skipping lightly over the happenings of the two days following my departure from charlotte on the king's errand, i may say that after passing the british outposts at the crossing of the catawba, i met neither friend nor foe; and from noon on i rode to the westward through a pitiless drizzling rain, splashed to the belt with the mire of the road, and having little chance to inquire my way.
this last lack grew with the passing hours to the size of a threatening hazard. as you may have guessed, i knew no more than a blind man the route i should take; knew no more of the whereabouts of gilbert town and major ferguson's rendezvous than that both were some eighty miles to the westward.
at the outset i had thought to feel out the way in general by cautious inquiry along the road; but when i came to consider of this, the risk of betraying my ignorance to those who followed me was too great to let me turn aside to any of the wayside houses; and as for chance passers-by, there were none—the rain kept all within doors.
so i was constrained to gallop on without pause; and throughout that comfortless afternoon and the scarce less miserable day which followed, there were no incidents to break the dull monotony of the blind race save these two; that once the clouds lifted enough to give me a glimpse of my pursuers in a far reach to the eastward; and once again i had a sight of an awkward horseman in the road before me—saw him and tried to overtake him, and could not, for all his clumsy riding.
now i was curious about this lone horseman ahead for more reasons than one, but chiefly because my glimpse of him seemed to show me the back of a man whom i made sure i had left safe behind in the british guard-house in charlotte, to wit: the scoundrelly little pettifogger.
at first i scoffed at the idea. saying he were free to leave charlotte, how should he be riding post on my haphazard road to the westward? 'twas against all reason, and yet the tittuping figure of which i had but a rain-veiled glimpse named itself owen pengarvin in spite of all the reasons i could bring to bear.
'twas close on eventide of the second day, the early evening gloaming of a chill autumnal rain-day, and i had been since morning dubiously lost in the somber trackless forest, when an elfish cry rose, as it would seem, from beneath the very hoofs of my horse.
"god save the king!"
the bay shied suddenly, standing with nostrils a-quiver; and i had to look closely to make out the little brown dot of humanity clad in russet homespun crouching in the path, its childish eyes wide with fear and its lips parted to shrill again: "god save the king!"
i threw a stiff leg over the cantle and swung down to go on one knee to my stout challenger. i can never make you understand, my dears, how the sight of this helpless waif appearing thus unaccountably in the heart of the great forest mellowed and softened me. 'twas a little maid, not above three or four years old, and with a face that master raphael might have taken as a pattern for one of his seraphs.
"what know you of the king, little one?" i asked.
"gran'dad told me," she lisped. "if i was to see a soldier-man i must say, quick, 'god save the king,' or 'haps he'd eat me. is—is you hungry, mister soldier-man?"
"truly i am that, sweetheart; but i don't eat little maids. where is your grandfather?"
"ain't got any gran'favver; i said 'gran'dad.'"
"well, your gran'dad, then; can you take me to him?"
"i don't know. 'haps you'd eat him."
"no fear of that, my dear. do i look as if i ate people?"
she gave me a long scrutiny out of the innocent eyes and then put up two little brown hands to be taken. "i tired" she said; and my sore heart went warm within me when i took her in my arms and cuddled her. after a long-drawn sigh of contentment, she said: "my name polly; what's yours?"
"you may call me jack, if you please—captain jack, if that comes the easier. and now will you let me take you to your gran'dad?"
she nodded, and i spoke to the bay and mounted, still holding her closely in my arms.
"tell me quickly which way to go, polly," i said; for besides being, as i would fear, far out of the way to gilbert town, the last hilltop to the rear had given me another sight of my shadowing pursuers riding hard as if they meant to overtake me.
the little maid sat up straight on the saddle horn and looked about her as if to get her bearings.
"that way," she said, pointing short to the right; and i wheeled the horse into a blind path that wound in and out among the trees for a long half mile, to end at a little clearing on the banks of a small stream.
in the midst of the clearing was a rude log cabin; and in the open doorway stood a man bent and aged, a patriarchal figure with white hair falling to his shoulders and a snowy beard such as aaron might have worn. at sight of me the old watcher disappeared within the house, but a moment later he was out again, fingering the lock of an ancient queen's-arm.
i drew rein quickly, and the little maid sat up and saw the musket.
"don't shoot, gran'dad!" she cried. "he's cappy jack, and he doesn't eat folkses."
at this the old man came to meet us, though still with the clumsy musket held at the ready.
"these be parlous times, sir," he said, half in apology, i thought. and then: "you have made friends with my little maid, and i owe you somewhat for bringing her safe home."
"nay," said i; "the debt is mine, inasmuch as i have the little one for my friend. 'tis long since i have held a trusting child in my arms, i do assure you, sir."
he bowed as grandly as any courtier. "i hope her trust is not misplaced, sir; though for the matter of that, we have little enough now to take or leave."
