BACK TO THE WORLD
Captain Stuart Whyte of His Majesty's gallant sloop of war, the _Hawk_,
was standing on his own quarterdeck, looking curiously at the scene
about him, and, taking it in, as well as he could, by the light of a
great bonfire blazing on the beach some distance away. He was a young
officer and his immense relief predominated over his curiosity. The
_Hawk_ was a fine sloop, and he loved her, but there had been a terrible
time that night when he thought she was lost and her crew and himself
with her.
He had seen more than one storm in these sudden seas, but this was
perhaps the worst. All bearings were gone, and then the signs showed
breakers. He was a brave man and he had brave officers, but every one of
them had despaired, until suddenly a light, a pillar of fire, rose in
the darkness and the storm, almost from the heart of the ocean, as if it
had been evoked by his own signal guns. Then, by this marvelous beacon,
they had scraped between the rocks and into safety. Clearly it was a
miracle, and young Captain Whyte felt a deep and devout gratitude. He
had then sent one of his best officers ashore to see the man who had
saved them, and, meanwhile, he had stood by, watching through his
glasses.
He saw the man of the island get into the boat with Lanham and approach
the sloop. The storm had now sunk much, and it was not difficult to come
aboard, but Captain Whyte, still intensely curious, but with a proper
sense of his own dignity, withdrew to his cabin where he might receive
the lord of the isle in state.
He rose politely, and then stared at the tall youth who came in with
Lieutenant Lanham, the water running from his clothes. Yet the stranger
had a dignity fully equal to his own, and there was also something very
uncommon about him, a look of strength and confidence extraordinary in
one so young.
"Won't you sit down?" said Captain Whyte.
Robert glanced at his clothes.
"I bring the storm with me," he said--he often spoke in the language
that he had unconsciously imbibed in much reading of the Elizabethans.
"Never mind that. Water won't hurt my cabin, and if it did you're
welcome just the same. I suppose you represent the people of the island,
to whom my crew and I owe so much."
"I am the people of the island."
"You mean that you're here alone?"
"Exactly that. But tell me, before we go any further, Captain, what
month this is."
"May."
"And the year?"
"1759."
"I wanted to be sure. I see that I've been on the island eight or nine
months, but I lost all count of time, and, now and then it seemed like
eight or nine years. As I've already told Lieutenant Lanham, I'm Robert
Lennox, of Albany, the Province of New York, and the wilderness. I was
kidnapped at Albany and carried down the Hudson and out to sea by a
slaver and pirate."
"'Tis an extraordinary tale, Mr. Lennox."
"But a true one, Captain Whyte."
"I meant no insinuation that it wasn't. Extraordinary things happen in
the world, and have been happening in these seas, ever since Columbus
first came into them."
"Still mine is such an unusual story that it needs proof, and I give it.
Did you not last autumn pretend that yours was a merchant ship, have a
sailor play the violin on deck while others danced about, and lure under
your guns a pirate with the black flag at her masthead?"
Captain Whyte stared in astonishment.
"How do you know that?" he exclaimed.
"Did you not shatter the pirate ship with your broadsides but lose her
afterwards in a great storm that came up suddenly?"
"Aye, so I did, and I've been looking for her many a time since then."
"You'll never find her, Captain. Your guns were aimed well enough, and
they took the life out of her. She couldn't weather the storm. Of all
the people who were aboard her then I'm the only survivor. Her captain
escaped with me to this island, but he died of wounds and I buried him.
I can show you his grave."
"How do I know that you, too, are not one of the pirates?"
"By taking me back on your ship to the colonies, and proving my tale. If
you don't find that every word I tell you is true you can hang me to
your own yardarm."
Captain Whyte laughed. It was a fair and frank offer, but he was a
reader of men, and he felt quite sure that the strange youth was telling
the absolute truth.
"He's given me, sir, quite correct accounts of events that happened in
the colonies last year," said Lanham. "He was at Ticonderoga and his
narrative of the battle agrees fully with the accounts that we
received."
And just at that moment coincidence stretched out her long arm again, as
she does so often.
"I had a cousin at Ticonderoga," said Captain Whyte. "A splendid young
fellow, name of Grosvenor. I've seen a letter from him in which he says
'twas a terrible fight, but that we threw away our chances before we
went upon the field."
