CHAPTER XI
Stuart and Demere argued the matter in their secret conclaves. Bothadmitted that although Montgomery had had only four or five men killed,among them no officers, on his first expedition, he might have againtaken the field, and this was as they hoped. He was advancing; he mustbe near. The trophy of the fine red coat meant probably that he had lostan officer of value;--perhaps meant less--the personal disaster of thecapture of baggage or the necessity of throwing it away. Montgomery hadadvanced,--that was indubitable. Nevertheless,--and perhaps it was thelowering influence of the scanty fare on which they had so longsubsisted,--both officers dreaded the suspense less than the comingdisclosure.
Stuart felt all his nerves grow tense late one day in the red Julysunset, when there emerged from the copse of pawpaw bushes, close to theriver where Odalie had once been wont to repair to talk toChoo-qualee-qualoo, a tall form, arrayed in a gray gown, a trifleill-adjusted, with a big red calash drawn forward on the head, thatwalked at a somewhat slashing gait across the open space toward theglacis. He thanked heaven that Mrs. MacLeod was ill in her bed, althoughhe had some twenty minutes ago been sending to her through her husbandexpressions of polite and heartfelt regret and sympathy.
"Why, I hardly thought Mrs. MacLeod was well enough to take a walk," heobserved to the sentry. Daniel Eske naturally supposed that Mrs. MacLeodhad slipped out before he had gone on duty, having just been sent to therelief of the previous sentinel. Stuart went down to the embrasure,assisted the supposed lady to her feet as she slipped through, andceremoniously offered her his arm as she was about to plunge down thesteep interior slope in a very boyish fashion. They found Demere in thegreat hall, and both officers read the brief official dispatch withcountenances of dismay.
"This says that you can explain the details," said Demere, with dry lipsand brightly gleaming eyes.
"Oh, yes," said Hamish. "All the time that I was at Fort Prince Georgethe commandant was writing letters to Governor Bull--for Lyttleton hasbeen appointed to Jamaica--and hustling off his expresses to SouthCarolina. He sent three, and said if he heard from none by return hewould send more."
For this was the appalling fact that had fallen like athunderbolt,--Colonel Montgomery had with his command quitted thecountry and sailed for New York. His orders were to strike a sudden blowfor the relief of Carolina and return to head-quarters at Albany at theearliest possible moment. No word of the grievous straits of thegarrison of Fort Loudon had reached him. He had, indeed, advanced fromFort Prince George, which he had made the base of his aggressiveoperations against the Cherokees, but not for the relief of Fort Loudon,for neither he nor the commandant of Fort Prince George knew that thatpost was in danger. The overtures to the Cherokees for peace havingproved fruitless, Colonel Montgomery had sought to make peace by force.In pursuance of this further effort he pushed forward with great energyand spirit, but encountered throughout disasters so serious as tocripple his enterprise, culminating finally in a result equivalent to arepulse. The Indians, in the skulking methods peculiar to their warfare,harassed his march, hanging upon the flanks of the main body, and firingin detail from behind trees and rocks, from the depths of ravines andthe summits of hills of the broken, rugged wilderness. Never did theypresent any front that it was possible to charge and turn. Theadvance-guard, approaching through a narrow valley, the town of Etchoee,which the Indians had abandoned, fell into an ambuscade of considerablestrength, and there he lost Captain Morrison of the Rangers, and ten ortwelve men who fell at the first fire. The vanguard, discouraged, beganto give way, when the light infantry and grenadiers were detached forits support. They succeeded in locating the chief strength of theCherokees sufficiently to drive the savages back, despite the disastrousresults of their scattered fire. The main body, coming up, encamped nearEtchoee, on a level space which proved, however, to be commanded byeminences in the vicinity. Thence the Indians poured destructive volleysinto the British ranks, and only after repeated charges the soldierssucceeded in dislodging them. Impetuously attacked on the flank, theCherokees suffered severely at the hands of the Royal Scots before beingable to get out of their reach. The terrible aspect of the paintedsavages, and their nerve-thrilling whoops with which the woodsresounded, failed also to affect the courage of the wild Highlanders,and all the troops fought with great ardor. But Colonel Montgomerydeemed it impossible to penetrate further through the wilderness,hampered as he was by seventy wounded men whom he could not leave to themercies of so savage an enemy, by the loss of many horses, by thenecessity--which was yet almost an impossibility--of carrying a train ofcattle and other provisions with him in so rugged, trackless, andheavily wooded a region, and relinquished the attempt, thinking theterrible losses which the Indians had sustained would prove sufficientpunishment and dispose them to peace. He was even compelled to sacrificea considerable portion of his stores, throwing away bags of flour inlarge numbers in order to effect the release of the packhorses totransport his wounded. His dead he sunk heavily weighted into therivers, that the bodies might not be dragged from their graves andscalped by the Indians. His return march of sixty miles to Fort PrinceGeorge, which was accomplished with great regularity, was marked by thesame incidents that had characterized his advance,--the nettling fire ofthe masked enemy, the futile response, and the constant loss of men andhorses.
