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THE WASHINGTON HERALD,
Sunday, April 7, 1012.
mpivrvr
filling away plowed out Into the roar
ing sea.
As they did so the light reached the
very cliff Itself, loud cries of "Stop
there I Hold!" rang above the roar of
the blindingspray. The landlord could
be seen gesticulating wildly in their di
rection, and other men were with him,
armed with pistols and short stumpy
pms. Shots rang out in the gloom, bul
lets popped into the surging wave crests,
but, out, out Into the booming surf sped
thejittle boat, hull down In the gale and
doub'e-reefed. As those on shore watch
ed her. they saw through the murk'
of a half-moon that she sank' and plung
ed into the roaring billows like a chip
upon the surface of the angry sea. She
went down into one great, black abyss
of water, and when they looked to see
her once more, all was mist, spray and
driving foam. The lugger had 'disap
peared from beyond their reach, carry
ing with it the secret of the man in
Mack and his two sinister companions.
CHAPTER n.
' Af Greenirnr Cqurt.
THOMAS, Sixth Lord Fairfax
disgusted with the pomp of an
English Court, the flattery Q-f
those who wished to gain the kingly
favor, and with the civilization, of re
fioad society had forsaken home and
kindred for the wilderness of Virginia.
Charles the Second hat weak and hand
some sovereign of the virile British race
had given to his ancestors an enor
mous grant of territory In this British
province. Written out in a bold script
upon a yellow piece of parchment, and
stampel with the royal seal, ran the fol
lowing; "I give and bequeath to you all
the' land in AmcYica lying between the
headwaters of the Rappahannock and
Potomac rivjrs, stretching to the Chesa
peake Bay." ,
This then was his heritage a vast,
tmconquered wilderness,- heavily, tim-
btred. well watered, the home of vari
ous bands of unfriendly Indians, and
of .the. panther, the elk, .the black' bear,
the- beaver, and the buffalo. Here ran
the mighty Potomac River, clear as cry
stal in the cold winters, muddy with the
yellow clay of Mao land and Virginia
in the Jong and tedious summers. And
here this graceful stream was joined by
the. shimmering Shenandoah, rising in
the wooded mountains of the Blue
Ridge,, fed by the graceful Opequan, by
Cedar Creek, and by the sparkling rivu
lets of Luray.
It was a paradise for the hunter and
the fisherman. For the squatter, and
husbandman it offered opportunities for
luxuriant crops which only a virgin soil
possesses, and so, when the saddened
' Lord Fairfax left the shores of England
to take up his residence in this strange
and unknown land, he looked forward
to-the surveying and developing of his
vast dominions with the greatest possi
ble pleasure. A keen sportsman, he Iong-ed-to
be where-he could indulge himself
in thefchase to his heart's content and
fish in streams which had never known,
aught but the trap and spear of the Wap
pitomica and Shawnee braves. It Was
also true that the lady of his choice
s fair a maid as e'er graced the sands
at "Bath, or tripped a gay quadrille in '
Londonv at the season's height had
spurned his hand in marriage. With a
toss, of her powdered head she hid told
him that he was too ugly and too tire
some forione of her kin.d, and 'this, add
ed to his disappointments in political
affairs, had made Thomas, Sixth Lord
Fairfax, a man who shunned the Society
of those in English power and who
courted the company of the fur-trader,
the trapper, and the frontiersman.
With no reluctance he had left Eng
land upon a slow sailing vessel, with a
high stern and a tendency to roll near
bottom upward when the waves began
to, swell. The landing upon Virginian
soil -had' been with little, pomp and cere
mony as-would have been expected of a
man QfhU.ratiTc and position. He had
quickly-gathered together a party of
sturdy lejlows ready and prepared for
the '-wilderness and its "-perils and in
long birch Jark canoes was soon slowly
paddling up the muddy waters of flic
Potomac la the direction of the Shenan
doah range of mountains.
With this sad-faced Britisher1 was a
person ;vvhoseJa'ce was even, more drawn
out- and weary looking than1 his own, if
thaf were possible. Clad in somber
gray, with) a thatch of scraggly hair and
a pair of weak and over-indulged eyes
such was Adam Poe at one time a
fellow oFOriel College in Oxford, but
now the friend and companion of the
roving Englishman. The scholar was
of aa Argumentative cast of mind and
lie had fallen out with those regents
. of his university who had the direction
of religious matters, and so had asked
to go to America to the wilderness
where' he, could begin life new with
out the, direction of his old compatriots.
Thuf they traveled slowly tip the river,
enchanted with its beauty and loveliness,
arid carrying- for a. day, around' the great
falls of the Potomac (Cohongoruton,
as the Indians called it), until they
reached the valley of the Shenandoah.
