The definite ranks were soon broken; the soldiers marched at ease in and
out amongst the Indians and the settlers, all in high good humor; jest
and raillery were on every side. They ate their dinner, still on the
march, the provisions for the purpose having been cooked with the
morning meal. Thus they were enabled, despite the retarding presence of
the women and children, and the enfeebling effects of the long siege, to
make the progress of between fifteen and twenty miles that day. They
encamped on a little plain near the Indian town of Taliquo. There, the
supper having been cooked and eaten--a substantial meal of game shot
during the day's march--and the shades of night descending thick in the
surrounding woods, Captain Stuart observed the inexplicable phenomenon
that every one of their Indian guards had suddenly deserted them.
The fact, however contemplated, boded no good. The officers, doubtless
keenly sensitive to the renewal of anxiety after so slight a surcease of
the sufferings of suspense, braced themselves to meet the emergency. A
picket line was thrown out; sentinels were posted in the expectation of
some imminent and startling development; the soldiers were ordered to
sleep on their arms, to be in readiness for defense as well as to gain
strength for the morrow's march and rest from the fatigues of the day.
The little gypsy-looking groups of women and children, too, were soon
hushed, and naught was left the anxious senior officers but to sleep if
they might, or in default, as they lay upon the ground, to watch the
great constellations come over the verge of the gigantic trees at the
east of the open space, and deploy with infinite brilliance across the
parade of the sky, and in glittering alignment pass over the verge of
the western woods and out of sight. So came the great Archer, letting
fly myriads of arrows of flakes of light in the stream near the camp. So
came in slow, gliding majesty the Swan, with all the splendor of the
Galaxy, like infinite unfoldings of white wings, in her wake. So came
the Scorpio, with coil on coil of sidereal scintillations, and here and
again the out-thrust dartings of a malign red star. And at last so came
the morn.
Demere, who had placed himself, wrapped in his military cloak, on the
ground near Stuart, that they might quietly speak together in the night
without alarming the little camp with the idea of precautions and danger
and plotting and planning, noted first a roseate lace-like scroll
unrolled upon the zenith amidst the vague, pervasive, gray suggestions
of dawn. He turned his head and looked at his friend with a smile of
banter as if to upbraid their fears;--for here was the day, and the
night was past!
A sudden wild clamor smote upon the morning quiet. The outposts were
rushing in with the cry that the woods on every side were full of
Cherokees, with their faces painted, and swinging their tomahawks; the
next moment the air resounded with the hideous din of the war-whoop.
Demere's voice rose above the tumult, calling to the men to fall in and
stand to their arms. A volley of musketry poured in upon the little camp
from every side.
Demere fell at the first fire with three other officers and twenty-seven
soldiers. Again and again, from the unseen enemy masked by the forest,
the women and children, the humble beasts of burden,--fleeing wildly
from side to side of the space,--the soldiers and the backwoodsmen, all
received this fusillade. The men had been hastily formed into a square
and from each front fired volleys as best they might, unable to judge of
the effect and conscious of the futility of their effort, surrounded as
they were on every side. Now and again a few, impelled by despair, made
a wild break for liberty, unrestrained by the officers who gave them
what chance they might secure, and with five or six exceptions these
were shot down by the Indians after reaching the woods. The devoted
remnant, fighting until the last round of ammunition was exhausted, were
taken prisoners by the triumphant savages. Stuart, his face covered with
blood and his sword dripping, was pinioned before he could be disarmed,
and then helpless, hopeless, with what feelings one may hardly imagine,
he was constrained to set forth with his captor on the return march to
Fort Loudon.
[Illustration: "The men had been hastily formed into a square."]
The Cherokees could hardly restrain their joy in thus taking him alive.
So far-famed had he become among them, so high did they esteem his
military rank, so autocratic seemed his power in the great stronghold of
Fort Loudon, with his red-coated soldiers about him, obeying his words,
even saluting his casual presence, that it afforded the most aesthetic
zest of revenge, the most acute realization of triumph, to contemplate
him as he stood bound, bloody, bareheaded in the sun, while the very
meanest of the lowest grade of the tribesmen were free to gather round
him with gibes and menacing taunts and buffets of derision. His hat had
been snatched off in order to smite him with it in the face; his hair,
always of special interest to the Indians because of its light brown
color and dense growth, was again and again caught by its thick, fair
plait with howls of delight, and if the grasp of the hand unaided could
have rent the scalp from the head, those fierce derisive jerks would
have compassed the feat; more than one whose rage against him was not to
be gratified by these malevolently jocose manifestations of contempt,
gave him such heavy and repeated blows over the head with the butt of
their firelocks that they were near clubbing the prisoner to death, when
this circumstance attracted the attention of his captor, Willinawaugh,
who was fain to interfere. Stuart, regretting the intervention, realized
that he was reserved to make sport for their betters in the fiercer and
more dramatic agonies of the torture and the stake.
