Show A candle andle C in the wilderness wildene Wil deme CHAPTER X continued 21 they looked at each other and as they looked a little moisture came to their eyes they breathed fast like those near exhaustion neither uttered a word as they turned and pushed their runners toward the smoke nearing the place whence it proceeded they saw back in the timber now bare of foliage the hull and mast of it a large shallop built upon it end and around the mast was a little house with gray bark barb sides and small windows of isinglass alongside the hull and reaching upward some three fathoms a stone chimney had been built at the steps leading to its door they got the grateful odor of frying fish suddenly a white man of middle age opened the door and looked down upon them with astonishment in the name 0 god goa who are arc you he be ailed in dutch wanderers Vander ers in the waste who have lived ted through a dozen miracles amos answered in the same language 1 I think that you tire are an angel at the gate 0 paradise aro are you the lost men that A miss weld and her brother bi other have been looking fora for the dutchman asked naked the very same men amos answered this Is mr heathers sly my name is 13 well belll we scoured the lake for you and some friendly indians were helping us I 1 am nicholas van brocklin Brockl ln miss weld left et a letter here for mr heathers come in come in and share my food and drink and belter im as lonely as a buck deer in the summer 1 I I 1 this Is splendid ious I 1 the old pioneer exclaimed im kind 0 with happiness amos and robert sat on a rustic lounge covered with a beaver skin robe for a moment neither spoke there was a grateful sense of warmth in the room amos blew ills his nose and wiped ills his cheek and said presently im made 0 hard stuff but now I 1 reckon were like the boy who went oft off with satan and by and by got back to tits his fat fathers tiers house robert read the letter from peggy aloud to anios amos these are its words dear robert we have spent a month in the wilderness trying to find you I 1 think that you may wonder why but I 1 am sure that if you have kept the medallion and have had the patience and the curiosity to wrest from its embrace the secret chich v it held you will know why I 1 have been glad to endure hardship and peril for your sake it may be all in vain but ul I 1 hale had jo do my best I 1 pray god til that t th this anay ny tall fall in your hands if it does it will open my heart and mind to you whatever whatever hat ever you may have done I 1 wish yuu y to know that they are filled with ay iy charity of st paul and of jesus christ the magistrates the church and every one I 1 meet in boston belleve you to be in hiding because of your guilt I 1 do not share their opinion it tins has been hard bard to stand against them but I 1 stand in the present state the smoothest stuff that ever slipped down my gullet of ct feeling you ou would better not come to the colony take it a ship for holland at new amsterdam let come and tell me what you on have hae done and if you wish it I 1 will go to you we could meet at my fat fathers tiers house in dear old england we have remained here to the last day and must now dow be going I 1 give this the caress you once begged of me not in vain aln yours faithfully peggy weld robert lifted the rose scented sheet of paper to his tips lips and kissed it well boys supper will be ready in a minute sold said van Brockl ln as lie he took the fish and potatoes from the fire and began setting the table ile he descended to the hold through a hatch tn in the floor and brought up butter and cold bated baked beans and bread and pumpkin sauce and a jug and a bottle of wine ile he gave gare each of ills his guests a dram of gin and molasses called black strap the smoothest stuff that ever slipped dipped down my gullet said paid amos with a shake of his right foot they spent pent a most hour at the table robert had thrown ot off his bis depres eloa and was in a mood to celebrate be low of it ills tear fear for or hla his be A tale of the beginning of new england by IRVING BACHELLER service copyright by irving irvcng bacheller loved friend william had left him for it was clear that all the brethren were convinced of ills his innocence As aa they ate amos told of Tawan doba and his melancholy fate in the far mountain country old the dutchman exclaimed always I 1 bowed my head to him he would never drink firewater ile he was the bravest fighter the wisest chief in the long house ile he was humane many a white man owes his life to old Tawan dolia he had a noble dignity and that was ills his only ornament ile he would have haie no feathers and no gewgaws on ills his person their host lived at fort orange on the north river his sons and himself traded with the savages in august the great hurricane which swept over the country drove their shallop ashore and bedded her so fast in the rising ground that they had not been able to get her back to water they had built the little house above her to serve as a camp and headquarters on tile the lake of the iroquois and brought timber for another shallop lop the early deep snow had delayed their moving ills his sons were orr over in the west end of the long house more than a hundred leagues away if amos and robert would stay and guard his camp lie he would go home for christmas antl and return as soon as possible with sleds and help for his moving then amos and robert could go down to the fort with the party sitting by the fireside with pipes and tobacco nicholas said that the iroquois would be coming south in a month or so with sled loads of meat and many captives the meat taken in the upper mountains would come down the take lake bound for the long house unlike the nomad tribes of the north the iroquois had learned to be a provident people but were quite as cruel as their neighbors many white men had been tortured and slain by them they were now at pence peace with the dutch but it was like thin ice fee liable to break any moment power was the only thing they respected spec ted white men would be secure when the savages were destroyed and not till then yes he traded strong water for skins if they get it from him they would get it from others ile he know knew it was bad for them but pol poisoned corn was also bad for crows they were pests and anything bad for them was good for tile the white