CHAPTER X.
— “Not all so much for love,
As for another secret close intent,
By marrying her, which I must reach unto,
But yet I run before my horse to market;
Clarence still breathes: Edward still lives, and,
When these are gone, then must I count my gains.”
Several unforseen circumstances connected with
the removal of their effects, together with the impression
that they were now so far south as to be in
no very immediate danger from any incursions of
the enemy, having induced our party to accept the
invitation of their kind entertainer to remain a few
days at his abode, nearly a week had unfortunately
been suffered to elapse without resuming their journey.
Aroused, however, at length, by the news
that Burgoyne had reached Ticonderoga, and closely
invested the fortress, while a party of tories and
Indians were ravaging the country to the north of
them, both the families of Captain Hendee and his
host, determined on an instant departure for a place
of more safety. Accordingly, with a few hasty
preparations, they started in their respective carriages
about the middle of the afternoon for Castleton,
which they were under the expectation of being
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enabled to reach by day-light. The day being excessively
sultry, Captain Hendee, after travelling awhile
at rather a brisk pace, checked his horses, and suffered
them to fall into a moderate walk, during
which the other party, who were in advance, and
who seemed less disposed to slacken their speed,
passed entirely out of sight, and soon became widely
separated from their more tardy fellow travellers.
When our party had proceeded several miles in this
leisurely manner, and while the Captain, to use a
quaint and somewhat curious expression of the poet
Parnell, was “deceiving the road,” by the relation
of one of his old war stories, they were met
by a stout built, though an ordinary looking, and
slovenly dressed man on horseback, who, after closely
scrutinizing the company a moment, stopped his
horse, indicating, at the same time by his looks and
gestures, a wish that the others should stop also.
Supposing the stranger was desirous of making some
enquiries, Captain Hendee instantly pulled up his
horses, and sat waiting, with an air of expectation,
for the man to proceed with what he might have to
propose.
`I was thinking what your name mought be, mister,
' at length began the horseman, with a bold, saucy
air. `It kinder seems to me I have seen you
somewhere or other.'
`Very possible, sir,' replied the Captain, in a
manner sufficiently cool and repulsive, as he thought,
to check the intrusive familiarity of the other.
`Well, I knowed I had,' rejoined the stranger, not
at all abashed by the coolness with which his advances
had been met, `and yet I don't know as I can
quite call you by name.'
`My name is Hendee, sir.'
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`Ah! O, yes;—you live down there against
Crown Point?'
`Yes; or at least we did till within a few days.
But how happens it, that you are going to a part, which,
at this time, the settlers are so generally deserting?'
`Why an't it safe travelling that way?'
`It would be for some, doubtless,' replied the Captain
significantly.
`Well, I spose you've hearn of me,' observed the
stranger, evidently disconcerted at the suspicions
which he perceived were beginning to be entertained
of him, `my name is David Remington. You
are acquainted in Castleton, an't you?'
`Yes, with several individuals in that town.'
`Well, that's where I live, when I'm to home.
Do you know Mr. Woodward there?'
`I do, sir.'
`I want to know? Well, now, he is one of my
near neighbors. Here's a paper he gin me 'tother
day. Jest read it, will ye?'
Captain Hendee, with an air of curiosity, not unmingled,
however, with surprise, at an offer so gratuitously
made to an entire stranger, took the paper,
which the other now extended to him, and read as
follows:—
“This may certify that David Remington, the
bearer hereof, is thought to be a true friend to the
States of America.
JOSEPH WOODWARD, Com. of Safety.[1]
Castleton, June 2d, 1777.”
eaf390v2.n1[1] A literal copy of the original certificate, lodged in the public archives
of Vermont, and accompanied by another from the noted tory, Colonel
Philip Skene, certifying that Remington had taken the oath of allegiance,
and was a true Royalist. These papers, together with a receipt signed
by “J. Sherwood, Captain,” for two heifers procured for the British, by
Remington, all dated about the same time, are supposed to have been
found on the person of this or other tories, when subsequently slain or
taken prisoners.
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`This appears to be genuine, and should be sufficient,
' remarked the Captain musingly, as he handed
back the paper. `Have they received any news
at Castleton within a day or too, sir?' he added,
with more freedom of manner than he had before
exhibited towards the other.
`News?—from where?'
`From our forces at Ticonderoga, I mean, of
course.'
`O, yes, I spose so—why, I came from there,
myself, last night.'
`Indeed, sir? Well, what is the prospect of St.
