Be not your tongue thy own shame's orator,
Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty,
Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger.
--_Comedy of Errors._
The situation of the party in Mr. Wharton's dwelling was sufficiently
awkward, during the hour of Caesar's absence; for such was the
astonishing rapidity displayed by his courser, that the four miles of
road was gone over, and the events we have recorded had occurred,
somewhat within that period of time. Of course, the gentlemen strove to
make the irksome moments fly as swiftly as possible; but premeditated
happiness is certainly of the least joyous kind. The bride and
bridegroom are immemorially privileged to be dull, and but few of their
friends seemed disposed, on the present occasion, to dishonor their
example. The English colonel exhibited a proper portion of uneasiness at
this unexpected interruption of his felicity, and he sat with a varying
countenance by the side of Sarah, who seemed to be profiting by the
delay to gather fortitude for the solemn ceremony. In the midst of this
embarrassing silence, Doctor Sitgreaves addressed himself to Miss
Peyton, by whose side he had contrived to procure a chair. "Marriage,
madam, is pronounced to be honorable in the sight of God and man; and it
may be said to be reduced, in the present age, to the laws of nature and
reason. The ancients, in sanctioning polygamy, lost sight of the
provisions of nature, and condemned thousands to misery; but with the
increase of science have grown the wise ordinances of society, which
ordain that man should be the husband of but one woman."
Wellmere glanced a fierce expression of disgust at the surgeon, that
indicated his sense of the tediousness of the other's remarks; while
Miss Peyton, with a slight hesitation, as if fearful of touching on
forbidden subjects, replied,--
"I had thought, sir, that we were indebted to the Christian religion
for our morals on this subject."
"True, madam, it is somewhere provided in the prescriptions of the
apostles, that the sexes should henceforth be on an equality in this
particular. But in what degree could polygamy affect holiness of life?
It was probably a wise arrangement of Paul, who was much of a scholar,
and probably had frequent conferences, on this important subject, with
Luke, whom we all know to have been bred to the practice of medicine--"
There is no telling how far the discursive fancy of Sitgreaves might
have led him, on this subject, had he not been interrupted. But Lawton,
who had been a close though silent observer of all that passed, profited
by the hint to ask abruptly,--
"Pray, Colonel Wellmere, in what manner is bigamy punished in England?"
The bridegroom started, and his lip blanched. Recovering himself,
however, on the instant, he answered with a suavity that became so
happy a man,--
"Death!--as such an offense merits," he said.
"Death and dissection," continued the operator. "It is seldom that law
loses sight of eventual utility in a malefactor. Bigamy, in a man, is a
heinous offense!"
"More so than celibacy?" asked Lawton.
"More so," returned the surgeon, with undisturbed simplicity. "One who
remains in a single state may devote his life to science and the
extension of knowledge, if not of his species; but the wretch who
profits by the constitutional tendency of the female sex to credulity
and tenderness, incurs the wickedness of a positive sin, heightened by
the baseness of deception."
"Really, sir, the ladies are infinitely obliged to you, for attributing
folly to them as part of their nature."
"Captain Lawton, in man the animal is more nobly formed than in woman.
The nerves are endowed with less sensi bility; the whole frame is less
pliable and yielding; is it therefore surprising, that a tendency to
rely on the faith of her partner is more natural to woman than to the
other sex?"
Wellmere, as if unable to listen with any degree of patience to so
ill-timed a dialogue, sprang from his seat and paced the floor in
disorder. Pitying his situation, the reverend gentleman, who was
patiently awaiting the return of Caesar, changed the discourse, and a
few minutes brought the black himself. The billet was handed to Dr.
Sitgreaves; for Miss Peyton had expressly enjoined Caesar not to
implicate her, in any manner, in the errand on which he was dispatched.
