The day went by; night fell; and Walter Prevost did not appear in his
father's house. No alarm, however, was entertained; for, out of the
wide range of chances, there were many events which might have
occurred to detain him. A shade of anxiety, perhaps, came over Edith's
mind; but it passed away the next morning, when she heard from the
negro Chando, or Alexander (who, having been brought up amongst the
Indians from his infancy, was better acquainted with their habits than
any person in the house), that not a single red man had been in the
neighbourhood since the preceding morning at eight o'clock.
"All gone west, missy," he said; "the last to go were old chief Black
Eagle. I hear of him coming to help you, and I go out to see."
Edith asked no questions in regard to the sources of his information;
for he was famous for finding out all that was going on in the
neighbourhood, and, with a childlike vanity, making somewhat of a
secret of the means by which he obtained intelligence; but she argued
reasonably, though wrongly, that, as Walter was not to set out from
Albany till about the same hour that the Indians left, he could not
have fallen in with any of their parties.
Thus passed the morning, till about three o'clock; but then, when the
lad did not appear, anxiety rose up, and became strong, as hour after
hour went by, and he came mot. Each tried to sustain the hopes of the
others; each argued against the apprehensions he himself entertained.
Lord H---- pointed out that the Commander-in-Chief, to whom Walter had
been sent, might be absent from Albany. Mr. Prevost suggested that the
young man might have found no boat coming up the river; and Edith
remembered that very often the boatmen were frightfully exorbitant in
their charge for bringing any one on the way who seemed eager to
proceed. Knowing her brother's character well, she thought it very
likely that he would resist an attempt at imposition, even at the risk
of delay. But still she was very, very anxious; and as night again
fell, and the hour of repose arrived without his presence, tears
gathered in her eyes, and trembled on the silken lashes.
The following morning dawned in heavy rain; a perfect deluge seemed
descending from the sky. Still Lord H---- ordered his horse at an
early hour, telling Edith and Mr. Prevost, in as quiet and easy a tone
as he could assume, that he was going to Albany.
"Although I trust and believe," he said, "that my young friend Walter
has been detained by some accidental circumstance, yet it will be
satisfactory to us all to know what has become of him; and, moreover,
it is absolutely necessary that I should have some communication as
speedily as possible with the Commander-in-Chief. I think it likely
that Walter may have followed him down the river, as he knows my
anxiety for an immediate answer. I must do so too, if I find him still
absent; but you shall hear from me when I reach Albany; and I will be
back myself as soon as possible."
Edith gazed at him with a melancholy look, for she felt how much she
needed, and how much more she might still need, the comfort of his
presence; but she would not say a word to prevent his going.
The breakfast that day was a sad and gloomy meal. The lowering sky,
the pouring rain, the thoughts that were in the hearts of all,
banished everything like cheerfulness. Various orders were given for
one of the servants to be ready to guide Lord H---- on his way, for
ascertaining whether the little river were in flood, and other
matters; and the course which Walter was likely to take on his return,
was considered and discussed, in order that the nobleman might take
the same road, and meet him, if possible; but this was the only
conversation which took place.
Just as they were about to rise from table, however, a bustle was
heard without, amongst the servants; and Mr. Prevost started up,
exclaiming,--
"Here he is, I do believe!"
But the hope was dispelled the next instant; for a young man, in full
military costume, but drenched with rain, was ushered into the room,
and advanced towards Lord H----, saying, in a quiet, commonplace
tone,--
"We arrived last night, my lord, and I thought it better to come up
and report myself immediately, as the quarters are very insufficient,
and we may expect a great deal of stormy weather, I am told."
Lord H---- looked at him gravely, as if he expected to hear something
more; and then said, after a moment's pause,--
"I do not exactly understand you, Captain Hammond. You have arrived
where?"
"Why, at the boatman's village on the point, my lord," replied the
young officer, with a look of some surprise; "have you not received
Lord Loudon's dispatch, in answer to your lordship's own letters?"
"No, sir," replied Lord H----; "but you had better come and confer with
me in another room."
