The Rangers; or, The Tory's Daughter Part 37

"My prayer is answered," said Herriot, after looking round affectionately a while upon his expectant auditors, who, at his request, after the room was cleared of other company, had advanced to his bedside. "My last prayer has been to be permitted to see all of you, in whose personal welfare I have been led to take a peculiar interest, a.s.sembled before me while life and reason remained, so that I could commune with you; and the prayer has been graciously answered.

Still, when, at the close of our first, and, as we all then supposed, final triumph to-day, Miss Haviland, with her friend, at my request, was conveyed here to her former home, of which I had become the purchaser, I then thought to have met you all here this evening under circ.u.mstances in which I could have actively shared with you in the rejoicings that our victory so naturally calls forth, as well as in the happiness, which, as far as regards you, I believed I could superadd by my own acts. But He who holds the fate of individuals, as well as that of armies, in his hands, has seen fit to deny me such partic.i.p.ation; and _He doeth all things well_."

"Your wound is not necessarily a mortal one, Father Herriot and I trust you may yet live to enjoy the fruits of a victory you have contributed so much by your bravery to win," observed Woodburn, feelingly.

"That may not be. I feel the destroyer busily at work here, undermining the citadel," responded the other, placing his hand on that part of his chest where the bullet had entered. "But I regret not having made the poor sacrifice of my life for so righteous a cause.

And though I shall not live to see the happiness I would be the means of imparting, yet the wish and the duty of doing what I proposed to that end remains to be fulfilled, and for this purpose I have requested your presence."

The speaker here paused, as if at a loss how he should open the subject which seemed to rest on his mind. But at length he resumed:--

"Miss Haviland, what you have done and suffered for the cause, in which you so n.o.bly took your stand, is known to many. The part you have acted in the events of this day is known to still more; but have not those events had a bearing on your happiness beyond what would arise from the bare liberation of your person?"

"They have, sir," replied the maiden, frankly, but with an air of surprise at the unexpected question.

"And have I been correctly informed, by the person who has just left us, and who has long been my confidential friend and adviser, that, by the relinquishment of a certain contract, you are now left free to bestow your hand on one whose character and feelings may be more congenial with your own?"

"Why am I questioned in so unusual a manner, and by one so much a stranger?" asked the former, in a half-remonstrating, half-beseeching tone.

"I knew," rejoined the other, "that you, as well as the rest of those present, might, at first, wonder why and how I should have kept myself apprised, as I confess I have long done, of all that concerned the individual interests, and even inclinations, as far as could be conjectured, of each of you. And I know, also, that my ways are not like those of other men. But cannot you trust to the motives of a dying man, and let him proceed in his own manner?"

"I can--I will, Father Herriot," answered Sabrey, touched by the appeal. "And I will not affect to misunderstand you. I have been freed from fetters under which I have suffered--perhaps unnecessarily--both persecution and embarra.s.sment of feeling. And I am thankful," she continued, throwing a grateful glance to Woodburn--"greatly thankful for that generous forbearance by which this was effected without bloodshed. Yes, I am free, doubly free; but whoever takes me," she added, slightly coloring, "must now receive a penniless bride."

"Perhaps not," said Herriot, musingly--"perhaps not. But I did not mean to be understood as imposing any conditions to the act I was about to perform, after ascertaining your entire deliverance from the power and supposed claims of one whom I deem a bad man, as well as a foe to his country. Here, deserving girl," he continued, taking up one of the doc.u.ments from the table and extending it towards her, "here is a deed of gift, from me to you, of all this, which was your father's estate. Take it; it is freely given and worthily bestowed."

Surprise at an act as unexpected as it was munificent, kept all mute for some seconds; when Sabrey, whose sensibilities were too deeply moved to permit her to speak, threw upon the donor a look which her grateful emotions made more eloquent than any language she could have summoned for a reply; and then, turning, she silently extended her hand to Woodburn, with the deed still laying across the open palm.

"Which?--the hand or the paper?" asked the latter, in a low tone, and with a slightly apprehensive air.

"Either, or both," replied the maiden, as a blush stole over her conscious cheek.

"The hand, then," exclaimed the delighted lover, grasping the coveted prize, and bearing it in triumph to his lips.

"It is all right; but no words," said Herriot, making a motion for silence to Woodburn, who was about to address him--"no words. I have much to say--let me proceed. Bart," he continued, after a thoughtful pause, as he turned to the young man who had stood mutely noting the proceedings with a puzzled look--"Bart, do you remember the old Rose Homestead, which was confiscated, and also purchased by me?"

