United States -- History -- Constitutional period, 1789-1809 -- Fiction
"Ah!" breathed Cary; then, after a moment, "I stopped my horse beneath
that tree this morning, and my eyes rested upon that red bank. And I did
not know! We are very blind." He rose. "Will you come indoors, sir? I
wish to light the candles again."
They entered the small bedroom. Cary lighted the candles, placed them
upon the table, and closed the shutters of the one window. From the
breast of his riding-coat he took a rolled paper. "This is a map of the
country below Red Fields. I made it myself. Now let us see, sir, let us
see!"
He pinned the map down with ink-well, sand-box, book, and candlestick,
which done, the two bent over it. "Call it," said Cary, "a military map
of your country near Mauléon. Now, sir, look! Here is what a man did."
The demonstration proceeded, and it was carried out with keenness and
with a very fair approach to accuracy. "Here is Malplaquet, which one
passes about nine in the morning, and there by the candlestick is Red
Fields, certainly on the main road and certainly paused at by"--he
glanced aside at the other's face--"by the murderer, M. de Pincornet!
Now let us mark this fox that doubles on himself."
The long, curled wig of the Frenchman and the younger man's handsome
head with the hair gathered back into a black ribbon bent lower over the
map. "Forrest's forge, the mill, the ford, he passed these places under
such and such circumstances--here, where I rest the pen, stands the
guide-post. This line is your silvered ribbon, this is the main road
that makes a sweep around the broken country. This heavy, black, and
jagged line is the river road. They both took the river road, as both
had said they would--my brother to me, the murderer to a man at the
Cross Roads Inn. The negro boy kept on by the main road. Where is this
riven oak?" He dipped the quill into the ink-well. "I correct my map
according to my better knowledge. That tree stands two miles below Red
Fields, just above the turn where, fifty years ago, was the Indian
ambush. We'll mark it here, black and charred. Here is the bank, crowned
by woods. The growth is very thick between it and"--his hand, holding
the pen, travelled across the sheet--"the river road just east of Indian
Run."
He laid down the pen, and turned from the table to the open door. "The
moon is not bright enough, or I would go to-night. I want sunlight, or I
want storm-light, for that ride across from road to road! Five hours
till morning." He returned to the dancing master. "When, in your
country, the man you loved was to be avenged, and his murderers
punished, you were glad of aid, were you not? I shall be thankful for
every least thing that you can tell me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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