Qptain Jack An Historical Novel Charles Ms Knight THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES f CAPTAIN JACK THE SCOUT OR THE INDIAN WARS ABOUT OLD FORT DUQUESNE AN HISTORICAL NOVEL BY CHARLES MCKNIGHT ILLUSTRATED "A poor humor of mine, sir, to take that, that no man etsf will" " As You LIKK IT" THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO, TORONTO. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by CHARLES MCKNIGHT, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C PS DEDICATION. t^ Between the two rivers which enclose the great and growing city of Pittsburg stood the old French fort which gives name to our story. Q~ Within a brief distance lies the scene of Braddock's bloody battle e and disastrous defeat; which, together with the remarkable expedition ~ that terminated there, form, as it were, the central points of this his torical novel. It seems most appropriate, therefore, as it certainly is most agreeable to the Author, that to the PEOPLE OF PITTSBURG, CM > among whom he has passed his whole life, and whose sturdy virtues z and contempt for shams he has ever respected, this attempt to weave into a readable romance some of the stirring events connected with , the struggle for their old fort, and to introduce a few of the more j notable characters, white and red, who lived or fought along their ^ three rivers, should be, as it now is, respectfully dedicated. O ol 448123 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FORT DUQUESNE, from an old print Frontispiece. COLONEL JOHNSON (afterwards Sir William Johnson) . . . PAGE 24 JAMES HAMILTON, Governor of Pennsylvania 44 GENERAL EDWARD BRADDOCK, from an etching by H. B. Hall, 98 CAPTAIN BEAUJEAU, from an engraving by J. A. O'Neill . . 120 GEORGE WASHINGTON (Major Washington), from a miniature on ivory 202 GENERAL THOMAS GAGE, from a private plate 238 SIR PETER HALKET, from an engraving by McArdell, after a painting by A. Ramsay 258 GENERAL SIR JOHN ST. CLAIR, from an engraving by Max Rosenthal 290 CAPTAIN ORME, from an engraving by Parkes, after a paint ing by Sir Joshua Reynolds 310 COLONEL HENRY BOUQUET, from an engraving by Armstrong, after a painting by Benjamin West 380 MAJOR JAMES GRANT, from an engraving by J. Kay . . . 462 PREFACE. IT Is rather an odd coincidence, that part of the title of this book bears precisely the same name as that of the now famous Modoc Chieftain, whose late exploits are familiar to the whole nation. We need only say in explanation that our Captain Jack was a veritable character in Colonial an- nals, known as a famous border-ranger along the whole Pennsylvania frontier, and that the historical novel, in which he is made to figure as the hero, was not only written but was in print, before the author even so much as heard there was another Captain Jack, of a deeper color, whose bloody and desperate deeds give him a rather bad pre-eminence. A brief biographical notice of the Pennsylvania Jack will be found in the Appendix at the end of this volume. The object of the present book may be expressed in few words. The spot where now stands the great and prosperous city of Pittsburgh, was once a place not only of national, but of world-wide importance. Great Britain, France, Great Britain again, Virginia, the United States, and, lastly, Penn sylvania, have each, in turn, exercised sovereignty over it. In 1774 it was the field of controversy between neighboring States, and in 1794 was, with the circumjacent territory, the scene of a formidable insurrection. " Old Fort Duquesne " existed but about five years, yet during that brief time was a place of great importance and over-shadowing interest. It was the first point of struggle between the French and English for the possession of all the vast domain watered by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and their tributaries. If not the cause, it formed the occasion of the celebrated " Seven Years War," which involved at * 6 PREFACE. most all Europe in desperate conflict. It was the object of Uraddock's far-famed though ill-fated expedition, termina ting in one of the most disastrous defeats ever known to history, and, by consequence, the ruthless scourging of the Pennsylvania border by savages, from the Potomac to the J uniata. Then ensued the memorable defeat of Grant and his High- lan lers at a point in the very centre of the present city of Pittsburgh ; the advance of General Forbes' British Ameri can army ; the evacuation and destruction of Fort Duquesne by the French, and the subsequent construction of the costly and formidable Fort Pitt, which endured even to the present century. It is fitting, therefore, that some " Old Mortality "should essay with what success the kind reader must determine to re-grave the almost effaced and perishing lines of a long- distant past ; should seek to weave together in a readable form the more memorable and interesting events of that very exciting period ; to revive some of the more striking historic associations which cluster about the old French fort ; to fight over again the disastrous battle of Braddock's Fields, and, finally, to introduce the most notable persons engaged In dian chiefs, white scouts, and prominent officers, the more important of whom were Braddock and Washington. It is, therefore, to such a distant and almost forgotten past that we have the boldness to invite the reader's attention, and it is in the fortunes of the old French fort which stood at the head of the Ohio that we seek to engage his interest and occupy his fancies. CONTENTS. rial I. Pittsburgh : 1873-1755 9 II. Who composed the Scouting Party 13 III. A Lookout over the Fort 20 IV. Captain Gist relates some Adventures 26 V. An exciting Chase and Escape 32 VI. Chase abandoned A strange Mystery 38 VII. Captain Jack and the Half-King, Scarooyaddy 42 VIII. Down the Monongahela 49 IX. A strange Scene in the Wilderness 63 X. Two 9ld Friends Meet again 69 XI. Jack and Marie make Discoveries 65 XII. In which a Retrospect is Taken 70 XIII. De Bonneville Marie Wau-ki-na 76 XIV. Jack and the Half-king continue their Scout 80 XV. The Visit to old King Shingiss 86 XVI. A Council of Delaware Chiefs 91 XVII. Jack and the Half-King meet Foes 98 XVIII. The Half-King's Desperation Jack's Adventure.... 103 XIX. What befel Gist, Talbot, and Fairfax 108 XX. Lord Talbot forced to Run the Gauntlet 117 XXI. Lord Talbot Inside the Guard House 123 XXII. Talbot makes Friends with Smith 132 XXIII. Two Indian Canoe Races 145 XXIV. The Second Race and Ball Match 152 XXV. The Escape of Talbot and Smith 15' XXVI. Captain Jack Rejoins Marie , 161 XXVII. Scarooyaddy come to Life again 17i XXVIII. Wau-ki-na Leaves The Party Pursued 180 XXIX. Desperate Attacks Jack's Feats 187 XXX. De Bonneville Shot A Desperate Struggle 194 XXXI. M. De Bonneville's Dying Request 201 7 cmirrn FAO XXXII. The Death of the old Naturalist 208 XXXIII. The Burial and Departure 214 XXXIV. They Come on Eraddock's Army 221 XXXV. The Dead Chief Braddock's Army 230 XXXVI. The Burial General Daniel Morgan 237 XXXVII. Marie and Major Washington...'. 241 XXXVIII. Major Washington and Captain Jack 259 XXXIX. Sir Peter Halket sees Death 257 XL. The Delaware Queen, Alaquippa 26 J XLI. Talbot and Smith in Prison 265 XLIL Wau-ki-na and Talbot The Ball Match 271 XLIII. A Quarrel among Indians 278 XLIV. Grand Council The Chiefs Refuse 285 XLV. The Advance to the Battle Field 290 XLVI. The Opening of the Battle 296 XLVII. Sir Peter Halket's Death Fearful Slaughter 303 XLVIIL General Braddock's Retreat and Death 310 XLIX. Marie Gone Jack on the Trail 317 L. Talbot and Smith Fort Rejoicings 321 LI. The Victors Return from the Battle 327 LII. Horrible Tortures of Prisoners 333 LIII. Jack and the Half-King on a Trail 337 LIV. Marie and Wau-ki-na Found 346 LV. Jack makes a strange Discovery 353 LVL Nymwha Claims and Takes Talbot 362 LVII. Talbot made a Shawnee Chief 372 LVIII. Talbot makes a Sensation 380 LIX. Talbot and Wau-ki-na Explain 384 LX. Jack and Pipe Meet in Conflict 392 LXI. The Escape up the Allegheny 400 LXIL A Stange but Happy Meet 407 LXIII. Jack and Marie by the Rapids 416 LXIV. Talbot and Jack Have a Talk 422 LXV. A Marriage in the Woods 430 LXVL The Journey to Philadelphia 437 LXVII. Jack's Home on the Juniata 448 LXVIII. Talbot Meets Wau-ki-na again..... 451 LXIX. The Fortunes of Old Fort Duquesne .., 460 APPENDIX... . 