CHAPTER XV
THE FOREST FIGHT
Robert thought they would march at once, but annoying delaysoccurred. He had noticed that Hamilton, the governor of the greatneighboring province of Pennsylvania, was not present at the council,but he did not know the cause of it until Stuart, the young Virginian,told him.
"Pennsylvania is in a huff," he said, "because General Braddock's armyhas been landed at Alexandria instead of Philadelphia. Truth to tell,for an expedition against Fort Duquesne, Philadelphia would have beena nearer and better place, but I hear that one John Hanbury, apowerful merchant who trades much in Virginia, wanted the troops tocome this way that he might sell them supplies, and he persuaded theDuke of Newcastle to choose Alexandria. 'Tis a bad state of affairs,Lennox, but you and I can't remedy it. The chief trouble is betweenthe general and the Pennsylvanians, many of whom are Quakers andGermans, as obstinate people as this world has ever produced."
The differences and difficulties were soon patent to all. A month ofspring was passing, and the army was far from having the necessarysupplies. Neither Virginia nor Pennsylvania responded properly. InPennsylvania there was a bitter quarrel between the people and theproprietary government that hampered action. Many of the contractorswho were to furnish equipment thought much more of profit than ofpatriotism. Braddock, brave and honest, but tactless and whollyignorant of the conditions predominant in any new country, raged andstormed. He denounced the Virginia troops that came to his standard,calling shameful their lack of uniforms and what he considered theirlack of discipline.
Robert heard that in these turbulent days young Washington, whomBraddock had taken on his staff as a colonel and for whom he had awarm personal regard, was the best mediator between the testy generaland the stubborn population. In his difficult position, and while yetscarcely more than a boy, he was showing all the great qualities ofcharacter that he was to display so grandly in the long war twentyyears later.
"Tis related," said Willet, "that General Braddock will listen toanything from him, that he has the most absolute confidence in hishonesty and good judgment, and, judging from what I hear, GeneralBraddock is right."
But to Robert, despite the anxieties, the days were happy. As he hadaffiliated readily with the young Virginians he was also quickly afriend of the young British officers, who were anxious to learn aboutthe new conditions into which they had been cast with so littlepreparation. There was Captain Robert Orme, Braddock's aide-de-camp, afine manly fellow, for whom he soon formed a reciprocal liking, andthe son of Sir Peter Halket, a lieutenant, and Morris, an American,another aide-de-camp, and young William Shirley, the son of thegovernor of Massachusetts, who had become Braddock's secretary. Healso became well acquainted with older officers, Gladwin who was todefend Detroit so gallantly against Pontiac and his allied tribes,Gates, Gage, Barton and others, many of whom were destined to serveagain on one side or other in the great Revolution.
Grosvenor knew all the Englishmen, and often in the evenings, sinceMay had now come they sat about the camp fires, and Robert listenedwith eagerness as they told stories of gay life in London, tales ofthe theater, of the heavy betting at the clubs and the races, and nowand then in low tones some gossip of royalty. Tayoga was more thanwelcome in this group, as the great Thayendanegea was destined to beyears later. His height, his splendid appearance, his dignity and hismanners were respected and admired. Willet sometimes sat with them,but said little. Robert knew that he approved of his new friendships.
Willet was undoubtedly anxious. The delays which were still numerousweighed heavily upon him, and he confided to Robert that every daylost would increase the danger of the march.
"The French and Indians of course know our troubles," hesaid. "St. Luc has gone like an arrow into the wilderness with all thenews about us, and he's not the only one. If we could adjust thistrouble with the Pennsylvanians we might start at once."
An hour or two after he uttered his complaint, Robert saw a middleaged man, not remarkable of appearance, talking with Braddock. Hisdress was homespun and careless, but his large head was beautifullyshaped, and his features, though they might have been called homely,shone with the light of an extraordinary intelligence. His manner ashe talked to Braddock, without showing any tinge of deference, wassoothing. Robert saw at once, despite his homespun dress, that herewas a man of the great world and of great affairs.
"Who is he?" he said to Willet.
"It's Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania," replied the hunter. "I hearhe's one of the shrewdest men in all the colonies, and I don't doubtthe report."
It was Robert's first sight of Franklin, certainly not the least inthat amazing group of men who founded the American Union.
"They say," continued Willet, "that he's already achieved theimpossible, that he's drawing General Braddock and the Pennsylvanianstogether, and that we'll soon get weapons, horses and all the othersupplies we need."
