University of Virginia Library

5. BOOK V.

1. CHAPTER I.
WELCOME DODGE.

“And so you were really there, Mr. Dodge?”

“I shouldn't wonder.”

“I dare say you might tell us some of the particulars
which have not found their way into the newspapers.”

“I guess I could.”

“Have you been long in the Continental service?”

“It's going on for fifteen weeks and three days, more
or less; but I don't recollect very particularly.”

“Come, then, suppose you tell us something about it.
We have nothing better to do this warm evening than to
listen; and I believe you are the only one of the party
who was at Trenton.”

The person I addressed was a Yankee. He was attired
in a sailor's jacket and trowsers, but had added to
them a musket and knapsack. He was a little above the
middle height, and apparently a little below the middle
age. He was narrow chested, with a slight stoop in the
shoulders. His complexion was freckled and sunburned.
His features were hard but full of intelligence, not unmixed
with cunning. Furthermore he rejoiced in the
appellation of Welcome Dodge.

We had encamped for the night not far from Bennington,
and in the part of New England then called the
“Hampshire Grants.”

It was the evening of the 14th August, 1777. The
weather was warm and we were seated in front of my
tent. The party consisted of three persons besides myself,
one of whom, Mr. Dodge, has been duly presented.
The two others were a middle-aged man and a very
young one.

The first was Colonel Waldron, an officer of some
standing in the revolutionary army. I had become accidentally
acquainted with him some three months
previous to the time I write of, and since our first meeting
had been almost constantly associated with him.

The other had been that evening introduced to me by
Waldron for the first time. He was Captain Eliot of the
Continental army; a very young man, apparently, and
of slight figure. In the twilight I had not been able to
observe his features with accuracy.

“Only three months then!” said I to Dodge.

“You have been engaged but three months in the
service of the States?”

“Why I can't say,” said Dodge, “that I have not

been a little longer in the States' service. But I have
been only about that period of time in this line.”

“What other line have you been engaged in?”

“Well, I've done a good many chores; privateering,
and one thing and another; but 'tis only lately that I've
tried training.”

“And how came you to enlist in the army?”

“Well, you see,” said Dodge, who was not unwilling
to communicate his adventures. “Well, you see, when
I got back to Penobscot, which was my native place, I
found there warn't much doing—those British cruisers
had knocked up the coasting-trade almighty fast—so as I
had nothing to do, and winter coming, and I had got
pretty much down to heel, and didn't know what to do
for a living, I thought I might as well do a little training.
Well, I came up from Penobscot, and when I got to New-York,
who do you think I met?”

“How the deuce should I know?” I replied.

“Well, I met Bill Stimpson himself. I hadn't seen
him since the day we arrived in Portland Bay from the
“Nancy” privateer. After a little while, I told him I
was going to list in the Continental. `Show!' says he.
`Yes, I be!' says I. `Be you for three years or the
whole war, or less time?' says he. `I guess I shall
come it on the whole war!' says I. `There aint much
business doing in my line now at the East, on account
of them British cruisers, and I don't know what I shall
do.' `You don't know nothing about it,' says he. `Do
tell,' says I. `Why,' says he, `I'm going to do a job of
training myself; but I aint so dreadful stupid as to enlist
the whole war, nor for three years neither, which is about
as foolish. It's a great sight more profitable to go as substitute.'
`I want to know!' says I. `Oh, beyond all

comparison!' says he. `Now you recollect Davenport;
he's drafted for six months, and I'm going in his place.
He's just married—foolish cretur—and he offered me
forty dollars Continental money and a suit of clothes from
head to foot, besides board and lodgings for the rest of
the year after the term was out, if I'd go for him. So you
see it's about as good a trade as I can make.' `Well
that beats all,' says I; and the next day, squire, I concluded
I wouldn't go for the whole war, and I found out
a fellow who was drafted for the Jersey militia, and was
very willing to buy a substitute; and made him come
down pretty handsome.”

“Well—well,” said I, “I am sorry you had no more
patriotic motive for joining the banner of Washington.
However, let's hear about the battle?'

“Well, you see, as soon as I had concluded my bargain
with Squire Livermore, I went off with Bill Stimpson
who was to serve in the same regiment. When we got
down to camp, Captain Davis came up to us, and told us
—but I expect I might as well tell you Squire, that if you
want to know about the battle of Trenton, I can't say I
know much about it.”

“Why! you were there?” said I, in surprise.

“No, Squire, I can't say I was, not exactly, for I
didn't arrive in camp till the 30th of December, and
General Washington crossed the Delaware the night of
Christmas day, and fought the battle of Trenton on the
26th. However, I got there on the 30th, and I saw the
Princeton fight, and that was no joke I tell you.”

“Well, let's have it, in as few words as possible!”
said I.

“Well, you see the General went into winter-quarters
at Trenton directly after the action. He tried amazing

hard to prevail on the N. England troops, whose term
was out on New Year's day, to continue a little longer.
It was pretty hard work, but at last they concluded to
trade. A considerable number agreed to stay six weeks
longer on condition they should have ten dollars a-piece
bounty money. The enemy was considerable powerful
under Lord Cornwallis at Princeton; and General
Washington, expected that he would come over to Trenton
right away to attack him. Well, you see, the day
after New Year's, they hove in sight, and their van
reached Trenton, though there was many of them left
behind. The General thought it was rather poky waiting,
so he backed out across the Assumpinck Creek, because
they were a little too strong for him; and the next
night, he concluded he would march right away to
Princeton, where there warn't quite so many. Well, we
went away in the night without making any noise at all,
and the next morning about sunrise, we had nearly got
to Princeton. However Bill told me he guessed we
should see the British before we got quite into the town,
and I guessed we should too; and sure enough, when
we were within half a mile of Princeton, there came
three or four regiments right down upon us. However,
I cocked my gun and made ready. Captain Davis sung
out to us as bold as a lion. `Dress,' says he to us, `before
you make ready;' and an English captain sung
out, `We'll dress you soon enough, damn your eyes!'
and then they slapped it right into us without waiting
for us to fire first. Two or three men near me tumbled
right over. Bill said he guessed they was shot. I
guessed they was too. It began to look plaguy pokerish,
and so Bill and I dodged behind a stone wall, and
most of the milishy that was in the van began to back
out too. When we got behind the wall, we kept ourselves
pretty snug, loaded up the old fowling-pieces, and
blazed away at the officers as they came along.

“You see it warn't possible to take aim in the field,
no way you could fix it, on account of the confusion,
but when we got behind the wall we could take aim as
much as we were a mind to, and 'twasn't reasonable
to be firing away ammunition for nothing. Gunpowder
is plaguy scarce, and it's best to make use of it when
you do fire it off. Well, the militia gave way, and Bill
and I thought it was high time we should get out of the
pickle as well as we could. There was a good many
ugly-looking fellows coming towards us, so I took one
more slap at a regular I saw cutting off to the right, and
then we ran as tight as we could on the road to Trenton.
We met a considerable large body of milishy
about a quarter of a mile from the meeting-house, and
they were cutting off, cause they thought the British a
leetle grain too strong for them. However, General
Mercer came up to them, and said he guessed they'd
better go back and let 'em have it again; and after some
consideration they said they guessed they had. Pretty
soon after that, General Washington came up with the
rear of the army, and he told them they had'nt ought to
run; and we might lick 'em if we were a mind to, just
as well as not. So we all formed a regular column and
went right at 'em. The British line gave way this
time, and then they got it hot and heavy I tell you.
Colonel Mawhood cut his way through our troops and
contrived to save himself, but the others were broken all
to bits. We took three hundred captive, and I guess a
considerable number of them were killed on the spot.

“The next day we went into winter-quarters at

Pluckemin. I staid there till my time was up, and just
as I was going away, Deacon Ingersoll of Pluckemin,
asked me if I could make it convenient to serve in place
of his son, Jeroboam, who was poorly in health about
that time. I guessed I could, if he'd make it convenient
to come down pretty well. He guessed he could, and I
thought I might as well go on fighting for another year,
as I had got used to that line of business. Pretty soon
after, our regiment of Jersey troops were ordered to the
north to fight against Burgoyne. And that's all I know
about the battle of Trenton, squire.”

As the respectable Dodge concluded his oration, he
marched off, saying he would see in the morning about
the business I mentioned. I was left alone with my two
companions.

“Now, without any exaggeration,” said Waldron, “it
is of just such stuff that half our troops are made at this
moment. They are brave enough in their way, as you
may judge by Dodge's account of himself, but they are
unwilling to sacrifice gunpowder to discipline; and as
to their patriotism, it is very well till it comes in contact
with profit. You see, this fellow takes up the business
of serving his country, because in the present universal
stoppage of business it is as profitable a job as any he
can get. He finds it, and they all find it, more
to their interest to serve for short periods than for long,
and as long as this infernal system of short enlistment
continues, so long we shall be without an army; and so
long shall we yield to the British.”

“I know no greater proof of Washington's greatness
than this,” said I. “If ever a man was a hero, it is he.
One would think the Devil himself would give up under
such circumstances. His soldiers leaving him at every

instant, without even bidding him good-bye. His army
dissolving hourly, like a snowball in Spring; and with
nothing to supply its place but a vote of Congress.”

“And it is for this reason,” said Waldron, “that I
think you have acted wisely in your arrangements. If
every man who possessed the same means had been
equally patriotic, and equally sensible, we should finish
this war in a year. As it is, we must hope. But I have
kept you too long from your couch, Captain Morton; and
it is probable we may have work to morrow.”

“But stay a moment, Colonel Waldron,” said I, “has
that mysterious person made his appearance lately?”

“I have not seen him for a month,” was the answer.
“I have no reason to believe that he is in our camp. If
he should present himself, however, rest assured that I
will immediately inform you of it. Come, Edward.”

The young officer, who had been introduced to me as
Captain Eliot, rose and approached me. His cap was
slouched over his brows, so that I was still unable to distinguish
his features. I extended my hand to both;
they both pressed it warmly.

“I think we shall soon meet again,” said Eliot to
me,—“but here is a paper which concerns yourself. If
I should prove mistaken, it will inform you of many particulars
which concern yourself, and with which you
have been too long unacquainted.”

“Willingly,” said I,—“but stay, you say we shall
meet again, have we not met before? Surely there is
something—”

But they had both gone. I could not divest myself of
the impression that I had heard the young stranger's
soft and gentle voice before.

2. CHAPTER II.
HISTORICAL.

I have precipitated my reader with perhaps too much violence
into the midst of the revolutionary war. Although
I shall endeavour to bring him out of it as safely as I
can, yet there is much work for us to do. It would be
quite impossible for me, who have set myself to the task
of taking off the cream, of distilling the spirit, or, in
other words, of extracting the moral square root of my
life, to omit so important a fraction of it, as the period
upon which I have now entered.

Let me go back five minutes. I arrived in America
on the 15th day of May. I hastened to Morton's Hope.
In the little vault which my uncle had himself constructed,
I read two inscriptions—“Fortitude Morton,
ob. Jan. 15, 1774.” “Joshua Morton, ob. Dec. 1776.”
They were both gone—the Hope was tenantless.

It will be easily believed that I had no inducement
to linger there. It was no time then to abandon myself
to an unavailing melancholy. I sorrowed long and
deeply for one I had so tenderly loved; but I felt that it
was idle and unmanly to exhibit or to indulge my grief.

I had had time during a long voyage to America to reflect
upon my destiny—upon my mission—I hastened
now to act.

I found my uncle's agent. I was the sole heir. The
property was far beyond my most extravagant estimate.
Although all kinds of property had necessarily depreciated,
yet I knew that this was temporary, and I found

myself possessed of a fortune far more ample than I had
dreamed of. I was delighted. I felt that it had fallen
into good hands. I knew it would be of use.

A new campaign was opening. The war had already
become unpopular. The enthusiasm which had glowed
through the public bosom on the first outbreak of the
revolution had grown faint. The elasticity with which
the nation had bounded from under the first pressure of
tyranny, had begun to slacken. It was beginning to
sink under the new and complicated weights which were
now crowded upon it. Washington still bore up, but
the whole mass of the war hung upon his Atlantean
shoulders. He did not bend nor quaver, but he called
aloud to the nation in his agony. They had not responded
to his call. Congress was heroic, but it was comparatively
powerless. It was not the nation. The General's
“coups de guerre” at Trenton and Princeton,
had for a moment roused the flagging spirit of the country—but
still it drooped.

Army there was none. When Washington commenced
his retreat through the Jerseys, hotly pursued by
Howe's army and Howe's proclamation, his ragamuffins
were hardly a thousand strong. A thousand men, and
those worn out—sick—miserable—naked—starving—
“no eye had seen such scare-crows.” It was a mystery
that he got them across the Delaware—it was a still
greater mystery that he brought them up to the enemy
—but it was the greatest mystery of all that he led them
off victorious.

It is neither invidious nor unpatriotic to say this. It
was the height of hallucination to suppose any thing
else possible. The men were brave but they were not
soldiers; and Washington well knew, and the nation

learned it afterwards, that a British army was not exactly
a thing to be trifled with; that British soldiers required
soldiers to beat them. The curses of Washington upon
the militia and the whole militia system, were too well
founded. The pay and the bounty were too contemptible.
Recruits were not to be had. Enlistments for
three years, or for the war, became every day more rare.
Jobbing and substituting were found more profitable.—
Unfortunately a war is not a thing to be done by the
job, or at any rate there should be but one job made of it.

In short, at the close of each campaign, Washington
found himself at the head of a phantom army—a will of-the-wisp
which led him a pretty dance through swamps
and morasses, and flitted away when it was most needed.
The troops were sure to dissolve, the periods of service
were sure to expire, at the very moment when some grand
stroke was contemplated.

It has become of late the fashion to underrate the hero;
but I know nothing more sublime in the history of conquerors
than the adamantine soul which faltered not—
the devoted patriotism which did not become sickened
and disgusted by such constant and wearing trials as
those he contended with.

I had had time to observe all these things. I arrived at
a sort of pause. The winter campaign was over—the
second was to begin. It was easy to see the cause of
most of the national difficulties. I saw them. Every
one saw them. They were simply want of money, and
want of men. Congress voted men, as Glendower called
his “lackey spirits;” but none came when they were
called. The spirits for reasons best known to themselves;
but the soldiers for the most potent reason in the world;
because they were not paid for it.

The want of money was simply the result of the
powerlessness of the general government. It was a radical
defect, which it seems the majority will not learn, (although
the world is so many thousand years old,) that
delegation is not abdication. The mob will not learn
that although it is a sovereign and an absolute one, it is
not beneath its dignity to confide its powers to trustworthy
ministers and servants.

The old confederacy of the United States was instituted
to carry on a war. It should have been a hundred-handed
giant—a Briareus waving a hundred swords but
directed by a single hand. It proved only an enormous
polypus, a sluggish, drowsy, palsied creature, moving its
thousand legs and arms at different times, and in different
directions, but incapable of moving forward with a
single powerful impulse. In a confederacy which has a
nominal head indeed, but whose various members, from
some defect in the machinery, cannot all be moved at
the volition of that head, a spasmodic and irregular action
is sure to take the place of the regular, healthy, concentrated
movement, which alone will fulfil the object of
the confederacy. But there is no need of enlarging on
the weakness of the government, for it seems that we
shall never grow wiser, and that we are still determined
to neutralize our institutions by our hesitation to subscribe
to that belief in human virtue which dictated their organization.

In a word, the nation had no money—without money
they could not pay their troops. They had no coin.—
They must use credit. They emitted bills. It was
known how little power was in the hands of the government.
It was known that they trembled to tax. It was
known that they hesitated to contract a loan—they

shivered constantly on the brink of their capability. Of
course, with each fresh emission of paper, the paper depreciated.
The amount expanded which they wanted
the power to redeem. The depreciation naturally suggested
to the trembling congress, the necessity of contracting
their issues. And yet without bills how could they
pay their troops? They had been bankrupt when they
began business. They could pay nothing but their notes
of hand.

Now if the President could have borrowed a good
round sum at once—if it had been possible to silence all
the sneaking fears of corruption and moneyed influences;
or if it had been in the power of Congress to contract a
a good honest debt, which would have been a fund and
a security for property in peace, as well as a golden chain
to bind the nation together, affairs would have been better.
It would have been better to come to the nation
with pockets turned inside out, and honestly borrow what
they wanted at once, than by little and little swindle them
out of more small change than the whole debt would
have amounted to. But with tied hands and empty
pockets what could they do? They did all they could.
All that heroism and patriotism hampered by jealousy
could do the Congress did.

At any rate one point was gained. The problem was
fortunately solved at last. It was proved that nothing
but an army could beat English regiments; and that
amateurs from the plough, and dilettanti from the dockyards,
were excellent raw material, but required to be
manufactured. They were the stuff to make good soldiers
of, but they must first be made.

I shall make no apology to the reader for all this digression.
He may skip it if he chooses, and advise all

his friends to do the same. But I insist upon saying all
I have got to say on this subject, because it is necessary
to my purpose. I know it is dull. I know it is common-place;
but my readers may be sure “that when I am
dull, there is always a design in it.”

I saw at once my situation. I knew what I could do,
and what I could not do. I could not give them a
new constitution; but I could give them a little money.
I could give them a few men. I determined to sacrifice
my whole fortune if it were necessary. It was but a
drop in the bucket—but still it was a drop. Besides,
there was no doubt my example would be of service, and
emulation in such a cause would be of incalculable value.

I went immediately to work. It was my intention to
apply my feeble strength to the task of obviating one or
two glaring defects of the present system. It was easy
for me if I was unsparing of money to raise a strong
able bodied, resolute corps. I limited the number to five
hundred; but they were all picked men, all marksmen.
I selected them from no particular district or state. On
the contrary, it was rather an object with me to unite a
certain number of representatives from all. I wished to
see if it were possible in the course of a continued military
existence to annihilate the conflicting peculiarities of
the different sections of the country, and alchemize them
down into a single, solid and congenial mass.

It was easy for me to obtain the necessary powers from
the legislature. It was not difficult for me to obtain a
commission. It was also no Herculean task to fill up
my number; for I was able to make the allowance of
clothes, blankets, camp utensils, &c. so liberal that the
principal reason for the general distaste to the service disappeared
in our volunteer corps. In return I demanded

from each member a solemn promise under seal, to continue
in the corps, till death or till the close of the war.

With regard to myself I determined to lay the precept
of subordination to superiors to my heart. I determined,
if possible, to be governed only by my wish to serve my
country. That my patriotism might be pure and disinterested
was my constant prayer. I endeavoured to
guard myself with all my strength against personal ambition;
the besetting sin of all partisans and of all
partisan warfare. I determined to submit without a
murmur to all orders of my superiors, and as far as possible
to discourage the republican spirit in my corps.
That I might live to see a glorious and firm republic
erected on the ruins of the fallen monarchy was my
constant prayer; but I knew that the work of erection
was to be accomplished by an army, and I felt that in an
army the despotic principle was indispensable.

There was a delay at the opening of the summer campaign.
At its commencement the pieces stood nearly
thus upon the chess board. The Howes with their army
and fleet were in possession of New-York. The northern
army under Burgoyne were hovering about the lakes
and threatening Ticonderoga.

The Americans under Schuyler, Lincoln, and Putnam
were in possession of the forts on the lakes and
along the North River.

Washington was in the Jerseys.

It was nearly certain that the two British armies intended
a junction and co-operation. It was Washington's
object to baffle their intentions if possible. The
junction would probably be at New-York, but as the British
commanded the sea, there were two ways of effecting
it.

Burgoyne threatened the fortresses which were between
him and New-York. Howe might move up the
river, and by a synchronic movement attack the forts
from below at the moment that the New-York army was
thrown into the Jerseys. While Washington was weakening
himself at the south by sparing all he could for
the army at Peekskill, and still farther north, Howe's
army co-operating with the fleet might suddenly make
a rapid advance to the south, and give him the fool's
mate at the third move in Philadelphia. It was his
earnest wish to save that city if possible.

While he was thus at cross purposes with the enemy,
it was my lot to arrive at his camp in Pompton plains,
N. Jersey. The fleet had sailed from New-York, but
whether for the Chesapeake or Delaware, or whether
with the intention of returning suddenly to co-operate
with Burgoyne, was yet a problem.

