University of Virginia Library

8. CHAPTER VIII.

Directing Manytongues to secure the two incendiaries,
I sprang into the kitchen to extinguish the flames. It was
high time, though Mary Warren had already anticipated me
here, too. She had actually thrown several dippers of water
upon the fire, which was beginning to crackle through the
pile of chairs, and had already succeeded in lessening the
flames. I knew that a hydrant stood in the kitchen itself,
which gave a full stream of water. Filling a pail, I threw
the contents on the flames; and repeating the application,
in half a minute the room was filled with vapour, and to the
bright light succeeded a darkness that was so deep as to suggest
the necessity of finding lamps and candles.

The tumult produced by the scene just described soon
brought all in the house to the spot. The domestics, male
and female, came tumbling down the stairs, under which the
fire had been lighted, and presently candles were seen glancing
about the house, in all directions.

“I declare, Mr. Hugh,” cried John, the moment he had
taken a survey of the state of the kitchen, “this is worse
than Hireland, sir! The Hamericans affect to laugh at the
poor Hirish, and calls their country savage, and hunfit to
be in'abited, but nothing worse passes in it than is beginning
to pass 'ere. Them stairs would have been all in flames in
a few minutes, and them stairs once on fire, not one of hus,
up in the hattics, could 'ave escaped death! Don't talk of
Hireland, after this!”

Poor John! his prejudices are those of an Englishman of

his class, and that is saying as much in favour of their
strength as can be well said of any prejudices. But, how
much truth was there in his remark! The quiet manner in
which we assume superiority, in morals, order, justice and
virtue, over all other nations, really contains an instructive
lesson, if one will only regard things as they really are. I
have no wish to exaggerate the faults of my own country,
but certainly I shall not remorselessly conceal them, when
the most dangerous consequences are connected with such
a mistake. As a whole, the disorders, disturbances, and
convulsions of America have certainly been much fewer
than those of most, perhaps of all other Christian nations,
comparing numbers, and including the time since the great
experiment commenced. But, such ought to have been the
result of our facts, quite independently of national character.
The institutions leave nothing for the masses to struggle for,
and famine is unknown among us. But what does the other
side of the picture exhibit? Can any man point to a country
in Europe in which a great political movement has commenced
on a principle as barefacedly knavish as that of
transferring property from one class of men to another?
That such a project does exist here, is beyond all just contradiction;
and it is equally certain that it has carried its
devices into legislation, and is fast corrupting the government
in its most efficient agents. John was right in saying
we ought not to turn up our noses at the ebullitions of abused
and trodden-on “Hireland,” while our own skirts are to be
cleared of such sins against the plainest dictates of right.

The fire was extinguished, and the house was safe. The
kitchen was soon cleared of the steam and smoke, and in
their places appeared a cloud of redskins. Prairiefire, Eaglesflight,
and Flintyheart, were all there, examining the
effects of the fire, with stern and interested countenances. I
looked round for Mary Warren; but that gentle and singularly
feminine girl, after manifesting a presence of mind and
decision that would have done honour to a young man of
her own age, had shrunk back with sensitive consciousness,
and now concealed herself among the others of her sex.
Her duty, so eminently useful and protective, had been performed,
and she was only anxious to have it all forgotten.
This I discovered only next day, however.

Manytongues had secured the incendiaries, and they
were now in the kitchen, also, with their hands tied together,
and arms bound behind their backs, at the elbows. As
their faces remained black, it was out of my power to recognise
either. The rascal who had been felled by the blow
of the rifle was yet confused in manner, and I ordered the
domestics to wash him, in the double expectation of bringing
him more completely to his senses, and of ascertaining who
he might be.

The work was soon done, and both objects were attained.
The cook used a dishcloth with so much dexterity, that the
black-a-moor came out a white man, at the first application,
and he was soon as clean as a child that is about to be sent
to school, fresh from the hands of its nurse. The removal
of the disguise brought out the abashed and frightened
physiognomy of Joshua Brigham, Miller's hired man
— or my hired man, in effect, as I paid him his wages.

