"Aunt Caroline!" said Elizabeth for the third time.
"What is it, Elizabeth?" said her aunt, at last laying down her pen. "I hear you, and I have answered. Don't stand there repeating my name like a parrot. Why are you not in bed?"
"Because I have something to tell you. I could not go to bed. I—I have something to tell you."
"So it appears. Suppose you tell me now, instead of this endless repetition. Come, I have no time to waste."
"Aunt Caroline," said Elizabeth, drawing nearer, and standing with her hands clasped behind her back, as she did when she had anything of importance to say, "Val is here."
"Val? What Val? What do you mean?"
"My brother Val."
"Is here? Oh no! you are mistaken, Elizabeth. Let me feel your hands. You ate no dinner, and you are feverish. Your eyes are very staring. Rebecca, do you suppose the child is delirious, or is she walking in her sleep?"
"I am not either, Aunt Caroline. I am not de—that long word, and I am wide awake. Val is here. He came this afternoon, and he is up in the locked room."
Miss Herrick rose to her feet, and even Miss Rebecca dropped her book.
"She is certainly ill. Rebecca, ring the bell for James to go for the doctor."
"I tell you I am not ill, Aunt Caroline," cried Elizabeth. "Val came and said that he wanted to hide, and that he must hide in that room. I got the key from your desk—you left your desk unlocked—and I let him into the room. It was very wrong, Aunt Caroline. I know it was wrong. And I am so sorry. That is the reason I am telling you, because I ought not to have done it. If you don't believe that he is here, come and see."
The next day, the 31st of October, 1753, George set forth on his arduous mission. He had before him nearly six hundred miles of travelling, much of it through an unbroken wilderness, where snow and ice and rain and hail at that season were to be expected. In the conference with the Governor and his advisers, which lasted until after midnight, George had been given carte blanche in selecting his escort, which was not to exceed seven persons, until he reached Logstown, when he could take as many Indians as he thought wise. He quickly made up his mind as to whom he wanted. He wished first a person of gentle breeding, as an interpreter between himself and the French officers. He remembered Captain Jacob Vanbraam, a Dutch officer, now retired, and living at Fredericksburg, who might be induced to make the journey. Then there were Gist and John Davidson. It was thought best, however, to take an Indian along as interpreter for the Indians, as they might complain, in case of a misunderstanding, that Davidson had fooled them. In regard to the other three persons George concluded that it would be well to wait until he reached Greenway Court, which was directly in the route of his outward journey, as he would be most likely to find in that vicinity a person better used to such an expedition than in the lower country. Armed with full credentials by the Governor, and with a belt around his body containing a large sum in gold and negotiable bills, George at daylight took the road he had traversed the night before.
He determined not to take Billy on the expedition, but he rather dreaded the wild howlings and wailings which he thought it was certain Billy would set up when he found he could not go. George therefore thought it well as they trotted along to make Billy ride up with him, and describe all the anticipated hardships of the coming journey. He did not soften one line in the picture, and enlarged particularly upon the scarcity of food, and the chances of starving in the wilderness, or being scalped and roasted by Indians. Billy's countenance during this was a study. Between his devotion to George and his terror of the impending expedition Billy was in torment, and when at last George told him he must remain either at Mount Vernon or Ferry Farm, Billy did not know whether to howl or to grin.
George reached Fredericksburg that night, and went immediately to Captain Vanbraam's house. The Dutchman, a stout, middle-aged man, yet of a soldierly appearance, at once agreed to go, and, in the few hours necessary for his preparations George took the opportunity of crossing the river and spending the night with his mother and sister and brothers at Ferry Farm. His mother was full of fear for him, but she realized that this brave and gifted son was no longer solely hers—his country had need of him as soon as he came of age. Next morning Betty went with him across the river, and bade him good-by with the smiling lips and tear-filled eyes that always marked her farewells with George, her best beloved. Billy wept vociferously, but was secretly much relieved at being left behind. Four days afterwards George and Captain Vanbraam reached Greenway Court, having sent an express on the way to Gist and Davidson, who lived on the Great North Mountain.
When George burst into Lord Fairfax's library one night about dusk the Earl knew not whether to be most delighted or surprised. He immediately began to tell the Earl of his forth-coming plan, thanking him at the same time for procuring him such preferment. "And I assure you, sir," he said, with sparkling eyes, "although at first I felt a strange sinking of the heart, and was appalled at the idea that I was unequal to the task, as soon as the command was laid upon me I felt my spirits rise and my fears disappear. If I succeed I shall be very happy, and if I fail the world will say I was but a boy, after all. Why did his Excellency send an inexperienced young man on such an errand? But I shall certainly do my best."
"Angels can do no more," the Earl quoted.
George's eagerness and his boyish enthusiasm pleased the Earl, who had no taste for solemn youngsters; and he listened, smiling, as George poured forth his hopes, plans, and aspirations. When he spoke of the additional men to be taken, Lord Fairfax said:
"I know of two capable ones. Black Bear would make an excellent Indian interpreter, and Lance would be the very man to note the French fortifications. He has as good a military eye as I ever knew."
