The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 2, 1902, Page 2

THE SUNDAY CALL. 2L “WHEN A IMESSAGE CANME FEOIT COLONLEYL CLARH DID- DING 71T REPOET FOR DUTY ML FIZLT AN IITPVLSE TNARD L2IUITY He lifted her and bore her as far to- ward th place as he could; but his short just in front rottage, and half across the veranda 1o | he knocked. The did not hear; but door was opened to h unclosed his blood- clock in the morn- tc his place and ed about drowsily wledge of hav- A purr'ng in his ache reminded him of mach. He yawned and self. then sat Gp, running £h his tousled hair. Father his knees before the c atue, his clusped hands ex- self-debased s hospital and he hated himse!f . 5 eated his soul apace with the rming that grew ess dog.”” he mut- “why don’t nd blood- her, and I T de- h me a solid jolt in the ave me not long the embers an earthen sau- w bowl. In which some frag- that is good for from an untsual nap. propter stomachum < nfirmitates (on stomach, .and thine often his soup will go to the ri ng he brought the hot bowl and set it on the bedcover fetched a big horn spoon. pungent roots and savory waft of buf- the captain’s sen self cheered th feel greedy the fter he swal- set in and seemed him from extremity to the taste grew more ects of his de- as like magic; glowed, as If touch. this soup, Father Be- it so searching and re- e demanded, when the bowl rer- Beret shook his head and smiled not divulge, my son, owing 1 had to make to the aged Indian who gave me the secret. It is the elixir of the Miamis. Only their conse- P n e men hold the recipe. The stimulation is but temporary.” Just then some one knocked at the door. Father Beret opened it to one of Hamil- father, but hearing Cap- th's voice I made bold to * Farnsworth called only the Governor has been i looked for in every mook and corner of the fort and town. You'd bet- ter report at once, or he’ll be having us g the river for your body.” All right, lieutenant; go back and keep mum, that’ dear by and I'll shuffie into Colonel Hamilton's ‘august presence before meny minutes.” The ald laughed and went his way whistling & merry tune. Now I am sure to get what I deserve, y at 40 per cent im advance.’’ sworth Oryly, shrugging his undissembled dread of But the anticipation was not realized. The Governor received Farnsworth stifiy enough. yet in & way that suggested a suppressed desirer to avoid explanations on the captain’s vart end 2 reprimand on his own. In fact, Hamilton was hoping that something would turn up to shield him from the effect of his terrible midnight adventure, which seemed the darker the more he thought of it. He had a slow. numb con- science, lying deep where it was hard to reach, and when a qualm somehow en- tered it he endured in secret what most men would have cest off or confessed. He was haunted. if not with remorse, at least by a dread of something most dis- agreeable in connection with what he had done. Alice's white face had impressed {tself indelibly on his memory, so that it met his inner vision at every turn. He afraid to converse with Farnsworth she should come up for -discussion; quently thelr interview was curt and formal. It wes soon discovered that Alice had escaped from the stockade, and some show of search was made for her by Hamilton's order; but Farnsworth looked to it that the order was not carried out, He thought he saw at once that his chief knew where she was. The mystery per- plexed and pained the young man. and caused him to fear all sorts of evil; but there was a chance that Alice had found a safe retreat and he knew that nothing but {1l could befall her if she were dis- covered and brought back to the fort. Therefore his search for her became his own secret and for his own heart's ease, And doubtless he would have found her; for even handicapped and distorted love like his f& lvnx-eyed and sure on the track of its object; but a great event in- tervened and swept away his opportunity, Hamilton's upeasiness, which was that of a strong. misguided nature trving to justify itself amid a confusion of unman- ageable doubts and misgivings, now vented itself in & resumption of the re- pairs he had been making at certain points in the fort. These he completed just in time for the coming of Clark. CHAPTER XIX. THE ATTACK. s already been mentioned that In- i \g Singiy or in squads, to at Hamiiton's headquarters, were t of firing their guns before town or the fort, not oniy ieir approach, but in or- rid their weapons of: their charges ary o cleaning them before set- other scalp hunting ex- ung o peditio; volley, hea 1 s not & noticeable incident In the nightiy experience of the gar for some reason, Goverr ed violently when, just aft- fLve or six rifies ~cracked the stock- He and Helm with two other