Captain Sinclair was now very constantly at the house, for in the
summer-time the Commandant allowed much more liberty to the officers.
Although the detention of the Young Otter, and the cause of his being
detained, had been made known to the Angry Snake, weeks passed away, and
yet there appeared no intention on the part of the chief to redeem his
young warrior by producing Percival. Every day an overture on his part
was expected, but none came, and those who were in the secret were in a
continual state of suspense and anxiety. One thing had been
ascertained, which was that the Indian fired at by John had been killed,
and this occasioned much fear on the part of Malachi and Martin, that
the Angry Snake would revenge the death upon young Percival. This
knowledge of the Indian feeling, however, they kept to themselves.
Towards the close of the summer they had an arrival of letters and
newspapers, both from England and Montreal.
There was nothing peculiarly interesting in the intelligence from
England, although the newspapers were, as usual, read with great
avidity. One paragraph met the eye of Henry, which he immediately
communicated, observing at the time that they always obtained news of
Mr Douglas Campbell on every fresh arrival. The paragraph was as
follows:--"The Oxley hounds had a splendid run on Friday last;" after
describing the country they passed through, the paragraph ended with,
"We regret to say that Mr Douglas Campbell, of Wexton Hall, received a
heavy fall from his horse, in clearing a wide brook. He is, however, we
understand, doing well." The letters from Montreal, were, however,
important. They communicated the immediate departure from that city of
four families of emigrants, who had accepted the terms offered by Mr
Emmerson, and were coming to settle upon Mr Campbell's property. They
also stated that the purchase of the other six hundred acres of
contiguous land had been completed, and sent the government receipts for
the purchase-money.
The news contained in this letter induced Mr Campbell to send a message
to the Commandant of the fort, by Captain Sinclair, acquainting him with
the expected arrival of the emigrant families, and requesting to know
whether he would allow a party of soldiers to assist in raising the
cottages necessary for their reception, and begging the loan of two or
three tents to accommodate them upon their arrival, until their cottages
should be built. The reply of the Commandant was favourable, and now
all was bustle and activity, that, if possible, the buildings might be
in forwardness previous to harvest time, when they would all have ample
occupation. Indeed, as the hay-harvest was just coming on, without
assistance from the fort they never could have got through the work
previous to the winter setting in, and it would have been very
inconvenient to have had to receive any of the emigrants into their own
house.
The sites of the four cottages, or log-huts, were soon selected; they
were each of them nearly half a mile from Mr Campbell's house, and
while some of the party, assisted by a portion of the soldiers, were
getting in the hay, the others, with another portion, were cutting down
the trees, and building up the cottages. In a fortnight after they had
commenced, the emigrants arrived, and were housed in the tents prepared
for them; and as their labour was now added to that of the others, in a
short time everything was well in advance. The agreement made by Mr
Campbell was, that the emigrants should each receive fifty acres of
land, after they had cleared for him a similar quantity; but there were
many other conditions, relative to food and supply of stock to the
emigrant families, which are not worth the while to dwell upon. It is
sufficient to say that Mr Campbell, with his former purchases, retained
about 600 acres, which he considered quite sufficient for his farm,
which was all in a ring fence, and with the advantage of bordering on
the lake. The fire had cleared a great deal of the new land, so that it
required little trouble for his own people to get it into a fit state
for the first crop.
While the emigrants and soldiers were hard at work, the Colonel paid a
visit to Mr Campbell, to settle his account with him, and handed over a
bill upon government for the planks, flour, etcetera, supplied to the
fort.
"I assure you, Mr Campbell, I have great pleasure," said the Colonel,
"in giving you every assistance, and I render it the more readily as I
am authorised by the Governor so to do. Your arrival and settling here
has proved very advantageous; for, your supplying the fort has saved the
government a great deal of money, at the same time that it has been
profitable to you, and enabled you to get rid of your crops without
sending them down so far as Montreal; which would have been as serious
an expense to you, as getting the provisions from Montreal has proved to
us. You may keep the fatigue party of soldiers upon the same terms as
before, as long as they may prove useful to you, provided they return to
the fort by the coming of winter."
