by Zane Grey
“I am in favor of postponing the preaching for a few days. I tell you I am afraid of Girty’s Indians, not for myself, but for these Christians whom we love so well. I am afraid.” Heckewelder’s face bore testimony to his anxious dread.
“You are our leader; we have but to obey,” said Edwards. “Yet I think we owe it to our converts to stick to our work until we are forced by violence to desist.”
“Ah! What form will that violence take?” cried Heckewelder, his face white. “You cannot tell what these savages mean. I fear! I fear!”
“Listen, Heckewelder, you must remember we had this to go through once before,” put in Zeisberger earnestly. “In ’78 Girty came down on us like a wolf on the fold. He had not so many Indians at his beck and call as now; but he harangued for days, trying to scare us and our handful of Christians. He set his drunken fiends to frighten us, and he failed. We stuck it out and won. He’s trying the same game. Let us stand against him, and hold our services as usual. We should trust in God!”
“Never give up!” cried Jim.
“Gentlemen, you are right; you shame me, even though I feel that I understand the situation and its dread possibilities better than any one of you. Whatever befalls we’ll stick to our post. I thank you for reviving the spirit in my cowardly heart. We will hold the service today as usual and to make it more impressive, each shall address the congregation in turn.”
“And, if need be, we will give our lives for our Christians,” said Young, raising his pale face.
* * * *
The deep mellow peals of the church bell awoke the slumbering echoes. Scarcely had its melody died away in the forest when a line of Indians issued from the church and marched toward the maple grove. Men, women, youths, maidens and children.
Glickhican, the old Delaware chief, headed the line. His step was firm, his head erect, his face calm in its noble austerity. His followers likewise expressed in their countenances the steadfastness of their belief. The maidens’ heads were bowed, but with shyness, not fear. The children were happy, their bright faces expressive of the joy they felt in the anticipation of listening to their beloved teachers.
This procession passed between rows of painted savages, standing immovable, with folded arms, and somber eyes.
No sooner had the Christians reached the maple grove, when from all over the clearing appeared hostile Indians, who took positions near the knoll where the missionaries stood.
Heckewelder’s faithful little band awaited him on the platform. The converted Indians seated themselves as usual at the foot of the knoll. The other savages crowded closely on both sides. They carried their weapons, and maintained the same silence that had so singularly marked their mood of the last twenty-four hours. No human skill could have divined their intention. This coldness might be only habitual reserve, and it might be anything else.
Heckewelder approached at the same time that Simon Girty and his band of renegades appeared. With the renegades were Pipe and Half King. These two came slowly across the clearing, passed through the opening in the crowd, and stopped close to the platform.
Heckewelder went hurriedly up to his missionaries. He seemed beside himself with excitement, and spoke with difficulty.
“Do not preach today. I have been warned again,” he said, in a low voice.
“Do you forbid it?” inquired Edwards.
“No, no. I have not that authority, but I implore it. Wait, wait until the Indians are in a better mood.”
Edwards left the group, and, stepping upon the platform, faced the Christians.
At the same moment Half King stalked majestically from before his party. He carried no weapon save a black, knotted war-club. A surging forward of the crowd of savages behind him showed the intense interest which his action had aroused. He walked forward until he stood half way between the platform and the converts. He ran his evil glance slowly over the Christians, and then rested it upon Edwards.
“Half King’s orders are to be obeyed. Let the paleface keep his mouth closed,” he cried in the Indian tongue. The imperious command came as a thunderbolt from a clear sky. The missionaries behind Edwards stood bewildered, awaiting the outcome.
But Edwards, without a moment’s hesitation, calmly lifted his hand and spoke.
“Beloved Christians, we meet today as we have met before, as we hope to meet in—”
“Spang!”
The whistling of a bullet over the heads of the Christians accompanied the loud report of a rifle. All presently plainly heard the leaden missile strike. Edwards wheeled, clutching his side, breathed hard, and then fell heavily without uttering a cry. He had been shot by an Indian concealed in the thicket.
