George Barr McCutcheon - "The Rose in the Ring"

Edgar Rice Burroughs - "Tarzan the Terrible"

Carolyn Wells - "Vicky Van"

Leo Tolstoy - "What Men Live By and Other Tales"

Wacousta

J >> John Richardson >> Wacousta




The pithy reply to this eloquent attempt at exculpation
was a brief "Silence, sirrah, walk about!"

The men brought their muskets once more, and in silence,
to the shoulder, and, in obedience to the command of
their chief, resumed the limited walk allotted to them;
crossing each other at regular intervals in the semicircular
course that enfiladed, as it were, the only entrance to
the Governor's apartments.

Meanwhile every thing was bustle and commotion among the
garrison, who, roused from sleep by the appalling sound
of the alarm bell at that late hour, were hastily arming.
Throughout the obscurity might be seen the flitting forms
of men, whose already fully accoutred persons proclaimed
them to be of the guard; while in the lofty barracks,
numerous lights flashing to and fro, and moving with
rapidity, attested the alacrity with which the troops
off duty were equipping themselves for some service of
more than ordinary interest. So noiseless, too, was this
preparation, as far as speech was concerned, that the
occasional opening and shutting of pans, and ringing of
ramrods to ascertain the efficiency of the muskets, might
be heard distinctly in the stillness of the night at a
distance of many furlongs.

HE, however, who had touched the secret spring of all
this picturesque movement, whatever might be his
gratification and approval of the promptitude with which
the summons to arms had been answered by his brave troops,
was far from being wholly satisfied with the scene he
had conjured up. Recovered from the first and irrepressible
agitation which had driven him to sound the tocsin of
alarm, he felt how derogatory to his military dignity
and proverbial coolness of character it might be considered,
to have awakened a whole garrison from their slumbers,
when a few files of the guard would have answered his
purpose equally well. Besides, so much time had been
suffered to elapse, that the stranger might have escaped;
and if so, how many might be disposed to ridicule his
alarm, and consider it as emanating from an imagination
disturbed by sleep, rather than caused by the actual
presence of one endowed like themselves with the faculties
of speech and motion. For a moment he hesitated whether
he should not countermand the summons to arms which had
been so precipitately given; but when he recollected the
harrowing threat that had been breathed in his ear by
his midnight visiter,--when he reflected, moreover, that
even now it was probable he was lurking within the
precincts of the fort with a view to the destruction of
all that it contained,--when, in short, he thought of
the imminent danger that must attend them should he be
suffered to escape,--he felt the necessity of precaution,
and determined on his measures, even at the risk of
manifesting a prudence which might be construed
unfavourably. On re-entering his apartments, he found
his orderly, who, roused by the midnight tumult, stood
waiting to receive the commands of his chief.

"Desire Major Blackwater to come to me immediately."

The mandate was quickly obeyed. In a few seconds a short,
thick-set, and elderly officer made his appearance in a
grey military undress frock.

"Blackwater, we have traitors within the fort. Let diligent
search be made in every part of the barracks for a
stranger, an enemy, who has managed to procure admittance
among us: let every nook and cranny, every empty cask,
be examined forthwith; and cause a number of additional
sentinels to be stationed along the ramparts, in order
to intercept his escape."

"Good Heaven, is it possible?" said the Major, wiping
the perspiration from his brows, though the night was
unusually chilly for the season of the year:--" how could
he contrive to enter a place so vigilantly guarded?"

"Ask me not HOW, Blackwater," returned the Governor
seriously; "let it suffice that he has been in this very
room, and that ten minutes since he stood where you now
stand."

The Major looked aghast.--"God bless me, how singular!
How could the savage contrive to obtain admission? or
was he in reality an Indian?"

"No more questions, MAJOR Blackwater. Hasten to distribute
the men, and let diligent search be made every where;
and recollect, neither officer nor man courts his pillow
until dawn."

The "Major" emphatically prefixed to his name was a
sufficient hint to the stout officer that the doubts thus
familiarly expressed were here to cease, and that he was
now addressed in the language of authority by his superior,
who expected a direct and prompt compliance with his
orders. He therefore slightly touched his hat in salutation,
and withdrew to make the dispositions that had been
enjoined by his Colonel.

On regaining the parade, he caused the men, already
forming into companies and answering to the roll-call of
their respective non-commissioned officers, to be wheeled
into square, and then in a low but distinct voice stated
the cause of alarm; and, having communicated the orders
of the Governor, finished by recommending to each the
exercise of the most scrutinising vigilance; as on the
discovery of the individual in question, and the means
by which he had contrived to procure admission, the safety
of the whole garrison, it was evident, must depend.

