THE SIEGE
There were no signs of insubordination to be seen in the faces of my
comrades when the new day had come, and Elias Shendle was yet absent.
Instead of setting themselves at odds with me, as had been the case a
few hours previous, they gathered around near where I yet remained as
sentinel, with anxiety written plainly on their faces, awaiting some
word.
Daniel Hinchman, with every cause for sorrow,--and my heart truly ached
for the lad at that moment,--had evidently come to understand what
folly it would have been for us to have made any attempt at following
those who had captured his sister, and I fancied he was struggling to
repress his grief that he might seem the more ready to aid us in case
it should become necessary.
Giles March was no longer clamoring to be led out of the stockade; he
knew as well as did I what the continued absence of Elias portended,
and even in that time of mental distress I secretly rejoiced because
the lad, who had given such free rein to his tongue, was come to the
length of his rope for the time being.
As a matter of course, I was in much the same condition of mind as
Giles, finding it impossible to answer the question which must be
settled without delay. Should we make any attempt at learning of our
comrade’s whereabouts, or wait longer in the poor hope that he might
yet come?
The temptation to give these comrades of mine, who had been so
mutinously inclined but a short time before, an opportunity of settling
the matter themselves was too strong to be resisted, and, leaping down
from the stockade, I asked:
“What shall be done now, lads? You know as much of the situation as
do I. Elias promised to be back by sunrise if he was alive. His only
purpose in going out was to learn whatsoever he might concerning the
situation at Wintermoot’s Fort, and it seems to me most probable he
has fallen into the clutches of those who made a prisoner of Daniel
Hinchman’s sister. Shall we wait here in ignorance, or weaken the
defence of this stockade by sending out scouts?”
For a full moment no one made any reply, and then it was Giles March
who, much to my surprise, said meekly:
“It is for you to say, Jonathan Ogden. We have come to see wherein we
made fools of ourselves last night. It is you who are the captain, and
I dare pledge myself that none of us will again question whatsoever you
may say.”
Although the answer pleased me, I was disappointed, having hoped
it might be possible some of them would make such a suggestion or
proposition as would give me an idea, and I could do no less than admit
my perplexity.
“In the first place, it is absolutely necessary that at least four
sentinels be placed on the walls, for we know with good reason that the
enemy are close around. After that has been done, it may be we can hit
upon the right plan of action; but just now I consider myself unable to
say what it should be.”
“Who shall go on duty?” Giles asked, and I replied:
“Name them yourself; while Elias is away, you shall act in his place.”
Giles lost no time in stationing four lads on the wall, with
instructions to keep careful watch upon the surrounding forest, ever
bearing in mind that it was likely a force of Indians might be creeping
upon us, and then he returned near the main gate, where we stood
awaiting him.
By this time I had come to understand that we were playing the part of
simples by remaining inside the stockade, wholly ignorant of what might
be going on around us, and I said sharply, as if doubting the sincerity
of my comrades:
“You have agreed that matters shall go to my liking while I hold
command of what we call the Minute Boys.”
To this Giles assented emphatically, whereupon I said decidedly:
“You are to remain here with no less than four lads on the watch all
the time. I am going out to learn whether there be any danger of an
attack.”
“It is for one of us to do that,” Giles said, quickly, and then I
understood how brave the lad was, for he was jealous that I should
incur greater danger than himself.
“You shall remain, Giles, until six hours have passed, and if I
have not returned, come in search of me, leaving whosoever you will
in charge of the company. Remember, lads, that we are to hold this
stockade so long as life shall last, for only by fighting until the
final moment can we aid those who are depending upon our loyalty to
them.”
Giles would have spoken again, but, as if he remembered the pledge just
made, held his peace, and I went into the stockade for as much of corn
bread as would serve for my breakfast. There was no need of taking more
than that amount, for, if I returned not by noon, I would never again
need food.
Having made ready, I went toward the small gate, and there stopped to
take Giles by the hand, as I said:
“The greatest danger which threatens lies between here and Wintermoot’s
in as straight a line as the crow flies. I am counting only on going
there before I return, therefore, if it becomes necessary to search for
me, you need not spend very much time in the hunt.”
My hand was on the bar of the gate to raise it from its place, when the
lad who was stationed on the west side of the stockade discharged his
musket, and a sharp cry from the thicket directly in front of him told
that the missile had found its target.
The lad who had fired leaped down in order that he might reload his
weapon without giving an opportunity for a shot to those who were on
the outside, and, running up to him, I asked, hurriedly:
“Was it red man or white?”
“Red,” he replied, “and, unless I mistake, there were three others near
by.”