For a moment no one moved, nor spoke. The missionaries were stricken with horror; the converts seemed turned to stone, and the hostile throng waited silently, as they had for hours.
“He’s shot! He’s shot! Oh, I feared this!” cried Heckewelder, running forward. The missionaries followed him. Edwards was lying on his back, with a bloody hand pressed to his side.
“Dave, Dave, how is it with you?” asked Heckewelder, in a voice low with fear.
“Not bad. It’s too far out to be bad, but it knocked me over,” answered Edwards, weakly. “Give me—water.”
They carried him from the platform, and laid him on the grass under a tree.
Young pressed Edwards’ hand; he murmured something that sounded like a prayer, and then walked straight upon the platform, as he raised his face, which was sublime with a white light.
“Paleface! Back!” roared Half King, as he waved his war-club.
“You Indian dog! Be silent!”
Young’s clear voice rolled out on the quiet air so imperiously, so powerful in its wonderful scorn and passion, that the hostile savages were overcome by awe, and the Christians thrilled anew with reverential love.
Young spoke again in a voice which had lost its passion, and was singularly sweet in its richness.
“Beloved Christians, if it is God’s will that we must die to prove our faith, then as we have taught you how to live, so we can show you how to die—”
“Spang!”
Again a whistling sound came with the bellow of an overcharged rifle; again the sickening thud of a bullet striking flesh.
Young fell backwards from the platform.
The missionaries laid him beside Edwards, and then stood in shuddering silence. A smile shone on Young’s pale face; a stream of dark blood welled from his breast. His lips moved; he whispered:
“I ask no more—God’s will.”
Jim looked down once at his brother missionaries; then with blanched face, but resolute and stern, he marched toward the platform.
Heckewelder ran after him, and dragged him back.
“No! no! no! My God! Would you be killed? Oh! I tried to prevent this!” cried Heckewelder, wringing his hands.
One long, fierce, exultant yell pealed throughout the grove. It came from those silent breasts in which was pent up hatred; it greeted this action which proclaimed victory over the missionaries.
All eyes turned on Half King. With measured stride he paced to and fro before the Christian Indians.
Neither cowering nor shrinking marked their manner; to a man, to a child, they rose with proud mien, heads erect and eyes flashing. This mighty chief with his blood-thirsty crew could burn the Village of Peace, could annihilate the Christians, but he could never change their hope and trust in God.
“Blinded fools!” cried Half King. “The Huron is wise; he tells no lies. Many moons ago he told the Christians they were sitting half way between two angry gods, who stood with mouths open wide and looking ferociously at each other. If they did not move back out of the road they would be ground to powder by the teeth of one or the other, or both. Half King urged them to leave the peaceful village, to forget the paleface God; to take their horses, and flocks, and return to their homes. The Christians scorned the Huron King’s counsel. The sun has set for the Village of Peace. The time
has come. Pipe and the Huron are powerful. They will not listen to the paleface God. They will burn the Village of Peace. Death to the Christians!”
Half King threw the black war-club with a passionate energy on the grass before the Indians.
They heard this decree of death with unflinching front. Even the children were quiet. Not a face paled, not an eye was lowered.
Half King cast their doom in their teeth. The Christians eyed him with unspoken scorn.
“My God! My God! It is worse than I thought!” moaned Heckewelder. “Utter ruin! Murder! Murder!”
In the momentary silence which followed his outburst, a tiny cloud of blue-white smoke came from the ferns overhanging a cliff.
Crack!
All heard the shot of a rifle; all noticed the difference between its clear, ringing intonation and the loud reports of the other two. All distinctly heard the zip of a bullet as it whistled over their heads.
All? No, not all. One did not hear that speeding bullet. He who was the central figure in this tragic scene, he who had doomed the Christians might have seen that tiny puff of smoke which heralded his own doom, but before the ringing report could reach his ears a small blue hole appeared, as if by magic, over his left eye, and pulse, and sense, and life had fled forever.
