University of Virginia Library

24. CHAPTER XXIV.
A THOUSAND POUNDS FOR HIS HEAD.

Nearly paralyzed with terror, Barak witnessed the landing of
the two boats, and the disembarking of their crews at a point so
near to him as to allow of his hearing the orders which were
issued to the men, although the condition of his mental faculties
scarcely admitted of his understanding their full import. That
somebody was to be taken, dead or alive, and was to be shot down
if he did not surrender upon the first summons, he very distinctly
understood, and he scarcely knew for the time whether he himself
were not the hunted outlaw whom a detachment of soldiers
had been sent to seek. The very bough to which he clung shook
with his agitation when he heard the sanguinary command; and
greatly as he dreaded being captured by the British, he resolved
not to be made a target for the balls of the soldiers for want of
any readiness in yielding to the first demand for surrender. He
stood ready, indeed, to drop into the arms of the foe at the first
moment of discovery.

The pursuing party, meanwhile, separated into two divisions,
and, leaving two men to guard the boats, started in opposite
directions to traverse the island, keeping sufficiently near the
beach to see any boat that might put off from the coast, while at
the same time they could observe a considerable portion of the
interior. After this circuit, and after securing any boats that
might be found, it was contemplated to make a close examination

of every part of the little territory, where there was so much reason
to anticipate a successful termination to their expedition.
Barak might have heard of these plans as they were informally
discussed between Sergeant Ward and his men; but he did not.
He soon comprehended, however, that the enemy were leaving
him undisturbed, and his heart grew lighter as the sound of their
voices died away in the distance. He even began to contemplate
the daring feat of descending from his elevated quarters and seeking
the cavern, where he did not doubt that his late companions
were now concealed, but the fear of observation by the boatmen,
and an uncertainty as to his ability to find his way to the cave,
deterred him for a long time from making the attempt. An hour
of irresolution, which might have procured safety, passed away,
and in the meantime the enemy had completed the circuit of the
island; they had found and taken possession of the two boats of
Johnson, sending them to the place where their own skiffs
remained under guard, and they had again set out for a second
and more thorough search after the thousand pounds value of
human flesh which was fully believed to lurk somewhere among
the recesses of this terra incognita.

Unconscious of what had taken place, Barak decided to descend
and attempt his transit to the cavern at the very moment when
the experiment was most perilous, both for himself and his subterranean
friends. He reached the ground, indeed, in safety and unobserved,
and guessing his way as well as he could, he accomplished
nearly half the distance without molestation, but on reaching the
summit of the hill which it became necessary to cross, he found
himself in full view of one of the divisions of the foe. Had he
instantly drawn back or fallen to the ground, he might yet have
escaped observation, but he hesitated one fatal moment, and in the
next he was hailed, and called upon to surrender.

Barak had no weapon in his hands, nor could he have used it
if he had. Trembling in every joint, he sank to the earth, where

he sat, with his hands uplifted deprecatingly toward the half
dozen men who were rushing upon him with levelled guns, and
with shouts of exultation.

“Don't fire!” exclaimed a voice from the rear of the approaching
party, and so the foremost man contented himself with knocking
Barak over with the butt of his gun, and then asking him
who he was.

“I—I—don't know,” groaned Jones, regaining his sitting position,
and again putting up his hands. “Don't fire—please don't
let 'em fire, Mr. Captain!”

“This is not the man,” said the sergeant, with a disappointed
air; “but he may know something about him, notwithstanding.
Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was not doing anything, but looking around,” replied
Jones, quite wild with terror, yet instinctively withholding his
name.

“Looking around, hey! Well, you had better look around
now pretty sharp. You have a name, I suppose. Who and what
are you?”

“I'm Mr.—Smith—Mr. Smith; that's my name, and I ain't a
patriot at all.”

“Oh, ho! we'll see about that by and by. But who is here
with you on this island—whose boats are these that we have
found, and where is the owner of them?”

“I don't know.”

“Who shot the deer that swam across to the opposite island,
with a large arrow in its side?”

“I don't know.”

“Let some one fetch a rope from the boats, and we will see if
the truth cannot be extracted from this fellow. I shall not waste
time or words on you, my man, you may depend on that. You
must answer these questions, or in five minutes you shall dangle
from the bough above your head. Do you see it?”

“Oh, no,” groaned Barak, “you won't hang me; it's against
the law.”

“There is no law here except the law of the strongest.”

As he spoke, the report of a musket startled the group, and
one of their number fell to the earth mortally wounded. Such a
commentary upon his text was quite unexpected, and before the
alarmed sergeant could issue an order, or could even ascertain
from what direction the shot came, a second was sent with
equally fatal effect. They might have fallen from the clouds for
any clew that could be found to their origin, for neither blaze
nor smoke was seen, and the echoes and reverberations were so
rapid and so many as to baffle all conjecture as to the source of
the original report.

