Unknown - "Catalan's Constant to 1,500,000 Places"

Tommaso Campanells - "The City of the Sun"

Edgar B. P. Darlington - "The Circus Boys On the Mississippi"

Washington Irving - "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

Wacousta

J >> John Richardson >> Wacousta




The Indian pressed her lips to the ear of her companion,
and rather breathed than said,--"The Saganaw will see
and hear every thing from this in safety; and what he
hears let him treasure in his heart. Oucanasta must go.
When the council is over she will return, and lead him
back to his warriors."

With this brief intimation she departed, and so noiselessly,
that the young officer was not aware of her absence until
some minutes of silence had satisfied him she must be
gone. His first care then was to survey, through the
aperture that lay in a level with his eye, the character
of the scene before him. The small plain, in which lay
the encampment of the Indians, was a sort of oasis of
the forest, girt round with a rude belt of underwood,
and somewhat elevated, so as to present the appearance
of a mound, constructed on the first principles of art.
This was thickly although irregularly studded with tents,
some of which were formed of large coarse mats thrown
over poles disposed in a conical shape, while others were
more rudely composed of the leafy branches of the forest.

Within these groups of human forms lay, wrapped in their
blankets, stretched at their lazy length. Others, with
their feet placed close to the dying embers of their
fires, diverged like so many radii from their centre,
and lay motionless in sleep, as if life and consciousness
were wholly extinct. Here and there was to be seen a
solitary warrior securing, with admirable neatness, and
with delicate ligatures formed of the sinew of the deer,
the guiding feather, or fashioning the bony barb of his
long arrow; while others, with the same warlike spirit
in view, employed themselves in cutting and greasing
small patches of smoked deerskin, which were to secure
and give a more certain direction to the murderous bullet.
Among the warriors were interspersed many women, some of
whom might be seen supporting in their laps the heavy
heads of their unconscious helpmates, while they occupied
themselves, by the firelight, in parting the long black
matted hair, and maintaining a destructive warfare against
the pigmy inhabitants of that dark region. These signs
of life and activity in the body of the camp generally
were, however, but few and occasional; but, at the spot
where Captain de Haldimar stood concealed, the scene was
different. At a few yards from the tree stood a sort of
shed, composed of tall poles placed upright in the earth,
and supporting a roof formed simply of rude boughs, the
foliage of which had been withered by time. This simple
edifice might be about fifty feet in circumference. In
the centre blazed a large fire that had been newly fed,
and around this were assembled a band of swarthy warriors,
some twenty or thirty in number, who, by their proud,
calm, and thoughtful bearing, might at once be known to
be chiefs.

The faces of most of these were familiar to the young
officer, who speedily recognised them for the principals
of the various tribes Ponteac had leagued in arms against
his enemies. That chief himself, ever remarkable for
his haughty eye and commanding gesture, was of the number
of those present; and, a little aloof from his inferiors,
sat, with his feet stretched towards the fire, and half
reclining on his side in an attitude of indolence; yet
with his mind evidently engrossed by deep and absorbing
thought. From some observations that distinctly met his
ear, Captain de Haldimar gathered, the party were only
awaiting the arrival of an important character, without
whose presence the leading chief was unwilling the
conference should begin. The period of the officer's
concealment had just been long enough to enable him to
fix all these particulars in his mind, when suddenly the
faint report of a distant rifle was heard echoing throughout
the wood. This was instantly succeeded by a second, that
sounded more sharply on the ear; and then followed a long
and piercing cry, that brought every warrior, even of
those who slept, quickly to his feet.

An anxious interval of some minutes passed away in the
fixed and listening attitudes, which the chiefs especially
had assumed, when a noise resembling that of some animal
forcing its way rapidly through the rustling branches,
was faintly heard in the direction in which the shots
had been fired. This gradually increased as it evidently
approached the encampment, and then, distinctly, could
be heard the light yet unguarded boundings of a human
foot. At every moment the rustling of the underwood,
rapidly divided by the approaching form, became more
audible; and so closely did the intruder press upon the
point in which Captain de Haldimar was concealed, that
that officer, fancying he had been betrayed, turned
hastily round, and, grasping one of the pistols he had
secreted in his chest, prepared himself for a last and
deadly encounter. An instant or two was sufficient to
re-assure him. The form glided hastily past, brushing
the tree with its garments in its course, and clearing,
at a single bound, the belt of underwood that divided
the encampment from the tall forest, stood suddenly among
the group of anxious and expectant chiefs.

