"_Mar_. Shall I strike at it with my partizan.
_Hor_. Do, if it will not stand.
_Mar_. 'Tis here!
_Hor_. 'Tis here!
_Mar_. 'Tis gone!"
Hamlet.
The time that this unexpected visiter stood uncloaked and exposed to
recognition, before the eyes of the curious group in the outer room, did
not much exceed a minute. Still it was long enough to allow men who rarely
overlooked the smallest peculiarity of dress or air, to note some of the
more distinguishing accompaniments of his attire. The heavy horseman's
pistols, once before exhibited, were in his girdle, and young Mark got a
glimpse of a silver-handled dagger which had pleased his eye before that
night. But the passage of his grandfather and the stranger from the room
prevented the boy from determining whether it was entirely of the same
fashion as that, which, rather as a memorial of by-gone scenes than for
any service that it might now be expected to perform, hung above the bed
of the former.
"The man hath not yet parted with his arms!" exclaimed the quick-sighted
youth, when he found that every other tongue continued silent. "I would he
may now leave them with my grand'ther, that I may chase the skulking
Wampanoag to his hiding--"
"Hot-headed boy! Thy tongue is too much given to levity," said Ruth, who
had not only resumed her seat, but the light employment that had been
interrupted by the blast at the gate with a calmness of mien that did not
fail in some degree to reassure her maidens. "Instead of cherishing the
lessons of peace that are taught thee, thy unruly thoughts are ever bent
on strife."
"Is there harm in wishing to be armed with a weapon suited to my years,
that I may do service in beating down the power of our enemies: and
perhaps aid something, too, in affording security to my mother?"
"Thy mother hath no fears," returned the matron gravely, while grateful
affection prompted a kind but furtive glance towards the high-spirited
though sometimes froward lad. "Reason hath already taught me the folly
of alarm, because one has knocked at our gate in the night-season. Lay
aside thy arms, men; you see that my husband no longer clings to the
musket. Be certain that his eye will give us warning, when there shall be
danger at hand."
The unconcern of her husband was even more strikingly true, than the
simple language of his wife would appear to convey. Content had not only
laid aside his weapon, but he had resumed his seat near the fire, with an
air as calm, as assured, and it might have seemed to one watchfully
observant, as understanding, as her own. Until now, the stout Dudley had
remained leaning on his piece, immovable and apparently unconscious as a
statue. But, following the injunctions of one he was accustomed to obey,
he placed the musket against the wall, with the care of a hunter, and then
running a hand through his shaggy locks, as though the action might
quicken ideas that were never remarkably active, he bluntly exclaimed--
"An armed hand is well in these forests, but an armed heel is not less
wanting to him who would push a roadster from the Connecticut to the
Wish-Ton-Wish, between a rising and a setting sun! The stranger no longer
journeys in the saddle, as is plain by the sign that his boot beareth no
spur. When he worried, by dint of hard pricking, the miserable hack that
proved food for the wolves, through the forest, he had better
appointments. I saw the bones of the animal no later than this day. They
have been polished by fowls and frost, till the driven snow of the
mountains is not whiter!"
Meaning and uneasy, but hasty glances of the eye were exchanged between
Content and Ruth, as Eben Dudley thus uttered the thoughts which had been
suggested by the unexpected return of the stranger.
"Go you to the look-out at the western palisadoes," said the latter; "and
see if perchance the Indian may not be lurking near the dwellings, ashamed
of his delay, and perchance fearful of calling us to his admission. I
cannot think that the child means to desert us, with no sign of kindness,
and without leave-taking."
"I will not take upon me to say, how much or how little of ceremony the
youngster may fancy to be due to the master of the valley and his kin; but
if not gone already, the snow will not melt more quietly in the thaw, than
the lad will one day disappear. Reuben Ring, thou hast an eye for light or
darkness; come forth with me, that no sign escape us. Should thy sister,
Faith, make one of our party, it would not be easy for the red-skin to
pass the clearing without a hail."
"Go to," hurriedly answered the female; "it is more womanly that I tarry
to see to the wants of him who hath journeyed far and hard, since the
rising of the sun. If the boy pass thy vigilance, wakeful Dudley, he will
have little cause to fear that of others."
Though Faith so decidedly declined to make one of the party, her brother
complied without reluctance. The young men were about to quit the place
together; when the latch, on which the hand of Dudley was already laid,
rose quietly without aid from his finger, the door opened, and the object
of their intended search glided past them, and took his customary position
in one of the more retired corners of the room. There was so much of the
ordinary, noiseless manner of the young captive in this entrance, that for
a moment they who witnessed the passage of his dark form across the
apartment, were led to think the movement no more than the visit he was
always permitted to make at that hour. But recollection soon came, and
with it not only the suspicious circumstance of his disappearance, but the
inexplicable manner of his admission within the gates.