Clair's being able to cope with the enemy, so as to
put a stop to their progress at that place?'
`Cope! hum! He will be lucky if he don't get
coped himself, I guess.'
`What, sir! The garrison are in no danger of
being taken themselves, surely?'
`Well, sir, I don't pretend to know nothing about
it; but I shouldn't be surprised if the folks about
here heard news, within twenty-four hours, that
made 'em stare.'
`Impossible! But what is the situation of affairs
there, that leads you to this conclusion?'
`Why, sir, the situation is, that General Red Hazle,
[2] with his Jarman brigade, has got possession on
this side of the lake, up as far as East Creek, where
he is now posted; while General Burgoyne has entirely
enclosed the fort on 'tother side. And what
is still more, he has cut out a road, and drawn up a
whole slew of cannon clean to the top of Mount
Defiance, which he will have all mounted, and ready
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to pour hell and thunder down on 'em in the fort
before they dream of it.'
`Is it possible that St. Clair can have suffered
Burgoyne to get possession of that commanding
spot for such a purpose!' exclaimed the Captain.
`I knew,' he continued, `that most of our officers
in the old war used to consider that mountain inaccessible
with artillery. I, however, always thought
differently, and agreed, in this respect, with Major
Putnam, who, I well remember, suggested the project
of getting cannon up this eminence to General
Howe, as our army was approaching the fort the
day previous to the battle, which cost poor Howe
his life. And had that gallant young nobleman,
who was the only lord of common sense whom the
British ever sent to America, been spared, the thing
would have been done, and we should have taken
the fortress, instead of drawing off our army without
effecting any thing. But as I said, is it possible
that St. Clair can have permitted this in an army
approaching from the north, and wholly unacquainted
with the surrounding localities?'
`It is true, any how; and if they don't find themselves
in a pickle, there in the fort, by to-morrow
morning, I lose my guess,' replied the other, with a
satisfaction which he was unable wholly to conceal.
After a few apparently careless enquiries respectin
the destination of our travellers, and their expectations
of reaching it, Remington seemed suddenly
to become convinced that it would not be prudent
to proceed any farther in the land-looking excursion,
which he stated was his business to the north, and
announced his intention of immediately returning.
Accordingly wheeling round his horse, and bidding
the company good day, with the remark, that he
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should probably ride rather faster than their team
would travel, he rode off at a moderate trot, till the
intervening bushes at the first turn of the road
screened him, as he supposed, from the sight of
those he had just left, when he applied his whip,
and dashed forward at full speed.
`What opinion did you form of that man, father?
' asked Miss Hendee, after they had ridden
some distance in silence.
`Why, but for the certificate of so true and vigilant
a friend to the cause as Woodward, who undoubtedly
signed it, I should certainly have had
strong suspicions that the fellow was some designing
tory,' answered the Captain, indirectly, and with
the tone of one still doubting over evidence which
he could not reject, nor yet receive as wholly conclusive.
`I know not,' rejoined the other, `that I can give
any good reasons for my impressions; but there was
a certain something about the man, which, from the
first, struck me unfavorably. And is it not possible,
that he may be secretly in the interest of the enemy,
notwithstanding his certificate, which, without
being asked, he was so ready to show?'
`I noticed his readiness to show the paper,' again
replied the Captain, without any direct answer to his
daughter's question. `And it also occurred to me,
that he appeared to be far better acquainted with
the movements of the British, than with those of
our own army.'
`And did not you think, Captain Hendee,' observed
Miss Reed, `that he betrayed a secret pleasure,
when relating the perilous situation in which he
stated the American forces to be placed?'
`I don't know that I noticed that in particular,'
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said the Captain; `but if he be a tory, and has told
us the truth, I fear he has too much reason to rerejoice.
I cannot think, however, that St. Clair will
fail to keep open a way for retreat, so that the garrison
shall not be taken in any event.'
`Here, Neshobee,' said Alma, as the Indian, who
had travelled mostly on foot, keeping generally a
few rods in advance of the horses, now fell back to
the side of the carriage, `you have sometimes shown
yourself a shrewd guesser; and we will have your
opinion in this case. What did you think of the
man father was talking with just now?'
`Me guess him have two tongue—mean something
no good,' replied the native, in his usual quiet
manner. `Him no think me see him through the
bush, when him ride away slow—then look back for
find out we see him, then whip—off a gallop!'
`So much the better,' remarked Jessy, `for the
faster he goes the further he will get from us.'