The note contained a summary statement of the several subjects of the
surgeon's directions, and referred him to the black for the ring. The
latter was instantly demanded, and promptly delivered. A transient look
of melancholy clouded the brow of the surgeon, as he stood a moment, and
gazed silently on the bauble; nor did he remember the place, or the
occasion, while he mournfully soliloquized as follows:--
"Poor Anna! gay as innocence and youth could make thee was thy heart,
when this cincture was formed to grace thy nuptials; but ere the hour
had come, God had taken thee to Himself. Years have passed, my sister,
but never have I forgotten the companion of my infancy!" He advanced to
Sarah, and, unconscious of observation, placing the ring on her finger,
continued, "She for whom it was intended has long been in her grave, and
the youth who bestowed the gift soon followed her sainted spirit; take
it, madam, and God grant that it may be an instrument in making you as
happy as you deserve!"
Sarah felt a chill at her heart, as this burst of feeling escaped the
surgeon; but Wellmere offering his hand, she was led before the divine,
and the ceremony began. The first words of this imposing office produced
a dead stillness in the apartment; and the minister of God proceeded to
the solemn exhortation, and witnessed the plighted troth of the
parties, when the investiture was to follow. The ring had been left,
from inadvertency and the agitation of the moment, on the finger where
Sitgreaves had placed it; the slight interruption occasioned by the
circumstance was over, and the clergyman was about to proceed, when a
figure gliding into the midst of the party, at once put a stop to the
ceremony. It was the peddler. His look was bitter and ironical, while a
finger, raised towards the divine, seemed to forbid the ceremony to go
any further.
"Can Colonel Wellmere waste the precious moments here, when his wife has
crossed the ocean to meet him? The nights are long, and the moon bright;
a few hours will take him to the city."
Aghast at the suddenness of this extraordinary address, Wellmere for a
moment lost the command of his faculties. To Sarah, the countenance of
Birch, expressive as it was, produced no terror; but the instant she
recovered from the surprise of his interruption, she turned her anxious
gaze on the features of the man to whom she had just pledged her troth.
They afforded the most terrible confirmation of all that the peddler
affirmed; the room whirled round, and she fell lifeless into the arms of
her aunt. There is an instinctive delicacy in woman, that seems to
conquer all other emotions; and the insensible bride was immediately
conveyed from sight, leaving the room to the sole possession of the
other sex.
The confusion enabled the peddler to retreat with a rapidity that would
have baffled pursuit, had any been attempted, and Wellmere stood with
every eye fixed on him, in ominous silence.
"'Tis false--'tis false as hell!" he cried, striking his forehead. "I
have ever denied her claim; nor will the laws of my country compel me to
acknowledge it."
"But what will conscience and the laws of God do?" asked Lawton.
"'Tis well, sir," said Wellmere, haughtily, and retreating towards the
door, "my situation protects you now; but a time may come--"
He had reached the entry, when a slight tap on his shoulder caused him
to turn his head; it was Captain Lawton, who, with a smile of peculiar
meaning, beckoned him to follow. The state of Wellmere's mind was such,
that he would gladly have gone anywhere to avoid the gaze of horror and
detestation that glared from every eye he met. They reached the stables
before the trooper spoke, when he cried aloud,--
"Bring out Roanoke!"
His man appeared with the steed caparisoned for its master. Lawton,
coolly throwing the bridle on the neck of the animal, took his pistols
from the holsters, and continued, "Here are weapons that have seen good
service before to-day--aye, and in honorable hands, sir. These were the
pistols of my father, Colonel Wellmere; he used them with credit in the
wars with France, and gave them to me to fight the battles of my country
with. In what better way can I serve her than in exterminating a wretch
who would have blasted one of her fairest daughters?"
"This injurious treatment shall meet with its reward," cried the other,
seizing the offered weapon. "The blood lie on the head of him who
sought it!"
"Amen! but hold a moment, sir. You are now free, and the passports of
Washington are in your pocket; I give you the fire; if I fall, there is
a steed that will outstrip pursuit; and I would advise you to reteat
without much delay, for even Archibald Sitgreaves would fight in such a
cause--nor will the guard above be very apt to give quarter."
"Are you ready?" asked Wellmere, gnashing his teeth with rage.
"Stand forward, Tom, with the lights; fire!"
Wellmere fired, and the bullion flew from the epaulet of the trooper.
"Now the turn is mine," said Lawton, deliberately leveling his pistol.
"And mine!" shouted a voice, as the weapon was struck from his hand.