"Then I will, if you please, retain them for getting in the harvest; we
have so much to do that I shall be most happy to pay for their
assistance."
I have said that there were four families of emigrants, and now I will
let my readers know a little more about them.
The first family was a man and his wife of the name of Harvey; they had
two sons of fourteen and fifteen, and a daughter of eighteen years of
age. This man had been a small farmer, and by his industry was gaining
an honest livelihood, and patting by some money, when his eldest son,
who was at the time about twenty years old, fell into bad company, and
was always to be seen at the alehouses or at the fairs, losing his time
and losing his money. The father, whose ancestors had resided for many
generations on the same spot, and had always been, as long as they could
trace back, small farmers like himself, and who was proud of only one
thing, which was that his family had been noted for honesty and upright
dealing, did all he could to reclaim him, but in vain. At last the son
was guilty of a burglary, tried, convicted, and transported for life.
The disgrace had such an effect upon the father, that he never held up
his head afterwards; he was ashamed to be seen in the parish, and at
last he resolved to emigrate to a new country, where what had happened
would not be known.
He accordingly sold off everything, and came to Canada; but by the time
that he had arrived in the country, and paid all his expenses, he had
little money left; and when he heard from Mr Emmerson the terms offered
by Mr Campbell, he gladly accepted them. The wife, his two sons, and
his daughter, who came with him, were as industrious and respectable as
himself.
The second family, of the name of Graves, consisted of a man and his
wife, and only one son--a young man grown up; but the wife's two sisters
were with them. He had come from Buckinghamshire, and had been
accustomed to a dairy farm.
The third family was a numerous one, with a man and his wife, of the
name of Jackson; they had been farmers and market gardeners near London,
and had brought out some money with them. But, as I have mentioned,
they had a very large family--most of them too young to be very useful
for a few years. They had seven children--a girl of eighteen, two boys
of twelve and thirteen, then three little girls, and a boy, an infant.
Jackson had money enough to purchase a farm, but, being a prudent man,
and reflecting that he might not succeed at first, and that his large
family would ran away with all his means, he decided upon accepting the
terms proposed by Mr Campbell.
The fourth and last of the emigrant families was a young couple of the
name of Meredith. The husband was the son of a farmer in Shropshire,
who had died, and divided his property between his three sons. Two of
them remained upon the farm, and paid the youngest brother his
proportion in money, who, being of a speculative turn, resolved to come
to Canada and try his fortune. He married just before he came out, and
was not as yet encumbered with any family. He was a fine young man,
well educated, and his wife a very clever, pretty young woman.
Thus there was an addition of twenty-one souls to the population of Mr
Campbell's settlement, which with their own ten made a total of
thirty-one people, out of whom they reckoned that thirteen were capable
of bearing arms, and defending them from any attack of the Indians.
Before harvest time, the cottages were all built, and the emigrants were
busy felling round their new habitations, to lay up firewood for the
winter, and clearing away a spot for a garden, and for planting potatoes
in the following spring. The harvest being ripe again, gave them all
full employment; the corn was got in with great expedition by the united
labour of the soldiers and emigrants, when the former, having completed
their work, returned to the fort, and the Campbells, with the addition
to their colony, were now left alone. Visiting the emigrants in their
own cottages, and making acquaintance with the children, was now a great
source of amusement to the Misses Percival. Various plans were started
relative to establishing a Sunday-school, and many other useful
arrangements; one, however, took place immediately, which was, that
divine service was performed by Mr Campbell in his own house, and was
attended by all the emigrants every Sunday. Mr Campbell had every
reason to be pleased with their conduct up to the present time; they all
appeared willing, never murmured or complained at any task allotted to
them, and were satisfied with Mr Campbell's arrangements relative to
supplies. Parties were now again formed for the chase; Meredith and
young Graves proved to be good woodsmen and capital shots with the
rifle, so that now they had enough to send out a party on alternate
days, while one or two of the others fished all the day and salted down
as fast as they caught, that there might be a full supply for the
winter.
