prayed that there would be no +surrender, that Hamilton would reject every offer. To storm the +fort and revel in butchering its garrison seemed the only +desirable thing left for him in life. + +Father Beret was, indeed, present at the church, as Hamilton had +dreaded; and the two duelists gave each other a rapier-like eye- +thrust. Neither spoke, however, and Clark immediately demanded a +settlement of the matter in hand. He was brusque and imperious to +a degree, apparently rather anxious to repel every peaceful +advance. + +It was a laconic interview, crisp as autumn ice and bitter as +gallberries. Colonel Clark had no respect whatever for Hamilton, +to whom he had applied the imperishable adjective "hair-buyer +General." On the other hand Governor Hamilton, who felt keenly the +disgrace of having to equalize himself officially and discuss +terms of surrender with a rough backwoodsman, could not conceal +his contempt of Clark. + +The five men of history, Hamilton, Helm, Hay, Clark and Bowman, +were not distinguished diplomats. They went at their work rather +after the hammer-and-tongs fashion. Clark bluntly demanded +unconditional surrender. Hamilton refused. They argued the matter. +Helm put in his oar, trying to soften the situation, as was his +custom on all occasions, and received from Clark a stinging +reprimand, with the reminder that he was nothing but a prisoner on +parole, and had no voice at all in settling the terms of +surrender. + +"I release him, sir," said Hamilton. "He is no longer a prisoner. +I am quite willing to have Captain Helm join freely in our +conference." + +"And I refuse to permit his acceptance of your favor," responded +Clark. "Captain Helm, you will return with Mr. Hamilton to the +fort and remain his captive until I free you by force. Meantime +hold your tongue." + +Father Beret, suave looking and quiet, occupied himself at the +little altar, apparently altogether indifferent to what was being +said; but he lost not a word of the talk. + +"Qui habet aures audiendi, audiat," he inwardly repeated, smiling +blandly. "Gaudete in illa die, et exultate!" + +Hamilton rose to go; deep lines of worry creased his face; but +when the party had passed outside, he suddenly turned upon Clark +and said: + +"Why do you demand impossible terms of me?" + +"I will tell you, sir," was the stern answer, in a tone in which +there was no mercy or compromise. "I would rather have you refuse. +I desire nothing so much as an excuse to wreak full and bloody +vengeance on every man in that fort who has engaged in the +business of employing savages to scalp brave, patriotic men and +defenseless women and children. The cries of the widows and the +fatherless on our frontiers require the blood of the Indian +partisans at my hands. If you choose to risk the massacre of your +garrison to save those despicable red-handed partisans, have your +pleasure. What you have done you know better than I do. I have a +duty to perform. You may be able to soften its nature. I may take +it into my head to send for some of our bereaved women to witness +my terrible work and see that it is well done, if you insist upon +the worst." + +Major Hay, who was Hamilton's Indian agent, now, with some +difficulty clearing his throat, spoke up. + +"Pray, sir," said he, "who is it that you call Indian partisans?" +"Sir," replied Clark, seeing that his words had gone solidly home, +"I take Major Hay to be one of the principals." + +This seemed to strike Hay with deadly force, dark's report says +that he was "pale and trembling, scarcely able to stand," and that +"Hamilton blushed, and, I observed, was much affected at his +behavior. "Doubtless, if the doughty American commander had known +more about the Governor's feelings just then, he would have added +that an awful fear, even greater than the Indian agent's, did more +than anything else to congest the veins in his face. + +The parties separated without reaching an agreement; but the end +had come. The terror in Hamilton's soul was doubled by a wild +scene enacted under the walls of his fort; a scene which, having +no proper place in this story, strong as its historical interest +unquestionably is, must be but outlined. A party of Indians +returning from a scalping expedition in Kentucky and along the +Ohio, was captured on the outskirts of the town by some of Clark's +men, who proceeded to kill and scalp them within full view of the +beleaguered garrison, after which their mangled bodies were flung +into the river. + +If the British commander needed further wine of dread to fill his +cup withal, it was furnished by ostentatious marshaling of the +American forces for a general assault. His spirit broke +completely, so that it looked like a godsend to him when Clark +finally offered terms of honorable surrender, the consummation of +which was to be postponed until the following morning. He accepted +promptly, appending to the articles of capitulation the following +reasons for his action: "The remoteness from succor; the state and +quantity of provisions, etc.; unanimity of officers and men in its +expediency; the honorable terms allowed; and, lastly, the +confidence in a generous enemy." + +Confidence in a generous enemy! Abject fear of the vengeance just +wreaked upon his savage emissaries would have been the true +statement. Beverley read the paper when Clark sent for him; but he +could not join in the extravagant delight of his fellow officers +and their brave men. What did all this victory mean to him? +Hamilton to be treated as an honorable prisoner of war, permitted +to strut forth from the feat with his sword at his side, his head +up--the scalp-buyer, the murderer of Alice! What was patriotism +to the crushed heart of a lover? Even if his vision had been able +to pierce the future and realize the splendor of Anglo-Saxon +civilization which was to follow that little triumph at Vincennes, +what pleasure could it have afforded him? Alice, Alice, only +Alice; no other thought had influence, save the recurring surge of +desire for vengeance upon her murderer. + +And yet that night Beverley slept, and so forgot his despair for +many hours, even dreamed a pleasant dream of home, where his +childhood was spent, of the stately old house on the breezy hill- +top overlooking a sunny plantation, with a little river lapsing +and shimmering through it. His mother's dear arms were around him, +her loving breath stirred his hair; and his stalwart, gray-headed +father sat on the veranda comfortably smoking his pipe, while away +in the wide fields the negroes sang at the plow and the hoe. +Sweeter and sweeter grew the scene, softer the air, tenderer the +blending sounds of the water-murmur, leaf-rustle, bird-song, and +slave-song, until hand in hand he wandered with Alice in greening +groves, where the air was trembling with the ecstacy of spring. + +A young officer awoke him with an order from Clark to go on duty +at once with Captains Worthington and Williams, who, under Colonel +Clark himself, were to take possession of the fort. Mechanically +he obeyed. The sun was far up, shining between clouds of a leaden, +watery hue, by the time everything was ready for the important +ceremony. Beside the main gate of the stockade two companies of +patriots under Bowman and McCarty were drawn up as guards, while +the British garrison filed out and was taken in charge. This bit +of formality ended, Governor Hamilton, attended by some of his +officers, went back into the fort and the gate was closed. + +Clark now gave orders that preparations be made for hauling down +the British flag and hoisting the young banner of liberty in its +place, when everything should be ready for a salute of thirteen +guns from the captured battery. + +Helm's round face was beaming. Plainly it showed that his +happiness was supreme. He dared not say anything, however; for +Clark was now all sternness and formality; it would be dangerous +to take any liberties; but he could smile and roll his quid of +tobacco from cheek to cheek. + +Hamilton and Farnsworth, the latter slightly wounded in the left +arm, which was bandaged, stood together somewhat apart from their +fellow officers, while preliminary steps for celebrating their +defeat and capture were in progress. They looked forlorn enough to +have excited deep sympathy under fairer conditions. + +Outside the fort the creoles were beginning a noise of jubilation. +The rumor of what was going to be done had passed from mouth to +mouth, until every soul in the town knew and thrilled with +expectancy. Men, women and children came swarming to see the +sight, and to hear at close range the crash of the cannon. They +shouted, in a scattering way at first, then the tumult grew +swiftly to a solid rolling tide that seemed beyond all comparison +with the population of Vincennes. Hamilton heard it, and trembled +inwardly, afraid lest the mob should prove too strong for the +guard. + +One leonine voice roared distinctly, high above the noise. It was +a sound familiar to all the creoles,--that bellowing shout of +Gaspard Roussillon's. He was roaming around the stockade, having +been turned back by the guard when he tried to pass through the +main gate. + +"They shut me out!" he bellowed furiously. "I am Gaspard +Roussillon, and they shut me out, me! Ziff! me voici! je vais +entrer immediatement, moi!" + +He attracted but little attention, however; the people and the +soldiery were all too excited by the special interest of the +occasion, and too busy with making a racket of their own, for any +individual, even the great Roussillon, to gain their eyes or ears. +He in turn scarcely heard the tumult they made, so self-centered +were his burning thoughts and feelings. A great occasion in +Vincennes and he, Gaspard Roussillon, not recognized as one of the +large factors in it! Ah, no, never! And he strode