“No matter what. You can't have her—you understand—don't
you?”

“Y—yes,” said Tom, “I suppose I do.”

“Very well, then—no offence meant,” said aunt Becky, now
trying to modify what might seem harsh in her language by a
stroke of politeness, but still speaking in the same high key;
“won't you sit down?”

“No I thank you,” muttered Tom, now decidedly crestfallen;
“I rather think it is time for me to go.”

“Good night, then,” said Becky, following him to the door as
close as if he had been a burglar. “Take care of the dog!”

“The deuce!” said Tom to himself, clutching his cane, as he
walked off the stoop; “is there a dog to be shunned too? I
shouldn't wonder if they should set him on me!” and he quickened
his step down the lane that led to the highway, and was soon out
of sight of the old farm-house, without even turning to take a last
look at the solitary light which gleamed like a beacon from Getty's
room—alas! no beacon of hope for him.

p463-041 CHAPTER V. THE ELOQUENT EMISSARY.

[figure description] Page 034.[end figure description]

Tom had kept his own counsel, and although his greatly changed
demeanor, and the fact that there was no repetition of his visit to
Miss Van Kleeck, excited Harry's suspicions, he could not fully
believe either that his brother had been rejected, or that he had
abandoned his matrimonial views. But much as he had tried to
wish for the suitor's success, he had been unable really to do so, and
when the latter, fearful of the imputation which his silence would
fasten upon him, condescended to define his position, it was greatly
to Harry's relief, although not much to his enlightenment.

“I'll tell you what,” said Tom, “I didn't like Getty as well the
second time I saw her; I hardly think she'll do for me. Then
that old dragon that guards her is a horrid old creature. I rather
think I won't be hasty about it. At all events, I will wait awhile.”

Harry thought all this true, for he could not suspect his brother
of falsehood, and he imputed his mistaken opinion of Gertrude
entirely to a want of sufficient acquaintance with her. How truly
he knew her to be worthy of the most exalted love! But he made
little reply, and the subject was soon willingly dropped by both
parties.

Their business affairs, in the meantime, did not mend. The
younger brother soon grew as chimerical and visionary as ever in
searching for short roads to fortune, but without the least idea of
seeking her where she frequents most, in the beaten highway of

[figure description] Page 035.[end figure description]

patient and plodding toil. It was about this time that Tom returned
home one day from his office, where his occupation was
anything but study, and sought out his brother with an appearance
of much excitement.

and action—such an opportunity as offers but once in a man's

“Now, Harry,” he said, “the time has really come for decision
lifetime. My most sanguine hopes bid fair to be realized.”

“Why, what is it now, Tom?”

“A great chance! While we are dreaming away our time
here, others are up and doing in one of the greatest enterprises of
the age. I have had a long interview, this afternoon, with a Col.
Allen, of Canada, who is to stop here two days, to form a `Hunter's
Lodge,' and I am going to become a member. He says as I
am the first volunteer, and am a man of—of note, as he was
pleased to say, I shall be in a condition for immediate advancement
and a commission.”

“Why, what in the name of the seven wonders are you talking
about?” asked Harry, laying down his flute, and gazing earnestly
at his brother. “Who is Col. Allen, and what is a hunter's
lodge?”

“Surely you cannot be so ignorant as not to know about the
hunters, Harry? You must have read about them in the papers.”

“Oh—ah!—those meddlesome fellows that are trying to get up
a revolution in Canada. I remember now, they call themselves
hunters.”

“Trying to get up a revolution! No, sir; the revolution is
already begun, and is rapidly progressing, and in every town on
the northern frontier, secret clubs are forming of those who wish
to aid, either by personal service or by money, in the cause of
freedom. Col. Allen says that the youth and chivalry of the whole
nation are ready to rise, and win for themselves just such honors
in Canada as Lafayette, and Kosciusko, and other great men,
achieved in our Revolution.”

[figure description] Page 036.[end figure description]

“Besides lots of prize-money, I suppose,” said Harry, laughing
quietly.

“Yes; General Mackenzie, who is at the head of the provisional
government, has issued a proclamation, offering three hundred
acres of land, and a hundred dollars in specie, to every private;
and as to commissioned officers”—

“General Mackenzie at the head of the provisional government!
Why, Tom, Mackenzie is in Michigan, a refugee and an outlaw,
with a price on his head, and all his own property confiscated.”

“No matter for that! There was a price on Washington's
head, too, wasn't there? What hurt did it do? Mackenzie is to
be the Washington of Canada, its deliverer and its future President.”

“But I thought this agitation was subsiding, since the insurgents
at home, or the patriots, as you call them, and their sympathizers
here, had met with so many and such constant reverses. Surely,
blood enough has been spilt in such a hopeless cause.”

“Subsiding! Col. Allen says it is but just begun; he says that
the burning of the `Caroline' has lit up a flame in every quarter
of the land—that meetings are being everywhere held, and that
millions of money are already subscribed for the cause. Did not
you read of the great meeting in New York last week?”

“Yes, I believe I saw something about it—but I did not pay
much attention to it. It is, at all events, certain that our government
has heretofore, and will continue to use all means to enforce
neutrality, and to prevent American citizens from invading a
country with which we are at peace.”

“Very true. But government can't prevent sympathy, and
private assistance with money, such as we gave to Greece and
Poland—nor can it prevent our citizens from quietly leaving the
country, and when they are out of it, joining any standard they
choose. That's what the colonel says, and every lawyer knows
it's true.”

[figure description] Page 037.[end figure description]

“It may be true,” said Harry, taking down his flute; “but I
should require more evidence than I have ever seen, either that the
Canadian people are greatly oppressed, or that they desire a revolution,
or that they will turn out to help those who go over to help
them, before I should be sympathizer or subscriber—much less a
hunter, as you call it. It may suit the purpose of a few agitators,
both there and here, to get up a rebellion in the name of a suffering
people, who are very quietly minding their own business at
home, and have no remote intention of committing high treason.”

“But if the people are trampled down, and blinded by their
tyrannical rulers”—

“Let them remain so, until they have spirit enough and sense
enough to rise, as our ancestors did in '75, and then, if they can
show the world even half as just a cause as we did, they will not
lack help. The youth and chivalry of the whole nation would
rise in such a cause uninvoked, excepting by the clash of arms in
the cause of freedom; armies would start up at a hundred points
along our frontiers, like the Highland legion at the whistle of
Roderick Dhu; they would pour into the arena impetuous as the
mountain torrents, and as resistless as the tornado which strews
forests in its path.”

“Why, Harry,” said Tom, who had listened with gradually distending
eyes, “you grow eloquent. You must come with me tonight
and join the club—you must, indeed. Col. Allen will
convince you that the very time you describe is at hand. You
ought to hear him talk on this subject, for I have not told you
half of what he said.”

“You must excuse me—I have not the least curiosity on the
subject.”

“I cannot excuse you—I shall certainly take you along.”

Tom understood the passive and yielding nature of his companion
too well to doubt his ability to carry the point with him, nor
was he disappointed. The brothers went to the meeting, and not a

[figure description] Page 038.[end figure description]

few of the young men of the village were influenced by their
example to do the same, while many already favorably predisposed
to the cause, responded to the call without solicitation, and awaited
eagerly an opportunity of expressing their sympathy for the
Canadians. Few, indeed, of the large number in attendance entertained
the remotest idea of engaging personally in the anticipated
war, yet there were some, like the younger Vrail, of military
tastes, who hoped to find it an easy avenue to fame and fortune.

No secrecy was observed in this primary meeting, at which its
originator did not intend to say or do anything which could
infringe the neutrality laws—but out of the elements present, it
was his design to form a lodge or secret club, to whom the most
daring projects of the agitators could be proposed, and from
whom could be expected a quota of men for actual service in the
field.

The emissary who had convened this assemblage was a man
fully competent to play his part in the important drama in which
he was engaged. He was a dark-complexioned man, apparently
of about fifty years, with a countenance indicative of great intelligence
and sagacity, and it was with an air so serious, a voice so
musical, and words so apt and fitting that he began his address,
that he could not fail to enlist the earnest attention of all, and at
once to inspire them with an interest in his subject. He spoke
briefly of the history of the Canadas, of the long standing grievances
of the people of the lower province, and of the more recent,
but not less severe oppression of their more western brethren.
He recited the most glowing parts of that celebrated appeal issued
by the leading reformers of Upper Canada, which bears throughout
such a striking resemblance to our own Declaration of Independence,
and which in frequent instances adopts its exact language
to complain of the same wrongs.

He spoke of the premature outbreak which ensued shortly after
the publication of this document, and which, but for some

[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

erroneous counsels which thwarted the plans of the valiant Mackenzie,
must have led to an immediate and successful issue.

How the revolutionary spirit, ripe in both provinces, had
been kindled into a hundred distinct, but unfortunately never
united flames—how a dozen successive insurrections had been successively
defeated by government—and how hundreds of brave
men had been dragged to prison and to the gallows, while a still
larger number had sought refuge in this Asylum of Freedom—he
described in language bold, graphic and startling. He next
painted the efforts which were making by these refugees in this
country, to enlist the friends of Freedom in their cause, while the
throbbing heart of the whole Canadian nation, he said, was
anxiously and ardently awaiting the advent of their deliverers.

“Let but an American army cross the frontiers,” he said, “and
their first bugle blast will be to the disheartened millions of the
North, what the voice of the prophet was to the dry bones in the
valley of vision—they will rise and stand upon their feet, an
exceeding great army. They will rush to your standard from a
thousand points. There will be but one blow to strike, and the
chains will drop from the manacled form of Liberty, never again
to be replaced. Who would not share in this glorious enterprise
of liberating an oppressed and generous people from the shackles
of tyranny; of creating another independent Republic to rank as
a power among the nations of the earth? Strong as is your
government, Americans! deeply as it is rooted in the affections of
twenty millions of brave people, it is not beyond receiving an
accession of strength from the influence and co-operation of a sister
Republic springing up at its side. Canada is destined to be
free. The event is a fixed and certain one in the womb of the
future, and the only question that remains is one of time. Shall
it be now? Now, when oppression has filled to the brim her cup
of bitterness—now, when tens of thousands, both here and there,
are already armed in her cause—now, when all America is

[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

sympathizing with her sufferings, and encouraging her struggles? Or,
shall this golden opportunity, so filled with all the elements of success,
be lost, and another cycle of darkness be reserved for my
beloved country?”

The great earnestness of the orator, and his impassioned style
of speaking, as he proceeded at considerable length to enforce his
appeals, were not without a marked effect upon his audience. He
was frequently interrupted by applause, and sometimes by loud
and long-continued cheers, and at the close of his remarks he was
surrounded by a crowd of young men, who remained, in compliance
with his intimation that he intended to organize a secret society,
or lodge, composed of all who were willing in any way to aid
in the cause.

The younger Vrail, of course, was of this number, and he made
a strong effort, seconded by the Canadian, to induce his brother
to follow his example—for Harry, although not convinced, had
been moved by the stranger's eloquence.

“You do not commit yourself in anything excepting sympathy
and secrecy,” said the orator, “by becoming a member of the
lodge. You will still be as free to decline assisting the cause as
you now are—but those who join and give the required pledge of
secresy will learn much more of the cause and its prospects than I
am at liberty to communicate publicly.”

Harry's yielding nature gave way as usual to the importunity
of his brother, and the young men, together with many of their
associates, soon found themselves transformed into “Hunters,”
fully supplied with all the secret signs and passwords with which
to recognize all others of the fraternity, in whatever quarter of
the two countries they might chance to meet.

p463-048 CHAPTER VI. A DARK COMPACT.

[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

Enthusiastic, ambitious and vain, Thomas Vrail was fully
resolved from the outset to accept the tempting offer of a commission
in the patriot army, which the emissary was empowered to
offer him, many nominations of the kind having been placed at
his disposal by those who had assumed command of the provisional
government of the provinces.

He exhibited the fullest credentials from his superiors, who evidently
placed great confidence in his tact and discretion, and who
were as liberal in the bestowal of their chimerical honors, as in the
distribution of the yet unconquered soil which they were about to
invade. He was, of course, instructed to offer these higher prizes
only to the educated and influential classes, to whom the private's
pay and bounty could not be expected to prove a sufficient inducement
to enlist.

Of course, the majority of these appointments, although conferring
rank from their date, were entirely prospective, as far as
related to the command bestowed upon the various officers. Colonels
of regiments yet unraised, and captains of companies still
unformed, awaited with ardor the hour when, stepping upon Canadian
soil, they should behold the eager hosts which they were to
lead to battle and to victory, and they were content, meanwhile, to
perform the duty of privates in the first movements of the invasion.

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

Col. Allen, after much secret instruction to his new allies, left
them on the ensuing day, to pursue his mission in other quarters,
promising to visit them again within a fortnight, and to give due
notice of the time and place of rendezvous to such of them as
should determine to engage personally in the cause.

The intervening period was devoted by the younger Vrail to the
most incessant efforts to induce Harry to accompany him to the
field. The infection and sympathy was spreading more and more
rapidly throughout the country, and Tom brought daily to his brother
reports of fresh accessions to the ranks, and new accounts both
of the sufferings of the Canadian people, and of the extent and
progress of the insurrection.

“Beacons,” he said, “are placed on a hundred hills, ready to
be fired the moment that the invading army lands, and these
are to be the signals for a simultaneous rising throughout the
country.”

Harry did not lack courage, and his heart was full of generous
eelings for the oppressed, but his scruples were not entirely overcome.

But he knew that Tom could not be dissuaded from his own
purpose, and his extreme solicitude for his safety in so perilous
an enterprise went further towards deciding his movements than
all other influences combined. He resolved to go for Tom's sake—
that he might watch over his welfare, and keep him from unnecessary
dangers. It would be so very dreadful, he thought, if anything
should happen to Tom, while his own fate seemed of comparatively
trifling moment. Such was Harry's nature, and such is
the nature of many whom the world decry as wanting in energy
and force of character.

When Allen returned, a lieutenant's commission was easily
obtained for the new recruit, although, if he had chosen to make
terms, he might easily have procured a higher rank, but he took,
of course, what his brother chose to ask, and Allen to bestow. It

[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

was true Tom was a captain, but what was that to Harry but a
source of pleasure? He did not doubt that the latter would
become a major-general if the patriots succeeded.

The returned emissary assembled his lodge, and informed them
with much excitement, and with many injunctions of secrecy and
caution, that the time and place of attack were fully decided upon.
The frontier village of Oswego, he said, was the place of rendezvous
for a large part of the recruits, where they were to repair
quietly and without arms, which would be provided in due time.
They were not to go in numbers of more than three or four
together, nor were they publicly to discuss the object of their expedition,
lest they might subject themselves to arrest and detention
by their own government, which, he said, was taking sides with
tyranny against the rights of man. Having imparted these instructions
to the neophytes, together with such other information as
was necessary for their guidance, he departed northward, to visit
other clubs, and give them like notice of the time of the intended
invasion.

Secret as had been the proceedings of the lodge, its existence and
object, and even the names of the volunteers for service in the
field, were generally known throughout the village. True, they
were rather whispered than openly proclaimed, and it was said, not
that such and such an one had enlisted for the war, but that he
had become a hunter. This plan was universal and was everywhere
understood. Officers of the United States government were
not obliged to understand it unless they chose to do so, and Mr.
Deputy Marshal Stone never dreamed of knowing what it meant,
when used among his own neighbors and acquaintances. If people
chose to go north in search of game, which had become very
scarce at home, it was no business of his. But he caused it to be
understood that they must not go to the chase with military accoutrements,
or with the accompaniments of drum and fife, or he
should be obliged to suspect them of other designs. In short,

[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

there was a very good understanding between the deputy and his
fellow-citizens, upon whose favor he counted for assistance in obtaining
a renewal of his term of office.

Old Guert Rosevelt made no serious opposition to the designs
of his grandsons, which he very imperfectly understood, but he
had great confidence in the good sense of the elder, and he was
so impatient of the long idleness of both, that he was glad of any
change which gave them occupation and even a remote prospect
of success.

But there was another quarter in which the tidings of Harry
Vrail's changing fortunes were received with more interest, and
were contemplated with more anxiety. Although Gertrude Van
Kleeck had long tried to convince herself that she cared little or
nothing for her old associate and visitor, she could not repress the
fears which continually arose in her mind for his safety, now that
he was about to engage in a war of which the theatre was distant
and the issue very uncertain. True, he was only a friend, and
would never be anything more to her, but she felt that it would
be very dreadful if anything serious should happen to him. Yet
not for the world would she have him or any one else know that
she felt this solicitude in his behalf, and the necessity of so closely
locking her emotions within her own breast rendered them doubly
oppressive. Again and again she reverted to the subject, only to
feel her utter impotency to plan or do anything which should
counteract Harry's anticipated movement. She reflected upon the
great wealth of which she was the mistress, and thought how freely
she would be willing to dispense of it, if there was any way by
which she could avert from her friend what seemed to her so very
pressing and imminent a danger.

She continued to receive tidings from day to day, through
various members of her household, in relation to a subject which,
of course, formed a large part of the current gossip of the neighborhood,
but her principal reliance for information was upon a

[figure description] Page 045.[end figure description]

negro servant, named Abram, but more usually called Brom, who
was almost daily sent to the village on domestic errands. At
times, indeed, Gertrude invented little wants, which aunt Becky
thought superfluous and extravagant, for the purpose of dispatching
Brom to the village store, to bring back his accustomed budget
of intelligence. She seldom, indeed, questioned him herself in
relation to the news, but she usually contrived to be busy in the
kitchen on his return, and thus to hear what he was quite sure to
relate to his fellow-servants in regard to the exciting topic of the
day.

Now, Brom had become not a little attached to Harry Vrail in
former days, having often obtained permission to accompany him
in his fishing and hunting expeditions, and he frequently expressed
his regret that Master Harry had ceased for the past year to pay
his accustomed visits to the Van Kleeck woods and streams.

Of this sable individual a few words of description may not be
amiss. He was a man about thirty years of age, who had lived
from infancy in the family of Gertrude's father, having been a
slave until the general emancipation of 1826. Since that time he
had received wages as a hired servant, or rather he had them
placed to his account, for Brom never “took up” anything more
than was required for his yearly suit of linsey-woolsey, the remainder
of his stipend remaining in his employer's hands.

Notwithstanding his freedom, he was in spirit as much a slave
as ever, and he possessed that strong attachment for his master's
family which characterizes his race, and which is, alas, so often
sadly requited.

But Brom was a light-hearted, merry fellow, whose humble
condition seemed fully compensated for by a perpetual freedom
from cares and anxieties. Everything was food for Brom's mirth,
and almost everything was food for his mouth. His appetite and
his spirits were equally unflagging.

It was while listening to one of the negro's daily reports in

[figure description] Page 046.[end figure description]

relation to the village recruits, in which he always spoke particularly
of “Massa Harry,” that the idea occurred to the anxious Gertrude
of furnishing her friend with a body-guard in the person of this
very African, who manifested so much interest in his welfare.
Startled and relieved by the thought, she hastily retired to her
room to reflect on the means of carrying it into execution; but this
was a task not easily performed with that entire secrecy which was
essential to her design. She sent at once for the negro, and after
questioning him a little more in relation to the tidings which he
had brought, she said to him:

“Brom, you have always been a good servant, and my father
ever placed great confidence in you. I think I can do the same.”

Brom grinned widely as he replied—

“Yes, Miss Getty, you can trust Brom sartin.”

“But can I trust you in a very important matter, far more important
than any which you were ever engaged in, and one which
requires both courage and secrecy?”

The negro remained silent for a moment and seemed greatly
surprised, but at the next instant his large eyes flashed with the
earnest spirit of his reply.

“Yes, Miss Getty, you can trust Bron in anything.”

“Are you willing to go to the war with Mr. Vrail as his servant?”

“With Massa Harry! To the war with Massa Harry! Yes, I
is willing, Missis Getty! Dat I is—if you and Missis Becky will
let me go.”

“You are a free man, Brom, and can do what you choose.”

“I will never go without your consent. Besides, I want to
come home when the war is over, and Missis Becky wouldn't let
me do that if I should run away.”

“But I am mistress now,” replied Gertrude, with a very pretty
air of command, which she had never before been able to assume,
but which the exigency of her position rendered necessary. “Aunt
Becky has nothing to say about it.”

[figure description] Page 047.[end figure description]

“Aunt Becky nothing to say, hey? Don't you believe it! She
has a mighty great deal to say about everything,” replied the
negro hastily.

“Well, well,” answered Gertrude, laughing, “she must be
allowed to talk, but you understand that I am the mistress in this
house and on this farm—that it is all mine. Don't you understand
that, Brom?”

“Y-e-s,” said Brom, hesitatingly—“but Missis Becky”—

“Never mind Missis Becky.”

Brom looked hastily over his shoulder to make sure that the
object of his dread was not within hearing of this treasonous
speech.

“And if you choose to go away, you shall be allowed to come
back here whenever you wish on exactly the same footing as before,
and I will furnish you with plenty of money for the journey; but
you will have to enlist as a soldier. What do you say?” Are you
afraid?” she continued, as the negro seemed to hesitate in replying.

“Golly, no! I isn't afraid of the war—but—Missis—Becky”—

The young lady impatiently interrupted him, and, by dint of much
argument, succeeded in allaying his deeply implanted fears in relation
to the one sole object of his terror, and when this disenthrallment
was completed, there was no limit to the exuberance of the
negro's joy at the prospect before him.

“As I said, you will have to enlist as a soldier.”

“List? Oh yes, I'll do that, sartin; and then I'll get three hundred
acres of land after we've drove the Canaders all out.”

“You must not think of that. You may get it or not, and it
will probably be worth very little if you do. But remember that
you go as Master Harry's servant, and that I will pay you liberally
for all your time and danger. You will be a soldier it is true, and
must do your duty as such; but remember, that you are a volunteer,
and that you must enlist on the express condition that you are

[figure description] Page 048.[end figure description]

always to fight at Master Harry's side, and that you are always to
be quartered near him, and where you can wait upon him. You
are to be within his call at all times of night and day. You are
to watch over him in battle, and be always ready to help him when
he needs help. If he is wounded (here Gertrude's voice trembled)
you are to carry him off the field; and if he is taken prisoner, you
are to go with him. Will you do all this?”

“Yes, Missis, I sartingly, will.”

“Will you swear to do it?”

“Yes, on all the Bibles in the house.”

“But there is yet another thing. Neither he nor any one else
must ever know anything of this arrangement between you and
me. You are a free man, you wish to enlist as a soldier, but you
wish to go with your old friend, Master Harry. All this is true, is
it not?”

“All berry true.”

“As to the rest, you must not say a word to anybody. You
must not even tell Mr. Vrail that you are to be his servant, nor
must you ask any wages of him; but you are to do everything
for him you possibly can.”

Brom was sagacious and discreet. He was easily made to comprehend
everything in relation to his young mistress' views except
two things. He did not comprehend her reason for secrecy, nor
how he was to avoid the wrath of his ancient enemy, Mistress
Becky. But he faithfully promised compliance with all the
instructions of Gertrude, which she repeated many times over to
him, and impressed on his mind with indelible distinctness. Before
he left the room he knew his whole rôle by heart, and he proceeded
at once to business, making his boldest strike first, and the
one which he dreaded far more than all the rest. Before the day
was over, he gave Miss Becky notice that he was about to quit the
service of the family, and was going to the war, and then he stood
patiently for half an hour, and bore the expected torrent of

[figure description] Page 049.[end figure description]

invective which his announcement elicited, merely repeating at its close
his first remark.

“You shall do no such thing, you black Mollyhack, you. You
sha'n't go! So just go about your work, and let me hear no more
about this nonsense. You sha'n't stir a step, I say. Now,
then.”

“I must go, Missis Becky.”

“What for must you, then? I should like to know that, now—
hey!” she said, in the very altissimo of scolding keys.

“I must go.”

“You shall not! You sha'n't have a cent of money; and if
you do go you shall never come back. You know very well that
Baltus would never have let you go on such a wild goose chase
as this, and neither will I.”

“I am a free man, Missis Becky,” said Brom, trembling from
head to foot with the violence of the effort to make so bold an
assertion, “and I sartingly shall go.”

So saying, Brom turned away and walked off to the barn, followed
by a rattling volley of words, which came less and less
distinctly to his ear until the interposing door of his place of
refuge shut out the fearful sounds.