`Neshobee, perhaps, would draw a different inference,
' said the Captain.
`Why should he, father?' asked Alma.
But the other, not willing to alarm the ladies by
naming his secret apprehensions, which, after all,
might prove groundless, made only some evasive, or
indifferent reply, and became silent.
`He can have no immediate communication with
the tories and Indians, by going in that direction,'
resumed Alma. `They, if we were rightly informed,
are still far behind us.'
`They were behind us,' observed Captain Hendee,
relapsing into silence, in which his example was
soon imitated by the rest of the company, all of
whom seemed oppressed by that undefined sense of
impending danger, which is sometimes felt without
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the inclination,—on account of conscious inability,
perhaps,—of communicating it to others.
It was now drawing towards sunset; and our party
had yet nearly ten miles to travel before reaching
their proposed destination for the night. They had
been, for some miles, passing through a dark, continuous
forest, whose unvaried gloom soon began to
be increased by the shades, which, before the usual
hour, were slowly stealing over the wilderness, in
consequence of the broad and depening masses of
vapor now gathering along the western horizon.
And presently the low, deep rumbling of distant
thunder, heralding an approaching shower, reached
the ears of the company, and increased their anxiety
to gain some opening, at least, before storm and
darkness, to say nothing of their secret apprehensions
of more terrible foes, should overtake them.
Casting an uneasy glance at the lurid and threatening
aspect of the heavens, Captain Hendee applied
the whip, and was urging on his horses to renewed
efforts of speed, when his arm was suddenly seized
by the convulsive grasp of his daughter.
`Stop! stop! father,' she exclaimed, in a low,
hurried tone, `look at Neshobee! There is danger
near us.'
All eyes were at once directed towards the Indian,
who was now about a dozen rods in front of the
carriage. He had turned round, and, with quick
and eager gestures, was motioning them to halt. Instantly
reigning up the horses, and bringing them to
a stand, the Captain, with the rest of the company,
continued, with intense interest and alarm, silently
to watch the motions of the native, who seemed to
be still in considerable doubt, either of the nature
of the apprehended danger, or of the exact point
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from which it was to proceed. After standing a
short time, however, in the attitude of listening,
slowly turning his head, as his eyes were keenly
searching the woods around him, he hastily started
back, and, pointing to a dark thicket nearly abreast
of the carriage, leaped nimbly behind a tree, and
seemed awaiting some expected result. The next
moment, the shrill, quavering sounds of the terrific
war-whoop, issuing from the coverts in every direction,
announced to the appalled travellers the fearful
character of the foe by which they were surrounded.
And in another instant, a score of painted savages
leaped from the bushes, and, menacingly brandishing
their tomahawks aloft, closely invested the
carriage. Knowing it would be utterly useless to
attempt any resistance, the old veteran put up the
pistols, which he had drawn out on the first alarm,
and, while the shuddering females, with a terrified
glance at the frightful group around them, were burying
their faces in their hands, very coolly proceeded,
by signs, and such phrases as he supposed
might be understood, to signify to his assailants that
he yielded himself and family as prisoners. The
captors, having ordered out their prisoners into the
road, immediately fell to work with their knives, in
cutting the harness from the horses, each of which,
when released, was mounted by one of the enemy
and ridden off into the woods; while the carriage
was run into the nearest thicket and concealed. The
prisoners, including Neshobee, who, in attempting to
escape, had been seized and brought in, were then
placed in Indian file, alternately with a sufficient
number of their captors to guard the whole, and
marched out the road the same way in which their horses
had been previously taken, and which soon brought
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the company into an old, overgrown path, leading
through the forest in a westerly direction. In this
manner our party were urged forward at a rapid
pace for nearly an hour, during which, not a word
was uttered by either captors or captured, with the
exception of Captain Hendee, whose irritable temper
occasionally broke out in a half suppressed anathema
as he jarred a rheumatic limb, while hobbling
along the rough and frequently obstructed
path. At length, to the great and unexpected joy
of the wearied captives, the cheering light of an
opening broke upon their view, affording hope that
the fatigues, under which they were nearly ready to
sink, were now to be terminated for the night; and
that they were to be favored with quarters in some
kind of a house, instead of an unsheltered bed of
earth in the wilderness, as they had anticipated
The opening, consisting of thirty or forty acres of
land, and containing two small log tenements, with
a barn of similar construction attached to one of
them, was situated along the margin of a pictureesque
pond, embedded in a forest of majestic pines
On entering the clearing, Captain Hendee instantly
perceived from appearances about the cabins, that
they had reached the head quarters of the gang
who, as he rightly concluded, had taken possession
of the place since its desertion by the inhabitants.