It was no false news. Franklin had done what he alone could do. One ofthe greatest masters of diplomacy the world has ever known, he broughtBraddock and Pennsylvania together, and smoothed out thedifficulties. All the needed supplies began to flow in, and on thetenth of an eventful May the whole army started from Wills Creek towhich point it had advanced, while Franklin was removing thedifficulties. A new fort named Cumberland had been established there,and stalwart Virginians had been cutting a road ahead through thewilderness.
The place was on the edge of the unending forest. The narrow fringeof settlements on the Atlantic coast was left behind, and henceforththey must march through regions known only to the Indians and thewoods rangers. But it was a fine army, two British regiments underHalket and Dunbar, their numbers reinforced by Virginia volunteers,and five hundred other Virginians, divided into nine companies. Therewas a company of British sailors, too, and artillery, and hundreds ofwagons and baggage horses. Among the teamsters was a strong lad namedDaniel Boone destined to immortality as the most famous of allpioneers.
Robert, Willet and Tayoga could have had horses to ride, but againstthe protests of Grosvenor and their other new English friends theydeclined them. They knew that they could scout along the flanks of anarmy far better on foot.
"In one way," said Willet, to Grosvenor, "we three, Robert, Tayoga andI, are going back home. The lads, at least have spent the greaterpart of their lives in the forest, and to me it has given a kindlywelcome for these many years. It may look inhospitable to you who comefrom a country of roads and open fields, but it's not so to us. Weknow its ways. We can find shelter where you would see none, and itoffers food to us, where you would starve, and you're a young man ofintelligence too."
"At least I can see its beauty," laughed Grosvenor, as he looked uponthe great green wilderness, stretching away and away to the far bluehills. "In truth 'tis a great and romantic adventure to go with aforce like ours into an unknown country of such majestic quality."
He looked with a kindling eye from the wilderness back to the army,the greatest that had yet been gathered in the forest, the red coatsof the soldiers gleaming now in the spring sunshine, and the airresounding with whips as the teamsters started their trains.
"A great force! A grand force!" said Robert, catching hisenthusiasm. "The French and Indians can't stand before it!"
"How far is Fort Duquesne?" asked Grosvenor.
"In the extreme western part of the province of Pennsylvania, manydays' march from here. At least, we claim that it's in Pennsylvaniaprovince, although the French assert it's on their soil, and they havepossession. But it's in the Ohio country, because the waters thereflow westward, the Alleghany and Monongahela joining at the fort andforming the great Ohio."
"And so we shall see much of the wilderness. Well, I'm not sorry,Lennox. 'Twill be something to talk about in England. I don't thinkthey realize there the vastness and magnificence of the colonies."
That day a trader named Croghan brought about fifty Indian warriors tothe camp, among them a few belonging to the Hodenosaunee, and offeredtheir service
s as scouts and skirmishers. Braddock, who lovedregularity and outward discipline, gazed at them in astonishment.
"Savages!" he said. "We will have none of them!"
The Indians, uttering no complaint, disappeared in the green forest,with Willet and Tayoga gazing somberly after them.
"'Twas a mistake," said the hunter. "They would have been our eyes andears, where we needed eyes and ears most."
"A warrior of my kin was among them," said Tayoga. "Word will flynorth that an insult has been offered to the Hodenosaunee."
"But," said Willet, "Colonel William Johnson will take a word ofanother kind. As you know, Tayoga, as I know, and, as all the nationsof the Hodenosaunee know, Waraiyageh is their friend. He will speak tothem no word that is not true. He will brush away all that web ofcraft, and cunning and cheating, spun by the Indian commissioners atAlbany, and he will see that there is no infringement upon the rightsof the great League."
"Waraiyageh will do all that, if he can reach Mount Johnson in time,"said Tayoga, "but Onontio rises before the dawn, and he does not sleepuntil after midnight. He sings beautiful songs in the ears of thewarriors, and the songs he sings seem to be true. Already the Frenchand their allies have been victorious everywhere save at Fort Refuge,and they carry the trophies of triumph into Canada."
"But the time for us to strike a great blow is at hand, Tayoga," saidRobert, who, with Grosvenor had been listening. "Behold this splendidarmy! No such force was ever before sent into the Americanwilderness. When we take Fort Duquesne we shall hold the key to thewhole Ohio country, and we shall turn it in the lock and fasten itagainst the Governor General of Canada and all his allies."
"But the wilderness is mighty," said Tayoga. "Even the army of thegreat English king is small when it enters its depths."
"On the other hand so is that of the enemy, much smaller than ours,"said Grosvenor.
Soon after Croghan and his Indians left the camp a figure tall, darkand somber, followed by a dozen men wild of appearance and clad inhunter's garb, emerged from the forest and walked in silence towardGeneral Braddock's tent. The regular soldiers stared at them inastonishment, but their dark leader took no notice. Robert uttered anexclamation of surprise and pleasure.
