[figure description] Page 229.[end figure description]

Leaving the burning building to its fate, Selden
and his men immediately entered the dark avenue
below; when, after blocking up the mouth as well
as they could, with earth and stones taken from the
cellar wall, to keep out the smoke, as well as to secure
it against the discovery and entrance of the enemy,
should they break into the house before the
progress of the flames in the interior should prevent
them, they proceeded directly to the middle excavation.
Here they they met their hostess walking with
restless steps and anxious looks to and fro before the
curtained apartment containing her family.

`Well, Mrs. Story,' said Selden, as he approached
at the head of his followers, `I regret to inform
you that your house is irrecoverably on fire. We
have done our best to avert the catastrophe, but
have wholly failed, and even have been driven to
retreat to your refuge for our own safety.'

`I know it,' replied the widow, `I have been up
to the mouth of the passage to listen every five minutes,
and know all that has happened. But let the
house go—all—every thing, and I am content if my
treasures here,' she continued, with a slight tremour
of voice as she pointed towards the curtained recess,
`if my treasures here can but be spared me.

[figure description] Page 230.[end figure description]

The little fellows, thank Heaven, are now all a sleep,
and know nothing of the dangers that hang over
them. And God grant that they remain so till the
hatchets of the hell-hounds now yelling above us
shall,—if it is so ordered of Heaven,—shall be buried
in their'—here choking with emotion at the
horrid thought which her imagination began to suggest,
she stopped short and was for a moment silent.

`Captain Selden,' she at length resumed, `were
my own personal safety alone concerned, I think I
could follow you to the cannon's mouth without
flinching. But when I find the lives of my children
at stake, the mother instantly prevails within me, and
I become, in spite of all I can do, a poor trembling
coward. But enough of this—have you any reason
to suspect the enemy are aware of our place of
refuge?'

`None whatever; and even at the worst, we think
you have but little to fear. But where are the girls?'

`Alma and Jessy are in yonder room guarding the
hollow stub through which the smoke of our fire
place escapes, lest some of the enemy should discover
that avenue to the room, and attempt to descend.
'

`Nobly employed! But the duty shall now be
done by fitter hands,' said Selden, as, followed by
his men, he passed on to the main apartment.

On reaching the room they found the girls, as the
widow had named, stationed before the rude fire
place. Alma was sitting upon a block in an attitude
which would enable her to hear the least sound
connected with the hollow trunk above; while her
more volatile companion, having chosen the part of
sentry, was silently walking back and forth before
the hearth with the widow's rifle in her hand. Non

[figure description] Page 231.[end figure description]

was this weapon their only dependence: a quantity
of loose straw was lying in the fire place, and a slow
burning torch was at hand to apply and set the combustible
material into a blaze the instant any one
should attempt to enter the cavity above.

`Bravo! ladies,' exclaimed Selden, as he approached.
`I don't now remember me,' he continued,
eying Jessy archly, `to have seen so heroic a
display of this character since whilom at the bloody
siege of the Lower Falls.'

`Now, Captain Selden,' replied the other with a
half resentful, half deprecating look, `if you ever
mention that affair again, I will never—positively—
never forgive you. Besides, how can you feel like
joking at such an hour as this?'

`For ourselves we tremble not,' interposed Miss
Hendee, rising and turning to Selden with her usual
calm dignity of manner; `but think of that distressed
mother and her helpless family, upon whose
heads we have brought this fearful peril!'

`Heaven forbid that we should be unmindful of
them,' rejoined the young leader, seriously, `and
believe me, Miss Hendee, there is not a man,—not
a single man of us here, who, if need be, would
hesitate to shed his heart's blood in her defence.
But we will now relieve you of your charge here,
ladies. Retire, then, and, if possible, to rest and
slumber; for I well know your exhausted systems
must, by this time, require both. Go, girls,' he added,
conducting them to the entrance of the passage
leading to the apartment of their hostess, `go,—
keep up bright hopes, and rely on our disposition
and ability to defend you.'

As soon as the ladies had retired, a guard was selected
to supply the place they had just

[figure description] Page 232.[end figure description]

relinquished, and another was ordered to relieve Captain Hendee
and his faithful attendant at the western entrance.
The remainder of the men, glad to seize
every moment offered them for rest, mostly threw
themselves upon the earthy floor, and fell asleep,
while Selden and Captain Hendee, willing to leave
them to what repose they might thus snatch from the
duties to which they were liable the next instant to
be called, repaired to the small partitioned room adjoining,
to hold a consultation, and be ready for any
movements which might be made by their persevering
foes. A brief interval of comparative silence now
succeeded, in which nothing was to be heard below
but the deep, heavy snoring of the wearied men,
and the low, dull roaring of the flames above. Slight
jarrings of the earth, however, showing that the enemy
were again in motion, at length began to be
perceptible below; and soon the unexpected sounds
of the blows of axes or hatchets were added to other
indications of some fresh project about to be attempted
by the besiegers, the nature and object of
which the besieged had now no means of ascertaining.

`Now that jests settles the question; for I'll be
blest if I stand it any longer,' exclaimed Jones, who
had for some time manifested signs of uneasiness as
he sat listening to the movements above ground, and
who now, as the last sounds struck his ear, sprang
upon his feet, and began, with restless steps, to pace
the apartment. `To be cribbed and holed up here
like so many hunted foxes, with forty divils over our
heads, who may be preparing to send down one of
those great hemlocks to smush us like migets, for
any thing we know, or fixing some other contrivance
for us not much better, and all without allowing us

[figure description] Page 233.[end figure description]

the least chance to know the how, when and whereabouts,
is a thing I don't fancy. And if I can get
out there at the creek, I swow by Lucifer's red taffeta
jacket, I'll jest know what they are up to there
above ground.'

`What do you propose to do, Jones?' asked Selden,
who, overhearing part of the scout's soliloquy,
now entered the room; `not to go out, and alone,
surely?'

`I reckon I jest do, Captain—that is, unless you
swear right down I shant.'

`But consider the danger of its leading to a discovery
of our refuge, and the fearful personal risk
you must encounter.'

`And then again consider the chance that the satans
have smelt out that secret already, or, at the
best, that they will, when the house falls in, and
they find we an't there. And as to my own risk in
the matter, I think you hadn't ought to grumble
much, if I don't, considering,' said the scout taking
the other's remarks for a consent to his proposed excursion,
and moving towards the entrance.

`Jones, you shall not go alone—it shall never be
said I suffered that,' said Selden, calling after the
scout, and snatching up a rifle and following him into
the passage.