Dame Becky, after scolding for some time at the empty air, went
grumbling into the house, and sought out her niece, whom she
informed of the servant's audacious design, which intelligence
Getty, to her great surprise, received with much coolness, assuring
her that she already knew Brom's wishes on this point, and
had consented to his going.

There was something in the air of the young lady as she made
this remark which impressed the aunt with a sense of her niece's
authority, and it was with some abatement of tone that she
remonstrated against the project. Getty heard her through and
replied with composure—

“As I said before, aunt, my mind is made up to let Brom go,

[figure description] Page 050.[end figure description]

and I desire that he may be allowed to go in peace, and without
further reproof.”

“Hoity, toity!” exclaimed the old woman in a subdued tone,
turning away from her niece; “these are new airs! Well, let
him go them to the old scratch, as he most assuredly will; but he
shall never darken these doors again.”

“He has my permission to return here whenever he chooses.”

“Oh, has he indeed? Pretty management this is! Perhaps
you do not know that all Brom's wages for the last ten years are
unpaid, and that he holds your father's note for a great part of it,
with interest, and that if he goes away it has all got to be paid.”

The last word was shot out from between the dame's thin lips
with much force, and with an air of no little spitefulness.

“I know all about it,” replied the niece. “I do not think it is
Brom's intention to take up any part of his money yet; but if it
is, I am able to pay him without difficulty.”

The aunt, after a little subdued grumbling, left the room, and
retired to her own department in no amiable mood, and greatly
wondering at the change which had suddenly taken place in her
niece.

p463-058 CHAPTER VII. HARRY AND GERTRUDE.

[figure description] Page 051.[end figure description]

Harry Vrail was not a little astonished when, on the third
day prior to his departure for the seat of war, his old acquaintance
Brom called upon him in a state of great excitement, and requested
to be allowed to enlist as a soldier and accompany him to the
field. To the young man's inquiries the negro replied that he
was going to quit his old home, and that he was free to go where
he chose, and he chose to go with Massa Harry to Canada.

Harry was delighted with this unexpected proof of attachment
in his old companion, and also with the prospect of having always
so powerful a friend and auxiliary at his side, and after ascertaining
that the negro's mind was fully decided upon going, he
assured him that he would arrange everything pertaining to his
enlistment, and said he had no doubt that he could so manage
matters that their positions should at all times be near each other.

Brom could not restrain his ecstasy at the success of his suit.

“I'll take care of your hoss, Massa Harry,” he said, “and
brush your clothes, and—and”—

“Thank you, Brom. I am not certain that I shall have a
horse to take care of, and I fear I shall have but little money to
pay for services of any kind.”

“Never mind the money, Massa Harry. I don't want any
money. Missis Becky has got eight hundred dollars of Brom's
now laid up for when I get to be an old man.”

[figure description] Page 052.[end figure description]

The negro could not long divest himself of the idea that Dame
Becky was the chief representative of his old master.

“Has she indeed? You are a very fortunate fellow then and I
think you had much better stay at home. You can buy yourself
a small farm with that sum, and run no risk of getting shot.”

The negro was impatient at this advice, and would not listen to
it a moment.

“Very well then, Brom,” said the young man, “you may go if
you wish, and I have no doubt you will make a very good soldier.”

“May I take care of your horse?” repeated the negro earnestly.

“Most certainly, if I have one, you may take care of him, and
if you like you may call yourself my servant when you are off duty,
and in that way we can always be near each other, and I will pay
you for whatever services I require of you.”

“Never mind the pay;” reiterated Brom, “we'll see about that
when you get to be a gineral or govner of Canada; but mind and
tell Colonel Allen that I is your servant.”

The negro next inquired, pursuant to Miss Van Kleeck's instruction,
how much money he would need for his equipment and travelling
expenses, and then hastened home to inform the delighted
Gertrude of the result of his mission.

The young lady now found it necessary to take another step in
the road to domestic authority, by resuming the custody of that
part of her property which remained in her father's “strong box”
at home, where a considerable sum in gold and silver was stored
away, with the family plate. It required some courage to renew
the contest for supremacy with her aunt, but animated by the importance
of the cause in which she was engaged, she struck for
freedom, and after a long and hotly contested battle of words, the
old dame flung down the keys in a rage, and retreated to the
kitchen, growling deeply in Low Dutch, a language to which she
always resorted when much excited.

[figure description] Page 053.[end figure description]

Getty flew to the box, which had so long been interdicted to her,
and took from it the sum which Mr. Vrail had named as necessary
for the negro's expenses, and in addition thereto a considerable
sum in the smallest kind of gold pieces. This last amount,
she told Brom, he must take with him to use in any emergency,
either of his own or of his master, and that he must conceal it in
some way securely in his clothes, and let no one know that he
possessed it.

Brom chuckled greatly, and promised implicit obedience.

“How much will that leave me, Missis Getty, in there?” he
said, nodding towards the box, which he supposed to contain an
immense treasure, including his own dues.

“It will leave you all that you had before, Brom. This does not
come out of your money by any means.”

“Golly! Missis, are you going to give Brom all that money”—

“And more, if necessary. Only be perfectly faithful and discreet,
and remember all that I have so often told you about—
about”—

“Taking good care of Massa Harry?” asked the negro, grinning.

“Yes,” said Getty, slightly coloring.

“I will sartingly remember.”

“And be sure never to say or hint anything to him about my
sending you to the war, or furnishing you with money, or anything
of that kind.”

“I will be sartin, sure.”

Gertrude thought with some trepidation, that Harry might
possibly call to bid farewell to her aunt and herself before quitting
the country, and such, indeed had been his design for some days
past, during which he had frequently requested his brother to
accompany him there. But Tom objected.

“It would be quite a waste of civility,” he said, “upon old Miss

[figure description] Page 054.[end figure description]

Van Kleeck, who would as likely as not send for a United States
officer to arrest us; and as to Getty, I have really quite relinquished
my designs upon her.”

Harry hesitated awhile, but at length he resolved to go alone.
Common politeness required it from one who had so long been an
acquaintance of the family, and he was besides anxious to make sure
that he was not contravening the wishes of Miss Van Kleeck by
encouraging Brom's military aspirations.

It was on a cool evening, early in November, that Mr. Vrail
found himself seated in the pleasant parlor of the Van Kleeck mansion,
awaiting the entrance of Gertrude. A glowing fire of wood
blazed and crackled upon the hearth, and without the aid of the two
candles, which burned almost unobserved in tall silver candlesticks
upon the mantel, fully lighted the large room, and was reflected
back from every side by the highly polished surfaces of the old-fashioned
solid mahogany furniture. Everything was scrupulously
clean. The ceiling was dazzlingly white, the carpet seemed guiltless
of dust and lint, and the sofa, drawn out corner-wise to the
fire, had a most tempting air of comfort and repose, while the tall
brass andirons and fender shone as only Dutch servants can induce
brass to shine. The hearth, indeed, and its accessories, were the
crowning specimens of Flemish neatness. The very ashes seemed
to have been taught the duty of falling within certain prescribed
limits, while a very clean brush hung in the chimney corner ready
for quick service in driving back any intrusive flakes.

When Getty entered the room, it was with an air of much embarrassment,
and even alarm, and although she shook hands with
Harry, and replied to his questions after her health, her agitation
gave the appearance of anything but cordiality to the reception.

But Harry did not expect much of a welcome, and he was not
disappointed at this. If it had been Tom, he thought, and he had
chosen to make himself agreeable, how differently Getty would have
acted, and he could not help thinking, as his eyes were riveted

[figure description] Page 055.[end figure description]

upon the really beautiful face which was before him, yet partly
averted from him, how very strange it was that Tom should think
of going to the war.

Gertrude had seated herself upon the sofa, and her visitor sat
down in a chair at some distance from her; and after he had
inquired about her health, and the health of aunt Becky, there
was an awkward silence, which it seemed impossible for either
party to break.

Harry spoke, at length.

“I am about leaving home for an absence of uncertain duration,”
he said, “and I have called to say good-bye to yourself and
your aunt.”

Getty immediately rose and pulled the bell-cord which dangled
over the mantel, and then reseating herself, replied that she had
heard of Mr. Vrail's intended absence. When she had directed a
servant girl, who answered her summons, to request her aunt's
presence in the parlor, she felt reassured by the expected arrival,
and found courage to say something more.

“Rumor says that you are going far, and on a dangerous
errand. I suppose I must not inquire whether this is true?”

“It is true,” replied Harry, smiling, “although I do not say
so publicly; but the cause in which I am about to engage, is
one which, after much reflection, I have been convinced is a just
one, and fully worthy of the sympathies and assistance of Americans.
I may be mistaken, but if at any time I should see cause
to change my views, before it is too late to retract, I shall undoubtedly
do so.”

“I know very little of the cause,” replied Gertrude, “but I fear—
I would say, I suppose—there must be more than the usual
perils of war attending it.”

“It may be so: I have not counted the danger closely, for
although I lay claim to no unusual courage, my life has heretofore
been one of such dull inaction, that even danger is not with

[figure description] Page 056.[end figure description]

out its charms for me. I confess I do not think, with Thomas
and Col. Allen, that our entrance into, and progress through
Canada, is to be merely a triumphal march.”

“If that expectation is generally encouraged, it may lead many
to join the ranks of the patriots who would prove but feeble
assistants in the hour of battle.”

“Very true.”

“May I ask if there are many going from this neighborhood?”

“Only six besides my brother and myself, and one of these, you
may be surprised to learn, is your former servant, Brom. Part
of my errand here to-night is to inquire if you approve of his
going—or, rather, to learn if you had any objections to it.”

Getty rose, and adjusted some ornaments on the mantel-piece,
and while doing so, if Harry had thought to steal a side glance at
her face, he would have seen that it was deeply suffused with
blushes as she replied,

“Brom has the entire right to control his own movements, and
I have not the least objection to his going.”

“He is a powerful fellow, and knows no fear, and will undoubtedly
make a very good soldier.”

“Will he be in your company?”

“If I should have a company, he undoubtedly will. He has
already elected me his captain, and I have promised him that he
shall, at all events, be near me. If there is”—

“Excuse me for interrupting you—but I hear aunt Rebecca,
and it may be better not to speak on the subject before her. You
know she is peculiar in her views.”

Harry had only time to thank his fair companion for her caution,
when the door opened, and Dame Becky entered, and
advanced in a hurried way to the middle of the room, where she
stopped.

“I could not come before, Getty, and I can't stay now,” she said

[figure description] Page 057.[end figure description]

“the apples are not half pared or strung yet. How do you do,
Mr. Vrail? Do you want anything in particular of me?” And
the dame lowered her head, and looked sharply at him over the
black rim of her spectacles.

“I have only called to say good-bye to yourself and your niece,
Miss Van Kleeck,” replied Harry, who had risen on her entrance
and remained standing; “I am about leaving home.”

“Oh, yes! I have heard that you were going away—a pretty
sort of wild goose chase it is, too, that you are going on. There's
Brom, too—he must go. I hope it is not you that has been and'
ticed him into it.”

“Aunt Becky! for shame!” exclaimed Gertrude, coloring scar,
let.

“When I seek to make proselytes for the cause,” replied Harry
smiling good-naturedly, “it will probably not be among his
class.”

“Well, no offence. I am sorry that you are sich a”—

“Aunt Becky!”

“Well, no matter—good-bye—I must go back to my apples.
Getty, see to the fire, and—and the front door, and you had better
come and help us as soon as you can”—and the old woman departed
as unceremoniously as she had entered.

Mortified beyond expression at her aunt's rudeness, Getty knew
not what to say; but Harry did not seem to notice it, nor did he
offer to resume his seat.

“My aunt is very,—inconsiderate,” said Miss Van Kleeck, hesitatingly.
“Do not allow her remarks to hurry your departure.”

“Certainly not. I ought not easily to take offence in a house
where I have received so many hospitalities,” replied the visitor, in
a voice rendered mournful by the retrospect of departed joys.

Getty's eye glanced at the portrait of her father hanging against
the wall, and she would not reject a compliment which belonged
rather to her deceased parent than herself.

[figure description] Page 058.[end figure description]

“I believe my father always thought your visits a great favor,”
she said.

“He was quite an original thinker, then,” replied the young
man, with a quiet smile. “I know but very few of that way of
thinking.”

Getty now looked mournful in turn, and Harry immediately
thought what a monster he was to speak so frivolously when her
father was the subject of conversation. He added, quickly,

“He was a most kind-hearted and amiable man, and I have
every reason to cherish his memory with regard. But I am
detaining you from your aunt—good-bye.”

Getty gave her hand, but it was utterly impossible for her to
speak—her eyes were full of tears, which Harry, blind to the last,
believed to be caused solely by the renewal of her filial grief. And
so they parted.

p463-066 CHAPTER VIII. BARAK, THE AGITATOR.

[figure description] Page 059.[end figure description]

Of Captain and Lieutenant Vrail's journey to the North, it is
not necessary particularly to speak. The few recruits from H—
did not all leave town together, nor of course, with any degree of
parade, which could distinguish them as men bound on a military
expedition. The brothers were accompanied by Brom, who was
allowed an outside seat upon the stage-coach, in company with the
driver, with whom, in his frequent stoppings at the village, the
negro had long before become acquainted.

He knew well, too, every member of the strong, and glossy
team which pranced and curveted beneath the lash of his companion,
having often assisted in giving them water in front of the
village inn, at a time when he little dreamed of ever arriving at so
distinguished an honor as riding behind them on a journey to
Albany.

A happy man was Brom, and so exuberant were his spirits that
he had frequently to repeat to himself a caution which Harry had
impressed upon his mind, to say nothing on the subject of his
journey, although, if he had been disposed to be communicative,
he could have told the coachman very little which he did not
already know, either about his new passengers, or the errand upon
which they were bound. He sounded the negro at times, indeed,
for his own amusement, when the latter would look very grave,
and shake his head, and say that he was travelling for his health.

[figure description] Page 060.[end figure description]

“The truth is,” said Brom, with a merry twinkle of his eyes,
“I have been very much confined for the last thirty years” (he had
never been ten miles from the place of his birth), “and I don't
think it agrees with me, so I'm going to try travelling.”

“You are not very pale, Brom.”

“Yhah! yhah! yhah! no, I'se got some color left—yhah!
yhah!”

“But ain't you really afraid, now,” asked the other, sinking his
voice into a confidential whisper; “ain't you afraid of going to
Canada to fight the red-coats?”

“You jes mind your own business, and give that off leader there
another clip—see how he lags. Ef you don't look sharp, I'll go
and ride inside with the rest of the gemmen.”

One of the places of rendezvous for the attack now in contemplation,
by those in command, was Oswego and its vicinity and the
point of intended entrance into Canada was near the village of
Prescott, on the St. Lawrence river, where Fort Wellington, well
garrisoned by the British, was to be the first object of assault.
Our travellers were supplied, as has been said, with all the requisite
signs and passwords with which to recognize their fellow
“hunters,” wherever they might meet them; but these signals
became scarcely necessary as they drew near the place of embarkation,
so general and so wide-spread among all classes was the
sentiment in favor of the pending movement. Still, in all the large
towns through which the various recruits passed, it was necessary to
avoid any open avowal of their destination, if they would have the
connivance of the officers of the Federal government, many of
whom were willing to wink at the offenders, as far as their own
official safety would possibly permit.

Numerous secret agents were on duty at Syracuse, and other
prominent points on the Western Railroad vigilantly watching all
the arrivals at the public houses, and secretly applying a test
question to all whose destination was northward, which, if

[figure description] Page 061.[end figure description]

comprehended, at once placed them on a footing that admitted of giving
information in regard to the best mode of advancing to Oswego.
Several canal boats had been chartered, and were lying in the
basin at the first named village, ready to start for the lake-port,
which is only thirty miles distant. They were of the class of
freight vessels usually called “line-boats,” and were capable of
carrying several hundred persons each, in a manner little calculated
to attract attention in the emigrating season, when almost
every westward bound craft was thronged with human beings.
Indeed in so cool a month as November, the voyagers could
remain entirely concealed, if they chose, beneath the high decks
which extended almost the whole length of the boat. This mode of
travel was compulsory upon none, and was designed chiefly for
the humbler class of recruits, who were glad to avail themselves of
the cheapest mode of progress.

The Vrails, after consulting with several emissaries of the cause
at Syracuse, resolved to proceed by stage-coach to Oswego, and
they received minute instructions as to the hotel at which they
should stop, where they would be certain to find themselves at
once in communication with the leaders of the expedition. Harry
concluded to retain Brom in his company, a step which Thomas
the more readily acceded to, as it gave the brothers the appearance
of travelling with a servant, a degree of state to which the young
captain was far from feeling indifferent.

At the moment of starting they were joined by a man of very
Yankee-like aspect, whose appearance was indicative of much
shrewdness, and who was introduced to them as a reliable and influential
member of the war party. Mr. Barak Jones, indeed,
according to his own account, as narrated to his fellow passengers
before he had been ten minutes in their company, was a very
mighty hunter, indeed, and one who had already rendered most
important aid to the patriot cause.

“May I ask what rank you hold in the service?” inquired Harry,

[figure description] Page 062.[end figure description]

after listening for a long time to the vaunts of his new companion.

“Well, I am not exactly in the army,” replied Jones, “though
I shall probably accept a commission soon. You see I am an
agitator. I have been travelling through the country forming
clubs, and making speeches, and inducing people to enlist. There
are more'n forty of my men now at Syracuse, waitin' for the boats.”

“Ah!” replied Harry, “you must have had some influence.”

“Yes, sir, although I say it myself, I don't think there's a man
that has done more, onless praps it's Col. Allen, who bein' a colonel
on the start, natrally had more influence.”

“Do you know this Col. Allen?”

“Like a book, sir; a brave man he is, too, and no more afraid
of the Britishers than of so many mosquitoes; a right down brave
man is Col. Allen, sir. He is going over.”

“Over!” exclaimed Harry, who thought the word sounded like
desertion. “What do you mean?”

“Why, over the lines, sir. He's going to fight. I presume he
is at Oswego now?”

“Well, are not you going over?”

“Why, I don't know that I shall just yet,” said the other, hesitatingly,
“as my services may be more valuable on this side. I
rather think they want me to keep agitatin'.”

“But it will certainly have a better effect upon these men whom
you have induced to enlist, if they see you with them in the field.”

“Y-e-e-s, praps it would, but they think I am going; and, as I
said before, I intend to go one of these days, you know. Bless
you, sir, there's no fear but what there will be enough. The whole
country is rising, sir, and all Canada is ready to rise and shake off
its shackles the very moment that our flag floats from the battlements
of Fort Wellington. Yes, sir, let us but strike one bold
blow, and”—

Harry saw that his companion had now evidently fallen into

[figure description] Page 063.[end figure description]

one of his set speeches, and, not caring to hear it through, he interrupted
him by asking what colors it was proposed to plant on
Fort Wellington.

“The tri-color, sir. That is the flag under which the patriots
fight, who, you see, are chiefly of French descent. By-and-by we
shall probably join the stars and stripes with it.”

“Where is Mackenzie now?”

“The great Mackenzie!” echoed Jones, enthusiastically. “Well,
sir, I must confess I don't exactly know. He may be at Oswego,
possibly at Ogdensburg, but wherever he is, you may be certain
he is not idle. He is moving the machinery, sir; he is moving
the machinery.”

“Undoubtedly, but I am sorry he is not to command this expedition
in person.”

“No, sir. Generals B— and E—, as you, of course, are
aware, are to be your leaders, assisted by Colonel Van Shoultz.”

“Who is this Col. Van Schoultz, of whom so much has been
said?”

This question was answered by another passenger, a middle-aged,
gentlemanly man, who had remained silent until now, and
of whom Harry knew nothing, excepting that, like all present, he
belonged to the secret fraternity.

“He will be to us, we hope, what Kosciousko was to our forefathers
in the days of the revolution. Like him, Van Shoultz is
a Polander, who has fought for his own country until she has
ceased to exist as a nation, and has since sought a refuge and home
in America. He is a man of talent and education, and promptly
volunteered his services in a cause so similar to that of his own suffering
land.”

“I have not been able to learn what command the famous Bill
Johnson is to have in this affair. It seems to me, that man is
more to be relied on than any of these untried officers.”

“The commodore will be on hand with some of his immediate

[figure description] Page 064.[end figure description]

followers; but I believe he is not ambitious of any rank. His great
desire is to see the blow effectually struck, and he is willing that
the honors should be divided in advance among those to whom
they will be an inducement to action. He will be sure to win his
laurels in the field.”

“He is a remarkable man, and should have some command,
which would make his influence and example greater upon the
soldiers. There is not a more popular man engaged in the cause
than this Hero of the Thousand Isles, as he is called.”

“He is a most brave, determined, resolute fellow; there is no
doubt of that. A man for whose capture two great nations are
offering large rewards must be of some consequence.”

“Yes, I am sorry that our Government should seek his arrest;
though I suppose he would have little cause to dread such an
event after all, any further than as an interruption to his designs.”

“Bless you, no sir,” replied Barak, “that proclamation is only for
show, and to keep 'em quiet over in England. Government don't
want him caught by any means, although they would of course
have to pay a reward for him, and shut him up a while for infringing
the neutrality laws.”

“Nothing is more certain than that they would not deliver him
up to the British.”

“You may well say that!” exclaimed Jones, with flashing eyes.
“The Government that undertook such a thing wouldn't be a
government three days. The thing could not possibly be done. I
should jest like to see the United-States Marshal backed, if you
please, by a regiment of soldiers, undertaking to carry Bill Johnson
to Canada to give him up to the British. Why, sir, the whole
country would rise to rescue him.”

“I do not doubt it, nor is there any danger of such an attempt:
but if the Commodore should be captured on the other side, his
fate is, of course, sealed.”

“Yes, sir, he'd swing, beyond a peradventure.”

[figure description] Page 065.[end figure description]

It was on the afternoon of the 4th of November that the travellers
arrived at Oswego, where, under the pilotage of Mr. Jones,
they readily found the hotel to which they had been directed, and
which was situated somewhat remote from the central part of the
village. The house, however, was thronged with guests, the most
of whom were quiet, sedate-looking people, and not a few were
evidently gentlemen. Many little coteries of three or four individuals
were assembled in various parts of the piazza and of the
adjacent grounds, engaged in animated, but by no means boisterous
conversation. Of these a considerable number gathered around
the stage coach as it drew up to the inn, and watched the alighting
of the passengers with much appearance of interest. Jones
was instantly recognized and hailed by several, to whom, much to
the surprise of the brothers, he instantly and openly introduced
them as Captain and Lieutenant Vrail.

“There's no need of any secrecy here,” he added, in explanation
to them—“these are all picked men, one may say.”

“And marked men too,” said the landlord, a fat, bustling and
very jovial man, who superintended the unloading of the baggage
of his new guests. “We are marked men, all on us, ha! ha!”

The young men found themselves treated with much consideration,
and were promised that, in the evening, they would have an
opportunity of an introduction to the commander of the expedition,
and several other of the leaders, including Colonel Van
Shoultz. They did not fail to observe that a large number of the
individuals present were addressed by titles indicative of the rank
of commissioned officers; but Captain Vrail was disposed to
regard this as an evidence of the magnitude of the movement, and
he did not doubt that there would still be a deficiency rather than
surplus of officers, when once they had made a successful stand
on Canadian soil.

In the evening the Vrails, together with several other gentlemen
who had arrived during the day, were introduced to the

[figure description] Page 066.[end figure description]

commander, General B—, to Colonel E—, the second in command,
and to Colonel Van Shoultz. The former was a man of somewhat
pompous manners; but, apparently brave, and very confident of success
in the great undertaking which he had in hand. He received
the new comers with great cordiality, and addressed them briefly on
the subject of the enterprise, which he said was destined to prove
the most important political movement the world had seen in the
present century, and which could not fail to cover its actors with
glory.

Col. E—. also was a man whose appearance gave promise of
acting a brilliant part in the coming struggle: but neither of the
principal officers impressed Harry so favorably as the young
Polander, Colonel Van Shoultz, whose grave and manly air, and
firm, resolute expression, contrasted favorably, at such a moment,
with the more flippant deportment of his superiors.

