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The day was the Sabbath. This religious festival,
which is even now observed in most of the
States of the Union with a strictness that is little
heeded in the rest of Christendom, was then reverenced
with a severity suited to the austere habits
of the Colonists. The circumstance that one should
journey on such a day, had attracted the observation
of all in the hamlet; but, as the stranger had
been seen to ride towards the dwelling of the Heathcotes,
and the times were known to teem with more
than ordinary interests to the Province, it was believed
that he found his justification in some apology
of necessity. Still, none ventured forth to inquire
into the motive of this extraordinary visit. At the
end of an hour, the horseman was seen to depart
as he had arrived, seemingly urged on by the calls
of some pressing emergency. He had in truth proceeded
further with his tidings, though the lawfulness
of discharging even this imperious duty on the
Sabbath had been gravely considered in the Councils
of those who had sent him. Happily they had
found, or thought they had found, in some of the
narratives of the sacred volume, a sufficient precedent
to bid their messenger proceed.

In the mean time, the unusual excitement, which

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had been so unexpectedly awakened in the dwelling
of the Heathcotes, began to subside in that quiet
which is in so beautiful accordance with the sacred
character of the day. The sun rose bright and
cloudless above the hills, every vapor of the past
night melting before his genial warmth into the invisible
element. The valley then lay in that species
of holy calm which conveys so sweet and so
forcible an appeal to the heart. The world presented
a picture of the glorious handywork of him
who seems to invite the gratitude and adoration of
his creatures. To the mind yet untainted, there is
exquisite loveliness and even godlike repose in such
a scene. The universal stillness permits the softest
natural sounds to be heard; and the buzz of the
bee, or the wing of the humming-bird, reaches the
ear like the loud notes of a general anthem. This
temporary repose is full of meaning. It should
teach how much of the beauty of this world's enjoyments,
how much of its peace, and even how
much of the comeliness of nature itself, is dependent
on the spirit by which we are actuated. When
man reposes, all around him seems anxious to contribute
to his rest; and when he abandons the contentions
of grosser interests, to elevate his spirit, all
living things appear to unite in worship. Although
this apparent sympathy of nature may be less true
than imaginative, its lesson is not destroyed, since it
sufficiently shows that what man chooses to consider
good in this world is good, and that most of its strife
and deformities proceed from his own perversity.

The tenants of the valley of the Wish-Ton-Wish
were little wont to disturb the quiet of the Sabbath.
Their error lay in the other extreme, since the
impaired the charities of life by endeavoring to
raise man altogether above the weakness of his nature.
They substituted the revolting aspect of a
sublimated austerity, for that gracious though

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regulated exterior, by which all in the body may best
illustrate their hopes or exhibit their gratitude.
The peculiar air of those of whom we write was
generated by the error of the times and of the
country, though something of its singularly rigid
character might have been derived from the precepts
and example of the individual who had the
direction of the spiritual interests of the parish. As
this person will have further connexion with the
matter of the legend, he shall be more familiarly
introduced in its pages.

The Reverend Meek Wolfe was, in spirit, a rare
combination of the humblest self-abasement and of
fierce spiritual denunciation. Like so many others
of his sacred calling in the Colony he inhabited, he
was not only the descendant of a line of priests, but
it was his greatest earthly hope that he should also
become the progenitor of a race in whom the ministry
was to be perpetuated as severely as if the
regulated formula of the Mosaic dispensation were
still in existence. He had been educated in the infant
college of Harvard, an institution that the emigrants
from England had the wisdom and enterprise
to found, within the first five-and-twenty years of
their colonial residence. Here this scion of so pious
and orthodox a stock had abundantly qualified himself
for the intellectual warfare of his future life,
by regarding one set of opinions so steadily, as to
leave little reason to apprehend he would ever abandon
the most trifling of the outworks of his faith.
No citadel ever presented a more hopeless curtain
to the besieger, than did the mind of this zealot to
the efforts of conviction; for on the side of his opponents,
he contrived that every avenue should be
closed by a wall blank as indomitable obstinacy
could oppose. He appeared to think that all the
minor conditions of argument and reason had been
disposed of by his ancestors, and that it only