"Oh, George, let us hear all," exclaimed Edith, laying her hand upon
his arm, and divining his motives at once; "if there be no
professional reason for secrecy, let us hear all."
"Well," said Lord H----, gravely, "pray, Captain Hammond, when were
his lordship's letters dispatched, and by whom?"
"By the young gentleman you sent, my lord," replied Captain Hammond;
"and he left Albany two days ago, early in the morning. He was a fine
gentlemanly young fellow, who won us all, and I went down to the boat
with him myself."
Edith turned very pale, and Mr. Prevost inquired--
"Pray, has anything been heard of the boat since?"
"Yes, sir," answered the young officer, beginning to perceive the
state of the case; "she returned to Albany the same night, and we came
up in her yesterday, as far as we could. I made no inquiries after
young Mr. Prevost, for I took it for granted he had arrived with the
dispatches."
Lord H---- turned his eyes towards the face of Edith, and saw quite
sufficient there to make him instantly draw a chair towards her, and
seat her in it.
"Do not give way to apprehension," he said, "before we know more. The
case is strange, undoubtedly, dear Edith; still the enigma may be
solved in a happier way than you think."
Edith shook her head sadly, saying, in a low tone,--
"You do not know all, dear George--at least, I believe not. The
Indians have received an offence they never forgive. They were
wandering about here on the night we were caught by the fire,
disappearing the next morning; and, some time during that night, my
poor brother must have been--"
Tears broke off the sentence; but her lover eagerly caught at a few of
her words to find some ground of hope for her--whatever he might fear
himself.
"He may have been turned from his course by the burning forest," he
said, "and have found a difficulty in retracing his way. The woods
were still burning yesterday, and we cannot tell how far the fire may
have extended. At all events, dearest Edith, we have gained some
information to guide us. We can now trace poor Walter to the place
where he disembarked, and that will narrow the ground we have to
search. Take courage, love, and let us all trust in God."
"He says that Walter intended to disembark four miles south of the
King's road," said Mr. Prevost, who had been talking earnestly to
Captain Hammond. "Let us set out at once, and examine the ground
between this place and that."
"I think not," remarked Lord H----, after a moment's thought. "I will
ride down, as fast as possible, to the house, and gain what
information I can there. Then, spreading a body of men to the
westward, we will sweep all the trails up to this spot. You, and as
many of your people as can be spared from the house, may come on to
meet us, setting out in an hour; but, for Heaven's sake, do not leave
this dear girl alone."
"I fear not--I fear not for myself," replied Edith; "only seek for
Walter; obtain some news of him, and let us try to save him, if there
be yet time to do so."
Covering her eyes with her handkerchief, which was wetted with her
tears, Edith took no more part in what was going on, but gave herself
up to bitter thought; and many and complex were the trains which it
followed. Now a gleam of hope would rise up and cheer her for an
instant into a belief that her lover's supposition might be correct,
and that Walter might, indeed, have been cut off by the fire, and, not
knowing which way it extended, might have taken a course leading far
away from the house. With the hope, as ever, came the fear; and she
asked herself,--
"Might he not have perished in the woods--perished of hunger--perished
by the flame? But he was prompt, resolute, and accustomed, for some
years, to the life of the woods. He had his rifle with him too, and
was not likely to want food when that was in his hand."
But, prominent over all in darkness and dread, was the fear of Indian
vengeance; and the more she thought of the probability of her brother
having been entrapped by some party of the Oneidas, the more terrible
grew her apprehensions, the more completely her hopes dwindled away.
There were certainly Indians in the forest, she thought, at a time
when Walter must have been there. With their quick sight and hearing,
and their tenacity of pursuit, he was not likely to escape them; and,
if once he fell into their hands, his fate seemed to her sealed. The
protection promised to herself by the old chief, but not extended to
her family, alarmed rather than re-assured her; and she saw nothing in
Black Eagle's unwillingness to give any assurances of their safety,
but a determination to take vengeance, even on those who were dear to
him. As she recalled, too, all the particulars of the old chief's
visit to that lonely farmhouse, and her interviews with him, an
impression, at first faint, but growing stronger and stronger, took
possession of her mind, that the chief knew of her brother's capture
before he parted from her.