George gasped with delight.
"Do you mean, sir," he cried, "that you will really let me have Lance?"
"Go and ask him."
The young Major, who had impressed the Governor and councillors with his gravity and dignity, now jumped up and ran to the armory, bawling "Lance! Lance!" at the top of a pair of powerful lungs. Lance promptly appeared, and in three words George told him the plan. Old Lance nearly wrung George's hand off at the news.
"Well, sir, it makes me feel nigh thirty years younger to be going among the mounseers again. Maybe you think, sir, I never saw a French fort; but I tell you, sir, I have seen more French forts, ay, and been at the taking too, than they have between here and Canada."
Black Bear was across the mountain, but a messenger was sent at once for him, and he was told to bring another trusty Indian along. Within two days from reaching Greenway Court the party was ready to start. Lord Fairfax saw George set off, in high health and spirits, and full of restrained enthusiasm. He wore the buckskin shirt and leggings of a huntsman to make the journey in, but in his saddle-bags was a fine new Major's uniform of the provincial army, and he carried the rapier given him many years before by Lord Fairfax.
Seven days' hard travelling, at the beginning of the wintry season, brought the party to Logstown, not far from what is now Pittsburg. The journey had been hard, snow having fallen early, and, the fords being swollen, the party were obliged to swim their horses across the mountain streams. But George had not found time heavy on his hands. Captain Vanbraam and Lance discovered that they had served in different campaigns in the same region, and, without forgetting the status between an officer and a private soldier, they were extremely good comrades, much to George's delight.
On their arrival at Logstown, Black Bear at once went in search of his father, the great chief of one of the Six Nations, and the other chiefs were assembled in the course of a day or two. George found them much incensed against the French, but, like all their tribe, before they could act they had to have many meetings and a great oratorical display. George, who loved not speech-making, made them but one brief address, and by using all his powers managed to get Tanacharison and representatives of the other tribes off, and in a few days more they arrived at a French outpost. It was merely a log house with the French colors flying over it. George, waiting until dusk, and leaving his Indian allies out of sight, taking only with him Vanbraam and Lance, as his servant, rode up to the door and knocked. Three French officers appeared, and on seeing two gentlemen in uniform, the senior, Captain Joncaire, civilly asked them, in broken English, to alight and sup with them.
George, with equal politeness, told them that he was the bearer of a letter to M. de St.-Pierre, the commandant at the French fort farther up, but would be pleased to accept their hospitality.
Inside the house was quite comfortable, and the party, except Lance, who waited on the table, soon sat down to supper. As George had frankly informed them of his mission, it behooved them to be prudent, and so they were until the wine began to flow. Captain Vanbraam had not thought it his duty to let on that he understood French, and the conversation had been conducted in such English as the French could command. George, although he could not speak French, could understand it a little, especially with the help of the abundant gestures the French used.
He had always had a contempt for men who "put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains," and the spectacle soon presented by the French officers made him vow inwardly that never, so long as he lived, would he put himself in the condition they were then in. These men, brave and otherwise discreet, passed the bottle so often that they soon lost all sense of prudence, and, turning from broken English to French, told things in regard to their military plans which they would rather have died than betray. Captain Joncaire, forgetting, in his maudlin state, that George had said he did not understand French well, turned to him and said, in French:
"Ah, you English mean to drive us out. Well, let me tell you we are not to be driven out. We expect to go to war with your country soon, and this is a good place to begin. We know that you can raise two men to our one, but you have a dilatory, foolish Governor in Virginia, and he will let us overrun the country before he does anything to stop us."
As he kept on, giving information about his people that he should never have done, and which George partly understood, such keen contempt came into George's eyes that a gleam of soberness returned to Captain Joncaire, and for a few minutes he said no more. But "when the wine is in the wit is out," and the Frenchmen continued to talk in the foolish manner which awaits the wisest man when he makes a beast of himself with liquor.
At ten o'clock George and Captain Vanbraam had to tear themselves away from the Frenchmen, who, drunker than ever, tried to hold them back by embracing them.
As they made their way back to their camp Captain Vanbraam repeated every word the drunken officers had said. George spoke little. The spectacle was not only disgusting but painful to him.
Next morning, early, Captain Joncaire sought out their camp, and professed great surprise at seeing the Indians, whom he declared to be his friends. He invited them to the house, where George well knew there would be liquor and cajolery in plenty for them.
"My dear Major Washington," cried Joncaire, after a while, and coloring slightly as he spoke, "I am afraid you had us at a disadvantage last night. We talked rather wildly, I fancy, but don't put too much confidence in what we said when the wine was flowing."
"I am compelled to put confidence in what Captain Joncaire and his officers say, drunk or sober," was George's reply, delivered not without sarcasm, at which Captain Joncaire winced. The Frenchmen invited the Indians to their post, and George had the mortification of seeing them all carried off, except Tanacharison and his son Black Bear; and when, in the evening, he sent for the chiefs, they returned to him stupidly drunk and loaded with presents from the French.