He was about thirty years of age, and both spoke and understood
the English language with tolerable accuracy, and although
apparently reserved in his general intercourse with those about
him, he seemed disposed to attach himself to Harry almost from the
first moment of their introduction. This feeling was fully reciprocated
on the part of Lieutenant Vrail, and the young men passed
much of their time in each other's company during their stay at
Oswego.

p463-074 CHAPTER IX. THE MIDNIGHT ARMY.

[figure description] Page 067.[end figure description]

On the eighth of November, all things being in readiness, it was
resolved, at a council of the leaders of the expedition, to dispatch
an express to Syracuse, with orders for the immediate embarkation
of the recruits, who were in waiting at that rendezvous. Two
schooners, chartered by the invaders, were lying at anchor in the
Oswego harbor, awaiting orders; and when the canal boats, two
days later, arrived by way of the Oswego canal, it was an easy
matter, under cover of the night, to transfer their living freight to
the larger vessels, which immediately moved out of the harbor,
and made sail in a northerly direction, filled with armed men.
With the exception of a small number of officers, however, who
were placed on board the schooners, the party at Oswego did not
embark in these vessels, but remained until the afternoon of the
next day in that village, and then when the steamboat United
States was ready to sail on a regular trip for Ogdensburg, they took
passage in her as ordinary travellers.

The sudden appearance of so many men almost at the moment
of the starting of the steamboat, excited no little surprise; but
coming from different quarters of the town, being unarmed and
deporting themselves with strict propriety, and in no respect like
an organized company, there was no excuse for denying them the
ordinary right of travellers, whatever suspicion may have been excited
in regard to them.

[figure description] Page 068.[end figure description]

“They look at me very close,” said Colonel Van Shoultz
whose foreign and military air excited much attention. “I
thought that large gentleman, whom you call United States—
what?”

“Marshal,” said Harry.

“Marshal—I thought he was going to invite me to go on
shore with him. Ah! I should not like that,” added the Polander,
breathing freer at the thoughts of his narrow escape and of
the endangered loss of his military glory.

They were safe out of the harbor when this conversation took
place, and the young men continued at intervals to discuss the
prospects of the opening campaign, as, seated upon the deck
they glided down the lake, and watched the various objects of
interest which presented themselves to view.

“Do you know the number of our present force?” asked
Vrail.

“Not precisely. We count our men by hundreds as yet I
believe; but it is said that we are to receive large accessions at
Sackett's Harbor and Ogdensburgh. If we should not, however,
I doubt not our present force is sufficient for the slightly garrisoned
fort we are to attack. Our true strength lies in the disaffection
of the Canadian people towards their government, and
in the great popularity of our cause in your States. One success
you perceive, must bring many thousands to our standard from
both sides of the frontiers.”

“Of course—and success at an early period becomes consequently
of most vital importance to the cause. Doubtless our
leaders will neglect no precautions to render the contemplated
blow effectual.”

“Our arms and military stores are ample, our officers and men
are brave and enthusiastic—I see no obstacles. I have known
a European State revolutionized by a fewer men and less brave
than those engaged in this enterprise.”

[figure description] Page 069.[end figure description]

“I was slow to be convinced,” said Harry, “that the quarrel
between the Canadian people and their government was such as
to justify the interference of our citizens, but I believe that when
tyranny and oppression become manifest and manifold, its victims
are legitimate objects of interest and aid for the whole human
family. Such seems to me the present case, and, unless we are
strangely deceived, the voice of the mass of our northern brethren
is calling upon us for the assistance which we are about to offer
them. It becomes, then, a sort of holy crusade, in which the
patriot and the philanthropist may engage with ardor, satisfied that
whatever may be his individual fate, the wise and good will
everywhere approve his conduct.”

This conversation was carried on under some restraint, for the
colloquists well knew that they were objects of suspicion to the
commander of the boat, who was greatly alarmed lest his involuntary
agency in transporting patriot troops should render his vessel
liable to seizure.

“Tell you what, gentlemen,” he said to Vrail and Van Shoultz,
stepping in front of them, in the midst of the dialogue, which
was conducted in a mysterious half whisper, “I don't want to
know anything of your affairs, but if you are `hunters' please keep
as quiet as possible until my boat is clear of you. I've washed
my hands of this affair from the beginning, and yet it seem as if I
were destined to be mixed in it some way, in spite of all I can do.

Vrail and Van Shoultz politely promised not to say or do anything
which could give offence.

Later in the day, the brothers were surprised to discover among
the passengers their stage-coach companion, Mr. Barak Jones,
who they supposed had remained at Oswego.

“Ah! gentlemen, I'm glad to see you,” said Jones, approaching
them with an air of boldness and enthusiasm; “the ball is rolling
now, isn't it? The blow will soon be struck—the great—the
de-cisive—the victorious blow.”

[figure description] Page 070.[end figure description]

Impressed by his courageous deportment, for which quality he
had not before given him much credit, Harry replied,

“I am happy to see you so sanguine of success Mr. Jones.”

“Sanguine! oh, yes, sir—I have no fears of the result, sir—
not I. The whole country is rising, sir, and let us but once plant
our flag on the battlements of”—

“Yes, but when did you change your mind about accompanying
us to the field?”

“Oh, bless you, sir, I'm not going over,” replied Jones with
great coolness; “I am only going to Ogdensburgh, to address a
meeting to-morrow.”

“Oh—ah—yes, I see.”

“You know, the fact is, I can't be spared.”

“I suppose not..'

“But do you see those two schooners about half a mile ahead
of us? The wind has failed them, and they are dropping slowly
down with the current.”

“Can they be our vessels?” asked Harry, in a whisper.

“They ain't anything else,” replied Jones also in a low voice;
“and although you can't see more than two or three people on
board either of them, they are chock full of armed men. Col.
Smith is in command there, and I reckon I know what he is after
now.”

“What is that?”

“He means to get towed down by our innocent captain here,
who is already scared half out of his wits, lest he should be
suspected of aiding the patriots, and thus should have his boat
seized.”

Mr. Jones' calculations did not prove incorrect. As the United
States drew near, and was about to pass the schooners, the usual
signal was given from the deck of each vessel, by some one personating
the character of master, that they desired to be taken in tow.
As this was a part, and a profitable part, of the ordinary business of

[figure description] Page 071.[end figure description]

the steamboat, it was complied with, without other questions than as
to the destination and freight of the weather bound vessels.

We are going to Ogdensburgh, and we are both loaded with
flour,” was the reply.

The steamer passed between them, and one being secured to
either side, she continued her course down the lake, with no material
diminution of her speed.

Jones and his companions watched their movements with great
interest.

“Do you see that little fellow with the boatman's ragged coat
on, and with a jammed hat?” said Barak; “he stands just alongside
of the helmsman, on that off schooner here?”

“Yes—a Scaramouch of a fellow.”

“That's Colonel Smith—a wide-awake fellow, as you'll see tomorrow.
He is disguised now, of course.”

“He had better stay below—he may be recognized.”

“No; he has something to say to us, you may depend. I
shouldn't wonder if he should come aboard.”

But Col. Smith manifested no such immediate design, but contented
himself with walking the deck of his vessel, apparently
much engaged in whittling a pine stick, yet losing no opportunities
of observation of the steamboat's passengers. No signs, however,
were exchanged, and no communication passed during daylight,
but as the day drew to a close, the officers came on deck,
and sauntered, as if by accident, to that side of the steamboat
nearest the disguised colonel, who, soon after dark, joined them
without difficulty. The coolness of the evening had driven most
of the passengers below, and there was no difficulty in finding a
retired spot where their conversation would be private.

Their deliberations resulted in a determination to continue their
present course down the lake and its outlet, the St. Lawrence
river, until they arrived near Ogdensburg, and then, after transferring
to the schooners all that portion of the party who were

[figure description] Page 072.[end figure description]

passengers on the steamboat, to part summarily with that vessel, and
pursue quietly the small remainder of their voyage without its aid.
This plan was carried into effect. Smith returned to his vessel,
and Gen. B— caused his whispered orders to be circulated
among his party, to hold themselves in readiness to go on board
the schooners at the shortest notice.

It was not, indeed, expected to carry out this measure without
detection by the officers and crew of the United States, but they
cared not, when once their object was accomplished, how soon
their unwilling allies should discover the nature of the trick which
had been played upon them.

“It will serve them right, the shilly-shally fellows, who are afraid
to help such a cause as ours,” said Jones; “I only hope their boat
will be seized in the first port it enters, for bringing us so far on
our way.”

It was, perhaps, at his instance, that it was resolved, on approaching
the place of intended separation, to summon the men
with fife and drum, and depart with all the parade and éclat which
their straitened quarters would admit of.

Great therefore, was the consternation of Captain B., and great
the amazement of his unsuspecting passengers, when they were
awakened from the sound sleep of a later hour than midnight, by
the loud réveillé upon deck, and by the hurried tread of those who
had awaited the signal in their berths, and who now hastened to
obey the summons.

Rushing upon deck, and vainly seeking to gain an explanation of
the turmoil which surrounded him, and as vainly exerting his
authority to suppress it, the discomfited captain, whose angry
shouts were drowned by the music and by the loud tones of military
command, resigned himself to his fate, and waited with what
patience he could summon, to see the upshot of so strange an
affair.

Still unsuspecting the character of the two schooners at his

[figure description] Page 073.[end figure description]

side, he became impressed with the idea that his boat had been
seized, and was about to be pressed into the service of the invaders
of Canada, (a feat which would have been by no means difficult
to perform,) but he was soon relieved from this apprehension, by
the sudden departure of the midnight army over the sides of his
vessel. Turning his eyes for the first time toward the schooners,
he discovered, by the dim starlight, that their decks were crowded
with men, who had emerged from the cabins and holds, and whose
numbers seemed scarcely to afford room for the additional forces
who were joining them.

As soon as the last of Gen. B— party had left the steamboat,
he gave orders to detach the schooners from their fastenings.

Dropping silently down the stream with no propulsion save
that of the current, the invading party found themselves at daylight
between the villages of Ogdensburgh and Prescott, the former
being a republican, and the latter a royal town, situated, vis-a-vis,
upon opposing shores of the St. Lawrence. Here it was
their misfortune to get into shoal water, and one of the vessels became
stranded, an event which, for a while, threatened the most
disastrous consequences to the expedition.

p463-081 CHAPTER X. THE INVASION.

[figure description] Page 074.[end figure description]

Both towns, of course, became at once the scene of the utmost
excitement—for it was evident to all that Fort Wellington was the
point of attack, and thousands of people thronged the shores upon
either side of the river, anxious to witness so momentous an event
and rife with conjectures as to its issue.

On the American side, however, all were not idle spectators.
Captain B., of the United States, had taken the first opportunity
of washing his hands of guilt, by stopping at Morristown, and giving
notice to the authorities of the movement in which he had
been made to play so important, yet so unwilling a part, and an
express had been dispatched by land to Ogdensburgh, in order that
measures might be taken there to intercept the schooners, or at
least to prevent their receiving accessions to their numbers.

This precaution had operated very differently from the design
of its originators. No sooner had the United States reached her
wharf at Ogdensburgh, where she arrived soon after the express,
than a multitude of people rushed with loud shouts on board, took
forcible possession of her, and started out to the relief of the
grounded vessel. This movement was met by a corresponding
one from the watchful citizens of Prescott, at whose wharves a
steamboat was also lying. The Experiment (such was her name)
had either been armed in anticipation of an attack, or was

[figure description] Page 075.[end figure description]

temporarily supplied with a piece of ordnance from the town, with
which she greeted the American steamer several times, a compliment
which the latter was unfortunately unable to return, nor
could she, on account of the shallowness of the water, get near
enough to the disabled vessel to render effectual assistance. But she
passed down the river about a mile, to Windmill Point, on the
Canadian side, where the other schooner had preceded her, which
latter vessel, after landing her forces, returned to attempt to take
off the men from her grounded consort.

The United States accompanied, and covered the schooner from
the fire of the Experiment, which followed both at a prudent distance;
but in the meantime, the excited populace on the American
side were preparing other help for the invaders. A small steam
ferry-boat, which plied between Prescott and Ogdensburgh, wellmanned,
and provided with small arms, was sent out to the relief
of the stationary schooner, which she succeeded in hauling off,
under a brisk fire from the Experiment, returning the salute with
muskets and rifles, at the expense of seven lives to the enemy.

The United States, meanwhile, returned to Windmill Point,
landed between one and two hundred of her men, and, with a small
remainder, returned to Ogdensburgh, where she was surrendered to
her owners, and, to the signal dismay of her neutral captain, was
immediately afterwards seized by the government.

Among those who had been most forward in this initiatory step
of the war, whose courage and skill had been most conspicuous, who
had seemed everywhere present at once, who had animated and
inspired all hearts with his own enthusiasm, was the hero of the
thousand isles, William Johnson. He had now returned in the
United States, and proceeded to earnestly harangue the populace,
urging and beseeching them to go with him, and join the few
hundreds who had already effected a landing on the other side.
He succeeded in inducing some, at different times in the course of
the day, to cross with him in the schooners, but rumors of a most

[figure description] Page 076.[end figure description]

extraordinary defection from the little army, in the persons of their
principal leaders, began to prevail, carrying dismay to the hearts
of all the active friends of the cause.

B— and E— had re-crossed, like the brave Johnson, to
Ogdensburgh with the design, or pretence, of urging the large
number of patriots assembled there to cross and join their comrades,
but the former of these individuals was either taken suddenly
ill, or feigned illness, and both proved inaccessible to their friends
on reaching the American shore. They either departed, or remained
concealed, leaving the brave Van Shoultz alone to conduct their
perilous enterprise, with little chance of farther accessions from
the American shore, and deprived even of a large portion of the
military stores which had been prepared for the expedition.

The little band of invaders, meanwhile, unconscious that they
were deserted, and expecting hourly the return of the schooners,
with their leaders and their allies, proceeded to strengthen their
position at Windmill Point, and to prepare for the coming contest.
They took possession of the Windmill, and of several other
large stone buildings, and awaited with sanguine expectation, not
only the approach of their American friends, but the accession of
that coming multitude of Canadian patriots, whom they believed to
be hastening to their standard.

When the desertion of two of their leaders, and the loss of a
large portion of their stores, became known, they were saddened
indeed, but by no means in despair. The greater, they thought,
would be the honor of the Spartan few who maintained their proud
position, and became the rallying point of a nation's oppressed and
uprising masses.

Colonel Van Shoultz proved equal to his responsible position;
he had officers and men of indomitable courage around him, and
his gallant ally, Johnson, seemed in himself a host, so great was
the influence of his name and of his dauntless demeanor.

But it is time to speak more in detail of the immediate subjects

[figure description] Page 077.[end figure description]

of our narrative, whose fortunes were so intimately connected with
the events of the war. Harry Vrail's intimacy with Colonel Van
Shoultz had resulted in keeping both himself and his brother near
that officer while on board the vessel, and with him they had been
among the first to set foot on the enemy's shore. When the Polander
found himself chief in command, he consulted his young
friend frequently in his movements, and he would gladly have elevated
him to a position near himself in authority, if he had been
able to do so, but he did not feel at liberty to disturb the settled
orders of rank in his little band. In the division of forces, the
Vrails became attached to a party under the command of Col.
Allen, which was stationed in a stone store-house, that, like the
Windmill, served to some extent the purpose of a fort, and Brom,
to his great delight, found himself in no danger of a separation
from his chosen master.

But there was another member of the invading army who found
less cause for exultation. Barak Jones had made some mistake in
regard to his expected opportunity for leaving the schooner and
landing at Ogdensburgh and to his great dismay he found himself on
British soil, in company with the men whom his eager persuasions
had induced to enlist. He would have returned when B— and
E— went back, but he had been so terrified while on board the
United States, by the pursuit of the Experiment, and by the cannonading
from that vessel, that he did not dare to attempt to recross
while she was lying in the river, waiting to renew the attack.

There were other opportunities for escape on the first day, in
the schooner with which Commodore Johnson crossed several
times, bringing over recruits, but here the danger was equally
great, and was magnified tenfold by his fears. Yet he would have
run the risk of returning, in preference to remaining, if he had not
been induced to believe, probably by some of his proselytes, who
despised his pusillanimity and wished to detain him, that there
would be a chance to cross in the schooner at night, when

[figure description] Page 078.[end figure description]

darkness would shield it from any serious attack. That opportunity
of course, did not come, and Barak, more dead than alive, remained
in the camp, not in any recognized military capacity, nor
directly attached to any division of the troops, but selecting his
quarters with those whom he thought most safely stationed, and
most remote from the danger of a first attack.

Thomas Vrail's ardor for the war had considerably cooled, and
he chafed not a little at serving merely as a private, while carrying
a captain's commission in his pocket. Yet he continued sanguine
of soon seeing himself at the head of a valiant company,
and one of the laurelled victors in the great revolution at hand.

Harry, although more skeptical, was not without similar hopes.
He knew well that the spirit of rebellion extended far and wide
throughout the Canadas, and he could not doubt the information
which had come from so many seemingly authentic sources, that
the people had already flocked by myriads to the standard of revolt.
Rumors of approaching armies began to reach them, almost
from the moment they touched Canadian soil, and they were hourly
excited and tantalized by these fallacious tidings. In the meantime,
the provincial government was not idle. If the friends of
the patriots were tardy, their enemies were not. The garrison
was increasing at Fort Wellington, troops were pouring into Prescott,
and armed vessels made their appearance in the river.
Everything, indeed, indicated that the enemy were not going to
await an attack from the invaders, but that they were about to
take the initiative step in the approaching hostilities.

Harry Vrail's judgment was too clear to overlook the perilous
position in which his comrades and himself were placed. He saw
how disastrous must be the result, if their landing should prove to
be premature, and if they should fail to effect a speedy junction
with the insurgent forces of the provinces. Very valorous he
knew their little army to be, but he was not visionary enough to
expect that, few as they were, and imperfectly provided with

[figure description] Page 079.[end figure description]

military stores, they could maintain themselves against the tenfold
force which would speedily be brought against them, and which, if
insufficient, could easily be increased yet tenfold more.

But Harry did not quail. He had chosen his part, perhaps mistakingly,
but he was a man in the broadest acceptation of that significant
word. He was prepared to do his full duty to the cause
which he had espoused, and to endure whatever destiny it might
entail upon him. If he saw the danger, he did not proclaim it;
his voice and mien was everywhere that of the courageous and
ardent soldier, who, if he did not achieve, would at least deserve
success. He knew that help might come in time to save them,
and he acted like one who believed it would. To Colonel Van
Shoultz alone, in their most private consultations, did he disclose
his full views, and in the mind of that brave, but discreet man, he
found them fully reflected.

p463-087 CHAPTER XI. THE BATTLE OF WINDMILL POINT.

[figure description] Page 080.[end figure description]

The invaders were not left long in suspense as to the designs of
the enemy. Early in the morning after their arrival, a cannonade
was opened upon them, which was returned with spirit by their
battery upon the shore, and at “about eight o'clock,” says an eyewitness,
“a line of fire blazed along the summit of the hill in the
rear of the windmill, for about eighty or a hundred rods, and the
crack of the rifle and the musket made one continuous roar.”
This, however, was but the prelude to a more serious attack, which
was made by a body of five or six hundred regulars and volunteers,
when all the courage and mettle of the little band were in requisition
to meet the determined assault of the foe.

Well and bravely did they vindicate their claims to courage in
a hotly contested battle of about an hour's duration, which resulted
in driving back the enemy to their fort with large loss, while only
five of their own men were killed, and about thrice that number
wounded.

This striking success, of course, produced the most exhilarating
effect upon the patriots, who congratulated themselves upon their
triumph with ecstasy, and indulged in a proud presentiment of
increasing numbers, and a career of victory. The tidings would
reach the interior in a few hours, and summon thousands of the
doubtful and the undecided to their side. It would reach the
States still quicker, flashing hope, like electric light, through all

[figure description] Page 081.[end figure description]

ranks of their timid friends, and bringing multitudes, eager for
the fray, to their victorious banners. Such were the bright hopes
and anticipations of the invaders on the second evening of their
encampment on foreign soil.

Both the Vrails had acquitted themselves creditably in this
engagement, but Harry's coolness and activity had won the especial
encomiums of his comrades and his commanding officer. His
perfect presence of mind, and his dauntless demeanor, had
produced a marked effect upon others, especially upon the inferior
soldiers, which contributed greatly to the fortunate result of the
day, and he became at once exceedingly popular. Brom, also,
won his laurels, acting his part not only with perfect intrepidity,
but with a glee which, although unsuited to so serious an hour,
had its effect in inspiriting others who might have been inclined
to fright in this, their first experience of war. He stood at his
master's side, loading and firing with great regularity and rapidity,
and keeping up an undertone of ludicrous comment, which more
than once elicited an audible laugh from his nearest companions.
“Now you've got it!” he would say, as he fired off his piece, and
watched for a second to try to distinguish its effects upon the
opposing ranks; “tink I saw him drop that time!” he muttered,
as he proceeded to ram down another cartridge.

“Now for another red-coat! Golly, if it ain't just like shootin'
the Christmas turkeys with their red-heads. Jingo!” he shouted,
as a ball passed, whistling, close to his head, “but the turkeys are
shootin' back!”

The succeeding day was one of inaction. The intimidated
enemy did not renew the attack, and the invaders, who might now
be called the besieged party, while holding themselves in readiness
for a vigorous repulse of any assault, looked all day long,
anxiously and earnestly, for their anticipated succors. Every
vessel upon the river, however distant, was closely scanned, and
many longing eyes were fastened upon the American shores,

[figure description] Page 082.[end figure description]

which were plainly visible from the camp, with the hope of seeing
some signs of their approaching auxiliaries. Others watched the
highways which led into the heart of the invaded province, confident
of the bannered hosts which were soon to emerge from distant
forests, and advance with defiant tread, timed to the martial
airs of freedom. Alas! they did not come. The day waned, the
sun went down, and all was doubt, uncertainty and irresolution as
to the morrow.

“One thing is sure,” said Colonel Van Shoultz, to Lieutenant
Vrail, on the evening of that day of dread suspense; “although we
may not receive reinforcements, the enemy certainly will, and probably
by to-morrow, at the farthest.”

“Ours may yet come,” replied Harry; “indeed, our friends
from the other side would be most likely to cross in the night,
when they could most safely effect a landing.”

“It is possible, but I am learning not to hope too much. After
witnessing desertion in the highest quarters, and faint hearts where
the loudest boasts of valor have been made, it is natural rather to
fear than hope. This night may diminish rather than increase our
numbers.”

“There is little chance for desertion. The ferry at Prescott is,
of course, strictly watched, and we have no small boats, excepting
Johnson's, which he has carefully secured. You do not fear that
he will fly?”

“He will fly when this fort does,” replied Van Shoultz, looking
around at the stone walls of the mill. “Ah! if all were such as
he, we should have no cause of disquietude to-night.”

The Polander's predictions and presentiments proved alike true.
The enemy were reinforced on the morrow, and the patriots were
left to struggle alone against the hourly increasing numbers of a
foe which threatened their utter extermination.

Attacked both by land and water, cannonaded from steamboats
and from field batteries, they maintained the unequal struggle,

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

dauntlessly and hopefully, for nearly two days, still looking for the
approaching banners, and listening for the charging shouts of their
promised allies.

On the afternoon of the second day, a large force of the enemy
drew near the forts (if such they might be called), by land, and
were met with a hot and galling fire from the several divisions of
the patriot army, stationed in the windmill and the other stone
buildings which had been fortified. It would have been madness
in the bravest to have met them in the open field while such strong
defences were in their possession, almost compensating for the
great disparity of numbers between the belligerents.

But this advantage was too great to be left long in their possession,
if it were possible to dislodge them from their fastnesses,
and it soon became evident that the British had determined to
attempt to carry the forts by storm.

The building in which Col. Allen's command was stationed was
somewhat remote from the windmill, and was attacked, as was
each of the camps, by a separate body of the enemy. The attempt
to storm it was twice repelled by that valiant officer and his men,
who were stationed in a large apartment in the second story, extending
the whole depth of the building, and commanding both
the lower entrances, which were strongly barricaded; but a new
calamity awaited them in the failure of their ammunition. The
slackening of their fire became so necessary, and its cause so apparent
to the enemy, that the third attempt to enter the building
was sure to be successful whenever it should be made.

