Meanwhile the schooner dashed rapidly along, her hull occasionally hid
from the view of those assembled on the ramparts by some intervening
orchard or cluster of houses, but her tall spars glittering in their
covering of white canvass, and marking the direction of her course. At
length she came to a point in the river that offered no other
interruption to the eye than what arose from the presence of almost all
the inhabitants of the village, who, urged by curiosity and surprise,
were to be seen crowding the intervening bank. Here the schooner was
suddenly put about, and the English colours, hitherto concealed by the
folds of the canvass, were at length discovered proudly floating in the
breeze.
Immediately over the gateway of the fort there was an elevated
platform, approached by the rampart, of which it formed a part, by some
half dozen rude steps on either side; and on this platform was placed a
long eighteen pounder, that commanded the whole extent of road leading
from the drawbridge to the river. Hither the officers had all repaired,
while the schooner was in the act of passing the town; and now that,
suddenly brought up in the wind's eye, she rode leisurely in the
offing, every movement on her decks was plainly discernible with the
telescope.
"Where the devil can Danvers have hid all his crew?" first spoke
Captain Erskine; "I count but half a dozen hands altogether on deck,
and these are barely sufficient to work her."
"Lying concealed, and ready, no doubt, to give the canoes a warm
reception," observed Lieutenant Johnstone; "but where can our friends
be? Surely, if there, they would show themselves to us."
There was truth in this remark; and each felt discouraged and
disappointed that they did not appear.
"There come the whooping hell fiends," said Major Blackwater. "By
Heaven! the very water is darkened with the shadows of their canoes."
Scarcely had he spoken, when the vessel was suddenly surrounded by a
multitude of savages, whose fierce shouts rent the air, while their
dripping paddles, gleaming like silver in the rays of the rising sun,
were alternately waved aloft in triumph, and then plunged into the
troubled element, which they spurned in fury from their blades.
"What can Danvers be about? Why does he not either open his fire, or
crowd sail and away from them?" exclaimed several voices.
"The detachment is in readiness, sir," said Mr. Lawson, ascending the
platform, and addressing Major Blackwater.
"The deck, the deck!" shouted Erskine.
Already the eyes of several were bent in the direction alluded to by
the last speaker, while those whose attention had been diverted by the
approaching canoes glanced rapidly to the same point. To the surprise
and consternation of all, the tall and well-remembered form of the
warrior of the Fleur de lis was seen towering far above the bulwarks of
the schooner; and with an expression in the attitude he had assumed,
which no one could mistake for other than that of triumphant defiance.
Presently he drew from the bosom of his hunting coat a dark parcel, and
springing into the rigging of the main-mast, ascended with incredible
activity to the point where the English ensign was faintly floating in
the breeze. This he tore furiously away, and rending it into many
pieces, cast the fragments into the silver element beneath him, on
whose bosom they were seen to float among the canoes of the savages,
many of whom possessed themselves, with eagerness, of the gaudy
coloured trophies. The dark parcel was now unfolded by the active
warrior, who, after having waved it several times round his head,
commenced attaching it to the lines whence the English ensign had so
recently been torn. It was a large black flag, the purport of which was
too readily comprehended by the excited officers.
"D--n the ruffian! can we not manage to make that, flag serve as his
own winding sheet?" exclaimed Captain Erskine. "Come, Wentworth, give
us a second edition of the sortie firing; I know no man who understands
pointing a gun better than yourself, and this eighteen pounder might do
some mischief."
The idea was instantly caught at by the officer of artillery, who read
his consent in the eye of Colonel de Haldimar. His companions made way
on either side; and several gunners, who were already at their
stations, having advanced to work the piece at the command of their
captain, it was speedily brought to bear upon the schooner.
"This will do, I think," said Wentworth, as, glancing his experienced
eye carefully along the gun, he found it pointed immediately on the
gigantic frame of the warrior. "If this chain-shot miss him, it will be
through no fault of mine."