469 OLD FORT DUQUESNE. CHAPTER I. PITTSBURGH 1873 1755. MY father was mighty Vulcan ; I am smith of the land and sea, And the cunning spirit of Tubal Cain, Came with my marrow to me. I am monarch of all the forges ; I have solved the riddle of fire ; The Amen of Nature to need of Man, Springeth at my desire. I search with the subtle soul of flame The heart of the rocky Earth, And out from my hammers, the prophecies Of the miracle years flash forth. I am brown with the soot of my furnace ; I drip with the sweats of toil ; My fingers throttle the savage wastes, And tear the curse from the soil. Hymn of Pittsburgh, by Kichard Eealf. STRANGER, should a leisure day ever happen you in Pittsburgh, be sure to take car of the "inclined railway" and be swiftly conveyed to the summit of the lofty and precipitous hills which stretch along the thither side of the Mouongahela. Then walk along the comb of " Coal Hill " from the Suspension Bridge down to " Saw Mill Run," and - if the day be a clear one such a strange, busy, and 9 10 OLD FORT DUQUE3XE. withal, beautiful scene, \vill fill your eye, and such a huic and buzz, and clamor greatly deadened by distance . strike your ear, as have no parallel anywhere certainly not on this continent. At one coup d'ceil, three broad and affluent rivers, "with their teeming valleys, lie stretched beneath you, the line of separation between the muddy and sluggish waters of the Monongahela, and the clearer and more rapid waters of the Allegheny, boing most distinctly and curiously marked for some distance down the Ohio. Ranges of bold and picturesque hills jostle and overlap each other on every side ; here shooting up in savage and craggy heights, and there rolling back from the waters in graceful curves and billowy slopes. All the ledges, " bot toms," and gentler inclines on both sides of each river, are crowded with blocks of dingy, smoke-stained houses ; streets creeping up the sides or pushing over the very summits of the hills ; villas and mansions nestling in the favored nooks, or daring the dizzy heights; mills and factories hugging the hill sides as if fighting for place to live and work; "pillars of cloud by day, and of fire by night," from countless mills, forges, furnaces, ovens and foundries, and then, with all this, there surges up to your -vexed ear, wave upon wave of indefinite sounds the heavy thud of the forge-hammer, the hum of the factory, the rattle of rolls and machinery, the clangor of the boiler yards, the shriek of locomotive, ferry and steamer, and that blended and confused din arising from multiplied branches of industry. A uight scene from this point, with the huge fires from mill, oven and furnace glaring against the sky, is simply a glance into Pandemonium. It is, as some writer more forcibly than elegantly expresses it, " hell with the lid ofi!" A thriving, and rapidly-growing city of nearly two hun dred thousand souls lies before you. A hundred spires and towers announce that God, as well as Mammon, ii PITTSBURGH AS IT IS, AND WAS. 11 worshipped here. Academies, hospitals, seminaries, and public buildings are dimly seen in all directions, denoting a people of heart, of conscience, and of culture, and yet all this is but the growth of a single century. If, as Tennyson writes, " Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Ca thay," of how much more value is one year in America, where life is so intensified, and where growth is such a very marvel, that the wild dream of yesterday becomes the sober reality of to-day where the Atlantic telegraph of one year is succeeded by the Pacific Railroad of the next ? The ivy- mantled abbeys and castles of England date from William the Conqueror, over eight hundred years ago. One hun dred years here suffice to give the stamp of antiquity, and the magic growth of Chicago and St. Louis may soon be paralleled by that of Salt Lake, or San Francisco. (See Appendix A.) On the summit of Coal Hill, from which you are sup posed to have been gazing, and directly opposite the "Point" of Pittsburgh, which marks the junction of the Allegheny and the Monongahela, and on which stood, in olden times, the formidable and far-famed French Fort Duquesne, there lies a jutting slope, overlooking a sheer precipice of two hundred feet, and flanked on one side by a deep ravine, worn from the rock by some old water course which brawled its way to the river below. On the 5th of July, 1755 for it is to such a distant past that we have the temerity to invite our reader's at tention this prominent brow appeared but slightly differ ent from what it does now. Time works but little change on the bolder forms of nature. It may scar, and seam, and corrode, but it requires the earthquake's power to overthrow or destroy. The grassy slope was of a more vivid green than now, and enamelled with bright wild flowers. All around, far as eye could reach, was one boundless sea of verdure, having, too, the freshness and high color of early 12 OLD FORT DUQUESXE. summer. A huge oak, which had for centuries wrestled with the storms coming up from the gulf, and had stood on the very verge of the height, had, years before, been stricken and riven with the bolt, and wrested from ita deep anchorage lay prone with its mighty trunk athwar. the very brow of the hill, its shaggy bark and decaying wood nourishing a most profuse growth of mosses. At a little distance back, and as if begrudging even thia narrow mead to the grass and flowers, stood the virgin forest, with its serried ranks of oak and elm, and clean- leaved maples, and tulip-trees. Underneath the leafy canopy was the usual undergrowth of an American forest, while the damp and dewy ground was covered with vines, ferns, mosses, and other forms of a luxuriant and redund ant vegetation. At the nearest verge of this wood, beneath a low dog wood, and just at the gray dawn of what promised to be a most beautiful day, a party of two whites and an Indian was sitting at what might literally be called a break-fast, for the food was only slices of jerked venison, and army bread, and for a relish, water from a spring hard by. Guided by the lights from Fort Duquesne, and the Indian camp fires around, they had arrived at this appointed place late the night before, and had slept where they were eating, each on his couch of last year's leaves. They needed not to court " tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep ; " it came to them unsought, and graciously, amid the hootings of the owl, the howlings of the wolf, and the many strange and uncanny night voices of an American wilderness abounding in every variety of life. CHAPTER II WHO COMPOSED THE SCOUTING PARTY. I stood tip-toe upon a lofty hill, The air was cooling, and so very still ; The clouds were pure, and white as flocks new shorn And fresh from the clear brook ; sweetly they slept On the blue fields of heaven. . . . Of all the shades that slanted o'er the green, There was wide wandering for the greediest eye, To peer about upon variety. Far round the horizon's crystal air to skim, And trace the dwindled edges of its brim; To picture out the quaint, and curious bending Of a fresh woodland alley, never ending; Or, by the bowery clefts and leafy shelves, Guess where the jaunty streams refresh themselves. feats. Why, what a mad-cap hath heaven lent us here. Xing John, THE oldest, and apparently the leader of the party- mark him well, reader, for he was a most notable person in those days was still in the very prime of life, compact of frame, and resolute of manner. His blue eye was with out guile ; the lines of his countenance all spoke frankness and sincerity, while the cut of the mouth and the square ness of the lower face gave token of firmness and courage. There was an engaging frankness, and an unstudied repose and simplicity of manner about him, which invited confi dence. And such a man emphatically he was, as his solitary and daring life had amply proven. No bewigged and belaced trifler of th city, he, but a true child of the forest ; familial 13 14 OLD FORT DUQUE8XE. with nature in all her varied moods; more thoroughly versed in wood-craft than any man in the colonies : the companion and friend of the wily and untutored savage ; shrewd, patient, tireless, knowing no fear, he was a true and loyal nature's nobleman, every inch of him, and every fibre of his body. liaised on the Yadkin, North Carolina, he was a sur veyor by profession, and a restless rover by nature. With the same mysterious spirit stirring within him which after ward drove Boone, Poe, Kenton, the Wetzels and other famous pioneers, to dwell in solitudes, and wage constant battle with whatever foes might offer, he had passed nearly his whole life in the woods ; had made repeated and solitary excursions to the then unknown West ; had