His fortitude might well have tempted them. In a sort of stoical pride
he would not wince. Never did he cry out. He hardly staggered beneath
the crushing blows of the muskets, delivered short hand and at close
quarters, that one might have thought would have fractured his skull.
That the interposition of Willinawaugh was not of the dictates of
clemency might be inferred from the manner in which the return journey
was accomplished. Forced to keep pace with his captor on horseback
Stuart traveled the distance from Taliquo Town to Old Fort Loudon in
double-quick time, bareheaded, pinioned, in the blazing meridian heat of
a sultry August day. He hoped he would die of exhaustion. In the
long-continued siege of Fort Loudon, necessitating much indoor life, to
which he was little used, the texture of his skin had become delicate
and tender, and now blistered and burned as if under the touch of actual
cautery. With the previous inaction and the unaccustomed exposure the
heat suggested the possibility of sunstroke to offer a prospect of
release.
But he came at last to the great gates of Fort Loudon with no more
immediate hurt than a biting grief deep in his heart, the stinging pain
of cuts and bruises about his head and face, and a splitting, throbbing,
blinding headache. Not so blinding that he did not see every detail of
the profane occupancy of the place on which so long he had expended all
his thought and every care, in the defense of which he had cheerfully
starved, and would with hearty good-will have died. All the precise
military decorum that characterized it had vanished in one short day.
Garbage, filth, bones, broken bits of food lay about the parade, that
was wont to be so carefully swept, with various litter from the plunder
of the officers' quarters, for owing to the limited opportunity of
transportation much baggage had been left. This was still in progress,
as might be judged from the figures of women and men seen through the
open doors and now again on the galleries, chaffering and bargaining
over some trifle in process of sale or exchange. Indian children raced
in and out of the white-washed interiors of the barracks which had been
glaringly clean; already the spring branch was choked by various debris
and, thus dammed, was overflowing its rocky precincts to convert the
undulating ground about it into a slimy marsh. Myriads of flies had
descended upon the place. Here and there horses were tethered and cows
roamed aimlessly. Idle savages lay sprawling about over the ground,
sleeping in the shade. In the block-houses and towers and along the
parade, where other braves shouldered the firelocks, the surrendered
spare arms, mimicking the drill of the soldiers with derisive cries of
"Plesent _Ahms_!" "Shouldie _Fa'lock_!" "Ground _Fa'lock_!" only such
injury as bootless folly might compass was to be deplored, but upon the
terrepleine in the northeast bastion several Cherokees were working at
one of the great cannons, among whom was no less a personage than
Oconostota himself, striving to master the secrets of its service. The
box of gunner's implements was open, and Stuart with a touch of
returning professional consciousness wondered with that contempt for
ignorance characteristic of the expert what wise project they had in
progress now. For the gun had just been charged, but with that economy
of powder, the most precious commodity in these far-away wilds, for
which the Indians were always noted. The ball, skipping languidly out,
had dropped down the embankment outside and rolled along the ground
with hardly more force than if impelled down an alley by a passable
player at bowls, barely reaching the glacis before coming to a full
halt. Realizing the difficulty, the gun under the king's directions was
shotted anew; erring now in the opposite extreme, it was charged so
heavily that, perhaps from some weakness in the casting, or the failure
to duly sponge and clean the bore, or simply from the expansive force of
the inordinate quantity of powder, the piece exploded, killing two of
the savages, serving as gunners, and wounding a third. The ball, for the
cannon had been improperly pointed by some mischance, struck the side of
the nearest block-house, and as its projectile force was partly spent by
the explosion, the tough wood turned it; it ricochetted across the whole
expanse of the enclosure, striking and killing an Indian lying asleep on
the opposite rampart. A vast uproar ensued, and Stuart could have
laughed aloud in bitter mirth to see Oconostota almost stunned alike by
the surprise and the force of the concussion, timorously and dubiously
eying the wreck. Then, with a subdued air of renunciation and finality,
"Old Hop," as the soldiers called him, came limping carefully down the
steep ramp from the terrepleine, evidently just enlightened as to the
dangers lurking about the breech of the cannon, well as he had long been
acquainted with the menace of its muzzle. The fury of the savages bore
some similarity to the ricochet forces of the misdirected cannon-ball.
