He pa.s.sed his hand wearily through his hair: "Only one regiment ran," he said dully. "I shall not name it to you because it was not entirely their fault; and afterward they lost heavily and fought bravely. But this is a dreadful blow to Tryon, John Drogue."
"We were routed, then?"
"No. We drove them from the field pell mell! We cut Brant"s savages to pieces. We went at Sir John"s Greens with our bayonets and tore the guts out of them! We put the fear o" G.o.d into Butler"s green-coats, too, and there"ll be caterwauling in Canada when the news is carried, for I saw young Stephen Watts[39] dead in his blood, and Hare running off with a broken arm a-flapping and he a-screaming like a singed wildcat----"
[Footnote 39: Captain Watts was left for dead but ultimately recovered.]
"Steve Watts! Dead!"
"I saw him. I saw one of our soldiers take his watch from his body. G.o.d!
What a shambles was there at Oriska!"
But I was thinking of young Stevie Watts, Polly Johnson"s brother, and my one-time friend, lying dead in his blood. And I thought of his boyish pa.s.sion for Penelope. And her kindness for him. And remembered how last I had seen him.... And now he lay dead; and I had seen his sister but a few hours ago--seen her for the last time I should ever behold her.
I drew a breath like a deep and painful sigh.
"And the Fort?" I asked in a low voice.
"Stanwix holds fast, John Drogue. Willett is there, and Gansevoort with the 3rd New York of the Line."
"Have you news of McDonald, Dan?"
"None."
"Whither do you travel express?"
"To Johnstown with the news if I can get there."
I warned him concerning conditions in Schoharie. We shook hands, and I watched the brave militia man stride away through the forest all alone.
When we camped that night, Thiohero touched her brow and b.r.e.a.s.t.s with ashes from our fire. That was her formal symbol of mourning for Spencer.
Later we all should mourn him in due ceremony.
Then she came and lay down close against me and rested her child"s face on my hollow"d arm. And so slept all night long, trembling in her dreams.
I know not how it chanced that I erred in my scouting and lost direction, but on the tenth day of August my Indians and I came out into a gra.s.sy place where trees grew thinly.
The first thing I saw was an Indian, hanging by the heels from a tree, and lashed there with the traces from a harness.
At the same time one of my Oneidas discovered a white man lying with his feet in a pool of water. But when Tahioni drew the c.o.c.ked hat from his head to see his countenance, hair and skin stuck to it, and a most horrid smell filled the woods.
And now, everywhere, we beheld evidences of the Oriska combat, for here lay a soldier"s empty knapsack, and yonder a ragged shirt, and there a rusting tin cup, and here a boot all b.l.o.o.d.y and slit to the toe.
And now, looking about me, I suddenly comprehended that we were nearer to Stanwix Fort than to Oriska; and had no business any nearer to either place.
We now were in a most perilous region and must proceed with every caution, for in this forest Brant"s Iroquois must be roaming everywhere in the rear of the troops which had invested Stanwix.
My Oneidas understood this without explanation from me; and they and I also became further alarmed when, to our astonishment, we came upon a broad road running through a forest where I swear no road had existed a twelve-month past.
Where this road led, and from whence, neither my Oneidas nor I knew. It was a raw and new road, yet it had been heavily travelled both ways by horse, foot, and waggons. It seemed to have as many windings as the Kennyetto at Fonda"s Bush; and I saw it had been builded to run clear of hills and swampy land, as though made for a traffic heavier than a log road might easily sustain.
We left the road but scouted eastward along its edge, I desiring to learn more of it; for it seemed to bear toward Wood Creek; and if there were enemy batteaux to be seen I wished to count them.
Suddenly Thiohero touched my arm,--caught my sleeve convulsively.
"Hahyion--Royaneh--my elder brother--O my white Captain!" she stammered, clinging to me in her excitement, "here is the _place_! Here is the place I saw in my vision! Here I saw strange uniforms and cannon smoke--and a strange white shape--and you--O Hahyion--my Captain!----"
I looked around me, suddenly chilled and shivering in spite of the heat of a summer afternoon. But I perceived n.o.body except my Oneidas. We were on a long, spa.r.s.ely-wooded hillock where juniper spread waist high.
Below I could see the new road curving sharply to the eastward. But n.o.body moved down there; there was not a sound to be heard, not a movement in the forest. All around us was still as death.
Something about the abrupt bend in the empty road below me attracted my attention. I examined it intently for a while, then, cautioning my Indians, I ventured to move forward and around the south slope of the hillock, wading waist-deep in juniper, in order to get a look at what might lie behind the bend in this road of mystery.
The road appeared to end abruptly just around the curve, as though it had been opened only so far and then abandoned. This first amazed me and then alarmed me, because I knew it could not be so as I had seen on the roadbed evidences of recent and heavy travel.
I stood peering down at it where it seemed to stop short against the green and tangled barrier of the woods which blocked it like a living abattis----
G.o.d! It _was_ an abattis!--a mask!
As I realized this I saw a man in a strange, outlandish uniform run out from the green and living barrier, look up at me where I stood in the juniper, shout out something _in German_, and stand pointing up at me while a score of soldiers, all in this same outlandish uniform, swarmed out upon the road and started running toward where I stood.
Then I came to my senses, clapped my rifle to my cheek and fired, stopping one of these strange soldiers and curing him of his running habits forever.
To me arrived swiftly my Oneidas, and dropped in the juniper, kneeling and firing upon the soldiers below. Two among them fell down flat on the road, and then the others turned and fled straight into their green barrier of branches. From there they fired at us wildly, keeping up a strange, hoa.r.s.e shouting.
"Hessian cha.s.seurs!" I exclaimed. "These troops can be no other than the filthy Germans hired by King George to come here and cut our throats!"
"_Those men wear the uniform I saw in my vision of this place!_"
whispered Thiohero, quietly reloading her rifle. "I think that this is truly your battle, my Captain."
Then, as her prophecy of cannon came into my mind, there was a blinding flash from that green barrier below; a vast cloud blotted it from view; the pine beside which I stood shivered as though thunder-smitten; and the entire top of it crashed down upon us, burying us all in lashing, writhing branches.
So stunned and stupefied was I that I lay for an instant without motion, my ears still deafened by that clap of thunder.
But now I floundered to my feet amid the pine-top"s debris; around me rose my terrified Oneidas, nearly paralyzed with fright.
"Come," said I, "we should pull foot ere they blow us into pieces with their d.a.m.ned artillery. Thiohero, where are you?"
"I come, Royaneh!"
"Tahioni! Kwiyeh! Hanatoh!" I called anxiously.
Then I saw them all creeping like weasels from under the green debris.
"Hasten," I muttered, "for we shall have all the Iroquois in North America on our backs in another moment."
As we started to retreat, the Germans emptied their muskets after us; but I did not think anybody had been hit.
We now were running in single file, our rifles a-trail, Tahioni leading, and I some distance in the rear, turning my head over my shoulder from moment to moment to see if we were followed.