Every eye was now riveted on the main-mast of the schooner, where the
warrior was still engaged in attaching the portentous flag. The gunner,
who held the match, obeyed the silent signal of his captain; and the
massive iron was heard rushing past the officers, bound on its
murderous mission. A moment or two of intense anxiety elapsed; and when
at length the rolling volumes of smoke gradually floated away, to the
dismay and disappointment of all, the fierce warrior was seen standing
apparently unharmed on the same spot in the rigging. The shot had,
however, been well aimed, for a large rent in the outstretched canvass,
close at his side, and about mid-height of his person, marked the
direction it had taken. Again he tore away, and triumphantly waved the
black flag around his head, while from his capacious lungs there burst
yells of defiance and scorn, that could be distinguished for his own
even at that distance. This done, he again secured the death symbol to
its place; and gliding to the deck by a single rope, appeared to give
orders to the few men of the crew who were to be seen; for every stitch
of canvass was again made to fill, and the vessel, bounding forward
before the breeze then blowing upon her quarter, shot rapidly behind
the town, and was finally seen to cast anchor in the navigable channel
that divides Hog Island from the shores of Canada.
At the discharge of the eighteen pounder, the river had been suddenly
cleared, as if by magic, of every canoe; while, warned by the same
danger, the groups of inhabitants, assembled on the bank, had rushed
for shelter to their respective homes; so that, when the schooner
disappeared, not a vestige of human life was to be seen along that
vista so recently peopled with human forms. An order from Colonel de
Haldimar to the adjutant, countermanding the sortie, was the first
interruption to the silence that had continued to pervade the little
band of officers; and two or three of these having hastened to the
western front of the rampart, in order to obtain a more distinct view
of the movements of the schooner, their example was speedily followed
by the remainder, all of whom now quitted the platform, and repaired to
the same point.
Here, with the aid of their telescopes, they again distinctly commanded
a view of the vessel, which lay motionless close under the sandy beach
of the island, and exhibiting all the technicalities of skill in the
disposition of sails and yards peculiar to the profession. In vain,
however, was every eye strained to discover, among the multitude of
savages that kept momentarily leaping to her deck, the forms of those
in whom they were most interested. A group of some half dozen men,
apparently common sailors, and those, in all probability, whose
services had been compelled in the working of the vessel, were the only
evidences that civilised man formed a portion of that grotesque
assemblage. These, with their arms evidently bound behind their backs,
and placed on one of the gangways, were only visible at intervals, as
the band of savages that surrounded them, brandishing their tomahawks
around their heads, occasionally left an opening in their circle. The
formidable warrior of the Fleur de lis was no longer to be seen,
although the flag which he had hoisted still fluttered in the breeze.
"All is lost, then," ejaculated the governor, with a mournfulness of
voice and manner that caused many of his officers to turn and regard
him with surprise. "That black flag announces the triumph of my foe in
the too certain destruction of my children. Now, indeed," he concluded
in a lower tone, "for the first time, does the curse of Ellen Halloway
sit heavily on my soul."
A deep sigh burst from one immediately behind him. The governor turned
suddenly round, and beheld his son. Never did human countenance wear a
character of more poignant misery than that of the unhappy Charles at
the moment. Attracted by the report of the cannon, he had flown to the
rampart to ascertain the cause, and had reached his companions only to
learn the strong hope so recently kindled in his breast was fled for
ever. His cheek, over which hung his neglected hair, was now pale as
marble, and his lips bloodless and parted; yet, notwithstanding this
intensity of personal sorrow, a tear had started to his eye, apparently
wrung from him by this unusual expression of dismay in his father.
"Charles--my son--my only now remaining child," murmured the governor
with emotion, as he remarked, and started at the death-like image of
the youth; "look not thus, or you will utterly unman me."
A sudden and involuntary impulse caused him to extend his arms. The
young officer sprang forward into the proffered embrace, and sank his
head upon the cheek of his father. It was the first time he had enjoyed
that privilege since his childhood; and even overwhelmed as he was by
his affliction, he felt it deeply.
This short but touching scene was witnessed by their companions,
without levity in any, and with emotion by several. None felt more
gratified at this demonstration of parental affection for the sensitive
boy, than Blessington and Erskine.
"I cannot yet persuade myself," observed the former officer, as the
colonel again assumed that dignity of demeanour which had been
momentarily lost sight of in the ebullition of his feelings,--"I cannot
yet persuade myself things are altogether so bad as they appear. It is
true the schooner is in the possession of the enemy, but there is
nothing to prove our friends are on board."
"If you had reason to know HIM into whose hands she has fallen, as I
do, you would think differently, Captain Blessington," returned the
governor. "That mysterious being," he pursued, after a short pause,
"would never have made this parade of his conquest, had it related
merely to a few lives, which to him are of utter insignificance. The
very substitution of yon black flag, in his insolent triumph, was the
pledge of redemption of a threat breathed in my ear within this very
fort: on what occasion I need not state, since the events connected
with that unhappy night are still fresh in the recollections of us all.
