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Page 41
As the prisoners of the latter party came in sight of those of the
former, there was a general start and exclamation of surprise; while the
sad faces of each showed how little pleasure they felt in meeting each
other under such painful circumstances. The last comers, as the reader
has doubtless conjectured, were Algernon and Ella. Immediately on their
entering the ravine, as previously recorded, they had been set upon
by savages, their horses shot from under them, and themselves made
captives. This result, however, as regards Algernon, had not been
effected without considerable effort on the part of his numerous
enemies. At the first fire, his horse fell; but disentangling himself,
and drawing his pistols, he sprung upon the side of his dying beast, and
discharged them both at his nearest foes--one of which took effect, and
sent a warrior to his last account. Then leaping in among them, he drew
his knife and cut madly about him until secured; though doubtless he
would have been tomahawked on the spot, only that he might be reserved
for the tortures, when his brutal captors should arrive at their
destination. Meantime the animal which bore the lovely Ella, being
wounded by the same fire which killed her companion's, bounded forward
some twenty paces, when a blow on the head with a tomahawk laid him
prostrate, and she was secured also. The party then proceeded to bury
the dead, at some little distance, and start upon their journey, to join
their companions--which latter we have just seen accomplished.
As soon as mutual recognitions had passed between the prisoners, the
individual habited in the British uniform stepped forward, and said,
jocosely:
"So, friends, we all meet again, do we, eh?--ha, ha, ha!"
At the sound of his voice, the old man and his wife, both of whom had
been too intently occupied with Algernon and Ella to notice him before,
started, and turning their eyes suddenly upon him, simultaneously
exclaimed:
"Mr. Williams!"
"_Sometimes_ Mr. Williams," answered the other, with a strong emphasis
on the first word, accompanying it with a horrible oath; "but now, when
disguise is no longer necessary, Simon Girty, the renegade,
by ----!--ha, ha, ha!"
As he uttered these words, in a coarse, ruffianly tone, a visible
shudder of fear or disgust, or both combined, passed through the frame
of each of the prisoners; and Algernon turning to him, with an
expression of loathing contempt, said:
"I more than half suspected as much, when I sometime since contemplated
your low-browed, hang-dog countenance. Of course we can expect no mercy
at such hands."
"Mercy!" cried Girty, turning fiercely upon him, his eyes gleaming
savagely, his mouth twisting into a shape intended to express the most
withering contempt, while his words fairly hissed from between his
tightly set teeth: "Mercy? dog! No, by h----l! for none like you! Hark ye,
Mr. Reynolds! Were you in the damnable cells of the Inquisition, accused
of heresy, and about to be put to the tortures, you might think yourself
in Paradise compared to what you shall yet undergo!"
As he uttered these words, Ella shrieked and fell fainting to the earth.
Springing to her, Girty raised her in his arms; and pointing to her pale
features, as he did so, continued:
"See! Mr. Reynolds, this girl loves you; I love her; we are rivals; and
you, my rival, are in my power: and, by ----! and all the powers of
darkness, you shall feel my vengeance!"
"You love her?" broke in Mrs. Younker, who, in spite of her previous
dangerous warning, could hold her peace no longer: "You love her! you
mean, contemptible, red headed puppy! I don't believe as how you knows
enough to love nothing! And so you're Simon Girty, hey? that thar
sneaking, red-coat renegade? Well, I reckon as how you've told the truth
once; for I've hearn tell that he war an orful mean looking imp o'
Satan; and I jest don't believe as how a meaner one nor yourself could
be skeer'd up in the whole universal yarth o' creation."
"Rail on, old woman!" replied Girty, as he chafed the temples of Ella
with his hands; "but in a little lower key; or I shall be under the
necessity of ordering a stopper to your mouth; which, saving the
tortures of the stake, is the worst punishment for you I can now invent.
As for you, Mr. Younker," continued he, turning his face to the old man,
with a peculiar expression; "you seem to have nothing to say to an old
friend--ha, ha, ha!"
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