His horses, that had arrived before him, had beer
turned out, and were now quietly grazing in the
field; while a large number of the enemy, nearly
equalling that of the party who had been engaged
in the capture, were scattered about the place, some
bathing in the pond, some fishing, some pitching
quoits, and others lounging about the buildings. As
he approached this portion of the enemy, the
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Captain soon noticed a difference in the appearance of
many of them, as contrasted with that of such of
his captors as had come under his inspection, which,
with his acquaintance with the peculiar motions and
demeanor of the natives, immediately led him to
suspect that a considerable part of the band, though
painted and habited like Indians, were white men
in disguise. And he now readily understood that
he was indebted for his present misfortune to the
traitor, Remington, who, being secretly connected
with this band of Indians and tories, had doubtless
been employed by them to bring intelligence of the
approach of such families as should be passing along
the road; though why his own family should have
been thus particularly marked for capture, while others
were suffered to escape, it did not at that time
occur to him.
When our party, with their captors, arrived at the
first cabin, which they reached about dark, they
were halted at the door, while a consultation was
held at some distance aloof between two or three,
who appeared to have the control of the band; after
which, one of them came forward, and, having
first caused Neshobee to be taken to the barn, motioned
to the rest of the prisoners, except Miss Hendee,
who stood in the rear, to enter the house. Perceiving
it was intended to seperate her from her
friends, the alarmed maiden suddenly darted by her
immediate keepers, and attempted to reach the door
at which her father at that moment was entering.
A rough hand, however, was instantly extended,
and, grasping her arm, rudely pulled her back.
`Kill me, if you will,' she exclaimed, `kill me,
but let me die with my friends.'
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`Prisoners can't always be choosers, my proud
one,' said the apparent savage in good English.
`It is Darrow!' said Alma, with blanching features,
and with a look of alarm, which the brandished
tomahawk of the Indian had failed to call forth.
`I see it all, and know the design. Death I fear
not; but such a fate!—Oh! as you value the innocence
and eternal peace of you daughter, protect
me, my father!'
Comprehending the meaning of his daughter, and
appreciating all her apprehensions, even before she
had done speaking, the maddened father hastily
drew a pistol from his pocket, and discharged it full
at the head of Darrow. The bullet grazed the temple
of the astounded ruffian, and his locks were
slightly singed by the burning powder; but he escaped
with no other injury. Recovering from the
shock of the explosion, he hurriedly pulled out one
of the heavy pistols which hung in his belt, raised
it to the breast of his unflinching opponent, and,
with the look of a fiend, was in the act of taking
deliberate aim, when the heroic girl, who was the
innocent cause of the strife, suddenly threw herself
between her father and the weapon levelled for his
destruction. After holding the deadly implement
in the same threatening position nearly a minute, as
if deliberating whether he would send the bullet
through both father and daughter, for the sake of
wreaking his vengeance on the former, the balked
villain with an angry movement thrust the pistol into
its place, and turning to his men, fiercely exclaimed,
`Seize the damned old dotard! Secure him, and
let him wait for my revenge till I have disposed of
this silly jade. She will soon find out, I guess,
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what she has gained by the rumpus,' he added, again
grasping the arm of his recoiling victim, and, regardless
of her shrieks, roughly dragging her off to
the other cabin; while, in obedience to his orders,
his painted minions proceeded, with demoniac glee,
to bind the old gentleman, and thrust him with the
rest of the prisoners into the house. With the assistance
of his men, several of whom he ordered to
attend him, Darrow soon succeeded in forcing his
half senseless victim to the other cabin, situated on
the shore of the pond, near the western extremity
of the clearing; when, opening the door, he gave
her a spiteful push, which sent her reeling through
the entrance, at the same time gruffly exclaiming,
`There, madam! there are your quarters for the
present. And let me just inform your ladyship, that
the less fuss you make about the matter the better
it will be for you.'
With this he drew the door to, and, after posting
a guard round the house, returned to the main body
of his band, who were now assembled round the
first mentioned house, busily engaged in cooking
their suppers in the open air, or patching up the
leaky roof of the log barn, to protect those from the
threatened storm, who should be compelled to take
quarters in it in consequence of the arrangement,
which the leaders had seen fit to make, of placing
the prisoners in separate houses.
