The Rulers of the Lakes: A Story of George and Champlain by Joseph A. Altsheler
CHAPTER IX
ON ANDIATAROCTE
Robert, as was natural, swam by the side of Tayoga, his comrade in somany hardships and dangers, and, after the long period of tense andanxious waiting, he felt a certain relief that the start was made, eventhough it was a start into the very thick of peril.
Willet was on the right wing of the swimming column and Daganoweda wason the left, the white leader and the red understanding each otherthoroughly, and ready to act in perfect unison. Beneath the hoveringmists and above the surface of the water, the bronze faces of theMohawks and the brown faces of the rangers showed, eager and fierce.There was not one among them whose heart did not leap, because he waschosen for such a task.
Robert felt at first a chill from the water, as Andiatarocte, set amongits northern mountains, is usually cold, but after a few vigorousstrokes the blood flowed warm in his veins again, and the singularexciting quality with which the mists and vapors seemed to be surchargedentered his mind also. The great pulse in his throat leaped, and thepulses in his temples beat hard. His sensitive and imaginative mind,that always went far ahead of the present, had foreseen all thedangers, and, physically at least, he had felt keen apprehension when hestepped into the lake. But now it was gone. Youth and the strongcomrades around him gave imagination another slant, allowing it to paintwonderful deeds achieved, and victory made complete.
His eyes, which in his condition of superheated fancy enlarged orintensified everything manifold, saw a flash of light near him. It wasmerely Tayoga drawing his knife from his belt and putting the bladebetween his teeth, where the whitish mist that served for illuminationhad thrown back a reflection. He glanced farther down the swimming lineand saw that many others had drawn their hunting knives and had claspedthem between their teeth, where they would be ready for instant use.Mechanically he did likewise, and he felt something flow from the coldsteel into his body, heating his blood and inciting him to battle. Heknew at the time that it was only imagination, but the knowledge itselftook nothing from the power of the sensation. He became every instantmore eager for combat.
It seemed that Tayoga caught glimpses of his comrade's face and with hisOnondaga insight read his mind.
"Dagaeoga, who wishes harm to nobody, now craves the battle,nevertheless," he said, taking the knife from between his teeth for amoment or two.
"I'm eager to be in it as soon as I can in order to have it over as soonas we can," said Robert, imitating him.
"You may think the answer wholly true, though it is only partly so.There come times when the most peaceful feel the incitement of war."
"I believe it's the strangeness of the night, the quality of the air webreathe and that singular veiling of the sun just when we wished it, andas if in answer to our prayers."
"That is one of the reasons, Dagaeoga. We cannot see Areskoui, becausehe is on the other side of the world now, but he turned his face towardus and bade us go and win. Nor can we see Tododaho on his star, becauseof the mighty veil that has been drawn between, but the great Onondagachief who went away to eternal life more than four hundred centuries agostill watches over his own, and I know that his spirit is with us."
"Can you see the island yet, Tayoga? My eyes make out a shadow in themist, but whether it's land, or merely a darker stream of vapor, I can'ttell."
"I am not sure either, but I do not think it is land. The island is fourhundred yards away, and the mist is so thick that neither the earthitself nor the trees and bushes would yet appear through it."
"You must be right, and we're swimming slowly, too, to avoid anysplashing of the water that would alarm St. Luc's sentinels. At whatpoint do you think we'll approach the island, Tayoga?"
"From the north, because if they are expecting us at all they will lookfor us from the west. See, Daganoweda already leads in the curve towardthe north."
"It's so, Tayoga. I can barely make out his figure, but he has certainlychanged our course. I don't know whether it's my fancy or not, but Iseem to feel a change, too, in the quality of the air about us. A streamof new and stronger air is striking upon the right side of my face, thatis, the side toward the south."
"It is reality and not your fancy, Dagaeoga. A wind has begun to blowout of the south and west. But it does not blow away the vapors. Itmerely sends the columns and waves of mist upon one another, fusing themtogether and then separating them again. It is the work of Areskoui.Though there is now a world between us and him he still watches over usand speeds us on to a great deed. So, Dagaeoga, the miracle of the skyis continued into the night, and for us. Areskoui will clothe us in amighty blanket of mist and water and fire."
The Onondaga's face was again the rapt face of a seer, and his wordswere heavy with import like those of a prophet of old.
"Listen!" he said. "It is Areskoui himself who speaks!"
