CHAPTER II. THE SIEGE

There were no signs of insubordination to be seen in the faces of my comrades when the new day had come, and Elias Shendle was yet absent.

Instead of setting themselves at odds with me, as had been the case a few hours previous, they gathered around near where I yet remained as sentinel, with anxiety written plainly on their faces, awaiting some word.

Daniel Hinchman, with every cause for sorrow,—and my heart truly ached for the lad at that moment,—had evidently come to understand what folly it would have been for us to have made any attempt at following those who had captured his sister, and I fancied he was struggling to repress his grief that he might seem the more ready to aid us in case it should become necessary.

Giles March was no longer clamoring to be led out of the stockade; he knew as well as did I what the continued absence of Elias portended, and even in that time of mental distress I secretly rejoiced because the lad, who had given such free rein to his tongue, was come to the length of his rope for the time being.

As a matter of course, I was in much the same condition of mind as Giles, finding it impossible to answer the question which must be settled without delay. Should we make any attempt at learning of our comrade’s whereabouts, or wait longer in the poor hope that he might yet come?

The temptation to give these comrades of mine, who had been so mutinously inclined but a short time before, an opportunity of settling the matter themselves was too strong to be resisted, and, leaping down from the stockade, I asked:

“What shall be done now, lads? You know as much of the situation as do I. Elias promised to be back by sunrise if he was alive. His only purpose in going out was to learn whatsoever he might concerning the situation at Wintermoot’s Fort, and it seems to me most probable he has fallen into the clutches of those who made a prisoner of Daniel Hinchman’s sister. Shall we wait here in ignorance, or weaken the defence of this stockade by sending out scouts?”

For a full moment no one made any reply, and then it was Giles March who, much to my surprise, said meekly:

“It is for you to say, Jonathan Ogden. We have come to see wherein we made fools of ourselves last night. It is you who are the captain, and I dare pledge myself that none of us will again question whatsoever you may say.”

Although the answer pleased me, I was disappointed, having hoped it might be possible some of them would make such a suggestion or proposition as would give me an idea, and I could do no less than admit my perplexity.

“In the first place, it is absolutely necessary that at least four sentinels be placed on the walls, for we know with good reason that the enemy are close around. After that has been done, it may be we can hit upon the right plan of action; but just now I consider myself unable to say what it should be.”

“Who shall go on duty?” Giles asked, and I replied:

“Name them yourself; while Elias is away, you shall act in his place.”

Giles lost no time in stationing four lads on the wall, with instructions to keep careful watch upon the surrounding forest, ever bearing in mind that it was likely a force of Indians might be creeping upon us, and then he returned near the main gate, where we stood awaiting him.

By this time I had come to understand that we were playing the part of simples by remaining inside the stockade, wholly ignorant of what might be going on around us, and I said sharply, as if doubting the sincerity of my comrades:

“You have agreed that matters shall go to my liking while I hold command of what we call the Minute Boys.”

To this Giles assented emphatically, whereupon I said decidedly:

“You are to remain here with no less than four lads on the watch all the time. I am going out to learn whether there be any danger of an attack.”

“It is for one of us to do that,” Giles said, quickly, and then I understood how brave the lad was, for he was jealous that I should incur greater danger than himself.

“You shall remain, Giles, until six hours have passed, and if I have not returned, come in search of me, leaving whosoever you will in charge of the company. Remember, lads, that we are to hold this stockade so long as life shall last, for only by fighting until the final moment can we aid those who are depending upon our loyalty to them.”

Giles would have spoken again, but, as if he remembered the pledge just made, held his peace, and I went into the stockade for as much of corn bread as would serve for my breakfast. There was no need of taking more than that amount, for, if I returned not by noon, I would never again need food.

Having made ready, I went toward the small gate, and there stopped to take Giles by the hand, as I said:

“The greatest danger which threatens lies between here and Wintermoot’s in as straight a line as the crow flies. I am counting only on going there before I return, therefore, if it becomes necessary to search for me, you need not spend very much time in the hunt.”

My hand was on the bar of the gate to raise it from its place, when the lad who was stationed on the west side of the stockade discharged his musket, and a sharp cry from the thicket directly in front of him told that the missile had found its target.

The lad who had fired leaped down in order that he might reload his weapon without giving an opportunity for a shot to those who were on the outside, and, running up to him, I asked, hurriedly:

“Was it red man or white?”

“Red,” he replied, “and, unless I mistake, there were three others near by.”

