The week that intervened between the visit of the chiefs and the day
appointed for their second meeting in council, was passed by the
garrison in perfect freedom from alarm, although, as usual, in diligent
watchfulness and preparations for casualties. In conformity with his
promise, the Indian had despatched many of the Canadian settlers, with
such provisions as the country then afforded, to the governor, and
these, happy to obtain the gold of the troops in return for what they
could conveniently spare, were not slow in availing themselves of the
permission. Dried bears' meat, venison, and Indian corn, composed the
substance of these supplies, which were in sufficient abundance to
produce a six weeks' increase to the stock of the garrison. Hitherto
they had been subsisting, in a great degree, upon salt provisions; the
food furtively supplied by the Canadians being necessarily, from their
dread of detection, on so limited a scale, that a very small portion of
the troops had been enabled to profit by it. This, therefore, was an
important and unexpected benefit, derived from the falling in of the
garrison with the professed views of the savages; and one which,
perhaps, few officers would, like Colonel de Haldimar, have possessed
the forethought to have secured. But although it served to relieve the
animal wants of the man, there was little to remove his moral
inquietude. Discouraged by the sanguinary character of the warfare in
which they seemed doomed to be for ever engaged, and harassed by
constant watchings,--seldom taking off their clothes for weeks
together,--the men had gradually been losing their energy of spirit, in
the contemplation of the almost irremediable evils by which they were
beset; and looked forward with sad and disheartening conviction to a
fate, that all things tended to prove to them was unavoidable, however
the period of its consummation might be protracted. Among the officers,
this dejection, although proceeding from a different cause, was no less
prevalent; and notwithstanding they sought to disguise it before their
men, when left to themselves, they gave unlimited rein to a despondency
hourly acquiring strength, as the day fixed on for the second council
with the Indians drew near.
At length it came, that terrible and eventful day, and, as if in
mockery of those who saw no beauty in its golden beams, arrayed in all
the gorgeous softness of its autumnal glory. Sad and heavy were the
hearts of many within that far distant and isolated fort, as they rose,
at the first glimmering of light above the horizon, to prepare for the
several duties assigned them. All felt the influence of a feeling that
laid prostrate the moral energies even of the boldest: but there was
one young officer in particular, who exhibited a dejection,
degenerating almost into stupefaction; and more than once, when he
received an order from his superior, hesitated as one who either heard
not, or, in attempting to perform it, mistook the purport of his
instructions, and executed some entirely different duty. The
countenance of this officer, whose attenuated person otherwise bore
traces of languor and debility, but too plainly marked the
abstractedness and terror of his mind, while the set stiff features and
contracted muscles of the face contributed to give an expression of
vacuity, that one who knew him not might have interpreted unfavourably.
Several times, during the inspection of his company at the early
parade, he was seen to raise his head, and throw forward his ear, as if
expecting to catch the echo of some horrible and appalling cry, until
the men themselves remarked, and commented, by interchange of looks, on
the singular conduct of their officer, whose thoughts had evidently no
connection with the duty he was performing, or the spot on which he
stood.
When this customary inspection had been accomplished,--how imperfectly,
has been seen,--and the men dismissed from their ranks, the same young
officer was observed, by one who followed his every movement with
interest, to ascend that part of the rampart which commanded an
unbroken view of the country westward, from the point where the
encampment of the Indians was supposed to lie, down to the bridge on
which the terrible tragedy of Halloway's death had been so recently
enacted. Unconscious of the presence of two sentinels, who moved to and
fro near their respective posts, on either side of him, the young
officer folded his arms, and gazed in that direction for some minutes,
with his whole soul riveted on the scene. Then, as if overcome by
recollections called up by that on which he gazed, he covered his eyes
hurriedly with his hands, and betrayed, by the convulsed movement of
his slender form, he was weeping bitterly. This paroxysm past, he
uncovered his face, sank with one knee upon the ground, and upraising
his clasped hands, as if in appeal to his God, seemed to pray deeply
and fervently. In this attitude he continued for some moments, when he
became sensible of the approach of an intruder. He raised himself from
his knee, turned, and beheld one whose countenance was stamped with a
dejection scarcely inferior to his own. It was Captain Blessington.
"Charles, my dear Charles!" exclaimed the latter hurriedly, as he laid
his hand upon the shoulder of the emaciated De Haldimar, "consider you
are not alone. For God's sake, check this weakness! There are men
observing you on every side, and your strange manner has already been
the subject of remark in the company."
