"Wall, I s"pose I am," was the hesitating answer, "the main trouble being that we have been suffering for the last few days from a dreadful scare; but then we hain"t been injured in any way, thanks be to the Lord for it all."
"Then you aren"t alone--"
"Yes, I am," interrupted the farmer; "that is, when I"m abroad."
The precise meaning of this was not clear to the listeners, but Ned continued without noticing it:
"I did not see you in the battle, Mr. Perkins."
"No, thanks be to the Lord for it all, I was able to keep out by running away, when the battle begun, or rather a little before. I had hard work to get clear; thanks to the Lord, I managed to do it."
"Where"s your family?"
"Wall, now, thar"s where I"ve ben specially favored again. You know that there are three of us--myself, Mrs. Perkins, and Master George Washington Perkins, aged four years, so I had my hands full in looking after them; but the second Mrs. Perkins is a remarkable woman, and possesses an exceedingly powerful mind--an exceedingly powerful mind, beyond all question. I must give her the credit for the able management of this enterprise, for she deserves more credit than I. You know how brave a man I am by nature, and how I have a natural hankering for gore.
Wall, that yearning to be killing some one made me furious to plunge head first into the battle when it began raging down the valley, and I started seventeen times--yes, seventeen times--to go in to do or die, I didn"t care which, but Mrs. Perkins had her eagle eye on me, and every time I made a rush, she rushed also, and caught me by the coat-tails, and nothing short of an earthquake could have persuaded her to let go.
Wall, to make that story short, she prevailed, and kept me out of the struggle, thanks be to the Lord for all that."
"But how did you manage to keep clear of the Indians?"
"There it was her planning again. She called to mind a spot in the woods not far away, where, when she was a sweet little girl, she used to play hide-and-whoop with her playmates, and where she was always able to secure a hiding that baffled the skill of her young friends, and straightway it occurred to her that there was the very spot in which to take refuge, and there we went."
"Any trouble in getting there?"
"Nothing to speak of," replied the farmer, in his lofty way. "Of course the Tories and Indians tried to head us off, but I had a gun, and the strength of my good right arm, and more than all that, I had Mrs.
Perkins as my second in command, and where was the use of any one trying to break such a combination as that? We were bound to prevail, and we never allowed ourselves to be turned aside by any trifles, and we reached the refuge in safety, and there we are staying, and expect to stay till things quiet down again."
"But how did you manage for food?" asked Jo, desirous of testing the accuracy of the Mohawk"s judgment when he declared that the first gun fired had been discharged by a man in the situation of Perkins while searching for something to eat.
"Wall," he said, in the old drawling style peculiar to men who love to hear themselves talk, "when stealing becomes a matter of necessity, it ain"t stealing any longer, and I have been in the habit of slipping out on the sly and fetching down some of the stock that"s roaming through the woods without knowing who their master is--thanks be to the Lord for all that!"
"Was that you who fired off your gun a little while ago?"
"I"ve shot off my rifle twice within the last hour. The first time was at a hog, and I missed him, for, somehow or other, the rampaging of the Indians and Tories through the valley seems to have upset everything, the dumb animals as well--Mrs. Perkins is more nervous than usual--thanks be to the--I was about to say that the dumb critters know that something is going on round them that ain"t right, and they are as wild as mad bulls, which is why I come to miss. .h.i.tting that porker."
So the rather lengthy reply of the loquacious farmer proved that Lena-Wingo was accurate in his opinion as to the reason the former shot was fired.
"Was your second shot sent after another wild animal?"
At this question, Mr. Perkins looked meaningly at the Mohawk and laughed:
"Wall, no; I don"t suppose it would be safe to call Red Jack a wild animal, but when I caught sight of him, or, rather, heard him moving through the woods, I set him down as one of the Iroquois, who have made Mrs. Perkins so nervous--thanks to the--I say I set him down as one of those villains, and I blazed away."