along the wall +of the stockade, turning the corners and heavily shambling over +the inequalities till he reached the postern. It was not fastened, +some one having passed through just before him. + +"Ziff!" he ejaculated, stepping into the area and shaking himself +after the manner of a dusty mastiff. "C'est moi! Gaspard +Roussillon!" His massive under jaw was set like that of a vise, +yet it quivered with rage, a rage which was more fiery +condensation of self-approval than anger. + +Outside the shouting, singing and huzzahs gathered strength and +volume, until the sound became a hoarse roar. Clark was uneasy; he +had overheard much of a threatening character during the siege. +The creoles were, he knew, justly exasperated, and even his own +men had been showing a spirit which might easily be fanned into a +dangerous flame of vengeance. He was very anxious to have the +formalities of taking possession of the fort over with, so that he +could the better control his forces. Sending for Beverley he +assigned him to the duty of hauling down the British flag and +running up that of Virginia. It was an honor of no doubtful sort, +which under different circumstances would have made the +Lieutenant's heart glow. As it was, he proceeded without any sense +of pride or pleasure, moving as a mere machine in performing an +act significant beyond any other done west of the mountains, in +the great struggle for American independence and the control of +American territory. + +Hamilton stood a little way from the foot of the tall flag-pole, +his arms folded on his breast, his chin slightly drawn in, his +brows contracted, gazing steadily at Beverley while he was untying +the halyard, which had been wound around the pole's base about +three feet above the ground. The American troops in the fort were +disposed so as to form three sides of a hollow square, facing +inward. Oncle Jazon, serving as the ornamental extreme of one +line, was conspicuous for his outlandish garb and unmilitary +bearing. The silence inside the stockade offered a strong contrast +to the tremendous roar of voices outside. Clark made a signal, and +at the tap of a drum, Beverley shook the ropes loose and began to +lower the British colors. Slowly the bright emblem of earth's +mightiest nation crept down in token of the fact that a handful of +back-woodsmen had won an empire by a splendid stroke of pure +heroism. Beverley detached the flag, and saluting, handed it to +Colonel Clark. Hamilton's breast heaved and his iron jaws +tightened their pressure until the lines of his cheeks were deep +furrows of pain. + +Father Beret, who had just been admitted, quietly took a place at +one side near the wall. There was a fine, warm, benignant smile on +his old face, yet his powerful shoulders drooped as if weighted +down with a heavy load. Hamilton was aware when he entered, and +instantly the scene of their conflict came into his memory with +awful vividness, and he saw Alice lying outstretched, stark and, +cold, the shining strand of hair fluttering across her pallid +cheek. Her ghost overshadowed him. + +Just then there was a bird-like movement, a wing-like rustle, and +a light figure flitted swiftly across the area. All eyes were +turned upon it. Hamilton recoiled, as pale as death, half lifting +his hands, as if to ward off a deadly blow, and then a gay flag +was flung out over his head. He saw before him the girl he had +shot; but her beautiful face was not waxen now, nor was it cold or +lifeless. The rich red blood was strong under the browned, yet +delicate skin, the eyes were bright and brave, the cherry lips, +slightly apart, gave a glimpse of pearl white teeth, and the +dimples,--those roguish dimples,--twinkled sweetly. + +Colonel Clark looked on in amazement, and in spite of himself, in +admiration. He did not understand; the sudden incident bewildered +him; but his virile nature was instantly and wholly charmed. +Something like a breath of violets shook the tenderest chords of +his heart. + +Alice stood firmly, a statue of triumph, her right arm +outstretched, holding the flag high above Hamilton's head; and +close by her side the little hunchback Jean was posed in his most +characteristic attitude, gazing at the banner which he himself had +stolen and kept hidden for Alice's sake, and because he loved it. + +There was a dead silence for some moments, during which Hamilton's +face showed that he was ready to collapse; then the keen voice of +Oncle Jazon broke forth: + +"Vive Zhorzh Vasinton! Vim la banniere d'Alice Roussillon!" + +He sprang to the middle of the area and flung his old cap high in +air, with a shrill war-whoop. + +"H'ist it! h'ist it! hissez la banniere de Mademoiselle Alice +Roussillon! Voila, que c'est glorieuse, cette banniere la! H'ist +it! h'ist it!" + +He was dancing with a rickety liveliness, his goatish legs and +shriveled body giving him the look of an emaciated satyr. + +Clark had been told by some of his creole officers the story of +how Alice raised the flag when Helm took the fort, and how she +snatched it from Hamilton's hand, as it were, and would not give +it up when he demanded it. The whole situation pretty soon began +to explain itself, as he saw what Alice was doing. Then he heard +her say to Hamilton, while she slowly swayed the rippling flag +back and forth: + +"I said, as you will remember, Monsieur le Gouverneur, that when +you next should see this flag, I should wave it over your head. +Well, look, I am waving it! Vive la republique! Vive George +Washington! What do you think of it, Monsieur le Gouverneur?" + +The poor little hunchback Jean took off his cap and tossed it in +rhythmical emphasis, keeping time to her words. + +And now from behind the hollow square came a mighty voice: + +"C'est moi, Gaspard Roussillon; me voici, messieurs!" + +There was a spirit in the air which caught from Alice a thrill of +romantic energy. The men in the ranks and the officers in front of +them felt a wave of irresistible sympathy sweep through their +hearts. Her picturesque beauty, her fine temper, the fitness of +the incident to the occasion, had an instantaneous power which +moved all men alike. + +"Raise her flag! Run up the young lady's flag!" some one shouted, +and then every voice seemed to echo the words. Clark was a young +man of noble type, in whose veins throbbed the warm chivalrous +blood of the cavaliers. A waft of the suddenly prevailing +influence bore him also quite off his feet. He turned to Beverley +and said: + +"Do it! It will have a great effect. It is a good idea; get the +young lady's flag and her permission to run it up." + +Before he finished speaking, indeed at the first glance, he saw +that Beverley, like Hamilton, was white as a dead man; and at the +same time it came to his memory that his young friend had confided +to him during the awful march through the prairie wilderness, a +love-story about this very Alice Roussillon. In the worry and +stress of the subsequent struggle, he had forgotten the tender +basis upon which Beverley had rested his excuse for leaving +Vincennes. Now, it all reappeared in justification of what was +going on. It touched the romantic core of his southern nature. + +"I say, Lieutenant Beverley," he repeated, "beg the young lady's +permission to use her flag upon this glorious occasion; or shall I +do it for you?" + +There were no miracles in those brave days, and the strain of life +with its terrible realities braced all men and women to meet +sudden explosions of surprise, whether of good or bad effect, with +admirable equipoise; but Beverley's trial, it must be admitted, +was extraordinary; still he braced himself quickly and his whole +expression changed when Clark moved to go to Alice. For he +realized now that it was, indeed, Alice in flesh and blood, +standing there, the center of admiration, filling the air with her +fine magnetism and crowning a great triumph with her beauty. He +gave her a glad, flashing smile, as if he had just discovered her, +and walked straight to her, his hands extended. She was not +looking toward him; but she saw him and turned to face him. Hers +was the advantage; for she had known, for some hours, of his +presence in Vincennes, and had prepared herself to meet him +courageously and with maidenly reserve. + +There is no safety, however, where Love lurks. Neither Beverley +nor Alice was as much agitated at Hamilton, yet they both forgot, +what he remembered, that a hundred grim frontier soldiers were +looking on. Hamilton had his personal and official dignity to +sustain, and he fairly did it, under what a pressure of +humiliating and surprising circumstances we can fully comprehend. +Not so with the two young people, standing as it were in a +suddenly bestowed and incomparable happiness, on the verge of a +new life, each to the other an unexpected, unhoped-for +resurrection from the dead. To them there was no universe save the +illimitable expanse of their love. In that moment of meeting, all +that they had suffered on account of love was transfused and +poured forth,--a glowing libation for love's sake,--a flood before +which all barriers broke. + +Father Beret was looking on with a strange fire in his eyes, and +what he feared would happen, did happen. Alice let the flag fall +at Hamilton's feet, when Beverley came near her smiling that +great, glad smile, and with a joyous cry leaped into his +outstretched arms. + +Jean snatched up the fallen banner and ran to Colonel Clark with +it. Two minutes later it was made fast and the halyard began to +squeak through the rude pulley at the top of the pole. Up, up, +climbed the gay little emblem of glory, while the cannon crashed +from the embrasures of the blockhouse hard by, and outside the +roar of voices redoubled. Thirteen guns boomed the salute, though +it should have been fourteen,--the additional one for the great +Northwestern Territory, that day annexed to the domain of the +young American Republic. The flag went up at old Vincennes never +to come down again, and when it reached its place at the top of +the staff, Beverley and Alice stood side by side looking at it, +while the sun broke through the clouds and flashed on its shining +folds, and love unabashed glorified the two strong young faces. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SOME TRANSACTIONS IN SCALPS + + +History would be a very orderly affair, could the dry-as-dust +historians have their way, and doubtless it would be thrillingly +romantic at every turn if the novelists were able to control its +current. Fortunately neither one nor the other has much influence, +and the result, in the long run, is that most novels are +shockingly tame, while the large body of history is loaded down +with picturesque incidents, which if used in fiction, would be +thought absurdly romantic and improbable. + +Were our simple story of old Vincennes a mere fiction, we should +hesitate to bring in the explosion of a magazine at the fort with +a view to sudden confusion and, by that means, distracting +attention from our heroine while she betakes herself out of a +situation which, although delightful enough for a blessed minute, +has quickly become an embarrassment quite unendurable. But we +simply adhere to the established facts in history. Owing to some +carelessness there was, indeed, an explosion of twenty-six six- +pound cartridges, which made a mighty roar and struck the newly +installed garrison into a heap, so to say, scattering things +terribly and wounding six men, among them Captains Bowman and +Worthington. + +After the thunderous crash came a momentary silence, which +embraced both the people within the fort and the wild crowd +outside. Then the rush and noise were indescribable. Even Clark +gave way to excitement, losing command of himself and, of course, +of his men. There was a stampede toward the main gate by one wing +of the troops in the hollow square. They literally ran over +Beverley and Alice, flinging them apart and jostling them hither +and yonder without mercy. Of course the turmoil quickly subsided. +Clark and Beverley got hold of themselves and sang out their +peremptory orders with excellent effect. It was like oil on raging +water; the men obeyed in a straggling way, getting back into ranks +as best they could. + +"Ventrebleu!" squeaked Oncle Jazon, "ef I didn't think the ole +world had busted into a million pieces!" + +He was jumping up and down not three feet from Beverley's toes, +waving his cap excitedly. + +"But wasn't I skeert! Ya, ya, ya! Vive la banniere d'Alice +Roussillon! Vive Zhorzh Vasinton!" + +Hearing Alice's name caused Beverley to look around. Where was +she? In the distance he saw Father Beret hurrying to the spot +where some of the men burnt and wounded by the explosion were +being stripped and cared for. Hamilton still stood like a statue. +He appeared to be the only cool person in the fort. + +"Where is Alice?--Miss Roussillon--where did Miss Roussillon go?" +Beverley exclaimed, staring around like a lost man. "Where is +she?" + +"D'know," said Oncle Jazon, resuming his habitual expression of +droll dignity, "she shot apast me jes' as thet thing busted loose, +an' she went like er hummin' bird, skitch!--jes' thet way--an' I +didn't see 'r no more. 'Cause I was skeert mighty nigh inter seven +fits; 'spect that 'splosion blowed her clean away! Ventrebleu! +never was so plum outen breath an' dead crazy weak o' bein' +afeard!" + +"Lieutenant Beverley," roared Clark in his most commanding tone, +"go to the gate and settle things there. That mob outside is +trying to break in!" + +The order was instantly obeyed, but Beverley had relapsed. Once +more his soul groped in darkness, while the whole of his life +seemed unreal, a wavering, misty, hollow dream. And yet his +military duty was all real enough. He knew just what to do when he +reached the gate. + +"Back there at once!" he commanded, not loudly, but with intense +force, "back there!" This to the inward surging wedge of excited +outsiders. Then to the guard. + +"Shoot the first man who crosses the line!" + +"Ziff! me voici! moi! Gaspard Roussillon. Laissez-moi passer, +messieurs." + +A great body hurled itself frantically past Beverley and the +guard, going out through the gateway against the wall of the +crowd, bearing everything before it and shouting: + +"Back, fools! you'll all be killed--the powder is on fire! Ziff! +run!" + +Wild as a March hare, he bristled with terror and foamed at the +mouth. He stampeded the entire mass. There was a wild howl; a rush +in the other direction followed, and soon enough the esplanade and +all the space back to the barricades and beyond were quite +deserted. + +Alice was not aware that a serious accident had happened. +Naturally she thought the great, rattling, crashing noise of the +explosion a mere part of the spectacular show. When the rush +followed, separating her and Beverley, it was a great relief to +her in some way; for a sudden recognition of the boldness of her +action in the little scene just ended, came over her and +bewildered her. An impulse sent her running away from the spot +where, it seemed to her, she had invited public derision. The +terrible noises all around her were, she now fancied, but the +jeering and hooting of rude men who had seen her unmaidenly +forwardness. + +With a burning face she flew to the postern and slipped out, once +more taking the course which had become so familiar to her feet. +She did not slacken her speed until she reached the Bourcier +cabin, where she had made her home since the night when Hamilton's +pistol ball struck her. The little domicile was quite empty of its +household, but Alice entered and flung herself into a chair, where +she sat quivering and breathless when Adrienne, also much excited, +came in, preceded by a stream of patois that sparkled +continuously. + +"The fort is blown up!" she cried, gesticulating in every +direction at once, her petite figure comically dilated with the +importance of her statement. "A hundred men are killed, and the +powder is on fire!" + +She pounced into Alice's arms, still talking as fast as her tongue +could vibrate, changing from subject to subject without rhyme or +reason, her prattle making its way by skips and shies until what +was really upper-most in her sweet little heart disclosed itself. + +"And, O Alice! Rene has not come yet!" + +She plunged her dusky face between Alice's cheek and shoulder; +Alice hugged her sympathetically and said: + +"But Rene will come, I know he will, dear." + +"Oh, but do you know it? is it true? who told you? when will he +come? where is he? tell me about him!" + +Her head popped up from her friend's neck and she smiled +brilliantly through the tears that were still sparkling on her +long black lashes. + +"I didn't mean that I had heard from him, and I don't know where +he is; but--but they always come back." + +"You say that because your man--because Lieutenant Beverley has +returned. It is always so. You have everything to make you happy, +while I--I--" + +Again her eyes spilled their shower, and she hid her face in her +hands which Alice tried in vain to remove. + +"Don't cry, Adrienne. You didn't see me crying--" + +"No, of course not; you didn't have a thing to cry about. +Lieutenant Beverley told you just where he was going and just +what--" + +"But think, Adrienne, only think of the awful story they told-- +that he was killed, that Governor Hamilton had paid Long-Hair for +killing him and bringing back his scalp--oh dear, just think! And +I thought it was true." + +"Well, I'd be willing to think and believe anything in the world, +if Rene would come back," said Adrienne, her face, now uncovered, +showing pitiful lines of suffering. "O Alice, Alice, and he never, +never will come!" + +Alice exhausted every device to cheer, encourage and comfort her. +Adrienne had been so good to her when she lay recovering from the +shock of Hamilton's pistol bullet, which, although it came near +killing her, made no serious wound--only a bruise, in fact. It was +one of those fortunate accidents, or providentially ordered +interferences, which once in a while save a life. The stone disc +worn by Alice chanced to lie exactly in the missile's way, and +while it was not broken, the ball, already somewhat checked by +passing through several folds of Father Beret's garments, +flattened itself upon it with a shock which somehow struck Alice +senseless. + +Here again, history in the form of an ancient family document (a +letter written in 1821 by Alice herself), gives us the curious +brace of incidents, to wit, the breaking of the miniature on +Beverley's breast by a British musket-ball, and the stopping of +Hamilton's bullet over Alice's heart by the Indian charm-stone. + +"Which shows the goodness of God," the letter goes on, "and also +seems to sustain the Indian legend concerning the stone, that +whoever might wear it could not be killed. Unquestionable (sic) +Mr. Hamilton's shot, which was aimed at poor, dear old Father +Beret, would have pierced my heart, but for that charm-stone. As +for my locket, it did not, as some have reported, save Fitzhugh's +life when the musket-ball was stopped. The ball was so spent that +the blow was only hard enough to spoil temporary (sic) the face of +the miniature, which was afterwards restored fairly well by an +artist in Paris. When it did actually save Fitzhugh's life was out +on the Illinois plain. The savage, Long-Hair, peace to his memory, +worked the miracle of restoring to me--" Here a fold in the paper +has destroyed a line of the writing. + +The letter is a sacred family paper, and there is not +justification for going farther into its faded and, in some parts, +almost obliterated