Although Selden had given way to the proposal
of the scout with a mind nearly balanced between
the dangers which might be averted, and those which
might be incurred by the measure, yet having once
decided to permit and take part in it himself, he
threw aside all his doubts, and proceeded to carry it
into instant execution. And having ordered the
guard at this post to be doubled, and leaving the
command with Captain Hendee to act as

[figure description] Page 234.[end figure description]

circumstances should dictate, the two adventurers removed
a portion of the blockwork at the mouth of the passage
sufficient for an egress, crept cautiously and silently
out into the open air, and soon gained the
top of the bank above, unmolested. Here they
paused a moment to listen and reconnoiter; and
perceiving no signs of the presence of any enemy,
except in the immediate vicinity of the burning tenement,
and being thus relieved from their fears of an
ambush at this spot, which they considered the
greatest personal hazard that they would be likely to
incur, they again set forward towards the scene of
action, by separate and slightly diverging routs, under
the agreement that each should return by himself,
and as speedily as possible, after obtaining the
best knowledge of the situation and movements of
the enemy of which the case would admit. Carefully
keeping within the shadow of a tree or bush,
lest the light of the conflagration, which was brightly
illuminating every open space in the woods around,
should expose him to the view of the enemy, Selden,
after leaving his companion, crawled noiselessly
on to the border of the woods, where he soon
succeeded in gaining a position in a thick clump of
low evergreens, which luckily afforded him every
chance he could wish for observation. The greater
part of the enemy were still at their stations a short
distance from the house, where they stood peering
over their coverts with their guns leveled at the door,
which they were evidently each moment expecting
to see thrown open by the besieged, whom the
flames, they supposed, must soon drive from the
house. A small band were busily engaged in the
edge of the woods, some eight or ten rods to his
left, in trimming out with their hatchets a small

[figure description] Page 235.[end figure description]

spruce tree, which they had just cut down, and
which, he at once concluded, was to be used as
another battering ram, the former one being found
by them, probably, too unwiedly for their purpose.
While Selden stood making these observations, he
heard the steps and voices of persons in the open
grounds, apparently approaching from the spot at
which the engine was preparing, and, turning his
head, he was soon enabled to see two men coming
from a nook in the clearing some rods to his left,
of which his situation had not permitted him a full
view. Passing along near the woods they soon
came between him and the burning pile, when they
slackened their pace; and finally coming to a stand
a little to his right, they turned their faces towards
the fire. With the first flash of light that fell upon
their features, Selden instantly recognized in one of
them, Sherwood, the leader of the band. The other
he rightly judged to be Darrow, the reckless minion
of the former. Selden's rifle was instinctively brought
to his face with an aim at Sherwood's heart, and
his finger was feeling for the trigger, when prudence
overcame the temptation of ending the life of the
villain, and slowly and reluctantly lowering his piece,
he gave his attention to the dialogue which now ensued
between these two worthies.

`Yes, the tables are now turned, Darrow,' were
the first words that became distinctly audible to our
listener: `We have now, singularly enough, chased
them round nearly to the spot where this same accursed
Selden was one of the foremost of the gang
to have me tied up and whipped like some scurvy
thief. And if he is the same fellow you saw in the
woods near Crown Point'—

`That I can swear to.'

[figure description] Page 236.[end figure description]

`And if you are right in your suspicions as to the
other particular'—

`I am more and more convinced of it, Jake.'

`Well, I got one glance at his features to day,
and come to look at him with that object, I swear,
I believe you are right; and if so, both interest and
revenge demands his death while he is in our power.
But I should prefer to have this brought about before
they surrender; and that was the reason of my
particular orders to the men to pick him off as soon
as possible.'

`Yes, and how the devil it has happened, that he
has so long escaped the effects of that order is more
than I can tell. I have had four fair shots at the fellow
myself in the course of the chase to day; and two
or three of the men say they have tried it with the
same luck. He stands fire like a salamander,' added
the ruffian with a ferocious grin at his own wit,
`and, by hell! I am beginning to think they are all
of that sort of animals, to stand it out there in the
flames at this rate.'

`Well, the worst is there own, damn 'em,' rejoined
Sherwood, with a demoniac laugh; `and if they
do get baked a little, it is no more than they deserve.
But the fact is, they must have been driven out long
ago, if they had not contrived some way to keep
out the flames—the one, probably, which I suggested,
that of bringing earth from the cellar and strewing
it over the upper floor.'

`And still they must know that in fifteen minutes
more they will all be buried beneath a blazing log-heap.
'

`True; and I am surprized, I will own, that they
don't throw open the door and call for quarters. But
we will now very soon save them the trouble, as I

[figure description] Page 237.[end figure description]

see our men are just starting with their battering
pole to beat in the door.'

`I see, and I am glad they have got it under
weigh, at last; for that will tell the story devilish
quick; and to tell the truth, Jake, I am plaguy suspicious
of some trick about this business.'

`Well, if there is, this will be the best way to discover
it; but had not you better go and take the
command?'

`No, Remington will know how to manage.'

`Have you given him and the men their orders?'

`Yes,—to let drive at the door with all vengeance.'

`And in case they rush out?'

`Why, shoot down the men, and spare the women
for our use.'

`And supposing they cry for quarters?'

`Remington is to grant them; but three or four
of such marksmen as he shall select are not to understand
the order till they have dropped Selden on
your account, the old Captain on mine, and that
long legged devil who has settled the fate of so many
of their companions to day, on their own.'

`All right, Darrow; but come, let us move a little
to the south, where we can get a fairer view of
the door, when they make the trial, and where, at the
same time, we shall be out of the range of the bullets,
should the rascals be desperate enough to attempt
to fire upon us again.'

It was with no small effort that Selden restrained
himself from taking immediate vengeance on the
black hearted villain before him, as he listened in silence
to the foregoing dialogue, and discovered the extent
of his diabolical designs. The consciousness, however,
that the lives of many,—and among them one
whose life was dearer to him than his own--might be

[figure description] Page 238.[end figure description]

endangered by the act, enabled him to master his feelings
to the end of the discourse. And the objects of his indignation
having now withdrawn themselves from his
view, he gave his attention, in common with his foes,
to the operations about to be commenced on the
house, being anxious to witness the result, to see to
what discoveries it might lead, and to what new
movements it might give rise, among the enemy, before
retreating from the ground: nor had he to wait
long for that object. The new battering implement,
when once fairly placed upon the shoulders of the
party immediately in charge of it, was borne round
to the front side of the house, where it was transferred
to the shoulders of those selected to employ
it against the door. For the next succeeding moment,
as the engine was being poised and directed to
the object of its aim, a breathless silence ensued, broken
only by the sharp clicking of cocking rifles,
now heard in every direction, while the dark forms
of the enemy were seen slinking behind the different
objects of the lighted landscape, and protruding
their long death-commissioned tubes, in readiness for
the expected rush of the besieged from the house
the instant the interior should be laid open.

`All ready?—ahead with it, then!' now shouted
the infamous villain to whom the command of the
assaulting party had been entrusted—`ahead with
it, as if the devil drove it an end!'

Starting at the word, the men shot forward the
butt end of their engine with a desperate effort towards
its object. It struck; and the massy door
flew nearly to the opposite wall of the blazing interior;
while the sides of the fabrick, already loosened,
and about to separate at the corners, from the
action of the fire, after tottering a moment at the

[figure description] Page 239.[end figure description]

violent jar imparted by the blow, gradually swayed
inward, and finally came down in a mass of red ruins
over the cellar, sending up to the tops of the
neighboring trees a broad gush of flames, that flashed
far and wide over the surrounding wilderness.

The enemy, to whom this result was wholly unexpected,
looked on in mute astonishment, not unmingled,
apparently, with some feelings of horror at
the terrific fate, which they took for granted had befallen
every soul of the besieged.

`The devil!' at length exclaimed Sherwood,
awakening from the stupor of the surprize, into
which he seemed to have been thrown by the event—
`so they have all gone to hell together!'

`That don't follow, by a damned sight!' bluntly
replied Darrow.

`What do you mean by that, Bill?' asked the
former, turning hastily, and with an air of concern,
to his minion.

`They have escaped, Jake!'

`In the name of hell, how?'