I was admitted to the presence of the general, and
stated my wishes and intentions. I had the good fortune
to meet his approbation. He perceived that I had
adopted his views, and that I was influenced by upright
and virtuous motives. Moreover, I was of the class which
he wished to be engaged in the country's service. I was
not actuated by a love of gain, nor even of glory. Moreover,
I had a stake in society. I had a respectable local
reputation to lose. A good estate to forfeit. A neck
which it was an object to me to keep as long as possible
out of the halter. In short, I was one of those in whom
he could confide. He saw that there was no danger of
my making money out of my commission.

I was unhappy that I was not permitted to remain in
his camp: but with that elevated patriotism for which
he was remarkable, he chose rather to strengthen the armies

of other generals than his own; and still mistrusting
the designs of Burgoyne, and of the force which was
opposed to him, he preferred to send our corps to the north,
than to reinforce himself. I rejoiced, however, in the end.
I felt afterwards that Brandywine would hardly have
been so auspicious or so encouraging a commencement
for a volunteer, as Saratoga.

Soon after this I fell in with Mr. Welcome Dodge.
Accident, not worth while to relate, led to our acquaintance.
I enlisted him a member of my corps, and he
became of invaluable service to me. My numbers were
not yet complete, and his experience and native shrewdness
enabled me to provide myself with the best recruits;
his friends Bill Stimpson and Belah Humphreys among
the number.

As soon as my corps was complete I pushed directly for
New-Hampshire. At the time I joined the army of the
north, the deeply injured Schuyler had command of that
department. The Americans were gradually backing
out before Burgoyne, who was proceeding southward
with fearful rapidity. The recoil of the Americans
served, however, eventually to concentrate their force.

The favourite plan of the British ministry was to
push an army by the way of the Northern Lakes, from
Canada to the Hudson. It had been matured in the cabinet
during the winter, and Burgoyne, to whom its management
was entrusted, had even visited England to assist
at the deliberation. As a corollary to the plan, St.
Leger was to advance towards the Hudson, through the
valley of the Mohawk.

Burgoyne set himself early to his task. He advanced
like a giant with rapid strides, and with signal success.
The Americans were too weak to oppose him, and their

general unwillingly and slowly retreated, disputing every
inch, but forced, however, reluctantly to yield.

On the 5th of July, the cherished Ticonderoga fell
into the hands of the Englishmen, with its important adjunct,
Fort Independence. On the 6th and 7th, Fort
Anne, and Fort Edward, were relinquished, and the
American general fell back to Saratoga. At last, he was
forced to abandon that position, and then he retreated
like a stag to the water, and stood at bay on a small island
at the confluence of the Hudson and the Mohawk.

On the 15th of August, Burgoyne was at Saratoga,
and St. Leger had invested Fort Schuyler.

The rapidity with which the English general had
swept downward from the North, had inevitably lengthened
his line, and thereby attenuated his army. Moreover,
his stores and heavy baggage were to be conveyed
by land over a difficult country, from Fort George to Saratoga,
a tedious and perilous process.

Reflecting upon these things before his arrival at Saratoga,
he determined that the rebels should be his purveyors.
He knew that they had large magazines in
the neighbourhood. He cast his eyes upon Bennington.

3. CHAPTER III.
THE ADVENTURES OF PATANKO.

Let me resume the thread of my own adventures.

As soon as my companions were gone, I tore the seal
from the packet. It contained a long and closely written
letter.

The two first words irresistibly excited my curiosity.
The letter began—“My son”—

Perhaps I ought to apologize for laying the whole
paper before my readers. Although it was natural that
I should devour its contents with impatient eagerness, yet
it is more than probable that they will be fatigued by its
great length, and its occasionally unnecessary details.

I ought perhaps to have curtailed and abridged the
document, since, although it is necessary that the reader
should be acquainted with its main substance, yet it must
be confessed that its most important parts might have
been compressed into a much smaller compass.

I have, however, felt myself incapable of altering or
epitomizing the manuscript, and must content myself
with thus removing the responsibility of its prolixity from
my father to myself.

MY FATHER'S STORY.

“I have prepared the following brief sketch of my life
under every disadvantage. I have been obliged to compile
it at intervals, and at stolen moments, when my exhausted
frame rather required repose, than the excitement
of which a retrospect of my past unhappy career
is sure to be the cause.

“I felt, however, that to myself and to my son, I owed
a duty which I owe to no other living mortal. I determined
for my son's sake that I would, as far as was in
my power, remove the load of obloquy that is likely to
rest upon my memory.

“I have been the victim of my own early crimes, and
of a certain fatality which has always thrown my every
folly in the strongest light, while it cast a broad shadow
over every germ of virtue. A strong nature would have
been perhaps but slightly affected by the circumstances
which cast an early blight upon mine; but I was born
with an irritable and an impatient disposition.

“I found, or I thought I found, that I was the victim
of an unhappy fate. I felt myself continually placed in
situations in which there were few who would not have
erred, but which the generality of mankind are fortunate
enough to escape.

“If I formed a virtuous resolution, accident was sure
to prevent its execution; and at last a succession of misfortunes
acting upon a naturally despairing temperament,
produced their necessary result. I became reckless and
abandoned. It was evident that fate had intended me
for a scapegrace. My relations had always assured me
that such was the fact before I was old enough to understand
their meaning; with the utmost candour they had
always pointed to the gallows as the ultimate termination
of my career; and at last, so completely had I been convinced
by their arguments, that I already regarded it as
a settled matter, and looked complacently forward to that
goal as to the natural finale of my adventures.

“Thus you see one exemplification of the advantages
of making the worst of every thing. I dare say, if I had
ever received encouragement and occasional praise when
I deserved it, that I might have become a respectable
member of society.

“Your grandfather, John Morton, was a rich, steady-going
old merchant. He intended his eldest son, Joshua,
who was always a studious and pains-taking, although

an eccentric youth, for the bar; and wished me to succeed
him in his business.

“It was not my fault that this employment was not to
my taste. I had previously informed all concerned that
such was the fact; but finding it impossible to convince
any one, I was obliged to take the affair into my own
hands. Accordingly, I seized my first opportunity and
ran away. I had for some time possessed several valuable
acquaintances among the sea-faring gentry of my
native town. I exerted my influence with them, and
surreptitiously procured a passage in a brig bound to
Jamaica; this was when I was a little past my fourteenth
year.

“I have since been informed that my father was for a
short time quite inconsolable. After a day or two, however,
he consoled himself with the reflection that his
prophecies were now certain to be fulfilled. There could
now be no doubt that my destiny was the gallows. Accordingly
my doom was looked upon as sealed, and my
brother Joshua succeeded me in the arduous duties of
tasting treacle and counting sugar-boxes.

“When our brig was within a day or two of the successful
termination of her voyage, we one afternoon descried
a strange sail. It proved to be a schooner which
was evidently bearing down rapidly upon us. As this
was at the time when the celebrated buccaneers were
holding their carnival in the West Indian Archipelago,
you may conceive that our captain was not particularly
delighted with the prospect before us. He did his best to
escape, but the enemy had the longest legs. Within an
hour after her first appearance, the schooner was alongside
of us.

“As soon as we were within hailing distance a gruff

voice desired our better acquaintance; and our captain
having complied with the polite invitation, the pirate
signified his intention of making us a visit. Resistance
was of course out of the question, as our whole force
amounted but to six men, and a one-legged negro. The
latter was a cook, and better adapted to his profession
than to any thing of a warlike character. As for myself
I was an undersized lad for my age, and although of considerable
importance in my own estimation, my existence
was hardly recognized in the brig.

“To be brief, the pirate came on board and ordered us
all into his own vessel. That we might feel no delicacy
about accepting his hospitality, he ordered each of us to
be escorted thither by two tall fellows from his own crew.
They answered all objections which we thought proper
to make, by binding our arms and gagging our mouths.
After these ingenious processes were completed, we all
observed a decorous silence.

“As soon as the coast was clear, the buccaneer amused
himself with inspecting our cargo. He had evidently
mistaken our character; for finding that the brig was
loaded merely with salt fish, and no other New England
delicacies, he was exceedingly disappointed. One would
have thought that he might have let us off, poor devils as
we were, when he found how unprofitable an adventure
it would turn out.

“The buccaneer had no such humane feelings. He
preferred making a bonfire of the vessel. He laid a
train accordingly, and then returned with his men to
his own ship.

“We had hardly got well out of the way when the
Jezebel blew up with a tremendous explosion. The
pirate pointed it out to us with great glee, and seemed

to regard it as an affair got up for our special amusement.

“As soon, however, as that matter was settled, things
began to look serious. A cloud came over the buccaneer's
brow, and he began to abuse the captain for the
meagre character of his cargo. He logically expounded
to us that if he had known we had been no better worth
capturing he should have left us in peace, but that having
already taken the step he had, a due regard to his
own safety required our immediate immolation. He regretted
the measure he was obliged to take, but consoled
us with the assurance that we had nobody to blame but
ourselves. Having arrived at this conclusion, he commenced
operations by seizing the cook by his one leg,
and throwing him into the sea.

“Hereupon our captain by a spasmodic exertion forced
the gag from his mouth, and commenced an eloquent
remonstrance. In answer, the buccaneer told him to be
d—d, and cut his throat by way of expediting the
process.

“In five minutes all my unfortunate comrades were
butchered and thrown overboard. I was the last in the
row, but a savage-looking blackguard had his knuckles
already against my throat, when to my utter amazement
the captain ordered him to desist. Actuated by some
unaccountable freak, the captain signified his intention
of sparing my life. I was released accordingly, and refreshed
with some rum and water. The captain afterwards
told me that he was pleased with my countenance,
and had decided that in time I should make an excellent
pirate. He agreed to spare my life on condition of my
enlisting under the black flag. With an internal reflection
on the probable truth of my father's prognostications

I consented. The love of life proved stronger than the
love of argument, otherwise it would have been an excellent
opportunity to have made my exit from life, for the
sake of giving all my friends the lie. The conviction
that I was born and educated for the gallows became
stronger. To what else but my evil destiny could it be
owing, that before I was fifteen I was already a buccaneer.

“In the cruise that succeeded I was comparatively but
little employed. There were one or two prizes made, but
without any bloodshed. So that fortunately for my
morality, the massacre of my own comrades was the only
one of which I was doomed to be present.

“After I had been at my piratical apprenticeship
about three weeks, the career of my companions already
approached its termination. The last capture that they
made was, indeed, the catching of a Tartar: for one fine
morning we were made a prize of by his majesty's
frigate the Tartar, carrying thirty guns.

“We were carried into Jamaica, and immediately
thrown into prison. The cheerful prophecies of my
friends were now apparently to be consummated. My
protestations of innocence, and the absurd account I
gave of myself were treated with contempt. In short,
the judges one and all, detected in the expression of my
countenance an evidence of ferocious depravity. It was
decided that I was the most abandoned of the gang.
When we were in court I reproached the captain of the
buccaneers with the fate to which he had brought me:
he answered me with sneers, and assured all present
that my story was a parcel of trumpery. There was
no struggling against my fate, so I gave up the point,
and accordingly after having doomed us all to death that

day fortnight, the judge went to dinner, and we returned
to our dungeons.

“Luckily in the interval between our condemnation
and its consummation, one of the counsellors who had
compassion for my extreme youth, and who had not
been so entirely convinced by my depraved expression
(the result probably of the dungeon air and two months
starvation,) as the rest of the court, exerted himself to
procure a pardon for me.

“Aided by the full confession of two of the pirates,
he at last succeeded. My life was spared—the captain
was hung, and I had the laugh on my side.

“I emerged from the prison, and found myself once
more at large; as I had hardly a rag to my back, or a
halfpenny in my pocket, I thought after all that they
might as well have finished the matter. However, the
worthy counsellor once more came to aid, and by his assistance
I was put in possession of a few clothes and
other indispensables, and procured a passage in a homeward
bound vessel.

“The report of my adventures had, however, preceeded
me. Great additions and exaggerations were of
course liberally made, so that the most charitably disposed
believed that I had been convicted of robbery and
murder in the West Indies, but had been pardoned on
account of my extreme youth. This was deemed a
trivial offence compared with the catalogue of crimes
which report had already tacked to my fame; but still it
was sufficient to exclude me from the society of all decent
persons. My father cursed me, and banished me from
his presence; but my brother Joshua, the most kindhearted
of mortals, supplied my wants, and consoled me
with his occasional and stolen visits, although the load

of evidence had also entirely convinced him of my
crimes.

“My father resisted all my efforts at conciliation and
justification. Joshua seconded them to the utmost of
his power but it was of no avail. I fell into despair, but
was at last roused by the information that my father
in a fit of extraordinary clemency, had consented to my
exportation to the Pacific in one of his whaling ships.

“The expedition was to last three years and perhaps
longer. This indulgence, he informed me through
Joshua (for he still refused to see me,) was to be ascribed
solely to my brother's intercession; and was not at all
in consequence of any change of opinion with regard to
my guilt or innocence.

“I had nothing for it therefore, but to turn whaler—
so a whaling I went.

“My education of course progressed in this course of
life; and my morals and manners were much improved
by the society of my associates. There now no longer
remained a doubt in my own mind regarding my inevitable
destiny.

“I throve and grew strong, however, on the luxuries
of my whaling life, so that after I had fairly circumnavigated
the globe, and finished my three years' voyage I
stepped on shore a full-grown man. The alteration in
my appearance was so complete that I was not recognized
by the few acquaintances whom I met. I hailed this
change as a lucky omen, for feeling that my former self
was not likely to be a very influential patron to me in
future, I rejoiced that I might assume as it were a new
character, and perhaps in time become a respectable
person.

“My old fate, however, was against me. The first

evening of my arrival, as I was making my way to the
ship in search of my effects, I was assaulted by two strong
fellows, and robbed of my three years' wages. This was
not all, for a number of persons being aroused by the
bustle, the rogues contrived to make it appear that I was
the assailant, and very coolly accused me of assault and
robbery. The sapient spectators were as usual completely
convinced by my shabby dress and sinister expression,
so that half a dozen constables were called,
and I was shuffled into jail. In the mean time the
real rogues effected their escape.

“The next morning my father and brother were informed
of the arrival of the ship, and at the same moment
learned that their hopeful relative had been committed
for robbery and murder the first evening of his
arrival.

“Even the benevolent Joshua now gave me up, and
although I was of course after a few days' repose in the
prison, released by the non-appearance of my accusers;
yet my doom was fixed, and not a voice found a single
argument in my favour.

“As I was now abandoned by every human being, I
resolved to leave the place where my position in society
could no longer be considered an eligible one. I had
had enough of the sea, so I resolved to push into the
wilderness. I made my way into the valley of the
Connecticut, which I knew was the constant seat of
Indian warfare, and resolved if possible to gain a livelihood
by earning the bounty upon Indian scalps. It
seemed to me that this business was the only one in
which my shabby character was not likely to prevent
success.

“I settled in D—, and made the acquaintance of

one of the settlers. Agriculture was at that time carried
on with a spade in one hand, and a loaded musket in
the other. The farmer, whose name was Killburn, was
willing to take me as an apprentice. He furnished me
with a hoe and a rifle, and I soon made a rapid progress
in the trade. I found Indian hunting, as it was then
practised, an exhilarating amusement, and, in the course
of a few years, my industry, and the sale of my scalps,
enabled me to lay by a tolerable sum.

“I removed a little further up the river, and purchased
a small tract of land.

“Three years had now elapsed since I had seen or heard
from any one of my relations. One day however, I was
profoundly astonished at receiving a letter from Joshua.
This gentle-tempered brother informed me that he had
been afflicted upon hearing of my departure, and regretted
his hastiness. Although he did not intimate to
me that his opinions with regard to the real truth of my
past career had undergone any change, but on the contrary,
gave me pretty plainly to understand that he still
considered me, to his sorrow, as a tolerably abandoned
young gentleman, yet he begged to inform me that any
assistance I might be in need of would be most cheerfully
furnished by him. He furthermore informed me,
that our youngest brother, Augustine Morton, and himself
had been passing a summer in a village about
twenty miles from me—that our father had stationed
him there to superintend the clearing and cultivating of
some very extensive tracts of land which he had purchased
a few years previously; and to conclude, that
Augustine was about to marry a daughter of a wealthy
pioneer in the valley.

“All this information I received as I was about departing

on an expedition of unusual importance. A
strong party of Pequods, the most inveterate English-haters
of the New England tribes, had lately assaulted
the village of P—, and after massacreing several families
had concluded with setting fire to the place, and departing
with a number of captives.

“I had immediately assembled a strong party of friends
who desired nothing better than to wreak their vengeance
on the accursed savages. We swore to pursue their
trail and to rescue the captives, or according to the usual
heroic formula, to perish in the attempt.

“I read my brother's letter, thrust it hastily in my bosom,
and then set off on our scouting party.”

4. CHAPTER IV.
THE ADVENTURES OF PATANKO, CONTINUED.

“Our expedition was successful. We followed the trail
of the savages for many miles, and at last came up with
a party of them who were left in charge of the captives.
They were about equal to us in number. We attacked
them with ferocity, and succeeded in liberating the prisoners.
With their assistance the victory was soon decided
in our favour. The Indians were slaughtered to
a man; our own loss was trifling. Upon me as leader
and instigator of the pursuit, the thanks of the captives
were prodigally bestowed. There was one in particular
whose gratitude much delighted me. It was a beautiful
young girl who had been carried off with several others
of her sex. Eunice Blake was the daughter of a wealthy
settler, and her unbounded joy at her deliverance may

easily be conceived. It was very natural that she should
look upon her preserver with partial eyes. I believe her
attachment dated from the moment she first beheld me.
It was not singular; for now that I am on the verge of
the grave, and have long outlived all youthful vanity, I
have no hesitation in saying that there was no youth in
the valley whose personal attractions compared with
mine. It was a slander of my enemies to say that my
expression was disagreeable.

“We returned to P—, and I had the satisfaction of
restoring Eunice to the embraces of her friends. I lingered
in the village for several days; during this time
our mutual passion had increased to the most violent
degree.

“As soon as this was apparent, the parents of my Eunice
gave me to understand that my visits were no longer
acceptable. Their gratitude was not proof against the
fear of an utter stranger's addresses to their only child.

“I have omitted to state, that on coming to the wilderness,
I had dropped my family name, and was known
throughout the valley by my baptismal one of Morris.

“I had acquired, however, from the Indians the cognomen
of Patanko, which was my most common designation.

“It was hardly to be wondered at that Patanko Morris,
an adventurer whom no one knew should not be
considered an eligible husband for the most beautiful girl
in the province. Moreover, I now learned, for the first
time, that she was already betrothed by her parents.
Although she had entertamed no violent affection for the
object of their choice, yet it was considered by all a match
to which there could be no objection; and Eunice, who
had previously been a stranger to any passionate feeling,
had found no difficulty in giving her consent.

“It was very different, now that she had conceived a
desperate affection for the wild and wayward preserver
of her life.

“I felt insulted and aggrieved, and it was at that moment
that the darkest period of my life commenced. It
is a fact on which I shall offer no comment—for I am
merely recording a confession, and not composing a moral
essay—that my love for Eunice was extinguished, for
the moment at least, in the dark tempest which now
spread itself over my mind.

“I communed with myself, and I felt more keenly
than ever that I was the slave and the sport of an evil
destiny. My name was blackened, my character irremediably
destroyed, and my prospects in life blasted before
I had emerged from my boyhood. Each succeeding
year had only told the same tale and repeated the ill-fated
lesson which I had now learned by heart, and all this
without my being conscious of a single crime.

“I am well aware that a strong and well-regulated
mind would perhaps have only gained new energy by
such constant opposition. But my nature had been too
long abandoned to itself. It was overgrown with weeds,
and the blessed and healthy fountains of good were well
nigh choked and buried.

“At this moment I threw off all desire for good. At
this moment I resigned myself to my evil genius. I felt
that my arms were palsied with struggling against the
ceaseless current which must eventually bear me down,
and I blindly abandoned myself to my fate. It was at
this moment that I became really wicked. I have not,
my son, the slightest inclination to extenuate my crimes.
I have penned this confession that you might know exactly
how far my guilt extended, and because I have

been accused of a thousand crimes of which I was always
incapable, and from which my son will be glad to
acquit the memory of his father.

“I write also that you may take warning from my fate,
and to convey to you, as strongly as I can, the principle
that the greatest weakness is to acknowledge that you
are weak, and that the surest way to accomplish an evil
destiny, is to believe in it.