"By all the devils in hell, 'tis the mad Virginian!--fall on, my boys,
and take him; this is a prize not hoped for!"
Unarmed, and surprised as he was, Lawton's presence of mind did not
desert him; he felt that he was in the hands of those from whom he was
to expect no mercy; and, as four of the Skinners fell upon him at once,
he used his gigantic strength to the utmost. Three of the band grasped
him by the neck and arms, with an intent to clog his efforts, and pinion
him with ropes. The first of these he threw from him, with a violence
that sent him against the building, where he lay stunned with the blow.
But the fourth seized his legs; and, unable to contend with such odds,
the trooper came to the earth, bringing with him all of his assailants.
The struggle on the ground was short but terrific; curses and the most
dreadful imprecations were uttered by the Skinners, who in vain called
on more of their band, who were gazing on the combat in nerveless
horror, to assist. A difficulty of breathing, from one of the
combatants, was heard, accompanied by the stifled moanings of a
strangled man; and directly one of the group arose on his feet, shaking
himself free from the wild grasp of the others. Both Wellmere and the
servant of Lawton had fled: the former to the stables, and the latter to
give the alarm, leaving all in darkness. The figure that stood erect
sprang into the saddle of the unheeded charger; sparks of fire, issuing
from the armed feet of the horse, gave a momentary light by which the
captain was seen dashing like the wind towards the highway.
"By hell, he's off!" cried the leader, hoarse with rage and exhaustion.
"Fire!--bring him down--fire, or you'll be too late."
The order was obeyed, and one moment of suspense followed, in the vain
hope of hearing the huge frame of Lawton tumbling from his steed.
"He would not fall if you had killed him," muttered one. "I've known
these Virginians sit their horses with two or three balls through them;
aye, even after they were dead."
A freshening of the wind wafted the tread of a horse down the valley,
which, by its speed, gave assurance of a rider governing its motion.
"These trained horses always stop when the rider falls," observed one of
the gang.
"Then," cried the leader, striking his musket on the ground in a rage,
"the fellow is safe!--to your business at once. A short half hour will
bring down that canting sergeant and the guard upon us. 'Twill be lucky
if the guns don't turn them out. Quick, to your posts, and fire the
house in the chambers; smoking ruins are good to cover evil deeds."
"What is to be done with this lump of earth?" cried another, pushing the
body that yet lay insensible, where it had been hurled by the arm of
Lawton; "a little rubbing would bring him to."
"Let him lie," said the leader, fiercely. "Had he been half a man, that
dragooning rascal would have been in my power; enter the house, I say,
and fire the chambers. We can't go amiss here; there is plate and money
enough to make you all gentlemen--and revenge too."
The idea of silver in any way was not to be resisted; and, leaving their
companion, who began to show faint signs of life, they rushed
tumultuously towards the dwelling. Wellmere availed himself of the
opportunity, and, stealing from the stable with his own charger, he was
able to gain the highway unnoticed. For an instant he hesitated, whether
to ride towards the point where he knew the guard was stationed, and
endeavor to rescue the family, or, profiting by his liberty and the
exchange that had been effected by the divine, to seek the royal army.
Shame, and a consciousness of guilt, determined him to take the latter
course, and he rode towards New York, stung with the reflection of his
own baseness, and harassed with the apprehension of meeting with an
enraged woman, that he had married during his late visit to England,
but whose claims, as soon as his passion was sated, he had resolved
never willingly to admit. In the tumult and agitation of the moment, the
retreat of Lawton and Wellmere was but little noticed; the condition of
Mr. Wharton demanding the care and consolation of both the surgeon and
the divine. The report of the firearms at first roused the family to the
sense of a new danger, and but a moment elapsed before the leader, and
one more of the gang, entered the room.
"Surrender! you servants of King George," shouted the leader, presenting
his musket to the breast of Sitgreaves, "or I will let a little tory
blood from your veins."
"Gently--gently, my friend," said the surgeon. "You are doubtless more
expert in inflicting wounds than in healing them; the weapon that you
hold so indiscreetly is extremely dangerous to animal life."
"Yield, or take its contents."
