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Page 8
These, however, were purely faults of his military
education. To a commanding person and dignified manners,
Captain Headley united a mind highly cultivated, and
feelings and sentiments which could not fail to secure
the respect even of those who were most ready to condemn
that caution and prudence of character which so eminently
distinguished his career as a subordinate soldier. It
was well known and conceded that, if he erred, the error
grew not so much out of his own want of judgment, but
was rather the fruit of the too great deference to
authority which led him, implicitly, to adopt the judgment
of others. In the private relations of life, he was
deservedly esteemed, excelling in all those higher
accomplishments that ensure favor with society, and seldom
fail to win for their possessor the approbation of women.
Such, indeed, had been his success in this particular
application of the gifts with which nature had endowed
him, that he had, for some years, been the possessor of
the affections and the hand of one of the noblest of her
sex, whom, however, we shall take a later opportunity of
introducing to the reader.
The next officer in rank was Lieutenant Elmsley, married
also, and about ten years the junior of Headley. From
causes, which will be explained in the coarse of our
narrative, the subaltern did not incline to place that
confidence in the measures and judgment of his captain,
which, it has been shown, the latter almost invariably
accorded to HIS superiors, and hence arose feelings,
that, without absolutely alienating them--for, in their
relative military positions this could never be--rendered
their intercourse daily more and more formal, until, in
the end, a sentiment almost of enmity prevailed. In a
remote garrison like this such an evil was the more to
be regretted, even while there was the greater probability,
from absence of serious occupation, of its occurrence.
The junior subaltern was Ensign Ronayne, a high-spirited
young Southerner, who had now been three years at the
post, and within that period, had, by his frank demeanor,
and handsome person, won the regard of all--military and
civil--there and in the neighborhood. Enterprising,
ardent, fearless, and chivalrous, this young man had
passed the first year of what he, then, considered little
short of banishment, in a restless desire for adventure;
but at the end of that period, came a marked change over
him, and the spirit that had panted exclusively for
action, now bent before a gentler and a holier influence.
Last of the officers of this little fort, was the surgeon.
Doctor Von Vottenberg, who as his name would imply, was
a descendant from one of the earlier Dutch settlers in
the colonies. There was nothing remarkable about this
gentleman. He was short, stoat, rather of a bilious
temperament--clever in his profession, and much addicted
to compounding whisky punch, which he not only brewed,
but drank most satisfactorily. What other attributes and
accomplishments he possessed, the incidents herein related
must develop.
It has been said that, on its Western side, the Fort was
protected by two block-houses, while on the northern a
sally port communicated with the tower. On each side of
the sally port were two small stores, reserved for the
ammunition and arms, and for the provisions and spare
clothing of the garrison. On the north and south faces,
rose a series of small low wooden buildings, appropriated
to the officers, and capable of containing thrice the
number now occupying them. The southern face, or that
which looks towards the locale of the scene described in
our last chapter, was now the residence of the commanding
officer, and of his senior subordinate, who, with their
families and domestics, tenanted the whole of that range
of buildings, with the exception of one large room in
the centre, generally used as a hall of council with the
Indians. In the other range, precisely similar in
construction, were quartered Ensign Ronayne and the
surgeon Von Vottenberg, who each, however occupied but
one apartment. The central and largest serving as their
mess-room. The other half of the building was vacant, or
rather had been so, until the doctor obtained the permission
of the commanding officer to use it as a temporary
surgery--the hospital being a distinct edifice between
the two block-houses. These latter, capacious for the
size of the fort, accommodated the non-commissioned
officers and men--the company being divided as equally
as possible between the two.
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