Show the master of chaos by irving bacheller copyright Copy richt issa by irvinc Bachell Bc hUr sr CHAPTER XIII continued 17 colln colin was warmly received by general benedict arnold a born rebel who had run away from home when a tripling stripling in quest of adventure in later life as a partner of elijah woodbridge nancys father he had prospered shipping horses and mules to the west indies unlike the commander in chief he be had no patience with the potbellied pot bellied mouth fighters in congress he was an arrogant highhanded man lacking in dignity and politeness still he had the unconquerable flu qu erable spirit his courage and valor had bad been proved dark skinned and black bearded his blue gray eyes often glowed with anger in his wong athletic body was the energy of wildcats and the snarl of them was often in his mouth stung by ingratitude his was the spirit of protest now abroad in the land congress for some reason bad promoted every brigadier save himself ahlm he had suffered indescribable hardships going to quebec and was wounded there therein in a desperate assault with a fleet in lake champlain Champl aln he had delayed the advance of the british for a year yet the sim bottsen in congress under some hidden influence had bad thus expressed their appreciation preci atlon general washington had mildly rebuked this slighting of an able officer ills his sympathy had kept arnold in the service and his sending the best massachusetts regiment to be an arrow in the quiver of the black general signalized signalizes the special interest of the chief in this member of his staff colln colin had not been a day in the albany camp when he received a note from mrs bowlby 1 I heard from a friend of general arnold that you were to be here she wrote As soon as possible after you arrive come tor for a talk with me at 49 pearl street it was a brief and cheerless note what did it mean night had fallen ile he hastened to the address of mrs bowlby he passed a public house with open doors at its bar a reveler was singing a mournful love ballad A moment he listened it told what a man had done for the love 0 barbara allen alien yes I 1 know I 1 know all about it he be whispered as he went on mrs bowlby met him with a sad face they sat down together she was silent Is it bad news he asked it Is not good news our ur love story is now in the hands 0 god I 1 dont know what will happen ill ten tell you the whole story I 1 met the british at crown point seeing the great army of burgoyne Dur goyne our small force scattered the filthy indians were with the enemy I 1 pretended to be a loyall loyalist st told them I 1 would help and that I 1 wanted to see miss I 1 met her she was in a party of grand ladles ladies lady harriet ackland a daughter of the earl of Il chester the young baroness de ni Rl edesel mrs major harnage and others these fine gowned highbred high bred women two of whom had children with them were going to ride comfortably fort ably through the wilderness in tumbrels a kind of two wheeled cart think of that they were among the indians they were interested in the look and the chattering of the noble red men the mosquitoes and gnats and black flies files were as thick as ants on a puddle of molasses they were biting through the veils and sleeves and stockings of the women and getting to their necks and wrists they had bad expected a sylvan paradise they had bad found purgatory the children were crying with pain it was an itching swollen bloody wretched group I 1 had a little talk with your sweetheart of course she know me until I 1 had given her the truth as you and I 1 know it she clung to me then her horse had gone with others in the charge of scouts who knew the forest we went on in the bateaux as far as we could A part of the force set out to lay siege to TL I 1 took to the woods with about twelve hundred women some children a lot of indians a force of pioneers and three regiments of canadian militia we were to move westward clearing the ruined road and camping in the wilderness to wait for the main force I 1 was driving an ox team I 1 told them that only jumpers could get through but they made me hitch to a wagon loaded with baggage I 1 warned pat to stick to me she did it and rode on one of my oxen an old lady who was with her went with lady ackland in a cart they were far behind us all bridges had been destroyed soon the whole baggage train foundered in a swamp then wide runn ered jumpers had to be built the tumbrels were wrecked the first day the ladles veils were torn to rags in brush and briers their life became a battle with hardship they got through the swamps on the backs of oxen pat fell sick of a fever the poor child was very sick and no physician at our camp I 1 knew that in june doctor parmly of hudson a loyalist was always at his fishing camp on a lake not more than three miles from where we were I 1 got permission to take her there on condition that I 1 would return the next day I 1 carried her on my back a slow hard journey tut I 1 got there doctor parmly took her in the poor girl was down with smallpox they had all been inoculated and good to us ua they put her to bed and sent down t to 0 the village at fort william henry for or a nurse I 1 stayed stared until the nurse came pat was wag better when I 1 left the doctor was