Robert shivered, but it was not from the cold of the water. It wasbecause a mighty belief that Tayoga spoke the truth had entered hissoul, and what the Onondaga believed he, too, believed with an equalfaith.
"I hear," he replied.
A low sound, deep and full of menace, came out of the south, and rumbledover Andiatarocte and all the mountains about it. It was the voice ofthunder, but Tayoga and Robert felt that its menace was not for them.
"One of the sudden storms of the lake comes," said the Onondaga. "Themists will be driven away now, but the clouds in their place will be yetdarker, Areskoui still holds his shrouding blanket before us."
"But the lightning which will come soon, Tayoga, and which you meant,when you spoke of fire, will not that unveil us to the sentinels of St.Luc?"
"No, because only our heads are above the water and at a little distancethey are blended with it. Yet the same flashes of fire will disclose tous their fleet and show us our way to it. Andiatarocte has already feltthe wind in the south and is beginning to heave and surge."
Robert felt the lake lift him up on a wave and then drop him down into ahollow, but he was an expert swimmer, and he easily kept his head on thesurface. The thunder rumbled again. There was no crash, it was more likea deep groan coming up out of the far south. The waters of Andiataroctelifted themselves anew, and wave after wave pursued one anothernorthward. A wind began to blow, straight and strong, but heavy floatingclouds came in its train, and the darkness grew so intense that Robertcould not see the face of Tayoga beside him.
Daganoweda called from the north end of the swimming line, and the wordwas passed from Mohawk and ranger until Willet at the south end replied.All were there. Not a man, white or red, had dropped out, and not onewould.
"In a minute or two the lightning will show the way," said Tayoga.
As the last word left his lips a flaming sword blazed across the lake,and disclosed the island, wooded and black, not more than two hundredyards distant, and the dim shadows of canoes and boats huddled againstthe bank. Then it was gone and the blackness, thicker and heavier thanever, settled down over island, lake and mountain. But Robert, Tayogaand all the others had seen the prize they were seeking, and theircourse lay plain before them now.
Robert's emotion was so intense and his mind was concentrated sopowerfully upon the object ahead that he was scarcely conscious of thefact that he was swimming. An expert in the water, he kept afloatwithout apparent effort, and the fact that he was one of fifty all doingthe same thing gave him additional strength and skill. The lightningflashed again, blue now, almost a bar of violet across the sky, tintingthe waters of the lake with the same hue, and he caught another glimpseof the Indian fleet drawn up against the shore, and of the Indiansentinels, some sitting in the boats, and others standing on the land.
Then the wind strengthened, and he felt the rain upon his face. It was acurious result, but he sank a little deeper in the water to shelterhimself from the storm. Light waves ran upon the surface of the lake,and his body lifted with them. The fleet could not be more than ahundred yards away now, and his heart began to throb hard with thethought of imminent action. Yet he knew that he was in a
The air grew much colder and the rain beat upon his face like hail. Thethunder which had rumbled almost incessantly, like a mighty groaning,now ceased entirely, and the last flash of lightning burned across thelake. It showed the fleet of the foe not more than fifty yards away now,and, so far as Robert could tell, the Indian sentinels had yet taken noalarm. Three were crouched in the boats with their blankets drawn abouttheir shoulders to protect them from the cold rain, and the four who hadbeen standing on the land were huddled under the trees with theirblankets wrapped about their bodies also.
"Do you think we'll really reach the fleet unobstructed?" whisperedRobert to Tayoga.
"It does not seem possible," the Onondaga whispered back. "The favor ofAreskoui is great to us, but the miracle he works in our behalf couldhardly go so far. Now the word comes from both Daganoweda and the GreatBear, and we swim faster. The rain, too, grows and it drives in sheets,but it is well for us that it does so. Rifles and muskets cannot be usedmuch in the storm, but our knives and tomahawks can. Perhaps this rainis only one more help that Areskoui has sent to us."
The swimming line was approaching fast, and a few more strokes wouldbring them to the canoes, when one of the warriors on the land suddenlycame from the shelter of his tree, leaned forward a little and peeredintently from under his shading hand. He had seen at last the darkheads on the dark water, and springing back he uttered a fierce whoop.
"Now we swim for our lives and victory!" said Tayoga.
Willet and Daganoweda, attempting no farther concealment, cried to theirmen to hurry. In a moment more the boarders were among the boats. Robertshut his eyes as the knives flashed in the dusk, and the dead bodies ofthe sentinels were thrown into the water. He seized the side of a longcanoe, which he gladly found to be empty, pulled himself in, to discoverTayoga sitting just in front of him, paddle in hand also. All around himmen, red and white, were laying hold of canoes and boats and at the edgeof the water the sentinels were attacking.