And so he was gone, and all the hopes that had clustered about hisadvance had gone with him! To Fort Loudon remained only two remotechances,--that Governor Bull of South Carolina might be able to act onthe belated information and send out an expedition of relief; yet thiswas to the last degree improbable, since the province, after its firstexpensive expedition against the Cherokees, had been compelled to appealfor its own protection to the British commander-in-chief, the militiabeing practically disabled by the ravages of smallpox. But even at thebest could such an expedition reach them in time? The other possibilityof succor lay in Virginia, and it was obvious wisdom to embrace bothchances. Stuart knew that Demere's quill, scraping over the paper, wasfashioning the appeal to the royal governor of that province, even whileHamish was still speaking, and he, himself, wrote supplemental lettersto other persons of note, that the news of their desolation, failing tocarry in one direction, might be spread in another.
"Now, Hamish," he said, smiling behind the candle as he held the wax init for the seal, "can you do as much again?"
"Where? When?" demanded Hamish, in surprise.
"To Virginia. To-night."
Hamish's eyes stretched very wide. "You won't wait for Governor Bull?The officers at Fort Prince George said they would lay their lives thatGovernor Bull would respond."
"We must try Virginia, too. My boy, we are starving. To-morrow we beginto eat the horses,--then there may be a dog or two."
Hamish rose precipitately. "Where is Sandy? Where is Odalie?"
Stuart pushed him back into his chair, sternly giving him to understandthat the only possible hope of saving their lives was to get away asquickly as might be with the dispatches for Virginia.
"Without seeing Sandy and Odalie?" said Hamish, his lip quivering.
"We have not the time to spare. Besides, would they let you risk itagain, even for them?"
And Hamish was suddenly diverted to telling of his risks, of all theescapes, by flood and fell, that he had made;--how often he had beenshot at from ambush; how he had swum rivers; how he had repeatedlyhidden from the Indians by dropping himself down into the hollows oftrees, and once how nearly he had come to getting out no more, the placebeing so strait that he could scarcely use his constricted muscles toclimb up to the cavity that had let him in. He had not so much troubleon the return trip; Ensign Milne had procured for him a good horse, anda rifle--he had had a brace of pistols--the horse was a free goer--asfresh now as if he had not been a mile to-day.
"And where is he now?" asked Demere, a look of anxiety on his face.
"At MacLeod Station, hitched there with a good saddle on him andsaddle-bags half full of corn."
"Com
e, Hamish," said Stuart, rising, "you must be off; some Indian mightfind the horse."
Hamish's eyes filled with tears,--to leave Odalie and Sandy without aword! He could not endure for the men to see these tears, although theythought none the less well of him for them.
"Let me drop a tear in farewell for Odalie," he said, trying to be veryfunny, brushing his right eye with his right hand. "And for Sandy," hisleft eye with his left hand. "And Fifine," his right eye with his righthand. "And the cat," his left eye with his left hand.
There could be nothing unmanly or girlish in this jovial demonstration!
"Come, you zany!" exclaimed Stuart, affecting to think these tremulousfarewells very jocose.
"Yes," said Demere, seriously, "we do not know how soon the Indians maydiscover our use of that passage,--up to this time it has been our onlyhope."
Hamish gathered up his calash, and the precise Demere assisted him toadjust it and his disordered dress more after the manner in which Odaliewore it. Hamish, as directed, took Stuart's arm as they went out, hiseyes still full of tears, and for his life he could not control thetremor of emotion, not of fear, in the fibers of his hand, which he wassure the officer must note. But Stuart's attention was fixed on theskies. It was later than in those days when Odalie was wont to keeptryst with Choo-qualee-qualoo, now nearly a month ago. Still he fanciedthat in the afterglow of the sunset the Indians might discern the colorand the style of the costume. Now and then a ball flew from the cannonto the woods, to clear the forest of too close observers,--whatever riskthere was must needs be dared. The cannoneers summoned to this queerduty looked at "Mrs. MacLeod" curiously, as she slipped through theembrasure and made her way with a swinging agility down the slopeamongst the fraises and then off through the gloaming at a fresh, firmpace. Then they gazed at Stuart, who presently bade them cease firing,and they had no excuse to wait to see her return. A queer move, theythought it, a very queer move!