"Black Rifle!" he said.
"And who is Black Rifle?" asked Grosvenor.
"A great hunter and scout and a friend of mine. I'm glad he'shere. The general can find many uses for Black Rifle and his men."
He ran forward and greeted Black Rifle, who smiled one of his raresmiles at sight of the youth. Willet and Tayoga gave him the same warmwelcome.
"What news, Black Rifle?" asked Robert.
"The French and Indians gather at Fort Duquesne to meet you. They arenot in great force, but the wilderness will help them and the best ofthe French leaders are there."
"Have you heard anything of St. Luc?" asked Robert.
"We met a Seneca runner who had seen him. The Senecas are not at warwith the French, and the man talked with him a little, but theFrenchman didn't tell him anything. We think he was on the way to FortDuquesne to join the other French leaders there."
"Have you heard the names of any of these Frenchmen?"
"Besides St. Luc there's Beaujeu, Dumas, Ligneris and Contrecoeur whocommands. French regulars and Canadian troops are in the fort, and theheathen are pouring in from the west and north."
"Those are brave and skillful men," said Willet, as he listened to thenames of the French leaders who would oppose them. "But 'twas good ofyou, Black Rifle, to come with these lads of yours to help us."
After the men had enjoyed food and a little rest, they were taken intothe great tent, where the general sat, Willet having procured theinterview, and accompanying them. Robert waited near with Grosvenorand Tayoga, knowing how useful Black Rifle and his men could be to awilderness expedition, and hoping that they would be thrown togetherin future service.
A quarter of an hour passed, and then Black Rifle strode from thetent, his face dark as night. His men followed him, and, almostwithout a word, they left the camp, plunged into the forest anddisappeared. Willet also came from the tent, crestfallen.
"What has happened, Dave?" asked Robert in astonishment.
"The worst. I suppose that when unlike meets unlike only trouble cancome. I introduced Black Rifle and his men to General Braddock. Theydid not salute. They did not take off their caps in his presence,--notknowing, of course, that such things were done in armies. GeneralBraddock rebuked them. I smoothed it all over as much as I could. Thenhe demanded what they wanted there, as a haughty giver of gifts wouldspeak to a suppliant. Black Rifle said he and his men came to watch onthe front and flanks of the army against Indian ambush, knowing howmuch it was needed. Braddock laughed and sneered. He said that anarmy such as his did not need to fear a few wandering Indians, and, inany event, it had eyes of its own to watch for itself. Black Riflesaid he doubted it, that soldiers in the woods could seldom seeanything but themselves. There was blame on both sides, but men likeGeneral Braddock and Black Rifle can't understand each other, they'llnever understand each other, and, hot with wrath Black Rifle has takenhis band and gone into the woods. Nor will he come back, and we needhim! I tell you, Robert, we need him! We need him!"
"It is bad," said Tayoga. "An army can never have too many eyes."
Robert was deeply disappointed. He regretted not only the loss ofBlack Rifle and his men, but the further evidence of an unyieldingtemperament on the part of their commander. His own mind however soready to comprehend the mind of others, could understand Braddock'spoint of view. To the general Black Rifle and his men were mere woodsrovers, savages themselves in everything except race, and the armythat he led was invincible.
"We'll have to make the best of it," he said.
"They've gone and they're a great loss, but the rest of us will try todo the work they would have done."
"That is so," said Tayoga, gravely.
At last the army moved proudly away into the wilderness. Hundreds ofaxmen, going ahead, cut a road twelve feet wide, along which cavalry,infantry, artillery and wagons and pack horses stretched formiles. The weather was beautiful, the forest was both beautiful andgrand, and to most of the Englishmen and Virginians the march appealedas a great and romantic adventure. The trees were in the tender greenleafage of early May, and their solid expanse stretched away hundredsand thousands of miles into the unknown west. Early wild flowers, ashy pink or a modest blue, bloomed in the grass. Deer started fromtheir coverts, crashed through the thickets, and the sky darkened withthe swarms of wild fowl flying north. Birds of brilliant plumageflashed among the leaves and often chattered overhead, heedless of thepassing army. Now and then the soldiers sang, and the song passed fromthe head of the column along its rippling red, yellow and brown lengthof four miles.
It was a cheerful army, more it was a gay army, enjoying thewilderness which it was seeing at one of the finest periods of theyear, wondering at the magnificence of the forest, and the greatnumber of streams that came rushing down from the mountains.
"It's a noble country," said Grosvenor to Robert. "I'll admit allthat you claim for it."
"And there's so much of it, Grosvenor, even allowing for the portion,the very big portion, the French claim."
