XXXI
IN WHICH WE MAKE A FORCED MARCH
It could have been but little short of midnight when we came down intothe Great Trace near the ambush ground where we had set our trap for thepeace men.
The night had cleared most beautifully, and overhead the stars wereburning like points of white fire in the black dome of the heavens. Asoften happens after a shower, the night shrillings of the forest were infullest tide; and a whip-will's-widow, disturbed by our approach,fluttered to a higher perch and set up his plaintive protest.
At our turning eastward on the trace, the old hunter massed our littlecompany as compactly as the path allowed, and giving us the word tofollow cautiously, tossed his bridle rein to the Catawba and went onahead to feel out the way.
This rearrangement set me to ride abreast with Margery; and for thefirst time since that fateful night in the upper room at Appleby Hundredwe were together and measurably alone.
Since death might be lying in wait for us at any turn in the windingbridle-path, I had no mind to break the strained silence. But,womanlike, she would not miss the chance to thrust at me.
"Are you not afire with shame, Captain Ireton?" she said, bitterly; andthen: "How you must despise me!"
I knew not what she meant; but being most anxious for her safety, Ibegged her not to talk, putting it all upon the risk we ran in passingthe outlet of the sunken valley. Now, as you have long since learned, mytongue was but a skilless servant; and though I sought to make thecommand the gentlest plea, she took instant umbrage and struck backsmartly.
"You need not make the danger an excuse. I will be still; and when Ispeak to you again, you will be willing enough to hear me, I promiseyou!"
"Nay, then, dear lady; you must not take it so!" I protested. "'Tis mymisfortune to be ever blundering."
But to this she gave me no answer at all; and barring a word or two ofheartening for her serving woman, she never opened her lips againthroughout the passage perilous.
By good hap we came to the crossing of the cavern stream without meetingany foeman; and on the farther side of the shallow ford we found the oldborderer awaiting us.
"Ez I allow, we've smelt the bait in the trap and come off with wholebones, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego," he said, mixing metaphor,Scripture phrase and frontier idiom as was his wont. Then he put a legover his horse and gave the stirrup-word: "From now on, old Jehu, theson o' Nimshi, is the hoss-whipper we've got to beat. Get ye behind,Cap'n John, and give the hoss that lags a half inch 'r so of yoursword-p'int."
Then and there began a night flight long to be remembered. Down thevalley of the swift river to the ford where Yeates and I had crossedafter the mock rescue of Margery the night before, we let the horsespick the way as they could. But once beyond the ford, where the tracewas wider and the footing less precarious, we plied whip and spur,pushing the saddle-beasts for every stride we could get out of them inthe blind race.
I have marveled often that we came not once to grief in all this longnight-gallop through the darkness. There was every chance for it. Theover-arching trees of the great forest shut out all the starlight, andthe trace was no more than a bridle-path, rougher than any cart road.Yet we held the breakneck pace steadily, save for the time it took tothread some steep defile to a stream crossing, or to scramble up itsfellow on the opposite side; and when the dawn began to gray in the skyahead, we were well out of the broken mountain region and into theopener forest of the hill country.
The sun was yet below the eastern horizon when we came to the fording ofa larger stream than any we had crossed in the night. Its course wastoward the sunrise, hence I took it for some tributary of the Catawbaor the Broad.
"'Tis the Broad itself," said Ephraim Yeates, in answer to my asking;"and yit it ain't; leastwise, it ain't the one you know. 'Tis the onethe Parley-voos claimed in the old war, and they call it the FrinchBroad."
"But that flows north and westward, if I remember aright," said I.
"So it do, so it do--in gineral. But hereabouts 'twill run all ways forSunday, by spells."
"If this be the French Broad we are not yet out of the Tuckasegecountry, as I take it."
"Mighty nigh to it; nigh enough to make camp for a resting spell. Ireckon ye're a-needing that same pretty toler'ble bad, ain't ye, littlegal?" this last to Margery.
Weary as she was she smiled upon him brightly, as though he had been hergrandsire and so free to name her how he pleased.
"I shall sleep well when we are out of danger. But you must not stop forme, or for Jeanne, till 'tis safe to do so."
"Safe? Lord love ye, child! 'safe' is a word beyond us yit, and will betill we sot ye down on your daddy's door-stone. But we'll make out togive ye a bite and sup and forty winks o' sleep immejitly, _if_ notsooner, now."