The soldiers now dispersed in small parties throughout
the interior of the fort, while a select body were
conducted to the ramparts by the officers themselves,
and distributed between the sentinels already posted
there, in such numbers, and at such distances, that it
appeared impossible any thing wearing the human form
could pass them unperceived, even in the obscurity that
reigned around.

When this duty was accomplished, the officers proceeded
to the posts of the several sentinels who had been planted
since the last relief, to ascertain if any or either of
them had observed aught to justify the belief that an
enemy had succeeded in scaling the works. To all their
enquiries, however, they received a negative reply,
accompanied by a declaration, more or less positive with
each, that such had been their vigilance during the watch,
had any person come within their beat, detection must
have been inevitable. The first question was put to the
sentinel stationed at the gate of the fort, at which
point the whole of the officers of the garrison were,
with one or two exceptions, now assembled. The man at
first evinced a good deal of confusion; but this might
arise from the singular fact of the alarm that had been
given, and the equally singular circumstance of his being
thus closely interrogated by the collective body of his
officers: he, however, persisted in declaring that he
had been in no wise inattentive to his duty, and that no
cause for alarm or suspicion had occurred near his post.
The officers then, in order to save time, separated into
two parties, pursuing opposite circuits, and arranging
to meet at that point of the ramparts which was immediately
in the rear, and overlooking the centre of the semicircular
sweep of wild forest we have described as circumventing
the fort.

"Well, Blessington, I know not what you think of this
sort of work," observed Sir Everard Valletort, a young
lieutenant of the ---- regiment, recently arrived from
England, and one of the party who now traversed the
rampart to the right; "but confound me if I would not
rather be a barber's apprentice in London, upon nothing,
and find myself, than continue a life of this kind much
longer. It positively quite knocks me up; for what with
early risings, and watchings (I had almost added prayings),
I am but the shadow of my former self."

"Hist, Valletort, hist! speak lower," said Captain
Blessington, the senior officer present, "or our search
must be in vain. Poor fellow!" he pursued, laughing low
and good humouredly at the picture of miseries thus
solemnly enumerated by his subaltern;--"how much, in
truth, are you to be pitied, who have so recently basked
in all the sunshine of enjoyment at home. For our parts,
we have lived so long amid these savage scenes, that we
have almost forgotten what luxury, or even comfort, means.
Doubt not, my friend, that in time you will, like us, be
reconciled to the change."

"Confound me for an idiot, then, if I give myself time,"
replied Sir Everard affectedly. "It was only five minutes
before that cursed alarm bell was sounded in my ears,
that I had made up my mind fully to resign or exchange
the instant I could do so with credit to myself; and, I
am sure, to be called out of a warm bed at this unseasonable
hour offers little inducement for me to change my opinion."

"Resign or exchange with credit to yourself!" sullenly
observed a stout tall officer of about fifty, whose spleen
might well be accounted for in his rank of "Ensign" Delme.
"Methinks there can be little credit in exchanging or
resigning, when one's companions are left behind, and in
a post of danger."

"By Jasus, and ye may say that with your own pritty
mouth," remarked another veteran, who answered to the
name of Lieutenant Murphy; "for it isn't now, while we
are surrounded and bediviled by the savages, that any
man of the ---- rigimint should be after talking of bating
a retrate."

"I scarcely understand you, gentlemen," warmly and quickly
retorted Sir Everard, who, with all his dandyism and
effeminacy of manner, was of a high and resolute spirit.
"Do either of you fancy that I want courage to face a
positive danger, because I may not happen to have any
particular vulgar predilection for early rising?"

"Nonsense, Valletort, nonsense," interrupted, in accents
of almost feminine sweetness, his friend Lieutenant
Charles de Haldimar, the youngest son of the Governor:
"Murphy is an eternal echo of the opinions of those who
look forward to promotion; and as for Delme--do you not
see the drift of his observation? Should you retire, as
you have threatened, of course another lieutenant will
be appointed in your stead; but, should you chance to
lose your scalp during the struggle with the savages,
the step goes in the regiment, and he, being the senior
ensign, obtains promotion in consequence."

"Ah!" observed Captain Blessington, "this is indeed the
greatest curse attached to the profession of a soldier.
Even among those who most esteem, and are drawn towards
each other as well by fellowship in pleasure as
companionship in danger, this vile and debasing principle
--this insatiable desire for personal advancement--is
certain to intrude itself; since we feel that over the
mangled bodies of our dearest friends and companions, we
can alone hope to attain preferment and distinction."