Here they were charmed with the vast
weep of the plateau, the noble streams.
the blue vistas of the mountains, and
the pure and delicate air which was
wafted across the broad and fertile high
land. Some twelve miles southeast of
the little frontier settlement of Winches,
ter, near the forks of two branching
trails trodden with the feet of the In
dians, the elk, and the bison, was a spot
vhich so arrested the eye of the great
land-owner that he laid his rifle against
a tree trunk, and, breathing freely of
the costal air, said in loud (ones:
"Here Adam, and here all of you, us
stop. On this spot I build my house and
call it Greenway Court 'Greenway,"
for never did I seeja greener way than
this, or a fairer landscape. And ,rcourt"
because I would have a smack of my
ojd English life here even in the wild
erness. Let us get us to work and, fall
ing the timber of the forest, build us a
k house with a low roof, a wide portico
as befits a man of hospitable mind, and
a space for fire logs and for the swing
ing of the crane. Let us here reside,
for I see that yonder forest is full of
game and that in the blue river beyond
that clump of trees swim the mountain
trout , Come boys, let us stop and be
at rest in this peaceful glade."
Before long a low and rambling house
sprang into existence fronting the broad
rail which ran to 'Winchester, tb the
mountains, and to the lower country
where lived the wealthy planters. There
was much of labor for all, and much to
occupy one .in Jlie construction of the
lodge, and, after its completion, the floor
was soon covered with skins of the
black bear, the panther, the bison, and
the gray fox. Game and fish abundant
ly supplied the board, and, busy with
the settlement and surveying of his
land, the sad Lord Fairfax soon took
a pleasant view of life and enjoyed
hii residence in the vast, uncultivated
wilderness as he had never expected to
da
Some jears after his occupation of
this frontier lodge he had occasion to
go far down the river to Williamsburg,
the capital of Virginia, in order to have
a conference with the governor. Re
turning up the river with a half dozen
sturdy woodsmen, he was resting at noon
when a canoe was seen rapidly approach
ing, propelled by two sturdy fellows
dressed in homespun of no mean tex
ture. They rapidly approached the little
party on the bank, and when their ves
sel had ground upon the shore, the fore--most
leaped out upon the sand and ap
proached the camp fire.
"Pray which among you is Lord Fair
fax?" he asked, as he nrared the circle
of men surrounding the three-pronged
slock which held the bubbling pot. "For
I.,hae a letter for him from my master,
Lionel Lougboro."
A square, thick-set man rose from
the log upon which he was seated.
"I am he, good fellow," he said. "What
can I do for you?"
"Here, read this epistle and then you
can tell me." answered the man in home
spun, handing him a white piece of pa
per stamped with a seal of red wax.
Lord Fairfax took the proffered note,
broke open the seal and read :
"Upper Braxton Manor,
, James River, Va.,
July 3, 1760.
"My dear friend -Fairfax-:
I haye heard through good friends at
Williamsburg that you have just left
the neighborhod and am sending after
you my man John to. endeavor to catch
you with this letter before you get too
far up the. river. It has always given
me great pleasure to know that you had
adopted this country, as your own, for,
as you know, my father had lived here
for the better portion of his life,
"He. was, as jou no doubt remember,
a soldier under gallant Charles the First
and emigrated to this fertile land after
the accession to, the throne of that arch
tyrant and bully, Oliver Cromwell. There
was naught- for him in England after
the beheading of Charles, his beloved
sovereign, with whom he fought and
bled atNascby and MarstonMoor: Here
he settled in Virginia and liere I have
carried on the plantation after hi death
with no great profit to 'myself", as the
land is of Joor quality and quite used
by the growth of our staple crop, to
bacco. My good wife Wed unfortu
nately for me about three years ago
leaving me with a little son named John,
or'Jack,kas hejs always called, and to"
him I havo given all the care and atten
tion that' has-been possible.
"Now I am worn out by a dread dis
ease which seems td be of a malarial
nature, attacking all who live upon this
slow-moying river. I am fast dying, and
the, Leech whom I have summoned from
the city of Richmond tells rne that I
llae but a few days more to live. I
haye no friends here upon whom I care
to thrust my boy. To my, untutored
servants I do not wish to give him, for
they would not -breed in him "the tastes
and talents of a gentleman. Therefore,
as an old friend of my family in Eng
land (for our estates the're are side by
sjde, as you well know), I am going to
ask yon if youwill grant the wish of a
dyingtman and take this son of mine
to live with -you wherever you may go.
You are a nobleman. You are a man
of education. You are a man of talent
and of birth. I trust (hat you can grant
the request of one who can never cease
to be.
Your dying but devoted friend,
LIONEL LOUGBORO."
