Cardigan

ow I saw two figures moving; one of them presently crossed the dim, crimson circle and

whispered. "Is t

said: "Don't come into the fire-ring. There's a man been pr

rkness, looking about me, shiveri

he asked, without

great kindness to me that he began to laugh and chuckle all to

repeated, rising to come into the thic

ing what he found so

ount Jack?" he inqu

But you are mistaken; the man who follows

ur

d, bitterly; "I

ow about Jack M

, nothing except wh

er Everybody know?" h

ghway," I replied. "There's a bo

the big fellow, impatiently. "Oh, I know a

e to the King's ship, Gaspee, and started the rebe

el, too-that little, shrivelled comrade of his!-both corresponding exactly to their descriptions which I had read in the Boston boo

ner, with a chuckle, "do you

but my lack of enthusiasm sent the big

ever I saw. And you still think yourself in luck? And you're supping with Jack Mount? And the Weasel's watching everything from yonde

me, Walter Butler prowling outside the fire-ring, and I alone, stripped of every weapon, what in Heaven's sight was left for

rved Mount, twiddling his great thumbs over his r

o," I repli

at to stop his mouth withal!" And he fell a-muttering to himself: "King's highway, eh? Not mine, not his, not

brought me into the forest; but I shoo

ll, eh?"

as quickly; and he shrugged his giant's shoulders a

ds the sleeping peddler; "you're a King's man if I'm a King's highwayman, and I'

eaking, and his bright little eyes gleamed ruby red in

t. "I've searched his pack again, and I ca

ng to know by what right he dared search my pack; but the impassiv

n, turning towards me, as though

plucking, anyhow. Take his wampum belts, a

rately, "you will leave me my belts a

d and looked a

iot," said Mount

t?" I p

l. The devil take you, for aught I care! But you won't get your belts,

peated, choking

ese damned Indians hereabouts," he grinned, "and I

ed, firmly. "You say I am no patriot. I deny it; I am a bette

broke in Cade Renard; "yo

nd I do not reply? What of it? I'm at least patriot enough not to pretend to be one. I am patriot enough not to rob my

hanged sull

ot fit for spies,"

onishment. "Well, if you are the famous Jack

gh claw on the giant's arm, and at the same moment I saw a dark figure step just within the outer fire-ring, hold

rm. He halted a few paces from Butler and signed for him to remain where he stood. There was no mista

r," he drawled, "wha

r, without the faintest trace of

plied Mount, quickly; "ev

" asked Butler, with that deat

Mount, cordially. "You may inquire of my old friend

lly misled me last evening, friend. The man I

cried Moun

r silence, then B

a young man who is supposed to lie hidden in your camp. I call

d Mount, laughing. "I suppose you bring that pretty valentine of

ow to where he had been standing, crowded him back before his huge, outstretched arm, coolly scanning the warrant the while. And Butler could not

held it out at arm's-length, cocking his head on one side; he

valentine! Gad, Captain Butler, we have seen them in eve

sheriff, sir," observ

f, Captain Butler; but I have had much business with sheriffs.

ssity of aiding the law," suggested Butl

the paper and began to wh

aper?" asked Butler, with his

fire, but only the little Hebrew was now visible, for I

ded Butler, raising his sneering voice, and searchin

an I resist you? Pray tell me who this bad young Michael Cardiga

arply. "Come, my good man, have done with silly

it! In the King's name! I've heard that, too

titmouse on a stump. Ay, singing to me to help him take a stout fellow in the King's name! Ha! Ha! Ha! This funny Mr. Sheriff Butler!" Then, in a flash, he wheeled on Butler, snarling, e

even tones: "I shall take care that your good wishes reach the King's ears. Pr

his Majesty's tea into Boston harbour, and I should be pleased to do as much for the King himself. Tell him

de Renard, of the backwood aristocracy, sometimes called the Weasel. He's so shy, sir. Friend Weasel, come out from behind that stump and bring your rifle; step u

up and performed a

or anything you have of value. Your scalp, now, might bring five sh

nt and my prisoner?" demanded

ner. "Make a new trail, you Tory hangman! M

y expressed on any human face

le; then the red fire-glow left him, and he was gone into the

hot coals as he passed. Renard returned in a few minutes, took

r the protection he had given so generously, and

pack and go in peace, for if Dunmore is after you, the soon

" I replied,

pockets for the flint he had taken from my r

I asked,

in, watching me

y. "I ask you this and you ask me that-tom tiddle! tiddle

served the Weasel, quietly co

eration, striving to stop him, but the Weas

old. That accounts for those peace-belts

business to the Cayugas? Ha! Now I begin to grasp this pretty game. S

" I pleaded, seeing th

e Tory or patriot! Oh, I'll hush, but every one knows Sir William will not have the Indians take sides in this same war that's coming so fast upon us. It's no

come from Johnstown?"

