James Fenimore Cooper's Five Novels

by James Fenimore Cooper

  The last lagging trooper of the corps had already disappeared behind the Northern hill, and the major unwillingly turned his horse in the same direction. Frances, impelled by a restless inquietude, now timidly ventured on the piazza of the cottage. The day had been mild and clear, and the sun was shining brightly in a cloudless sky. The tumult, which so lately disturbed the valley, was succeeded by the stillness of death, and the fair scene before her looked as if it had never been marred by the passions of men. One solitary cloud, the collected smoke of the contest, hung over the field; and this was gradually dispersing, leaving no vestige of the conflict above the peaceful graves of its victims. All the conflicting feelings—all the tumultuous circumstances of the eventful day, appeared like the deceptions of a troubled vision. Frances turned and caught a glimpse of the retreating figure of him, who had been so conspicuous an actor in the scene, and the illusion vanished. She recognized her lover, and with the truth, came other recollections that drove her to her room, with a heart as sad as that which Dunwoodie himself bore from the valley.

  * The scene of this tale is between these two waters, which are but a few miles from each other.

  Chapter IX

  “A moment gaz’d adown the dale,

  A moment snuff’d the tainted gale,

  A moment list’ned to the cry,

  That thicken’d as the chase drew nigh;

  Then as the headmost foe appear’d

  With one brave bound the copse he clear’d,

  And, stretching forward free and far,

  Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.”

  Walter Scott.

  * * *

  THE PARTY under Captain Lawton had watched the retiring foe to his boats with the most unremitting vigilance, without finding any fit opening for a charge. The experienced successor of Colonel Wellmere, knew too well the power of his enemy to leave the uneven surface of the heights, until compelled to descend to the level of the water. Before he attempted this hazardous movement, he threw his men into a compact square, with its outer edges bristling with bayonets. In this position, the impatient trooper well understood, that brave men could never be assailed by cavalry with success, and he was reluctantly obliged to hover near them without seeing any opportunity of stopping their slow but steady march to the beach. A small schooner which had been their convoy from the city, lay with her guns bearing on the place of embarkation. Against this combination of force and discipline, Lawton had sufficient prudence to see it would be folly to contend, and the English were suffered to embark without molestation. The dragoons lingered on the shore until the last moment, and then they reluctantly commenced their own retreat back to the main body of the corps.

  The gathering mists of the evening had begun to darken the valley, as the detachment of Lawton made its re-appearance, at its southern extremity. The march of the troops was slow, and their line extended for the benefit of ease. In the front rode the captain, side by side with his senior subaltern, apparently engaged in close conference, while the rear was brought up by a young cornet, humming an air, and thinking of the sweets of a straw bed after the fatigues of a hard day’s duty.

  “Then it struck you too,” said the captain; “the instant I placed my eyes on her, I remembered the face—it is one not easily forgotten—by my faith, Tom, the girl does no discredit to the major’s taste.”

  “She would do honour to the corps,” replied the lieutenant with some warmth; “those blue eyes might easily win a man to gentler employments than this trade of ours. In sober truth, I can easily imagine such a girl might tempt even me to quit the broadsword and saddle for a darning-needle and pillion.”

  “Mutiny, sir, mutiny,” cried the other laughing; “what you, Tom Mason, dare to rival the gay, admired, and withal, rich, Major Dunwoodie in his love! You, a lieutenant of cavalry, with but one horse, and he none of the best! whose captain is as tough as a peperage log, and has as many lives as a cat.”

  “Faith,” said the subaltern smiling in his turn, “the log may yet be split, and Grimalkin lose his lives, if you often charge as madly as you did this morning. What think you of many raps from such a beetle as laid you on your back to day?”

  “Ah! don’t mention it, my good Tom, the thought makes my head ache,” replied the other, shrugging up his shoulders; “it is what I call forestalling night.”

  “The night of death.”

  “No, sir, the night that follows day. I saw myriads of stars, things which should hide their faces in the presence of the lordly sun. I do think nothing but this thick cap saved me for your comfort a little longer, maugre the cat’s lives.”

  “I have much reason to be obliged to the cap,” said Mason drily, “that or the skull must have had a reasonable portion of thickness, I admit.”

  “Come, come, Tom, you are a licensed joker, so I’ll not feign anger with you,” returned the captain good humouredly; “but Singleton’s lieutenant, I am fearful, will fare better than yourself, for this day’s service.”

  “I believe both of us will be spared the pain of receiving promotion purchased by the death of a comrade and friend,” observed Mason kindly; “it was reported that Sitgreaves said he would live.”

  “From my soul I hope so,” exclaimed Lawton; “for a beardless face, that boy carries the stoutest heart I have ever met with. It surprises me, however, that, as we both fell at the same instant, the men behaved so well.”

  “For the compliment, I might thank you,” cried the lieutenant with a laugh; “but modesty forbids—I did my best to stop them, but without success.”

  “Stop them,” roared the captain, “would you stop men in the middle of a charge?”

  “I thought they were going the wrong way,” answered the subaltern.

  “Ah! our fall drove them to the right about.”