The game was too evidently lost to admit of a moment's hope
on the part of the most sanguine, and nothing remained to be done,
excepting to surrender unconditionally, or to throw away their
lives in an obstinate, but useless conflict. Allen was doubtless a
brave man, and perhaps his own choice would have been to render


“His last faint quittance with his breath,
While the sword glimmered in the grasp of death.”

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

But he doubted his control over his little band, now thoroughly
panic-stricken, nor could he make up his mind to devote so many
men to immediate and certain destruction.

While he hesitated, the tumult increased below, another volley
of bullets poured into the windows, finding a few more victims
among those who were unable to avoid a full exposure, and then,
with an impetuous rush, the enemy gained the main entrance to
the building, bursting down its barricades, and pouring tumultuously
into the lower hall. Their steady tramp was next heard by
the besieged upon the very stairway of their citadel, and many a
face became blanched with fear. In another moment the large
door was burst open with great violence, and thirty muskets,
levelled for immediate discharge, were protruding into the room,
commanding every part of the apartment, while simultaneously
with their appearance a demand was made, in a stentorian voice,
for surrender.

It was impossible longer to maintain strict discipline, and
although the majority of the men preserved a soldier-like composure,
and awaited the orders of their leader, there were a few others
who had boasted largely of their valor when danger was distant,
who now manifested the most abject and craven fear. Shrieks and
cries of “Don't fire!” “Yes, we surrender!” were heard from two
or three of these, who were seen scrambling to get in the rear, and
farthest from the expected volley. One who carried a commission
in his pocket, and who having always had his courage at his
tongue's end, had probably allowed it to escape, was seen shrinking
close to the wall, crouched down behind a fat private, who
was too stupid to stir, or to understand that his body was serving
the purpose of a shield. From this shelter he called out, in a
tremulous voice,

“Shall we be treated as prisoners of war, if we surrender?”

“You will be treated as you deserve,” was the answer, in a

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

trumpet-like voice; “you must surrender unconditionally—you
are entirely in our power.”

“Well, here's my musket—so don't shoot me,” he said, pushing
past his protector, and stooping as he advanced to avoid danger
from the bristling array of guns which confronted him. In
another instant he was hauled outside, and was placed under
guard. His example was speedily followed by others, and for
some minutes the victors were engaged in receiving the arms, and
securing the persons of a portion of the patriots, while the majority
yet awaited the reluctant orders of their leader to lay down
their arms.

At that critical juncture, when the enemy appeared at the door,
Harry Vrail missed the faithful Brom from his side; but so great
was the confusion, and so general was the rush for self-preservation,
that he did not deem his disappearance a matter of surprise.
But the negro had by no means deserted him—on the contrary,
all his thoughts were given to devising means for his rescue
Ever since he had made his solemn engagement to Gertrude to
watch over the protect his master, his mind had been devising
expedients to deliver him from whatever danger seemed to threaten,
and from the hour they had set foot together upon the enemy's
soil, he had calculated the possibility of disaster, and had planned
impossible modes of relief.

Ever vigilant and watchful, while others were confident and
careless, he had overlooked no remote or minute circumstance
which an hour of extremity might render serviceable to one whom
he loved so well, and whom he had sworn to befriend. His lodgings,
for several preceding nights, had been in a dark corner of
the large room in which the scenes last described were enacted,
where, with several others, he had occupied the interior of a large,
open bin, for a sleeping apartment. On crawling out of this
strange dormitory the preceding day, he had accidently dropped
his knife behind it, and it became necessary, in order to recover

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

his lost property, to move the huge chest farther from the wall
against which it stood. It required great effort to do this, even
with the aid of a lever, but when, having succeeded in removing
it a few inches, he stooped to regain his knife, he caught sight of
another metallic object beside it, which on close inspection he
found to be a hinge in the floor. Further examination produced
its fellow, and being convinced he had found a trap-door leading to
a lower apartment, he hastily shoved back the bin, and sat down
to reflect on the discovery, and the possibility of its being in some
way turned to account. Circumstances, he knew, might arise
which would render it in the highest degree useful to his master,
but in order to make it more certainly so he believed it important
to keep it secret from all others. When a more favorable opportunity
occurred for pursuing his investigation, he removed the bin
and, raising the door, ascertained that it communicated with a
small store-room beneath, from which a back window, seemingly
the only one in the apartment, opened upon the river. Hastily
making these observations, he replaced the door and the chest,
and quietly resumed his duties.

p463-094 CHAPTER XII. A RECREANT BROTHER.

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

When Harry missed the negro from his side in that moment of
horror which has been described, the latter flew to the ponderous
bin, which, in his excitement, he thrust aside as if it had been a
basket, and standing beside it, with his watchful eye upon his
master, he waited coolly for the moment when he might raise the
door without detection. The confusion was momentarily increasing,
and those who were not pressing forward to surrender, were
anxiously watching both the threatening guns and the still silent
lips of their leader, who hesitated to speak the painful word of
submission. Brom saw that the favoring moment had come, and
noiselessly raising the trap-door, he hurried back to the side of his
master, whom, without addressing, he began gently to drag toward
the rear of the room.

“What is it, Brom?” said Harry, in answer to the violent pantomime
of the negro. “You need not be afraid to speak in this
Babel—nobody will hear you.”

“Come wid me, Massa, come wid me,” were all the words which
the African could be induced to utter.

Vrail suffered himself to be led as far as the open door, which
he no sooner saw than he fully comprehended the plan of escape,
and his heart leaped with sudden joy at so unexpected a hope of
deliverance. But his thoughts instantaneously reverted to Tom.

“Not without Tom,” he exclaimed, and darting off from the spot,

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

he dashed off in pursuit of his brother, whom he had seen last at
nearly the extreme opposite end of the room, and near to Col.
Allen. When he reached that spot, however, his brother was no
longer there, and at the very moment when he was hastily searching
for him among the crowd who were stacking their arms (for
the word of submission had at last been spoken), Thomas had glided
around to the rear of the mass in search of him, with no other
design then that of keeping near him in their common calamity.
He was met by the negro, who hastily whispered to him the
chance of escape, and implored him to assist in finding Harry.

“It is death to go back,” exclaimed the terrified and pusillanimous
youth; “let us fly; he will be sure to follow us, since he
knows the way. Come, be quick.”

So saying, he dashed forward to the trap-door, while Brom
turned back in eager pursuit of his master. His excited and
nearly frenzied condition was unfavorable to the successful result
of his search, and threatened momentarily to arrest attention and
defeat his efforts, for that portion of the apartment nearest the door
was fast filling up with the enemy. But fortunately as yet, there
was a general confusion, in which the shouted orders of the leader
of the victorious band, the rattling of the grounded muskets, and
the groans of the wounded were the principal sounds.

While Brom was thus wildly seeking for his master, the latter
was as earnestly pursuing his quest for the recreant Tom, who had
selfishly deserted both. Mingling in the crowd of surrendering
men, and borne by the mass toward the fatal point where, with
them, he must become a guarded prisoner, the gallant youth did
not falter in his resolute purpose, nor once think of turning back
alone to seek the means of escape. Of course his search was vain,
and while closely scanning every face in the throng of which he
could catch a view, his attention was arrested by some execrations
behind him, bestowed apparently by different parties, upon some
one who was pressing eagerly forward towards the front.

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

“Blast the blackamoor!” said one, who could jest in his calamity;
“he steps on a dozen of us at once, with his elephant
feet.”

“Stand back, Cuffy; don't be in such a hurry; you'll be hung
soon enough to suit you,” exclaimed another.

“Why don't he go and walk over the Britishers?” said a
third, whose toes had felt the heavy heel of the African; “hang
me, if I don't believe he would drive them all out in a few minutes.”

Harry could not doubt as to who was the subject of these
remarks, and in the next moment he caught a view of Brom, who
was, however, too far separated from him by the crowd, to admit
of any communication passing between them. As soon, however,
as he caught the negro's eye, its expression, together with some
significant pantomime, convinced him that his brother was found,
and he managed by great effort to commence a retrograde motion
against the strong tide which had before borne him onward to a
point of such dangerous proximity to the foe. Warning the sagacious
negro by a sign to go back, they both succeeded in working
their way to the rear, which was as yet unguarded.

“Where is he?” whispered Vrail.

“He's gone long ago—Massa Harry—this way—come along
now, I say.”

Astonished, bewildered, and half incredulous, the young man
hesitated to advance.

“It's sartin sure,” repeated Brom; “come quick, now, or you'll
be too late. See—see—there comes a lot of red coats this way.”

“Don't run, Brom,” said Vrail, “or we are lost. Go slowly,
and we may not be noticed, or it may seem as if we were only
going back for something that has been forgotten.”

The negro obeyed, and tremblingly they succeeded in reaching
the trap-door, apparently without observation.

“Massa must jump so,” said Brom, skillfully letting himself down
by his hands, and dropping into the lower apartment.

[figure description] Page 090.[end figure description]

Vrail followed his example, and they stood together on the
lower floor.

“He is not here,” said Harry, glancing quickly around the
room. “Brom, if you have deceived me, I will not stir a step
further.”

“He is gone, Massa Henry, I swear it. See here,” and he pointed
to the raised window, through which the fugitive had doubtless
passed. Convinced at length, that Tom was really out of the immediate
scene of danger, Harry gave his mind wholly to securing the
escape of himself and his faithful companion. Hastening to the
window, he saw that it opened upon the river, at the distance of
only a few rods from its margin, and that the shore, in that immediate
vicinity, appeared to be entirely unguarded. The conflict,
indeed, was yet waging in some parts of the encampment, as occasional
shots and shouts were heard, and the moment certainly
seemed a favorable one for successful flight.

If Harry could have joined any portion of the patriots who
were yet making a stand against the enemy, he would certainly
have done so, but this was clearly impossible. Leaping, therefore,
from the window, and calling upon Brom to follow, he hastened
to the shore, with the intention of following the course of the river,
and keeping close to its edge. In the opposite direction, which
led toward Prescott, of course he could not flee with any prospect
of escape. But he had no sooner reached the shore, than the fallacy
of his hope to elude observation became apparent.

A little way down the river, but at considerable distance from
the shore, lay an armed steamboat, which had been engaged in
bombarding a portion of the barracks, before the contest had
become so close on land as to render its fire dangerous to the
attacking party, and which now seemed to be either guarding the
coast, or waiting in inaction whatever duty might be assigned it.

However this might be, no sooner had the flying lieutenant and
his servant appeared upon the shore, than a shout from the deck of

[figure description] Page 091.[end figure description]

the distant vessel reached their ears, and at the next instant a cannon
ball came booming over the water and buried itself in the
bushes behind them. A rattling fire of musketry followed, and
Harry dropped upon the beach, to the boundless terror of the
negro, who rushed quickly up to him.

“Oh, massa—massa—are you really dead?” exclaimed the poor
fellow, frantic with fright.

“Follow me,” said Harry, creeping rapidly behind the shrubbery
which grew thickly at a little distance from the shore.

“Where did they hit you, Massa Harry?”

“They did not hit me at all, Brom,” replied Harry, coolly; “and
I do not mean they shall. I wish I knew where poor Tom is.”

“Never mind Captain Tom, Massa Harry—we've got our hands
pretty full enough now, I think, to take care of ourselves. Golly,
massa, look at that!” he exclaimed, springing suddenly aside, and
pointing at the cannon ball they had so narrowly escaped, and
which now lay harmless beside them. “Let us get away from here.”

“Never fear, Brom. Sit down on it, if you wish to be quite
safe. Lightning never strikes twice in the same place, nor cannon
balls either, I presume.”

Harry spoke lightly, in hopes of allaying the alarm of his companion,
but he felt all the peril of his position, and while he talked
thus calmly, his mind was rapidly devising means of escape, and
calculating the chances of finding his brother.

“We shall have to skulk around here till midnight, I suppose,”
he continued, “and then either swim across the river, or find some
other means of making the passage. How far can you swim,
Brom?”

“Oh, I can swim all night, I spect; I've swum across the Hudson
river, many's the time, where it's wider than this here St.
Lawrence—though 'tain't so swift, to be sure.”

“It's a pretty long stretch,” said Harry, after gazing a few
moments at the opposite shore, with a longing to place himself

[figure description] Page 092.[end figure description]

beneath the protecting ægis which seemed to canopy every inch
of American soil.

“I wish we was there,” replied Brom, following the direction
of his master's eye; “we should not have any Britishers bombarding
us over there, should we, Massa Harry?”

“I don't think I can swim it.”

“I can help you, Massa Harry.”

“I don't know about that—I do not see how you can swim for
more than one. If you can swim all night, as you say, you might
carry me over in pieces.”

“I can help you,” reiterated the negro, not heeding the jest;
“when you are tired, I can hold you, and let you rest.”

“And who will hold you in the meantime.”

“Oh, I'll be walking up stairs,” replied the negro, alluding to a
feat well known to swimmers, by which they sometimes sustain
themselves for a considerable time in the water while giving rest
to the arms.

“More likely we should both be going down stairs to Davy
Jones' cellar. No, no, it won't do, Brom—at least, not for me,”
said Vrail, now speaking more seriously; “I must find a boat of
some kind, or I must trust to some of the Canadians for assistance.
If I were confident you could succeed in crossing, I would insist upon
your doing so alone; but it is an unknown stream, and its waters
might prove as treacherous as the people upon its shore, who have
lured so many of our brave countrymen to destruction. The darkness,
too, would quadruple the peril, as you could not see the
opposite shore, and if you became bewildered and frightened, you
would be sure to be lost.”

“You need't preach all that to me, Massa Harry. I shan't go,'
less you do, any way—so that pint is settled.”

A second volley from the steamboat, which sent a few scattering
balls among the shrubbery around them, reminded them that they
were watched, and induced them to change their position.

CHAPTER XIII. THE MAGIC RIFLE.

[figure description] Page 093.[end figure description]

Vrail did not dare to emerge from his hiding-place, but he
ventured to draw near enough to its outer edge to reconnoitre the
formidable enemy who had seemed to think two trembling fugitives
upon the beach a proper subject for his prowess. Great
was his alarm on discovering a small boat, containing six or seven
men, putting off from the steamer and approaching the shore,
very evidently for the purpose of effecting their capture. Both
himself and the negro were armed, having preserved their guns,
while Vrail had also his pistols, and his resolution was instantly
and coolly taken.

“This way, Brom,” he said, raising his rifle; “they are after us
now, half a dozen of them. If they land, there is no help for us.
Stand ready now, to load as fast as I fire.”

Vrail was a practiced marksman, and he felt so certain of the
fatality of his aim that he hesitated a moment with a natural
reluctance, but a random volley from his approaching foe, designed
to keep them within their cover, determined him, and he pulled
the trigger.

An oarsman sprung from his seat, and fell over the edge of the
boat which was nearly capsized by the hasty rush of his comrades
to his assistance.

“I am sorry for him,” said Harry, coolly exchanging guns with
Brom, and raising the second weapon to his eye.

[figure description] Page 094.[end figure description]

“Golly! I ain't,” replied the negro, ramming down another
cartridge; “hav'n't the cowardly rapscallions been cannonading
us?”

Again the hurtling lead went upon its mission, and another man
was seen to fall, but the oars were again speedily manned, and the
increased speed with which the boat approached the shore showed
a courageous design to effect a landing before the weapons could
again be loaded and brought to bear.

“Fool!” exclaimed Harry; “I meant to have spared him,”
bringing the weapon which Brom now handed him to bear upon
the leader of the party, who sat in the stern of the skiff, and who
at the next instant was added to the list of victims.

“Golly! there goes the cap'n,” shouted Brom with great glee.
“Now for another!” he continued, handing up the ready gun.

“Wait a little! I rather think they have enough. I believe
they are going back.”

“Then it's jes the time to pepper 'em, massa; quick, now, give
it to them! Golly! didn't they cannonade us?”

Vrail was correct in his conjectures. The progressive motion
of the skiff had been stopped, and after a moment's pause, it was
turned about and moved rapidly toward the steamboat, to which
it was still much nearer than to the shore. Whether this was
by order of the wounded officer, or whether he had given his last
orders, it was impossible to tell, but nothing was more certain
than that the foe were in full flight. Again the African conjured
his master to fire upon them, and the speed with which they fled
showed that they expected another discharge, but no urging would
induce Vrail to take a human life needlessly.

“We have defended ourselves so far,” he said, “but it would
not benefit us in the least to take another life. I am really very
sorry for those poor fellows, Brom.”

“Jingo! massa, I ain't. Didn't they cannonade us?” repeated
the negro, who could not forget his fright at being fired upon by

[figure description] Page 095.[end figure description]

a cannon from a vessel of war, and who did not seem disposed to
forgive the offence.

That the steamer approached no nearer the shore during this
singular contest, was doubtless owing to some very effective shots
which she had recently received from one of the patriot forts, a
repetition of which might be apprehended, for the result of the
several engagements on shore, if, indeed they had yet fully terminated,
was unknown to the commandant on the boat. His remaining
forces, however, were not idle spectators of this engagement
with the “band of marauders on the beach,” as in a subsequent
dispatch he styled the two fugitives: but they kept up some
random firing toward them, especially during the retreat of their
comrades in the boat.

Although temporarily elated by his extraordinary victory, the
young lieutenant was far from expecting to make good his escape.
He might be considered even to have increased the peril of his
position, for his capture, which seemed still almost unavoidable,
could scarcely result in anything short of his immediate death
from his enraged foe. While daylight lasted, there was no possibility
of emerging from his narrow shelter without the certainty
of detection and successful pursuit, and scarcely three minutes
elapsed after the return of the small boat to the steamer, before it
was again sent out by a circuitous route, to gain a distant part of
the beach, farther up the stream, and beyond the reach of the
magical weapon which had proved so disastrous to its recent occupants.

There were but three individuals in it this time, and the design
was very evidently to give notice to some party of the enemy on
shore of the lurking place of the fugitives, and to draw down upon
them an immediate force which no strength of theirs could resist
or evade. It was late in the afternoon, but the sun was yet twice
the breadth of his disc above the horizon.

Vrail watched anxiously its tardy movements down the declivity

p463-103 [figure description] Page 096.[end figure description]

of the sky, hoping against hope for the speedy arrival of that
darkness which might afford them one more chance of escape.
Never, seemingly, had the great luminary been so slow in its descent,
and it almost seemed to him that some miraculous interposition
had taken place to arrest the orb of day, like that which
stayed its progress down the heights of Gibeon at the bidding of
the prophet of God. From the sky to the water and to the flying
boat, and back again to the sky, his impatient eye wandered,
and he calculated closely the time which might elapse before the
sound of pursuit would be heard. Fly he must, but darkness alone
could give him even a faint chance of escape. The village adjacent
was by no means large, but all its inhabitants, as well as the
scattered population of the country for many miles around, had
been aroused by the exciting events of the day, and on every
road which led into the interior, people were passing to and from
the seat of war.

The shore of the river alone remained nearly deserted, but this
there was, of course, no safety in traversing under the guns of the
steamboat, which had already so nearly proved fatal to them.

While Harry watched in momentarily increasing anxiety, the
skiff had passed far up the stream, and began rapidly to approach
the shore, and yet the sun had not touched the horizon; but the
breeze which so often springs up at the day's decline was rising with
unusual strength, and soon the summits of some ascending clouds
became visible in the west.

They rose too, with such a breath of base, so “volumed and vast,”
as to promise an effectual extinguishment of the remaining daylight,
from the moment they should receive the descending luminary
within their capacious folds. Such, too, was their effect.
The night drew suddenly on, unpreceded by the usual twilight,
and the still rising clouds promised to make it one of unusual
darkness. Of course the fugitives lost no time in emerging from
their place of concealment, although with no well-defined idea of the

[figure description] Page 097.[end figure description]

route they were to pursue; but Vrail resolved to leave the river
shore, which would be sure to be the first place of search by
their pursuers. Being nearly exhausted by fatigue, and suffering
with cold and hunger, he knew that he might be compelled to
trust himself temporarily to the mercy of some Canadian family,
yet he was unwilling to wander far from that stream, which afforded
the only means of return to his native land.

There was little time, however, to choose roads, for he had
scarcely gone forth from the bushes before he heard the clamor
of pursuit, and he hurried forward, attended by his sable friend, not
knowing whither he went, excepting that he was leaving the lights
of the village behind him.

p463-105 CHAPTER XIV. A TYRANT AND A SLAVE.

[figure description] Page 098.[end figure description]

The course of the fugitives was nearly northeasterly, and not
diverging far from the river. They followed a road which led at
times through dense woods, and at times through an open country,
where an occasional farm-house was revealed by its evening light,
and by the barking of its watch-dog as they passed. Their progress
was necessarily slow, as the darkness was intense, and the
way unknown to them, and they had not wandered long or far
before Vrail began to contemplate making a trial of the hospitality
of some of the inhabitants. His fatigue was very great; he had
eaten nothing since early in the morning, and Brom, though far
from being exhausted, was, like him, pinched with hunger. Besides,
he thought the chances of meeting a friendly reception as good in
one locality as in another, and being well armed, it would be an
easy matter, if repulsed, or if he had reason to suspect betrayal,
again to take to flight.

Thus arguing, he selected for his hazardous experiment a house,
the faint light of which seemed not only remote from the road on
which he was travelling, but far from any other dwelling. It
proved very difficult of access, and as he travelled slowly across
the meadows towards it, the flickering rays which guided him
danced bewilderingly before his eyes, seeming at times, like the
ignis fatuus, to recede as he approached it.

At length he drew near the building, but ere he came near to

[figure description] Page 099.[end figure description]

the door, he heard the sound of angry voices within, and he
thought for a moment of passing on in search of more peaceful
indications in other quarters; but impelled by his desperate and
destitute condition, he dismissed his fears and knocked for admitance.
The reply was gruff, but it bade him enter, and flinging
the door open, he passed in, followed by Brom.

In a small room, beside a rough deal table, an elderly couple
sat, with a meal of brown bread and potatoes before them, while
a miserably clad, but pretty and gentle-looking girl, of about thirteen
years, stood by the fireside, apparently the patient recipient
of the joint rebukes of the other two. The man was small, sallow,
and dirty, with harsh and homely features, rendered doubly repulsive
by the scowl of wrath lingering upon them, and the woman,
though possessing the remains of beauty, had a bold and cunning
expression, and a general slatternliness of appearance more disagreeable
than ordinary ugliness.

Vrail was not skilled in physiognomy; he had seen too little of
the world for that; but if he had been so, the woman's countenance
changed almost too suddenly after his entrance to admit of his
analyzing its first expression, or retaining the effect it produced
upon him. Her civil “good evening” was free from all rudeness
or appearance of surprise, while her more blunt partner turned
hastily to the intruders, and asked who they were and what they
wanted.

“We want food, and assistance to cross the river,” replied
Harry, advancing nearer the table, throwing down some silver, and
seizing a piece of bread, which he began eagerly to devour. “I
can make it worth your while to assist us,” he added; “besides,
I think we ought to be friends.”

“Oh, yes,” replied the other, with a sudden change of manner;
“I see what you are now. You belonged to the patriot army, I
s'pose, and you want to get back home.”

“Exactly so.”

[figure description] Page 100.[end figure description]

“They've been terribly cut up there at the Windmill, poor fellows—
they are all killed or taken, excepting a very few who have
fled, but even they will be taken, you know.”

“Is it really so very bad?” asked Harry, who had not before
learned the full extent of the disaster to his companions.

“Yes, shocking,” was the reply, with a baleful gleam of the eye;
“I've been down to the Point to see about it. There's dozens lying
around there dead, and the prisoners are all marched to Prescott
for to-night, with their general; and troops of people following
and looking on. But come, sit down and eat, both of you, and
we'll talk about that afterwards. You are safe enough here for
the present; to-morrow it would be quite another thing.”

The famished men waited for no second invitation, but sat down
side by side, and attacked the homely fare with as much eagerness
and relish as if it had been composed of the choicest viands.

“You think we shall be safe here for a short time?” asked Vrail,
scarcely gaining the leisure to speak so long a sentence.

“Oh, certainly,” replied the host, exchanging a look of intelligence
with his wife; “there isn't a doubt of it, is there
Hannah?'

“Not the least, I should think,” was the reply, in a very bland
voice. “Lock the door, Ruth.”

The girl obeyed, and at the next instant the Canadian rose, and
glancing again significantly at his wife, approached the negro, who,
like his master, had retained his gun at his side when he sat down.

