battles, are a little apt to overlook some of the precautions that may be necessary in a situation as peculiar as ours." "They say Scotland is no conquered country, young woman, but I'm thinking there must be some mistak' in the matter, as we, her children, are so drowsy-headed, and apt to be o'ertaken, when we least expect it." "Nay, my good friend, you mistake my meaning. In the first place, I'm not thinking of Scotland at all, but of this island; and then I am far from doubting your vigilance when you think it necessary to practise it; but my great fear is that there may be danger to which your courage will make you indifferent." "My courage, Mistress Dunham, is doubtless of a very poor quality, being nothing but Scottish courage; your father's is Yankee, and were he here amang us, we should see different preparations beyond a doubt. Well, times are getting wrang, when foreigners hold commissions and carry halberds in Scottish corps; and I no wonder that battles are lost, and campaigns go wrang end foremost." Mabel was almost in despair, but the quiet warning of June was still too vividly impressed on her mind to allow her to yield the matter. She changed her mode of operating, therefore, still clinging to the hope of getting the whole party within the block-house, without being compelled to betray the source whence she obtained her notices of the necessity of vigilance. "I dare say you are right, Corporal McNab," she observed, "for I've often heard of the heroes of your country, who have been among the first of the civilized world, if what they tell me of them is true.". "Have you read the history of Scotland, Mistress Dunham ?" demanded the corporal, looking up at his pretty companion, for the first time, with something like a smile on his hard, repulsive countenance. "I have read a little of it, corporal, but I've heard much more. The lady who brought me up had Scottish blood in her veins, and was fond of the subject!" "I'll warrant ye, the sergeant no troubled himself to expatiate on the renown of the country where his regiment was raised?" 66 "And o' Bruce-and the affair o' Bannockburn? "Of that, too, as well as of Colloden-muir." The last of these battles was then a recent event, it having actually been fought within the recollection of our heroine; whose notions of it, however, were so confused that she scarcely appreciated the effect her allusion might produce on her companion. She knew it had been a victory, and had often heard the guests of her patroness mention it with triumph; and she fancied their feelings would find a sympathetic chord in those of every British soldier. Unfortunately, McNab had fought throughout that luckless day on the side of the Pretender; and a deep scar that garnished his face, had been left there by the sabre of a German soldier, in the service of the House of Hanover. He fancied that his wound bled afresh at Mabel's allusion; and it is certain that the blood rushed to his face in a torrent, as if it would pour out of his skin at the cicatrix. "Hoot! hoot awa'!" he fairly shouted, "with your Culloden and Sherif-muirs, young woman; ye'll no be understanding the subject at all, and will manifest not only wisdom, but modesty, in speaking o' your ain country and its many failings. King George has some loyal subjects in the colonies, na doubt; but 'twill be a lang time bafore he sees or hears any guid of them." Mabel was surprised at the corporal's heat, for she had not the smallest idea where the shoe pinched; but she was determined not to give up the point. "I've always heard that the Scotch had two of the good qualities of soldiers," she said, “courage and circumspection; and I feel persuaded that Corporal McNab will sustain the national. renown." "Ask ye'r own father, Mistress Dunham: he is acquaint' with Corporal McNab, and will no be backward to point out his demerits. We have been in battle the'gither, and he is my superior officer, and has a sort o' official right to give the characters of his subor dinates." "My father thinks well of you, McNab, or he would not have left you in charge of this island and all it contains, his own daughter included. Among other things I well know that he calculates largely on your prudence. He expects the blockhouse, in particular, to be strictly attended to." 'My father has other things to think of, and the little I know was got from the lady I have "If he wishes to defend the honor of the 55th mentioned." behind logs, he ought to have remained in com"She'll no be forgetting to tell ye o' Wal- mand himsal'; for, to speak frankly, it goes against lace?" a Scotchman's bluid and opinions to be beaten "Wallace!