But although Mr and Mrs Campbell and the Misses Percival, as well as
the major part of the family were fully satisfied and happy in their
future prospects, there were four who were in a state of great anxiety
and suspense. These were Alfred, Malachi, Martin, and the Strawberry,
who, being acquainted with the existence of young Percival, found their
secret a source of great annoyance, now that, notwithstanding the
capture and detention of the Young Otter, no advance appeared to be made
for his exchange, nor any signs of an overture on the part of the Angry
Snake. Captain Sinclair, who was usually at the farm twice during the
week, was also much fretted at finding that every time Malachi and
Alfred had no more information to give him, than he had to impart to
them. They hardly knew how to act; to let a second winter pass away
without attempting to recover the boy, appeared to them to be delaying
too long, and yet to communicate intelligence which might only end in
bitter disappointment, seemed unadvisable; for the Indian chief, out of
revenge, might have killed the boy, and then the grief of the father and
mother would be more intense than before. It would be opening a wound
to no purpose. This question was frequently canvassed by Alfred and
Captain Sinclair, but an end was put to all their debates on the subject
by an unexpected occurrence. Mary Percival had one morning gone down to
a place called the Cedar Swamp, about half a mile from the house to the
westward, near to the shore of the lake, to pick cranberries for
preserving. One of the little emigrant girls, Martha Jackson, was with
her; when one basket was full, Mary sent it home by the little girl,
with directions to come back immediately. The girl did so, but on her
return to the Cedar Swamp, Mary Percival was not to be seen. The basket
which she had retained with her was lying with all the cranberries upset
out of it on a hill by the side of the swamp. The little girl remained
for a quarter of an hour, calling out Miss Percival's name, but not
receiving any answer, she became frightened, imagining that some wild
beast had attacked her; and she ran back as fast as she could to the
house, acquainting Mr and Mrs Campbell with what had happened. Martin
and Alfred were at the mill; Malachi, fortunately, was at his own lodge,
and the Strawberry ran for him, told him what the girl had reported, and
having done so, she looked at Malachi, and said "Angry Snake."
"Yes, Strawberry, that is the case, I have no doubt," replied Malachi;
"but not a word at present; I knew he would be at something, but I did
not think that he dared do that either; however, we shall see. Go back
to the house and tell master and missis that I have gone down to the
Cedar Swamp, and will return as soon as possible, and do you follow me
as fast as you can, for your eyes are younger than mine, and I shall
want the use of them. Tell them not to send anybody else--it will do
harm instead of good--for they will trample the ground, and we may lose
the track."
Malachi caught up his rifle, examined the priming, and set off in the
direction of the swamp, while the Strawberry returned to the house to
give his message to Mr and Mrs Campbell. Leaving Mr and Mrs
Campbell, who were in a state of great alarm, and had sent the little
girl, Martha Jackson, to summon Alfred and Martin (for John and Henry
were out in the woods after the cattle), the Strawberry went down to the
Cedar Swamp to join Malachi, whom she found standing, leaning on his
rifle, near the basket which had contained the cranberries.
"Now, Strawberry, we must find out how many there were, and which way
they have gone," said Malachi, in the Indian tongue.
"Here," said Strawberry, pointing to a mark on the short grass, which
never could have attracted the observation of one unused to an Indian
life.
"I see, child; I see that and two more, but we cannot tell much as yet;
let us follow up the trail till we come to some spot where we may read
the print better. That's her foot," continued Malachi, after they had
proceeded two or three yards. "The sole of a shoe cuts the grass
sharper than a mocassin. We have no easy task just now, and if the
others come they may prevent us from finding the track altogether."
"Here, again," said Strawberry, stooping close to the short dry grass.
"Yes, you're right, child," replied Malachi. "Let us once follow it to
the bottom of this hill, and then we shall do better."
By the closest inspection and minutest search Malachi and the Strawberry
continued to follow the almost imperceptible track till they arrived at
the bottom of the hill, about a hundred yards from where they started.