Beckoning to four of the lads who stood nearest, I bade them mount the wall, but urged that they take care before shooting, lest Elias be making an effort to gain the stockade, and then I stationed the rest of the company on the different sides of the fortification, knowing that, if an attack by the Indians was about to be made, they were more like to come from all quarters at the same moment.

Giles was the only member of the company whom I had not stationed, and he stood moodily near the main entrance, as if disgruntled because I had seemingly overlooked him.

The frown left his face very quickly, however, when I said, clapping him on the shoulder:

“It is for you and me, Giles, to be certain the others do their duty faithfully. We will make the round of the stockade, you starting toward the east and I the west, until something more is known of the foe. Don’t expose yourself foolishly, for it will be a serious matter indeed when one of our small company is disabled.”

Then we clambered up on the logs which gave us footing all the way around the enclosure, and had hardly more than shown ourselves when a bullet whistled past Giles’s head, so near that he clapped his hand to his cheek, believing he had been wounded. My heart sank within me, for now I knew beyond a question that the Indians, or the Tories, or both, had set about capturing Jenkins’s Fort, to the end that it might not shelter those who were in position to give warning of the doings at Wintermoot’s.

Strain our eyes as we might, it was not possible to distinguish any form amid the foliage where the tiny curl of smoke was rising above the leaves to tell of the whereabouts of him who had fired, and I said bitterly to myself, unconscious of giving breath to the words:

“They count on regularly besieging the place and starving us out. It won’t be a long job, for our provisions are none too abundant.”

I had dropped to my knees while speaking, with my face pressed against the aperture left where two logs were joined together, and Giles, crouching by my side, his eyes fixed upon the underbrush directly in front of us, said grimly:

“We have enough in plenty for two days; by halving that, we can hold out four, and should be able to get along on wind for two more, making six. Within that time some one should come from Forty Fort, or thereabouts, to learn how we are faring.”

“Ay, so they should, Giles, if it be possible, but in case those who hold Wintermoot’s are determined on gaining possession of this place, they will take good care no succor comes from that direction.”

Then a shot rang out from the north side of the stockade, and there could no longer be any question but that my worst fears were to be realized.

Leaping to the ground, I ran across the enclosure until I came to where the shot had been fired, and there asked if they had seen their target distinctly.

“Ay, enough to tell us that it was an Indian, but the bullet went wide of its mark,” one of the lads replied. “We must be regularly surrounded, and the red villains don’t propose to show themselves any more than may be absolutely necessary in order to keep us fairly well in view.”

Disheartening as were those words, they cheered me in a certain measure, for I began to realize that those who menaced us must have been in their present position some time before sunrise, and it was possible that Elias, succeeding in making his way through the lines when he started out, had found himself unable to return. He might be at that moment trying to gain an entrance.

It is needless to make any attempt at describing all that occurred during the long day which followed, for it would be but to repeat the words again and again.

We kept vigilant watch, rewarded now and then by getting a shot at some painted fiend who incautiously exposed himself, and again being fired upon, but without result. Only twice before sunset did we have fair proof that our bullets had taken effect, and then, as in the first case, it was but a cry of pain which might more reasonably have been caused by a slight wound than a deadly one.

We saw no white man, and this encouraged both Giles and myself, for, if the Indians were of the Mohawk tribe, they would not continue a siege very long, unless there were Tories near at hand to hold them to their work.

When night came Giles and I took careful account of the provisions, fearing less than we had supposed was on hand, and, that done, we told off five of the party with orders that they lie down at once to sleep, for up to this time all had remained awake at least thirty-six hours.

“We will divide the company into parties of four or five, that each may get an hour’s rest in turn,” I said to Giles, “and those who remain longest on duty must be kept constantly moving about, lest their eyes close despite their will. And now is it in your mind that we had best sit here idle?”

He looked at me questioningly and in surprise, whereat I continued:

“It is my belief that Elias may be trying to gain entrance here, and I beg that you, so long as is possible without rest, remain on the stockade just over the small gate, watching for him. I am going out.”

“To what end?” he asked.

“In the hope of finding him, and to learn the situation of affairs at Wintermoot’s. Failing in that, to carry word to our friends farther down the valley of what is being done here. Thus far we have escaped injury; but, in case they press us hard, it is not probable that we have such good luck during the next four and twenty hours.”

I had expected Giles would protest; but, to my surprise and delight, he replied, quietly:

“If you think it best that you go rather than I, do so, yet I would rather take the venture myself, although I question whether the danger be greater outside than in.”

I took him by the hand, and did not speak. It was as if, during the past four and twenty hours, he and I had ceased to be lads, and were become men,—men who were entrusted with the defence of the women and the aged in the poorly fortified blockhouses in the valley below us.