Hope had grown so inelastic because of the taut tension to which itsfine fibers had been subjected, that Stuart felt a thrill of merelymechanical apprehension when the next day Daniel Eske, the youngsoldier, came in, desiring to make a special report to him. While onguard duty he had heard a deep subterranean explosion, which had beenreported to the officer of the day. Later, Choo-qualee-qualoo had come,waving her flag of truce, and after waiting vainly for Mrs. MacLeod, shehad ventured up the slope of the scarp, knowing full well that she wassafe under that white flag. She had brought a bag of beans, which shehad given him,--he bit his lip and colored with vexation, consciouslyridiculous in speaking of his feminine admirer to his superiorofficer,--and he had taken the opportunity to ask some questions aboutaffairs outside the fort, upon which she detailed that an Indian--it wasSavanukah--had seen Mrs. MacLeod, as he thought, enter the subterraneanpassage that used to lead to MacLeod Station. At first he had consideredit a slight matter, since the Carolinian's French wife had come so oftento talk to Choo-qualee-qualoo. But it somehow flashed into his mind howthis woman had walked,--with what a long stride, with what strength, andhow fast! And suddenly he realized that it was a man, despite the fullskirts and flutterings of capes and calash. So Savanukah ran swiftly tohis boat and pulled down the river, and made MacLeod Station just intime to see a youth, arrayed in buckskins, issue from the cave and mounta tethered horse. Savanukah fired at him, but without effect, and theyoung man wheeled in his saddle and returned the fire with such accuracythat even at the distance and in the twilight the ball, although nearlyspent, struck Savanukah in the mouth with such force as to knock out atooth. Then the boy made off with a tremendous burst of speed. And thegray gown and the calash which the youth had worn were found inside thepassage. And great was the wrath of Willinawaugh! He had blown up withpowder both ends of the passage,--like thunder, _een-ta-quaros-ke_,--use could no more be made of it. But some were sorry, wishingthe paleface to return by that way, so that he might be stabbed inthe dark windings of the passage. This was impossible now,Choo-qualee-qualoo said, for the spring had burst forth, forced in a newdirection, and was flooding all that part of the slope, flowing outsideinstead of within, and Willinawaugh could not now change its dispositionif he would.
Stuart breathed more freely. If Hamish should return alone, which Godforbid, and not with an armed force, the external changes wrought atMacLeod Station would preclude his effort to enter into the cavern, andforce him to devise some other method of approach. He wondered atWillinawaugh--to destroy so promising a trap! But rage may overpower attimes the most foxy craft.
The dull days, dragging on, seemed each interminable while thebeleaguered garrison watched the impassive horizon and awaiteddevelopments, and hoped against hope. The wonted routine came to beabridged of necessity; the men on their reduced fare were incapable ofdrill duty; the best hope was that they might make shift to stand totheir arms should a sudden attack require the exertion of all theirreserve force in the imminent peril of their lives. The diet ofhorse-flesh proved not only unpalatable but insanitary, perhaps becausethe animals had thus far shared the physical distresses of the siege,and were in miserable plight, and there were as many men on the sicklist as the hospital could accommodate; this misfortune was mitigated toa degree when Choo-qualee-qualoo brought another bag of beans to thehero of the long-range flirtation, and he generously offered to sharethe food with his fellow-sufferers. Odalie suggested its devotion tohospital uses; and a few days of a certain potage which she compoundedof the beans and her economic French skill, and administered with herown hands to the invalids, with her own compassionate smiles, and with asauce of cheering words, put a number of the stouter fellows on theirfeet again.
The efforts to amuse and entertain had given way under the stress of amisery that could form no compact with mirth, but from time to time theofficers made short spirited addresses to the troops to animate andencourage their hope, and continue to the utmost their power ofresistance. And the exhalation of every sigh was with a thought of SouthCarolina, and the respiration of every breath was with a prayer towardVirginia.