"The pickets must be looked to!" exclaimed Dudley, the instant a second
look assured him that his eyes in truth beheld him who had been missing
"The place that a stripling can scale, might well admit a host."
"Truly," said Content, "this needeth explanation. Hath not the boy entered
when the gate was opened for the stranger?--Here cometh one that may speak
to the fact!"
"It is so," said the individual named, who re-entered from the inner room
in season to hear the nature of the remark. "I found this native child
near thy gate, and took upon me the office of a Christian man to bid him
welcome. Certain am I, that one, kind of heart and gently disposed, like
the mistress of this family, will not turn him away in anger."
"He is no stranger at our fire, or at our board," said Ruth; "had it been
otherwise, thou wouldst have done well."
Eben Dudley looked incredulous. His mind had been powerfully exercised
that day with visions of the marvellous, and, of a certainty, there was
some reason to distrust the manner in which the re-appearance of the
youth had been made.
"It will be well to look to the fastenings," he muttered, "lest others,
less easy to dispose of, should follow. Now that invisible agencies are at
work in the Colony, one may not-sleep too soundly!"
"Then go thou to the look-out, and keep the watch, till the clock shall
strike the hour of midnight;" said the Puritan, who uttered the command in
a manner to show that he was in truth moved by considerations far deeper
than the vague apprehensions of his dependant. "Ere sleep overcome thee,
another shall be ready for the relief."
Mark Heathcote seldom spoke, but respectful silence permitted the lowest
of his syllables to be audible. On the present occasion, when his voice
was first heard, such a stillness came over all in presence, that he
finished the sentence amid the nearly imperceptible breathings of the
listeners. In this momentary but death-like quiet, there arose a blast
from the conch at the gate, that might have seemed an echo of that which
had so lately startled the already-excited inmates of the dwelling. At the
repetition of sounds so unwonted, all sprang to their feet, but no one
spoke. Content cast a hurried and inquiring glance at his father, who in
his turn had anxiously sought the eye of the stranger. The latter stood
firm and unmoved. One hand was clenched upon the back of the chair from
which he had arisen, and, the other grasped, perhaps unconsciously, the
handle of one of those weapons which had attracted the attention of young
Mark, and which still continued thrust through the broad leathern belt
that girded his doublet.
"The sound is like that, which one little used to deal with earthly
instruments might raise!" muttered one of those whose mind had been
prepared, by the narrative of Dudley, to believe in any thing marvellous.
"Come from what quarter it may, it is a summons that must be answered;"
returned Content. "Dudley, thy musket; this visit is so unwonted, that
more than one hand should do the office of porter."
The borderer instantly complied, muttering between his teeth as he shook
the priming deeper into the barrel of his piece, "Your over-sea gallants
are quick on the trail to-night!" Then throwing the musket into the hollow
of his arm, he cast a look of discontent and resentment towards Faith
Ring, and was about to open the door for the passage of Content, when
another blast arose on the silence without. The second touch, of the shell
was firmer, longer, louder, and more true, than that by which it had just
been preceded.
"One might fancy the conch was speaking in mockery," observed Content,
looking with meaning towards their guest. "Never did sound more resemble
sound than these we have just heard, and those thou drew from the shell
when asking admission."
A sudden light appeared to break in upon the intelligence of the stranger.
Advancing more into the circle, rather with the freedom of long
familiarity than with the diffidence of a newly-arrived guest, he motioned
for silence as he said--
"Let none move, but this stout woodsman, the young captain and myself. We
will go forth, and doubt not that the safety of those within shall be
regarded."
Notwithstanding the singularity of this proposal, as it appeared to excite
neither surprise nor opposition in the Puritan or his son, the rest of the
family offered no objection. The stranger had no sooner spoken, than he
advanced near to the torch, and looked closely into the condition of his
pistols. Then turning to old Mark, he continued in an under tone--
"Peradventure there will be more worldly strife than any which can flow
from the agencies that stir up the unquiet spirits of the Colonies. In
such an extremity, it may be well to observe a soldier's caution."
"I like not this mockery of sound," returned the Puritan; "it argueth a
taunting and fiend-like temper. We have, of late, had in this Colony
tragical instances of what the disappointed malice of Azazel can attempt;
and it would be vain to hope that the evil agencies are not vexed with the
sight of my Bethel."