"When the heart is sick, like mine," replied the youth, in a tone of
fearful despondency, "it is alike reckless of forms, and careless of
appearances. I trust, however," and here spoke the soldier, "there are
few within this fort who will believe me less courageous, because I
have been seen to bend my knee in supplication to my God. I did not
think that YOU, Blessington, would have been the first to condemn the
act."
"I condemn it, Charles! you mistake me, indeed you do," feelingly
returned his captain, secretly pained at the mild reproach contained in
the concluding sentence; "but there are two things to be considered. In
the first instance, the men, who are yet in ignorance of the great
evils with which we are threatened, may mistake the cause of your
agitation; you were in tears just now, Charles, and the sentinels must
have remarked it as well as myself. I would not have them to believe
that one of their officers was affected by the anticipation of coming
disaster, in a way their own hearts are incapable of estimating. You
understand me, Charles? I would not have them too much discouraged by
an example that may become infectious."
"I DO understand you, Blessington," and a forced and sickly smile
played for a moment over the wan yet handsome features of the young
officer; "you would not have me appear a weeping coward in their eyes."
"Nay, dear Charles, I did not say it."
"But you meant it, Blessington; yet, think not,"--and he warmly pressed
the hand of his captain,--"think not, I repeat, I take your hint in any
other than the friendly light in which it was intended. That I have
been no coward, however, I hope I have given proof more than once
before the men, most of whom have known me from my very cradle; yet,
whatever they may think, is to me, at this moment, a matter of utter
indifference. Blessington," and again the tears rolled from his fixed
eyes over his cheek, while he pointed with his finger to the western
horizon, "I have neither thought nor feeling for myself; my whole heart
lies buried there. Oh, God of Heaven!" he pursued after a pause, and
again raising his eyes in supplication, "avert the dreadful destiny
that awaits my beloved sister."
"Charles, Charles, if only for that sister's sake, then, calm an
agitation which, if thus indulged in, will assuredly destroy you. All
will yet be well. The delay obtained by your father has been sufficient
for the purpose proposed. Let us hope for the best: if we are deceived
in our expectation, it will then be time enough to indulge in a grief,
which could scarcely be exceeded, were the fearful misgivings of your
mind to be realised before your eyes."
"Blessington," returned the young officer,--and his features exhibited
the liveliest image of despair,--"all hope has long since been extinct
within my breast. See you yon theatre of death?" he mournfully pursued,
pointing to the fatal bridge, which was thrown into full relief against
the placid bosom of the Detroit: "recollect you the scene that was
acted on it? As for me, it is ever present to my mind,--it haunts me in
my thoughts by day, and in my dreams by night. I shall never forget it
while memory is left to curse me with the power of retrospection. On
the very spot on which I now stand was I borne in a chair, to witness
the dreadful punishment; you see the stone at my feet, I marked it by
that. I saw you conduct Halloway to the centre of the bridge; I beheld
him kneel to receive his death; I saw, too, the terrible race for life,
that interrupted the proceedings; I marked the sudden upspring of
Halloway to his feet upon the coffin, and the exulting waving of his
hand, as he seemed to recognise the rivals for mastery in that race.
Then was heard the fatal volley, and I saw the death-struggle of him
who had saved my brother's life. I could have died, too, at that
moment; and would to Providence I had! but it was otherwise decreed. My
aching interest was, for a moment, diverted by the fearful chase now
renewed upon the height; and, in common with those around me, I watched
the efforts of the pursuer and the pursued with painful earnestness and
doubt as to the final result. Ah, Blessington, why was not this all?
The terrible shriek, uttered at the moment when the fugitive fell,
apparently dead, at the feet of the firing party, reached us even here.
I felt as if my heart must have burst, for I knew it to be the shriek
of poor Ellen Halloway,--the suffering wife,--the broken-hearted woman
who had so recently, in all the wild abandonment of her grief, wetted
my pillow, and even my cheek, with her burning tears, while
supplicating an intercession with my father for mercy, which I knew it
would be utterly fruitless to promise. Oh, Blessington," pursued the
sensitive and affectionate young officer, "I should vainly attempt to
paint all that passed in my mind at that dreadful moment. Nothing but
the depth of my despair gave me strength to support the scene
throughout. I saw the frantic and half-naked woman glide like a phantom
past the troops, dividing the air with the rapidity of thought. I knew
it to be Ellen; for the discovery of her exchange of clothes with one
of the drum boys of the grenadiers was made soon after you left the
fort. I saw her leap upon the coffin, and, standing over the body of
her unhappy husband, raise her hands to heaven in adjuration, and my
heart died within me. I recollected the words she had spoken on a
previous occasion, during the first examination of Halloway, and I felt
it to be the prophetic denunciation, then threatened, that she was now
uttering on all the race of De Haldimar. I saw no more, Blessington.
