Elsie on the Hudson Part 15

"Ah, my dear, how true it is that love is blind," said Annis softly, giving him a look of fond appreciation.

"Ha, ha! A pair of old lovers!" laughed a voice that seemed to come from somewhere in the rear of the little party.

"Yes, that's what we are," said Annis with mirthful look and tone.

"And who are you that dares to say such saucy things to our company?"

asked Ned, looking sharply round toward the spot from which the voice had seemed to come.

"Somebody that has a tongue of his own and a right to use it,"

returned the voice, but the speaker was still invisible.

"Well, whoever you are you've no business here on my father's yacht without an invitation," cried Ned, hurrying toward the spot from which the strange voice seemed to come.

"You silly, impudent youngster! I'm not here without an invitation,"

said the voice, seeming to come from a greater distance than before.

"Not?" exclaimed Ned; "then who invited you?"

"The captain and owner of the vessel."

Ned turned to his father. "Did you invite him, papa, and who is he?"

Then, perceiving a look of amus.e.m.e.nt on every face, "Oh, I know! Why didn't I think before? It's just Cousin Ronald playing he's somebody else."

"Yes, laddie, and he's rather an auld mon to be playing at anything,"

returned the old gentleman pleasantly. "Dinna ye think so?"

"No, sir; and it's good of you to make a little fun for us youngsters."

"As well as for us older folks," added his mother in a sprightly tone.

"I thought it was a fellow who had no business here," said Ned, "but you are as welcome as anything, Cousin Ronald."

"Aye, laddie, I dinna doubt it or I wadna be here," laughed the old gentleman; "but I know there are no more hospitable folk to be found anywhere then these American cousins o' mine."

"I should think not, sir," said Neddie with a smiling glance from one parent to the other; "and I believe there's n.o.body they like better to entertain than you."

"Is Fort Stephenson still standing, papa?" asked Grace.

"No," was the reply, "but we can see the site, which is in the bosom of the village of Fremont, and covers about two-thirds of a square. We will no doubt find someone who can and will point it out to us and show us the ravine where the Indians fled after the first discharge of the rifle-b.a.l.l.s by the garrison; and the iron six-pounder cannon that did such great execution in defence of the fort; also the landing place of the British. By the way, the garrison named that cannon the 'Good Bess.'"

"Oh, I hope we will see it," said Ned. "I'd like to."

They reached their destination in time to see the cannon and all the interesting places and things made memorable by their connection with the struggle at Fort Stephenson, then returned to the yacht, sailed out into the bay again, and anch.o.r.ed for the night.

CHAPTER X.

The next morning Lucilla woke early--as was usual with her--and presently joined her father upon the deck. He greeted her, as was his custom, with a smile and a tender caress, asking if she were quite well and had pa.s.sed a comfortable night.

"Yes, papa," she said; "I slept as soundly as possible, and feel perfectly well this morning; as I hope you do."

"I do, for I also enjoyed a good night's rest and sleep."

The yacht was moving, and Lucilla remarked it with some surprise.

"I thought we were lying at anchor," she said.

"So we were through the night," replied her father, "but now we are travelling toward Fort Meigs--or perhaps I should rather say its ruins."

"Oh, that will be an interesting spot to visit!" exclaimed Lucilla.

"Just where is it, papa?"

"On the Maumee River, opposite Maumee City, situated at the head of river navigation, eight miles from Toledo."

"Wasn't it somewhere in that region that Wayne fought one or more of his battles with the Indians?"

"Yes; he took possession of and fortified the place where St. Clair was defeated, and called it Fort Recovery. That was in 1794. On the 30th of June he was attacked by about a thousand Indians with some British soldiers and Canadian volunteers, who a.s.sailed the garrison several times. Fifty-seven Americans were killed, wounded, and missing; also 221 horses. The Indians said they lost more than in their battle with St. Clair.

"A few weeks later Wayne was joined by Major-General Scott with 1600 mounted volunteers from Kentucky, and two days later he moved forward with his whole force toward the Maumee. Remembering the sad fate of St. Clair and his men, Wayne moved very cautiously; so slowly and stealthily that the Indians called him the 'Black Snake.' He had faithful, competent scouts and guides, and he moved by unfrequented ways, with perplexing feints. Twenty-five miles beyond Fort Recovery he built Fort Adams. Again he moved forward for four days, then encamped on a beautiful plain at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers, on the site of the present town of Defiance; I presume from the fort Wayne built there, and which he called Fort Defiance. He found there a deserted Indian town with at least a thousand acres of corn growing around it. Wayne was now in full possession of power to subjugate and destroy the Indians, but, unwilling to shed blood unnecessarily, he sent them a message with kind words. 'Be no longer deceived or led astray by false promises and language of bad white men at the foot of the rapids; they have neither the power nor the inclination to protect you.'

"He offered them peace and tranquillity, and invited them to send deputies to meet him in council without delay.

"But they rejected his overtures, and said in reply, 'Stay where you are for ten days, and we will treat with you; but if you advance we will give you battle.'

"Wayne was, however, too wise and wary to be deceived by them. He saw that nothing but a severe blow would break the spirit of the tribes and end the war, and, as Lossing says, he resolved to inflict it mercilessly.

"On the 15th of August his legion moved forward, and on the 18th took post at the head of the rapids, near the present town of Waterville, where they established a magazine of supplies and baggage, protected by military works, and named it Fort Deposit. There, on the 19th, Wayne called a council of war and adopted a plan of march and battle proposed by Lieutenant Harrison."

"Afterward general, papa?"

"Yes, nineteen years later he had become general-in-chief, and performed gallant exploits in this same valley of the Maumee.

"The next morning after that council, at eight o'clock, Wayne advanced according to that plan. They had gone forward about five miles when the advance corps, under Major Price, was terribly smitten by heavy volleys from the concealed foe and compelled to fall back. The enemy was full 2000 strong--composed of Indians and Canadian volunteers, and they were arranged in three lines within supporting distance of each other.

"Wayne's legion was immediately formed in two lines, princ.i.p.ally in a dense wood on the borders of a wet prairie, where a large number of trees had been prostrated by a tornado, which made the movements of cavalry very difficult, besides affording a fine covert for the enemy.

But Wayne's troops fell upon them with fearful energy, soon making them flee, like a herd of frightened deer, toward Fort Miami."

"The fort the British had built upon our ground without so much as saying by your leave?"

"The very same. They reached it by a hasty flight of two miles through the thick woods, leaving forty of their number dead on the way, by the side of each of whom lay a musket and bayonet from British armories.

"Three days and three nights Wayne and his army remained below the rapids, making such desolation as seemed necessary for the subjugation of the hostile Indians and the treacherous Britains and Canadians; all that in defiance of the threats of the commandant of Fort Miami, though his guns were within view of the American tents. He--Colonel McKee--was the chief instigator of the war with the Indians, with whom he was carrying on a most lucrative trade, and he had there extensive storehouses and dwellings. These our troops set fire to and destroyed, as they did all the products of the fields and gardens."

"That seems a pity, papa, but I suppose it was necessary."

"Yes; as no doubt those British men well knew. Wayne's men sometimes were within pistol-shot of Fort Miami, but its guns kept silence. The commander did a good deal of scolding and threatening; Wayne coolly defied him and retorted with vigor. But neither went any farther.