"Why and wherefore should I yield?--I am a noncombatant. The articles of
capitulation must be arranged with Captain John Lawton; though yielding,
I believe, is not a subject on which you will find him particularly
complying."
The fellow had by this time taken such a survey of the group, as
convinced him that little danger was to be apprehended from resistance,
and, eager to seize his share of the plunder, he dropped his musket, and
was soon busy with the assistance of his men, in arranging divers
articles of plate in bags. The cottage now presented a singular
spectacle. The ladies were gathered around Sarah, who yet continued
insensible, in one of the rooms that had escaped the notice of the
marauders. Mr. Wharton sat in a state of perfect imbecility, listening
to, but not profiting by, the meaning words of comfort that fell from
the lips of the clergyman. Singleton was lying on a sofa, shaking with
debility, and inattentive to surrounding objects; while the surgeon was
administering restoratives, and looking at the dressings, with a
coolness that mocked the tumult. Caesar and the attendant of Captain
Singleton, had retreated to the wood in the rear of the cottage, and
Katy Haynes was flying about the building, busily employed in forming a
bundle of valuables, from which, with the most scrupulous honesty, she
rejected every article that was not really and truly her own.
But to return to the party at the Four Corners. When the veteran had got
his men mounted and under arms, a restless desire to participate in the
glory and dangers of the expedition came over the washerwoman. Whether
she was impelled to the undertaking by a dread of remaining alone, or a
wish to hasten in person to the relief of her favorite, we will not
venture to assert but, as Hollister was giving the orders to wheel and
march, the voice of Betty was heard, exclaiming,--
"Stop a bit, sargeant dear, till two of the boys get out the cart, and
I'll jist ride wid ye; 'tis like there'll be wounded, and it will be
mighty convanient to bring them home in."
Although inwardly much pleased with any cause of delay to a service that
he so little relished, Hollister affected some displeasure at the
detention.
"Nothing but a cannon ball can take one of my lads from his charger," he
said; "and it's not very likely that we shall have as fair fighting as
cannon and musketry, in a business of the evil one's inventing; so,
Elizabeth, you may go if you will, but the cart will not be wanting."
"Now, sargeant dear, you lie, anyway," said Betty, who was somewhat
unduly governed by her potations. "And wasn't Captain Singleton shot off
his horse but tin days gone by? Aye, and Captain Jack himself too; and
didn't he lie on the ground, face uppermost and back downwards, looking
grim? And didn't the boys t'ink him dead, and turn and l'ave the
rig'lars the day?"
"You lie back again," cried the sergeant, fiercely; "and so does anyone
who says that we didn't gain the day."
"For a bit or so--only I mane for a bit or so," said the washerwoman;
"but Major Dunwoodie turned you, and so you licked the rig'lars. But the
captain it was that fell, and I'm thinking that there's no better rider
going; so, sargeant, it's the cart will be convanient. Here, two of you,
jist hitch the mare to the tills, and it's no whisky that ye'll be
wanting the morrow; and put the piece of Jenny's hide under the pad; the
baste is never the better for the rough ways of the county Westchester."
The consent of the sergeant being obtained, the equipage of Mrs.
Flanagan was soon in readiness to receive its burden.
"As it is quite uncertain whether we shall be attacked in front, or in
rear," said Hollister, "five of you shall march in advance, and the
remainder shall cover our retreat towards the barrack, should we be
pressed. 'Tis an awful moment to a man of little learning, Elizabeth, to
command in such a service; for my part, I wish devoutly that one of the
officers were here; but my trust is in the Lord."
"Pooh! man, away wid ye," said the washerwoman, who had got herself
comfortably seated. "The divil a bit of an inimy is there near. March
on, hurry-skurry, and let the mare trot, or it's but little that Captain
Jack will thank ye for the help."
"Although unlearned in matters of communicating with spirits, or laying
the dead, Mrs. Flanagan," said the veteran, "I have not served through
the old war, and five years in this, not to know how to guard the
baggage. Doesn't Washington always cover the baggage? I am not to be
told my duty by a camp follower. Fall in as you are ordered, and
dress, men."
"Well, march, anyway," cried the impatient washerwoman. "The black is
there already, and it's tardy the captain will think ye."