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remained for him to strengthen the many defences of his
subject, and, now and then, to scatter by a fierce
sortie the doctrinal skirmishers who might occasionally
approach his parish. There was a remarkable
singleness of mind in this religionist, which, while it
in some measure rendered even his bigotry respectable,
greatly aided in clearing the knotty subject,
with which he dealt, of much embarrassing matter.
In his eyes, the strait and narrow path would hold
but few besides his own flock. He admitted some
fortuitous exceptions, in one or two of the nearest
parishes, with whose clergymen he was in the habit
of exchanging pulpits; and perhaps, and there,
in a saint of the other hemisphere, or of the more
distant towns of the Colonies, the brightness of whose
faith was something aided, in his eyes, by distance,
as this opake globe of ours is thought to appear a
ball of light to those who inhabit its satellite. In
short, there was an admixture of seeming charity
with an exclusiveness of hope, an unweariness of
exertion with a coolness of exterior, a disregard of
self with the most complaisant security, and an uncomplaining
submission to temporal evils with the
loftiest spiritual pretensions, that in some measure
rendered him a man as difficult to comprehend as to
describe.

At an early hour in the forenoon, a little bell,
that was suspended in an awkward belfry perched
on the roof of the meeting-house, began to summon
the congregation to the place of worship. The call
was promptly obeyed, and ere the first notes had
reached the echoes of the hills, the wide and grassy
street was covered with family groups, all taking
the same direction. Foremost in each little party
walked the austere father, perhaps bearing on his
arm a suckled infant, or some child yet too young
to sustain its own weight; while at a decent distance
followed the equally grave matron, casting

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oblique and severe glances at the little troop around
her, in whom acquired habits had yet some conquests
to obtain over the lighter impulses of vanity.
Where there was no child to need support, or where
the mother chose to assume the office of bearing her
infant in person, the man was seen to carry one of
the heavy muskets of the day; and when his arms
were otherwise employed, the stoutest of his boys
served in the capacity of armor-bearer. But in no
instance was this needful precaution neglected, the
state of the Province and the character of the enemy
requiring that vigilance should mingle even with
their devotions. There was no loitering on the path,
no light and worldly discourse by the way, nor even
any salutations, other than those grave and serious
recognitions by hat and eye, which usage tolerated
as the utmost limit of courtesy on the weekly festival.

When the bell changed its tone, Meek appeared
from the gate of the fortified house, where he resided,
in quality of castellan, on account of its public
character, its additional security, and the circumstance
that his studious habits permitted him to discharge
the trust with less waste of manual labor
than it would cost the village were the responsible
office confided to one of more active habits. His
consort followed, but at even a greater distance
than that taken by the wives of other men, as if she
felt the awful necessity of averting even the remotest
possibility of scandal from one of so sacred
a profession. Nine offspring of various ages, and
one female assistant, of years too tender to be a
wife herself, composed the household of the divine;
and it was a proof of the salubrious air of the valley
that all were present, since nothing but illness
was ever deemed a sufficient excuse for absence
from the common worship. As this little flock issued
from the palisadoes, a female, in whose pale cheek

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the effects of recent illness might yet be traced, held
open the gate for the entrance of Reuben Ring, and
a stout youth, who bore the prolific consort of the
former, with her bounteous gift, into the citadel of
the village; a place of refuge that nothing but the
undaunted resolution of the woman prevented her
from occupying before, since more than half of the
children of the valley had first seen the light within
the security of its defences.