This individual, a man of tall stature, was powerfully
made. He wore a jerkin, or hunting-coat, of leather; and
his arms were, a rifle which had every appearance of
having just been discharged, a tomahawk reeking with
blood, and a scalping-knife, which, in the hurry of some
recent service it had been made to perform, had missed
its sheath, and was thrust naked into the belt that
encircled his loins. His countenance wore an expression
of malignant triumph; and as his eye fell on the assembled
throng, its self-satisfied and exulting glance seemed to
give them to understand he came not without credentials
to recommend him to their notice. Captain de Haldimar
was particularly struck by the air of bold daring and
almost insolent recklessness pervading every movement of
this man; and it was difficult to say whether the
haughtiness of bearing peculiar to Ponteac himself, was
not exceeded by that of this herculean warrior.

By the body of chiefs his appearance had been greeted
with a mere general grunt of approbation; but the
countenance of the leader expressed a more personal
interest. All seemed to expect he had something of moment
to communicate; but as it was not consistent with the
dignity of Indian etiquette to enquire, they waited calmly
until it should please their new associate to enter on
the history of his exploits. In pursuance of an invitation
from Ponteac, he now took his seat on the right hand of
that chief, and immediately facing the tree, from which
Captain de Haldimar, strongly excited both by the reports
of the shots that had been fired, and the sight of the
bloody tomahawk of the recently arrived Indian, gazed
earnestly and anxiously on the swarthy throng.

Glancing once more triumphantly round the circle, who
sat smoking their pipes in calm and deliberative silence,
the latter now observed the eye of a young chief, who
sat opposite to him, intently riveted on his left shoulder.
He raised his hand to the part, withdrew it, looked at
it, and found it wet with blood. A slight start of surprise
betrayed his own unconsciousness of the accident; yet,
secretly vexed at the discovery which had been made, and
urged probably by one of his wayward fits, he demanded
haughtily and insultingly of the young chief, if that
was the first time he had ever looked on the blood of a
warrior.

"Does my brother feel pain?" was the taunting reply. "If
he is come to us with a trophy, it is not without being
dearly bought. The Saganaw has spilt his blood."

"The weapons of the Saganaw, like those of the smooth
face of the Ottawa, are without sting," angrily retorted
the other. "They only prick the skin like a thorn; but
when Wacousta drinks the blood of his enemy," and he
glanced his eye fiercely at the young man, "it is the
blood next his heart."

"My brother has always big words upon his lips," returned
the young chief, with a scornful sneer at the implied
threat against himself. "But where are his proofs?"

For a moment the eye of the party thus challenged kindled
into flame, while his lips were firmly compressed together;
and as he half bent himself forward, to scan with greater
earnestness the features of his questioner, his right
hand sank to his left side, tightly grasping the handle
of his scalping-knife. The action was but momentary.
Again he drew himself up, puffed the smoke deliberately
from his bloody tomahawk, and, thrusting his right hand
into his bosom, drew leisurely forth a reeking scalp,
which he tossed insolently across the fire into the lap
of the young chief. A loud and general "ugh!" testified
the approbation of the assembled group, at the unequivocal
answer thus given to the demand of the youth. The eye
of the huge warrior sparkled with a deep and ferocious
exultation.

"What says the smooth face of the Ottawas now?" he
demanded, in the same insolent strain. "Does it make his
heart sick to look upon the scalp of a great chief?"

The young man quietly turned the horrid trophy over
several times in his hand, examining it attentively in
every part. Then tossing it back with contemptuous coolness
to its owner, he replied,--

"The eyes of my brother are weak with age. He is not
cunning, like a red skin. The Ottawa has often seen the
Saganaw in their fort, and he knows their chiefs have
fine hair like women; but this is like the bristles of
the fox. My brother has not slain a great chief, but a
common warrior."

A flush of irrepressible and threatening anger passed
over the features of the vast savage.

"Is it for a boy," he fiercely asked, "whose eyes know
not yet the colour of blood, to judge of the enemies that
fall by the tomahawk of Wacousta? but a great warrior
never boasts of actions that he does not achieve. It is
the son of the great chief of the Saganaw whom he has
slain. If the smooth face doubts it, and has courage to
venture, even at night, within a hundred yards of the
fort, he will see a Saganaw without a scalp; and he will
know that Saganaw by his dress--the dress," he pursued,
with a low emphatic laugh, "that Oucanasta, the sister
of the smooth face, loved so much to look upon."