Though the stranger listened to the words of his host with respect, it was
plain that his thoughts dwelt on dangers of a different character. The
member that still rested on the handle of his weapon, was clenched with
greater firmness; and a grim, though a melancholy expression was seated
about a mouth, that was compressed in a manner to denote the physical,
rather than the spiritual resolution of the man. He made a sign to the two
companions he had chosen, and led the way to the court.
By this time, the shades of night had materially thickened, and, although
the hour was still early, a darkness had come over the valley that
rendered it difficult to distinguish objects at any distance from the
eye. The obscurity made it necessary that they, who now issued from the
door of the dwelling, should advance with caution, lest, ere properly
admonished of its presence, their persons should be exposed to some
lurking danger. When the three, however, were safely established behind
the thick curtain of plank and earth that covered and commanded the
entrance, and where their persons, from the shoulders downward, were
completely protected, alike from shot and arrow, Content demanded to
know, who applied at his gates for admission at an hour when they were
habitually closed for the night. Instead of receiving, as before, a ready
answer, the silence was so profound, that his own words were very
distinctly heard repeated, as was not uncommon at that quiet hour, among
the recesses of the neighboring woods.
"Come it from Devil, or come it from man, here is treachery!" whispered
the stranger after a fitting pause. "Artifice must be met by artifice;
but thou art much abler to advise against the wiles of the forest, than
one trained, as I have been, in the less cunning deceptions of
Christian warfare."
"What think'st, Dudley?" asked Content--"Will it be well to sally, or
shall we wait another signal from the conch?"
"Much dependeth on the quality of the guests expected," returned he of
whom counsel was asked. "As for the braggart gallants, that are
over-valiant among the maidens, and heavy of heart when they think the
screech of the jay an Indian whoop, I care not if ye beat the pickets to
the earth, and call upon them to enter on the gallop. I know the manner to
send them to the upper story of the block, quicker than the cluck of the
turkey can muster its young; but----"
"'Tis well to be discreet in language, in a moment of such serious
uncertainty!" interrupted the stranger. "We look for no gallants of
the kind."
"Then will I give you a conceit that shall know the reason of the music of
yon conch. Go ye two back into the house, making much conversation by the
way, in order that any without may hear. When ye have entered, it shall be
my task to find such a post nigh the gate, that none shall knock again,
and no porter be at hand to question them in the matter of their errand."
"This soundeth better," said Content; "and that it may be done with all
safety, some others of the young men, who are accustomed to this species
of artifice, shall issue by the secret door and lie in wait behind the
dwellings, in order that support shall not be wanting in case of violence.
Whatever else thou dost, Dudley, remember that thou dost not undo the
fastenings of the postern."
"Look to the support," returned the woodsman; "should it be keen-eyed
Reuben Ring, I shall feel none the less certain that good aid is at my
back. The whole of that family are quick of wit and ready of
invention, unless it may be the wight who hath got the form without
the reason of a man."
"Thou shalt have Reuben, and none other of his kin," said Content. "Be
well advised of the fastenings, and so I wish thee all fitting success, in
a deception that cannot be sinful, since it aims only at our safety."
With this injunction, Content and the stranger left Dudley to the practice
of his own devices, the former observing the precaution to speak aloud
while returning, in order that any listeners without might be led to
suppose the whole party had retired from the search, satisfied of its
fruitlessness.
In the mean time, the youth left nigh the postern set about the
accomplishment of the task he had undertaken, in sober earnest. Instead of
descending in a direct line to the palisadoes, he also ascended, and made
a circuit among the out-buildings on the margin of the acclivity. Then
bending so low as to blend his form with objects on the snow, he gained an
angle of the palisadoes, at a point remote from the spot he intended to
watch, and, as he hoped, aided by the darkness of the hour and the shadows
of the hill, completely protected from observation. When beneath the
palisadoes, the sentinel crouched to the earth, creeping with extreme
caution along the timber which bound their lower ends, until he found
himself arrived at a species of sentry-box that was erected for the very
purpose to which he now intended it should be applied. Once within the
cover of this little recess, the sturdy woodsman bestowed his large frame,
with as much attention to comfort and security as the circumstances would
permit. Here he prepared to pass many weary minutes, before there should
be further need of his services.