to bring her to general lers house bouse at albany on his way down the hudson since then I 1 have heard nothing this alarms roe me said colln colin as he arose 1 I will go to lers house 1 I was there not an hour ago when she comes the general will do what he can for her she Is probably with the british they are all over the upper country now it Is not easy to come down the river these days then and there colln colin wrote a letter to his beloved pat when it was finished he said to mrs lira bowlby have you the courage to take it up op the river tomorrow and try to make parmly s camp camal it if so go I 1 will give you ten pounds first come with me and we will take a look into the year ahead said mrs bowlby what do you mean 1 I know a man who has a marvelous gift oe ile can see into the future 1 I have no faith in that kind of thing colln colin answers answered A lie ile foretold the week of my marriage and the kind of man I 1 would you have a sweetheart whose life ll Is in peril marry and my successful trip with your letter I 1 will not take the risk of the journey you ask me to make without his advice so it happened that colin went with mrs bowlby to a crystal gazer and a reader of the great stars a long haired polite man with large dark eyes of the name of Kar apotos who had bad a luxurious suite of rooms and who had done a thriving business in new york driven away by the war scare he had been working the big river towns in which many rich new yorkers had sought refuge ne he told mrs bowlby that she would soon be going away on a perilous and important mission it would be successful cess ful colln colin was interested he gave the date and hour of his birth soon the fortuneteller fortune teller made this confident and astonishing declaration you have a sweetheart whose life Is in peril I 1 think that she Is with the british army I 1 see darkness and lights flashing lights they will give you good news I 1 see a battle the americans will win an easy victory there will be a great scampering of the frightened enemy I 1 see another battle a long hard bloody battle again your army wins I 1 think it will be the defeat of burgoyne some friend rather dear to you will be among the dead I 1 see a man riding a horse I 1 think it will be you going to meet your sweetheart in some distant place long after the battle colln colin paid a fee and left the man with a smile of incredulity no doubt he had learned from mrs bowlby of rat pat in the british army and nancy in new york anyone of good sense would know that burgoyne was bound to be defeated nud and that mrs bowlby would succeed on any mission it if there should be a victory against the army of st leger it would tend to strengthen his weak faith la in the stars ile he would see what was on the scroll of the near future as it unrolled the little adventure in that chamber of mysteries had been worth all it cost for it had won the needed help of mrs bowlby the good woman was now willing to undertake the mission he left her and soon after daylight in the morning was on his way up the mohawk valley talley with arnolds army st leger then besieging fort stanwix was depending mainly on a large force of indians the cunning arnold knew that they were as fickle as the april wind and easily alarmed lie had a force of only fifteen hundred ruen men on the way he caught two loyalist halfbreed half breed brothers of the name of cuyler they were related to bid thorny tree of the onondagas Onon dagas being part indian they had some influence with the red men one of them was a they were both led to believe that they would be hanged their panic having continued for some hours the was told that their lives would bo be spared on one condition tie he must go on ahead to the fort and tell the indians that a force of ten thousand men were coming from whom he be had narrowly escaped ills brother was to be held as a hostage it if when arnold got there the indians had bad not deserted the brother would be promptly hanged by the neck the lack lackwitz wits coat was hung hues on a bush while arnold tore it with bullets young cuyler put it on and hurried away his brain filled with the teed seed of 0 panic A rich harvest came of it many indiana broke away from st leger others to a riot turned their guns on the british the camp was quickly demoralized when arnolds arnold force appeared guns and knapsacks knapsack were thrown away and the tracks of 0 the white men were four feet apart on the german flats fiats as they ran to save gave themselves it was a rout and many men guns guna and stores were captured the victory and the scamper ing set colln colin to thinking ot of the star reader was it all coming true and were his troubles soon to end that night a dispatch bearer reached their camp bringing orders to arnold from the commander in chief and a letter to colin from the lady washington then at mount vernon she wrote my dear boy I 1 am almost took poorly thinking of my by husbands enemies howe his has been stopped he will not attempt the river passage to the north burgoyne will not be able either to get back or forward he la is certain to be defeated gates Is in a good politician I 1 pray god that you may live through it the general says little in his bis letters about the war one may pry and pry and never get an opinion but I 1 