That he is my personal enemy, gentlemen, it would be vain to disguise
from you; although who he is, or of what nature his enmity, it imports
not now to enter upon Suffice it, I have little doubt my children are
in his power; but whether the black flag indicates they are no more, or
that the tragedy is only in preparation, I confess I am at a loss to
understand."
Deeply affected by the evident despondency that had dictated these
unusual admissions on the part of their chief, the officers were
forward to combat the inferences he had drawn: several coinciding in
the opinion now expressed by Captain Wentworth, that the fact of the
schooner having fallen into the hands of the savages by no means
implied the capture of the fort whence she came; since it was not at
all unlikely she had been chased during a calm by the numerous canoes
into the Sinclair, where, owing to the extreme narrowness of the river,
she had fallen an easy prey.
"Moreover," observed Captain Blessington, "it is highly improbable the
ferocious warrior could have succeeded in capturing any others than the
unfortunate crew of the schooner; for had this been the case, he would
not have lost the opportunity of crowning his triumph by exhibiting his
victims to our view in some conspicuous part of the vessel."
"This, I grant you," rejoined the governor, "to be one solitary
circumstance in our favour; but may it not, after all, merely prove
that our worst apprehensions are already realised?"
"He is not one, methinks, since vengeance seems his aim, to exercise it
in so summary, and therefore merciful, a manner. Depend upon it,
colonel, had any of those in whom we are more immediately interested,
fallen into his hands, he would not have failed to insult and agonize
us by an exhibition of his prisoners."
"You are right, Blessington," exclaimed Charles de Haldimar, in a voice
that his choking feelings rendered almost sepulchral; "he is not one to
exercise his vengeance in a summary, and merciful manner. The deed is
yet unaccomplished, for even now the curse of Ellen Halloway rings
again in my ear, and tells me the atoning blood must be spilt on the
grave of her husband."
The peculiar tone in which these words were uttered, caused every one
present to turn and regard the speaker, for they recalled the prophetic
language of the unhappy woman. There was now a wildness of expression
in his handsome features, marking the mind utterly dead to hope, yet
struggling to work itself up to passive endurance of the worst. Colonel
de Haldimar sighed painfully, as he bent his eye half reproachfully on
the dull and attenuated features of his son; and although he spoke not,
his look betrayed the anguish that allusion had called up to his heart.
"Forgive me, my father," exclaimed the youth, grasping a hand that was
reluctantly extended. "I meant it not in unkindness; but indeed I have
ever had the conviction strongly impressed on my spirit. I know I
appear weak, childish, unsoldierlike; yet can it be wondered at, when I
have been so often latterly deceived by false hopes, that now my heart
has room for no other tenant than despair. I am very wretched," he
pursued, with affecting despondency; "in the presence of my companions
do I admit it, but they all know how I loved my sister. Can they then
feel surprise, that having lost not only her, but my brother and my
friend, I should be the miserable thing I am."
Colonel de Haldimar turned away, much affected; and throwing his back
against the sentry box near him, passed his hand over his eyes, and
remained for a few moments motionless.
"Charles, Charles, is this your promise to me?" whispered Captain
Blessington, as he approached and took the hand of his unhappy friend.
"Is this the self-command you pledged yourself to exercise? For
Heaven's sake, agitate not your father thus, by the indulgence of a
grief that can have no other tendency than to render him equally
wretched. Be advised by me, and quit the rampart. Return to your guard,
and endeavour to compose yourself."
"Ha! what new movement is that on the part of the savages?" exclaimed
Captain Erskine, who had kept his glass to his eye mechanically, and
chiefly with a view of hiding the emotion produced in him by the almost
infantine despair of the younger De Haldimar: "surely it is--yet, no,
it cannot be--yes, see how they are dragging several prisoners from the
wood to the beach. I can distinctly see a man in a blanket coat, and
two others considerably taller, and apparently sailors. But look,
behind them are two females in European dress. Almighty Heaven! there
can be no doubt."
