University of Virginia Library

23. CHAPTER XXIII.
GATHERING TO DOOM.

Although it is well known to every student of
history that great panics in battle have resulted from
the most trivial causes, and great armies by such
means have been put to rout and dynasties overthrown,
yet we do not recollect another instance
where the shriek of a frightened woman put an end
to a fierce contest and sent the whole number of
combatants flying in different directions. Yet the
effect of superstition on rude, unlettered minds, is
such as to render men, who are ordinarily brave
enough to face danger and death like Stoics, mere
trembling, quaking cowards in the presence of some
simple mystery which they cannot fathom.

The fight between the Kentuckians and Indians
ceased suddenly with Isaline's wild cry of terror,
and then each party turned and fled swiftly from
the enchanted ground. The whites ran one way
and the savages another, and neither party stopped
till some two or three miles had been placed between
them and the field of battle.

Among the borderers Rough Tom was acting as
leader; and though one of the fastest runners at first,

he gradually slackened his pace, and at last came to
a sudden stop, and bellowed out:

“Halt, boys, and let the Phantom be —! for the
furder I runs the meaner I feels. Wh-e-w! woofh!
wagh! shagh! whar's the use? Come around me,
boys, and let's see who's missing! How many's
he-yar?”

A count showed only fifteen.

“Six gone!” roared Tom, with a tremendous oath;
“six good fellers used up by them — greasy, paint-daubed,
nigger-faced, owdacious, rum-guzzled, cantankerous,
thieving devils! And we've run away
and let'em off, hey? By thunder, I'm agwine back
fur revenge! and I'll hev it, ef I has to swim the
Ohio to git it! Whar's Harry Colburn?”

No one had seen him since the fight.

“What!” yelled Tom; “he gone ag'in? and the
colonel's darter not found eyther! By —! this
he-yar's a lettle too much for a Christian, by a long
— sight, and a'most tempts a feller to sw'ar!”

In fact it would seem it even did tempt Tom to
swear—for he certainly managed to get rid of about
a dozen oaths, that, in the mouth of any one else,
would have sounded very much like profanity.

A consultation of the borderers resulted in a determination
to go back and reconnoitre the field of battle.

“S'pose it war the Phantom,” said Tom, beginning
to bring a little philosophy to his aid, and
really ashamed of the manner in which he had conducted

himself; “s'pose it war the Phantom, boys,
and be — to it! It haint hurt nobody yit, as I
knows on; and who's agwine to make a cussed fool
of hisself, and run away from everything what takes
a notion to screech and yell in the forest, hey? Has
we been fotched up in the woods to be skeered at
owls, hey? It looks like it, by Judas! I've heerd
the — thing a good many times; I've had it light
right on top o' my back onct, with its eyes of fire
and breath o' brimstone, and all that; and I've done
a heap of tall walking to git out of it's way; but ef
ever I does it ag'in, just feed me on green persimmons,
camp me on rattle-snakes, and rub me down
with briers! Woofh! whar's the use? Boys, thar's
nothing in it,—no, sir—not a — thing! Look
he'yar! didn't it skeer us all nigh to death—all of
us as was thar, I mean—the night of the duel? and
didn't it git arter that infarnal, dandyfied, monkey-eyed,
finiky slink of a coward—that ar' Hampton—
that oughter been killed? and didn't we say the
Devil had got him, and that he'd never come back,
and sich like? and didn't he git off and jine the red-niggers,
and put all these devils on to our trail, and he
hisself overhaul Harry and the colonel's darter?
Whew! Whar's the use o' heving a Phantom, ef it
can't put sich hellyuns as him out o' the way when
it gits arter 'em? I don't believe in't no more; and
I'm agwine back, to stand up, fa'r and squar', agin
ary thing as wants a tussle with old Rough Tom!
Agh! wagh! woofh! whar's the use?”

Now it so happened, that about the same time the
Kentuckians were holding their consultation and
resolving to go back, the Indians were doing the
same thing.