The family of Meek preceded him into the temple,
and when the feet of the minister himself crossed
its threshold, there was no human form visible without
its walls. The bell ceased its monotonous and
mournful note, and the tall, gaunt form of the divine
moved through the narrow aisle to its usual post,
with the air of one who had already more than
half rejected the burthen of bodily encumbrance.
A searching and stern glance was thrown around,
as if he possessed an instinctive power to detect all
delinquents; and then seating himself, the deep
stillness, that always preceded the exercises, reigned
in the place.

When the divine next showed his austere countenance
to his expecting people, its meaning was expressive
rather of some matter of worldly import,
than of that absence of carnal interest with which
he usually strove to draw near to his Creator in
prayer.

“Captain Content Heathcote,” he said with grave
severity, after permitting a short pause to awaken
reverence, “there has one ridden through this valley
on the Lord's day, making thy habitation his
halting-place. Hath the traveller warranty for this
disrespect of the Sabbath, and canst thou find sufficient
reason in his motive, for permitting the stranger
within thy gates to neglect the solemn ordinance
delivered on the mount?”

“He rideth on especial commission,” answered

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Content, who had respectfully arisen, when thus
addressed by name; “for matter of grave interest
to the well-being of the Colony is contained in the
subject of his errand.”

“There is nought more deeply connected with
the well-being of man, whether resident in this
Colony or in more lofty empires, than reverence to
God's declared will,” returned Meek, but half-appeased
by the apology. “It would have been expedient
for one, who, in common, not only setteth so
good an example himself, but who is also charged
with the mantle of authority, to have looked with
distrust into the pretences of a necessity that may
be only seeming.”

“The motive shall be declared to the people, at
a fitting moment; but it hath seemed more wise to
retain the substance of the horseman's errand, until
worship hath been offered, without the alloy of
temporal concerns.”

“Therein hast thou acted discreetly; for a divided
mind giveth but little joy above. I hope there
is equal reason why all of thy household are not
with thee in the temple?”

Notwithstanding the usual self-command of Content,
he did not revert to this subject without emotion.
Casting a subdued glance at the empty seat
where she whom he so much loved was wont to
worship at his side, he said, in a voice that evidently
struggled to maintain its customary equanimity—

“There has been powerful interest awakened
beneath my roof this day; and it may be that the
duty of the Sabbath has been overlooked by minds
so exercised. If we have therein sinned, I hope
he that looketh kindly on the penitent will forgive!
She, of whom thou speakest, hath been shaken by
the violence of griefs renewed; though willing in
spirit, a feeble and sinking frame is not equal to

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support the fatigue of appearing here, even though
it be the house of God.”

This extraordinary exercise of pastoral authority
was uninterrupted, even by the breathings of the
congregation. Any incident of an unusual character
had attraction for the inhabitants of a village so
remote; but here was deep, domestic interest, connected
with breach of usage and indeed of law
and all heightened by that secret influence that
leads us to listen, with singular satisfaction, to those
emotions in others, which it is believed to be natural
to wish to conceal. Not a syllable that fell from
the lips of the divine, or of Content, not a deep
tone of severity in the former, nor a struggling accent
of the latter, escaped the dullest ear in that
assembly. Notwithstanding the grave and regulated
air that was common to all, it is needless to say
there was pleasure in the little interruption of this
scene; which, however, was far from being extraordinary
in a community where it was not only believed
that spiritual authority might extend itself
to the most familiar practices, but where few domestic
interests were deemed so exclusive, or individual
feelings considered so sacred, that a very
large proportion of the whole neighborhood might
not claim a right to participate largely in both.
The Reverend Mr. Wolfe was appeased by the explanation,
and after allowing a sufficient time to
elapse, in order that the minds of the congregation
should recover their tone, he proceeded with the
regular services of the morning.

It is needless to recount the well-known manner
of the religious exercises of the Puritans. Enough
of their forms and of their substance has been
transmitted to us, to render both manner and doctrine
familiar to most of our readers. We shall
therefore confine our duty to a relation of such portions
of the ceremonies, if that which sedulously

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avoided every appearance of form can thus be
termed, as have an immediate connexion with the
incidents.