`Don't know; but depend on't they have. Why, do
you think them such cursed fools as to stay there to
be roasted alive, when the worst they could fear
from rushing out would be the ten fold preferable
death by the bullet? Never! I tell you they have
found some way of escape—probably by a drain, or
passage from the cellar into the woods. It began
to creep through my hair some time ago, but you
was so confident'—

`Damnation seize me for a dolt!' exclaimed
the enraged leader. `Ho! there, men, the game
has slipped through our fingers—to the woods! to
the woods for the trail!' he added, springing forward
himself to take the lead in the execution of the

[figure description] Page 240.[end figure description]

order. And so sudden, and unexpected was the
movement, that before Selden had become fairly
aware of the dangers of his situation, Sherwood and
Darrow had entered the woods but a few rods to the
South, and were rapidly approaching the spot where
he stood concealed. Deeming it impossible now to
retreat for his refuge undetected, and thinking there
might be a chance that they would pass by without
discovering him, which would still leave him time to
escape before others of the enemy could arrive, he
prepared his arms, and silently awaited the approach
of these two deadliest of his foes. They came
nearly abreast of him, and were passing by, when
the motion of his shadow, which was cast by the
bright flames of the burning pile across their path,
caught their sight, and caused them to stop short.
Turning round for the object, their eyes fell upon
the other, and they gazed at him an instant in evident
doubt and surprise.

`The very fellow, by hell!' eagerly muttered Darrow,
in an undertone to his companion.

All three simultaneously raised their weapons and
fired. But in taking a hasty step forward, Selden's
foot, as fortunately for him, perhaps, as for one of
his foes, became entangled in a small bush, and, in
the act of discharging his piece, he fell to the ground.
The bullets of his foes whistled harmlessly over his
head, while his own, for the same reason, missed the
object of its aim. Leaping forward in the smoke,
the desperadoes both grappled with their unprepared
antagonist before he could gain his footing, and,
throwing him back upon the ground, drew their
knives to dispatch him. As Selden was about to
shut his eyes in anticipation of the fatal blow, he
caught a glimpse of the well known figure of the

[figure description] Page 241.[end figure description]

tall scout coming with tremendous bounds to the
spot. And the next instant, Darrow, as he turned,
and was starting up at the unexpected apparition,
received a blow over his head and shoulders from
the clubbed rifle of the former, that sent him reeling
to the earth; while Sherwood was seized by the
same powerful hand, and dashed against a tree with
a force that laid him nearly senseless by the side of
his disabled companion.

The surprise of Jones was equalled only by his joy,
as Selden, whom he supposed at least badly wounded,
and whom he was about to grasp and bear off in
his arms, now sprang upon his feet unhurt, and
drawing his rapier, turned to add the finishing blow
to his two still prostrate, but fast reviving antagonists.

At that instant the shout of rallying foes, hurrying
to the rescue, and already entering the border of
the woods not twenty yards distant, broke upon
their ears, warning them of the necessity of immediate
flight.

`By Moses! we must leg it, Captain,' said the
scout, as reluctantly relinquishing their object, they
both darted away from the spot, and, throwing each
a tree in the range behind him, commenced a rapid
retreat towards the refuge they had just left. In
another moment they had reached the creek, thrown
themselves over the bank, entered the passage, and
were in the embrace of their alarmed and anxious
friends, while the woods above were resounding
with the hideous yells of the disappointed foe, running
about in search of the missing objects of their
rage.

Our band, having but little reason to hope that
their retreat would now long remain undiscovered,

[figure description] Page 242.[end figure description]

immediately set about such preparations as were
deemed necessary for its defence. The short timbers,
composing the barrier near the mouth of the
passage, were more firmly secured; while convenient
loop holes were formed by raising some of the upper
timbers and inserting, at intervals, flat stones between
them. An efficient guard, with muskets and
fixed bayonets, were then stationed at the spot, the
charge of which was entrusted to the brave and
trusty scout. This and the other arrangements being
completed, they awaited in silent anxiety the approaching
crisis of their fate, all intently listening
from the different stations allotted them in the
rooms, or along the passages, for some sound which
should indicate in what shape and direction the expected
assault was to be made. They were not long
left in suspense. The sound of suppressed and eager
voices, and cautiously treading feet fast gathering
on the bank above, soon apprised them, that the
entrance to their retreat was discovered. For some
time, however, the enemy seemed wary and fearful
about showing their persons in front of the passage.
But after appearing to listen awhile, first one, and
then another, ventured out abreast of the barricade
across the passage, which was situated about a yard
from its mouth. In the mean time, Jones and his
men stood within, holding their breath in motionless
silence, with their bayonets in their loops, and
their eyes eagerly fixed on their marked victims,
who, feeling their dark way with the muzzles of
their guns, were slowly and cautiously approaching
within reach of the murderous blades of those of
whose dangerous proximity they were wholly unaware.
The assailants, now striking the barricade
with their guns, paused, and seemed to hesitate;

[figure description] Page 243.[end figure description]

but after again listening a moment, they withdrew
their pieces, and coming up to the timbers, were beginning
to feel with their hands, apparently to ascertain
the nature of the obstruction; when the
death-doing bayonets were suddenly thrust forth,
and, with horrid shrieks, the pierced and recoiling
wretches sprang back, and fell over with a heavy
splash into the water below.

Warned by the fearful reception of their comrades,
the enemy ventured not again to appear before
the mouth of the passage, but soon retired from
the bank, and for a long time gave the besieged no
further cause of alarm. So profoundly still, indeed,
was all above, that our little garrison at length entertained
a strong hope that their assailants, grown
wise by the lessons they had already received, had
given up their design, and made a final retreat from
the place. The soldiers gradually relaxed from that
stern and determined air which the exigencies of
their situation had thrown over their war-worn visages,
and began to exchange the careless remark or
sportive jest. Mrs. Story and the other females,
venturing from their secluded refuge, came out into
the main room to hear from their gallant defenders
a recital of the various occurrences of the night, to
the deadened and imperfect sounds of which they
had been listening for many hours with the most
painful anxiety. These were accordingly narrated.
And every individual feat accomplished, or peril encountered,
was made the theme of praise or gratulation
to the different actors of the occasion; while
to wind up, Pete Jones, with his characteristic waggish
gravity, displayed to the astonished ladies his
bullet-riddled coat as a proof that his case afforded
a climax to all the hair-breadth escapes of the night.

[figure description] Page 244.[end figure description]

As the attention of the company was thus engaged,
and at the instant when the eyes of all, including
those set to guard against the descent of the foe
down the hollow stub before described, were turned
upon the scout, a savage warrior dropped silently
upon the hearth, and rearing himself partially from
his crouching attitude, and throwing a keen, rapid
glance around the apartment, glided swiftly through
the assembled group, and darted into the dark passage
leading into the interior room, where the children
were left unguarded. So sudden, so noiseless
and shadow-like, had he entered, passed through
them, and disappeared, that few heeded, and still
fewer became fully aware of the character of the
apparition. The eagle-eyed vigilance of the mother
was not, however, thus to be eluded. She caught
a glimpse of the flitting form of the savage, as he
entered the passage, and, with the heart rending exclamation,
“My children! Oh! my children!” she
sprang forward, like a maddened tigress, and disappeared
in the passage after him.

`A light! follow instantly with a light!' shouted
Selden, drawing his sword and rushing into the dark
avenue to defend or rescue the frantic mother and
her periled children from the deadly knife of their
merciless foe. He had scarcely passed the entrance,
however, before he was met by the intrepid
woman, dragging back, with resistless force, the
struggling savage, who had been overtaken while
groping his uncertain way onward, and seized round
the waist from behind by the desperately grasping
arms of his captor. He had just succeeded in unsheathing
his knife, which was fiercely glittering in
the light of the advancing torch, as it rose and fell
in quickly repeated, but as yet ineffectual, passes at

[figure description] Page 245.[end figure description]

her body. A glance sufficed to show the young
leader the imminent danger of his unheeding hostess,
and, with the next breath, his weapon was sent
to the hilt into the body of the screeching foe.