Yes! such was one of the effects of the pernicious opinions
that had been so widely circulated in the land, during
the profound moral mania that was working its ravages
among us, with a fatality and danger that greatly exceed
those which accompanied the cholera. A fellow, who was
almost an inmate of my family, had not only conspired
with others to rob me of my property, on a large scale, but
he had actually carried his plot so far as to resort to the
brand and the rifle, as two of the agents to be employed in
carrying out his virtuous objects. Nor was this the result
of the vulgar disposition to steal; it was purely a consesequence
of a widely-extended system, that is fast becoming
incorporated with the politics of the land, and which men,
relying on the efficacy of majorities, are bold enough to
stand up, in legislative halls, to defend.[1]

I confess that the discovery of the person of Joshua
Brigham rendered me a little curious to ascertain that of
his companion. Hester, the cook, was directed to take the
other child in hand, as soon as she had well wiped the
countenance of the one first unmasked. Nothing loth, the
good housewife set about her task, and the first dab of water
she applied revealed the astounding fact that I had again
captured Seneca Newcome! It will be remembered, that
the last time I saw these two men together, I left them
fighting in the highway.

I admit that this discovery shocked me. There never had
been a being of the Newcome tribe, from the grandfather,
who was its root at Ravensnest, down to Opportunity, who
had ever been esteemed, or respected among us. Trick—
trick—trick—low cunning, and overreaching management,
had been the family trait, from the day Jason, of that name,
had rented the mill lot, down to the present hour. This I
had heard from my grandfather, my grandmother, my own
father, my uncle, my aunts and all, older than myself, who
belonged to me. Still, there they had been, and habit had
created a sort of feeling for them. There had, also, been a
species of pretension about the family, which brought them
more before us, than most of the families of the tenantry.

The grandfather had received a sort of an education, and
this practice had been continued, after a manner, down to
the unfortunate wretch who now stood a prisoner taken
flagrante delictu, and for a capital crime. Seneca could
never have made a gentleman, as the term is understood
among gentlemen; but he belonged to a profession which
ought to raise a man materially above the level of the vulgar.
Opportunity, too, had received her quasi education, a far
more pretending one than that of my own Patt, but nothing
had been well taught to her; not even reading, inasmuch as
she had a decided provincial pronunciation, which sometimes
grated on my nerves. But, Opportunity had feelings,
and could not have anticipated her own brother's intentions,
when she communicated the important information she had.
Opportunity, moreover, had more refinement than Seneca,
in consequence of having a more limited association, and she
might fall into despair, at this unexpected result of her
own acts!

I was still reflecting on these things, when summoned to
my grandmother. She was in her own dressing-room, surrounded
by the four girls; just so many pictures of alarm,
interest, and female loveliness. Mary Warren, alone, was in
regular toilette; but the others, with instinctive coquetry, had
contrived to wrap themselves up, in a way to render them
handsomer than ever. As for my dear grandmother herself,
she had been told that the house was safe, but felt that
vague desire to see me, that was perhaps natural to the circumstances.

“The state of the country is frightful,” she said, when I
had answered a few of her questions, and had told her who
the prisoners really were; “and we can hardly remain here,
in safety. Think of one of the Newcomes—and of Seneca,
in particular, with his profession and education, being engaged
in such a crime!”

“Nay, grandmother,” put in Patt, a little archly, “I never
yet heard you speak well of the Newcomes: you barely
tolerated Opportunity, in the hope of improving her.”

“It is true, that the race is a bad one, and the circumstances
show what injury a set of fasle notions, transmitted
from father to son, for generations, may do in a family.
We cannot think of keeping these dear girls, here, one

hour after to-morrow, Hugh. To-morrow, or to-day, for it
is now past two o'clock, I see;—to-day is Sunday, and we
can go to church; to-night we will be watchful, and Monday
morning, your uncle shall start for Satanstoe, with all
three of the girls.”

“I shall not leave my dear grandmother,” rejoined Patt—
“nor do I think it would be very kind to leave Mary Warren
behind us, in a place like this.”

“I cannot quit my father,” said Mary, herself, quietly,
but very firmly. “It is his duty to remain with his parishioners,
and more so, now, that so many of them are misguided,
than at any other time; and it is always my duty,
and my pleasure, to remain with him.”