Quicker than thought was the upspringing of the young
Indian to his feet. With a cheek glowing, an eye flashing,
and his gleaming tomahawk whirling rapidly round his
head, he cleared at a single bound the fire that separated
him from his insulter. The formidable man who had thus
wantonly provoked the attack, was equally prompt in
meeting it. At the first movement of the youth, he too
had leapt to his feet, and brandished the terrible weapon
that served in the double capacity of pipe and hatchet.
A fierce yell escaped the lips of each, as they thus met
in close and hostile collision, and the scene for the
moment promised to be one of the most tragic character;
but before either could find an assailable point on which
to rest his formidable weapon, Ponteac himself had thrown
his person between them, and in a voice of thunder
commanded the instant abandonment of their purpose.
Exasperated even as they now mutually were, the influence
of that authority, for which the great chief of the
Ottawas was well known, was not without due effect on
the combatants. His anger was principally directed against
the assailant, on whom the tones of his reproving voice
produced a change the intimidation of his powerful opponent
could never have effected. The young chief dropped the
point of his tomahawk, bowed his head in submission, and
then resuming his seat, sat during the remainder of the
night with his arms folded, and his head bent in silence
over his chest.

"Our brother has done well," said Ponteac, glancing
approvingly at him who had exhibited the reeking trophy,
and whom he evidently favoured. "He is a great chief,
and his words are truth. We heard the report of his rifle,
and we also heard the cry that told he had borne away
the scalp of an enemy. But we will think of this to-morrow.
Let us now commence our talk."

Our readers will readily imagine the feelings of Captain
de Haldimar during this short but exciting scene. From
the account given by the warrior, there could be no doubt
the murdered man was the unhappy Donellan; who, probably,
neglecting the caution given him, had exposed himself to
the murderous aim of this fierce being, who was apparently
a scout sent for the purpose of watching the movements
of the garrison. The direction of the firing, the allusion
made to the regimentals, nay, the scalp itself, which he
knew from the short crop to be that of a soldier, and
fancied he recognised from its colour to be that of his
servant, formed but too conclusive evidence of the fact;
and, bitterly and deeply, as he gazed on this melancholy
proof of the man's sacrifice of life to his interest,
did he repent that he had made him the companion of his
adventure, or that, having done so, he had not either
brought him away altogether, or sent him instantly back
to the fort. Commiseration for the fate of the unfortunate
Donellan naturally induced a spirit of personal hostility
towards his destroyer; and it was with feelings strongly
excited in favour of him whom he now discovered to be
the brother of his guide, that he saw him spring fiercely
to the attack of his gigantic opponent. There was an
activity about the young chief amply commensurate with
the greater physical power of his adversary; while the
manner in which he wielded his tomahawk, proved him to
be any thing but the novice in the use of the formidable
weapon the other had represented him. It was with a
feeling of disappointment, therefore, which the peculiarity
of his own position could not overcome, he saw Ponteac
interpose himself between the parties.

Presently, however, a subject of deeper and more absorbing
interest than even the fate of his unhappy follower
engrossed every faculty of his mind, and riveted both
eye and ear in painful tension to the aperture in his
hiding-place. The chiefs had resumed their places, and
the silence of a few minutes had succeeded to the fierce
affray of the warriors, when Ponteac, in a calm and
deliberate voice, proceeded to state he had summoned all
the heads of the nations together, to hear a plan he had
to offer for the reduction of the last remaining forts
of their enemies, Michilimackinac and Detroit. He pointed
out the tediousness of the warfare in which they were
engaged; the desertion of the hunting-grounds by their
warriors; and their consequent deficiency in all those
articles of European traffic which they were formerly in
the habit of receiving in exchange for their furs. He
dwelt on the beneficial results that would accrue to them
all in the event of the reduction of those two important
fortresses; since, in that case, they would be enabled
to make such terms with the English as would secure to
them considerable advantages; while, instead of being
treated with the indignity of a conquered people, they
would be enabled to command respect from the imposing
attitude this final crowning of their successes would
enable them to assume. He stated that the prudence and
vigilance of the commanders of these two unreduced
fortresses were likely long to baffle, as had hitherto
been the case, every open attempt at their capture; and
admitted he had little expectation of terrifying them
into a surrender by the same artifice that had succeeded
with the forts on the Ohio and the lower lakes. The plan,
however, which he had to propose, was one he felt assured
would be attended with success. He would disclose that
plan, and the great chiefs should give it the advantage
of their deliberation.