“We have acted rather like children than warriors!”
said Blodget, in his address to them.

He wanted to go back, for he hoped to be able to
find Isaline, whose trail of the previous night they
had been pursuing at the moment of being attacked
by the whites; Methoto also wished to go back for
the same reason; and the warriors generally thought
they would be sufficiently rewarded for returning—
for at least three of the whites had been killed, and
only one scalped, and neither of them stripped, and
there might be others wounded who had not been
able to get away from the scene of strife.

So the Kentuckians and Indians started back for
the battle-field about the same time—the latter securing
and leaving their horses and plunder, and
three wounded warriors, in a deep little valley, with
three more of their number to guard them.

The main body of the savages returned leisurely,
keeping out a few scouts in advance. They were
mostly in good spirits, for so far they had met with
as much success in the country as they had any
good reason to expect. They had been driven from
Higgins' Blockhouse, it is true; but since then they
had had matters pretty much their own way. The
first night they had secured a number of scalps,
considerable plunder, and some twenty horses, with

no loss to themselves; the second night their expedition
up the river had proved a comparative
failure, because of the whites having been on their
guard; but they had come off without the loss of a
single man, and had secured two more horses, and
killed some cattle, and were therefore well supplied
with meat. The desertion of Hampton and the
escape of Isaline had annoyed and angered them
not a little. At first they supposed Hampton had
gone back to the whites, in revenge for the manner
he had been treated in respect to his prisoner; but
the morning had shown them the truth, in the connection
of the two trails, and they had set forward
to recapture both. The attack of the whites had
been a surprise; but being superior in numbers, and
having soon found themselves getting the advantage,
the whole affair had been affording them a species
of fierce delight at the moment when the shriek of
Isaline had alarmed and put them to flight, and this
because they had superstitiously believed the sound
to proceed from something not of this world. They
had the same belief still; but subsequent reflection
and consultation had convinced them they had acted
foolishly in running away; and they were now returning,
with a determination to face the mystery
and secure whatever advantage might still be left to
them.

At the time when Isaline, seated on the high bank
of the Kentucky river, just after her escape from
Hampton, fancied she heard his voice calling her

name, she was not mistaken. She fled through the
forest, it will be remembered, and he actually set
forward on her trail. Though wanting the experience
of a regular woodman, he succeeded in tracing
her into the wood, and was carefully following in
her steps, when the distant sound of fire-arms
reached and startled him. He stopped, for he had
no desire to go forward and fall into the hands of
either the whites or savages. Not knowing what
better to do, he remained within hearing of the
sounds of conflict till the battle ended in the flight
of the combatants. The Indians fled somewhat in
his direction; and from his place of concealment,
in a thick copse, he actually saw some of them pass
within hailing distance. He did not hail them, however;
but supposing the battle had gone against
them, and that the Kentuckians would soon follow
them, he struck off in another direction, thinking
now of his own safety rather than the recapture of
Isaline. In doing this, heedless of his course, he
soon got bewildered, and was wandering about in
the wood, when he was suddenly sprung upon and
secured by two of the Indian scouts while on their
return to the place of combat in advance of the
main body. Hampton attempted some resistance at
first; but having been taken by surprise and at
advantage, it proved to be very feeble; and a blow
on the head, that nearly stunned him, effectually
settled the matter. His captors now gave a loud,
peculiar halloo, and were immediately answered by
more than a dozen voices from a distance.

In the course of three or four minutes the warriors
came bounding up, and, on seeing Hampton, uttered
fierce yells of satisfaction; and several rushed up to
him, with horrid scowls, and struck him with their
fists and the handles of their tomahawks, and
pinched and kicked him, and howled and danced
around him, and insulted him with such English
words as they could remember:

“Big t'ief—steal squaw—mean man—run away—
burn heap good—big liar—” and so forth and so on.

Thus was this scheming villain already getting a
bitter taste of that misery he had so fiendishly designed
for his rival. Being a captive of savages, he
now found was a very different thing from being an
ally and friend.