"We must get them away as soon as possible," said George to his white followers and his two faithful Indians. Tanacharison, a venerable old chief and a man of great eloquence, watched the Indians in their drunken sleep, and when they wakened, although it was near sun-down, so worked upon them by a speech he made them, that they agreed to leave with the rest of the party. George and Captain Vanbraam went to the French post to bid the officers a polite farewell.
Captain Joncaire said many civil things to them, and sent them a handsome present of provisions, but was evidently chagrined at the Indians being carried off under his very nose.
Eleven days more of travelling through intense cold, with the snow deep on the ground, brought the party to Fort Le Bœuf, on French Creek, about fifteen miles from Lake Erie. This was commanded by M. Legardeur de St.-Pierre, an old French officer of great ability, and a chevalier of the military order of St. Louis.
The party reached the fort late in the evening, and found it a stout place, well adapted for defence. George rode up to the gate—his horse now a sorry-looking creature—and asked to be conducted to the commandant. As soon as the message was delivered M. de St.-Pierre came out in person, and, receiving the letter from the Governor of Virginia with great respect, raising his hat in taking it, invited Major Washington's party in.
Although strictly attending to the commandant's conversation, George used his keen eyes to the utmost advantage, and he felt sure that Lance was doing the same thing. There were over a hundred soldiers in the fort, and not less than thirty officers.
George and his party were led through a court-yard, around which were barracks and officers' quarters, protected by bastions well provided with artillery. Arrived at the commandant's quarters, M. de St.-Pierre said, courteously, in English,
"When you and your party have refreshed yourselves for a day or two, Major Washington, we will discuss the matters contained in the Governor's letter."
Now this was just what George did not desire. He knew that every artifice would be practised on his Indian allies to win them to the French, as Captain Joncaire had done, with much greater prospect of success. How would he persuade them to leave the good food, the seductive liquor, and the presents that he felt sure the French were ready to shower upon them? His only dependence was upon Tanacharison and Black Bear. How often did he rejoice inwardly over that bucket of water he had given to Black Bear the night of the attack at Greenway Court, six years before! His reply, therefore, to the French commandant was polite but positive:
"I thank you, sir, for your kindness, but I am ready at this moment to proceed to the consideration of his Excellency's letter."
This slightly disconcerted M. de St.-Pierre, who had some inward contempt for the youth of the ambassador sent by the Governor.
"I shall have to send for my second in command, Captain Reparti," he said, "who left us this morning to visit another post."
"I hope, monsieur, that you will send for him at your earliest convenience, for my orders are peremptory—to deliver the letter and return with an answer at the earliest possible moment."
"If I send this evening," remarked M. de St.-Pierre, "my messenger might lose his way in the darkness."
"If you will kindly give me the directions, sir," answered George, with much politeness, "I have men in my party who can make the journey by night, although they have never traversed this part of the country before."
"I will send, however, immediately," said M. de St.-Pierre, coloring slightly, and comprehending that he was dealing with a natural diplomatist.
After a very agreeable dinner George was shown to his room, where Lance, as his servant, awaited him. Scarcely was the door closed before George began, anxiously,
"Where are the Indians?"
"In the barrack-room, sir. The French soldiers are promising them guns and powder and shot and hatchets, and pouring liquor down all of them except Tanacharison and Black Bear, who won't drink, and who mean to be true to us. But, sir, you can't blame the poor devils for taking what the French give them."
"We must get away from here as soon as possible," cried George. "What have you noticed in the fort, Lance?"
"That it's mighty well made, sir; the mounseers are fine engineers, and they know how to build a fort. They have eight six-pounders mounted in the bastions, and a four-pounder at the gate-house. But they have got a lot more places pierced for guns, and you may depend upon it, sir, they have a-plenty more guns than they choose to show stowed away somewhere."
Next morning, Captain Reparti having arrived, M. de St.-Pierre and his officers considered the Governor's letter privately, and then, admitting George, with his interpreter, Captain Vanbraam, an answer was dictated denying the right of the English to any part of the country watered by the Ohio River. This was an important and dangerous announcement, and although not a word was said about war, yet every man present knew that if this contention were maintained England and France must fight, and the country must be drenched with blood. George, with perfect composure, received the letter, and, rising, said:
"My mission, sir, is accomplished. I have delivered the Governor's letter, and your reply, M. de St.-Pierre, shall be conveyed not only to the Governor, but to his Britannic Majesty. I am now ready to take my leave."
"Do not be in so great a hurry to leave us, Major Washington," said M. de St.-Pierre, suavely. "Some of my young officers promised a few guns to your Indian allies, by way of making them satisfied to remain during our negotiation, which I thought would be longer, and the guns cannot arrive until to-morrow morning."
As George knew the impossibility of getting the Indians off without the guns, he consented with the utmost readiness to remain; but he would have given half his fortune to have got off.
The day was one of intense nervous strain on him. His sole dependence in managing the Indians were Tanacharison and Black Bear. And what if they should betray him? But at night the old chief and his son came to him and promised most solemnly to get the chiefs away as soon as the guns should arrive in the morning. George had a luxurious bed in his rude though comfortable quarters, but he slept not one wink that night. By daylight he was up. Soon after Lance sidled up to him in the court-yard, and said,
"Sir, the guns have come—I saw them myself; but the Frenchies will not say a word about it unless they are asked."
