The sun was high in the meridian, as the second detachment, commanded
by Colonel de Haldimar in person, issued from the fort of Detroit. It
was that soft and hazy season, peculiar to the bland and beautiful
autumns of Canada, when the golden light of Heaven seems as if
transmitted through a veil of tissue, and all of animate and inanimate
nature, expanding and fructifying beneath its fostering influence,
breathes the most delicious languor and voluptuous repose. It was one
of those still, calm, warm, and genial days, which in those regions
come under the vulgar designation of the Indian summer; a season that
is ever hailed by the Canadian with a satisfaction proportioned to the
extreme sultriness of the summer, and the equally oppressive rigour of
the winter, by which it is immediately preceded and followed. It is
then that Nature, who seems from the creation to have bestowed all of
grandeur and sublimity on the stupendous Americas, looks gladly and
complacently on her work; and, staying the course of parching suns and
desolating frosts, loves to luxuriate for a period in the broad and
teeming bosom of her gigantic offspring. It is then that the
forest-leaves, alike free from the influence of the howling hurricane
of summer, and the paralysing and unfathomable snows of winter, cleave,
tame and stirless in their varying tints, to the parent branch; while
the broad rivers and majestic lakes exhibit a surface resembling rather
the incrustation of the polished mirror than the resistless, viewless
particles of which the golden element is composed. It is then that,
casting its satisfied glance across those magnificent rivers, the eye
beholds, as if reflected from a mirror (so similar in production and
appearance are the contiguous shores), both the fertility of cultivated
and the rudeness of uncultivated nature, that every where surround and
diversify the view. The tall and sloping banks, covered with verdure to
the very sands, that unite with the waters lying motionless at their
base; the continuous chain of neat farm-houses (we speak principally of
Detroit and its opposite shores); the luxuriant and bending orchards,
teeming with fruits of every kind and of every colour; the ripe and
yellow corn vying in hue with the soft atmosphere, which reflects and
gives full effect to its abundance and its richness,--these, with the
intervening waters unruffled, save by the lazy skiff, or the light bark
canoe urged with the rapidity of thought along its surface by the
slight and elegantly ornamented paddle of the Indian; or by the sudden
leaping of the large salmon, the unwieldy sturgeon, the bearded
cat-fish, or the delicately flavoured maskinonge, and fifty other
tenants of their bosom;--all these contribute to form the foreground of
a picture bounded in perspective by no less interesting, though perhaps
ruder marks of the magnificence of that great architect--Nature, on
which the eye never lingers without calm; while feelings, at once
voluptuous and tender, creep insensibly over the heart, and raise the
mind in adoration to the one great and sole Cause by which the
stupendous whole has been produced.
Such a day as that we have just described was the ---- of September,
1763, when the chief portion of the English garrison of Detroit issued
forth from the fortifications in which they had so long been cooped up,
and in the presumed execution of a duty undeniably the most trying and
painful that ever fell to the lot of soldier to perform. The heavy dull
movement of the guns, as they traversed the drawbridge resembled in
that confined atmosphere the rumbling of low and distant thunder; and
as they shook the rude and hollow sounding planks, over which they were
slowly dragged, called up to every heart the sad recollection of the
service for which they had been required. Even the tramp of the men, as
they moved heavily and measuredly across the yielding bridge, seemed to
wear the character of the reluctance with which they proceeded on so
hateful a duty; and more than one individual, as he momentarily turned
his eye upon the ramparts, where many of his comrades were grouped
together watching the departure of the detachment, testified by the
significant and mournful movement of his head how much he envied their
exemption from the task.
The direct military road runs in a straight line from the fort to the
banks of the Detroit, and the eastern extremity of the town. Here it is
intersected by the highway running parallel with the river, and
branching off at right angles on either hand; the right, leading in the
direction of the more populous states; the left, through the town, and
thence towards the more remote and western parts, where European
influence has yet been but partially extended. The only difference
between its present and former character is, that what is now a
flourishing commercial town was then a mere village; while the adjacent
country, at present teeming with every mark of vegetation, bore no
other evidence of fertility than what was afforded by a few scattered
farm-houses, many of which skirted various parts of the forest. Along
this road the detachment now wended its slow and solemn course, and
with a mournful pageantry of preparation that gave fearful earnest of
the tragedy expected to be enacted.