"you have given it all to the king?" said i, feeling my way as i had need to.
his eyes flashed and he drew himself up proudly.
"the king has taken all, sir, as you see," this with a wave of the hand to point me to the forlorn homestead. "there is naught left me save this poor hut and my little maid."
"'taken,' you say? then you are not of the king's side?"
he came a step nearer and faced me boldly. "listen, sir: two of my sons were left on the bloody field of camden, and the butcher banastre tarleton slew the other two at fishing creek. a month since a band of roving savages, armed with king george's muskets, mind you, sir, came down upon us at northby, and this little maid's mother—"
he stopped and choked; and the child looked up into my face with her blue eyes full of nameless terror. "oh, i want my mammy!" she said. "won't you find her for me, cappy jack?"
i slipped from the saddle, still clasping the little one tightly in my arms.
"enough, sir," i said, when i could trust myself to speak. "this same king george's minions have made me a homeless outcast, too. i live but to give some counter stroke, if i may."
"ha!" said the old man, starting back; "then you are for our side? but your uniform—"
"is that of an austrian officer, my good sir, which i should right gladly exchange for the buff and blue, but that i can serve the cause better in this."
he dropped the queen's-arm, took the child from me and bade me welcome to his cabin and all it held. but i was not minded to make him a sharer in my private peril.
"no," said i. "tell me how i may find gilbert town and major ferguson's rendezvous, and i will ride whilst i can see the way."
he looked at me narrowly. "ferguson left gilbert town some days since. if 'tis the place you seek, you are gone far out of your way; if 'tis the man—"
"'tis the man," i cut in hastily.
the patriarch shook his head.
"if you be of our side, as you say, he will hang you out of hand."
"so i can make my errand good, i care little how soon he hangs me."
"and what may your errand be? mayhap i can help you."
"it is to bring him to a stand till the mountain men can overtake him."
the old man trembled with excitement like a boy going into his first battle.
"ah, if you could—if you could!" he cried. "but 'tis too late, now. listen: his present camp is but three miles to the westward on buffalo creek. i was there no longer ago than the wednesday. i—i made my submission to him—curse him—so that i might mayhap learn of his plans. he told me all; how that now he was safe; that the mountaineers were gone off from the fording of the broad on a false scent; that tarleton with four hundred of the legion would soon be marching to his relief.
"i stole away when i could, and that night took horse and rode twenty miles to tom sumter's camp at flint hill—all to little purpose, i fear. poor tom is still desperately sick of his fishing creek wounds, and colonel lacey was the only officer fit to go after shelby and the mountain men to set them straight. i should have gone myself, but—"
"stay, my good friend," said i; "you go too fast for me. if ferguson is still out of communication with the main at charlotte, we may halt him yet."
the old man made a gesture of impatience.
"'tis a thing done because it is as good as done. the major will break camp and march to-morrow morning, and he can reach charlotte at ease in two days. what with their losing of his trail, the mountain men are those same two days behind him."
"none the less, we shall halt him," said i. "have you ever an inkhorn and a quill in your cabin?"
"both; at your service, sir. but i can not understand—"
"we may call it the little maid's judgment on those who have made her fatherless. but for her stopping of me i should have come unprepared into the camp of the enemy. i am the bearer of a letter from lord cornwallis to this same major ferguson."
"you?—a bearer of lord cornwallis's despatches?" the old man put a blade's length between us and held the little one aloft as if he feared i might do her a mischief. i laughed and bade him be comforted.
"'tis a long story, and i may not take the time to tell it now. but a word will suffice. like yourself, i made my submission—and for the same purpose. my lord accepted it and made me his despatch-bearer because he thought i knew the way to ferguson when no one else knew it. but enough of this; time presses. let me have ink and the quill."
the old man led the way into the cabin and put his writing tools at my disposal. left to myself, i should have broken the seal of the packet; but my wise old ally, cool and collected now, showed me how to split the paper beneath the wax. opened and spread before us on the rude slab table, the letter proved to be the briefest of military commands: a peremptory order to ferguson to rejoin the main body at once, proceeding by forced marches if needful, and on no account to risk engagement with the over-mountain men.
how to change such an order to reverse it in effect, i knew no more than a yokel; but here again my ancient ally showed himself a man of parts. dressing the pen to make it the fellow of that used by my lord cornwallis, he scanned the handwriting of the letter closely, made a few practice pot-hooks to get the imitative hang of it, and wrote this postscriptum at the bottom of the sheet.
since writing the foregoing i have your courier, and his despatches. lieutenant-colonel tarleton, with four hundred of the legion, will take the road for you to-night. if battle is forced upon you, make a stand and hold the enemy in check till reinforcements come.
cornwallis.
the old man sanded the wet penstrokes and bade me say if it would serve. 'twas a most beautiful forgery. my lord's crabbed handwriting was copied to a nicety, and of the two signatures i doubt if the earl himself could have told which was his own; 'twas the same circle "c," the same printing "r," the same heavy precision throughout.