"Grosvenor! Grosvenor!" exclaimed Robert eagerly. "Why, I knew him! He
was a friend of mine! We were in the forest together, in combat and
escape. His first name was Alfred. Did he say nothing in his letter of
Robert Lennox?"
"Of course he did! I was so much interested in you that I paid little
attention to your name, and it glided past me as if I'd not heard it. He
told of a friend of his, name of yours, who had been lost, murdered they
all believed by some spy."
"And did he say nothing also of Tayoga, a wonderful Onondaga Indian, and
of David Willet, a great hunter?"
"Aye, so he did. I recall those names too. Said the Indian was the most
marvelous trailer the world had ever known, could trace the flight of a
bird through the air, and a lot more that must have been pure romance."
"It's all true! every word of it. I'll see that you meet Tayoga, and
then you'll believe, and you must know Willet, too, one of the grandest
men that ever lived, soul of honor, true as steel, all those things."
"I believe you! Every word you say! But I can't keep you talking here
with the water dripping from you. We really couldn't question your
truth, either, after you'd saved our ship and all our lives. I see you
have a naval uniform of ours. Well, we'll give you a dry one in its
place. See that the best the _Hawk_ has is his, Lanham."
Robert was taken to a small cabin that was vacant and he exchanged into
dry clothing. He went back a little later to the captain's room with
Lanham, where they insisted upon his taking refreshment, and then
Captain Whyte sent him to bed.
"I've a million questions to ask you, Mr. Lennox," he said, "but I won't
ask 'em until to-morrow. You must sleep."
Robert's manner had been calm, but he found when he lay down that he was
surcharged with excitement. It was inside him and wanted to get it out,
but he kept it bottled up, and after an hour spent in quieting his
nerves he fell asleep. When he awoke, dressed and went on deck, all
trace of the storm had gone. The _Hawk_ swung quietly at anchor and to
him she seemed the very finest ship that had ever sailed on any sea from
the day of the galley to the day of the three-decker. He noticed with
pleasure how trim everything was, how clean was the wood, how polished
the brass, and how the flag of Britain snapped in the breeze overhead.
He noticed too the eighteen pounders and he knew these were what had
done the business for the slaver and pirate. Lanham gave him a hearty
welcome.
"It's half way to noon," he said, "and you slept long and well, as you
had a right to do, after saving His Majesty's twenty-two gun sloop,
_Hawk_, from the rocks. We had a boat's crew ashore this morning, not
because we doubted your word, but to see that everything was trim and
snug on your island, and they found your house. On my word, quite a
little castle, and well furnished. We didn't disturb a thing. It's
yours, you know."
"I merely inherited it," said Robert. "The slaver and pirate who
kidnapped me built it as a place for a refuge or a holiday, and he came
back here to die. He furnished it partly, and the rest came from his
wrecked ship."
After breakfast Robert went ashore also with the captain and Lanham, and
he showed them about the island. They even saw the old bull at the head
of his herd, and Robert waved him a friendly farewell. The house and its
contents they decided to leave exactly as they were.
"They may shelter some other castaway," said Robert.
"We'll even leave the guns and ammunition," said Captain Whyte. "We
don't need 'em. You rescued 'em from the ship and they belong to you.
The _Hawk_ has no claim on 'em."
"I'd like for 'em to stay here," said Robert. "Nobody may ever be cast
away on this island again, and on the other hand it might happen next
week. You can't tell. But it's been a good island to me, and, though I
say farewell, I won't forget it."
"You take the right view of it," said Captain Whyte, "and even if I
didn't feel your way about it, although I do, I'd be bound to give you
your wish since you saved us. You've also taken quite a burden off my
mind. It's always been a source of grief to me that the pirate eluded us
in the storm, but since you've shown me that we were really responsible
for her sinking I feel a lot better about it."
On the _Hawk_ Lanham told him what had been passing in the world.
"There's a great expedition out from England under that young general,
Wolfe, who distinguished himself at Louisbourg," he said. "It aims at
the taking of Quebec, and we're very hopeful. The rendezvous is
Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island and army and navy, I suppose, are
already there. Your own Royal Americans will be in it, and what we lost
at Ticonderoga we propose to regain--and more--before Quebec. The _Hawk_
is bound for Louisbourg to join the fleet, but she puts in at Boston
first. If you choose to go on to Louisbourg with us you won't fare ill,
because the captain has taken a great fancy for you."
