hamlets have brought word that they gather in numbers on the North. It is said that de Vilebon, at St. Johns, is urging the red men on, furnishing them food and munitions of war. Could he be driven from his stronghold (mayhap no easy task) much good would be done the Colony. Proceed with your company, in all dispatch. Kill, burn and capture.
“Given under our hand and seal, the seal of His Majesty, the King.
Sir William Phips.”
Here was likely to be a sudden end to my love making, I thought. I turned to Lucille, who had followed me to the door. She had shrunk back into the corner, and in her eyes I could see a strange look of horror and fright, such as I had never seen before.
From Lucille I looked to the horseman. He stood at the very door, one hand holding the bridle. With the other he stroked his moustache, and his eyes never left the face of Lucille. By the light of the candle, glowing out into the darkness, I could see a mocking smile on his lips.
“Lucille!” I cried.
The horseman never heeded my exclamation, nor did he change his gaze.
“Sir!” I remarked, with a step toward him, my hand on my sword, “who, and what are you, that you dare to come----”
I might as well have been a thousand miles away, for all the heed he paid to me.
“I have found you, then,” he said to Lucille, with a sneer on his face and in his tones. She shrank back farther and farther into the darkness.
I half drew my sword out, determined to punish his insolence speedily, but, with never a look at me, making a low, sweeping bow, that included both of us, he leaped into the saddle, and was away down the road in the darkness at a terrific pace.
“Who was he?” I demanded, turning to Lucille. She put her hands before her eyes, as if to shut out some sight that was hateful to her.
“He was--he was----” she began, her voice trembling. “Oh, Edward, mind him not. I thought he was some one I had left behind me forever. But I must have been mistaken. The candle light played me tricks.”
“But his words? What of them? What meant he?” I persisted.
“I heard nothing that he said,” she replied, as if in surprise, “but what of your message?”
“WHO, AND WHAT ARE YOU, THAT YOU DARE TO COME!”
Then, though I would have pursued my inquiries further, I was recalled, by her words, to the missive I held. Briefly as I could, I told her of its import. It meant, I said, that I should have to leave Salem very soon; in a day or two.
“It will be hard to go from you, sweetheart, when I have only just found you,” I whispered. I kissed her, and then, after a little, I went away, her caresses warm on my lips; the echoes of her voice sweet in my ears.
Out under the stars I thought of the horseman. Then, with a start, I recalled who he was. I had met him in the room of Governor Phips, in Boston, some months before. He was the man with the jeweled hilted sword, with whom I had so nearly fought, in the doorway, where we came together in no gentle fashion. Clearly there was some mystery here.
CHAPTER VII.
OF THE HORSEMAN ON THE BEACH.
There was little sleep for me that night. I had been expecting a message from the Governor, and so had my men in fair shape for a quick movement. Two days’ preparations, now, would put us in readiness for the expedition.
It was nearly morning when, having dispatched several messengers on horses to call in my company from their various homes, I lay down to rest. It seemed that I had been on the bed but a half minute, ere the sun came shining in through the window, and awakened me.
We had at Salem two sloops that would hold seventy men each. Of stores and munition of war there was a plenty. But guns had to be overhauled, and ammunition safely packed for transportation. My first care was to see that the boats were laden. Corn meal and flour, salted meats and fish, provisions of various kinds, and barrels of cider, were slung aboard by the crews, and stored in the holds.
In squads of two and three my men began coming in. I detailed my lieutenants to look after the muskets, as they were stacked in the company room at the inn. All the spare guns that would serve, were put on the sloops. Rests for the heavier and old-fashioned weapons, that were fired by means of a slow match, were provided, as well as spare matches. Bags of extra flints were also taken. The casks of powder, and pouches of bullets, were placed out of danger of fire in the magazines of the sloops. Throughout all Salem, that day, little was done or talked of save what pertained to the coming fight.
The children stood about the streets, forgetting to go to school and were not rebuked. With Cory and Nicols, I hurried here and there. Now, seeing to it that none but serviceable arms were taken, and again, looking to the muster rolls, or replying to the many questions that every one wanted answered.
The air was filled with martial sounds. Two boys, barely out of their teens, came up to me, as I was trying the locks of a musket. They saluted gravely.
“Please, Captain,” said the taller one, “put our names down, and give us each a gun.”
“What! To go to the wars?” I asked.
“Yes, sir,” the younger replied. “The Indians killed our mother, and we want to kill some of them.”
“Not now,” I said kindly. “When you are a little older you may both go.”
They turned away, sorely disappointed. Indeed the spirit of battle seemed born in the children of this land, and they nursed it with their mother’s milk. There was much need of it, though.
About noon, two long teams of oxen were seen winding along the road from Boston. They drew heavy wagons, on which were two good sized cannon, in addition to the small ones we had. There was also a sufficient supply of ammunition, and I was very glad of this increase to our power.
Though it cost us no little labor to get these guns aboard, we finally accomplished it, and they were placed, one in the bow of each sloop, where they could do the most good.
When all this had been done, and it was well into the afternoon, I had a chance to sit down and map out my plans. Another letter, with more explicit instructions, had come to me from the Governor by the hands of a second messenger. In the meantime I had learned somewhat of the man de Vilebon, with whom I was to engage, shortly.
Soon after he came to Canada he saw the fierce fighting qualities of the red men, and, with much cunning, he made treaties with them, persuading them to become his allies. He promised them that the hated English would soon be driven from the land, the homes they had builded being allowed as plunder for the Indians. It was by such talk as this, and the manner in which he consorted in the daily lives and practices of the savages, that de Vilebon had won to his side many influential chiefs and their followings.
One way the French took to incite the Indians was to pay for the scalps of the English settlers. There was a scale of prices, so much for a man’s, so much for a woman’s and less yet for the children’s. There were other reasons why the Indians preferred to fight with the French and against the English. The French almost lived with the savages, adopting their mode of dress, painting their faces with the brilliant pigments, and wearing the feathered head pieces.
Then, too, the Indians, contrasting us with the French, thought of them as brave warriors, who loved swordplay, and fighting, while we English, ’twas deemed, cared for nothing but raising the crops, which was, with the red men the work of their squaws.
So, I found to my sorrow, ere long, that the Indians loved the French and were glad to battle against us.
Among the settlers, now, there was much fear of a sudden night