So, on the farther side of the stream the hunter led the way aside, andwhen we were come to a small meadow glade with good grazing for thehorses, he called a halt, lifted the women from their saddles and cameto help me ease Dick down. The poor lad was stiff and sore, having nomore use of his joints than if he were a bandaged mummy; but the feverdelirium had passed and he was able to laugh feebly at the tree-limbcontrivance rigged to hold him in the saddle.
"How did we come out of it, Jack?" he asked, when we had let him feelthe comfort of lying flat upon his back on the soft sward.
"As you see. We are all here, and all in fair fettle, saving yourself.You're the heaviest loser."
He smiled, and his eyes languid with the fever sought out Margery, whowould not come anigh whilst I was with him.
"That remains to be seen, Jack. If my dream comes true, I shall be therichest gainer."
"What did you dream?"
He beckoned me to bend lower over him. "I dreamed I was sore hurt, andthat she was binding up my bruises and crying over me."
"'Twas no dream," I said; and with that I went to help Yeates make abough shelter for the women while Uncanoola was grinding the maize forthe breakfast cakes.
'Tis not my purpose to weary you with a day-by-day accounting for allthat befell us on the way back to Mecklenburg. Suffice it to say that weate and slept and rose to mount and ride again; this for five days andnights, during which Jennifer's fever grew upon him steadily.
At the close of the fifth day our night halt was in a deserted logcabin at the edge of an unfinished clearing in the heart of the forest.Here Richard's sickness anchored us, and for three full weeks thejourney paused.
We nursed the lad as best we could for a fortnight, dosing him withstewings of such roots and herbs as the Catawba could find in the wood.Then, when we were at our wits' ends, and Yeates and I were castingabout how we could compass the bringing of a doctor from thesettlements, the fever took a turn for the better,--of its own accord,or for Uncanoola's physickings, we knew not which,--and at the end ofthe third week Dick was up and able to ride again, this time without theforked stick to hold him in the saddle.
After this we went on without mishap, and with no hardship greater thanthat of living solely upon the meat victual provided by the hunter'srifle; and you who know this plough-dressed region at this later daywill wonder when I write it down that in all that long faring, or ratherto the last day's stage of it, we saw never a face of any of our kind,or of the Catawba's.
You may be sure the month or more we spent thus in the heart of thewildwood was but a sorry time for me. While the excitement of thepursuit and rescue lasted, and later, when anxiety for Richard filledthe hours of the long days and nights, I was held a little back fromslipping into that pit of despair which I had digged for myself.
But when the strain was off and Dick was up and fit again, the miseryof it all came back with added goadings. I had never dreamed how cuttingsharp 'twould be to see these two together day by day; to see herloving, tender care of him, and to hear him babble of his love for herin his feverish vaporings. Yet all this I must endure, and with it athing even harder. For, to make it worse, if worse could be, the shadowof complete estrangement had falle
n between Margery and me. True to herword, given in that moment when I had besought her not to speak aloudfor her own safety's sake, she had never opened her lips to me; and foraught she said or did I might have been a deaf-mute slave beneath hernotice.
And as she drew away from me, she seemed to draw the closer to RichardJennifer, nursing him alive when he was at his worst, and giving him allthe womanly care and sympathy a sick man longs for. And later, when hewas fit to ride again, she had him always at her side in the onwardfaring.
As I have said before, this was all as I would have it. Yet it made mesick in my soul's soul; and at times I must needs fall behind to rave itout in solitude, cursing the day that I was born, and that other moremisfortunate day when I had reared the barrier impassable between thesetwo.
What wonder, then, that, as we neared the fighting field of the greatwar, I grew more set upon seizing the first chance that might offer anhonorable escape from all these heartburnings? 'Twas a weakness, if youchoose; I set down here naught but the simple fact, which had by nowgone as far beyond excusings as the underlying cause of it was beyondforgiveness.
'Twas on the final day, the day when we were riding tantivy to reachQueensborough by evening, that my deliverance came. I say deliverancebecause at the moment it had the look of a short shrift and a readyhalter.
We had crossed our own Catawba and were putting our horses at the steepbank on the outcoming side, when my saddle slipped. Dismounting totighten the girth, I called to the others to press on, saying I shouldovertake them shortly.
