"But I am constant as the northern star."
--_Julius Caesar._
The remainder of that day, the 12th of August, passed over without
incident, but not without anxiety; for the Indians, no longer
indulging in the indolence of the wigwam or the activity of the
chase, occupied themselves with running, leaping, wrestling, jumping,
throwing the rude stone quoit, and firing at a target with the bow.
It might have seemed as though they sought to intimidate, as much
by exuberance of spirits as by a display of numbers, the little
garrison, who, it was clear, from the closing of the gate and the
firing of the gun, no longer regarded them with the confidence they
had ever hitherto manifested. These sports were evidently the
prelude to some ulterior purpose, either immediate or not distantly
remote, and the energy with which they were followed, attested the
excitement with which the accomplishment was looked for. It seemed
as though none would permit a moment of repose to the blood until
the fond object for which it had been excited should have been
attained.
All this was remarked from the fort; but, notwithstanding a vigilant
lookout was kept up, Captain Headley had given orders that if small
parties of the Indians should seek admission, it was not to be
refused to them. This made the duty exceedingly severe, for the
men, being compelled to work in harness under a scorching sun,
suffered greatly, and none were sorry when, at the close of the
day, not only their own task had partially terminated, but the
jaded Indians, drunk with too much joy and excitement, were seen
wending lazily for the night to their several places of repose.
At about midnight Captain Headley and his officers stood, not
together, but on different parts of the rampart, watching the
encampment of the Pottowatomies. Most of their fires had been
extinguished, but towards the centre where stood the tent of
Winnebeg, there was a bright flickering glare, around which forms
of men could be seen moving to the measured sound of the faintly
audible and monotonous drum.
"Now, then, gentlemen, is the moment for exertion. Winnebeg has
evidently found it easier, in their present humor, to get his
warriors into a war-dance than a sober council; but no matter in
what manner, provided their detention be secured. You will now move
your men to the stores, and, in order not only to prevent accident,
but noise, see that all are provided with their moccasins. Mr.
Elmsley, you will take command of the party conveying the ammunition
through the sallyport, and empty it into the well; and you, Mr.
Ronayne, will proceed through the northern gate, roll the casks
which I have directed each to be covered with a blanket to the edge
of the river, cause their heads to be forced in noiselessly with
chisels, then empty the contents--powder as well as rum--into the
stream. No light must be used to betray your movements to the
Indians, or to incur the risk of explosion. One lantern only hangs
up in the store out of the reach of all harm, and it is transparent
enough to enable you to see what you are about, to distinguish the
several casks, those containing the powder and rum, from those in
which are packed the bags of shot, flints, gun-screws, &c. All
these latter you will throw into the well, with the spare
muskets, the stocks of which must be noiselessly broken up. This
operation will take up some hours, gentlemen. The nights are not
long, and it will require all the time until dawn to complete the
work. Now, then, that you have your instructions, proceed to work
with your respective parties. For myself, I shall superintend the
whole."
Without replying, the two officers departed to execute the but too
agreeable duty assigned to them, while Von Voltenberg, who had paid
his professional visits for the night, was instructed to keep a
vigilant lookout on the common until dawn, in order to detect any
movement on the part of the Indians, singly or in parties, to
approach the fort. Corporal Green, whose sight was remarkable for
its keenness, was instructed to keep pacing the circuit of the
rampart during the night, and to report to the doctor, for whom,
in consideration of his being a non-combatant, a chair had been
placed in a sentry box overlooking the encampment, anything remarkable
that he might observe.
Nothing particular at first occurred during the execution of this
important duty. The casks were silently rolled, knocked in, and
emptied in the well and river. This took up many hours; but towards
dawn, as Ensign Ronayne was following at some little distance in
the rear of his men, he thought he observed a dark moving form as
of a man crawling upon his belly, and endeavoring to approach as
near as possible to the spot where the men were at work. Impressed
at once with the assurance that it was some one sent by Pee-to-tum
to watch the actions of the garrison, he advanced boldly up to him,
being then distant at least fifty feet from his party, and near
the awning which had been left standing for the accommodation of
the Indians who were to receive their presents the next day. The
prowler, finding it impossible to elude the officer in the position
in which he was then gliding, suddenly started to his feet, and
sought to escape detection in flight; but Ronayne, who was a very
quick runner, and moreover wore moccasins as well as his men, soon
came up with him, when the Indian rapidly turned, and, upraising
his arm, prepared to strike a desperate blow at the chest of the
unarmed youth. But even while the knife was balancing, as if to
select some vulnerable part, another figure started suddenly from
behind a part of the awning, close to which they all were, and
grasping the arm of the assailant, dexterously wrested the weapon
from his hand, and flung it far away from him upon the glacis.
