My hand fell from his arm; his appalled face whitened.
"Last night, sir," he muttered, "she was at the Hall, watching the flames in the sky where Butler was burning the Valley. I saw her there in a crowd of townsfolk, women, children--the whole town was on the lawn there----"
He wiped his clammy face and moistened his lips; above us, in the wooden tower, the clamor of the bell never ceased.
"She spoke to me, asking for news of you. I--I had no news of you to tell her. Then an officer--Captain Little--fell a-bawling for the Rangers to fall in, and Billy Laird, Jack Shew, Sammons, and me--we had to go. So I fell in, sir; and the last I saw she was standing there and looking at the reddening sky----"
Blindly, almost staggering, I pushed past him, stumbling down the ladder, across the yard, and into the lower corridor of the jail. There were women a-plenty there; some clung to my arm, imploring news; some called out to me, asking for husband or son. I looked blankly into face after face, all strangers; I mounted the stairs, pressing through the trembling throng, searching every whitewashed corridor, every room; then to the cellar, where the frightened children huddled, then out again, breaking into a run, hastening from blockhouse to blockhouse, the iron voice of the bell maddening me!
"Captain Renault! Captain Renault!" called out a militiaman, as I turned from the log rampart.
The man came hastening toward me, firelock trailing, pack and sack bouncing and flopping.
"My wife has news of your lady," he said, pointing to a slim, pale young woman who stood in the doorway, a shawl over her wind-blown hair.
I turned as she advanced, looking me earnestly in the face.
"Your lady was in the fort late last night, sir," she began. A fit of coughing choked her; overhead the dreadful clangor of the bell dinned and dinned.
Dumb, stunned, I waited while she fumbled in her soiled ap.r.o.n, and at last drew out a crumpled letter.
"I"ll tell you what I know," she said weakly. "We had been to the Hall; the sky was all afire. My little boy grew frightened, and she--your sweet lady--she lifted him and carried him for me--I was that sick and weak from fright, sir----"
A fit of coughing shook her. She handed me the letter, unable to continue.
And there, brain reeling, ears stunned by the iron din of the bell which had never ceased, I read her last words to me:
"Carus, my darling, I don"t know where you are. Please G.o.d, you are not at Oswaya, where they tell me the Indians have appeared above Varicks. Dearest lad, your Oneida came with your letter. I could not reply, for there were no expresses to go to you. Colonel Willett had news of the enemy toward Fort Hunter, and marched the next day. We hoped he might head them, but last night there was an alarm, and we all went out into the street. People were hastening to the Hall, and I went, too, being anxious, now that you are out there alone somewhere in the darkness.
"Oh, Carus, the sky was all red and fiery behind Tribes Hill; and women were crying and children sobbing all around me. I asked the Ranger, Mount, if he had news of you, and he was gentle and kind, and strove to comfort me, but he went away with his company on a run, and I saw the militia a.s.sembling where the drummers stood beating their drums in the torchlight.
"Somebody--a woman--said: "It"s hatchet and scalping again, and we women will catch it now."
"And then a child screamed, and its mother was too weak to carry it, so I took it back for her to the jail.
"I sat in the jailer"s room, thinking and thinking. Outside the barred window I heard a woman telling how Butler"s men had already slain a whole family at Caughnawaga--an express having arrived with news of horrors unspeakable.
"Dearest, it came to me like a flash of light what I must do--what G.o.d meant me to do. Can you not understand, my darling? We are utterly helpless here. I must go back to this man--to this man who is riding hither with death on his right hand, and on his left hand, death!
"Oh, Carus! Carus! my sin has found me out! It is written that man should not put asunder those joined together. I have defied Him!
Yet He repays, mercifully, offering me my last chance.
"Sweetheart, I must take it. Can you not understand? This man is my lawful husband; and as his wife, I dare resist him; I have the right to demand that his Indians and soldiers spare the aged and helpless. I must go to him, meet him, and confront him, and insist that mercy be shown to these poor, terrified people. _And I must pay the price!_
"Oh, Carus! Carus! I love you so! Pray for me. G.o.d keep you! I must go ere it is too late. My horse is at Burke"s. I leave this for you. Dear, I am striving to mend a shattered life with sacrifice of self--the sacrifice you taught me. I can not help loving you as I do; but I can strive to be worthy of the man I love. This is the only way!
"ELSIN GREY."