often penetrated vast distances and brought back strange reports ; had been sent on important missions to Western tribes ; had sought out hostile chiefs of fame and prowess, and disarmed them by his nerve and coolness; had accompanied Washington, two years before our story opens, on his celebrated mission to the French Commandant at French Creek, and was now in the employ of General Braddock who, with his slowly advancing army, was but a few days distant as chief guide. Truly a man of nerve, and of mark. What stories could he not tell of " moving accidents by flood and field, and hair-breadth 'scapes;" of solitary and perilous wanderings amid unbroken forests, where foot of white man had never yet trod ; of lonely vigils by night, and weary tramps by day, threading vast solitudes on devious Indian trails, and couching himself amid wild beasts and savages. And now there he sat, clad in the free and simple garb of a scout, with moccasined feet, beaded leggings of deerskin, a fringed hunting shirt, a keeu-bladed hunter's knife in his belt, a powder horn at his side, and his bullet- and greased patch- pouches depending from his waist;, the fresh and balmy WHO COMPOSED THE SCOUTING PARTY. Ifi air of morning playing about his bared brow. He seemed of the woods a part, as much as ever did Robin Hood in Sherwood forest. His very clothes had, as it were, an odor of the woods a perfume of earthy mould, of fragrant leaves, and of trodden flowers. Christopher Gist, the man whom we have thus briefly essayed to portray, and on whose life and exploits we would gladly dwell, could be no other than he was and live out his nature. (See Appendix B.) Near him, with figure motionless as a statue, and jet with ear alert and attentive, and with gleaming eye ever searching out the intricacies of the forest, sat the young Indian chieftain ; his dress except the breech-clout and blue stroud all from the woods, the spoil of beast and bird, and light as Indians in summer generally wear; his Bcalp-lock braided with eagle feathers ; his keen tomahawk flashing from the shell-rimmed girdle, and his rifle lying within easy grasp. His face was freshly and hideously decorated with vermilion, for he was on the war-path. This was Fairfax, a Delaware son of the celebrated Queen Alaquippa who had fought with Washington the year before, at the attack on Jumonville, and at the miserable battle at Fort Necessity. Fairfax was the name lately given him by Washington, who called him a "Great Warrior." How shall we describe the third member of the party so briefly as to individualize him his whole appearance and equipment so utterly out of keeping with the backwoods? Imagine to yourself, reader, a slight, delicate, and rather laconic specimen of humanity, of scarce two-and-twenty years, with blue eyes, ruddy English face, blond hair, cov ered with a fashiontble wig of the day, and a faint suspi cion of a moustache. Now see this delicate little duodecimo >f a man in a fashionable green velvet hunting suit, with knee-breeches and fine Hessian half-boots ; an efflorescence of ruffl ^s about his bosom, and of ruffles trimmed with lace 16 OLD FORT DUQUE8NE. about his wrists, and you have my young Lord Talbot, the fast son of a gouty English blue-blood, who was an early friend of General Edward Braddock. But this by no means fully describes our young eprig of nobility; a most lady-like gentleman, seemiffgly mure fitted to grace the boudoir of a Grosvenor-street belle, or an ogling lounge at Almack's club, than the rude encoun ters of an American wilderness. This miniature cock* Bpairow of a man, as is not unusual with bodies of brief Btature and of well-derived English blood, was as full of fight and pluck as a king-bird, and as full of prejudice as an egg is full of meat. He had the most -overweening confi dence in himself and everything English ; despised and ridi culed everything and everybody colonial ; would take no advice ; swore by Ed. Braddock ; abominated the frog- eating French, and was so saturated with the pride of caste as to expose him to constant ridicule from the provincial officers. It was his gaminess, gayety, and never-failing good nature which saved him from disrespect. Add to this, that he boxed like Molyneux, was a perfect master of fence, and could dance like a Parisian ballet girl, and nearly all has been said. This young lord, too, was rather blas$ in the world's dis sipations ; had taken his hunts in India and Africa; had twice made the continental tour ; had been out one season as an amateur with the Duke of Cumberland ; had been well acquainted with Braddock, and the fast set of officers with whom that brave but unfortunate general had associated in London, and had now come over, with Ad miral Keppel, in search of American adventure. He had joined Braddock's army as a pet lord ; had messed with gay young officers ; danced war dances with the Indians, and made love to their squaws and maidens so long as they were permitted to follow the camp and now, hearing of this, the only scout that Braddock had, in his pride ind WHO COMPOSED THE SCOUTING PARTY. 17 self-confidence, ever sent out and that, too, at the pressing instance of Washington had so importuned and worried the general that, after recounting the risks, and urging him in vain to throw aside so unsuitable a garb, he was fain to let him go. * S'death, 'tis the last scout his father's son will ever want to make," said Braddock, as Talbot moved airily and jauntily out of camp into a forest trail, flourishing a light rapier for a cane, and with a short English rifle on his shoulder. " 'Twill be a miracle if he ever come back with that elegant head of hair, or at least without having his brilliant plumage ruffled and besmirched ; but let him go ; young bloods flout at gray heads." The frugal meal over, the party Gist at some distanc3 in front began cautiously to emerge from the forest, when * crackling, rushing noise at a little distance startled them, /he Indian glided instinctively behind the first tree, his rifle at point, and his restless eye glancing in the direction of the sound, when a shaggy, awkward animal was dis covered walking hurriedly away from the little run. The red man dropped his rifle and resumed his course ; not so Talbot. Soon as he caught sight of Bruin, and with a " By Jove, if that be not a bear, people have lied to me," was just on point of pulling trigger, when Fairfax rudely seized his arm, wrested the gun from his grasp, and angrily hissed out in pretty good English : " What for you shoot? You very young and no war rior. You mad ? Delaware and Shawnee ' braves ' all around thick as leaves. You no want your much scalp ? See here ! mine little and long. When time come, here it be for my foe, but not till then. We are on the war trail now no hunting jays. Be wise and still as the rattlesnake till strike time comes." " Look-a-here, Mr. Indian, you red cocks o' the wood have a deuced familiar way with a cove that I don't like, 2 18 OLD FORT DT7QUESNE. DC n't know that we've ever been regularly introduced, and yet you lay rude hands on me as if I were your squaw. Hands off next time, and give back my tool. I don't know but you're right this time, but as for the tawny devils you seem to fear so, I can't tell where they're skulking. I'va not seen a tanned hide but yours since I left camp." '' Come, red man show you. Stoop down like him, and creep up behind log yonder, where Captain Gist lies. Ha no girl. He Indian ' brave ; ' no shoot gun at bear right above big Indian camp." With a feeling of no little disgust, the more so because he knew himself in the wrong, Talbot crept behind the Indian towards the big oak already mentioned. " Now, Lord Talbot," spoke Gist, in low tones, " if you wish a glorious sight which all America and I dare say England, too, for that matter cannot match, come to this point and look down." " There you are again, Captain, with your American scenery, and woods, and canoes. I haven't much reason to be in love with any of them. The canoe we yesterday came down the yog-yoch-wauch what the deuce do you call that cascady stream with the jaw-breaking name, Cap?" " Youghiogheny." " Yokoginny. It e'enamost tears my throat to say it Well, our trifling boat rocked worse than a toy punt on the Cam. 'Twas well I had my hair fixed even all 'round or I'd have upset. Why, whenever I'd pull my watch out, the old shell would dip, so I near-a-most lost my wig a head of hair, too, that cost me five pounds twelve and six in the Strand. And as for your woods bah ! Just look at my clothes without laughing outright, will you ? What with being pricked and jagged with briars ; my best suit torn and scuffed with thorns ; my eyes ever banged with wet boughs, and my feet snared, like a hare, in pea-vines, WHO COMPOSED THE SCOUTING PARTY. 