“At this moment I became really a villain—because
I believed that I was fated to become one. It was with
a feeling of relief that I threw off all restraint, and threw
myself into the arms of my evil genius.

“I swore revenge against the Blakes. The first victim
was Eunice. I easily accomplished her ruin, for she
loved and trusted me, and then, when the family were
humbled to the dust, I fled the place.

“A few months after my return to my own habitation,
I received a second letter from Joshua. Alas! its contents
and its language were widely different from the last.
The letter I have preserved, but it is unnecessary to lay
it before you; suffice that I inform you of its purport.

“I already knew that Joshua and Augustine had both
been in the valley the preceding summer, at a time when
I was absent on a hunting excursion. I now learned for
the first time that they had both become violently in love
with Eunice Blake; that Joshua, on discovering (as he
had reason to believe) a mutual attachment between
Augustine and Eunice, had, after a desperate struggle,
for his passions were strong, resigned all his pretensions,
and precipitately left the place.

“It was, then, Eunice Blake, the victim of my vengeance,
who was betrothed to Augustine.

“The feelings of my brothers may be easily conceived

when they received the information of what had taken
place. It was at the moment that Augustine was leaving
his home for the residence of his beloved, that the
fatal tidings arrived. It was not however for several
weeks that Patanko Morris and Morris Morton were discovered
to be one and the same person.

“Augustine destroyed himself in a moment of frenzy.
Joshua, after writing to me in the most harrowing terms,
abjuring all relationship, and bequeathing to me his
eternal curse, abandoned his country. He remained
long beyond the Atlantic, and I heard of him no more.

“My son! the agony which was the consequence of a
real crime, how widely did I find to differ from the
moodiness which had previously been excited within me
by the consciousness of a perverse fate! Alas! I have
suffered for that crime, but I feel even now that it is not
expiated.

“As soon as I was sufficiently recovered to be able to
consider my situation at all, I resolved to make all the
reparation in my power.

“It will easily be believed that the objections of the
Blakes to my union with Eunice were slightly weakened
by what had happened. Although my victim was on
the brink of the grave, and entirely indifferent to all that
could happen in this world; yet she was willing (in the
hope of lightening the misery which weighed down her
parents to the dust) to unite herself to her detestable
destroyer.

“Preparations were made for the wedding, and the day
was at last fixed.

“We were assembled on a gloomy autumnal afternoon

at the habitation of Nathan Blake; the minister
of the village was about to perform the ceremony.

“Before its termination, however, we were alarmed
by a great commotion without. There was much
shouting and hurrying to and fro and presently the terrific
Indian yell was heard on every side. My worst
suspicions were realized. The bloodhounds were again
upon us.

“The incomplete marriage was interrupted. In a
few moments a bullet had whistled through the room.
There was a tolerably strong party in the house, and we
had plenty of guns and ammunition. We barricaded
the doors and windows, and prepared for a desperate defence.

“The house of Blake was considerably in advance of
the main body of the village. Its position was solitary
but tolerably strong. I soon discovered that it was myself
who was the main object of the attack. It had become
known to the Indians that the detestable Patanko
was to be present at that place and time; and a large
party of the friends of those who had fallen in our last
skirmish, had vowed my destruction.

“An attack of Indians was not, however, so unfrequent
in that quarter that the settlers were not usually
provided with the means of defence.

“Our guns were loaded, and a sudden volley from
the second story window, which brought two of our assailants
to the ground, somewhat astonished the enemy.
In the meantime featherbeds and blankets were suspended
from the ceilings and across the windows, which
served the double purpose of a barricade and a reservoir
of ammunition. The women loaded our gups, and a
constant fire was kept up upon the savages. Nearly all

our bullets were successful, while our party were so well
protected that as yet not a single wound had been re-received.

“Eunice was the boldest of the party Indeed it was
the first time for a long period that she had manifested
any feeling of humanity. She had hitherto been to all
appearances an animated corpse.

“She was most efficient in loading our muskets, and
exposed herself constantly despite of all my endeavours
to prevent her.

“It seemed to me at last, that she was more than indifferent
to life and that she rather hoped than feared our
eventual destruction.

“It was not long before my worst fears were realized.
A bullet struck her. She uttered a faint shriek. I rushed
forward and caught her in my arms. It was too late.—
Her deeply-injured spirit had passed away without a
struggle. The interrupted bridal was for ever banned.
Earthly reparation was no longer in my power. I cast
myself frantically upon the ground, and bitterly cursed
my terrible destiny.

“It was no time, however, to give way to useless lamentations.
My companions roused me, and after a little
interval my grief changed to the most deadly and
tempestuous rage.

“I was no longer contented to remain in the house
which was the tomb of all my better feelings. I seized
my arms and shaking myself from the grasp of those
who strove to detain me, I rushed forth at once, determined
to wreak my vengeance upon the enemy.

“My sudden sally had astonished the savages. Before
they were scarcely aware of my presence I had already
slain two of the foremost. It was, however, impossible

for me to avoid the penalty of my rashness. I
was surrounded at once. I dealth the most furious blows
about me. They were more successful than they might
otherwise have been, for the Indians were bent upon
capturing me alive. My resistance, however desperate,
was of no avail. I was captured, and knew that the
most exquisite tortures were in store for me. I recked it
not. I had at least glutted my revenge. Eunice was
dead, and I welcomed death.

5. CHAPTER V.
THE HISTORY OF PATANKO, CONTINUED.

“From this time forth my connection with civilized man
may be said to have terminated. From this time forth
the whole penalty of my crimes began to be inflicted.—
From this time forth my dwelling was the wilderness;
my associates savages and demons.

“As soon as I was captured, the savages sounded a retreat.
The object of their expedition was accomplished,
—the villagers had become alarmed, and there was every
probability that a rescue would be attempted. Their
party was strong, however, and they retreated in triumph.
They directed their course to Canada, for these Indians
were in the service and the pay of the French.

“I had been slightly wounded, but I was unfortunately
able to walk. If I had been disabled they might, perhaps,
have despatched me. A rope was now bound tightly
about my arms, and the other end was given to two
athletic savages. I was thus led forward like a beast to
the slaughter.

“Our march continued till late that evening, during
the night I was of course securely guarded, and early
in the morning our agreeable pilgrimage was resumed.

“In the course of the second day I contrived to lag
considerably behind the others. My wound was considered
a sufficient excuse for my heavy movements, and my
two guardians were considered more than competent to
secure me.

“At last I seized a favourable moment, and by a desperate
exertion of strength succeeded in snapping the
rope that bound me. I had hoped to drop into a thicket,
and to effect my escape before the two Indians were
aware; but I was unsuccessful, they perceived my attempt,
and rushed towards me.

“Escape was of course impossible, and although I
had no weapons I prepared to give them battle.

“One, who was the most active, was a little in advance
of the other. I was celebrated the whole country
round for my dexterity in the elegant amusement of trip
and twitch, which is one of the pleasantest varieties of
the Indian hug.

“I succeeded in casting the first with tremendous violence
to the earth; his head struck against a stone, and
he lay motionless upon the ground.

“The other now came bounding towards me, making
horrible grimaces, and uttering a delightful series of Indian
yells. I closed with him—he was enormously muscular—I
exerted all my strength—I could not move him
from his feet. I succeeded, however, in pinioning his
arms—we stood for a moment grinning in each other's
face.

“After I had had plenty of leisure to examine the ingenious
paintings with which he had thought proper to

decorate his face and bosom, he suddenly made a convulsive
movement, whirled suddenly about in my arms,
and succeeded in freeing himself from my embrace. His
blanket, which was his only covering, remained in my
clutch, and there was now an excellent opportunity to
admire the continuation of hieroglyphics with which he
had illustrated the whole of his person.

“My time for this survey was, however, limited, for
the naked savage, after executing a few pigeon-wings
with astonishing dexterity, and giving utterance to a succession
of infernal yells which were anything but melodious,
again threw himself upon me.

“I now found that I had by no means gained any
advantage by reducing him to the indecent state in which
he at present advanced to battle. As soon as I had him
again in my embrace I found that the fellow's body was
so greasy and slippery, that I could make nothing of
him.

“He turned himself about like a snake, and slipped
through my arms before I was aware of it; but as
luckily he had dropped his knife and his gun previous to
the encounter, his whole efforts were bent upon throwing
me to the earth.

“While we were still engaged in this agreeable trial
of skill, we perceived the effects of the musical performances
to which I have alluded.

“The main body of the savages, attracted by his yell,
now advanced to the place. I was again surrounded
and again a prisoner.

“I was now placed upon the ground, and surrounded
by a circle of savages. The hypocritical devils all came
forward and shook hands with me; smiling goodhumouredly
in my face, and making use of a few

endearing expressions of which they had learned the
English.

“As it was now nearly sun-set, and as the scene of
my late encounter was a commodious one for an encampment,
they resolved to pass the night in that place. Their
cooking establishments were soon in operation, and after
an hour they were engaged in discussing the game
which they had shot in the course of their march. In
the meantime I was tied to a tree, and left to my reflections.

“When the repast was nearly finished, the chief,
whose name (as he informed me) was Wahquimacutt,
or the `White-cat,' advanced towards me, patted me on
the cheek, and assured me in English that I was a good
boy. He then held towards me a bit of venison which
he was devouring, and assured me that it was excellent.

“I told him I had no doubt of it; upon which he requested
me to partake with him.

“I accepted his invitation, for not having tasted food
since leaving P—, I was in truth nearly famished.

“Upon this he extended to me a bit with a most
graceful bow, and as I was on the point of taking it, he
snatched it from me and deposited it in his own capacious
mouth.

“At this capital jest he laughed heartily. He then
patted me again on the cheek, and asked in English if
I had breakfasted. I answered no—upon which he told
me that I must be a poor Englishman indeed, if I could
not go to Canada without breakfast.

“To this sensible speech no reply seemed to be expected,
and I made none. Soon afterwards, Wahquimacutt,
or uncle White-cat, as he called himself in English,
turned on his heel and rejoined his comrades.

“Sobriety was evidently not one of the virtues of my
amiable companions. As may be supposed, they had
provided themselves with a plentiful supply of spirits, and
were soon tolerably tipsy. They contrived, however, in
the midst of their intoxication, to maintain a decent
gravity of demeanour which was truly edifying.

“After they had exhausted their supply, they sat themselves
down in a circle with burlesque solemnity, and
lighted their pipes. From a few words whose meaning
I understood, I obtained the cheering information that
they were deliberating on the most advisable method of
despatching me; while they were occupied in this philanthropical
business, they would smile upon me as if
their hearts were overflowing with kindness, and occasionally
would address me in the most endearing
terms.

“After a time, the old chief, who was very dignified,
but very drunk, came forward, caressed me affectionately,
and informed me that he was my uncle White-cat, the
great chief so terrible in battle. After this, he placed
himself in an oratorical position, and announced his intention
of making me a speech. The tenor of his oration
was to assure me that the number of his warlike exploits
exceeded all belief; that he had eaten the chief sachems
and princes of seven hostile tribes, and that every red man
turned white when his name was mentioned; furthermore
that he had fifteen wives at home, each more
beautiful than the other; that he had a collection of
Englishmen's scalps hanging in his wigwam; that their
number amounted already to one hundred and twenty,
and that mine would have the honour of being the one
hundred-and-twenty-first.

“After giving me all this choice information, he came

more immediately to the point. He told me that the
grand council which had just been in session, had decided
that it was not expedient immediately to despatch
me. That, on the contrary, it was possible I might yet
afford them considerable entertainment, and concluded
by requesting me to prepare immediately to run the
gauntlet.

“My heart sank within me. I had hoped that my
trials were to be short, and that I was soon to find repose
in death. I now found that my tortures were to form
the daily amusement of my companions for Heaven
knew how long a period.

“They commenced proceedings immediately. Several
approached the tree to which I was bound, and began
tearing off my clothes. While they were thus occupied,
they amused themselves with pricking me with the points
of their knives in every part of my body, lacerating my
face, slitting my ears, and other ingenious devices. During
the whole time, their faces were expressive of the
utmost good humour.

“It is not necessary to give you the details of the process
which I underwent. Suffice that I was compelled
to run the gauntlet till my persecutors were wearied, and
till I dropped lifeless with fatigue and loss of blood.
After this, I was I believe again pinioned, and laid on
the ground between two savages for the night.

“Early the next morning the party resumed their line
of march. Its direction continued to be towards Canada.
For the whole of the two succeeding days I was comparatively
unmolested, and was given to understand that
it was possible I might be surrendered to the French
and obtain my liberty by paying a handsome ransom.

“As I thought it extremely unlikely that any of my
acquaintances at home would purchase so worthless a
commodity as myself at the extravagant price, which
the enemy would be sure to put upon me, I considered
my situation as hardly changed for the better. Besides
this, I infinitely preferred death to life. I had at last
become disgusted with my fate—with myself—with
mankind; and in my state of mind it was more than
probable that if I had been set at my liberty, my first act
would have been to free myself from the intolerable thraldom
of existence.

“I had, however, recently received a piece of information,
which gave me at least one object to live for.
Wahquimacutt had informed me with great exultation
that he was the murderer of my Eunice. His bullet
was the accursed one which had cut asunder the last
bond that united me to mankind. I swore that if I,
indeed, escaped from my present imprisonment with life,
I would not rest till I had revenged her death upon its
infernal perpetrator.

“Our march continued a day or two longer; but at
length I was informed that we were near its termination.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, we arrived at the principal
Indian village of the tribe.

“Our party was received with great glee, and the exultation
in the village was heightened when they were
informed that the celebrated Patanko had been taken
captive.

“I had the gratification of discovering that my fame
was much more widely extended than I was previously
aware of.

“Captain White-cat now informed me that I was for
the present to remain a prisoner in his wigwam. I was

unable to discover what his exact intentions were with
regard to me; but it was evident that I was not immediately
to be sacrificed.

“I was kept strictly bound and guarded, and my
scanty food was of the meanest description. You may
believe that my condition was not improved by such a
course of life. In the course of a few weeks I was
greatly reduced, and I hoped fervently that death would
soon finish my miserable struggles.

“Every evening Wahquimacutt would seat himself
near me, and rehearse to me in a low voice, and in his
native tongue (which I already partially understood) the
oft-repeated catalogue of his achievements. Notwithstanding
my situation was apparent to every one, he
was sure to be greatly irritated when my weakness prevented
me from applauding him to his satisfaction.

“At last he seemed to be aware of my illness, and began
to doctor me. This was all that was wanted to
complete my misery. I was obliged to swallow countless
decoctions of nauseous drugs, and listen to interminable
disquisitions on the causes of my malady, which
were irritating to the last degree.

“At last, owing as much as any thing to his constant
physicking, I felt myself reduced in reality to a very low
ebb. He agreed with me that I was dying, and as a great
indulgence promised to send me a French priest to console
my last moments.

“I testified the utmost horror and disgust at the proposition,
in consequence of which he of course became
more urgent in its favour. At last I had nothing to do
but to yield.

“The tribe of savages of which Wahquimacutt was
the chief were among the closest allies of the French.

They were, as a natural consequence, the direst enemies
of the English; and as the hostilities between France
and England were so constant in those days, that there
was hardly ever a cessation of warfare on the border;
the hate of all those, both savages and Christians,
French and English, who dwelt near the frontier, went
on increasing from day to day.

“The Canadian Indians were, however the most
perfect tools of the French. Inch by inch, and acre
by acre, they, in common with all other white men,
wrested their territories from the original proprietors, and
at the same time indulged them with the permission to
fight their most desperate battles for them, while they
kindly relieved them of the principal portion of the spoils.

“There were a few Jesuits and French traders usually
to be found in most Indian villages of that tribe.

“The priest whose acquaintance I had now the
honour of making, was, it seemed to me, a type of his
calling and his sect.

“He was a tall spare man, of a sallow and adust complexion;
for father Simon was none of your ordinary,
well-fed, greasy priests. There was genius in his crafty
eye and in his scornful mouth. But it was an evil
genius,—a genius of ambition, rapaciousness and cruelty.
It was not till some time afterwards that I discovered the
extent of the French government's obligations to that
man; and was fully satisfied that he was not only one
of the subtlest instigators, but one of the most powerful
conductors of the bloody and desperate wars of that period
between the French Indians and the New England
settlers.

“My acquaintance with him was not of long duration.
Very luckily, however, Captain White-cat left me

more to myself during the priest's attendance; and in
consequence of my weakness and emaciation I was no
longer confined with the strictness which had hitherto
been my lot.

“I began gradually to recover, and so much had
Wahquimacutt's clemency increased, that I was even
permitted to walk about the village, attended only by the
Père Simon, and a couple of well-armed Indians.

“The whole bent of the holy father's eloquence during
his communications with me was to induce me to forswear
my country, and to embrace his faith. He assured
me that he had taken a great liking to me from
the first, and had a particular respect for my character
and talents. From what source this liking and this
respect had been derived, it would have been difficult for
him to inform me, for the few observations I had made
had been merely intended to convey to him the extreme
disgust and contempt I entertained for myself.

“My obligations to this clerical gentleman proved in
the sequel much greater than I had any reason to expect.

“Time wore on. I was still a tenant of Captain
White-cat's wigwam. As my fate had decided that I
was not yet to be relieved by death, and as my health
was now nearly re-established, father Simon was informed
that his visits were no longer necessary. Accordingly
my acquaintance with the priest terminated for a
time.

“Not long after this, I was informed by my worthy
landlord that an expedition was in contemplation. The
destination was to the south, and of course against my
countrymen. He did not enter into ample explanations,
but coolly informed me that I was to accompany him.
I was of course to be securely guarded.

“I have omitted to inform you that after my communications
with the priest, I had received from
Wahquimacutt a formal invitation to join his tribe.
This of course, if accepted, included present liberty, and
pardon for all past offences. The hopes of a Sachemship
and other promotions were moreover held out to me in
addition.

“I rejected the proposal with indignation. The chief,
however, evidently did not resign his hope of eventually
succeeding, and in the mean time informed me that I
was to accompany him on his expedition.

“I found that my name and my exploits in the scalp-taking
line had been long the theme of particular admiration
among the savages. A grand council of war had
determined that it was expedient if possible to enlist the
terrible Patanko on their side, and large offers were made
to induce me to consent.

“Although I have already mentioned that the proposal
met with my decided disapprobation; yet they were
not the less determined that I should accompany them
on their contemplated invasion. It was expected, I believe,
that the opportunity thus afforded me of seeing on
a grand scale the atrocities which they were in the habit
of committing upon my countrymen, would indubitably
induce me at last to unite myself to their party.

“I was, however, no longer kept in ignorance of the
principal features of their design. A day or two before
we set out, Captain White-cat informed me that their intention
was to penetrate into the very heart of New England,
carrying desolation as they went, and more particularly
to burn all the villages, and massacre all the inhabitants
upon the Connecticut River. He modestly assured
me that if the Great Spirit allowed them to carry

only this part of the plot into operation, he should still
consider that his exertions had not been in vain.

“Arrangements for assistance and co-operation had
been entered into with various southern tribes, who were
friendly to their cause, and the vast numbers who were
in readiness, and the extensive preparations and farreaching
plans for the whole campaign were of a character
so decidedly superior to those which are to be met
with in ordinary Indian warfare, that I at once detected
the presence of a civilized and crafty mind, (superior to
the combined intelligence of all the savages,) which presided
over the whole.

“The day before we set out, White-cat entered the
wigwam in a very merry mood. He informed me that
he was the happiest man in the world, that he had just
concluded a bargain which had enriched him for life, and
that he could never sufficiently express his gratitude to
the virtuous man who had allowed him to make so advantageous
a barter.

“I testified my curiosity to hear the particulars of this
wonderful transaction.

“He informed me that he had just completed the sale
of a large tract of land to a French settler. I had of
course never accurately measured the property in question;
but from his description and my own observation,
I found that the district in question could not be less than
three thousand acres.

“I inquired the price which he had received. He informed
me with great exultation that it was a barter and
not a sale, and hereupon he read me a catalogue of the
articles which he was to receive.

“I do not recollect the whole. The principal, however,
were twelve coats of fine French cloths, twelve

spoons, twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen knives,
twelve pewter porringers, and four cases of scissors.