man you might as well try to make a hog fit tor for the parlor as try to civilize a savage thus he voiced the sophistries sophis tries of the rum trader but amos and robert were in no mood to argue with him after all they had seen they were quite willing to agree that savages were nearer to the beast than to men yet they were human with certain admirable virtues which had rightly given hope to the good fathers in the north and to the rulers in new england the dutchman gave them hot water for a bath ointment with which to rid themselves of unpleasant company acquired in the indian camps and insisted that they occupy the two beds while lie he took the lounge they had find a night of rest the like of which they had bad not dot known since leaving the hospitable roof of madame hebert in the morning after a meat meal of dried fish and potatoes and blueberry blue brry cuke cake with a refreshing lot hot drink made by stewing dried leaves of spearmint and raspberry van brocklin washed the dishes and left its his new friends these were his parting words you will find meat and flour and vegetables and drink in the hold help yourselves freely to anything you want there Is an abundance of fesh in the lake you have only to cut holes in the ice fee and bait and set your hooks I 1 shall return within ten days I 1 do not think that any indians will be coming down the lake before then most of my strong water Is burled in it a snowdrift if you stand irm firm and tall talk dutch to them give you no bother CHAPTER XI the coming of james rosewell and its revelations they had three delightful days of rest and comfort in the interesting boathouse boat house of nicholas van Brockl brocklin ln late in the third day a bitter wind from the northwest with snow began to whistle in the chimney and hiss against the bark walls the bare branches of beech birch and maple san sang like whips ahe UK frozen trees creaked and groaned and now and then a report like a shot rang through tile the timbered slope when links of frost were broken leagues of the forest roof were bending and billowing in the blast it reminded amos of artillery fire when EL a great tree near them crashed down clearing its way to the ground they brought in a good store of wood suddenly a band of twelve iroquois hunters arrived crowded into the house and literally took possession of it they took off their racquets at the door their leader spoke a word of greeting then they shook themselves alk aile e dogs and sat down facing the fire their blankets over their heads there was no note of III na ture lure in their conduct but for a long time they were silent indians indiana gave freely to honored guests so presently they arose and began to help themselves to the stores of the little trading house no doubt they felt entitled to its best hospitality in spite of all the efforts of amos to restrain them they ransa ransacked c ked the hold and drank all the wine and strong water they could find they seized the meat fish and vegetables put them all in van brock tins big brass kettle boiled and devoured detoured them that evening the neat and cleanly room had become a noisome pen of prostrate ill III smelling savages on the beds lounge and the floor some of them were nere drunk but not sufficiently so to make them violent or quarrelsome the storm abated next morning and there being nothing to eat in the cabin the indians went away on their racquets amos and robert hung the bed covers coers on a line for the day 0 some of them were drunk washed the linen and scrubbed the floors for the house had suddenly become a rookery it avas no light matter to be visited halted by a number of savages the white men were on short rations of fish and wild duck two of which robert brought down with a musket which hung in tile the cabin until about ten days had passed the dutchman came with sleds and two helpers and two unexpected guests sir james rosewell of boston and ills his guide eulile and protector an officer from the fort below ile he had come by ship to the island of the SIau ISIan hados then up the north river in a to the dutch fort orange there van brocklin brock in had bad given him news of the men he sought ile he coldly shook hands with robert and amos saying 1 I 1 have hae come a long way to find 11 you thanks it Is a friendly thing to do said robert 1 I am glad to tell you sou that we do not need help but there eire are those in boston who need your lour help rosewell Ko sewell rejoined who needs my help 1 I reckon you know as well as I 1 that william heydon Is suffering punishment for a crime most people are convinced that you committed it I 1 have come here on my own responsibility to ask you as a gentleman to tell me ilie alie truth and I 1 rely wholly on your sense of batice and right tell we what has happened to my friend william heydon said robert lie ile Is suffering for adultery with one alabel Hartl hartley eyt once a serva servant nt in your house at first she swore it on william she fell III and confessed to harry vane that she might have jeen been in error as to the man later she said in ray my presence that her mind had chain changed ged that as she gave more thought to the matter she was convinced that you and not william had been with her that night two days later the woman died of a fever in her bur lungs william was released from prison and put on the limits of the town pending your return the inhabitants and certain members of the court especially governor vane be him to be innocent but he be has bas to wear around ills his neck a noose of hempen rope with a tall two feet tong long this Is a heavy burden and it Is your duty duly to him film and to his friends to remove it it was a well spoken argument full of the note of sincerity they were standing on the cleaned ice fee at the edge of the lake robert paced up and down in the shoveled urea ile he stood a moment looking off at the snow laden forest ills his face had paled both amos and ll rosewell osewell watched him with interest amos hands were trembling a little there was a touching note of despair in roberts voice as he turned and said A A rope on tits his neck I 1 every morning lie he gets up to be han hanged td again by tile the neck and to be gazed nt at by the crowd my jy godl god I 1 this Is tortured tor rt t Is burning a man up by inches and harry vane Is gover governor norl 1 jtb TO BE CONTINUED |