The woman had begun to speak again. I raised my eyes.
"Your sweet lady gave me the letter--I waited while she wrote it in the warden"s room--and she was crying, sir. G.o.d knows what she has written you!--but she kissed me and my little one, and went out into the yard.
I have not seen her since, Mr. Renault."
Would the din of that h.e.l.lish bell never cease its torture? Would sound never again give my aching brain a moment"s respite? The tumult, men"s sharp voices, the coughing of the sick woman, the dull, stupid blows of sound were driving me mad! And now more noises broke out--the measured crash of volleys; cheers from the militia on the parapet; an uproar swelling all around me. I heard some one shout, "Willett has entered the town!" and the next instant the smashing roll of drums broke out in the street, echoing back from facade and palisade, and I heard the fifes and hunting-horns playing "Soldiers" Joy!" and the long double-shuffling of infantry on the run.
The icy current of desperation flowed back into every vein. My mind cleared; I pa.s.sed a steady hand over my eyes, looked around me, and, drawing the ranger"s whistle from my belt, set it to my lips.
The clear, mellow call dominated the tumult. A man in deerskin dropped from the rifle-platform, another descended the ladder, others came running from the log bastions, all flocking around me like brown deer herding to the leader"s call.
"Fall in!" I scarce knew my own voice.
The eager throng of riflemen fell away into a long rank, stringing out across the jail yard.
"Shoulder arms! Right dress! Right face! Call off!"
The quick responses ran along the ranks: "Right! left! right!
left!----"
"Right double!" I called. Then, as order followed order, the left platoon stepped forward, halted, and dressed.
"Take care to form column by platoons right, right front. To the right--face! March!"
The gates were flung wide as we pa.s.sed through, and, wheeling, swung straight into the streets of Johnstown with a solid hurrah!
A battalion of Ma.s.sachusetts infantry was pa.s.sing St. John"s Church, filling William Street with the racket of their drums. White cross-belts and rifles shining, the black-gaitered column plodded past, mounted officers leading. Then a field-piece, harness and chains clanking, came by, breasting the hill at a gallop, amid a tempest of cheers from my riflemen. And now the Tryon County men were pa.s.sing in dusty ranks, and more riflemen came running up, falling in behind my company.
"There"s Tim Murphy!" cried Elerson joyously. "He has your horse, Captain!"
Down the hill from Burke"s Inn came Murphy on a run, leading my horse; behind him sped the Weasel and a rifleman named Sammons, and Burke himself, flourishing a rifle, all greeted l.u.s.tily by the brown ranks behind me, amid shouts of laughter as Jimmy Burke, in cap and fluttering forest-dress, fell in with the others.
"Captain Renault, sorr--" I turned. Murphy touched his racc.o.o.n cap.
"Sorr, I hov f"r to repoort thot ye"re sweet lady, sorr, is wid Butler at Johnson Hall."
"Safe?" My lips scarcely moved.
"Safe so far, sorr. She rides wid their Major, Ross, an" the shtaff-officers in gold an" green."
I sprang to the saddle, raised my rifle and shook it, A shrill, wolfish yelling burst from the Rangers.
"Forward!" And "Forward! forward!" echoed the sergeants, as we swung into a quick step.
The rifles on the hill by the Hall were speaking faster and faster now.
A white cloud hid the Hall and the trees, thickening and spreading as a volley of musketry sent its smoke gushing into the bushes. Then, in the dun-colored fog, a red flame darted out, splitting the air with a deafening crash, and the thunder-clap of the cannon-shot shook the earth under our hurrying feet.
We were close to the Hall now. Behind a hedge fence running east our militia lay, firing very coolly into the wavering mists, through which twinkled the ruddy rifle-flames of the enemy. The roar of the firing was swelling, dominated by the tremendous concussions of the field-piece. I saw officers riding like mounted phantoms through the smoke; dead men in green, dead men in scarlet, and here and there a dead Mohawk lay in the hedge. A wounded officer of Ma.s.sachusetts infantry pa.s.sed us, borne away to the village by Schoharic militia.
As we started for the hedge on a double, suddenly, through the smoke, the other side of the hedge swarmed with men. They were everywhere, crashing through the thicket, climbing the fence, pouring forward with shouts and hurrahs. Then the naked form of an Indian appeared; another, another; the militia, disconcerted and surprised, struck at them with their gunstocks, wavered, turned, and ran toward us.