“I asked the purchaser's name, which I already suspected.
He informed me that it was father Simon, and
that the reverend gentleman, with a parade of liberality,
had thrown in over and above the stipulated price, ten
fathoms of glass beads of the most magnificent description,
besides a cassock worn by himself and quite as good
as new.

“As this latter article was likely to be so particularly
useful to my bare-legged patron, and as the whole price
was so scrupulously adequate to the value of the land
transferred, I had of course nothing to say.

“Wahquimacutt announced to me with great dignity,
that he intended to array himself in the cassock on
the morrow and wear it during the whole expedition;
so that I felt myself bound to make him a few compliments
on the peculiar fitness of the costume, and on the
sagacity he had manifested in the whole transaction.

6. CHAPTER VI.
THE ADVENTURES OF PATANKO, CONTINUED.

“The expedition departed. On approaching the border,
Wahquimacutt thought proper to make a division of his
forces. I remained, of course, in that party which was
more particularly under his command.

“There was at that time a strong and well-garrisoned
fort belonging to the English, which was very near the
border, and which lay directly in our line of march.

“White-cat called a halt to deliberate whether it was

most expedient to attack it or to make their way stealthily
by a circuitous route without molesting the garrison.

“The means by which he intimated his intentions
were ingenious.

“He inclosed a bundle of arrows in a snake skin, and
sent them by one of his most eminent warriors to the
fort.

“The commandant understood the purport of this
missive, but was not to be intimidated.

“Being conversant with the usages of the Indians, he
took the arrows from the bundle and sent back the snake
skin filled with powder and shot as a defiance.

“On receiving this reply, Wahquimacutt called another
solemn council, and, after due deliberation, concluded
to back out.

“He assured me that there was but little to gain by an
encounter with the garrison; and the result of the whole
was that the line of march was changed.

“We marched rapidly into the interior, and it was
some time before we encountered an enemy.

“On the afternoon of the 20th October, 17—, our
march lay along the borders of a rapid brook. The
whole day long we had traversed a level and well-wooded
country. About five o'clock in the afternoon it was
necessary to cross the brook, which at this point had
widened and deepened into an extensive morass.

“The swamp was thickly wooded, and its edges were
covered with a profusion of wild grapes.

“The Indians proceeded at once to regale themselves
greedily upon the fruit. While they were engaged, the
party was necessarily much scattered. All at once Captain
White-cat, who, it must be confessed, was a watchful
chieftain uttered a grunt. His face was expressive of

much astonishment and disgust. He laid his hand on
my shoulder, and pointed to a thicket of alder bushes.
To my surprise I saw a large number of red legs huddled
together as thick as grasshoppers.

“We had evidently fallen into an ambush; but it was
also evident that we were not the game for whom the
trap was laid.

“Wahquimacutt signified to me, in a few guttural exclamations
below his breath, that we were much the
stronger party, and that it was evident that they intended
if possible to keep themselves concealed till we should
pass through.

“Hereupon, without more ado, he brought his rifle to
his shoulder and shot one of the skulkers on the spot.—
As he did so, he raised his terrific war-whoop. Our men
started at the sound, and looked about them. At the
same instant the whole party of the enemy, about twenty
in number, rose to their feet, discharged a volley upon
us, and then commenced a precipitate flight.

“Our Indians struggled through the marsh, and kept
up an unceasing fire upon them. As our numbers more
than doubled that of the Mohawks (for our antagonists
proved to be a detachment of that tribe) the victory was
soon declared for us.

“A large number was shot, several were trodden down
and suffocated in the marsh, and a few were taken prisoners.

“Among these last was the respectable Squanto, the
leader of the party. He was taken by a couple of Wahquimacutt's
young men, as, after having exhausted his
whole stock of ammunition, he was endeavouring to escape.

“As soon as he was made prisoner, one of his captors,

who was quite a strippling, commenced interrogating him
in what he considered an impertinent manner. The
truculent old chief drew himself up with great dignity
and observed,

“`You are a child. You know nothing of war matters.
Send me to your chief; to him alone will I speak.'

“By this time the whole party, victors and captives,
had emerged from the marsh, and now were all drawn
up on a little rising ground.

“As soon as Squanto's reply had been communicated
to Captain White-cat, that fussy old gentleman bustled
forth in Simon's cassock with great solemnity.

“He grunted with satisfaction when he observed that
the chieftain of the enemy had been captured; but when
he recognized in him an old and inveterate enemy of
himself and his whole family—when he saw that it was
indeed the redoutable Squanto who stood before him, his
gratification was unbounded.

“He looked at him a few seconds with a countenance
expressive of the utmost delight, and then condemned
him to immediate death with great alacrity.

“`It is well,' said Squanto complacently, on receiving
this sudden death-warrant—`it is excellent; I shall die
before my heart is soft—before I have said or done any
thing unworthy of myself.'

“So saying, he threw aside his blanket and folded his
arms across his breast. As there was no time to be lost,
Captain White-cat resigned with a sigh the gratification
he might have derived from tormenting him, and ordered
him to be shot immediately. He fell like a hero.

“As soon as he was dead, White-cat took off his scalp
with great dexterity. He then cut a bit of flesh from the
shoulder of the fallen chieftain, and deliberately devoured

it. Having done this, he smacked his lips and observed,
— `I like it well! it is the sweetest morsel I have tasted
for a long time. It makes my heart strong — ugh!'

“After these matters were satisfactorily settled, he
drew his followers around him, and made them a speech
of tolerable length, and entirely in praise of himself. He
then ordered the whole party to move forward.

“Nothing else of importance occurred during this day.
At evening we encamped, and the Indians had a great
jollification in honour of their victory. During the continuance
of this, I was tied to a tree and left to my own
reflections.

“We had hitherto marched leisurely, and had got but
little beyond the frontier — of course we were still at a
great distance from the New England settlements.

“Two days after this, we reached a fortified house
which was inhabited by a solitary family. It was a
kind of farm-house, and the land was already cleared to
a considerable extent. It was the first English residence
that we had seen, and there was a plantation around it
of Indian corn and pumpkins. As these were dainties
which they had not enjoyed for some time, the savages
lost no time in gathering the crop. While they were
thus employed, White-cat entered the house to reconnoitre.
The master who was an emigrant from Massachusetts
was absent. There was nobody present but a
couple of old women and three children.

“There was nothing in the house worth stealing;
but as the savages had had no entertainment for some
time their captain thought proper to indulge them.

“Accordingly, they killed the children, took the old
women prisoners, and then set fire to the house.

“Having accomplished this chivalrous exploit, White-cat
made another speech and then continued his march.

“The whole of the next day we were traversing the
wilderness; but late in the afternoon we arrived at a
small French village. Here we encamped for the night.

“The next morning it was found that the liquor was
exhausted, and it would be some days before they could
expect a supply. Luckily White-cat succeeded in borrowing
a couple of bottles of rum from a French priest,
for which, as he had no money, he was obliged to pawn
the old women.

“Having got rid of this encumbrance, he shot his other
prisoners, very mercifully and unaccountably sparing
me, and then proceeded forward.

“Although, as I have before stated, this expedition
had been intended particularly against the settlers on the
Connecticut river; yet now that we were fairly under
weigh, our captain decided that previous to the main undertaking
it would not be amiss to accomplish a few unfinished
jobs which he had on hand.

“There was a settlement of Indians not far from the
boundary of New-York and Massachusetts, between
whom and the tribe of Wahquimacutt there was an ancient
feud.

“As Wahquimacutt was now in greater force than
usual, he thought there could not be a better opportunity
of indulging his animosity, and accordingly he changed
the line of his route to this place.

“About a day and a half afterwards, the scouts whom
the chief had sent forward, returned with the information
that they had reached the skirts of a large fortified
village. Wahquimacutt informed his warriors that this
village was the abode of the Piganokutts and of their

sanguinary Sachem Worambo—that this Worambo was
almost the bravest chief in the world—that he was the
terror of the country, and that the world rang with his
achievements. Adding, however, that his exploits were
nothing, and his courage nothing, in comparison with his
own.

“He then signified his intention of surrounding and
destroying the village and all its inhabitants.

“Accordingly, he waited till the dead of night, and
then posted his warriors entirely around the place. He
possessed himself stealthily of every entrance to the village,
and felt confident of crushing his enemy at a blow.

“By the time he had completed his preparations, the
grey tints of morning were already visible. There was
no time to be lost, not even in making a speech, and the
signal was given for the assault.

“The Indians rushed forward with terrible yells, prepared
to overcome all resistance, and to massacre the
Piganokutts one and all.

“When they got into the village, there were no Piganokutts
to massacre.

“The only human being in the place was an ancient
Sachem, more than a hundre years of age.

“It appeared that timely intelligence of the intended
attack had been brought by an Indian who had opportunely
met with some of the scouts of our party, and
had escaped unperceived.

“In consequence of this information, the whole population
with the exception of this patriarch, had left the
place.

“Whither they had retreated it was of course impossible
for us to know; but it was probable that they had
taken refuge in some stronger position in the neighbourhood.

“The rage of White-cat, when he discovered that
the birds had flown, was excessive. He sent for the
ancient Sachem in a pet.

“The old fellow replied that he was too old to walk
on any body's business but his own. If Wahquimacutt
wished an interview, he must come to him.

“Hereupon Wahquimacutt ordered a couple of his
warriors to drag him to his presence.

“He was interrogated with regard to the direction
which the Indians had taken; he refused to speak. He
was threatened with torture; he sneered. Wahquimacutt
stabbed him with his knife; he laughed in his face.

“As there was no time to be lost, and as there was no
hope of extracting any information from the stoic, Whitecat
ordered him to be shot.

“`You had better command me to be burned,' said
the veteran; `that you Indians—you dogs—and you,
Wahquimacutt, dog of dogs, may learn how a man can
die!'

“Irritated at this, the chief took him at his word. It
would have been better to commence the pursuit of the
fugitives immediately, but White-cat was in a peevish
mood, and he determined to vent his spleen upon the
venerable Sachem. He ordered him forthwith to be
bound to a stake. His orders were obeyed instantaneously.
A heap of brushwood was then placed around
him, and the pile was fired. The flames ascended, and
the old savage, with a cracked and tremulous voice, but
with a dauntless countenance, commenced his death-chant.
I will spare you the details of this terrible catastrophe.

“As soon as the Sachem was reduced to cinders,
White-cat became more good-natured. Active preparations

were now made to discover the lurking-place of the
enemy, and scouts were sent out in all directions.

“The whole of the day was spent, however, in fruitless
search. We encamped that night in the neighbourhood
of the village.

“The next morning, our advanced scout came hastily
back, and informed the chieftain that there could be now
no doubt that the enemy were at last within his grasp.
They had been discovered occupying a tolerably strong
position about a mile a-head.

“We soon arrived at the scene of action. After rushing
hastily through the woods for a few minutes, we
emerged upon an extensive opening.

“A deep and thinly-wooded swamp, more than three
miles in circumference, extended on every side.

“Nearly in the centre of this swamp was a partly
natural and partly artificial elevation, of about an acre
in extent. This had been fortified with a pallisade, with
a sort of breastwork of brushwood; and, except through
the swamp, was inaccessible on every side.

“There was a sort of bridge composed of a series of
single planks, which communicated between the fort and
the land. This, however, had been partially destroyed
by the enemy, and its remains were well defended on the
interior by a couple of hastily-constructed block houses.

“A strong body was instantly despatched by Whitecut
to gain the bridges. They were allowed to come
within half-a-dozen yards of the fort, and then a volley
was discharged upon them. Half-a-dozen fell. They
were reinforced immediately, and the same process was
repeated.

“As this, however, was the only entrance to the fort,
and as Wahquimacutt's rage was heightened by this

determined opposition, he resolved not to abandon the
attempt till all his men were cut off.

“A fresh number now rushed forward to the assault.
At the same time a variety of combustibles, burning arrows,
and other incendiary contrivances, were discharged
into the fort.

“At last, after a loss of more than five-and-twenty
men, half-a-dozen chosen warriors effected an entrance.
This was nearly three hours after our first arrival at the
swamp.

“The sharp-shooters, who had made such havoc with
the assailants, were killed, and Wahquimacutt's whole
force now entered the place.

“The number of the enemy, exclusive of women and
children, was very small. It was a wonder to me that
they had been able to maintain themselves so long.

“As soon as our whole force had fairly entered, the
signal was given for indiscriminate slaughter.

“The small number of warriors were soon massacred;
and when this was accomplished, the savages had recourse
to the more trifling amusement of butchering the
women and children.

“White-cat, who was in a very ill humour at the delay,
which this episode in his great expedition had occasioned,
encouraged his warriors in the work of destruction.

“The barbarians displayed considerable ingenuity in
their different devices for slaughtering their enemies.

“One of the most eminent warriors collected a number
of stakes, with great industry drove them into the earth,
and then ornamented the extremity of each with an infant's
head. When this was finished, he called several of
his companions to admire his ingenuity, and amused himself
with skipping and dancing about them like a maniac.

“Some of the more voracious made a luncheon upon
their victims. The number of these was comparatively
few; for, to do them justice, I had found but few of the
savages who were addicted to cannibalism.

“During the continuance of this carnage, you may
conceive that the scene was horrible. The butchered
victims were strewn every where upon the ground while
the groans of the dying; the shrieks of women and children,
who were rushing wildly round, endeavouring in
vain to escape their doom; the frantic laugh of the victorious
savages and their terrific whoops, all combined to
render the scene appalling beyond description.

“As soon as they were all exhausted by their amusement,
Wahquimacutt ordered a retreat. Previous to
leaving the place, all the buildings were set on fire; and
as soon as the last of the victorious party had left the fort,
the bridge was entirely demolished.

“Quietly seating themselves on the ground beyond
the fort, the conquerors solaced themselves with a contemplation
of the conflagration which ensued.

“A large number of the unhappy enemy had been
left unslaughtered, and their shrieks were dreadful.
Some threw themselves frantically into the flames; some
rushed madly from the fort and were suffocated in the
morass. All perished.

“I turn with disgust from this shocking scene.

7. CHAPTER VII.
THE ADVENTURES OF PATANKO, CONTINUED.

“Having now satisfactorily accomplished this corollary
to his grand undertaking, White-cat determined to make
up for lost time. By dint of forced marches, we soon
reached the upper part of the great Connecticut valley,
and were soon joined by two or three of the other detachments.

“The work of destruction now commenced. The
atrocities practised upon their Indian brethren, of which
I have already given a sketch, were trivial in comparison
with the butcheries to which the New England provinces
were now exposed.

“Village after village was attacked—the houses burned,
and the inhabitants massacred.

“During the continuance of the whole expedition, I
was compelled to be a spectator of the miseries of my
countrymen. I was led by a rope fastened around my
neck; while my arms were pinioned by another.

“Fortunately for the English, there had been latterly
some defalcation on the part of the Southern allies of the
Canadian Indians. Repeated quarrels had taken place,
and threats had passed so often between the different
tribes who were united in this expedition, that it was
more than probable that their arms would soon be turned
against each other.

“In consequence of this, White-cat called a council
of the chiefs upon whom he could most depend; and it
having been decided that it was dangerous to proceed
any father at present, he resolved that the village of

T—, from which we were then ten miles distant,
should be the extreme point of their expedition.

“Accordingly the destruction of the devoted village
was resolved upon, as the finale to the whole business.

“It was decided that as soon as they had accomplished
it, they would immediately retrace their steps, and return
to their own habitations.

“We assaulted the village about noon in five strong
parties, and at five different points.

“The inhabitants assembled at the sound of the terrific
Indian yell, and a desperate resistance was made.

“The party which was headed by White-cat, fought
its way up the principal street of the place, and the
ground was covered with the mangled bodies of the
victims.

“Their numbers were so inconsiderable in comparison
with ours, that they were soon obliged to yield. The
work of plunder and of massacre now succeeded.

“Old White-cat who was the most whimsical of Indians,
had throughout the expedition, insisted upon my
remaining continually at his side. I was, he facetiously
observed, an exceedingly useful aid-de-camp, and as my
labours were lightened by the two Indians who held me
by the ropes, it was hardly possible that I could be much
fatigued. All this I received as indisputable; and I believed
that the old scoundrel, from some unnatural freak,
had in reality conceived an affection for me, and I began
to think it possible eventually to escape with life.

“The whites had now nearly all surrendered. A
feeble firing was kept up from the windows of a single
house at a distant corner of the village, but as White-cat
had despatched a half-dozen warriors to reduce the occupants
to submission, he troubled himself no more about
the matter.

“I observed that the Indians had one and all a passion
for masquerading. Upon this occasion, as soon as
their more truculent appetites were satisfied, I saw a large
number of them disappear into some of the houses.

“Presently afterwards they re-appeared, having decked
themselves out in the most preposterous manner.

“Some wore white hats; and some woollen nightcaps;
some had endued themselves in bombazine petticoats,
and several of them strutted about decked in the
finery of old militia uniforms. Six of them had rigged
themselves out in flannel shirts and bandanna handkerchiefs
of the favourite scarlet colour, and now marched
gravely forward, beating time upon an iron kettle; while
one tall fellow with a woman's bonnet on his head, a
ponderous pair of boots upon his legs, and otherwise in
complete nudity, capered about with much agility, and
excited universal admiration.

“Captain White-cat looked upon these playful warriors,
and grunted from time to time with great satisfaction.
While he was thus employed, one of the principal
inhabitants of the village, and its earliest settler, was
brought before him. He had been taken captive after
having destroyed four Indians with his own hand — he
was well aware of his fate — but when he was confronted
with Wahquimacutt who was endeavouring to
assume a commanding demeanour, he regarded him
with an expression of perfect indifference and contempt.

“The old hypocrite advanced towards him, and seized
him by both hands, which he shook heartily.

“`I salute thee, my brother!' said he; `Am I not
your uncle and your brother?

“With this he commanded two of his adherents to
hold the prisoner fast, and then, without more ado, he

stripped his shirt from his back, and his boots from his
legs, and proceeded to array himself therein.

“When he had completed his toilet, he knocked the
captive's brains out, without farther ceremony; and then
making an incision in his breast, scooped out a handful
of blood, and drank it off with much relish.

“`I am a great man!' said the old braggadocio,
turning to me; `I am the son of the Great Spirit. I
drink the heart's blood of my foes, and it makes me fat.'

“Having finished this pretty speech, he strutted up and
down the street for a few minutes, and then ordered a
council of his most eminent warriors.

“This he informed me, was his `general court,' (a
term which he had learned in his intercourse with the
white men,) and assured me that the wisdom of its deliberations
was unequalled in the world.

“Accordingly the bare-legged legislators squatted
themselves on their hams before the council fire, and
began smoking and grunting with admirable solemnity.

“While they were thus employed, the deputation
which had been sent against the still-resisting party
above-mentioned, returned with their prisoners. The
house had been demolished, and its garrison, consisting
of two white men and an aged negro, were now placed
before the conclave.

“Although the assembly were deliberating upon other
and weighty matters, yet White-cat requested them to
assist him with their advice concerning the disposal of
these prisoners.

“A great many violent speeches were accordingly
made; but as they could arrive at no conclusion, it was
determined to defer the matter till the next day. The

prisoners were placed in strict confinement, and left for
the present in ignorance of their fate.

“The next morning the prisoners requested to know,
if possible, the punishment that was to be awarded to
them; they were informed that Wahquimacutt intended
to give a grand entertainment that afternoon, and that
their fate would be then decided.

“In the afternoon, accordingly, a very solemn council
was again assembled; the prisoners were made to sit
upon the ground in the centre of the circle, and the
proceedings were conducted in a business-like manner.

“They were of course condemned to immediate death,
and three or four set immediately about the execution.

“Their clothes were torn from their bodies and thrown
into the fire; stakes were then driven into the ground, to
which they were secured.

“A number of the savages then proceeded to draw a
circle around them, which they fancifully decorated
with flowers.

“A couple of conjurors then commenced a series of ridiculous
antics, which were supposed to give an additional
solemnity to the scene.

“As soon as this was finished, all the Indians present,
sachems, counsellors, spectators, and all, commenced
dancing and jumping violently to the music of two
drums, beaten by a couple of half-breeds, who composed
the band of the tribe.

“When this was over, three individuals, painted and
adorned in a fantastic and terrible manner, and who I
found were the executioners, now brought the brushwood,
and other combustible materials, and kindled a
fire around the stakes.