These thoughts did not indeed present themselves in regular
succession, but came all confused and whirling through her mind; while
the only thing in the gloomy crowd of fancies and considerations to
which she could fix a hope, was the cool deliberation with which the
Indians pursued any scheme of vengeance, and the slow and systematic
manner with which they carried their purposes into execution.
While Edith remained plunged in these gloomy reveries, an active but
not less sad consultation was going on at the other side of the room,
which ended in the adoption of the plan proposed by Lord H----, very
slightly modified by the suggestions of Mr. Prevost. An orderly, whom
Captain Hammond had brought with him, was left at the house, as a sort
of guard to Edith, it being believed that the sight of his red coat
would act as an intimation to any Indians who might be in the woods
that the family was under the protection of the British government.
Lord H----and the young officer set off together for the boatmen's
village, whence Walter had departed for Albany, and where a small
party of English soldiers were now posted, intending to obtain all the
aid they could, and sweep along the forest till they came to the verge
of the recent fire, leaving sentinels on the different trails, which,
the reader must understand, were so numerous throughout the whole of
what the Iroquois called their Long House, as often to be within hail
of each other.
Advancing steadily along these small pathways, Lord H---- calculated
that he could reconnoitre the whole distance between the greater river
and the fire with sufficient closeness to prevent any numerous party
of Indians passing unseen, at least till he met with the advancing
party of Mr. Prevost, who were to search the country thoroughly for
some distance round the house, and then to proceed steadily forward in
a reverse course to that of the nobleman and his men.
No time was lost by Lord H---- and Captain Hammond on the road, the
path they took being, for a considerable distance, the same by which
Lord H---- had first arrived at Mr. Prevost's house, and, for its
whole length, the same which the captain had followed in the morning.
It was somewhat longer, it is true, than the Indian trail by which
Woodchuck had led them on his ill-starred expedition; but its width
and better construction more than made up for the difference in
distance; and the rain had not been falling long enough to affect its
solidity to any great extent.
Thus, little more than an hour sufficed to bring the two officers to
the spot where a company of Lord H----'s regiment was posted. The
primary task--that of seeking some intelligence of Walter's first
movements after landing--was more successful than might have been
expected. A settler, who supplied the boatmen with meal and flour, was
even then in the village; and he averred truly that he had seen young
Mr. Prevost, and spoken with him, just as he was quitting the
cultivated ground on the bank of the river, and entering the forest
ground beyond. Thus, his course was traced up to a quarter before
three o'clock on the Thursday preceding, and to the entrance of a
government road, which all the boatmen knew well. The distance between
that spot and Mr. Prevost's house was about fourteen miles, and from
the boatmen's village to the mouth of the road through the forest some
six or seven.
Besides the company of soldiers, numbering between seventy and eighty
men, there were at least forty or fifty stout, able-bodied fellows
amongst the boatmen, well acquainted with all the intricacies of the
woods round about, and fearless and daring, from the constant perils
and exertions of their mode of life. These were soon gathered round
Lord H----, whose rank and military station they now learned for the
first time; and he found that the tidings of the disappearance of
Walter Prevost, whom most of them knew and loved, excited a spirit in
them which he had little expected.
Addressing a few words to them at once, he offered a considerable
reward to each man who would join in searching thoroughly the whole of
that part of the forest which lay between the spot where the young man
was last seen and his father's house. But one tall, stout man, about
forty years of age, stepped forward, and spoke for the rest, saying--
"We want no reward for such work as that, my lord. I guess there's not
a man of us who will not turn out to search for young Master Walter,
if you'll but leave red coats enough with the old men to protect our
wives and children in case of need."
"I cannot venture, for anything not exactly connected with the
service," replied Lord H----, "to weaken the post by more than one
quarter its number. Still we shall make up a sufficient party to
search the woods adequately, if you will all go with me."
"That we will, that we will!" exclaimed a dozen voices.