After being left alone, Miss Hendee made an effort
to regain her composure. And having succeeded
in a good degree, she proceeded, by the dim twilight
yet remaining, to examine the interior of the
house, containing but a single room on the ground
floor. Three or four old chairs, a rough pine table,
and a straw bed laid upon a rudely constructed
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bedstead, with a couple of coarse blankets for covering,
constituted all the visible furniture of the cabin.
With these observations, she seated herself in a
chair, and endeavored to think coolly on the novel
and alarming situation in which she now found herself
placed. From Sherwood's known connection
with Darrow, the apparent leader of the present
band, she had but little doubt that the former was
in fact the commander of these marauders, or at
least the instigator of the seizure of herself and
family. And in either case, she was at no loss to
understand that the possession of her person was
the main, if not the only object, of the present capture.
Nor did she doubt, for similar reasons, that
Sherwood must be near,—probably already on the
ground. And from the circumstance of her being
seperated from her friends; and confined alone, she
felt but too fearfully certain that a fate was in reserve
for her, on which, at the best she could
hope for, she shuddered to think. After she had
remained in this situation awhile, listening to every
movement from without, and starting at the sound
of every footstep, lest it prove the herald of a visit
from Sherwood, which she now every moment expected
would be paid her, and to which she looked
forward with a dread, that the anticipated presence
of no other foe could impart, the door was
thrown open, and a man unceremoniously entered.
She hastily rose from her seat and threw a look of
alarm towards the intruder. A second glance,
however, told her that he was not the dreaded visitor,
but only one of the disguised tories come to
bring her lights and refreshment. Placing the torch
which he bore in the chimney, the man silently advanced,
and set a trencher of coarse food on the table; after
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which he turned, and departed, neither questioning
nor questioned. Feeling no inclination to taste the
food, the hapless girl resumed her seat, and again
gave herself up to the distressing thoughts, which
her situation was so well calculated to inspire. The
last gleams of twilight had now faded away, and
night had fallen upon the earth with almost Egyptian
darkness. There was a low, rushing sound
abroad, betokening an approaching conflict of the
elements. The attention of Alma being arrested
by these renewed indications of the storm, which,
for several hours, appeared to have been slowly
concentrating its forces in the distance, she arose
and went to a narrow window, that opened upon
the dark waters of the forest-girt pond. The omenous
sounds before heard had given place to the
more audible murmers of the troubled air, which in
fitful and variant undulations, now moaned dismally
along the ground, and now piped, in brief and
broken strains of melancholy music, among the
tops of the neighboring pines. Large, black masses
of jagged clouds were hurrying through the
heavens, which were occasionally made visible by
slight, quivering flashes of the electric fires, partially
disclosing the broad outlines of the convolving vapor
above, and dimly lighting up the dark landscape
of wilds and waters beneath. While the maiden
was looking abroad upon this scene of gloomy
magnificence, which seemed strangely to harmonize
with the kindred gloom of her own sad and desolate
bosom, a bright, but far off flash gleamed fiercely
athwart her vision. Turning her eyes to the
quarter whence it proceeded, she beheld a distinct,
attenuated, and ribbon-like flame approaching
from a distant part of the horizon, and describing
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in its apparently slow, and crinkling movement, as
it came, an arch of fearful splendor across the illuminated
heavens. The next instant it fell upon the
top of a towering dry pine, standing on the opposite
shore of the pond, and hurled the blazing fragments
of its giant trunk in every direction over the
woods, and far into the hissing and bubbling waters
around. A single stunning report followed, and all
without was again dark and silent. Recoiling at
the shock of the deafening concussion, and almost
blinded by the intensity of the flash, the astounded
girl turned suddenly from the window,
and attempted to grope her way back to her seat.
Before reaching it, however, a slight noise within
the room arrested her steps. Pressing her hand
upon her eyes an instant to enable her to discern
the objects in the dimly lighted apartment, she sent
an apprehensive glance towards the door, when, to
her unspeakable dismay, she encountered the basilisk
eyes of Sherwood, who was quietly standing,
within the entrance, and looking upon her with an
expression, in which guilt, effrontery and triumph,
were singularly blended.
`Leave me!' she exclaimed, as the other now began
to advance towards her; `leave me, sir!' she repeated
with all the firmness and decision of manner
she could command, while she gradually retreated
to the opposite side of the room.
`Why should I leave you, captious girl,' he responded
in his usual affectedly meek and plausible
manner, `why should I leave you, or you desire it,
when I am the only friend to whom you, or your
family, can look for intercession with those into
whose power you have fallen? Having heard of
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your misfortune, I hastened immediately to the spot,
and have but this moment arrived.'