As the number of horses had greatly diminished, and the discovery wasmade that certain lean dogs had gone to the kitchen on an errand fardifferent from the one that used to lure them to the pots, about whichthey had been wont to greedily and piteously snuff and whine, thequiescent waiting and reliance on the judgment and the capacity of thecommandant to extricate the garrison from this perilous plight gave wayanew. Criticisms of the management grew rife. The return of HamishMacLeod, at the moment when starvation seemed imminent, and his instantdeparture at so great a peril, for the circumstances of his escape hadbeen learned by the soldiers from the confidences of Choo-qualee-qualooto young Eske, who was always free with his tongue, implied thatHamish's earlier mission had failed, and that no troops were now on themarch to their succor. They, too, had seen the capering Indian in thered coat of an officer of rank, the lace cravat of a man of qualitywhich Choo-qualee-qualoo flourished, and they deduced a shrewd surmiseof Montgomery's repulse. The men who had earliest revolted against thehardships now entertained rebellious sentiments and sought to fosterthem in others. Although, as ringleaders in the food riot, they had beensummarily placed in irons, their punishment had been too brief perhapsfor a salutary moral effect. Demere's severity was alwaystheoretical,--a mental attitude one might say. The hardship of addingshackles to the agonies of slow starvation so preyed upon his heartthat he had ordered the prisoners released before a sober reflection haddone its full work. The exemplary conduct, for a time, of the culpritshad no sufficient counterpart in chastened hearts, for they nourishedbitterness and secretly agitated mutiny.
The crisis came one morning when the meager supply of repulsive food hadshrunken to the scope of a few days' rations, the quantity alwaysdwindling in a regularly diminishing ratio; it had recently barelyenabled the men to sustain the usual guard duty, and they lay about theparade at other times, or at full length on the porches of the barracks,too feeble and dispirited to stir hand or foot without necessity.Corporal O'Fly
nn, one of the few officers fit for duty, with a shade ofpallor on his face a trifle more ghastly than that of starvation,reported that five men had failed to respond to roll-call, and uponinvestigation it was found that they had burrowed out of the fort in thedarkness, seeking to desert to the enemy, but their intentions beingmistaken, or their overtures scorned, they had been stabbed and scalpedat the edge of the forest, and there their bodies were visible in theearly rays of the sun.
"May become unpleasant when the wind shifts," remarked Stuart easily,and without emotion apparently, "but we are spared the duties ofpunishing deserters according to their deserts."
Demere's face had shown a sudden nervous contraction but resumed itsfixed reserved expression, and he said nothing.
Corporal O'Flynn's report, however, was not yet exhausted. He hesitated,almost choked. The blood rushed so scarlet to his face that one mighthave wondered, at the show it made, that he had so much of thatessential element in circulation in his whole thin body. He lifted hisvoice as if to urge the concentration of Stuart's attention which seemedso casual--he had it the next moment.
"I feel like a traitor in tellin' it, sor," said O'Flynn, "I'm just oneof the men meself, an' it breaks me heart intirely to go agin 'em withthe officers. But me duty as a soldier is to the commandant of the fort,an' as a man to the poor women an' childer."
He choked again, so reluctant was he in unfolding the fact that this wasbut the first step, providentially disastrous, of a plan by which thefort and the officers were to be abandoned, the rank and filedetermining to throw themselves on the mercy of the savages, since evento die at their hands was better than this long and futile waiting forsuccor. Through Choo-qualee-qualoo some negotiations with the enemy hadbeen set on foot, of which O'Flynn was unaware hitherto, being excludedfrom their councils as a non-commissioned officer, but after the resultof the desertion in the early hours before dawn, Daniel Eske, thoroughlydismayed, had once more reverted to his reliance on the superior wisdomof the commandant, and had seen fit to disclose the state of affairs tothe corporal, whose loyalty to his superior officers was always marked.
O'Flynn was commended, cautioned to be silent, and the door closed.
The two captains looked blankly at one another.
"The catastrophe is upon us," said Stuart. "Fort Loudon must fall."
In this extremity a council of war was held. Yet there seemed no courseopen even to deliberation. On the one hand rose mutiny, starvation, anddesertion; but to surrender to such an enemy as the Cherokees meantmassacre. Their terrible fate held them in a remorseless clutch! Atlast, with some desperate hope, such as the unsubstantial illusion withwhich drowning men catch at straws, that the Indians might make and keepterms, it was agreed that Captain Stuart, at his earnest desire, shouldbe the officer to treat with the enemy and secure such terms ofcapitulation as they could be induced to hold forth.
It might be imagined that the little band of officers, in their hardstress, had become incapable of any further vivid emotion, but invicarious terror they watched Stuart step forth boldly and alone fromthe sally-port, a white flag in his hand, and arrayed, in deference tothe Indians' love of ceremony and susceptibility to compliment, in fulluniform.