It had become more difficult, as the print of Mary's foot, which was
more easily perceptible than the others, had served them for a few
yards, after which it was no more to be distinguished, and it was
evident that she had been lifted up from the ground. This satisfied
them that she had been carried off.
When they arrived at the bottom of the hill they could clearly
distinguish the print marks of mocassins, and by measuring very exactly
the breadth and length of the impressions, made out that they were of
two different people. These they continued to follow till they arrived
at the forest, about a quarter of a mile from the swamp, when they heard
the hallooing of Alfred and Martin, to which Malachi answered, and they
soon joined him.
"What is it, Malachi?"
"She has been carried off, sir, I've no doubt," replied Malachi, "by the
Snake. The rascal is determined to have the vantage of us. We have one
prisoner, and he has made two."
Malachi then explained why he was certain that she had been carried
away, and Martin agreed with him immediately.
Alfred then said--"Well, but now, before we act, let us consult what is
best to be done."
"Well, sir," replied Malachi, "the best to do now, at this moment, is
for the Strawberry and me to follow the trail, and try if we cannot
obtain more information; and, when we have got all we can, we must form
a party, and go in pursuit. Let us only get fairly on the trail, and we
shall not lose it, especially if the Strawberry is with us, for she has
a better eye than any Injun I ever knew, be it man or woman."
"Well, that is all right, Malachi; but what shall I do now while you are
following up the trail?"
"Well, sir, you must prepare the party, and get them all ready for a
start; for we must be off in three hours, it possible."
"Captain Sinclair had better come with us. He will be quite frantic if
he does not," said Alfred.
"Well, then, perhaps he had, sir," replied Malachi, coldly; "but I'd
rather he were away. He won't be so cool and calm as he ought to be."
"Never fear; but I must now go to my father and mother, and tell the
whole of the circumstances which have occurred. I must tell them that
Percival is alive."
"Why so, sir?" replied Malachi. "It will only fret them more. It's
quite sufficient that they should have to lament Miss Percival being
carried off, without their knowing what fresh cause for anxiety there is
about the boy. I would only say that Miss Mary has been carried off by
somebody, and leave out all about our having captured the Young Otter,
and why we took him."
"Well, perhaps it will be better," said Alfred. "Then I'll leave Martin
here, and ride off to the fort to Captain Sinclair. Shall I ask for any
soldiers?"
"Yes, sir; if there are any good backwoodsmen among them, we may find a
couple of them of service. We ought to have a larger force than the
Injun; and the latter, if you recollect, is stated at six with the
chief. Now, there are you, Martin, and I, that's three; Captain
Sinclair and two soldiers would be six; young Graves and Meredith make
eight. That's sufficient, sir; more than sufficient does harm. Mr
Henry must stay, and so must Mr John, because he will not be home
before we are away. I'm sorry for that, as I should have liked him to
be with me."
"It can't be helped," replied Alfred. "Well, then, Martin and I will go
back at once; in two hours I will return with Captain Sinclair, if I
possibly can."
"As quick as you please, sir, and Martin will get everything ready for
the journey, for we must not fire our rifles, if we can help it."
Alfred hastened away, and was soon followed by Martin, to whom Malachi
had given some directions. Malachi and the Strawberry then continued to
follow the trail, which they traced through the thickest of the wood for
more than an hour, when they came upon a spot where a fire had been
lighted, and the ground trodden down, evidently showing that the parties
had been living there for some time.
"Here was the nest of the whole gang," resumed Malachi, as he looked
round.
The Strawberry, who had been examining the ground, said, "Here is her
foot again."
"Yes, yes; it's clear enough that two of them have carried her off and
brought her here to where the others were waiting for them, and from
here the whole party have made their start. Now we have the new trail
to find, and that they have taken every care to prevent as I do not
doubt."
The Strawberry now pointed to a mark near where the fire had been
lighted, and said, "The mocassin of a squaw."
"Right; then she is with them; so much the better," replied Malachi;
"for, as she sent me that letter, she may serve us still, if she
chooses."