`Base dissembler!' said Alma, with an indignation
which, for the instant, seemed to overpower
every other feeling, `will you pretend, sir, that these
are not all your doings?'
`Why—why, I admit,' he replied, considerably
disconcerted at the question and pointed manner of
the other, which led him to suppose that she had
by some means received a much more certain knowledge
of his connection with the band than she really
had; `I admit that these men belong to a company
which I have a commission to command. But I
protest I have had nothing to do with your capture.
And why should you always be imputing to me the
worst motives for every action I may perform?
Here, now, I come to befriend and save you; and
you receive me only with insults!'
`I will put the sincerity of your professions to the
test, sir,' promptly rejoined the other. `If you really
came to befriend me, and have the power, as you
admit, let me go instantly to my father and friends.'
`Why the time has arrived, it strikes me, when I
am under no very particular necessity of being further
dictated,' sneeringly replied the villian, now
throwing off the mask, which he perceived was
serving him but little purpose. `I have a certain
condition to propose, and when you comply with
that, neither you nor your family are longer prisoners.
'
The heart of the wretched girl sunk within her,
but she made no reply.
`You have not forgotten, probably.' resumed the
the other, `our late interview, when I proposed the
fulfilment of a long settled engagement?—Well, if
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you have, I have not, not the manner in which my
overtures were then treated. But notwithstanding
all the scorn and abuse I have received both from you
and your father, I still feel disposed to allow you a
chance to fulfil that engagement, which, as a prisoner,
and in my power, is more than you could reasonably
expect. I am still willing to make you my
legal wife; but it must be done on the spot. I
have a clergyman within call to perform the ceremony.
Will you consent?'
`Never!' replied the indignant and yet unconquered
girl. `What! consent under such circumstances—
under the menaces here held forth,
and the feelings here exhibited?—I would as soon
unite myself to a fiend! consent to such a mockery,
intended only to disguise violence and outrage,
under the sacred rite of marriage? Never!
While death can be my alternative, O, never!'
`But supposing death cannot be your alternative,
you foolish girl?' said the miscreant suitor in a taunting
tone: `You will do well, perhaps, to bear in
mind that your person is already in my power; and
that I am the one to name your alternative. And
I shall name one too, in which I shall be likely to
dispense with the services of the parson.'
“Monster!' exclaimed the aroused maiden, with
an energy which insulted virtue alone could have excited,
`begone with your polluting presence, lest the
thunders of Heaven, which are now angrily rolling
over our heads, strike you to the earth in vengeance
for your meditated villanies!'
With all the innate baseness and disguised effrontery
of his nature, Sherwood could not help quailing
under the withering scorn and almost unearthly
majesty which accompanied this bold rebuke;
-- 160 --
[figure description] Page 160.[end figure description]
and unable to summon the hardihood to proceed
any further at present, he turned towards the door,
muttering as he went,
`Well, we will soon see who is to be balked this
time! Two hours,' he added, pausing at the threshhold
and looking back, without, however, venturing
to raise his eyes to the face of the other, who still
stood fearlessly confronting him,—`just two hours
shall be allowed you to conclude which of the two
alternatives you will embrace, and in making up
your mind, you may as well take into consideration,
that your father attempted the life of my lieutenant,
who will require such an inducement as I alone can
offer him, to make him relinquish his purpose of
revenge.'
After the fisrt glad and grateful sensations of relief,
which came over the feelings of our heroine
on being freed from the dreaded presence of her
relentless persecutor, had passed away, all the moral
energy, that had sustained her through her fearful
trial, forsook her, while, with it, her overstrained
nerves, which so powerful an excitement had braced
for the exigency, gave way; and weak, exhausted
and despairing, she tottored across the room and
throwing herself upon the miserable pallet, yielded
herself up, for a while, to the dread certainties of a
fate, which now even ever-flattering hope could suggest
no way of escaping. For her family she felt no
great apprehonsions of any fate much more severe
then that which usually falls to the lot of ordinary prisoners;
since the present contest, as she was aware,
had so far been conducted, wherever the Indians had
been employed, on altogether different principles
from the preceding wars in this country. And
contenting themselves with plunder, the savages had
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[figure description] Page 161.[end figure description]
generally, on making prisoners, delivered them over
unharmed to their white allies, when such only as
had been found in arms were retained, while the
rest, especially females and the young and aged,
were soon dismissed for their homes. Nor could
she believe that either Darrow or Sherwood really
intended, as they had threatened, to make her father
an exception for an act, which, however hasty it
might have been, had resulted in no injury. But
all these considerations could, in her present peculiar
situation, be of no avail to herself. An immediate
escape, or some sudden rescue, were apparently the
only means of snatching her from the impending
doom. And yet how were either of these to be effected?