He stood on the parapet of the covered way, motionless and distinct, inthe clear light of the morning, against the background of the great redclay embankments. He was evidently seen, for through a spy-glass Demerein the block-house tower noted the instant stillness that fell like aspell upon the Indian line; the figures of the warriors, crouching orerect, seemed petrified in the chance attitude of the moment. That hewas instantly recognized by skulking scouts in the woods was as evident.His tall, sinewy figure; his long, dense, blond hair, with its heavyqueue hanging on the shoulders of his red coat; a certain daring,martial insouciance of manner, sufficiently individualized him to thefar-sighted Cherokees, and the white flag in his hand--a token whichthey understood, although they did not always respect it--intimated thatdevelopments of moment in the conduct of the siege impended.
There was no sudden shrill whistling of a rifle ball, and Demere,thinking of the fate of Coytmore on the river-bank at Fort PrinceGeorge, began to breathe more freely. A vague sense of renewedconfidence thrilled through the watching group. Stuart had stipulatedthat he should go alone--otherwise he would not make the essay. Thepresence of two or three armed men, officers of the fort, intimatedsuspicion and fear, incurred danger, and yet, helpless among suchnumbers, afforded no protection. The others had yielded to thisargument, for he knew the Indian character by intuition, it would seem.He was relying now, too, upon a certain personal popularity. He hadsomehow engaged the admiration of the Indians, yet without disarmingtheir prejudice--a sort of inimical friendship. They all realized thatany other man would have now been lying dead on the glacis with a bulletthrough his brain, if but for the sheer temptation to pick him offneatly as a target of uncommon interest, whatever his mission might havebetokened.
How to accomplish this mission became a problem of an essentialsolution, and on the instant. Not a figure stirred of the distantCherokee braves; not one man would openly advance within range of thegreat guns that carried such terror to the Indian heart. Stuart stood inmomentary indecision, his head thrown back, his chin up, his keen,far-seeing gray-blue eyes fixed on the motionless Indian line. Throughthe heated August air the leaves of the trees seemed to quiver; theripples of the river scintillated in the sun; not a breath of windstirred; on the horizon the solidities of the Great Smoky Mountainsshimmered ethereal as a mirage.
Suddenly Stuart was running, lightly, yet at no great speed; he reachedthe river-bank, thrust a boat out from the gravel, and with the flag oftruce waving from the prow he pushed off from the shore, and began torow with long, steady strokes straight up the river. He was going toChote!
The observers at Fort Loudon, petrified, stared at one another in blankamazement. The observers at the Cherokee camp were freed from theirspell. The whole line seemed in motion. All along the river-bank thebraves were speeding, keeping abreast of the swift little craft in themiddle of the stream. The clamors of the guttural voices with theirunintelligible exclamations came across the water.
It was like the passing of a flight of swallows. In less than fiveminutes the boat, distinctly visible, with those salient points ofcolor, the red coat and the white flag against the silver-gray water,had rounded the bend; every Indian runner was out of sight; and the lineof warriors had relapsed into their silent staring at the fort, wherethe garrison dragged out three hours of such poignant suspense as seldomfalls to the lot of even unhappy men.
The sun's rays deepened their intensity; the exhausted, half-famishedsentries dripped with perspiration, the effects of extreme weakness aswell as of the heat, as they stood shouldering their firelocks andanxiously watching from the loop-holes of the block-house towers, theroofs of which, blistering in the sun, smelled of the wood in a close,breathless, suffocating odor which their nerves, grown sensitive bysuffering, discriminated like a pain. The men off duty lay in the shadowof the block-houses, for the rows of trees had vanished to furnish fuelfor the kitchen, or on the porches of the barracks, and panted likelizards; the officers looked at one another with the significance ofsilent despair, and believed Stuart distraught. Demere could not forgivehimself that he had been persuaded to agree that Stuart should appear.Beyond the out-works, however, they had had no dream of his adventuring.To try the effect of a personal appearance and invitation to aconference was the extent of the maneuver as it was planned. There wasscant expectation in Fort Loudon that he would be again seen alive.
When the tension of the sun began to slacken and the heat to abate; whenthe wind vaguely flapped the folds of the flag with a drowsing murmur,as if from out of sleep; when the chirr of the cicada from the woodsgrew vibratory and strident, suggestive of the passing of the day'smeridian, and heralding the long, drowsy lengths of the afternoon tocome, the little boat, with that bright touch of scarlet, shot out frombehind the wooded bend of the river, an
d in a few minutes was beached onthe gravel and Stuart was within the gates of Fort Loudon.