-of him I have even read a good out of the field even before he is attacked. We are broadsword men, and love to stand foot to deal." SUDDEN DEATH OF MCNAB. "No true soldier despises caution. Even Major Duncan himself, than whom there is none braver, is celebrated for his care of his men." 151 foot with the foe. This American mode of fight-large enough to allow of its passage. By this ing, that is getting into so much favor, will de- time Mabel's heart ceased to beat tumultuously, stroy the reputation of his majesty's army, if it and she gained sufficient self-command to act colno destroy its spirit." lectedly. Instead of yielding to the almost convulsive efforts of her companion to close the door again, she held it open long enough to ascertain that none of her own party was in sight, or likely, on the instant, to endeavor to gain admission; she then allowed the opening to be shut. Her orders and proceedings now became more calm and rational. But a single bar was crossed, and Jennie was directed to stand in readiness to remove even that, at any application from a friend. She then ascended the ladder to the room above, where, by means of loop-holes, she was enabled to get as good a view of the island as the surrounding bushes would allow. Admonishing her associate below to be firm and steady, she made as careful examination of the environs as her situation permitted. "Lundie has his weakness, and is fast forgetting the broadsword and open heaths, in his tree and rifle practice. But, Mistress Mabel, tak' the word of an old soldier, who has seen his fifty-fifth year, when he talls ye, that there is no surer method to encourage your enemy than to seem to fear him; and that there is no danger in this Indian warfare, that the fancies and imaginations of your Americans have not augmented and enlarged upon, until they see a savage in every bush. We Scots come from a naked region, and have no need, and less relish for covers, and so ye'll be seeing, Mistress Dunham-" The corporal gave a spring into the air, fell forward on his face, and rolled over on his back -the whole passing so suddenly, that Mabel had scarcely heard the sharp crack of the rifle that sent a bullet through his body. Our heroine did not shriek-did not even tremble; the occurrence was too sudden, too awful, and too unexpected for that exhibition of weakness; on the contrary, she stepped hastily forward, with a natural impulse to aid her companion. There was just enough of life left in McNab to betray his entire consciousness of all that had passed. His countenance had the wild look of one who had been overtaken by death, by surprise; and Mabel, in her cooler moments, fancied that it showed the tardy repentance of a wilful and obstinate sinner. "Ye'll be getting into the block-house as fast as possible," McNab whispered, as Mabel leaned over him, to catch his dying words. To her great surprise, Mabel could not, at first, see a living soul on the island, friend or enemy. Neither Frenchman nor Indian was visible, though a small straggling white cloud that was floating before the wind, told her in which quarter she ought to look for them. The rifles had been discharged from the direction of the island whence June had come, though whether the enemy were on that island, or had actually landed on her own, Mabel could not say. Going to the loop that commanded a view of the spot where McNab lay, her blood curdled at perceiving all three of his soldiers lying apparently lifeless at his side. These men had rushed to a common centre at the first alarm, and had been shot down almost simultaneously by the invisible foe whom the corporal had affected to despise. Neither Cap nor Lieutenant Muir was to be seen. With a beating heart, Mabel examined every opening through the trees, and ascended even to the upper story or garret of the blockhouse, where she got a full view of the whole island, so far as its covers would allow; but with no better success. She had expected to see the body of her uncle lying on the grass, like those of the soldiers, but it was nowhere visible. Turning toward the spot where the boat lay, Mabel saw that it was still fastened to the shore; and then she supposed that, by some accident, Muir had been prevented from effecting his retreat in that quarter. In short, the island lay in the quiet of the grave, the bodies of the soldiers Then came over our heroine the full consciousness of her situation, and of the necessity of exertion. She cast a rapid glance at the body at her feet, saw that it had ceased to breathe, and fled. It was but a few minutes' run to the blockhouse, the door of which Mabel had barely gained, when it was closed violently in her face by Jennie, the soldier's wife, who, in blind terror, thought only of her own safety. The reports of five or six rifles were heard while Mabel was calling out for admittance; and the additional terror they produced prevented the woman within from undoing quickly the very fastenings she had been so very expert in applying. After a minute's delay, how-rendering the scene as fearful as it was extraorever, Mabel found the door reluctantly yielding to her constant pressure, and she forced her slender body through the opening the instant it was dinary. "For God's holy sake, Mistress Mabel,' 'called out the woman from below, for, though her fear had got to be too ungovernable to allow her to, keep silence, our heroine's superior refinement, more than the regimental station of her father, still controlled her mode of address; "for His holy sake, Mistress Mabel, tell me if any of our friends are living! I think I hear groans that grow fainter and fainter, and fear that they will all be tomahawked!" Mabel now remembered that one of the soldiers was this woman's husband, and she trembled at what might be the immediate effect of her sorrow, should his death become suddenly known to her. The groans, too, gave a little hope, though she feared they might come from her uncle, who lay out of view. "We are in His holy keeping, Jennie," she answered. "We must trust in Providence, while we neglect none of its benevolent means of protecting ourselves. Be careful with the door; on no account open it, without my directions." "Oh! tell me, Mistress Mabel, if you can anywhere see Sandy ?