writing. But so much may pass into these pages +as a pleasant authentication of what otherwise might be altogether +too sweet a double nut for the critic's teeth to crack. + +While Adrienne and Alice were still discussing the probability of +Rene de Ronville's return, M. Roussillon came to the door. He was +in search of Madame, his wife, whom he had not yet seen. + +He gathered the two girls in his mighty arms, tousling them with +rough tenderness. Alice returned his affectionate embrace and told +him where to find Madame Roussillon, who was with Dame Godere, +probably at her house. + +"Nobody killed," he said, in answer to Alice's inquiry about the +catastrophe at the fort. "Some of 'em hurt and burnt a little. +Great big scare about nearly nothing. Ziff! my children, you +should have seen me quiet things. I put out my hands, this way-- +omme ca--pouf! It was all over. The people went home." + +His gestures indicated that he had borne back an army with open +hands. Then he chucked Adrienne under the chin with his finger and +added in his softest voice: + +"I saw somebody's lover the other day, over yonder in the Indian +village. He spoke to me about somebody--eh, ma petite, que +voulez-vous dire?" + +"Oh, Papa Roussillon! we were just talking about Rene!" cried +Alice. "Have you seen him?" + +"I saw you, you little minx, jumping into a man's arms right under +the eyes of a whole garrison! Bah! I could not believe it was my +little Alice!" + +He let go a grand guffaw, which seemed to shake the cabin's walls. +Alice blushed cherry red. Adrienne, too bashful to inquire about +Rene, was trembling with anxiety. The truth was not in Gaspard +Roussillon, just then; or if it was it stayed in him, for he had +not seen Rene de Ronville. It was his generous desire to please +and to appear opulent of knowledge and sympathy that made him +speak. He knew what would please Adrienne, so why not give her at +least a delicious foretaste? Surely, when a thing was so cheap, +one need not be so parsimonious as to withhold a mere +anticipation. He was off before the girls could press him into +details, for indeed he had none. + +"There now, what did I tell you?" cried Alice, when the big man +was gone. "I told you Rene would come. They always come back!" + +Father Beret came in a little later. As soon as he saw Alice he +frowned and began to shake his head; but she only laughed, and +imitating his hypocritical scowl, yet fringing it with a twinkle +of merry lines and dimples, pointed a taper finger at him and +exclaimed: + +"You bad, bad, man! why did you pretend to me that Lieutenant +Beverley was dead? What sinister ecclesiastical motive prompted +you to describe how Long-Hair scalped him? Ah, Father--" + +The priest laid a broad hand over her saucy mouth. "Something or +other seems to have excited you mightily, ma fille, you are a +trifle impulsively inclined to-day." + +"Yes, Father Beret; yes I know, and I am ashamed. My heart shrinks +when I think of what I did; but I was so glad, such a grand joy +came all over me when I saw him, so strong and brave and +beautiful, coming toward me, smiling that warm, glad smile and +holding out his arms--ah, when I saw all that--when I knew for +sure that he was not dead--I, why, Father--I just had to, I +couldn't help it!" + +Father Beret laughed in spite of himself, but quickly managed to +resume his severe countenance. + +"Ta! ta!" he exclaimed, "it was a bold thing for a little girl to +do." + +"So it was, so it was. But it was also a bold thing for him to do-- +to come back after he was dead and scalped and look so handsome +and grand! I'm ashamed and sorry, Father; but--but, I'm afraid I +might do it again if--well, I don't care if I did--so there, now!" + +"But what in the world are you talking about?" interposed +Adrienne. Evidently they were discussing a most interesting matter +of which she knew nothing, and that did not suit her feminine +curiosity. "Tell me." She pulled Father Beret's sleeve. "Tell me, +I say!" + +It is probable that Father Beret would have pretended to betray +Alice's source of mingled delight and embarrassment, had not the +rest of the Bourcier household returned in time to break up the +conversation. A little later Alice gave Adrienne a vividly +dramatic account of the whole scene. + +"Ah, mon Dieu!" exclaimed the petite brunette, after she had heard +the exciting story. "That was just like you, Alice. You always do +superb things. You were born to do them. You shoot Captain +Farnsworth, you wound Lieutenant Barlow, you climb onto the fort +and set up your flag--you take it down again and run away with it-- +you get shot and you do not die--you kiss your lover right before +a whole garrison! Bon Dieu! if I could but do all those things! +"She clasped her tiny hands before her and added rather +dejectedly: "But I couldn't, I couldn't. I couldn't kiss a man in +that way!" + +Late in the evening news came to Roussillon place, where Gaspard +Roussillon was once more happy in the midst of his little family, +that the Indian Long-Hair had just been brought to the fort, and +would be shot on the following day. A scouting party captured him +as he approached the town, bearing at his belt the fresh scalp of +a white man. He would have been killed forthwith, but Clark, who +wished to avoid a repetition of the savage vengeance meted out to +the Indians on the previous day, had given strict orders that all +prisoners should be brought into the fort, where they were to have +a fair trial by court martial. + +Both Helm and Beverley were at Roussillon place, the former +sipping wine and chatting with Gaspard, the latter, of course, +hovering around Alice, after the manner of a hungry bee around a +particularly sweet and deliciously refractory flower. It was +raining slowly, the fine drops coming straight down through the +cold, still February air; but the two young people found it +pleasant enough for them on the veranda, where they walked back +and forth, making fair exchange of the exciting experiences which +had befallen them during their long separation. Between the lines +of these mutual recitals sweet, fresh echoes of the old, old story +went from heart to heart, an amoebaean love-bout like that of +spring birds calling tenderly back and forth in the blooming +Maytime woods. + +Both Captain Helm and M. Roussillon were delighted to hear of +Long-Hair's capture and certain fate, but neither of them regarded +the news as of sufficient importance to need much comment. They +did not think of telling Beverley and Alice. Jean, however, lying +awake in his little bed, overheard the conversation, which he +repeated to Alice next morning with great circumstantiality. + +Having the quick insight bred of frontier experience, Alice +instantly caught the terrible significance of the dilemma in which +she and Beverley would be placed by Long-Hair's situation. +Moreover, something in her heart arose with irresistible power +demanding the final, the absolute human sympathy and gratitude. No +matter what deeds Long-Hair had committed that were evil beyond +forgiveness, he had done for her the all-atoning thing. He had +saved Beverley and sent him back to her. + +With a start and a chill of dread, she thought: "What if it is +already too late!" + +But her nature could not hesitate. To feel the demand of an +exigency was to act. She snatched a wrap from its peg on the wall +and ran as fast as she could to the fort. People who met her +flying along wondered, staring after her, what could be urging her +so that she saw nobody, checked herself for nothing, ran splashing +through the puddles in the street, gazing ahead of her, as if +pursuing some flying object from which she dared not turn her +eyes. + +And there was, indeed, a call for her utmost power of flight, if +she would be of any assistance to Long-Hair, who even then stood +bound to a stake in the fort's area, while a platoon of riflemen, +those unerring shots from Kentucky and Virginia, were ready to +make a target of him at a range of but twenty yards. + +Beverley, greatly handicapped by the fact that the fresh scalp of +a white man hung at Long-Hair's belt, had exhausted every possible +argument to avert or mitigate the sentence promptly spoken by the +court martial of which Colonel Clark was the ruling spirit. He had +succeeded barely to the extent of turning the mode of execution +from tomahawking to shooting. All the officers in the fort +approved killing the prisoner, and it was difficult for Colonel +Clark to prevent the men from making outrageous assaults upon him, +so exasperated were they at sight of the scalp. + +Oncle Jazon proved to be one of the most refractory among those +who demanded tomahawking and scalping as the only treatment due +Long-Hair. The repulsive savage stood up before them stolid, +resolute, defiant, proudly flaunting the badge which testified to +his horrible efficiency as an emissary of Hamilton's. It had been +left in his belt by Clark's order, as the best justification of +his doom. + +"L' me hack 'is damned head," Oncle Jazon pleaded. "I jes' hankers +to chop a hole inter it. An' besides I want 'is scelp to hang up +wi' mine an' that'n o' the Injun what scelped me. He kicked me in +the ribs, the stinkin' varmint" + +Beverley pleaded eloquently and well, but even the genial Major +Helm laughed at his sentiment of gratitude to a savage who at best +but relented at the last moment, for Alice's sake, and concluded +not to sell him to Hamilton. It is due to the British commander to +record here that he most positively and with what appeared to be +high sincerity, denied the charge of having offered rewards for +the taking of human scalps. He declared that his purposes and +practices were humane, and that while he did use the Indians as +military allies, his orders to them were that they must forego +cruel