The promise was never kept. I scarce had my head under the saddle flapbefore a couple of stout knaves in homespun, appearing from I know notwhere, had me fast gripped by the arms, whilst a third made sure of thehorse.
"A despatch rider," said the bigger of the two who pinioned me. "Searchhim, Martin, lad, whilst I hold him; then we'll pay him out forTarleton's hanging of poor Sandy M'Guire."
I held my peace and let them search, taking the threat for a bit ofsoldier bullyragging meant to keep me quiet. But when they had turnedthe pockets of my borrowed coat inside out and ripped the lining andmade it otherwise as much the worse for their mishandling as it was forwear, the third man fetched a rope.
"Did you mean that, friend?--about the hanging?" I asked, wondering ifthis should be my loophole of escape from the life grown hateful.
"Sure enough," said the big man, coolly. "You'd best be saying yourprayers."
I laughed. "Were you wearing my coat and I yours, you might hang me andwelcome; in truth, you may as it is. Which tree will you have me at?"
The man stared at me as at one demented. Then he burst out in a guffaw."Damme, if you bean't a cool plucked one! I've a mind to take you to thecolonel."
"Don't do it, my friend. Though I am something loath to be snuffed outby the men of my own side, we need not haggle over the niceties. Pointout your tree."
"No, by God! you're too willing. What's at the back of all this?"
"Nothing, save a decent reluctance to spoil your sport. Have at it, man,and let's be done with it."
"Not if you beg me on your knees. You'll go to the colonel, I say, andhe may hang you if he sees fit. You must be a most damnable villain towant to die by the first rope you lay eyes on."
"That is as it may be. Who is your colonel?"
"Nay, rather, who are you?"
I gave my name and circumstance and was loosed of the hand-grip, thoughthe third man dropped the cord and stepped back to hold me covered withhis rifle.
"An Ireton, you say? Not little Jock, surely!"
"No, big Jock; big enough to lay you on your back, though you do have ahand as thick as a ham."
He ignored the challenge and stuck to his text. "I never thought to seethe son of old Mad-bull Roger wearing a red coat," he said.
"That is nothing. Many as good a Whig as I am has been forced to wear ared coat ere this, or go barebacked. But why don't you knot the halter?In common justice you should either hang me or feed me. 'Tis hard uponnoon, and I breakfasted early."
"Fall in!" said the big man; and so I was marched quickly aside from theroad and into the denser thicketing of the wood. Here my captorsblindfolded me, and after spinning me around to make me lose the compasspoints, hurried me away to their encampment which was inland from thestream, though not far, for I could still hear the distance-minishedsplashing of the water.
When the kerchief was pulled from my eyes I was standing in the midst ofa mounted riflemen's halt-camp, face to face with a young officerwearing the uniform of the colonelcy in the North Carolina home troops.He was a handsome young fellow, with curling hair and trim side-whiskersto frame a face fine-lined and eager--the face of a gentleman well-bornand well-bred.
"Captain Ireton?" he said; by which I guessed that one of my capturershad run on ahead to make report.
"The same," I replied.
"And you are the son of Mr. Justice Roger Ireton, of Appleby Hundred?"
"I have that honor."
He gave me his hand most cordially.
"You are very welcome, Captain; Davie is my name. I trust we may come toknow each other better. You are in disguise, as I take it; do you bringnews of the army?"
"On the contrary, I am thirsting for news," I rejoined. "I and threeothers have but now returned from pursuing a British and Indian powderconvoy into the mountains to the westward. We have been out five weeksand more."
He looked at me curiously. "You and three others?" he queried. "Comeapart and tell me about it whilst Pompey is broiling the venison. Iscent a whole Iliad in that word of yours, Captain Ireton."
"One thing first, if you please, Colonel Davie," I begged. "Mycompanions are faring forward on the road to Queensborough. They knownaught of my detention. Will you send a man to overtake them with a notefrom me?"
The colonel indulged me in the most gentlemanly manner; and when my noteto Jennifer was despatched we sat together at the roots of a great oakand I told him all that had befallen our little rescue party. He heardme through patiently, and when the tale was ended was good enough to saythat I had earned a commission for my part in the affair. I laughed andpromptly shifted that burden to Ephraim Yeates's shoulders.