Beckoning to four of the lads who stood nearest, I bade them mount the
wall, but urged that they take care before shooting, lest Elias be
making an effort to gain the stockade, and then I stationed the rest of
the company on the different sides of the fortification, knowing that,
if an attack by the Indians was about to be made, they were more like
to come from all quarters at the same moment.
Giles was the only member of the company whom I had not stationed, and
he stood moodily near the main entrance, as if disgruntled because I
had seemingly overlooked him.
The frown left his face very quickly, however, when I said, clapping
him on the shoulder:
“It is for you and me, Giles, to be certain the others do their duty
faithfully. We will make the round of the stockade, you starting toward
the east and I the west, until something more is known of the foe.
Don’t expose yourself foolishly, for it will be a serious matter indeed
when one of our small company is disabled.”
Then we clambered up on the logs which gave us footing all the way
around the enclosure, and had hardly more than shown ourselves when a
bullet whistled past Giles’s head, so near that he clapped his hand to
his cheek, believing he had been wounded. My heart sank within me, for
now I knew beyond a question that the Indians, or the Tories, or both,
had set about capturing Jenkins’s Fort, to the end that it might not
shelter those who were in position to give warning of the doings at
Wintermoot’s.
Strain our eyes as we might, it was not possible to distinguish any
form amid the foliage where the tiny curl of smoke was rising above
the leaves to tell of the whereabouts of him who had fired, and I said
bitterly to myself, unconscious of giving breath to the words:
“They count on regularly besieging the place and starving us out. It
won’t be a long job, for our provisions are none too abundant.”
I had dropped to my knees while speaking, with my face pressed against
the aperture left where two logs were joined together, and Giles,
crouching by my side, his eyes fixed upon the underbrush directly in
front of us, said grimly:
“We have enough in plenty for two days; by halving that, we can hold
out four, and should be able to get along on wind for two more,
making six. Within that time some one should come from Forty Fort, or
thereabouts, to learn how we are faring.”
“Ay, so they should, Giles, if it be possible, but in case those who
hold Wintermoot’s are determined on gaining possession of this place,
they will take good care no succor comes from that direction.”
Then a shot rang out from the north side of the stockade, and there
could no longer be any question but that my worst fears were to be
realized.
Leaping to the ground, I ran across the enclosure until I came to where
the shot had been fired, and there asked if they had seen their target
distinctly.
“Ay, enough to tell us that it was an Indian, but the bullet went
wide of its mark,” one of the lads replied. “We must be regularly
surrounded, and the red villains don’t propose to show themselves any
more than may be absolutely necessary in order to keep us fairly well
in view.”
Disheartening as were those words, they cheered me in a certain
measure, for I began to realize that those who menaced us must have
been in their present position some time before sunrise, and it was
possible that Elias, succeeding in making his way through the lines
when he started out, had found himself unable to return. He might be
at that moment trying to gain an entrance.
It is needless to make any attempt at describing all that occurred
during the long day which followed, for it would be but to repeat the
words again and again.
We kept vigilant watch, rewarded now and then by getting a shot at
some painted fiend who incautiously exposed himself, and again being
fired upon, but without result. Only twice before sunset did we have
fair proof that our bullets had taken effect, and then, as in the first
case, it was but a cry of pain which might more reasonably have been
caused by a slight wound than a deadly one.
We saw no white man, and this encouraged both Giles and myself, for, if
the Indians were of the Mohawk tribe, they would not continue a siege
very long, unless there were Tories near at hand to hold them to their
work.
When night came Giles and I took careful account of the provisions,
fearing less than we had supposed was on hand, and, that done, we told
off five of the party with orders that they lie down at once to sleep,
for up to this time all had remained awake at least thirty-six hours.
“We will divide the company into parties of four or five, that each may
get an hour’s rest in turn,” I said to Giles, “and those who remain
longest on duty must be kept constantly moving about, lest their eyes
close despite their will. And now is it in your mind that we had best
sit here idle?”
He looked at me questioningly and in surprise, whereat I continued:
“It is my belief that Elias may be trying to gain entrance here, and
I beg that you, so long as is possible without rest, remain on the
stockade just over the small gate, watching for him. I am going out.”
“To what end?” he asked.
“In the hope of finding him, and to learn the situation of affairs at
Wintermoot’s. Failing in that, to carry word to our friends farther
down the valley of what is being done here. Thus far we have escaped
injury; but, in case they press us hard, it is not probable that we
have such good luck during the next four and twenty hours.”
I had expected Giles would protest; but, to my surprise and delight, he
replied, quietly:
“If you think it best that you go rather than I, do so, yet I would
rather take the venture myself, although I question whether the danger
be greater outside than in.”
I took him by the hand, and did not speak. It was as if, during the
past four and twenty hours, he and I had ceased to be lads, and were
become men,--men who were entrusted with the defence of the women and
the aged in the poorly fortified blockhouses in the valley below us.
