Part 6 (1/2)
He directly returned to the encampment, and desired the orderly at the marquee to infor information of i been heard, the colonel bestowed on him the vacant post of lieutenant of the corps, and directed hiht o'clock in the evening, to the spot he had occupied the night before, where he was to place his hat and coat upon the stuly, the party proceeded, and obeyed the colonel's orders The h the thick branches of the forest
While the new lieutenant aiting the result of his manoeuver, an arrohizzed from the same quarter as before The mock soldier fell on his face A dozen subdued voices sounded from within the thicket, which were soon followed by the sudden appearance of the Indians theave the order to fire, and the whole band were stretched dead upon the plain After stripping thes, the Americans returned to the camp
Twelve chiefs fell at the destructive fire of the white reat cause of the French and Indian ith the English The fortunate rifleinated and conducted the ambuscade, returned from the war, at its terain heard of, until the parent-country raised her arainst the infant colonies Then was seen, at the head of a band of Virginia riflean
[Illustration: LOSS OF THE BLENDENHALL]
shi+PWRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL
In the year 1821, the Blendenhall, free trader, bound froland for Bo on her voyage with every prospect of a successful issue While thus pursuing her way through the Atlantic, she was unfortunately driven from her course, by adverse winds and currents, more to the southward and ard than was required, and it became desirable to reach the island of Tristan d'Acunha, in order to ascertain and rectify the reckoning
It hile steering to reach this group of islands, that, one er, on board the Blendenhall, who chanced to be up on deck earlier than usual, observed great quantities of seaweed occasionally floating alongside This excited soood look-out The weather was then extreh moderate; the weeds continued; all were on the alert; they shortened sail, and the boatswain piped for breakfast In less than ten minutes, ”breakers ahead!” startled every soul, and in a moment all were on deck ”Breakers starboard! breakers larboard! breakers all around!” was the ominous cry a moment afterward, and all was confusion
The words were scarcely uttered, when, and before the helm was up, the ill-fated shi+p struck, and, after a few treainst the sunken reef, she parted about midshi+p Ropes and stays were cut away--all rushed forward, as if instinctively, and had barely reached the forecastle, when the stern and quarter-deck broke asunder with a violent crash, and sunk to rise no more Two of the sea officers, passengers, and crew, held on about the head and bows--the struggle was for life!
At this moment the Inaccessible Island, which till then had been vailed in thick clouds andabove the haze The wreck was htful shore The base of the island was still buried in iloo away the anchor, which had been got up to the cathead in ti down the fore totally disappeared, and the black, rocky island stood in all its rugged deformity before their eyes Suddenly the sun broke out in full splendor, as if to expose more clearly to the view of the sufferers their dreadful predicament
Despair was in every bosom--death, arrayed in all its terrors, seemed to hover over the wreck But exertion was required, and every thing that huy could devise was effected The wreck, on which all eagerly clung, was fortunately drifted by the tide and wind between ledges of sunken rocks and thundering breakers, until, after the lapse of several hours, it entered the only spot on the island where a landing was possibly practicable,--for all the other parts of the coast consisted of perpendicular cliffs of granite, rising froht of twenty, forty, and sixty feet As the shore was neared, a raft was prepared, and on this a few paddled for the cove At last the wreck drove right in: ropes were instantly thrown out, and the crew and passengers, (except tho had been crushed in the wreck,) including three ladies and a ferave, which a few short hours before had appeared inevitable, and safely landed on the beach Evening had now set in, and every effort was made to secure whatever could be saved from the wreck Bales of cloth, cases of wine, a few boxes of cheese, some hams, the carcass of a milch cow that had been washed on shore, buckets, tubs, butts, a sea a tinder-box, and needles and thread,) with a nuany turned bed-posts, and part of an investot on shore The rain poured down in torrents--all hands were busily at work to procure shelter from the weather; and with the bed-posts and broadcloths, and part of the foresail, as many tents were soon pitched as there were individuals on the island
Drenched with the sea and with the rain, hungry, cold, and comfortless, thousands of miles from their native land, almost beyond expectation of human succor, hope nearly annihilated,--the shi+pwrecked voyagers retired to their tents In the one to pieces; and planks, and spars, and whatever had floated in, were eagerly dragged on shore
No sooner was the unfortunate shi+p broken up, than, deean to secure whatever caers, and creere now reduced to the saed to take their turn to fetch water, and explore the island for food The work of exploring was soon over--there was not a bird, nor a quadruped, nor a single tree to be seen All was barren and desolate The low parts were scattered over with stones and sand, and a few stunted weeds, rocks, ferns, and other plants The top of the inal table-land, very hs, intersected with small rills of water, pure and pellucid as crystal, and a profusion of wild parsley and celery The prospect was one dreary scene of destitution, without a single ray of hope to relieve thecrew After some days, the dead cow, hams, and cheese were consumed; and, from one end of the island to the other, not a an to fail A few bottles of wine, which for security had been secreted under ground, only rean to threaten Every stone near the sea was examined for shellfish, but in vain