"Well, yes," replied Bart, looking up with an inquiring, doubtful expression--"yes, for as many as two several reasons, or more," he added, with one glance to Woodburn, and another, and more significant one, to Vine, who was standing demurely at his side.

"Would you like it for your own?" asked the former.

"My own!" exclaimed Bart, casting an incredulous but searching look at the other's countenance, in which, however, he read something that at once changed his demeanor; and, in a softened and respectful tone, he replied to the question, "Yes, Father Herriot, as soon as the smell of toryism got fairly out of it, I would like it grandly, that's a fact."

"It is yours, then, as this deed will show," said Herriot, handing to the surprised and hesitating young man the instrument in question; "it is yours; but have you no one to share it with you?"

"Well, don't know exactly, but may be the chap that helped me fix up my spy disguises, and gave me so many good hints for ferreting out the tories, won't object much to that, seeing we have had considerably the start of the captain and his lady here, in the way of finished bargains," replied Bart, turning, with an expression of droll gravity, to the blooming girl at his side, who, thereupon, with an arch and blushful smile, placed her hand in his, which had been extended to receive it.

"Who are you, Father Herriot?" exclaimed the now completely surprised Woodburn; "who are you, to take such an interest in us, and bestow on us gifts so valuable, with so little hope, as you can have, of any adequate return?"

"Listen, and you shall be answered," replied Herriot; "for the time has now arrived when you all should know the relation in which we stand to each other; and I know not but I have already delayed the disclosure of this fact too long. Perhaps I should have made it, as I had nearly done, when, at the breaking out of the war, you and Bart visited my hermit cabin in the vicinity of the Connecticut. But when I found you about to embark in the cause of liberty, for which I stood ready to make any sacrifice, I concluded to defer it, lest the discovery, which I had but then just made myself, should turn you from a service that I thought none were at liberty to withhold. I therefore, after communicating to you enough to lead you, in case of my death, to all the knowledge I wished you to obtain, encouraged you on your way. And it has all, doubtless, been for the best; for who knows but your individual exertions were needed to turn the scale which has been so long trembling at equipoise? But the events of this day," continued the patriot, kindling at the thought--"the events of this day, which will be memorable through all, time, have turned that scale in favor of American freedom. I read it with a prophetic eye, which is made for me too clear for error or misconception. Our avenging armies will henceforth go on conquering and to conquer, till the last vestige of British usurpation is swept from the land."

Here the speaker paused a while to recover from his exhaustion, and indulge his mental vision, apparently, with the enrapturing glimpses he was catching of the future destiny of his country. But soon arousing himself from his reverie, he resumed,--

"Harry Woodburn, you had once a paternal uncle?"

"I have been told so," was the reply.

"Who, by his folly and wickedness, disgraced himself and ruined your father," proceeded the former.

"I had such an uncle," responded Woodburn, with an expression of gathering interest and surprise; "or, rather, I had an uncle, who, though not a bad man, was, I have understood, at one time, a very indiscreet one; and, by his indiscretion, lost his own property, and deeply involved that of my father. But I do not feel to condemn him as much as your words imply you expect I should."

"Or as he has always condemned himself," rejoined Herriot, with an air of deep self-abas.e.m.e.nt. "But I thank G.o.d for giving me the means, and the will, for making ample rest.i.tution to such as remain of my injured brother's family, or of my own. Harry, I am that uncle. I am the erring Charles Woodburn."

"I am surprised, deeply surprised," said the other; "for, attributing the interest you have taken in me to other causes, I have, till within a few minutes, been totally unprepared for such a revelation. And now it seems as if it could not be. You could not have much resembled my father, and you bear another name."

"I did not strikingly resemble my more staid brother, in person or character," responded the former, meekly; "and my reasons for a.s.suming another name are explained by the circ.u.mstances under which you first saw me, the accused of a revolting crime, of which, as I then declared, I was never guilty. And this the wicked men, who combined against me, and hunted me out, even in this new settlement, full well knew. But they knew, also, that I had somewhere at command the large amount of money that had been left me by a wealthy and heirless gentleman, whom I had previously rescued from death. Are you now satisfied that I am the man I claim to be, and, as such, willing to acknowledge me?"