The reader will find no difficulty in believing that one of opinions like
those of the borderer, did not enter on his silent watch without much
distrust of the character of the guests that he might be called upon to
receive. Enough has been shown to prove that the suspicion uppermost in
his mind was, that the unwelcome agents of the government had returned on
the heels of the stranger. But, notwithstanding the seeming probability of
this opinion, there were secret misgivings of the earthly origin of the
two last windings of the shell. All the legends, and all the most credited
evidence in cases of prestigious agency, as it had been exhibited in the
colonies of New-England, went to show the malignant pleasure the Evil
Spirits found, in indulging their wicked mockeries, or in otherwise
tormenting those who placed their support on a faith, that was believed to
be so repugnant to their own ungrateful and abandoned natures. Under the
impressions, naturally excited by the communication he had held with the
traveller in the mountains, Eben Dudley found his mind equally divided
between the expectation of seeing, at each moment, one of the men whom he
had induced to quit the valley so unceremoniously, returning to obtain,
surreptitiously, admission within the gate, or of being made an unwilling
witness of some wicked manifestation of that power which was temporarily
committed to the invisibles. In both of these expectations, however, he
was fated to be disappointed Notwithstanding the strong spiritual bias of
the opinions of the credulous sentinel, there was too much of the dross of
temporal things in his composition, to elevate him altogether above the
weakness of humanity. A mind so encumbered began to weary with its own
contemplations; and, as it grew feeble with its extraordinary efforts, the
dominion of matter gradually resumed its sway. Thought, instead of being
clear and active, as the emergency would have seemed to require, began to
grow misty. Once or twice the borderer half arose, and appeared to look
about him with observation; and then, as his large frame fell heavily back
into its former semi-recumbent attitude, he grew tranquil and stationary.
This movement was several times repeated, at intervals of increasing
length, till, at the end of an hour, forgetting alike the hunt, the
troopers, and the mysterious agents of evil, the young man yielded to the
fatigue of the day. The tall oaks of the adjoining forest stood not more
immovable in the quiet of the tranquil hour, than his frame now leaned
against the side of its narrow habitation.
How much time was thus lost in inactivity, Eben Dudley could never
precisely tell. He always stoutly maintained it could not have been long,
since his watch was not disturbed by the smallest of those sounds from the
woods, which sometimes occur in deep night, and which may be termed the
breathing of the forest in its slumbers. His first distinct recollection,
was that of feeling a hand grasped with the power of a giant. Springing to
his feet, the young man eagerly stretched forth an arm, saying as he did
so, in words sufficiently confused--
"If the buck hath fallen by a shot in the head, I grant him to be thine,
Reuben Ring; but if struck in limb or body, I claim the venison for a
surer hand."
"Truly, a very just division of the spoil," returned one in an under tone,
and speaking as if sounds too loud might be dangerous. "Thou givest the
head of the deer for a target to Reuben Ring, and keepest the rest of the
creature to thine own uses."
"Who hath sent thee, at this hour, to the postern? Dost not know that
there are thought to be strangers, outlying in the fields?"
"I know that there are some, who are not strangers, in-lying on their
watch!" said Faith Ring. "What shame would come upon thee, Dudley, did the
Captain, and they who have been so strongly exercised in prayer within,
but suspect how little care thou hast had of their safety, the while!"
"Have they come to harm? If the Captain hath held them to spiritual
movements, I hope he will allow that nothing earthly hath passed this
postern to disturb the exercise. As I hope to be dealt honestly by, in
all matters of character, I have not once quitted the gate, since the
watch was set."
"Else wouldst thou be the famousest sleep-walker in the Connecticut
Colony! Why, drowsy one, conch cannot raise a louder blast than that thou
soundest, when eyes are fairly shut in sleep. This may be watching,
according to thy meaning of the word; but infant in its cradle is not half
so ignorant of that which passeth around it, as thou hast been."
"I think, Faith Ring, that thou hast gotten to be much given to
backbiting, and evil saying against friends, since the visit of the
gallants from over sea."
"Out upon the gallants from over sea, and thee too, man! I am not a girl
to be flouted with bold speech from one who doth not know whether he be
sleeping or waking. I tell thee, thy good name would be lost in the
family, did it come to the ears of the Captain, and more particularly to
the knowledge of that soldier stranger, up in the dwelling, of whom even
the Madam maketh so great ceremony, that thou hast been watching with a
tuneful nose, an open mouth, and a sealed eye."
"If any but thee hadst said this slander of me, girl, it would go nigh to
raise hot speech between us! Thy brother, Reuben Ring, knows better than
to stir my temper, by such falsity of accusation."