"capital!" said i. "now, if the lightning would but strike these pursuers of mine, we should have the scotsman at bay in a hand's turn."
"how?" said the patriarch; "are you followed?"
i told him i was; told him of my lord's plot within a plot—that three light-horse riders, one of them a lieutenant bearing duplicate despatches, had been hard upon my heels all the way from charlotte.
at this the old warhorse—i learned afterward that he had fought through the french and indian war—wagged his beard and his eye flashed.
"we must stop them," he said. "three of them, do you say?"
"three white men and an indian trailer."
"ha! if it were not for the little maid.... let me think."
he fell to pacing up and down before the fire on the hearth, and i took the small one on my knee to let her chatter to me. 'twas five full minutes before my ancient gave me the worth of his cogitations, but when he did speak it was much to the purpose.
"these marplot rear-guards of yours will spoil it all if they come to ferguson's camp either before or after you. do they know the major's present whereabouts?"
"no more than i did an hour ago. as i take it, they are depending on me to show them the way."
"well, then; dead men tell no tales."
"but, my good friend, you forget there are four of them and only two of us! we should stand little chance with them in fair fight."
again the old man's eyes snapped and glowed as if pent-fires were behind them.
"was it fair fight when tarleton's men rode in upon tom sumter's rest camp at fishing creek and cut down this little maid's father whilst he was naked and bathing in the stream? was it fair fight when king george's indian devils came down in the dead of night upon our defenseless house at northby? never talk to me of fairness, sir, whilst all this bloody tyranny is afoot!"
i thought upon it for a little space. 'twas none so easy to decide. on one hand, stern loyalty to the cause i had espoused passed instant sentence on these four men whose lives stood in the way; on the other, common humanity cried out and called it murder.
never smile, my dears, and hint that i had found me a new heart of mercy since that ambush-killing of the three cherokee peace-men in the lone valley of the western mountains. we did but give the savages a dole out of their own store of cruel cunning and ferocity. but as for these my trackers, three of them, at least, were soldiers and men of my own race. i could not do it.
"no," said i, firmly. "these followers of mine must be stopped, as you say, else there is no need of my going on. but there must be no butcher's work."
the patriarch frowned and wagged his beard again.
"a true patriot should hold himself ready to give his own life or take another's," quoth he.
"truly; and i am most willing on both heads. but we have had enough and more than enough of midnight massacre."
where this argument would have led us in the end, i know not, since we were both waxing warm upon it. but in the midst the little maid came running from the open door, her blue eyes wide in childish terror.
"injun man!" was all she could say; but that was enough. at a bound i reached the door. an indian was at my horse's head, loosing the halter, as i thought. before he could twist to face me the point of the ferara was at his back.
luckily, he had the wit not to move. "no kill uncanoola," he muttered, this without the stirring of a muscle. then, as if he were talking to the horse: "white squaw, she send 'um word; say 'good by.'"
my point dropped as if another blade had parried the thrust.
"mistress margery, you mean? do you come from her?"
"she send 'um word; say 'good by,'" he repeated.
"what else did she say?" i demanded.
"no say anyt'ing else: say 'good by.'" he turned upon me at that and i saw why he had kept his face averted. he had on the war paint of a cherokee chief.
"uncanoola good chelakee now," he grinned. "help redcoat soldier find captain long-knife. wah!"
i saw his drift, and though i knew his courage well, the boldness of the thing staggered me. he, too, had penetrated to the inner lines of the british encampment at charlotte; and when they had sought an indian tracker to lift my trail, 'twas he who had volunteered. but now my spirits rose. with this unexpected ally we might hope to deal forcefully and yet fairly with my rear-guard.
"where are your masters now?" i asked.
he spat upon the ground. "catawba chief has no master," he said, proudly. "redcoat pale-faces yonder," pointing back the way i had come. "make fire, boil tea, sing song, heap smoke pipe."
