Read Ebook: The Land of Bondage: A Romance by Bloundelle Burton John

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Ebook has 296 lines and 24641 words, and 6 pages

cry, they all rushed at Roderick, while high above even the noise of their fierce threats went forth a piercing shriek from their intended victim, who clung to Senamee's arm, crying, "Save me, save me," in the Indian tongue.

That the chief would have dreamt of doing so--seeing that, since he was head of all, he had been more fooled perhaps than any of them--had it not been for the hatred and antagonism he bore to the Bear, none of us who were present have ever been able to bring ourselves to believe. Yet now, to the astonishment of all, both red and white, he did actually intercede in his behalf.

As the crowd surged up to where the wretch sat, men and women being indiscriminately mixed, braves and warriors jostling their servants and inferiors, while their gaily-bedecked wives--for this was to have been a feast day--pushed against almost nude serving-women, the chief sprang to his feet, threw one arm about Roderick St. Amande, and, brandishing his tomahawk before their eyes, thundered forth an order to them to desist.

"Back!" he roared in his deep tones, "back, I say. What! is Senamee dead already that others usurp his place and issue orders to his people? Who is your chief? I, or Anuza, the rebel?" and he struck at two or three of the foremost with his tomahawk as he spoke.

"You are," they acknowledged, though with angry glances at him, "yet shall not the false priest shelter himself behind your shield. We will have his life in spite of you."

"His life you shall have when we are sure of his guilt. At present we have nothing but the word of Anuza, who has said I lie. But what if he has lied himself?"

"He has not lied," they called out. "He has not lied. Anuza never lies. And his words are proved. The other slave of the white woman can do more than he. He is no medicine priest. Give him to us that we may slay him."

"Not yet," answered Senamee. "Not yet. For ere I give him to you I am about to prove Anuza to be a liar in spite of your belief."

"How can you prove it?" they demanded, while Anuza himself stood motionless, his eyes fixed on his rival.

"My brethren and followers, you speak either like children who know nothing or old men who have forgotten what once they knew. Anuza has told me that I lie. To him I say the same thing. He lies. He lies out of his spite and envy of me. And have you, oh! ye children or dotards, forgotten how, when one of our race thinks thus of another, they decide who is the truthful man and who the liar?"

"We have not forgotten," they all exclaimed; "we have not forgotten. It must be by the death of one or the other. Both cannot live."

"It is well," Senamee exclaimed, "it is well. And of Anuza, the rebel, and of me your chief, one of us must die by the hand of the other. As that death is dealt out so shall it be decided what the fate of this one is," pointing to the impostor shivering by his side. "If I defeat the Bear he shall not suffer, for then it will be known that Anuza is the liar and has wrongly accused him; if Anuza slays me then must you do with the medicine chief as is his will. But," descending from his seat and advancing towards where that warrior stood, "that he will kill me I do not fear. Those of the house of Senamee dread not those of the race of the crawling Bear."

And then, advancing ever nearer unto Anuza until he stood close in front of him, he made a defiant gesture before him and exclaimed:

"Anuza, the time has come."

While Anuza, returning his glance with equally contemptuous ones, replied:

"You have spoken well, Senamee. The time has come."

THE NARRATIVE OF LORD ST. AMANDE CONTINUED

THE SHAWNEE TRAIL

He who has been stunned by a heavy blow comes to but slowly, and so it was with me and slowly also my understanding and my memory returned, while gradually my dazed senses began to comprehend the meaning of all around me. I remembered at last why the handsome saloon in which my beloved one, my sweet Joice, took ever such pride, should now resemble the deck of a ship after a fierce sea fight more than a gentlewoman's withdrawing-room. It dawned upon me minute by minute why the harpsichord and spinet should both be shattered, the bright carpet drenched and stained with blood, the window-frame windowless, with, by it, a heap of dead, formed of red and white men and the mastiffs, and why my own white silk waistcoat and steinkirk should be stained with the same fluid. Nor was I, ere long, astonished to see the fontange which Miss Mills had worn lying on the spinet, nor to perceive O'Rourke seated by a table near me eating some bread and meat slowly and in a ruminative manner, while he washed the food down with a beaker of rum and water and shook his head sadly and meditatively all the while.

And so, in a moment, there came back to me all that happened but a little time before, as I thought, and with a great shout I called to him and asked him where my dear one was.

The old adventurer sprang to his feet as I did so, and came towards me muttering that he thought for an instant that the red devils were coming back again; and then, kneeling down by me, he asked me how I did and if I thought I had taken any serious hurt.