“The captives were burned; and the next day the
Indians commenced their retreat.

“After we had been two days on our homeward march,
Wahquimacutt summoned me to his presence. He told
me that I had now had sufficient opportunity to become
acquainted with his merits, and requested my consent to
join his tribe.

“I replied in the negative. He then told me the only
alternative was death. I assured him that I expected it,
and that I was wearied and disgusted with my life; that
death was the greatest favour he could bestow upon me,
and the sooner he set about it the better.

“I suppose it was the constant contempt with which I
treated him that excited the liking to which I have referred.
It was evident that he was unwilling to order
my execution, and that he was anxious to secure me to
his person.

“He seemed, however, decided on this occasion, and
bade me prepare for death on the following day. I lay
awake the whole night, devising means of escape. Early
the next morning our march was resumed.

“Very fortunately the company were a good deal dispersed
in search of game, and my two faithful guardians
and myself were left considerably behind.

“During the night I had contrived to free one of my
hands from the noose which confined them, although the
manner in which the savages had attached themselves
to my person while asleep, prevented me from profiting
by that circumstance to make my escape.

“About nine in the morning our course lay across a
deep and rapid brook. As soon as my companions
reached its edge they both stooped down to drink.

“In the twinkling of an eye I seized the lucky moment,

sprang upon the nearest like a tiger, succeeded in
wresting his knife from its sheath, and drove it through
his heart.

“The other had slipped into the water, but he rose
and grappled with me. The contest was for life; but I
was the stronger of the two. We were now in the centre
of the stream, and the water reached to our waists.
With a desperate effort I threw him down, and succeeded
in holding him under the water. In a few seconds his
struggles grew fainter and fainter—they ceased. He relaxed
his gripe—he was drowned. I possessed myself
of his knife, and the gun which was lying on the bank.

“I was now free from my immediate keepers, but
surrounded by my enemies.

“The morning was foggy, and I was entirely uncertain
of the direction which the savages had taken, and
was entirely ignorant of the points of the compass.

“It seemed to me therefore that my wisest course was
to conceal myself, if possible, in the neighbourhood of
this very place.

“It was probable that the Indians would proceed on
their day's journey in the same irregular manner in
which they had commenced, and that consequently my
escape would not be discovered before the evening.

“In this way, the Indians would have probably proceeded
thirty or forty miles beyond my present position;
and that distance being once placed between us, it would
not be difficult for me to profit by the night, and eventually
to effect my escape.

“On the contrary, if I endeavoured to make my way
through the mist which prevented me from discovering
any object at a rod's distance, it was highly probable that

I should stumble upon some of my enemies before I had
advanced a quarter of a mile.

“I selected, therefore, a pile of drift wood, which the
force of the water had heaped up in a marshy angle of
the brook. Under this cover I contrived to secrete myself
and my gun so completely that it was not likely that
I should accidentally be discovered, and I trusted that
not being missed I should probably not become the object
of a direct search.

“I lay snug in my hiding-place for nearly an hour,
during which time I had the satisfaction of hearing the
voices of my enemies, the crack of their rifles, and their
imitations of the different cries of the game which they
were pursuing with hardly a moment's cessation.

“At last the cries seemed to grow fainter, the shots became
less frequent, and I began to console myself with
the belief that they had at last proceeded on their
journey.

“I felt comparatively so tranquil, and had been so
much exhausted with excitement, and with my watching
the whole of the previous night, that I was already
sinking into a doze.

“Hardly, however, were my eyes closed, than I was
startled by the shrill whoop of a savage, which sounded
within a yard of my ear.

“I felt certain that I was discovered, and that this
was a yell of exultation at my discovery. I grasped
my knife and determined to sell my life as dearly as possible.

“Still, however, I lay motionless in my hiding-place.

“In a few moments the whoop was repeated, still
more savagely than before. A pause—and then it was
answered by the faint halloos of several others in the

distance. The cries grew stronger—the voices sounded
nearer—and in a few moments, a wild and unearthly
shriek—a yell from many voices—rose directly above the
place where I lay.

“My blood curdled—my fate was evidently seated;
and death, which I had been for many days expecting
with composure, seemed doubly bitter, now that I had a
glimpse of freedom.

“It was unaccountable why I had not been immediately
dragged from my hiding-place, for now several
minutes had slipped since I had first heard the yell of
the savages.

“There was a chink in the pile of wood which concealed
me. I contrived stealthily to change my position,
and to look out.

“I saw, with a feeling of relief, that I had not been
discovered. The first savagge had discovered the bodies
of my victims, whom the current had washed ashore not
far from my hiding-place, and had given the alarm to
his companions. There were now nearly a dozen of
them collected around the bodies, yelling, chattering,
gesticulating, and testifying by their voices and gestures
their rage and astonishment.

“I lay in an agony of suspense. It seemed impossible
that I could now escape. Although my lurking-place
was not yet discovered, yet it seemed impossible that it
could remain so long.

“After indulging themselves in a few more howls of
mingled anger and lamentations, they commenced
their search.

“They shook the trees—beat the bushes—traversed
the place in all directions. I heard their voices distinctly,
and several of them were often so near me that I could
have touched them.

“At last one of them observed that it was probable I
had already advanced a little way, and proposed searching
for me farther off.

“A ray of hope gleamed through my heart. The
savages seemed to assent to the proposition, One of
them, however, before departing took up a stick from the
pile which concealed me, and began scattering the heap.
Presently, another followed his example, and of course
I gave up myself for lost.

“They pitched off and threw away half a dozen bits
of wood, and during the process, they touched me repeatedly.
The morning, however, was so misty, and
the colour of my garments was so similar to that of the
bark of the wood, that I remained without discovery.

“After a short time they uttered an exclamation or
two of disappointment, and then apparently gave over
their search.

“With a beating heart I listened to their retreating
footsteps.

“At last all was quiet.

8. CHAPTER VIII.
THE ADVENTURES OF PATANKO, CONTINUED.

“I remained in my hiding-place the whole day.
Nothing further happened to occasion me the least
alarm. It was evident that the savages had given over
the pursuit.

“As soon as it was fairly dark, I emerged from my
retreat. The atmosphere had become clear. It was
bright starlight, and rather cold.

“As I was necessarily ignorant of the points of the
compass, I was uncertain which way to bend my course.
Judging, however, from the appearance of the sky, I decided
that the wind must be westerly. The breeze was
so faint that it was difficult to distinguish its exact direction;
but by dipping my hand into the brook, and
then allowing the water to evaporate upon it, I was
enabled to determine with tolerable accuracy.

“I knew that we had already advanced very far to
the north of my abode, and of course I now directed my
steps towards what I supposed to be the south. I marched
the whole night, and nearly the whole of the next
day, without meeting with any adventure worth recording.

“The succeeding night set in tempestuously. I
searched a long time in vain for a shelter against the
rain, which fell in torrents; but, at last, I was fortunate
enough to discover a tolerably spacious cave, in the interior
of a mass of rocks. I collected a quantity of
branches, and made myself a bed in the interior of the
cavern. Exhausted by my long march I soon fell asleep.

“I was awakened by what sounded like a suppressed
muttering at the entrance of the cave.

“I opened my eyes and saw, as I supposed, two lanterns
gleaming before me. My first impression was
naturally that the Indians were again upon me; and
that I should be immediately discovered. I regarded the
lights attentively; they shifted quickly to and fro, apparently
as if the bearers were in search of something.
I listened if I could hear voices; all was silent.
Presently, I heard the low growling repeated. It was
not a human sound. A horrid fear came over me—it
was realized—of a sudden, a loud and terrible roar reverberated

through the cavern. It was a wild beast—a
panther probably, who was seeking shelter from the terrible
storm.

“Presently, the growling ceased; the beast apparently
laid itself down. The horrible eyes still glared upon
me. I remained quiet—almost frozen with fear, and
hardly daring to draw my breath. This awful suspense
continued I should think for half an hour.

“At last there was a rustling in the bushes, at the
mouth of the cavern—and with a sudden roar the beast
sprang suddenly forth; and to my inexpressible rapture
I heard him plunging through the thicket.

“It was impossible for me to barricade myself in my
retreat; and as it seemed more dangerous to adventure
by night into the woods than to remain where I was, I
abandoned myself to Providence, and determined to
await my fate in the cave. Happily I passed the remainder
of the night undisturbed.

“With the first grey light of morning, I awoke from
an uneasy slumber. I felt myself incommoded by some
hard substance beneath my head. I rose upon my
knees, and by the feeble light examined my hiding-place.
Judge my horror, when I found that I had been reposing
upon a heap of human bones! It was true; the cavern
was filled with skulls and bones of all descriptions. I
sprang precipitately from the place.

“It was evident that this was one of the caverns in
which certain tribes of Indians were accustomed to
deposit the remains of their religious sacrifices, sacrifices
of which their prisoners were the victims.

“I pursued my journey that day, but with diminished
vigour. I had now fasted, with the exception of a few
barries which I had found and eaten the previous morning,

for nearly three days. My strength was nearly exhausted,
and besides I had as yet seen no indications
that I had been right in the course I had been pursuing.

“I tore some bark from a tree and gnawed it, to appease,
if possible, the cravings of my appetite, and then
faintly continued my journey. That day I made comparatively
little progress, and I threw myself upon the
ground at night, hoping, rather than fearing, that some
wild beast would save me from the awful starvation to
which it now seemed that I was destined.

“I slept a long and dreamless sleep, and awoke in the
morning tolerably refreshed. I was also fortunate enough
to find some birds' eggs, which together with a few succulent
roots which I dug from the earth, furnished me
with a sumptuous repast.

“In the afternoon, as I was taking a little repose in a
small opening of the forest, I perceived something rustling
in the bushes near me. At the same time I heard
noises which seemed to me familiar, but which I could
not exactly understand. It seemed like the neighing of
a horse. I looked about me, and soon discovered whence
the sounds proceeded. Very near the place where I had
been seated, I perceived an Indian trap with a flexible
staddle, such as the Indians set for game. An animal
had been caught by it, and its struggles created the rustling
which I had heard. On approaching it, it proved
to my surprise, to be a horse.

“It probably belonged to some of the English settlers,
and had strayed from its pasture.

“The animal was docile. I contrived to form a rude
halter of some twigs, and then mounted my prize.

“It was a very fortunate relief. I was excessively
wearied with my long march, and my miserable sustenance.

As I had no powder and shot, (although I had
the Indian's gun,) it was probable that I should still be
obliged to sustain life on the miserable aliments to which
I had hitherto had recourse.

“The country was now comparatively open, and I had
reached an extensive plain, which was only partially
wooded. I was therefore enabled to make rapid progress
upon my horse. Besides the relief which this afforded
me, I conceived strong hopes that the animal's instinct
would direct him to his former residence.

“The whole of that day I journeyed on without impediment.
In the night I tethered my horse as well as
I could, and permitted him to browse, while I appeased
my appetite with pretty nearly the same food as his own.

“Early the next morning I pursued my journey.

“This day, to my inexpressible delight, I reached the
borders of the Connecticut. Judging from appearances,
however, I decided that my course had not been in the
direction which I supposed; but, on the contrary, I found
that I was probably several days' journey further up the
river than I had hoped. I now followed the course of
the stream.

“In the course of this day, however, my journey was
very nearly finished for ever. A few hours past noon, I
perceived that I was pursued by an Indian. It was the
first human being that I had seen since my escape from
my captors; and I feared that he was only the advanced
scout of a party.

“I urged my exhausted animal, but in vain. It was
impossible for me to increase his speed. It was a snail's
pace, and on looking back, I saw with dismay that the
Indian gained rapidly upon me.

“He was soon within hailing distance, and I understood

from his cries and gestures that he was desirous of
a personal interview. As this, however, was by no means
to my taste, I thought proper to decline the honour. I
kicked the flanks of my jaded beast, and endeavoured
but in vain to entice him into a trot.

“The plot thickened. I took another glance behind
me, and observed that the Indian, disgusted with my
want of courtesy, was preparing to resent it. As I turned,
I saw be was taking aim at me with his rifle. I stooped
my head to my horse's neck, shut my eyes, and awaited
my fate.

“The rifle cracked—the bullet whizzed close to my
ear, and struck my unfortunate horse. He reared, and
then fell on his side. I extricated myself from my fallen
companion, and fled blindly forward without looking behind
me.

“I soon found, however, that my frame was too weak
to allow me any chance of succeeding in the race with
my pursuer. A large rock was directly in my way—I
sprang behind it, determined to await the result. I had
never discharged the gun which I still retained, and which
was fortunately loaded. I cocked the trigger, and abode
the onset.

“I peeped from behind my cover, and reconnoitered
the approaching foe. He was within fifty yards of me.
I felt that I had now a match at sharp-shooting before
me, in which life was the stake. I was celebrated for
my skill, and I determined, if possible, to exert it on this
occasion.

“As the Indian advanced, I bethought me of a stratagem.
In a twinkling of an eye it was executed. I
placed my hat on the extremity of my gun, and raised
it a few inches above the rock. The report of the Indian's

rifle followed instantaneously, and his bullet
pierced the hat with unerring aim.

“I sprang to my feet—covered the Indian with my
piece, and drew the trigger.

“In the minutes portion of a second before I heard
its welcome report, it seemed that my heart would burst
through my bosom.

“My aim was sure, and the Indian fell with the bullet
through his brain.

“Without waiting an instant I rushed madly on. I
feared that the two reports would arouse fifty Indians,
and terror for a few instants winged my feet.

“After I had fled on, however, nearly an hour without
any appearance of pursuit, I stopped to take breath. I
was still on the margin of the river, and there were tolerably
extensive plains around me. I ascended to the
top of a tree, and was enabled to see to a great distance.
All was still and silent. I saw and heard no indication
of a human being.

“I descended from the tree, and again stretched myself
upon the ground. Though I was freed from immediate
fears of my Indian enemies, yet I was exhausted
with fatigue and nearly famished with hunger.

“As I had become disgusted with the vegetable diet,
with which I had supported life, for the few past days, I
gnawed one of my shoes and what remained of my
leather waistcoat by way of variety.

“Early the next day I came upon an open space,
where were the remains of a small Indian village, which
had apparently been recently destroyed by their enemies.
There were several Indian bodies, freshly killed, strewn
upon the ground, and the Indians seemed to have displayed
more than their usual ingenuity in sacrificing

their victims. I noticed in particular one man dangling
to the limb of a tree, who had been suspended there, apparently
while yet alive, by an iron hook forced through
his under jaw.

“Another athletic man lay dead upon his back, with
his heart cut out and placed carefully upon his breast.—
Various other atrocities were visible; but the whole scene,
which in remembrance now fills me with horror and
disgust, excited in me then far different emotions.

“I was nearly famished. I had been almost reduced
to devouring my own flesh, and need I tell you that, on
reaching this place, my first impulse was to throw myself
upon the carcass of one of these victims and appease my
wolfish hunger with his flesh. I did so—I tore the body
with my nails and teeth—I mumbled the flesh from the
bones, and when I had finished my ravenous and terrible
repast, I started, horror-stricken, to my feet, and fled
like a guilty thing away.

“In the course of this afternoon, as I was dragging
myself along the banks of the river, I heard a paddling
in the water, and looking about me, I saw an Indian
crossing the river in a canoe. As he was making towards
me, I supposed he intended to attack me; and, although
my gun was empty, I took aim at him in the idle hope of
intimidating him.

“To my surprise, the fellow became alarmed, scuttled
out of the canoe with all his might and swam towards
the opposite shore. He reached it very soon, and, springing
to his feet, disappeared in the forest.

“With a thanksgiving for the cowardly disposition
with which Heaven had seen fit to endow this savage, I
watched the canoe in hopes it would drift ashore.

“After waiting about half an hour, my hopes were

realized. The little skiff, directed by a merciful Providence,
floated very near me. I sprang into it, pushed it
into the river, and paddled quickly down the stream.

“It was now my intention to pursue my journey as
far as possible in this canoe. I found that the savage
had probably been engaged in fishing when I discovered
him. Luckily he had left his implements behind him,
and, to my inexpressible joy I discovered also the materials
for striking fire. Thus I was provided for the present
with the means of healthy sustenance.

“For two days I floated easily and pleasantly down
the stream; at night I hauled my canoe upon the banks,
and contrived, by filling it with dry leaves and moss, to
convert it into a tolerable bed.

“In the day time I succeeded in taking a sufficiency
of fish to satisfy my appetite, which I cooked in the evening,
and was thus enabled in a measure to recover my
strength and spirits. If I had only possessed a store of
powder and shot, I am not sure that I should not have
been satisfied for a long time with my present mode of
life. As it was, I lived with the fear of starvation still
before my eyes, but had it not been for this horrible fear,
I should perhaps have preferred a solitary existence in
the wilderness. My hatred and disgust for my fellowmen
seemed to have increased rather than diminished
since my separation from them.

“At last there was an end to this comfortable manner
of journeying. In the latter part of the third day after
the acquisition of my canoe, I became involved, before I
was aware of it, in a rapid eddy of the stream, and a
few moments after found myself whirling down a furious
rapid with astonishing celerity.

“I sprang from the canoe, while we were yet near

the shore, and succeeded, after a few bruises from the
rocks against which I was borne by the fury of the torrent,
in extricating myself before the current had become
irresistible.

“I dragged myself with much difficulty to the shore;
the boat was whirled down the rapids, and was soon fast
jammed between two rocks, in the centre of the torrent,
entirely beyond my reach.

“I was now obliged to abandon of all hopes of pursuing
my journey otherwise than on my feet.

“My horse was dead, my boat was swamped, and it
was not probable that accident would again provide me
with one or the other.

“I determined, however, to lose no time in unavailing
lamentation; and after casting one wishful glance at
my unfortunate canoe, I departed from the place.

“The thickets and cane-brakes, with which the margin
of the river was now entangled, became at this point
perfectly impervious. I was therefore obliged to strike
into the woods, hoping to lose nothing thereby, but to
come upon the river again in the course of a few hours.

“After a short time I perceived smoke in the air, and
the atmosphere felt intolerably hot. I perceived vestiges
of a fire in the woods; and, in a short time, I came upon
an open space, which had evidently been cleared for
many miles round by a recent conflagration. The
ground was scorched and blackened; innumerable trees
were burned nearly to a level with the earth, and my
path lay over a soil hot and reeking with the decaying
ashes and embers.

“This was the most dreadful part of the whole expedition.
I was exhausted and faint, but it was impossible
for me to repose for an instant. The earth glowed

beneath my feet, my mouth was parched with an intolerable
thirst, and there seemed no prospect of repose or
refreshment.

“After toiling for an hour in this way, I at last reached
a spot which had escaped the conflagration, and, advancing
a few paces, I heard again the sound of the
majestic river. I hastened to its brink, and cooled my
panting frame in its refreshing waters.

“I laid myself down on the bank, and fell into meditation.
A misgiving, which had haunted me for a long
became at length irresistible.

“I was at last fully convinced that this river was not
the Connecticut. It was impossible that it could be, for
otherwise, so constantly and so long had I followed its
course, that I must necessarily have long before reached
the region of civilization.

“Exhausted with fatigue and harassed with conjecture,
I threw myself in despair upon the turf, and in a
short time fell into a heavy sleep.

9. CHAPTER IX.
THE ADVENTURES OF PATANKO, CONTINUED.

“When I awoke, it seemed to me that I had not slept
five minutes. I felt, however, comparatively refreshed,
and began to gaze around me.

“What was my horror at perceiving, on first opening
my eyes, that I was surrounded by Indians!

“There were at least thirty savages present, all of
whom were regarding me with surprise and exultation.
I found myself a prisoner after all my exertions, and I
audibly execrated my unhappy fate.

“I was somewhat surprised at finding that I was not
bound. I was lying in exactly the same position in
which I had fallen asleep. The savages were squatting
about among the trees. Some were cooking at a fire,
some were busied with their hunting implements, and
half a-dozen dignitaries, with important faces, were discoursing
in a low tone to each other.

“I rose to my feet and walked forward to salute this
latter party. I was anxious that my fate should be immediately
decided. I saw that my struggles would now
be indeed in vain.

“I addressed the person who seemed to be the foremost
among them in the dialect with which I was most
acquainted. I asked him if they intended me any harm,
or whether they were disposed to protect and assist a solitary
wanderer.

