them. But you'll no be so cruel, lovely creature, as to impute to me as a fault my intense anxiety on your own account!" Mabel had heard enough. Her mind was too much occupied with what had passed that morning, and with her fears, to wish to linger further to listen to love speeches, that, in her most joyous and buoyant moments, she would have found unpleasant. She took a hasty leave of her companion, and was about to trip away towards the hut of the other woman, when Muir arrested the movement by laying a hand on her arm. 'One word, Mabel," he said, "before you leave me. This little flag may, or it may not, have a particular meaning; if it has, now that we are aware of its being shown, may it not be better to put it back again, while we watch vigilantly for some answer that may betray the conspiracy; and if it mean nothing, why, nothing will follow." "This may be all right, Mr. Muir, though if the whole is accidental, the flag might be the occasion of the fort's being discovered." Mabel stayed to utter no more, but she was soon out of sight, running into the hut towards which she had been first proceeding. The quartermaster remained on the very spot, and in the precise attitude in which she had left him, for quite a minute, first looking at the bounding figure of the girl, and then at the bit of bunting, which he still held before him in a way to denote indecision. His irresolution lasted but for this minute, however, for he was soon beneath the tree, where he fastened the mimic flag to a branch again; though from his ignorance of the precise spot from which it had been taken by Mabel, he left it fluttering from a part of the oak where it was still more exposed than before, to the eyes of any passenger on the river, though less in view from the island itself. CHAPTER XXI. Each one has had his supping mess, COTTON It seemed strange to Mabel Dunham, as she passed along on her way to find her female companion, that others should be so composed, while she herself felt as if the responsibilities of life and death rested on her shoulders. It is true, that distrust of June's motives mingled with her forebodings- but when she came to recall the affectionate and natural manner of the young Indian girl, and all the evidences of good faith and sincerity that she had seen in her conduct, during the familiar intercourse of their journey, she rejected the idea, with the unwillingness of a generous disposition to believe ill of others. She saw, however, that she could not put her companions properly on their guard, without letting them into the secret of her conference with June; and she found herself compelled to act cautiously and with a forethought to which she was unaccustomed, more especially in a matter of so much moment. The soldier's wife was told to transport the necessaries into the block-house, and admonished not to be far from it at any time during the day. Mabel did not explain her reasons. She merely stated that she had detected some signs in walking about the island, that induced her to apprehend that the enemy had more knowledge of its position than had been previously believed, and that they two, at least, would do well to be in readiness to seek a refuge at the shortest notice. It was not difficult to arouse the apprehension of this person, who, though a stout-hearted Scotch woman, was ready enough to listen to anything that confirmed her dread of Indian cruelties. As soon as Mabel believed that her companion was sufficiently frightened to make her wary, she threw out some hints, touching the inexpediency of letting the soldiers know the extent of their own fears. This was done with a view to prevent discussions and inquiries that might embarrass our heroine; she determining to render her uncle, the corporal, and his men, more cautious, by adopting a different course. Unfortunately, the British army could not have furnished a worse person for the particular duty that he was now required to discharge than Corporal McNab - the individual who had been left in command during the absence of Sergeant Dunham. On the one hand he was resolute, prompt, familiar with all the details of a soldier's life, and used to war; on the other, he was supercilious as regards the provincials, opinionated on every subject connected with the narrow limits of his professional practice, much disposed to fancy the British empire the centre of all that is excellent in the world, and Scotland the focus of, at least, all moral excellence in that empire. In short, he was an epitome, though in a scale suited to his rank, of those very qualities which were so peculiar to the servants of the crown that were sent into the colonies, as these servants estimated themselves in comparison with the natives of the country; or, in other words, he considered the American as an animal inferior to the parent stock, and viewed all his notions of military service, in particular, as undigested and absurd. Braddock himself was not less disposed to take advice from a provincial, than his humble imitator; and he had been known, on more than one occasion, to demur to the directions and orders of two or three commissioned officers of the corps, who happened to be born in America, simply for that reason; taking care, at the same time, with true Scottish wariness, to protect himself from the pains and penalties of positive disobedience. A more impracticable subject, therefore, could not well have offered for the purpose of Mabel, and yet she felt obliged to lose no time in putting her plan in execution. "My father has left you a responsible command, corporal," she said, as soon as she could catch McNab a little apart from the rest of the soldiers; "for should the island fall into the hands of the enemy, not only would we be captured, but the party that is now out would in all probability become their prisoners also." "It needs no journey from Scotland to this place, to know the facts needful to be o' that way of thinking," returned McNab, dryly. "I do not doubt your understanding it, as well as myself, Mr. McNab; but I'm fearful that you veterans, accustomed as you are to dangers and 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." In "Nay, my good friend, you mistake my meaning. 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 practice 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?" "My father has other things to think of, and the little I know was got from the lady I have mentioned." "She 'll no be forgetting to tall ye o' Wallace?" "Of him I've even read a good deal.” "And o' Bruce and the affair o' Bannock-burn?" "Of that, too, as well as of Culloden-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;1 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 1 [Charles Edward, 1720-1788, called "The Young Pretender," was eldest son of the Chevalier de St. George (known among his Jacobite partisans as James III.). In 1745 the Pretender headed an insurrection in Scotland with the purpose of recovering the British crown for his father. The Highlanders espoused his cause, which met with varying fortunes until finally it was overwhelmingly defeated at Culloden-muir, April 16, 1746.] |