All this was the work of a moment. The spy turned fiercely upon
the intruder, and, saying something fiercely and authoritatively
to him in Indian, strode leisurely away. Ronayne could not be
mistaken. The first was Pee-to-tum, and even if he could not have
traced the graceful outline of the well--knit figure, the soft and
musical voice which replied to the scorning threat of the fierce
chief sufficiently denoted it to be Wau-nan-gee.
"Heavens! how is this? Wau-nan-gee!" he asked, sternly, yet trembling
with excitement in every limb, "why came you here? Why have you
saved my life? Speak! are you not my enemy? Where is my wife?"
All these questions were asked with the greatest volubility, and
in a state of mind so confused by the host of feelings the presence
of the young Indian inspired, that he scarcely comprehended the
latter as he replied:--
"All! love him too much, Ronayne wife--love him Ronayne
too--Wau-nan-gee friend, dear friend--Wau-nan-gee die for him--Ronayne
wife in Ingin camp--pale--pale, very much!"
"Answer me," said Ronayne, grasping him by the shoulder in pure
excitement, "tell me truly, Wau-nan-gee--I will not hurt you if
you do--but tell me, on the truth of an Indian warrior, is not my
wife your wife? did she not go to you? does she not love you?"
"Ugh?" exclaimed the boy, with an expression of deep melancholy in
his manner; "Wau-nan-gee love him too much, but not make him wife.
Spose him not Ronayne wife, then Wau-nan-gee; die happy spose him
Wau-nan-gee wife. Feel him dere, my friend--feel him heart--oh much
sick for Maria--but Wau-nan-gee Ronayne friend no hurt him wife."
"Can all this be possible?" he exclaimed, vehemently to himself.
"Oh, what a noble, what a generous being; he restores life and
happiness to my heart! But still I am not yet convinced, the joy
is too great for such light testimony. One question more, Wau-nan-gee:
why did my wife leave this? Did you persuade her to go?"
"Yes, Ronayne, Wau-nan-gee tell him go. Shuh!" he continued, as if
enjoining silence, and looking cautiously round, "no speak,
Ronayne--Ingin very wicked--kill him garrison by by--Ronayne and
Maria--Wau-nan-gee friend, dear friend--Wau-nan-gee save him--Ingin
kill him--Maria cry very much, promise no." Then drawing a
handkerchief from his pocket, which the officer recognised, even
in the gloom, as that which he had thrown down at Hardscrabble,
and which was subsequently waved from the window of the farm-house,
he handed it to him.
"Now, then," he exclaimed, "is all my doubt removed, and again am
I the happiest of men in the assurance of the continued love of
the adored one. Oh, Wau-nan-gee, my friend, my brother!" He threw
himself into his embrace; he pressed him forcibly to his heart.
"Oh, how true, how just was the feeling which caused me not to
hate, even when I fancied you had most injured me! Wau-nan-gee,
you must always be my friend; you must be Maria's friend; you must
love us both!"
"Yes," said the Indian, warmly and with difficulty maintaining the
stoicism of his race; "Wau-nan-gee happy to lay down his life for
Ronayne and Maria; oh! Ronayne," and he took the hand of the
Virginian and placed it on his chest which he bared, "can't tell
how much Wau-nan-gee love him Maria--want to make him happy. Suppose
Ronayne come now with Wau-nan-gee--take him to squaw camp. Stay
there till battle over. Yes, come, come!"
"Noble and generous boy! how do you win my very soul to you!"
returned the officer, as he again affectionately embraced him. "No,
no, I cannot do that, great and severe as is this sacrifice of
inclination. But what battle do you speak of?"
"Letter tell him all," said the youth. "Not say Wau-nan-gee say so."
"Wau-nan-gee," said Ronayne, impressively, "no doubt there is
danger. We all know it. Was it not you who brought me a line from
Maria this morning?"