“The person addressed answered, in a somewhat different
dialact, that their chief had not yet arrived; that
he had been detained on a hunting excursion with two
or three of his principal warriors, but that they were now
awaiting his approach. He also grasped me warmly
by the hand, assured me that I was his friend and brother,
and bade me be of good cheer.

“I was so accustomed to the hypocrisy of the Indians
and had experienced so little friendship or brotherhood
among them, that I derived but little consolation from this
plausible reception.

“I was, however, pleased to observe, from the difference
of costume and of language, that I had at least not fallen
into the hands of my late persecutors; and it seemed
to me that any change must necessarily be for the better.
In a few minutes a slight bustle announced the
arrival of the chief. He was a man of great stature,

and of an athletic and commanding appearance. The
moment he appeared, it struck me that I had met with
him before. I advanced towards him, and the moment
his eyes lighted upon me, he seemed also to reciprocate
the feeling. He hesitated a moment, and then without
more ado he uttered a grunt of satisfaction, and threw
himself upon my breast. My recollections now became
distinct, and it was with great delight that I recognized
in this portly savage a distinguished chief of the Mohawks,
whom I had known some years before, and whose life I
had had the good fortune to save during the earlier part
of our acquaintance.

“The Mohawks, and particularly the tribe of which
my friend was the chief Sachem, were at that time the
most determined foes of the French and the Canadian
Indians, and had at different periods entered into a tolerably
faithful alliance with the white inhabitants of New
England.

“During one of my predatory excursions against the
blood-thirsty marauders of the Connecticut, it had been
my fortune to fall in with this chief, who had been desperately
wounded in an encounter with our common
enemy. I had succoured him, physicked his wounds with
a skill superior to the Indian pharmacy, and had taken care
of him in my own hut, till his health was perfectly restored.

“The chief hugged me with great affection; and then,
releasing me an instant, turned to his comrades and uttered
a few rapid exclamations.

“In consequence of this oration of the Sachem, I was
immediately surrounded and welcomed by his adherents.
Some caught me by the hands, some clasped me round
the waist, half-a-dozen clung to my neck, a great many
kissed my nose, and all vied with each other in testifying
their respect and affection.

“As all these gentlemen, however, seemed to be more
or less in the habit of heightening their natural charms
by a copious use of grease and charcoal, and as the red
paint with which they had illustrated their bodies was
more calculated to please the eye than the olfactories, I
confess that I was glad when these violent demonstrations
of friendship were concluded.

“As soon as I was left to myself, the chief seated himself
at my side, and entered into a little private conversation.
I now found that while I supposed myself following
the course of the Connecticut, I had in reality been
wandering farther at every step from my real direction.
Instead of being anywhere in the neighbourhood of our
village, I was informed that I was in the heart of the great
valley of the Mohawk. I was astonished that I had so
completely mistaken my route; but my woodman's skill
was not then so great as by practice it has since become.

“The chief now assured me, that he would make a
business of guiding me directly and safely to my home;
he observed, however, that from what he had seen of my
talents and propensities, perhaps an Indian warrior's life
would not be altogether unacceptable to me. He was
polite enough to offer me various pleasing compliments
upon my bravery and industry; and concluded by offering
me brotherhood and a Sachemship in reversion, if I
chose to adopt this course of life.

“I told him I needed a short time to deliberate; for
I confess that my passion for an unshackled and wardering
life had not yet been weakened; and I could not
help acknowledging that I had suffered as much injustice
and injury from the white man as the red. While I was
communing with myself, the chief went on with his
oration.

“He informed me that his name was Goschgekelemuchpekink,
which being interpreted was the `Sneaking-snake.'
I knew from this that he was a great warrior,
for his title and his `totem' implied craft, which in
the Indian estimation is the first military virtue. He assured
me besides, that he had a lovely daughter, who was
called the `Full-moon,' and was the most beautiful woman
of the tribe. In the overflowing warmth of his
heart, he offered her to me in marriage, if I would accept
his invitation, and join his tribe.

“I confess that the prospect of possessing the most
beautiful virgin of the Mohawks, and of becoming son--in-law
to so renowned a warrior as the `Sneaking-snake,'
at once put an end to all hesitation on the subject. I accepted
his offer accordingly, with many expressions of
gratitude. The Snake embraced me with great ardour,
and immediately made a second speech to his adherents.
To my dismay, this was followed by a repetition of the
terrible hugging and kissing.

“When this was over, we feasted and had a grand
jollification. The next day we set off for the village,
which was the seat of government of our chief.

“As this was not more than forty miles distant, we
reached it betimes the next afternoon. The chief conducted
me with much solemnity to his wigwam, while
the rest of the warriors dispersed to their own abodes.

“The preliminaries of a marriage, I found were very
soon adjusted among the Indians, and the next day was
appointed for the ceremony. It was with no little chagrin,
however, that I discovered that I was not to be indulged
with a sight of my bride till the moment I was to
be united to her.

“As I learned that the ceremony of wedlock was rather

more a matter of show among my new friends, than of
real solemnity, I determined, while I was still a favoured
person, to exert as much authority as I could, for the sake
of the next generation. I had suffered too severely for
my former transgression, to be willing to betray another
victim, even although I was protected by the laws of the
society into which I was now adopted.

“I inquired of the Snake if there was no christian
priest in the village, and was informed to my great satisfaction,
that a worthy missionary from Massachusetts,
who had even succeeded in making several converts, had
been residing there for some time.

“I expressed my determination to the chief, that I
would be wedded according to the form of my own religion,
or not at all. He approved of my resolution, and
gratified me still further, by observing that his daughter,
`Full moon,' had already inclined her ear to the precepts
of the missionary, and that it was not improbable that
this union would prove the means of her entire conversion.'

“I sought out the missionary accordingly, and it was
arranged that the ceremony should be performed early
the next day.

“Accordingly on the next morning, I was formally
united to the beautiful Cushcushka, the beloved and
lovely daughter of the `Sneaking-Snake.'

“As soon as the marriage had been solemnized, the
whole tribe assembled on a spacious green, in the centre
of the village, to celebrate our nuptials by a grand and
most elaborate dance.

“After the whole population of the village had hopped
about, and thrown their bodies into the most abstruse
contortions, till they were entirely exhausted, a select

party of eight, of whom one was Cushcushka, advanced
to execute a more intricate and artificial dance.

“I confess that I regarded the `Full-moon' with
much satisfaction. Your mother, my dearest son, was
a woman who would have graced a court.

“Her stature was tall and of faultless symmetry; her
features were regular and handsome, and the wonderful
wildness of her eyes, surpassed all the charms of the
daughters of civilization.

“She was dressed in a purple tunic, which, confined
around her waist by an embroidered girdle, just reached
her knee, and displayed rather too bountifully her exquisitely-proportioned
limbs. Her arms were bare, and
glittered with bracelets; her ears were hung with jewels,
and a heap of necklaces and medals adorned her throat.
Her feet were clad in embroidered sandals, and the wing
of a scarlet bird glanced in her raven hair.

“She moved towards the dancers with a majestic
grace befitting her lineage; for she was the descendant
of a countless line of royal and martial ancestors. At
her arrival the wild and fitful, but not inharmonious
music commenced; and I watched her movements,
nimble, lithe, and graceful as those of a panther of the
wilderness, with inexpressible delight. As soon as the
dance was finished, the whole population again resumed
their grotesque capers, during the continuance of which,
they refreshed themselves from time to time with
draughts from a pot of boiling water, placed hard by.
As soon as this was finished, the assembly was dissolved.

“The next day, to compensate for the meagreness of
the wedding festivities, I was informed that the ceremony
of my investiture as a chief of the tribe was to be celebrated
with unusual solemnity.

“Accordingly, at the hour appointed, all the chiefs of
the tribe were invited to a sumptuous entertainment at
which my father-in-law, `the snake,' presided with unutterable
dignity. Your maternal grandfather was certainly
a man of commanding exterior. He was tall and
powerfully moulded, and his countenance was expressive
of intelligence and craft. He wore his royal robes on
this occasion, with a ring in his nose, and a bunch of
feathers in his head. Two long belts, or scarfs, curiously
wrought in wampum, with birds, flowers, and other devices,
hung round his neck. His face and breast were
painted with unusual ingenuity, and a scarlet blanket
adorned with pewter fringes, was wrapped gracefully
around his portly person.

“The feast, consisting of dog's-flesh and huckleberries
boiled in bear's grease, was now distributed with the
most punctilious regard to etiquette. The guests received
a larger or smaller platter full in exact proportion
to their respective ranks. For myself I sincerely regretted
that the nobility conferred upon me was of so exalted
a grade, for it required all my respect and consideration
for the feelings of my benefactors to overcome the loathing
with which I swallowed the enormous quantity of the
infernal mixture which was allotted as my portion.

“After they had glutted their appetites with these choice
viands, they commenced a tremendous war-song, the
execution of which occupied many minutes. After this
they seated me upon a beaver skin, threw an embroidered
wampum belt around me and caused me to smoke a
war-pipe, which they presented to me. The warriors
then squatted upon the ground around me, and the pipe
passed from one to the other, till the tobacco was exhausted.

“I was then led to what they called a sweating-house,
which was a hut constructed of skins stretched on poles,
and spacious enough to accommodate three persons. I
entered, accompanied by my father-in-law and another
eminent chief, and was instantly stripped completely
naked. The hut was then immediately filled with a
prodigious quantity of steam, created by pouring water
upon some large stones placed upon the floor, and previously
heated for the purpose. This process, added to the
enormous meal of which we had just partaken, of course
threw us into a violent perspiration.

“As soon as the object of this most imposing ceremony
was thus accomplished, I was ordered to rush from
the hut and plunge into the lake, which was close to the
village.

“As soon as I returned from this refreshing operation,
I was conducted to the wigwam of my father-in-law,
there to undergo the last act of the investiture. This
was no less than my baptism, a ceremony which is accomplished
by the agency of fire instead of water. I
was informed that it was thought good for me to retain
the Indian name of Patanko, by which I had been long
distinguished; and which as they informed me, was
equivalent to the `grisly wolf.' I was now stretched
upon my back, and my father-in-law, taking a pencil
dipped in vermillion, proceeded to sketch upon my breast
the effigy of the beast that was my sponsor, with a very
artist-like dexterity. The figure was then indelibly imprinted
by means of a number of needles dipped in vermillion,
and fastened in a frame. As soon as this irritating
and painful operation, which lasted several hours,
was concluded, I was led forth to be invested in the costume
appropriate to my rank.

“They would have commenced by shaving my head,
with the exception of a small spot upon the crown, according
to their own fashion, but I resisted desperately,
and was at last permitted to retain the long locks, for
which I was ever afterwards distinguished.

“They contented themselves, in consequence of my
remonstrances, with decorating my head with a tuft of
scarlet feathers. My face was then painted in fancy
colours. My body was endued in a shirt of a tag-rag-and-bobtail
fashion, with medals and fringes depending
from its skirts, and two embroidered belts of wampum
wound gracefully round my waist. My arms were decorated
with silver bracelets, my legs covered with leather
leggins, and a scarlet blanket thrown over my whole person.

“As soon as I was thus attired, I was surrounded by
the most important chiefs, and after a deal of hugging
and kissing, was formally greeted as a brother.

“From this time forth I considered my lot in life as
settled. I felt no inclination to rejoin my countrymen,
among whom I had forfeited my reputation, and from
whom I never experienced sympathy or affection. The
mutual esteem between myself and the gentle savage was
increased and cemented, about two years after our union,
by your birth. It is impossible for me to express the love
which I bore to you, my son, from the first moment of
your birth.

“A few years wore on, and our tribe was engaged in
frequent warfare with the French and northern Indians.
By means of my agency, the Mohawks, or at least a
considerable portion of them, were united in a strict alliance
with the English. Our arms were of course constantly
directed against the French, with whom at that
period there was never a cessation of hostilities.

“The most useful period of my life now commenced.
I made myself secretly known to the English generals
commanding on the frontier; and the services which my
connection with and influence over the powerful tribe
that had adopted me, enabled me to render, were of immense
importance. The name of Patanko became famous
both in the English and French armies, and the
hostile tribes of the north whom I had worsted in many
an encounter, learned to tremble at my name.

“I was, however, at this period, afflicted with a misfortune,
which, although time and reflection has since
rendered it less poignant, for a time prostrated all my energies.

“In one of our many expeditions against the very
tribe by whom I had been formerly captured and nearly
murdered, my wife and infant child (yourself, my dear
son) had accompanied me. We had a pitched battle
with a detachment of the enemy commanded by the
very Wahquimacutt or Captain `White-cat,' who figured
in the early part of this sketch. I endeavoured in vain
to single him out, and to repay the ancient grudge I bore
him. I was unsuccessful; the subtle villain evaded me;
his party were routed, and I saw him no more.

“On the termination of the battle, my wife encountered
me with streaming eyes. She informed me that
you had been stolen from her arms, during the hottest
part of the fight; that her frantic supplications had been
disregarded by the inhuman robber; and that she had
in vain implored death from his hands. She gave me
a description of the kidnapper of our cherished infant,
and I felt convinced that the scoundrel was no other than
Wahquimacutt.

“Accompanied by several of my most trusty warriors

I commenced the strictest search. After being baffled,
however, for several days, I was obliged to relinquish all
hope, and we returned mournfully to our abode.

“After several months had elapsed, I received information
while engaged in a war party which led me into
the interior of Massachusetts that the “White-cat” had
found means to deliver my child to my brother Joshua.

“The subtle villain had learned, from what source I
know not, a large portion of my early history.

“His savage nature led him naturally to suppose that
he could not confer a greater favour on my brother than
thus to enable him to wreak the vengeance he owed the
father, upon his defenceless child. This joined to the
hopes of a large reward, and the gratification derived
from thus wounding me in the tenderest point, were sufficient
inducements for this piece of villany on the part
of Wahquimacutt.

“I know not whether my brother Joshua learned then
for the first time that the redoubtable Patanko, whose renown
filled the colony, was no other than his unfortunate
and guilty brother. At any rate he found means to inform
me that he had received my infant; and although
time and meditation, had both taught him that he neither
could nor ought to forgive the manifold crimes, which
had been productive of so much misery to himself; yet
he was willing to adopt and cherish the child received in
so wonderful a manner, for the sake, he bitterly added,
of saving it from the contamination of its father. If I
was willing to relinquish all pretensions to him, he pledged
me his honour that he would educate and bountifully
provide for him; but that if I refused my consent he
was ready to restore the infant in any manner, or at any
place that I would designate.

“He urged me however, to relinquish my claims with
much eloquence, and made use of all possible arguments
to convince me that the welfare of the child would be
more consulted by placing him within the reach of civilization,
than by suffering him to grow up a blood-thirsty
and savage Indian.

“On receiving this information, I wrestled long and
desperately with myself. The longing to see you, my
son, whom I loved beyond the whole world beside, was
opposed to the irresistible conviction that my brother had
counselled well. Although I considered my own lot in
life irrecoverably cast, and neither hoped nor wished for
any farther change; yet I knew too well, and abhorred
too utterly the Indian character, to endure with composure
the prospect of my son's growing up a savage and untutored
denizen of the wilderness.

“After a desperate conflict with myself I decided, as I
was ever afterwards convinced, for the best. I contrived
to convey to my brother my permission to retain you in
his house, and then I returned to my adopted home.

“Some years after this, in the course of the year 1760,
I received from the English general, who commanded in
the northern provinces during the French war, which
was then raging, a highly-important commission.

“I was engaged to take command of a large body of
Indians and provincial troops; and by a forced march
through the wilderness to Canada, to subdue and exterminate,
if possible, a large number of Indians, half
breeds, and Canadians, who inhabited a few villages on
the French border, and whose marauding exploits, and
horrible daily murders of their English and provincial
captives were the terror of the whole country.

“As it was thought, not unwisely, that the tenor of

my past life, my influence with the Indians, and my acquaintance
with the forest had peculiarly fitted me for
such an expedition, I received a letter from the general
appointing me to this command. I was moreover presented
with a colonel's commission.

“I entered upon the employment with alacrity. The
sphere of my usefulness was now increasing, and I determined
to prove that the confidence now almost for the
first time reposed in me, had not been displaced.

“Finding it necessary, however, to lead a detachment
of my troops through the settled part of Massachusetts, I
was enabled in the dusk of evening, and accompanied
by two faithful Indians, who were to give the alarm, if
there was danger of discovery, (for you may judge that
I was inexpressibly anxious that this nocturnal adventure
should not be publicly known,) to make a visit to `Morton's
Hope.'

“Before setting out upon my grand and dangerous expedition,
I felt irresistibly impelled once more to embrace
my child. While I was reflecting upon this subject, I
became seized with the frantic determination to seize you
at once, and carry you away. Nothing else, however
than the conviction that if I took you from my brother
without his consent, your fate would be irrecoverably
sealed, and the advantages derived from his adoption entirely
forfeited, would have prevented me from at once
possessing myself of my child, without the knowledge or
consent of any one. As it was, I endeavoured by tears,
and the most frantic supplications which paternal love
and agony could suggest, to induce my brother's consent
to your absence for a short time. Nothing else than an
entire renunciation of his adopted son, would, he assured
me, be the penalty. In the midst of this to me inexpressibly

harrowing interview, I received warning that my
immediate flight was necessary.

“The signal, which at first I disregarded, was again
and again repeated, till at last one of my trusty adherents
was almost obliged to enter the apartment and drag me
away.

“When I had at last succeeded in tearing myself
from the place, and with a crushed heart had turned
my back on all that I most treasured on earth, I was
informed by my companion, that my absence had
already been discovered in the advanced party of my
warriors; that treachery of some kind or another was
suspected; that many mutinous expressions and actions
had already transpired, and that my presence was imperiously
necessary. It was for this reason that my
visit at `Morton's Hope,' of which (from your age at
that time) you ought to remember something, was so
abruptly terminated.

“I shall not weary you with the details of my expedition.
Suffice, that after incredible fatigues and danger,
it was at last crowned with success. We were
enabled entirely to destroy the tribes against whom the
expedition was directed, and completely to avenge the
atrocities which they had committed upon my countrymen.

“After accomplishing this undertaking, I joined
Amherst at Montreal, and had the good fortune to be
present at the final surrender of the Canadas, to which
happy termination of the war, I had had the honour in
some degree to contribute.

“After this cessation of hostilities with France, I returned
to the country of the Mohawks. I had reasoned
myself into a determination no longer to interfere with

the education of my child, but consoled myself with a
vague hope of embracing him at some future period.

“At the termination of the same year in which the
events happened which I have just recounted, I had the
happiness again to become a father. It was a daughter,
and received the name of Neida.

“I was still, however, doomed to be the sport of my
infernal destiny. Judge, my son, of the anguish of my
mind, when within a year after the birth of this second
dearly-cherished treasure, and just as it was fairly bound
up and entwined in all my gentlest and holiest feelings;
this child was also torn from me.

“The circumstances which attended this second misfortune,
were similar to those which marked your loss.
My wigwam was entered at the dusk of evening, by two
savages and (as my wife thought) a white man, at a
time when we were making a foray on the Canadian
frontier, and when I was absent many miles from our
encampment. My suspicions of course were at once
directed to Wahquimacutt; but the mystery has never
been entirely solved.

“Soon after this miserable catastrophe, my wife, who
had long been converted to the Christian religion, and
was the sweetest and loveliest of her sex, died broken-hearted
with this double loss.

“Had I not cause, my son, to believe that I was indeed
the slave of destiny; and to acknowledge with
tears of blood, that all my prospects of happiness and
virtue were doomed to eternal blight.

“I fled again heart-stricken into the wilderness. I
abandoned myself a long time to the most consuming
sorrow.

“After a time I succeeded in rousing myself; and

endeavoured by leading my warriors to the most desperate
encounters with the beasts of the forests, and their
no less savage human foes, to banish the gloomy meditations
which continually overshadowed me.

“During the many years that succeeded, my life was
wild and wandering. In the course of our hunting and
our warlike excursions, I traversed nearly the whole of
the continent. My days were passed in war and in the
chase, and the constant activity of my body had a beneficial
effect in quieting the agony of my mind.

“At last, not many years ago, as I was returning from
an expedition to the far West, the thrilling blast from the
trumpet of Revolution stirred the depths of my spirit.