The divine had gone through the short opening
prayer, had read the passage of holy writ, had
given out the verses of the psalm, and had joined
in the strange nasal melody with which his flock
endeavored to render it doubly acceptable, and had
ended his long and fervent wrestling of the spirit in
a colloquial petition of some forty minutes' duration,
in which direct allusion had been made not only to
the subject of his recent examination, but to divers
other familiar interests of his parishioners; and all
without any departure from the usual zeal on his
own part, or of the customary attention and grave
decorum on that of his people. But when, for the
second time, he arose to read another song of worship
and thanksgiving, a form was seen in the centre
or principal aisle, that, as well by its attire and aspect,
as by the unusual and irreverent tardiness of
its appearance, attracted general observation. Interruptions
of this nature were unfrequent, and
even the long practised and abstracted minister
paused, for an instant, ere he proceeded with the
hymn, though there was a suspicion current among
the more instructed of his parishioners, that the
sonorous version was an effusion of his own muse.

The intruder was Whittal Ring. The witless
young man had strayed from the abode of his sister,
and found his way into that general receptacle,
where most of the village was congregated. During
his former residence in the valley, there had been
no temple; and the edifice, its interior arrangements,
the faces of those it contained, and the business on
which they had assembled, appeared alike strangers
to him. It was only when the people lifted up their
voices in the song of praise, that some glimmerings
of his ancient recollections were discoverable in his

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inactive countenance. Then, indeed, he betrayed
a portion of the delight which powerful sounds can
quicken, even in beings of his unhappy mental construction.
As he was satisfied, however, to remain
in a retired part of the aisle, listening with dull
admiration, even the grave Ensign Dudley, whose
eye had once or twice seemed ominous of displeasure,
saw no necessity for interference.

Meek had chosen for his text, on that day, a
passage from the book of Judges: “And the children
of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord; and the
Lord delivered them into the hands of Midian seven
years.” With this text the subtle-minded divine
dealt powerfully, entering largely into the mysterious
and allegorical allusions then so much in
vogue. In whatever manner he viewed the subject,
he found reason to liken the suffering, bereaved and
yet chosen dwellers of the Colonies, to the race of
the Hebrews. If they were not set apart and marked
from all others of the earth, in order that one
mightier than man should spring from their loins,
they were led into that distant wilderness, far from
the temptations of licentious luxury, or the worldly-mindedness
of those who built their structure of
faith on the sands of temporal honors, to preserve
the word in purity. As there appeared no reason
on the part of the divine himself to distrust this
construction of the words he had quoted, so it was
evident that most of his listeners willingly lent their
ears to so soothing an argument.

In reference to Midian, the preacher was far less
explicit. That the great father of evil was in some
way intended by this allusion, could not be doubted;
but in what manner the chosen inhabitants of those
regions were to feel his malign influence, was matter
of more uncertainty. At times, the greedy ears of
those who had long been wrought up into the impression
that visible manifestations of the anger or

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of the love of Providence were daily presented to
their eyes, were flattered with the stern joy of
believing that the war which then raged around
them was intended to put their moral armor to the
proof, and that out of the triumph of their victories
were to flow honor and security to the church.
Then came ambiguous qualifications, which left
it questionable whether a return of the invisible
powers, that had been known to be so busy in the
Provinces, were not the judgment intended. It is
not to be supposed that Meek himself had the
clearest mental intelligence on a point of this subtlety,
for there was something of misty hallucination
in the manner in which he treated it, as will
be seen by his closing words.