Everything was soon arranged. Signals and modes of communication and
co-operation were speedily agreed upon; and the practical knowledge of
the boatmen proved fully as serviceable as the military science of
Lord H----, who was far too wise not to avail himself of it to the
fullest extent.
With about twenty regular soldiers, thirty-seven or thirty-eight men
from the village, each armed with his invariable rifle and hatchet,
and a number of good, big, active boys, who volunteered to act as a
sort of runners, and keep up the communications between the different
parts of the line, the nobleman set out upon his way along the edge of
the forest, and reached the end of the government road, near which
Walter had been last seen, about one o'clock in the day.
Here the men dispersed, the soldiers guided by the boatmen; and the
forest ground was entered at about fourteen different places, wherever
an old or a new trail could be discovered. Whenever an opportunity
presented itself, by the absence of brushwood, or the old trees being
wide or far apart, the boys ran across from one party to another,
carrying information or directions; and, though each little group was
often hidden from the other, as they advanced steadily onwards, still
it rarely happened that many minutes elapsed without their catching a
sight of some friendly party, on the right or left, while whoop and
hallo marked their progress to each other. Once or twice, the trails
crossing, brought two parties to the same spot; but then, separating
again immediately, they sought each a new path, and proceeded as
before.
Few traces of any kind could be discovered on the ground; for the
rain, though it had now ceased, had so completely washed the face of
the earth, that every print of shoe or moccassin was obliterated. The
tracks of cart-wheels, indeed, seemingly recent, and the foot-marks of
a horse and some men were discovered along the government road; but
nothing more, till at a spot where a large and deeply-indented trail
left the highway, the ground appeared a good deal trampled by
hoof-marks, as if a horse had been standing there for some little
time; and under a thick hemlock-tree, at the corner of the trail,
sheltering the ground beneath from the rain, the print of a well-made
shoe was visible. The step had evidently been turned in the direction
of Mr. Prevost's house; and up that trail Lord H---- himself
proceeded, with a soldier and two of the boatmen. No further step
could be traced, however; but the boatman, who had been the spokesman
a little while before, insisted upon it that they must be on young
Master Walter's track.
"A New York shoe," he said, "made that print, I'm sure; and depend
upon it we are right where he went. Keep a sharp look under all the
thick trees at the side, my lord. You may catch another track. Keep
behind, boys--you'll brush 'em out."
Nothing more was found, however, though the man afterwards thought he
had discovered the print of a moccassin in the sand, where it had been
partly protected. But some rain had reached it, and there was no
certainty.
The trail they were then following was, I have said, large and deeply
worn, so that the little party of Lord H---- soon got somewhat in
advance of all the others, except that which had continued on the
government road.
"Stay a bit, my lord," said the boatman, at length; "we are too far
ahead, and might chance to get a shot, if there be any of them red
devils in the wood. I know them well, and all their ways, I guess,
having been among them, man and boy, this thirty years; and it was
much worse when I first came. They'll lie as close to you as that
bush, and the first thing you'll know of it will be a ball whizzing
into you. If, however, we all go on in line, they can't keep back, but
will creep away like mice. What I can't understand is, why they should
try to hurt young Master Walter; for they were all as fond of him as
if he were one of themselves."
"The fact is, my good friend," replied Lord H----, in a low tone, "the
day I came down to your landing last, one of the Oneidas was
unfortunately killed, and we are told that they will have some white
man's life in retaliation."
"To be sure they will!" rejoined the man, with a look of
consternation. "They'll have blood for blood, if all of 'em die for't.
But did Master Walter kill him?"
"No," replied Lord H----; "it was our friend the Woodchuck; but he did
it entirely in self-defence."
"What, Brooks?" exclaimed the boatman, in much surprise. "Do let's
hear about it, and I guess I can tell you how it will all go, better
than any other man between this and Boston." And he seated himself on
the slump of a tree, in an attitude of attention.
Very briefly, but with perfect clearness, Lord H---- related all that
occurred on the occasion referred to. The boatman listened with
evident anxiety, and then sat for a moment in silence, with the air of
a judge pondering over the merits of a case just pleaded before him.