“Let me set your guns in the corner, out of your way,” he said
to Brom, in the mildest of voices; so mild that it would not have
been recognized as belonging to the same speaker who had addressed
them on entering.

He laid his hand on the weapon as he spoke, and Brom, who
had a whole potato in his mouth and another in his hand, seemed
like to acquiesce in the movement without any remonstrance:
This was far, however, from his design. Clutching at the depart

[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]

"The negro, clutching at the departing gun with his unoccupied hand, and shaking his head, drew it back to its former position." —Page 101. [figure description] Image of a group gathered around a table near a fireplace. One man is standing and staring at an African-American man who is holding a long rifle. There is another man watching the situation, and two women in the background hovering.[end figure description]

[figure description] Page 101.[end figure description]

ing gun with his unoccupied hand, and shaking his head, he drew
it back to its former position.

“No, I tank you,” he said, as soon as he could speak.

“Ah, very well, perhaps, it is better to keep them near you, in
case of surprise. You would like to cross the river to-night, I suppose?”
said the Canadian, addressing Vrail, very quickly.

“Of course,” replied Harry, “as soon as possible, and, as I said
before, I will pay largely to any one who will take us over.”

“Golly! yes—a hundred dollars,” added the negro.

Harry looked in surprise at Brom, not understanding the secret
of his liberal offer.

“Don't talk about pay,” replied the accommodating man; “I
am ready to help a friend in need, I hope, without being paid for
it. You just sit here and finish your meal, while I go and see
if I can get Larry Smith's boat, and him to help me row you
across.”

“For mercy's sake,” said Harry, jumping up, “do not let us lose
the time, nor run the risk of trusting our secret to any one else.
Let us help ourselves to the boat, and we will give you abundant
means of satisfying your neighbor afterwards for it use. As
to the rowing, we can do that ourselves.”

“But the stream is very rapid, and I could not row the skiff
back; besides, he keeps it locked. No, no, you need not be afraid
to trust Larry—he is as true as steel—isn't he, Hannah?”

“That he is; every body knows that. The poor man's feelings
would be dreadfully hurt, if he thought that anybody distrusted
him.”

“Very well, if it must be so—but do not be gone long.”

“It is about a mile to Larry's, and the night is dark—it will
take some time to go and come, but all you have to do is to keep
quiet; and as soon as you have done eating, perhaps you had better
put out the light, so as not to attract attention if any soldiers
should be passing. If they really do come, why you can jump

[figure description] Page 102.[end figure description]

out of the window and make for the woods, and then you will be
as well off as you were before.”

“It is well thought of, about the light,” replied Vrail, at once
extinguishing the blaze of the single tallow candle which had
very faintly illumined the room; “I think it would now be difficult
for any one to find the house in such a pitchy darkness, unless
they knew exactly where it stood.”

“Of course it would, for you can't begin to see it from the road.
But good-bye—keep up good heart till I return, which won't be
very long.”

He went out, and the woman followed him to the door, enjoining
upon him in a loud voice to take care of himself, but saying
something in a lower tone, as she drew the door nearly shut after
her, standing on the outside.

At this moment the girl, who had stood nearly motionless in
the chimney-corner ever since the entrance of the fugitives,
advanced quickly a few steps towards Harry, and upon the door
re-opening, as hastily retreated to her former position.

The faint light which gleamed from the embers upon the hearth
revealed this movement, and the young man supposed that she
had meant to take some food secretly from the table, having probably
been kept fasting as a punishment for some offence. He
began to make some inquiries about her, when the woman, in a
whining voice, which was intended to be very gentle, said that
she had been a bad girl, but that she might have her supper now,
and bade her come to the table.

“I ain't hungry,” replied a very faint voice, the articulation of
which seemed to indicate a violent trembling of the speaker.

“Then go to bed,” was the reply.

The girl remained motionless until the mandate was twice
repeated, when she very slowly obeyed, passing near, and pausing
a moment close to Vrail, who distinctly heard her tremble as she
stood beside him.

[figure description] Page 103.[end figure description]

He was about to speak to her, when the voice of the woman
again urged her along, and she passed into a corner of the room
and ascended a ladder which led to an upper apartment. The
hostess, in the meantime, became very voluble, and seemed bent
on entertaining her guests until the return of her husband.

Nearly an hour passed away, which, of course, seemed to the
young man fully quadrupled in length, and yet there was no sign
of the man's return, and still his garrulous partner talked on with
unflagging rapidity.

The rebellion was the theme, and as she could relate many an
interesting incident connected with it, she found in Harry an
eager listener. But he grew impatient, at last, and would hear
no more.

“He has been gone long enough to have walked four miles—
something must have happened to prevent his return,” he said.

“It is very dark—he will certainly be here soon,” replied the
woman; “I will go and listen if I cannot hear him coming.”

She went, as before, outside the door, quite closing it after her,
for the night was cool, and at the same time Vrail heard a half
whispering voice from the top of the ladder.

“They are cheating you. Larry Smith lives very near us, and
he has no boat. Uncle Shay has gone after soldiers to take you.”

Harry started up, and was about making his exit through the
window, when reflecting that such a course might bring the poor
girl under suspicion and procure some terrible punishment for her,
he resolved to wait a few moments longer, intending to depart as
if not suspecting his host.

“Do you know of any boat?” he asked hastily.

“Yes—about two miles down the river, at Mr. Wells'. But
you must hurry. They will go directly there to find you. Do
not wait a minute. Oh, I hear voices now.”

Vrail sprang to the door and locked it, resolving not to be
taken alive, as he knew that his capture would be equivalent to

[figure description] Page 104.[end figure description]

death. He next ordered Brom to jump out of the window, a
command which the negro was not slow in obeying, and he stood
ready to follow him, yet waiting, in hopes of obtaining further
information in regard to his way. The next instant the door was
tried, and then the voice of their returned host was heard modulated
to a tone of mildness decidedly winning.

“It is I and Larry—I have found him at last. Be quick, and
open the door.”

“Oh, don't open it,” added the voice from the ladder. “There
are six or eight men. I have seen them from the window. There
is a short way to the place where Wells' boat is kept, if you can
find it—but you must hurry.”

“I fear I can neither find the short way nor the long one; I do
not even know the way to the river, and the night is very dark.”

Harry advanced as he spoke with a foreboding heart, and with
a conviction that if he failed to make good his escape across the
river before daylight his capture would become certain, as the
country would be thoroughly aroused by his pursuers, and all the
passes would be secured.

The girl's warning and his reply had been quickly spoken, and
the reflections we have recorded had been instantaneous; but
already another, and an impatient summons was heard from without,
accompanied by a violent shaking of the door.

“What is the matter there—can't you find the lock?”

“Wait a minute,” replied Harry. “Good-bye, my good girl;
you have saved our lives for the present. Take this.”

As he spoke he felt a light grasp upon his arm, and heard the
whispered words—

“Hurry, hurry, they are coming around the house.”

She had glided down the ladder, and now fairly dragged the
young man forward to the window, and when he leapt out she
followed, seeming almost frantic with the desire to save him.

“I will show you the way to the river, and will go a little way

[figure description] Page 105.[end figure description]

with you,” she whispered, again grasping his arm outside the
house, and dragging him forward.

They advanced as rapidly as the darkness would permit, followed
by the negro, who had been waiting for his master, and
stimulated by the momentary expectation of hearing the sounds
of pursuit.

p463-115 CHAPTER XV. RUTH'S STORY.

[figure description] Page 106.[end figure description]

As soon as it seemed safe to slacken their pace, Vrail earnestly
advised his gentle guide to return to her home, and leave them to
their own resources, at the same time offering her some gold.

“No, no,” she replied, “I will go on; you never can find the
boat without me.”

“But your uncle?”

“I do not care. He may kill me if he chooses, I do not care.
Come on,” she said, almost breathlessly.

“But you will have to return alone, two miles, in the dark—I
cannot permit it.”

“It is nothing. He often sends me further for rum, on worse
nights than this. Nobody will hurt me, for I have nothing for
them to steal.”

When Harry still counselled her to return, she urged that if she
went back now, she could not enter the house unperceived, and if
her absence had been detected at all, it would make no difference
in the degree of her punishment, whether she went the whole way
or part with the fugitives.

The young man reluctantly yielded, and they proceeded on their
way with renewed speed; yet he found time to question the poor
girl about her history, which was so evidently one of suffering.

Her story was brief, and very pitiful. She was an orphan, and
had lived since the age of six years with the man whom she called

[figure description] Page 107.[end figure description]

uncle, but who, it appeared, was not thus related to her. His first
wife, long since deceased, had been her aunt, and in her lifetime
Ruth had been adopted as their daughter, and had ever since
borne the name of Shay, but his present partner was her oppressor,
himself her tyrant, and she but the trembling slave of both. A
menial child, friendless, overworked, poorly fed, and half clothed,
she yet had forgotten her own miseries in her sympathy and alarm
for the strangers whom she saw in distress, and whom, after effecting
their deliverance, she could never hope to see again.

The contemplation of this picture drew tears from Harry's eyes,
and as he listened to the poor child's story, told in the gentlest of
voices, he was busy with devices for her relief, and half forgot his
own danger.

“Why do you not leave people who treat you so badly,” he
inquired.

“I have nowhere else to go,” she replied.

“But you can earn your own living. I will give you money
enough to-night to last you for many weeks, and to buy clothes with.”

She did not think she could earn her own living. They had
told her she was good for nothing, and could do nothing well.
Besides, she did not dare to make the attempt. He would be certain
to find her out anywhere in that part of the country, and to
drag her back.

Such was the substance of her reply.

Vrail began to reflect whether it was not a duty to take this
poor child, thus providentially thrown upon his hands, along with
him to his own country, if he should succeed in finding the means
of escape.

“Would you be willing to go with me?” he asked, suddenly.

“When? Where? How?” she inquired with great eagerness.

“This night, if we can find a boat to cross the river—to my
own home. I will do the best I can for you, and you will be certain
never to see your uncle or aunt again.”

[figure description] Page 108.[end figure description]

“Oh, yes, yes, take me—take me!” she exclaimed; “I do not
care where, if they will never get me again. I will do anything
for you or anybody. I can work from daylight until dark without
rest. I have often and often done it for them, and then been beaten
after all. Oh, take me! take me!”

Harry assured her, with tears, that he would take her with him,
if it were possible, and that in her new home she would have no
such tasks or privations as she had been used to; but while so
great uncertainty shrouded his own fate, he hesitated to say more
to kindle a hope which might prove so painfully illusive. They
continued to hasten forward during this conversation, and after
some reflection, Harry took some gold pieces from his pocket, and
said:—

“Take these, and conceal them about your person, and if we
should become separated, and I should be captured”—

“I do not want them then,” said the girl, interrupting him shudderingly;
“they would be of no use to me.”

“Listen to me; they may be of service both to me and to you,
if you are prudent and courageous, as I know you are, far beyond
your years. In my own country I have friends who will, perhaps,
never know my fate, unless you can carry them the tidings. Dare
you undertake this?”

“Yes; but can they do anything for you?” she asked, quickly.

“It is possible: but it is scarcely with that hope I send you to
them. If I am taken, my doom will probably be a speedy death—
perhaps before your eyes. Whatever it is, I wish my friends to
know it, and I wish them to take care of you. Will you promise
me to go to them?”

“Yes, but if they cannot help you?”

“If they cannot help me, no one else can. I do not mean to be
taken; but if I am, I have no hope of escaping death, either
immediate, or more remotely on the scaffold.”

Harry proceeded to give the attentive girl minute instruction in

[figure description] Page 109.[end figure description]

regard to her journey, and the necessary preparations for it, all of
which she seemed readily to comprehend. She was to proceed
before daylight to Prescott, there to purchase, at an early hour in
the morning, such articles of apparel as she thought essential to
her comfort in travelling. Crossing the ferry to Ogdensburg, and
availing herself of the ordinary public modes of travel, for which
she was amply provided with funds, she was to pursue her way to
Albany, and thence to Vrail's native village on the Hudson river.
There she was to seek out old Mr. Rosevelt, and communicate to
him her tidings, and the various messages which Harry intrusted
to her memory.

It was with a sad earnestness that the orphan girl listened to
these instructions, as she hastened along beside the stranger, whom
she had temporarily saved, and who was in turn trying to confer
benefit upon her.

“You have heard and understood all that I have said, and you
will remember, and try to perform it well and faithfully, if I am
taken or slain, will you, Ruth?”

“Yes, yes, I will do it,” she said; “but you will not be taken,
if we hurry and get first to the boat. Let us go faster—we must
be almost there.”

“I hear the river now, massa Harry,” said Brom, “off this
away.”

“Yes, that is the way, and Mr. Wells' house cannot be far from
here.”

“How large a boat does he keep?”

“It is only a skiff, but it will hold five or six. It is plenty
large enough for us.”

“Will it not be locked?”

“Only with a padlock, which can easily be broken.”

“Why do you think it is likely that your uncle will lead the
soldiers in this direction?”

“He will be sure to do so, if he thinks that I have accompanied

[figure description] Page 110.[end figure description]

or directed you; for he knows that I know about the boat, and
there is no other within several miles, excepting the ferry at Prescott,
where, of course, you would not dare to go.”

“Does he know of this short way, which you have brought
us?”

“Yes.”

“Then we cannot be too quick or too vigilant.”

The fugitives now ran as they conversed, and in a few minutes
they were at the river side, in the immediate vicinity of the place
where the skiff was usually kept. Darting eagerly forward, Ruth
uttered a slight scream, as she stopped beside the post to which the
little vessel, when not in use, was always chained, and discovered
that it was absent.

“It is gone!” she exclaimed in a trembling voice.

Harry's heart sank, but the next instant revived with the thought
that perhaps Tom had taken it, and had escaped.

“Is the chain or lock broken?” he asked, coming up to examine
the post.

“No, massa Harry, I guess not. There ain't any part of it in
the ring, and the ring ain't broke, too.”

“Then it has probably been removed by the owner, to prevent
its being taken by any of the flying soldiers. This is the way the
Canadians help us,” he added biterly. “Where does this Wells
live?”

“Only a very little way from here. Look, you can see the light
from his house through the trees.”

“Come on, then Brom—the boat is probably in his door-yard,
and we must bring it from there, it is our only chance.”

They started, Ruth following, and now, for the first time, unnerved
with fright.

“Golly!” exclaimed the negro, “I hope there ain't any dog to
set up a barking, and call out all the folks.”

“If there is an alarm, we must bring it off by force. See that

[figure description] Page 111.[end figure description]

your gun is in order, Brom, and pay close attention to my directions.”

“I will sartin, massa Harry: ef Mr. Wells comes out, I pop him
right straight over, see ef I don't—and knock the rest of 'em over
with the breech.”

“You will do nothing of the kind, unless we are attacked with
weapons, and nothing, at all events, without my orders. If we find
the boat, and if any one appears to dispute our taking possession,
we will do nothing more than to compel acquiescence. No life
must be endangered, unless in self-defence.”

A few moments brought them to the premises of the Canadian,
whose house stood on a slight eminence, and fronted the river,
about a dozen rods from the shore. It was enclosed by a fence, in
which was a small gate directly fronting the main entrance of the
house, and a larger one a little further to the left, designed for the
passage of vehicles. Setting this gate open, with as little noise as
possible and enjoining upon the trembling girl to wait for them
beside it, Harry and the negro stealthily entered the grounds.
Although acting in accordance with what is usually called the first
law of nature, the instinct of self-preservation, Vrail could with
difficulty overcome his repugnance to the task he had undertaken.
But if he hesitated, a moment's reflection reassured him, and he
went forward. It became necessary to pass the building in order
to attain the rear yard, where they expected to find the object of
their search, and through an uncurtained window they plainly saw
several of the occupants of the house, including its master, a large
coarse man, who was seated listlessly by the fireside.

Stepping lightly and quickly forward, they gained the yard, and
almost at the same instant, to their great joy, they discovered the
long-coveted prize. The boat stood upon a sled, which, notwithstanding
there was no snow upon the ground, had been used to
draw it up from the river, and Vrail at once concluded that the
same mode would probably be the easiest for re-transfering it to
the water's side. The oars were in the vessel, and as there seemed

[figure description] Page 112.[end figure description]

nothing in the way of at once effectually securing the safety of
the whole party excepting the few rods of terra firma which lay
between them and the water, hope grew into something like confidence
in the breasts of the fugitives, and they began vigorously
their task.

Placing their guns within the skiff, and stationing themselves
on either side of the tongue of the sled, they started it with difficulty,
and, of course very slowly. The necessity for silence also
impeded their movements, and it was many minutes before they
were able to drag their cumbrous vehicle past the house, whose
windows, disclosing so much to them, threatened also to reveal
their movements to its inmates. But, shielded by the darkness
which enveloped everything without, they succeeded in passing
the house and the gateway, from which point their progress was
assisted by the declivity, and by all the strength of their feeble,
but energetic auxiliary.

Ten minutes had taken them far beyond hearing-distance from
the house, and every moment was giving additional assurance of
safety; the sound of the river was in their ears—its pebbled margin
beneath their feet; in imagination, the prow of their little
bark was already ploughing the parting waves, and pointing to
the land of Freedom—when Harry felt a vice-like grasp upon his
arm, and at the same moment heard a scream from the negro at
his side, which told that he also was seized. Before he could
relinquish his hold upon the sled, or turn to defend himself,
three or four men were upon him, a rope was passed around his
arms, and he was secured beyond the possibility of escape.

Brom, despite the most violent struggles, and the most extraordinary
vituperations against his assailants, was similarly treated,
and the attacking party, which was the detatchment of soldiers
guided by Shay, at once set out on their return to the fort, jeering
their helpless prisoners, and promising them a speedy treat, either
to a breakfast of bullets, or to a morning dance in the air.

p463-122 CHAPTER XVI. A GOOD SAMARITAN.

[figure description] Page 113.[end figure description]

Ruth had fortunately escaped observation. At the moment of
the attack she was in the rear of the vehicle, assisting with all her
strength in its propulsion, and during the brief struggle which had
ensued, she had sunk, stupefied with terror, to the earth, where
she remained motionless.

When she found herself alone, she arose, still trembling with
alarm, and overwhelmed with grief for the friend who had been
so suddenly wrested from her side and hurried away probably to
prison and to death.

She had no thought for herself. She knew not that she was
suffering from cold and hunger, nor did she reflect on the dangers
which surrounded her, but collecting her thoughts, she recalled
as minutely as possible all the instructions which she had received
from Vrail, and then, without a moment's hesitation, she set out
on her adventurous journey.

She took the river for her guide, keeping upon its shore, and
travelling in an opposite direction to the course of the stream, for
this route she knew must bring her to Prescott, which was not
many miles distant, and which even in the darkness she hoped to
reach in a few hours. But faint and weary, chilled with the damp
breezes from the river, and dejected by the dreadful scene she had
witnessed, and which she could not cease to contemplate, she soon
faltered, and with difficulty dragged herself forward, even at the
slowest pace.

[figure description] Page 114.[end figure description]

She tried to pray, but her words seemed to fall to the earth.
No hope accompanied them. She believed, indeed, that there
was a God, who was all goodness, for well she remembered and
cherished the instructions which, in infantile days, her beloved
mother had inculcated in her mind, but so many and so severe
had been her early trials, that she had learned to consider herself
in some way an exception to the universality of His providence.
With childish simplicity, she believed herself overlooked or forgotten,
or in some way too insignificant for Divine protection.

She did not murmur; there was no rebellion against Heaven
in her heart; it was only an utter want of belief that she could be
remembered or thought of by that great Power which created and
guides the world.

Alas! how many far wiser than this neglected girl are equally
at fault in discerning the bow of promise which forever spans the
clouds of affliction, faintly indeed for the faint-hearted, but bright
and gorgeous to those who gaze with the telescopic vision of
Faith.

Fearful of falling by the wayside, perhaps to perish, Ruth resolved
to seek for a dwelling-house and ask for admission and assistance,
notwithstanding her great fear that she might be recognized
and detained, or sent home.

A little refreshment and an hour or two of repose she believed
would enable her to proceed upon her journey, and she could still
reach Prescott long before day, and be able to cross at the ferry
in the first morning boat. Thus resolving, she left the river side
and wandered across the fields until she discovered a light in the
distance, towards which she at once directed her steps. It proved
to proceed from the upper window of a farm-house, and, at so late
an hour, indicated, as she supposed, sickness in the family. She
drew near and knocked at the door tremblingly, but without
hesitation.

After considerable delay, an elderly woman came to the door,

[figure description] Page 115.[end figure description]

and, without opening it, inquired who was there, but when she
heard a response in a female voice, she quickly drew the bolt and
bade the stranger enter.

Ruth heard the permission uttered in kind accents; she tottered
across the sill, and, overcome by exhaustion and by her
emotions, she sank upon the floor in a state of complete insensibility.
A desolate object indeed, and well calculated to move the
hardest heart, was the poor child, pale, thin, and miserably clad,
and almost without signs of life; but it was not a hard heart
whose sympathies were now appealed to. With many expressions
of commiseration, the good dame, who was a stout and florid
Englishwoman of the lower class, hastened to bring restoratives
to the sufferer, assisted her to rise, and conducted her to a vacant
bed in an adjoining room.

“Now tell me, child,” she said, as she bent over the shivering
girl, “what has happened to you, and how is it that you are out
alone so late, and on such a night as this?”

“I am going to Prescott,” replied Ruth, faintly, “and I got
very cold and tired—and—and I saw a light here and stopped in
to rest.”

“To Prescott—in the night—and all alone, and without any
shawl or cloak? Where do you live?”

“Please don't ask me now; I must go on soon. Will you be
good enough to give me a piece of bread?”

“Oh! mercy, yes,” exclaimed the good woman, at once forgetting
her curiosity, and flying to the cupboard.

“Here, eat this,” she said, returning with a plate of bread and
cold meat, “and I will make you a cup of tea, poor child; I suppose
you have had no supper.”

“I have eaten nothing since morning,” answered Ruth, eagerly
devouring the food before her.

“You have run away from somebody, I know; but do not be
frightened; I shall not stop you nor ask you any questions, but I

[figure description] Page 116.[end figure description]

hope you know where you are going. You have friends somewhere,
I suppose?”

Ruth hesitated and looked puzzled, but finally replied that she
supposed she had.

“Can I stay here a couple of hours?” she asked, after a pause.

“You cannot go from here until to-morrow,” replied the
woman, “and you may stay longer, if you choose.”

“I must go to-night; I must be in Prescott early in the morning—
I must, indeed.”

The woman gazed in astonishment at the child, who spoke
with such a surprising energy of manner, as to leave no doubt of
the invincibility of her resolution.

“Very well,” she said, “but lie still now, and get some rest.
Three or four o'clock will be plenty soon enough to start, and
perhaps I can send our boy Jem with you, if I can get the lazy
fellow up so early; and then I can lend you an old shawl or cloak
to wear, and he can bring it back.”

“Thank you,” said Ruth, gladly, laying her head upon the pillow;
“but I must not be late.”

“Never fear; I will call you in time. I have to get up every
hour, to give medicine to my daughter, who is sick. It will take
you but a few hours to walk to Prescott after you are rested.”

So saying, the good Samaritan withdrew to her own room, and
left the little traveller to her repose—a repose so sound, and rendering
her so oblivious of all things, that it seemed to her scarcely
ten minutes had elapsed, when she was shaken by the shoulder
and called to arise.

“The clock has struck four,” said the hostess, “and I have got
sleepy Jem up to go with you with a lantern, and here are some
cakes to eat on the way, and you must wear this shawl, which is
thick and warm, and Jem will bring it back. It is a raw morning.”

Ruth look wildly around, and for a while was unable to comprehend
her position or the words addressed to her.

[figure description] Page 117.[end figure description]

“Bless the poor child,” exclaimed the woman. “I hope you
have friends at Prescott, or somewhere near there. You will
perish if you have far to go, with nothing but that thin dress.”

“Oh! I have got money to buy clothes,” said Ruth, suddenly
remembering her treasure, and drawing several gold and silver
pieces from a pocket in her dress.

Lazy Jem, who had stood dangling the lantern in his hand and
looking sleepy and surly enough before, suddenly brightened up,
took a step forward, and became a very interested listener to the
conversation.

“I wish you would take some of them,” Ruth continued, holding
it out to her benefactress, “for you have been very good to
me, and you have saved my life.”