He came with a face of angry, puzzled excitement that surprised hisbrother officers, whose discrimination may have been blunted in the joyof his safe and unexpected return and the fair promises of the terms ofcapitulation he had secured. Never had a vanquished enemy been moreconsiderately and cordially entreated than he at Chote. Oconostota andCunigacatgoah had come down to the river-bank on the news of hisapproach and had welcomed him like a brother. To the great council-hallhe was taken, and not one word would Oconostota hear of his mission tillfood was placed before him,--fish and fowl, bread, and a flask of wine!
"And when Oconostota saw that I had been so nearly starved that I couldhardly eat--Lord!--how his eyes twinkled!" cried Stuart, angrily.
But Oconostota had permitted himself to comment on the fact. He saidthat it had grieved him to know of the sufferings from famine of hisbrother and the garrison--for were they not all the children of the sameGreat Father! But Captain Stuart must have heard of the hideousiniquities perpetrated by the British Colonel in burning the Cherokeetowns in the southern region, where many of the inhabitants perished inthe flames, and slaying their warriors who did naught but defend theirown land from the invaders--the land which the Great Spirit had given tothe Cherokees, and which was theirs. And, now that the terrible ColonelMontgomery had been driven out with his hordes, still reeking withCherokee blood, it was but fit that the Cherokees should take possessionof Fort Loudon, which was always theirs, built for them at theirrequest, and paid for with their blood, shed in the English service,against the enemies of the English colonists, the French, who had alwaysdealt fairly with the Cherokees.
Captain Stuart bluntly replied that it did not become him to listen toreflections upon the methods in which British commanders had seen fit tocarry out the instructions of the British government. They had,doubtless, acted according to their orders, as was their duty. For hisown mission, although Fort Loudon could be held some space longer, inwhich time reenforcements, which he had reason to think were on themarch, might come to its relief, the officers had agreed that thesufferings of the garrison were such that they were not justified inprolonging their distress, provided such terms of capitulation could behad as would warrant the surrender of the fort.
As the interpreter, with the wooden voice, standing behind the chief,gabbled out this rebuke of the Cherokee king's aspersions onMontgomery, Stuart's ever quick eye noted an expression on the man'sface, habitually so blank and wooden,--he remembered it afterward,--anexpression almost applausive. Then his attention was concentrated on thecircumlocutions of Oconostota, who, in winding phrase almostaffectionate, intimated the tender truth that, without waiting for thesereenforcements, the enfeebled garrison could be overpowered now anddestroyed to the last man by a brisk onslaught, the Cherokees taking theplace by storm.
Stuart shook his head, and his crafty candor strengthened the negation.
"Not so long as the great guns bark," he declared. "They are the dogs ofwar that make the havoc."
Then Oconostota, with that greed of the warlike Cherokee for the detailsconcerning this great arm of the British service, the artillery, alwayscoveted by the Indians, yet hardly understood, listened to a descriptionof the process by which these guns could be rendered useless in a fewminutes by a despairing garrison.
Their cannoneers could spike them after firing the last round. And ofwhat value would the fort be to the Cherokees without them,--it would bemere intrenchments with a few dead men,--the most useless things underthe sun. The English government would bring new guns, and level theworks in a single day. The great chief knew the power of England. In thedays when Moy Toy sent his delegation to London, of which he andAtta-Kulla-Kulla were members, to visit King George, they had seen themyriads of people and had heard many great guns fired in salute to theprincely guests, and had assisted at the review of thousands andthousands of soldiers.
And with the reminder of all these overpowering military splendors ofhis great enemy, Oconostota began to feel that he would be glad tosecure possession of these few of King George's great guns uninjured,fit to bark, and, if occasion should offer, to bite.
From that point the negotiation took a stable footing. With many acrafty recurrence on the part of Stuart to the coveted artillery atevery balking doubt or denial, it was agreed that the stronghold shouldbe evacuated;--"That the garrison of Fort Loudon march out with theirarms and drums, each soldier having as much powder and ball as theirofficer shall think necessary for their march, and all the baggage theymay chuse to carry: That the garrison be permitted to march to Virginiaor Fort Prince George, as the commanding officer shall think proper,unmolested; and that a number of Indians be appointed to escort themand hunt for provisions during their march: That such soldiers as arelame or by sickness disabled from marching, be received into the Indiantowns and kindly used until they recover, and then be allowed to returnto Fort Prince George: That the Indians do provide for the garrison asmany horses as they conveniently can for their march, agreeing with theofficers and soldiers for payment: That the fort, great guns, powder,ball, and spare arms, be delivered to the Indians without fraud orfurther delay on the day appointed for the march of the troops."