  “It was either your fall, or apprehensions of their own; until the major rallied us, we were in admirable disorder.”

  “Dunwoodie! the major was on the crupper of the Dutchman.”

  “Ay! but he managed to get off the crupper of the Dutchman. He came in, at half speed, with the other two troops, and riding between us and the enemy, with that imperative way he has when roused, brought us in line in the twinkling of an eye. Then it was,” added the lieutenant, with animation, “that we sent John Bull to the bushes! Oh! it was a sweet charge—heads and tails, until we were upon them.”

  “The devil! What a sight I missed.”

  “You slept through it all.”

  “Yes,” returned the other with a sigh, “it was all lost to me and poor George Singleton. But, Tom, what will George’s sister say to this fair haired maiden, in yonder white building?”

  “Hang herself in her garters,” said the subaltern. “I owe a proper respect to my superiors, but two such angels are more than justly falls to the share of one man, unless he be a Turk or a Hindoo.”

  “Yes, yes,” said the captain quickly, “the major is ever preaching morality to the youngsters, but he is a sly fellow in the main. Do you observe how fond he is of the cross roads above this valley? Now, if I were to halt the troops twice in the same place, you would all swear there was a petticoat in the wind.”

  “You are well known to the corps.”

  “Well, Tom, a slanderous propensity is incurable, but” stretching forward his body in the direction he was gazing, as if to aid him in distinguishing objects through the darkness, “what animal is moving through the field on our right.”

  “’Tis a man,” said Mason, looking intently at the suspicious object.

  “By his hump ’tis a dromedary!” added the captain, eyeing it keenly—wheeling his horse suddenly from the highway, he exclaimed, “Harvey Birch! take him, dead or alive!”

  Mason and a few of the leading dragoons only understood the sudden cry, but it was heard throughout the line. A dozen of the men, with the lieutenant at their head, follo
wed the impetuous Lawton, and their speed threatened the pursued with a sudden termination of the race.

  Birch prudently kept his position on the rock, where he had been seen by the passing glance of Henry Wharton, until evening had begun to shroud the surrounding objects in darkness. From his height he had seen all the events of the day as they occurred. He had watched, with a beating heart, the departure of the troops under Dunwoodie, and with difficulty had curbed his impatience until the obscurity of night should render his moving free from danger. He had not, however, completed a fourth of his way to his own residence, when his quick ear distinguished the tread of the approaching horse. Trusting to the increasing darkness, he determined to persevere. By crouching and moving quickly along the surface of the ground, he hoped yet to escape unseen. Captain Lawton was too much engrossed with the foregoing conversation to suffer his eyes to indulge in their usual wandering; and the pedlar, perceiving by the voices that the enemy he most feared had passed, yielded to his impatience and stood erect in order to make greater progress. The moment his body arose above the shadow of the ground, it was seen, and the chace commenced. For a single instant Birch was helpless, his blood curdling in his veins at the imminence of the danger, and his legs refusing their natural and necessary office. But it was only for a moment. Casting his pack where he stood, and instinctively tightening the belt he wore, the pedlar betook himself to flight. He knew that by bringing himself in a line with his pursuers and the wood, his form would be lost to sight. This he soon effected, and he was straining every nerve to gain the wood itself, when several horsemen rode by him but a short distance on his left, and cut him off from this place of refuge. The pedlar threw himself on the ground as they came near him, and was passed unseen. But delay now became too dangerous for him to remain in that position. He accordingly arose, and still keeping in the shadow of the wood, along the skirts of which he heard voices crying to each other to be watchful, he ran with incredible speed in a parallel line, but in an opposite direction to the march of the dragoons.

  The confusion of the chace had been heard by the whole of the men, though none distinctly understood the order of Lawton but those who followed. The remainder were lost in doubt as to the duty that was required of them; and the aforesaid cornet was making eager inquiries of the trooper near him, on the subject, when a man, at a short distance in his rear, crossed the road at a single bound. At the same instant, the stentorian voice of Lawton rang through the valley, shouting,

  “Harvey Birch, take him, dead or alive!”

  Fifty pistols lighted the scene, and the bullets whistled in every direction around the head of the devoted pedlar. A feeling of despair seized his heart and in the bitterness of that moment, he exclaimed—

  “Hunted like a beast of the forest.”

  He felt life and its accompaniments to be a burden, and was about to yield himself to his enemies. Nature, however, prevailed. If taken, there was great reason to apprehend that he would not be honoured with the forms of a trial, but that most probably the morning sun would witness his ignominious execution; for he had already been condemned to death, and had only escaped that fate by stratagem. These considerations, with the approaching footsteps of his pursuers, roused him to new exertions. He again fled before them. A fragment of a wall, that had withstood the ravages made by war in the adjoining fences of wood, fortunately crossed his path. He hardly had time to throw his exhausted limbs over this barrier, before twenty of his enemies reached its opposite side. Their horses refused to take the leap in the dark, and amid the confusion of the rearing chargers and the execrations of their riders, Birch was enabled to gain a sight of the base of the hill, on whose summit was a place of perfect security. The heart of the pedlar now beat high with hope, when the voice of Captain Lawton again rung in his ears, shouting to his men to make room. The order was obeyed, and the fearless trooper rode at the wall at the top of his horse’s speed, plunged the rowels in his charger, and flew over the obstacle in safety. The triumphant hurrahs of the men, and the thundering tread of the horse, too plainly assured the pedlar of the emergency of his danger. He was nearly exhausted, and his fate no longer seemed doubtful.