I am not minded that whomsoever reads these words shall believe I was
eager to encounter danger, therefore do I set it down that there was a
great fear in my heart as I unbarred the gate and stepped out, hearing
Giles replace the fastenings which separated me from my comrades.
However timorous one may be, he does not linger long in such a place as
I then was, for it stood to reason there were many pairs of sharp eyes
fixed on this particular portion of the stockade, and, lying flat on my
stomach, I began the advance, which needed to be slow and cautious if
one would continue it many moments.
Before having gotten fifty yards away, following the line of the river
at about an hundred paces from it, I suddenly came upon an Indian
leaning against a tree as if half-asleep.
It might have been possible to have struck a blow that would have
carried him out of this world; but the chances were that, in making
such an attempt, I would bring his fellows down upon me, and,
therefore, hardly daring to breathe lest he should be aware of my
neighborhood, I made such a détour as soon left him behind me.
Then half an hour more of creeping and stopping to listen, suspicious
of every leaf that was stirred by the wind, and after having gone, so
nearly as I could judge, a mile in distance, I was literally paralyzed
with fear when I laid my hand squarely upon the leg of a man.
In an instant he had kicked back with such force that the breath was
knocked out of me, and, before I could recover, he was upon my back,
clutching me by the throat with a grip which threatened soon to put an
end to my struggles.
It was impossible for me to draw my knife, and the musket which I
gripped in my right hand was useless at such a time. My brain was in a
whirl, and consciousness rapidly deserting me when, suddenly, the iron
grip upon my throat was loosened, as I heard dimly the whisper:
“Who are you?”
Then I understood who was my assailant, and it was with difficulty I
prevented myself from crying aloud with joy, for I knew now that I had
thus inadvertently come upon Elias.
It was not needed that I should reply to the question, for, passing his
hand quickly over my face, he knew who I was, and throwing himself by
my side, whispered:
“What are you doing here? Have they taken the fort?”
I explained in as few words as possible why I had ventured forth, and
in turn asked the reason for his failing to come back within the time
agreed upon.
“The stockade was all surrounded when I left, and since noon have I
been trying to have speech with you. Once I got within sight of the
fort, but was obliged to fall back when an additional force was sent up
from Wintermoot’s.”
“Did you get anywhere near the nest of Tories?”
“Ay, and because they evidently are not fearing any interference from
the people of the valley, I had good opportunity to see what was going
on. I should say no less than an hundred white men in the uniform of
Johnson Greens are there, and between the stockade and the river can
be seen twenty or more Indian lodges, which will give you an idea of
how many redskins Butler has gathered to begin the work of destruction
hereabout. I have heard shots enough from around our fort to tell me
that you must have, by this time, some idea of where the enemy are.”
“I know that a goodly number of them are outside Fort Jenkins, and it
looks to me much as if they counted on laying regular siege to the
place,” I replied, bitterly; “but as to how many may be nearabout, we
have no knowledge.”
“I believe a full half the force of Indians from Wintermoot’s are
there,” Elias replied. “Judging from the trouble I had in getting
anywhere near the main gate, it seemed to me that no less than two
hundred were in front of the stockade. How did you get out, and why are
you come?”
I replied to the questions, and began to think myself fortunate in
having gotten through the lines of the enemy with so little difficulty.
Elias was a better hand at such work than I, and if he had found it
impossible to open communication with us inside the stockade, then was
I lucky in not having come to grief before I chanced upon him.
“Then since you came out only to learn where the enemy might be found,
and how many there were of them near Wintermoot’s, you will go back
with me?” Elias said, questioningly, and straightway I told him about
the capture of Esther Hinchman, asking if he saw any evidences that the
Indians in camp had a prisoner with them.
“There might have been a dozen in the lodges, and I remain in ignorance
of the fact because of not looking for anything of that kind,” Elias
replied, in a tone of vexation and doubt, as if the matter needed no
discussion. “Of course we must retrace our steps at once.”
“Meaning that you think we might aid her if she was held by the red
villains?” I asked, and he replied, promptly:
“Meaning that we’d have a try for it, of course. The lads in the fort
are as well off as they would be if we were with them, therefore I
don’t see how we can help turning back, but I’d be in better shape for
the work if I had something besides wind in my stomach.”
Now it was I remembered that when Elias left the stockade he had
neglected to take any food with him, believing he would either be taken
prisoner, or succeed in returning within a few hours. Although my store
of provision was wofully small, consisting of only so much corn bread
as could be carried in the pocket of my hunting shirt, I divided it
with him, and while we were eating spoke of the necessity as it seemed
to me, of sending some word down the valley concerning what was going
on at Fort Jenkins, as well as what we knew regarding the situation at
Wintermoot’s.