Stuart plainly perceived himself destined to bear the brunt of the
infuriating mishap in which, although he had no agency, he might be
suspected of taking secret and extreme delight. It was for a moment a
reversal of the red man's supremacy in the arts of war, that had been
demonstrated by the results of the siege, the acquisition of the
ordnance, the surprise and the massacre of the capitulated garrison. In
the stress of the noisy moment, when the corpses had been carried off
and the howling women and their friends had followed them to their
assigned homes in the barracks, several braves, including Oconostota
himself, had become aware of Stuart's return and gathered around him.
Nothing could have been more acutely malevolent than Oconostota's
twinkling eyes; no words could have shown a keener edge of sarcasm than
his greeting of the officer once more by the title of his dear brother.
Stuart, impolitic for once, disdained to respond, and, grimly silent,
eyed him with a sort of stoical defiance that struck the Indian's
mummery dumb. There was a moment of inaction as they all contemplated
him. His vigor, his fortitude, his rank, the consciousness how his proud
spirit raged in his defeat and despair, all combined to render him a
notable victim and promised a long and a keen extension of the
pleasures of witnessing his torture.
And at that instant of crisis, as if to seal his doom, a great guttural
clamor arose about the southeast bastion, and here was Willinawaugh,
with wild turbulent gesticulations, and starting gleaming eyes, and a
glancing upheaving tomahawk, for in the perspective a dozen hale fellows
were dragging out of the pit beneath the old smoke-house the ten bags of
powder that Stuart had concealed there--only two nights ago, was it?--it
seemed a century! How had they the craft to find them, so securely, so
impenetrably were they hidden! Stuart's store of Cherokee enabled him to
gather the drift of the excited talk. One of the Indians, with the keen
natural senses of the savage, had smelled the freshly turned
clay--_smelled it_ in that assortment of evil odors congregated in the
parade!--and had sought to discover what this might be so recently
buried. Fraud! Fraud! the cry went up on every side. Unmasked fraud, and
Stuart should die the death! He had violated the solemn agreement by
which the garrison was liberated; he had surrendered the spare arms and
the cannon indeed, but only a fraction of the powder of the warlike
stores--and he should die the death and at once. Stuart wondered that he
was not torn to pieces by the infuriated savages, protesting their
indignation because of his violation of the treaty,--while his
garrison, under the Cherokees' solemn agreement of safe-conduct, lay in
all their massacred horrors unburied on the plains of Taliquo. The cant
of the Cherokees, their hypocrisy, and their vaunting clamor of
conscience made them seem, if one were disposed to be cynical, almost
civilized! Doubtless, but for Oconostota's statesmanlike determination
to sift the matter first, Stuart could not have been torn from among the
tribesmen and dragged to the seclusion of his own great mess-hall, where
the door was closed and barred in their distorted faces as they followed
with their howls. He was required to stand at one end of the grievously
dismantled room and detail his reason for this reserve of the powder.
Had he grounds to suspect any renewal of the English occupancy? Had he
knowledge of forces now on the march in the expectation of raising the
siege of Fort Loudon? Oconostota pointed out the desirability of telling
the truth, with a feeling allusion to the Great Spirit, the folly of
seeking to deceive the omniscient Indian, as the discovery of the powder
sufficiently illustrated, and the discomforts that would ensue to
Captain Stuart, should it be found necessary to punish him for lying, by
burning him alive in his own chimney-place, admirably adapted for the
purpose. Oconostota sat now with his back to it, with all his council of
chiefs in a semicircle about him, on the buffalo rug on the broad
hearth. The Indian interpreter Quoo-ran-be-qua, the great Oak, stood
behind him and looked across the length of the room at Captain Stuart,
the only other person standing, and clattered out his wooden sentences.
Stuart could make no further effort. His capacity to scheme seemed
exhausted. He replied in his bluff, off-hand manner, his bloody head
held erect, that they now had more powder than was good for
them,--witness the bursting of that costly great gun! He had buried the
powder in the hope of further English occupancy of the fort, which he
had, however, no reason to expect; it was only his hope,--his earnest
hope! He had left them spare arms, great guns, ball, powder,--much
powder,--and if he had seen fit to reserve some store he could say, with
a clear conscience, that it was done only in the interests of peace and
humanity, and because of doubts of their good faith,--how well grounded
the blood shed this day upon the plains of Taliquo might testify! His
friends, his comrades, were treacherously murdered under the
safe-conduct of the Cherokee nation. And if he were to die too, he was
fully prepared to show with what courage he could do it.