"Are you sure that it was really a black man that brought the order?"
said the sergeant, dropping in between the platoons, where he could
converse with Betty, and be at hand, to lead on an emergency, either on
an advance or on a retreat.
"Nay--and I'm sure of nothing, dear. But why don't the boys prick their
horses and jog a trot? The mare is mighty un'asy, and it's no warm in
this cursed valley, riding as much like a funeral party as old rags is
to continental." [Footnote: The paper money issued by congress was
familiarly called continental money. This term "continental" was applied
to the army, the congress, the ships of war, and in short, to almost
everything of interest which belonged to the new government. It would
seem to have been invented as the opposite of the insular position of
the mother country.] "Fairly and softly, aye, and prudently, Mrs.
Flanagan; it's not rashness that makes the good officer. If we have to
encounter a spirit, it's more than likely he'll make his attack by
surprise; horses are not very powerful in the dark, and I have a
character to lose, good woman."
"Caractur! and isn't it caractur and life too that Captain Jack has to
lose!"
"Halt!" cried the sergeant. "What is that lurking near the foot of the
rock, on the left?"
"Sure, it's nothing, unless it be a matter of Captain Jack's sowl that's
come to haunt ye, for not being brisker on the march."
"Betty, your levity makes you an unfit comrade for such an expedition.
Advance, one of you, and reconnoiter the spot; draw swords!--rear rank,
close to the front!"
"Pshaw!" shouted Betty, "is it a big fool or a big coward that ye are?
Jist wheel from the road, boys, and I'll shove the mare down upon it in
the twinkling of an eye--and it's no ghost that I fear."
By this time one of the men had returned, and declared there was nothing
to prevent their advancing, and the party continued their march, but
with great deliberation and caution.
"Courage and prudence are the jewels of a soldier, Mrs. Flanagan," said
the sergeant; "without the one, the other may be said to be good
for nothing."
"Prudence without courage: is it _that_ you mane?--and it's so that I'm
thinking myself, sargeant. This baste pulls tight on the reins,
any way."
"Be patient, good woman; hark! what is that?" said Hollister, pricking
up his ears at the report of Wellmere's pistol. "I'll swear that was a
human pistol, and one from our regiment. Rear rank, close to the
front!--Mrs. Flanagan, I must leave you." So saying, having recovered
all his faculties, by hearing a sound that he understood, he placed
himself at the head of his men with an air of military pride, that the
darkness prevented the washerwoman from beholding. A volley of musketry
now rattled in the night wind, and the sergeant exclaimed,--
"March!--quick time!"
The next instant the trampling of a horse was heard coming up the road,
at a rate that announced a matter of life or death; and Hollister again
halted his party, riding a short distance in front himself, to meet
the rider.
"Stand!--who goes there?" shouted Hollister.
"Ha! Hollister, is it you?" cried Lawton, "ever ready and at your post;
but where is the guard?"
"At hand, sir, and ready to follow you through thick and thin," said the
veteran, relieved at once from responsibility, and as eager as a boy to
be led against his enemy.
"'Tis well!" said the trooper, riding up to his men; then, speaking a
few words of encouragement, he led them down the valley at a rate but
little less rapid than his approach. The miserable horse of the sutler
was soon distanced, and Betty, thus thrown out in the chase, turned to
the side of the road, and observed,--
"There--it's no difficult to tell that Captain Jack is wid 'em, anyway;
and away they go like so many nagur boys to a husking-frolic; well, I'll
jist hitch the mare to this bit of a fence, and walk down and see the
sport afoot--it's no r'asonable to expose the baste to be hurted."
Led on by Lawton, the men followed, destitute alike of fear and
reflection. Whether it was a party of the refugees, or a detachment from
the royal army, that they were to assail, they were profoundly ignorant;
but they knew that the officer in advance was distinguished for courage
and personal prowess; and these are virtues that are sure to captivate
the thoughtless soldiery. On arriving near the gates of the Locusts, the
trooper halted his party, and made his arrangements for the assault.