“For the first time for many years my heart was excited,
and the inmost energies of my nature were
aroused. You will not be surprised, my son, that I embraced
at once, and with rapture, the cause of the oppressed
colonies. I saw instantaneously that another
and a most glorious opportunity of distinguishing my
name, and of perfecting the reputation which any services
in the French war had acquired me, was now
within my grasp. Neither, to say the truth, had I any
scruples against contending with the English standard
under which I had formerly served.

“Although I had fought for the English and the colonial
cause (which were then one,) my companions-in-arms
had been all provincials, and I hardly recollected a
single native of the mother country with whom I had
been even on terms of acquaintance. Besides, even in
the depths of the wilderness I had been fully conversant
with the injuries and insults which had been heaped
upon the colonies by the mother country; and my hatred
of tyranny demanded no excuse for my determination
to assist in avenging it.

“I profferred my services immediately to the authorities.
My first attempt was to effect a negociation of alliance,
or at least of neutrality, with the Indian tribes
more immediately under my influence. Although I was
not very successful in my diplomatic attempts—for a negociation
with Indians, particularly one of neutrality,
amounts to an impossibility—yet my services were nevertheless
of much importance. Finding all hopes of
inducing them to entire abstinence from the conflict, out
of the question, and finding, moreover, that many of the
savage tribes were already enlisted under the English
banner; I enrolled at once a chosen and effective band
from among my adherents, whose valour, intelligence,
and acquaintance with the country, have proved of incalculable
importance in the corps to which they have
been attached. My commission of colonel was confirmed,
or rather a new one was presented to me by the Colonial
authorities; and although I have now consumed too
much time, to enter upon a history of my subsequent
career, yet I shall die with the hope that my services
will not be entirely forgotten by my countrymen.

“The disappearance of Neida has not yet been satisfactorily
accounted for. I have, however, received information
upon which I think I can rely, that she is yet
living, and in Montreal. Her history, much of which I
have learned, and to the remainder of which I have a
clue, is far too long for insertion, and is besides not relevant
to my purpose. Suffice, that I still cherish the
sweet hope to be once more embraced by my son and
daughter. I am sure, my dearest Uncas, that you will
cherish your sister when she is restored to you, for your
father's sake.

“I have forgotten to inform you, that on receiving the

commission which was presented to me by the British
general, I thought proper in my intercourse with the
whites, to assume another name than my Indian appellation.

“I was unwilling to resume our family name, which
it was supposed (whether justly or not you are now qualified
to judge,) that my youthful conduct had disgraced.

“I accordingly adopted the name of my mother's family;
and in short, dearest Uncas the Colonel Waldron
who has been your companion for the last few weeks, is
now anxious to embrace you as

Your Father.”

I finished the paper. The interest with which I had
perused it, had rendered me unmindful of the lapse of
time. As I raised my eyes, I perceived that my lamp
was nearly exhausted, and that its feeble rays were paling
in the morning's dawn.

I shall enter into no analysis of the feelings which the
persual of my father's letter had occasioned. Relief—
relief from mystery, relief from an occasionally self-exaggerating
and incomprehensible fear, was, perhaps, the
first characteristic; but pity, sympathy, respect, and the
strongest and deepest sensation of filial love were the natural
and happy result.

However much the censure of an indifferent world
may condemn my unfortunate parent; a son will be
pardoned that he extenuated his errors, and regarded his
virtues with an indulgent eye. I determined, however
the character of my parent, might be estimated by the
world in general, that his son would at least, to the utmost
of his ability, repay him for his love, and assuage
the melancholy which had been the result of his youthful
follies and misfortunes.

There are, however, motives in our hearts, and passages
in our lives which are not fit subject for publicity
or comment. Among these, I feel that my sentiments
towards my father, and the passionate scenes which immediately
followed my perusal of his letter, are eminently
included.

Suffice, that I could not rest till I had sought him out.
I found him in his tent—alone and melancholy—awaiting
with harrowing anxiety the effect which his communication
would produce upon his son. I flew into his
arms, we embraced each other in an agony of tears.

Let me draw a veil over the rest.

In the remaining portion of these memoirs I shall,
whenever I have occasion to introduce my father, speak
of him as if there was nothing remarkable in our intercourse,
or in his previous history. It is even probable
that I may often designate him by the name of Colonel
Waldron, by which appellation rather than Patanko, he
was most familiarly known in the ranks which now surrounded
him.

Now that I have explained all that is necessary with
regard to my father, I consider it unnecessary again to
refer to the particulars of his history, and shall resume
the thread of my own adventures, which I am now anxious
to bring to a close.

10. CHAPTER X.
THE MAJOR GENERAL.

“Well, squire,” said Welcome Dodge to me the second
morning after the conversation recorded in the first chapter
of this book; “I suppose you've heard the news!”

“What news?”

“The Hampshire milishy, under General Stark, have
arrived!”

“Arrived where?”

“I expect they are in Bennington.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Why, you see, squire, I ris rather early this morning,
and thought I'd go to Bennington to see about that job
as soon as possible. I calculated that the men were
considerably fatigued, and so I guessed I'd buy up these
blankets afore we took up our line of march. So when
I went to Bennington, the first thing I knew, the whole
town, from the meeting-house down to Major-general
Budd's tavern was full of milishy men.”

“So you saw that they had got there yourself?”

“I shouldn't wonder.”

I really believe that the inquisition could hardly have
tortured Mr. Dodge into a direct affirmation or denial of
any proposition whatever.

“Well—we shall probably not continue our march to-day,”
said I.

“Well, I guessed you wouldn't, after consideration.
I suppose, squire, you wouldn't have any serious objection
to settling up my remuneration for that blanket-job
right away; because you see my commissions are dreadful
low, and the fact is—”

“I will attend to it directly, Mr. Dodge. I will see
you in the course of the day. In the mean time you
must excuse me.”

Mr. Dodge was satisfied, and made his exit whistling
yankee doodle.

On the day before, it had been my intention to push
directly to the Hudson, and to join the main army at

their encampment near that river. On receiving the intelligence
of the arrival of the New-Hampshire general,
I determined to join him. I knew that he was on his
way to the same place, and there was no reason why I
should not, at once, put myself under his orders.

It was the 16th of August. It was still very early in
the morning. I left my corps encamped about half a
mile from Bennington, and proceeded myself to the town.
I arrived and inquired for the house where the general
was stationed. I had no difficulty in finding it. I
knocked at the door. I received no answer for some
time. I knocked again. At last the door was opened
by a man in his shirt sleeves. My European notions
(of which a vestige still remained) were a little shocked,
at the slovenliness of this attendant on the major-general.
Drawing myself up and looking as military as I possibly
could, I asked if General Stark was visible.

“Well, I shouldn't wonder,” was the answer.

“Evidently a relation of Mr. Dodge,” thought I, to
myself.

“Can I see him?” said I, aloud.

“Well — I expect you can — if you've got no nat'ral
defect of vision. I am General Stark.”

Now experience had not taught me to form any very
brilliant notions of the appearance of the Continental officers.
I knew that their worth lay rather in their spirit,
than in their outward shell; but still I was a little taken
by surprise at the appearance of the Hampshire Cincinnatus.

However, he waited very patiently till I had recovered
from my amazement, and then very civilly invited me
into the house.

He preceded me into the room, and being apparently

desirous of atoning for the negligence of his original
equipment, put on a blue and buff coat which hung on a
peg by the window; and seemed perfectly to approve its
harmony with his pepper-and salt small clothes.

This important preliminary adjusted, he proceeded to
the business which brought me there.

I stated concisely my intentions. They were approved.
My directions were given me, and I prepared
to return.

The general was good enough, however, to request a
little more conversation, with which of course I complied.

After half an hour I returned to my troops, full of admiration
at the simplicity, courage, and shrewdness of
the revolutionary general.

11. CHAPTER XI.
BENNINGTON.

It was about noon. It was very hot. I entered my
tent. I sat down to arrange some papers which I had
with me. In about half an hour my father suddenly
entered my tent. He informed me that we were all
ordered to join the general.

“Why?”

“A body of Hessians have made their appearance a
short distance from Bennington.”

“Are they marching towards the town?”

“They have halted and entrenched themselves.”

“What do you take to be their object.”

“It is very plain. They are part of the expedition

which, as we heard yesterday, was contemplated by
Burgoyne. This detachment was probably sent against
our magazines. The main object of the whole expedition
was to forage the country—to obtain all the cattle,
stores, ammunition they could; but above all to feel the
pulse of the country; and to gain as many provincials
to their cause as possible.”

“How are they likely to succeed in the latter part of
their intentions?”

“About as well as in the first. They have found
but few adherents. We are the strongest here.”

“What are the gentlemen in the intrenchments
about?”

“It is evident, that they have found more than they
expected. It is by chance that Stark is here. They
are probably Hessians, British, Indians, and all, not
more than five hundred strong, and they find the magazines
guarded by nearly two thousand. They have got
themselves into a scrape.”

“What are we to do?”

“The general has ordered an immediate attack.
They will be cut to pieces.”

My father left me. There was no time to be lost. I
marshalled my men. We proceeded to Bennington.
The whole American force, amounting to nearly 2000
men, was under arms. The general made a pithy
speech, in which he represented the necessity of cutting
off the detachment (which was the well-known force
commanded by the Hessian Colonel Baum) before the
other party, which was a much stronger one, and which
according to intelligence he had received had advanced as
far as Beaten Hill, should come up to the rescue.

His proposal was favourably received. At four in the

afternoon we advanced against them in good order.
They waited quietly for us in the intrenchments. They
were as firm and silent as bull-dogs. Just as we were
reaching the breast works they poured in their fire. It
was deadly. Our men dropped on all sides. We returned
it, and the blaze of the contending muskets intermingled.
We were close to each other. We could
see their grimaces of anger. We heard their oaths and
cries. We gave them another volley. We sprang over
their intrenchments. We beat down their breast-works.
They fought like devils, but our numbers overpowered
them. The carnage was dreadful. It was over in an
instant, and all that were left of the corps surrendered.
The victory was bloody but complete.

The prisoners were secured. The militia dispersed.
They were soon engaged in the agreeable business of
plunder. It was impossible for me to restrain my own
men from participating in the amusement. Some of
them, however, remained to guard the prisoners. I
walked round to look at the captives.

“Tausend donnerwetters!” swore a familiar voice
near me.

I looked round. A stout Hessian corporal was seated
composedly on the ground, a little apart from the other
prisoners. He had his pipe in his mouth and was engaged
in striking a light. There was no mistaking
him—he was close to me.

“Tausend donnerwetters!” said I, in my turn. The
corporal looked up. A slight expression of surprise was
visible on his features. He rose, took his pipe from his
mouth, extended his hand, and gravely saluted me on
either cheek.

It was the veteran student Dummberg! I entered

into conversation with him of course. There was
nothing very surprising in his transformation. He had
continued a student till the university at last hinted that
they would dispense with his services. He cast about
for an employment, and happened to hear of a Hessian
recruiting party. He thought an old student would
make a very good corporal. He tried the experiment accordingly.
He manifested no regret at his captivity. He,
as well as his whole party, had fought as long as they
could. The enemy had permitted him to retain his pipe.
He was accordingly provided with a resource during
his captivity, and after the peace he intended to squat.

While I was engaged with my old acquaintance, Mr.
Dodge approached me.

“I say, squire,” said he, “I guess the job aint quite
finished?”

“How so?” said I, “what do you mean?”

“There is a considerable number of sogers marching
up from the south'ard and west'ard, said Dodge.

“Soldiers!” said I, in surprise. “Is it possible they
can be the enemy?”

“I shouldn't wonder.”

“The Devil! I suppose they will attack us immediately,
and here are our men dispersed in all directions,”
said I.

“It does look a leetle ugly,” said Dodge.

“Are they English,” I asked.

“Why, I some expect they are Hessians. They
are led on, I believe by General Bergmann. I seen him
once last year. He's a homely creetur!” said Dodge
sententiously.

“Well, we must collect as many as we can, and keep
it up, if possible, till we are reinforced. Colonel Warner
cannot be far distant,” replied I.

“Well, in my opinion, squire, I guess we'd better clear
out. 'Taint reasonable to waste so much powder and
shot, when we are sure to be licked after ah,” said Dodge,
who was really brave; but was very discreet and economical.

“Yes, and lose not only the advantage we have
already gained, but suffer the magazines to fall into the
enemy's hands after all. Is that good economy, Mr.
Dodge?” said I.

“Well, I didn't take that view of the subject. I
guess you're nearly night. We'll have another go at
'em, on the whole. 'Twould be sinful to let all that
good ammunition and cattle, besides, I dare say, barrels
of pork to the amount of—.” With this, the contemplative
Dodge set himself to collecting the troops in the
most heroic manner. Now that he was convinced of
the propriety of the thing, there was no doubt he would
fight like a tiger.

My father now rushed furiously up. He confirmed
the tidings brought by Dodge.

“There are hardly three hundred men on the field,”
said he, “and the scouts represent the enemy as more
than fifteen hundred strong. But it would be an eternal
disgrace to surrender the advantage we have gained
without a struggle.”

We hastily mustered our forces. There were about
two hundred of my corps on the field. About as many
more were marshalled under Waldron.

We swore to sell our lives as dearly as possible.

Straggling parties of militia now rushed in, in great
disorder. They had been in pursuit of the few of Baum's
regiment who had escaped. They had met the reinforcement
under Bergmann, and were now flying before

them. Others rapidly approached us. We sought in
vain to rally them. They were panic struck and in total
confusion.

Our little phalanx stood firm. The enemy soon appeared
in overwhelming numbers. They rushed rapidly
upon us, and rent the air with their huzzas. Our
column wavered not. We reserved our fire till the
enemy were nearly upon us. My marksmen then discharged
their rifles with unerring aim. A number of
the enemy, nearly equal to our whole handful, bit the
dust. The rest closed upon us with clubbed muskets.
We abode the onset—we resisted to a man, but we were
nearly crushed.

At that moment there was a sudden change. Our
numbers were suddenly increased. The tide of battle
was turned. A reinforcement rushed vigorously to our
aid. Again we charged the enemy. Their line
wavered. A body of militia arrived. The enemy gave
way on all sides. We followed them up like bloodhounds.
They were completely routed. Impelled by
the eagerness of the pursuit, I rushed hastily forward.
Suddenly my foot slipped—I prepared to rise. I was
attacked by two savages. I received a blow on the head.
It stunned me for an instant. When I recovered, I felt
the hand of one the wretches in my hair; in the other
he waved his scalping-knife. My brain reeled—I felt
sick—it was horrible. Another instant, and a loud
voice startled my savage foe. Something like an execration
was shouted in a language I did not understand. I
looked up and saw the athletic form and threatening face
of my father. The next instant, the savage's brains
were knocked out. The other cowered at Patanko's
feet.

“Thank God,” said he, as he assisted me to rise; “you,
at least, should not have been the wretch's victim. The
scoundrel's perfidy is repaid at last. I knew that the
hour of my vengeance would arrive; but I hardly dared
to hope it would be so sweet. That scoundrel, Uncas,
is Wahquimacutt, the `White-cat,' of whose thousand
crimes I have informed you.”

He then turned to the other savage, who remained in
his crouching position, and said something to him in the
same unintelligible tongue and with a threatening accent.

The savage rose, and retreated in the direction of the
flying army.

The fight was over.

I hastened to express my gratitude to my father. He
embraced me affectionately, and assured me that it was
the happiest moment of his life.

He then informed me that it was Colonel Warner's
regiment, which was on its way to join General Stark,
that had arrived so opportunely; and that owing to this
unexpected relief, the broken militia had had time to rally
and again to face the enemy.

Night had now come down. The enemy had abandoned
his artillery and baggage, and vanished in the
darkness. We of course secured much valuable booty,
particularly arms and ammunition. Our victory was
complete.

12. CHAPTER XII.
STILLWATER.

This action, although of no great magnitude in itself,
was productive of very fortunate results. The revolutionary
party appeared the stronger. The wavering
were encouraged. The timid were emboldened. Our
ranks filled up.

Very soon afterwards we received the news of the
abandonment of Fort Schuyler. General St. Leger,
finding the resistance beyond his expectation, had at
length thrown up the siege and retired to Canada.

Immediately after the affair at Bennington, our whole
force joined the main army at Stillwater. On the 21st
of August, General Gates assumed the command. The
army was reinforced in all directions.

Soon afterwards, the whole British army crossed the
Hudson, and encamped directly opposite us at Saratoga.
We were within half-a-dozen miles of each other.

The plot thickened, the affairs of the north were narrowed
down to a single point. The whole action of the
northern campaign was now concentrated at Saratoga.

The military melo-drama, of which General Burgoyne
was the author and stage-manager, now assumed a
beautiful unity.

Although it proved an unsuccessful piece, it was not
deficient in stage effect. He determined to act it out.—
On the night of the 17th he advanced to within four
miles of us. He meditated a grand coup-de-theatre.

The hostile armies were now only divided by a deep

ravine. It was evident that we were to be attacked.—
We waited quietly.

On the 19th, at high noon, General Gates received intelligence
that the English were already advancing on
our left. They were led on in person by their own
brave, but unfortunate general, the brilliant, gallant
preux chevalier, Burgoyne. Our left was commanded,
by the heroic traitor, Arnold.

Colonel Morgan was sent forward with his riflemen
to annoy them as they advanced; and my whole corps
of sharp-shooters were united in the service. We came
up with the advanced guard of the enemy. We drove
in their pickets—we advanced rapidly—the pickets were,
however, immediately reinforced. General Frazer came
up and sustained them with his whole brigade. We fell
back in some disorder.

Suddenly the whole line of battle was changed.—
Nearly all our troops had been directing their main force
upon the enemy's extreme right. We took advantage
of the country. The whole American army suddenly
disappeared as if the earth had swallowed them. There
was a pause. It was of short duration, and then the
whole force of our army rushed furiously upon the enemy's
left. The attack was desperate. The defence
determined. The melée was dreadful—British, Americans,
Indians, Germans, all fought hand to hand. Execrations,
fierce shouts, oaths, and shrieks rent the air.—
The confusion of tongues and of nations was appalling.

In the thickest of the contending throng I marked my
father's waving plume. I struggled after him. Suddenly
he was struck down. He was surrounded by foes. Excited
by the conflict, I felt the force of a giant in my
single arm. I burned to save his life, to repay the debt

I owed him. I cut my way through the crowd of friends
and foes that opposed me. I reached his side. He lay
on the ground bleeding desperately. I succeeded in dragging
him out of the throng. I laid him by a little thicket,
as I supposed, in temporary safety. Suddenly there
was a yell, and three painted savages sprang from the
other side, waving their tomahawks in the air. I stood
over my father's bleeding body, determined to sell my
life for him. The fiends uttered frantic whoops, and
bounded towards us. I was about giving up myself for
lost—when, lo! they paused—they gazed on the countenance
of the fallen warrior, and interchanged rapid and
unintelligible exclamations. They lowered their weapons
and approached me with peaceful gestures. Instead
of attacking me, they assisted me in removing my father
to a place of safety. They bound up his wounds, laid
their hands upon their breasts, and disappeared.

After I had seen that my father, who was dangerously
wounded, was bestowed in safety, and attended as well
as circumstances would permit, I returned to the affray.
I had been absent but five minutes. I encouraged my
men—the battle raged. The main force of both armies
was engaged in the desperate conflict. My corps suffered
with the rest. We had lost fifty men. I perceived at
some distance a company of British regulars which had
become detached from the main body, and were endeavouring
to cut their way to our camp. I resolved to intercept
them. I led my men through a thick wood.—
When we emerged, we met them face to face. I recognized
the features of their captain. It was Carew, whom
I have spoken of in the first part of my memoirs. An
old feeling of hate came over me. I cheered my men—
we rushed furiously forward. I singled out Carew. He

did not decline the challenge. We engaged in desperate
conflict. It was soon over. Fortune favoured the avenger's
arm. The Englishman fell—suddenly I heard a shrill
cry—my arm was arrested—it was too late—I had passed
my sword thrice through the prostrate body of Carew.

“Spare him! for the love of God, spare him! He is
our enemy—but even I forgive him.”

The supplication and the voice stole upon my heart
like magic. I looked, and beheld the youthful form of
Eliot kneeling over the body, and seeking in vain to
stanch the life-blood of my fallen enemy. I approached
him closely, that I might read the features which I had
never distinctly seen. He raised his head. A crowd of
mingled and unutterable sensations rushed across my
brain. My heart trembled as I gazed upon the youth.
Suddenly his cap fell off, and a flood of raven tresses
floated down his neck. I sprang forward. I did not
mistake. The youth was Mayflower Vane!