Was that acting? Was that Pharisaical? Or was it
genuine nature; pure filial affection and filial piety? Beyond
all question, it was the last; and had not the simple
tone, the earnest manner, and the almost alarmed eagerness,
with which the dear girl spoke, proclaimed as much, no one
could have looked in at that serene and guileless eye and
doubted. My grandmother smiled on the lovely earnest
speaker, in her kindest manner, took her hand, and charmingly
observed—

“Mary and I will remain together. Her father is in no
danger, for even anti-renters will respect a minister of the
gospel, and can be made to understand it is his duty to rebuke
even their sins. As for the other girls, I think it is
our duty to insist that your uncle's wards, at least, should
no longer be exposed to dangers like those we have gone
through to-night.”

The two young ladies, however, protested in the prettiest
manner possible, their determination not to quit “grandmamma,”
as they affectionately termed their guardian's
mother; and while they were thus employed, my uncle Ro
entered the room, having just paid a visit to the kitchen.

“Here 's a charming affair!” exclaimed the old bachelor,
as soon as in our midst. “Arson, anti-rentism, attempts at
murder, and all sorts of enormities, going hand in hand, in
the very heart of the wisest and best community that earth
ever knew; and the laws as profoundly asleep the whole
time, as if such gentle acts were considered meritorious.
This out-does repudiation twenty-fold, Hugh.

“Ay, my dear sir, but it will not make a tithe of the talk.
Look at the newspapers that will be put into your hands to-morrow
morning, fresh from Wall and Pine and Anne
streets. They will be in convulsions, if some unfortunate
wight of a Senator speak of adding an extra corporal to a
regiment of foot, as an alarming war-demonstration, or quote
the fall of a fancy stock that has not one cent of intrinsic
value, as if it betokened the downfall of a nation; while
they doze over this volcano, which is raging and gathering
strength beneath the whole community, menacing destruction
to the nation itself, which is the father of stocks.”

“The intense selfishness that is uppermost is a bad symptom,
certainly; and no one can say to what it will lead.
One thing is sure; it causes men to limit all their calculations
to the present moment; and to abate a nuisance that
presses on our existing interests, they will jeopard everything
that belongs to the future. But what are we to do
with Seneca Newcome, and his co-rascal, the other incendiary?”

“I had thought of referring that to your discretion, sir.
They have been guilty of arson, I suppose, and must take
their chances, like every-day criminals.”

“Their chances will be very good ones, Hugh. Had you
been caught in Seneca Newcome's kitchen, setting fire to
his house, condign and merciless punishment would have
been your lot, beyond all controversy; but their cases will
be very different. I 'll bet you a hundred that they 'll not
be convicted; and a thousand that they are pardoned, if
convicted.”

“Acquitted, sir, will be out of the question—Miss Warren
and I saw them both, in the very act of building their
fire; and there is plenty of testimony, as to their identity.”

This indiscreet speech drew every eye on my late companion;
all the ladies, old and young, repeating the name
of “Mary!” in the pretty manner in which the sex expresses
surprise. As for Mary, herself, the poor blushing girl shrunk
back abashed, ashamed of she knew not what, unless it
might be in connection with some secret consciousness, at
finding herself so strangely associated with me.

“Miss Warren is, indeed, in her evening dress,” said my

grandmother, a little gravely, “and cannot have been in bed
this night. How has this happened, my dear?”

Thus called on, Mary Warren was of too guileless and
pure a mind, to hesitate in telling her tale. Every incident,
with which she had been connected, was simply and clearly
related, though she suppressed the name of our midnight
visiter, out of tenderness to Opportunity. All present were
too discreet to ask the name, and, I may add, all present
heard the narrative with a marked and approving interest.
When Mary had done, my grandmother kissed her, and
Patt, the generous creature, encircled her waist, with the
tenderness and affection of a sister, who felt for all the trials
the other had endured.

“It seems, then, we owe our safety to Mary, after all!”
exclaimed my good grandmother; “without her care and
watchfulness, Hugh might, most probably would, have remained
on the lawn, until it was too late to save the house,
or us.”

“That is not all,” added uncle Ro. “Any one could
have cried `fire,' or given a senseless alarm, but it is evident
from Miss Warren's account, unpremeditated and artless
as it is, that, but for the cool and discreet manner in
which she played her part, not one-half of that which has
been done, would have been effected, and that the house
might have been lost. Nay, had these fellows surprised
Hugh, instead of Hugh's surprising them, we might have
been called on to deplore his loss.”

