|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 59
"Why, Colonel Boone, be this here you? Why when did you come--and how
on yarth did ye git here--and what in the name o' all creation has been
happening? For ye see I war jest dosing away thar by the fire, and
dreaming all sorts of things, like all nater, when somehow I kind o'
thought I'd all at once turned into a man and gone to war a rale
soldier; and the battle had opened, and the big guns war blazing away,
and the little guns war popping off, and the soldiers war shrieking and
groaning and falling around me, like all possessed; and men a trampling,
and horses a running like skeered deer; and then I sort o' woke up, and
jumped up, and seed all them dead Injen wretches; and then I jest begun
to think as how it warn't no dream at all, but a living truth, all 'cept
my being a man and a soldier, as you com'd up. Well, ef this arn't a
queer world," resumed the good dame, catching breath meanwhile, "as
Preacher Allprayer used to say, then maybe as how I don't know nothing
at all about it."
"Your dream war a very nateral one, Mrs. Younker," returned Boone,
who, during the speech of the other, had been actively employed in
scattering the burning brands, to prevent the recurrence of another sad
catastrophe; "and I'm rejoiced to see that you've escaped unharmed, amid
this bloody work. Allow me to set you free;" and as he spoke, he drew his
scalping knife, and severed the thongs that bound her wrists.
"Gracious on me!" cried the dame, chafing the parts which had been
swollen by the tightness of the cords; "how clever 'tis to get free
agin, and have the use o' one's hands and tongue, to do and say jest
what a body pleases; for d'ye know, Colonel Boone, them thar imps of
Satan war awfully afeared o' my talking to 'em, to convince 'em they
war the meanest varmints in the whole univarsul yarth o' creation;
and actually put a peremshus stop to my saying what I thought on 'em;
although I told 'em as how it war a liberty as these blessed colonies
war this moment fighting for with the hateful red-coated Britishers.
But, Lord presarve us! gracious on us! where in marcy's sake is my dear,
darling Ella?" concluded Mrs. Younker, with vehemence and alarm, as she
now missed her adopted daughter for the first time.
"She's here, mother," answered a voice close behind her; and turning
round, the dame uttered a cry of joy, sprung into the arms of her son
Isaac, and wept upon his neck--occasionally articulating, in a choked
voice:
"God bless you, Isaac! God bless you, son!--you're a good boy--the
Lord's presarved you through the whole on't--the Lord be praised!--but
your father, poor lad--your father!" and with a strong burst of emotion,
she buried her face upon his breast, and wept aloud.
"I know it," sobbed forth Isaac, his whole frame shaken with the force
of his feelings: "I--I know the whole on't, mother--Ella's told me. I'd
rather he'd bin killed a thousand times; but thar's no help for it now!"
"No help for it!" cried Ella in alarm, who, having greeted the old
hunter, with tearful eyes, now stood weeping by his side. "No help for
it! Heaven have mercy!--say not so! They must--they must be rescued!"
Then turning wildly to Boone, she grasped his hand in both of hers, and
exclaimed: "Oh! sir, speak! tell me they can be saved--and on my knees
will I bless you!"
A few words now rapidly uttered by Isaac, put the old hunter in
possession of the facts, concerning the forced march of Younker and
Reynolds, of which he had previously heard nothing; and musing on the
information a few moments, he shook his head sadly, and said, with a
sigh:
"I'm sorry for you, Ella--I'm sorry for all o' ye--I'm sorry on my own
account--but I'm o' the opinion o' Isaac, that thar's no help for it
now. They're too far beyond us--we're in the Indian country--our numbers
are few--two or three o' the red varmints have escaped to give 'em
information o' what's been done--they'll be thirsty for revenge--and
nothing but a special Providence can now alter that prisoners' doom. I
had hoped it war to be otherwise; but we must submit to God's decrees;"
and raising his hand to his eyes, the old woodsman hastily brushed away
a tear, and turned aside to conceal his emotion; while Ella, overcome by
her feelings, at the thought of having parted, perhaps for the last
time, from Algernon and her uncle, staggered forward and sunk powerless
into the arms of Mrs. Younker, whose tears now mingled with her own.
By this time the whole party had gathered silently around their noble
leader, and were observing the sad scene as much as the feeble light of
the scattered brands would permit, their faces exhibiting a mournfulness
of expression in striking contrast to that they had so lately displayed,
previous to the death of their comrade. To them Boone now turned, and
running his eye slowly over the whole, said, in a sad voice:
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|