Just then M. de St.-Pierre, wrapped in a great surtout, appeared, coming out of his quarters.
"Good-morning, Major Washington!" he cried.
"Good-morning, M. de St.-Pierre!" replied George, gayly. "I must give orders to my party for an early start, as the guns you promised the Indians have arrived, and I have no further excuse for remaining."
"Sacre bleu!" burst out M. de St.-Pierre; "I did not expect the guns so soon!" At which he looked into George's eyes, and suddenly both burst out laughing. The Frenchman saw that his ruse was understood.
The party were soon collected, and after a hearty breakfast George took his leave, and, much to the chagrin of the French, succeeded in carrying off all his Indian allies with him. They rapidly retraced their road, and when they made their first halt, ten miles from Fort Le Bœuf, George exclaimed, aside to Lance,
"This is the first easy moment I have known for twenty-four hours."
"'Tis the first I have had, sir, since we got to the first post, fourteen days ago!"
It was now the latter part of December. The horses, gaunt and starved, were no longer fit for riding, and George set the example of dismounting and going on foot. Their progress with so large a party was not rapid, and George determined to leave Captain Vanbraam, with the horses and provisions, to follow, while he, in his health and strength, set off at a more rapid gait, in order that he might reach Williamsburg with M. de St.-Pierre's defiant letter as soon as possible. Lance, with his experience as a foot-soldier, easily proved his superiority when they were reduced to walking, so George chose him as a companion. Christmas day was spent in a long, hard march, and on the next day George, dressing himself in his buckskin shirt and leggings, with his gun and valuable papers, and giving most of the money for the expedition to Captain Vanbraam, struck off with Lance for a more rapid progress.
The two walked steadily all day, and covered almost twice as much ground as the party following them. At night, with their flints, they struck a roaring fire in the forest, and took turns in watching and sleeping. By daylight they were again afoot.
"I never saw such a good pair of legs as you have, sir, in all my life," said Lance, on this day, as they trudged along. "My regiment was counted to have the best legs for steady work in all the Duke of Marlborough's army, and mine were considered the best pair in the regiment, but you put me to my trumps."
"Perhaps if you were as young as I you would put me to my trumps, for—"
At this moment a shot rang out on the frozen air, and a bullet made a clean hole through George's buckskin cap. One glance showed him an Indian crouching in the brushwood. With a spring as quick and sure as a panther's, George had the savage by the throat, and wrenched the firelock, still smoking, from his hand. Behind him half a dozen Indian figures were seen stealing off through the trees. Lance walked up, and raising a hatchet over the Indian's head, said, coolly,
"Mr. Washington, we must kill him as we would a snake."
"No," replied George, "I will not have him killed."[2]
The Indian, standing perfectly erect and apparently unconcerned, understood well enough that the question of his life or death was under discussion, but with a more than Roman fortitude he awaited his fate, glancing indifferently meanwhile at the glittering edge of the hatchet still held over him.
George took the hatchet from Lance's hand, and said to the Indian, in English: "Though you have tried to kill me, I will spare your life. But I will not trust you behind me. Walk ten paces in front of us, in the direction of the Alleghany River."
The Indian turned, and, after getting his bearings, started off in a manner which showed he understood what was required of him.
The Indians have keen ears, so that George and Lance dared not speak in his hearing, but by exchanging signs they conveyed to each other that there were enemies on their path, of whom this fellow was only one.
Steadily the three tramped for hours, Lance carrying the Indian's gun. When darkness came on they stopped and made the Indian make the fire, which he did, scowling, as being squaw's work. They then divided with him their scanty ration of dried venison, and, George taking charge of the guns, Lance slept two hours. He was then wakened by George, who lay down by the fire and slept two hours, when he too was wakened. George then said to the Indian, who had remained sleepless and upright all the time:
"We have determined to let you go, as we have not food enough for three men. Go back to your tribe, and tell them that we spared your life; but before you go pile wood on the fire, for we may have to remain here, on account of the rise in the river, for several days."
This was a ruse, but the Indian fell at once into the trap. After replenishing the fire he started off in a northwesterly direction. As soon as George and Lance were sure that he was out of sight they made off in the opposite direction, and after some hours of trudging through snow and ice they found themselves on the bank of the river. They had hoped to find it frozen over, but, instead, there was only a fringe of ice-cakes along the shores and swirling about in the main channel.
Lance looked at George in some discouragement, but George only said, cheerfully: "It is lucky you have the hatchet, Lance. We must make a raft."
The short winter day was nearly done before a rude raft was made, and on it the two embarked. The piercing wind dashed their frail contrivance about, and it was buffeted to and fro by the floating ice. They could not make the opposite shore, but were forced to land on an island, where they spent the night. The hardships told on the older man, and George saw, by the despairing look in Lance's eyes, that he could do no more that day. Wood, however, was plentiful, and a great fire was made.
"Cheer up, Lance!" cried George, when the fire began to blaze: "there is still more dried venison left. You shall sleep to-night, and in the morning the river will be frozen over, and one more day's march will bring us to civilization."