"I thank you much," said Robert, gratefully. "I'm almost tempted to join
the great expedition from Louisbourg into the St. Lawrence, but I feel
that I must leave the ship at Boston. I'm bound to hunt up Willet and
Tayoga, and we'll come by land. We'll meet you before the heights of
Quebec."
Everything seemed to favor the northward voyage of the _Hawk_. Good
winds drove her on, and Robert's heart leaped within him at the thought
that he would soon be back in his own country. Yet he made little
outward show of it. The gravity of mind and manner that he had acquired
on the island remained with him. Habits that he had formed there were
still very powerful. It was difficult for him to grow used to the
presence of other people, and at times he longed to go out on his peak
of observation, where he might sit alone for hours, with only the
rustling of the wind among the leaves in his ears. The sound of the
human voice was often strange and harsh, and now and then only his will
kept him from starting when he heard it, as one jumps at the snarl of a
wild animal in the bush.
But the friendship between him, Captain Whyte, Lieutenant Lanham and the
other young officers grew. People instinctively liked Robert Lennox.
Whether in his gay mood or his grave he had a charm of manner that few
could resist, and his story was so strange, so picturesque that it
invested him with compelling romance. He told all about his kidnapping
and his life upon the island, but he said nothing of Adrian Van Zoon. He
let it be thought that the motive of the slaver in seizing him was
merely to get a likely lad for sale on a West India plantation. But his
anger against Van Zoon grew. He was not one to cherish wrath, but on
this point it was concentrated, and he intended to have a settlement. It
was not meant that he should be lost, it was not meant that Adrian Van
Zoon should triumph. He had been seized and carried away twice, and each
time, when escape seemed impossible, a hand mightier than that of man
had intervened in his favor.
He spoke a little of his thought once or twice when he stood on the deck
of the _Hawk_ on moonlight nights with Captain Whyte and Lieutenant
Lanham.
"You can't live with the Indians as much as I have," he said,
"especially with such a high type of Indian as the Iroquois, without
acquiring some of their beliefs which, after all, are about the same as
our own Christian religion. The difference is only in name. They fill
the air with spirits, good and evil, and have 'em contending for the
mastery. Now, I felt when I was on the island and even before that I was
protected by the good spirits of the Iroquois, and that they were always
fighting for me with the bad."
"I take it," said Captain Whyte, "that the Indian beliefs, as you tell
them, are more like the mythology of the old Greeks and Romans. I'm a
little rusty on my classics, but they had spirits around everywhere,
good and bad, always struggling with one another, and their gods
themselves were mixtures of good and evil, just like human beings. But
I'm not prepared to say, Mr. Lennox, that you weren't watched over. It
seems strange that of all the human beings on the slaver you should have
been the only one saved and you the only one not stained with crime.
It's a fact I don't undertake to account for. And you never found out
the name of the pirate captain?"
"Neither his nor that of his ship. It had been effaced carefully from
the schooner and all her boats."
"I suppose it will remain one of the mysteries of the sea. But tell me
more about my cousin, Grosvenor. He was really becoming a trailer, a
forest runner?"
"He was making wonderful progress. I never saw anybody more keen or
eager."
"A fine lad, one of our best. I'm glad that you two met. I'd like to
meet too that Frenchman, St. Luc, of whom you've spoken so often. We
Englishmen and Frenchmen have been fighting one another for a thousand
years, and it seems odd, doesn't it, Mr. Lennox, that it should be so?
Why, the two countries can see each other across the Channel on clear
days, and neighbors ought to be the best of friends, instead of the most
deadly enemies. It seems that the farther a nation is from another the
better they get along together. What is there in propinquity, Mr.
Lennox, to cause hostility?"
"I don't know, but I suppose it's rivalry, the idea that if your
neighbor grows he grows at your expense. Your hostility carries over to
us in America also. We're your children and we imitate our parents. The
French in Canada hate the English in the Provinces and the English in
the Provinces hate the French in Canada, when there's so much of the
country of each that they're lost in it."
"It's a queer world, Mr. Lennox. In spite of what you say and which I
endorse, I'm going with an eager heart in the great expedition against
Quebec, and so will you. I'll be filled with joy if it succeeds and so
will you."
