Arthur D. Howden Smith

“ Next to success in battle nothing pleased an Iroquois more than the opportunity to exhibit indifference to torture. De Veulle seemed satisfied. The mistake he made was in failing to understand that the scouts had not counted Ta-wan-ne-ars, a chief, as a warrior. He returned to my side, and summoned a host of masked figures from the surrounding shadows. They jerked us to our feet, stamped out the fire and escorted us over the trampled, bloody snow where we had fought, through the gloomy aisles of the Evil Wood and into the irregular streets of La Vierge du Bois. ”

“ The Iroquois have sent out the largest war-party ever I saw."
"You are helpless, but you attempt to impose terms," I said.
"Pardon me, sir; I am not helpless," he objected. "If the worst comes to the worst I shall give intelligence to my opponents of my intent to blow up my house and my hostages and undertake to fight a way through the Iroquois. Better a death in such fashion than captivity and disgrace, let alone the torture-stake."
I considered this, and gauged him as capable of doing all that he said.
"Yes," I assented finally; "being what you are, you have advantages on your side. ”

“ Once he had determined accurately the measure of an opponent he never made the mistake of underrating his enemy.
"Most of the failures in life come from overconfidence, Master Ormerod—" he called me by my real name with scrupulous courtesy when we were alone, and was equally scrupulous to dub me Juggins if Captain Abbot or one of the crew happened to be present—"as I dare swear you know. I have long made it a rule of my life never to believe that any other man could be less diligent about his affairs than I myself. ”

“ He raised his voice in a shout.
"To your arms, O Keepers of the Trail! The Iroquois are upon us!"
But his words were drowned in a racket of firing from the heart of the Evil Wood. A number of the False Faces emerged from the shelter of the firs, their awful masks wabbling unsteadily.
"The People of the Long House!" they wailed. "The People of the Long House are come!"
"We are attacked back and front," snarled Murray. "Well, Master Ormerod, you and your friend the chief are excellent hostages." ”

“ A pungent whiff of wood-smoke filled my nostrils, and I turned over to watch Corlaer frying bacon and maize cakes—only to lose my appetite at the spectacle of Ta-wan-ne-ars stretching scalps on little hoops of withes to dry by the fire.
He went about it in a very business-like way, yet he indulged in an amiable grin over my look of interested aversion.
"What does my brother find that is so horrible in a scalp?" he inquired, extending a particularly gory one for my inspection. "'Tis no more than the crown of a man's head—and that man an enemy." ”

“ Murray was standing in the doorway, Tom on one side of him, and a huge, red-haired giant in buckskin, with knife and tomahawk at his belt on the other. I stared at the red-haired man, for he was the first woodsman I had seen, observing with curiosity his shaggy locks and fur cap and the brutal ferocity of his face.
I stared so long that I attracted the attention of Murray, who broke off his conversation, with the group surrounding him, and with a pale smile pointed me out to his buckskin retainer. The man scowled at me, and one hand went to his knife-hilt. ”

“ The silence continued for more than an hour, when a lane was opened opposite to us and Murray and de Veulle sauntered forward.
"I trust you have fared well, Master Juggins—I beg pardon, Master Ormerod?" remarked Murray urbanely. "No discomforts? Enough to eat and sufficient attention?"
I profited by Ta-wan-ne-ars' example, and thrust for the one weak spot in the man's armor of egotism.
"You do proclaim yourself for what you are," I answered him steadily. "Sure, no man of breeding would descend to the depths you reach. ”

“ I called to Ta-wan-ne-ars.
He flung a haughty look cross his shoulder. Since we had identified the Cahnuagas a startling change had transformed him. The veneer of deferential courtesy which ordinarily he wore was cracked. He was all Indian. More than that, he was contemptuous of what was not Indian. Aye, of whatever was not Iroquois like himself, of the bone and sinew of the League.
"This is not the white man's country," he answered. "You are within the portals of the Long House."
"But the beaver's skin is no less valuable to the Indian than to the white man," I persisted. ”

“ Once we were a nation. Once we were strong. Once even the white man feared us. Once it was for us to say who should rule the land outside the Long House, Frenchman or Englishman. The white men were weak then. They clamored for our aid. We chose the side of the Englishman. He triumphed.
Remember, O my reader, but for us you might not have been here to sit by our Council Fire to-night. Black Robe and de Veulle, Murray and Joncaire, would have won the struggle; the French King would have become master. All that has come to pass would never have been. ”