officers were in the midst of a game of card while a kettle, swinging on a crane in ample firepiace, sang a shrill promise plejack toddy. excia.med Farnsworth, who, h in the game, was amusing eif with looking on; “you jump ke lady 1 almost fancied 1 heard a t hit you.” ou may all jump while you can,” re- marked Helm. *“That's Clark, and your time's short. He'll have this fort tumb- ng on your heads before davlight of to- morrow morning come: frowned. The mention of Clark was disturbing. Ever since the strange disappearance of Lieutenant Bar- jow he had nursed the fear that possibly Clark’s scouts had captured him and that the American forces might be much nearer than Kaskaskia. Besideg, his nerves were unruly, as they had been ever since the encounter with Father Be- ret; and his vision insisted in turning back upon the accusing cold face of Alice, lying in the moonlight. One little detail of that scene almost maddened him at times; it was a sheeny, crinkled wisp of warm looking hair that looped across the cheek In which he had often seen a saucy dimple dance when Alice spoke or smiled. He was bad enough, but not wholly bad, and the thought of having darkened those merry eyes and stilled those sweet dimples tore through him with a cold, rasping pang. Just as soon as this toddy is properly mixed and tempered,” said Helm, with & magnetic jocosity beaming from his genial face, “I'm going to propose a toast to the banner of Alice Roussillon, which a whole garrison of British braves has been unable to take.” “If you do I'll biow a hole through you as big as the south door of hell!” said Hamliiton, in a voice fairly shaken to a husky quaver with rage. “You may do & sreal many insulting things; but not that. Helm was in a half stooping attitude with a ladle in one hand, a cup in the other. He had met Hamilton's glowering look with a peculiarly Innocent smile, as if to say: ““What o the world is the matter now? I mever felt in a better hu- mor in all my life. Can’t you take a joke, I wonder?’ He did not speak, however, for a rattling volley of musket and rifle shots hit the top of the clay-daubed chimney, sending down into the toddy a shower of soot and dirt. In a wink every man was on his feet and staring. “‘Gentlemen,” said Helm, with an im- pressive oath, “that is Clark's soldiers, and they will take your fort: but they ought not to have spoiled this apple toddy!” ““Oh, the devil!” sald Hamilton, forcibly resuming a calm countenance: “it is only XZ0ZE,S ey map y & Gfigflfjp FITY For OHWEETTTEZRT Z f;A\l\\‘ W\ AN Your 2 squad of drunken Indians coming in. ‘We'll forego excitement; there’s no battie on hand, gentlemen.” “I'm g'ad fou tnink so, Governor Ham- fiton,” Helm responded, “but I should im- agine that I ought to know the crack of a Kentucky rifie. I've heard one occa- slonally in my life. Besides, I got @ Whiif of freedom just now.” _“Captain Helm is right,” observed Farnsworth. “That is an attack.” Another volley, this time nearer and more concentrated, convinced Hamilton that he _was, indeed, at the opening of a fight. Even while he was giving some hurried orders to his officers a_man_was wounded at one of the portholes. Then came a series of yells, answered by a ripple of sympathetic French shouting that ran throughout the town. The pa- trol guards came straggling in, breath- less with excitement. They swore to hav- ing seen a thousand men marching across the water covered meadows. Hamilton was brave. The approach of danger stirred him like a trumpet strain, His fighting blood rose to full tide, and he gave his crdeft with the steadiness and commanding force of a born soldier, The officers hastened to their respective positions. YOn all sides sounds indicative of rapid preparations for the fight min- gled into_a confused strain of military energy. Men marched to their places; cannon were wheeled into position, and soon enough firing began in good earnest. Late in the afternoon a rumor of Clark's approach had gone abroad through the village; but not a French lip breathed it to a friend of the British. The creoles were loyal to the cause of freedom; moreover, they cordially hated Hamilton, and their hearts beat high at the prospect of a change in masters at the fort. Every cabin had its hidden gun and supply of ammunition, despite the order to dizarm issued by Hamilton. There was a hustling to bring these forth, which was accompanied with a guarded vet irrepressible chattering, delightfully ‘rench and infinitely volatile. “Tiens! je vals frotter mon fusil. J'al vu un singe!” eald Jacques Bourdier to his daughter, the frelty Adrienne, who was coming out of the room in which Alice lay. “I saw a monkey just now; I must rub up my gun!” He could not be solemn; not he. The tho opportunity to