"Though well I know, my lord," he said, "that 'twas nothing worse than a severe crack o' the skull; yet, being a poor chirurgeon, I could not tell how deep the crack was. But since you can speak and understand, and know me, it cannot be so serious. Try, my lord, if you can rise."

Taking his arm I made the attempt, succeeding fairly. But when on my feet I still felt dizzy, while a great nausea came over me, so that I was obliged to seat myself at the table and to observe O'Rourke's counsel to partake of some of the liquor he had by him, if not some of the bread and meat.

"Gone!" I exclaimed. "Who are gone?" And then, in an instant, perhaps owing to the draught of liquor, I remembered that the others were not here; that, above all, my dear one was not by my side. "Gone!" I exclaimed again; "they are gone! Where to?"

"With the savages," he replied. "They had no other resource."

"Therefore let us follow them at once. With the savages! And they are two defenceless women. With the savages! And I lying there like a log unable to help them! Oh, Joice! Oh, Joice, my darling!"

"In heaven's name out with them!" I exclaimed. "Man, have you not tortured me enough already in my life and been pardoned for it, that you must begin again. Out with your tale, I say, if you would not drive me to distraction."

He cast a sad look towards me which, with my recollection of all he had done last night on our behalf, made me to regret speaking so to him even under such pressure. Then, after saying there was no further wish in his heart, God He knew, to ever do aught to me but make atonement, he commenced his narrative of all that had occurred while I lay senseless and he lay apparently so.

What a narrative it was! What a story! To think of that vile Roderick being there in command of all the others; to think of that spiteful, crawling wretch having at last got those two innocent creatures into his power and able to do what he would with them! Oh! 'twas too horrible--too horrible to think upon. Nay, I dare not think, I could only prepare for immediate action.

"We must follow them," I said. "I must follow them at once, even if the Indians tear me to pieces as I enter their midst. And what matter if they do? 'Twill be best so if she, my own darling, has become their prey. O'Rourke, for heaven's sake cease eating and drinking, and lend me your assistance."

"That will I cheerfully," he replied, "and if they have but left a brace of nags in the stables we will be a dozen leagues on our way ere nightfall. But as to eating and drinking, well--well! I am too old a campaigner of all kinds not to take my rations when they fall in my way. And you, too, my lord, a sailor, should know 'tis bad to go a-fighting on an empty stomach. Even Corporal John, who loved better to pouch the ducats than to provision the army, always sent his men into battle with their stomachs full."

"But every moment is precious--every instant. Think of the girls in the hands of those ruthless savages, in the hands of my villainous cousin."

"Ay, I do think on't. Yet will I wager all my hopes of future pardon--heaven knows I stand in need of it--that the girls are safe enough. Have I not told you that the great Indian, the gigantic chief, heard all. All! He heard Mistress Mills denounce your cousin, and he heard him call all the tribe superstitious or ignorant fools, or words of a like import. And, what's more, he knew that neither you nor I were dead, nor like to die, and yet he left us here unharmed. My lord, I tell you," he continued, slapping down the bowl he had just emptied, "that no harm is coming to those young maids, nor do I think to any of the other prisoners. And more I tell you also, the one who will come worst out of this fray will be your cousin Roderick."

I would have answered him and said how devoutly I trusted such might be the case, when we heard a clatter in the courtyard behind and the shoutings of many men, and voices all talking at once, some exclaiming, "At least they've left this house standing." "What of the women folk?" "What of Mistress Bamfyld?" and so forth. And then, as we rushed to the back windows, I recognised many of the other residents of the place whose acquaintance I possessed, with, at their head, her cousin Gregory.

"Where is Joice?" he called out as he dismounted, seeing me. "Where is she? Is she safe? Yet she must be since you and this other gentleman are here alive."

It took not long to tell them all, nor to learn that which had befallen all the other houses and manors around. Some, we learnt, were burnt to the ground; some were spared simply because they were so well defended that the Indians had drawn off at daybreak without achieving any victory; at some every inhabitant had been killed even to the women and children; at others every creature had escaped. Many, too, were the deeds of daring that had been done on this night of horror. Women had stoutly helped their husbands, brothers, and sons in fighting for their homes, one woman having killed near a score of the Indians with her own musket. Another, who was alone in her house--her husband being away at the newly re-constructed town of Richmond--having none about her but her babes and some worthless negroes, also defended her house both skilfully and valorously. She appeared at different windows dressed in her husband's clothes, changing the wig, or the coat, or other garments as she passed from one room to another, so that the savages were led to think that the house was full of men. She shouted orders to imaginary servants and friends as though they were there to assist her, and every time she fired she brought down her man so that, by daybreak, her little house was of those saved. And this was but one of the many gallant actions performed that night which I cannot here stop to narrate.