“To imagine that Azazel regardeth the longsuffering
and stedfastness of a chosen people with
a pleasant eye,” he said, “is to believe that the
marrow of righteousness can exist in the carrion of
deceit. We have already seen his envious spirit
raging in many tragical instances. If required to
raise a warning beacon to your eyes, by which the
presence of this treacherous enemy might be known,
I should say, in the words of one learned and ingenious
in this craftiness, that, `when a person, having
full reason, doth knowingly and wittingly seek
and obtain of the Devil, or any other God besides
the true God Jehovah, an ability to do or know
strange things, which he cannot by his own human
abilities arrive unto,' that then he may distrust his
gifts and tremble for his soul. And, oh! my brethren,
how many of ye cling at this very moment to those
tragical delusions, and worship the things of the
world, instead of fattening on the famine of the
desert, which is the sustenance of them that would
live for ever! Lift your eyes upward, my brethren—”

“Rather turn them to the earth!” interrupted a

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deep, authoritative voice from the body of the
church; “there is present need of all your faculties
to save life, and even to guard the tabernacle of the
Lord!”

Religious exercises composed the recreation of
the dwellers in that distant settlement. When they
met in companies to lighten the load of life, prayer
and songs of praise were among the usual indul-gences
of the entertainment. To them, a sermon
was like a gay scenic exhibition in other and vainer
communities, and none listened to the word with
cold and inattentive ears. In literal obedience to
the command of the preacher, and sympathizing
with his own action, every eye in the congregation
had been turned towards the naked rafters of the
roof, when the unknown tones of him who spoke
broke the momentary delusion. It is needless to say
that, by a common movement, they sought an explanation
of this extraordinary appeal. The divine
became mute, equally with wonder and with indignation.

A first glance was enough to assure all present,
that new and important interests were likely to be
awakened. A stranger of grave aspect, and of a
calm but understanding eye, stood at the side of
Whittal Ring. His attire was of the simple guise
and homely materials of the country. Still he bore
about his person enough of the equipments of one
familiar with the wars of the eastern hemisphere,
to strike the senses. His hand was armed with a
shining broadsword, such as were then used by the
cavaliers of England, and at his back was slung the
short carabine of one who battled in the saddle.
His mien was dignified and even commanding, and
there was no second look necessary to show that he
was an intruder of a character altogether different
from the moping innocent at his side.

“Why is one of an unknown countenance come

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to disturb the worship of the temple?” demanded
Meek, when astonishment permitted utterance.
“Thrice hath this holy day been profaned by the
foot of the stranger, and well may it be doubted
whether we live not under an evil agency.”

“Arm, men of the Wish-Ton-Wish! arm, and to
your defences!”

A cry arose without, that seemed to circle the
whole valley; and then a thousand whoops rolled
out of the arches of the forest, and appeared to
meet in one hostile din above the devoted hamlet.
These were sounds that had been too often heard,
or too often described, not to be generally understood.
A scene of wild confusion followed.

Each man, on entering the church, had deposited
his arms at the door, and thither most of the stout
borderers were now seen hastening, to resume their
weapons. Women gathered their children to their
sides, and the wails of horror and alarm were beginning
to break through the restraints of habit.

“Peace!” exclaimed the pastor, seemingly excited
to a degree above human emotion. “Ere we
go forth, let there be a voice raised to our heavenly
Father. The asking shall be as a thousand men of
war battling in our behalf!”

The commotion ceased as suddenly as if a mandate
had been issued from that place to which their
petition was to be addressed. Even the stranger,
who had regarded the preparations with a stern but
anxious eye, bowed his head, and seemed to join in
the prayer, with a devoted and confiding heart.

“Lord!” said Meek, stretching his meagre arms,
with the palms of the hands open, high above the
heads of his flock, “at thy bidding, we go forth;
with thy aid, the gates of hell shall not prevail
against us; with thy mercy, there is hope in heaven
and on earth. It is for thy tabernacle that we shed
blood; it is for thy word that we contend. Battle in

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our behalf, King of Kings! send thy heavenly legions
to our succor, that the song of victory may be incense
at thy altars, and a foul hearing to the ears
of the enemy—Amen.”

