Part 42 (2/2)

What was dreaded more than anything else was the want of provisions, which was sure to cause suffering.

Habakkuk McEwen was the only one in the company who had a particle of food, and when that came to be distributed among eight or ten women that had been gathered about them, it was scarcely more than an aggravation of hunger.

Our own friends, it will be remembered, had eaten a substantial meal of young pig the previous evening, and were in much better form than many who had fled from Wyoming, and had partaken of no food during the previous twenty-four hours.

The sufferings of the fugitives from Wyoming in pa.s.sing through the ”Shades of Death” were dreadful, as is always the case where such large bodies flee in a panic.

Many children were born, and perished in the wilderness. Strong men lay down and died, and the bones of the victims marked every mile of the way.

But there were many who survived, and one bright summer morning all our friends reached the hamlet of Stroudsburg, so far removed from the scene of ma.s.sacre that every cause for alarm had pa.s.sed.

There were fugitives before them, and the hospitality of the villagers was taxed to the utmost, but they gladly met every demand.

The weather was so mild that much suffering had been saved the settlers, whose trouble rose mainly from the lack of food.

In Stroudsburg were old friends and relatives of the Brainerds, who did everything in their power for them. It was arranged that Maggie, Eva, and Aunt Peggy should stay with them indefinitely until there could be no risk in going back.

The anxiety of the brother and sisters was that the body of their father should be laid away in proper form, and Fred G.o.dfrey and Gravity Gimp went back to Wyoming for that purpose.

When the sad duty was finished they once more made their way to Stroudsburg, where the young patriot bade his friends a tender adieu, after which he started to join the Continental army under Was.h.i.+ngton.

Habakkuk McEwen went with him, and, despite a manifestation of his natural timidity now and then, made a good record. Both he and Fred, who had become a captain, were present at the surrender of Yorktown, which ended the struggle of the colonies, and established the independence of the United States of America.

When they returned to Wyoming the settlements had recovered, to a great extent, from the visitation of the Tories and Indians three years before.

The Brainerd homestead, which was partly burned, was restored to a substantial condition, and Gravity Gimp was as big and strong and devoted as ever.

The rich soil needed but to be ”tickled with a plow” to ”laugh a harvest,” and it yielded bountifully. There had been several incursions by Indians, during one of which the little girl, Frances Sloc.u.m, was taken off by a party of Delawares. Her wonderful history is part of that of Wyoming.

But the Brainerd family suffered nothing further. Eva had grown into a blooming girl when Captain Fred G.o.dfrey came back and joined them at the old homestead. All in due time, he took for his bride one of the blue-eyed la.s.sies of Wyoming, and Maggie and Eva were equally fortunate in securing the best of partners for life.

Peace folded her gentle wings over the scene of the stirring events that took place more than a century ago, and the thunders of war have never awakened the echoes along that part of the Susquehanna since.

May it ever be thus throughout our fair land, to the end of time.

THE END.

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