The sun had risen, and, accompanied by two others, I repaired thither. "A sharp turn in the road, at the entrance of a field, set before us a
startling spectacle. An Indian, mangled by repeated wounds of bayonet
and bullet, was discovered. His musket was stuck in the ground, by way
of beacon attracting our attention to the spot. Over this space I had
gone a few hours before, and nothing like this was then seen. The
parties abroad had hied away to a distant quarter. Some invisible power
seemed to be enlisted in our defence and to preclude the necessity of
our arms. "We proceeded to the hut. The savages were there, but Edgar had risen
and flown! Nothing now seemed to be incredible. You had slain three
foes, and the weapon with which the victory had been achieved had
vanished. You had risen from the dead, had assailed one of the surviving
enemies, had employed bullet and dagger in his destruction, with both of
which you could only be supplied by supernatural means, and had
disappeared. If any inhabitant of Chetasco had done this, we should have
heard of it. "But what remained? You were still alive. Your strength was sufficient
to bear you from this spot. Why were you still invisible? and to what
dangers might you not be exposed before you could disinvolve yourself
from the mazes of this wilderness? "Once more I procured indefatigable search to be made after you. It was
continued till the approach of evening, and was fruitless. Inquiries
were twice made at the house where you were supplied with food and
intelligence. On the second call I was astonished and delighted by the
tidings received from the good woman. Your person, and demeanour, and
arms, were described, and mention made of your resolution to cross the
southern ridge and traverse the Solesbury Road with the utmost
expedition. "The greater part of my inquietudes were now removed. You were able to
eat and to travel, and there was little doubt that a meeting would take
place between us on the next morning. Meanwhile, I determined to concur
with those who pursued the remainder of the enemy. I followed you, in
the path that you were said to have taken, and quickly joined a numerous
party who were searching for those who, on the last night, had attacked
a plantation that lies near this, and destroyed the inhabitants. "I need not dwell upon our doublings and circuities. The enemy was
traced to the house of Selby. They had entered, they had put fire on the
floor, but were compelled to relinquish their prey. Of what number they
consisted could not be ascertained; but one, lingering behind his
fellows, was shot, at the entrance of the wood, and on the spot where
you chanced to light upon him. "Selby's house was empty, and before the fire had made any progress we
extinguished it. The drunken wretch whom you encountered had probably
returned from his nocturnal debauch after we had left the spot. "The flying enemy was pursued with fresh diligence. They were found, by
various tokens, to have crossed the river, and to have ascended the
mountain. We trod closely on their heels. When we arrived at the
promontory described by you, the fatigues of the night and day rendered
me unqualified to proceed. I determined that this should be the bound of
my excursions. I was anxious to obtain an interview with you, and,
unless I paused here, should not be able to gain Inglefield's as early
in the morning as I wished. Two others concurred with me in this
resolution, and prepared to return to this house, which had been
deserted by its tenants till the danger was past, and which had been
selected as the place of rendezvous. "At this moment, dejected and weary, I approached the ledge which
severed the headland from the mountain. I marked the appearance of some
one stretched upon the ground where you lay. No domestic animal would
wander hither and place himself upon this spot. There was something
likewise in the appearance of the object that bespoke it to be man; but,
if it were man, it was incontrovertibly a savage and a foe. I
determined, therefore, to rouse you by a bullet. "My decision was perhaps absurd. I ought to have gained more certainty
before I hazarded your destruction. Be that as it will, a moment's
lingering on your part would have probably been fatal. You started on
your feet, and fired. See the hole which your random shot made through
my sleeve! This surely was a day destined to be signalized by
hairbreadth escapes. "Your action seemed incontestably to confirm my prognostics. Every one
hurried to the spot and was eager to destroy an enemy. No one hesitated
to believe that some of the shots aimed at you had reached their mark,
and that you had sunk to rise no more. "The gun which was fired and thrown down was taken and examined. It had
been my companion in many a toilsome expedition. It had rescued me and
my friends from a thousand deaths. In order to recognise it, I needed
only to touch and handle it. I instantly discovered that I held in my
hand the fusil which I had left with you on parting, with which your
uncle had equipped himself, and which had been ravished from him by a
savage. What was I hence to infer respecting the person of the last
possessor? "My inquiries respecting you, of the woman whose milk and bread you had
eaten, were minute. You entered, she said, with a hatchet and gun in
your hand. While you ate, the gun was laid upon the table. She sat near,
and the piece became the object of inquisitive attention. The stock and
barrels were described by her in such terms as left no doubt that this
was the _fusil_. "A comparison of incidents enabled me to trace the manner in which you
came into possession of this instrument. One of those whom you found in
the cavern was the assassin of your uncle. According to the girl's
report, on issuing from your hiding-place you seized a gun that was
unoccupied, and this gun chanced to be your own. "Its two barrels were probably the cause of your success in that unequal
contest at Mab's hut. On recovering from _deliquium_, you found it where
it had been dropped by you, out of sight and unsuspected by the party
that had afterwards arrived. In your passage to the river, had it once
more fallen into hostile hands? or had you missed the way, wandered to
this promontory, and mistaken a troop of friends for a band of Indian
marauders? "Either supposition was dreadful. The latter was the most plausible. No
motives were conceivable by which one of the fugitives could be induced
to post himself here, in this conspicuous station; whereas, the road
which led you to the summit of the hill, to that spot where descent to
the river-road was practicable, could not be found but by those who were
accustomed to traverse it. The directions which you had exacted from
your hostess proved your previous unacquaintance with these tracts. "I acquiesced in this opinion with a heavy and desponding heart. Fate
had led us into a maze which could only terminate in the destruction of
one or of the other.