University of Virginia Library

4. CHAPTER IV.
THE CAPTAIN.

The young artist, as he confessed himself
to be, was interrupted in his conversation
with Whitlock, by the sudden appearance at
his side of a stout-built man, in a fox-skin
cap, with the bushy tail hanging over his
left shoulder, and clad in a white blanket-coat,
belted with a red woollen sash.

`Red Beard!' exclaimed Whitlock, with
surprise, and instantly rising to his feet.

`The captain!' ejaculated Griffitt, who
also rose and extended his hand to receive
the grasp of the others which was silently
stretched forth to welcome him.

The moonlight fell broadly upon the
stranger's countenance, and showed the
features of a man about forty-two or three
years of age, handsome but strongly marked
with the lines of decision and strength of
character. They were haughty, if not stern
in their outline, but his mouth and the lower
part of his face being concealed by a thick
bushy beard of light auburn hue, the whole
expression of his countenance could not be
made out. His eye was very finely shaped,
and full deep set beneath a thick but well
formed brow, and of that light grey color,
which bespeaks courage and power. His
form was erect and his bearing reserved and
cold, and might have been mistaken for
pride, but for the coarse apparel which indicated
humble life, and his station as a
woodman; for though he held the rank of
captain or overseer of a hundred and thirty
men, divided into three or four gangs, yet
his position in society was not above theirs,
that is, if position is to be marked by the
mode of life, the dress and the habits of the
man. His severity of character, and strength,
as well as courage, with his thorough knowledge
of the duties of a woodsman and a raftsman,
recommended him to the rich proprietors
of the forest lands near the sources of

the Susquehannah, as a fit person to control
the gangs of rude men, and act as agent
and paymaster. He had held this position
now for more than eight years, and by his
integrity and faithfulness as well as his untiring
industry with the axe, and the oar, in
which he set an example to his men, he had
secured the confidence of the proprietors,
and also won the good opinion of the rude
spirits which he controlled. The duties of
the winter over, and the woodsman turned
into the raftsman, and their forest fleets safely
moored in the distant mart, their chief
would betake himself for the summer to his
solitary cabin near the banks of the river, on
the borders of the valley of Northumberland,
and remain there cultivating his small
farm, shuning all intercourse but that which
was most necessary, with his neighbors,
who both feared and respected him. His
name of Robert Burnside had become almost
obsolete through the almost universal
adoption of the soubriquet bestowed upon
him by his raftsmen of `Red Beard;' and at
other times of `the Captain.'

`I am glad to see you, master Ringold!'
he said in a gruff, abrupt tone, but by no
means unkindly, `I did not know you were
here! When did you get up?'

`At dark!' answered Griffitt, speaking like
one who instead of fearing or disliking the
person he addressed, felt a degree of pleasure
in his company. Indeed there seemed to
exist between them the best state of feeling.

`I find your men have finished cutting
and are ready to raft!'

`Yes; and I am not sorry to see the ice
breaking and going down. Did it trouble
you to get through it?'

`Yes; but I came in my `Flyer;' and
what cakes I could not pass, I travelled
over!'

`Do you bring me any letters?'

`Here is one, given me by the Factor
Bixby! And here is a parcel containing
the money, twenty-two hundred dollars, for
the men!'

`It is in good time,' answered Red Beard,
and taking the letter he placed it in a pocket
in the breast of his coat, while he tore rather
than broke the seal of the letter from the
Factor. He tried to read it by the moonlight,
but unable to do so, he strongly commanded
Myers the whatchman, to feed the
fire!'

A bright blaze leaped into the air, and by
its light be rapidly perused the letter, not
with the slow and careful perusal of a man
imperfectly educated, but with the quick
and cognizant glance of one to whom such
things were familiar.

`Very well! It is all right!' he said half
aloud, as he slowly folded up the letter;
but Griffitt saw that there was an expression
upon his brow and a light in his eye that
were not there when he opened the letter.
He knew that there was, therefore, more in
the letter than related merely to the money
which he had brought up to the camp. He
tried to penetrate his disquiet, but suddenly
catching his quick glance, turned upon
him, he dropped his own and said:

`No ill news, sir, I trust!'