Lance was deeply mortified at his temporary collapse, but there was no denying it. George had but little sleep that night. Five days afterwards the two parted—Lance to return to Greenway Court, and George to press on to Williamsburg. By that time they had secured horses.
"Good-by, my friend," said George. "Tell my lord that nothing but the urgency of the case prevented me from giving myself the happiness of seeing him, and that no day has passed since he sent you with me that I have not thanked him in my heart for your company."
A subtle quiver came upon Lance's rugged face.
"Mr. Washington," he said, "I thank you humbly for what you have said; but mark my words, sir, the time will come, if it is not already here, that my lord will be thankful for every hour that you have spent with him, and proud for every step of advancement he has helped you to."
"I hope so, my friend," cried George, gayly, and turning to go.
Lance watched the tall, lithe young figure in hunting-clothes, worn and torn, riding jauntily off, until George was out of sight. Then he himself struck out for Greenway Court. Four days afterwards a tattered figure rode up to Mount Vernon. The negroes laughed and cried and yah-yahed at seeing "Marse George" in such a plight. Spending only one night there, in order to get some clothes and necessaries, he left at daybreak for Williamsburg, where he arrived and reported to the Governor, exactly eleven weeks from the day he started on this terrible journey.
It is now forty-three years since Czar Nicholas I., in conversation with the British ambassador at St. Petersburg, referred to Turkey as the "Sick Man," and suggested that Great Britain and Russia deal him his death-blow and divide up his heritage. We all know that Great Britain not only rejected the proposition, but, with France and Turkey as allies, not long after declared war on the Russian Empire. This Crimean war cost the great powers engaged in it thousands and thousands of men and millions and millions of money, and when peace was signed in 1856, Russia found herself deprived of some territory on the Roumanian frontier and of the right to maintain a fleet in the Black Sea.
The result acted as medicine on the "Sick Man." Propped up on each side by the western powers, he raised his head and endeavored to feel himself again. He has had several relapses since that period, one notably in 1877-8, when the Russian troops encamped within view of Constantinople. Great Britain again came to his rescue, and prevented some of the amputations planned by the Muscovite—amputations which would surely have led to his demise from sheer loss of blood. For this good service England did a little amputating on her own account, and added to her dominions the fertile island of Cyprus, in the Mediterranean. The "Sick Man" thus obtained another lease of life, but recent events would indicate that his end is at last approaching—as one writer has put it, from sheer inner putrition; and this time there is no sympathizing friend to stretch a helping hand, none to ward off his well-merited fate!
Even those Englishmen who have been most bitterly opposed in the past to a conciliatory policy toward Russia are beginning to recognize the mistake of upholding Turkish rule in Europe. As one English religious journal recently remarked, while advocating the substitution of the Russian for the Turkish flag in Constantinople, "The Czar's rule is bad enough, but there is in the hearts of the Russian people the seed of better things." And it really seems an anomaly that England, of all countries—England, the land of John Howard, of William Wilberforce, of David Livingstone—should have been instrumental in maintaining that pestiferous charnel-house on the banks of the Bosporus! Better a thousand times that the Turkish government should be abolished!
The recent massacres in Armenia and Constantinople are but repetitions of the events of former years. When the Russian troops crossed the Danube in 1853 they found many Bulgarian villages pillaged and their inhabitants massacred by the irregular Turkish troops. The horrible stories that are being told to us daily from Armenia are the same as those told in 1853 from Bulgaria. Towns were burned to ashes, and the inhabitants were burned with them or were killed in attempting to escape from them. Nevertheless, the innate barbarity of the Turk did not prevent the western powers from coming to his help in those days!
In 1861 there were other terrible massacres in the Ottoman Empire, the Christian Maronites of the Lebanon being the victims this time. In the course of a few days five thousand men, women, and children were slaughtered in and around Damascus. This pill was even too much for the Sultan's complacent western friends, and that potentate was obliged to submit to the landing of a French army of intervention in Syria. The many thousands of murders in the Lebanon district were avenged by the execution of about fifty Mussulman ringleaders, after which the French withdrew, with colors flying, to the time of "Partant pour la Syrie."
In 1876 the barbarities of the Turks in Bulgaria aroused, as we know, the indignation of the whole civilized world. Here was a brilliant opportunity for putting an end, once and for all, to Mussulman authority over a Christian population, and yet such was the jealousy of the great European powers, one for another, that they could not agree, and at the eleventh hour, as the Russians were about to grasp the prize—Constantinople—a British fleet was sent to the Sea of Marmora, and the Turk was saved once more, as above stated, to perpetrate further atrocities in the name of law and order!
It is a long lane that has no turning, and let us trust, therefore, that the symptoms pointing to the Porte's approaching dissolution are not deceptive. When the end does come it will come with a crash. A glance at the photographs on these pages will convey an idea of the kind of men still at the Sultan's beck and call. They certainly do not look as if they would give up to the Giaour without a struggle. Indeed, if the lessons of history count for anything, the unspeakable Turk will fight tooth and nail to maintain his supremacy. Since the days of Osman, founder of the present dynasty, nay, even as far back as the first century of the Christian era, the ancestors of the modern Turk were redoubtable warriors and conquerors. Even in the present century, although usually unfortunate in the outcome of their wars, they have given evidence of the old fearlessness and disregard for death. The defense of Plevna furnishes a brilliant example of Turkish bravery and obstinacy.