Blodget and Methoto were among the last to rejoin
the fierce group, now whooping and dancing around
Hampton, and it was easy to see that both were surprised
and gratified on discovering who was the new
prisoner.

“Oogh!” grunted the white savage, coming up
close, with a fierce gleam of satisfaction: “other
man steal Methoto gun—you steal Methoto squaw.
Dog!”

With the last word he struck the prisoner a blow
in the face with the flat of his hand that staggered
him back against one of the Indians, who struck him
another blow from behind that pitched him forward,

at which there was a shout of savage laughter, in
which Blodget joined.

“Oh, my dear friend,” said Hampton, Pleadingly,
to the decoy, “do not let me be abused in this shameful
manner!”

“Don't call me friend, you — pusillanimous
sneak and woman-stealer!” cried Blodget, fiercely;
“for I don't admit any such scum to an equality
with myself! Say, where's that girl? what have you
done with her?”

“I don't know where she is,” answered Hampton,
in a humbled tone.

“Don't tell me any lies now, or I'll cut your —
heart out of you!” cried Blodget, striding up to
Hampton, with a flourish of his knife.

“I really don't know, upon my honor as a gentleman!”

“Your honor as a gentleman!” sneered Blodget;
“ho! ho! ho! that's what every gallows-bird swears
by. But the girl, you villain! the girl! where is
she? for I'm bound to have her!”

“Oogh! squaw—where she?” grunted Methoto.

“Well, never you mind!” muttered Blodget, in a
low tone, and with a furtive glance at the white Indian;
“you can't have her, wherever she is!”

“If you were to kill me for it, I could not tell you
where she is now!” replied Hampton to Blodget's
question; “but I was on her trail and following it,
when I lost it, and got lost myself afterward. Have

you and those brave warriors been having a fight
this morning?”

“What's that to you? you—sneaking coward!”
returned Blodget. “You haven't done any fighting
since you've been with us, and therefore it can't matter
to you! What do you mean by saying you were
on the girl's trail? Wasn't she with you?”

“She did, eh? Sensible girl, by —!”

“I was following her, when I heard the sound of
fire-arms.”

“And then you stopped, of course, like the sneaking
coward you are!”

“I stopped,” returned Hampton, “because I did
not want to fall into the hands of the enemy.”

“Which do you call the enemy by this time?”
asked Blodget, with a sneer.

“Why, the borderers, of course—the Kentuckinas.”

“Oh, you do, eh? Well, then, what do you call
us?”

“I supposed you to be friends.”

“It's quite likely you'll find us such one of these
days—warm friends—very warm friends!” rejoined
Blodget, with a malignant laugh. “I suppose you
know what'll be done with you, don't you?”

“I hope you will not be too hard on me, for
taking a little liberty!” said Hampton, in a deprecating
tone. “I know I did wrong—but it was
hastily and thoughtlessly done. I never intended
to go over to the enemy, and have not done it. The

fact is, I thought you had got defeated; and thinking
you might have retreated in this direction, I
was hurrying on this way to overtake you, when I
got somewhat bewildered, and wandered about, I
don't know where. That is how I came to be here;
and if you will be kind enough to explain this to
the Indians, perhaps they will not be so angry with
me.”

“I'll do nothing of the kind,” said Blodget, with
a savage frown, “because I don't believe a _____
word of it myself! No, sir—that cat won't jump!
You're lying, and you know it! So you thought
we were defeated, eh? A _____ pretty opinion you
must have of us, if you think we could be whipped
by a handful of Kentuckians! No, it was one of
those infernal screeches that did the business and
made _____ fools of us all!”

“I heard something like the scream of a woman,”
said Hampton, “and thought it was the girl.”

“By _____! perhaps it was!” exclaimed Blodget,
catching at the idea; “I shouldn't wonder if it was
—that is, if she was anywhere about in that region.”