"Yes, my friend. Pee-to-tum say attack him council. Wau-nan-gee
tell him Maria write--afraid to say much."
"No doubt, then, we shall be attacked before many days are over;
but thank God, she at least is safe. Wau-nan-gee, you must
take care of her in the camp of your women. When all is safe, you
will come to me with her."
"Mr. Ronayne," called a voice near the river, "where are you?"
It was Captain Headley.
"Good by, Wau-nan-gee," said the officer, "I must go. Give my love
to Maria, and tell her I am sick to see her," and he put his hand
over his heart, "and that I will join her when all danger is over;
to-morrow night I shall have a letter for her. You can contrive to
steal into the fort at night, and into my room unnoticed,
Wau-nan-gee?"
"Spose him come," again urged the Indian, "Wau-nan-gee find him
little tent for Ronayne and his wife for two three days? Wau-nan-gee
wait upon him, bring him food. Maria say come--must come."
"No, Wau-nan-gee, my dear friend, you know I cannot as a warrior
think of myself alone; I must do my duty; but I am called. Good
by, my noble boy. To-morrow night at twelve. God bless you! I leave
my wife wholly to your care."
"Wau-nan-gee die for him," said the youth energetically, as, after
again pressing the extended hand of the Virginian, he traced his
way cautiously to the encampment.
"Mr. Ronayne," repeated Captain Headley, "where are you?"
"Here, sir; I have for a few moments been absent from my post, but
I thought I remarked an Indian skulking near to watch our movements,
and I followed him. I was not wrong; it was Pee-to-tum. When
discovered, he rose to his feet and would have stabbed me, but
Wau-nan-gee was near and warded off the blow."
"Wau-nan-gee! said you, Mr. Ronayne? Did he ward off the blow aimed
at your life?"
"He did, sir; why should he not? We have always been friends."
Had it not been dark, Captain Headley would have looked as he felt,
exceedingly puzzled for a reply.
"To tell the truth, Mr. Ronayne, I had not suspected this. I should
rather have imagined that he was the chief instigator of the young
men to discontent; but I am glad to find it otherwise."
For a moment it flashed across the mind of the Virginian that Mrs.
Headley had, from policy or in confidence, communicated all she
knew in regard to Maria's evasion to her husband. The idea of any
man possessing the slightest knowledge of wrong in his wife would
have maddened him; but now that he in some measure knew the facts,
and looked upon her in all the purity of her spotless nature, he
was not sorry to have an opportunity to remove the impression; he,
therefore, answered calmly, yet without adverting to the actual
position of his wife.
"So far from that being the case, Captain Headley, Wau-nan-gee is
the last person to engage in an outrage of the kind. Doubtless
these letters, of which the youth has been the bearer, will explain
much that is now a mystery."
The laborious duty of the night being now ended, the gates were
once more fastened; and as the officers passed the lamp which hung
over the entrance of the commandant's quarters, Ronayne glanced at
the superscriptions of the two missives. The one was written in
ink, and directed to Mrs. Headley; the other in pencil, and addressed
to himself.
Ronayne was too impatient to know the contents of the letters to
waste further time in conversation. At the invitation of Captain
Headley, he entered and unfolded the note, while the commandant
sought the apartment of his wife.
Mrs. Headley had thrown herself towards morning on her bed, but
not to sleep; her mind was too full of apprehensions for the fast
coming future, and for the melancholy, sad past; and, even at the
moment when her husband entered, her thoughts were of the unfortunate
Mrs. Ronayne.
"From Maria! is it possible?" she exclaimed, as she broke the seal.
"Whence comes this? who brought it?"
"What think you of Wau-nan-gee!" he answered,
significantly--"Wau-nan-gee, who saved within the hour her husband's
life!"
"Then, by my soul, is she innocent!" exclaimed the generous woman,
rising up. "Almighty God, I thank thee. Oh, how rashly have we
judged; but let me read. The document is dated from this, the night
before her departure; it is the same, no doubt, she should have
inclosed before--not a word in addition. I will read it later.
Where is Ronayne?"
"In the next room. He, too, has received a communication, which he
is now reading. You had better go in to him, while I give some
directions to Elmsley, which require to be attended to immediately.
I shall rejoin you presently."