l. "We saw your tracks, but we went another wa

atching Shemuel, the Hebrew peddler, strapping up his dingy

uck!" growled Mount, cracking a fresh lu

slyly, his grimy fists buried

ved, interrogatively. "I haff chains, buckles, pins, needles

e of his own boxes, then warning him to pack up if he valued his sca

I see no good to come of it, and I say this with all respect to Sir

hat," sai

other. Two taverns known to be the meeting-places of patriots have been set afire and shot into; and old John Butler is gone north, where, they say, he is raising a bloody crew of cut-throats, rangers, half-breeds, and young Mohawks. Sir

of the rebels themselves to credit the seriousness of the situation. But here

el Cresap is driving the Ca

oodsman, but who knew the savages only from the outside. I could not make him see the foolish uselessness of angering the Six Nations. H

ically. "Give up the frontier and go back

as silly tools for Dun

tools, when the silly ass hasn't

nd Butler to stop me!

rin again and wi

more's suite travelled south the day you left, and o

f it?"

Walter Butler-what's her name-a certain Miss Warren, ward of Sir William; and it is commonly reporte

" I broke ou

Walter Butler has openly boasted he will marry her spite of Sir William or the devil

see the man before me. As for speaking, my throat closed and my breast heaved as though to burst the very straps on my pack. Oh, that I had killed Butler! I clutched my rifle a

s Warren is already in Pi

s good for horses below Crown Gap, and they were well mounted, ay, nobly

the straps on his pack more tightly and shifting

looked

one. Our friend, Mr. Sheriff Butler, will be watching for us, and

west, Mount leading, then Shemuel the peddler,

, so I only scowled at him, meaning to imply my disgust at his treachery. However, as we strung out through the forest, I quickened my pac

it, Mr. Cardigan. Sir William he has giff me so many permids mitout a s

name and quality then, Sh

ence. Nor could I get another word from him; so I fell back into my plac

t by south," I suggested, ove

cut to Cresap," he

Pitt trail?" I a

ing my puzzled smile, he added, "A long life on a lon

ck beside us, grinned at

s," he said. "I've no powder to waste on him and his crew. However, Mr. Card

ling on the very edge of a precipice which I never should have seen, and over which I certainly should have walked had I been here alone

man was standing, leaning on

whispered Mount, pointing. "Butler will

ved the Weasel; "we'll be

smiled Mount, looking around at me;

perfect silence until the sun stood in mid-heaven and the heated air under the gre

ant in stringy buckskins, with a paw like a bear and a smooth, boyish face cut by the single, heavy crease of a scar below the right eye.

ly, musing in his red beard. His boots had left the foreign mark which I had se

ting-shirt and cap, with two finely chiselled flat ears, which perhaps gave him

ich I began to believe they perhaps possessed after all. Even Shemuel's mouth, under his th

t suddenly, "what

I replied politely, bu

est man to flock with! Eh? Oh, don't deny it. You can't hu

feelings," said

I was in distress," said I. "I ask

ount, getting to his feet and pat

his life and he'd make a rare

xplained Mount soberl

nodded his head and look

love and got married. His wife ra

re nodded, looking sobe

ed around till he found me, and we went to

amy cheeks. He rubbed them off with his sm

too," he sniffed; "y

galley west, and it's a longer road to the devil than Boston preachers tell you. C

and table-land which was but a vast roof, shedding a thousand streams into the

but we journeyed on, hour after hour, until the big yellow moon floated ab

now. He strode on ahead, singing a

you Tryon

er be d

st in t

ill be y

ong, singing cheerily as we marched in file,

arm-pits, and cap over one eye, singing right

and soon all about us cabin-windows gleamed brightly and we were marching down a broad road, full of

wo block-houses, and across a short bridge, and halted, grounding

n charge came up to us, lifting his lanthorn. He greete

red whiskers?" he demanded, illumi

t, in a low voice. "Is Colonel

g hard at me; "he's off somewhe

haps appealingly, wond

and said, "He's a good lad, corporal; give him a bed and a bow

t his hand to m

ve a few friends to see to-night. Sleep tight to the bed and think n

up and offered h

said, regretfully, "you'd

returned Shemuel's low obeis

ter him through the postern, out across the moonlit parade, and into the wes

e said, affably. "Yonder's a bucket of water, and I'll leave this lanthorn

don my importunity, but I have

oston and whether any more troops had been sent thither. But I did not know and he retired pres

