Their overnight bivouac was not above a mile beyond the glade3 of ambushment. It was in a little dell, cunningly hid; and the embers of the camp-fires were still alive when we of the horse came first to this agreed-on rallying point.
Here at this rendezvous5 in the forest's heart I had my first sight of any fighting fragment of that undisciplined and yet unconquerable patriot6 home-guard that even in defeat proved too tough a morsel7 for British jaws8 to masticate9.
They promised little to the eye of a trained soldier, these border levies10. In fancy I could see my old field-marshal,—he was the father of all the martinets,—turn up his nose and dismiss them with a contemptuous "Ach! mein Gott!" And, truly, there was little outward show among them of the sterling11 metal underneath12.
They came singly and in couples, straggling like a routed band of brigands13; some loading their pieces as they ran. There was no hint of soldier discipline, and they might have been leaderless for aught I saw of deference14 to their captain. Indeed, at first I could not pick the captain out by any sign, since all were clad in coarsest homespun and well-worn leather, and all wore the long, fringed hunting shirt and raccoon-skin cap of the free borderers.
Yet these were a handful of the men who had fought so stoutly15 against the Tory odds16 at Ramsour's Mill, their captain being that Abram Forney of whom you may read in the histories; and though they made no military show, they lacked neither hardihood nor courage, of a certain persevering17 sort.
"Ever come any closter to your Amen than that, stranger?" drawled one of them, a grizzled borderer, lank18, lean and weather-tanned, with a face that might have been a leathern mask for any hint it gave of what went on behind it. "I'll swear that little whip'-snap' officer cub19 had the word 'Fire' sticking in his teeth when I gave him old Sukey's mouthful o' lead to chaw on."
I said I had come as near my exit a time or two before, though always in fair fight; and thereupon was whelmed in an avalanche20 of questions such as only simple-hearted folk know how to ask.
When I had sufficiently21 accounted for myself, Captain Forney—he was the limber-backed young fellow I had ridden behind—gripped my hand and gave me a hearty22 welcome and congratulation.
"My father and yours were handfast friends, Captain Ireton. More than that, I've heard my father say he owed yours somewhat on the score of good turns. I'm master glad I've had a chance to even up a little; though as for that, we should both thank the Indian." At which he looked around as one who calls an eye-muster and marks a missing man. "Where is the chief, Ephraim?"—this to the grizzled hunter who was methodically reloading his long rifle.
"He's back yonder, gathering23 in the hair-crop, I reckon. Never you mind about him, Cap'n. He'll turn up when he smells the meat a-cooking, immejitly, if not sooner."
Here, as I imagine, I looked all the questions that lacked answers; for Captain Forney took it in hand to fit them out with explications.
"'Tis Uncanoola, the Catawba," he said; "one of the friendlies. He was out a-scouting last night and came in an hour before daybreak with the news that Colonel Tarleton was set upon hanging a spy of ours. From that to our little ambushment—"
"I see," said I, wanting space to turn the memory leaves. "This Catawba: is he a man about my age?" Captain Forney laughed. "God He only knows an Indian's age. But Uncanoola has been a man grown these fifteen years or more. I can recall his coming to my father's house when I was but a little cadger24."
At that, I remembered, too; remembered a tall, straight young savage25, as handsome as a figure done in bronze, who used sometimes to meet me in the lonelier forest wilds when I was out a-hunting; remembered how at first I was afraid of him; how once I would have shot him in a fit of boyish race antipathy26 and sudden fright had he not flung away his firelock and stood before me defenseless.
Also, I recalled a little incident of the terrible scourge27 in '60 when the black pox bade fair to blot28 out this tribe of the Catawbas; how when my father had found this young savage lying in the forest, plague-stricken and deserted29 by all his tribesmen, he had saved his life and earned an Indian friendship.
"I know this Uncanoola," I said. "My father befriended him in the plague of '60, and was never sorry for it, as I believe." Then I would ask if these Catawbas had ranged themselves on the patriot side, a question which led the young militia30 captain to give me the news at large while his borderers were breaking camp and making their hasty preparations for the day's march.
"'Tis liberty or death with us now; we've burnt our bridges behind us," he said, when he had confirmed the tidings I had had the day before from Father Matthieu. "And since here in Carolina we have to fight each man against his neighbor, 'tis like to go hard with us, lacking help from the North."
"Measured by this morning's work, Captain Forney, these irregulars of yours seem well able to give a good account of themselves," I ventured.
He shook his head doubtfully. He was but a boy in years, but war is a shrewd schoolmaster, and this youth, like many another on the fighting frontier, had matriculated early.
"You've seen us at our best," he amended31. "We can ambush4 like the Indians, fire a volley, yell, charge—and run away."
"What's that ye're saying, youngster?" The grizzled hunter had finished reloading his rifle, and, lounging in earshot with all the freedom of the border, would take the captain up sharply on this last.
The old man leaned his rifle against a tree, spat33 on his hands, cut a clumsy caper34 in air, and gave tongue in a yell that should have been heard by Tarleton's men at Appleby.
"By the eternal 'coonskins! I can gouge35 the eye out of ary man that says Eph Yeates carn't stand up fair and square and whop his weight in wildcats; and I can do it now, if not sooner!" he shrilled36. "Come on, you pap-eating, apron-stringed, French-daddied—"
Where the blast of vituperative37 insult would have spent itself in natural course we were not to know, for in the midst another of the borderers, a wiry little man in greasy38 deerskin, came up behind the capering39 ancient, whipped an arm around his neck, and in a trice the two went down, kicking, scratching, buffeting40 and mauling, as like to a pair of battling bobcats as was ever seen.
