His acquaintance with the habits of the Indians, and his
experience in their wars, made him trace their footsteps with more
certainty than any of his associates. "The pursuit was still continued, and parties were so stationed that the
escape of the enemy was difficult, if not impossible. Our search was
unremitted, but, during twelve or fourteen hours, unsuccessful. Queen
Mab did not elude all suspicion. Her hut was visited by different
parties, but the old woman and her dogs had disappeared. "Meanwhile your situation was not forgotten. Every one was charged to
explore your footsteps as well as those of the savages; but this search
was no less unsuccessful than the former. None had heard of you or seen
you. "This continued till midnight. Three of us made a pause at a brook, and
intended to repair our fatigues by a respite of a few hours; but
scarcely had we stretched ourselves on the ground when we were alarmed
by a shot which seemed to have been fired at a short distance. We
started on our feet and consulted with each other on the measures to be
taken. A second, a third, and a fourth shot, from the same quarter,
excited our attention anew. Mab's hut was known to stand at the distance
and in the direction of this sound, and thither we resolved to repair. "This was done with speed, but with the utmost circumspection. We
shortly gained the road that leads near this hut, and at length gained a
view of the building. Many persons were discovered, in a sort of
bustling inactivity, before the hut. They were easily distinguished to
be friends, and were therefore approached without scruple. "The objects that presented themselves to a nearer view were five bodies
stretched upon the ground. Three of them were savages. The fourth was a
girl, who, though alive, seemed to have received a mortal wound. The
fifth, breathless and mangled, and his features almost concealed by the
blood that overspread his face, was Edgar,--the fugitive for whom I had
made such anxious search. "About the same hour on the last night I had met you hastening into
Norwalk. Now were you lying in the midst of savages, at the distance of
thirty miles from your home, and in a spot which it was impossible for
you to have reached unless by an immense circuit over rocks and
thickets. That you had found a rift at the basis of a hill, and thus
penetrated its solidities, and thus precluded so tedious and circuitous
a journey as must otherwise have been made, was not to be imagined. "But whence arose this scene? It was obvious to conclude that my
associates had surprised their enemies in this house, and exacted from
them the forfeit of their crimes; but how you should have been
confounded with their foes, or whence came the wounded girl, was a
subject of astonishment. "You will judge how much this surprise was augmented when I was informed
that the party whom we found had been attracted hither by the same
signals by which we had been alarmed. That on reaching this spot you had
been discovered, alive, seated on the ground, and still sustaining the
gun with which you had apparently completed the destruction of so many
adversaries. In a moment after their arrival you sunk down and expired. "This scene was attended with inexplicable circumstances. The musket
which lay beside you appeared to have belonged to one of the savages. The wound by which each had died was single. Of the four shots we had
distinguished at a distance, three of them were therefore fatal to the
Indians, and the fourth was doubtless that by which you had fallen; yet
three muskets only were discoverable. "The arms were collected, and the girl carried to the nearest house in
the arms of her father. Her situation was deemed capable of remedy, and
the sorrow and wonder which I felt at your untimely and extraordinary
fate did not hinder me from endeavouring to restore the health of this
unfortunate victim. I reflected, likewise, that some light might be
thrown upon transactions so mysterious by the information which might be
collected from her story. Numberless questions and hints were necessary
to extract from her a consistent or intelligible tale. She had been
dragged, it seems, for miles, at the heels of her conquerors, who at
length stopped in a cavern for the sake of some repose. All slept but
one, who sat and watched. Something called him away, and, at the same
moment, you appeared at the bottom of the cave, half naked and without
arms. You instantly supplied the last deficiency by seizing the gun and
tomahawk of him who had gone forth, and who had negligently left his
weapons behind. Then, stepping over the bodies of the sleepers, you
rushed out of the cavern. "She then mentioned your unexpected return, her deliverance and flight,
and arrival at Deb's hut. You watched upon the hearth, and she fell
asleep upon the blanket. From this sleep she was aroused by violent and
cruel blows. She looked up: you were gone, and the bed on which she lay
was surrounded by the men from whom she had so lately escaped. One
dragged her out of the hut and levelled his gun at her breast. At the
moment when he touched the trigger, a shot came from an unknown quarter,
and he fell at her feet. Of subsequent events she had an incoherent
recollection. The Indians were successively slain, and you came to her,
and interrogated and consoled her. "In your journey to the hut you were armed. This in some degree
accounted for appearances: but where were your arms? Three muskets only
were discovered, and these undoubtedly belonged to your enemies. "I now had leisure to reflect upon your destiny. I had arrived soon
enough on this shore merely to witness the catastrophe of two beings
whom I most loved. Both were overtaken by the same fate, nearly at the
same hour. The same hand had possibly accomplished the destruction of
uncle and nephew. "Now, however, I began to entertain a hope that your state might not be
irretrievable. You had walked and spoken after the firing had ceased and
your enemies had ceased to contend with you. A wound had, no doubt, been
previously received. I had hastily inferred that the wound was mortal,
and that life could not be recalled. Occupied with attention to the
wailings of the girl, and full of sorrow and perplexity, I had admitted
an opinion which would have never been adopted in different
circumstances. My acquaintance with wounds would have taught me to
regard sunken muscles, lividness, and cessation of the pulse, as mere
indications of a swoon, and not as tokens of death. "Perhaps my error was not irreparable. By hastening to the hut, I might
ascertain your condition, and at least transport your remains to some
dwelling and finally secure to you the decencies of burial. "Of twelve savages discovered on the preceding day, ten were now killed. Two at least remained, after whom the pursuit was still zealously
maintained. Attention to the wounded girl had withdrawn me from the
party, and I had now leisure to return to the scene of these disasters.