eaning only to close my eyes for a minute. But dawn was shining in through the loopholes of the casemate

aning out of the porthole, I saw the flag of

d, though I was half famished, I dressed hurried

ayuga castle?" I

y safe to go there just now. The Indians have been restless th

ired, glancing around at half a dozen men who had

try, pointing to a short, blanketed f

ted ill-treatment, a kick perhaps. The movement was full of sad significance to me, like the cowering of a mi

ioneers were here to stay, backed by cannon and fort and a thousand long rifles, backed, too, by m

y. I held out my hand and said: "P

ce. After a momen

of belts," he

ire is at Onon

Ohio, too," he

se men. Say to them that Quider is dead; that the three clans who mourn shall

vely turned north, across the cleared land,

at he might have some friend in the village who would give me a lod

rg or whether he still lay in ambush

if Butler arrived in Cresap's camp with a new warrant. Every moment I tar

betwixt Pittsburg Fortress and Cresap's camp. And on the morrow, too, must I needs deliver my belts to the Cayugas at their castle. This was even more important than intercepting Colonel Cresap; for I might gain Cresap by argument, even though he retu

as they cared to replenish it. Then I thanked my host, the corporal, and we shook hands in friendly fashion, he inquiring w

ack, conversing the while most agreeably, and finally, when I was prepared, he accompanied

more offering his hand. And again I thanked him for his

otested, smiling. "Are you a recent recruit, sir,

owship?" I exclaimed, amaze

at me rath

ignorance. "As for Colonel Cresap's colonists yonder, I'll warrant them all save so

ion. I knew not what to say nor how to explain the misunderstanding without, perhaps, serious

and my friend Mount adhere," I said, stiffly, determined not to wear false colours. "I am

short with a

ful, like you; but I'll warrant them when the time comes! Oh, I know them! It's your fawning, slavering, favour-currying Tory that

void of all distrust; and I thought to myself that such a man mus

on the wing, friend. So fare you p

ous patriots' greeting. He turned around to laugh significantly, the

having implied my adherence to this fellowship of which I yet knew nothing, I stoo

pport," halberdiers guiding, drummers and fifers leading off, and a long, lean

d and marched and counter-marched most adroitly, carefully preserving distances and alignment; and I thought the major a martinet that he found nothing but fault with the officers and men. Certainly they paraded

ubled my danger. Yet again I asked myself where under heaven I coul

ished without the slightest trouble, nobody questioning me; and I shortly fou

here the dark circle of the forest seemed to crowd in the desolate hamlet; I say desolate, for indeed the scene was grim, even for the frontier. The whole country had a black appearance from the thousands of charred roots and stumps which choked the fields. Dead trees lay in heaps, stark patches

rees to ornament roads and fields, and this dismal destruction by f

emed horrible and ominous of horrors to come; the very soil in the fields was black with char

g woods echoed and re-echoed with their chopping; their voices rang out, guiding the slow ox-teams among

men in linen shirts and smalls, planting or weeding; men moving in distan

from unpainted windows, quarrelled in bare door-yards, half seen through stockades; some chopped fire-wood, some carried wa

ne, tall riflemen stood, leaning on their weapons; s

lifeless under a darkening sky. Below it paced a sentry to and

more protection than fort and flag; there was less gloo

ious woman's face appeared at a window, watching me out of sight along the charred road. Presently I passed a double log-house, from the eaves of which dangled a gre

my corn withal, so I entered the tavern and made known my needs to a c

seated until he could find the salt sack in the cellar; and I sat down, after sal

and although they resumed their game I noticed that they began talking

of salt, and set it on the scales with many a bow

ing-shirt and southern burrs on your legging fringe. Ha! A stroke, sir! Touched, by yo

ile conversing most politely. In fact, I could find no opportunity to courteously make an end to his garrulous chatter, and, ere I

dy and froth hum like bee-hives in August! It is

ing in my presence: all of which ceremony revealed to me that my language and bearing were not

e news from Boston?" he

any at the table by the w

s, sir, the world over! And, between ourselves, sir, begging your pardon for the

s in the roo

arelessly, "is no

ophy, but through the glass bottom of my pewter I

e how much you'll find out!" And I set down my pewter with a s

even the King be deceived b

whether his ministers be what you ac

astily; "but I voiced the sentiment

k somewhat of treason,

from satisfied concerning my real sentiments. I listened

nother argument, "what may your tavern sign mean

se! I flatter me there is some small wit in the

s? The slyness of the fellow disgusted me, and I could scarce control my open aversion, though I did succeed in leaving hi