I saw a common shudder in Patt and Mary, as they stood
encircling each other with their arms; but the last was evidently
so pained, that I interfered for her relief.

“I do not see any possibility of escape for these incendiaries,”
I said, turning to my uncle, “under the testimony
that can be offered, and am surprised to hear you suggest a
doubt of the result of the trial.”

“You feel and reason like a very young man, Hugh;
one, who fancies things are much nearer what they ought
to be than facts will sustain. Justice is blind, now-a-days,
not as a proof of impartiality, but as a proof that she too
often sees only one side of a question. How will they escape?
Perhaps the jury may fancy setting fire to a pile of

wood, and certain chairs, is not setting fire to a house, let
the animus be as plain as the noses on their faces. Mark
me, Hugh Littlepage; one month will not go by, before the
events of this very night will he tortured into an argument
in favour of anti-rentism.”

A common exclamation, in which even my grandmother
joined, expressed the general dissent from this opinion.

“It is all very well, ladies,” answered my uncle Ro,
coolly—“all well enough, Master Hugh; but let the issue
tell its own story. I have heard already other abuses of
the anti-renters urged as a reason why the laws should be
changed, in order that men may not be tempted beyond their
strength; and why not use the same reasoning in favour of
this crime, when it has been used already, in cases of murder?
`The leasehold tenures make men commit murder,'
it is said, `and they ought to be destroyed,' themselves.
`The leasehold tenures make men commit arson,' it will now
be said, `and who desires to retain laws that induce men to
commit arson?”

“On the same principle it might be pretended there should
be no such thing as personals, as they tempt men, beyond
what they can bear, to commit petty larceny.”

“No doubt it could, and no doubt it would, if political
supremacy were to be the reward. There is nothing—no
fallacy, no moral sophism, that would not be used to attain
such an end. But, it is late, and we ought to bethink us of
disposing of the prisoners for the night—what means this
light? The house is not on fire, after all!”

Sure enough, notwithstanding the closed shutters, and
drawn curtains of my grandmother's dressing-room, an
unusual light had penetrated to the place, filling us with
sudden and intense alarm. I opened the door, and found
the passages illuminated, though all within appeared tranquil
and safe. There was a clamour in the court, however, and
presently the fearful war-whoop of the savages rose on the
night air. The cries came from without, as I fancied, and
rushing to the little door, I was on the lawn in a moment,
when the mystery was solved. An extensive hay-barn, one
well filled with the remainder of the last year's crops, was
on fire, sending its forked and waving tongues of flame at
least a hundred feet into the air. It was merely a new argument

against the leasehold tenures, and in favour of the
“spirit of the institutions,” a little vividly pressed on the
human senses. Next year, it may figure in the message of
a governor, or the philanthropical efforts of some Albany
orator, if the same “spirit” prevail in the “institutions,” as
would seem to prevail this! Is a contract to be tolerated
which induces freemen to set barns on fire?

The barn that had been set on fire stood on the flats, below
the cliff, and fully half a mile from the Next. The conflagration
made a most brilliant blaze, and, as a matter of
course, produced an intense light. The loss to myself did
not exceed a few hundred dollars; and, while this particular
argument in favour of anti-rentism was not entirely
agreeable, it was not so grave as it might have been, had it
been urged on other buildings, and in the same mode. In
other words, I was not so much distressed with my loss as
not to be able to see the beauty of the scene; particularly
as my uncle Ro whispered that Dunning had caused an insurance
to be effected in the Saratoga Mutual Assurance,
which would probably place a considerable portion of the
tenants in the unlooked-for category of those who were to
pay for their own frolic.

As it was too late to think of saving the barn and ricks,
and Miller, with his people, had already descended to the
spot to look after the fences, and any other object that might
be endangered by the flying embers, there was nothing for
us to do but to remain passive spectators. Truly, the scene
was one worthy of being viewed, and is not altogether unfit
for description.

The light of that burning barn extended for a great distance,
shining like what it was, an “evil deed in a naughty
world;” for, notwithstanding the high authority of Shakspeare,
it is your “evil deeds,” after all, that produce the
brightest blazes, and which throw their beams the farthest,
in this state of probation in which we live.