In front, and dragged by the hands of the gunners, moved two of the
three three-pounders, that had been ordered for the duty. Behind these
came Captain Blessington's company, and in their rear, the prisoner
Halloway, divested of his uniform, and clad in a white cotton jacket,
and cap of the same material. Six rank and file of the grenadiers
followed, under the command of a corporal, and behind these again, came
eight men of the same company; four of whom bore on their shoulders a
coffin, covered with a coarse black pall that had perhaps already
assisted at fifty interments; while the other four carried, in addition
to their own, the muskets of their burdened comrades. After these,
marched a solitary drummer-boy; whose tall bear-skin cap attested him
to be of the grenadiers also, while his muffled instrument marked the
duty for which he had been selected. Like his comrades, none of whom
exhibited their scarlet uniforms, he wore the collar of his great coat
closely buttoned beneath his chin, which was only partially visible
above the stiff leathern stock that encircled his neck. Although his
features were half buried in his huge cap and the high collar of his
coat, there was an air of delicacy about his person that seemed to
render him unsuited to such an office; and more than once was Captain
Erskine, who followed immediately behind him at the head of his
company, compelled to call sharply to the urchin, threatening him with
a week's drill unless he mended his feeble and unequal pace, and kept
from under the feet of his men. The remaining gun brought up the rear
of the detachment, who marched with fixed bayonets and two balls in
each musket; the whole presenting a front of sections, that completely
filled up the road along which they passed. Colonel de Haldimar,
Captain Wentworth, and the Adjutant Lawson followed in the extreme rear.
An event so singular as that of the appearance of the English without
their fort, beset as they were by a host of fierce and dangerous
enemies, was not likely to pass unnoticed by a single individual in the
little village of Detroit. We have already observed, that most of the
colonist settlers had been cruelly massacred at the very onset of
hostilities. Not so, however, with the Canadians, who, from their
anterior relations with the natives, and the mutual and tacit good
understanding that subsisted between both parties, were suffered to
continue in quiet and unmolested possession of their homes, where they
preserved an avowed neutrality, never otherwise infringed than by the
assistance secretly and occasionally rendered to the English troops,
whose gold they were glad to receive in exchange for the necessaries of
life.
Every dwelling of the infant town had commenced giving up its tenants,
from the moment when the head of the detachment was seen traversing the
drawbridge; so that, by the time it reached the highway, and took its
direction to the left, the whole population of Detroit were already
assembled in groups, and giving expression to their several
conjectures, with a vivacity of language and energy of gesticulation
that would not have disgraced the parent land itself. As the troops
drew nearer, however, they all sank at once into a silence, as much the
result of certain unacknowledged and undefined fears, as of the respect
the English had ever been accustomed to exact. The men removed their
short dingy clay pipes from their mouths with one hand, and uncovered
themselves with the other, while the women made their hasty reverence
with the air of people who seek to propitiate by an act of civility;
even the very children scraped and bowed, as if they feared the
omission might be fatal to them, and, clinging to the hands and dress
of their parents, looked up occasionally to their countenances to
discover whether the apprehensions of their own fluttering and timid
hearts were likely to be realised. Still there was sufficient of
curiosity with all to render them attentive spectators of the passing
troop. Hitherto, it had been imagined, the object of the English was an
attack on the encampments of their enemies; but when the gaze of each
adult inhabitant fell on the unaccoutred form of the lone soldier, who,
calm though pale, now moved among his comrades in the ignominious garb
of death, they could no longer doubt its true destination.
The aged made the sign of the cross, and mumbled over a short prayer
for the repose of his soul, while the more youthful indulged in
half-breathed ejaculations of pity and concern that so fine and
interesting a man should be doomed to so dreadful a fate.