“She must have been near the scene of battle,”
returned Hampton, “for her trail was leading
straight toward it, and she could not have been very
far ahead of me I know.”

Blodget now addressed the Indians—who, while
this conversation was going on, had kept very quiet,
evidently waiting for it to terminate. As soon as
he had done, they showed in their looks an eagerness

to set forward; but before they did so, they stripped
Hampton of nearly everything, in much the same
manner as Henry Colburn had been robbed when
first taken.

In our description of the dress of Charles Hampton,
when first introduced into our story, we stated that
it was fashioned after the manner of the borderers,
but of much finer material than was generally seen
in the wilderness; that his rifle and hunting-knife
were silver-mounted; and that he wore jewelled rings
on his fingers, and silver-buckled shoes in place of
moccasins. Since then his clothes had become a
good deal soiled and injured in his rough journeyings;
but they received a good deal rougher treatment
now, being almost literally torn from his back,
and afterward into strips, that they might be more
equally divided among the savages he had once
called his friends and now felt to be his enemies.
The oldest chief—(for there were no less than four
elevated to the dignity of command—though so
simply democratic were the savages in their general
regulations that no one had superior power in
council—) took possession of his rifle, another of his
knife, a third of his silver buckles, and so on—
Methoto getting a few trinkets, and Blodget managing
to secure two of the most costly rings—he
only, besides Hampton himself, knowing their real
value. In tearing his coat into pieces, a large number
of guineas, sewed up in the lining, became revealed,
and created much pleasant diversion for the

savages, though Hampton inwardly groaned at the
loss of his ill-gotten gains, his only means of support
in civilized society. Some of the Indians knew
something of the value of these gold coins—for they
had seen them pass among the Canadian traders as
articles that were prized—but Blodget, far better
than any, understood their real worth, and, by one
means and another, managed to secure the lion's
share, which tended to put that villain in pretty
good humor.

“I didn't know,” he said to Hampton, with an insulting
laugh, “that you were such a golden goose,
or I'd have found a way to pluck you sooner. Why,
the feathers are the best part of the bird, and your
clothes are worth more than your carcass.”

“I am ruined!” groaned Hampton, with tears in
his eyes.

“And it's my opinion somebody else was ruined
to set you up!” laughed Blodget. “Come, who did
you rob? for you never got this money honestly—
you're too much of a villain for that. Ho! ho! a
pretty time you were going to have of it, running
off with that girl! I wouldn't wonder now if you
had Canada in your eye—for I'm certain you'd never
have dared to show your face among the Kentuckians
again, after the treacherous trick you played
them. If they catch you, you'll swing; and if we
keep you, you'll burn; so, between the two, you're
pretty sure to be sent to the devil before long!”

“What have I ever done to you,” asked Hampton,

“that you should delight in treating me in this cruel
manner?”

“Cruel!” repeated Blodget, with a fiendish laugh.
“Do you call this cruel? Just wait till we get you
home, and you'll look back to this time as one of
the happiest of your life—you will, by _____!
So, what did you ever do to me, eh? Why, you
played the dandy gentleman—getting me and my
friends to do all the work for you to reap all the
profit. If you'd done your share of fighting, and kept
along with us, and strictly conformed to all our regulations,
you'd have been treated well, and been honored
by these brave warriors; but you saw fit, in your
natural meanness, to play the traitor, and now you'll
have to take the consequences. I want you to know
that an Indian decree, passed in council, is not mere
child's play, to be put aside by everybody's whim—
no, not by a _____ sight! It would have been bad
enough for you to have run away yourself; but
stealing off that girl, who'd been taken out of your
hands and wasn't any longer your property, was an
insult to the whole party; and, now that you're
caught, you'll have to suffer for it, and serve you
right!”

“Try me again,” pleaded the trembling villain,
“and I swear to bring in white scalps enough to redeem
myself!”