A moment or two of silence ensued, in the course of which
each individual appeared to be bringing home to his own
heart the application of the remark just uttered; and
which, however they might seek to disguise the truth from
themselves, was too forcible to find contradiction from
the secret monitor within. And yet of those assembled
there was not one, perhaps, who would not, in the hour
of glory and of danger, have generously interposed his
own frame between that of his companion and the steel or
bullet of an enemy. Such are the contradictory elements
which compose a soldier's life.

This conversation, interrupted only by occasional
questioning of the sentinels whom they passed in their
circuit, was carried on in an audible whisper, which the
close approximation of the parties to each other, and
the profound stillness of the night, enabled them to hear
with distinctness.

"Nay, nay, De Haldimar," at length observed Sir Everard,
in reply to the observation of his friend, "do not imagine
I intend to gratify Mr. Delme by any such exhibition as
that of a scalpless head; but, if such be his hope, I
trust that the hour which sees my love-locks dangling at
the top of an Indian pole may also let daylight into his
own carcass from a rifle bullet or a tomahawk."

"And yit, Captin, it sames to me," observed Lieutenant
Murphy, in allusion to the remark of Blessington rather
than in reply to the last speaker,--"it sames to me, I
say, that promotion in ony way is all fair and honourable
in times of hardship like thase; and though we may drop
a tare over our suparior when the luck of war, in the
shape of a tommyhawk, knocks him over, still there can
be no rason why we shouldn't stip into his shoes the viry
nixt instant; and it's that, we all know, that we fight
for. And the divil a bitter chance any man of us all has
of promotion thin yoursilf, Captin: for it'll be mighty
strange if our fat Major doesn't git riddlid like a
cullinder through and through with the bullits from the
Ingians' rifles before we have quite done with this
business, and thin you will have the rigimintal majority,
Captin; and it may be that one Liftinint Murphy, who is
now the sanior of his rank, may come in for the vacant
captincy."

"And Delme for the lieutenancy," said Charles de Haldimar
significantly. "Well, Murphy, I am happy to find that
you, at least, have hit on another than Sir Everard
Valletort: one, in fact, who will render the promotion
more general than it would otherwise have been. Seriously,
I should be sorry if any thing happened to our worthy
Major, who, with all his bustling and grotesque manner,
is as good an officer and as brave a soldier as any his
Majesty's army in Canada can boast. For my part, I say,
perish all promotion for ever, if it is only to be obtained
over the dead bodies of those with whom I have lived so
long and shared so many dangers!"

"Nobly uttered, Charles," said Captain Blessington: "the
sentiment is, indeed, one well worthy of our present
position; and God knows we are few enough in number
already, without looking forward to each other's death
as a means of our own more immediate personal advancement.
With you, therefore, I repeat, perish all my hopes of
promotion, if it is only to be obtained over the corpses
of my companions! And let those who are most sanguine in
their expectations beware lest they prove the first to
be cut off, and that even before they have yet enjoyed
the advantages of the promotion they so eagerly covet."

This observation, uttered without acrimony, had yet enough
of delicate reproach in it to satisfy Lieutenant Murphy
that the speaker was far from approving the expression
of such selfish anticipations at a moment like the present,
when danger, in its most mysterious guise, lurked around,
and threatened the safety of all most dear to them.

The conversation now dropped, and the party pursued their
course in silence. They had just passed the last sentinel
posted in their line of circuit, and were within a few
yards of the immediate rear of the fortress, when a sharp
"Hist!" and sudden halt of their leader, Captain
Blessington, threw them all into an attitude of the most
profound attention.

"Did you hear?" he asked in a subdued whisper, after a
few seconds of silence, in which he had vainly sought to
catch a repetition of the sound.

"Assuredly," he pursued, finding that no one answered,
"I distinctly heard a human groan."

"Where?--in what direction?" asked Sir Everard and De
Haldimar in the same breath.

"Immediately opposite to us on the common. But see, here
are the remainder of the party stationary, and listening
also."

They now stole gently forward a few paces, and were soon
at the side of their companions, all of whom were straining
their necks and bending their heads in the attitude of
men listening attentively.

"Have you heard any thing, Erskine?" asked Captain
Blessington in the same low whisper, and addressing the
officer who led the opposite party.