"Did you hit him?"
"Wall, no--thanks to the Lord for it all--for, to tell the truth, I didn"t try, for I don"t like to pick off a man in that style without giving him a little notice, though I"m sorry to say I"ve had to do it more than once. I just meant to give him a scare, and I guess I made out to do that--didn"t I, Jack?"
"Not much scare--don"t shoot straight," was the rather uncomplimentary reply of the Mohawk.
"Wall, we won"t quarrel over that, Jack, for I"m mighty glad I didn"t hurt you. I would have felt very bad if I had shot such a good fellow as you."
"Do you know whether there are any more Indians in this neighborhood?"
"I don"t think there are any nearer than Forty Fort; they have been rampaging up and down the valley for the past two or three days, but they must have found that I"m around, for they are a good deal more afraid than they were. But then there was quite a lot of them through these parts to-day."
"Did you see Colonel Butler and his party?"
"Oh, yes," answered the settler, as though he pitied the ignorance of his listeners, "I have had them under my eye ever since they came out of the fort. Do you know that I came very near capturing them all?"
Ned replied that they had no knowledge of such a startling fact.
"The minute I laid eyes onto them, I made up my mind they were up to some deviltry, and I watched them--watched them as a cat does a mouse. I heard that old rascal say something about his looking for the purtiest lady in the valley, and I knew at once he meant Mrs. Perkins, and that roused my dander, as you may guess, and I swore I would go for him. I was so mad that I was determined to s.n.a.t.c.h the whole party, and I laid my plans to do it."
"And how was it that you failed?"
"By the merest slip in the world. My plan was to follow close behind, d.o.g.g.i.ng their footsteps, and picking them off one by one till they were all gone. It would have been a big thing, wouldn"t it?"
"Most certainly it would; and why did you fail?"
"Wall, I"m just telling you; it didn"t take me long to fix up all my scheme, and I had just drawn a bead on Colonel Butler, having Captain Bagley in a line, too, so that I was sure to fetch them both, when I happened to remember that my gun wasn"t loaded. I drew off to load it with an extra large charge, when something must have told them of the danger that threatened, for they moved off and before I could find them again it was so dark that they couldn"t be found, and so by that narrow chance they all escaped."
CHAPTER IX.
BORDER BRAVERY.
Mr. Perkins having been allowed to relate his own story--in the telling of which he drew a pretty long bow--his listeners judged it was time to do something practical. He was asked therefore whether he could inform them where to lay hands on a boat with which to cross the Susquehanna.
"Do I know where a boat is?" he repeated, as if surprised at the mere idea that he could not give the information. "Why, of course I do.
There"s one only a short distance from where we are standing this very minute."
"Perhaps you refer to the one which Colonel Butler appropriated for himself," suggested Ned, whose faith in the man was considerably lessened by what he told them.
"No such thing; I"ll put one in your hands in five minutes, if you will go with me."
The three friends looked at Lena-Wingo, as if they wished his opinion before they a.s.sented to the proposal. The Mohawk had been a patient listener throughout, and he nodded his head and set the example by leading the way.
"Go with him--he find boat."
Mr. Perkins seemed to form an exalted idea of his own usefulness by the consciousness that he was the real guide for the time being, and he stalked off like some leader of his clan. The apprehension that he was misleading them was quieted by the confidence which the Mohawk showed in his offer.
"I don"t think there"s any Indians or Tories about here, and the Lord be thanked," remarked the settler, who found it about impossible to hold his tongue when it was once loosed; "but it will be well to act as if there was danger at every turn now. I advise you all to do like me--and that is, not to speak a word when on the way through the woods--for I tell you that it is the easiest thing in the world to let a whole tribe know your poking round--"
"Be still!" struck in the Mohawk, evidently angered, where the others were only amused. "Talk too much!"
This peremptory summons to put a check to his clatter was accepted in the most philosophic manner by the individual for whom the command was intended.