“ He was a handsome devil, with the flair which appeals to all women, good and bad. Aye, he might win her regard for a time; but I was prepared to stake all that she would unmask him in the end.
The twilight faded rapidly, and I found myself with no appetite for the crowded main cabin, where de Veulle and Murray played piquet, or my stuffy berth. I strolled the deck, immersed in thought. There was so much to think about. ”

“ This was good fortune.
"Was I not camping beside the Regiment de Provence when we were on the Italian frontier! 'Tis a pleasant way those lads have of talking. And such good companions with the bottle!"
"You know, Jean, you know!"
Joncaire was delighted with me.
"Ah, yes, monsieur," I asserted modestly. "Ah, for some of that warm Southern wine at this moment instead of the accursed rum. Rum is good only for savages."
"You say truth," applauded Joncaire. "Come your ways within, Jean, and you shall taste of the blood of La Belle France—although it be not our Provence vintage. ”

“ He took one step forward as we halted, and his right arm went up in the graceful Iroquois salute.
"Qua, Ta-wan-ne-ars!" his voice boomed out. "You are welcome home, O my nephew. I can see that you have been brave against our enemies, for you carry a string of scalps at your belt. I can see that you have been honored, for Corlaer walks with you. I can see that you have been fortunate, for a strange white man walks beside you who has friendship in his face. ”

“ Every year that passes the English grow in strength, and we become weaker; I speak now in matters of trade; for after all, lad, the country which obtains the mastery in trade must be the military master of any contending nation. I may be only a simple soldier, but so much I have learned."
"Ah, but monsieur is pleased to be down-hearted!" I cried. "'Tis plain we are stronger than the English. Are not our posts stretched thousands of miles beyond theirs?" ”

“ The guards hustled us along; and as we passed, the hordes of savages closed in behind us and flowed in a mighty, barbaric stream at our heels. Ahead of us opened the flat expanse of the Dancing-Place, with the two lonely stakes, flanked by piles of freshly gathered firewood, standing like portents of evil against the dark-green background of the pines which walled the rear of the amphitheater.
Ta-wan-ne-ars looked eagerly in every direction, but she whom he sought was not present nor were there visible any of her carrion crew of priests. ”

“ Behold, O my reader, we give you a White Belt in token that our words are straight.
That which has been is no more. We of the Ho-de-no-san-nee, the People of the Long House, are scattered so that only Ga-oh, the Old Man of the Winds, can tell where the remnants dwell. The Long House, where our women sowed and reaped and our warriors hunted, is the spoil of the white man. ”

“ Great is the triumph of the French chief de Veulle, who is himself of our order. Great is the triumph of the brave Keepers who aided him. Great will be the future triumphs which So-a-ka-ga-gwa will give us in return for these sacrifices. ”

“ I knew that he played a good hand at piquet, and was entirely honorable in gambling. I knew he had a dainty taste in snuff, cravats and linen.
And I knew absolutely nothing else, gained from his own admissions and observance of his habits. He was patronizingly cordial to Captain Abbot and the other officers of the ship; he controlled Tom as I should a dog; he treated Marjory with consideration, even affection, although not as I should have expected him to treat a daughter; he observed toward de Veulle exactly the right mixture of the older man of the world and the boon comrade. ”

“ I aimed a smashing blow at his head with the tomahawk, and, as he lifted his own hatchet to guard, I thrust for his belly, parried his knife and ripped him open.
His death-yell was in my ears as I leaped over his body and looked to see how my comrades were doing. Ta-wan-ne-ars had just knifed his man and was running to the help of Peter, who had two assailants on his hands. As Ta-wan-ne-ars came up, the Dutchman closed with one, dashed the defending weapons aside and grasped the struggling savage in his powerful arms. ”

“ He laughed ruefully, and raised his hail for granny.
"Ho, Goody! Goody, hast lain abed all day! Here are two hungry forest-runners will eat your kitchen bare."
Granny tripped into the hall, a mug of bitter ale in either hand.
"I heard what you said, and Master Harry's answer," she rebuked him. "Think shame on yourself, Robert, to hint that he would hesitate before peril—and you sending him into it, too," she added somewhat illogically, I thought. "Now, do both of you drain these. 'Twill wash the taste of the streets and taverns from your mouths." ”

“ Dressed in her uniform as Ga-go-sa Ho-nun-as-tase-ta, the kilt and moccasins, she fronted de Veulle with eyes blazing, breast heaving.
"Do you seek now to buy the white maiden with this man's life?" she stormed.
"You have no place here," he replied in the Cahnuaga dialect. "Go away. You will make——"
"You shall not!" she defied him. "You have had your pleasure with me. Now you would like to have a woman of your own color. You shall not! I have been bad. I have forgotten the ways of my fathers. I have betrayed a good man."
She threw a glance at Ta-wan-ne-ars, straining at his bonds. ”