His eyes flashed as he spoke; they seemed to transmit a spark across the
room to the dull orbs of the interpreter. And what was this? Stuart's
knowledge of the Cherokee language enabled him to discern the fact that
after a moment's hesitation Quoo-ran-be-qua was clacking out a coherent
statement to the effect that the concealment of the powder was Captain
Demere's work, and wrought unknown to Stuart during his absence on his
mission to Chote, where, as the great chiefs well knew, he was detained
several hours. Stuart stared in astonishment at the interpreter, who,
blandly secure in the conviction that the prisoner did not comprehend
the Cherokee language, maintained his usual stolid aspect. Whether
Stuart's courage so enforced admiration, or whatever quality had secured
for him the regard of the higher grade of Indians, the interpreter had
sought, by an unrecognized, unrewarded effort, to save the officer's
life by a sudden stroke of presence of mind,--a subterfuge which he
supposed, in his simplicity, undiscoverable.
There were milder countenances now in the circle, and Stuart's attention
was presently concentrated upon an eager controversy between
Atta-Kulla-Kulla and Willinawaugh that was curiously enough, at this
moment of gravest council, sitting in judgment on the disposal of a
human life, a matter of chaffer, of bargain and sale. Willinawaugh had
already refused a new rifle and a horse--and then two horses besides,
and, still untempted, shook his head. And suddenly the interest in the
concealment of the powder collapsed, and they were all looking at
Willinawaugh, who gazed much perplexed down at the ground, all his
wrinkles congregated around his eyes, eager to acquire yet loath to
trade, while Atta-Kulla-Kulla, keen, astute, subtle, plied him with
offers, and tempting modifications of offers, for the Cherokees of that
date were discriminating jockeys and had some fine horses.
The wind came in at the loop-holes and stirred the blood-clotted hair on
the prisoner's brow, and the suspension of the mental effort that the
examination cost him was for a moment a relief; the shadowy dusk of the
ill-lighted room was grateful to his eyes, the heavy, regular throbbing
of his head grew less violent. He could even note the incongruity of the
situation when he saw that Willinawaugh resisted upon the point that the
matter was with him a question of character! The chief said he had lost
his standing in public estimation because he had allowed the Englishman,
MacLeod, and his brother, to deceive him on the pretense of being
French,--for although he (Willinawaugh) spoke French himself, and that
better than some people who had lost their front tooth, he could not
understand such French as the two Scotchmen spoke, nor, indeed, as some
Cherokees spoke, with their front tooth out.
Savanukah, seated on the rug an expression of poignant mortification on
his face, his lips fast closed over the missing tooth, only muttered
disconsolately, in his mingled French and Cherokee jargon, "_C'est
dommage! Sac-lle bleu! Noot-te![J] Ugh! en verite--O-se-u!_"[K]
Willinawaugh, pausing merely for effect, continued. He himself was not
an interpreter, to be sure; he was a Cherokee war-captain, with a great
reputation to sustain. He had captured the prisoner, and it ill accorded
with his honor to yield him to another.
"_Cho-eh!_"[L] said Atta-Kulla-Kulla, softly.
And Stuart became aware, with a start that almost dislocated his
pinioned arms, that it was the transfer of his custody, the purchase of
himself, over which they were bargaining.
"_Nankke--soutare_,"[M] urged Atta-Kulla-Kulla.
Again Willinawaugh shook his head. Was he some slight thing,--_seequa,
cheefto_, an opossum, a rabbit? "_Sinnawah na wora!_"[N] he cried
sonorously. For months, he said, he had besieged that man in his great
stronghold of Fort Loudon. Like a panther he had watched it; like a
spider he had woven his webs about it; like a wolf by night he had
assaulted it; like a hawk he had swooped down upon it and had taken it
for the Cherokee nation; and it was a small matter if he, who spoke
French so well, had not comprehended an Englishman who spoke French
like an unknown tongue, and had let him pass, being deceived!
Would the great chief, whose words in whatever language were of
paramount importance, accept a money price?
As several gold pieces rolled out on the buffalo rug, the wrinkles so
gathered around Willinawaugh's eyes that those crafty orbs seemed
totally eclipsed. He wagged his head to and fro till "him top-feathers"
temporarily obliterated the squad of henchmen behind him, in woe that he
could not take the money, yet not in indecision.
For lo, he said, who had done so much as he, whose prestige had been
touched for a trifle, whose best-beloved brother, Savanukah, had
maligned him--for the sake of an Englishman who could not speak French
so that it could be understood. He had let that Englishman pass--it was
a small matter, and if any had sustained harm it was he himself--for the
English brother in the French squaw's dress had escaped through his
lines, and came near raising the siege, perhaps--because of the French
squaw's dress. But he was not there, and he gave the English boy no
front tooth!
At this reiterated allusion, Savanukah's guttural grunt, _O-se-u!_ was
almost a groan.