Elias was of my mind concerning the necessity of so doing, but I
understood plainly that he was not inclined to volunteer for such a
mission. In fact, he said decidedly that if a message was to be sent,
some one of the lads inside the stockade, of whose courage we might be
in doubt, could best be spared at such a time when it seemed probable
an attack was imminent.
But I reminded him that it might be impossible, and certainly would
require a great expenditure of time, to seek for some other messenger
than one of us two who were already beyond the enemy’s lines.
Well, because of the darkness, when it would be impossible to do
much spying upon the enemy after we were come in the vicinity of
Wintermoot’s, we spent considerable time in the thicket talking of this
or of that, and chiefly regarding the show of insubordination which was
displayed shortly after he went out on the scout.
It matters little what we said, although to us the conversation was of
deepest import, since it was the foreshadowing of what we might expect
when the villainous Col. John Butler began his work of butchery upon
almost defenceless people, claiming that he was no more than waging
legitimate warfare.
Young in experience though we were, it was possible for us to
understand full well that on account of the quarrels which we of the
valley had had concerning the ownership of the land, and also because
of the interferences of Connecticut in our affairs, were we in greater
peril than any other cluster of settlements in the colonies, owing to
the greater number of Tories as compared with the loyal people.
It must not be supposed, however, that we spent any very great amount
of time chewing over those questions which had caused bloodshed long
before the colonists decided to array themselves against the king, but
the greater portion of our talk was regarding what we might be able to
do at Jenkins’s Fort, in event of a pitched battle, when the odds were
like to be heavy against us.
When the day was within an hour of breaking we began our advance toward
Wintermoot’s, moving with such caution that the gray light of morning
had dispersed the darkness as we were come within sight of, but at a
respectful distance from, the stockade, wherein were probably gathered
those who were minded to lay waste all the little settlements in our
beautiful valley.
At this early hour no one was stirring within the fort, and because of
having halted on a slight elevation of land it was possible for us to
see everything within the enclosure.
Outside, however, toward the river, where had been put up the lodges of
the savages, as if to effect a permanent settlement, we could see that
the Indians were all astir, and now and then one would set off at a
rapid pace in the direction of Jenkins’s Fort, or again, a runner would
return, as if bringing some intelligence from those who menaced the
Minute Boys of Wyoming Valley.
“It is the Indians who are entrusted with the task of capturing the
fort,” Elias whispered, as we gazed. “The Tories will take no hand in
the work unless it should become necessary--at least, that is my way of
figuring it.”
“There is no good reason why we should speculate upon the future,” I
said, irritably, made nervous by the desire to return to my comrades.
“Let us finish our business here as soon as may be. If Esther Hinchman
is held prisoner by those scoundrels, we should be able to get some
glimpse of her before very long, for I can’t believe they think it
necessary to guard her closely.”
We were concealed within the thicket at a point where there was the
least likelihood of our being come upon through accident by the enemy,
and, therefore, felt reasonably secure. During the quarrels between
the several claimants for Wyoming, even the youngest lads had become
accustomed to danger, and this I say in order that it may be the
better understood why Elias and I could thus take care of ourselves
in such a situation as we then were. In fact, for as long a time as I
could remember, we had been ever on the lookout for a foe, and were
almost as skilful at hiding ourselves in the wilderness as are the wild
things.
Within an hour from the time of our arrival the work was accomplished,
so far as learning whether Esther Hinchman was held a prisoner by those
savages who were under command of Col. John Butler, for we saw a white
girl moving timidly about, showing by every movement that she was a
stranger to the place and the people who surrounded her.
“I reckon this portion of the task is the same as finished,” Elias
said, after we had watched the poor girl a few moments, “and now
comes the question as to whether you are still determined that one of
us--which will, of course, be me--must go down the valley, and give
information of what is happening hereabouts.”
I had already made up my mind as to that, and was determined there
should be no discussion.
“Yes, you are to go, Elias,” I said, in a tone of one who has well
considered the matter, “and the sooner you set off the better. There
will be no necessity of travelling farther than Forty Fort, and once
you have arrived there, see to it that the people understand how great
is the danger which menaces. It is better that you put it too strongly,
rather than allow them to believe there is a chance they may not be
attacked.”
“And after that has been done?” he asked.
“Come back to Jenkins’s Fort as soon as possible, for you know that we
shall need you, unless, peradventure, we are by that time past all need
of human help.”
Elias half turned as if to speak, then quickly, with a gesture of
impatience, he turned his face in the direction I would have him
go, gliding through the thicket on a course which would take him
considerably to the westward of Wintermoot’s, and making no more noise
than might have been caused by a squirrel.