These terms of capitulation were signed by Paul Demere, Oconostota, andCunigacatgoah, and great was the joy the news awoke among the garrisonof Fort Loudon. The sick arose from their beds; the lame walked, andwere ready to march; almost immediately, in the open space beneath theterrible great guns, were men,--settlers, soldiers, and Indians,--tryingthe paces of horses, and chaffering over the terms of sale. Provisionswere brought in; every chimney sent up a savory reek. Women were gettingtogether their little store of valuables in small compass for thejourney. Children, recently good from feeble incapacity to be otherwise,were now healthily bad, fortified by a generous meal or two. And Fifinewas stroking the cat's humped back, as the animal munched upon theground bits of meat thrown prodigally away, and telling her that nowshe would not be eaten,--so had that terror preyed upon the motherlybaby heart! Odalie had some smiling tears to shed for Hamish's sake, inthe earnest hope that he might be as well off, and those whom she hadconsoled in affliction now in their prosperity sought to console her.The officers were hilarious. They could hardly credit their own goodfortune--permitted to surrender Fort Loudon, after its gallant defenseto the last extremity, to the savage Cherokees, upon just such terms aswould have been dictated by a liberal and civilized enemy! Demere, afterthe first burst of reproach that Stuart should have so recklesslyendangered himself, and of joy that his mission had been so successfullyaccomplished, was cheerfully absorbed in destroying such official papersas, falling into the hands of the French, might be detrimental to theBritish interest. Of them all, only Stuart was doubtful, angry,disconsolate. Perhaps because some fiber of sensitive pride, burieddeep, had been touched to the quick by Oconostota's ill-disguisedtriumph; or he realized that he had labored long here, and suffered muchuselessly, and but for the threatened desertion of the garrison feltthat the fort might still be held till relief could reach it; or he wasof the temperament that adorns success, or even stalwart effort, but isblighted by failure; or he was only staggered by the completeness ofhis prosperous negotiations with the Cherokees and doubtful of theirgood faith,--at all events he had lost his poise. He was gloomy,ruminative, and broke out now and again with futile manifestations ofhis disaffection.
Demere, burning letter-books and other papers on the hearth of the greatchimney-place of the hall, looked up from the table where he sorted themto remind Stuart, as he strode moodily to and fro, not to leave thingsof value to fall into the hands of the enemy. Stuart paused for a momentwith a gloomy face. Then, "They shall not have this," he said angrily.The little red silk riding-mask, that was wont to look down from thewall, null and inexpressive, with no suggestion in its vacant, sightlessorbs of the brightness of vanished eyes, with no faint trace of the fairface that it had once sheltered, save as memory mig
ht fill the blankcontour, began to blaze humbly as he thrust it among the burning paperson the hearth. An odd interpretation of things of value, certainly--aflimsy memento of some bright day, long ago, and far away, when, not allunwelcome, he had ridden at a lady's bridle-rein. Demere looked at himwith sudden interest, seemed about to speak, checked himself and saidnothing. And thus with this souvenir the romance of Stuart's lifeperished unstoried.
More characteristic thoughts possessed him later. He came to Demere'sbedside that night as he lay sleeping in quiet peace, even his somnolentnerves realizing the prospect of release. Stuart roused him with a newanxiety. There was a very considerable quantity of powder in the fort,far more than the Indians, unacquainted with the large charges requiredfor cannon, suspected that they possessed. By surrendering this greatsupply of powder, Stuart argued, as well as the guns, they onlypostponed not precluded their destruction. Brought down with the guns toFort Prince George in the hands of French cannoneers, this ample supplyof artillery would easily level those works with the ground. The Frenchofficers, who they had reason to suspect were lurking in the LowerTowns, would be unlikely to have otherwise so large a store ofammunition in reach, capable of maintaining a siege, and before thiscould be procured for the service of the surrendered cannon somereenforcements to the commandant of Fort Prince George would arrive, oran aggressive expedition be sent out from South Carolina.
"At all events this quantity of powder in the hands of the Cherokeesmakes it certain that a siege of Fort Prince George will follow close onthe fall of Fort Loudon," Stuart declared.
Demere raised himself on his elbow to gaze at Stuart by the light ofthe flickering candle which the visitor held in his hand.
"I am afraid that you are right," Demere said, after a grave pause. "Buthow can we help it?"
"Hide the powder,--hide it," said Stuart excitedly. "Bury it!"
"Contrary to the stipulations and our agreement," returned Demere.