"Rifle, six horses, seven pieces of gold in ransom," said
Atta-Kulla-Kulla, slowly massing his wealth.
Once more Willinawaugh shook his head. His prestige had suffered because
of aspersions. Yet he had besieged the fort and reduced the two captains
and their splendid cannon--this for the Cherokee nation! He had followed
hard on the march of the garrison, and with Oconostota and his force had
surrounded them and killed many, and captured the great Captain Stuart
alive!--this for the revenge of the Cherokee nation! But the scalp of
the great Captain Stuart, with its long fair hair, like none others, was
a trophy for himself--this he should wear at his belt as long as he
should live, that when he told how he had wrought for the Cherokee
nation none should say him nay!
Oconostota suddenly showed a freshened interest. He turned to
Atta-Kulla-Kulla, who sat on his right hand, and in an eager, low voice
spoke for a moment; the half-king seeming anxious, doubtful, then nodded
in slow and deliberative acquiescence. Meantime Willinawaugh's words
flowed on.
And--he lifted his fierce eyes in triumph to the captive's face--for all
those weary days of beleaguerment, for every puff of smoke from the
shotted guns, for every blaze they belched, for every ball, death
freighted, they vomited, for every firelock that spoke from the
loop-holes in the midnight attack, would be meted out Captain Stuart's
penalty--in pangs, with knives, with cords, with hot coals, with flames
of fire! The time had come to reward his patience!
"You have done well," said Atta-Kulla-Kulla, "you should think well on
your reward!"
And he laid before Willinawaugh a fine gold watch--an English hunting
watch, with a double case, and the works were running; doubtless, it was
another trophy from the slaughtered officers of Colonel Montgomery's
harassed march. Willinawaugh was stricken dumb.
Stuart, in whose heart poor Hope, all bruised and bleeding, with wings
broken but about to spread anew, astonished, overcome, with some
poignant pang of gratitude that the semblance of kindness should be
again extended to him by aught on earth, felt a stifling suffocation
when Oconostota's voice broke in on his behalf, for naught from the
crafty Cherokee king boded good. The "Great Warrior" declared that
Willinawaugh's deeds spoke for themselves--not in French, not in
English, but in the Cherokee tongue--in flame and in blood, in courage
and in victory. The prisoner's scalp was no great matter in the face of
the fact of Fort Loudon. The long fair hair of the English Captain to
hang at his belt if he liked, but here was Fort Loudon to swing forever
at the silver belt of the Tennessee River! He thought the great
Willinawaugh had a right to choose his reward--the goods or the scalp.
The scalp Atta-Kulla-Kulla could not wear, not having taken it. And the
great Willinawaugh could be present and rejoice when Atta-Kulla-Kulla
should choose to burn the captive; for whom he, himself, and
Atta-Kulla-Kulla had devised a certain opportunity of usefulness to the
Cherokee nation before Stuart should be called upon to expiate his
crimes at the stake to satisfy the vengeance of his conqueror.
And who so glad as Willinawaugh to lose naught of his
satisfaction--neither his material nor immaterial reward? who now so
glad to protest that he would waive any personal gratification that
stood in the way of utility to the Cherokee nation? He had the watch in
his hand, dangling by the gold chain and seals; the ticking caught his
ear. He held it up close, with an expression of childish delight that
metamorphosed his fierce face and seemed actually to freshen the
expression of "him top-feathers."
In obedience to a motion of Atta-Kulla-Kulla's hand, Stuart followed him
out to the parade in the red rays of the sinking sun,--how often thence
had he watched it go down behind the level ramparts of the Cumberland
Mountains! They passed through the staring motley throng to Captain
Demere's house which the half-king had chosen for his own quarters. It
was a log-cabin, floored, and of two rooms with a roofed but open
passage between, not unlike the cabins of the region of the present
day. Here the Cherokee paused, and with a pass or two of the
scalping-knife cut the ropes that pinioned Stuart, opened the door of
Demere's bedroom and with an impassive face sternly motioned him to
enter.
The door was closed and Stuart was alone in the quarters reserved for
the chief. It had not yet been invaded by the filthy plundering gangs
without, and its order and military neatness and decorum affected his
quivering nerves as a sort of solace--as of a recurrence of the sane
atmosphere of right reason after a period of turbulent mania. And
suddenly his heart was all pierced by grief and a sense of bereavement.