19 and all sorts of entanglements, I look like a Newgate thief, and, gad, I feel much like one, too. " Don't know when I'm well off, eh ? Jupiter Ammon, Cap, if you'd ever been in an English park, you would forever forswear American woods the trees a thousand years old, majestic aud wide-spreading; not a bush, or biiar, or sapling to be seen, but all green sward, the hares and pheasants rising at every step, and the dappled deer in huge herds, the stags in the rutting time fighting and bel lowing and crashing their horns together till you could hear them a mile. No, no, Captain ; you have woods without end in this country as witness my dilapidated appearance but when you want groves, and parks, and gentlemen's preserves, you must go to ' merrie England. As for your views, have you ever stood on Skiddaw and took in the Cumberland lakes at a glance, or on Ben Lo mond, with its lovely lochs? but, by the Lord Harry, Cap tain, that is a rather fine lookout," concluded Talbot, as his head lifted over the log and his eyes took in one by one the notable features of the scene below. His companions, one behind the log, and the other lean ing behind a large oak which stood near, wholly inattentive to his boastings, were earnestly gazing abroad over the height. Gist's eye, assisted by a field glass which he car ried with him, rested long on the fort and its surroundings, which lay entirely open to his scrutinizing and experienced gaze. CHAPTER IIL 4 LOOKOUT OVER THE FORT. Beneath the forest's skirt I rest, Where branching pines rise dark and high Aud hear the breezes of the West Among the thread-like foliage sigh. And lol thy glorious realm outspread, Yon stretching valleys green and gay, And yon free hill-tops, o'er whose ln-ad The loose white clouds are borne away ; And there the full broad rivers run, And many a font wells fresh and sweet, To cool thee when the mid-day sun lias made thee faint beneath his heat. A UEAVY white fog, which had lain close over, not alone the three rivers, but all the flats adjoining, was rapidly lifting under the fervid beams of a glorious sun, which was advancing with stately steppings on his tri umphal march through the sky. A perfect hush, almost painful in its intensity, was over all nature. The hills and elopes, which had at first appeared like green islands rising from a white sea, gradually, and one after another, stDod revealed in all their rich and varied beauty. The sun seemed to shed a golden glory on every object, und as the white vapors curled and rolled lazily away, the warm tints and living colors took their places, and the three rivers could be seen in all their pride and beauty, sweeping onward with full banks between living walls of luxuriant verdure. From the willows which dipped theii 30 A LOOKOUT OVER THE FORT. 21 pendant boughs in the stream, and rose and fell to the kissing ripples, away up to the giant oaks and elms on the summits, which flaunted their huge branches, and struck down their strong roots, bidding defiance to centuries of etorms, all was a rich and luxuriant green, but a green pied and mottled with hues and tints as varied is there were species of trees in the woods. The spot, however, which riveted and held spell-bound, aa it were, the anxious gaze of all was, of course, the French Fort Duquesne, whose strength and weakness they had come there to spy out the object of so much parade and preparation, and to capture which, an tinny of drilled and veteran English regulars had specially crossed the ocean. There it lay, snug and compact, right in the forks of the two rivers the banks of which were there high and steep with its ditch, its double line of log stockades, its draw-bridge, magazines, bastions, ramparts, and guns too, all plainly revealed to view. It had long been a cherished opinion of Sir John St. Clair that it would be a waste of time and blood to attack this fort in full front and by regular approach. It would be taking the enemy just where he was strongest, and where he invited attack; rather, argued the blunt old Quartermaster General, quietly drag guns up to some dominating height and demolish it with hot shot. This was the reason, as well as to be able to look right down into every nook and cranny of the fort, that the scout had been divided, one party, whose acquaintance we have already made, to proceed to the hill-top opposite the place, while the other was to make its way by river down close to the fort ; study the ground around and in front, and ascertain, if allowed, the force of Indian allies gathered there and encamped about in the adjacent woods. We will describe the fort more fully hereafter. Suffice it now to say that Fort Duquesue, although occupying but 22 OLD FORT DUQUESXE. little space, was very strongly and compactly built, quad rangular in shape, with bastions and strong stockades on the sides towards the country, the other two sides having only strong stockades, framed of heavy logs wattled to gether with poles. An outer line of log stockades, en trenchments seven feet high the inner line being twelve *eet high was cast up all around the fort, againet which earth wa? thrown up. The area inside, as clearly revealed to Gist, was closely covered with buildings- barracks, guard house, officers' quarters, etc. All the ground about the fort was firm and dry, and cleared for the space of a quarter of a mile around, the trees c'lt off close to the earth that no enemy could approach under cover, and that full and unobstructed range might be given for the artillery. Kitchen gardens had been laid out along the Allegheny river outside the fort ; corn was planted about in consider able quantity, and a flour mill had been erected near byj BO that the garrison should he, in a manner, independent of French Canada for supplies. Outside the outer wall stood an isolated strong house for tools. All around on the margin of the woods were located the bark tents and smouldering camp fires of the Indians, who were evidently gathered in considerable force from the Canadas in the North to the Illinois in the West, all sum moned by Contrecceur, late Commandant, to repel Brad- dock's army, now almost daily expected. Too early for much stir yet, but still a fresh smoke here and there, within and without the fort, betokened preparation for the morn ing meal. (See Appendix C.) While Gist, in the line of his duty, was busy with glass and note book, jotting down every single object of import ance, the Indian called Talbot's attention to a large white ewan, which, with slow beat of pinion, and an occasional hoarse cry, was lazily working its way up the Ohio, untU A LOOKOUT OVER THE FORT. 23 it stood almost stationary over the shallow waters covering A bar at the confluence of the two rivers. All at once, and so near as to startle the whole party, a loud haugh-ha-ha! haugh-ha-ha! like the scream of a maniac, was emitted from a huge pine which stood a little below them, which cry was answered by another and simi lar one, from a heavily-wooded island in the Allegheny, across from the fort. The swan showed evident signs of terror and dismay ; it dashed forward, wavered in its flight, sunk, rose again, and then smote the air with strong, rapid wing. Too late ; the haugh-ha-ha was repeated, and a huge bald-headed eagle darted out from its piny concealment, cleft the air with its mighty pinion, rose to a great height, and with reversed wing, swooped down like a bolt on its prey, struck it fiercely, and with admirable dexterity, pushed the dying swan in a slant ing fall on to the island, where the eagle was joined by its waiting mate. It was done all in a minute, but it was well and cleanly done. " Je-hu, reddy," exclaimed the excited Talbot, " but that was quick work, and a short shrift ! 