At that moment I received a sudden blow from behind.
I fell. I felt myself trampled upon by the contending
throng. The tide of battle rushed over me. Dark, indistinct
shadows of a struggling host floated before my
vision. They faded, and all was blackness. I lost all
recollection.

3. CHAPTER III.
FIFTH OF OCTOBER.

“It was soon found,” says Burgoyne, in his letter to
Lord George Germain, “that no fruits, honour excepted,
were obtained by the preceding victory.”

The action of the Nineteenth of September, was exactly
one of that sort of battles in which both parties have
a right to claim the victory, because there is no victory
to be claimed.

The British had the shadow, and the Americans the
substance of exactly one reason for calling it a victory
at all.

The British remained on the field of battle, and slept
with arms in their hands. The Americans went comfortably
to bed in their secure encampment. The British
had attempted to force them from their position—they
failed; the Americans retained it, and there was hardly
any reason why they should not make use of the very
camp which they had been fighting to secure. The possession
of the field of battle was not, in this instance, a
type of success; because it was not the thing contended for.

Burgoyne was playing a desperate game. He was
losing it, but he did it heroically. He was present in the
hottest of the fight, and so constantly exposed his person,
that for a time, he was believed to have fallen at Stillwater.

If it had been possible for Burgoyne and Burgoyne's
army to effect the minister's plan, they would have effected
it. It is impossible to contemplate the misfortunes
of that gallant and unfortunate general, without admiration
and pity.

If he had succeeded, he would have been canonized;
and yet, in failing, he had exhibited as much bravery,
as much perseverance, and as much soldiership, as if he
had succeeded.

An impracticable plan was laid. He obeyed his orders
in persevering. He was willing to devote himself and
his army.

On the day after the action, the British camp was
pressed forward to nearly within cannon shot of the
enemy. The Americans remained in their strong position.

Retreat to the Canadas was not to be thought of by
the British general. He had forced his army like a
wedge into the heart of the country. He was immoveably
fixed; but so long as he remained, the cloven parts
were prevented from coalescing. In case of his removal,
the junction between Washington and Yates would be
immediate. It was not to be thought of. He was willing
to devote himself.

On the twenty-first, he received a letter from Sir Harry
Clinton. He was informed of the intended attack on
Fort Montgomery. The messenger was sent back to
apprize Sir Harry of his situation. He solicited a diversion
in his favour, which should oblige Yates to detach
from his army.

In the meantime his soldiers were straitened for provisions.
He was obliged to diminish their rations. They
submitted to it willingly.

This was the state of affairs up to October the fifth.

14. CHAPTER XIV.
THE ESCAPE.

When I recovered from my swoon, I felt weak but
comparatively well. I opened my eyes and looked
around. The horrible images, with which my fevered
brain had been filled, had vanished. I was reclining on
a bed of leaves, over which a sort of awning was stretched.

A young girl, with large black eyes, sat near me; she
was murmuring in a low tone to herself. At a little
distance I saw half-a-dozen dusky forms squatting near
a fire. Besides these, I saw two others who appeared to
be prisoners. The face of one was familiar to me; it
was Welcome Dodge. Those near the fire appeared to
be British Indians. Besides these, I noted two or three
soldiers. Judging from their uniform, I took them to be
Hessians. The truth now burst upon my mind. It was
evident that I had been taken prisoner.

I sought to raise myself a little. For the first time I
perceived that my head was supported on the lap of some
person. I looked up. I saw the sweet eyes of Mayflower
fixed with ineffable tenderness upon my own.
I stretched out my arms and clasped her neck. She
bent down. Our lips met in one long embrace. Overpowered
by the throng of my emotions, and weak with
my loss of blood, I again fainted.

I revived soon afterwards. I heard from Mayflower's
lips the detail of our situation. She had saved my life;
she had tended my wounds; she had been my champion,
my guardian, my nurse. Even now I lay powerless as
a child in her arms. None of my wounds were dangerous;
though some of them had been very painful.
The fever into which I had been thrown, had however
prostrated my strength.

While Mayflower had been succouring me upon the
field of battle, night arrived; she would not leave me,
and we had both been made captive by a straggling
party of Indians and Hessians.

I am determined not to profane the holiness of the
feelings which surrounded and hallowed the image of
Mayflower in my mind. I am determined not to enlarge

upon the course of our love after this moment. I
feel that I have no longer the nerve to lay bare my own
mental anatomy. I feel that there are fibres in my
system which shrink from the scalpel. They shall not
be exposed.

Accordingly, as I know that the case is likely to prove
less interesting to the world than to myself, I shall say
no more on the subject; and shall confine myself to recording
whatever important event may happen, until I
arrive at the point where I intend to close my biography.

We remained where we were for a day or two. We
were strictly guarded, and our captors did not seem to
have made up their minds as to their destination. Before
we left our present encampment I was able to walk about.
I succeeded in holding an interview with Quarter-master
Dodge. Neither of us had any exact knowledge of our
position, or of the events, the principal part of which I
have recorded in the preceding chapter.

Dodge informed me of the event of the battle, but
knew nothing more. He had been taken by the same
party that had captured us; but the coalition was by
the purest accident. He had remained on the field with
the economical intention of collecting and carrying away
a quantity of swords and muskets. While he was thus
occupied, he had been suddenly taken prisoner.

To my surprise, I found that the young girl, who was
very beautiful, was a perfect mistress of the English.
Furthermore, I observed that she had enjoyed and profited
by the best education that the Colonies could afford.
Moreover, she was in the entire confidence of Mayflower,
who of course still retained her uniform and man's apparel.
She was the only one who was aware of the
secret of Mayflower's sex. All this surprised me. Her
name was Neida.

The name excited my wonder. I was curious to
know her history. She informed me that she believed
herself to be of English parentage, but that there was a
mystery about her birth and education, which she had not
been able to solve. Her earliest recollections were of a
convent in Montreal; it was there she had been educated.

Judging from a variety of causes, but more than all in
obedience to the promptings of my own heart, I felt that
she was the sister of whom my father had spoken. I
clasped her in my arms, much to her surprise, and to the
chagrin of Mayflower.

I explained my feelings and my hopes as well as I
could. Their feminine imaginations were exactly of
that construction which lends a ready faith to any thing
which is at once plausible and romantic.

We resolved to call ourselves brother and sister, even
if the event should prove that I was mistaken.

But it will soon be seen that I was not mistaken.

I shall not enter, however, into a detail of my sister's
history, because in the first place it is unnecessary; and
secondly, because it is so long and complicated that it
would fatigue rather than interest, an indifferent reader.

I already fear that I have trespassed too much upon
my reader's forbearance by introducing the prolix narrative
of my father's adventures, and I feel that I have
no excuse for again imploring their patience.

Let it suffice then, that I had the satisfaction of embracing
my long-lost sister, and that the hopes of my
father were indeed realized.

It is perhaps not inexpedient to add, that the agent of
my parent's second bereavement, was not (as the reader
may suppose,) the Indian Wahquimacutt, but the French
priest, Father Simon.

At night, Dodge and I were enabled to hold a conference.
We concerted various means of escape. When
I was again by myself, I heard the Hessian officer, who
appeared to be the commander of the party, giving his
directions.

It seemed from his conversation, that we were not far
from the enemy's camp; but that they had lost their
way. Besides this, they were sadly in want of provisions.
They were to disperse in search of forage, and to
reconnoitre; the next morning they intended to steal
away for an hour or two unperceived, and before their
prisoners were awake. They intended to leave only
two Indians (one very old man and a boy,) to guard us.
They had a number of pistols, and some ammunition,
more than they required to take with them. They mentioned
to each other a hole in the stump of a tree where
they intended to conceal them. All this conversation
was carried on in German. They spoke in a low tone,
but as they were without suspicion that the language
could be understood by any but themselves, it was loud
enough to be intelligible.

When I heard all this, my heart bounded within
me. I watched anxiously till they slept, and I was
then able to convey by a few whispers to the sagacious
Dodge, the principal part of the conversation I had
heard. We waited anxiously for the morning. By daybreak,
we heard them rouse themselves. They went to
the tree they had spoken of. They set the guard over
us. We still pretended to sleep. They came up to us,
and bound our arms and legs, and then they went away.
Soon after this, Mayflower and Neida came out of the
hut. They awoke us, and dressed my wounds. They
were nearly well. In the meantime I had grown tolerably

strong. I communicated to Mayflower and Neida
what I had heard, and our intentions. The beautiful
savage was enabled to deceive the Indians. They were
not aware of her treachery. We waited till time enough
had elapsed for the Hessians to be some miles distant. Our
bonds were then suddenly cut by Neida; with one bound
we sprang upon the two remaining Indians. They were
dozing, and unsuspicious of the attack. We had no difficulty
in binding and gagging them. We fastened them
to a tree. We searched out the pistols and ammunition,
and then we started on our retreat. Our “partie carrée”
consisted of Neida and Mayflower, Welcome Dodge
and myself.

We wandered the whole day through the woods.
We hardly knew which way to turn our steps, for we
were totally ignorant of our situation. We were also
convinced that the savages would be on our trail the
moment that the Hessians returned. Towards nightfall,
we saw the figure of a man at some distance. We
hesitated whether we should advance or retreat. We
feared an ambush. We dreaded to fall again into the
enemy's hands.

We stole a little nearer. We could distinguish the
gleam of a musket. It was a sentinel, and directly afterward,
we saw indistinctly the forms of half-a-dozen
more, It was evidently the advanced picket of a camp.
We feared that it was Burgoyne's; and we were retiring
that we might again reconnoitre.

Suddenly the sentinel perceived us. He hailed us —
it was decidedly an English voice. We attempted to
retreat. He levelled his musket.

“You'd better come in, stranger, or I guess I shall
shoot you right-away?” said he.

We were delighted. It was after all the American
camp. We all advanced.

“Why!” cried the sentinel, lowering his musket,
“Ain't that Quarter-master Dodge?”

“I shouldn't wonder,” was the reply.

At the conclusion of this pithy dialogue, we entered
the camp, and reported ourselves to the General.

I went immediately in search of my father. He was
in the hospital. The surgeon informed me that his
wounds were very dangerous. I had been absent more
than a week. It was the evening of the fifth of October.
He had frequently inquired for me, and had manifested
so much anxiety for my fate that the surgeon had been
afraid to tell him, I was among the missing.

I entered cautiously — my father was awake — he embraced
me affectionately, and I then entertained him with
a detail of my adventures.

He was overcome with rapture, when he was informed
of the discovery of my sister. For that it was my sister,
the information which he already possessed, united to
various other evidence, enabled us in a few moments to
decide. The door opened. The lovely Neida sprang
into the room, and was soon locked in her father's arms.

15. CHAPTER XV.
THE SURRENDER.

I approach the termination of that part of my memoirs,
which I intend for the public.

It has been seen, that we reached the American camp
on the evening of the fifth of October.

I was happy that my wounds were sufficiently healed
to allow me, at the head of my corps, to participate in the
memorable action of the seventh.

It is hardly necessary to observe, that I at once compelled
Mayflower to abandon her masquerade, and to
refrain from any participation in the action.

Our meeting and our betrothal had revived the woman
within her. Moreover as her sex was now generally
known, she shrank from the publicity, to which her successful
disguise had previously rendered her indifferent.

It was natural that she should endeavour by force of
entreaties to induce me to abandon the army; but her
entreaties made no impression upon my mind.

I had the good fortune to render essential services in
the second and conclusive action at Stillwater.

On the nineteenth I had the satisfaction of seeing the
grand denouement of the whole plot.

I was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. The
whole history of this campaign, and of the subsequent
events is too well known, to afford me the slightest excuse
for lingering any longer upon their history.

The re-appearance of one important, and by the reader
I hope not unforgotten, personage is the principal circumstance
which I wish now to record.

Two days after the surrender of the British army, I
was turning over the list of their officers. I had taken
temporary lodgings in the village of Saratoga.

We were, however, on the point of leaving our present
situation, for a more southern theatre.

I was informed that a British officer was below, and
wished to speak with me. He had mentioned to the attendant
that he was an old acquaintance of Colonel
Morton's.

While I was wondering what acquaintance I could
possibly have in the British army, the door opened.

I turned my eyes to my visitor, and beheld Sansterre
Lackland!

Our greeting was almost rapturous. After the first
surprise was over, we sat down and entertained each
other with our adventures.

His appearance upon the stage was perhaps not very
surprising. It was even singular that I had never before
contemplated the possibility of beholding him.

His, was in fact, exactly the sort of nature which feels
at last the necessity of a powerful stimulant, and which
cannot remain long quiescent, without rushing at last
into action for relief.

I reminded him that I had often told him how much
he mistook his own nature, and how wrong a moral he
had deduced from a contemplation of his career.

“You were right, my dear fellow, after all,” said he.
“But to think of my being captured in my old age by a
parcel of d—d Yankees! However, you have the laugh
upon me after all, Morton, and hang me if I have not a
great mind to turn rebel myself. Here are you, a Colonel
in the victorious army, and I am nothing but Captain
Lackland of his majesty's surrendered 33d. Promotion
is certainly more rapid in your undisciplined
ranks. How is pay?”

“The less we say about the pay, the better,” was my
reply.

“It seems then that it is an expensive amusement, to
serve in a rebellious army,” said Lackland.

“I shouldn't wonder,” said Mr. Dodge, who had just
then entered the apartment, and unceremoniously joined
in the conversation.

16. CHAPTER XVI.
PENULTIMATE.

My father's health did not improve. The surgeon gave
me small hopes of his recovery. It was to be feared that
the wound would eventually prove mortal.

He himself considered his death as inevitable. He
looked forward to the event with composure and resignation.
He repeatedly assured me that he had long been
wearied with his life; and that although the clouds which
had rendered his life-time gloomy and tempestuous were
now rolling away, and his evening was cheered with a
glowing and tranquil sunset, yet he felt no repugnance,
that his life had reached its close. He saw himself surrounded
by his children — he saw that they were happy;
and more than all, he saw and felt that the country of
his love was at last upon the verge of independence and
success.

Again and again he assured me that he now welcomed
with gratitude the sweet repose of death. He was animated,
despite his errors, by the true and heartfelt faith of
a Christian, and he revelled in the sweet conviction that
he should one day meet his children in another and a
happier world.

As the army were soon to go into winter quarters, and
as my father's health experienced a temporary re-establishment,
sufficient, in the opinions of the physicians,
to enable him to undergo a journey; I succeeded in obtaining
leave of absence for some months. Lackland
accepted an invitation to my abode, and together our
whole party set out for “Morton's Hope.”

We reached that place, in due time, without further
adventures, and had the satisfaction of making more
comfortable arrangements for my father than I could
possibly have done at Saratoga.

It was but a few weeks after our arrival, at my old and
happy home, that I perceived indications of a growing
and a mutual attachment between my sister and my
friend Lackland.

A short time afterwards I received the agreeable communication
that the preliminaries had been satisfactorily
settled, and my own and my father's consent were now
all that was necessary.

It is needless to say that these were most joyfully
granted.

“I need not observe,” said Lackland, on concluding
his communication, “that I have no very brilliant establishment
to offer Neida.”

“Her education has hardly led her to form any extravagant
expectations,” I replied.

“However,” he resumed, “as I am prohibited from
serving any longer against your friends the rebels, I may
as well turn my attention to something else. Land is
cheap in your country. Why should not I squat as well
as our old friend Dummberg?”

“Very well,” said I, “I hope you will indeed remain
with us for the present; and I am certainly glad that our
present connexion, as well as the situation of your regiment,
makes it almost impossible for you to serve against
the cause in which I am so deeply interested. Although
we may be politically enemies, yet there is no reason why
we should not be friends and brothers. This, however,
could hardly be the case if our swords were actually turned
against each other.”

“I promise you,” said Lackland, “that whether I am
exchanged or not, I shall serve no longer in this cause.—
Although an Englishman and an American can never
agree about the justice or the causes of this conflict, yet
my present situation renders it unpalatable to me to be
exchanging broken heads with my own relations. I had
always an abhorrence of family jars, and this civil war
of ours partakes too much of that character.”

“I am glad of your determination,” I replied, “but as
to the matter of squatting, I neither expect nor wish you
to expatriate yourself. No, my dear fellow, remain
where you are for the present; but, I assure you, you will
find in the sequel that my advice is correct.”

Here our conversation ended.

It remains for me now to inform my readers that my
father exacted one condition with regard to the projected
union between his daughter and Lackland. It accorded
with the determination already taken by the Englishman
—that his son-in-law should not again bear arms against
America.

As my father felt himself rapidly sinking, he expressed
a wish that our marriages should take place while he
was yet able to behold them.

Accordingly, a few days afterwards, at the same time
and in the presence of my father, Lackland was united
to my sister, and I to Mayflower Vane.

A few days afterwards, our parent breathed his last.
His end was tranquil, hopeful, and happy.

17. CHAPTER XVII.
THE LAST.

About one month after these events I retired one morning
to the “pagoda.” I had several important letters
to write, and as I was determined to suffer no interruption,
I locked the door as soon as I entered the room.

I was in the midst of the first epistle, when I heard
a thundering at the door.

“Let me in immediately,” said Lackland, from without.

“You must wait exactly three hours and a half,” said
I, coolly resuming my pen.

“If you make me wait three minutes and a half, I
shall immediately kick your door to pieces,” was the determined
reply.

Being unwilling that the ghost of my revered uncle
should be disturbed by so sacrilegious an outrage upon
his favourite “sanctum,” I sounded a parley, and finding
he had really something important to communicate, I
opened the door.

“You see,” said Lackland, entering, “that it is only
necessary to bully a rebel to force him to capitulate.”

“Perhaps the less you say about capitulation the better,”
I replied. “But I am really engaged now, so do tell
me your business and take yourself off.”

“I believe I shall be obliged to take myself off farther
than you think,” was his reply. “I have just received
some letters, for I have correspondents as well as you,
which will require my presence on the other side of the

Atlantic. Look at the superscription of that letter, old
boy!”

I took the letter which he held out to me. It was directed
to “the Earl of Agincourt.”

I looked inquiringly at my companion.

“Read it, old fellow, read it. You will find it as entertaining
as any of your fusty epistles about camp-kettles
and flannel blankets.”

I read the letter. It was to inform my friend that by
a succession of sudden and unexpected, but after all not
very wonderful demises, the various individuals who stood
between him and the title, had been taken off, and that
the last Earl had just broken his neck in a steeple chase.

“In short,” said I, “you are now the Right Honourable
the Earl of Agincourt.”

“I shouldn't wonder, as the quarter-master would say,”
was his reply.

“And now what do you think of squatting?” said I,
gravely.

“Why—ahem—why, on the whole, I will first take
a look at Castle Lackland. Besides you know it will
be necessary to consult the countess. Poor little Neida!
how ridiculous that the little savage should receive such
promotion.”

“After all,” I replied, “you ought to be obliged to Father
Simon for her education.”

CONCLUSION.

It is hardly necessary for me to add that we were soon
afterwards separated from my sister and her husband.

Although for some time we were rendered unhappy
by their absence, yet frequent letters, the knowledge that

they were happy, the afterwards fulfilled expectation of
meeting them again, and above all the stirring national
events in which I was deeply engaged, all combined to
prevent us from giving way to our unavailing regret.

The war was soon resumed upon another theatre. It
was necessary for me again to leave the arms of my
bride. I had the good fortune to remain not altogether
undistinguished, and to rejoice that I had been permitted
to make a true estimate of the times in which my lot
was cast.

I had the glory and the happiness to be present at the
political birth of my country. Cradled, like a Spartan
child, upon the shield, and amid the din of arms, I had
the happiness, in the sequel, to find the progress of the
youthful giantess well worthy of her triumphant birth.

As I have reached the period which I always proposed
to myself, as the limit to the present portion of my memoirs,
I shall now take farewell of my readers.

NOTE TO BOOK V.

It will be observed by those who take the trouble to investigate
the subject, that much of the matter relative to the Indians,
their habits, ceremonies, and so forth, has been derived
from the standard works on Indian history.—See, in particular,
Hoyt's Indian Wars. Heckewelder's Narrative, and B. B.
Thacher's Indian Biography.