The woman had seemed greatly astonished when she first saw
the gold; a troubled and sorrowful expression next settled upon
her face, but at the girl's offer of the money she drew back, and
raised her hands as she replied—

“No—no—child, not even if you had come honestly by it,
which cannot be. Ah, I see how it is; and you so young and so
innocent looking, too!”

“We oughter stop her, mem, and send for a officer,” said the
boy, putting down the lantern. “I'll go immediately and fetch
one, if you please.”

Ruth did not at first comprehend the suspicion she had awakened,
but as soon as she did so, she protested her innocence with
the greatest vehemence, and at the same time with an ingenuousness
of manner which carried conviction to the mind of her
hostess.

Jem, if not convinced, pretended to be so, and remained silent.
He left the room, however, and was absent about ten minutes,
after which he returned hastily, and Ruth being now ready, after
many kind words of farewell and of admonition from the dame she
started upon her journey, accompanied by the boy, who trudged

[figure description] Page 118.[end figure description]

by her side, lantern in hand. She had no fears of a companion
provided for her by so kind a friend, and she made several efforts
to converse with the lad, who replied but briefly to her remarks,
and seemed surly and unsocial. He was a stout boy, of about
seventeen years, with dark skin, very black, straight hair, and a
shelving forehead, underneath which a pair of glittering black
eyes rolled perpetually, even while the head remained motionless.

Ruth noticed, after they had gone a little way, that he had
a small bundle in his left hand, which she was certain he did not
carry when they left the house, and she wondered much what it
could be. She thought that, perhaps, he was angry with his mistress,
for the unusual service put upon him, and that he was about
to run away. The bundle, she thought, might contain his clothes,
which he had carried a little way from the house before they
started and might have picked up as they came along, unobserved
by her. These suspicions passed through her mind, but did not
make any permanent impression, for she felt refreshed and comparatively
light-hearted, and not disposed to imagine or forbode evil.

Jem walked very fast and seemed impatient to get on, at which
Ruth did not much wonder, nor did she complain, although she
was forced to almost run at times to keep up with him.

He grew more and more surly as they advanced, and frequently
urged her along with harsh language.

“Come on, you lazy baggage,” he said, to the frightened girl,
“a pretty business it is for me to stop every minute and wait for
you to come up. Come along, I say!”

Ruth quickened her steps without reply.

“I tell you what; there's a long piece of woods to be gone
through, about a mile ahead, and the sooner we get through with
it the better. It ain't allers the safest place in the world.”

The girl trembled, and asked whether there were any wild beasts
there.

[figure description] Page 119.[end figure description]

“No; but there are robbers there sometimes. Last winter a
man was robbed and murdered in them very woods.”

“But nobody would think of us having any money—they
wouldn't try to rob us.”

“Don't know—they might. Pr'aps you'd better let me carry
them gold pieces of yours, 'cause they couldn't get 'em away from
me as easy as they could from you.”

Ruth said, perhaps it would be best, and she put her hand in
her pocket and drew out her money.

They had been walking very rapidly during this conversation,
but now the boy stopped so suddenly, and turned to receive the
treasure with such an eagerness of manner as to awaken something
like suspicion or fear in the mind of his companion, who
immediately replaced the coin, and said:

“Perhaps you might lose it, Jem. I will keep it now, and if
we see any robbers, then I will give it to you” —

“Then it will be too late, you fool. Give it to me now!”

“No—no—no!” exclaimed the girl, as the lad drew nearer,
seemingly bent upon enforcing his command. “Let us hurry
on!”

“I will not stir a step further until you give it to me. It isn't
safe.”

“Then I will go alone!” said Ruth, starting as she spoke; but
the boy's hand was at once upon her arm.

“No you won't,” he said. “I was sent to take care of you,
and I mean to do it; so just give me the money. Be quick!”

“Oh, no, no; no! I durstn't. I—I—am afraid.”

“Afraid of what? You don't mean to say you're afraid I'm
going to keep it?”

“I—I—don't know.”

“If I should it wouldn't be much, for you never came honestly
by it. So hand it over now, and be quick about it, too.”

The fierce and peremptory manner in which the boy now spoke

[figure description] Page 120.[end figure description]

fully convinced Ruth of what she had before suspected, that he
meant to rob her, and, snatching her arm suddenly from his
grasp, she darted forward and ran from him at her utmost speed.
It was in vain. Jem followed still faster, overtook her, threw her
to the ground, and, holding her down, took forcible possession of
the gold, despite her screams and lamentations. No longer making
pretence of friendship to her, he extinguished his light, and
leaving her still prostrate, ran off across the fields, but not in the
direction of his home.

p463-130 CHAPTER XVII. A GUINEA NEGRO.

[figure description] Page 121.[end figure description]

Appalled by the magnitude of her misfortune, Ruth slowly
arose from her recumbent posture, but remained sitting upon the
ground almost in a state of stupefaction.

The robber had already disappeared from view, and she knew
that it would be vain to hope for his return, or to seek redress.
He would be certain not to go back to his late place of service,
which he had evidently quitted with this very crime in view, as
was apparent to her now, when she remembered the bundle which
he had brought clandestinely with him, doubtless containing his own
apparel. Ruth's grief, however, was not for herself; she scarcely
considered her own destitution; she only thought how fatally her
loss might result to her unknown friend, as she had no longer the
means to fulfill a behest which he deemed so important, and, on
the faithful performance of which she thought his life might
depend.

Goaded by this reflection, she suddenly arose and hurried forward
on her journey, with a vague hope, that she might still in
some way be able to perform the task she had undertaken—a hope
so faint, it was well-nigh akin to despair.

The road to Prescott was a direct one, from which she could
not stray, and after a long and weary walk, and many alarms, she
entered the village soon after the dawn of day.

She resolved to beg a few pennies to pay her ferriage across the

[figure description] Page 122.[end figure description]

river, and when once in the States, she would perform the journey
on foot, if she could find no other means of progress, and she
would make such great speed as might yet leave a slight chance
for the success of her mission.

But the mendicant's art was a new one to the poor girl, and for
more than two hours she paced the streets in a spirit of indecision,
gazing wistfully into every face she met, but unable to utter a petition
for charity. When at length she succeeded in asking, it was
only to meet with repeated rebuffs, and occasionally with a silent
look of contempt, until worn out with fatigue, she sat down on a
door-step to rest, and, in her hopeless manner, again to pray.

She had stopped undesignedly opposite to the jail, and her
attention was soon attracted by the assembling of a crowd around
its walls in apparent anticipation of some unusual spectacle. From
some passers-by, whose conversation she overheard, she soon
learned that some of the American prisoners had been confined
there through the night, and were soon to be brought out and
sent to Kingston under a strong guard. They were some who had
fled at the time of the surrender, and had been subsequently taken,
but at too late an hour to admit of sending them to Kingston at
the same time with the main body of captives, and she at once
concluded that the young officer whom she had befriended was
among the number. Inspired with the hope of seeing him again,
and informing him of her great misfortune, she at once went over
and mingled with the crowd; but a little reflection convinced her
that there she would not be allowed to speak to her friend, when
he was brought out. She pressed desperately forward through the
throng; she saw the sentinel pacing his rounds in front of the
building, and animated with such courage as carried soldiers to the
cannon's mouth, for scarcely less would have nerved the timid
child for such an act, she ran up to the fierce-looking man, and
asked him if he would allow her to go in and see one of the prisoners,
before he was taken away. The sentinel turned quickly,

[figure description] Page 123.[end figure description]

and was about to order her off, when something evidently in her
desolate appearance, or in the very piteous accents of her voice,
seemed to arrest his attention, and he replied mildly, as he continued
his walk, that he had no power to admit her.

“Is there a friend of yours in there?” he asked, as she ran
along at his side, looking up anxiously into his face.

“Y-yes, sir,” she replied, hesitatingly.

“I am sorry for you, my child. Is it your brother or father?”
he asked; and then, without waiting for a reply, he added, hastily,
“possibly the jailer might dare let you in; he is a very good-natured
man. That is him standing in the door-way, and if you
will ask him to step this way, I will speak to him for you. I cannot
leave my post.”

Emboldened by this encouragement, Ruth ran to the jailer,
addressed a few earnest words to him, and soon returned to the
sentinel, followed by the wondering man of anthority.

“Hale,” said the soldier, “this poor girl has a friend among the
prisoners, and she has travelled a great way, I believe on foot, to
see him before he is sent away. As she will never see him again,
don't you think you could manage to let her in?”

The man reflected a moment, and replied, “It could do no harm,
I suppose, but I do not like to do it without permission. However,
I will tell you what she can do. The poor fellows have not
had their breakfast yet, and the girl may go into the kitchen, and
when the food is sent in, she may carry something in.”

“Oh, yes—yes—thank you!” exclaimed Ruth; “that will do.”

“What is your father's name?” asked the jailer.

“It is not my father, sir, that I wish to see,” replied Ruth.
“He is a young man, and he has a black servant.”

“Oh, yes, I know the man. He is supposed to be an officer, by
reason of having a servant, but he will not admit it, which would
be rather perilous. I know where he is—he and the negro
occupy one cell. Come with me.”

[figure description] Page 124.[end figure description]

The girl followed the warder into the interior of the building,
where she was given in charge to a servant, who, after some
whispered instructions, conducted her to the kitchen, and directed
her to lay aside her bonnet and shawl.

She met with ready sympathy among the servants, and was
supplied, on request, with the means of making a hasty toilet,
which she had scarcely done, before she was summoned to the
performance of her solicited task.

A trencher, containing meat, potatoes and brown bread, was
placed in her hand and she was directed to follow a large, surly-looking
man, whose capacious arms contained the piled dishes for
a dozen different cells. Her own load was designed for a single room,
and that, of course, the one which contained Lieutenant Vrail and
his sable companion. She trembled as she passed the massive doors
and heard them close with a jarring sound behind her, and she started
at the clangor of the sliding bolts, which, echoing along the dismal
corridors, told her that she was locked in among the hapless
prisoners whose fate she had bemoaned.

It was with much agitation that she drew near the cell of
Vrail, which was pointed out to her by her companion, but
fortunately she was not at first recognized, by either of its inmates.

Harry was sitting on a bench, looking pale and dejected, and
Brom was standing beside him talking, and apparently attempting
to console and cheer him.

“Here comes your breakfast, massa Harry,” he said, as the girl
appeared; “now you jes eat this, and you feel better right off.”

Ruth had no time to waste, and she immediately spoke.

“You do not know me,” she said, “I am the little girl”—

“Who tried to save our lives, and would have done so but for
my own stupidity,” exclaimed Harry, springing up and approaching
the door. “How have you come here Ruth, and why?
This is a very dangerous experiment, for your uncle is probably
among the crowd in the street.”

[figure description] Page 125.[end figure description]

The girl replied by telling him the whole of her sorrowful story
as rapidly as she could, not omitting to relate the manner in which
she had gained admission to the jail.

“I feared,” she concluded, “that I never could get to H—
in time to do you any good, if I went on foot, and I thought I
ought to come first and tell you all about it, and do as you say.
I hope you will let me go still, for I will walk day and night, if
you can only give me a few sixpences to buy bread. I am very,
very sorry that I lost the money, but the boy was so much stronger
than I that I could not help it.”

Vrail turned away to conceal his rising tears. “Here is
a child,” he thought, “capable of performing the most heroic
deeds, and utterly unconscious of her intrepidity and excellence.”
Then addressing her he said, “I have no longer the means to help
you, and I cannot permit you to undergo such perils and hardships
for me as you propose. The men who surprised us last
night took from me all my money and my watch.”

“And my watch too, by jingo!” said the negro, who had carried
a silver “bull's eye” for many years, and who had given it up
only with the greatest indignation; “I hope it won't go for the
rapscallions.”

“You must consult your own safety now, my poor child,” Vrail
continued, “for you can no longer do anything for us. Return
to your uncle; or the man you call so, and bear your sad lot until
some more favorable opportunity offers for improving it. If I
should ever regain my liberty, depend upon it, I will not forget
you. Good-bye.”

“Oh, no, no. I will go for you to H—. I will beg my
way, and perhaps I shall be in time for them to come and save
you. I will certainly go: but I will return afterwards to uncle
Shay's if you think I ought.”

“If you go, you must not return; but great as is my anxiety
for you to go, both for your sake and my own, I cannot permit

[figure description] Page 126.[end figure description]

you to run so great a risk. You are a mere child, certainly not
strong, and the weather is cold, and may be very inclement. No,
no, I should not deserve assistance if I could seek it by such
means.”

Vrail pondered a few moments in great perplexity. He
had little reason, at the best, to hope for any effectual interference
in his behalf by his friends at home, but that little was
much for a man in whose face the gallows might be said to be
staring.

If he had dared to make known to his captors his name and
his rank in the patriot army, the intelligence of his position would
have been conveyed to his friends, through the medium of the
public press, more speedily than he could communicate it to them
in any other way, and the agency of Ruth would have become
unnecessary. But such a step would have been hazardous in
the extreme, for on the officers of the expedition, of course, the
severest punishment would alight.

He hoped to pass for a private soldier, and in order to increase
his chances of doing so he was careful not to divulge his name.
Of course he could not dispatch a letter without the certainty of
espionage, and the trembling child before him was the only reliance
for sending a verbal message a distance of three hundred
miles into the interior of a country which she had never seen.

If his friends did not hear from him, nor see his name reported
among the prisoners, they would doubtless suppose him killed in
battle, and would mourn him as lost, without making an effort in
his behalf. Yet if they knew all, what could they do for him, or
who was there to whom he could look for aid?

While he pondered thus, and while Ruth waited tearfully for
his attention, in order to renew her petition to be permitted to
continue her journey with her own resources, Brom had retired
to the back part of the cell, from which he now returned laughing.

“How much money did you lose, Missa Roof?” he said.

[figure description] Page 127.[end figure description]

“I don't know,” replied the girl; “there must have been a
great deal.”

“About twenty dollars,” said Vrail.

“Well, how much is dar, Massa Harry?” he said, laying down
a dozen quarter eagles on the bench.

Harry started in the utmost astonishment as the golden pieces
met his gaze; and Ruth, with clasped hands, bent forward towards
them, in an ecstasy of delight.

“What does this mean, Brom?” Vrail asked in a whisper,
placing himself at the same between the gold and the door of his
cell, so that it could not be seen by any one from without.
“Whose money is this, and how did you manage to keep it from
the soldiers last night?”

“Golly! they never searched me for money. I mout have had
it in my pocket for all them—but I didn't, though.”

“But is all this yours, Brom?”

“Nebber mind whose it is—it isn't safe to talk too much in an
enemy's country, Massa Harry. Didn't I tell you I had money
laid up.”

“Yes, but I did not suppose you had brought it with you.”

“How much is dar, I say?”

“Thirty dollars.”

“Give Missa Roof twenty; den she will have as much as she
had before, and I'll take the rest, and put it where it was before;”
and the negro retreated again to a corner with four of the pieces,
which he re-concealed in some part of the lining of his coarse
vestments.

Without further waste of time in seeking explanations, Harry
gave the remainder of the unexpected treasure at once to Ruth,
with the unnecessary warning not to exhibit it before strangers,
and having repeated his former messages and instructions, which
she had by no means forgotten he bade her farewell, and advised
her to depart.

[figure description] Page 128.[end figure description]

“And Roof,” said Brom, pressing his face against the bars of
the door, and speaking in a loud whisper, “if you ever should get to
H—, which I don't much 'spect, p'raps you will see a colored
gal called Sally, that lives in the lane close by old Mass' Rosevelt.
Ef you will have the goodness to tell her you saw me, and say
that I am comfortable, and 'spect to be back home one of these
days; ef you just will do that, I will tank you very much.”

“I certainly will, sir,” said the girl; “I will go to her and tell
her. What is her other name?”

“Her other name?” asked Brom.

“Yes, sir—her surname?”

“Oh, Jiminy! Missa Roof, I don't know. I don't think she
has got any other name 'cept Sally. It isn't the fashion 'mong
the first colored people to have two names; but the woman's
name that she lives with is Brown.”

“Very well, I'll find her—you may depend on that.”

“Tank you, Missa Roof—good-bye.”

p463-138 CHAPTER XVIII. A DUTCHMAN'S COURTSHIP, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

[figure description] Page 129.[end figure description]

From the day that Harry Vrail started on his military expedition,
Gertrude Van Kleeck, saddened by his absence and solicitous
for his safety, yet unwilling to own even to herself the interest
which she felt in his welfare, became an eager listener to all
tidings of the Northern war.

No rumor of the successes or of the reverses of the insurgents
and their American coadjutors reached the village but found its
way to her, and she was kept in a constant state of painful anxiety
by the conflicting reports and conjectures which she heard.

Of the merits of the contest she did not suffer herself to judge,
but the opinion of Harry, and the prevailing sentiment of the
neighbors, she supposed to be correct, and the same authority
induced her to expect the triumph of the patriots.

She had no longer Brom for a newsbearer from the village,
but there were other sources of daily intelligence of which she
could avail herself, besides the weekly installment of news furnished
by the village gazette, which was always sure to be startling and
exciting, if not authentic. There was one individual too, who, to
some extent, supplied the place of Brom in furnishng Gertrude
with information, and, like him, without suspecting the nature of
the interest which she felt in his tidings.

This personage was a second cousin of Miss Van Kleeck, who,
like her, rejoiced in a Dutch lineage, and in the very Dutch name
of Garret Van Vrank. He was a young man, scarcely the senior

[figure description] Page 130.[end figure description]

of his fair relative, and although of unusual size, and of great
physical strength, possessing a boyish and handsome face, and a
childlike simplicity of disposition.

Garret was the owner of a small farm, which had been left him
by his father, on which he lived nearly alone, and cultivated quite
in the way that his father had done, despite all the improving
innovations of the day. His route to the village, which he frequently
had occasion to visit, led him directly past the house of
Gertrude, and he had a good-natured habit of stopping there on
his way, to learn whether he could do any errand in town for the
family.

He did not always see Gertrude on these occasions, but on his
return call, she usually so managed as to encounter him, when a
very little tact served to extract from him all the news he had
picked up, without herself manifesting any but the most casual
interest in his story.

These frequent calls of Garret induced dame Becky to think he
came in the character of a suitor, an idea which had never most
remotely occurred to the unpresuming youth; and the prospect of
such a match was entirely in accordance with her wishes. Young
Garret was a man entirely after her own heart. He followed his
own plough; he carried his own grain to market, himself perched
upon the topmost bag, in his smock-frock, and with his ox-goad
in his hands; and with his smock-frock and his ox-goad did he
stand chatting by the half hour to Getty in these, his courting visits,
if courting visits they were.

What need she care that he was broad-shouldered, elephantfooted,
wide-waisted, and with hands in size and hue like a loaf of
brown bread? He was an honest fellow, with a kind heart, a fresh,
handsome face, boyish blue eyes, and teeth as white by nature as
others were rendered by laborious art.

Becky, indeed, made up her mind that he was the very man for
her niece; she encouraged his daily calls, and was as careful to

[figure description] Page 131.[end figure description]

keep out of the way of the supposed lover as she had been before
to obtrude herself in the presence of such of Gertrude's visitors as
she did not like. But when these interviews had been continued
a long while without any approximation to a nearer intimacy, she
grew impatient, and resolved to hasten the dénouement which she
so gladly anticipated. She rallied Getty on the subject, but Getty
laughed broadly, and said nothing. She rallied Garret, who did
not even comprehend her sallies, broad as they were, and who,
being greatly puzzled, made some random replies very wide of the
mark.

Becky, however, did not let matters rest thus. The cousins
evidently liked each other, and she believed that nothing but a
little management was necessary to bring about the result she
desired. To effect this she left no means untried. Garry had
hints enough wasted upon him to have drawn a dozen lovers to
the feet of Gertrude, but they did not draw Garry there.

When he began to comprehend the old dame, he thought she
was jesting, or was becoming silly, for the idea of his marrying
Gertrude seemed altogether preposterous. He had no such
aspirations. He was sensible enough to know that she was in
every respect his superior, and that the difference in their fortunes,
great as it was, was the least of the differences between
them.

Aunt Becky tried an appeal to his cupidity.

“Your little farm,” she said to him one day, “joins one of
Getty's, don't it, Garry?”

“Yes, it joins on to Squire Jones' farm—that's Getty's; but why
do you call my farm little, aunt Becky?” he added, with commendable
pride; “there's e'enamost a hundred acres, counting the
marsh and the pond.”

“Yes, yes; but what's that to fifty hundred acres, and more,
that you may have one of these days, you know, and have other
people to work 'em for you, and you nothing to do but to sit still

[figure description] Page 132.[end figure description]

and take in the rent, unless you choose, like poor Baltus, to keep
on working until you are grey, just for the fun of it—much good
did it do him!”

Van Vrank opened his eyes wider and wider, during the delivery
of this speech, as if the distension of those organs would assist
him in taking in the meaning of the speaker.

He did take it in at length, but considering it a renewal of
the old badinage on that topic, he only shook his head and
laughed.

“Why don't you come over, and see us sometimes on Sundays,
Garry?” continued Becky, her voice subsiding to a lower and more
confidential tone.

“Sundays?”

“Yes, in the afternoon or evening. You have a nice new suit
of clothes now, I see.”

“Ain't they nice, aunty? The wool came off my own sheep.”

“Yes, the cloth looks like store goods, and they fit you as if
they had been made by a tailor. Dress yourself up in them next
Sunday afternoon, and come round to see us, will you?”

“Yes,” replied Garry, looking very much pleased, and quite
failing to connect the invitation with the prior subject of their
remarks.

“Have you got any pomatum?”

Garry stared at this singular question, but replied that he
believed he had.

“Then use it!” she said. “Cut your hair first, then comb the
tangles out of it, and put on a little pomatum—you don't know
how much better you'll look.”

The young man promised compliance, and the next Sunday
evening saw him, punctual to his appointment, at the door of Gertrude's
house.

He did not inquire for her, however, but for aunt Becky, whom
he was about to seek in the kitchen, but a servant had been

[figure description] Page 133.[end figure description]

directed to conduct him to the parlour, where, to his great uneasiness,
he soon found himself seated alone.

He was apparelled, according to agreement, in his best suit, set
off by a very fair show of linen; his hair was trimmed and pomatumed,
his thick boots were freshly greased, and altogether he was
quite a presentable specimen of a country beau.

Aunt Becky, meanwhile, had kept her own counsel. She allowed
no one to know that Van Vrank had called upon her invitation,
but she caused Getty to be informed of his presence, and sending
her into the parlor, she herself kept out of the way.

Yet, not altogether out of the way was aunt Becky, for she had
her hiding places, where, unseen, she could hear all that was said
above a whisper in the parlor, and if Garry and Getty came to
whispers, she would be satisfied without understanding their words,
for then she would know that all was right.

She was not destined, however, to be gratified by any such evidence
of confidential intercourse. What Garret had to say, he
spoke boldly and in a manly tone, at least after the first embarrassment
arising from the unusual position in which he found himself.

In vain aunt Becky listened for something of a wooing character,
or for something that might be construed into a hint matrimonial.
There was nothing in word or tone which intimated any
such sentiment in the visitor's breast.

He talked of the weather, of the farms and the crops, of his
horses, his sheep, and even of his new clothes, which he called
upon the young lady to admire, but all was in a spirit of frankness
and simplicity which rather elevated than lessened him in Gertrude's
estimation. In turn, he praised Getty's new pink dress,
and the handsome furniture of the parlor, and when conversation
flagged, he at length said, jocosely:—

“I suppose you'll be getting married one of these days, cousin
Gertrude—there must be lots of fine fellows after you?”

The dame's hopes revived, and she listened more intently.

[figure description] Page 134.[end figure description]

Gertrude laughed, and said she did not expect to be married
very soon.

“No, I s'pose not—you're young enough yet these half dozen
years,” replied Garret; “I wouldn't be in a hurry if I were you.”

Gertrude replied that she was not.

“It will be somebody quite grand, I suppose, when it does happen,”
continued Garry; “some of the big bugs.”

“I hope not!” said the young lady, laughing.

“Yes, it will, I know—a lawyer or a congressman, or something
of that sort. Why, you are good enough for the best, and
any on 'em will be glad enough to get you.”

Aunt Becky now grew restive under this strange specimen of
courting, and she emerged from her hiding place by a back-way,
and came to the parlor door, with resolution stamped upon every
feature of her expressive face.