At the farther extremity of the town, and at a bend in the road, which
branched off more immediately towards the river, stood a small public
house, whose creaking sign bore three ill executed fleurs-de-lis,
apologetic emblems of the arms of France. The building itself was
little more than a rude log hut, along the front of which ran a plank,
supported by two stumps of trees, and serving as a temporary
accommodation both for the traveller and the inmate. On this bench
three persons, apparently attracted by the beauty of the day and the
mildness of the autumnal sun, were now seated, two of whom were
leisurely puffing their pipes, while the third, a female, was employed
in carding wool, a quantity of which lay in a basket at her feet, while
she warbled, in a low tone, one of the simple airs of her native land.
The elder of the two men, whose age might be about fifty, offered
nothing particularly remarkable in his appearance: he was dressed in
one of those thick coats made of the common white blanket, which, even
to this day, are so generally worn by the Canadians, while his hair,
cut square upon the forehead, and tied into a club of nearly a foot
long, fell into the cape, or hood, attached to it: his face was ruddy
and shining as that of any rival Boniface among the race of the
hereditary enemies of his forefathers; and his thick short neck, and
round fat person, attested he was no more an enemy to the good things
of this world than themselves, while he was as little oppressed by its
cares: his nether garments were of a coarse blue homespun, and his feet
were protected by that rudest of all rude coverings, the Canadian
shoe-pack. This was composed of a single piece of stiff brown leather,
curved and puckered round the sides and front, where it was met by a
tongue of softer material, which helped to confine it in that position,
and to form the shoe. A bandana handkerchief fell from his neck upon
his chest; the covering of which was so imperfectly drawn, as to
disclose a quantity of long, coarse, black, and grisly hair.
His companion was habited in a still more extraordinary manner. His
lower limbs were cased, up to the mid-thigh, in leathern leggings, the
seam of which was on the outside, leaving a margin, or border, of about
an inch wide, which had been slit into innumerable small fringes,
giving them an air of elegance and lightness: a garter of leather,
curiously wrought, with the stained quills of the porcupine, encircled
each leg, immediately under the knee, where it was tied in a bow, and
then suffered to hang pendant half way down the limb; to the fringes of
the leggings, moreover, were attached numerous dark-coloured horny
substances, emitting, as they rattled against each other, at the
slightest movement of the wearer, a tinkling sound, resembling that
produced by a number of small thin delicate brass bells; these were the
tender hoofs of the wild deer, dried, scraped, and otherwise prepared
for this ornamental purpose. Upon his large feet he wore mocassins,
made of the same pliant material with his leggings, and differing in
shape from the foot-gear of his companion in this particular only, that
they had no tongue introduced into the front: they were puckered
together by a strong sinew of the deer, until they met along the instep
in a seam concealed by the same ornamental quill-work that decorated
the garters: a sort of flap, fringed like the leggings, was folded back
from the ankle, upon the sides of the foot, and the whole was confined
by a strong though neat leathern thong, made of smoked deer-skin also,
which, after passing once or twice under the foot, was then tightly
drawn several times round the ankle, where it was finally secured. Two
strips of leather, about an inch and a half in width, attached to the
outer side of each legging, were made fast at their opposite
extremities to a strong girdle, encircling the loins, and supporting a
piece of coarse blue cloth, which, after passing completely under the
body, fell in short flaps both before and behind. The remainder of the
dress consisted of a cotton shirt, figured and sprigged on a dark
ground, that fell unconfined over the person; a close deer-skin
hunting-coat, fringed also at its edges; and a coarse common felt hat,
in the string of which (for there was no band) were twisted a number of
variegated feathers, furnished by the most beautiful and rare of the
American autumnal birds. Outside this hunting-coat, and across the
right shoulder, was flung an ornamented belt, to which were appended,
on the left side, and in a line with the elbow, a shot-pouch, made of
the untanned hide of some wild animal, and a flask for powder, formed
of the horn of the buffalo; on which, highly polished for this purpose,
were inscribed, with singular accuracy of proportion, a variety of
figures, both of men, and birds, and beasts, and fishes; two or three
small horn measures for powder, and a long thin wire, intended to serve
as a pricker for the rifle that reclined against the outside of the
hut, were also attached to this belt by strips of deer-skin of about
six inches in length. Into another broad leathern belt, that confined
the hunting coat, was thrust a tomahawk, the glittering head of which
was uppermost, and unsheathed: while at the opposite side, and half
supporting the powder-horn, the huge handle of a knife, whose blade was
buried in a strong leathern sheath, was distinctly visible.
