Howard Roger Garis

“ For, when a man loves, he loves not always with wisdom.
I did not think of her as false to me. I believed she had fled with him after trying to elude his temptation. For it would appear she started from Salem loving me, and I hugged that cold comfort to my heart.
Despair, hope, then despair again had been my feelings that day. Now came a new one, revenge. If I could not have Lucille I would have her lover, and I laughed aloud as I thought how pleasant it would be to have him at my sword point. ”

“ Lucille clung in fright to me.
“Are all the men back away from the north wall?” I called to Carteret.
“Yes,” he shouted back.
“What is it, Edward?” sobbed Lucille.
“It is life or death,” I answered, as I ran with her into the block house.
The savages were yelling in chorus, like ten thousand devils now. The flames were beginning to take hold of the dry brush, which was crackling and snapping as if hungry to get at us. Inside the little fort were huddled all that was left of the defenders, men, women and children. I set Lucille down, but kept my arm about her. ”

“ It would be sad indeed if love gave such license. There was but one way out of the matter. If I stayed in Salem I must fight Sir George, and all would say that I had slain him that I might take his wife.
Love would be sweet, with Lucille to share it with me, but not love with dishonor. Therefore I must go.
Heigh-ho! This, then, was an end to all my dreams. Nothing left to battle for save life, and that was scarce worth the struggle. I tried to banish the memory of Lucille from me, but I could not. ”

“ Why not cast honor as men saw it to the winds? With Sir George out of the way I would have naught to fear from his warrant, and his wife--bah! the words went bitter in my mouth--his wife could then be mine. I had no doubt that in a combat with him I could be the victor. We had quarreled, I had struck him. If he was a man he must fight after that. Then a meeting early in the morning, a clash of swords, a lunge, a feint, a trick I knew well, having had it from a master of the art, and that would be the end. The end of all save my happiness with Lucille. ”

“ To while away the hours, some of the men who had fought with me in the block would come in. Then, sitting beside the blazing logs on the hearth, we would fight the battle all over again.
Lucille was ever near me, her sweet face always in view, when I looked up, smiling with the love in her eyes.
The winter snows melted. Green grass and shrubs began to peep up through the warm earth. The buds on the trees swelled with the sap, bears crawled from hollow logs, the birds flew northward. ”

“ Then, from the stable, back of the inn, came the whinny of a horse.
“Kit!” I exclaimed. I had almost forgotten my faithful little mare, which Willis had kept for me ever since I first came to Salem. There was one true friend at least.
Myself, my sword, my horse. What more could a soldier wish? Love? I had that too, it seemed, though it was not all mine. Strange, when I was loving Lucille, I never thought another might love her too. I never thought she might have loved another. She seemed all mine. ’Twas a hard nut to crack. If only there had been no marriage between Lucille and Sir George. ”

“ Sir George motioned to Simon, who ran to the raft, bringing back with him his master’s sword. Seeing that the wind lay in that direction, I hastened to where I had cast my blade. It was gone, as was my gun. I knew then that Simon must have hidden them when he came ashore. Lucille was watching us.
She rose from her reclining position, and, seeing Sir George armed, and me without a sword, she ran between us.
“Hold!” she cried. “Add not murder to your other crimes, my lord.”
“Murder,” he exclaimed; “it would not be murder to slay in fair combat. It is but the execution of justice on a traitor.” ”

“ Remembering my bursting of the ropes they bound the hapless man so that it would have taken a score of men, as strong as I, to have broken the bonds. In that manner my lieutenant met his death. Not that he did not struggle, beneath the cruel press. A guard, who watched him die, said Cory tore loose one muscle from his arm, as the planks came down.
Matters had come to such a pass now, that none of us was safe from death. So far from abating the witch fever had laid hold of the townsfolk more violently, so that they even meditated setting fire to the gaol, to burn us like rats in a traptrap. ”