“ I gasped to Ta-wan-ne-ars as I dodged a blow at my head.
"'Tis the haunt of the Keepers," he replied. "See, there are Adirondacks and Shawendadies, as well as Cahnuagas. And those yonder are Hurons from north of the Lakes."
Bolling slashed him across the face with a strip of raw-hide.
"Keep your breath for the torture-stake, you Iroquois cur!"
Ta-wan-ne-ars laughed at him.
"Red Jack can only fight with a whip," he said. "But when Ta-wan-ne-ars holds a tomahawk he runs." ”

“ But now, look you, Goody, the hour is late for old folks——"
"You are not so young yourself, Robert," she remarked tartly.
"Nay, granny dear, I do not seek the last word with you," he laughed. "'Tis only that I would find out before we sleep how I may be of aid to Master Ormerod."
"Aid?" quoth she. "All that we have in the world is his, if he wants it; aye, the clothes off our backs." ”

“ Our provisions were exhausted, and we were compelled to live from hand to mouth upon such game as Ta-wan-ne-ars could snare or kill with his tomahawk—and certes he was wondrous proficient in both arts. But we kept on, bearing always eastward and quartering the country in every direction. Game there was in plenty, sure testimony that man seldom came here; dense underbrush linked the towering trunks; there was not so much as a footprint in hundreds of square miles to reveal human occupancy. ”

“ We spun round in amazement to face a gaunt figure in the black habit of the Jesuits.
"Black Robe!" exclaimed Peter.
Ta-wan-ne-ars glowered at the priest.
"What do you do here, Père Hyacinthe?" I asked in French.
"What is that to you?" he snapped. "I go about my Father's business; that is sufficient for the bloody-minded to know."
"If you will look at me closer, father, you will recognize my face," I answered. "Surely one has the right of vengeance upon those who would torture one."
He peered at me.
"You and the Indian were at La Vierge du Bois," he said. "Yes, I remember now. ”

“ If a nation is troublesome upon occasion, like the Je-go-sa-sa, we make it a tributary, and in return we protect it. If a nation is in difficulties, as were the Tuscaroras in the South, and they appeal to us for aid, we give it. We took the Tuscaroras into the League because that was the best way we could protect them."
"Against whom?" I asked innocently.
"Against the white men," he answered. "Aye, brother, down in the Southern colonies the white men hunger for land just as they do here in New York. When an Indian tribe is weak, as were the Tuscaroras, the white men drive it before them. ”

“ The Seneca brained this man with the butt of his gun, and Peter methodically tripped my adversary and helped me pinion him.
Ta-wan-ne-ars paused long enough to remove what was left of the scalp of his victim, then crossed to us and set his bloody knife to the throat of the survivor.
"Is it to be torture or a quick death, Cahnuaga dog!" he demanded.
The red eyes of the Keeper glared at him. "Death," the man spat, and strove to gnaw at the hands which held him.
"Then speak truly. Who travels Doom Trail today?"
"Nobody. We watch always." ”

“ But my friends among the English send me word that their people are blinded for the moment by the falsities of Murray and the French. Their counsels are divided.
"Ga-en-gwa-ra-go would welcome our action, and would support it and protect us from the vengeance of France. But he would find it difficult to act himself."
"If Ga-en-gwa-ra-go will not act, why should the League act?" demanded the Cayuga.
"Because it is to the interest of our people to act even more than it is to the interest of the English," retorted Do-ne-ho-ga-weh with impassioned energy. ”

“ I said. "Sure, no men with good consciences would stoop to bargain with such as I."
"I fear me, Marjory," said Murray gently, "that you have no appreciation of the tangled path which must be trod by those who concern themselves with affairs of state. The good and the bad are strangely intermingled. Sometimes we must consort with those we despise in order to gain a good cause. Sometimes we must use tools which irk us to fashion a policy to a righteous end. ”

“ I cried. "'Tis impossible after the friendship you have shown us."
He eyed me gloomily.
"Friendship counts at the moment; strength counts in the future," he said. "That is the white man's way. Have I not lived amongst them?"
He leaned forward until his face was close to mine.
"When all else fails the white man will use fire-water, what you call rum and the French call brandy. The red man can not resist it—and it ruins him. He becomes a red animal." ”