He had realized his friend was dead, and he felt that this might fairly
be considered the better fate. But somehow the trivial personal
belongings so bespoke the vanished presence that he yearned for Demere
in his happy release; the shaken nerves could respond to the echo of a
voice forever silenced; he could look into vacancy upon a face he was
destined to see never again. His jaded faculties, instead of reaching
forward to the terrible future, began to turn back vaguely to the
details of their long service together; as a reflex of the agitation he
had endured he could not, in the surcease of turmoil, compass a quiet
mind; he began to experience that poignant anguish of bereavement,
self-reproach. He remembered trifling differences they had had in the
life they lived here like brothers, and his own part in them gnawed in
his consciousness like a grief; he repented him of words long ago
forgiven; he thought of personal vexations that he might have sought to
smooth away but carelessly left in disregard; and when he lay down in
the darkness on the narrow camp-bed with his friend's pillow under his
head, Demere's look this morning, of affectionate banter, with which he
had turned on the ground as they lay in the bivouac was so present to
his mind that the tears which all his pains and griefs were powerless to
summon, sprang to his eyes.
But the weary physical being sunk to rest, and then in the midst of his
somnolent mental impressions was wrought a change. Demere was with him
still,--not in the guise of that white, stark face, upturned now to the
stars on the plains of Taliquo,--but in his serene, staid presence as he
lived; together they were at Fort Loudon, consulting, planning, as in
its happier days; now it was the capacity of the spring which they
wished to enlarge, and this they had done with blasting-powder; now it
was the device to add to the comfort of the garrison by framing the
little porches that stood before the doors of the barracks; now it was
the erection of an out-work on the side exposed to assault by the river,
and they were marking off the ravelin,--Corporal O'Flynn and a squad,
with the tapes,--and directing the fashioning of the gabions, the
Indians peacefully sitting by the while like some big, unintelligent,
woodland animals, while the great, basket-like frames were woven of
white oak splints and then filled with the solid earth. He was trying to
tell Demere that he was afraid something would happen to that second gun
in the barbette battery on the northeast bastion, for the metal always
rang with a queer vibration, and he had had a dream that Oconostota had
overcharged and fired it, and it had exploded; and as Demere was
laughing at this folly Stuart realized suddenly the fact that the day
was coming in to him again there in his friend's place, as it would come
no more to Demere, though dawning even now at Taliquo Plains where he
lay. Instead of that essential presence, on which Stuart had leaned and
relied, and which in turn had leaned and relied on him, there was in his
mind but a memory, every day to grow dimmer.
Nevertheless, he rose, refreshed and strengthened with the stimulus of
that unreal association, which was yet so like reality, with the comrade
of his dreams. The orderly instincts of a soldier, as mechanical as the
functions of respiration, enabled him, with the use of fresh linen from
his friend's relinquished effects, to obliterate the traces of the
experiences of the previous day, and fresh and trim, with that precise
military neatness that was so imposing to the poor Indian, who could not
compass its effect, he went out to meet the half-king with a gait
assured and steady, a manner capable and confident, and an air of
executive ability, that bade fair for the success of any scheme to which
he might lend his aid.
Now and again he marked a glance of deep appreciation from the subtle
Atta-Kulla-Kulla,[13] the result of much cogitation and effort at mental
appraisement. He feared that important developments were to ensue, and
after breakfast, at which meal he was treated like a guest and an equal,
and not in the capacity of slave, as were most captives, his host
notified him that his presence would be necessary at a council to be
held at Chote.
Too acute, far too acute was Atta-Kulla-Kulla not to recognize and
comment upon the different aspect of life at Fort Loudon. "The red man
cannot, without use, become capable of handling the advantages of the
white man," he said in excuse of the anarchy everywhere, with all the
riot and grotesqueness and discomfort incident to being out of one's
sphere. At Chote the Cherokees would have seemed as easy, as
appropriate, as graceful, as native as the deer.
And at Chote Oconostota seemed as native as the fox. There he sat on
the great buffalo rugs, even his faculties much more at command in his
wonted place, under the dusky red walls of the clay-daubed dome of the
council-chamber. And there Captain Stuart learned the reason of the
Cherokee king's interference yesterday to postpone his fate.
For Oconostota had evolved the bold project of the reduction of Fort
Prince George. This would consummate the triumph of the fall of Fort
Loudon, rid the greater portion of the Cherokee country of the presence
of the English, and, with their strongholds in the hands of the Indians,
reinforced by a few French gunners, prevent them from ever renewing
foothold. The powder left by Stuart he had found, in experimenting with
the guns, was not enough for a siege, but with the discovery of the ten
extra bags, the supply would prove most ample. The ammunition, together
with the guns, was to be at once removed and transported thither,
laborious though it might prove.
