A Volunteer with Pike. Robert Ames Bennet

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СКАЧАТЬ pardon, señor, but many such projects are schemed, and in the end prove to be—'castles in Spain.'"

      He smiled gravely and without offence. "Señor, I give you my word that I and my friends are prepared to build the Western wall of the castle."

      "Your word, señor, is sufficient. But there remains the Eastern wall, and I am doubtful of the builders. I did not ask for Colonel Burr's word. I preferred something more substantial. He has promised that I shall receive such proof upon my arrival at St. Louis."

      "Then you, too, go to the—to St. Louis?"

      "To the General," I responded, surmising that it was General Wilkinson whom he had hesitated to name.

      "You spoke of despatches."

      "Letters from the Colonel to parties we both seek, in St. Louis and New Orleans."

      "Colonel Burr entrusted me with numerous despatches."

      "He mentioned the day of my visit with him in Philadelphia as the eighth after your departure. That week may have seen developments or changes which required fresh despatches."

      "Poder de Dios!" he exclaimed. "You left Philadelphia eight days later—and are here!"

      "At your service, señor."

      "Santisima Virgen! And I had four horses to my carriage!"

      "I had nine horses beneath my saddle, in succession."

      "Virgen! What a caballero!"

      "When a man is in haste to see his journey's end, señor, he does not loll about taverns on the way. You came in yesterday?" He bowed. "Then you may be able to tell me what are the chances of obtaining quick passage down the river."

      He looked across toward the shipyards with a frown.

      "I am now on my way to inquire, señor," he answered. "Against the better counsel of Colonel Burr, I was so ill advised as to bring a seaman from the seaboard to have charge of the water journey."

      "A salt-water sailor on an Ohio flat!" I exclaimed.

      "The señor forgets that I am a stranger to his forest wilderness."

      "Your pardon, Señor Vallois!—Permit me to ride with you. It may be I can assist you."

      "Na-da-a!" he protested. "I cannot permit it. You have ridden for fifteen days at more than post speed. You must first refresh yourself."

      "The señor forgets that I am no less eager than himself to arrange for the river passage. Rest assured I am good for another day in the saddle, if need be, at your service, señor."

      As I wheeled around, and we started for the riverside, he looked me up and down with a wondering glance.

      "Por Dios!" he muttered. "I had thought none could ride as ride our vaqueros. You are a man of iron."

      "I am the son of my father," I replied. "How other than hard could be the sons of the men who wrested this Western land from the savages—who have driven the Cherokees, Creeks, and Choctaws south of Tennessee, and pressed back the Northwest Indians to their present fastnesses about the Great Lakes?"

      "It is true," he said. "I have been told no little of that most cruel and ferocious warfare waged by your savage enemies. I myself know the fearsomeness of the raids of our equally ferocious Apaches and Yaquis. Therefore I do not wonder that the men and the sons of the men who met their painted enemies in this gloomy wilderness should have become not only hard, but rude and harsh in their manners."

      "Given that and the prevailing craze for raw whiskey, and we have—what we have. Yet they are the men whose fathers met the Indian on his own ground; who themselves have met the ravaging war parties, and who will doubtless again meet them—though I trust not again on the banks of the Ohio."

      "May the Virgin grant that your trust is well founded!" returned the señor, with deep earnestness. "Yet the British soldiers still hold your lake forts, and it is rumored that the British agents are ever at work conspiring with the Northern tribes against the interests of your people. Let me predict that unless Britain is humbled by the great Emperor, she will make excuse of your many differences to crush your Republic and regain these lost colonies."

      "Let her try!" I cried. "Let her turn loose her savage allies upon us, and we will hurl them back into the lakes! We will cross over and drive redcoats and redskins alike down the St. Lawrence into the sea! Even the abject people of the seaboard, who now lick the foot that spurns them, will remember their fathers of the Revolution, and strike the enemy as Paul Jones and his fellows struck them—on the sea."

      The señor met my enthused glance with unmoved gravity. "I have heard mention of what is called President Jefferson's mosquito fleet."

      Our arrival at the shipyards gave me welcome excuse to change the subject. I pointed to the scores of river craft, afloat in the stream or in course of construction. "Had you in mind, señor, to take a bateau or a flat?"

      "Bateau?—flat?" he repeated. "Your pardon, doctor, but the terms—?"

      "A bateau is a boat of flat bottom but with keel. A flat is a great scow without keel, and often provided with deal cabins."

      "I had been told how to proceed, but left all to that rascal of a seaman. Immediately upon our arrival, he told me, with many foul oaths, that he intended to make no ventures on fresh water, and to show his contempt for the saltless fluid, has sat ever since in the taproom of the inn, guzzling whiskey."

      "You are better off without the fellow," I said. "There are scores of men to be hired here who are well used to river travel. Is it your intention to hire passage, or to purchase your own boat?"

      "Privacy is desirable. I have disposed of my coach and horses with less loss than I had feared. If boats are not too high in price—"

      "Rest easy as to that, señor. Boats are one of the cheapest products of the shipping towns. The question first to decide is whether you prefer a keelboat or a flat."

      "Señor, I must rely upon your good advice," he replied.

      I pointed at the swollen, turbid current of the Monongahela, swirling high along its banks. "As you see, the river is in full flood. It is what the rivermen term the Spring fresh. The Ohio now runs no less swiftly, at times fully eight miles an hour. I should advise you to choose a flat, because it will travel little less speedily than a bateau, and with its house, will prove a far more comfortable craft for so long a voyage."

      "Comfort is an important consideration, doctor. With me travels my niece, whom you may remember."

      I kept such command of my features as I could. "I have a clear memory of Señorita Vallois. It is unfortunate."

      "Unfortunate!" he exclaimed, with a lift of his black brows.

      "That you have no servant skilled in handling a river boat."

      "Ah—that!"

      "A single man could manage your flat, provided you were willing to lend a hand on occasion at steer-oar or pole—a few minutes, СКАЧАТЬ