The Hidden Children

e in my best, I left the Mohican in the hut a-painting and shining up his weapons, an

section of artillery was to march to the lake; and whether this indicated that our army at last was fairly in motion, nobody knew. Yet, it seemed scarcely likely, because Lieutenant Boyd had been ordered out with a scout of twenty men toward the West branch of the Delaware, and he told me that he expected to be absent for several days. Besides, it was

ribbon, which ever disconcerted me, I saw already the two guns of the battalion of artillery moving out of their cantonment, the limbers, chests, a

le-horn sounding the march, and the camp trumpets answering, and Colonel Lamb riding ahead with his mounted officer

the New York Line, had come over, and all the officers and soldiers off duty, too, as well as the people of the v

itless silence to see the artillery pass; their Major, Whiting, as well as the sullen rank and file, seeming still to feel the di

ught by New England alone. And, damn them, they got Schuyler laid aside after all. But the New York Line went about its grim and patient business, unheeding their New England arrogance as long as His Excellency understood the truth concerning the wretched situation. And I for one marvelled that the sniffling 'prentices of Massachusetts and the Connecticut barbers and tin-peddlers had the effrontery to boas

t into new and deeper furrows; a veil of violet dust hung in their wake, through which har

e green thrums rippling and flying from sleeve and leggin' and open double-cape, and the

heir long, silent, gliding stride, their shirts open to their mighty chests, and the heavy rifle

ever so little as Boyd came swinging along, his naked cutlass drawn, s

ight. They're drying on hoops in the barra

the Iroquois as the Iroquois treated them. And they continued to scalp them as naturally as they once had clipped pads and ears from panther and wolf. Moun

d started across the swarming parade toward the barracks, meaning to have

ons were being loaded, and I threaded my way with same difficulty amid a busy th

nts and blankets to be washed blocked my passage, and being a woman I

hurriedly passing on, and I turned sha

h a voice that was fairly st

ted; and as I continued beside he

racing yourself by speaking to me on the

eak to you," I

efore any offi

yself, burned there for anyone to see. But stronger than fear of ridicule rose a desperate determination not to lose this maid ag

I said doggedly. "I shall

er the eyes of the whole fort?

let you get away aga

azing, and looked at

t an officer or a soldier says to a girl in this fort makes her a trull in

eave her. And, I think, it was something in my

needs must see me for a

blindly, all a-quiver. Yet, in my ears the strange wards sounded: "Wa

ck, some of Schott's riflemen were idl

s this latest foolery of

ld me, As I moved on, I sai

the Spring

sir-first branch o

e a hous

nock

h to f

ructives murdered him when they burned Cherry

the first thing I saw was a pair o' scalps, st

y who wore a baldrick fringed with Shawanese scalps; but as these same Shawanese had murdered his father, mother, grandmother, and three littl

the claws of a tree-lynx. They were not Oneida, not Lenape. Therefore, they must be Seneca scalps. Which meant that Walter Butler and that spawn of satan, Sayanquarata, were now prowling around our outer pickets.

er and of his Mountain Snakes, and of that mad child, Lois, a-gypsying whither her silly

-running!" And, at the thought, I turned and passed swiftly th

dy at all, I presently crossed the first little brook that feeds the Stoney-Kill, leaping

. It was already grown head-high in weeds and wild flowers, and saplings of bird-cherry, which spri

walls of the forest rose once more like green cliffs towering on every side. And at their b

cloud of butterflies flew up as I approached, where the running water of a tiny rill made muddy hollows on the path. This doubtless must be the outlet to Waiontha Spring, for there to the left a green lane had been bruised t

her arms was piled beside her. In a willow basket, newly woven

hat I was there. Even when I spoke she continued busy with her suds and shirts; and I walked around t

ough scarce longer, than my own. But Lord! The wild-rose beauty that flushed her cheeks as she laboured there! An

aid I, "to speak

s it yo

de's pri

may that

ight to be answered-and a com

ed no

uthfully say that,"

e charity from this ple

offer chari

f aid," she

ship no memory that may warrant my sp

of none,

her chilled pink fin

ose is my only

ung it dry, she straightened her supple figure where she was kneeling, and, turning toward me, sea

gain?" she asked, without any exp

? The

ed. "No more than you desire the wither

bud,

t leave me

I

birch-bark scratche

ing-scarce knowing what I was about-and being sleepy. What was it t

l you thought a

think when

I said angrily. "I wi

her grey ey

ose? Are roses scarce where you inhabit, sir? For if you find the flower so rare and

ou mock m

La! Sir, you

er since we met. I ask you why?