As the British nobleman ceased to
read this touching appeal tears welled
into, his ejes and rolled down his sun
burned cheeks.
"Lionel Lougboro. Poor 'fellow 1" he
said with feeling. "Of course 1 can
take the boy to live with me at Green
way Court. It is true that our families
have been close friends for many and
many a year." Then he turned to the
bearer of the message.
"Where is this boy?" he asked.
"Thc-boy is here, said the boatman,
and as he spoke, he walked back to the
canoe, pulled quickly at a blanket, and,
as he jerked it aside, disclosed the body
of a fair-haired youth, who, clad in a
neat suit of yellow buckskin, JaV peace
fully sleeping in the bottom of the craft.
"Now," said Adam Poe, the school
master, "as our lessons are concluded
for the morning, I will take you bojs
into the woods that you may fish for
Irout in the Opequon and replenish our
larder which is sore in need of fresh
material, and I fear the scurvy if we
do not quickly dine off some newly killed
buck or fish from the crystal waters of
yonder stream."
"We will go immediately," shouted
young Jack Lougboro, "and jou,
Tommy, may take along my rifle with
jours while I carry the bait and tackle.
We may see a bear or a deer upon our
tramn and you may have an opportunity
to slay one for evening meal."
He spoke to a sturdy jouth of about
his own age of fifteen years, who stood
near the doorway with his book of geog
raphy. Tall, wiry and supple, he looked
the perfect picture of strength and agil
ity. The son of a frontiersman, living
in the next clearing toward the forks
in the trail which led by White Post
(a curiously large slab of wood driven
upright in the ground), Tommy Wal
lace was a much-beloved companion of
little Jack, the ward of Thomas, sixth
Lord of Fairfax.
"Hurrah V shouted the jovial Tommy.
"re will have a great day of it by the
stream side, and as I have a pail already
full of worms and hoppers for our hooks
jou may be sure that we will come home
with far better luck than usual."
So saying, he tossed his book into
a comer where1 it fell in a heap, and
ran hastily to a stone outhouse used
for storing guns, fishing tackle, and in
struments for surveying this wild and
half-cleared wilderness. Meanwhile, the
good Adam Poe had carefully put aside
his own writing material, had drawn a
pair of stout boots upon his thin legs
and had thrown a long, dark colt across
his shoulders. When Tommy returned
he found him busily fitting "together the
parts of a home-made fishing rod.
"Wall, wall," suddenly came a voice
from the doorway of the room, "goin'
fishin,' be ye. Wall, I tell you now, you
boys better be awful kecrful how you N
tread about in these 'ere woods at this
time, for Lam bringing no good news
from far down the valley."
The boys both looked quickly at the
doorway and there" beheld the gaunt
form 'of a thin and wiry trapper.- Clad
in buckskin with a coon skin cap upon
his1Narge and rather oval-shaped head,
his tall formneariy touched the very
top of the doorway. -A rifle was in one
hand, while a" powder horn much dis
colored by time and usage hung by a
stout cord across Bis shoulders. Two
dark and piercing eyes gazed upon them
from beneath his shaggy brows.
"And pray now who may jou be who
brings us no good news from the fron
tier?' asked the schoolmaster, blinking
at the tall figure like an owl.
' The trapper smiled good-naturedly.
"Abiell Hite, my mother called me r.iany
vears ago before all of you were born,
1 reckon. And Abiel Ilitc my name is
now, except that people hereabouts and
further on he waved his hand toward
the mountains call me Old Flintlock.
I'm a trapper, trader, fisherman, an'
hunter. My- home is where I happen
tew. strike, and pz I be here now I reck
on it's here at present,"
"Well, well, Mr. Flintlock," sad
Jack, "uliat is this bad word jou bring
us from the mountain?''
"The Wappitomicas are again on the
warpath."
Adam Poe sighed deeply and shud
"dered while Tommy Wallace looked
furtively toward the forest.
"Yes, continued old Flintlock, "the've
been good now ever since we licked
'em well up on the Monongahela with
Col. Washington to help us out with his
Vaginny Rangers, and they made a sol
emn treaty with us not to do any fur
ther scalpiu' and burnin'.. But some
cursed trader's fire-water has sturred
their, meanness up agin' and they've been
biirnin', plunderin', murdcrin' up on the
border line for the .last three days. You
see this he pointed to a bullet hole in
his fringed hunting shirt "that's where
they nearly got me last night. I tell
you, boys, be careful how you go away
from the settlement. The woods have
other game but bear an panther in them
now." --
Jack laughed at the woodsman's look
of solemn warning. "I'm not afraid of 1
Indians," he said, "nor are you Tommy
and Adam. Cornel Let us start for the
Opequon. for the da,v is getting on and
the fish bite badly in the afternoon
Conic 1 Let us hasten onward while wc
can for I believe this fellow's talc is
possibly true enough, but it is a long
distance from here to Wills Creek ami
an Indian will not travel when Ins
stomach's empty."