The most remarkable objects in that remarkable scene
were the true and the false redskins—the “Indians” and the
“Injins”—both of whom were in motion on the meadows,
and both of whom were distinctly visible to us where we
stood, on the cliffs (the ladies being at their chamber windows),

though I dare say they were not quite so obvious to
each other.

The Indians had formed themselves into a very open
order, and were advancing towards the other party in a
stealthy manner, by creeping on all-fours, or crouching like
catamounts to the earth, and availing themselves of everything
like a cover that offered. The burning barn was between
the two parties, and was a principal reason that the
“Injins” were not sooner aware of the risk they ran. The
last were a whooping, shouting, dancing, leaping band, of
some forty or fifty of the “disguised and armed,” who were
quite near enough to the conflagration to enjoy it, without
being so near as to be necessarily connected with it. We
understood their presence and antics to be intended as so
many intimations of the secret agency they had had in the
depredations of the night, and as so many warnings how I
withstood the “spirit of the Institutions.”

Manytongues, who had certain vague notions of the necessity
of his keeping on the windy side of the law, did not
accompany his red brethren, but came through the gateway
and joined my uncle and myself, as we stood beneath the
cover of a noble chestnut, on the verge of the cliff, watching
the course of things on the meadow. I expressed my surprise
at seeing him there, and inquired if his presence might
not be needed by Flintyheart or Prairiefire.

“Not at all, not at all, Colonel,” he answered with perfect
coolness. “The savages have no great need of an
intarpreter in the business they are on; and if harm comes
of the meetin', it's perhaps best that the two parties should
not understand each other, in which case it might all be
looked on as an accident. I hope they'll not be particular
about scalps,—for I told Flintyheart, as he was leaving us,
the people of this part of the world did not like to be
scalped.”

This was the only encouragement we received from the
interpreter, who appeared to think that matters were now
in the right train, and that every difficulty would soon be
disposed of, secundum artem. The Injins, however, viewed
the affair differently, having no wish for a serious brush
with any one; much less with enemies of the known character
of red-skins. How they ascertained the presence of

their foe I cannot say, though it is probable some one saw
them stealing along the meadows, in spite of all their care,
and gave the alarm. Alarm it was, sure enough; the party
of the previous day scarce retreating through the woods
with greater haste than the “disguised and armed” now
vanished.

Such has been the fact, as respects these men, in every
instance in which they have been brought in contact with
armed bodies, though much inferior to their own in numbers.
Fierce enough, and even brutal, on a variety of occasions
in which individuals have become subject to their power, in
all cases in which armed parties, however small, have been
sent against them, they have betrayed timidity and a dread
of making that very appeal to force, which, by their own
previous acts, they had insolently invited. Is it then true,
that these soi-disant “Injins” have not the ordinary courage
of their race, and that they are less than Americans, with
arms in their hands, and below the level of all around them
in spirit? Such is not the case. The consciousness of guilt
has made them cowards; they have found “that the king's
name is a tower of strength,” and have shrunk from conflicts,
in which the secret warnings that come from on high
have told them that they were embodied in a wicked cause,
and contending for the attainment of wrong ends by unjustifiable
means. Their conduct proves how easy it would
have been to suppress their depredations at the earliest day,
by a judicious application of the power of the State, and how
much they have to answer for who have neglected their duty
in this particular.

As soon as Flintyheart and his followers ascertained that
the “disguised and armed” were actually off again, and that
they were not to pass the morning in a skirmish, as no doubt
each man among them had hoped would to be the case, they
set up such whoops and cries as had not been heard on
those meadows during the last eighty years. The period
went beyond the memory of man since Indian warfare had
existed at Ravensnest, a few false alarms in the revolution
excepted. The effect of these yells was to hasten the retreat,
as was quite apparent to us on the cliffs; but the sagacious
warriors of the Prairies knew too much to expose their
persons by approaching nearer to the blazing barn than

might be prudent. On the contrary, seemingly satisfied
that nothing was to be done, and disdaining a parade of
service where no service was to be effected, they slowly retired
from the meadows, regaining the cliffs by means
known to themselves.

This military demonstration, on the part of our red
brethren, was not without its useful consequences. It gave
the “Injins” an intimation of watchfulness, and of a readiness
to meet them that prevented any new alarm that night,
and satisfied everybody at the Nest that our immediate danger
had come to an end. Not only was this the feeling of
my uncle and myself, but it was also the feeling of the females,
as we found on returning to the house, who had witnessed
all that passed from the upper windows. After a
short interview with my grandmother, she consented to
retire, and preparations were made for setting a look-out,
and dismissing everybody to their beds again. Manytongues
took charge of the watch, though he laughed at the
probability of there being any further disturbance that
night.