"But from which we are going to drive them very soon, Robert, my lad."
"I think so, too, Grosvenor."
Often Robert, Willet and Tayoga went far ahead on swift foot,searching the forest for ambush, and finding none, they would comeback and watch the axmen, three hundred in number, who were cuttingthe road for the army. They were stalwart fellows, skilled in theirbusiness, and their axes rang through the woods. Robert felt regretwhen he saw the splendid trees fall and be dragged to one side, thereto rot, despite the fact that the unbroken forest covered millions ofsquare miles.
The camps at night were scenes of good humor. Scouts and flankerswere thrown out in the forest, and huge fires were built of the fallenwood which was abundant everywhere. The flames, roaring and lea
ping,threw a ruddy light over the soldiers, and gave them pleasant warmth,as often in the hills the dusk came on heavy with chill.
Despite the favorable nature of the season some of the soldiers unusedto hardships fell ill, and, more than a week later, when they reacheda place known as the Little Meadows, Braddock left there the sick andthe heavy baggage with a rear guard under Colonel Dunbar. A scout hadbrought word that a formidable force of French regulars was expectedto reinforce the garrison at Fort Duquesne, and the general wasanxious to forestall them. Young Washington, in whom he had greatconfidence, also advised him to push on, and now the army of chosentroops increased its speed.
Robert came into contact with Braddock only once or twice, and then hewas noticed with a nod, but on the whole he was glad to escape soeasily. The general brave and honest, but irritable, had a closedmind. He thought all things should be done in the way to which he wasused, and he had little use for the Americans, save for youngWashington, and young Morris, who were on his staff, and young Shirleywho was his secretary. To them he was invariably kind and considerate.
The regular officers made no attempt to interfere with Robert, Tayogaand Willet, who, having their commissions as scouts, roamed as theypleased, and, even on foot, their pace being so much greater than thatof the army, they often went far ahead in the night seeking traces ofthe enemy. Now, although the march was not resisted, they sawunmistakable signs that it was watched. They found trails of smallIndian bands and several soldiers who straggled into the forest werekilled and scalped. Braddock was enraged but not alarmed. The armywould brush away these flies and proceed to the achievement of itsobject, the capture of Fort Duquesne. The soldiers from Englandshuddered at the sight of their scalped comrades. It was a new formof war to them, and very ghastly.
Robert, Tayoga and Willet were the best scouts and the regularofficers soon learned to rely on them. Grosvenor often begged to gowith them, but they laughingly refused.
"We don't claim to be of special excellence ourselves, Grosvenor,"said Robert, "but such work needs a very long training. One, so tospeak, must be born to it, and to be born to it you have to be born inthis country, and not in England."
It was about the close of June and they had been nearly three weeks onthe way when the three, scouting on a moonlight night, struck a traillarger than usual. Tayoga reckoned that it had been made by at least adozen warriors, and Willet agreed with him.
"And behold the trace of the big moccasin, Great Bear," said theOnondaga, pointing to a faint impression among the leaves. "It is verylarge, and it turns in much. We do not see it for the first time."
"Tandakora," said Willet.
"It can be none other."
"We shouldn't be surprised at seeing it. The Ojibway, like a wolf,will rush to the place of killing."
"I am not surprised, Great Bear. It is strange, perhaps, that we havenot seen his footsteps before. No doubt he has looked many times uponthe marching army."
"Since Tandakora is here, probably leading the Indian scouts, we'llhave to take every precaution ourselves. I like my scalp, and I likefor it to remain where it has grown, on the top of my head."
They moved now with the most extreme care, always keeping under coverof bushes, and never making any sound as they walked, but the armykept on steadily in the road cut for it by the axmen. Encountersbetween the flankers and small bands still occurred, but there was yetno sign of serious resistance, and the fort was drawing nearer andnearer.
"I've no doubt the French commander will abandon it," said Grosvenorto Robert. "He'll conclude that our army is too powerful for him."
"I scarce think so," replied Robert doubtfully. "'Tis not the Frenchway, at least, not on this continent. Like as not they will depend onthe savages, whom they have with them."
They had been on the march nearly a month when they came to TurtleCreek, which flows into the Monongahela only eight miles from FortDuquesne a strong fortress of logs with bastions, ravelins, ditch,glacis and covered ways, standing at the junction of the twin streams,the Monongahela and the Alleghany, that form the great Ohio. Here theymade a little halt and the scouts who had been sent into the woodsreported silence and desolation.
The army rejoiced. It had been a long march, and the wilderness ishard for those not used to it, even in the best of times. Victory wasnow almost in sight. The next day, perhaps, they would march intoFort Duquesne and take possession, and doubtless a strong detachmentwould be sent in pursuit of the flying French and Indians.