'Tis a fat breakfast for them, but they've fairly earned it, I must say. Well, master Gist, now that I see you closing your note book, you wont pretend to tell me that that miserable, good-for- nothing little fort, scarcely bigger than a lady's kerchief, built out of logs and brush, and surrounded by a few hun dred skulking, cowardly savages, is the stronghold which has so long bothered and defied all your colonies, and which has obliged our good old King George to send over two of his best regiments, and one of his oldest generals, the pet of our great Duke of Cumberland himself?" " The very same, my lord, the ve-ry same ; and I greatly 'ear me, that unless ' Cumberland's pet ' makes far greater ipeed than he has yet done, and if he continue to have such u overweening confidence in his drillings and facings, and 24 OLD FORT DUQUESXB. BO little in his Indian and colonial allies that ke will be some time beating and swearing before that old log fort, ere he serves de Beaujeu with his ' writ of ej ectment.' Lord bless you, laddie, I think we of the backwoods ought to know something of Indians and Indian ambushes and devil tries. We also have reason to know with what admirable artifice the French manage their swarthy friends. They study well how to please an Indian's eye, and gratify to the full his natural taste for gaud and trinkets. " They throw about their gifts with no grudging hand, I tell ye ; eat, live, sport, and even marry with the Indians ; manage them as Braddock's drum-major does his bugles ; can pacify or enrage ; feed their pride, or their revenge. They stuff them with lies, trap them with snares, hoodwink them with flatteries, and dress them in fine feathers. Colo nel Johnson, of New York, and Conrade Weiser and George Croghan, of our colony, are about the only ones who understand the Indian nature, and I dare swear, that had their advice been taken, there wouldn't have been a redskin about that fort, and the frog-eaters would have been forced, nilly-willy, to retire to Wenango, or float down to Orleans, without a blow. Look at those encamp ments now! There's Quaker diplomacy for you! Now let's ask our quiet Delaware here, as true, staunch a friend as e'er wore English stroud : " Fairfax, what is it your people have most complained of for the last few years ? " " Why," fiercely hissed out the Indian, " rum one, two, three times, rum. White brother drink ' fire-water ' only a little, but red brother drink his head all away. lib grow dead like this log. He give land, give skins, give Bquaws, and papooses, even, for more whiskey. All our chiefs ask our Fathers at Albany and Philadelphia, to keep traders from selling rum ; but no use, no use. What we get for our lands?" he continued, sneeringly, sweeping SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. A LOOKOUT OTER THE FORT. 25 his arm toward the eastern hills, and growing more earnest as he advanced. " Few bead, and wampum, little paint, kettles, combs, match-coats, looking-glass, and tinkle, tinkle bells. All gone in one moon. "Then come white man, build wigwam, cut down all big trees ; shoot deer, bear and buffalo, and say to poor Indian, 'You good for nothing lazy, lounging dogs ; not wanted here ; go towards the setting sun.' Ten years ago, great many Indians in Juniata, Conestoga, Susquehanna ; many as these trees ; now all, all moving to find game no game, no Indian. Queen Alaquippa good woman, much people. She take fire-water, too, and behave very bad. When we no want to leave, our masters, the big chiefs of ' Six Na tions,' are brought to Albany. More bead, much eat, much drink and paint, and then they order us ofF; say we're women, and have no right to sell lands. English claim all lands this side Allegheny, and the French all lands on other side. Now where, then, do the Indian lands lie? tell me that!" " That's a poser, Fairfax,'' laughed Gist, " and I'll never tell ye. Too much ugly truth in what he says, Talbot ; but we musn't be crooning over this now. It's about the time when Captain Jack and Scarooyaddy, the Kalf-King, pro mised to meet us here. I hope their scout turned out well. Nothing short of a scalping frolic will mpke the *~\ ( vk their plight." CAPTER IV. CAPTAIN GIST RELATES SOME ADVENTURES. Here from dim woods, the aged past Speaks solemnly, and I behold The boundless future in the vast And lovely rivers seaward rolled. Bryant. The broad, the bright, the glorious west Is spread before me now, Where the gray mists of morning rest Beneath yon mountain brow. Here from this mountain height, I see Thy bright waves floating to the sea, Thy emerald fields outspread ; And feel that in the book of fame, Proudly shall thy recorded name In later days be read. Laura M, Tkurston. ANOTHER earnest and long-continued outlook followed, tdien Gist, as if musing with himself, thus spoke : " Ah, me, how well I know the grounds hereabout. Look up the Allegheny. You can just barely see, or think you see, the little island on which Major Washington and I nearly froze to death one night last year. We were tomiug home from our visit to French Creek, and had senl our horses before us, and wishing to cross the Allegheny, which was bank-full of running ice, we had to spend a whole day with a hatchet in making a raft. We had scarcely pushed out, when Washington's setting-pole got caught in the huge cakes, and he was thrown out into ten feet water, and came very near drowning. " 'Twas with the greatest difficulty we made that little 86 CAPTAIN GIST RELATES SOME ADVENTURES. 27 island, and passed there the most wretched night we ever spent a night which cost me many frozen toes and fingers. Just look at my poor hands !" " And how," asked Talbot, " did you get out of the scrape ? " " Oh ! next morning the narrow part of the river was frozen tight, and we made for land, and reached Queen Alaquippa's, Fairfax's mother. Warm as it is here now, it makes me almost shiver to think about it. Only a day or two before, I caught a scoundrelly Indian guide about to pull trigger on Washington, and had it not been for the Major's kind heart, I would have brained the rascal on the spot, but Washington let him off, although it was a mis take, it was a mistake." (See Appendix D.) " Do you see that queer-shaped, woody hill there, rising out of the plain on the other side of the Allegheny, look ing for all the world like a hog's back? Well, sir, would you believe it ? I actually went around that hill once and went on down the Ohio, perfectly ignorant of this Mon- ongahela at our feet, although I ought to have guessed it by the increased size of the Ohio when I came out upon it a couple of miles down there. " You see, I crossed the Allegheny about two miles above ' Shannopin's town ' that straggling Delaware vil lage which you can just manage to see, if your eyes are as good as mine a short mile or so above the fort on the Allegheny. That trip I went all alone as far as the Falls of the Ohio, and came back to my Carolina home only to find that the Catawbas, or Cherokees I never exactly knew which of the thieving, scalping varmints to fasten it on had burned my house, destroyed my settlement, and driven my family up into Virginia. " Ah, younker, this roving, unsettled life is an over- anxious and a worritsome one ; but it has its charms, lad ; jes. it has its charms. I never feel happier, or freer like 28 OLD FOKT DUQUESNE. than when, with trusty rifle on shoulder and a bit of jerked venison in my pouch, I swing off into some narrow Indian trail, and commence peering about the leaves and twigs for Indian signs. 'Pears to me I feel sort o' stifled in the settlements can't draw a deep breath. Have been often in Philadelphia, and laughed consumedly at their queer fashions and toggeries the young bucks in their curled wigs, velvet knee-breeches, silk stockings, and silver shoe buckles." " And where's all the game, Captain, that they tell me infests these Western wilds ? " broke in Talbot. " 'Cepting the clumsy bear I saw a while since, I never have clapped eyes on any of your real game, though I've hunted wild boar in Austria, and had tiger sport in India. I'd like i(t see your panther and buffalo." " Well, you will, younker, if Braddock isn't driven back and you be not the game that's hunted ; in the which cast you will have enough to do to keep your own pelt in place without seeking some other poor creature's. There's plenty of both panther and buffalo hereabouts, but far more across the Allegheny. All the Ohio valley is but a hunting ground for the Indians very few large towns or villages. 'Tis extror'nary the distances these pesky redskins come to hunt, or fight, or pillage. Why, I've met in these woods outlying parties of Twightwees, Ottawas, Chippewas from the far lakes, and even some of the Caughnewaugas from Canada, or the 'French praying Indians,' as they are called. " Up towards Lake Erie, and the Muskingum river, now where there are large grass plains, and savannahs, the buf falo go in great droves. No man can call Chris Gist a boaster, and it might appear like that, to tell of adventures and narrow escapes in those dense woods with cats, bears, and 'painters.' The hunting grounds hereabouts are famous, I tell you." CAPTAIN GiST RELATES SOME ADVENTURES. 