Robert admitted the fact.
"And I'd be delighted if we could meet a French sloop of about our own
size and armament," continued the captain. "Every man on board the
_Hawk_ would go into battle with her eagerly, and yet I don't hate the
French individually. They're a brave and gallant nation, and this St.
Luc, of whom you speak, seems to be the very flower of chivalry."
The captain's wish to meet a French sloop of war of his own size was not
granted. He had high hopes the fourth day when they saw a sail, but it
proved to be a schooner out of Newport returning from Jamaica with a
cargo of sugar and molasses. The _Hawk_ showed her heels in disgust, and
pursued her way northward.
As the time to reach Boston drew near, Robert's heart filled again. He
would be back in his own land, and his world would be before him once
more. He had already decided that he would go at once to Albany and
there pick up the thread of his old life. He was consumed, too, by
curiosity. What had happened since he was gone? His feeling that he had
been in the island eight or nine years instead of eight or nine months
remained. While it was his own world to which he was returning, it was
also a new world.
Came the day when the harbor lights of the port of Boston showed through
a haze and Robert, standing on the deck of the _Hawk_, watched the city
rise out of the sea. He was dressed in a good suit of civilian clothing
that he had found on the island, and he had some money that had never
been taken from him when he was kidnapped, enough to pay his way from
Boston to Albany. His kindly English friends wanted to lend him more,
but he declined it.
"You can pay us back in Quebec," said White.
"I don't need it," replied Robert, "but I'll keep the rendezvous there
with you both."
As the _Hawk_ was to stay two or three days in port in order to take on
supplies, they went ashore together, and the three were full of
curiosity when they entered, for the first time, the town of which they
had heard so much. Boston had already made such impress upon the
imagination that all the English colonists were generally known to the
French in Canada as Bostonnais. In England it had a great name, and
there were often apprehensions about it. It was the heart and soul of
the expedition when the New Englanders surprised the world by taking the
great French fortress of Louisbourg, and it had an individuality and a
personality which it has never lost.
"I don't know how I'm going to like it," said Captain Whyte, as they
left the sloop. "I hear that they're very superior here, and consider us
English a rather backward lot. Don't you think you'd better reconsider,
Lennox, and go on with us to Louisbourg?"
Robert laughed.
"I'm not afraid of the Bostonians," he said. "I met some very competent
ones on the shores of Lake George. There was one Elihu Strong, a colonel
of Massachusetts infantry, whom I like to remember. In truth, Captain,
what I see here arouses my admiration. You noticed the amount of
shipping in the port. The Bostonians are very keen traders, and they say
there are sharp differences in character between them and the people of
our southern provinces, but as I come from a middle province, New York,
I am, in a sense, neutral. The New Englanders have a great stake in the
present war. Their country has been ravaged for more than a century by
French and Indians from Canada, and this province of Massachusetts is
sending to it nearly every man, and nearly every dollar it has."
"We know of their valor and tenacity in England," said Captain Whyte,
"but we know also that they're men of their own minds."
"Why shouldn't they be? That's why they're English."
"Since you put it that way, you're right. But here we are."
The town, about the size of New York, looked like a great city to
Robert. He had come from a land that contained only one inhabitant,
himself, and it was hard for him now to realize there were so many
people in the world. The contrast put crowds everywhere, and, at times,
it was very confusing, though it was always interesting. The men were
mostly tall, thin, and with keen but composed eyes. They were of purer
British blood than those in New York, but it seemed to Robert that they
had departed something from type. They were more strenuous than the
English of Old England, and the New Yorkers, in character if not in
blood and appearance, were more nearly English than the Bostonians. He
also thought, and he was not judging now so much from a glimpse of
Boston as from the New England men whom he had met, that they were
critical both of themselves and others, and that they were a people who
meant to have their way at any cost.
But his attempts to estimate character and type were soon lost in his
huge delight at being back in his own country. Robert's mind was a
mirror. It always reflected his surroundings. Quickly adaptable, he
usually perceived the best of everything, and now busy and prosperous
Boston in its thin, crisp air, delighted him immeasurably. His feelings
were much as they had been when he visited New York. Here was a great
city, that is, great for his country and time, and it was destined to be
much greater.