Sergeant Ward gave orders to his men to withdraw over the
brow of the hill, a command which was very hastily obeyed, but
not without dragging the trembling prisoner along, who had
begun to indulge some faint hope of a rescue by the chivalrous
man whose favor he had done so little to deserve.

The party halted in a dense part of the wood, and the leader, who
was a brave and determined officer, addressed his men, informing
them that there could no longer be any doubt that they had
entrapped the dangerous man, for whose capture so many and so
great efforts had been made, and that they only required a little
courage and coolness to secure the prize, and entitle themselves to
the thanks and the bounty of government.

“We have his boats,” he continued, “so that he cannot leave
the island, and we will soon know his haunts, if there is any virtue
in hemp.”

The messenger, who had been sent to the boats, had returned,
bringing with him one of the ropes which had been used as a
cable, and at a signal from the sergeant, it was looped and thrown
suddenly around Barak's neck, who had not observed the preparations
for this ominous proceeding.

With a scream, a groan, and a shudder, with eyes starting from
their sockets, and hands grasping convulsively at the tightening
rope, Jones sputtered out his submission.

“Oh, don't—I'll tell all—I will! I will! Take it off! Take it
off!”

“Fasten it to the bough!” shouted the sergeant, with a threatening
look and a terrific voice; “if you have anything to say, you
must be quick.”

“Yes—yes—I will—I will! Take it off! take it off!”

“Who shot the deer?”

“Bill Johnson!”

Notwithstanding this answer was expected, a visible emotion
passed through the group of listeners, at the mention of so formidable
a name.

“How many men are with him on the island besides you?”

“Only one, and a boy.”

“Where are they now?”

“In a cave, over that way,” pointing in the direction of the
cavern.

“Will you go with us, and show us the safest way to approach
it, and tell us all that you know about it, without deceit or
equivocation?”

“Yes—if—if you will let me go afterwards.”

“It is a bargain. Help us to take Johnson, and you are free,
but if you tell us one falsehood, or withhold anything from us, or
in any way try to deceive or betray us, or to help the enemy, that
moment you shall die. Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes—take it off! take it off!”

The rope which had inspired the craven with so much horror
was removed, and no sooner was he free from it, than he sprang
forward as if from the touch of a serpent.

Sergeant Ward immediately set his band in motion, guided by
the treacherous Barak, and they were soon approaching the cavern

from a direction in which they would not be visible to the concealed
party until they were very near the entrance of their subterranean
retreat. Ward did not expect to accomplish the enterprise
without the loss of some men, but having questioned his
prisoner, again and again, as to the strength of the foe, and becoming
satisfied that the outlaw was almost entirely unsupported, he
resolved to make a bold push for a victory, which was to prove at
once brilliant and profitable. His men being equally sanguine and
dauntless, he had no difficulty in leading them wherever he dared
personally to venture, and the whole party were soon treading
with cautious steps, and almost in Indian file, that rocky ledge
which has been described, and beside which, hidden by shrubbery,
was the entrance to the cavernous abode for which they sought.

Ward and one bold private led the way, keeping the guide
between them, and when the latter earnestly assured them that
they were but a few yards from the mouth of the cave, and pointed
out the bushes which concealed it, the sergeant ordered his men
to hug the hill-side closely, so that no shot could reach them,
unless from an assailant who should expose himself in the act of
firing. Personally pursuing this policy, the venturous leader
advanced, with gun in rest, almost to the door of the cave, and
then in a loud voice he summoned the inmates to surrender.

He knew full well that a forced entrance, however certain to
eventuate in victory, must result fatally to the foremost of the
attacking party, and brave as he was, he was not prepared to be
the forlorn hope in such an enterprise, while other probable means
of success were within his reach. His summons being unanswered,
he loudly repeated it, stating his strength, and warning the enemy,
that in case of non-compliance he should proceed at once to build
a fire at the mouth of the cave, and either suffocate them in it, or
drive them out to be shot down as they came forth.

Entire silence followed these formal demands, and notwithstanding
Barak's repeated assurances to the contrary, Ward almost

doubted that there was an enemy within hearing. Having waited
a reasonable time for a reply to his summons, he ordered part of
his men to gather a large quantity of the dryest boughs and underbrush,
a task of no easy accomplishment, yet light compared with
the more dangerous one of depositing the combustible material in
the spot which was to render it efficacious. This, however was to
be done by climbing the hill-side above the opening of the cave,
and from this apparently unexposed position thrusting down at first
ignited branches, and afterwards keeping the blaze supplied with
fresh aliment from above, while a guard stood ready to fire upon
any one who should emerge to remove the burning pile.

Savage as was this mode of attack, it had been decided upon
without compunction by Ward, who had been maddened by the
loss of his men, and who considered the enemy alone responsible
for the extreme measures his contumacy rendered necessary. He
could surrender at any moment, and thus avoid the threatened
danger, and this was the result anticipated and hoped for by the
sergeant, who did not know of the presence of a female in the
fort thus barbarously attacked; for Barak, in naming the force
which sustained Johnson, had not considered it necessary to speak
of the outlaw's daughter.