"Not a sound ourselves, but here is Sir Everard's black
servant, Sambo, who has just riveted our attention, by
declaring that he distinctly heard a groan towards the
skirt of the common."

"He is right," hastily rejoined Blessington; "I heard it
also."

Again a death-like silence ensued, during which the eyes
of the party were strained eagerly in the direction of
the common. The night was clear and starry, yet the dark
shadow of the broad belt of forest threw all that part
of the waste which came within its immediate range into
impenetrable obscurity.

"Do you see any thing?" whispered Valletort to his friend,
who stood next him: "look--look!" and he pointed with
his finger.

"Nothing," returned De Haldimar, after an anxious gaze
of a minute, "but that dilapidated old bomb-proof."

"See you not something dark, and slightly moving immediately
in a line with the left angle of the bomb-proof?"

De Haldimar looked again.--"I do begin to fancy I see
something," he replied; "but so confusedly and indistinctly,
that I know not whether it be not merely an illusion of
my imagination. Perhaps it is a stray Indian dog devouring
the carcass of the wolf you shot yesterday."

"Be it dog or devil, here is for a trial of his
vulnerability.--Sambo, quick, my rifle."

The young negro handed to his master one of those long
heavy rifles, which the Indians usually make choice of
for killing the buffalo, elk, and other animals whose
wildness renders them difficult of approach. He then,
unbidden, and as if tutored to the task, placed himself
in a stiff upright position in front of his master, with
every nerve and muscle braced to the most inflexible
steadiness. The young officer next threw the rifle on
the right shoulder of the boy for a rest, and prepared
to take his aim on the object that had first attracted
his attention.

"Make haste, massa,--him go directly,--Sambo see him
get up."

All was breathless attention among the group of officers;
and when the sharp ticking sound produced by the cocking
of the rifle of their companion fell on their ears, they
bent their gaze upon the point towards which the murderous
weapon was levelled with the most aching and intense
interest.

"Quick, quick, massa,--him quite up," again whispered
the boy.

The words had scarcely passed his lips, when the crack
of the rifle, followed by a bright blaze of light, sounded
throughout the stillness of the night with exciting
sharpness. For an instant all was hushed; but scarcely
had the distant woods ceased to reverberate the
spirit-stirring echoes, when the anxious group of officers
were surprised and startled by a sudden flash, the report
of a second rifle from the common, and the whizzing of
a bullet past their ears. This was instantly succeeded
by a fierce, wild, and prolonged cry, expressive at once
of triumph and revenge. It was that peculiar cry which
an Indian utters when the reeking scalp has been wrested
from his murdered victim.

"Missed him, as I am a sinner," exclaimed Sir Everard,
springing to his feet, and knocking the butt of his rifle
on the ground with a movement of impatience. "Sambo, you
young scoundrel, it was all your fault,--you moved your
shoulder as I pulled the trigger. Thank Heaven, however,
the aim of the Indian appears to have been no better,
although the sharp whistling of his ball proves his piece
to have been well levelled for a random shot."

"His aim has been too true," faintly pronounced the voice
of one somewhat in the rear of his companions. "The ball
of the villain has found a lodgment in my breast. God
bless ye all, my boys; may your fates be more lucky than
mine!" While he yet spoke, Lieutenant Murphy sank into
the arms of Blessington and De Haldimar, who had flown
to him at the first intimation of his wound, and was in
the next instant a corpse.




CHAPTER III.

"To your companies, gentlemen, to your companies on the
instant. There is treason in the fort, and we had need
of all our diligence and caution. Captain de Haldimar is
missing, and the gate has been found unlocked. Quick,
gentlemen, quick; even now the savages may be around us,
though unseen."

"Captain de Haldimar missing!--the gate unlocked!"
exclaimed a number of voices. "Impossible!--surely we
are not betrayed by our own men."

"The sentinel has been relieved, and is now in irons,"
resumed the communicator of this startling piece of
intelligence. It was the adjutant of the regiment.

"Away, gentlemen, to your posts immediately," said Captain
Blessington, who, aided by De Haldimar, hastened to
deposit the stiffening body of the unfortunate Murphy,
which they still supported, upon the rampart. Then
addressing the adjutant, "Mr. Lawson, let a couple of
files be sent immediately to remove the body of their
officer."

"That shot which I heard from the common, as I approached,
was not fired at random, then, I find," observed the
adjutant, as they all now hastily descended to join their
men.--"Who has fallen?"

"Murphy, of the grenadiers," was the reply of one near
him.