As usual with sailors Captain Whyte and Lieutenant Lanham wished to go
to a coffee house, and Robert, nothing loath, accompanied them to one of
good quality to which they were directed near the water front. Here they
found numerous guests in the great common room and much talk going
forward, mostly talk of the war, as was natural. There was much
criticism of the British Government, not restrained at all, rather
increased, by the uniforms of the two naval officers.
"'Tis reported that the new expedition gathered at Louisbourg will go
the way of the one that was repulsed at Ticonderoga," said a thin,
elderly man. "I hear 'tis commanded by young Wolfe, who is sickly and
much given to complaint. Abercrombie, who led us at Ticonderoga, was
fat, old and slothful, and now Wolfe, who leads the new force is young,
sickly and fretful. It seems that England can't choose a middle course.
Why doesn't she send us a man?"
"That I can't tell you, Master Carver," said the man whom he was
addressing, "but I do know that if England would consult Massachusetts
more we'd fare better in this war. We should have marched over the
French army at Ticonderoga. I can't understand to this day how we lost
that battle."
"It seems that in very truth we lacked something there."
Robert was sitting not ten feet from them and their tone being so very
critical, he could not restrain a word or two.
"Your pardon, if I interrupt," he said, "but hearing you speak in a
somewhat slighting manner of Ticonderoga I'm bound to advise you that
you're wrong, since I was there. The English and Scotch troops, with our
own Americans, showed the very greatest valor on that sad occasion.
'Twas no fault of theirs. Our defeat was due to the lack of artillery,
the very skillful arrangements of the French commander, the Marquis de
Montcalm, and the extreme courage of the French army."
The two, who seemed to be merchants or shipping men, regarded him with
interest but with no appearance of resentment because of his
interference in their conversation. Apparently the criticism that they
permitted so freely to themselves they were willing also to allow to
others.
"But you are English," said the first who had spoken, "and 'tis most
natural for you to defend the generals who are sent out from the home
country."
"I am not English. I am a native of the Province of New York, and being
a colonial like yourselves, I think we allow too little credit to the
old country in the war. I speak as one who through the force of
circumstances has been an eye witness to many of the facts. My name is
Robert Lennox, sir, and my companions are Captain Stuart Whyte and
Lieutenant John Lanham of His Majesty's twenty-two gun sloop of war
_Hawk_, now in Boston harbor."
"And I, sir," responded the thin man with much courtesy, "am Samuel
Carver, wholesale dealer in cloth and leather, and my friend is Lemuel
Mason, owner of shipping plying principally to the West Indies. We're
pleased to meet His Majesty's officers and also you, Mr. Lennox, who we
can see is very young to have had so much experience in the wars. We
trust that all of you will pardon our freedom of criticism, but we're at
the heart of affairs here, and we see very clearly. It's not a freedom
that we'll give up."
Captain Whyte laughed easily.
"If what we hear in England of Boston is true," he said, "'tis a
privilege that nothing can make you give up. Perhaps 'tis as well. I'm
all for free speech myself. Through it affairs are well threshed out.
But I assure you you're wrong about General Wolfe. 'Tis true that he's
young and that he's sickly, but he's been chosen by Mr. Pitt for most
solid reasons. He has a great gift for arms. I've been fortunate enough
to meet him once or twice, and I can assure you that he makes a most
favorable impression. Moreover, the fact that he's been chosen by Mr.
Pitt is proof of his worth. Mr. Pitt is a very great man and he has that
highest of all talents, the ability to know other men and to direct
them."
Captain Whyte spoke with much warmth and his words carried conviction.
"I can well believe you, sir, when you speak so highly of Mr. Pitt,"
said Mr. Carver. "'Tis evident that he has the honor and glory of
England at heart and 'tis evident, too, that he does not mean to neglect
the interests of the colonies, a matter of the utmost importance. 'Tis
only Mr. Pitt among the home statesmen who have recognized our greatness
on this side of the ocean."
"Believe me, sir, I'm not blind to the growth and prosperity of the
colonies," said Captain Whyte. "I've seen your cities and I know how
much the Americans have done in the present war."
"Then 'tis a pity that England also doesn't know it," said Mr. Mason
somewhat sharply.
But Captain Whyte refused to be either angry or disconcerted.
"The width of our ocean always promotes ignorance, and
misunderstandings," he said. "And 'tis true too that the closest of kin
will quarrel, but families usually unite against an alien foe."