There was a depth in the voice of the speaker, a
supernatural calmness in the tones, and so great a
confidence in the support of the mighty ally implored,
that the words went to every heart. It was
impossible that Nature should not be powerful within,
but a high and exciting enthusiasm began to lift
the people far above its influence. Thus awakened
by an appeal to feelings that had never slumbered,
and stimulated by all the moving interests of life,
the men of the valley poured out of the temple in
defence of person and fire-side, and, as they believed,
of religion and of God.

There was pressing necessity, not only for this
zeal, but for all the physical energies of the stoutest
of their numbers. The spectacle that met the view,
on issuing into the open air, was one that might have
appalled the hearts of warriors more practised, and
have paralyzed the efforts of men less susceptible to
the impressions of a religious excitement.

Dark forms were leaping through the fields, on
the hill-sides; and all adown the slopes that conducted
to the valley, armed savages were seen pouring
madly forward, on their path of destruction and
vengeance. Behind them, the brand and the knife
had been already used; for the log tenement, the
stacks and the out-buildings of Reuben Ring, and
of several others who dwelt in the skirts of the settlement,
were sending forth clouds of murky smoke,
in which forked and angry flames were already
flashing fiercely. But danger most pressed still
nearer. A long line of fierce warriors was even in
the meadows; and in no direction could the eye be
turned, that it did not meet with the appalling proof

[figure description] Page 083.[end figure description]

that the village was completely surrounded by an
overwhelming superiority of force.

“To the garrison!” shouted some of the foremost
of those who first saw the nature and imminency of
the danger, pressing forward themselves in the direction
of the fortified house. “To the garrison, or
we are lost!”

“Hold!” exclaimed that voice which was so
strange to the ears of most of those who heard it,
but which spoke in a manner that by its compass
and firmness commanded obedience. “With this
mad disorder, we are truly lost! Let Captain Content
Heathcote come to my councils.”

Notwithstanding the tumult and confusion which
had now in truth begun to rage fearfully around
him, the quiet and self-restrained individual to whom
the legal and perhaps moral right to command belonged,
had lost none of his customary composure.
It was plain, by the look of powerful amazement
with which he had at first regarded the stranger, on
his sudden interruption of the service, and by the
glances of secret intelligence and of recognition
they exchanged, that they had met before. But
this was no time for greetings or explanations, nor
was that a scene in which to waste the precious
moments in useless contests about opinions.

“I am here,” said he who was thus called for;
“ready to lead whither thy prudence and experience
shall point the way.”

“Speak to the people, and separate the combatants
in three bodies of equal strength. One shall
press forward to the meadows, and beat back the
savage, ere he encircle the palisadoed house; the
second shall proceed with the feeble and tender, in
their flight to its covers; and with the third—but
thou knowest that which I would do with the third.
Hasten, or we lose all by tardiness.”

It was perhaps fortunate that orders so necessary

[figure description] Page 084.[end figure description]

and so urgent were given to one little accustomed
to superfluity of speech. Without offering either
commendation or dissent, Content obeyed. Accustomed
to his authority, and conscious of the critical
situation of all that was dear, the men of the village
yielded an obedience more prompt and effective
than it is usual to meet in soldiers who are not familiar
with habits of discipline. The fighting men
were quickly separated in three bodies, consisting
of rather more than a score of combatants in each.
One, commanded by Eben Dudley, advanced at
quick time towards the meadows in the rear of the
fortress, that the whooping body of savages, who
were already threatening to cut off the retreat of
the women and children, should be checked; while
another departed in a nearly opposite direction,
taking the street of the hamlet, for the purpose of
meeting those who advanced by the southern entrance
of the valley. The third and last of these
small but devoted bodies, remained stationary, in
attendance for more definite orders.