Any attempt to get from the house, guarded
as it was by pested sentries, the sound of whose
footsteps frequently reached her ear, she knew would
be utterly useless. Equally futile also must be the
hope of any rescue till long after her fate would be
decided. No other resource, therefore, remained
to her but to face the danger, as terrible as it was
to her, even in the least abhorrent of the alternatives
which had been set before her, and persevere
in the determination she had already announced of
resistance unto death. And she earnestly besought
the great protector of the innocent and injured, to
arm her with strength and fortitude to meet the
coming trial, or interfere, in his mercy, to save her
from its terrors and perils.
While the mind of the almost frantic girl was
thus painfully engrossed, as she was reclining on
the bed with her face buried in the clothes, a noise,
differing from any thing she had before heard, and
proceeding from some point above, but seemingly
neither exactly within nor without the building, had
-- 162 --
[figure description] Page 162.[end figure description]
several times reached her ear. And now it became
too distinct not to attract her particular notice.
Startled, though as yet not seriously alarmed, she
hastily rose, and endeavored to ascertain the nature
of the sounds that had disturbed her. The rain,
which had now for some time been heavily pouring
to the earth,
had extinguished the fire, and, while
utter darkness pervaded the room, nothing was to
be heard but the ceaseless roar of the descending
torrents. At length, however, the noise was repeated.
It appeared to proceed from the flue of the
chimney, down which, it soon became evident, that
something, possessing life and motion, was slowly
and cautiously descending into the room; but
whether it was a man, or wild beast, she was unable
to determine. Presently the mysterious object
seemed to reach the hearth. And, in a short time,
the dark outlines of a seemingly shapeless figure
became discernable to the perplexed, and now thoroughly
frightened maiden. Her excited imagination
instantly took wing, and in the bewilderment of
the moment, the motionless object swelled into a ferocious
monster, preparing to clutch her in his horrid
embrace. A strange feeling of undefined fear
and dread took possession of her bosom, and seemed
to paralyze all her faculties. She tried to speak,
but could utter no sound—to move, but her limbs
refused to do their office; while a peculiar, cold,
curdling sensation, commencing with the crown of
her head, settled over her, converting her whole
system into a helpless, inanimate and frozen mass,
alike incapable of thought and action. At that instant
a vivid flash of lightning lit up the room with
the brightness of the noon-day's sun, and broke the
spell that had so strangely enthralled her senses:
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[figure description] Page 163.[end figure description]
for, equally to her joy and surprise, she beheld, in
the object of her alarm, no other than her faithful
friend Neshobee, who, uncertain whether the room
might not contain some of the enemy as well as his
mistress, whom he knew to be confined here, had
squatted in the fire place, after his descent, with the
view of ascertaining the fact before he should speak
or advance.
`Umph!' uttered the Indian, apparently nearly
as much relieved as his mistress, at the mutual disclosure.
`Missus Alma speak very no loud,' he
continued, in a half whisper, as he glided noiselessly
forward to her side, and laid his hand on her arm
in token of caution. `Them three tory, what stand
for watch, all gone fore side for get out of the rain,
and so no see Neshobee climb up back side and
come down chimney. But Missus talk soft, them
stand close up side, hark um, hear um, catch um
Neshobee.'
`How fares it with my father and the girls—are
they still in the other house, and yet unharmed?'
eagerly whispered Alma.
`All um there. Them tory and Indian all in the
barn when the rain come. Leak down, make um
jump, crowd thick, so no see Neshobee creep away.
Me go back side tother house, peep through crack,
see um there when flash come bright. Cappen
hands all tie tight. Him look sorry. Three tother
girls lay on straw in corner—cry much—all look very
scare.'
`And what is to become of us, Neshobee,' asked
Alma, mournfully, as she brushed away a tear, elicited
by the Indian's brief, but graphic and touching
description of the situation of her friends.
`Neshobee no get in there for help Cappen and
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[figure description] Page 164.[end figure description]
them. But me help Missus Alma up chimney, get
out, and they no hear so long the rain pour hard.'