"The old hunter was our general, Colonel Davie. He did all of theplanning and the greater part of the executing. But for him and thefriendly Catawba, it would have gone hard with Jennifer and me."
"I fear you are over-modest, Captain," was all the reply I got; and thenmy kindly host fell amuse. When he spoke again 'twas to give me a resumein brief of the military operations North and South.
At the North, as his news ran, affairs remained as they had been, savethat now the French king had sent an army to supplement the fleet, andCount Rochambeau and the allies were encamped on Rhode Island ready totake the field.
In the South the distressful situation we had left behind us on thatAugust Sunday following the disastrous battle of Camden was but littlechanged. General Gates, with the scantiest following, had hastened firstto Salisbury and later to Hillsborough, and had since been busy strivingto reassemble his scattered forces.
A few military partizans, like my host, had kept the field, doing whatthe few might against the many to retard my Lord Cornwallis's northwardmarch; and a week earlier the colonel with his handful of mountedriflemen had dared to oppose his entry into Charlotte.
"'Twas no more than a hint to his Lordship that we were not afraid ofhim," said my doughty colonel. "You know the town, I take it?"
"Very well, indeed."
"Well, we had harassed him all the way from Blair's Mill, and 'twasmidnight when we reached Charlotte. There we determined to make a standand give him a taste of our mettle. We dismounted, took post behind thestone wall of the court house green and under cover of the fences alongthe road."
"Good! an ambush," said I.
"Hardly that, since they were looking to have resistance. Tarleton wassick, and Major Hanger commanded the British van. He charged, and wepeppered them smartly. They tried it again, and
this time their infantryoutflanked us. We abandoned the court house and formed again in theeastern edge of the town; and now, bless you! 'twas my Lord Charleshimself who had to ride forward and flout at his men for their want ofenterprise."
"But you could never hope to hold on against such odds!" I exclaimed.
"Oh, no; but we held them for a third charge, and beat them back, too.Then they brought up two more regiments and we mounted and got off intolerably good order, losing only six men killed. But Colonel FrancisLocke was one of these; and my brave Joe Graham was all but cut topieces--a sore blow to us just now."
The colonel sighed and a silence fell upon us. 'Twas I who broke it tosay: "Then we are still playing a losing hand in the South, as I takeit?"
"'Tis worse than that. As the game stands we have played all our trumpsand have not so much as a long suit left. Cornwallis will go on as hepleases and overrun the state, and the militia will never stand to fronthim again under Horatio Gates. Worse still, Ferguson is off to thewestward, embodying the Tories by the hundred, and we shall haveburnings and hangings and harryings to the king's taste."
I nursed my knee a moment and then said: "What may one man do to help,Colonel Davie?"
He looked up quickly. "Much, if you are that man, and you do not valueyour life too highly, Captain Ireton."
"You may leave that out of the question," said I. "I shall count it thehappiest moment of my life when I shall have done something worth theirkilling me for."
Again he gave me that curious look I had noted before. Then he laughed.
"If you were as young as Major Joe Graham, and had been well crossed inlove, I could understand you better, Captain. But, jesting aside, thereis a thing to do, and you are the man to do it. Our spies are thick inCornwallis's camp, but what is needed is some master spirit who can plotas well as spy for us. Major Ferguson moves as Cornwallis pulls thestrings. Could we know the major's instructions and designs, we mightcut him off, bring the Tory uprising to the ground, and so hearten thecountry beyond measure. I say we might cut him off, though I know notwhere the men would come from to do it."
"Well?" said I, when he paused.
"The preliminary is some better information than our spies can give us.Now you have been an officer in the British service, and--"
I smiled. "Truly; and I have the honor, if you please to call it so, ofhis Lordship's acquaintance. Also, I have that of Colonel Tarleton andthe members of his staff, the same having tried and condemned me as aspy at Appleby Hundred some few weeks before this chase I have told youof."
His face fell. "Then, of course, it is out of the question for you toshow yourself in Cornwallis's headquarters."
I rose and buttoned my borrowed coat.
"On the contrary, Colonel Davie, I am more than ever at your service.Let me have a cut of your venison and a feed for my horse, and I shallbe at my Lord's headquarters as soon as the nag can carry me there."
The Master of Appleby Page 33