"Fully, now--not only satisfied of the ident.i.ty, but willing, nay, proud to acknowledge the relations.h.i.+p," said Woodburn, with warmth and rising emotion. "Nor is this all, my uncle, my friend! The acts you have just performed will ever--"

"Enough, enough!" interrupted the former; "but let me go on. I have still another and more humiliating duty to perform. Bart," he continued, turning, with an agitated countenance, to the young man, "as forsaken and guideless as you have been, many a parent has had a less deserving offspring. And had you not done more for yourself than he, who should have been your protector and guide, has done for you, you had been less than nothing among men. But listen; for the story of your origin, which, thus far, has been as a sealed book to you, must now be disclosed Your father contracted a private, but legal marriage, with a woman, who, as the world falsely esteemed it, was below him in station; and, in his pride, he refused to acknowledge her, and, having squandered the property that should have been applied to her support, absconded from the country. In after years, however, conscience drove him back, but only to find her dying of dest.i.tution and a broken heart, and to learn from her last words that the offspring of their connection, a male infant, had been thrown unacknowledged on the charity of the public. Aroused by a new sense of duty, he diligently sought for the child--followed it from its first lodgment to its next asylum in the city; from that to another in the country; and then, through various s.h.i.+fts and wanderings, till the trace was lost far in the interior; when he gave up the search, and again left the country.

In the process of time, he once more returned to New England, in altered circ.u.mstances, and located himself in this settlement, where he soon met with a youth, whose countenance so strikingly resembled that of his deceased wife, as to put him instantly on inquiry and research, which, in a few weeks, resulted in supplying the broken chain of evidence, and in identifying the youth as his lost son. Bart, you were, and still are, that son. I was, and still am, that father.

Do I die, my much injured son, acknowledged and forgiven?"

The young man was too deeply affected by his surprise and emotion to utter a word in reply; but tears, which all the wrongs and hards.h.i.+ps he had endured had failed to wring from him, now stole out on his sunburnt cheeks, testifying, not only his gratification at the discovery, but that the slumbering fountain of a naturally generous nature was now effectually stirred within his bosom. And the speaker, seeming satisfied with the answer which this evidence implied, soon proceeded:--

"Little more now remains to be imparted. You remember, Harry, that at the visit at my cabin, to which I have already alluded, I showed you two small casks, labelled '_Printers Type_,' concealed under a stone in the cellar?"

"I do; and the impression they caused of the absurdity of bringing that kind of property into our new settlement," replied the other.

"They were so marked for greater security," resumed the former; "for they contained silver coin, and, at that time, nearly all the property I possessed. Of these, one has been recently appropriated to the purchase of confiscated estates, whenever a lack of money in others was likely to prevent a sale at a fair value. The other remains in the same spot. And this, and the rest of my property, except what I have just conveyed, and except, also, bequests of small farms to Dunning and Piper, for their friends.h.i.+p to you, and faithfulness to the cause, you will find, by my will here on the table, to be equally divided between you, my son and nephew. And now," he added, in a faltering tone, and in accents of touching tenderness, "now, my children, having said all I wished to communicate, I will commend you to our common Parent above. Kneel and receive my blessing."

Hand in hand, and side by side, with the fair sharers of their gus.h.i.+ng sympathies, the young men now reverently knelt around the dying patriot, and bowed their faces beneath his outspread hands to receive the proffered blessing, which was then p.r.o.nounced with much fervor, but with the last words he was destined ever to utter; for after waiting a while after he had ceased to speak, the tearful group gently removed his hands from their heads, and arose to be greeted by a face pale in death.

CONCLUSION.

On a summer afternoon, nearly a year after the occurrence of the events last described, there was an unusual gathering in the village of Bennington. As early as one o'clock, mult.i.tudes of people were seen pouring in by every road leading into the place from the surrounding country, and filling up the streets with a promiscuous crowd of all ages, s.e.xes, and conditions. And as the hour of two approached, the commotion increased to a degree which plainly showed that some crisis was at hand; and soon the dense throng, gathered in the vicinity of the Green Mountain Tavern, then the princ.i.p.al place of public resort, broke away into groups and companies, and began to flock towards a newly-erected gallows, standing, at no great distance, on the neighboring common. Here arranging themselves, as they came up, in a circle round the ill-omened structure, they a.s.sumed the att.i.tude of spectators awaiting the advent of some promised spectacle.