-If I could only let him know that I'm in safety, the guid man would be easier in his mind, whether free or a prisoner!" Sandy was Jennie's husband, and he lay dead in plain view of the loop, from which our heroine was then looking. "You no tell me if you're seeing of Sandy," the woman repeated from below, impatient at Mabel's silence. "There are some of our people gathered about the body of McNab," was the answer, for it seemed sacrilegious in her eyes to tell a direct untruth, under the awful circumstances in which she was placed. "Is Sandy amang them?" demanded the woman, in a voice that sounded appalling by its hoarseness and energy. "He may be certainly-for I see, one, two, three, four, and all in the scarlet coats of the regiment." tion of a deception troubled her fancy, and she imagined that the men were trifling with her fears. She took her husband's hand, and it was still warm, while she thought a covert smile was struggling on his lip. Why will ye fool life away, Sandy?" she cried, pulling at the arm. "Ye'll all be murdered by these accursed Indians, and you no takin' to the block like trusty soldiers! Awa'!-awa’, and no be losing the precious moments." In her desperate efforts, the woman pulled the body of her husband in a way to cause the head to turn completely over, when the small hole in the temple, caused by the entrance of a rifle bullet, and a few drops of blood trickling over the skin, revealed the meaning of her husband's silence. As the horrid truth flashed, in its full extent, on her mind, the woman clasped her hands, gave a shriek that pierced the glades of every island near, and fell at length on the dead body of the soldier. Thrilling, heart-reaching, appalling as was that shriek, it was melody to the cry that followed it so quickly as to blend the sounds. The terrific war-whoop arose out of the covers of the island, and some twenty savages, horrible in their paint and the other devices of Indian ingenuity, rushed forward, eager to secure the coveted scalps. Arrowhead was foremost, and it was his tomahawk that brained the insensible Jennie, and her reeking hair was hanging at his girdle as a trophy, in less than two minutes after she had quitted the block-house. His companions were equally active, and McNab and his soldiers no longer presented the quiet aspect of men who slumbered. They were left in their gore, unequivocally butchered corpses. All this passed in much less time than has been required to relate it, and all this did Mabel witness. She had stood riveted to the spot, gazing on the whole horrible scene, as if enchained by some charm, nor did the idea of self, or of her own danger, once obtrude itself on her thoughts. But no sooner did she perceive the place where the men had fallen, covered with savages, exult "Sandy!" called out the woman frantically-"why d'ye no care for yoursal', Sandy? Come hither the instant, man, and share your wife's fortunes, in weal or woe. It's no a mo-ing in the success of their surprise, than it ocment for your silly discipline, and vainglorious notions of honor? Sandy!-Sandy!" curred to her that Jennie had left the block-house door unbarred. Her heart beat violently, for Mabel heard the bar turn, and then the door that defence alone stood between her and immecreaked on its hinges. Expectation, not to say diate death, and she sprang toward the ladder, terror, held her in suspense at the loop, and she with the intention of descending to make sure of soon beheld Jennie rushing through the bushes, it. Her foot had not yet reached the floor of the in the direction of the cluster of dead. It took second story, however, when she heard the door the woman but an instant to reach the fatal spot. grating on its hinges, and she gave herself up for So sudden and unexpected had been the blow, lost. Sinking on her knees, the terrified but courathat she, in her terror, did not appear to compre-geous girl endeavored to prepare herself for death, hend its weight. Some wild and half-frantic no- and to raise her thoughts to God. The instinct "In her desperate efforts, the woman pulled the body of her husband in a way to cause the head to turn completely over, when the small hole in the temple, caused by the entrance of a rifle bullet, and a few drops of blood trickling over the skin, revealed the meaning of her husband's silence." The Pathfinder, p. 152. |