Stuart evidently struggled with himself. "If these fiends," heexclaimed,--the triumph of Oconostota had gone very hard withhim,--"were like any other enemy we could afford to run the chance. Buthave we the right to submit the commandant of Fort Prince George and hisgarrison--to say nothing of ourselves and our garrison, hampered as weare with women and children, taking refuge with him,--to the risk ofsiege and massacre, fire and torture, compassed by materials practicallyfurnished by us,--on a delicate question of military ethics?"
"If we do not keep our word, how can we expect Oconostota to keep hisword?" asked Demere.
"But do we really expect it? Have we any guarantee?"
Once more Stuart hesitated, then suddenly decided. "But if you havescruples"--he broke off with a shrug of the shoulders. "I should leaveOconostota enough powder to amuse him with the guns for a while, butnot enough to undertake a siege. The government will surely occupy thisplace again. I expect to find the powder here when I come back to FortLoudon."
His words were prophetic, although neither knew it. He cast a hastyglance at Demere, who again objected, and Stuart went out of the doorsaying nothing further, the draught flickering, then extinguishing, theflame of the candle in his hand.
It was very dark about midnight when the whole place lay locked inslumber. The sentries, watchful as ever in the block-house towers and atthe chained and barred gates, noted now and again shadowy figures aboutthe region of the southeast bastion,--the old exhausted smoke-house hadbeen in that locality,--and thence suppressed voices soundedoccasionally in low-toned, earnest talk. No light showed save inglimpses for a while through the crevices in the walls of the buildingitself, and once or twice when the door opened and was suddenly shut.There Corporal O'Flynn and three soldiers and Captain Stuart himself,armed with mattocks, dug a deep trench in the tough red clay, carefullydrawing to one side the dead ashes and cinders left by the fires of hisearnest preparations against the siege. Then the lights wereextinguished, and from the great traverse, in which was the powdermagazine, they brought ten heavy bags of powder, and laid them in thetrench, covering them over with the utmost caution, lest a mattockstrike a spark from a stone here and there in the earth. At last, stillobserving great care, they tramped the clay hard and level as a floor,and spread again the ashes and cinders over the upturned ground, layingthe chunks of wood together, as they had burnt half out after the lastfire many weeks ago.
When Captain Stuart inveigled Captain Demere thither the next morning,on some pretext concerning the removal of the troops, he was relieved tosee that although Demere was most familiar with the place he had noteven the vaguest suspicion of what lay under his feet, for this was thebest test as to whether the work had been well done. It was only at themoment of departure, of rendering up the spare arms, and serving outammunition to the soldiers for the journey, that he was made aware howmysteriously the warlike stores had shrunken, but Oconostota's beadlikeeyes glistened with rapture upon attaining the key of the magazine withits hoard of explosives, unwitting that it had ever contained more.
The soldiers went out of the gates in column, in heavy marching order,their flags and uniforms making a very pretty show for the last time onthe broad open spaces about Fort Loudon. For the last time the craggybanks and heavily wooded hills of the Tennessee River echoed to thebeat of the British drums. Behind, like a train of gypsies, were thehorses purchased from the Indians, on which were mounted the women andlittle girls, with here and there a sick soldier, unable to keep hisplace in the ranks and guyed by his comrades with reviving jollity, inthe face of hope and freedom, as "a squaw-man." The more active of thechildren, boys chiefly, ran alongside, and next in order came thesettlers, now in column as "fencibles," and again one or two quittingthe ranks to cuff into his proper place some irrepressible youngsterdisposed to wander. In the rear were the Indian safe-guards through theCherokee nation, with their firelocks and feathers and scanty attirethat suggested comfort this hot day. For the August sun shone from a skyof cloudless blue; a wind warm but fresh met them going the other way;the dew was soon dried and the temperature rose; the mountains glimmeredethereally azure toward the east with a silver haze amongst the domesand peaks, and toward the west they showed deeply and densely purple, asthe summit lines stretched endlessly in long parallel levels.
And so these pioneers and the soldiers set forth on their way out of theland that is now Tennessee, to return no more; wending down among thesun-flooded cane-brakes, and anon following the trail through thedense, dark, grateful shades of the primeval woods. So they went toreturn no more,--not even in the flickering guise of spectral visitantsto the scenes that knew them once,--scarcely as a vague and vagrantmemory in the country where they first planted the home that cost themso dearly and that gave them but little.
Nevertheless, a hearty farewell it bestowed this morning,--for they sangpresently as they went, so light and blithe of heart they were, and thecrags and the hills, and the rocky banks of that lovely river, all criedout to them in varying tones of sweet echoes, and ever and again theboom of the drums beat the time.