Full warrant had they for their expectations, as nothing seemed morepeaceful than the wilderness. The flames from the cooking fires threwtheir ruddy light over bough and bush, and disclosed no enemy, and, asthe glow of the coals died down, the peaceful tails of the night birdsshowed that the forest was undisturbed.
Far in the night, Robert, Tayoga and Willet crept through the woods toFort Duquesne. They found many small trails of both white men and redmen, but none indicating a large force. At last they saw a light underthe western horizon, which they believed to come from Duquesne itself.
"Perhaps they've burned the fort and are abandoning it," said Robert.
Willet shook his head.
"Not likely," he said. "It's more probable that the light comes fromgreat fires, around which the savages are dancing the war dance."
"What do you think, Tayoga?"
"That the Great Bear is right."
"But surely," said Robert, "they can't hope to withstand an army likeours."
"Robert," said Willet, "you've lived long enough in it to know thatanything is possible in the wilderness. Contrecoeur, the Frenchcommander at Duquesne, is a brave and capable man. Beaujeu, who standsnext to him, has, they say, a soul of fire. You know what St. Luc is,the bravest of the brave, and as wise as a fox, and Dumas and Lignerisare great partisan leaders. Do you think these men will run awaywithout a fight?"
"But they must depend chiefly on the Indians!"
"Even so. They won't let the Indians run away either. We're bound tohave some kind of a battle somewhere, though we ought to win."
"Do you know the general's plans for tomorrow?"
"We're to start at dawn. We'll cross the Monongahela for the secondtime about noon, or a little later, and then, if the French andIndians have run away, as you seemed a little while ago to believethey would, we'll proceed, colors flying into the fort."
"If the enemy makes a stand I should think it would be at the ford."
"Seems likely."
"Come! Come, Dave! Be cheerful. If they meet us at the ford oranywhere else we'll brush 'em aside. That big body of French regularsfrom Canada hasn't come--we know that--and there isn't force enough inDuquesne to withstand us."
Willet did not say anything more, but his steps were not at allbuoyant as they walked back toward the camp. Robert, lying on ablanket, slept soundly before one of the fires, but awoke at dawn, andtook breakfast with Willet, Tayoga, Grosvenor and the two youngVirginians, Stuart and Cabell.
"We'll be in Duquesne tonight," said the sanguine Stuart.
"In very truth we will," said the equally confident Grosvenor.
The dawn came clear and brilliant, and the army advanced, to the musicof a fine band. The light cavalry led the way, then came a detachmentof sailors who had been loaned by Admiral Keppel, followed by theEnglish regulars in red and the Virginians in blue. Behind them camethe cannon, the packhorses, and all the elements that make up thetrain of an army.
It was a gay and inspiriting sight, especially so to youth, andRobert's heart thrilled as he looked. The hour of triumph had come atlast. Away with the forebodings of Willet! Here was the might ofEngland and the colonies, and, brave and cunning as St. Luc andBeaujeu and the other Frenchmen might be their bravery and cunningwould avail them nothing.
They marched on all the morning, a long and brilliant line of red andblue and brown, and nothing happened. The forest on either side ofthem was still silent and tenantless, and they expected in a few morehours to see the fort they had come so far
to take. The heavensthemselves were propitious. Only little white clouds were to be seenin the sky of dazzling blue, and the green forest, stirred by a gentlewind, waved its boughs at them in friendly fashion.
About noon they approached the river, and Gage leading a strongadvance guard across it, found no enemy on the other side, puzzlingand also pleasing news. The foe, whom they had expected to find inthis formidable position, seemed to have melted away. No trace of himcould be found in the forest, and to many it appeared that the road toFort Duquesne lay open.
"They've concluded our force is too great and have abandoned thefort," said Robert. "I can't make anything else of it, Dave."
"It does look like it," said the hunter doubtfully. "I certainlythought they would meet us here. The ford is the place of places for adefensive battle."
Gage made his report to Braddock, confirming the general in his beliefthat the French and Indians would not dare to meet him, and that thedangers of the wilderness had been overrated. The order to resume themarch was given and the trumpets in the advance sang merrily, thesilent woods giving back their echoes in faint musical notes. Theafternoon that had now come was as brilliant as the morning. A greatsun blazed down from a sky of cloudless blue, deepening andintensifying the green of the forest, the red uniforms of the Britishand the blue uniforms of the Virginians. Robert again admired thesight. The army marched as if on parade, and it presented a splendidspectacle.
