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grass; and, could we once reach the cabin, and manage to drive a cow or two up
there, we might remain a month in security. As for provisions and clothes, we
could carry enough on our backs to serve us all several weeks; especially if
assisted by the cows.
I m glad your honour has thought of this idea, said the serjeant, his face
brightening as he listened; it will be a beautiful operation to fall back on
that position, when we can hold out no longer in this. The want of some such
arrangement has been my only objection to this post, captain Willoughby; for,
we have always seemed to me, out here in the wilderness, like a regiment drawn
up with a ravine or a swamp in its rear.
I am glad to find you relishing the movement for any cause, serjeant. It is
my intention at present to make the necessary arrangements to evacuate the
Hut, while it is tight; and, as soon as it is dark, to retreat by the gates,
the palisades, and the rivulet--How now, Jamie? You look as if there were news
to communicate?
Jamie Allen, in truth, had entered at that instant in so much haste as to
have overlooked the customary ceremony of sending in his name, or even of
knocking.
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News! repeated the mason, with a sort of wondering smile; and it s just
that I ve come to bring. Wad ye think it, baith, gentlemen, that our people
are in their ain cabins ag in, boiling their pots, and frying their pork, a
the same as if the valley was in a state of tranquillity, and we so many
lairds waiting for them to come and do our pleasure!
I do not understand you, Jamie -- whom do you mean by our people?
Sure, just the desairters; Joel, and the miller, and Michael, and the rest.
And the cabins -- and the pots -- and the pork -- it is gibberish to me.
I hae what ye English ca an aiccent, I know; but, in my judgment, captain
Willoughby, the words may be comprehended without a dictionary. It s just
that Joel Strides, and Daniel the miller, and the rest o them that fleed, the
past night, have gane into their ain abodes, and have lighted their fires, and
put over their pots and kettles, and set up their domestic habitudes, a the
same as if this Beaver Dam was ain o the pairks o Lonnon!
The devil they have! Should this be the case, serjeant, our sortie may be
made at an earlier hour than that mentioned. I never will submit to such an
insult.
Captain Willoughby was too much aroused to waste many words; and, seizing his
hat, he proceeded forthwith to take a look for himself. The stage, or gallery
on the roofs, offering the best view, in a minute he and his two companions
were on it.
There; ye ll be seein a smoke in Joel s habitation, with your own een;
and, yon is anither, in the dwelling of his cousin Seth, said Jamie, pointing
in the direction he named.
Smoke there is, of a certainty; but the Indians may have lighted fires in
the kitchen, to do their own cooking. This looks like investing us, serjeant,
rather more closely than the fellows have done before.
I rather think not, your honour--Jamie is right, or my eyes do not know a
man from a woman. That is certainly a female in the garden of Joel, and I ll
engage it s PhSbe, pulling onions for his craving stomach, the scoundrel!
Captain Willoughby never moved without his little glass, and it was soon
levelled at the object mentioned.
By Jupiter, you are right, Joyce -- he cried. It is PhSbe, though the
hussy is coolly weeding, not culling the onions! Ay -- and now I see Joel
himself! The rascal is examining some hoes, with as much philosophy as if he
were master of them, and all near them. This is a most singular situation to
be in!
This last remark was altogether just. The situation of those in the Hut was
now singular indeed. Further examination showed that every cabin had its
tenant, no one of the party that remained within the palisades being a
householder. By using the glass, and pointing it, in succession, at the
different dwellings, the captain in due time detected the presence of nearly
every one of the deserters. Not a man of them all, in fact, was missing, Mike
alone excepted. There they were, with their wives and children, in quiet
possession of their different habitations. Nor was this all; the business of
the valley seemed as much on their minds as had been their practice for years.
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Cows were milked, the swine were fed, poultry was called and cared for, and
each household was also making the customary preparations for the morning
meal.
So absorbed was the captain with this extraordinary scene, that he remained
an hour on the staging, watching the course of events. The breakfasts were
soon over, having been later than common, and a little hurried; then commenced
the more important occupations of the day. A field was already half ploughed,
in preparation for a crop of winter grain; thither Joel himself proceeded,
with the necessary cattle, accompanied by the labourers who usually aided him
in that particular branch of husbandry. Three ploughs were soon at work, with
as much regularity and order as if nothing had occurred to disturb the
tranquillity of the valley. The axes of the wood-choppers were next heard,
coming out of the forest, cutting fuel for the approaching winter; and a
half-finished ditch had its workmen also, who were soon busy casting up the
soil, and fashioning their trench. In a word, all the suspended toil was
renewed with perfect system and order.
This beats the devil himself, Joyce! said the captain, after a half-hour of
total silence. Here are all these fellows at work as cooly as if I had just
given them their tasks, and twice as diligently. Their unusual industry is a
bad symptom of itself!
Your honour will remark one circumstance. Not a rascal of them all comes
within the fair range of a musket; for, as to throwing away ammunition at such
distances, it would be clearly unmilitary, and might be altogether useless.
I have half a mind to scatter them with a volley --said the captain,
doubtingly. Bullets would take effect among those ploughmen, could they only
be made to hit.
And amang the cattle, too, observed the Scotsman, who had an eye on the
more economical part of the movement, as well as on that which was military.
A ball would slay a horse as well as a man in such a skairmish.
This is true enough, Jamie; and it is not exactly the sort of warfare I
could wish, to be firing at men who were so lately my friends. I do not see,
Joyce, that the rascals have any arms with them?
Not a musket, sir. I noticed that, when Joel first detailed his detachments.
Can it be possible that the savages have retired?
Not they; else would Mr. Strides and his friends have gone with them. No,
serjeant, there is a deep plan to lead us into some sort of ambush in this
affair, and we will be on the look-out for them.
Joyce stood contemplating the scene for some time, in profound silence, when
he approached the captain formally, and made the usual military salute; a
ceremony he had punctiliously observed, on all proper occasions, since the
garrison might be said to be placed under martial law.
If it s your honour s pleasure, he said, I will detail a detachment, and
go out and bring in two or three of these deserters; by which means we shall
get into their secrets.
A detachment, Joyce! answered the captain, eyeing his subordinate a little
curiously -- What troops do you propose to tell-off for the service?
Why, your honour, there s corporal Allen and old Pliny off duty; I think the
thing might be done with them, if your honour would have the condescension to
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