“As for the redskins,” he said, “they would as soon
sleep out under the trees, at this season of the year, as sleep
under a roof; and as for waking—cats a'nt their equals.
No—no—Colonel; leave it all to me, and I'll carry you
through the night as quietly as if we were on the prer-ies,
and living under good wholesome prer-ie law.”

“As quietly, as if we were on the prairies!” We had
then reached that pass in New York, that after one burning,
a citizen might really hope to pass the remainder of his
night as quietly as if he were on the prairies! And there
was that frothy, lumbering, useless machine, called a government,
at Albany, within fifty miles of us, as placid, as
self-satisfied, as much convinced that this was the greatest
people on earth, and itself their illustrious representatives,
as if the disturbed counties were so many gardens of Eden,
before sin and transgression had become known to it! If
it was doing anything in the premises, it was probably
calculating the minimum the tenant should pay for the
landlord's land, when the latter might be sufficiently worried
to part with his estate. Perhaps, it was illustrating its
notions of liberty, by naming the precise sum that one citizen

ought to accept, in order that the covetous longings of
another should be satisfied!

I was about to retire to my bed, for the first time that
night, when my uncle Ro remarked it might be well to see
one of our prisoners at least. Orders had been given to
unbind the wretched men, and to keep them in an empty
store-room, which had no available outlet but the door.
Thither we then repaired, and of course were admitted by
the sentinels, without a question. Seneca Newcome was
startled at my appearance, and I confess I was myself embarrassed
how to address him, from a wish to say nothing
that might appear like exultation on one side, or concession
on the other. My uncle, however, had no such scruples,
probably from better knowing his man; accordingly, he
came to the point at once.

“The evil spirit must have got great ascendency in the
country, Seneca Newcome, when men of your knowledge,
dip so deeply into his designs,” said Mr. Littlepage, sternly.
“What has my nephew ever done to incite you to come into
his house, as an incendiary, like a thief in the night?”

“Ask me no questions, Mr. Littlepage,” surlily replied
the attorney, “for I shall answer none.”

“And this miserable misguided creature who has been
your companion. The last we saw of these two men, Hugh,
they were quarrelling in the highway, like cat and dog, and
there are signs about their faces that the interview became
still more hostile than it had been, after we left them.”

“And here we find them together, companions in an enterprise
of life and death!”

“It is ever thus with rogues. They will push their quarrels
to extremities, and make them up in an hour, when the
demon of rapine points to an object for common plunder.
You see the same spirit in politics, ay, and even in religion.
Men that have lived in hostility, for half their lives, contending
for selfish objects, will suddenly combine their powers
to attain a common end, and work together like the
most true-hearted friends, so long as they see a chance of
effecting their wishes. If honesty were only one-half as
active as roguery, it would fare better than it does. But the
honest man has his scruples; his self-respect; his consistency,
and most of all his principles, to mark out his course,

and he cannot turn aside at each new impulse, like your
pure knave to convert enemies into friends, and friends into
enemies. And you,” turning to Josh Brigham, who was
looking surlily on—“who have actually been eating Hugh
Littlepage's bread, what has he done, that you should come
at midnight, to burn him up like a caterpillar in the
spring?”

“He has had his farm long enough”—muttered the fellow—“it's
time that poor folks had some chance.”

My uncle shrugged his shoulders; then, as if he suddenly
recollected himself, he lifted his hat, bowed like a thoroughbred
gentleman as he was, when he chose to be, wished
Seneca good night, and walked away. As we retired, he
expressed his conviction of the uselessness of remonstrance,
in this case, and of the necessity of suffering the law to take
its own course. It might be unpleasant to see a Newcome
actually hanged, but nothing short of that operation, he felt
persuaded would ever fetch up the breed in its evil courses.
Wearied with all that had passed, I now went to bed, and
slept soundly for the succeeding seven hours. As the house
was kept quiet by orders, everybody repaired the lost time,
the Nest being as quiet as in those days in which the law
ruled in the republic.