At the moment when the first of these little divisions
of force was ready to move, the divine appeared
in its front, with an air in which spiritual
reliance on the purposes of Providence, and some
show of temporal determination, were singularly
united. In one hand he bore a Bible, which he
raised on high as the sacred standard of his followers,
and in the other he brandished a short broadsword,
in a manner that proved there might be
danger in encountering its blade. The volume was
open, and at brief intervals the divine read, in a
high and excited voice, such passages as accidentally
met his eye, the leaves blowing about in a manner
to produce a rather remarkable admixture of doctrine
and sentiment. But to these trifling moral incongruities,
both the pastor and his parishioners
were alike indifferent; their subtle mental

[figure description] Page 085.[end figure description]

exercises having given birth to a tendency of aptly reconciling
all seeming discrepancies, as well as of accommodating
the most abstruse doctrines to the more
familiar interests of life.

“Israel and the Philistines had put their battle
in array, army against army,” commenced Meek, as
the troop he led began its advance. Then, reading
at short intervals, he continued, “Behold, I will do
a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every
one that heareth it shall tingle.”—“Oh house of
Aaron, trust in the Lord; he is thy help and thy
shield.” “Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man;
preserve me from the violent man.”—“Let burning
coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire;
into deep pits, that they rise not again.”—“Let the
wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I, withal,
escape.”—“Therefore doth my father love me, because
I lay down my life, that I may take it again.”—
“He that hateth me, hateth my father also.”—
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do.”—“They have heard that it hath been said, an
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”—“For
Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he
stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed
all the inhabitants of Ai—” Thus far the
words of Meek were intelligible to those who remained,
but distance soon confounded the syllables.
Then nought was audible but the yells of the enemy,
the tramp of the men who pressed in the rear
of the priest, with a display of military pomp as
formidable as their limited means would allow, and
those clear high tones, which sounded in the ears
and quickened the blood at the hearts of his followers,
as though they had been trumpet-blasts. In a
few more minutes the little band was scattered behind
the covers of the fields, and the rattling of fire-arms
succeeded to the quaint and characteristic
manner of their march.

[figure description] Page 086.[end figure description]

While this movement was made in front, the
party ordered to cover the village was not idle.
Commanded by a sturdy yeoman, who filled the
office of Lieutenant, it advanced with less of religious
display, but with equal activity, in the direction
of the South; and the sounds of contention
were quickly heard, proclaiming both the urgency
of the measure and the warmth of the conflict.

In the mean time, equal decision, though tempered
by some circumstances of deep personal interest,
was displayed by those who had been left in front
of the church. As soon as the band of Meek had
got to such a distance as to promise security to
those who followed, the stranger commanded the
children to be led towards the fortified house. This
duty was performed by the trembling mothers,
who had been persuaded, with difficulty, to defer
it until cooler heads should pronounce that the
proper moment had come. A few of the women
dispersed among the dwellings in quest of the infirm,
while all the boys of proper age were actively employed
in transporting indispensable articles from
the village, within the palisadoes. As these several
movements were simultaneous, but a very few
minutes elapsed between the time when the orders
were issued and the moment when they were accomplished.

“I had intended that thou shouldst have had the
charge in the meadows,” said the stranger to Content,
when nought remained to be performed, but
that which had been reserved for the last of the
three little bands of fighting men. “But as the
work proceedeth bravely in that quarter, we will
move in company. Why doth this maiden tarry?”

“Truly I know not, unless it may be of fear
There is an opening for thy passage into the fort,
Martha, with others of thy sex.”

“I will follow the fighters that are about to

[figure description] Page 087.[end figure description]

march to the rescue of them that remain in our
habitation,” said the girl, in a low but steady voice.

“And how know'st thou that such is the service
intended for those here arrayed?” demanded the
stranger, with a little show of displeasure that his
military purposes should have been anticipated.

“I see it in the countenances of them that tarry,”
returned the other, gazing furtively towards Mark,
who, posted in the little line, could with difficulty
brook a delay which threatened his father's house,
and those whom it held, with so much jeopardy.