Stuart attempted to set forth the great difficulties of the undertaking,
but was met at every point by the foresight and ingenuity of Oconostota,
who had considered evidently each detail. It was plain that the project
was feasible, for the Indian, too lazy in peace to hoe a row of beans,
is capable in war of prodigies of valorous industry. Stuart began to
feel singularly placed, since he did not perceive in this his personal
concern, to be thus admitted to a council of war with the enemy. The
affability of Oconostota he knew was insincere, but being in the
Cherokee king's power the fraud of his amiability was more acceptable
than the ferocity of his candor.
"You will accompany the expedition," said the king of the Cherokees,
suavely.
"In what capacity?" Stuart asked, also politic, seeking to disguise his
anxiety, for any hesitation or refusal would renew his straits of
yesterday, Atta-Kulla-Kulla being as eager, as capable, and even more
subtle in planning the campaign than Oconostota.
"You will write the letters to the commandant of Fort Prince George,
summoning him in our names to surrender, and"--with a twinkle of the
eye--"advising him in your own name to comply."
Stuart bowed in bland acquiescence. "And the commandant will find it
very easy reading between the lines of any letters I shall write him,"
he said to himself.
Nevertheless, he still sought to dissuade them. In ignorance of the
state of the defenses at Fort Prince George, the strength of the works,
the supply of ammunition and provisions, the difficulties that might
have arisen in communicating with Charlestown, he sought to avert the
dangers of a siege and a possible ultimate disaster such as had
befallen Fort Loudon. But although he spoke with force and readiness it
was very guardedly.
"If the great Cherokee kings would please to consider the experience
which I have had in the management of cannon, I should like to represent
that such an attack on Fort Prince George can but be a duel with
artillery. I am not well acquainted with the armament of Fort Prince
George," he declared, "but it may well chance that the cannon, captured
by the Cherokees at so great a cost, may be disabled under a heavy fire
and lost to Fort Loudon, which would then become mere intrenchments, to
be leveled by a single brisk cannonade."
Atta-Kulla-Kulla, his quick, keen, fiery face aglow, informed him that
they would leave a reserve of cannon at Fort Loudon, his advice having
been to take with them only six of the great guns and two coehorns.
Stuart was baffled for a moment by the definiteness and the military
coherence of these plans. He rallied, however, to say that the gunners
of Fort Prince George were trained men, doubtless, and drilled with
frequent target practice. And a commander of skill, such as theirs, was
essential to the effectiveness of an aggressive demonstration.
A flicker of triumph illuminated Atta-Kulla-Kulla's spirited face. They
were provided in this emergency also. He, the great Captain Stuart,
would command the artillery of the expedition, the guns to be served by
Indians as cannoneers under his direction; nicety of aim was not
essential; a few days' practice would suffice, and at short range Fort
Prince George was a large target.
For his life Stuart could not control his countenance; the color flared
to the roots of his hair; his eyes flashed; his hand trembled; he could
not find his voice; and yet angry as he was, he was both amazed and
daunted.
Oconostota broke in upon his speechless agitation in a smooth, soothing
voice to remind him of the clemency he enjoyed in that his life had been
spared, and only yesterday, even at the supreme moment of the discovery
of the treachery of his garrison in the concealment of the powder. They
had not acquainted Willinawaugh with their designs, for Oconostota
himself would lead the expedition. (Stuart as a military man realized a
necessity, that sometimes supervenes in more sophisticated
organizations, which they felt of curbing the power of a possibly too
successful and a too aspiring subordinate.) How generous,
declared Oconostota, had been the intercession of the noble
Atta-Kulla-Kulla,--half-king of the Cherokees,--who had given in effect
all his wealth to ransom him, a mere _eeankke_, a prisoner, from his
warlike captor, the great Willinawaugh, that this military service
might be rendered in exchange for his life.
Stuart's eyes turned away; he sought to veil their expression; he looked
through the tall narrow door of the red clay walls at the waters of the
Tennessee River, silver-shotted and blue as ever, still flowing down and
down beyond the site of Fort Loudon--unmindful of its tragic fate,
unmindful! The august domes of the Great Smoky Mountains showed now a
dull velvet blue against the hard blue of the turquoise sky, and anon
drew a silver shimmer of mists about them. Chilhowee Mountain, richly
bronze and green, rose in the middle distance, and he was vaguely
reminiscent of the day when he watched the young soldier rocking in his
boat on the shallows close to the shore, the red coat giving a bright
spot of color to the harmonious duller tones of the landscape, and
wondered were it possible among these friendly people that the lad could
be in danger of a stealthy rifle shot. Now there were no red
coats,--nevermore were they to be seen here! Between himself and the
water he watched only the white swaying of a tall cluster of the great
ethereally delicate snowy blossoms, since known as the Chilhowee lily.
