Роберт Чамберс - The Hidden Children

"Hounds are hounds," I said slowly. "And the hound will chase his thousandth hare with all the unslaked eagerness that thrilled him when his first quarry fled before him."

"Why?"

But I shook my head in silence.

"Are you that way?"

"I have not been."

"The instinct then is not within you?"

"Yes, the instinct is…. But some hounds are trained to range only as far as their mistress, Old Dame Reason, permits. Others slip leash and take to the runways to range uncontrolled and mastered only by a dark and second self, urging them ever forward…. There are but two kinds of men, Lois—the self–disciplined, and the unbroken. But the raw nature of the two differed nothing at their birth."

She stood looking down at the distant cattle along the river for a while without speaking; then her hand, which hung beside her, sought mine and softly rested within my clasp.

"It is wonderful," she murmured, "that it has been God's pleasure I should come to you unblemished—after all that I have lived to learn and see. But more wonderful and blessed still it is to me to find you what you are amid this restless, lawless, ruthless world of soldiery—upright and pure in heart…. It seems almost, with us, as though our mothers had truly made of us two Hidden Children, white and mysterious within the enchanted husks, which only our own hands may strip from us, and reveal ourselves unsullied as God made us, each to the other—on our wedding morn."

I lifted her little hand and laid my lips to it, touching the ring. Then she bent timidly and kissed the rough gold circlet where my lips had rested. Somehow, a shaft of sunlight had penetrated the green roof above, and slanted across her hair, so that the lovely contour of her head was delicately edged with light.

"Nene–nea–wen–ne, Lois!" [7] "This thing shall happen, Lois!" I whispered passionately.

"Nen–ya–wen–ne, O Loskiel! Teni–non–wes." [8] "It shall happen, O Loskiel! We love, thou and I."

We stood yet a while together there, and I saw her lift her eyes and gaze straight ahead of us beyond our picket line, and remain so, gazing as though her regard could penetrate those dim and silent forest aisles to the red altar far beyond in unseen Catharines–town.

"When must you go?" she asked under her breath.

"The army is making ready today."

"To march into the Indian country?"

I nodded.

"When does it march?"

"On Friday. But that is not to be known at present."

"I understand. By what route do you go?"

"By Chemung."

"And then?"

"At Chemung we leave the army, Boyd and I. You heard."

"Yes, Euan."

I said, forcing myself to speak lightly:

"You are not to be afraid for us, Little Rosy Pigeon of the Forest. Follow me with your swift–winged thoughts and no harm shall come to me."

"Must you go?"

I laughed: * "Ka–teri–oseres, Lois." [9] "I am going to this war, Lois."

* "Wa–ka–ton–te–tsihon," she said calmly. "Wa–ka–ta–tiats–kon." [10] "I understand perfectly. I am resigned."

Then I gave way to my increasing surprise:

"Wonder–child!" I exclaimed. "When and where have you learned to understand and answer me in the tongue of the Long House?"

* "Kio–ten–se," [11] "I am working for somebody." she said with a faint smile.

"For whom?"

"For my mother, Euan. Did you suppose I could neglect anything that might be useful in my life's quest? Who knows when I might need the tongue I am slowly learning to speak?…Oh, and I know so little, yet. Something of Algonquin the Mohican taught me; and with it a little of the Huron tongue. And now for nearly a month every day I have learned a little from the Oneidas at Otsego—from the Oneida girl whose bridal dress you bought to give to me. Do you remember her? The maid called Drooping Wings?"

"Yes—but—I do not understand. To what end is all this? When and where is your knowledge of the Iroquois tongue likely to aid you?"

She gave me a curious, veiled look—then turned her face away.

"You do not dream of following our army, do you?" I demanded. "Not one woman would be permitted to go. It is utterly useless for you to expect it, folly to dream of such a thing…. You and Lana are to go to Easton as soon as the heavier artillery is sent down the river, which will be the day we start—Friday. This frontier gypsying is ended—all this coquetting with danger is over now. The fort here is no place for you and Lana. Your visit, brief as it has been, is rash and unwarranted. And I tell you very plainly, Lois, that I shall never rest until you are at Easton, which is a stone town and within the borders of civilization. The artillery will be sent down by boat, and all the women and children are to go also. Neither Boyd nor I have told this to you and Lana, but―" I glanced over my shoulder. "I think he is telling her now."

Lois slowly turned and looked toward them. Evidently they no longer cared what others saw or thought, for Lana's cheek lay pressed against his shoulder, and his arm encircled her body.

We walked back, all together, to the fort, and left Lois and Lana at the postern; then Boyd and I continued on to my bush–hut, the Indians following.

Muffled drums of a regiment were passing, and an escort with reversed arms, to bury poor Kimball, Captain in Colonel Cilly's command, shot this morning through the heart by the accidental discharge of a musket in the careless hands of one of his own men.

We stood at salute while the slow cortege passed.

Said Boyd thoughtfully:

"Well, Kimball's done with all earthly worries. There are those who might envy him."

"You are not one," I said bluntly.

"I? No. I have not yet played hard enough in the jolly blind man's buff—which others call the game of life. I wear the bandage still, and still my hands clutch at the empty air, and in my ears the world's sweet laughter rings―" He smiled, then shrugged. "The charm of Fortune's bag is not what you pull from it, but what remains within."

"Boyd," I said abruptly. "Who is that handsome wench that followed us from Otsego?"

"Dolly Glenn?"

"That is her name."

"Lord, how she pesters me!" he said fretfully. "I chanced upon her at the Middle Fort one evening—down by the river. And what are our wenches coming to," he exclaimed impatiently, "that a kiss on a summer's night should mean to them more than a kiss on a night in summer!"

"She is a laundress, is she not?"

"How do I know? A tailoress, too, I believe, for she has patched and mended for me; and she madded me because she would take no pay. There are times," he added, "when sentiment is inconvenient―"

"Poor thing," I said.

"My God, why? When I slipped my arm around her she put up her face to be kissed. It was give and take, and no harm done—and the moon a–laughing at us both. And why the devil she should look at me reproachfully is more than I can comprehend."

"It seems a cruel business," said I.

"Cruel!"

"Aye—to awake a heart and pass your way a–whistling."

"Now, Loskiel," he began, plainly vexed, "I am not cruel by nature, and you know it well enough. Men kiss and go their way―"

"But women linger still."

"Not those I've known."

"Yet, here is one―"

"A silly fancy that will pass with her. Lord! Do you think a gentleman accountable to every pretty chit of a girl he notices on his way through life?"

"Some dare believe so."

He stared at me, then laughed.

"You are different to other men, of course," he said gaily. "We all understand that. So let it go―"

"One moment, Boyd. There is a matter I must speak of—because friendship and loyalty to a childhood friend both warrant it. Can you tell me why Lana Helmer is unhappy?"