University of Virginia Library

12. CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSION.

In breathless suspense the whole party awaited the coming of
those whom they believed to be foes, and every tramp of the
approaching steeds made their hearts quake with fear. On, on
they came, nearer and more near, and still no word was spoken, no
loud Indian yell uttered. At last they came fully abreast of where
the females were concealed, in the canoes, behind the tangled
brushwood that fringed the water's edge; and then it was that each
of the latter nervously grasped her nearest companion, and, trembling
with terror, compressed her lips, and held her breath. On
went the horsemen, with a thundering tread, beating down the
bushes, crushing the leaves, and snapping the dry sticks in their
path; and as the last one passed the line which left the frightened
females above him on the river, there was an unexpressed, inexpressible
rejoicing in the hearts of the former, such as a rapid
change from death to life, as it were, can only give.

Suddenly the most powerful emotions of joy which the human
system is capable of supporting in a state of consciousness and
sanity, were awakened in the breast of each of our friends, by
the following colloquy in English, between a superior and an
inferior.

“Are we not near the ford you told us about, Carnele?”

“Yes, Major, its right down here, just a little bit furder. I
knows it well; for me and Major Allen—poor fellow! God bless
him!—crossed it last night, on our way to this infernal red-nigger
town, which we're going to agin; but I hope now to hev a little
better luck nor we had that time.”

Edward waited to hear no more; but bounding through the
bushes, too excited to be prudent, he fairly shouted—

“Ho! friends, ho! this way! this way—here are those that need
your aid!”

“Ha! it is my own lost Edward that speaks!” cried a well
known voice—a voice that made more than one of the foor fugitive's
hearts beat wildly—and the next moment a single horseman
rushed out from the main body, and drawing rein close along side
of Edward, leaped from his steed and embraced him.

“Colonel Danforth, my more than friend—my father,” sobbed
the latter, “you are safe!”

“Yes, my poor boy, safe—safe for the present—and by God's

blessing so are you, although I had long since given you up as lost
to me for ever. But my wife? my daughter?”

“Here! here!” fairly shrieked two female voices.

Instantly the Colonel sprang away from Edward, there was a
great rustling among the bushes, and then, with loud cries, a husband
and wife, a father and daughter, fell upon each other's neck,
and bedewed the ground with tears of such joyful anguish as neither
had ever shed before. For a long time no words were spoken,
and only choking sobs could be heard, as each strained the other
to his or her heart in a fond embrace.

Meantime, Lieutenant Wilkes had found the dear partner of his
bosom; and a scene similar to that in which Colonel Danforth, his
wife, and Lucy were the actors, was taking place but a few feet
distant; while the other females, who had no friends to congratulate
them on their providential escape, stood by, shedding tears of
sympathy and grief; and the soldiers, with the gallant Moultrie at
their head, drew around in silence, and with an inward joy that
made many an eye, even among them, unwontedly dim with the
dew of the heart.

At length words began to take place of sobs and sighs, a hundred
rapid questions were asked on both sides, and hurried explanations
were already being made, when the warning voice of the
Major put a check to all.

“My friends,” he said, “I'm sorry to intrude my cold remarks
upon you at such a time; but I fear you overlook the close proximity
of the Indians, and that a surprise might even now prove fatal
to our safety.”

“Right! right!” cried Colonel Danforth, with an energetic start,
“and I thank you, Major Moultrie, for reminding us of our danger
and duty. We have all too sadly experienced the results of carelessness,
to neglect all due precautions now. Come, come, one
and all, let us be on the move, and trust that the kind Providence,
which has so wonderfully preserved us through trials and perils,
and brought us once more safely together, will yet permit us to say,
what we now leave unsaid, in a place where no lurking savages
may interrupt us with the war-cries of death.”

Moultrie now ordered several of his men to dismount, and with
a grace and gallantry becoming a well tried officer, tendered the
ladies their places, which the latter were not slow to accept, with
many thanks. They were placed in double file, with the Colonel
and Lieutenant next to their respective partners on the right, and
Edward close along side of Lucy on the left. The cavalry then
formed a hollow square, covering them on every side; and the balance,
who had no horses, were thrown out as scouts, among whom
were Posetha, Miller, Wade, and Carnele. The gallant Major
then took his station at the head of the van, and the order was given
to march. Again the heavy tramp of more than a hundred steeds

was heard; but save this, nothing broke the oppressive stillness.
Thought with all was active, but no one gave it utterance.