`Thank God! thank God!' hurriedly ejaculated
the nearly breathless and exhausted woman, casting
from her, with a shudder, the gasping and gory
corpse, which, as she now turned and hastened
back to comfort her alarmed but untouched children,
was drawn away and covered up in a corner.

While this was taking place, Jones had placed a
quantity of the combustible material, already prepared
for such an emergency, in the fire place, and applied
the torch. And by the time Selden had taken
breath after his exploit, so as to turn his attention to
other objects, the rapidly kindling flames were beginning
to flash and roar along up the cavity above.

`That was well thought of, Jones,' said the latter,
approaching the scout, who had dropped on one
knee in the corner of the fire place, and was intently
listening to such sounds as he could distinguish
in the chimney above, amidst the roaring of the
fire,—`well thaught of; but what do you hear up
chimney?'

`Why,' replied the scout, rising at the approach
of his superior, `I got down there to see if I could
find out whether there were any more of these visitors
coming down the hollow, thinking that the way
they would scratch and scrumble up back again,
when the smoke and blaze met 'em, would be a curiosity.
'

`And what did you discover?'

`Jest nothing but unsartinty. Though from some
noises that reached me, I rather guess there was one
or more of the scamps at the top of the stub,

[figure description] Page 246.[end figure description]

harking down, and waiting to see how the first one got
on, before venturing; but that want what I was at,
when you spoke'—

`Well, what was it, then?'

`Why, I should rather guess there was a considerable
party standing not far from over us, now, kinder
consulting, or mayhap waiting to have some
contrivances made, as the rest appear to be at work
with their hatchets round in the woods as busy as
the divil in a gale of wind.'

`Ha! what now?—feeling trees upon us?'

`No—lighter work than that—and, I'm thinking
whether it an't sharpening stakes, or possibly hewing
out wooden shovels. But hush! hark!'

Every voice was instantly hushed at the ominous
words and manner of the scout; and as the room
became silent, the sounds that had attracted his attention
became distinctly audible to the whole company:
at first was heard a distant trampling of feet,
apparently approaching with slow, irregular movement,
from all directions towards them. Nearer and
nearer they came, pausing every few steps, and
stamping heavily upon the earth as they continued
gradually to close up to that portion of the surface
which extended over the room where our intrepid
little band stood silently awaiting the result of this
new movement, the object of which, they soon conjectured,
was to ascertain, by sounding the earth, the
exact position of their place of concealment before
attempting to dig or otherwise effect a breach through
the surface. In a moment more the advancing lines
reached the verge of the solid earth, on either side,
and began to step over the boundary upon the hollow
ground above the room; when, seeming to become
aware of the fact, they suddenly paused,

[figure description] Page 247.[end figure description]

exchanged a few words, and commenced a furious
stamping over the whole space covering the excavation
beneath. As the trembling earth gave back the
hollow sound, thus affording unequivocal evidence
that the place of their search was at length discovered,
they rised a fierce yell of exultation, and fell
to work with their hatchets, and such rude implements
as they had hastily prepared for the purpose,
in cutting away the roots, and loosening and removing
the earth in such places as they had selected
for effecting openings.

As soon as it was fairly ascertained that the enemy
had commenced operations for effecting a breach
through the earth above, our band, with one consent,
ceased listening, and began to prepare for action.
Every one seemed fully sensible that a fearful
crisis was now indeed at hand, and carefully examining
their arms to see that every thing was in
readiness for instant action, they arranged themselves,
at the command of their leader, in lines
around the sides of the room, while, in the compressed
lip and sternly knitting brows of each, was
depicted the deeply breathed resolution to fight to
the death in defence of themselves and the fair and
tender ones whose only hope was now in their bravery.

`Give me a place among you,' cried the intrepid
widow, at this moment emerging from the inner
room, armed with her rifle and equipped for battle,
`give me a place, and see whether I am the first to
desert the post of danger.'

`But madam, dear madam,' began to expostulate
Selden, `do you know the peril that now awaits us?
Do you hear the sound of those busy fiends, belaboring
the earth above to break through upon us?

[figure description] Page 248.[end figure description]

and, there! do you see those fragments falling from
that jarring and trembling ceiling? Are you aware
that in ten minutes'—

`I have heard all—I see, and know all,' interrupted
the woman, in tones of desperate calmness; `I
am prepared for the worst. I can never live to see
my children murdered before my eyes. Here,' she
continued, planting herself at the entrance of the
passage, `here I will remain, and if the enemy enter
here, it shall be over my dead body. Nay, not
a word, Captain Selden, I will not be denied.'

At this moment Miss Hendee and Miss Reed glided
past the widow into the room, and with looks
yet unmoved by the danger, which they well understood
now menaced every individual of the company,
presented themselves before the admiring gaze
of the soldiers.

`Ah! girls, you missed the tread of your centinel,
did you? I meant to have escaped you
ced,' said the widow with a melancholy smile.

`Aware that the hour decisive of the fate of us
all had arrived, we came to see if we could be of
any service here, or elsewhere,' replied Alma, in a
firm, but serious tone.

`God bless you, noble girls!' said Selden, with
emotion, advancing to the side of his lovely and heroic
friends: `God bless you for this fortitude and
self sacrificing bravery.'

`Oh! let me die by your side,' murmured Jessy,
dropping her head on Selden's bosom.

Touched by this exhibition, so gratifying to his
feelings as a lover, and to his pride as a soldier, the
hero, gently putting her from him, gazed an instant
on the slight, symmetrical form, and the beautiful and
soul-speaking features of the fond and spirited young

[figure description] Page 249.[end figure description]

creature before him, with the mingled look which
imagination would naturally ascribe to a worshiper
of the goddess beauty, while kneeling at the shrine
of her image, and proffering the strangely blended
adorations which the nature of that worship must
necessarily have inspired.

`No, no Jessy,' he at length replied, arousing
himself from the momentary entrancement: `No,
girls, you two, at least, may not—must not remain:
to say nothing of the perils you must encounter,
your presence here might more embarrass than aid
us. Retire, then, and trust to us, under Providence,
for your deliverance.

`Is your father a sleep, Alma?' asked the widow,
as the young ladies were leaving the room.

`He is,' was the reply: `for, though when he
came to our room, and threw himself down among
the children to try to get a little sleep, he desired
me to awaken him on the occurrence of any new
danger, I yet could not find it in my heart to disturb
him so soon.'

`Let him be instantly awakened,' said Selden,
`I would have his counsel.'

In a few moments Captain Hendee, who, nearly
ready to sink under the fatigues of the day, had retired
to the inner room in the interval of quiet which
followed the repulse of the enemy at the western
entrance, had made his appearance. A glance at the
ceiling, now visibly shaking in two different places
under the rapidly progressing operations of the foe
above, enabled him, with the hasty intimations just
imparted by his daughter, to comprehend at once
the situation of both besiegers and besieged.

`This is a strait to which I both feared and expected
we should be finally reduced,' he remarked

[figure description] Page 250.[end figure description]

coolly, after a momentary pause, `but let no man
despair; I have been in situations more hopeless
than this, and yet escaped.'

`We can at least sell our lives dearly,' responded
Selden.

`True,' replied the old veteran thoughtfully,
`even in the method of defence which I see, from
your arrangement, you propose to adopt,—that of
shooting the assailants as they attempt to enter the
breaches that they may make. But will you be
able thus to repel them long? Every foot of this
earthy covering, which now protects us from their
bullets, may be removed, or beat in upon us, before
we can bring our guns to bear upon them with effect.
And every surrounding tree top will, by that
time, conceal a foe, ready to send us death from
above; while fire brands and combustibles will be
hurled down upon us by those remaining on the
ground. And if we retreat into our narrow passages,
as we must, the same game will follow us there.'