Captain de Haldimar was on the rack. The chief had
gradually dropped his voice as he explained his plan,
until at length it became so low, that undistinguishable
sounds alone reached the ear of the excited officer. For
a moment he despaired of making himself fully master of
the important secret; but in the course of the deliberation
that ensued, the blanks left unsupplied in the discourse
of the leader were abundantly filled up. It was what the
reader has already seen. The necessities of the Indians
were to be urged as a motive for their being tired of
hostilities. A peace was to be solicited; a council held;
a ball-playing among the warriors proposed, as a mark of
their own sincerity and confidence during that council;
and when the garrison, lulled into security, should be
thrown entirely off their guard, the warriors were to
seize their guns and tomahawks, with which (the former
cut short, for the better concealment of their purpose)
their women would be provided, rush in, under pretext of
regaining their lost ball, when a universal massacre of
men, women, and children was to ensue, until nothing
wearing the garb of a Saganaw should be left.

It would be tedious to follow the chief through all the
minor ramifications of his subtle plan. Suffice it they
were of a nature to throw the most wary off his guard;
and so admirably arranged was every part, so certain did
it appear their enemies must give into the snare, that
the oldest chiefs testified their approbation with a
vivacity of manner and expression little wont to
characterize the deliberative meetings of these reserved
people. But deepest of all was the approval of the tall
warrior who had so recently arrived. To him had the
discourse of the leader been principally directed, as
one whose counsel and experience were especially wanting
to confirm him in his purpose. He was the last who spoke;
but, when he did, it was with a force--an energy--that
must have sunk every objection, even if the plan had not
been so perfect and unexceptionable in its concoction as
to have precluded a possibility of all negative argument.
During the delivery of his animated speech, his swarthy
countenance kindled into fierce and rapidly varying
expression. A thousand dark and complicated passions
evidently struggled at his heart; and as he dwelt leisurely
and emphatically on the sacrifice of human life that must
inevitably attend the adoption of the proposed measure,
his eye grew larger, his chest expanded, nay, his very
nostril appeared to dilate with unfathomably guileful
exultation. Captain de Haldimar thought he had never
gazed on any thing wearing the human shape half so
atrociously savage.

Long before the council was terminated, the inferior
warriors, who had been so suddenly aroused from their
slumbering attitudes, had again retired to their tents,
and stretched their lazy length before the embers of
their fires. The weary chiefs now prepared to follow
their example. They emptied the ashes from the bowls of
their pipe-tomahawks, replaced them carefully at their
side, rose, and retired to their respective tents. Ponteac
and the tall warrior alone remained. For a time they
conversed earnestly together. The former listened
attentively to some observations made to him by his
companion, in the course of which, the words "chief of
the Saganaw--fort--spy--enemy," and two or three others
equally unconnected, were alone audible to the ear of
him who so attentively sought to catch the slightest
sound. He then thrust his hand under his hunting-coat,
and, as if in confirmation of what he had been stating,
exhibited a coil of rope and the glossy boot of an English
officer. Ponteac uttered one of his sharp ejaculating
"ughs!" and then rising quickly from his seat, followed
by his companion, soon disappeared in the heart of the
encampment.




CHAPTER VIII.