The pictures here presented have a peculiar interest at this moment. They represent the regiments garrisoned in Constantinople upon whom the Sultan can count in any emergency. These men are well clothed, well fed, and receive their pay with regularity, unlike the troops in the provinces, who have been wretchedly neglected of late years. These crack regiments are the regular imperial guard, line infantry, zouaves, and marines. They are picked men of Turkish race, and are decidedly more respectable than the irregulars shown in another group. It is the latter who, after the Sultan himself, are to be held accountable for the recent horrible massacres. It is they who organized themselves into marauding bands and spread death and devastation among the unhappy Armenians, with the cognizance of the camarilla at the Yildiz Kiosk, or Sultan's palace.
When the final day of reckoning arrives, it is sincerely to be hoped that this gentry will come in for some attention. The civilized world has an old score against them. May it speak in no uncertain tone—in the same voice that thundered ten thousand Turkish assassins to their doom at the sea-fight at Navarino of blessed memory! Those were the days of noble impulses and lofty aspirations, when international jealousies were powerless to sway the councils of nations and stifle the cry of the oppressed. Those were the days of Canning and of Byron. Would that some such men were alive to-day to teach Europe her sacred duty.
After we got back to the Rattletrap we promised ourselves plenty of sport the next day watching the freighters with their long teams and wagon trains. Jack could not recover from his first glimpse of Henderson.
"Rather a neat little turnout to take a young lady out driving with," he said, after we had gone to bed. "Twenty-two oxen and four wagons. Plenty of room. Take along her father and mother. And the rest of the family. And her school-mates. And the whole town. Good team to go after the doctor with if somebody was sick—mile and a half an hour. That trotting-cow man at Yankton ought to come up here and show Henderson a little speed. Still, I dare say Henderson could best Old Browny, on a good day for sleeping, and when he didn't have Blacky to pull him along."
But we got small sight of the trail the next day, as the rain we had left behind came upon us again in greater force than ever. It began toward morning, and when we looked out, just as it was becoming light, we found it coming down in sheets—"cold, wet sheets," as Ollie said, too.
We could watch the road from the front of the wagon, and saw a number of freighters go by, usually with empty wagons, as it soon became too muddy for those with loads. We saw one fourteen-ox team with four wagons, and another man with twelve oxen and three wagons. There were also a number of mule teams, and we noticed one of twelve mules and five wagons, and several of ten mules and three or four wagons. With these the driver always rode the nigh-wheel animal—that is, the left-hand rear one.
"I'm going to put a saddle on Old Blacky and ride him after this," said Jack. "Bound to be in the fashion. Wonder how Henderson is getting along in the mud? A mile in two hours, I suppose. Must be impossible for him to see the head oxen through this rain."
The downpour never stopped all day. We tried letter-writing, but it was too cold to hold the pen; and Jack's efforts at playing the banjo proved equally unsuccessful. We fell back on reading, but even this did not seem to be very satisfactory. So we finally settled down to watching the rain and listening to the wind.
When evening came we shut down the front of the cover and tried to warm up the cabin a little by leaving the oil-stove burning, but it didn't seem to make much difference. So we soon went to bed, rather damp, somewhat cold, and a little dispirited. I think we all staid awake for a long time listening to the beating of the rain on the cover, and wondering about the weather of the morrow.
When we awoke in the morning it did not take long to find out about the weather. The rain had ceased and the sky was clear, but it was colder. Outside we found ice on the little pools of water in the footprints of the horses. We were stiff and cold. Some of us may have thought of the comforts of home, but none of us said anything about them.
"This is what I like," said Jack. "Don't feel I'm living unless I find my shoes frozen in the morning. Like to break the ice when I go to wash my face and hands, and to have my hair freeze before I can comb it."
But we observed that he kept as close to the camp-fire which we started as any of us. We went up to Smith's to look after the horses. While Jack and I were at the sheds Ollie staid in the road watching the freight teams. A big swarthy man, over six feet in height, came along, and after looking over the fence at Smith's house some time, said to Ollie,
"Do you s'pose Smith's at home?"
"Oh, I guess so," answered Ollie.
"I'd like to see him," went on the man, with an uneasy air.
"Probably you'll find him eating breakfast," said Ollie.
"I don't like to go in," said the man.
"Why not?"
"I'm—I'm afraid of the dog."
"Oh!" replied Ollie. "Well, I'm not. Come on," and he stalked ahead very bravely, while the man followed cautiously behind.
"He's a Mexican," said Smith in explanation afterwards. "All Mexicans are afraid of dogs."
"That's a pretty broad statement," said Jack, after Smith had gone. "I believe, if there was a good reward offered, that I could find a Mexican who isn't afraid of dogs. Though perhaps it's the hair they're afraid of; Mexican dogs don't have any, you know."
