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Page 11
"Mr. Elmsley," he said turning to that officer, who stood
waiting his orders, "who commands the fishing party?"
"Corporal Nixon, sir," replied the lieutenant, at once
entering into his motive for the inquiry, "a brave, but
discreet soldier, and one who, I am sure, will evince
all necessary resolution, should he see anything of these
Indians. The men who are with him are also fine young
fellows, and among our best shots."
"I am glad to hear this," was the rejoinder, "but still,
twelve Indians firing from the woods upon half their
number in an open boat, and taken by surprise, would, I
fear, render the activity, courage, and skill of these
latter but of little avail. My hope is, that Corporal
Nixon may see nothing of them, but that, on the contrary,
if he has been apprised by the boy, as the fellow says
he was to be, of their presence at Heywood's farm, he
will make his way back without stopping, or at least,
use every precaution to conceal himself, until he can
drop down under cover of the darkness."
"What, sir," said the lieutenant, with a surprise he
could ill conceal, "would you desire him not to afford
the necessary succor to Mr. Heywood, if, indeed, he should
be in time to render any service?"
"Mr. Elmsley," remarked his captain, somewhat sternly,
"my sympathy for the fate of those at the farm, is,
perhaps quite as strong as yours, but I have a higher
stake at issue--a higher object than the indulgence of
personal sympathy. I can ill afford, threatening as
appearances are at this moment, to risk the lives of six
men, the best you say in the fort, out of the very small
force at my disposal. Nothing must be left undone to
secure their safety. Order a gun to be fired immediately
from the southern bastion. It will be distinctly heard
by the party, and if not already apprised of the existing
danger they will at once understand the signal. Moreover
the report may have the effect of alarming the savages."
Lieutenant Elmsley withdrew to execute the order, and
soon after the dull booming of a cannon was heard
reverberating throughout the surrounding woods, and
winding its echoes along the waters of the narrow and
tranquil Chicago. So unusual an event as this excited a
good deal of speculation, not only among the inmates of
the Fort, but among the numerous friendly Indians encamped
without, who, wholly unacquainted with the cause of the
alarm, were, by the strict orders of Captain Headley,
kept ignorant of the information of which Ephraim Giles
had been the bearer--
That night there was a more than usual vigilance exercised
by the sentinels, and although the rest of the garrison
were exempt from extraordinary duty, the watchful and
anxious commanding officer slept not until dawn.
CHAPTER III.
At a distance of about two miles above Heywood's farm,
and on the southern branch of the Chicago, which winds
its slightly serpentine course between the wood and the
prairie. There was at the period of which we treat, a
small deep bay formed by two adjacent and densely wooded
points of land, in the cool shades of which the pike,
the black bass, and the pickerel loved to lie in the heat
of summer, and where, in early spring, though in less
numbers, they were wont to congregate. This was the
customary fishing spot of the garrison--six men and a
non-commissioned officer, repairing there almost daily,
with their ample store of lines and spears, as much,
although not avowedly, for their own amusement, as for
the supply of the officer's table. What remained, after
a certain division among these, became the property of
the captors, who, after appropriating to themselves what
was necessary for their next day's meal, distributed the
rest among the non-commissioned, and men of the company.
As the season advanced, and the fish became more plenty,
there was little limitation of quantity, for the freight,
nightly brought home, and taken with the line and spear
alone, was sufficient to afford every one abundance. In
truth, even in the depth of winter, there was little
privation endured by the garrison--the fat venison brought
in and sold for the veriest trifle by the Indians--the
luscious and ample prairie hen, chiefly shot by the
officers, and the fish we have named, leaving no necessity
for consumption of the salt food with which it was but
indifferently stored.
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