"'Tis so," admitted Mr. Mason, "and 'tis the business of statesmanship
to smooth down the quarrels that arise between the different parts of a
great kingdom. I trust that ours will always be equal to the task."
"Do you know a merchant of this city, Elihu Strong, who is also a
colonel of the Massachusetts infantry?" asked Robert. "I met him in a
strenuous business before Ticonderoga, where he also had a gallant
part."
"We could scarce be Bostonians and not know Elihu Strong," said Mr.
Carver. "One of the most active of our merchants, he has ships of his
own that ply between here and England, and he has also taken a very
zealous part in the war. The regiment that he commanded was equipped
partly at his expense."
"Commanded?" exclaimed Robert.
"I used the past tense, not because he has fallen, my young friend, but
Elihu was unfortunate enough to receive a severe wound in the leg some
months after Ticonderoga, and he is now recuperating at his own home
here near the Common. 'Tis not dangerous. He will not lose the leg, but
he will not be able to walk on it for some months yet. A great pity, say
I, that Elihu Strong is out of active service for a while, as His
Majesty's government might profit greatly by his advice and leadership
in the field."
"I've no doubt of it," said Captain Whyte with the greatest sincerity.
"I'm all for coöperation with the experienced men of the colonies, and
so is a far greater than I, the illustrious Mr. Pitt. They're on the
ground, they've lived their lives here and they ought to know."
"Our hope is in Mr. Pitt," said Mr. Carver. "You speak well of him,
Captain Whyte, and 'tis pleasing to our ears to hear you, because you
cannot know how his name inspires confidence in the colonies. Why, sir,
we look upon him as almost the half of England!"
It was so. And it was destined to remain so. Whatever happened between
England and America, the name of the elder Pitt, the great Englishman,
kept and keeps its place in the hearts of Americans, who in some
respects are the most sentimental and idealistic of all peoples.
Robert saw that the two young English officers and the two middle aged
Boston merchants were arriving at an understanding, that good relations
were established already, and he thought it wise to leave them together.
"I think," he said, "that I will visit Colonel Strong at his house, and
as my time in Boston must be short 'twill be best for me to go now."
Both Mr. Carver and Mr. Mason urged him to spend the night at their
houses, and Captain Whyte and Lieutenant Lanham were zealous for his
return with them to the _Hawk_, but he declined the offer, though saying
he would certainly visit the sloop before he left Boston. He judged that
it would be wise to leave the four together, in the coffee-house, and,
after receiving careful instructions how to reach the mansion of that
most respectable and worthy Bostonian, Colonel Elihu Strong, he went
into the street.
He found the Strong home to be a goodly house, one of the best in the
city, partly of brick and partly of wood, with columns in front, all
very spacious and pleasing. He knocked with a heavy brass knocker and a
trim colored maid responded.
"Is Colonel Strong at home?" he asked.
"He is, sir," she responded in English as good as his own, "though
confined to his chair with a wound in the leg which makes his temper a
trifle short at times."
"Naturally. So would mine be if I couldn't walk. I wish to see him."
"What name, sir, shall I say?"
"Tell him 'tis one who served with him in wilderness fighting, on the
eve of Ticonderoga."
She looked at him doubtfully, but her face cleared in a moment. Robert's
frank, open gaze invited everybody's confidence.
"Come into the hall, sir," she said, and then led the way from the hall
into a large room opening upon a lawn, well-shaded by many fine, large
trees. Elihu Strong sat in a chair before one of the windows, and his
wounded leg, swathed heavily, reposed in another chair.
Robert paused, and his heart beat rather hard. This was the first friend
of his old life that he had seen. Now, he was coming in reality back to
his world. He stood a few moments, irresolute, and then advancing
lightly he said:
"Good morning, Colonel Strong!"
The wounded man wheeled in his chair and looked at him, inquiry in his
face. Robert did not know what changes his life on the island had made
in his appearance, his expression rather, but he saw that Colonel Strong
did not know him, and it pleased him to play for a minute or so with the
fact.
"You did not receive this bullet, sir, when you saved us from St. Luc,"
he said. "It must have been much later, but I know it was a bad moment
for the Province of Massachusetts when the hostile lead struck you."
Colonel Strong stared.
"Who are you?" he exclaimed.