"Poor fellow! our work commences badly," resumed Mr.
Lawson: "Murphy killed, and Captain de Haldimar missing.
We had few officers enough to spare before, and their
loss will be severely felt; I greatly fear, too, these
casualties may have a tendency to discourage the men."

"Nothing more easy than to supply their place, by promoting
some of our oldest sergeants," observed Ensign Delme,
who, as well as the ill-fated Murphy, had risen from the
ranks. "If they behave themselves well, the King will
confirm their appointments."

"But my poor brother, what of him, Lawson? what have you
learnt connected with his disappearance?" asked Charles
de Haldimar with deep emotion.

"Nothing satisfactory, I am sorry to say," returned the
adjutant; "in fact, the whole affair is a mystery which
no one can unravel; even at this moment the sentinel,
Frank Halloway, who is strongly suspected of being privy
to his disappearance, is undergoing a private examination
by your father the governor."

"Frank Halloway!" repeated the youth with a start of
astonishment; "surely Halloway could never prove a
traitor,--and especially to my brother, whose life he
once saved at the peril of his own."

The officers had now gained the parade, when the "Fall
in, gentlemen, fall in," quickly pronounced by Major
Blackwater, prevented all further questioning on the part
of the younger De Haldimar.

The scene, though circumscribed in limit, was picturesque
in effect, and might have been happily illustrated by
the pencil of the painter. The immediate area of the
parade was filled with armed men, distributed into three
divisions, and forming, with their respective ranks facing
outwards, as many sides of a hollow square, the mode of
defence invariably adopted by the Governor in all cases
of sudden alarm. The vacant space, which communicated
with the powder magazine, was left open to the movements
of three three-pounders, which were to support each face
in the event of its being broken by numbers. Close to
these, and within the square, stood the number of gunners
necessary to the duty of the field-pieces, each of which
was commanded by a bombardier. At the foot of the ramparts,
outside the square, and immediately opposite to their
several embrasures, were stationed the gunners required
for the batteries, under a non-commissioned officer also,
and the whole under the direction of a superior officer
of that arm, who now walked to and fro, conversing in a
low voice with Major Blackwater. One gunner at each of
these divisions of the artillery held in his hand a
blazing torch, reflecting with picturesque yet gloomy
effect the bright bayonets and equipment of the soldiers,
and the anxious countenances of the women and invalids,
who, bending eagerly through the windows of the surrounding
barracks, appeared to await the issue of these preparations
with an anxiety increased by the very consciousness of
having no other parts than those of spectators to play
in the scene that was momentarily expected.

In a few minutes from the falling in of the officers with
their respective companies, the clank of irons was heard
in the direction of the guard-room, and several forms
were seen slowly advancing into the area already occupied
as we have described. This party was preceded by the
Adjutant Lawson, who, advancing towards Major Blackwater,
communicated a message, that was followed by the command
of the latter officer for the three divisions to face
inwards. The officer of artillery also gave the word to
his men to form lines of single files immediately in the
rear of their respective guns, leaving space enough for
the entrance of the approaching party, which consisted
of half a dozen files of the guard, under a non-commissioned
officer, and one whose manacled limbs, rather than his
unaccoutred uniform, attested him to be not merely a
prisoner, but a prisoner confined for some serious and
flagrant offence.

This party now advanced through the vacant quarter of
the square, and took their stations immediately in the
centre. Here the countenances of each, and particularly
that of the prisoner, who was, if we may so term it, the
centre of that centre, were thrown into strong relief by
the bright glare of the torches as they were occasionally
waved in air, to disencumber them of their dross, so that
the features of the prisoner stood revealed to those
around as plainly as if it had been noonday. Not a sound,
not a murmur, escaped from the ranks: but, though the
etiquette and strict laws of military discipline chained
all speech, the workings of the inward mind remained
unchecked; and as they recognised in the prisoner Frank
Halloway, one of the bravest and boldest in the field,
and, as all had hitherto imagined, one of the most devoted
to his duty, an irrepressible thrill of amazement and
dismay crept throughout the frames, and for a moment
blanched the cheeks of those especially who belonged to
the same company. On being summoned from their fruitless
search after the stranger, to fall in without delay, it
had been whispered among the men that treason had crept
into the fort, and a traitor, partly detected in his
crime, had been arrested and thrown into irons; but the
idea of Frank Halloway being that traitor was the last
that could have entered into their thoughts, and yet they
now beheld him covered with every mark of ignominy, and
about to answer his high offence, in all human probability,
with his life.

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