know a lot more than he be thinks I 1 do of what Is going on in that head of his when burgoyne surrenders the british can have no hope of winning the war they may keep on fighting and make a lot of trouble but it can only end in their defeat I 1 get a thrill in my spine thinking that you and pat will soon be near each other it if you get together dont yo you u dare get married without letting me see it done dont try to rob me of the privilege of seeing that it Is well done ive suffered enough looking forward to your marriage to have a share in your happiness I 1 reckon I 1 ought to be the first one to kiss the bride and groom when you meet go and find the general and tell him that you must have at least two months for your honeymoon if I 1 am not with him you hire a mald maid for the girl if necessary and point for mount vernon I 1 will pay all the expenses going and coming and we can have a grand and glor glorious lous good time in this big house As amos used to say you hear to me affectionately yours Nf martha artha washington with burgoyne encompassed in a hopeless pocket and howe held below the highlands in the south by the strategy of washington general gates arrived in albany the harvest was ripe and aided by his influence in congress gates was to be the reaper the blond handsome polite schuyler whom he be had bad displaced offered him what assistance he could render but was not to his bis council early in september arnolds force began a silent dogged march northward to join gates army on the upper hudson they passed through half burned ruined villages with many houses partly torn down for firewood colin now enjoyed the confidence and friendship of arnold the dark skinned fighting man showed the young colonel a dispatch from washington in it were ivere these words it if I 1 can keep howe below the highlands I 1 think their schemes will be entirely baffled we dont have to worry about howe said arnold the old master has got him hog tied well break the back of the british with the highlands the rivers and lake champlain in our possession canada Is shut off the french will come to help us I 1 can see no hope tor for the british when burgoyne Is beaten colln colin saw clearly that the crisis of the war and of his own personal history was now in the near future in his account of the journey colln colin speaks of a slim handsome youth who rode a magnificent bay stallion fit at arnolds side he has a slight red mustache and red hair clubbed and tied with ribbons the general calls him joe brown he wears a coat of brown velvet a buff waistcoat and white breeches ills his hands are always gloved ile he Is a splendid horseman he must be a person of importance for he has an armed groom for his bis horse and a small tent of his own every night the groom sleeps on his blanket in front of the tent the young man never speaks no one has heard his olce oice I 1 wondered at that until the general told me that he be Is deaf and dumb the son of a rich man who Is paying arnolds salary the boy wishes to see what war Is like said the general A serene faith has come to me that the battle ahead Is to end my troubles colln colin wrote in a letter does it come from the astrologer no I 1 think not but from some source I 1 get confidence that the god of battles will cover my head and hers and bring us together they arrived at the big camp on bemis heights height s a ridge of wooded hills near the western shore of the upper hudson fortified by kosciuszko Kosc luszko with entrenchments ments three quarters of a mile ton long and re doubts and batteries commanding the open valley talley from the waters edge arnolds army was on the far left of the line which faced northward the british encamped two miles away their left on the the river on the nineteenth of september the british right led by burgoyne began to advance in force alfes fifes and drums sounded soon their whole line was pushing forward the fighting general was eager to strike while they were still in the open valley knowing that they would try to fight their way around him after long delay the word came to charge the extreme british right was then in forest cover arnold in ID danger of being threw his force against them finding the enemy too strong to be turned he sent to gates for or reinforcements they were refused ne he hit the british line with tremendous vigor it began to melt before him with reinforcements he might have cut it wide open and the battle would have ended then and there reinforcements came too late for four hours it was a hand to hand struggle wa with th sword gun bayonet and saber arnold with colln colin close behind him led the onset in the midst of smoke and flame and spurting blood he was yelling encouragement to his men and slashing right and left like a demon heads were split faces mangled legs and arms shattered breasts and bellies ripped in this deadly maniacal clash of maddened men some were skewered by the wounded lying on their backs with the shadow of death upon them spurts of flame and smoke were bursting out of treetops treetop on the wooded hills from yankee sharpshooters quite accurately they tallied the fall of british officers officer darkness came upon these friends of death and put an end to the bloody encounter through that night wolves attracted by the smell of |