“Forward!” cried the stranger. “Here is no
leisure for dispute. Let the maiden take wisdom,
and hasten to the fort. Follow, men stout of heart!
or we come too late to the succor.”

Martha waited until the party had advanced a
few paces, and then, instead of obeying the repeated
mandate to consult her personal safety, she took
the direction of the armed band.

“I fear me that 'twill exceed our strength,” observed
the stranger, who marched in front at the
side of Content, “to make good the dwelling, at so
great distance from further aid.”

“And yet the visitation will be heavy, that shall
drive us for a second time to the fields for a resting-place.
In what manner didst get warning of this
inroad?”

“The savages believed themselves concealed in
the cunning place, where thou know'st that my
eye had opportunity to overlook their artifices.
There is a Providence in our least seeming calculations:
an imprisonment of weary years hath its
reward in this warning!”

Content appeared to acquiesce, but the situation
of affairs prevented the discourse from becoming
more minute.

As they approached the dwelling of the Health-cotes,
better opportunity of observing the condition

[figure description] Page 088.[end figure description]

of things, in and around the house, was of course
obtained. The position of the building would have
rendered any attempt, on the part of those in it,
to gain the fort ere the arrival of assistance, desperately
hazardous, since the meadows that lay
between them were already alive with the ferocious
warriors of the enemy. But it was evident
that the Puritan, whose infirmities kept him within
doors, entertained no such design; for it was shortly
apparent that those within were closing and barring
the windows of the habitation, and that other
provisions for defence were in the course of active
preparation. The feelings of Content, who knew
that the house contained only his wife and father,
with one female assistant, were excited to agony,
as the party he commanded drew near on one side,
at a distance about equal to that of a band of the
enemy, who were advancing diagonally from the
woods, on the other. He saw the efforts of those
so dear to him, as they had recourse to the means
of security provided to repel the very danger which
now threatened; and, to his eyes, it appeared that
the trembling hands of Ruth had lost their power,
when haste and confusion more than once defeated
the object of her exertions.

“We must break and charge, or the savage will
be too speedy!” he said, in tones that grew thick
from breathing quicker than was wont for one of
his calm temperament. “See! they enter the orchard!
in another minute, they will be masters of
the dwelling!”

But his companion marched with a firmer step,
and looked with a cooler eye. There was, in his
gaze, the understanding of a man practised in scenes
of sudden danger, and in his mien the authority of
one accustomed to command.

“Fear not,” he answered; “the art of old Mark
Heathcote hath departed from him, or he still

[figure description] Page 089.[end figure description]

knoweth how to make good his citadel against a
first onset. If we quit our order, the superiority of
concert will be lost, and being few in numbers, defeat
will be certain; but with this front, and a fitting
steadiness, our march may not be repulsed. To
thee, Captain Content Heathcote, it need not be
told, that he who now counsels hath seen the strife
of savages ere this hour.”

“I know it well—but dost not see my Ruth, laboring
at the ill-fitted shutter of the chamber? The
woman will be slain, in her heedlessness—for, hark!
there beginneth the volley of the enemy!”

“No, 'tis he who led my troop in a far different
warfare!” exclaimed the stranger, whose form grew
more erect, and whose thoughtful and deeply-furrowed
features assumed something like the stern
pleasure which kindles in the soldier as the sounds
of contention increase. “'Tis old Mark Heathcote,
true to his breeding and his name! he hath let off
the culverin upon the knaves! behold, they are
already disposed to abandon one who speaketh so
boldly, and are breaking through the fences to the
left, that we may taste something of their quality.
Now, bold Englishmen, strong of hand and stout of
heart, you have training in your duty, and you shall
not be wanting in example. You have wives and
children at hand, looking at your deeds; and there
is one above, that taketh note of the manner in
which you serve in his cause. Here is an opening
for your skill; scourge the cannibals with the hand
of death! On, on to the onset, and to victory!”

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