get even with Hamilton was like wine in his blood. If you had seen ‘those hardy and sinewy Frenchmen gliding In the dusk of evening from cottage to cottage, passing the word that the Amer- icans had arrived, saying airy things and pinching one ancther as they met and hurried on, you would have thought .something very amusing and wholly jo- cund was in preparation for the people of Vincennes. There was a current belief in the town that Gaspard Roussilion never missed a good thing and. aiways somehow got the lion’s share. He went out with the ebb to return on the flood. Nobody was sur- prised, therefore, when he suddenly ap- peared in the midst of his friends, armed ‘0o the teeth and emotionally warlike to suit the ceccasion. Of course he took charge of everybody and everything. - You could have heard him whisper a bowshot away. “iaisons!” he hissed, whenever he met an acquaintance. - “We will surprise the fort and sca.p the whole garrison. Aux arme: les Americains viennent d'ar- river!” At his own house he knocked and called in vain. He shook the door violentls for he was”thinking of the stores under the floor, of the grimy bottles. of the fragrant Bordeaux—ah, his throat, how it throbbed! But where was Madame Roussillon? Where was Aice? ean! Jean!” he cried, forgetting all precaution, *‘come here. you scamp, and let me in this minute A profoundly Impressive silence gave him to understand that his home was de- serted. 3 “Chiff! Frightened and gone to stay with Madame Godere, I suppose—and I 80 thirsty! Bah! hum, hum, apres le vin la_bataille, ziff!" He kicked in the door and groped his way to the liquors. While hé hastily swigged and smacked he heard rhe firing begin with a crackiing, desultory voiley He laughed fovially, there in the dark, between draughts and deep sighs of en- joyment, “Et mol sussi,” he murmured. like the vast murmur of the sea. “T want tof be in that dance. Pardonnez, messieurs. Mol, Je veux danser, s'l vous plalt.” And_when he had filled h plungéd out and rushed away, wrought up to the extreme fighting pitch of tem- per. Diable! if he couid but come across that Licutenant Barlow, how he would smash him and mangle him! In magni- fying his prowes h the lens of imag nation he swelled and puffed as he lum- bered along. The firing sounded as if it were between the fort and the river; but presently when one of Hamilton's cannon spoke, M. Roussillon saw the yeilow spike of flame from its muzzle leap direc toward the church, and he thought it best to make a wide detour to avoid going. between the firing lines. Once or twice he heard the whine of a stray bullet overhead. -B fore he had gone far he met a man h rying toward the fort. It was Capta F is Maisonvilie, one of Hamilton's chief scouts, who had been out on a re- conno!: ce and, cut off from party by some of Clark's forces, was trying to ke his way to the main gate of the stockad, » M. Roussfllon knew Maisonville as a somewhat desperate character, a leader of Indlan forays and a trader in human scalps. Surely the fellow was legitimate r- ! diable de gredin!” he snarled, and leaping -upon him choked him to’ the “Je vais vous scalper immediate- ment! Clark’s plan of approach showed mas terly strategy. fourteen regul tack on the Iajor Bowman led a company thrcugh the town, on a 1ine near where Main street 4n Vincennes is now located. to a point north of the stockade. C ville, a brave creol who was at the head of some daring fe! lows, by a brilliant dash got position un- der cover of a natural terrace at the edge of the prairie, opposite the fort's southwestern angle. Lieutenant Bever- Jey, in whom the commander placed high- est’ confidence, was sent to look fer a supply of ammunition and to gather up al the Frenchmen in the town who wished to join in the attack. Oncle Ja- zon and ten other available men went with him. ¥ They all made a great nolse when they felt that thé place was completely in- vested. Nor can we deny, much as we would like to. the strong desire for venge- ance which raised those shouting voices and nerved these steady hearts to do or dle in an undertaking which certainly had a desperate look. Patriotism of the purest strain those men had, and that alone would have borne them up; but the reco'lection of smo'dering cabin homes in Kentucky, of women and children murdered and scalped. of men brave and true burned at the stake, and of all the indescribable outrages of Indian warfare incited and rewarded by the commander of the t yonder, added to patriotism the terrible urge of that dark passion which clamors for blood to gquench the fire of wrath. Not a few of those wet, half frozen, emaclated soldlers of free- dom had experienced the soul rending ock of return om & day’s huntin in the forest to find homes in ashes