The head of the column entered the shallows, and soon the long linewas passing the river. Robert had a lingering belief that the bulletswould rain upon them in the water, but nothing stirred in the forestbeyond. The head of the column emerged upon the opposite bank, andthen its long red and blue length trailed slowly after. Robert and hiscomrades crossed in a wagon. They had wanted to go into the woods,seeking for the enemy, but the orders of Braddock, who wished to keepall his force together, held them.
The entire army was now across, and, within the shade of the forest,the general ordered a short period for rest and food, before theycompleted the few miles that yet separated them from FortDuquesne. The troops were in great spirits. They might have been heldat the dangerous ford, they thought, but now that it had been passedwithout resistance the woods could offer nothing able to stop them.
"What has become of your warlike Frenchmen, Mr. Willet?" askedGrosvenor. "So far as this campaign is concerned they seem to excel asrunners rather than warriors."
"I confess that I'm surprised, Mr. Grosvenor," replied thehunter. "Beaujeu, St. Luc and Dumas are not the men to make a carpetof roses for us to march on. There is something here that does notmeet the eye. What say you, Tayoga?"
"I like it not," replied the Onondaga. "In war I fear the forest whenit is silent."
Near them a small circle of land had been cleared and in it stood ahouse, lone and deserted. It had been built by a trader named Fraserand in it Washington, who had visited it once before on a formermission, and one or two others sat, during the period of rest andrefreshment. The young Virginian, despite his great frame and giganticstrength, was so much wasted by fever that, when he came forth toremount, he was barely able to keep his place in his saddle.
Now the merry trumpets sang again and the red and blue column, liftingitself up, resumed its march along the trail through the forest towardDuquesne. The river was on one side and a line of high hills on theother, but the forest everywhere was dense and in its heaviestfoliage. Braddock, despite the safe passage of the ford, was notreckless. A troop of guides and Virginia light horsemen led the way. Ahundred yards behind them came the vanguard, then Gage with a pickedbody of British troops, after them the axmen, who had done such greatwork, behind them the main body of the artillery, the wagons and thepackhorses, while a strong force of regulars and Virginians closed upthe rear. Scouts and skirmishers ranged the flanks, though they wereordered to go not more than a few hundred yards away.
Robert, Tayoga and Willet were with the guides at the very apex of thecolumn, and they continually searched the forests and the thicketswith keen eyes for a possible enemy. But all was quiet there. Thegame, frightened by the advancing army, had gone away. Not a leaf, nota bough stirred. The blazing sun, now near the zenith, poured downfiery rays and it was hot in the shade of the great trees that grew soclosely together.
Robert and the other scouts and guides in the apex marched onsoundless feet, but he heard close behind him the tread of theVirginia light horsemen, behind them the steady march of the regularsunder Gage, and behind them the deep hum and murmur of the army, thecreaking of wheels and the clank of the great guns. Despite thefollowing sounds he was conscious all the time of the deep, intensesilence in the forest on either side of him. The birds, like the game,had gone away, and there was no flash of blue or of flame among thegreen leaves.
"There's a dip just ahead," said Willet, pointing to a wide ravinefilled with bushes that ran directly across the trail.
They continued their steady advance, and Robert's heart fluttered, butwhen they came to the ravine they found it empty of everything savethe bushes, and the scouts and guides, plunging into it, crossed tothe other side. The light horsemen of Virginia followed, after themGage's regulars and then the main army drew on its red and bluelength, expecting to cross in the same way.
Robert, Tayoga and Willet, leading, entered the deep forestagain. Some chance had put young Lennox slightly in advance of hiscomrades, but suddenly he stopped. A short distance ahead a figurebounded across the trail and disappeared in the thicket. It was only aflitting glimpse, but he recognized St. Luc, the athletic figure, thefair hair and the strong face.
"St. Luc!" he exclaimed. "Did you see, Dave? Did you see?"
"Aye, I saw," said the hunter, "and the enemy is here!"
He whirled about, threw up his arms and shouted to the column tostop. At the same moment, a terrible cry, the long fierce war whoop ofthe savages, burst from the forest, filled the air and came back inferocious echoes. Then a deadly fire of rifles and muskets was pouredfrom both right and left upon the marching column. Men and horses wentdown, and cries of pain and surprise blended with the war whoop of thesavages which swelled and fell again.
Robert and his comrades had thrown themselves flat upon the ground atthe first fire, and escaped the bullets. Now they rose to theirknees, and began to send their own bullets at the flitting forms amongthe trees and bushes. Robert caught glimpses of the savages, naked tothe waist, coated thickly with war paint, their fierce eyes gleaming,and now and then he saw a man in French uniform passing among them andencouraging them. He saw one gigantic figure which he knew to be thatof Tandakora, and he raised his reloaded rifle to fire at him, but theOjibway was gone.