The form and face of this individual were in perfect keeping with the
style of his costume, and the formidable character of his equipment.
His stature was considerably beyond that of the ordinary race of men,
and his athletic and muscular limbs united the extremes of strength and
activity in a singular degree. His features, marked and prominent, wore
a cast of habitual thought, strangely tinctured with ferocity; and the
general expression of his otherwise not unhandsome countenance was
repellent and disdainful. At the first glance he might have been taken
for one of the swarthy natives of the soil; but though time and
constant exposure to scorching suns had given to his complexion a dusky
hue, still there were wanting the quick, black, penetrating eye; the
high cheek-bone; the straight, coarse, shining, black hair; the small
bony hand and foot; and the placidly proud and serious air, by which
the former is distinguished. His own eye was of a deep bluish grey; his
hair short, dark, and wavy; his hands large and muscular; and so far
from exhibiting any of the self-command of the Indian, the constant
play of his features betrayed each passing thought with the same
rapidity with which it was conceived. But if any doubt could have
existed in the mind of him who beheld this strangely accoutred figure,
it would have been instantly dispelled by a glance at his lower limbs.
We have already stated the upper part of his leggings terminated about
mid-thigh; from this to the hip, that portion of the limb was
completely bare, and disclosed, at each movement of the garment that
was suffered to fall loosely over it, not the swarthy and
copper-coloured flesh of the Indian, but the pale though sun-burnt skin
of one of a more temperate clime. His age might be about forty-five.
At the moment when the English detachment approached the bend in the
road, these two individuals were conversing earnestly together, pausing
only to puff at intervals thick and wreathing volumes of smoke from
their pipes, which were filled with a mixture of tobacco and
odoriferous herbs. Presently, however, sounds that appeared familiar to
his ear arrested the attention of the wildly accoutred being we have
last described. It was the heavy roll of the artillery carriages
already advancing along the road, and somewhat in the rear of the hut.
To dash his pipe to the ground, seize and cock and raise his rifle to
his shoulder, and throw himself forward in the eager attitude of one
waiting until the object of his aim should appear in sight, was but the
work of a moment. Startled by the suddenness of the action, his male
companion moved a few paces also from his seat, to discover the cause
of this singular movement. The female, on the contrary, stirred not,
but ceasing for a moment the occupation in which she had been engaged,
fixed her dark and brilliant eyes upon the tall and picturesque form of
the rifleman, whose active and athletic limbs, thrown into powerful
relief by the distention of each nerve and muscle, appeared to engross
her whole admiration and interest, without any reference to the cause
that had produced this abrupt and hostile change in his movements. It
was evident that, unlike the other inhabitants of the town, this group
had been taken by surprise, and were utterly unprepared to expect any
thing in the shape of interruption.
For upwards of a minute, during which the march of the men became
audible even to the ears of the female, the formidable warrior, for
such his garb denoted him to be, continued motionless in the attitude
he had at first assumed--his right cheek reposing on the ornamented
stock of his rifle, and his quick and steady eye fixed in one
undeviating line with the sight near the breech, and that which
surmounted the extreme end of the deadly weapon. No sooner, however,
had the head of the advancing column come within sight, than the
trigger was pulled, and the small and ragged bullet sped hissing from
the grooved and delicate barrel. A triumphant cry was next pealed from
the lips of the warrior,--a cry produced by the quickly repeated
application and removal of one hand to and from the mouth, while the
other suffered the butt end of the now harmless weapon to fall loosely
upon the earth. He then slowly and deliberately withdrew within the
cover of the hut.
This daring action, which had been viewed by the leading troops with
astonishment not unmingled with alarm, occasioned a temporary confusion
in the ranks, for all believed they had fallen into an ambuscade of the
Indians. A halt was instantly commanded by Captain Blessington, in
order to give time to the governor to come up from the rear, while he
proceeded with one of the leading sections to reconnoitre the front of
the hut. To his infinite surprise, however, he found neither enemy, nor
evidence that an enemy had been there. The only individuals visible
were the Canadian already alluded to, and the dark-eyed female. Both
were seated on the bench;--the one smoking his pipe with a well assumed
appearance of unconcern--the other carding her wool, but with a hand
that by a close observer might be seen to tremble in its office, and a
cheek that was paler considerably than at the moment when we first
placed her before the imagination of the reader. Both, however, started
with unaffected surprise on seeing Captain Blessington and his little
force turn the corner of the house from the main road; and certain
looks of recognition passed between all parties, that proved them to be
no strangers to each other.