A painful pause ensued. Every other glass and eye was levelled in the
same direction; and, even as Erskine had described it, a party of
Indians were seen, by those who had the telescopes, conducting five
prisoners towards a canoe that lay in the channel communicating from
the island with the main land on the Detroit shore. Into the bottom of
these they were presently huddled, so that only their heads and
shoulders were visible above the gunwale of the frail bark. Presently a
tall warrior was seen bounding from the wood towards the beach. The
crowd of gesticulating Indians made way, and the warrior was seen to
stoop and apply his shoulder to the canoe, one half of which was high
and dry upon the sands. The heavily laden vessel obeyed the impetus
with a rapidity that proved the muscular power of him who gave it. Like
some wild animal, instinct with life, it lashed the foaming waters from
its bows, and left a deep and gurgling furrow where it passed. As it
quitted the shore, the warrior sprang lightly in, taking his station at
the stern; and while his tall and remarkable figure bent nimbly to the
movement, he dashed his paddle from right to left alternately in the
stream, with a quickness that rendered it almost invisible to the eye.
Presently the canoe disappeared round an intervening headland, and the
officers lost sight of it altogether.
"The portrait, Charles; what have you done with the portrait?"
exclaimed Captain Blessington, actuated by a sudden recollection, and
with a trepidation in his voice and manner that spoke volumes of
despair to the younger De Haldimar. "This is our only hope of solving
the mystery. Quick, give me the portrait, if you have it."
The young officer hurriedly tore the miniature from the breast of his
uniform, and pitched it through the interval that separated him from
his captain, who stood a few feet off; but with so uncertain and
trembling an aim, it missed the hand extended to secure it, and fell
upon the very stone the youth had formerly pointed out to Blessington,
as marking the particular spot on which he stood during the execution
of Halloway. The violence of the fall separated the back of the frame
from the picture itself, when suddenly a piece of white and crumpled
paper, apparently part of the back of a letter, yet cut to the size and
shape of the miniature, was exhibited to the view of all.
"Ha!" resumed the gratified Blessington, as he stooped to possess
himself of the prize; "I knew the miniature would be found to contain
some intelligence from our friends. It is only this moment it occurred
to me to take it to pieces, but accident has anticipated my purpose.
May the omen prove a good one! But what have we here?"
With some difficulty, the anxious officer now succeeded in making out
the characters, which, in default of pen or pencil, had been formed by
the pricking of a fine pin on the paper. The broken sentences, on which
the whole of the group now hung with greedy ear, ran nearly as
follows:--"All is lost. Michilimackinac is taken. We are prisoners, and
doomed to die within eight and forty hours. Alas! Clara and Madeline
are of our number. Still there is a hope, if my father deem it prudent
to incur the risk. A surprise, well managed, may do much; but it must
be tomorrow night; forty-eight hours more, and it will be of no avail.
He who will deliver this is our friend, and the enemy of my father's
enemy. He will be in the same spot at the same hour to-morrow night,
and will conduct the detachment to wherever we may chance to be. If you
fail in your enterprise, receive our last prayers for a less disastrous
fate. God bless you all!"
The blood ran coldly through every vein during the perusal of these
important sentences, but not one word of comment was offered by an
individual of the group. No explanation was necessary. The captives in
the canoe, the tall warrior in its stern, all sufficiently betrayed the
horrible truth.
Colonel de Haldimar at length turned an enquiring look at his two
captains, and then addressing the adjutant, asked--
"What companies are off duty to-day, Mr. Lawson?"
"Mine," said Blessington, with an energy that denoted how deeply
rejoiced he felt at the fact, and without giving the adjutant time to
reply.
"And mine," impetuously added Captain Erskine; "and, by G--! I will
answer for them; they never embarked on a duty of the sort with greater
zeal than they will on this occasion."
"Gentlemen, I thank you," said Colonel de Haldimar, with deep emotion,
as he stepped forward and grasped in turn the hands of the
generous-hearted officers. "To Heaven, and to your exertions, do I
commit my children."
"Any artillery, colonel?" enquired the officer of that corps.
"No, Wentworth, no artillery. Whatever remains to be done, must be
achieved by the bayonet alone, and under favour of the darkness.
Gentlemen, again I thank you for this generous interest in my
children--this forwardness in an enterprise on which depend the lives
of so many dear friends. I am not one given to express warm emotion,
but I do, indeed, appreciate this conduct deeply." He then moved away,
desiring Mr. Lawson, as he quitted the rampart, to cause the men for
this service to be got in instant readiness.
Following the example of their colonel, Captains Blessington and
Erskine quitted the rampart also, hastening to satisfy themselves by
personal inspection of the efficiency in all respects of their several
companies; and in a few minutes, the only individual to be seen in that
quarter of the works was the sentinel, who had been a silent and pained
witness of all that had passed among his officers.