"Thou dealest so generously by him, that he is prone to forget thy
misdeeds. Truly he hath the head of the buck, while thou contentest
thyself with The offals and all the less worthy parts! Go to, Dudley; thou
wast in a heavy dream when I caused thee to awake."
"A pretty time have we fallen upon, when petticoats are used instead of
beards and strong-armed men, to go the rounds of the sentinels, and to say
who sleepeth and who is watchful! What hath brought thee so far from the
exercises and so nigh the gates, Mistress Faith, now that there is no
oversea gallant to soothe thy ears with lying speech and light
declarations."
"If speech not to be credited is that I seek," returned the girl, "truly
the errand hath not been without its reward. What brought me hither,
sooth! why, the Madam hath need of articles from the outer
buttery--and--ay--and my ears led me to the postern. Thou knowest, musical
Dudley, that I have had occasion to hearken to thy watchful notes before
this night. But my time is too useful to be wasted in idleness; thou art
now awake, and may thank her who hath done thee a good turn with no wish
to boast of it, that one of a black beard is not the laughing-stock of all
the youths in the family. If thou keepest thine own counsel, the Captain
may yet praise thee for a vigilant sentinel; though Heaven forgive him the
wrong he will do the truth!
"Perhaps a little anger at unjust suspicions may have prompted more than
the matter needed, Faith, when I taxed thee with the love of backbiting,
and I do now recall that word; though I will ever deny that aught more,
than some wandering recollection concerning the hunt of this day, hath
come over my thoughts, and perhaps made me even forgetful that it was
needful to be silent at the postern; and therefore, on the truth of a
Christian man, I do forgive thee, the----"
But Faith was already out of sight and out of hearing. Dudley himself, who
began to have certain prickings of conscience concerning the ingratitude
he had manifested to one who had taken so much interest in his reputation,
now bethought him seriously of that which remained to be done. He had much
reason to suspect that there was less of the night before him than he had
at first believed, and he became in consequence more sensible of the
necessity of making some report of the events of his watch. Accordingly,
he cast a scrutinizing glance around, in order to make sure that the facts
should not contradict his testimony, and then, first examining the
fastenings of the postern, he mounted the hill, and presented himself
before the family. The members of the latter, having in truth passed most
of the long interval of his absence in spiritual exercises, and in
religious conversation, were not so sensible of his delay in reporting, as
they might otherwise have been.
"What tidings dost thou bring us from without?" said Content, so soon as
the self-relieved sentinel appeared. "Hast seen any, or hast heard that
which is suspicious?"
Ere Dudley would answer, his eye did not fail to study the half-malicious
expression of the countenance of her who was busy in some domestic toil,
directly opposite to the place where he stood. But reading there no more
than a glance of playful though smothered irony, he was encouraged to
proceed in his report.
"The watch has been quiet," was the answer; "and there is little cause to
keep the sleepers longer from their beds. Some vigilant eyes, like those
of Reuben Ring and my own, had better be open until the morning; further
than that, is there no reason for being wakeful."
Perhaps the borderer would have dwelt more at large on his own readiness
to pass the remainder of the hours of rest in attending to the security of
those who slept, had not another wicked glance from the dark, laughing eye
of her who stood so favorably placed to observe his countenance,
admonished him of the prudence of being modest in his professions.
"This alarm hath then happily passed away," said the Puritan, arising. "We
will now go to our pillows in thankfulness and peace. Thy service shall
not be forgotten, Dudley; for thou hast exposed thyself to seeming danger,
at least, in our behalf."
"That hath he!" half-whispered Faith; "and sure am I, that we maidens will
not forget his readiness to lose the sweets of sleep, in order that the
feeble may not come to harm."
"Speak not of the trifle," hurriedly returned the other. "There has been
some deception in the sounds, for it is now my opinion, except to summon
us to the gate, that this stranger might enter--the conch hath not been
touched at all to night."
"Then is it a deception which is repeated!" exclaimed Content, rising from
his chair as a faint and broken blast from the shell, like that which had
first announced their visiter, again struggled among the buildings, until
it reached every ear in the dwelling.
"Here is warning as mysterious as it may prove portentous!" said old Mark
Heathcote, when the surprise, not to say consternation of the moment had
subsided. "Hast seen nothing that might justify this?"
Eben Dudley, like most of the auditors, was too much confounded to reply.
All seemed to attend anxiously for the second and more powerful blast,
which was to complete the imitation of the stranger's summons. It was not
necessary to wait long; for in a time as near as might be, to that which
had intervened between the two first peals of the horn followed another,
and in a note so true, again, as to give it the semblance of an echo.