“ Tied up like a bundle of faggots, and placed on the bed-plate, the boards above me, urged down by the screw turned by the long handle, would force out my life, as is the breath from a newly fledged bird, in the hand of a school boy. No wonder the Sheriff held his peace, when I asked if I was not toto hang. A more horrible death could scarce be devised, for the torture of the Indians hardly passed it. Yet an Englishman planned it; an Englishman was to suffer by it. Well had Sir George said I would pay for the blow I gave him. ”

“ I whispered.
“I shall be jealous of your sword.”
“No more,” I cried, drawing it from the scabbard. “’Tis a pretty piece of steel, but, if it should come between us, see----”
I raised it high in the air, my hands on either end.
“I’ll snap it in twain.”
I brought the weapon half way down, as though I would break it across my knee.
“Nay! Nay! Edward!” she exclaimed, catching my arm. “I did but jest. Put it up. There is need of a sword in this land.”
I sheathed my blade, sitting down beside Lucille. ”

“ Salem gaol was a most fearsome place those days.
After the rude meal, the constable, accompanied by his former bodyguard, came to bring me to the court house. It was with no very cheerful heart I made ready to go with him, for I could nearly guess how the trial would end with Sir George to urge on the witnesses. Still I could but take my chance, as I had many times before, and I trusted to my good fortune to bring me safely through.
A man can die but once, and I wondered vaguelyvaguely, as I stepped out, whether Lucille would care if I died. ”

“ What a fool any man is to love a woman. What fools men are, anyhow, at all times.
“Bah! Lucille! And she took my kisses.
“What ho! Well, ’tis many a stolen kiss a soldier has, and mine had been purloined favors, though I knew it not. Why, then, should I give her up? She loved me, even her husband admitted that. And why had not I, whom she loved, a better right, to her than he whom she loved not? With some there would have been but one answer to this. A clash of steel, and, right or wrong, he who loved and won, would have her whom he fought for. Why not I? What if she was his wife? ”

“ I was tired and sleepy after my ride, so, with a word to Willis I lost no time seeking my chamber; one of the few that the tavern boasted of. My head was filled with plans for leading men once more to battle. For I loved the strife of war, the clash of steel on steel, the smell of powder, and the shouts of foes and comrades. Well, I was soon to have my fill of it, though I dreamed not that I would have to fight with such foes as presently beset me. ”

“ That night when I went on my way to the tavern, I found myself humming a love song I had heard in England years ago.
The next day several men and youths appeared at the inn to enlist. I put their names down, and arranged for them to get arms, which would be sent from Boston. While the recruits were not much to boast of in looks they lacked not in spirit, which, after all, is the need of a soldier. Like some comrades with whom I have fought they seemed to go at fighting as they did at their religion, so that psalm tunes, rather than drinking songs and jests were heard among my men. ”

“ I ran to the rail, but Simon sprang after me and dragged me back. Sir George gave the tiller over to him, and, standing before me, said:
“‘Lucille, I pray you to forgive me for what I have done, but I cannot let you go, now that I have found you again. Captain Amherst has not escaped; he does not wait for you, hiding in the woods. Ere this ’tis likely that he is no longer alive. But I am alive, I am here, and, Lucille, I love you. I have waited and searched for you many years,’ he went on, ‘and now I will not let you go. As there is a God above us I mean you no wrong. ”

“ In deep silence we made all in readiness for the attack in the morning. Guns that had been wet in fording streams were looked to, and the caked powder picked from the pans. Spare flints were placed in pouches, as were the bullets, while powder horns were freshly filled.
With the mournful hoot of the owls in my ears, I fell asleep. I awoke with the first streak of dawn. The sentinels were called in, the last word given, and we were ready for the attack. If Cory, in charge of the sloops, was on hand, all would be well. We marched to the edge of the forest, and just beyond us was the fort. ”

“ Before Simon could rise I ran to the spring near the rock and hurried back with my cap full of the liquid. As 250I neared the place where the dying man lay, I saw something white, like a piece of parchment, in Simon’s hand, and the sailor hurriedly thrust it into his pocket.
Sir George drank eagerly, and Simon and I bathed his face.
The sun was fully up now, flooding us all in the golden light. The tide came farther on the sands, the gulls flitted out over the waves, and, in the woods back of us the birds were singing. ”