`All these hazards, Captain Hendee,' replied the
young leader, `I am fully aware we may encounter.
But what other mode of defence can we adopt?—
A sally from the western entrance, which is now
doubtless closely guarded by the enemy, with the
expectation that we shall soon be driven to make it,
must prove fatal to all who shall attempt it; while
the entrance at the other end of the passage is
blocked up by a red mass of burning ruins. What
other expedient, then, is left for us.'

`I had thought of one,' said Captain Hendee,
with some hesitation. `I had thought of one, as our
last resort, in an emergency like this. It may not
be without risk to ourselves, I am aware, but,' he
continued, with fiercely flashing eyes, `but it must

[figure description] Page 251.[end figure description]

be swift destruction to the accursed gang above,
who are thirsting for our blood!'

`In the name of heaven, declare it, then,' eagercried
Selden, casting an uneasy glance at some
fresh demonstrations of the progress of the foe in
the covering above.

`I will—here, this way,' replied the former, as
stepping across the room, he opened the concealed
recess in the wall, and disclosed the widow's magazine
to the wondering gaze of Selden and his men,
who being ignorant of its existence, did not at once
understand the nature of its contents, or perceive
the old gentleman's object in displaying it. `There!'
he addded, significantly pointing to the heads of the
casks thus brought to view, `there! that explains
my plan.'

How? What do those barrels contain?' rapidly
demanded Selden, with the varying expression of
doubt, surprise and alarm.

`Gunpowder!' was the emphatic reply.

`Good God! Captain Hendee, do you consider
our case so desperate, that, Samson-like, we should
all perish with our foes?'

`It does not follow that we shall perish with them.
I have seen somewhat of the operation of exploding
mines, and cannot believe that the effects in the
proposed one can reach far into that winding passage,
to the further end of which, if thought safer
than the inner room, we can all repair.'

`I'll be blest if I don't think the old thrash-the
divil is about right, Captain Selden,' exclaimed Pete
Jones, leaping about and snapping his fingers in
great glee. `Jest place them in that corner beyond
the fire there, and it must be a sort of powder that
I'm not much acquainted with, if it turns at a right

[figure description] Page 252.[end figure description]

angle very far into that passage after mischief.
Well, now, the Lord be thanked for putting this into
your noddle, old friend; I had about agreed to
say gone dogs for us all, but now I can see a considerable
sprinkling of hope through them barrels of
thunder yonder.'

`And you, Mrs. Story, whose stake is the greatest
in the result,' said Selden, turning to the widow,
after hastily running his eye over the different parts
of the room, as if calculating the probable extent
to which the explosion would affect the earth laterally,—
`what do you say to the measure?'

`I don't know—I don't know,' replied the distressed
mother, who had been mutely listening to
the startling proposition in a sort of wild amazement.
`The work of the element will be terrific—
perhaps fatal to us—but the work of the exasperated
foe, unless thus destroyed, will be, I fear, for all
we can do, no less dreadful. I leave it to you, and
may God direct the course which shall be for our
good,' she added with a shudder.

`It is a fearful experiment, but it shall be tried,'
said the young leader, turning away to begin the required
arrangement.

At that instant a large fragment of earth was suddenly
ruptured from the ceiling, and fell heavily to
the floor, scattering dirt in every direction around,
and disclosing in the place, from which it had been
detached, the point of a huge sharpened stake, protruding
several inches into the room; while the wild
and exultant shouting of the foe above, as the stake
was drawn up, and the redoubled fury with which
they renewed their exertions, all loudly warned our
band that there was no time to be lost in preparing
for the execution of their purpose.

[figure description] Page 253.[end figure description]

`Clear the room instantly!' cred Selden, in low,
but startling accents, `back! back! every man of
you, but Jones, to the further end of the passage—
no remonstrance—no offers!' he continued, as urging
them with drawn sword from the room, several
began to persuade him to permit them to incur the
hazard of exploding the fatal mine, `not a word!
The match shall be applied by my own hand.'

As soon as the room was fairly cleared, Selden
turned, and, with rapid steps, proceeded to the recess,
drew forth the barrels, and carrying them to
the corner opposite to the entrance of the inner passage,
placed them firmly, and pulled out the bungs,
allowing a quantity of the powder to run out from
each on to the ground. He then laid a small continuous
train of dry powder, extending from the
barrels across the room into the entrance in question;
while the scout, by his orders, after having removed
the lights to a safe distance, wet a cartridge
from the contents of his canteen, and hastily converted
it into a slow match to apply to the end of
the train.

`There! now leave the rest to me, Jones, take
care of yourself, and see that the passage is kept
clear for my retreat,' said the leader, receiving a
torch which was brought him by the other, and taking
his station to await the fearful moment of firing
the train.

The enemy in the mean time were making rapid
progress. Two breaches were already made through
the earth into the room, and these, as was evinced
by the almost constant falling of heavy masses of
dirt, were every moment widening; while from the
trampling of feet, all gathering up to the spot, the
mingled shouts, curses and commands of the

[figure description] Page 254.[end figure description]

infuriated gang and their leaders, it was obvious that an
attempt to descend was about to be made. At this
moment they seemed to perceive that the besieged
had deserted their room and retreated further into
the earth. Grown madly desperate by being already
so long baffled, and doubly infuriated by the discovery
that their intended victims had still a further
refuge, they were now heard hastily throwing aside
their tools and resuming their arms preparatory to
entering the breach to follow up the pursuit, little
dreaming in the hellish joy of their anticipated revenge,
that the torch was even then suspended over
the train, and waiting only their first movement, to
send them, in an instant, with all the passions of
fiends raging in their bosoms, unannealed into the
presence of their God. But while the foe-trampled
earth was jarring to the hiedious tumult above, the
silence of death prevailed through the hushed vaults
beneath. The agitated mother was breathing hurried
ejaculations over her clasped children. And
near her might be seen the huddling forms of her
shuddering female companions, with their fair hands
tightly compressed over both ears and eyes, as if to
shut out from their recoiling senses the noise of the
now momentarily expected explosion; while the
men in the dark passage beyond, stood motionless
and silent, listening in the attitude of intensely excited
expectation for the awful denoument. Selden,
in the mean while, hesitating between his fears, that
the train would get disturbed by the entrance of the
foe into the room, and his anxiety to have the band
gather over, or so closely around it, as to bring them
all within the reach of the explosion, still held the
torch suspended in his extended hand over the train,
now lowering the point of the low flickering brand

[figure description] Page 255.[end figure description]

nearly to a contact with the powder, at some indication
of the expected descent; and now hastily
withdrawing it, as other and less decisive sounds
reached his ear. His hesitation, however, was soon
ended: at that instant a loud yell at the western
entrance, and the sounds of thickly trampling feet
that followed, told him that the enemy had forced
the barrier at the end of that passage, and were
rushing into the room; while another hurra from
the tories above, and the heavy, and quickly repeated
jar of feet, striking upon the floor which accompanied
it, further announced, that the latter were
beginning to leap down the breaches to join the former
in the assault. At this critical instant, and before
the mingled war cry of the savage and tory had
died away in the echoing vaults beyond him, the
young leader applied the brand to the fuse, and was
rapidly retreating along the passage towards his
friends. Having reached the curtained recess containing
the women and children, and here encountering
Captain Hendee and Jones, he turned round,
and with them, awaited, with palpitating heart and
suspended breath, the fearful result. With the low
hissing sound of the slowly burning match, came a
cry of horror from the scrambling foe, over whose
minds, now for the first time, seemed to flash the
dreadful truth. But too late. The next instant,
with a concussion that almost threw Selden and his
companions from their feet, the earth yawned and
opened along the passage overhead nearly to the
spot where they stood; when, through the long vibrating
chasm, was displayed to their appalled vision,
the broad space of tree-covered earth over and
around the room beyond, leaping, in disrupturing
masses into the air, along with the diverging