an loved ones brutally murdered and scalped, or dragged away to unspeakable outrage under circumstances t00 harrowing for description, the bare thought of which turns our blood cold, even at this dis- tance. Now the opportunity bad arrived for a stroke of retalfation. The thought was tres susly stimulating. Beverl with the aid of Oncle Jazom, was able to lead his little" company as far as the h before the enemy saw him. ¥ a vo.iey from the nearest an- gle of the stock had to be an A and pretty soon a cannon began to play upon the pesition “We kin do better some'rs else was Oncle Jazon's laconic remark flung back over his shou oved briskly a I pounder. ant. I hyer ioud ain't no thin’ a s When they town there dusky street Joi the the spe apt by a Sine thick of the ir In sthe lipping from mselves and k had sent an order ening forbid- ding any n by the in- Pabitavts; b as well have or- dered the w the river to stand s [ W, every man whose out ses or ose volee he heard 1 one by name: “Here, Roger, fall In'—come, Louls, Al phonse, Victor. Octave—venes lei, here's the American army; come with mel” His rapld French phrases leaped forth i shot from & pistol, and his shrill voice, familiar to every ear in ennes, drew the creo’e militiamen to and soon Beverley's company had doubled its num- bers, while at the same time its enthusie asm ard ability to make a noise had in- creased in & greater proportion. Im accordance with an order from Clark, they pow took position near the morth- east corner of the stockade and began fir- ing. although in the darkness there was but little opportunity for marksmanship. Onecle Jazon had found citizens Legrace and Boseron, and through them Clark's men were sunplied with ammunition, of which they stood greatly in need, their powder having got wet during their long, watery march. By 8 o'clock the fort was completely surrounded, and from every direction the rifemen’ and musketeers were pouring In volley after volley. Bev- erley with his men took ths cover of a fence and some houses sixty yards from the stockade. Here, to thelr surprise, they found themselves below the line of Hamilton’s cannon, which, being planted on the second floor of the fort, could not be sufficlently depressed to bear upon them. A weil directed musket fire, how- ever. fell from the loopholes of the block- houses the bullets rattling merrily against the cover behind which the at- tacking forces lay. Beverley was thinking of Alles during everv moment of all this stir and tumult. He feared that she might still bs a pris- oner in the fort exposed to the very bul- lets that his men were discharging at every crack and cranny of those loosely constructed bufldings. Ehould he ever ses her again? Would she cars for him? What would be the end of all this ter- rible suspense? Those remote forebod ings of evils, formless. shadowy, ineffa- ble, which have harried the lover's heart since time began, crowded all pleasant cipations out of his mind. a Tiedly from com~ stop- Bev- and > hotly onel Clark, shill speak. I whenever I gits s’ the same way. so tainly. talk ¥ jaw off, for all as> suming a_ jocos again to Beverley fring and the noise; t will be ours the morning. “Wha walting till morn- ing? ed with mpa- tienge. hat sckade to pleces w an hour.” “I don't think so, L nant. s bet- ter to play for the sure thing. p_up the racket, and be ready for it they rush out. We mnst nct fail to capture the hair-buyer ral.” He passed on, with something cheertul to say whenever he found a squad of his He knew how t lependent disciplined yet heroically brave fellows. What to see and hear, what to turn aside as a joke, W to insist upon with in- flexible maste; he knew by the fine in- stantaneous se of genius ere ‘were many men of Oncle Jazon's cas steel, but refractory as flint not be dominated by any ter of what stamp or office. order was an insult; but zéxx!nstion pleased and captured them. ‘Strange as it may seem, theirs was, the conquering spirit of America—the spirit which has survived every turn of progress and bu..c up the great body of our independence, Beverley tted to Clark’s plan with what fence he could, and ail night long fired shot for shot with the best rifiemen in his squad., It a fatiguing performance, with apparently little result beyond forcing the garrison now and again to clo e embrasures thus periodically silencing the éannon. Toward the close of the night a relaxa- tion showed itself in the shouting and fi ing all_round the Beverley’s me especially the creoles, held out bravely the matter of n but even they flaggy at length, their volatility simmering down to desultory bubbling and half sleepy chattering and chaffing. Beverley leaned upon a rude fence, and for a time neglected to reload his hot rifie. devoted