"I'll tell you how it is, my lord," he said at length, in an oracular
tone; "they've got him, depend on't. They've caught him here in the
forest. But, you see, they'll not kill him yet--no, no; they'll wait.
They've heard that Woodchuck has got away, and they've kidnapped young
Walter to make sure of some one. But they'll stay to see if they can't
get Brooks into their clutches somehow. They'll go dodgering about all
manner o' ways, and try every trick you can think of to lure him back.
Very like you may hear that they've killed the lad; but don't you
believe it for a good many months to come. I guess it's likely they'll
set that story afloat just to get Brooks to come back; for then he'll
think that they've had all they wanted, and will know that he's safe
from all but the father, or the brother, or the son of the man he
killed. But they'll wait and see. Oh, they're the most cunningest set
of critturs that ever dived, and no doubt of it! But let's get on, for
the others are up--there's a red-coat through the trees there--and
they may perhaps have scalped the boy, though I don't think it's nohow
likely."
Thus saying, he rose, and led the way again through the dark glades of
the wood, till the clearer light of day, shining amidst the trunks and
branches on before, showed that the party was approaching the spot
where the late conflagration had laid the shady monarchs of the forest
low. Suddenly, at a spot where another trail crossed, the soldier who
was with them stooped down and picked something up off the ground,
saying--
"Here's a good large knife, anyhow."
"Let me see--let me see!" cried the boatman; "that's his knife, for a
score of dollars. Ay! 'Warner, London,' that's the maker; it's
Walter's knife. But that shows nothing--he might have dropped it; but
he's come precious near the fire, he surely would never try to break
through and get himself burnt to death. If the Ingians had got him, I
should have thought they'd have caught him farther back. Hallo! what
are they all a-doing on there? They've found the corpse, I guess."
The eyes of Lord H---- were bent forward in the same direction; and,
though his lips uttered no sound, his mind had asked the same question
and come to the same conclusion. Three negroes were standing gathered
together round some object lying on the ground; and the figure of Mr.
Prevost himself, partly seen, partly hidden by the slaves, appeared
sitting on a fallen tree, with his head resting on his hand,
contemplating fixedly the same object which seemed to engage all the
attention of the negroes.
Lord H---- hurried his pace, and reached the spot in a few moments. He
was somewhat relieved by what he saw when he came nearer; for the
object at which Mr. Prevost was gazing so earnestly was Walter's
knapsack, and not the dead body of his son. The straps which had
fastened it to the lad's shoulders had been cut, not unbuckled; and it
was, therefore, clear that it was not by his own voluntary act that it
had been cast off. It did not appear, however, to have been opened;
and the boatman, looking down on it, muttered--
"No, no! They would not steal anything--not they. That was not what
they wanted. It's no use looking any farther. The case is clear
enough."
"Too clear!" ejaculated Mr. Prevost, in a dull, stern tone. "That man,
Brooks, has saved his own life, and sacrificed my poor boy."
The tears gushed into his eyes as he spoke; and he rose and turned
away to hide them. Lord H---- motioned to the negroes to take up the
knapsack, and carry it home; and then advancing to Mr. Prevost's side,
he took his hand, saying, in a low tone--
"There may yet be hope, my dear sir. Let us not give way to despair;
but exert ourselves instantly and strenuously to trace out the poor
lad, and save him. Much may yet be done--the Government may
interfere--Walter may be rescued by a sudden effort."
Mr. Prevost shook his head heavily, and murmuring, "Are _all_ my
family destined to perish by Indians?" took his way slowly back
towards his house.
Nothing more was said till he was within a quarter of a mile of his
own door; but then, just before emerging from the cover of the wood,
the unhappy father stopped, and took the hand of Lord H----.
"Break it to her gently," he said, in a low tone: "I am unfit.
Misfortunes, disappointments, and sorrows have broken the spirit which
was once strong, and cast down the energies which used never to fail.
It is in such moments as these that I feel how much I am weakened.
Prepare her to leave this place, too. My pleasant solitude has become
abhorrent to me, and I cannot live here without a dread and a memory
always upon me. Go forward, my good lord: I will follow you soon."