Sick, dizzy, and with every faculty of my mind annihilated, I turned
away from the horrid scene, and was again borne to my room. I tried to
give vent to my overcharged heart in tears; but the power was denied
me, and I sank at once into that stupefaction which you have since
remarked in me, and which has been increasing every hour. What
additional cause I have had for the indulgence of this confirmed
despondency you are well acquainted with. It is childish, it is
unsoldierlike, I admit: but, alas! that dreadful scene is eternally
before my eyes, and absorbs my mind, to the exclusion of every other
feeling. I have not a thought or a care but for the fate that too
certainly awaits those who are most dear to me; and if this be a
weakness, it is one I shall never have the power to shake off. In a
word, Blessington, I am heart-broken."
Captain Blessington was deeply affected; for there was a solemnity in
the voice and manner of the young officer that carried conviction to
the heart; and it was some moments before he could so far recover
himself as to observe,--
"That scene, Charles, was doubtless a heart-rending one to us all; for
I well recollect, on turning to remark the impression made on my men
when the wretched Ellen Halloway pronounced her appalling curse to have
seen the large tears coursing each other over the furrowed cheeks of
some of our oldest soldiers: and if THEY could feel thus, how much more
acute must have been the grief of those immediately interested in its
application!"
"THEIR tears were not for the denounced race of De Haldimar," returned
the youth,--"they were shed for their unhappy comrade--they were wrung
from their stubborn hearts by the agonising grief of the wife of
Halloway."
"That this was the case in part, I admit," returned Captain
Blessington. "The feelings of the men partook of a mixed character. It
was evident that grief for Halloway, compassion for his wife, secret
indignation and, it may be, disgust at the severity of your father, and
sorrow for his innocent family, who were included in that denunciation,
predominated with equal force in their hearts at the same moment. There
was an expression that told how little they would have pitied any
anguish of mind inflicted on their colonel, provided his children, whom
they loved, were not to be sacrificed to its accomplishment."
"You admit, then, Blessington, although indirectly," replied the young
De Haldimar in a voice of touching sorrow, "that the consummation of
the sacrifice IS to be looked for. Alas! it is that on which my mind
perpetually lingers; yet, Heaven knows, my fears are not for myself."
"You mistake me, dearest Charles. I look upon the observations of the
unhappy woman as the ravings of a distracted mind--the last wild
outpourings of a broken heart, turning with animal instinct on the hand
that has inflicted its death-blow."
"Ah, why did she except no one member of that family!" said the unhappy
De Haldimar, pursuing rather the chain of his reflections than replying
to the observation of his captain. "Had the weight of her malediction
fallen on all else than my adored sister, I could have borne the
infliction, and awaited the issue with resignation, if not without
apprehension. But my poor gentle and unoffending Clara,--alike innocent
of the cause, and ignorant of the effect,--what had she done to be
included in this terrible curse?--she, who, in the warm and generous
affection of her nature, had ever treated Ellen Halloway rather as a
sister than as the dependant she always appeared." Again he covered his
eyes with his hands, to conceal the starting tears.
"De Haldimar," said Captain Blessington reprovingly, but mildly, "this
immoderate grief is wrong--it is unmanly, and should be repressed. I
can feel and understand the nature of your sorrow; but others may not
judge so favourably. We shall soon be summoned to fall in; and I would
not that Mr. Delme, in particular, should notice an emotion he is so
incapable of understanding."
The hand of the young officer dropped from his face to the hilt of his
sword. His cheek became scarlet; and even through the tears which he
half choked himself to command, there was an unwonted flashing from his
blue eye, that told how deeply the insinuation had entered into his
heart.
"Think you, Captain Blessington," he proudly retorted, "there is an
officer in the fort who should dare to taunt me with my feelings as you
have done? I came here, sir, in the expectation I should be alone. At a
fitting hour I shall be found where Captain Blessington's subaltern
should be--with his company."
"De Haldimar--dear De Haldimar, forgive me!" returned his captain.
"Heaven knows I would not, on any consideration, wantonly inflict pain
on your sensitive heart. My design was to draw you out of this
desponding humour; and with this view I sought to arouse your pride,
but certainly not to wound your feelings. De Haldimar," he concluded,
with marked expression, "you must not, indeed, feel offended with one
who has known and esteemed you from very boyhood. Friendship and
interest in your deep affliction of spirit alone brought me here--the
same feelings prompted my remark. Do you not believe me?"