“Getty!” she said, as soon as she had entered the room, “Garry
wants you! He is afraid to ask, I suppose, but he wants you to
marry him.”

“Why, aunt—Becky!” exclaimed Van Vrank, as soon as he
could interpose a word.

“Hold your tongue,” said the dame. “If you can't speak, let
some one speak for you. Garry is a good fellow,” she continued,
addressing her niece; “and he will make you a good husband,
and will take the best care of everything, and, as I said before, he
wants you!”

“I don't, Getty—I never thought of such a thing!” replied
Garry, who had risen, and in his haste to vindicate himself from
the charge of so great presumption, did not stop to choose words.
“I did not come here sparking at all.”

“Did ever anybody hear such a—mollyhack?” exclaimed aunt
Becky.

“I may be a mollyhack, aunty—but I am not foolish enough to
s'pose Getty wants such a hawbuck as I am for a husband. Why

[figure description] Page 135.[end figure description]

I should never know what to do with such a fine lady for a wife.
I tell you she is too good for me—a dozen times too good.

“Ah! that's talking something like! That's the way lovers
always talk. Now, Getty, what do you say? You will have him,
won't you?”

Gertrude was too much amused to be very angry, but she had
much kind regard for her coarse, but sincere cousin, and she was
embarrassed by the fear of adding to the awkwardness of the
position in which her aunt's manœuvring had placed him.

“I cannot accept or decline an offer which has not been made,”
she said, hesitatingly.

“You don't want me for a husband, Getty, I know—do you
now?” asked Van Vrank, who had no sensitiveness on the subject,
and was willing to come to a full understanding.

Getty, greatly relieved, now felt at liberty to reply plainly.

“No, cousin Garry,” she said, “I do not. I think, like you,
that we are not suited to each other, and I know you are too good
and too sensible to be offended at my saying so.”

“I offended? Never fear that, Getty—you have done nothing
to offend me; you have only answered a plain question which I
should never have asked, if it had not been for aunt Becky, but
she meant well enough.”

“I think you are both very foolish, but perhaps you'll grow
wiser one of these days,” said the aunt, leaving the room in no
amiable state of mind.

Van Vrank prolonged his visit a considerable time, giving Gertrude
many details of information, which he had picked up on the
preceding day in relation to the war, and when he departed there
was a mutual friendly understanding between the cousins which
admitted of no further misconception.

p463-145 CHAPTER XIX. TIDINGS FROM THE WAR.

[figure description] Page 136.[end figure description]

A day or two subsequent to the events just related, the young
farmer again sought the village market with a load of produce, having
disposed of which, he strolled, while his horses were baiting,
to the principal inn, to hear and discuss the current tidings of the
day. He met some acquaintances, with whom he conversed for
a while, and was about to depart, when a distant horn announced
the approach of the mail stage-coach from the North, a daily
event of the greatest interest in H—, and one which was sure
to assemble all the idlers of the village in front of the hotel.

Great was the admiration of the dashing and rapid style in
which the rattling vehicle was always sure to be brought up to
the tavern door, no matter how snail-like may have been its progress
before; and the reverberation of a tin horn, which was
made to resound without cessation, accompanied by the frequent
pistol-like reports of a dextrously-wielded whip, cracking around,
but never touching the leaders' ears, added not a little to the liveliness
of the scene. The motley throng, among which, and
surrounded by which, the coach always came to a stand, gave it
not a little the appearance of having been stopped by banditti,
and it is said that on one occasion a foreigner, waking suddenly
from sleep at such a moment, hastily handed out his purse, and
begged that the carriage might be allowed to proceed.

The village blacksmith, with sooty visage, and perhaps with his

[figure description] Page 137.[end figure description]

hammer in his hand; the barber, with his apron unremoved; the
coatless cobbler, limping from his stall, with most of the loafers
and all the negroes of the village, were sure to be there, and
interspersed among them not a few of a better class, whose
curiosity was equally unrestricted.

A desire to see the passengers, and their apparel and their baggage,
to learn who stopped at H—, and what new passengers
were taken in, and the hope of hearing some news from some
communicative traveller—these were among the motives which
drew together a crowd of people, to whom every incident became
of value which could detract from the monotony of their lives.

There was but one passenger to stop at H— on this occasion—
a young, slight girl, coarsely, but neatly apparelled, who alighted
with trepidation among so many people, and looked timidly
around, as if seeking some one she might address.

“Point out your baggage, miss,” said a noisy, bustling porter
from the inn, addressing the child with the usual officiousness of
his class.

“I haven't any baggage, sir,” replied a very faint voice.
“Will you please to tell me, sir,” she said, catching sight of Van
Vrank's good-natured face, “whether there is a Mr. Rosyfield lives
in this village—an old man?”

“Rosevelt, you mean, don't you—Guert Rosevelt? Yes, come
with me, and I'll show you where he lives.”

Garry led the way through the crowd of people, who looked
wonderingly after the child for a moment, and then gave their
attention to other matters.

“Are you sure it is Guert Rosevelt you want to see?” asked
Garry, as they went along. “There are other people of that name
in this neighborhood.”

“I don't know, sir. I shall know him when I see him. He is
a very old man, with very white hair.”

“That is Guert—and a very good man he is, too.”

[figure description] Page 138.[end figure description]

“Yes, sir.”

“Is he a relation of yours?”

“No, sir; I have never seen him.”

“Never seen him! And how can you describe him then so
well?”

“Oh, sir, he has a grandson in Canada”—

“Yes”—

“Who was a soldier, and is taken prisoner, and who is going
to be hung or shot, if somebody don't save him. Please, sir, let
us go faster.”

“Come on,” shouted Garry, starting off on a run; “but this is
dreadful news, and I am afraid to have you tell the old man, who
is very feeble now! How did you hear of it, and which of the
boys is it, for they both went to the war?”

“His name is Harry, sir, and there was a black man with him.”

“Ah! poor Harry—but how did you hear about it, and are
you certain it is true?”

“Oh, I am very certain, sir, for I came from there myself. He
sent me.”

“From Canada? You came all the way from Canada alone?”
asked Van Vrank, surveying the pale child with astonishment
and half disposed to doubt her story.

“Yes, sir; let us hurry, if you please.”

Garry did hurry, and without further questioning his companion
until they reached Mr. Rosevelt's house, which he entered
with her, hoping to prevent too abrupt a delivery of the worst
features of her intelligence, and hoping also to afford some consolation
to his afflicted neighbor. His precaution was well-timed.

Old Guert's infirmities had greatly increased within the few
preceding days, and he had taken to his bed, and called a physician,
who being in attendance when the visitors arrived, positively
forbade the communication of their painful intelligence to his
patient.

[figure description] Page 139.[end figure description]

Ruth was in great tribulation at this discovery. She had entertained
an indefinite hope that the old gentleman would in some
way be able to rescue his grandson from his imminent peril, and
she knew not to whom else she could apply for help.

She was requested by the housekeeper to remain a few days,
until Mr. Rosevelt's improved health might admit of imparting to
him her news, and although with the most harrowing fears that
such delay might be fatal to her hopes, she had no alternative but
to comply.

Van Vrank himself, painfully impressed with a sense of the
imminent danger which threatened Harry Vrail, towards whom,
in common with all the neighborhood, he entertained the most
friendly feelings, set out on his return home, and being freighted
with news of such, unusual interest, he, of course, did not pass the
residence of his cousin without stopping. Entirely unsuspecting
how agonizing his tidings would prove to Gertrude, he used no
reserve in disclosing them.

“Bad news from Canada to day, cousin Getty,” he said, as he
met Miss Van Kleeck at the front doorway, and without noticing
the pallor which overspread her face at so ominous a beginning,
he continued:

“The patriots are defeated, and almost all killed or taken prisoners.”

“And Harry Vrail—what did you hear of Harry Vrail?” she
asked, grasping his arm, and looking eagerly into his face, for that
fearful moment was no time for maidenly reserve.

Still obtuse as to the nature of his cousin's emotion, he replied,

“Harry Vrail is a prisoner, and is probably hung by this time,
or will be in a few days.”

Getty sank to the door-sill, and resting her head upon her hands,
remained speechless some moments, violently trembling.

“Why, Getty!” exclaimed the young farmer; “what is the
matter, Getty? I did not know you cared so much about Harry.

[figure description] Page 140.[end figure description]

I am sorry I told you; and perhaps, now, it is not so bad, after
all. Don't Getty, don't now.”

“Never mind me, Garry, but tell me, how did you hear all this?”

“That is the strangest matter of all. A little girl, not over
twelve or thirteen years old, has come all the way from Canada
alone, and she says that Lieutenant Vrail sent her, and gave her
money to travel with, and that she saw him in jail at Prescott,
only three days ago.

“Only three days ago!” exclaimed Gertrude, springing up, her
eyes flashing with an unusual light. “Then he is not hung yet?
They would not do it as soon as that. Where is the girl?”

“I left her at Rosevelt's.”

“Go bring her to me. Lose not a minute's time. Take a span
of my horses and the light wagon. Never mind your team; I
will have them taken care of. Quick, Garry! Call Jake, and let
him help you harness.”

Getty spoke with the air almost of command, and she was not
disobeyed.

Greatly wondering, but catching a portion of the young lady's
excitement, Van Vrank flew to execute her orders, and while doing
so, Miss Van Kleeck waited upon the back piazza, absorbed in
thought. Suddenly, seeming to resolve some painful doubt, she
came forward to meet her messenger, now prepared to start, and
said to him in a low voice,

“Garry, do you know Mr. Gray, who was my father's lawyer in
that suit about the south farm?”

“Squire Gray? Yes, I know him very well, and a very good
man he is, too.”

“Father thought him trustworthy. Can you see him this afternoon?”

“Yes.”

“And ask him to come and see me this evening on business?”

“Yes.”

[figure description] Page 141.[end figure description]

“Remember, this evening. Do not let him fail.”

“I will bring him with me.”

“Do so, if you can—and now let us lose no more time. It will
be dark before you get back, and you will find supper waiting for
you.”

p463-151 CHAPTER XX. GERTRUDE AND HER FRIENDS.

[figure description] Page 142.[end figure description]

With such post-like haste did the young farmer travel that he
falsified Getty's prediction, and returned while the sun yet lingered
in the horizon, bringing with him both the Canadian girl and Mr.
Attorney Gray—each not a little surprised at the summons they
had received.

Leaving the latter to ruminate upon the mystery, Miss Van
Kleeck conducted Ruth to her own room, where, by questioning,
she drew out her whole story, including what the girl had not before
divulged, Harry's betrayal by her uncle, her own heroic attempt
to save him, and his subsequent capture.

Gertrude wept at the recital, both of Vrail's misfortunes and of
the young child's sufferings in his behalf, but she did not allow
her tears to obstruct her questions until the whole truth was elicited
in all its harrowing details.

If her resolntion had not been already taken, the noble example
of Ruth would have inspirited her to the task she had set for herself,
regardless of those flimsy barriers which the conventionalities
of society interpose in the path of affection and duty.

She descended to the parlor with Ruth, and finding the attorney
there alone, she immediately addressed him.”

“You know something about my father's estate and its value,
I believe, Mr. Gray?”

“Yes—considerable.”

[figure description] Page 143.[end figure description]

“You know that I am his only heir—that it is all mine, and
that I am of the legal age to dispose of it.”

“I know it all.”

“How much money can be raised upon it—on an emergency—
at once—before to-morrow noon?”

“Do you wish to sell?”

“Not if it can be avoided, but I want a large sum of money—
say twenty thousand dollars.”

“It is a large sum, but it is only a small part of the value of the
estate. There is bank stock to half the amount you require,
which, at a little sacrifice, could be made available by the time
you name.”

“I will make the sacrifice; how shall I get the remainder?”

“I can easily obtain it for you on your mortgage upon two or
three of these farms, but I must have a few days' time.”

“Not a day, Mr. Gray—I must have the money by to-morrow
noon. Think again. You shall be paid liberally. I will put the
whole estate into your hands for security, if necessary, but the
money I must have.”

“I will try, Miss Van Kleeck.”

“That will not do. If you cannot say that you can do it, I
must send to town to-night and employ some one else.”

“If the case is so urgent, I think I can promise it, for I can
advance five thousand dollars myself, if necessary, and I certainly
know where I can get the remainder.”

“O, thank you, thank you, Mr. Gray.”

“But we shall have to be up half the night drawing writings.”

“All night, if you choose. What does that matter? Can I
help you?”

“No, I believe not, except by bringing me your father's title
deeds.”

“Yes, you shall have them in a minute,” said Getty, darting to
the door; “shall I bring them all?”

[figure description] Page 144.[end figure description]

“No, only those which relate to this farm, and the south farm.
That will be abundant security.”

“I will bring them all, and you can choose for yourself.”

“The deeds were brought and Mr. Gray, after selecting those
which he had required, concluded to return to the village, and
make the necessary writings in his office.

“I will bring them to you early in the morning for your signature,”
he said to Miss Van Kleeck. “How early shall I be able
to see you?”

“At daybreak,” replied Getty.

“That will not be necessary; I will call at seven o'clock.”

“Very well, but do not be later. I must have the money by
noon.”

“You shall.”

“And with as little publicity as possible, if you please, Mr. Gray.”

“I understand.”

“You have clerks who talk”—

“My clerks all talk, Miss Van Kleeck,” replied the attorney,
with a quiet smile, “but I will attend to this business in person.”

“Thank you, again. But there is another thing requisite. I
want the money in a shape in which it can be used in Canada.
Can this be arranged?”

“Not very easily; but by going to Albany, I can procure you
drafts on banks at Kingston or Quebec, which will be as good as
gold there, and can be turned into gold at any time.”

“Will you do it? Will you go to Albany to-morrow, and
procure the papers? Will you be at the — Hotel in that
city with them to-morrow evening?”

Getty asked these questions in a lower tone, and in a hurried
manner.

“I will, if such is your pleasure, Miss Van Kleeck,” replied the
lawyer, looking much surprised. “I shall not be able to arrive
there until after bank hours, but in an urgent case I can obtain

[figure description] Page 145.[end figure description]

the facilities which I shall need for your business. Let me suggest
that your agent comes well accredited, or I shall not dare to surrender
to him papers of so great value.”

“Thank you; I will see to it that you have no cause for doubt.”

Mr. Gray declined an invitation to supper, and took his leave,
being conveyed back to town as he had been brought, but with
the substitution of black Jake for a driver, in the place of Garry,
who remained, at Gertrude's request.

Ruth Shay had been present during the whole of the interview between
the young lady and the lawyer, and she had listened with
astonishment, and with mingled hope and doubt to the strange
conversation which had passed. The large sums of money which
had been named seemed like something fabulous to the mind of
a child, whose experience on this point, during the greater part of
her life had been confined to the occasional sight of a few shillings,
and to whom the gold intrusted by Vrail had seemed a mine of
wealth. Miss Van Kleeck became to her excited imagination a sort
of fairy princess, who, with a pen for a wand, was about to conjure
up from some unknown source, the vast treasures of which
she had spoken, and which Ruth could not doubt would be efficacious
for whatever purpose they were designed. But what was
their intended use? For whom and in what manner was this
great power to be wielded?

She listened earnestly, and as the conversation progressed, she
became convinced that it must be intended in some way for the
service of Harry Vrail, and that her own painful mission was not
to terminate without setting in motion other agencies far more
potent and promising.

Yet it seemed strange to her that she had not heard the name
of the young lieutenant mentioned, for she did not comprehend
the delicacy which had sealed Gertrude's lips on this point, and
she had longed for the departure of Mr. Gray, hoping that her
painful curiosity might be gratified. Nor was she mistaken. No

[figure description] Page 146.[end figure description]

sooner was she again alone with Gertrude, than the latter, turning
suddenly towards her, as if impressed by a new idea, said:

“You have come alone from Canada; will you go back there
with me.”

“Yes, oh yes! Are you going to save him?”

“God only knows what will be the result. I am going to try.
Mr. Van Vrank, I hope, will go with us. He at least shall not die
without an effort being made in his behalf.”

“Is he a relation of yours?” asked Ruth.

“No—a friend of my father's. There is no one else to help him,
and we must do what we can.”

“I will do anything that I can,” replied Ruth, “if anybody will
tell me what to do.”

“You are a good girl, you have done a great deal already, and
now I want you to tell me something more about yourself and
about the people with whom you lived when Mr. Vrail came to
your house.”

Ruth told her simple but melancholy history in a few minutes,
and Getty shed not a few sympathetic tears over the narrative.

“You have no wish then,” she said, “ever to return to those
people who call themselves your uncle and aunt, and who have
treated you so unkindly?”

“Oh, no—never, if I can help it.”

“Let that be my care,” replied Gertrude. “You shall never go
there again. You shall return here and live with me.”

“Oh, I am so glad that you will take me for your servant.”

“Not my servant, but my sister. I need such a friend as you
are like to prove; I will provide for your education and for all
your wants, and you shall have a comfortable home as long as I
have one to share with you.”

Ruth fell upon her knees at the feet of Gertrude: she rested her
head upon the young lady's lap and tried to speak her thanks, but
she gave utterance only to sobs.

[figure description] Page 147.[end figure description]

“Do not try to thank me. Indeed we are all your debtors yet,
and shall ever be. But we have much to do, and we must not
waste our time in words. Please to go now, and ask Mr. Van
Vrank to come to me, for I cannot rest until I know whether he
will go with us or not.”

Ruth wiped her eyes and went out, and in a few minutes returned
accompanied by the young man, who was in a state of great
perplexity and amazement at the strange conduct of his cousin.

She did not leave him long in doubt.

As he entered the room, she advanced to the door, closed it
carefully, and said:

“Garry, you will think strange of what I am about to tell you.
You were surprised to-day when your news about Harry Vrail's
misfortunes affected me so much—but”—

She hesitated, and Van Vrank interposed—

“It is none of my business, Cousin Getty, and I shan't think
strange of anything you choose to say or do. You need not be
afraid to say anything before me, Getty. It will be all right, I
know.”

“Thank you, Garry; you relieve me very much, and I can now
speak freely. To be brief, then, I am going to Canada.”

“To Canada? You? What can you do there? How can
you help him?”

“I do not know. I can only hope, and pray, and try; but I
shall certainly go to-morrow.”

“Not alone?”

“No. Not alone—for this heroic child will accompany me, if
no one else does; but Garry, I am in need of a friend and a protector.
You are my relative, almost my only one.”

“I will go with you, Getty. Of course I will, if that is what
you mean, though I don't believe anything can be done for Harry
Vrail; but I will go with you wherever you choose to go, if it is
to the North Pole; and I'll protect you, too, against all harm, as

[figure description] Page 148.[end figure description]

far as it is possible for one man to do it,” and Van Vrank instinctively
closed his huge hand as he spoke, and brought down the embrowned
fist with a jarring emphasis upon a table beside him.

Getty seized the threatening member with both her tiny hands,
scarcely encircling it at that, and poured forth her thanks as best
she could.

She then related to her cousin all that was necessary for him to
know of her arrangements for starting, and the appointed hour
for departure, and by the time their plans were decided, they
received a summons to the supper table, where aunt Becky was
presiding, looking not a little glum, and exhibiting upon her forehead
that ominous scowl, which was the usual precursor of a
social storm.

“These are high times, very high times I think,” she began, as
they seated themselves around the table, “when people come and
go like the wind, and tired horses are sent off in the night to carry
lazy lawyers home, who are to come back next morning, and nobody
is to know what it is all about. High times these are, I am sure;
it wasn't so in Baltus' day.”

A great many short jerks of the head accompanied this speech,
and the dame's hands passed rapidly to and fro among the cups and
saucers before her, making a great rattling, but not any progress
in her official duties.

“Why aunt!” exclaimed Getty.

“No, no—don't `aunt' me, I ain't your aunt; I am only a nigger
waiter to get the meals, and pour out the tea, and hold my
tongue.” A scream from the angry woman interrupted her speech,
for in her excitement she had caught hold of the metallic spout of
the teapot, instead of the non-conducting handle, and in her haste
to disengage her fingers from the burning tube, she upset the silver
creampot, and dashed several china cups in fragments to the floor.

Her consternation, arising from this disaster, and especially from
contemplating the ruin of the china set, fortunately superseded

[figure description] Page 149.[end figure description]

her wrath, and she proceeded in silent dismay to pick up the scattered
pieces of the wreck, assisted by Getty, and, between the
intervals of his uproarious laughter, by Garry also. When quiet
was restored, and all parties were again seated at table, Miss
Van Kleeck said.

“I have been too busy and too hurried, aunt Becky, to tell you
sooner that I intended to leave home, to-morrow, for an absence,
perhaps, of several weeks. You will oblige me if you will not
ask me where I am going, or for what purpose, all of which you
shall know hereafter, and you will be satisfied that I am safe when
I tell you I am to have cousin Garret for a companion.”

The severe expression which settled upon the dame's face when
Getty spoke of leaving home relaxed as suddenly at the mention
of the name of her companion, and she jumped at once to the
conclusion that the match she had deemed so desirable was certainly
to be effected, although in some secret and unusual way,
suited to the notions of a romantic or whimsical girl. She elevated
her eyebrows and her spectacles; her lips were wreathed
into a grim smile, and she uttered several expressive “ohs” and
“ahs,” which were intended to indicate that she saw clearly
through the whole affair, and that she was very well contented
with it.

Much desultory conversation passed, and Becky gave utterance
to some sly jokes on the subject of her hallucination, all of
which were received by Garry with a loud guffaw, but too deep
anxiety rested on Gertrude's heart to admit of any approach to
merriment. She had not entertained the least idea of misleading
her aunt, and she would even have tried to undeceive her, had she
not known how difficult the task would be, without a full explanation
of her designs, which she was by no means disposed to make.
She did not think it her duty to make a great effort to disenchant
a pertinacious mind of an illusion so baseless, and to the creation
of which she herself had in no way intentionally contributed.

[figure description] Page 150.[end figure description]

She contented herself by the simple remark: “You are mistaken
aunt,” in reply to one of the sallies of the dame, and her uniform
truthfulness entitled her to be believed. Gertrude, indeed, was at
all times above deceit; but now, animated by a lofty motive, and
about to engage in an enterprise of self-sacrificing magnanimity,
she could not stoop to even the semblance of duplicity.

She had overcome, too, in a great degree, the habit of mind
which caused her so greatly to dread her scolding relative, having
fully learned her right to regulate her own movements in all
respects, yet neither her manner, nor her words, nor the remembrance
of her direct negative to the forced proposal of Garry in
the preceding week, nor Van Vrank's own irrepressible laughter
whenever her sagacious hints were thrown out, disturbed the settled
conviction in the mind of Becky that the match was made,
and that the parties were about to proceed on a tour matrimonial.
The attendance of the lawyer, who chanced to be also a magistrate,
empowered to tie the mystical knot, of course confirmed her
views; but whether the ceremony had already taken place, or was
to be performed in the morning before starting, or afterwards at
some village on their route, aunt Becky neither knew nor cared.
It was sufficient for her purpose that she firmly believed Van
Vrank was the man of her niece's choice, and that they were to
become, if they were not already, man and wife.

The meal being concluded, though with great difficulty on the
part of Garry, by reason of the repeated necessity either of
violent laughter or a violent suppression of it, he hastened home
to make his own arrangements for the journey, while Gertrude,
eagerly assisted by her now willing aunt, occupied a considerable
part of the night in similar preparations. Ruth was thoroughly
rigged by contributions from the wardrobe of the young lady,
which, as they were successively bestowed upon her, drew forth
continual expressions of childish delight, though accompanied by
a manifest reluctance to receive so much.

[figure description] Page 151.[end figure description]

“I will only take them to travel in, Miss Van Kleeck,” she
said; “they will be yours again when we come back.”

“They are yours, Ruth; say no more about them.”

The child laughed as she tried the fine garments, and seemed
greatly pleased, but at the next instant a painful emotion was
visible in her face.

“If we can only save him,” she said.

“Ah, if we only can!”

p463-161 CHAPTER XXI. CAPTAIN TOM'S FORTUNES.