29 " Why, Cap," eagerly put in Talbot, " it 'spirits me to hear you talk; but what are you chuckling at, man?" " Well," answered Gist, " it's easy to laugh right now and here, but the only time I had to run from one of the varmints happened just over in those very forks, before the dense timber was cleared off, and the fort built. 'Twas in 63, wher out with Major Washington on his way to We- nango. We had gone down two miles from here to visit ld Shingiss, king of the Delawares, as brave and cruel a Red as ever twigged hair or cast a tomahawk. Shingiss and Tannacharison, the last Half-King of the Iroquois before Scarooyaddy would not let him go on his journey until they had had a grand pow-wow in the Council House at Logstown, and so the Major sent me up in a canoe to ex amine these forks closer, as he thought it a good place for a fort. " I landed just about dark, and lit my fire under a huge buttonwood, and was quietly basting a turkey I had shot, when I hears a queer cry, much like that of a baby. Well, now, every strange noise when one's alone in a wilderness, is suspicious. I pricked up my ears, and listened, and listened, and again the same weak, plaintive cry. Thinks I that's queer ; must be distress there. It's an owl, or 'possum, or mayhap, a m us'- rat. After awhile I hears it again, coming a little from beyond the fire-light. I tell you I grew quite nervous, and all over queer like. Soon as a fellow knows hia danger he can front it like a man, but when he don't, he's more like a girl any new sound rasps his nerves, and makes his heart go dumpety-dump, thumpety-thump ; but suspense was awful, so I steps along, until I came almost to the forest edge yonder, and after poking round awhile and seeing nothing, I waited for the cry again. " Soon it came, and almost under my very nose ; and there, under yonder sycamore, I found a lump of something FOllT DUQUESNE. foe would care to meet on a trail ; active as cat and supple as serpent, every look and motion was full of life and native grace. It need only be added that he understood and talked English pretty well, and was a fast friend and great admirer of Captain Jack. (See Ap pendix F.) CHAPTER VIII. DOWN THE MONONGAHELA. Effsoons they heard a most melodious sound Of all that might delight a dainty ear; Such as at once might not, on living ground, Save in this Paradise, be heard elsewhere I Spenser. Fairy Quetn. That strain again I it had a dying fall. O ! it came o'er my ear like the sweet South That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing, and giving odor. Shakspearc. Twelfth Night. AFT ER floating and paddling along in silence for some time, Jack thus addressed his long-time friend and com panion, m the Indian dialect, which we freely translate for the beuent of our readers, preserving the idiom : " And how long, think ye, Chief, are we from the De-uu- da-ga?" (the forks of the Ohio, so called by all the In dians). "Now that we are not specially after scalps, 'twould be more healthy for us to get to the fort after your kith and kin are dead in sleep, else we'll have trouble in counting heads, even should we escape having our back hair twigged. It's been many moons, Yaddy, since we've been on the trail together, and it kind of goes against my grain to hunt savages up to their very lair, only to bid them a good evening, and see whether they have bear or buck boiling in their camp kettles." " Well, Captain, if I know anything of sigL3, hereabout, 4 49 60 OLD FORT DUQUESNE. 'tis but a short hour's paddle until our canoe is laid along the palisades of the fort. But we must be wise as serpents, and not like young braves on their first war-path. You know the great White Chief bade us open our eyes and ears, but close our memories." " Great White Fiddlesticks, Chief, say I a ridiculous old popinjay, and drill-sergeant rather, with his facings and starchings, his frills and ruffles, and his flummeries and mummeries. Ever since his gouty toes have trodden our country, he has done nothing but scold, and strut and swear at our native troops and riflemen. He'd teach us how to fight savages. He don't want, forsooth, wood-rangerg nor trained Indian fighters every mother's son of whom could bore out a squirrel's eye from an oak's topmost bough, or better still, pick off a redskin if he only saw the white of a peeper but he would rout, and crush the reds by noise and flare of drum, the glisten of bayonets, the polish of boots and brass buttons, and the manoeuvres of a ball room." " My young white brother," quietly interposed the Half- King, " has his ears stuffed with cotton when the old Chief is mentioned. He has fought many great battles over the big waters." " Bah, Chief, you know better ! I tell you, were it not for Washington and the colonial riflemen, I wouldn't give a Delaware's chance before this rifle, for all King George's army. You know how he insulted and drove off my hun ters, every one of whom has treed and shot and scalped his foe, and could hit a 'painter's' eye, even when on the bound, at a hundred paces. So help me But listen ! what strange noise is that ? As I live, Chief, it sounds like music, and yet music in this solitude impossible." The l : ght birch was stilled with a motion, and with pad dles poised in hand, the two stood to their feet, every sense on the alert ; the ears strained to catch the soft sounds of DOJTN THE MONOyGAHELA. 61 music for music it was which stole in gentle pulses ovei the water, now rising to a rich fulness and now dying a\vuj into the distance, with cadences so soft and trills so geutle, that nothing scarce could live between them and silence. Almost breathless Jack leaned forward, his eyes ic amaze and his whole mien softened. " Do my ears deceive me, Chief? Is this spirit land ? Frazier is away with the army, and Frazier can make guns, and shoot them, too, but he can't make music like that. Who and what can it ever be? If I were not where I am, my old friend, I would say those were the notes of a magic flute, and played, too, with a master touch, by one who knows well all the stops and humors of his instrument. " Ah, well-a-day," softly continued Jack, after an atten tive silence, " those sweet, plaintive notes carry me back to the days of my youth, when I lived in the great city, and when my eyes and ears, yes, and heart too, had not be come accustomed to the rude encounters and bloody strug, gles of a frontier life. " But we must not stay musing, and dreaming here, Chief, for I see that you, too, who know nothing of music but the Seneca's drum, or Braddock's bugles, are dazed by those soft melodies. I ne'er knew but one who could breathe forth such witching strains, and he, alas, if not now dead, is far removed from this leafy wilderness. Turn the prow to yonder broken line of willows, which marks the mouth of some run, and we'll soon know whether these be spirit melodies or no." A motion or two, and the canoe gently glided into a little cove overhung by arching willows, and rifle at rest, the two scouts, with cat-like tread and eyes peering into every tuft and hummock and shadow, mounted the bank and hastily advanced toward a widening ravine, in which the light of a fire, glowing upon the sorroundiug foliage. waa now Distinctly visible. 62 OLD FORT DUQUESNE. The flute, or whatever was the instrument, was now mute, and as the two intruders glided forward from tree to tree, all at once a merry, ringing peal of laughter, clear and sil very as a bell, and evidently from one of the gentler sex, awakened the echoes of the forest, and came wafted to them like a stream of rich melody, from a sort of bark-covered hut, or rather bower, a little aside from the direction m which they were looking, causing a thrill and shudder to creep over Captain Jack's person. He seemed, all at once, overcome with some mysterious emotion, and grasped his companion's arm with such a convulsive and vice-like grip, that the Indian, stoical as he was by nature and education, fairly winced, as much with the pain as with the unac countable suddenness of the apparently unfriendly grapple. " By the Great Spirit above us, Jack !" hissed the Half- King, with gleaming eyes, " do you take me for a Dela ware, or an Ottawa, that you give me this rude bear's hug? Art mad, brother? Hands off, I say, or I'll think the spirit of these woods, which has just befooled us both, has completely stolen away your senses. If we don't act less like that merry maiden, whose laugh is like the warble of a wood-thrush, our scalps will to-night deck old Shingiss' wigwam, and be dressed by his squaws. What has come over you ? " " Hist ! Chief, speak lower, and forgive me. I was o'er- mastered by I know not what a note, a voice, a memory of the past. 