! A girl in my condition-such a girl as I mock at an officer and a gentleman

humanity brought me here and bids me remai

who comes complaining here that he is mocked-when all I ventured w

r nor how to save my dignity. And she, with head averted, was laughing silently

here, whither you are bound. But this I do know, that beyond our pickets there i

ut in her face. After a

t you spoke to me in the fo

our corps took as many Seneca scalps. Do you suppose that when I heard of these affa

u-remem

t the mere memory of her rashness. "I came here as a co

said, looking

t say tha

u.... And-I still wear the ring you gave.... And left a rose for you, Let these things count a little in my favour. For you can scarcely guess how much o

various songs became the same familiar air. It is the only song I've heard from men-with endless variations, truly, often and cunningly disguised-yet ever the same and sorry theme....

ure, sweeping the curls

n clean to look on-yet that I am!-and with no friend to speak to save an Indian.... I ask you, sir, what it is in me-and what lack of prid

nd wandered over her cheeks and hair, the while her grey eyes, fixe

eat? Is it not man himself, not only men, that I must face as I have faced you-with silence, or with sullen

nd her hands linked themselves on he

I are different. Once I believed so. But-lately-I do not know. Yet, I kno

gravely; then droppe

t attracts. And, whatever gown you go in, I scarcely see it-somehow-finding you so-so strangely-lovely-in speech also-and in-every way.... And now that I

a rebuff; but saw only the grave, grey eyes looking straight

air. Men take their chance with it-as I take mine with yours-that it do me no deep damage. And if it do, or do not, our friendship is still another matter; for it means that I wish

moment s

hat you said a

es that it do me

o take my c

t ch

indness do m

ss talk is th

her head s

ge boy! I do

hotly. "What is there to fear?

tleman should b

t her, the

f you desire it, you can leave me dumb, dismayed, lip-b

bitter then? I

angry emphasis. "And I te

in her face, twitching at her lips-hovering on them now-parting them in a smile so sweet and wi

d, still dimpling at me, and her ey

sh as a flattered sch

be your friend-if you do truly wish it. What is it you desi

fidence; that

ed mockingly; but so sweet her smile, and s

m older than you. You are to

he

ow

go. Besides, I have mending, darning, and my knit

l me why you are

rs' camps like any painted drab? I will tell you th

n the same breath when speaking

she asked, a bright but somewhat fix

bluntly. "Nor

d seem to play it, too. And

ow yo

be here alone-if

t know;

ain that you do not ask

ady you are good above reproach. I ask s

our stole in

d her shoulders, "what other man would credit it?" She lifte

oment. I swear to you that I stand here unsullied and unstained under this untainted sky which the same God made who fashioned me. I have known shame and grief and terror; I have lain cold and ill and sleepless; I have wandered roo

more deeply moved t

d friendship to a man!" And with a quick and winning gesture she offered me her hand; an

usband in November. I am striving to repay her for the food and shelter she affords me. I have been given mending and washing at the

ould not yet s

me within-so ill am I at moments with the pain and shame I've borne so long-so long, Euan! Ah-you do not-know.... And it may be that when you do come to-night I have repented of my purpose

ha

ou how it is with me when you come to-night. I truly desi

honour,

-" she smiled, "if you only knew how desperately I need what money I may earn. My

g shirt a great, thick packet of those poor paper dollars, now in such contem

that I ceased counting the little squares

th you," said I. "I hav

not tak

ha

suppose

e a common pu

on, then, of a sudden her eyes filled and closed convulsi

ith me?" I asked, ver

d I saw her shoulders

d? Child-little comrade-only the happiness of aiding you is

in a stifled voice. "Is there any

ait till you hear. And-th

. "And when we know each other be

not an

she did not turn, I finally went away through the sunlit willows, leaving her kneeling there

there been the ladies of any officers with the army now, I should have laid her desperate case

ever threatening her among men of her own speech and colour. I suppose, considering her condition, they had a right to think her that which she was not and n

eeds and dire necessities made known, so that when our army moved she might find a shelter,

le dollars that our Congress paid us. Besides, I had a snug account with my solicitor in Albany. She might live

ke to, war or no war. For in all the world, and through all the years of youth, I had never before encountered any woman who had shared with me my waking thoughts and the last and conscious moment ere I slept. But from t

nd that's flat!" Perhaps not such as befitted her, but something immediate, and not in tatters-something stout that threatened not to part and leave he

when I sighted the first painted tree and saw the stone pipe hanging, I made for it, and found there the India

pack of doeskins, open, and a pretty Oneida matron sewi

d, sullenly at first, not knowing what treatment to

the hand I offered in s

have been polished. Sooner or later the army will move four hundred miles through a wilderness so dark that neither sun nor moon nor stars can penetrate. Th

, "Then," said I, "they will require food and

true, b

en who were listening, and who now

me her pretty bridal dress of doeskin-the dress which she has made and laid aside and never wo

ittle sister; and I must judge you where you stand, Oneida forest flowers, so I may know

ter fat and comely?" inquired one

said; and the

oe, asking bashfully if she were

en with the rest, and who seemed to me nearer a match to

m daintily and proudly to my view for me to mark her wondrous handiwork. And it was truly pretty-from the soft, wampum-broidered shirt with its hanging thrums, to the clinging skirt and

ks and dancing away toward her lodge. And if her dusky sisters envied her they smiled on me no less merrily as I took my leave of them.

