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only have got them two barrels as far as Fort Dearborn before the
troops moved!"
"The BARRELS might have been got there, certainly," answered le
Bourdon, so much provoked at the man's regrets for the destroyer
which had already come so near to bringing want and ruin on himself
and family, as momentarily to forget his recent scene with pretty
Margery; "but whether anything would have been IN them is another
question. One of those I rolled to the brow of the hill was half
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empty as it was."
"Gershom is so troubled with the ague, if he don't take stimulant in
this new country," put in the wife, in the apologetic manner in
which woman struggles to conceal the failings of him she loves. "As
for the whiskey, I don't grudge THAT in the least; for it's a poor
way of getting rich to be selling it to soldiers, who want all the
reason liquor has left 'em, and more too. Still, Gershom needs
bitters; and ought not to have every drop he has taken thrown into
his face."
By this time le Bourdon was again sensible of his mistake, and he
beat a retreat in the best manner he could, secretly resolving not
to place himself any more between two fires, in consequence of
further blunders on this delicate subject. He now found that it was
a very different thing to joke Whiskey Centre himself on the subject
of his great failing, from making even the most distant allusion to
it in the presence of those who felt for a husband's and a brother's
weakness, with a liveliness of feeling that brutal indulgence had
long since destroyed in the object of their solicitude. He
accordingly pointed out the risk there was that the Indians should
make the obvious inference, that human beings must have recently
been in the hut, to leave the fresh scent of the liquor in question
behind them. This truth was so apparent that all felt its force,
though to no one else did the danger seem so great as to the bee-
hunter. He had greater familiarity with the Indian character than
any of his companions, and dreaded the sagacity of the savages in a
just proportion to his greater knowledge. He did not fail,
therefore, to admonish his new friends of the necessity for
vigilance.
"I will return to the tree and take another look at the movements of
the savages," le Bourdon concluded by saying. "By this time their
fire must be lighted; and by the aid of my glass a better insight
may be had into their plans and feelings."
The bee-hunter now went back to his tree, whither he was slowly
followed by Margery; the girl yielding to a feverish desire to
accompany him, at the very time she was half restrained by maiden
bashfulness; though anxiety and the wish to learn the worst as
speedily as possible, prevailed.
"They have kindled a blazing fire, and the whole of the inside of
the house is as bright as if illuminated," said le Bourdon, who was
now carefully bestowed among the branches of his small tree. "There
are lots of the red devils moving about the chiente, inside and out;
and they seem to have fish as well as venison to cook. Aye, there
goes more dry brush on the fire to brighten up the picture, and
daylight is almost eclipsed. As I live, they have a prisoner among
'em!"
"A prisoner!" exclaimed Margery, in the gentle tones of female pity.
"Not a white person, surely?"
"No--he is a red-skin like all of them--but--wait a minute till I
can get the glass a little more steady. Yes--it is so--I was right
at first!"
"What is so, Bourdon--and in what are you right?"
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"You may remember, Blossom, that your brother and I spoke of the two
Injins who visited me in the Openings. One was a Pottawattamie and
the other a Chippewa. The first we found dead and scalped, after he
had left us; and the last is now in yonder hut, bound and a
prisoner. He has taken to the lake on his way to Fort Dearborn, and
has, with all his craft and resolution, fallen into enemies' hands.
Well will it be for him if his captors do not learn what befell the
warrior who was slain near my cabin, and left seated against a
tree!"
"Do you think these savages mean to revenge the death of their
brother on this unfortunate wretch?"
"I know that he is in the pay of our general at Detroit, while the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]