How shall we attempt to paint all that passed through
the mind of Captain de Haldimar during this important
conference of the fierce chiefs?--where find language to
convey the cold and thrilling horror with which he listened
to the calm discussion of a plan, the object of which
was the massacre, not only of a host of beings endeared
to him by long communionship of service, but of those
who were wedded to his heart by the dearer ties of
affection and kindred? As Ponteac had justly observed,
the English garrisons, strong in their own defences, were
little likely to be speedily reduced, while their enemies
confined themselves to overt acts of hostility; but,
against their insidious professions of amity who could
oppose a sufficient caution? His father, the young officer
was aware, had all along manifested a spirit of conciliation
towards the Indians, which, if followed up by the government
generally, must have had the effect of preventing the
cruel and sanguinary war that had so recently desolated
this remote part of the British possessions. How likely,
therefore, was it, having this object always in view, he
should give in to the present wily stratagem, where such
plausible motives for the abandonment of their hostile
purpose were urged by the perfidious chiefs! From the
few hasty hints already given him by his guide,--that
kind being, who evidently sought to be the saviour of
the devoted garrisons,--he had gathered that a deep and
artful plan was to be submitted to the chiefs by their
leader; but little did he imagine it was of the finished
nature it now proved to be. Any other than the present
attempt, the vigilance and prudence of his experienced
father, he felt, would have rendered abortive; but there
was so much speciousness in the pleas that were to be
advanced in furtherance of their assumed object, he could
not but admit the almost certainty of their influence,
even on him.

Sick and discouraged as he was at the horrible perspective
thus forced on his mental view, the young officer had
not, for some moments, presence of mind to reflect that
the danger of the garrison existed only so long as he
should be absent from it. At length, however, the cheering
recollection came, and with it the mantling rush of blood,
to his faint heart. But, short was the consoling hope:
again he felt dismay in every fibre of his frame; for he
now reflected, that although his opportune discovery of
the meditated scheme would save one fort, there was no
guardian angel to extend, as in this instance, its
protecting influence to the other; and within that other
there breathed those who were dearer far to him than his
own existence;--beings, whose lives were far more precious
to him than any even in the garrison of which he was a
member. His sister Clara, whom he loved with a love little
inferior to that of his younger brother; and one, even
more dearly loved than Clara,--Madeline de Haldimar, his
cousin and affianced bride,--were both inmates of
Michilimackinac, which was commanded by the father of
the latter, a major in the ---- regiment. With Madeline
de Haldimar he had long since exchanged his vows of
affection; and their nuptials, which were to have taken
place about the period when the present war broke out,
had only been suspended because all communication between
the two posts had been entirely cut off by the enemy.

Captain de Haldimar had none of the natural weakness and
timidity of character which belonged to the gentler and
more sensitive Charles. Sanguine and full of enterprise,
he seldom met evils half way; but when they did come, he
sought to master them by the firmness and collectedness
with which he opposed his mind to their infliction. If
his heart was now racked with the most acute suffering--his
reason incapacitated from exercising its calm deliberative
power, the seeming contradiction arose not from any
deficiency in his character, but was attributable wholly
to the extraordinary circumstances of the moment.

It was a part of the profound plan of the Ottawa chief,
that it should be essayed on the two forts on the same
day; and it was a suggestion of the murderer of poor
Donellan, that a parley should be obtained, through the
medium of a white flag, the nature of which he explained
to them, as it was understood among their enemies. If
invited to the council, then they were to enter, or not,
as circumstances might induce; but, in any case, they
were to go unprovided with the pipe of peace, since this
could not be smoked without violating every thing held
most sacred among themselves. The red, or war-pipe, was
to be substituted as if by accident; and, for the success
of the deception, they were to presume on the ignorance
of their enemies. This, however, was not important, since
the period of their first parley was to be the moment
chosen for the arrangement of a future council, and the
proposal of a ball-playing upon the common. Three days
were to be named as the interval between the first
conference of Ponteac with the governor and the definitive
council which was to ensue; during which, however, it
was so arranged, that, before the lip of a red skin should
touch the pipe of peace, the ball-players should rush in
and massacre the unprepared soldiery, while the chiefs
despatched the officers in council.

It was the proximity of the period allotted for the
execution of their cruel scheme that mainly contributed
to the dismay of Captain de Haldimar. The very next day
was appointed for carrying into effect the first part of
the Indian plan: and how was it possible that a messenger,
even admitting he should elude the vigilance of the enemy,
could reach the distant post of Michilimackinac within
the short period on which hung the destiny of that devoted
fortress. In the midst of the confused and distracting
images that now crowded on his brain, came at length one
thought, redolent with the brightest colourings of hope.
On his return to the garrison, the treachery of the
Indians being made known, the governor might so far, and
with a view of gaining time, give in to the plan of his
enemies, as to obtain such delay as would afford the
chance of communication between the forts. The attempt,
on the part of those who should be selected for this
purpose, would, it is true, be a desperate one: still
it must be made; and, with such incentives to exertion
as he had, how willingly would he propose his own services!

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