"I do," impressively returned the young man, grasping the hand that was
extended to him in amity. "It is I, rather, Blessington, who should ask
you to forgive my petulance; but, indeed, indeed," and again his tone
faltered, and his eye was dimmed, "I am more wretched even than I am
willing to confess. Pardon my silly conduct--it was but the vain and
momentary flashing of the soldier's spirit impatient of an assumed
imputation, and the man less than the profession is to be taxed with
it. But it is past; and already do you behold me once more the tame and
apprehensive being I must ever continue until all is over."
"What can I possibly urge to console one who seems so willing to nurse
into conviction all the melancholy imaginings of a diseased mind,"
observed Captain Blessington, in a voice that told how deeply he felt
for the situation of his young friend. "Recollect, dearest Charles, the
time that has been afforded to our friends. More than a week has gone
by since they left the fort, and a less period was deemed sufficient
for their purpose. Before this they must have gained their destination.
In fact, it is my positive belief they have; for there could be nothing
to detect them in their disguise. Had I the famous lamp of Aladdin," he
pursued, in a livelier tone, "over the history of which Clara and
yourself used to spend so many hours in childhood, I have no doubt I
could show them to you quietly seated within the fort, recounting their
adventures to Clara and her cousin, and discoursing of their absent
friends."
"Would I to Heaven you had the power to do so!" replied De Haldimar,
smiling faintly at the conceit, while a ray of hope beamed for a moment
upon his sick soul; "for then, indeed, would all my fears for the
present be at rest. But you forget, Blessington, the encounter stated
to have taken place between them and that terrible stranger near the
bridge. Besides, is it not highly probable the object of their
expedition was divined by that singular and mysterious being, and that
means have been taken to intercept their passage? If so, all hope is at
an end."
"Why persevere in viewing only the more sombre side of the picture?"
returned his friend. "In your anxiety to anticipate evil, Charles, you
have overlooked one important fact. Ponteac distinctly stated that his
ruffian friend was still lying deprived of consciousness and speech
within his tent, and yet two days had elapsed since the encounter was
said to have taken place. Surely we have every reason then to infer
they were beyond all reach of pursuit, even admitting, what is by no
means probable the recovery of the wretch immediately after the return
of the chiefs from the council."
A gleam of satisfaction, but so transient as to be scarcely noticeable,
passed over the pale features of the youthful De Haldimar. He looked
his thanks to the kind officer who was thus solicitous to tender him
consolation; and was about to reply, when the attention of both was
diverted by the report of a musket from the rear of the fort. Presently
afterwards, the word was passed along the chain of sentinels, upon the
ramparts, that the Indians were issuing in force from the forest upon
the common near the bomb-proof. Then was heard, as the sentinel at the
gate delivered the password, the heavy roll of the drum summoning to
arms.
"Ha! here already!" said Captain Blessington, as, glancing towards the
forest, he beheld the skirt of the wood now alive with dusky human
forms: "Ponteac's visit is earlier than we had been taught to expect;
but we are as well prepared to receive him now, as later; and, in fact,
the sooner the interview is terminated, the sooner we shall know what
we have to depend upon. Come, Charles, we must join the company, and
let me entreat you to evince less despondency before the men. It is
hard, I know, to sustain an artificial character under such
disheartening circumstances; still, for example's sake, it must be
done."
"What I can I will do, Blessington," rejoined the youth, as they both
moved from the ramparts; "but the task is, in truth, one to which I
find myself wholly unequal. How do I know that, even at this moment, my
defenceless, terrified, and innocent sister may not be invoking the
name and arm of her brother to save her from destruction."
"Trust in Providence, Charles. Even although our worst apprehensions be
realised, as I fervently trust they will not, your sister may be
spared. The Canadian could not have been unfaithful, or we should have
learnt something of his treachery from the Indians. Another week will
confirm us in the truth or fallacy of our impressions. Until then, let
us arm our hearts with hope. Trust me, we shall yet see the laughing
eyes of Clara fill with tears of affection, as I recount to her all her
too sensitive and too desponding brother has suffered for her sake."
De Haldimar made no reply. He deeply felt the kind intention of his
captain, but was far from cherishing the hope that had been
recommended. He sighed heavily, pressed the arm, on which he leaned, in
gratitude for the motive, and moved silently with his friend to join
their company below the rampart.