Surprised in the ominous forest, the British and the Virginiansnevertheless showed a courage worthy of all praise. Gage formed hisregulars on the trail, and they sent volley after volley into thedense shades on either side, the big muskets thundering together likecannon. Leaves and twigs and little boughs fell in showers beforetheir bullets, but whether they struck any of the foe they did notknow. The smoke soon rose in clouds and added to the dimness andobscurity of the forest.
"A great noise," shouted Tayoga in Robert's ear, "but it does not hurtthe enemy, who sees his target and sends his bullets against it!"
The soldiers were dropping fast and the bullets of the French and thesavages were coming from their coverts in a deadly rain. Robert,Willet and Tayoga, with the wisdom of the wilderness, remainedcrouched at the edge of the trail, but in shelter, and did not fireuntil they saw an enemy upon whom to draw the trigger. Then a deeperroar was added to the thundering of the big muskets, as Braddockbrought up the cannon, and they began to sweep the forest. The Englishtroops, eager to get at the foe, crowded forward, shouting "God savethe King!" and the cheers of the Virginians joined with them.
"We'll win! We'll win!" cried Robert. "They can't stop such brave menas ours!"
But the fire of the French and the savages was increasing in volumeand accuracy. The bullets and cannon balls
of the English andAmericans fired almost at random were passing over their heads, butthe great column of scarlet and blue on the trail formed a targetwhich the leaden missiles could not miss. Continually shouting the warwhoop, exultant now with the joy of expected triumph, the savageshovered on either flank of Braddock's army like a swarm of bees, butwith a sting far more deadly. The brave and wily Beaujeu had beenkilled in the first minute of the battle, but St. Luc, Dumas andLigneris, equally brave and wily, directed the onset, and the hugeTandakora raged before his warriors.
The head of the British column was destroyed, and the three crept backtoward Gage's regulars, but the fire of the enemy was now spreadingalong both flanks of the column to its full length. Robert rememberedthe warning words of St. Luc. Every twig and leaf in the forest wasspouting death. Gage's regulars, raked by a terrible fire, and indanger of complete destruction, were compelled to retreat upon themain body, and, to their infinite mortification, abandon two cannon,which the savages seized with fierce shouts of joy and dragged intothe woods.
"It goes ill," said Willet, as the terrible forest, raining death fromevery side, seemed to close in on them like the shadow ofdoom. Braddock, hearing the tremendous fire ahead, rushed forward hisown immediate troops as fast as possible, and meeting Gage'sretreating men, the two bodies became a great mass of scarlet in theforest, upon which French and Indian bullets, that could not miss,beat like a storm of hail. The shouts and cheers of the regularsceased. In an appalling situation, the like of which they had neverknown before, hemmed in on every side by an unseen death, they fellinto confusion, but they did not lose courage. The savage ring nowenclosed the whole army, and to stand and to retreat alike meantdeath.
The British charged with the bayonet into the thickets. The Indiansmelted away before them, and, when the exhausted regulars came backinto the trail, the Indians rushed after them, still pouring in amurderous fire, and making the forest ring with the ferocious warwhoop. The Virginians, knowing the warfare of the wilderness, began totake to the shelter of the trees, from which they could fire at theenemy. The brave though mistaken Braddock fiercely ordered them outagain. A score lying behind a fallen trunk and, matching the savagesat their own game, were mistaken by the regulars for the foe, and werefired upon with deadly effect. Other regulars who tried to imitate thehostile tactics were set upon by Braddock himself who beat them withthe flat of his sword and drove them back into the open trail, wherethe rain of bullets fell directly upon them.
Robert looked upon the scene and he found it awful to the lastdegree. The bodies of the dead in red or blue lay everywhere.Officers, English and Virginian, ran here and there beggingand praying their troops to stand and form in order. "Fireupon the enemy!" they shouted. "Show us somebody to fire at and we'llfire," the men shouted back. The confusion was deepening, and thesigns of a panic were appearing. In the forest the circle of Indians,mad with battle and the greatest taking of scalps they had ever known,pressed closer and closer, and sent sheets of bullets into the huddledmass. Many of them leaped in and scalped the fallen before the eyes ofthe horrified soldiers. The yelling never ceased, and it was soterrific that the few British officers who survived declared that theywould never forget it to their dying day.
Among the officers the mortality was now frightful. The brave SirPeter Halket was shot dead, and his young son, the lieutenant, rushingto raise up his body, was killed and fell by his side. The youthfulShirley, Braddock's secretary, received a bullet in his brain and diedinstantly. Out of eighty-six officers sixty-three were down.Washington alone seemed to bear a charmed life. Two horses werekilled under him and four bullets pierced his clothing. Braddockgalloped back and forth, cursing and shouting to his men, and showingundaunted courage. Robert believed that he never really understoodwhat was happening, that the deadly nature of the surprise and itsappalling completeness left him dazed.