[figure description] Page 256.[end figure description]

column of fiercely shooting smoke and flame, in which
were seen, commingling with rocks, earth, and the
limbs and trunks of uprooted and swiftly revolving
trees, a score of human forms, wildly throwing out
their arms as if for aid, and distending their mouths
with unheard screeches, as, with blackened and distorted
features and dissevering limbs, they were borne
upwards with amazing force in the flaming mass to
the heavens. The chasm slowly closed over the astounded
but unharmed band, and shut out from their
reeling senses the deafening din that was breaking
in crashing thunders above. A momentary stillness
ensued; when the returning shower of ruins came
thundering to the earth; after which, all again relapsed
into a death-like, and unbroken silence.

Once more the morning light was springing in the
golden chambers of the east, heralding the approach
of the fiery coursers of the Day God up the glowing
pathway of the sky. More and more brightly
broke the suffusing radiance over the mountains,
darkly gleaming, at first, upon the quiet surface of
the gently flowing Otter, and then, gradually lighting
up, one after another, the bolder features of the
altered landscape, till the whole scene of the last
night's thrilling drama, and its awful catastrophe,
stood revealed to the sight. The humble tenement
of the lone widow, which the last setting sun left
standing unmolested, in her toil-wrought opening in
the wilderness, had disappeared; and in its place
lay a pile of black and smouldering ruins. Fences
were thrown down and scattered in every direction;
while the growing crops in the fields around, reared

[figure description] Page 257.[end figure description]

by the hard labors of the indefatigable occupant,
and constituting her sole dependence for the future
sustenance of her numerous family, were scorched
and withered by the falling cinders thrown up from
the burning house, or prostrated and beat into the
earth by the trampling feet of reckless foes. The
breath of war had, indeed, passed over every thing,
and her little all, in one short night, had perished.

Near the banks of the stream, where stood a
thick growth of trees over and around the main
apartment of the subterraneous abode, now yawned
a huge, black chasm in the ground, in which scarcely
a trace of the late regular room was discernable;
while the burnt and discoloured bark and foliage,
marking the standing forest around, and the broken,
splintered and uprooted trees, which had been hurled
outward and prostrated with the earth for many
rods in every direction from the spot, and which
were now lying strewed over the ground in wild disorder,
intermingled with smoking rubbish, all told
the fearful power and extent of the terrific explosion.
Half buried among the wide scattered ruins
lay the torn, mangled and blackened corses of savage
and tory,—the fated victims of the mine, which
had so suddenly, so unexpectedly, sprung beneath
their feet, sweeping them, in an instant, indiscriminately
away, with the cries of anticipated victory
and vengeance on their lips, like chaff in a whirlwind
of fire.

As the increasing day-light began to fall more
broadly upon this scene of death and desolation,
two human forms might have been seen cautiously
breaking through the loose earth that closed up the
mouth of the long passage into which our little band
last retreated. The small, topling head, crane-like

[figure description] Page 258.[end figure description]

neck, long body and limbs, and the peculiarly rapid
and shambling movements of the one, as, now crouching,
now rearing his tall form aloft and throwing
quick and wary glances around him, he glided round
beneath the sides of the broad black pit into which
they had emerged, sufficiently announced him as the
uncomparable scout. The swarthy and immovable
features, the short figure, and deliberate air of the
other, proclaimed him also to be an old acquaintance
of the reader, the trusty and faithful Neshobee.
Creeping out of the excavation, the two seperated,
and quickly disappeared in opposite directions in the
woods and bushes along the banks of the creek.
After the lapse of half an hour, in which they had
apparently made a reconnoitering circuit round the
opening, they reappeared on the banks of the excavation,
communed a moment, and, throwing aside
the air of caution that had marked their movements,
approached, with bold and confident steps, towards
the choked entrance, through which they had forced
their way into the open air.

`Hurra, there, below!' shouted Pete, dropping
on one knee, and poking his head and long neck into
the dark hole before him, `hurra! ye poor half
smuddered divils—asking the Captain's pardon for
the freedom—do you hear?'

`Ay, ay! what report—what news from the regions
above?' responded several voices from the
dark, and, till then, silent recesses within.

`The coast is as clear as a hound's tooth,' replied
the scout. `Yes, all clear, and that, too, with what
I should call a considerable of a vengeance: so just
troop along out here, and see what God put it into
men's heads to make gunpowder for.'

This announcement seemed to produce an instant

[figure description] Page 259.[end figure description]

effect. A lively bustle was immediately heard
among the party below. And in a few moments
more, the men, followed by the women and children,
came creeping, one by one, from their crowded
and uncomfortable retreat, looking worn, haggard
and pale from fatigue, and more especially from the
want of fresh air, with which they had but imperfectly
supplied themselves by digging, with their bayonets,
small holes through the earthy covering of their refuge
to the surface above. After reaching the open
air, the company stood a moment on the banks of
the chasm, viewing in silent horror the awful spoctacle
that was here presented to their sight; when,
at the suggestion of Selden, the females, accompanied
by himself, and all but the common soldiers,
(who were busy in searching for guns and other
spoiles among the ruins,) hastened to leave a scene
so revolting to the senses. And making the best of
their way over the tangled mass that every where
encircled the spot, with many a shudder at the disfigured,
and sometimes limbless bodies of the slain,
for which they were often compelled to turn aside in
their route, they proceed towards the open grounds
in front of the scite lately occupied by the house.

`Umph! look! jus look um up there!' exclaimed
Neshobee, eagerly pointing up the trunk of a
large dry hemlock, which, standing some half dozen
rods from the seat of the explosion, the company
were unobservantly passing.

Arrested by the unusually excited manner of the
Indian, the whole party suddenly paused, and looked
upward in search of the object to which he was
so earnestly directing their attention. About half
way up the tree, the doubling body of a man hung
dangling in the air, from a short pointed limb, upon

[figure description] Page 260.[end figure description]

which he had evidently been thrown from the earth,
and literally impaled through the middle, by the
force of the explosion. His cadaverous face was
turned full towards the company, and a glance at
the peculiar cast of his death-set features explained
at once, to Captain Hendee and the girls, the cause
of the wild and gleeful interest manifested by the
native: it was the traitor, Remington, who first betrayed
the family to their enemies, and who was afterwards
discovered to be in full league with Sherwood
and Darrow, and, to the last, in active cooperation
with them, in the black designs which they
supposed themselves on the eve of accomplishing,
when thus awfully arrested in their guilty career.
Awe-struck and appalled at the strange and dreadful
fate of the villain, the company, with one consent,
turned away from the sickening sight, and,
hastening from the spot, pursued their way in
thoughtful silence, till they had passed, as they supposed,
beyond the scene of these multiplied horrors.
Another trial, however, though of a different and
mingled character, still awaited them: a deep groan,
issuing from a small covert on their left, now reached
their ears, and caused them again to pause in
their steps.