When morning broke, our friends had the satisfaction of knowing
that not less than six or eight miles lay between them and the Indian
town, and that so far there had been discovered no indications
of a pursuit. With a feeling of security, their spirits began to regain
their wonted buoyancy; but feeling themselves still in danger,
they feared to let hope have too great an ascendancy, and, therefore,
remained grave and watchful, thinking much and saying little.

Coming to a commanding position, just above a little run, the
Major ordered a halt—giving, as a reason, that unless the poor
beasts that bore them had rest and food, they would be unable to
accomplish the fatiguing journey to Fort Jefferson. Accordingly all
dismounted, fires were kindled, a strong guard set around the camp,
and the horses were fed on water thickened with meal, which each
one carried in small sacks strapped behind the saddle. The soldiers
also had a good supply of dried venison, which was cheerfully
divided among the guests, and this, with cornmeal and water,
mixed in their canteens, made a very hearty and healthy, if not
palatable, repast.

After a quiet rest of about three hours, the march was resumed
in the same order as before; and ere the sun sunk behind the
western hills, the whole party ascended an eminence, and, with indescribable
feelings of delight, beheld below them, some quarter
of a mile distant, the heavy log-roof and wooden stockade of Fort
Jefferson.

“Halt!” cried the Major. “Attention the battalion. We will
give them a military salute. Make ready—fire!” and the last word
was drowned in a roar of musketry.

Instantly from forty to fifty heads appeared above the ramparts of
the fortress; and then suddenly a bright flash was seen, a volume
of smoke rushed forth, and the loud boom of a heavy piece of ordnance
went echoing through the deep forest, startling many a wild
beast from his lair. This was followed by another, and then by a
round of small arms; and then the gate was thrown open, and the
shrill notes of the martial fife, and the sharp rolling accompaniment
of the kettle drum, gave the returned captives and their escort a
military welcome.

As Major Moultrie and his command passed within the palisades,
they found the garrison drawn up in two lines to receive them; and
as soon as military formalities could be dispensed with, the whole
party received the warmest congratulations on their safe return. A
dozen rushed forward to grasp the hands of Colonel Danforth and
Major Allen; and among these were Sergeant Bomb, and the two
scouts who had brought the intelligence to Major Moultrie of their
captivity. While the Colonel was busy in answering the many
eager inquiries put to him, a hand was laid familiarly on his

shoulder; and on turning round, he beheld the veritable Dr. McAllister,
standing quietly by his side.

“Umph!” said the eccentric disciple of the anatomical art—
“I am proud to see you, Colonel Danforth—hope you're well,
sir—thought you were past my aid—did, 'pon honor! Wife and
daughter back, I see. Umph! you are very fortunate, Colonel—
eh? very.”

“Why, how is it I find you here, my worthy doctor,” returned
the Colonel, good-humoredly. “Really, now, from the last specimen
I had of your bravery, I thought you would be the last man
to venture into the Indian country again.”

“Ah! Colonel, you underrate my scientific feelings. Science,
sir, with me, is a passion, to which eating is nothing. I could go
without my breakfast, at any time, to amputate a leg; and as the
gallant Moultrie here—may he die under surgical care!”

“Heaven forefend!” laughed the Major, who, standing near,
overheard the remark: “Heaven forefend, doctor, if you are to
have anything to do in the matter!”

“As the Major here,” pursued the doctor, unmindful of the interruption,
“was, about visiting the ground of St. Clair's recent
exploits, I thought I would accompany him, in the hope of finding
a subject.”

“Why then did you not follow him to Piqua, where you would
have been sure of a victim?” queried the Colonel.

“Umph! the truth is, Colonel, I had a patient here, sir—Sergeant
Bomb, sir.”

“The truth is,” interrupted Moultrie, ironically, “the renowned
Doctor McAllister, great as are his scientific acquirements, has a
heart in him about the size of a humming-bird's eye; and he fears
to risk such a delicate morsel near the jaws of such noted cannibals
as the Shawnees. The worthy doctor is prodigiously brave, but
excessively prudent; and would rather amputate a limb any time,
than lose his head.”

“Indeed I would,” rejoined the doctor; “and it would give
me great pleasure to exhibit my scientific attainments on the persons
of either of you gentlemen. Umph! as you say, Major Moultrie,
I am brave.”

“There, there,” said the Major, waving his hand with an air of
authority—“that will do, doctor—that will do. As you have done
nothing the last twenty-four hours, but mope about a well-garrisoned
fortress, we, who have been through the most trying perils,
are not disposed to make you the hero of the day. You will retire
to your quarters, and when wanted you will be sent for.”