modes of warfare and refrain from savage outrage upon +prisoners. Certainly the weight of contemporary testimony seems +overwhelmingly against him, but we enter his denial. Long-Hair +himself, however, taunted him with accusations of unfaithfulness +in carrying out some very inhuman contracts, and to add a terrible +sting, volunteered the statement that poor Barlow's scalp had +served his turn in the place of Beverley's. + +With conditions so hideous to contend against, Beverley, of +course, had no possible means of succoring the condemned savage. + +"Him a kickin' yer ribs clean inter ye, an' a makin' ye run the +ga'ntlet, an' here ye air a tryin' to save 'is life!" whined Oncle +Jazon, "W'y man, I thought ye hed some senterments! Dast 'is Injin +liver, I kin feel them kicks what he guv me till yit. Ventrebleu! +que diable voulez-vous?" + +Clark simply pushed Beverley's pleadings aside as not worth a +moment's consideration. He easily felt the fine bit of gratitude +at the bottom of it all; but there was too much in the other side +of the balance; justice, the discipline and confidence of his +little army, and the claim of the women and children on the +frontier demanded firmness in dealing with a case like Long- +Hair's. + +"No, no," he said to Beverley, "I would do anything in the world +for you, Fitz, except to swerve an inch from duty to my country +and the defenceless people down yonder in Kentucky, I can't do it. +There's no use to press the matter further. The die is cast. That +brute's got to be killed, and killed dead. Look at him--look at +that scalp! I'd have him killed if I dropped dead for it the next +instant." + +Beverley shuddered. The argument was horribly convincing, and yet, +somehow, the desire to save Long-Hair overbore everything else in +his mind. He could not cease his efforts; it seemed to him as if +he were pleading for Alice herself. Captain Farnsworth, strange to +say, was the only man in the fort who leaned to Beverley's side; +but he was reticent, doubtless feeling that his position as a +British prisoner gave him no right to speak, especially when every +lip around him was muttering something about "infamous scalp- +buyers and Indian partisans," with whom he was prominently counted +by the speakers. + +As Clark had said, the die was cast. Long-Hair, bound to a stake, +the scalp still dangling at his side, grimly faced his +executioners, who were eager to fire. He appeared to be proud of +the fact that he was going to be killed. + +"One thing I can say of him," Helm remarked to Beverley; "he's the +grandest specimen of the animal--I might say the brute--man that +I ever saw, red, white or black. Just look at his body and limbs! +Those muscles are perfectly marvelous." + +"He saved my life, and I must stand here and see him murdered," +the young man replied with intense bitterness. It was all that he +could think, all that he could say. He felt inefficient and +dejected, almost desperate. + +Clark himself, not willing to cast responsibility upon a +subordinate, made ready to give the fatal order. Turning to Long- +Hair first, he demanded of him as well as he could in the Indian +dialect of which he had a smattering, what he had to say at his +last moment. + +The Indian straightened his already upright form, and, by a strong +bulging of his muscles, snapped the thongs that bound him. +Evidently he had not tried thus to free himself; it was rather a +spasmodic expression of savage dignity and pride. One arm and both +his legs still were partially confined by the bonds, but his right +hand he lifted, with a gesture of immense self-satisfaction, and +pointed at Hamilton. + +"Indian brave; white man coward," he said, scowling scornfully. +"Long-Hair tell truth; white man lie, damn!" + +Hamilton's countenance did not change its calm, cold expression. +Long-Hair gazed at him fixedly for a long moment, his eyes +flashing most concentrated hate and contempt. Then he tore the +scalp from his belt and flung it with great force straight toward +the captive Governor's face. It fell short, but the look that went +with it did not, and Hamilton recoiled. + +At that moment Alice arrived. Her coming was just in time to +interrupt Clark, who had turned to the waiting platoon with the +order of death on his lips. She made no noise, save the fluttering +of her skirts, and her loud and rapid panting on account of her +long, hard run. She sprang before Long-Hair and faced the platoon. + +"You cannot, you shall not kill this man!" she cried in a voice +loaded with excitement. "Put away those guns!" + +Woman never looked more thrillingly beautiful to man than she did +just then to all those rough, stern backwoodsmen. During her +flight her hair had fallen down, and it glimmered like soft +sunlight around her face. Something compelling flashed out of her +eyes, an expression between a triumphant smile and a ray of +irresistible beseechment. It took Colonel Clark's breath when he +turned and saw her standing there, and heard her words. + +"This man saved Lieutenant Beverley's life," she presently added, +getting better control of her voice, and sending into it a +thrilling timbre; "you shall not harm him--you must not do it!" + +Beverley was astounded when he saw her, the thing was so +unexpected, so daring, and done with such high, imperious force; +still it was but a realization of what he had imagined she would +be upon occasion. He stood gazing at her, as did all the rest, +while she faced Clark and the platoon of riflemen. To hear his own +name pass her quivering lips, in that tone and in that connection, +seemed to him a consecration. + +"Would you be more savage than your Indian prisoner?" she went on, +"less grateful than he for a life saved? I did him a small, a very +small, service once, and in memory of that he saved Lieutenant +Beverley's life, because--because--" she faltered for a single +breath, then added clearly and with magnetic sweetness--"because +Lieutenant Beverley loved me, and because I loved him. This Indian +Long-Hair showed a gratitude that could overcome his strongest +passion. You white men should be ashamed to fall below his +standard." + +Her words went home. It was as if the beauty of her face, the +magnetism of her lissome and symmetrical form, the sweet fire of +her eyes and the passionate appeal of her voice gave what she said +a new and irresistible force of truth. When she spoke of +Beverley's love for her, and declared her love for him, there was +not a manly heart in all the garrison that did not suddenly beat +quicker and feel a strange, sweet waft of tenderness. A mother, +somewhere, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a sweetheart, called +through that voice of absolute womanhood. + +"Beverley, what can I do?" muttered Clark, his bronze face as pale +as it could possibly become. + +"Do!" thundered Beverley, "do! you cannot murder that man. +Hamilton is the man you should shoot! He offered large rewards, he +inflamed the passions and fed the love of rum and the cupidity of +poor wild men like the one standing yonder. Yet you take him +prisoner and treat him with distinguished consideration. Hamilton +offered a large sum for me taken alive, a smaller one for my +scalp. Long-Hair saved me. You let Hamilton stand yonder in +perfect safety while you shoot the Indian. Shame on you, Colonel +Clark! shame on you, if you do it." + +Alice stood looking at the stalwart commander while Beverley was +pouring forth his torrent of scathing reference to Hamilton, and +she quickly saw that Clark was moved. The moment was ripe for the +finishing stroke. They say it is genius that avails itself of +opportunity. Beverley knew the fight was won when he saw what +followed. Alice suddenly left Long-Hair and ran to Colonel Clark, +who felt her warm, strong arms loop round him for a single point +of time never to be effaced from his memory; then he saw her +kneeling at his feet, her hands upstretched, her face a glorious +prayer, while she pleaded the Indian's cause and won it. + +Doubtless, while we all rather feel that Clark was weak to be thus +swayed by a girl, we cannot quite blame him. Alice's flag was over +him; he had heard her history from Beverley's cunning lips; he +actually believed that Hamilton was the real culprit, and besides +he felt not a little nauseated with executing Indians. A good +excuse to have an end of it all did not go begging. + +But Long-Hair was barely gone over the horizon from the fort, as +free and as villainous a savage as ever trod the earth, when a +discovery made by Oncle Jazon caused Clark to hate himself for +what he had done. + +The old scout picked up the scalp, which Long-Hair had flung at +Hamilton, and examined it with odious curiosity. He had lingered +on the spot with no other purpose than to get possession of that +ghastly relic. Since losing his own scalp the subject of +crownlocks had grown upon his mind until its fascination was +irresistible. He studied the hair of every person he saw, as a +physiognomist studies faces. He held the gruesome thing up before +him, scrutinizing it with the expression of a connoisseur who has +discovered, on a grimy canvas, the signature of an old master. + +"Sac' bleu!" he presently broke forth. "Well I'll be--Look'ee yer, +George Clark! Come yer an' look. Ye've been sold ag'in. Take a +squint, ef ye please!" + +Colonel Clark, with his hands crossed behind him, his face +thoughtfully contracted, was walking slowly to and fro a little +way off. He turned about when Oncle Jazon spoke. + +"What now, Jazon?" + +"A mighty heap right now, that's what; come yer an' let me show +ye. Yer a fine sort o' eejit, now ain't ye!" + +The two men walked toward each other and met. Oncle Jazon held up +the scalp with one hand, pointing at it with the index finger of +the other. + +"This here scalp come off'n Rene de Ronville's