"Yes, yes," put in Adam Poe "What
the boy says is truth. Let im hasten to
our place for fishing, Tommy, and take
along our rifles in case of accident."
At this the trapper did not seem to
be angered. In stead, he smiled good
naturedly upon the trio, pulled out a
corn-cob pipe and lighted it with a coal
from the fire, and, as they filed out
underneath the rough-hewn gateway to
ward the river, they saw him lazily
squatting upon the sunny side of the
stfrvejor s house and playing with a lit
tle nviltcse kitten, which busily chased
a wisp of straw that he dangled before
her.
For some time the boss pushed on
ward in silence toward the fishing
grounds, and at last debouched from
a well-marked and well-used game trail
into a clearing near the river Deposit
ing their rifles upon the ground, they
quickly unslung the canvas bags which
held the bait and tackle and soon had
their poles dangling over the running
surface of the stream. Tommy took off
his moccasins and rolled up his buck
skin breeches, and he whipped the water,
and soon had Svadcd far down the cur
rent and out of hearing from the school
master and Jlfck. who fished along to
gether with indifferent success
As they slowly went down the t'trcain
they caught several trout in pools which
Tommy seemed to have whipped unsuc
cessfully. This pleased old Adam I'oe
quite well, and he kept repeating, "Old
Isaac Walton says, as I have often told
you boys," to fish patiently if jou would
have, luck and to take plcntj of time a
plenty if jou would make a big catch."
"Yes, jou have told me that quite
often," answered Jack and then he sud
denly stopped. "Here is where Tommy
lias gone before us," he continued, point
ing to the print of his foot in the sandy
soil of a little bar."
"Yes, that is true," said the school
master as he placed a fresh worm upon
his hook. "But," he suddenly ejacu
lated, pointing down at the tell-tale sand.
"What is that and that I"
Jack 'followed the line of hi finger
and saw plainly indented in the moist
earth the imprint of another larger foot.
It was going in the same direction as
that of little. Tommy and it was clothed
in a. moccasin. The same thought came
to him and to the good old schoolmaster,
at that instant, for, as he turned to go
up stream, Adam Poe whispered to
him. "puick I the rifles, boy, and all the
ammunition. I will stay here for the
time being, but haste thee, haste thee,
with all the speed at thy command, for
I fear that they may get him before
you can get back I Oh, hasten, hasten I"
But there was no need of speeding the
frightened Jack, who ran rapid! up the
bed of the brook to where they had left
the rifles and picked them up with a
great lump of nervous terror in his
throat. "What if it were a Wappito
nuca," he kept sajmg to himself, "and
if he should get him before wc could
arrive. Oh Tommj-, Tommy, take care
of joursclf, for jou arc in a dangerous
predicament."
In a few moments he had turned and
vyas coming down the stream to where
the schoolmaster crouched behind some
willow trees looking, intently down the
water in the direction which Tommy had
taken. "I could sec nothing," he said
softly, as Jack handed him his rifle.
'But these moccasin feet seem to follow
the boy like a panther. Now let us go
on speedily or we will be too late to
save him."
So saying he sjarted down the stream,
keeping well within the sandy places,
and at length reached a large bend in
the water course, the sides of which
were densely wooded. Here the prints
of Tommys feet could be seen going
around the bend at the wafer's edge
while the prints of the moccasin plainly
led into the underbrush and there dis
appeared. With their hearts in (heir
mouths the two; rescuers ran quickly to
the jutting point, and, looking around
the other side, they were overjoyed to
see the form of Tommy as he carefully
and slowly went down the stream, whip
ping the pools and eddies with the care
f an expert and conscientious angler.
Tommy I Tommy!" called Adam Poe.
Quick. Come back I Come back to us 1"
"Why. what's the matter, Mr. Pocr
said Tommy, gently raising his pole from
the water. "I don't see anj thing to
give you such alarm." But as he spoke
an answer came which impressed upon
him the necessity of speed far more than
could the words of Jack or of the school
master. A loud jell rang out from the
deme cover of the underbrush, the
sharp ping of a rifle sounded above the
purling rush of the stream and a bullet
cut the surface of the water not half a
foot from the place in which he was
standing.
''The Wappitomicas," shouted Jack.
"To the back trail for your life and tip
the bed of the stream I"
TO HE CONTINUED NEXT SUNDAY.
American vapor Ba.i street lamps are
being tried In Jerusalem.
