第48章 FRAGMENTARY(3)

``Oh, Davy, have ye seen him? Have ye seen little Tom? Davy, I reckon I'll never be so happy again.

Fetch him here, Mrs.Cowan.''

Mrs.Cowan, with a glance of contempt at Tom and me, put the bundle tenderly down on the coarse brown sheet beside her.

Poor little Tom! Only the first fortnight of his existence was spent in peace.I have a pathetic memory of it all--of our little home, of our hopes for it, of our days of labor and nights of planning to make it complete.

And then, one morning when the three of us were turning over the black loam in the patch, while the baby slept peacefully in the shade, a sound came to our ears that made us pause and listen with bated breath.It was the sound of many guns, muffled in the distant forest.With a cry Polly Ann flew to the hickory cradle under the tree, Tom sprang for the rifle that was never far from his side, while with a kind of instinct I ran to catch the spancelled horses by the river.In silence and sorrow we fled through the tall cane, nor dared to take one last look at the cabin, or the fields lying black in the spring sunlight.The shots had ceased, but ere we had reached the little clearing McCann had made they began again, though as distant as before.Tom went ahead, while I led the mare and Polly Ann clutched the child to her breast.But when we came in sight of the fort across the clearings the gates were closed.There was nothing to do but cower in the thicket, listening while the battle went on afar, Polly Ann trying to still the cries of the child, lest they should bring death upon us.At length the shooting ceased; stillness reigned;then came a faint halloo, and out of the forest beyond us a man rode, waving his hat at the fort.After him came others.The gates opened, and we rushed pell-mell across the fields to safety.

The Indians had shot at a party shelling corn at Captain Bowman's plantation, and killed two, while the others had taken refuge in the crib.Fired at from every brake, James Ray had ridden to Harrodstown for succor, and the savages had been beaten off.But only the foolhardy returned to their clearings now.We were on the edge of another dreaded summer of siege, the prospect of banishment from the homes we could almost see, staring us in the face, and the labors of the spring lost again.There was bitter talk within the gates that night, and many declared angrily that Colonel Clark had abandoned us.

But I remembered what he had said, and had faith in him.

It was that very night, too, I sat with Cowan, who had duty in one of the sentry boxes, and we heard a voice calling softly under us.Fearing treachery, Cowan cried out for a sign.Then the answer came back loudly to open to a runner with a message from Colonel Clark to Captain Harrod.Cowan let the man in, while I ran for the captain, and in five minutes it seemed as if every man and woman and child in the fort were awake and crowding around the man by the gates, their eager faces reddened by the smoking pine knots.Where was Clark? What had he been doing? Had he deserted them?

``Deserted ye!'' cried the runner, and swore a great oath.Wasn't Clark even then on the Ohio raising a great army with authority from the Commonwealth of Virginia to rid them of the red scourge? And would they desert him? Or would they be men and bring from Harrodstown the company he asked for? Then Captain Harrod read the letter asking him to raise the company, and before day had dawned they were ready for the word to march--ready to leave cabin and clearing, and wife and child, trusting in Clark's judgment for time and place.Never were volunteers mustered more quickly than in that cool April night by the gates of Harrodstown Station.

``And we'll fetch Davy along, for luck,'' cried Cowan, catching sight of me beside him.

``Sure we'll be wanting a dhrummer b'y,'' said McCann.

And so they enrolled me.