'Tis wondrous strange, but suspense is worse than death. I must unravel this mystery to its very end. Keep within the shadow of yonder huge buttonwoods; stay near me, and forward ! " They glided on and on like shadows, until they stood together fairly on the edge of the circle lit up by the fire, and their startled, wondering eyes gradually took in the salient points of the strange scene. CHAPTER IX. A STRANGE SCENE IN THE WILDERNESS. A nook within the forest : overhead The branches arch, and shape a pleasant bower. What splendid walls I And what a gorgeous roof, carved by the hand Of glorious nature ! Here the spruce thrusts in Its bristling plume, tipped with its pale green points; The scalloped beech-leaf, and the birch's cut Into fine ragged edges, interlaced. A thick, rich, grassy carpet clothes the earth. Those breaths of nature, the light, fluttering airs, Like gentle respirations, come and go, Lift on its crimson stem the maple leaf, Displaying its white lining underneath; And sprinkle from the tree-tops golden rain Of sunshine on the velvet sward below. Such uooka as this are common in the woods. Alfred B. Strett The voice that won me first ! Oh ! what a tide of recollections rush Upon my drowning soul. Louisa G. Hall. IMAGINE to yourself, reader, a ravine, skirted on eitheT side by precipitous hills, feathered to their tops with a luxu riant foliage ; on the wide and perfectly level bottom, a grove of sugar-maples, with no undergrowth of bush or shrub, or tangled vine, but a bright carpet of green, on one side of which, and hugging the hill in a graceful curve, a rapid, babbling little stream rippled and murmured its blithesome way to the Monongahela. The grove, judging 63 54 OLD FORT DUQUESin* from the rude bark vessels at the maples' trunks, was an old Indian sugar camp. Right on the stream's margin, was a blazing log-fire, its flickering flames ever aud anon bursting into flashing jets, und brighter lights, and throwing the surrounding scenery, as well as the overarching foliage, now into light, and now into shadow. On a fallen tree trunk, some little distance beyond the fire, its fla/aes clearly lighting up each form, and relieving it against the deep darkness beyond, sat a party of three ; the central figure, and the one just now breathing again into his flute, and drawing forth its softest melodies, was a venerable, white-haired old man, with an appearance of unusual refinement, and a countenance of singular gentle ness and delicacy the very last figure one would expect to see in such a place. With his snowy and wavy beard, he looked like a patriarch of old. But the accessories of this scene served but to increase the mystery. On the one side of the flute player sat a well- dressed, and gentlemanly-looking French officer of some what uncertain age, while on the other, was a dusky and swarthy savage, with a milder and more intelligent face than usual with Indians ; while reclining on the grass in front, was a fiercer and younger-looking Chief, who occa- ei^naHy cast stolen glances towards the bower. All were gazing earnestly at the noble-looking old gentleman, and apparently drinking in with rapture each dulcet note as thrown off by his fingers. The Indian Chiefs were both in their war garb, their scalp-locks all new ly dressed with feathers and their faces barred with colors. To complete the picturesque scene, a white horse, hob bled, stood half in light and half in shadow, munching the velvety grass. The whole made a picture worthy of Rembrandt, and one which we in vain essay to depict. It wsemed like some wild Gypsy grouping. A. STRANGE SCENE IN THE WILDERNESS. 55 The Half-King was the first to recover both his senses, and his voice, for Jack stood still, leaning heavily against his tree and fetching deep and hurried breaths, occasionally glancing uneasily and expectantly toward the woman's bower, as if he waited some apparition to come thence. A bright gleam of intelligence broke over the Half- King's face, and touching Jack, he whispered : " Scarooyaddy sees and understands it all. The old man with silver locks, I know not, but the white Chief is da Beaujeu, commandant of the fort; the great red Chief at the other side is Athanase, the Christian Mohawk from Canada, and leader of all the Indian forces now about the fort ; the other Chief is a great warrior from my own tribe, and went with Washington, Gist, .Tannecharison and my- se^f to Wenango in '53. He's a great hunter, and ' brave.' TT? call him Kiosola, but he's knowp in the settlements as Gnyasutha. They all come up from the fort ; will be going back soon, and 'twould be wise if we would ambush them." " Stay ! not so, Chief," answered Jack, looking much rc lieved, and gradually coming to himself again, " I have fai other business in view. J begin to understand, too, though there is much yet that appears strange and unaccountable to me. I know, or did once know the old man well, exceed ing well, and a better, or a purer creature was never fash ioned by the Great Spirit. I thank God that I see him once more I thought him dead. Stir not for your life, while I steal to yonder bower to complete my knowledge. I will know the worst, or best." So saying, Jack though in great agitation glided stealthily along until he stood at the back of the little open hut, and peering through some fragrant pine branches which formed one side of this fragile summer enclosure, his ejes were soon masters of its contents. Here is what he, with varying and conflicting emctions, beheld : 56 OLD FORT DUQUE8NE. A lady of a bright, intelligent, and expressive face ; not^ reader, as the sentimentalist would say, " of alabaster brow, ruby lips, a face of Grecian contour, and teeth like two rows of snowy pearls," but a mature, and real flesh-and- Uood woman, with a sparkling eye, and a shapely head, around which was simply massed and fastened by a single comb, a wealth of dark, wavy brown hair. She was sitting on a sort of camp stool, with a rudely- fashioned painter's easel before her; a palette of water colors in one hand, while the other transferred to the paper the shifting, shimmering glows and tints from the neck of a wild pigeon, which was placed on a twig at her side in a life-like position, as if the bird had just lighted for an in stant before taking a new flight. Not so intent on her pleasing task but time was found to bandy phrases and exchange repartees in French with a bold and dashing-looking officer from the fort, who reclined near her on a bear skin, toying with the plumage of an os- prey which was waiting its turn to be portrayed a shade of sadness on his manly face, and a touch of tenderness iu his tones. Near both, and engaged in quilling a moccasin strange sight in such a place sat a young, and very beautiful In dian girl of apparently some fifteen or sixteen years, with little moccasined feet, ornamented leggings, short em broidered skirt, and a gay kerchief over her bosom. Her hair, though of raven black, was finer and softer than usual with Indians. Her face was of clear color, and sin gularly delicate and refined for one so born and nurtured, and a pensiveness even amounting to sadness, lent an unusual grace and interest. Occasionally her dark, lus trous eyes would lift towards the others, and a bright smile of affection light up her soft, young countenance, and she would seem to draw nearer to her only female companion, attcut on every word she uttered. A STRANGE SCENE IN THE WILDERNESS. 