I am not minded that whomsoever reads these words shall believe I was eager to encounter danger, therefore do I set it down that there was a great fear in my heart as I unbarred the gate and stepped out, hearing Giles replace the fastenings which separated me from my comrades.

However timorous one may be, he does not linger long in such a place as I then was, for it stood to reason there were many pairs of sharp eyes fixed on this particular portion of the stockade, and, lying flat on my stomach, I began the advance, which needed to be slow and cautious if one would continue it many moments.

Before having gotten fifty yards away, following the line of the river at about an hundred paces from it, I suddenly came upon an Indian leaning against a tree as if half-asleep.

It might have been possible to have struck a blow that would have carried him out of this world; but the chances were that, in making such an attempt, I would bring his fellows down upon me, and, therefore, hardly daring to breathe lest he should be aware of my neighborhood, I made such a détour as soon left him behind me.

Then half an hour more of creeping and stopping to listen, suspicious of every leaf that was stirred by the wind, and after having gone, so nearly as I could judge, a mile in distance, I was literally paralyzed with fear when I laid my hand squarely upon the leg of a man.

In an instant he had kicked back with such force that the breath was knocked out of me, and, before I could recover, he was upon my back, clutching me by the throat with a grip which threatened soon to put an end to my struggles.

It was impossible for me to draw my knife, and the musket which I gripped in my right hand was useless at such a time. My brain was in a whirl, and consciousness rapidly deserting me when, suddenly, the iron grip upon my throat was loosened, as I heard dimly the whisper:

“Who are you?”

Then I understood who was my assailant, and it was with difficulty I prevented myself from crying aloud with joy, for I knew now that I had thus inadvertently come upon Elias.

It was not needed that I should reply to the question, for, passing his hand quickly over my face, he knew who I was, and throwing himself by my side, whispered:

“What are you doing here? Have they taken the fort?”

I explained in as few words as possible why I had ventured forth, and in turn asked the reason for his failing to come back within the time agreed upon.

“The stockade was all surrounded when I left, and since noon have I been trying to have speech with you. Once I got within sight of the fort, but was obliged to fall back when an additional force was sent up from Wintermoot’s.”

“Did you get anywhere near the nest of Tories?”

“Ay, and because they evidently are not fearing any interference from the people of the valley, I had good opportunity to see what was going on. I should say no less than an hundred white men in the uniform of Johnson Greens are there, and between the stockade and the river can be seen twenty or more Indian lodges, which will give you an idea of how many redskins Butler has gathered to begin the work of destruction hereabout. I have heard shots enough from around our fort to tell me that you must have, by this time, some idea of where the enemy are.”

“I know that a goodly number of them are outside Fort Jenkins, and it looks to me much as if they counted on laying regular siege to the place,” I replied, bitterly; “but as to how many may be nearabout, we have no knowledge.”

“I believe a full half the force of Indians from Wintermoot’s are there,” Elias replied. “Judging from the trouble I had in getting anywhere near the main gate, it seemed to me that no less than two hundred were in front of the stockade. How did you get out, and why are you come?”

I replied to the questions, and began to think myself fortunate in having gotten through the lines of the enemy with so little difficulty. Elias was a better hand at such work than I, and if he had found it impossible to open communication with us inside the stockade, then was I lucky in not having come to grief before I chanced upon him.

“Then since you came out only to learn where the enemy might be found, and how many there were of them near Wintermoot’s, you will go back with me?” Elias said, questioningly, and straightway I told him about the capture of Esther Hinchman, asking if he saw any evidences that the Indians in camp had a prisoner with them.

“There might have been a dozen in the lodges, and I remain in ignorance of the fact because of not looking for anything of that kind,” Elias replied, in a tone of vexation and doubt, as if the matter needed no discussion. “Of course we must retrace our steps at once.”

“Meaning that you think we might aid her if she was held by the red villains?” I asked, and he replied, promptly:

“Meaning that we’d have a try for it, of course. The lads in the fort are as well off as they would be if we were with them, therefore I don’t see how we can help turning back, but I’d be in better shape for the work if I had something besides wind in my stomach.”

Now it was I remembered that when Elias left the stockade he had neglected to take any food with him, believing he would either be taken prisoner, or succeed in returning within a few hours. Although my store of provision was wofully small, consisting of only so much corn bread as could be carried in the pocket of my hunting shirt, I divided it with him, and while we were eating spoke of the necessity as it seemed to me, of sending some word down the valley concerning what was going on at Fort Jenkins, as well as what we knew regarding the situation at Wintermoot’s.