`It is a human groan,' said Selden, `and doubtless
that of some poor wounded wretch, who has
crawled away from the scene of action. Perhaps
his life may yet be saved,' he added, as, beckoning
to Jones, he promptly set out for the place from
which the sound had proceeded. As the two passed
round to the spot, they discovered a man lying
in a state of almost utter exhaustion in the weeds
behind a long log, by which he had apparently been
arrested in his course while trying to reach a small

[figure description] Page 261.[end figure description]

brook a few rods beyond. His face, with every other
exposed part of his person, was thickly besmeared
with dirt, gunpowder and blood, which last was
still freshly oozing from his mangled and broken
legs; and it was only by his hair, and the remains
of his burnt and tattered dress, that he could be distinguished
as a white man. He seemed to be aware
of the presence of others, and his lips began to
move with some inaudible request.

`The poor creature is begging for water,' said
Selden, lowering his ear over the face of the invalid:
`let us remove him to the brook.'

Raising him carefully in their arms, they accordinly
bore him to the bank of the rivulet, and having
placed him in a sitting position, with his back
against a large stump, they applied a gourdshell of
water to his lips, of which he drank eagerly and
deeply. They then washed the blood and dirt from
his face, when he considerably revived; and opening
his eyes, he looked up in evident surprise on
our party, all of whom, having gathered round him,
now stood viewing his gory and lacerated limbs in
silent commiseration.

`Why! it is Darrow—the wretched and guilty
Darrow!' exclaimed Miss Hendee, starting back in
surprise, and with an expression of mingled pity
and abhorrence.

`Ay, guilty enough, doubtless,' responded Selden,
`but as deeply dyed in guilt as he is, there is another
still more guilty,—wretched man, what has become
of your master?'

`He escaped unhurt from your accursed mine,
feebly muttered the wounded ruffian in reply.

`And has fled?' asked the former,

`Yes, fled, like a craven brute,' said the other,

[figure description] Page 262.[end figure description]

with an angry scowl, `fled with the few who were
as lucky as himself, leaving me and the rest of the
wounded, with our cries for assistance ringing in his
ears, to die like dogs, alone here in the woods.—
And they have died—some of their wounds, some
by crawling into the river and drowning, and some
by plunging their knives into their own bodies to
put themselves out of misery. Yes, all gone, but
me; and I'—

`But perhaps your leader went off after a reinforcement,
expecting soon to return with better
means of serving you,' interrupted Selden, with the
view of gathering from the other such information
as would enable him to judge of the probability of
Sherwood's return to renew the attack.

`No, damn him!' exclaimed the wretch bitterly;
`he supposed, as I did, that all of your band, as
well as most of our own, had perished in the explosion.
No! the infernal villain intended I should die,'
he continued, with an expression rendered fairly diabolical
by rage, combined with the bodily anguish he
was enduring. `But he did not dream I should fall
alive in your hands, else he had finished me on the
spot to prevent it, the black souled devil! for he
is well aware that I know enough of him, and his
father before him, to make my revenge as ample as
it will be sweet.'

`What do you know of his father?' asked Captain
Hendee, stepping forward with looks of eager
curiosity and interest.

`Enough,' replied the other—`enough of both, to
my sorrow: for between them, they have worked
my ruin and death.—In aiding the old man in his
villainy, I damned my soul; and in abetting that of
his son, I have lost my life, for I feel that I must go

[figure description] Page 263.[end figure description]

now soon, though I might have been saved.—Yes,
and what have they done for me? what can they
do now? Nothing! The old man has gone to his
place; and Jake—perdition seize him!'

`What do you mean?' sharply demanded the
Captain: `Is John Sherwood dead?—Why, Jake
told me before he turned devil to us, and not more
than a week since neither, that his father was alive
and'—

`And what if he did,' interrupted Darrow, growing
restless and impatient from the pain which was
now evidently beginning to invade the citadel of
life,—`what if he did? The old man made a will—
too much in favor of your daughter here, or you,
he suspects; and all was to be kept dark till he
could bring certain things about.'

`Man, man, you are deceiving me!' cried the
other warmly.

`Father, I believe he is speaking the truth,' interposed
the daughter, to whose mind the late conduct
of Sherwood, before inexplicable, was now explained.

`Truth—truth! Alma Hendee,' resumed the
wounded man, now breathing thick, and speaking
with increasing difficulty;—`it is only the beginning
of truths, that concerns you all, that—that I could—
that I must and will tell, if—if soul and body will
hold together long enough for me to expose'—

`Expose what? what can you reveal?—go on!
speak—speak!' exclaimed the old gentleman, impatiently
breaking in on the other, in a tone and air of
feverish excitement.

Wait—wait,' resumed Darrow, grating his clenched
teeth and writhing about in a fresh paroxism of
anguish.—`I will—will tell all—but wait till this is

[figure description] Page 264.[end figure description]

over—O, that pain! Oh! God! that pain, that
pain!' and the poor wretch gasped for breath and
wildly threw about his arms in the insufferable
pangs of his agony.

`Captain Hendee,' he faintly, and in a softened
tone, resumed, after the desperate paroxism had subsided,
`did you ever mistrust that John Sherwood
played you foul in respect to your property, which
you was blind enough to intrust to his management?
'

`Why—I thought strange,' replied the other,
`and yet I could not detect—but was he dishonest
then?'

`Yes,' exclaimed Darrow; `in that final settlement
he defrauded you out of more than half of what
was honestly your own: and, as the main instance,
you recollect a large landed law suit he brought in
you behalf?'

`I do,' said the Captain, `and finding he must
fail in it, and subject me to ruinous costs, he
compromised by paying a small sum, and withdrew
the action, as I understood.'

`Well, now, it is God's truth, Captain,' rejoined
the former, `that instead of paying any thing, he
received a large sum,—his adversary, and not he,
finding he must fail.'

`The faithless villain!' exclaimed the astonished
Captain, `may the wrath—but I will not curse him,
now he is gone.'

`No, for you can revenge yourself more effectually,
' said the other: `the man with whom this compromise
was made is still alive; and, though it was
agreed that the transaction should be kept a dead
secret, there is no doubt he will swear to the amount

[figure description] Page 265.[end figure description]

he payed Sherwood, as he was not privy to the
fraud on you!'

`But how know you all this?' asked the Captain,
some new doubt seeming to arise in his mind.

`You will know directly,' replied Darrow—`that
is, if—if I tell you the rest'—he continued, pausing
and hesitating, as if irresolute whether to proceed;
but at length seeming to make up his mind, he resumed,
`Captain Hendee, you once had a darling
son, who was lost?'

`I did, I did,' responded the other with visible
emotion.

`And you have heard,' continued the former,
`that he was last seen with a young man in John
Sherwood's employ—did you ever see that young
man?'

`No,' said the Captain, `nor do I know what became
of him, or whether he is now living.'

`He is still living, but will not be long,' said
Darrow: `you see him in the miserable, shattered
and dying creature lying before you, Captain Hendee.
'

`You! you!' wildly and fiercely exclaimed the
old man, `but what f my son? wretch! did you
murder the boy?' he added, raising his voice almost
to a frantic scream, as the suspicion flashed over his
anticipating thoughts.

`No, I was spared that,' answered the other,
`though my instigator, who was no other than that
same John Sherwood, expected it of me, I think.
No, I came across an Indian, who, for a bottle of
rum, was willing to take the boy where his friends
should never hear of him again.'

`And you agreed with the hell-hound to do it,

[figure description] Page 266.[end figure description]

did you, monster!' again fiercely demanded the Captain.

`Yes, I did that—I own it! I own it! aye, I confess
it!' exclaimed Darrow, eagerly repeating the
words, as if he had brought himself to this act of
penitence by some mighty effort. `There!' he added,
wildly and menancingly brandishing his fist at
some imaginary presence, as he began to draw up
his limbs and glare deliriously around him under
another and fearful attack of his pains, `there! I
have confessed it, you black fiend!' and with a terrible
yell of seeming exultation and defiance, he fell
back convulsed from head to foot; and for many
moments, he appeared to be wrestling terribly with the
angel of death.