  “Stop, or die,” was uttered above his head, and in fearful proximity to his ears.

  Harvey stole a glance over his shoulder, and saw within a bound of him the man he most dreaded. By the light of the stars he beheld the uplifted arm and the threatening sabre. Fear, exhaustion, and despair, seized his heart, and the intended victim fell at the feet of the dragoon. The horse of Lawton struck the prostrate pedlar, and both steed and rider came violently to the earth.

  As quick as thought Birch was on his feet again, with the sword of the discomfited dragoon in his hand. Vengeance seems but too natural to human passions. There are few who have not felt the seductive pleasure of making our injuries recoil on their authors; and yet there are some who know how much sweeter it is to return good for evil. All the wrongs of the pedlar shone on his brain with a dazzling brightness. For a moment the demon within him prevailed, and Birch brandished the powerful weapon in the air; in the next, it fell harmless on the reviving but helpless trooper. The pedlar vanished up the side of the friendly rock.

  “Help Captain Lawton, there;” cried Mason, as he rode up followed by a dozen of his men; “and some of you dismount with me and search these rocks; the villain lies here concealed.”

  “Hold,” roared the discomfited captain, raising himself with difficulty on his feet, “if one of you dismount he dies. Tom, my good fellow, you will help me to straddle Roanoke, again.”

  The astonished subaltern complied in silence, while the wondering dragoons remained as fixed in their saddles, as if they composed part of the animals they rode.

  “You are much hurt I fear,” said Mason with something of condolence in his manner, as they re-entered the highway, and biting off the end of a segar for the want of a better quality of tobacco.

  “Something so, I do believe,” replied the captain catching his breath and speaking with difficulty, “I wish our bone-setter was at hand, to examine into the state of my ribs.”

  “Sitgreaves is left in attendance on Captain Singleton, at the house of Mr. Wharton.”

  “Then there I halt for the night, Tom. These rude times must abridge ceremony; besides you may remember the old gentleman professed a kinsman’s regard for the corps. I can never think of passing so good a friend without a halt.”

  “And I will lead the troop to the Four Corners; if we all halt there, we shall breed a famine in the land.”

  “A condition I never desire to be placed in. The idea of that graceful spinster’s cakes is no bad solace, for twenty four hours in the hospital.”

  “Oh! you won’t die if you can think of eating,” said Mason with a laugh.

  “I should surely die if I could not,” observed the captain gravely.

  “Captain Lawton,” said the orderly of his troop, riding to the side of his commanding officer, “we are now passing the house of the pedlar spy, is it your pleasure that we burn it?”

  “No!” roared the captain in a voice that startled the disappointed sergeant; “are you an incendiary! would you burn a house in cold blood—let but a spark approach, and the hand that carries it will never light another.”

  “Zounds!” muttered the sleepy cornet in the rear as he was nodding on his horse, “there is life in the captain, notwithstanding his tumble.”

  Lawton and Mason rode on in silence, the latter ruminating on the wonderful change produced in his commander by his fall, when they arrived opposite to the gate before the residence of Mr. Wharton. The troop continued its march, but the captain and his lieutenant dismounted, and followed by the servant of the former, they proceeded slowly to the door of the cottage.

  Colonel Wellmere had already sought a retreat in his own room; Mr. Wharton and his son were closeted by themselves; and the ladies were administering the refreshments of
the tea-table to the surgeon of the dragoons, who had seen one of his patients in his bed, and the other happily enjoying the comforts of a sweet sleep. A few natural inquiries from Miss Peyton had opened the soul of the doctor, who knew every individual of her extensive family connexion in Virginia, and who even thought it possible that he had seen the lady herself. The amiable spinster smiled as she felt it to be improbable that she should ever have met her new acquaintance before, and not remember his singularities. It, however, greatly relieved the embarrassment of their situation, and something like a discourse was maintained between them; the nieces were only listeners, nor could the aunt be said to be much more.

  “As I was observing, Miss Peyton, it was merely the noxious vapours of the low lands that rendered the plantation of your brother an unfit residence for man; but quadrupeds were”—

  “Bless me, what’s that,” said Miss Peyton, turning pale at the report of the pistols fired at Birch.

  “It sounds prodigiously like the concussion on the atmosphere made by the explosion of firearms,” said the surgeon, sipping his tea with great indifference, “I should imagine it to be the troop of Captain Lawton returning, did I not know the captain never uses the pistol, and that he dreadfully abuses the sabre.”

  “Merciful providence!” exclaimed the agitated maiden, “he would not injure one with it certainly.”

  “Injure!” repeated the other quickly, “it is certain death, madam; the most random blows imaginable—all that I can say to him will have no effect.”