Part 95 (1/2)

As he spoke, still far away along the river we heard several shots fired in rapid succession.

With that, the old man fetched a yell: ”Durn-ding it!” he screeched, ”if Sir John's in the Valley it ain't no place for my old woman and me!” And he lashed his horses with the reins, and drove at a crazy gallop toward the distant firing.

At the same moment I spurred Kaya, who bounded forward over the rise of land; and instantly I saw smoke in the sky beyond the Johnstown Road, and caught a glimpse of other fires in another direction, very near to where should stand the dwellings of Jim Davis and Sampson Sammons.

And now, seated by the roadside just ahead, I saw a young man whom I knew by sight, named Abe Veeder; and I pulled in my horse and called to him.

He would not move or notice me, and seemed distracted; so I spurred up to him and caught him by the s.h.i.+rt collar. At that he jumps up in a fright, and:

”Oh, Jesus!” he bawls, ”Sir John's red devils are murdering everybody from Johnstown to the River!”

”Where are they?” I cried. ”Answer me and compose yourself!”

”Where are they?” he shrieked. ”Why, they're everywhere! Lodowick Putman's house is afire and they've murdered him and Aaron. Amasa Stevens' house is burning, and he hangs naked and scalped on his garden fence!

”They killed Billy Gault and that other man from the old country, and they murdered Captain Hansen in his bed, and his house is all afire!

Everything in the Valley is afire!” he screamed, wringing his scorched hands, ”Tribes Hill is burning, Fisher's is on fire, and the Colonel and John and Harmon all murdered--all scalped and lying dead in the barn!----”

”Listen to me!” I cried, shaking the wretched fellow, ”when did this happen? Are Sir John's people still here? Where are they?”

”It happened last night and lasted after sunrise this morning,” he blubbered. ”Everything is burning from Schoharie to the Nose, and they'll come back and kill the rest of us----”

I flung him aside, struck spurs, and galloped for Cayadutta Lodge.

Everywhere I looked I saw smoke; barns were but heaps of live coals, houses marked only by charred cellars out of which flames leaped.

Yet, I saw the church still standing, and Dr. Romeyn's parsonage still intact, though all doors and windows stood wide open and bedding and broken furniture lay scattered over the gra.s.s.

But Adam Fonda's house was burning and the dwelling of Major Jelles was on fire; and now I caught sight of Douw Fonda's great stone house, with its two wings and tall chimneys of hewn stone.

It was not burning, but shutters hung from their hinges, window gla.s.s was shattered, doors smashed in, and all over the trampled garden and lawn lay a debris of broken furniture, tattered books, bedding, fragments of fine china and torn garments.

And there, face downward on the b.l.o.o.d.y gra.s.s, lay old Douw Fonda, his aged skull split to the backbone, his scalp gone.

Such a sick horror seized me that I reeled in my saddle and the world grew dark before my eyes for a moment.

But my mind cleared again and my eyes, also; and I sat my horse, pistol in hand, searching the desolation about me for a sign of aught that remained alive in this awful spot.

I heard no more gun-shots up the river. The silence was terrible.

At length, ill with fear, I got out of my saddle and led Kaya to the shattered gate and there tied her.

Then I entered that ruined mansion to search it for what I feared most horribly to discover,--searched every room, every closet, every corner from attic to cellar. And then came out and took my horse by the bridle.

For there was n.o.body within the house, living or dead--no sign of death anywhere save there on the gra.s.s, where that poor corpse lay, a grotesque thing sprawling indecently in its blood.

Then, as I stood there, a man appeared, slinking up the road. He was in his s.h.i.+rt sleeves, wore no hat, and his face and hair were streaked red from a wet wound over his left ear. He carried a fire-lock; and when he discovered me in my Continental uniform he swerved and shuffled toward me, making a hopeless gesture as he came on.

”They've all gone off,” he called out to me, ”green-coats, red-coats and savages. I saw them an hour since crossing the river some three miles above. G.o.d! What a harm have they done us here on this accursed day!”

He crept nearer and stood close beside me and looked down at the body of Douw Fonda. But in my overwhelming grief I no longer noticed him.