Presently a clamor rose from the outer part of the crowd, as, with the exclamations, "_There comes the new Overseer of the Tories!_"

[Footnote: The Overseer of the Tories, an officer peculiar to the times, and perhaps to the locality, was one to whom was intrusted the general surveillance and control of that cla.s.s of persons, to prevent them from communicating with the British, and see that they did not pa.s.s over the limits of the farms, or town lines, within which, under various penalties, they were doomed to remain, unless called out by such officer for some public service, such as clearing out the highways, &c., to which they were held subject.] "_There comes Dunning and his gang of beauties!_" They pointed to a column of some dozens of variously-clad, dejected-looking men, headed by a well-armed officer in the continental uniform, just coming round a corner into view, and advancing towards the spot.

"Der open there to the right and left!" cried the commander of this unique company, as he marched them up to the crowd. "Make way for Mother Britain's ditter darlings! The coming sight is as much for their der benefit as your ditter fun. There, halt!" he continued, bringing the submissive creatures into their allotted place. "Now, the first one of you that attempts to sneak away hem the sight, takes a der pistol bullet. So face the music without flinching. It will ditter do you good."

Scarcely had this transpired before the crowd, whose attention, for the moment, was too much engrossed to notice the approach of the princ.i.p.al procession, now close at hand, was again thrown into commotion by the sound of a m.u.f.fled drum, followed by the loud cry of, "_Clear the way for the prisoner and his escort!_" in a voice whose well-known tones never fell unheeded on the ears of a Green Mountain a.s.semblage. With magic quickness, a clear s.p.a.ce opened through the ranks of the receding throng, in the direction of this fresh summons, when the first object that met the eye was the towering form of Ethan Allen, mounted on a large black horse; he having recently returned from his captivity, and been appointed, in the quaint language of his commission, "_to conduct, in behalf of the state, the trial and execution of that inimical person, David Redding_" [Footnote: David Redding, the only person ever executed in Vermont for political offences, was, after changing two or three times from the American to the British cause, and two trials, hanged July 17, 1777. at 2 o'clock, P. M.] Next to Allen came the prisoner, riding in an ox-cart, and sitting between two armed men, who were acting as his special guards.

Then followed a company of soldiers, under the command of another of our old acquaintances Bill Piper, who had been promoted to a captaincy in a volunteer service then recently projected; while the president, secretary, and members of the Council of Safety, succeeded by a band of private citizens, brought up the rear of the procession. On reaching its destination, the team was brought to a stand immediately beneath the gallows, which was a naked cross-tree, set into the ground like a sign-post, and wholly unprovided with platform, or other of the usual adjuncts of such structures. The prisoner was then ordered to stand up in the cart, when the noose at the end of the rope, dangling from the arm above, was securely adjusted round his neck, and every thing made ready for the awful moment.

Ira Allen, having mounted some object at hand, then addressed the people in an eloquent exhortation on the duty and policy of a faithful and unwavering adherence to the cause of the country, which he enforced by giving a rapid sketch of the character and career of the wretched traitor before them, as contrasted with those who had been true to that cause, and especially those who had captured him.

"Of the four brave men," he said, in conclusion, "who, at such odds and risk, pursued and took the prisoner and his party, on that glorious occasion, two are present, and in positions which amply testify the high estimation that has been placed on their gallant conduct. The others, the two Woodburns, who remained in the city, are--as I learn from letters I have recently seen from them or their scarcely less heroic young wives, left to conduct the affairs of their respective homes--now in New Jersey, acting under the eye of their beloved Was.h.i.+ngton, whose confidence in them in their different spheres of action--one as the honored colonel of a regiment and the other as the most trusty and adroit manager in the secret service--they consider their sufficient reward, and one that was only wanting to crown that which, on the eve of our memorable battle here, they received in their wives, and the wealth obtained through the romantic disclosures of their dying relative, the lamented Father Herriot. And of the party taken alive by those gallant men, the tory leader, Peters, was exchanged for several of our imprisoned officers, and at a bargain which secured us advantages not to be obtained by stretching his worthless neck; and he has retired into Canada, to sink into insignificance, despised and hated by those whom his misrepresentations respecting the alleged easy conquest of our state so completely deceived. Fitch, after having ransomed himself by the payment of all he could raise, offered through his fear of a fate to which, after all, he probably would not have been condemned, sneaked back to his old haunts in Guilford, where he perished miserably by the hand of one whom former wrongs, committed in acts of official cruelty and extortion, had made desperate. And the other, and last of the infamous trio, now stands before us, to make atonement for his crimes by an ignominious death on the gallows."

When the speaker had concluded, the prisoner, after glancing around him, with that fitful, furtive, and restless expression, which at all times so strongly marked his countenance, turned to Ethan Allen, and meekly begged permission to address the mult.i.tude.