"Don't any of them have hair?" asked Ollie.
"Not a hair," answered his truthful uncle. "I don't suppose a Mexican dog would know a hair if he saw it."
"I think that's a bigger story than Smith's," said Ollie.
It was Sunday, and we spent most of the day in the wagon, though we took a long walk up the valley in the afternoon. The first thing Ollie said the next morning was, "When are we going to see the buffaloes?"
Smith had been telling us about them the evening before. They were down town, and belonged to a Dr. McGillicuddie. They had been brought in recently from the Rosebud Indian Agency, and had been captured some time before in the Bad Lands.
We followed the trail, now as deep with mud as it had been with dust, meeting many freighters on the way, and found the buffaloes near the Deadwood stage barn.
"See!" exclaimed Ollie; "there they are in the yard."
"Don't say 'yard,'" returned Jack; "say 'corral,' with a good, strong accent on the last syllable. A yard is a corral, and a farm a ranch, and a revolver a six-shooter—and a lot more. Don't be green, Oliver."
"Oh, bother!" replied Ollie. "There's ten of 'em. See the big fellow!"
"They're nice ones, that's so," answered Jack. "I'd like to see the Yankton man we heard about try to milk that cow over in the corner."
After we had seen the buffaloes we wandered about town and jingled our spurs, which were quite in the fashion. We encountered a big crowd in front of one of the markets, and found that a hunter had just come in from the mountains to the west with the carcass of the biggest bear ever brought into Rapid City. Some said it was a grizzly, and others a silver-tip, and one man tried to settle the difficulty by saying that there wasn't any difference between them. But it was certainly a big bear, and filled the whole wagon-box. Ollie sidled through the crowd, and asked so many questions of the man, who was named Reynolds, that he good-naturedly gave Ollie one of the largest of the claws. It was five inches long.
At noon we went down to the camp of the freighters on the outskirts of town, near Rapid Creek. There must have been fifty "outfits"—Jack said that was the right word—and several hundred mules as many oxen, and a few horses. The animals were, most of them, wandering about wherever they pleased, the mules and horses taking their dinner out of nose-bags, and the mules keeping up a gentle exercise by kicking at one another. It seemed a hopeless confusion, but the men were sitting about on the ground, calmly cooking their dinners over little camp-fires. One man, whom we had got acquainted with in the morning at Smith's, asked us to have dinner with him, and made the invitation so pressing that we accepted. He had several gallons of coffee and plenty of bacon and canned fruit, and a peculiar kind of bread, which he had baked himself.
"I'm a-thinking," he said, "there ain't enough sal'ratus in that there bread; but I'm a poor cook, anyhow."
The bread seemed to us to be already composed chiefly of saleratus, so his apology struck us as unnecessary. He very kindly wrote out the receipt on a shingle for Jack, but I stole it away from him after we got home and burned it in the camp-fire; so we escaped that.
"Your pancakes are bad enough," I said to him. "We don't care to try your saleratus bread."
Jack was a good deal worked up about the loss of his receipt, and experimented a long time to produce something like the freighter's bread without it, but as Snoozer wouldn't try the stuff he made, and he was afraid to do so himself, nothing came of it.
We enjoyed our dinner with the man, however, and Jack added further to his vocabulary in finding that the drivers of the ox teams were called "bullwhackers," and those of the mules and horses "muleskinners."
In the afternoon we climbed the hill above our camp. It gave us a long view off to the east across the level country, while away to the west were the mountain-peaks rising higher and higher. It was still cold, and the raw northeast wind moaned through the pines in a way which made us think of winter.
We went to bed early that night, so as to get a good start for Deadwood the next day. We brought the horses down from the ranch in the evening, blanketed them, and stood them out of the wind among some trees.
"Four o'clock must see us rolling out of our comfortable beds and getting ready to start," said Jack, as we turned in. "We must play we are freighters."
Jack planned better than he knew; we really "rolled out" in an exceedingly lively manner at three o'clock. We were sleeping soundly at that hour, when we were awakened by the motion of the wagon. Jack and I sat up. It was swaying from side to side, and we could hear the wheels bumping on the stones. The back end was considerably lower than the front.
"It's running down the bank!" I cried, and we both plunged through the darkness for the brake-handle. We fell over Ollie and Snoozer, and were instantly hopelessly tangled. It seemed an age, with the wagon swaying more and more, before we found the handle. Jack pushed it up hard, we heard the brake grind on the wheels outside; then there was a great bump and splash, and the wagon tilted half over and stopped. We found ourselves lying on the side of the cover, with cold water rising about us. We were not long in getting out, and discovered that the Rattletrap was capsized in the mill-race.
"Old Blacky did it!" cried Jack, as he danced around and shook his wet clothes. "I know he did. The old sinner!"
