Part 38 (1/2)

Then we began the pursuit, and this, like the panic in the camp, was the oddest ever known. British regulars and Tories running helter-skelter, casting aside their weapons and accoutrements lest they be impeded in the unreasoning flight, and close at their heels the savages, who fell upon every unarmed man they saw, sometimes killing him outright, but, in many cases which came under my personal observation, disabling and then scalping the poor wretch, leaving him to a lingering death.

More than once did the frightened soldiers flee toward us for protection, and again and again we lent them weapons with which to defend themselves against their late friends.

It is almost impossible to give any details of that pursuit, which was not brought to an end until we were close upon the sh.o.r.e of Oneida Lake, because it was all so confusing--more like the wildest kind of a foot-race, wherein each man was trying to gain the lead, and the hindermost frantic with fear.

It would have been strange indeed had our people been able to hold anything like a military formation. Captain Jackman yelled himself hoa.r.s.e trying to keep us together, and, when it seemed as if he was on the point of succeeding, some one would set off at a mad pace to save the life of a British soldier who had fallen at the mercy of a savage.

At first we turned our attention to taking prisoners; but before having left the main encampment a mile in the rear the Indians, eager for scalps, began to grow careless of what we might do, and then we paid off many an old score, although all could not have been settled had we slaughtered every last one of them.

During that time of pursuit we saw nothing of the leaders, and I had come to believe that they were among the first to flee, when suddenly the sergeant, in whose company Jacob and I had remained, pointed out amid the bushes what appeared to be a large portmanteau which had evidently been cast aside by some of the fugitives.

In the excitement of the chase either Jacob or I would have pa.s.sed it by as being of no particular value when there were so many things to be picked up; but the old man was too good and experienced a soldier not to realize the possibilities of the find, and, heedless of all the wild scenes around him, he seized upon it, breaking the lock with a rock.

Then it was we learned that the apparently valueless case was none other than the writing-desk, or official portfolio, belonging to General St.

Leger himself, and in it were not only private letters and doc.u.ments, but all his correspondence and papers relating to the campaign, such as afterward served to show that the king's officers had actually hired the Indians to murder those whom they called ”rebels.”

”I reckon we've captured the prize of the day,” the sergeant said, gleefully, after making certain as to the contents of the case. ”This is of more value than a score of prisoners, although there's far less satisfaction in seizin' it.”

A moment later the old man began to understand that if he held on to the prize he would be left far behind in the chase by our people, because it was far too c.u.mbersome to be carried at a rapid pace, and then he regretted having found it.

I believe that for a moment he had it in his mind to throw the heavy portfolio away, willing to lose what he believed to be the most valuable of all the plunder that might be found, rather than miss the excitement of the chase; but, fortunately, just then John Sammons came limping back with a wound in the leg which had been inflicted by a savage whom he afterward succeeded in killing.

”It's the toughest kind of ill-fortune to be crippled just when the fun is the hottest,” he said, after explaining how the wound had been received.

”I can't go on, an' I don't want to miss the show when the crazy Britishers an' Tories arrive at the sh.o.r.e of the lake.”

”It looks pretty bad,” Sergeant Corney said, when he had made the most careless examination of the wound, and I was surprised to hear him speak in such a tone, for it was not his custom to make much ado over any injury, however severe. ”I reckon you'd better hobble back to the fort without delay, an', once there, look well to it that you wash an' bandage the leg well.”

”I s'pose I'll have to go,” Sammons replied, with a sigh, and the sergeant made haste to add:

”Of course you will, lad, an' I've got here that which will ensure you a warm reception by Colonel Gansevoort. Take this case to him, an' you'll be glad you had to go back.”

Then it was that I understood why the old man was so solicitous regarding John's injury.

Sammons took up the bulky portfolio and limped back in the direction of the fort, the sergeant saying with a peculiar twinkle of the eyes as the lad pa.s.sed beyond earshot:

”Now I reckon there's nothin' to prevent us from goin' on so long as do the others. Strike out lively, lads; we've wasted too much time already!”

Then we tailed on behind the crowd of our people who howled and yelled as if at a fair, shooting at every bunch of feathers we saw amid the foliage, but making no effort to capture the fugitives lest we find ourselves so hampered that further advance would be out of the question.

There were many of our people who thought much as we did on that day, otherwise Fort Schuyler might have been crowded with prisoners before morning.

When we had finally come within sight of the lake, it was to find the foremost of our party drawn up in something approaching military order.

Captain Jackman had succeeded in bringing them to a halt while yet half a mile from the sh.o.r.e, and this was done because the British and Tories had made a stand while their boats, which had been left at that point when they marched to the investment of Fort Schuyler, could be put in sailing trim.

We of the American army were far too few in numbers to risk an action by pressing on, for, no matter how demoralized the enemy had become during the flight, it was more than probable they would fight with desperation now safety was within view.

More than one of our party cried out in anger because the captain displayed too much caution according to their ideas; but the cooler-headed, among whom was Sergeant Corney, declared that it would be the height of folly for us to throw ourselves upon at least a thousand men when no great good could come from such a venture, and much of disaster to the Cause might result.