Dismounting, he ordered eight of his men to follow his example, and
turning to Hollister, said,--
"Stand you here, and guard the horses; if anything attempt to pass, stop
it, or cut it down, and--"
The flames at this moment burst through the dormer windows and cedar
roof of the cottage, and a bright light glared on the darkness of the
night. "On!" shouted the trooper "on!--give quarter when you have
done justice!"
There was a startling fierceness in the voice of the trooper that
reached to the heart, even amid the horrors of the cottage. The leader
of the Skinners dropped his plunder, and, for a moment, he stood in
nerveless dread; then rushing to a window, he threw up the sash; at this
instant Lawton entered, saber in hand, into the apartment.
"Die, miscreant!" cried the trooper, cleaving a marauder to the jaw; but
the leader sprang into the lawn, and escaped his vengeance. The shrieks
of the females restored Lawton to his presence of mind, and the earnest
entreaty of the divine induced him to attend to the safety of the
family. One more of the gang fell in with the dragoons, and met his
death; but the remainder had taken the alarm in season. Occupied with
Sarah, neither Miss Singleton, nor the ladies of the house, had
discovered the entrance of the Skinners, though the flames were raging
around them with a fury that threatened the building with rapid
destruction. The shrieks of Katy and the terrified consort of Caesar,
together with the noise and uproar in the adjacent apartment, first
roused Miss Peyton and Isabella to a sense of their danger.
"Merciful Providence!" exclaimed the alarmed aunt; "there is a dreadful
confusion in the house, and there will be blood shed in consequence of
this affair."
"There are none to fight," returned Isabella, with a face paler than
that of the other. "Dr. Sitgreaves is very peaceable in his disposition,
and surely Captain Lawton would not forget himself so far."
"The Southern temper is quick and fiery," continued Miss Peyton; "and
your brother, feeble and weak as he is, has looked the whole afternoon
flushed and angry."
"Good heaven!" cried Isabella, with difficulty supporting herself on the
couch of Sarah; "he is gentle as the lamb by nature, though the lion is
not his equal when roused."
"We must interfere: our presence will quell the tumult, and possibly
save the life of a fellow creature."
Miss Peyton, excited to attempt what she conceived a duty worthy of her
sex and nature, advanced with the dignity of injured female feeling, to
the door, followed by Isabella. The apartment to which Sarah had been
conveyed was in one of the wings of the building, and it communicated
with the principal hall of the cottage by a long and dark passage. This
was now light, and across its termination several figures were seen
rushing with an impetuosity that prevented an examination of their
employment.
"Let us advance," said Miss Peyton, with a firmness her face belied;
"they must respect our sex."
"They shall," cried Isabella, taking the lead in the enterprise. Frances
was left alone with her sister. A few minutes were passed in silence,
when a loud crash, in the upper apartments, was succeeded by a bright
light that glared through the open door, and made objects as distinct to
the eye as if they were placed under a noonday sun. Sarah raised herself
on her bed, and staring wildly around, pressed both her hands on her
forehead, endeavoring to recollect herself.
"This, then, is heaven--and you are one of its bright spirits. Oh! how
glorious is its radiance! I had thought the happiness I have lately
experienced was too much for earth. But we shall meet again;
yes--yes--we shall meet again."
"Sarah! Sarah!" cried Frances, in terror; "my sister--my only
sister--Oh! do not smile so horridly; know me, or you will break
my heart."
"Hush," said Sarah raising her hand for silence; "you may disturb his
rest--surely, he will follow me to the grave. Think you there can be two
wives in the grave? No--no--no; one--one--one--only one."
Frances dropped her head into the lap of her sister, and wept in agony.
"Do you shed tears, sweet angel?" continued Sarah, soothingly. "Then
heaven is not exempt from grief. But where is Henry? He was executed,
and he must be here too; perhaps they will come together. Oh! how joyful
will be the meeting!"
Frances sprang on her feet, and paced the apartment. The eye of Sarah
followed her in childish admiration of her beauty.
"You look like my sister; but all good and lovely spirits are alike.
Tell me, were you ever married? Did you ever let a stranger steal your
affections from father, and brother, and sister? If not, poor wretch, I
pity you, although you may be in heaven."
"Sarah--peace, peace--I implore you to be silent," shrieked Frances,
rushing to her bed, "or you will kill me at your feet."