In this dreadful extreht squatting in sullen dejection around their fires, a large lot of sea-birds, allured by the flareedily laid hold of as fast as they could be seized For several nights in succession, si their fires, a considerable supply was secured These visits, however, ceased at length, and the wretched party were exposed again to the most severe privation When their stock of wild fowl had been exhausted for an to fear they were now approaching that sad point of necessity, when, between death and casting lots who should be sacrificed to serve for food for the rest, no alternative remained
While horror at the bare contehts of all, the horizon was observed to be suddenly obscured, and presently clouds of penguins alighted on the island The low grounds were actually covered; and before the evening was dark, the sand could not be seen for the nus, which, like a sheet of snow, lay on the surface of the earth The penguins continued on the island four or five days, when, as if by signal, the whole took their flight, and were never seen again A feere killed, but the flesh was so extres were collected and dressed in all manner of ways, and supplied abundance of food for upward of three weeks At the expiration of that period, faan to dawn upon the unfortunate cos were exhausted; they had now been without food forand dejected; when, as though this desolate rock were really a land ofup to the encas that ”millions of sea-cows had coe of rocks that flanked their tents, and the sight of a shoal of laddened their hearts These came in with the flood, and were left in the puddles between the broken rocks of the cove This supply continued for two or three weeks The flesh was mere blubber, and quite unfit for food, for not a man could retain it on his stomach; but the liver was excellent, and on this they subsisted In thehad constructed a boat, and four of the men had adventured in her for Tristan d'Acunha, in hopes of ulti their fellow-sufferers from their perilous situation Unfortunately the boat was lost---whether carried away by the violence of the currents that set in between the islands, or dashed to pieces against the breakers, was never known, for no vestige of the boat or creas ever seen Before the an to quit the shore, a second boat was launched; and in this an officer and some sea a landing, after much labor, on the island
It was to this island that the boat's crew of the Blendenhall had beat their course, and its principal inhabitant, Governor Glass, showed the the situation of the crew, on Inaccessible Island, he instantly launched his boat, and, unawed by considerations of personal danger, hastened, at the risk of his life, to deliver his shi+pwrecked country endured He made repeated trips, surmounted all difficulties, and fortunately succeeded in safely landing them on his own island, after they had been exposed for nearly three months to the horrors of a situation alhospitably treated by Glass and his coe to the Cape, all except a young sailor named White, who had forirls on board, and who, in all the miseries which had been endured, had been her constant protector and coratitude on her part prevented her wishi+ng to leave him Both chose to remain, and were forthwith adopted as free citizens of the little community
ADVENTURES OF SERGEANT CHAMPE
IN HIS ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE ARNOLD
The treason of General Arnold, the capture of Andre, and the intelligence received by Washi+ngton through his confidential agents in New York, that eneral, whose naiven, were connected with Arnold, could not fail to arouse the anxiety and vigilance of the commander-in-chief The moment he reached the army, then under the orders of Major-General Greene, encamped in the vicinity of Tappan, he sent for Major Lee, as posted with the light troops some distance in front
Lee repaired to headquarters, and found Washi+ngton in hisLee was requested to take a seat; and a bundle of papers, lying on the table, was given to him for perusal The purport of these tended to show that Arnold was not alone in his base conspiracy, but that a eneral, whose name was not concealed, was also implicated This officer had enjoyed, without interruption, the confidence of the cole reason in support of the accusation It altogether rested on the intelligence derived from the papers before him
Major Lee was naturally shocked at these suspicions, and suggested that they were an invention of the eneestion, but remarked that he had the same confidence in Arnold, a few days before, that he now placed in the persons accused
After soton disclosed a project, which he had maturely revolved in his own mind ”I have sent for you,” he remarked to Lee, ”to learn if you have in your corps any individual capable of undertaking a delicate and hazardous enterprise Whoever coations personally; and, in behalf of the United States, I will reward him amply No tiht
My object is to probe to the bottoested by the papers you have just read--to seize Arnold, and, by getting hi for the seizure of Arnold, the agency of others can be traced; and the timely delivery of Arnold to me, will possibly put it in my power to restore the amiable and unfortunate Andre to his friends My instructions are ready, in which you will find express orders, that Arnold is not to be hurt; but that he be per him, as his public punishment is the only object in view This you can not too forcibly press upon the person who e in the enterprise; and this fail not to do With my instructions, are two letters, to be delivered as ordered, and here are souineas to defray expenses”