How long Robert stood at the edge of the circle of death and firedinto the bushes he never knew, but it seemed to him that almost aneternity had passed, when Tayoga seized him by the arm and shouted inhis ear.
"It is finished! Our army has perished! Come, Lennox!"
He wiped the smoke from his eyes, and saw that the mass in red andblue was much smaller. Braddock was still on his horse, and, at theinsistence of his officers, he was at last giving the command toretreat. Just as the trumpet sounded that note of defeat he was shotthrough the body and fell to the ground where, in his rage anddespair, he begged the men to leave him to die alone. But two of theVirginia officers lifted him up and bore him toward the rear. Then thearmy that had fought so long against an invisible foe broke into apanic, that is what was left of it, as two thirds of its numbers hadalready been killed or wounded. Shouting with horror and ignoringtheir officers, they rushed for the river.
Everything was lost, cannon and baggage were abandoned, and oftenrifles and muskets were thrown away. Into the water they rushed, andthe Indians, who had followed howling like wolves, stopped, thoughthey fired at the fleeing men in the stream.
As the retreat began, Robert, Tayoga and Willet, whom some miracleseemed to preserve from harm, joined the Virginians who covered therear, and, as fast as they could reload their rifles, they fired atthe demon horde that pressed closer and closer, and that never ceasedto cut down the fleeing army. It was much like a ghastly dream toRobert. Nothing was real, except his overwhelming sense of horror. Menfell around him, and he wondered why he did not fall too, but he wasuntouched, and Willet and Tayoga also were unwounded. He saw near himyoung Stuart who had lost his horse long since, but who had snatched arifle from a fallen soldier, and who was fighting gallantly on foot.
"Who would have thought it?" exclaimed the Virginian. "An army suchas ours, to be beaten, nay, to be destroyed, by a swarm of savages!"
"But don't forget the Frenchmen!" shouted Robert in reply. "They'redirecting!"
"Which is no consolation to us," cried Stuart. He said something else,but it was lost in the tremendous firing and yelling of the Indians,who were now only a score of yards away from the devoted rear guardthat was doing its best to protect the flying and confused mass ofsoldiers.
Robert discharged his bullet at a brown face and then, as he walkedbackward, he tripped and fell over a root. He sprang up at once, butin an instant a gigantic figure bounded out of the fire and smoke, andTandakora, uttering a fierce shout of triumph, circled his tomahawkswiftly above his head, preparatory to the mortal blow. But Tayoga,quick as lightning, hurled his pistol with all his might. It struckthe huge Ojibway on the head with such force that the tomahawk fellfrom his hand, and he staggered back into the smoke.
"Tayoga, again I thank you!" cried Robert.
"You will do the same for me," said the Onondaga, and then they toowere lost in the smoke, as with the rear guard of Virginians theyfollowed the retreating army.
Robert and his comrades, swept on in the press, crossed the river withthe others and gained the farther shore unhurt. Willet looked back atthe woods, which still flamed with the hostile rifles, and shuddered.
"It's worse than anything of which I ever dreamed," he said. "Now thetomahawk and the scalping knife will sweep the border from Canada toCarolina."
The panic was stopped at last and the broken remnants of the army,covered by the Virginians who understood the forest, began theirretreat. Braddock died the next day, his last words being, "We shallknow better how to deal with them another time." Washington, Orme,Morris and the others carried the news of the great defeat to Virginiaand Pennsylvania, whence it was sent to England, to be received thereat first with incredulity, men saying that such a thing wasimpossible. But England too was soon to be in mourning, because somany of her bravest had fallen at the hands of an invisible foe in thefar American wilderness.
Robert, Willet and Tayoga followed the retreating army only a shortdistance beyond the Monongahela. They saw that Grosvenor, Stuart andCabell had escaped with slight wounds, and, slipping quietly into theforest, they circled about Fort Duquesne, seeing the lights where t
heIndians were burning their wretched prisoners alive, and then plungingagain into the woods.
Late at night they lay down in a dense covert, and exhausted,slept. They rose at dawn, and tried to shake off the horror.
"Be of good courage, Robert," said Willet. "It's a terrible blow, butEngland and the colonies have not yet gathered their full strength."
"That is so," said Tayoga. "Our sachems tell us that he who wins thefirst victory does not always win the last."
A bird on a bough over their heads began to sing a song of greeting tothe new day, and Robert hoped and believed.
The Shadow of the North: A Story of Old New York and a Lost Campaign Page 16