`Nothing! walk with me to my cabin,
master Griffitt; let us count this money that
we may both see that it is all right!'

`That look you saw him have on as he
read that letter,' whispered Whitlock, is the
same he has worn this ten days past, ever
since that day a sleigh and two men drove
up to the camp on the frozen river! He
has not been himself since! But go, or
he'll be coming back after you! When you
are done with him, come and let us talk together
about a plan I have!'

`I will rejoin you soon,' answered Griffitt,
as he hastened after Red Beard into the cabin.

The hut into which he followed him, was
detached from the main building being situated
some yards to the south of it with its
back against a high rock, and too or three
tall pines before the door. The door was
locked, but he let himself in by means of a

key; and striking a light he kindled a fragment
of pine, and stuck it in a crevice of
the wall. The light it gave, enabled Griffitt
to see two large chests, bundles of axes,
packs of skins, and a bale of blankets, with
many other articles needful for the supply
of men in a winter's camp; for this was the
storehouse, as well as the particular lodging
room of `the captain.'

`Set down, master Griffitt,' he said, as he
closed the door. `We will count this money
over together.'

Griffitt seated himself on one end of a
chest, while Red Beard placed himself vis-a-vis
upon the other, and placed the package
of money between them.

`All one hundred dollar notes it seems!'
he said as he fluttered his finger across the
edges. `Twenty two of them in all! The
count is right, master Griffitt!'

`I am glad to find it so. I should have
been mortified if it had come short!'

`No man could have doubted your honesty,
young man!' answered Red Beard, as he
replaced the notes in the pocket-book, and
restored it to his bosom. `Now when do
you return?'

`I shall not go down till the first raft is
ready!' I wish to remain a few days and
give you my aid!'

`Young man, you can aid me better than
by your assistance in rafting,' said Red
Beard with an impressive manner. `But
—'

Griffitt saw that he hesitated to proceed in
the confident way in which he had begun,
and that he looked embarrassed, and eyed
him with doubt.

`But what, Captain Burnside? If I can
serve you, command me!'

`If I can trust any one, I can trust you,'
responded the captain after a moment's silence,
during which he paced three times
backwards and forwards thoughtfully across
the hut.

`You may trust me, sir! You did my
widowed mother a service when there was
no one to save her poor homestead from
wreck, when neighbors could not, or would
not extend a hand, and when no one could
look to you in your lonely cabin, or supposed
you felt for the sufferings of those about
you! I shall never forget your goodness,
sir. It smoothed the pillow of death to
my mother's spirit; and when two years ago
she died, she bade me with her last words,
never to forget your benevolence towards her!'

`It was nothing, boy! just nothing! I
heard by accident that her cottage and five
acres of land about it, were to be sold to
fore-close a mortgage that had cumbered it
since her husband's death, and that it could
be bought for three hundred dollars, though
worth a thousand—and — but it is nothing.'

`And you, sir, instead of letting the day
of sale come, and taking advantage of her
misfortune, to make a bargain, brought her
the money in your hand, and told her to take
it and release her property. This sir, was a
noble act, and when I forget it, may my
right hand forget its cunning.'

`And if men say true, it hath no small
cunning in the skill of painting. You
should go to a city and develope your talent,
young man.'

`I am, I fear, destined always to be a
farmer and raftsman, sir,' answered Ringold
Griffitt with a sigh; though the fire in
his eyes betrayed the ambition of his soul.

`Not always. Men of genius will one
day or other work out their destiny; and
you must yours. But let us speak of other
things now. I want your aid, and the grateful
recollection you seem to have of the
slight service I did for your widowed mother,
during your absence at sea, secures my
confidence in you.'

`What I have it in my power to do, command
me in it.'

`I will! I have made up my mind to do
so; but this must be secret between us, the
conversation we now hold, and that which it
may lead to.'

This was said in a very solemn manner,
Read Beard laying his hand firmly upon the
arm of the young man as he was speaking.