Half King, great, cruel chieftain, stood still for an instant as if he had been an image of stone; his haughty head lost its erect poise, the fierceness seemed to fade from his dark face, his proud plume waved gracefully as he swayed to and fro, and then fell before the Christians, inert and lifeless.
No one moved; it was as if no one breathed. The superstitious savages awaited fearfully another rifle shot; another lightning stroke, another visitation from the paleface’s God.
But Jim Girty, with a cunning born of his terrible fear, had recognized the ring of that rifle. He had felt the zip of a bullet which could just as readily have found his brain as Half King’s. He had stood there as fair a mark as the cruel Huron, yet the Avenger had not chosen him. Was he reserved for a different fate? Was not such a death too merciful for the frontier Deathshead? He yelled in his craven fear:
“Le vent de la Mort!”
The well known, dreaded appellation aroused the savages from a fearful stupor into a fierce manifestation of hatred. A tremendous yell rent the air. Instantly the scene changed.
CHAPTER XXVI.
In the confusion the missionaries carried Young and Edwards into Mr. Wells’ cabin. Nell’s calm, white face showed that she had expected some such catastrophe as this, but she of all was the least excited. Heckewelder left them at the cabin and hurried away to consult Captain Williamson. While Zeisberger, who was skilled in surgery, attended to the wounded men, Jim barred the heavy door, shut the rude, swinging windows, and made the cabin temporarily a refuge from prowling savages.
Outside the clamor increased. Shrill yells rent the air, long, rolling war-cries sounded above all the din. The measured stamp of moccasined feet, the rush of Indians past the cabin, the dull thud of hatchets struck hard into the trees—all attested to the excitement of the savages, and the imminence of terrible danger.
In the front room of Mr. Wells’ cabin Edwards lay on a bed, his face turned to the wall, and his side exposed. There was a bloody hole in his white skin. Zeisberger was probing for the bullet. He had no instruments, save those of his own manufacture, and they were darning needles with bent points, and a long knife-blade ground thin.
“There, I have it,” said Zeisberger. “Hold still, Dave. There!” As Edwards moaned Zeisberger drew forth the bloody bullet. “Jim, wash and dress this wound. It isn’t bad. Dave will be all right in a couple of days. Now I’ll look at George.”
Zeisberger hurried into the other room. Young lay with quiet face and closed eyes, breathing faintly. Zeisberger opened the wounded man’s shirt and exposed the wound, which was on the right side, rather high up. Nell, who had followed Zeisberger that she might be of some assistance if needed, saw him look at the wound and then turn a pale face away for a second. That hurried, shuddering movement of the sober, practical missionary was most significant. Then he bent over Young and inserted on of the probes into the wound. He pushed the steel an inch, two, three, four inches into Young’s breast, but the latter neither moved nor moaned. Zeisberger shook his head, and finally removed the instrument. He raised the sufferer’s shoulder to find the bed saturated with blood. The bullet wound extended completely through the missionary’s body, and was bleeding from the back. Zeisberger folded strips of linsey cloth into small pads and bound them tightly over both apertures of the wound.
“How is he?” asked Jim, when the amateur surgeon returned to the other room, and proceeded to wash the blood from his hands.
Zeisberger shook his head gloomily.
“How is George?” whispered Edwards, who had heard Jim’s question.
“Shot through the right lung. Human skill can not aid him! Only God can save.”
“Didn’t I hear a third shot?” whispered Dave, gazing round with sad, questioning eyes. “Heckewelder?”
“Is safe. He has gone to see Williamson. You did hear a third shot. Half King fell dead with a bullet over his left eye. He had just folded his arms in a grand pose after his death decree to the Christians.”
“A judgment of God!”
“It does seem so, but it came in the form of leaden death from Wetzel’s unerring rifle. Do you hear all that yelling? Half King’s death has set the Indians wild.”
There was a gentle knock at the door, and then the word, “Open,” in Heckewelder’s voice.