All who had now ridden into the courtyard of my dear one's house were there with but one impulse to stir them. That impulse was revenge and the rescue of the many prisoners whom they knew to have been carried off. Yet, when they heard that Joice was gone--who amongst all the girls in that part of the colony was, perhaps, the most beloved--and, with her, Miss Mills, that impulse was stirred more deeply still, so that when Gregory, addressing them, said:

"Gentlemen, she is my cousin, as you know, and, with Miss Mills, is the only woman captured; therefore must I beg that the leadership of this party is given to me," they willingly accorded him his desire.

But this I could not permit, so I, too, made a speech to them, saying:

"Yet must I put in my claim against Mr. Haller. Mistress Bampfyld is, indeed, his cousin, but to me she is more--she is my promised wife. Therefore, no matter who heads this party, I alone must go as the chief seeker after her. I would have saved her with my life last night had it been granted me to do so; I must claim the right to rescue her now, or to die in attempting it."

"Your promised wife!" poor Gregory said, looking mournfully at me. "Oh, Joice! Oh, Joice!"

But he alone was the one who did not heartily receive my statement, all the others shouting lustily "for the future Lady St. Amande," and saying that none was so worthy of such an honour as she.

"Nay," I said, "nay. 'Tis she who honours me by giving me her love, and therefore must I be the first to risk my life for her."

So it was agreed that we should set forth at once on the trail, there being many skilful trappers and hunters in the party who could take it up as easily as an Indian himself, while, for commander, there should be no one, each doing his best with the knowledge he possessed of the savages' habits. Of this knowledge I myself had none, yet was I recognised as the one most to be considered because I was the affianced husband of Joice, the "Virginian Rose," as I had heard her called ere now.

It needs not that I should set down aught that befel us on the expedition; I know now that my love has written a description of the journey she made. Nor is it necessary that I tell all that O'Rourke narrated to us of the arrival of Roderick St. Amande on the scene of slaughter after I was struck senseless, for that, too, you know. But, as he informed us of all that had transpired at that time, and as he told us that, had not it been for this execrable villain, there could be little doubt that Pomfret and all the countryside round would have been left as secure from attack by the Indians as it had been hitherto left for many years, the rage of all in our party was supreme and terrible.

"I hope," said one of the Pringles, uncle to the young man now a prisoner, as I learnt, "I hope that, if the gigantic chief you speak of is going to wreak his vengeance on the scoundrel, I may be in some way witness of it."

"And I! And I!" exclaimed several others. "If we could see that, or if they would but deliver him back into our hands, we would almost forgive them all that they have done for our houses and families."

Travelling quickly, urging the poor beasts that they lent us onwards as much as possible, walking by their sides to relieve them, and carrying sometimes the saddles ourselves so that they might have greater ease, we reached the spur of hills to which the trail had led us on the morning of the third day after the raid on Pomfret. Thus, as we knew afterwards, by not sleeping at night, or by sleeping only for an hour or so at a time, we had arrived at the very period when the exposure of Roderick St. Amande took place.

That we had proceeded with caution you may be sure. One would as soon put their head in the lion's mouth as approach an Indian encampment without due care. Our horses had by this time been left behind, tethered in a glade and with their heads enveloped in blankets so that they should not neigh, and one by one the whole of our party, which consisted of some forty persons, crept slowly round the bluff of the mountain, leaving the encampment to what I, as a sailor, may describe as the leeward. Our plan, suggested by an old colonist who had been engaged in fighting and contending with Indians and wild animals since far back into the days when William of Orange ruled, was to creep round this bluff, to ascend it a little, and then, from the elevation, to look down upon the Indians' town and concoct our method of attack. And, to the surprise of those who understood the Indian method of warfare, this we were enabled to do without being discovered. We encountered no outposts, such as these savage warriors invariably throw out in a circle round their encampment. We saw no naked breast or plumed head of Indian sentry gleaming through the pines and sassafras, laurels and sumachs; no hideously painted face glaring at us from behind the muscadine vines or maple trees that grew in rich profusion at the mountain's base, ere its owner launched his poisoned arrow at us. The reason was, as we learnt later, that none in that encampment believed that the white avengers could travel twice as fast as they themselves had travelled. None believed there could possibly be a pale face within twenty miles of their town; and, more, there was that taking place in their midst which was enough to distract even the wary Indian from his duties of watchfulness.

What was happening we ourselves saw a few moments later.

AS FOEMEN FIGHT

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