head." + +"And who is he?" + +"Who's he? Ye may well ax thet. He wuz a Frenchman. He wuz a fine +young feller o' this town. He killed a Corp'ral o' Hamilton's an' +tuck ter the woods a month or two ago. Hamilton offered a lot o' +money for 'im or 'is scalp, an' Long-Hair went in fer gittin' it. +Now ye knows the whole racket. An' ye lets that Injun go. An' thet +same Injun he mighty nigh kicked my ribs inter my stomach!" + +Oncle Jazon's feelings were visible and audible; but Clark could +not resent the contempt of the old man's looks and words. He felt +that he deserved far more than he was receiving. Nor was Oncle +Jazon wrong. Rene de Ronville never came back to little Adrienne +Bourcier, although, being kept entirely ignorant of her lover's +fate, she waited and dreamed and hoped throughout more than two +years, after which there is no further record of her life. + +Clark, Beverley and Oncle Jazon consulted together and agreed +among themselves that they would hold profoundly secret the story +of the scalp. To have made it public would have exasperated the +creoles and set them violently against Clark, a thing heavy with +disaster for all his future plans. As it was, the release of Long- +Hair caused a great deal of dissatisfaction and mutinous talk. +Even Beverley now felt that the execution ordered by the commander +ought to have been sternly carried out. + +A day or two later, however, the whole dark affair was closed +forever by a bit of confidence on the part of Oncle Jazon when +Beverley dropped into his hut one evening to have a smoke with +him. + +The rain was over, the sky shone like one vast luminary, with a +nearly full moon and a thousand stars reinforcing it. Up from the +south poured one of those balmy, accidental wind floods, sometimes +due in February on the Wabash, full of tropical dream-hints, yet +edged with a winter chill that smacks of treachery. Oncle Jazon +was unusually talkative; he may have had a deep draught of liquor; +at all events Beverley had little room for a word. + +"Well, bein' as it's twixt us, as is bosom frien's," the old +fellow presently said, "I'll jes' show ye somepin poorty." + +He pricked the wick of a lamp and took down his bunch of scalps. + +"I hev been a addin' one more to keep company o' mine an' the +tothers." + +He separated the latest acquisition from the rest of the wisp and +added, with a heinous chuckle: + +"This'n's Long-Hair's!" + +And so it was. Beverley knocked the ashes from his pipe and rose +to go. + +"Wen they kicks yer Oncle Jazon's ribs," the old man added, +"they'd jes' as well lay down an' give up, for he's goin' to +salervate 'em." + +Then, after Beverley had passed out of the cabin, Oncle Jazon +chirruped after him: + +"Mebbe ye'd better not tell leetle Alice. The pore leetle gal hev +hed worry 'nough." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +CLARK ADVISES ALICE + + +A few days after the surrender of Hamilton, a large boat, the +Willing, arrived from Kaskaskia. It was well manned and heavily +armed. Clark fitted it out before beginning his march and expected +it to be of great assistance to him in the reduction of the fort, +but the high waters and the floating driftwood delayed its +progress, so that its disappointed crew saw Alice's flag floating +bright and high when their eyes first looked upon the dull little +town from far down the swollen river. There was much rejoicing, +however, when they came ashore and were enthusiastically greeted +by the garrison and populace. A courier whom they picked up on the +Ohio came with them. He bore dispatches from Governor Henry of +Virginia to Clark and a letter for Beverley from his father. With +them appeared also Simon Kenton, greatly to the delight of Oncle +Jazon, who had worried much about his friend since their latest +fredaine--as he called it--with the Indians. Meantime an +expedition under Captain Helm had been sent up the river with the +purpose of capturing a British flotilla from Detroit. + +Gaspard Roussillon, immediately after Clark's victory, thought he +saw a good opening favorable to festivity at the river house, for +which he soon began to make some of his most ostentatious +preparations. Fate, however, as usual in his case, interfered. +Fate seemed to like pulling the big Frenchman's ear now and again, +as if to remind him of the fact--which he was apt to forget--that +he lacked somewhat of omnipotence. + +"Ziff! Je vais donner un banquet a tout le moonde, moi!" he cried, +hustling and bustling hither and thither. + +A scout from up the river announced the approach of Philip Dejean +with his flotilla richly laden, and what little interest may have +been gathering in the direction of M. Roussillon's festal +proposition vanished like the flame of a lamp in a puff of wind +when this news reached Colonel Clark and became known in the town. + +Beverley and Alice sat together in the main room of the Roussillon +cabin--you could scarcely find them separated during those happy +days--and Alice was singing to the soft tinkle of a guitar, a +Creole ditty with a merry smack in its scarcely intelligible +nonsense. She knew nothing about music beyond what M. Roussillon, +a jack of all trades, had been able to teach her,--a few simple +chords to accompany her songs, picked up at hap-hazard. But her +voice, like her face and form, irradiated witchery. It was sweet, +firm, deep, with something haunting in it--the tone of a hermit +thrush, marvelously pure and clear, carried through a gay strain +like the mocking-bird's. Of course Beverley thought it divine; and +when a message came from Colonel Clark bidding him report for duty +at once, he felt an impulse toward mutiny of the rankest sort. He +did not dream that a military expedition could be on hand; but +upon reaching headquarters, the first thing he heard was: + +"Report to Captain Helm. You are to go with him up the river and +intercept a British force. Move lively, Helm is waiting for you, +probably." + +There was no time for explanations. Evidently Clark expected +neither questions nor delay. Beverley's love of adventure and his +patriotic desire to serve his country came to his aid vigorously +enough; still, with Alice's love-song ringing in his heart, there +was a cord pulling him back from duty to the sweetest of all +life's joys. + +Helm was already at the landing, where a little fleet of boats was +being prepared. A thousand things had to be done in short order. +All hands were stimulated to highest exertion with the thought of +another fight. Swivels were mounted in boats, ammunition and +provisions stored abundantly, flags hoisted and oars dipped. Never +was an expedition of so great importance more swiftly organized +and set in motion, nor did one ever have a more prosperous voyage +or completer triumph. Philip Dejean, Justice of Detroit, with his +men, boats and rich cargo, was captured easily, with not a shot +fired, nor a drop of blood spilled in doing it. + +If Alice could have known all this before it happened, she would +probably have saved herself from the mortification of a rebuke +administered very kindly, but not the less thoroughly, by Colonel +Clark. + +The rumor came to her--a brilliant creole rumor, duly inflated-- +that an overwhelming British force was descending the river, and +that Beverley with a few men, not sufficient to base the +expedition on a respectable forlorn hope, would be sent to meet +them. Her nature, as was its wont, flared into high indignation. +What right had Colonel Clark to send her lover away to be killed +just at the time when he was all the whole world to her? Nothing +could be more outrageous. She would not suffer it to be done; not +she! + +Colonel Clark greeted her pleasantly, when she came somewhat +abruptly to him, where he was directing a squad of men at work +making some repairs in the picketing of the fort. He did not +observe her excitement until she began to speak, and then it was +noticeable only, and not very strongly, in her tone. She forgot to +speak English, and her French was Greek to him. + +"I am glad to see you, Mademoiselle," he said, rather +inconsequently, lifting his hat and bowing with rough grace, while +he extended his right hand cordially. "You have something to say +to me? Come with me to my office." + +She barely touched his fingers. + +"Yes, I have something to say to you. I can tell it here," she +said, speaking English now with softest Creole accent. "I wanted-- +I came to--" It was not so easy as she had imagined it would be to +utter what she had in mind. Clark's steadfast, inscrutable eyes, +kindly yet not altogether sympathetic, met her own and beat them +down. Her voice failed. + +He offered her his arm and gravely said: + +"We will go to my office. I see that you have some important +communication to make. There are too many ears here." + +Of a sudden she felt like running home. Somehow the situation +broke upon her with a most embarrassing effect. She did not take +Clark's arm, and she began to tremble. He appeared unconscious of +this, and probably was, for his mind had a fine tangle of great +schemes in it just then; but he turned toward his office, and +bidding her follow him, walked away in that direction. + +She was helpless. Not the slightest trace of her usual brilliant +self-assertion was at her command. Saving the squad of men sawing +and hacking, digging and hammering, the fort appeared as deserted +as her mind. She stood gazing after Clark. He did not look back, +but strode right on. If she would speak with him, she must follow. +It was a surprise to her, for heretofore she had always had her +own way, even if she found it necessary to use force. And where +was Beverley? Where was the garrison? Colonel Clark did not seem +to be at all concerned about the approach of the British--and yet +those repairs--perhaps he was making ready for a