The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — Volume 1Richardson, Major (John)
History
The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — Volume 1
Richardson, Major (John)
United States -- History -- War of 1812 -- Fiction; War stories
Warmly, and therefore audibly, commented on as was the
unaccountable absence of the officer, by individuals of
almost every rank, it was impossible that many of those
observations could escape the attention of the excited
Henry Grantham. Mortified beyond measure at the fact,
yet unable, as be had done before, to stand forth the
champion of his brother's honor, where all (with a very
few exceptions, among whom he had the consolation to find
the General) were united in opinion against him, his
situation was most painful. Not that he entertained the
remotest doubt of his brother bearing himself harmlessly
through the ordeal, but that his generous, yet haughty
spirit, could ill endure the thought of any human being
daring to cherish, much less to cast the slightest
aspersion on his blood.
Finding it vain to oppose himself to the torrent of openly
expressed opinion, the mortified youth withdrew to a
distance, and, hastening among the rude tumuli we have
described, as being scattered about the edge of the bank,
stood watching, with folded arms and heaving chest, the
gradually receding bark of the enemy. Alternately, as he
thus gazed, his dark eye now flashed with the indignation
of wounded pride, now dilated with the exulting
consciousness of cooling triumph. The assurance was strong
within him, not only that his brother would soon make
his appearance before the assembled groups who had had
the cruelty to impugn his conduct, but that he would do
so under circumstances calculated to change their warm
censure into even more vehement applause. Fully impressed
with the integrity of his absent relative, the impetuous
and generous hearted youth paused not to reflect that
circumstances were such as to justify the belief--or at
least, the doubt--that had been expressed, even by the
most impartial of those who had condemned him. It seemed
to him that others ought to have known and judged him as
he himself did, and he took a secret delight in dwelling
on the self-reproach which (measuring the feelings of
others by the standard of his own,) he conceived would
attach to them, when it should be found how erroneous
had been the estimate formed of his character.
While he thus gazed, with eyes intently bent upon the
river, and manifesting even a deeper interest as the
fleeing bark drew momentarily nearer to one particular
point in the distance, the young officer heard footsteps
approaching him. Hastily dashing away a tear which had
been called up by a variety of emotions, he tamed and
beheld the Chieftain Tecumseh, and with him one, who, in
the full uniform of the British Staff, united, in his
tall and portly figure, the martial bearing of the soldier
to the more polished graces of the habitual courtier.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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