[figure description] Page 152.[end figure description]

It will be remembered that Captain Thomas Vrail, forgetful of
all fraternal ties, ignominiously sought his personal safety, by
availing himself, alone, of the very means of escape which had
been provided for Harry, and which the latter had nobly rejected,
until assured of his brother's flight. When he had gained the
open space in the rear of the building from which he had fled,
where the tumult of the assault was yet resounding, he ran to the
river, and on reaching its margin he took the only course which
gave any promise of safety, and the same that was, a few minutes
later, selected by the unfortunate fugitives who followed him.
The desultory nature of the battle, or rather of the separate
engagements which had taken place, and the uncertainty which
yet prevailed in each victorious quarter as to the extent of success
in other localities, produced a state of affairs favorable to the
escape of the few who had been fortunate enough to take the first
steps of flight unobserved.

The vessel which fired upon Harry was lying in the stream
when Thomas reached the shore, and caused him no slight alarm,
but he was either unobserved, or from some other unexplained
cause, he was not assailed from that quarter, and he hastened forward,
although in great trepidation.

He had not proceeded far down the stream, before he discovered,
about half a mile in advance of him, two other individuals, whose

[figure description] Page 153.[end figure description]

singular and cautious movements indicated that they, like himself,
were members of the vanquished army, seeking to make good
their escape. The ground over which they were passing, was the
pebbled beach of the river, edged, at irregular intervals, with
clumps of bushes, which grew at the distance of a few yards from
the water, and served as convenient dodging-places for the
stealthy travellers. They could not go far, however, in that direction,
without approaching the vicinity of numerous dwellinghouses,
whence they would be almost certain to be seen, and so
imminent seemed the peril of progressing in the route they were
pursuing, that Vrail, much as he longed for companionship in his
distress, had not the temerity long to follow them.

But if he did not dare to proceed, still less had he courage to
return over his dangerous track, or to attempt to seek the open
country, which could only be gained by passing through a part of
the settlement. Concealing himself, therefore, in one of the
clusters of shrubbery which have been named, he watched with
painful anxiety the course of his predecessors, until, having stopped
briefly in several hiding-places, they finally entered one from
which they were not seen to emerge. Not doubting that they
had resolved to remain there until the darkness of evening should
favor their flight, Tom exulted in the hope of joining them then,
and sharing their chance of escape, and with this hope he watched
the distant bush, with little intermission, until the declining sun
withdrew his beams, and left him no longer power to discern an
object of so much interest.

He had heard, meanwhile, the firing a little further up the
river, which had so nearly proved fatal to Harry, and the return
salutes of his valiant brother, but, of course, without in the least
suspecting the extraordinary character of the engagement they
betokened. He had seen, too, the second boat which had been
sent from the war-vessel, and which, in taking its circuitous route
to avoid the magical weapon, had passed in view of both the

[figure description] Page 154.[end figure description]

concealed parties, and had landed at a point considerably above them.
Tom also saw, and watched with an interest not inferior to that of
his intrepid brother, the clouds which rose to engulf the descending
sun, and which enveloped the landscape in a sudden night.

Then, eager with hope, he rushed from his hiding-place, and
fast as his cramped limbs would permit, he ran towards the spot
which he had so long and vigilantly watched. He knew that
his footsteps would be suspected as those of an enemy, and that
the fugitives, if they were yet in the bush, or near it, would wait
quietly for him to pass. He did not, therefore, attempt to approach
them noiselessly, but having gained, as nearly as he could, their
immediate vicinity, he suddenly stopped and ejaculated in a quick,
sharp tone, one of the mystic words, which served as a countersign,
and an evidence of membership among the fraternity of
patriots.

To his great joy it was instantly answered by another signal,
and the two individuals of whom he was in search, without further
reserve, approached him. It was too dark to see more than the
outline of their figures, of which one was tall and stooping, and
the other stoutish and broad-shouldered; but Vrail soon recognized
the one who spoke, although he conversed in a half whisper.

“We took you for an enemy,” he said, “and we were hesitating
whether to cut you down quietly, or let you pass, when fortunately
you gave the signal, and now I can't rightly make you out in this
light. I guess you warn't in our division.”

“No, I believe not—indeed I don't know exactly where you
were, Mr. Jones.”

It would have been difficult to tell where Barak was during the
engagement, and as he did not offer to define his position, Tom
continued:

“I am Captain Vrail, that is, if there are any titles left to us
now, and I was in”—

“Oh! you are Captain Vrail, are you? How do you dew? and

[figure description] Page 155.[end figure description]

how did you get off?—and what is become of your brother, the
lieutenant—a mighty clever fellow he was—I hope he ain't killed
or taken?”

Tom replied, hesitatingly, that he believed Harry had escaped,
and he was about to add something more, when they were interrupted
by the third person, who spoke in a voice of command.

“Silence!” he said; “there will be time enough to talk when we
are off British soil. We must go forward now.”

“Who is that?” asked Vrail, quietly.

“No matter,” was the stranger's reply; “I am your commander
for the present, if you remain with us—if not, pass on or return.”

“I prefer to remain with you, and willingly place myself under
your orders,” said Tom, perceiving from the speaker's tone, that he
was accustomed to be obeyed, and having a suspicion of his character,
which greatly increased his hope of ultimate escape.

“We are coming at once to the most dangerous part of our
way,” said the stranger, “as we shall be compelled to pass near
many dwellings, and we must proceed with great vigilance.”

“Why not wait until a later hour?” interrupted Vrail.

“You can wait if you choose, young man,” was the cold reply.

“I forgot—I beg pardon, sir.”

“There is reason enough for haste,” added the leader, mollified
by the apologetic words and tone of Vrail. “At any moment
troops may be expected scouring the beach in search of fugitives,
and before morning there will be sentinels all along the coast for
miles, to see that no boats put off without inspection. This is our
only chance, and if we can get three miles further down, without
getting caught, I will answer for the rest. We must advance now
in single file, and as silent as moccasined Indians. Not a word
must be spoken, except to give warning of danger. I will go first,
and Mr. Vrail must take the rear.”

In this order the three proceeded along their perilous route for
the space of nearly an hour, passing frequently within near view of

[figure description] Page 156.[end figure description]

men whose discovery of them would have led to certain capture,
and often pausing at the most critical points to wait a favorable
opportunity to advance.

The strictest silence was preserved, not a word being spoken;
and, indeed, as far as related to Jones, the order for taciturnity was
quite superfluous, for his excessive terror had quite deprived him of
the power of articulation. Fragments of his own public speeches
were floating at times through his mind, and his often-repeated
assertion, that the whole country was rising to meet the patriots,
seemed to his excited imagination about to be realized, although
in a painfully different sense from that in which he had used it.

A happy man was he, and scarcely less so was Vrail, when their
mysterious leader, suddenly pausing near a large granite rock, and
waiting for them to join him, announced their safety, with an air
of confidence which nothing in appearance around them seemed
to justify.

“But we ain't off British sile yet, Commodore,” said Barak.

“Don't `Commodore' me here, if you please, and don't talk quite
so loud, and if we should be taken yet, which isn't very likely, seeing
they won't have more than five minutes to do it in, remember
there are no titles to any of our names. Every title will cost its
owner a halter. We are but plain Sam, and Tom, and Bill.”

“I reckon they'd know you though, quick enough.”

“Well, possibly they might, but we won't give them a chance
to try. Come on,” and the speaker advanced rapidly towards the
river, which was but a few yards distant.

“Blast the man!” muttered Jones, following; “I believe he
means to swim across. I have heard of his doing almost as
wonderful things; I say, Commodore, we can't do that, you
know.”

“Hush!” was the only reply of the leader, as he proceeded with
rapid and hasty strides until he stood half boot deep in the edge
of the stream, when he stopped, and facing shoreward, peered

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earnestly through the darkness for some seconds, as if trying to
recognize some of the neighboring landmarks.

“Mr. Vrail,” he said, at length, taking a small box from his
pocket, and handing it to the young man, “I must know the exact
bearing of the south end of the rock which we have just left, but
I can see nothing in this darkness. Go back to the rock, feel
your way to the lower part of it, and when you are sure you are
at the right spot, light one of these matches, and show it near the
ground for a moment—as long as you can count three—I shall
see it.”

Though greatly mystified by the stranger's conduct, Tom did
not for a moment hesitate about compliance with his orders.
With some difficulty he found the spot designated, and having
made quite sure of the correctness of his position, he exhibited his
sulphurous signal the required time, and then returned to the
place where he had left his companions, but where he now found
Jones quite alone, and in a state of extraordinary excitement.

“I might have known it,” he said; “I have often heard he was
in league with the Evil one, and now I know it. He's gone,
sir!”

“Gone? Where?”

“Right straight across the river, sir—a bee line, sir—by the
light of that match. I see him go as far as I could see, and after
that I heerd him for some time walking through the water, as
easily as you would walk on dry land.”

“Nonsense, Jones; your head is turned. He can't be far off.”

Far or near, we shall never see him again. Listen, you can
hear him going now.”

Vrail did listen, and very distinctly heard a splashing in the
water a few rods down the stream, and not far from shore, as his
affrighted companion had supposed, his alarm not admitting of his
retaining any correct idea of the course of the river. At the next
instant they heard their missing comrade's voice, modulated to a

[figure description] Page 158.[end figure description]

tone which was designed to reach them, and to extend as little
further as possible, calling upon them to approach. Barak hesitated
and drew back, until Vrail, who had caught a glimmering
of the true state of affairs, plunged into the stream and proceeded
in the direction of the voice, when the former, afraid to be left
behind, followed the path of his companions, groaning bitterly at
every step in the cold water. As they approached their mysterious
leader, guided by his voice, he said,

“I've got it at last, my boys, come and take hold with me, and
help draw it out. Where's Jones?”

“Here,” said that worthy, whose chattering teeth rendered his
articulation scarcely intelligible. “Here I am up to my knees in
water. What on airth are you trying to do and what is that you
want me to take hold of?”

“This rope, and pull with a will, and when you see the bow of
a boat come to the surface, catch hold with me, and drag it to the
shore. Now, then.”

“A boat, Gineral? You don't mean to say so? Now if that
ain't what I call cute! A boat hid away under the water, and
that's what you've been fishing for, is it, when I thought you was
half way over to the States.”

The skiff was sunk in considerably deeper water than that in
which the fugitives were standing; a rope of considerable length
intervening between them and the prow of the vessel, the end of
which cable had been fastened to the bottom of the river, as near
the shore as its length would permit. The united efforts of the
three men soon raised the boat, and brought it within their reach,
after which they found little difficulty in dragging it to and upon
the beach, and discharging its cargo of water by turning it upside
down.

The promising prospect of immediate safety thus held out to
them gave them strength and courage to work with great alacrity,
and but a short time elapsed before they were fairly embarked

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upon the river, for of course the sagacity which had planned such
a resort for the hour of danger, had not overlooked the minor
means to render it effectual. Two pairs of oars were found fastened
to the sides of the skiff, and both being put in action, it
was the work of but a few minutes to leave the dreaded and now
abhorred shores of Canada far behind them.

It was an easy task, too, to row to an island sufficiently remote
from the northern shore to form a safe refuge for the night,
and the wearied men were glad to avail themselves of the first
resort of the kind which offered. They drew their boat up on
shore, and sought the depth of a wood, where a fire was soon
kindled, the cheering warmth of which revived their strength
and spirits, and round which, on couches of boughs and bushes,
they passed the remainder of the night.

They had fasted since morning, but so great was their fatigue
that, despite the pangs of hunger, they sunk readily to sleep, to
partake of those endless and unsatisfying meals which tantalize
the hungry soul in dreams. But soon after daybreak Vrail and
Jones were awakened and alarmed by the report of a gun, which
proved to be that of their leader, who was already purveying for
breakfast. They immediately joined him, and in a short time
they had secured sufficient game of the smaller kind to serve for
a substantial repast, and around the rekindled fire they cooked and
ate it with a relish denied to costlier viands at luxurious boards.

Thus strengthened, they returned to their boat, and under the
pilotage of their mysterious leader whose word had become a law
to both his companions, they resumed their voyage, leisurely discussing
the perilous scenes through which they had passed, and
lamenting the fate of their less fortunate associates.

They at length approached a large cluster of islands, forming
one of the many divisions of that northern Archipelago, which
when summer smiles away its ice, and lulls its Borean blasts, may
vie in romantic beauty with the classic shores of the ægean sea.

[figure description] Page 160.[end figure description]

Gliding around the coast of one of these isles, and pursuing
their way for a considerable distance through narrow channels,
which separated different members of the group, the voyagers
emerged at length into a sort of watery amphitheatre, lake-like in
the lucid beauty of its calm surface, and girded and guarded on
on all sides by islands of every size, and of all conceivable shapes.
Some of them were separated by a channel scarcely allowing the
passage of the tiny boat, which was gliding among them, and
some even permitted of an active man's leap from shore to shore—
while between others wide spaces intervened, across which a
musket ball could be sent with no certain aim.

A marked and peculiar change came over the leader of the
little party as they entered within the sheltered precincts just
described. His eye dilated, his face brightened, his voice took
an exultant tone, and he seemed a monarch returned to his rightful
realm.

“We are safe enough here, Mr. Vrail,” he said, “and we might
be happy enough too in such a place as this, if one could be content
to forget wrongs and lose aspirations.”

“I am not wrong then in supposing that you are”—

Thomas hesitated and looked around him as if he feared the
name he was about to pronounce might conjure up armed foes
even in that watery wilderness.

“You need not be afraid to speak here,” interrupted the other;
“there is none to hear, excepting yonder eagle, who is sailing
above us, and he is a fellow monarch of mine, who will betray no
secrets.”

“You then are `the hero of the thousand isles,' the brave Johnson,
whose name is on every patriot's tongue, whose praise is
spoken in every lodge of our order, both in Canada and in the
States.”

“I am William Johnson,” replied the other in a voice of
mournful cadence. “A man without titles or possessions,

[figure description] Page 161.[end figure description]

proscribed and hunted by two great nations between which I dwell,
daring to go openly in neither.”

“And do they not seek you here?”

“Yes, even here the myrmidons of the Canadian government
have followed me, but they have grown tired of a sport which
always proves fatal to a portion of the pursuers without their
even obtaining sight of an enemy. Fired upon from every island
which they approach, every island is found tenantless and unoccupied
when they reach it, and the discharge of a single gun,
waking a hundred echoes, always seems to them like a volley.
They have returned to spread stories of my being backed by hundreds
of followers, who lurk among the thousand isles, and who
could destroy a regiment, if sent against them, without the loss of
a single man.”

“And you have followers in these wilds?”

Johnson did not reply for some moments, and when he did so, it
was in a voice at once musical and melancholy.

“Yes, I have followers. You shall see them.”

“Is it far to your hum?” asked Jones, who had been a very
interested listener to the old man's remarks, “and are we going
to it now?”

“All roads lead to the home of the outlaw,” replied Johnson.
“My abode is like that of the hunted hare, wherever safety
requires—but at all times in dens and caves of the earth.”

Although Thomas had heard so much of the exploits of his
present companion, he had not personally encountered him before
their flight, Johnson having joined the invaders on their approach
to Prescott, and they having been connected with different divisions
of the little army during their encampment at Windmill Point.

Continuing their conversation and their voyage, they at length
approached one of the smaller islands of the group, towards
which Johnson, who had the helm, guided the vessel, informing
his companions they would stop there.

p463-171 CHAPTER XXII. THE HERO OF THE THOUSAND ISLES.

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Having moored his boat, he proceeded towards the centre of
the island, and approached a gnarled and knotted tree, which was
partially decayed about the base, and had many holes capable of
serving as receptacles of small packages.

“This is my post-office,” said Johnson, thrusting his arm deep
into one of the openings, and drawing out a small box, “and
here I shall find information as to the whereabouts of those I seek.
My domains are so extensive, and it so often becomes necessary
for my followers, as you call them, to change their residence during
my absence, that something of this kind becomes necessary to
enable me to find them.”

He took from the box a paper, which apparently contained a
very brief memorandum, and he immediately exclaimed,

“Is it possible? Why, they are close at hand. I wonder
they have not already seen us. They have been in danger too.”

Vrail asked him if he were not imprudent in exposing his private
resorts to strangers who might betray him, to which he
replied:

“No, I do not fear you, or if I should, these things are easily
changed; besides, my letters tell no secrets to strangers. See
what you can make of this?”

Vrail took it and gazed at it a few moments with a puzzled air,
but could make nothing of it. There was not a single line of

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writing, but simply a few rude hieroglyphics, representing a deer
pursued by hunters, and a tree of unusual shape; the first symbol
of course denoting the danger which Johnson had understood it
to imply, and the last intimating the present place of refuge of
his friends.

“We must cross over to Rainbow Island,” said the outlaw,
pointing to a locality where the forest foliage, presenting even
more than the usual diversified hues of autumn, looked as if
a rainbow had become tangled in the tree-tops, and had broken
up into a million glittering fragments.

The voyagers returned to their boat, and in a very few minutes
its prow touched the desired coast, at a point where a profusion
of bushes, growing close to the edge of the water, admitted of a
perfect place of concealment for the vessel without drawing it
upon shore. Leaping ashore the commodore hastily secured his
skiff, and rapidly led the way into the interior, followed by his
companions.

Rainbow Island was of considerable dimensions, being nearly
half a mile in length, and having a width varying from eighty to
a hundred rods, and it was more densely studded with woods than
any of the surrounding members of the group. This circumstance,
together with one which will presently appear, had made
it a frequent and favorite resort of the outlaw, to whom it
afforded both shelter and the means of subsistence, game being
abundant within its borders.

As they advanced, a rugged hill of considerable height rose
before them, at the base of which, on their right, gaped a deep
ravine, black with the shadows of the interwoven boughs which
hung above it, almost impervious to the light of day.

They clambered over this hill, and descending a more gradual
slope towards the opposite side of the island, soon found themselves
at a distance of about thirty rods from the shore, and in the
midst of trees, shrubbery, and underbrush, more dense and

[figure description] Page 164.[end figure description]

tangled, if possible, than those which they had left on the other
side of the eminence. From their present position the ravine,
which crossed the island and divided the hill into two sections,
was more accessible, and seemed a shade less forbidding in its
gloominess, and yet it was sufficiently repulsive to cause Vrail
and Jones to pause upon its edge, and hesitate about following
their leader into its Avernus-like shades.

“Come on!” exclaimed the outlaw. “What do you fear?”

Ashamed of his irresolution, Tom began to descend, followed
by Barak, who clung with desperation to the marginal bushes,
and made a dismal groaning over his task. To the gratification
of his followers, however, Johnson paused upon a ledge about a
third of the way down the declivity, and announced the close
proximity of one of his homes. A vocal signal, somewhat resembling
the call of a squirrel, drew almost instantly forth, seemingly
out of the very side of the hill, but in fact from a cavern, the
mouth of which was concealed by bushes, an agile boy of about
fourteen years, who with every demonstration of delight and surprise,
rushed into the arms of the outlaw. Following the lad
more timidly, for her eyes had caught sight of the strangers, was
a young woman of decidedly handsome and graceful exterior,
whose relationship to the hardy warrior a glance was sufficient to
determine.

She was dressed with a neatness which seemed incompatible
with the place of her abode; but where will not the ingenuity of
the gentler sex find means for the gratification of refined tastes?
Johnson hastened to meet her, and having kissed her tenderly, he
introduced her to his companions as his daughter.

“These are the followers of whom I spoke,” he said, smiling.
“Do you think Canada has much to fear from them?”

There was a responsive flashing in the eye of the lad, which
seemed to intimate that the time might come when his name
would not be altogether insignificant in the ranks of England's foes.

[figure description] Page 165.[end figure description]

The maiden fastened an inquiring look upon her father, anxious
to hear some tidings of the war, and uncertain whether to look
upon him as a fugitive or as a conqueror—yet afraid to ask in
the presence of people of whom she knew nothing.

Equally solicitous in turn to know the particulars of the peril
which had threatened his children, and which might, for all he
knew, still impend over them and him, Johnson led the way into
his cave with a view to a mutual explanation. The bushes which
served as a concealment to the entrance were partly of natural
growth, and partly transplanted, and were so thickly set as to
make the passage difficult to one unaccustomed to the path. The
mouth of the cave was small, requiring to be entered in a stooping
posture, but its interior was of a size more than sufficient for
all the purposes of its occupants.

Expecting to find a squalid den, vying with the lowest cabins
of savage life, the visitors were surprised, on entering, to discover
something decidedly like a furnished room, wearing a general air
of neatness and comfort. Its active and industrious proprietor
had supplied himself, from time to time, in the obscure American
towns, where he was unknown, with all the necessary articles of
furniture for more than one subterranean abode, and such of his
chattels as were easily portable, were removed at times from one
of his country seats to another, as convenience invited, or danger
drove to the exchange.

His grotto, as his daughter fancifully called it, on Rainbow
Island, was his favorite resort, and on this he had bestowed the
greatest degree of attention and care. Its uneven flooring was
covered with a coarse carpet; a table and chairs stood in the
centre of the apartment, and near the entrance a fire burned in a
small stove, the pipe of which found the outer air through an
artificial opening above the doorway. Two bedsteads, apparently
well furnished, occupied opposite corners of the cavern, and near

[figure description] Page 166.[end figure description]

the smallest of them a little mirror was fastened against the wall,
surrounded with other toilet appendages.

The obscurity of the apartment was relieved only by the light
of a single candle, and by the few rays which found entrance at
the doorway, yet the eyes of the visitors became sufficiently
accustomed, after a while, to this state of semi-darkness, to admit
of a partially distinct view of all the objects in the subterranean
chamber.

There were, indeed, remote corners which presented no definite
outline, and which, fading away in the distance, became painfully
suggestive of unexplored recesses, reaching back far into the
bowels of the earth, and tenanted, perhaps, by some wild animal,
whose glaring eyes might at any moment announce its presence
and its approach.

p463-176 CHAPTER XXIII. RAINBOW ISLAND.

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When the little party had found seats, Johnson hastened to
answer the questions which his children anxiously asked in a half
whisper about the war and its results. It was a painful task to
tell of his new misfortunes, and of the crushing of his high hopes,
yet he spoke of the defeat of the patriots only in general terms,
and hinted at triumphs yet in reserve for them, which should
amply atone for present reverses. The daughter seemed prepared
for sad tidings, which she had long been accustomed to hear, but
she could not grieve violently over any disaster which left her
father unharmed. To his side she clung with an affectionate
interest, which lightened the warrior's heart of its load of grief
and inspired his failing spirits with new hope and resolution.

“Tell me now,” he said, “about yourselves. Your letter hints
of danger and of pursuit, but it has been, doubtless, some childish
alarm. There can be none of our enemies among the islands
now.”

“You are mistaken, father.”

“That you are,” exclaimed the boy. “There's a party of
eight or ten men among the upper islands now, all well armed,
and led by a Canadian officer. I saw them while I was deer
hunting on Fire Island, and they were in two boats, and were not
more than half a mile distant from me. I saw them distinctly.”

“When was this?”

[figure description] Page 168.[end figure description]

“The day before yesterday. We came down here the same
night; and I advised Ellen to let me take her to old Flynn's, on
the American shore, but she said we must wait first a day or two,
and see if you returned from the fight, which we knew would be
very soon.”

“This is certainly serious, if true, but you may have been misled
by some hunting party.”

“No,” replied the boy, “I saw soldiers with guns and bayonets,
I cannot be mistaken. Besides, I saw a deer within sixty rods of
them, which no one attempted to shoot.”

“Then we must be on the alert, and the first thing to be done
is for you and Ellen to go to Flynn's to-night, and stay there till
you hear from me.”

“Not me, papa; I will return, for you know I can help you if
they should come. I can at least load the guns, if you don't
think I can fire straight enough.”

“No, you must stay with Ellen. I could do nothing with
either of you here. Besides, I shall have help enough now,” and
the speaker glanced at the guests, who might be said each to owe
him a life.

Jones replied very hastily,

“I think I shall have to be going, Mr. Commodore; 'cause
you see, I must be wanted to hum about these days. My folks
didn't know as I was to be gone so long when I left 'em.”

“Where do you think your hum would have been now, if it
had not been for meeting me at Windmill Point last evening! In
a Canadian jail, with a full view of a gallows before you.”

“P'raps so—it's orful to think on, and I'm sure I don't want to
run no more such risks. I think I'll be going when Miss Johnson
and the boy goes. I can help them row the boat, you know.”

“You will not go with me, sir,” replied Ellen, with flushed
cheeks and flashing eyes. “I will not trust myself with a man
who deserts his friend in the hour of danger.”

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