"we must take them," said i.
he nodded. "kill 'um all; take scalp. wah!"
the bloodthirstiness of my two allies was appalling. but i undertook to cool the indian's ardor, explaining that the redcoat soldiers were the long-knife's brothers, in a way, not to be slain save in honorable battle. i am not sure whether i earned the catawba's contempt, or his pity for my weakness; but since he was loyal to the son of his old benefactor first, and a savage afterward, he yielded the point.
so now i made him known to my patriarchal host, who all this time had been standing guard at the cabin door with the old queen's-arm for a weapon. so we three sat on the door-stone and planned it out. when the night was far enough advanced, we would stalk the soldiers in their camp, sparing life as we could.
when all was settled, the old man gave us a supper of his humble fare, after which we went into the open again to sit out the hours of waiting. the rain had ceased, but the night was cloudy and the darkness a soft black veil to shroud the nearest objects. high overhead the autumn wind was sighing in the tree-tops, and now and again a sharper gust would bring down a pattering volley of lodged rain-drops on the fallen leaves.
uncanoola sat apart in stoical silence, smoking his long-stemmed pipe. the old man and i talked in low tones, or rather he would tell me of his past whilst i sat and listened, holding the little maid in my arms.
after a time the child fell asleep, and i craved permission to put her in the little crib bed in the chimney corner. the flickering light of the fire fell upon her innocent face when i loosed the clasp of the tiny hands about my neck and laid her down. again the wave of softness submerged me and i bent to leave a kiss upon the sweet unconscious lips.
ah, my dears, you may smile again, if you will; but at that moment i had a far-off glimpse of the beatitude of fatherhood; i was no longer the hard old soldier i have drawn for you; i was but a man, hungering and thirsting for the love of a wife and trusting, clinging little children like this sweet maid.
i rose, turning my back upon the chimney corner and its holdings with a sigh. for now the time was come for action, and i must needs be a man of blood and iron again.
lacking the catawba to guide us, i doubt if either the old man or i could have found my rearguard's bivouac near the trail i had left. but uncanoola led us straight through the pitchy darkness; and when we were come upon the three soldiers we found them all asleep around the handful of camp-fire.
'twould have been murder outright to kill them thus; and now i think the old patriarch forgot his wrongs and was as merciful as i. but not so the catawba. he had armed himself with a stout war-club, and before i was free to stop him he had knocked two of the three sleepers senseless, and would have battered out their brains but for the old man's intervention.
as for the officer, i had flung myself upon him in the rush and was having a pretty handful of him. but though he was broad in the shoulders, and as agile as a cat, he was taken at a sleeping man's disadvantage, and so i presently had the better of him.
"enough, man! 'tis as good as a feast!" he cried, when i had him fast pinioned; and thereupon i let him have breath and freedom to sit up. in the act he had his first good sight of me, as i had mine of him. 'twas tybee and no other.
"gad! my captain," he said, feeling his throat. "if you have a grip like that for your friends, i'm damned glad i'm not your enemy."
"but you are," i rejoined, rather shamefacedly, yet thankful to the finger-tips that i had not consented to a massacre. "i am for the congress and the commonwealth, lieutenant, and you are my prisoner. may i trouble you for the despatches you carry?"
he looked up at me with a queer grimace on his boyish face.
"the devil! but you're a cool hand, captain ireton! whatever you were in that coil at appleby, you've led the spy's long suit this time. and i'm not sure whether i like you any the worse for it, if so be you must be a rebel." and with that, he gave me the sealed packet and asked what i would do with him.
his query set me thinking. as for the two stunned troopers, i meant to turn them over to the old man for safe keeping; but i was loath to make it harder than need be for this good-natured youngster. so i put him upon his honor.
"do you know what this packet contains?" i asked.
he laughed. "my lord did not honor me with his confidence. i was to follow you in to major ferguson's camp, deliver the despatches, and vanish."
"good; then you need tell no lies. when the indian has fetched my horse, i shall ride to ferguson's camp, and you may ride with me. i shall ask no more than this; that you do not fight again till you are exchanged; and that you will not tell major ferguson whose prisoner you are. do you accept the terms?"
"gad! i'd be a fool not to. but what's in the wind, captain? surely you can tell me, now that i am safely out of the running."
"you will know in a day or two; and in the meantime ignorance is your best safety. you can tell major ferguson that you were waylaid on the road by a party of the enemy, and that you were paroled and fell in with me."
he looked a little rueful, as a good soldier would, but was disposed to make the best of a bad bargain.
"here's my hand on it," he said; and a little later we had dragged the two troopers to the cabin, where the old man became surety for their safe keeping, and were feeling our way cautiously westward at the heels of the catawba who had taken his directions from our patriarch.
we pressed forward in silence through the shadowy labyrinth of the wood for a time, but at the crossing of a small runlet where we would stop to let the horses drink, tybee burst out a-laughing.
"'tis as good as a play," he said. "three several times i've had to change my mind about you, captain ireton, and i'm not cock-sure i have your measure yet. but i'll say this: if you've strung my lord successfully, you'll be the first to do it and come off alive in the end."
"the end is not yet, my good friend; and i may not come off better than the others," i rejoined. and with that we fared on again till we could see the camp-fires of ferguson's little army twinkling between the tree trunks.