"There was a battle on the shores of Lake George, at a point where our
men had been building boats. They were besieged by a mixed force of
French and Indians, commanded by the great French partisan leader, St.
Luc. They beat off the attacks, but they would have been overcome in
time, if you had not hurried to their relief, with a strong force and
two brass cannon."
"That is true and if the Governor and Legislature of Massachusetts had
done their full duty we'd have had twice as many men and four, six, or
even eight cannon in place of two. But what do you know about those
things?"
"There were two boys, one Indian and one white, who came on the lake,
telling you of the plight of the boat builders. The Indian was Tayoga of
the Clan of the Bear, of the Nation Onondaga, of the Great League of the
Hodenosaunee, the finest trailer in the world. The white boy was Robert
Lennox, of the Province of New York."
"Aye, you speak truly. Full well do I remember them. How could I forget
them? Tayoga is back there now with the hunter Willet, doing some great
service in the war, what I know not, but it is something surely great.
The white boy, Robert Lennox, is dead. A great loss, too! A fine and
gallant lad."
"How do you know he is dead?"
"I had it in a letter from Master Benjamin Hardy of New York, with whom
I often transact affairs of business, and he, in turn, had it from one
Jacobus Huysman, a burgher of Albany in most excellent standing. Parts
of the matter are obscure, but the result is certain. It seems that the
lad was stalked by a spy, one Garay, and was murdered by him. His body,
they think, was thrown into the Hudson and was carried away. At least it
was never found. A most tragic business. I could have loved that lad as
if he had been my own son. It caused great grief to both Hardy and
Huysman,--and to me, too."
A lump came into Robert's throat. He did have friends, many and
powerful, and they mourned him. He seemed to have the faculty of
inspiring liking wherever he went. He had been standing in the shadow,
while the wounded man sat where the sunlight from the windows poured
upon him. He moved a little nearer where he could be more clearly seen,
and said:
"But what if I tell you that Robert Lennox is not dead, that he survived
a most nefarious plot against him, that he was, in truth, kidnapped and
carried far away to sea, but was rescued in a most remarkable manner and
has come back to his own land."
"'Tis impossible! 'Tis a wild tale, though God knows I wish it were
true, because he was a fine and gallant lad."
"'Tis a wild tale, sir, that I confess, but 'tis not impossible, for it
has happened. I am that Robert Lennox who came with Tayoga, the
Onondaga, in the canoe, through the fog on Lake George, to you, asking
that you hurry to the relief of the boat builders! You will remember,
sir, the fight at the ford, when they sought to ambush us, and how we
routed them with the cannon. You'll recall how St. Luc drew off when we
reached the boat builders. I've been away a long time, where every month
counted as a year, and perhaps I've changed greatly, but I'm that same
Robert Lennox to whom you said more than once that if the Governor and
Legislature of the Province of Massachusetts had done their full duty
your force would have been three or four times as strong."
"What? What? No stranger could know as much as you know! Come farther
into the light, boy! The voice is nearly the same as I remember it, but
the face has changed. You're older, graver, and there's a new look! But
the eyes are like his! On my soul I believe it's Robert Lennox! Aye, I
know 'tis Robert! Come, lad, and shake hands with me! I would go to you
but this wretched wound holds me in my chair! Aye, boy, yours is the
grasp of a strong and honest hand, and when I look into your eyes I know
'tis you, Robert, your very self. Sit you down and tell me how you have
risen from the grave, and why you've come to comfort an old man with
this most sudden and welcome news!"
The moisture rose in Robert's eyes. Truly he had friends, and not least
among them was this thin, shrewd Bostonian. He drew a chair close to the
colonel and spun the wonderful tale of his kidnapping, the sea fight,
the wreck, the island and his rescue by the _Hawk_. Colonel Strong
listened intently and seldom interrupted, but when Robert had finished
he said:
"'Tis clear, lad, that your belief in the good spirits was well placed.
We lose nothing by borrowing a little from the Iroquois beliefs. Their
good spirits are our angels. 'Tis all the same in the essence, only the
names are different. 'Tis clear, too, that they were watching over you.
And now this house is your home so long as you stay in Boston. We're
full of the great war, as you'll soon learn. Mr. Pitt has sent over a
new commander and a mighty attempt will be made on Quebec, though if the
King and Parliament of Britain did their full duty, the expedition would
be three times as large, and, if the Legislature and Governor of
Massachusetts also did their full duty, they would give three times as
much help."