57 The older lady would have attracted attention anywhere, not so much from the regularity of her features as from the spirit and expression which played about them, and the symmetry and gracefulness of her person. Her face was one which " lighted up well," and which responded to every passing thought and emotion. She had that ever- changeful and never-dying charm of expression which neither years, nor suffering, nor disappointment can de stroy, and which outlives all beauty of mere feature or complexion. Totally unconscious of the ardent, bewildered gaze of any bold intruder, she sat in a perfectly free and uncon strained posture, her little moccasined foot advanced, and her whole carriage one of grace and abandon evidently a person of gentleness and refinement, and so much the more difficult to harmonize with her rude, but exceedingly pic turesque surroundings. Her dress, too, was one well calculated to set off her superb figure, and to increase the charm of her presence. Like her young companion to whom she ever and anon cast pleasant and loving glances she wore the quill and bead moccasin, ending in a beautifully ornamented buskin, while her dress was more like a tunic, only longer and of a fiuer material, and fastened by a silken sash about the waist. The upper portion of her person was enclosed in a richly- embroidered jacket, closely fashioned to her figure. Her throat which was of an exquisite shape was bared and devoid of ornament, the lower portion only encased in a little lace ruff. She was many years older than the young Indian girl beside her, and yet her eye had such a bright ness in it, and her face such a flush of health aud color, that this could only gradually be learned. Altogether a wondrous grouping for a Western wilder ness and so thought Jack, as his bosom heaved tumultu- 58 OLD FORT DUQUESNE. ously, and the fierce light came and went into his eyea His fingers occasionally clutched his tomahawk, and a quiver went over his manly form, when, after a brief and rather 1 nv conversation in French between the lady and the officer, their voices arose in unison in a soft duet, still in the same foreign language. Then Jack was fairly beside himself. He seemed impa tient of all restraint, and, had it not been for the Half- King's whispered but earnest words of caution, he would have broken through the slight intervening obstacles and burst into the lady's presence. What he would have said and done can only be surmised from the sequel. CHAPTER X. TWO OLD FRIENDS MEET AGAIN. O! grief hath changed me since yon saw me last; And careful hours, with Time's deforming hand, Have written strange defeatures in my face. Comedy of Error*. HE had not, however, long to wait. Footsteps and voices were heard approaching. The venerable form of the old gentleman appeared in the open doorway, and said in French : " Eh, bien, Monsieur le Capitaine Dumas, you must not deem me rude if I interrupt your and Marie's mournful song. De Beaujeu and the Chiefs have tired of my poor music, and gone to the fort, and bade me tell you they would await you at the first bend of the river below." "Ah, Monsieur de Bonneville, and is it then so late? Mon Dieu," rising as he spoke, " you must not blame us poor imprisoned officers if, when once we find gentle ladies in these savage wilds, we take little note of time. I have been trying to persuade your daughter, now that our run ners tell us Braddock is drawing near, to take refuge ia the fort. Believe me, Monsieur, in case we resolve to op pose le General Braddock, the fierce struggles which must shortly ensue in these woods, make it an unfit place for etich as these," pointing to the two maidens. " I have been thinking much of this, Captain," replied the fond father, in low, but earnest tones ; " and yet we have been treated by you, and your fierce Indians from so SO 60 OLD FORT DUQUESNE. many different tribes, with such marked respect and kind ness, that we could scarce expect less from our own frieudg who are approaching." " But, Monsieur, war is now fairly broken out between us and the English if not in name, yet in deed ; soon the British advance will be along the river, for we think they must come this way. We can scarcely hope, with our in ferior numbers, and with only a mob of untrained savages, to oppose them short of the fort, even if we can stand there, and you and Marie were safer with us. Promise me to think of this, Monsieur." " I do, and when next you come, will have resolved. Good-night, and bon voyage to you, Captain." Turning to the girls, who were tidying up the hut, he continued in English: " Marie, love, I feel unusually sad this evening, and must retire. The wood notes of our forest home seem especially mournful to-night. Even the cricket and tree- frogs have a sort of dismal croak, while that owl from the hillside beyond the run, keeps up a most doleful plaint. Do you and "Wau-ki-na retire, while I go and arrange the fire and kettle, and take old Dobbin and hobble him in a new pasture." Out again into the grove, and now Jack's time had come at last. Gliding around to the opening of the little cabin ; anxious, faltering, but soon resolved, he gave forth a low, and very peculiar whistle. Marie sprang up as if it had been the warning rattle of a snake evidently a familiar and yet incredible sound. Her color fast came and went. She had a startled and troubled air; a crimson flush mantled her cheeks. She stood attentive, anxious, distressed; hoping, may be, yet learing. Again the low signal whistle, and Jack's tall, stalwart form fi ]1 ed the doorway. Marie shrank back with a shud- TWO OLD FRIENDS MEET AGAIN. 61 ier, and a low moan of affright. The Indian girl retreated to the other room, for the hut was divided into two simple apartments. Their eyes met. Marie's gaze was long, earnest, fearful, as if painfuhy tracing out features once familiar, and yet very, very greatly changed. At last, she murmured, shrinkiugly, timorously, but in quiringly, and with a certain daze in her face : " Edward ? it cannot be ; and yet, and yet " " Edward it is, Marie, but not the mere boy you knew ten years ago, but a man matured full-grown one who has much suffered, too, but who never expected to see Marie de Bonneville again at least in this world." But Marie heard no longer not even so long. This unlooked-for apparition of the past, coming out of the darkness she knew not how, and from some place she knew not where, was too much for the poor girl, and she first shook like an aspen, and then swooned to the earth. "Why, Marie!" exclaimed Jack, hastening towards her, the utmost alarm and anxiety depicted on his face, " it is I the same Edward you once knew so well, in the very flesh and blood. Come! come! look up, and rise, Marie; rise, I heseech you ! I was an unmannered boor to come on ye so sudden. What have I done? Here, you you Indian girl, come to the lady's aid, do you hear ? quick ! quick!" Out sprang the young " Indian girl," her black hair dis hevelled, her eyes aflame, as she boldly and with vehement gesture reproached the rash intruder. 4 Ah, you! What for you kill the good, sweet lady? Wau-ki-na saw you and heard you. You very, very bad, cruel 'pale face;' worse than Mingo, you" but as her flashing eyes met the anxious, puzzled, distressful gaze of Jack, she started, and quailed as if overcome with some memory, averted her looks, and sank to the ground be* 62 OLD FORT DUQUESNE. side her companion, her young arms twining about her form. Marie soon regained her consciousness, sighed, and cast a ehy, bewildered glance around, until her eyes again met those of Jack, and a shudder convulsed her form. At last fche managed to murmur, her syllables falling slowly, one by one, as if it pained her to utter them. " Is it really a dream, or can you be Ed ward Percy, my earliest friend and companion in times long past? 1 ' Her face flushed, and her maidenly modesty took alarm at his presence there and thus, and the seeming familiarity of calling this strong, stern, swarthy-look ing man of apparently thirty-five, by his Christian name. " Marie ! " tremulously spake Jack, " I say again it is Edward Percy ; but he was mad to so take you at una wares. Forgive him, will " " Oh, that voice again ! It must, it must be Edward ; and yet and yet oh, Edward ! " looking at him timidly, searcb- ingly, and with clasped hands, " why did you all leave Philadelphia and us so abruptly, without one word or mes sage ? It was cruel, cruel in you. Where are your dear mother and sisters, and where have you been these many, many long years ? " " Ah, Marie, that were a long and sad story to tell. My reason for leaving with my mother's family for the West need not now or here be told, if, indeed, you cannot guess it better than all others. But enough. I took them to the banks of the Susquehauna. I there built us a cabin, made a clearing, turned to a hunter-farmer, and was soon learn ing to forget the past, when, one day, after a long and fatiguing hunt after a stag, I returned to find my little cabin a smouldering ruin, everything bnrvt to the had searched and hunted all the eastern part of the State His ambition is, as you well remember, to classify an6 represent on paper the fauna of America. He made mo learn to draw and paint, and prepare birds and animals, and having exhausted those in the settlements, he yearned, with a wondrous longing, for the unexplored wilds west of the Alleghcnies. He soon so infected me with his spirit,