“I don't want to try you again,” said Blodget,
“for I've got you now where you're safe; and if ever
I get that girl, I intend to have her myself. She's

just the kind of human piece to suit me, and I shall
be as anxious to get all rivals out of the way as you
were. If Methoto goes to set up any claim, I'll have
to fix him off in some way, for I'm bound to have
the girl. But there! I've wasted time enough with
you; and now we must hurry back to the place we
left in such a _____ cowardly manner. Ten to one
it was the girl's scream that frightened us, and I
must get the best Indian scouts to hunt up her trail
and follow it.”

With this he turned away from the wretched
Hampton, and addressed a few words to the Indians,
in a loud tone.

Blodget was not an acknowledged chief among
the savages, but his influence over them was really
greater than some who were. A shrewd, cunning,
unprincipled fellow, of fair education, some natural
abilities, and considerable knowledge of human
nature—a braggart in speech and a coward at heart
—fawning and sycophantic where these base qualities
would best serve him—cruel, revengeful, and
merciless to the unfortunate in his power—sociable
and companionable with his equals, and a devil at
tormenting the condemned—he had managed to
secure the good opinion and confidence of the savages,
so that he could use them in carrying out his
own schemes and at the same time lead them to believe
he was merely an agent of their will. From
the first he had coveted Isaline; and when chance
had given him an opportunity to weaken the hold

of Hampton and place her more easy to his own
grasp, he had not failed to throw in such words as
had then influenced the savages to the decree which
had put her possession at the price of blood. His
rage at losing her had been terrible, and Hampton,
for his part in it, would never be forgiven by him.
In the capture and certain doom of the latter villain,
one rival was already disposed of; and the other, Methoto,
would be, should he become troublesome.
But first and in the meantime to find the girl.

Binding the arms of Hampton behind his back,
in the manner that Henry Colburn had been secured,
and throwing the scouts forward as before, the whole
number of savages resumed their march toward the
battle-field.

When within some quarter of a mile of the late
scene of conflict, the main body was stopped by the
sudden return of two of the scouts. They evidently
brought some news of great importance, for
a consultation was immediately held, and was soon
over.

Then Hampton was suddenly thrown down, and
his legs firmly bound together by stout thongs of
deer-skin. Then he was lashed to a sapling in an
upright position, a ligature so tightly passed around
his neck as to choke him if he bent his head forward,
and a large gag forced into his mouth. In this painful
position he was left to the uncertainties of the
future—the Indians slipping away and vanishing, as

if they were so many evil spirits departing on a mission
of wickedness.

The last to quit the side of Hampton was Blodget;
and he lingered, as he ironically said, to give him a
few consoling words.

“You were pleased to think,” he went on, “that
we had been whipped by the — Kentuckians.
You'll soon have the pleasure of knowing how confoundedly
mistaken you were. We got scared and
run like — fools, and they did too. We've since
mustered up courage enough to come back, and so
have they. They've got ahead of us, lucky for us,
and now think they're masters of the field. Ha! ha!
a good joke, as you will soon see. They're back
on the battle-field, looking after their dead and
wounded, and picking up odds and ends, and perhaps
bragging among themselves about their victory,
and how they'll pursue us and all that. They don't
know, the fools, that we're so near them, and that our
scouts have already seen them, and that we'll soon
have their scalps dangling at our girdles—all at
least except one or two—for if we can catch that
Colburn alive, I've given directions to have him
preserved, in order to put him along side of you and
have a pretty pair of beauties to amuse me with.
Well, now you wonder, when there's so much at stake,
that I don't hurry forward, instead of standing here
wasting my time with you. I don't mind telling
you why, for I know you won't mention it to the
Indians. I'm a little like you—I'd rather be a

little behind, while there's any considerable danger,
and come bravely in at the death, with a loud shout
of victory and a big blow about desperate courage.
So, now that you know all, I'll say by-by for the
present; but I'll come back to you, don't you fear!”

With this Blodget turned away, and soon disappeared
in the direction already taken by the savages.

It was not long after this before Charles Hampton
heard a series of wild, savage yells, accompanied by
the sharp rattle of musketry.