We got out the lantern and lit it. Only the hind end of the wagon was really in the race; one front wheel still clung to the bank, and the other was up in the air. Ollie got in and began to pass things out to Jack, while I went up the hill after the horses. Jack was right. Old Blacky was evidently the author of our misfortune. He had broken loose in some manner, and probably begun his favorite operation of making his toilet on the corner of the wagon by rubbing against it. The brake had carelessly been left off, he had pushed the wagon back a few feet, and it had gone over the bank. I soon had the harness on the horses, and got them down the hill. We hitched them to the hind wheel with a long rope, Jack wading in the water to his waist, and pulled the wagon upright. Then we attached them to the end of the tongue, and after hard work drew it out of the race. By this time we were chilled through and through. Our beds and nearly everything we had were soaking with water.
"How do you like it, Uncle Jack?" inquired Ollie. "Do you feel that you are living now?"
Jack's teeth were chattering. "Y—yes," he said; "but I won't be if we don't get a fire started pretty quick."
There were some timbers from an old bridge near by, and we soon had a good fire, around which we tramped in a procession till our clothes were fairly dry. The wind was chilly, and it was a dark cloudy morning. The unfortunate Snoozer had gone down with the rest of us, and was the picture of despair, till Ollie rubbed him with a dry corner of a blanket, and gave him a good place beside the fire.
By the time two or three hours had elapsed we began to feel partially dry, and decided to start on, relying on exercise to keep ourselves warm. We had had breakfast in the mean time, and, on the whole, were feeling rather cheerful again. We opened the cover and spread out the bedding, inside and outside, and hung some of it on a long pole which we stuck into the wagon from the rear. Altogether we presented a rather funny appearance as we started out along the trail, but no one paid much attention to us. The freighters were already astir, and we were constantly passing or meeting their long trains. Among others we passed Eugene Brooks, the man with whom we had taken dinner. We told him of our mishap, and he laughed, and said:
"That's nothing in this country. Something's always happening here which would kill folks anywhere else. You stay here awhile and you'll be as tough as your old black horse."
Brooks had an outfit of five spans of mules and two wagons. We staid with him a half-hour, and then went on. As we could not reach Deadwood that day, he advised us to camp that night where the trail crossed Thunder Butte Creek, a branch of La Belle Fourche.
The trail led for the most part through valleys or along the sides of hills, and was generally not far from level, though there was, of course, a constant though hardly perceptible rise as we got farther into the mountains. We camped at noon at Elk Creek, and made further progress at drying our household effects. We pressed on during the afternoon, and passed through the town of Sturgis, where we laid in some stores of provisions to take the place of those spoiled by the water, and also a quantity of horse-feed. We congratulated ourselves later on our good luck in doing this.
As the afternoon wore away we found ourselves getting up above the timber-line. The mountains began to shut in our view in all directions, and the valleys were narrowing. As night drew nearer, Jack said:
"Seems to me it's about time we got to this Thunder Butte Creek. He said that if we passed Sturgis we'd have to go on to that if we wanted water."
We soon met a man, and inquired of him the distance to the desired stream. "Two miles," he replied, promptly. We went on as much as a mile and met another man, to whom we put the same question. "Three miles," he answered, with great decision.
"That creek seems to be retreating," said Jack, after the man had gone on. "We've got to hurry and catch it, or it will run clean into Deadwood and crawl down a gold-mine."
It was growing dark. We forged ahead for another mile, and by this time it was quite as dark as it was going to be, with a cloudy sky, and mountains and pines shutting out half of that. I was walking ahead with the lantern, and came to a place where the trail divided.
"The road forks here," I called. "Which do you suppose is right?"
"Which seems to be the most travelled?" asked Jack.
"Can't see any difference," I replied. "We'll have to leave it to the instinct of the horses."
"Yes, I'd like to put myself in the grasp of Old Blacky's instinct. The old scoundrel would go wrong if he knew which was right."
"Well," I returned, "come on and see which way he turns, and then go the other way." (Jack always declared that the old fellow understood what I said.)
He drove up to the forks, and Blacky turned to the right. Jack drew over to the left, and we went up that road. We continued to go up it for fully three miles, though we soon became convinced that it was wrong. It constantly grew narrower and apparently less travelled. We were soon winding along a mountain-side among the pines, and around and above and below great rocks.
"We'll go till we find a decent place to camp, and then stop for the night," said Jack.
We finally came to a little level bench covered with giant pines, and we could hear water beyond. I went on with the lantern, and found a small stream leaping down a gulch.
"This is the place to stop," I said, and we soon had our camp established, and a good fire roaring up into the tree-tops. Ollie found plenty of dry pine wood, and we blanketed the horses and stood under a protecting ledge. It was cold, and the wind roared down the gulch and moaned in the pines, but we scarcely felt it blow. We finished drying our bedding and had a good supper. Jack got out his banjo and tried to compete with the brook and the pines. We went to bed feeling that we were glad we had missed the road, since it had brought so delightful a camping-place.
Ollie was the first to wake in the morning. It was quite light.
"What makes the cover sag down so?" he asked.
Jack opened his eyes, reached up with the whipstock and raised it. Something slid off the outside with a rush.
"Open the front and you'll see," answered Jack.
Ollie did so, and we all looked out. The ground was deep with snow, and it was still falling in great feathery flakes. Old Blacky was loose, and looked in at us with a wicked gleam in his eyes.