The doctor slunk away, not a little crest fallen at this public reproof;
and many a titter he heard as he passed the soldiers, showing
in what small estimation they held a man of science, when
unaccompanied with the virtue of manly courage.

At Fort Jefferson the rescued prisoners and soldiers remained over
night, and on the following day the former set out for Cincinnati,
accompanied by a strong escort, kindly furnished them by Major
Moultrie, who, with the rest of his command, set off for St. Clair's
battle-field. The parting between the old scouts and Colonel Danforth's
party, was a very affecting one; and it is not too much to
say, that tears were shed on both sides. As for Posetha, not content
with shaking his hand warmly, and invoking Heaven's blessings
on his head, for his noble conduct in rescuing them from a hopeless
captivity, the females, one and all, even to Lucy, embraced him
with a degree of affection he had never seen shown him before.
The simple-minded white savage for a time stood this test of feeling,
with a stoicism that showed how severe was the school in which
he had been so long trained; but at last nature triumphed over
artificial restraint, and large tears coursed their way adown his
cheeks. For a while he seemed to give way to feelings, which,
in his view, were unmanly; and then suddenly drawing himself
up with assumed hauteur and coldness, he hastily passed his hands
across his eyes, and stalked away, to give vent to his newly
awakened emotions, where no human eye could behold him.

We may as well remark here, as we shall not touch upon the
subject again, that Posetha never afterward returned to the Indians,
but continued with his brother, true to his own race. A short time
subsequent, he and Harry became two of that little but intrepid
band of scouts and Indian spies, who, under the renowned General
Wayne, made themselves so famous for their exploits, and the
signal service they rendered the American army, that their names
and feats of daring have been handed down in border traditions.

As for Carnele and the others, we have no authentic information
of what became of them; but an old hunter, a great many years
afterward, was found dead, sitting over what had once been an
underground fire; and from the description given of his person, we
are led to believe that the gallant scout perished with old age, while
engaged in his favorite pursuit.

Notwithstanding Sergeant Bomb's protestation that he would never
go against the Indians again, he continued in the army, in the same
company with Lieutenant Wilkes; and both officers gallantly fought
through the Indian war, under old “Mad Anthony,” (as General
Wayne was popularly termed,) to the treaty of peace, in 1795.

As for Colonel Danforth, although strongly inclined to take command
of another regiment, his family prevailed upon him to relinquish
the glories and dangers of the field in favor of the comforts
and happiness of domestic life. And whenever Edward dared
to breathe a word of war, his mouth was instantly closed by a soft,
white hand; and while two bright eyes looked coquettishly into his,
two pouting lips would sweetly murmur—“Now could you be so
cruel as to desert the wife that fondly loves you?” and then pressing

the fair speaker affectionately to his heart, Edward would always
conclude by saying “No,” most emphatically; and the decision would
ever be sealed with the mutual kiss of unchangeable affection.

Almost sixty years have passed away since the date of our story,
and great are the changes which time has wrought in that portion
of the West where the events transpired, of which we have given
a faithful chronicle. Cities, towns, and villages now occupy the
place of the Indian's hunting-grounds; and savages and wild beasts
roam there no more. What few red-men still survive, have their
homes far toward the setting sun; but the greater portion of them
have joined their fathers in the Spirit Land. The invincible pale-face
has conquered, for his star is in the ascendant; and it will
doubtless be many centuries ere it reaches the zenith of its glory,
and begins to decline. Ere then, reader, you and I, what mortal
there is of us, shall be long resolved back to the elements from
which we were formed. Happly so—for wo to them that see the
fall of this mighty nation. Their doom will be that of the red-man—utter
annihilation.

Colonel Danforth and his wife have long since paid the debt of
nature, but Edward and Lucy still survive. For many years they
were residents of Cincinnati; but finally removed to a beautiful
location farther west, which now bears the appropriate appellation
Allenville—being laid out, and at one time owned, by the hero of
our story. In this village is an elegant mansion, and in this mansion
reside a venerable couple, surrounded by their children, and
grand-children. Should you, as a stranger, claim hospitality there,
you will be received with a cordial welcome, that would at once
assure you of being among friends; and ten to one you would not
be allowed to depart till you had heard, from the lips of a white-haired,
noble-looking old man, the story of his remarkable adventures,
in attempting to rescue, from Indian captivity, a certain beautiful
young lady, whom, with a pleasant smile, and mysterious shake
of the head, without once hinting she is now his wife, he ever denominates
the “Pioneer's Daughter.”