Elias was of my mind concerning the necessity of so doing, but I understood plainly that he was not inclined to volunteer for such a mission. In fact, he said decidedly that if a message was to be sent, some one of the lads inside the stockade, of whose courage we might be in doubt, could best be spared at such a time when it seemed probable an attack was imminent.

But I reminded him that it might be impossible, and certainly would require a great expenditure of time, to seek for some other messenger than one of us two who were already beyond the enemy’s lines.

Well, because of the darkness, when it would be impossible to do much spying upon the enemy after we were come in the vicinity of Wintermoot’s, we spent considerable time in the thicket talking of this or of that, and chiefly regarding the show of insubordination which was displayed shortly after he went out on the scout.

It matters little what we said, although to us the conversation was of deepest import, since it was the foreshadowing of what we might expect when the villainous Col. John Butler began his work of butchery upon almost defenceless people, claiming that he was no more than waging legitimate warfare.

Young in experience though we were, it was possible for us to understand full well that on account of the quarrels which we of the valley had had concerning the ownership of the land, and also because of the interferences of Connecticut in our affairs, were we in greater peril than any other cluster of settlements in the colonies, owing to the greater number of Tories as compared with the loyal people.

It must not be supposed, however, that we spent any very great amount of time chewing over those questions which had caused bloodshed long before the colonists decided to array themselves against the king, but the greater portion of our talk was regarding what we might be able to do at Jenkins’s Fort, in event of a pitched battle, when the odds were like to be heavy against us.

When the day was within an hour of breaking we began our advance toward Wintermoot’s, moving with such caution that the gray light of morning had dispersed the darkness as we were come within sight of, but at a respectful distance from, the stockade, wherein were probably gathered those who were minded to lay waste all the little settlements in our beautiful valley.

At this early hour no one was stirring within the fort, and because of having halted on a slight elevation of land it was possible for us to see everything within the enclosure.

Outside, however, toward the river, where had been put up the lodges of the savages, as if to effect a permanent settlement, we could see that the Indians were all astir, and now and then one would set off at a rapid pace in the direction of Jenkins’s Fort, or again, a runner would return, as if bringing some intelligence from those who menaced the Minute Boys of Wyoming Valley.

“It is the Indians who are entrusted with the task of capturing the fort,” Elias whispered, as we gazed. “The Tories will take no hand in the work unless it should become necessary—at least, that is my way of figuring it.”

“There is no good reason why we should speculate upon the future,” I said, irritably, made nervous by the desire to return to my comrades. “Let us finish our business here as soon as may be. If Esther Hinchman is held prisoner by those scoundrels, we should be able to get some glimpse of her before very long, for I can’t believe they think it necessary to guard her closely.”

We were concealed within the thicket at a point where there was the least likelihood of our being come upon through accident by the enemy, and, therefore, felt reasonably secure. During the quarrels between the several claimants for Wyoming, even the youngest lads had become accustomed to danger, and this I say in order that it may be the better understood why Elias and I could thus take care of ourselves in such a situation as we then were. In fact, for as long a time as I could remember, we had been ever on the lookout for a foe, and were almost as skilful at hiding ourselves in the wilderness as are the wild things.

Within an hour from the time of our arrival the work was accomplished, so far as learning whether Esther Hinchman was held a prisoner by those savages who were under command of Col. John Butler, for we saw a white girl moving timidly about, showing by every movement that she was a stranger to the place and the people who surrounded her.

“I reckon this portion of the task is the same as finished,” Elias said, after we had watched the poor girl a few moments, “and now comes the question as to whether you are still determined that one of us—which will, of course, be me—must go down the valley, and give information of what is happening hereabouts.”

I had already made up my mind as to that, and was determined there should be no discussion.

“Yes, you are to go, Elias,” I said, in a tone of one who has well considered the matter, “and the sooner you set off the better. There will be no necessity of travelling farther than Forty Fort, and once you have arrived there, see to it that the people understand how great is the danger which menaces. It is better that you put it too strongly, rather than allow them to believe there is a chance they may not be attacked.”

“And after that has been done?” he asked.

“Come back to Jenkins’s Fort as soon as possible, for you know that we shall need you, unless, peradventure, we are by that time past all need of human help.”

Elias half turned as if to speak, then quickly, with a gesture of impatience, he turned his face in the direction I would have him go, gliding through the thicket on a course which would take him considerably to the westward of Wintermoot’s, and making no more noise than might have been caused by a squirrel.