`No, no, Neshobee, it is impossible,' replied Alma,
after reflecting a moment on the proposal of her
friend, who had run such risks to rescue her. Could
I succeed in getting out upon the house, my light
dress, if nothing else, would betray us to the guards,
and we should both be taken. And even could I
escape, how could I withstand an exposure all night
in the woods to this dreadful storm? No, Neshobee,
leave me to my fate, which will probably be decided
long before you can be the means of our rescue.
But my poor father and the girls you may
perhaps be instrumental in saving. Then go, Neshobee.—
If you succeed in escaping from this place,
proceed directly to our army at Ticonderoga, and
tell them that we are prisoners to Sherwood and
Darrow, with a band of tories and Indians. Tell
Colonel Warrington, or Captain Selden, that father's
life is threatened—that I—O, heavens! but
let my situation be passed over. And should they
send a force to deliver us, as I know they will, you
can guide it to the spot. Now don't hesitate to
leave me, my faithful friend,—to leave me to the care
of Heaven,' she added, laying her hand on the other's
shoulder and gently pushing him towards the
avenue by which he descended into the room. `Don't
delay an instant. Go, and I will ask the blessing
of a good Providence to speed you on your way.'
`Me go,' laconically responded the native, vanishing
from the sight of his mistress in the darkness.
and silently ascending the chimney.
After anxiously listening a few moments to the
cautious egress of her messenger, and satisfying herself
that he had reached the ground, and escaped
-- 165 --
[figure description] Page 165.[end figure description]
undiscovered, the unhappy girl once more returned to her
homely couch,—not there, however, to find repose, or
any alleviation of the woes that so deeply oppressed
her feelings. The distracting apprehensions,
from which her mind had been in some measure diverted
by the presence of her humble friend, now,
on his departure, returned with ten-fold force to her
mind. And a feeling of utter loneliness and desolation
took possession of her desponding bosom.
Conscious that the time set by Sherwood for his return,
to execute one of the dreadful alternatives
with which he had brutally menaced her, was now
nearly at hand, and her feelings becoming, at the
maddening thought, too intense to permit her to remain
longer quiet, she arose, and again took her
station at the little window. The storm cloud still
girt darkly and heavily the whole visible horizon;
and the elements were in fearful commotion. The
howling of the blast, as it swept over the vexed wilderness,
attended by the crash of falling trees, the
deep, but varying roar of the deluging torrents of
wind-driven rain, and loud over all, the terrific peals
of bursting thunder, preceded by flashes of lightning
that seemed to envelope earth and heaven
in a blaze, came mingling on the senses in
awful tumult. And yet the scene, as awful as it
was, and would have been to her under ordinary
circumstances, had no terrors for the wretched captive
now;—nay, as the forked lightnings were leaping
from cloud to cloud, and darting to the earth in
terrific gambols around her, she felt a strange pleasure
in their fearful proximity. And regarding them
as the instruments of Heaven, which might, perhaps,
be commissioned for her deliverance, she often, during
that dreadful hour, under the wild impulses of
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[figure description] Page 166.[end figure description]
maidenly terror and despair, with which the recurring
thoughts of her situation filled her, involuntarily
stretched forth her hand towards the deeply charged
clouds, as if to invoke the fatal shaft to descend,
and snatch her from a doom to which death were a
boon of mercy. But that Heaven to which she was
looking to relieve her thus, had reserved her for
another fate: the storm rolled heavily away, and left
her beauteous form unscathed. The rain at length
ceased; and the lightnings, as they played along the
black parapet of clouds, that lay piled in the east,
shone with less dazzling fierceness, and only to show
the ravages which the tempest had left behind. As
mute and desponding, the lovely captive stood with
her eyes still vacantly riveted on the receding storm,
she, during the continuance of a bright and lingering
flash of lightning, cast her eye obliquely towards
the quarters of her enemies, when she caught a
glimpse of a man picking his way along the half
flooded path leading to her cabin, whom she instantly
recognized to be the dreaded Sherwood. A deadly
sickness came over her, her brain begun to whirl,
and she sunk senseless on the floor.
eaf390v2.n2[2] From original papers, still preserved, written by those, whose
spelling was evidently guided solely by the common pronunciation of
words, it appears that Gen. Reidesel went, to a considerable extent, at
least, by the name of Red Hazle.
-- 167 --
Thompson, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierce), 1795-1868 [1839], The green mountain boys: a historical tale of the early settlement of Vermont, volume 2 (E. P. Walton & Sons, Montpelier) [word count] [eaf390v2].