"I'll stay gladly with you to-night, sir, but I must go in the morning.
I wish to reach Albany as soon as possible and show that I'm not dead.
You're the first, sir, of all my friends, to learn it. I must tell my
comrades of the _Hawk_ good-bye too. They've been very good to me, and
their ship is in your harbor."
"But you spend the night here. That's promised, and I can give you news
of some of your friends, those gallant lads who were with us in the
great adventure by the lake. The young Englishman, Grosvenor, the
Philadelphians, Colden, Wilton and Carson, and the Virginians, Stuart
and Cabell, have all been to see me. Grosvenor joins a regiment with
Wolfe, the Grenadiers, I think, and the Philadelphians and Virginians
are transferred to the Royal Americans, for the term of the war, at
least."
"I hope to see them all, sir, under the walls of Quebec. Captain Whyte
of the _Hawk_ offered to take me in his ship to the rendezvous at
Louisbourg, but I felt that I must go first to Albany and then join
Willet and Tayoga. We'll go by land and meet the army and fleet coming
down the St. Lawrence."
"A proper plan, and a proper ambition, my lad. I would that I could be
with you, but this wound may hold me here. As for going to Albany, I may
assist you in that matter. A company of Boston merchants are sending a
despatch, that is, a stage, to Albany to-morrow. I am one of that
company and I can provide a place for you."
"My very great thanks are yours, sir."
"Say no more about it. 'Tis just what I ought to do. 'Tis a long
journey, but 'tis a fine time of the year, and you'll have a pleasant
trip. Would that I had your youth and your unwounded leg and I'd be with
you under the walls of Quebec, whether we take the city or not."
His eyes sparkled and his thin cheeks flushed with his intense fire.
Robert knew that there was no more valiant soldier than the shrewd
Boston merchant, and he appreciated his intense earnestness.
"Perhaps, sir," he said, "your recovery will be in full time for the
campaign."
"I fear not, I'm sure not, Mr. Lennox, and yet I wish with all my soul
to be there. I foresee victory, because I think victory is due. 'Tis not
in nature for the French in Canada, who are few and who receive but
little help from their own country, to hold back forever the whole might
of Britain and her colonies. They have achieved the impossible already
in stemming the flood so long, and because it's about time for the
weight, in spite of everything, to break over the dam, I think that
victory is at hand. And then, Britain will be supreme on the North
American continent from the Spanish domains northward to the Pole."
"And that means a tremendous future, sir, for England and her colonies!"
The face of Elihu Strong clouded.
"I do not know," he cried. "I hope so, and yet, at times, I fear not.
You think only of united hearts in England and America and a long future
under one flag. I repeat that I wish it could be so and yet the old
always regard the new with patronage, and the new always look upon the
old with resentment. There are already differences between the English
and Americans, questions of army rank, disputes about credit in the
field, different points of view, created by the width of an ocean."
"But if we are victorious and overrun Canada, they will be settled."
"There lies the greatest danger, my lad. 'Tis the common peril that
holds us together for the time. When this shadow in the north which has
overhung us so long, is removed, the differences will grow the greater,
and each side will assert itself. 'Tis in our common blood. The English
are a free people and freedom brings diversities, differing opinions and
a strenuous expression of them. I see already great issues between the
colonies and the mother country, and I pray that temperate men may have
the handling of them. The wrong will not be all on one side, nor the
right either. But enough of an old man's forebodings! Why should I
poison your happy return from an adventure, in which your chance of
escape was not one in ten?"
Robert talked with him a while longer, and then he suggested that he go
to the _Hawk_ and tell his friends there good-bye, as they had probably
returned to the ship by this time.
"But be sure you're back here by nightfall," said Colonel Strong. "You
favor me, lad, by coming. It refreshes me to see you and to talk with
one who had a share with me in an eventful campaign. And have you money
enough for this trip to Albany? I take it that you were not accumulating
much treasure while you were on the island, and a loan may be timely."
Robert thanked him, but said he had enough for his needs. He promised
also to be back by nightfall, and, having said farewell to the officers
of the sloop, he returned to Colonel Strong's mansion at the appointed
time.