He was gazing at the section which lay spread out at his feet, and was
between him and the Susquehanna. His eyes first roved in a quick,
restless way over the broad stretch of woods and clearings, as if
seeking for some object upon which to rest. At the end of a few minutes,
his gaze became fixed upon a place where stood a small house in the
middle of a clearing. It evidently belonged to one of the settlers in
the Wyoming valley, who had been smitten with the panic which drove so
many from their homes, and had fled without taking any of his stock with
him, or destroying his property to prevent it falling into the hands of
the enemy.
The manner of Worrell showed that he awaited some person or signal in
connection with this house, but he was disappointed. The tomb itself
could not have been more deserted and desolate, and he gazed until sure
there was nothing on or about it which was intended for his eye.
"That's the way it always is," he muttered. "I have got everything fixed
just as I promised, and now they turn up missing at the very time they
ought to be on hand. I suppose I've got to hunt 'em up, and that may
take me till dark, by which time that Mohawk will put in his oar."
He spent a few more minutes searching for something which did not
appear. Then he advanced to a small tree that grew on the edge of the
open space where he had halted, and drawing a large red handkerchief
from his pocket, bent down a small sapling and tied the silk to it. As
the little tree flew back to its upright position, there was enough
breeze to make the signal rise and float in the wind. The man stood off
a few paces, and watched it.
"I can't improve on that," he said to himself. "If they will only look
this way, they can't help seeing it, and it will tell the story; but the
trouble is, there is no knowing when they will take the trouble to look
this way. Faugh! why didn't they leave the whole thing to me? It would
have been ended by this time, and there would have been no after-clap,
but this waiting and bother is what will upset the whole arrangement
unless they come up to time better than they are likely to do."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account