desperate +resistance! She did not move until he reached the door of his +office where he stopped and stepped aside, as if to let her pass +in first; he even lifted his hat, then looked a trifle surprised +when he saw that she was not near him, frowned slightly, changed +the frown to a smile and said, lifting his voice so that she felt +a certain imperative meaning in it: + +"Did I walk too fast for you? I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle." + +He stood waiting for her, as a father waits for a lagging, wilful +child. + +"Come, please," he added, "if you have something to say to me; my +time just now is precious--I have a great deal to do." + +She was not of a nature to retreat under fire, and yet the panic +in her breast came very near mastering her will. Clark saw a look +in her face which made him speak again: + +"I assure you, Mademoiselle, that you need not feel embarrassed. +You can rely upon me to--" + +She made a gesture that interrupted him; at the same time she +almost ran toward him, gathering in breath, as one does who is +about to force out a desperately resisting and riotous thought. +The strong, grave man looked at her with a full sense of her +fascination, and at the same time he felt a vague wish to get away +from her, as if she were about to cast unwelcome responsibility +upon him. + +"Where is Lieutenant Beverley?" she demanded, now close to Clark, +face to face, and gazing straight into his eyes. "I want to see +him." Her tone suggested intensest excitement. She was trembling +visibly. + +Clark's face changed its expression. He suddenly recalled to mind +Alice's rapturous public greeting of Beverley on the day of the +surrender. He was a cavalier, and it did not agree with his sense +of high propriety for girls to kiss their lovers out in the open +air before a gazing army. True enough, he himself had been +hoodwinked by Alice's beauty and boldness in the matter of Long- +Hair. He confessed this to himself mentally, which may have +strengthened his present disapproval of her personal inquiry about +Beverley. At all events he thought she ought not to be coming into +the stockade on such an errand. + +"Lieutenant Beverley is absent acting under my orders he said, +with perfect respectfulness, yet in a tone suggesting military +finality. He meant to set an indefinite yet effective rebuke in +his words. + +"Absent?" she echoed. "Gone? You sent him away to be killed! You +had no right--you--" + +"Miss Roussillon," said Clark, becoming almost stern, "you had +better go home and stay there; young girls oughtn't to run around +hunting men in places like this." + +His blunt severity of speech was accompanied by a slight frown and +a gesture of impatience. + +Alice's face blazed red to the roots of her sunny hair; the color +ebbed, giving place to a pallor like death. She began to tremble, +and her lips quivered pitifully, but she braced herself and tried +to force back the choking sensation in her throat. + +"You must not misconstrue my words," Clark quickly added; "I +simply mean that men will not rightly understand you. They will +form impressions very harmful to you. Even Lieutenant Beverley +might not see you in the right light." + +"What--what do you mean?" she gasped, shrinking from him, a +burning spot reappearing under the dimpled skin of each cheek. + +"Pray, Miss, do not get excited. There is nothing to make you +cry." He saw tears shining in her eyes. "Beverley is not in the +slightest danger. All will be well, and he'll come back in a few +days. The expedition will be but a pleasure trip. Now you go home. +Lieutenant Beverley is amply able to take care of himself. And let +me tell you, if you expect a good man to have great confidence in +you, stay home and let him hunt you up instead of you hunting him. +A man likes that better." + +It would be impossible to describe Alice's feelings, as they just +then rose like a whirling storm in her heart. She was humiliated, +she was indignant, she was abashed; she wanted to break forth with +a tempest of denial, self-vindication, resentment; she wanted to +cry with her face hidden in her hands. What she did was to stand +helplessly gazing at Clark, with two or three bright tears on +either cheek, her hands clenched, her eyes flashing. She was going +to say some wild thing; but she did not; her voice lodged fast in +her throat. She moved her lips, unable to make a sound. + +Two of Clark's officers relieved the situation by coming up to get +orders about some matter of town government, and Alice scarcely +knew how she made her way home. Every vein in her body was humming +like a bee when she entered the house and flung herself into a +chair. + +She heard Madame Roussillon and Father Beret chatting in the +kitchen, whence came a fragrance of broiling buffalo steak +besprinkled with garlic. It was Father Beret's favorite dish, +wherefore his tongue ran freely--almost as freely as that of his +hostess, and when he heard Alice come in, he called gayly to her +through the kitchen door: + +"Come here, ma fille, and lend us old folks your appetite; nous +avons une tranche a la Bordelaise!" + +"I am not hungry," she managed to say, "you can eat it without +me." + +The old man's quick ears caught the quaver of trouble in her +voice, much as she tried to hide it. A moment later he was +standing beside her with his hand on her head. + +"What is the matter now, little one?" he tenderly demanded. "Tell +your old Father." + +She began to cry, laying her face in her crossed arms, the tears +gushing, her whole frame aquiver, and heaving great sobs. She +seemed to shrink like a trodden flower. It touched Father Beret +deeply. + +He suspected that Beverley's departure might be the cause of her +trouble; but when presently she told him what had taken place in +the fort, he shook his head gravely and frowned. + +"Colonel Clark was right, my daughter," he said after a short +silence, "and it is time for you to ponder well upon the +significance of his words. You can't always be a wilful, +headstrong little girl, running everywhere and doing just as you +please. You have grown to be a woman in stature--you must be one +in fact. You know I told you at first to be careful how you acted +with--" + +"Father, dear old Father!" she cried, springing from her seat and +throwing her arms around his neck. "Have I appeared forward and +unwomanly? Tell me, Father, tell me! I did not mean to do +anything--" + +"Quietly, my child, don't give way to excitement." He gently put +her from him and crossed himself--a habit of his when suddenly +perplexed--then added: + +"You have done no evil; but there are proprieties which a young +woman must not overstep. You are impulsive, too impulsive; and it +will not do to let a young man see that you--that you--" + +"Father, I understand," she interrupted, and her face grew very +pale. + +Madame Roussillon came to the door, flushed with stooping over the +fire, and announced that the steak was ready. + +"Bring the wine, Alice," she added, "a bottle of Bordeaux." + +She stood for a breath of two, her red hands on her hips, looking +first at Father Beret, then at Alice. + +"Quarreling again about the romances?" she inquired. "She's been +at it again?--she's found 'em again?" + +"Yes," said Father Beret, with a queer, dry smile, "more romance. +Yes, she's been at it again! Now fetch the Bordeaux, little one." + +The following days were cycles of torture to Alice. She groveled +in the shadow of a great dread. It seemed to her that Beverley +could not love her, could not help looking upon her as a poor, +wild, foolish girl, unworthy of consideration. She magnified her +faults and crudities, she paraded before her inner vision her +fecent improprieties, as they had been disclosed to her, until she +saw herself a sort of monstrosity at which all mankind was gazing +with disgust. Life seemed dry and shriveled, a mere jaundiced +shadow, while her love for Beverley took on a new growth, +luxuriant, all-embracing, uncontrollable. The ferment of spirit +going on in her breast was the inevitable process of self- +recognition which follows the terrible unfolding of the passion- +flower, in a nature almost absolutely simple and unsophisticated. + +Vincennes held its breath while waiting for news from Helm's +expedition. Every day had its nimble, yet wholly imaginary account +of what had happened, skipping from mouth to mouth, and from cabin +to cabin. The French folk ran hither and thither in the persistent +rain, industriously improving the dramatic interest of each +groundless report. Alice's disturbed imagination reveled in the +kaleidoscopic terrors conjured up by these swift changes of the +form and color of the stories "from the front," all of them more +or less tragic. To-day the party is reported as having been +surprised and massacred to a man--to-morrow there has been a great +fight, many killed, the result in doubt--next day the British are +defeated, and so on. The volatile spirit of the Creoles fairly +surpassed itself in ringing the changes on stirring rumors. + +Alice scarcely left the house during the whole period of +excitement and suspense. Like a wounded bird, she withdrew herself +from the light and noisy chatter of her friends, seeking only +solitude and crepuscular nooks in which to suffer silently. Jean +brought her every picturesque bit of the ghastly gossip, thus +heaping coals on the fire of her torture. But she did not grow +pale and thin. Not a dimple fled from cheek or chin, not a ray of +saucy sweetness vanished from her eyes. Her riant health was +unalterable. Indeed, the only change in her was a sudden ripening +and mellowing of her beauty, by which its colors, its lines, its +subtle undercurrents of expression were spiritualized, as if by +some powerful clarifying process. + +Tremendous is the effect of a soul surprised by