ing there in freshened war paint. One quick and penetrating glance he darte

"you still wear war paint hopefully, I see. Bu

smoked. Then he passed the pipe t

ou then news that we ta

younger brother makes ready for a trail, does he summon it

ith the scout to-night?" I

brother Loskiel-to take

sted, disconcerted. "I hav

he glanced again at the pretty garmen

I have bought of an Oneida girl. And if they do not please her, yet these at least will hold together. And I shall presently write a letter to Albany and send it by the nex

letter to Albany, describing carefully the maid who was to be fitted, her height, the smallness of her waist and foot as well as I remembered. I wrote, t

oot-mantle, sun-mask, and a chip hat to tie beneath the chin, and one such as they call after the pretty Mistress Gunning. If women wear banyans, I know not, but whatever they do wear in their own privacy at morning chocolate

madness did not strike me as amazing or grotesque, that, within the hour, a maid in a condition such as hers was to divide my ti

July afternoon; and within me, like a hidden thicket full of bir

r surname now, because I need it for this business

ce turned full on me remained moon-blank

a child, lonely and ragged-a tattered leaf still green, torn from the stem by storm and stress, blown through the wood

n need, m

d pass on

t giving, O

skiel? Or is it to give-

ly to give.

know her no

for her a fire, and cover her, and give her meat. Our lodge shall be her lodge; our friends hers, her enemies ours. I know not how this all has come to me, Mayaro, my friend-ev

e truth,"

, that I may write it

ow it," he s

ver tol

, is all I know of her. It was in winter that she came to Philipsburgh, all wrapped in her red cloak. T

estion,

ut none among the White Plains company could answe

l," he added, with a flash of Contempt for men who sought what no Siwanois, no I

I said.

clothing and arms and rations as a Hudson guide enrolled, and together she and I made out to live. Then, in the spring, Major Lockwood summoned me to carry intelligence between the lines. And she came with me, asking at every camp the same strange question; and ever the soldiers laughed

ard, looking a

who wanted Mayaro, suddenly it seemed to me that magic was being made. And-I mys

le? And never told her?" But at the same moment I understood h

I did not know why this maiden wish

her?" But before he

tions of a woman?" he said col

d yet-a

ter. A Mohican considers

t tell me-what was it in the mention of

es to ask of me the question that

ques

rail to Catharin

at?" I demanded

her piping-this rosy-thro

ost strang

of me an interview with you who came two hu

not then know why I

ickly as I he

e you saw me and I had on

gles see their natal nest

nderstand y

e no a

his child's lips, you say you

And, at once, I knew that I should also speak to he

id you

ed pigeon of the woods, the vale Yndaia lies by a hid

erplexed, and unde

you say Ynd

e blood-red bear reared on his hind legs, pictured upon his breast. And through and through me passed

rlet ensign on his breast, or perhaps both coupled, had seemed to stir some distant memory, I did not know. Only it seemed as though, in menta

had become a smoot

with Catharines-town?" I asked.

id not

o not

Los

ubled, "why did sh

world could guide her to the vale Yndaia; and t

s heard at the forts or hereabouts tha

s it now,

ollow?" I excla

r speaks t

rges the chi

Enchanted Wolf. Who should know magic when it stirs but I, of the Siwanois-the Magic Clan? Say what you will, my comrade and blood-brother, there is sorcery abroad; and well I

rine M

n herself-and

Sen

rs," he said

iving assailed me. I swall

e scalps were not of the Mohawk. Not Oneida, nor Onondaga, nor Cayug

my steel bright and my paint fresher, and singing to myself my people's songs. And ever as I sat at the lodge door, something in the summer wind mocked at me and whispered to me of demons. And when I

ated under my bre

Catharines-town, dwelt also all that now remained of the Cat-Nation-Eries-People of the Cat-a dozen, it was

d with a thousand tongues of horrors viewless, nameless, inconceivable; and that far to the westward Biskoonah yawned, so close indeed to the wo

rk and Schenectady when I was young. But ever the same horror of it filled me, though I believed it not, knowing full well there were no wit

"do you go instantly to the

tened at the roots w

ye

view them, t

ey trul

word from his lips

l!" I asked

th the Seneca high pries

is sure

Losk

end this demon-thing, this poison spawn of the Woman-Toad! O

lets to

nonsense,

Los

no sorcerers on earth. There neve

oulders, shaking them. "What do I care?" he said. "I am a Sagamore of the Enchanted Clan!" He struck the painted symbol on his

s from behind the moon. Mayaro is a Sagamore and his clan are Sachems; and the clan was old-old-old, O little brother, before

and mock him-him and his Erie Cats, till one by one their scalps shall swing above a clean Mohican fire. O Loskiel, my brother, and my other self, a warrior and a Sagamore has spoken. Go, now, to your evening tryst in peace and leave me. For in my ears the Seven Chiefs are wh

y brother.