For a moment I thought my youngster would let them have it out to the finish, but he did not. At his order some of the others pulled the twain apart, reluctantly, I fancied; and when the thing was done the old man caught up his rifle and strode away in blackest wrath41 without a look behind him.
"Now you know wherein our weakness lies, Captain Ireton," he said. "There goes as true a man and as keen a shot as ever pulled trigger. Let him fight in his own way, and he'll take cover and name his man for every bullet in his pouch43. But as for yielding to decent authority, or standing44 against trained troops in open field—" He shrugged again and turned to tighten45 his saddle-girth.
"I see," said I. Then I asked him of his plans and intendings, and was told that he and his handful were a-march to join General Rutherford, who was gone to the Forks of Yadkin to break up some Tory embodiment thereabouts.
"You have your work cut out to dodge46 the British light-horse, Captain Forney," said I; capping the venture by telling him what little I knew of Tarleton's dispositions47, and also of the Indian-arming plot I had overheard.
"We'll dodge the redcoats, never you fear; we're at our best in that," he rejoined, carelessly. "And as to the Cherokee upstirring, that's an old story. The king's men have tried it twice and they have not yet caught Jack48 Sevier or Jimmie Robertson a-napping. Ease your mind on that score, Captain Ireton, and come along with us, if you have nothing better to do. I can promise you hard living, and hard fighting enough to keep it in countenance49."
At this I was brought down to some consideration of the present and its demands. As fortune's wheel had twirled, I had my life, to be sure; but by the having of it was made the basest traitor50 to my friend—to Jennifer, and no whit51 less to Margery.
'Twas out of any thought that I should take the field against the common enemy, leaving this tangled52 web of mystery and misery53 behind. In sheerest decency54 I owed it first to Jennifer to make a swift and frank confession55 of the ill-concluded tale of happenings. That done, I owed it equally to him and Margery to find some way to set aside the midnight marriage.
So I fell back upon my wound for an excuse, telling the captain that I was not yet fit to take the field—which was true enough. Whereupon he and his men set me well beyond the danger of immediate56 pursuit and we parted company.
When I was left alone I had no plan that reached beyond the day's end. Since to go to Jennifer House by daylight would be to run my neck afresh into the noose57, I saw nothing for it but to lie in hiding till nightfall. The hiding place that promised best was the old hunting lodge58 in the forest, and thitherward I turned my face.
It was a wise man who said that he who goes with heavy heart drags heavy feet as well; but while I live I shall remember how that saying clogged59 the path for me that morning, making the shrub-sweet summer air grow thick and lifeless as I toiled60 along. For sober second thought, and the unnerving reaction which comes upon the heels of some sharp peril overpast, left me aghast at the coil in which a tricky61 fate had entangled62 me.
The second thought made plain the dispiteous hardness of it all, showing me how I had reasoned like a boy in planning for retrieval. Would Jennifer believe my tale, though I should swear it out word for word on the Holy Evangelists? I doubted it; and striving to see it through his eyes, was made to doubt it more. For death should have been my justifier63, and death had played me false.
As for setting the midnight marriage aside, I made sure the lawyer tribe could find a way, if that were all. But here there was a loyal daughter of the Church to reckon with. Loathing64 her bonds, as any true-hearted maiden65 must, would Margery consent to have them broken by the law? I knew well she would not. Though our poor knotting of the tie had been little better than a tragic66 farce67, it lacked nothing of force to bind68 the tender conscience of a woman bred to look upon the churchly rite69 as final.
So, twist and turn it as I might, the coil was desperate; and as I strode on gloomily, measuring this the first stage in a pilgrimage I had never thought to make, a fire of sullen70 anger began to smoke and smolder71 within me, and I could find it in my heart to curse the cruel kindness of my rescuers; to sorrow in my inmost soul that they had come between to make a living recreant72 of one who would fain have died an honest man.
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1
opportunely
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| adv.恰好地，适时地 | |
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2
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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3
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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4
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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5
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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6
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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7
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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8
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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masticate
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| v.咀嚼 | |
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10
levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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11
sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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12
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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14
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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15
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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16
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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17
persevering
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| a.坚忍不拔的 | |
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18
lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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19
cub
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| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
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20
avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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21
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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22
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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23
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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24
cadger
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| n.乞丐；二流子；小的油容量；小型注油器 | |
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25
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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26
antipathy
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| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
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27
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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28
blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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29
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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30
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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31
Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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32
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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33
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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34
caper
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| v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏 | |
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35
gouge
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| v.凿；挖出；n.半圆凿；凿孔；欺诈 | |
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36
shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
vituperative
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| adj.谩骂的；斥责的 | |
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38
greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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39
capering
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| v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的现在分词 )；蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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40
buffeting
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| 振动 | |
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41
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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42
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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43
pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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44
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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45
tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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46
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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47
dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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48
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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49
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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50
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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51
whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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52
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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53
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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54
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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55
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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56
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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57
noose
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| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
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58
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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59
clogged
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| （使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞 | |
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60
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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61
tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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62
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
justifier
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| 辩护者，辩解者 | |
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64
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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65
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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66
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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67
farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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68
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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69
rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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70
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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71
smolder
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| v.无火焰地闷烧；n.焖烧，文火 | |
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72
recreant
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| n.懦夫；adj.胆怯的 | |
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