“ One afternoon, when the sun was setting behind a bank of gray clouds that promised a storm Lucille and I stood at the west window looking out.
322“It is going to snow,” said she, mournfully.
“I love the white flakes,” I said cheerfully.
“They are so cold, so cheerless, so dead, so cruel to the flowers and birds. Why do you love them?”
“Because they dance down so merrily. Because they cover up the dull brown earth from us until it blossoms out again. Because,” and I took her hand, “it was through a snow storm that I went to find my love.” ”

“ Carteret turned to speak to me.
The next instant there was a glare that lighted up the sky, turning the space between the palisade and the block from darkness into a noon-day brightness!
Then a crash so loud, so terrifying, so awful, that the very earth and sky seemed rent asunder as by a hundred thunderbolts. The solid ground rocked; a very cradle in the hand of a giant. A great wind blew, howling through the openings in the logs.
The sound deafened us. The blast swayed us as if a hurricane had swooped down from the sky. Men caught their breath. Women screamed. ”

“ Toward the edge of the forest we saw crouching forms hurrying off to bury themselves deeper in the woods, away from the terror behind them.
We were saved!
The savages not killed had fled away, but of all that band scarce a quarter lived to tell the tale.
A great cheer went up from the crowd within the block, when it was seen what had occurred. Men cast their muskets aside, embraced their wives and kissed their little ones.
“May the Lord bless you,” said Carteret to me, “it was you who saved us.”
“Aye! Aye! A cheer for Captain Amherst!” cried several men. ”

“ I caught up a sword from the jailer’s table, and disabled the nearest guard. Then I leaped out through the splintered portal, and was in the midst of the crowd of those who, only a few minutes before, had little hope of life.
180On they fled, free, leaving behind, like a bad dream, the gaol room, with its witch memories. Men and women cried aloud in their joy. Once more they could look up and know that the sky was above them, even though from it came drops of rain, pitiless, yet seeming like tears of a great rejoicing. ”

“ But I thought it strange that any man with English blood in his veins, should teach this French maid to say, “I love, you love, we love,” and yet let it end there. But, of a surety, I was glad that he had.
And so it came that I loved Lucille more and more every day. Sometimes, when I looked into her eyes, I forgot the errand that brought me to Salem, and I would 65have willingly cast my commission to the winds, for the privilege of being near her always. So it is when a man loves, not alone with wisdom. And as time went by my love grew. ”

“ As for myself, I threw one leg over the saddle, leaped to the ground, strode to the door, and went inside. I shouted to a stout serving man, snugly ensconced in the chimney corner, to look after the mare, and then I approached the blazing fire.
“The Lord defend us! Goliath and the Philistines are upon us!” cried out Mistress Willis, for she it was who had opened the door.
I turned toward her. Now, of a truth, I am not overly large. But, with a stout leather jacket on, my sword by my side, and heavy boots on my legs, I did look big to the good dame’s eyes. ”

“ I drew on my boots, buttoned my coat about me, and, wondering how Lucille had fared, grabbed up my sword and gun, to hasten where I might find Captain Carteret.
I met him in the main room, where all was confusion. Men were getting in each other’s way, some were looking for their garments, and many for their weapons, so that little speed in preparation resulted. Had the enemy been more alert they would have had us at a disadvantage. But the red men were wary about rushing the palisades when they knew, as they must, what force was behind them. ”

“ The clash of our blades, both good ones, mingled with the roar of the surf. It was thrust and parry, parry and thrust, the keen pointed weapons gliding along their lengths like serpents. We circled about one another, each watching, with jealous eyes, for a false move, a misstep. Three times did he thrust at my heart, thinking to catch me off guard, but, each time, my blade was there before his, and the sword slipped off with a hiss as of hot iron. ”