from the window; it incensed me to be so spied upon, and I was glad

rries, a signal to me to avoid it, and I should have done so had I not perceived Jack Mount loaf

were representatives of their respective causes, I had small stomach for either them or their parties. Tory and patriot, pot-li

him he had left me at the fort without advice or counsel, and that I had qu

been in touch with Butler's men all night, ready to warn you the moment they started for this camp! He's asleep in there, no

oluntarily set out to watch while I slept, I silently offered my hand to Mount. He took it fretfully, complaining that all th

o," said I; whereat he fell a-laughing and drew me with him into the

massive, hewn out of buckeye; horn instead of glass filled the tiny squares in the window frames, and a

reading a letter-a quiet, modest gentleman of thirty, perhaps, somewhat travel-st

ously sharp yet not unkindly smile, promising to joi

d and with Greathouse, but hesitated because the smallness of th

deep-chested voice, "You may say what you please here, Mr. Cardig

sking. He looked up from his letter with a brief smile and nod at us, and we sat do

I had felt it dishonourable to accept hospitality under a misunderstanding, and how I had deemed it necessary to confess me. But this only ap

he said. "I wish half of our patriots posse

sed to feel myself forced into a position whither

untly; "and when I am ready to reno

bserved Mount,

dded, in disgust, thinking of my encounter with

arrowed and he set his

ere will be carried to Butler. Why, this fellow, Greathouse, is a notorious creature of Lord Dunmore, set here to spy on Colonel Cresap and see that the militia have no commerce w

it down two-thirds empty, and lay back in

you stay he

my belts-that w

ed to see Colonel C

return to-day

e table, folding his

hese villagers here are patriots. The Maryland pioneers mean to make a home here for themselves, Indians or no Indi

can he deliberately drive the Six Nation

p's people hold the Indians at small account. They are here and th

ry towards the Cayugas, can't you see that Dunmore will stir up such men as Butler and Greathouse to commit some act

" said Mount

to resist such men as Dunmore and Butler-ay, and our Governor Tryon, too, who knows what is being done and says nothing!-if to defend the land of one's birt

ble, teeth set, realizing what I had said, glad that I had sa

esents the King,"

I am a rebel from th

oing his duty," urged Mount

ore is provoking war here at the K

imney stood up and bent

mission as major-general of militia, and his Majesty's permission to enlist a

nd of the stranger's voice; Mount

ommand of my Lord Dunmore, to offer ￡12 sterling for every rebel

t cold and fe

y the blood of man!-this

young stranger with a bow, "I bring you a new recruit, Colonel

len hunting-shirt and cloth gaiters who stood there, grave eyes

e a message for me from Sir William Johnson. I hold it an honour t

to be seated; the tap-boy brought his tankard; he taste

arnestly and without reserve, and my very inexperience must have pleaded with him, for he listened patiently and kindly

to Sir William. Then he began his defence, very modestly and with frankest confession that

ed land. God knows it was the blind who led the blind. And now, for months, I have been aware that Dunmore wishes a clash wi

that notorious forest-runner had suspected D

"I see nothing in Mr. Cardigan's fea

ctly plain to me now. This very commission in my hands, here, proves the existence of every missing link in the

hook hi

d faintly and

them every day for a year, I could not induce a single man to abandon the cabin he has built or the morsel of charred earth he has planted. And where should I lead them? I have not

responsible. I cannot help that, thoug

and clap me into Fort Pitt. Is it not better for me to stay here among these people who tr

er comes when our Boston brothers sound the call to arms, I can lead six hund

rlet patches flamed under his cheek-bones; he co

William's wisdom permits. I am here to watch, to watch such crafty agents as Greathouse, and young Walter

ale once more,

Dunmore's agents that they do nothing to bring on war. I may fail, b

I replied

d for the country. And there is their great sachem, Logan, called 'The Friend of the White Man.' Greathouse has made a drunken sot of Logan, and all his family down to the tiny m

end, Greathouse, and he replied that he had, but that

efs and sachems come to me and beg me to forbid the sale. I am powerless; for back of me

his gullet?"

big fellow pouted, muttering that it w

umming against the horn panes in the

holding out h

he oath of fellowship

replied, ta

well; the fort is not safe. And, if I mistake not, young Butler will be here to-mor

he Cayuga castle

Mount. "You are not going

ruly, I do not believe there is anything on earth that can prevent my delivering my mess