`You can trust to my honor, Captain
Robert!'

`Then you shall hear all—or rather shall
know as much as is expedient just now; for
I cannot at present clear up every thing.
But we must be alone!'

He then looked out of the door and listened.
No sounds but the gurgle of the
waters of the river, or the sharp cracking of
the icy masses that rushed by, were heard.
The figures of the two watchmen, Whitlock
and Myers, were seen between the door and
the fire, as if they were idly talking with
each other. All the rest of the camp was
buried in silence, if not in sleep.

`We are all still,' said Red Beard re-closing
the door. `Now master Ringold I want
your ears. What I am about to communicate
to you is deeply interesting to me, and
indeed touches my happiness and peace of
mind.'

But before we listen to the communication
of Red Beard to the young painter of
the forest, we shall give a few pages to the
previous history of this young man.

Eighty miles below the woodland camp
where we have brought our readers, the river
flowed through a charming valley, enclosed
by a circle of hills, in the bosom of which
slept this rich valley. Its length following
the meanderings of the Susquehannah, was
about twenty miles, and its breadth a little
more than eight. It was a spot that combined
all the charms of natural scenery, as well
as excellency of soil. Pebbly brooks warbled
through its fields, and noisy cascades
awoke the solitude of its groves. The valley
was not a perfect plain, save a border of
half a mile of green intervale on the river,
but gently waved towards the encircling
hills, which were of a dark blue color and
rose grand in their skyey outline.

This beautiful vale was the favorite resort
of the ancient children of the wilderness,
and dispersed here and there in the most
picturesque spots by hill-sides and springs,
were still to be found their green altar-mounds
and cemeteries. But the European
came and crowded them from their pleasant
homes, and compelled to part from their
lands, they sold them to their invaders. A
noble Englishman, a near relative of one
of the governors of provincial New York,
purchased the valley, and thus became its
proprietor.

His heir sold portions of it to settlers, and
realized therefrom great wealth, while the
representative of the latter increased his
American possessions, by purchasing nearly
a hundred miles up the river a vast tract of
forest land.

At the period of our story, he with two
others, constituted a company of proprietors,
although the English nobleman had yet never
set foot upon the western world. The
woodsmen and raftsmen employed in these
forests, were engaged principally from settlers
in the beautiful valley of the Susquehannah,
a hardy race of men and well fitted
by nature and pursuits for this labor, even
as we have seen. From time to time the
American proprietors who resided in Baltimore,
visited the valley for the purpose of
looking after their estates therein, as well as
employing and keeping up the number of
their lumbermen. On one of these visits, the
third year after they had opened the timber
forests, they met with Robert Burnside.
The attention of the proprietors was drawn
to him from witnessing the courageous and
skillful manner in which he had saved the
lives of seven men, who accidently cast loose
in a boat, were driving to certain death over
the falls of the river; and subsequently in
seeing him save a child from a cake of ice,
venturing out in a flyer and snatching it at
the peril of his own life from the brink of
the same falls.

Enquiring who he was, they could only
learn that he cultivated a few acres of land
near the river, lived alone in a rough log

cabin, and sought no man's acquaintance.
It chanced that at this time they were looking
out for some suitable person to control
their timber-parties, and they called at his
cabin, resolved if he should show himself to
be a proper man, to offer the position to him.
The result was, that they offered to him and
he accepted the charge, and proved himself
up to the time of our story, one of the most
efficient captains they could have obtained.
His honesty and faithfulness had been fully
tested, and he now shared their confidence.

Not far from the humble and unpretend
ing abode of Robert Burnside, about a mile
across a deep brook, dwelt the widow of a
small land-holder. He had once been esteemed
rich, but at his death his estate, save
a small cottage and a few acres of land, on
which was a mortgage, passed into the hands
of creditors. He left a widow and one
child, Ringold Griffitt, who at his father's
death was a fine looking spirited youth of
eighteen, with a good education, agreeable
manners, and one of the most industrious
young men in the thickly settled valley of
his nativity.