passion and +brought hard up against an opposing force which dashes it back +upon itself with a flare and explosion of self-revealment. Nor +shall we ever be able to foretell just how small a circumstance, +just how slight an exigency, will suffice to bring on the great +change. The shifting of a smile to the gloom of a frown, the snap +of a string on the lute of our imagination, just at the point when +a rich melody is culminating; the waving of a hand, a vanishing +face--any eclipse of tender, joyous expectation--dashes a nameless +sense of despair into the soul. And a young girl's soul--who shall +uncover its sacred depths of sensitiveness, or analyze its +capacity for suffering under such a stroke? + +On the fifth day of March, back came the victorious Helm, having +surrounded and captured seven boats, richly loaded with provisions +and goods, and Dejean's whole force. Then again the little Creole +town went wild with rejoicing. Alice heard the news and the noise; +but somehow there was no response in her heart. She dreaded to +meet Beverley; indeed, she did not expect him to come to her. Why +should he? + +M. Roussillon, who had volunteered to accompany Helm, arrived in a +mood of unlimited proportions, so far as expressing self- +admiration and abounding delight was concerned. You would have +been sure that he had done the whole deed single-handed, and +brought the flotilla and captives to town on his back. But Oncle +Jazon for once held his tongue, being too disgusted for words at +not having been permitted to fire a single shot. What was the use +of going to fight and simply meeting and escorting down the river +a lot of non-combatants? + +There is something inscrutably delightful about a girl's way of +thinking one thing and doing another. Perversity, thy name is +maidenhood; and maidenhood, thy name is delicious inconsequence! +When Alice heard that Beverley had come back, safe, victorious, to +be greeted as one of the heroes of an important adventure, she +immediately ran to her room frightened and full of vague, shadowy +dread, to hide from him, yet feeling sure that he would not come! +Moreover, she busied herself with the preposterous task of putting +on her most attractive gown--the buff brocade which she wore that +evening at the river house--how long ago it seemed!--when Beverley +thought her the queenliest beauty in the world. And she was +putting it on so as to look her prettiest while hiding from him! + +It is a toss-up where happiness will make its nest. The palace, +the hut, the great lady's garden, the wild lass's bower,--skip +here, alight there,--the secret of it may never be told. And love +and beauty find lodgment, by the same inexplicable route, in the +same extremes of circumstances. The wind bloweth where it listeth, +finding many a matchless flower and many a ravishing fragrance in +the wildest nooks of the world. + +No sooner did Beverley land at the little wharf than, rushing to +his quarters, he made a hasty exchange of water-soaked apparel for +something more comfortable, and then bolted in the direction of +Roussillon place. + +Now Alice knew by the beating of her heart that he was coming. In +spite of all she could do, trying to hold on hard and fast to her +doubt and gloom, a tide of rich sweetness began to course through +her heart and break in splendid expectation from her eyes, as they +looked through the little unglazed window toward the fort. Nor had +she long to wait. He came up the narrow wet street, striding like +a tall actor in the height of a melodrama, his powerful figure +erect as an Indian's, and his face glowing with the joy of a +genuine, impatient lover, who is proud of himself because of the +image he bears in his heart. + +When Alice flung wide the door (which was before Beverley could +cross the veranda), she had quite forgotten how she had gowned and +bedecked herself; and so, without a trace of self-consciousness, +she flashed upon him a full-blown flower--to his eyes the +loveliest that ever opened under heaven. + +Gaspard Roussillon, still overflowing with the importance of his +part in the capture of Dejean, came puffing homeward just in time +to see a man at the door holding Alice a-tiptoe in his arms. + +"Ziff!" he cried, as he pushed open the little front gate of the +yard, "en voila assez, vogue la galere!" + +The two forms disappeared within the house, as if moved by his +roaring voice. + +The letter to Beverley from his father was somewhat disturbing. It +bore the tidings of his mother's failing health. This made it +easier for the young Lieutenant to accept from Clark the +assignment to duty with a party detailed for the purpose of +escorting Hamilton, Farnsworth and several other British officers +to Williamsburg, Virginia. It also gave him a most powerful +assistance in persuading Alice to marry him at once, so as to go +with him on what proved to be a delightful wedding journey through +the great wilderness to the Old Dominion. Spring's verdure burst +abroad on the sunny hills as they slowly went their way; the +mating birds sang in every blooming brake and grove by which they +passed, and in their joyous hearts they heard the bubbling of +love's eternal fountain. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +AND SO IT ENDED + + +Our story must end here, because at this point its current flows +away forever from old Vincennes; and it was only of the post on +the Wabash that we set out to make a record. What befell Alice and +Beverley after they went to Virginia we could go on to tell; but +that would be another story. Suffice it to say, they lived happily +ever after, or at least somewhat beyond three score and ten, and +left behind them a good name and numerous descendants. + +How Alice found out her family in Virginia, we are not informed; +but after a lapse of some years from the date of her marriage, +there appears in one of her letters a reference to an estate +inherited from her Tarleton ancestors, and her name appears in old +records signed in full, Alice Tarleton Beverley. A descendant of +hers still treasures the locket, with its broken miniature and +battered crest, which won Beverley's life from Long-Hair, the +savage. Beside it, as carefully guarded, is the Indian charm-stone +that stopped Hamilton's bullet over Alice's heart The rapiers have +somehow disappeared, and there is a tradition in the Tarleton +family that they were given by Alice to Gaspard Roussillon, who, +after Madame Roussillon's death in 1790, went to New Orleans, +where he stayed a year or two before embarking for France, whither +he took with him the beautiful pair of colechemardes and Jean the +hunchback. + +Oncle Jazon lived in Vincennes many years after the war was over; +but he died at Natchez, Mississippi, when ninety-three years old. +He said, with almost his last breath, that he couldn't shoot very +well, even in his best days; but that he had, upon various +occasions, "jes' kind o' happened to hit a Injun in the lef' eye." +They used to tell a story, as late as General Harrison's stay in +Vincennes, about how Oncle Jazon buried his collection of scalps, +with great funeral solemnity, as his part of the celebration of +peace and independence about the year 1784. + +Good old Father Beret died suddenly soon after Alice's marriage +and departure for Virginia. He was found lying face downward on +the floor of his cabin. Near him, on a smooth part of a puncheon, +were the mildewed fragments of a letter, which he had been +arranging, as if to read its contents. Doubtless it was the same +letter brought to him by Rene de Ronville, as recorded in an early +chapter of our story. The fragments were gathered up and buried +with him. His dust lies under the present Church of St. Xavier,-- +the dust of as noble a man and as true a priest as ever sacrificed +himself for the good of humanity. + +In after years Simon Kenton visited Beverley and Alice in their +Virginia home. To his dying day he was fond of describing their +happy and hospitable welcome and the luxuries to which they +introduced him. They lived in a stately white mansion on a hill +overlooking a vast tobacco plantation, where hundreds of negro +slaves worked and sang by day and frolicked by night. Their oldest +child was named Fitzhugh Gaspard. Kenton died in 1836. + +There remains but one little fact worth recording before we close +the book. In the year 1800, on the fourth of July, a certain +leading French family of Vincennes held a patriotic reunion, +during which a little old flag was produced and its story told. +Some one happily proposed that it be sent to Mrs. Alice Tarleton +Beverley with a letter of explanation, and in profound recognition +of the glorious circumstances which made it the true flag of the +great Northwest, + +And so it happened that Alice's little banner went to Virginia and +is still preserved in an old mansion not very far from Monticello; +but it seems likely that the Wabash Valley will soon again possess +the precious relic. The marriage engagement of Miss Alice Beverley +to a young Indiana officer, distinguished for his patriotism and +military ardor, has been announced at the old Beverley homestead +on the hill, and the high contracting parties have planned that +the wedding ceremony shall take place under the famous little +flag, on the anniversary of dark's capture of Post Vincennes. When +the bride shall be brought to her new home on the banks of the +Wabash, the flag will come with her; but Oncle Jazon will not be +on hand with his falsetto shout: "VIVE LA BANNIERE D'ALICE +ROUSSILLON! VIVE ZHORZZH VASINTON!" + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Alice of Old Vincennes +by Maurice Thompson + diff --git a/old/aovnn10.zip b/old/aovnn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cabbbf5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/aovnn10.zip |