At length, however, he became calm, and again
opened his eyes upon the horror-stricken, but intensely
interested company.

`I can't live through another like that—so let me
speak while I can—you would know more of your
son?' faintly said the reviving wretch, turning his
glazed and blood-shot eye languidly upon the Captain.

`Yes, yes,' replied the other in a softened and
imploring tone; `yes, if you have strength to go on,
tell me, if you know, for God's sake tell me, whether
there is any hope for a bereaved and sorrow-stricken
old man?—Did you ever hear of the boy—
do you think he is still living?'

`If that boy lived to grow up,' said Darrow, in
reply,—if he be still among the living, Captain
Hendee, I believe he is now standing by your side.'

Wholly unprepared for a developement so unexpected
and improbable, the company stood silently
gazing at each other a moment with looks of

[figure description] Page 267.[end figure description]

mingled doubt and astonishment; when Selden, who was
obviously the one alluded to by the confessant, and
who had appeared thoughtful and abstracted during
the latter part of the conversation, now turned to
the other, and, with the air of one trying to recall
some indistinct image of other days, observed,

`I have some strange dim recollections—but
what circumstances can you name to warrant the
belief you have just expressed?'

`Why, if I am right,' answered Darrow, `as I
still think I am, you must have had, for many years,
if you have not now, the proof on your own person!
For before I parted from the boy, I pricked two
crossed arrows, with lasting ink, into his skin, near
the elbow.'

A flash of joyous intelligence instantly broke
over the beaming countenance of the young officer,
and, as quick as thought, his arm was bared and held
exultingly aloft, disclosing the still visibly impicted
arrows to the astonished and delighted group around
him.

For one full minute not a word was uttered, and
the mute eloquence of the speaking countenance
alone told the springing emotions of those most interested
in this unexpected but happy denouement.

`My son!' at length convulsively burst from the
trembling lips of the overpowered father: `God
bless—bless—bless'—and his voice died away in
whimpering murmers, as father, son and daughter
rushed into one long, sobbing embrace.

Aroused in a short time from this absorbing
scene of gushing affections, by a noise from the
wounded man, the company turned toward him. A
change was passing over his face, and with the low
muttered words, `REVENGED—REVENGED ON THE

[figure description] Page 268.[end figure description]

DESTROYERS OF MY SOUL AND BODY, AT LAST!' he
gave one long, quivering gasp and expired.

On the proposal of Selden, for such, for covenience,
we will for the present continue to call him,
the company now left the spot, and proceeded to
an open and unincumbered space by the road side,
where the whole band were soon assembled preparatory
to a final removal from the scene of action.

At that instant a band of twenty armed horsemen
burst suddenly from the woods, and came pouring,
in gallant array, along the road from the south towards
the spot. From their equipments and general
appearance, they were instantly discovered to be a
detachment of mounted riflemen from the Continental
army, headed by a field officer of considerable
rank.

`You are the day after the Fair, my hearties,
gaily remarked Captain Hendee, whose over mastering
feelings at the recent joyful discovery, had
now settled down into a fine flow of spirits. `But I
am glad they have come, for I want the whole world
to know how proud I feel of my new found son.'

`Aye, but when they hear,' replied the young officer
in the same spirit, `that we owe this victory,
and with it our lives, solely to the old veteran's plan
of blowing up the enemy by wholesale, ten to one,
they don't say, that the son has far the most reason
to pride himself in the happy discovery. Seriously,
however, the arrival of these men, at this moment,
is most opportune, as some of them, doubtless,
will give up their horses to convey you, the females
and children from the place. But what ails
our merry friend Jones, yonder?' he added, pointing
to the scout, who stood in the foreground, eagerly
and with mouth agape, looking at the advancing

[figure description] Page 269.[end figure description]

cavalcade, and holding his cap in his hand, as if
about to hurl it into the air, in some joyous outbreak.

`He is about to welcome them with a few cheers,
I suspect,' replied the captain. `And hang me, if I
don't join him; for if I don't give vent to my feelings
in some way, I believe my old broken shell of
a heart will burst for very joy, like some old rusty
howitzer, charged to the muzzle with gunpowder.'

`No, no, father,' rejoined the other good humoredly,
' `joy rarely proves as explosive as that, I imagine.
But I must forward to attend to this reception
myself,—Jones,' he continued, advancing to the
front, `let us ascertain their object, and a little more
exactly who they are, before we make up our mouths
for much of a hurra on the occasion.'

`Well that's jest what I'm at, Captain,' said the
scout; `and I calkerlate I have about two thirds
found out both them particulars, already: for, if
twenty-four hours ago, I had seen a chap riding
towards me, with the make, and bearing of that officer,
who sits so splendid in his saddle younder,
I would have sworn, with a quarter of this bothering,
that it was—and, by the living Lazarus! I'll
swear it is now—so here's hurra for the unshot Colonel!
hurra! hurra!' he added, throwing his cap thirty
feet in the air, and leaping, in the extacy of his joyous
emotions, a yard from the earth at each of his stentorian
shouts; in the last of which he was heartily
joined by the whole band of his delighted comrades,
as their beloved commander, the heroic Warrington,
whom they had mourned as slain, now came dashing
up to the spot, bowing low in token of acknowledgement
of this flattering mark of their esteem.

`Had you dropped down from the clouds before

[figure description] Page 270.[end figure description]

our eyes, Colonel Warrington,' said Selden, after
the noise and bustle of this enthusiastic reception
had a little subsided, `your presence could have
scarcely more surprised us.'

`Indeed!'

`Yes, you was reported to have fallen in the last
moments of the battle.'

`I must then have been mistaken, I think, for
Colonel Francis.'

`Has that noble fellow then indeed been added
to the honored catalogue of martyrs in our glorious
cause?'

`I grieve to say it.—He fell covered with wounds,
bravely fighting at the head of his regiment.'

`But you, and your men?'—

`We yet mostly live to give Burgoyne a thrashing.
But here, overpowered with numbers, by my
own orders, we broke, scattered and fled, to meet
again at Manchester. Reaching Rutland last night,
and guessing at your course, and at your danger, I
collected this small force, and hastened to the rescue.
And now, Captain, for your report, which,
with these evidences of a conflict before me, I should
dread to hear, but for the merry looks of the men,
and the sunny faces of my fair friends whom I notice
youder in the rear.'

`All in good time, my dear Colonel; but come,
first go along with me,' said Selden with a significant
and slightly mischievous smile, as he took the
arm of his superior, and urged him forward to the
spot where the interesting group to which he had
just alluded still stood, in the agitation of their joyful
surprise, with sparkling eyes and happy and fluttering
hearts, eagerly waiting to greet him.

But over the touching and tender scene that

[figure description] Page 271.[end figure description]

followed, marked as it was by the reuniting of long
estranged hearts, like the rushing together of kindred
waters, the surprising announcement of Selden's
recently discovered relationship, and the mad pranks
of the excited old veteran, now clamouring for the
curses of Warrington on his own head, for his blindness
and folly, and now eagerly bestowing the hand
of his daughter, as a compensation and reward, with
many a sob-broken ejaculation for blessings on the
happy couple—over all this will we drop the curtain,
not caring to trust the pen to vie with the reader's
outstripping fancy in filling up the picture.

Before another hour had elapsed the whole were
mounted and in motion, on their unmolested way to
the older settlements in the southern part of the
Grants.