"Ah, monsieur," said the Canadian, in a mingled dialect, neither French
nor English, but partaking in some degree of the idiom of both, while
he attempted an ease and freedom of manner that was too miserably
affected to pass current with the mild but observant officer whom he
addressed, "how much surprise I am, and glad to see you. It is a long
times since you came out of de fort. I hope de governeur and de officir
be all very well. I was tinking to go to-day to see if you want any
ting. I have got some nice rum of the Jamaique for Capitaine Erskine.
Will you please to try some?" While speaking, the voluble host of the
Fleur de lis had risen from his seat, laid aside his pipe, and now
stood with his hands thrust into the pockets of his blanket coat.
"It is, indeed, a long time since we have been here, master Francois,"
somewhat sarcastically and drily replied Captain Blessington; "and you
have not visited us quite so often latterly yourself, though well aware
we were in want of fresh provisions. I give you all due credit,
however, for your intention of coming to-day, but you see we have
anticipated you. Still this is not the point. Where is the Indian who
fired at us just now? and how is it we find you leagued with our
enemies?"
"What, sir, is it you say?" asked the Canadian, holding up his hands
with feigned astonishment "Me league myself with de savage. Upon my
honour I did not see nobody fire, or I should tell you. I love de
English too well to do dem harms."
"Come, come, Francois, no nonsense. If I cannot make you confess, there
is one not far from me who will. You know Colonel de Haldimar too well
to imagine he will be trifled with in this manner: if he detects you in
a falsehood, he will certainly cause you to be hanged up at the first
tree. Take my advice, therefore, and say where you have secreted this
Indian; and recollect, if we fall into an ambuscade, your life will be
forfeited at the first shot we hear fired."
At this moment the governor, followed by his adjutant, came rapidly up
to the spot. Captain Blessington communicated the ill success of his
queries, when the former cast on the terrified Canadian one of those
severe and searching looks which he so well knew how to assume.
"Where is the rascal who fired at us, sirrah? tell me instantly, or you
have not five minutes to live."
The heart of mine host of the Fleur de lis quailed within him at this
formidable threat; and the usually ruddy hue of his countenance had now
given place to an ashy paleness. Still, as he had positively denied all
knowledge of the matter on which he was questioned, he appeared to feel
his safety lay in adhering to his original statement. Again, therefore,
he assured the governor, on his honour (laying his hand upon his heart
as he spoke), that what he had already stated was the fact.
"Your honour--you pitiful trading scoundrel--how dare you talk to me of
your honour? Come, sir, confess at once where you have secreted this
fellow, or prepare to die."
"If I may be so bold, your Honour," said one of Captain Blessington's
men, "the Frenchman lies. When the Ingian fired among us, this fellow
was peeping under his shoulder and watching us also. If I had not seen
him too often at the fort to be mistaken in his person, I should have
known him, at all events, by his blanket coat and red handkerchief."
This blunt statement of the soldier, confirmed as it was the instant
afterwards by one of his comrades, was damning proof against the
Canadian, even if the fact of the rifle being discharged from the front
of the hut had not already satisfied all parties of the falsehood of
his assertion.
"Come forward, a couple of files, and seize this villain," resumed the
governor with his wonted sternness of manner. "Mr. Lawson, see if his
hut does not afford a rope strong enough to hang the traitor from one
of his own apple trees."
Both parties proceeded at the same moment to execute the two distinct
orders of their chief. The Canadian was now firmly secured in the grasp
of the two men who had given evidence against him, when, seeing all the
horror of the summary and dreadful fate that awaited him, he confessed
the individual who had fired had been sitting with him the instant
previously, but that he knew no more of him than of any other savage
occasionally calling at the Fleur de lis. He added, that on discharging
the rifle he had bounded across the palings of the orchard, and fled in
the direction of the forest. He denied, on interrogation, all knowledge
or belief of an enemy waiting in ambush; stating, moreover, even the
individual in question had not been aware of the sortie of the
detachment until apprised of their near approach by the heavy sound of
the gun-carriages.