Jim unbarred the door. Heckewelder came in carrying over his shoulder what apparently was a sack of meal. He was accompanied by young Christy. Heckewelder put the bag down, opened it, and lifted out a little Indian boy. The child gazed round with fearful eyes.
“Save Benny! Save Benny!” he cried, running to Nell, and she clasped him closely in her arms.
Heckewelder’s face was like marble as he asked concerning Edwards’ condition.
“I’m not badly off,” said the missionary with a smile.
“How’s George?” whispered Heckewelder.
No one answered him. Zeisberger raised his hands. All followed Heckewelder into the other room, where Young lay in the same position as when first brought in. Heckewelder stood gazing down into the wan face with its terribly significant smile.
“I brought him out here. I persuaded him to come!” whispered Heckewelder. “Oh, Almighty God!” he cried. His voice broke, and his prayer ended with the mute eloquence of clasped hands and uplifted, appealing face.
“Come out,” said Zeisberger, leading him into the larger room. The others followed, and Jim closed the door.
“What’s to be done?” said Zeisberger, with his practical common sense. “What did Williamson say? Tell us what you learned?”
“Wait—directly,” answered Heckewelder, sitting down and covering his face with his hands. There was a long silence. At length he raised his white face and spoke calmly:
“Gentlemen, the Village of Peace is doomed. I entreated Captain Williamson to help us, but he refused. Said he dared not interfere. I prayed that he would speak at least a word to Girty, but he denied my request.”
“Where are the converts?”
“Imprisoned in the church, every one of them except Benny. Mr. Christy and I hid the child in the meal sack and were thus able to get him here. We must save him.”
“Save him?” asked Nell, looking from Heckewelder to the trembling Indian boy.
“Nellie, the savages have driven all our Christians into the church, and shut them up there, until Girty and his men shall give the word to complete their fiendish design. The converts asked but one favor—an hour in which to pray. It was granted. The savages intend to murder them all.”
“Oh! Horrible! Monstrous!” cried Nell. “How can they be so inhuman?” She lifted Benny up in her arms. “They’ll never get you, my boy. We’ll save you—I’ll save you!” The child moaned a
nd clung to her neck.
“They are scouring the clearing now for Christians, and will search all the cabins. I’m positive.”
“Will they come here?” asked Nell, turning her blazing eyes on Heckewelder.
“Undoubtedly. We must try to hide Benny. Let me think; where would be a good place? We’ll try a dark corner of the loft.”
“No, no,” cried Nell.
“Put Benny in Young’s bed,” suggested Jim.
“No, no,” cried Nell.
“Put him in a bucket and let him down in the well,” whispered Edwards, who had listened intently to the conversation.
“That’s a capital place,” said Heckewelder. “But might he not fall out and drown?”
“Tie him in the bucket,” said Jim.
“No, no, no,” cried Nell.
“But Nellie, we must decide upon a hiding place, and in a hurry.”
“I’ll save Benny.”
“You? Will you stay here to face those men? Jim Girty and Deering are searching the cabins. Could you bear it to see them? You couldn’t.”
“Oh! No, I believe it would kill me! That man! that beast! will he come here?” Nell grew ghastly pale, and looked as if about to faint. She shrunk in horror at the thought of again facing Girty. “For God’s sake, Heckewelder, don’t let him see me! Don’t let him come in! Don’t!”
Even as the imploring voice ceased a heavy thump sounded on the door.
“Who’s there?” demanded Heckewelder.
Thump! Thump!
The heavy blows shook the cabin. The pans rattled on the shelves. No answer came from without.
“Quick! Hide Benny! It’s as much as our lives are worth to have him found here,” cried Heckewelder in a fierce whisper, as he darted toward the door.
“All right, all right, in a moment,” he called out, fumbling over the bar.
He opened the door a moment later and when Jim Girty and Deering entered he turned to his friends with a dread uncertainty in his haggard face.
Edwards lay on the bed with wide-open eyes staring at the intruders. Mr. Wells sat with bowed head. Zeisberger calmly whittled a stick, and Jim stood bolt upright, with a hard light in his eyes.