He kept his eyes still averted, his voice deepening with the seriousness
of his sentiment as he replied that this was impossible--he could not
undertake the command of the Cherokee artillery against Fort Prince
George; he was bound by his oath of fidelity which he had sworn to the
English government; he could not bear arms against it.
A choking chuckle recalled his gaze to the dusky red interior of the
council-chamber. Oconostota's countenance was distorted with derision,
and his twinkling eyes were swimming in the tears of the infrequent
laughter of the grave Indian--even Atta-Kulla-Kulla's face wore a
protesting smile of scorn as of a folly.
Twice Oconostota sought to speak, and he sputtered, and choked, and
could not, for his relish of the thought in his mind. Then with a deep
mock-seriousness he demanded slowly if it were fireproof. And relapsed
into his shaking chuckle.
"What?" demanded Stuart, uncomprehending.
"This oath of yours--to the English government. Does this fidelity so
clothe your body that it will not burn and crisp and crinkle in the
anguish as of your hell? Does your oath harden your flesh as a rock,
that arrows and knives shall not pierce it and sting and ache as they
stick there waiting for the slow fires to do their work? Will your oath
restore sight to your eyes when a red-hot iron has seared them?" He
could say no more for the chuckling delight that shook and shook his
lean old body.
Atta-Kulla-Kulla spoke in reproach. The Cherokee kings had offered
Captain Stuart life and practically liberty in exchange for this
service. If he denied it and talked of his oath, it was but just that
vengeance should take its way. Many a Cherokee had fallen dead from the
fire of his garrison of Loudon, both of great guns and small, and their
blood called still from the ground. A wise man was Captain Stuart, and
he would choose wisely.
He was a hearty man, still young, and in full vigor, and, although his
life had been but little worth of late, he was loath to throw it away.
He began to temporize, to try to gain time. He sought to talk
discontentedly of the project, as if he found it infeasible. The
commandant, he said, as if he contemplated him only as the leader of an
opposing force, would fight at an infinite advantage within the strong
defenses of Fort Prince George, while he outside, without intrenchments
except such hasty works as could be thrown up in a night, and beaten
down by the enemy's cannonade in the morning, could but expect to have
his guns soon silenced. A regular approach would be impracticable. The
Indians were not used to fight unscreened. They would never open a
parallel under fire, and a vigilant defense would make havoc among the
working parties.
He noted the effect of the unfamiliar military theories upon the
Indians, as they both seemed to anxiously canvass them.
"You cannot skulk behind a tree with cannon," he continued. "The
artillery, to be able to command the fort with its fire, would be within
range of the enemy's batteries, and without efficient cover it would be
necessary, in serving each piece, for the gunners to be exposed to fire
all the time."
An interval of deep, pondering silence ensued. At length
Atta-Kulla-Kulla said he believed there would be little or no fight on
account of the prisoners.
"What prisoners?" demanded Stuart, shortly.
Then Oconostota explained, with his blandest circumlocutions, that,
partly as a check upon his dear brother's good faith, bound as he was by
his oath of fidelity to the English government,--and he almost choked
with the relish of his derision every time he mentioned it,--and to make
sure that he should handle the guns properly, and fire them with due
effect,--not aiming them wildly, so that the balls might fly over the
fort, or fall short, not spiking the guns, or otherwise demolishing
them, all of which his great knowledge of the arm rendered possible, and
the ignorance of the poor red man unpreventable, they had determined to
take with them the remnant of the garrison, their lives to be pledges of
his good conduct and effective marksmanship; and if at last his earnest
and sincere efforts should prove unavailing, and the commandant should
continue to hold out and refuse to surrender when finally summoned,
these, the countrymen and fellow-soldiers of that officer, should be
singly tortured and burned before his eyes, within full sight and
hearing of Fort Prince George.
As the fiendish ingenuity of this scheme was gradually unfolded, Stuart
sat stunned. All the anguish he had suffered seemed naught to this
prospect. He staggered under the weight of responsibility. The lives of
the poor remnant of his garrison,--more, their death by fire and
torture,--hung upon such discretion as he could summon to aid his
exhausted powers in these repeated and tormented ordeals. He said
nothing; he could not see and he did not care for the succession of
chuckles in which Oconostota was resolved at the delightful spectacle of
his dismay. The Cherokee had beaten this man of resource at his little
game of war, and now had outmaneuvered him at his mastercraft of
scheming!
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote J: Tooth!]
[Footnote K: Very excellent.]
[Footnote L: Three.]
[Footnote M: Four--six.]
[Footnote N: The great hawk is at home!]