Another dreadful crash shook the building to its center. It was the
falling of the roof, and the flames threw their light abroad, so as to
make objects visible around the cottage, through the windows of the
room. Frances flew to one of them, and saw the confused group that was
collected on the lawn. Among them were her aunt and Isabella, pointing
with distraction to the fiery edifice, and apparently urging the
dragoons to enter it. For the first time she comprehended their danger;
and uttering a wild shriek, she flew through the passage without
consideration, or object.
A dense and suffocating column of smoke opposed her progress. She paused
to breathe, when a man caught her in his arms, and bore her, in a state
of insensibility, through the falling embers and darkness, to the open
air. The instant that Frances recovered her recollection, she perceived
that she owed her life Lo Lawton, and throwing herself on her knees,
she cried,--
"Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! save my sister, and may the blessing of God await
you!"
Her strength failed, and she sank on the grass, in insensibility. The
trooper pointed to her figure, motioned to Katy for assistance, and
advanced once more to the building. The fire had already communicated to
the woodwork of the piazzas and windows, and the whole exterior of the
cottage was covered with smoke. The only entrance was through these
dangers, and even the hardy and impetuous Lawton paused to consider. It
was for a moment only, when he dashed into the heat and darkness, where,
missing the entrance, he wandered for a minute, and precipitated himself
back, again, upon the lawn. Drawing a single breath of pure air, he
renewed the effort, and was again unsuccessful. On a third trial, he met
a man staggering under the load of a human body. It was neither the
place, nor was there time, to question, or to make distinctions; seizing
both in his arms, with gigantic strength, he bore them through the
smoke. He soon perceived, to his astonishment, that it was the surgeon,
and the body of one of the Skinners, that he had saved.
"Archibald!" he exclaimed, "why, in the name of justice, did you bring
this miscreant to light again? His deeds are rank to heaven!"
The surgeon, who had been in imminent peril, was too much bewildered to
reply instantly, but wiping the moisture from his forehead, and clearing
his lungs from the vapor he had inhaled, he said piteously,--
"Ah! it is all over! Had I been in time to have stopped the effusion
from the jugular, he might have been saved; but the heat was conducive
to hemorrhage; life is extinct indeed. Well, are there any
more wounded?"
His question was put to the air, for Frances had been removed to the
opposite side of the building, where her friends were collected, and
Lawton had once more disappeared in the smoke.
By this time the flames had dispersed much of the suffocating vapor, so
that the trooper was able to find the door, and in its very entrance he
was met by a man supporting the insensible Sarah. There was but barely
time to reach the lawn again, before the fire broke through the windows,
and wrapped the whole building in a sheet of flame.
"God be praised!" ejaculated the preserver of Sarah. "It would have been
a dreadful death to die."
The trooper turned from gazing at the edifice, to the speaker, and to
his astonishment, instead of one of his own men, he beheld the peddler.
"Ha! the spy," he exclaimed; "by heavens, you cross me like a specter."
"Captain Lawton," said Birch, leaning in momentary exhaustion against
the fence, to which they had retired from the heat, "I am again in your
power, for I can neither flee, nor resist."
"The cause of America is dear to me as life," said the trooper, "but she
cannot require her children to forget gratitude and honor. Fly, unhappy
man, while yet you are unseen, or it will exceed my power to save you."
"May God prosper you, and make you victorious over your enemies," said
Birch, grasping the hand of the dragoon with an iron strength that his
meager figure did not indicate.
"Hold!" said Lawton. "But a word--are you what you seem?--can you--are
you--"
"A royal spy," interrupted Birch, averting his face, and endeavoring to
release his hand.
"Then go, miserable wretch," said the trooper, relinquishing his grasp.
"Either avarice or delusion has led a noble heart astray!"
The bright light from the flames reached a great distance around the
ruins, but the words were hardly past the lips of Lawton, before the
gaunt form of the peddler had glided over the visible space, and plunged
into the darkness beyond.
The eye of Lawton rested for a moment on the spot where he had last seen
this inexplicable man, and then turning to the yet insensible Sarah, he
lifted her in his arms, and bore her, like a sleeping infant, to the
care of her friends.