Part 5 (1/2)
”Shut--Pan!”
Once e with--Cartridge!”
The watchful eyes of the Indians narrowed
”Draw--Ra to a ,--
”Rae!”
”Return--Rammer!”
And as hard upon the clatter of the rarooves, came the orders--
”Shoulder--Firelock!”
”Advance--Ar breath as of the relief fro to discern the utility of these strange h always alert to perceive and adopt any advantage in arms or military method, despite their characteristic tenacity to their ancient customs in other matters, could not descry They had, even at this early day, almost discarded the bow and arrow for the firelock, wherever or however it could be procured, but the elaborate details of the drill baffled thearded it as in some sort a mystery Their own discipline had always sufficed, and their le file or widely extended lines, their skulking approach, stalking under cover from tree to tree, were better suited, as even soht, for military movements, than tactical precision, to the broken character of the country and the dense forest of the trackless wilderness
They noticed with kindling eyes a brisk reprimand administered to Corporal O'Flynn, when Lieutenant Gilmore called attention to the fact that one of the men had used threewith cartridge, and two e Corporal O'Flynn's mortification was painted in a lively red on his fresh Irish cheek, for this soldier was of a squad whose tuition in the manual exercise had been superintended by no less a tactician than himself
”Faith, sir,” he said to his superior officer, ”I don't knohat ails that ence Like thim windmills, ye'll remember, sir, we seen so much on the Continent He minds me o' thim in the way he whur-r-ls his ar-rn countries--laughed a trifle, his wrath diverted by the farcical suggestion, and the instant the coiven, Corporal O'Flynn, with the delinquent under close guard, convoyed him to the scene of the exploits of the aard squad, where he estures of the windrace me afore the officers,” said Corporal O'Flynn, ”and I fairly responsible for ye! I larned ye all ye know--and for ye to show the leftenant how little 'tis! Ye've got to quit that way of loading with ca'tridge with asfor his snuff-box! I'm fairly responsible for yez I'm yer sponsor in this business I feel like yer Godfathers, an' yer Godmothers, an' yer maiden aunt I never seen a man so supple! Ye have as much use of yer hands as if ye was a centipede!”
The ravity of the aard squad, but no one dared to laugh, and Corporal O'Flynn hihtiest importance involved, as he stood by and watched for a time the drill of the men
The Indians turned their attentive eyes to Captain Stuart and Captain Demere, ere both upon the terre-pleine at the shoulder-point of a bastion where one of the twelve cannon, ri so in reference to serving the piece; now and again it was pointed anew; he handled the heavy sponge-staff as if in illustration; then stepped swiftly back, and lifted thein the shade watched thefull on the red coat and cocked hat, and long, heavy queue of fair hair hanging on his shoulders, and as he stood erect, with the sponge-staff held horizontally in both hands, they turned and looked with a coround The sentry in a sort of cabin above the gate--a gate-house, so to speak--uard within as well as without, for an outer sentinel was posted on the crest of the counterscarp beyond the bridge; he kept his eye on the Cherokees, but he did not note their look He was not skilled in deciphering facial expression, nor did he conceive hi without for a lance of kindly concern on Ha about, not daring to go back and encounter the reproaches of Odalie, who doubtless thought hient to admit of the ti against his eagerness to go on this very errand, relying on the superior wisdoainst it All that he observed tended to confiruarded! Even to his callow experience it was arrison, whose lives were intrusted to the wisdo the possibilities He remembered anew poor Sandy, far from these stanch walls, the very citadel of security, within which he felt so recreant; and as he thought again of the perils to which his brother was exposed, and a possibly i hideous fate, he felt a constriction about his throat like the clutch of a hand The tears rose to his eyes--and through the into the fort! In the extreave a sudden shrill yell that rang through the woods like a hoop Even the Indians, still loitering in the di shadow of the block-house, started at the sound and gazed at hi his arms around his brother Sandy, who had had his own terrors to endure concerning the fate of his faether appreciative of their terrors for his sake He felt a care of hi! He extricated himself with unflattered surprise fro of a young bear and h, Haht That's enough”
He advanced hat grace he could command after such an exhibition to shake hands with the two officers near the sally-port and thank them for the shelter the fort had afforded his faood-natured soldier, one of the boat's crew of the previous evening, had instantly run to her cabin with the news of the arrival--restored to her nor of an eye, by the shattering of her dislad reality of MacLeod's safety So composed was her manner, so calmly happy, that Captain Stuart could not forbear to unmask the sham, and let the poor man kno he had been bewept yesterday at even
”We were very glad to take in the wanderers, although I cannot say it was a cheerful scene I never realized until Mrs MacLeod reached the gate here theof the phrase 'dissolved in tears'”
Alexander looked anxiously at his wife--had she found the journey, then, so vexatious?
”I was tired and dusty,” she said demurely, as if in explanation ”My shoes--one of them was in tatters; and, Sandy, I was _so_ ashamed”
Captain Stuart stared at her for athe shoe on the other foot, at all events,” he said
He and Captain Demere, accompanied by the newcomer, turned into the block-house, in order to question Sandy as to any infor French emissaries, the disposition of the Cherokees, the devastation of the Virginia settlements, and any further news of General Forbes and the fall of Fort Duquesne now called Fort Pitt However, Sandy had naught to report, save the angry threat with the toave way upon the assurance that the party was French In the solitary journey with those who had resigned their boat to Willinawaugh, he had experienced no worse treatment than the destruction of his pocket cohted, but some ten miles from the fort they had been joined by an Indian who declared he had seen such things in Carolina, doubtless a it with his to about ill-feeling, but the party shortlyhi a Frenchuid day of the lingering St Martin's suh in the early morn the frost had lain in rireat trees where now the yellow sunshi+ne dripped in liquid light! A tender haze like that of spring suffused the depths of the forest, the glea reaches of the river, the level sureat massive purplehalf revealed, always elusively, the fine azure snow-capped doh the floere dead, the leaves had fled, the woods were bare and rifled,--when the necromancy of the powers of the air filled all the winter day with sweet, subtle odors that excelled the fragrance of suht outvie the value of the reality, seeain from the river, and anon from some quality of the beneficent sunshi+ne, or to exist in ethereal suspension in the charraceful analogy; a bird would wing his way aloft, his shadow careering through the sun-painted woods below; a canoe with its swift duplication in the water would fly with its paddles like unfeathered wings down the currents of the river; those exquisite traceries of the wintry woods, the shadows of the leafless trees, would lie on a sandy stretch like so, as if to illustrate the perfection of the lovely dendroidal design and proportion of the growth it iain the voice of herds of buffalo rose thunderously, muffled by distance; a deer splashed into the river a little above the fort, and gallantly breasting the current, swa on the bank watched his progress and commented on his prowess
No shot followed hiiven to waste no powder and ball