"Here are undeniable proofs of the man's villany, sir," said the
adjutant, returning from the hut and exhibiting objects of new and
fearful interest to the governor. "This hat and rope I found secreted
in one of the bed-rooms of the auberge. The first is evidently
Donellan's; and from the hook attached to the latter, I apprehend it to
be the same stated to have been used by Captain de Haldimar in crossing
the ditch."
The governor took the hat and rope from the hands of his subordinate,
examined them attentively, and after a few moments of deep musing,
during which his countenance underwent several rapid though scarcely
perceptible changes, turned suddenly and eagerly to the soldier who had
first convicted the Canadian in his falsehood, and demanded if he had
seen enough of the man who had fired to be able to give even a general
description of his person.
"Why yes, your Honour, I think I can; for the fellow stood long enough
after firing his piece, for a painter to have taken him off from head
to foot. He was a taller and larger man by far than our biggest
grenadier, and that is poor Harry Donellan, as your Honour knows. But
as for his dress, though I could see it all, I scarcely can tell how to
describe it. All I know is, he was covered with smoked deer-skin, in
some such fashion as the great chief Ponteac, only, instead of having
his head bare and shaved, he wore a strange outlandish sort of a hat,
covered over with wild birds' feathers in front."
"Enough," interrupted the governor, motioning the man to silence; then,
in an undertone to himself,--"By Heaven, the very same." A shade of
disappointment, not unmingled with suppressed alarm, passed rapidly
across his brow; it was but momentary. "Captain Blessington," he
ordered quickly and impatiently, "search the hut and grounds for this
lurking Indian, who is, no doubt, secreted in the neighbourhood. Quick,
quick, sir; there is no time to be lost." Then in an angry and
intimidating tone to the Canadian, who had already dropped on his
knees, supplicating mercy, and vociferating his innocence in the same
breath,--"So, you infernal scoundrel, this is the manner in which you
have repaid our confidence. Where is my son, sir? or have you already
murdered him, as you did his servant? Tell me, you villain, what have
you to say to these proofs of your treachery? But stay, I shall take
another and fitter opportunity to question you. Mr. Lawson, secure this
traitor properly, and let him be conveyed to the centre of the
detachment."
The mandate was promptly obeyed; and, in despite of his own unceasing
prayers and protestations of innocence, and the tears and entreaties of
his dark-eyed daughter Babette, who had thrown herself on her knees at
his side, the stout arms of mine host of the Fleur de lis were soon
firmly secured behind his back with the strong rope that had been found
under such suspicious circumstances in his possession. Before he was
marched off, however, two of the men who had been sent in pursuit,
returned from the orchard, stating that further search was now
fruitless. They had penetrated through a small thicket at the extremity
of the grounds, and had distinctly seen a man answering the description
given by their comrades, in full flight towards the forest skirting the
heights in front.
The governor was evidently far from being satisfied with the result of
a search too late instituted to leave even a prospect of success.
"Where are the Indians principally encamped, sirrah?" he sternly
demanded of his captive; "answer me truly, or I will carry off this
wench as well, and if a single hair of a man of mine be even singed by
a shot from a skulking enemy, you may expect to see her bayoneted
before your eyes."
"Ah, my God! Monsieur le Gouverneur," exclaimed the affrighted
aubergiste, "as I am an honest man, I shall tell de truth, but spare my
child. They are all in de forest, and half a mile from de little river
dat runs between dis and de Pork Island."
"Hog Island, I suppose you mean."
"Yes sir, de Hog Island is de one I means."
"Conduct him to the centre, and let him be confronted with the
prisoner," directed the governor, addressing his adjutant; "Captain
Blessington, your men may resume their stations in the ranks."
The order was obeyed; and notwithstanding the tears and supplications
of the now highly excited Babette, who flung herself upon his neck, and
was only removed by force, the terrified Canadian was borne off from
his premises by the troops.