On the island a terrific turmoil arose. Despite the rain a great fireflared up as the forces of St. Luc kindled some bonfire anew, and theyheard him shouting in French and more than one Indian language to hismen. They heard also heavy splashes, as the warriors leaped into thewater to defend their fleet. A dark figure rose up by the side of theboat in which young Lennox and his comrade sat. The knife of Tayogaflashed and Robert involuntarily shut his eyes. When he opened themagain the dark figure was gone, and the knife was back in the Onondaga'sbelt.
St. Luc, although surprised again, was rallying his men fast. The Frenchwere shouting their battle cries, the Indians were uttering the warwhoop, as they poured down to the edge of the island, leaping into thelake to save their fleet. The water was filled with dusky forms, Mohawkand Huron met in the death grasp, and sometimes they found their fatebeneath the waters, held tight in the arms of each other. Confused andterrible struggles for the boats ensued, and in the darkness and rain itwas knife and hatchet and then paddles, which many snatched up and usedas clubs.
Above the tumult Robert heard the trumpet tones of St. Luc cheering hismen and directing them. Once he caught a glimpse of him standing up tohis knees in the water, waving the small gold-hilted sword that hecarried so often, and he might have brought him down with a bullet hadhe carried a rifle, but he would have had no thought of drawing triggerupon him. Then he was gone in the mist, and the gigantic painted figureof Tandakora appeared in his place for a moment. Then the mists closedin for a second time, and he saw through it only fleeting forms andflashes of fire, when rifles and muskets were fired by the enemy.
His feeling of unreality increased. The elements themselves hadconspired to lend to everything a tinge weird and sinister to the lastdegree. There was a lull for a little in the wind and rain, butAndiatarocte was heaving, and great waves were chasing one another overthe surface of the water, after threatening to overturn the canoes andboats for which both sides fought so fiercely. The thunder began tomutter again, furnishing a low and menacing under note like the growlingof cannon in battle. Occasional streaks of lightning flashed anew acrossthe lake, revealing the strained faces of the combatants and tinging thesurface of the waters with red. Then both thunder and lightning ceasedagain, and wind and rain came with a renewed sweep and roar.
Robert and Tayoga still occupied their captured long boat alone, andthey hovered near the edge of the battle, not ready to withdraw with theprize until their entire force, whether victor or vanquished, turnedback from the island. Now and then Robert struck with his tomahawk atsome foe who came swimming to the attack, but, as the violence of thestorm grew, both he and Tayoga were compelled to take up their paddles,and use all their skill to keep the boat from being capsized. Theshouting and the shots and the crash of the storm made a turmoil fromwhich he could detach little, but he knew that the keen eyes of theOnondaga, dusk or no dusk, confusion or no confusion, would pierce tothe heart of things.
"What do you see, Tayoga?" he exclaimed. "How goes the battle?"
"I cannot see as much as I wish, Dagaeoga, but it turns in our favor. Isaw the Great Bear just then in a boat, and when the lightning flaredlast I saw Daganoweda in another. Beware, Dagaeoga! Beware!"
His shout of warning was just in time. A figure rose out of the waterbeside their boat, and aimed a frightful blow at him with a tomahawk. Itwas an impulse coming chiefly from the words of Tayoga, but Robert threwhimself flat in the boat and the keen weapon whistled through the emptyair. He sprang up almost instantly, and, not having time to draw eitherhatchet or knife, struck with his clenched fist at the dark faceglaring over the side of the boat. It was a convulsive effort, and thefist was driven home with more than natural power. The figuredisappeared like a stone dropped into the water.
Despite the dusk, Robert had seen the countenance, and he recognized thesinister features of the French spy whom they had tried to catch inAlbany, the man whose name he had no doubt was Achille Garay. He hadfelt a fierce joy when his fist came into contact with his face, but hewas quite sure the spy had not perished. Hardy men of the wilderness didnot die from a blow with the naked hand. The water would revive him, andhe would quickly come up again to fight elsewhere.
Tayoga leaned over suddenly and pulled in a dusky figure dripping withwounds, a Mohawk warrior, hurt badly and sure to have been lost withoutquick help. There was no time to bind up his hurts, as the combat wasgrowing thicker and fiercer, and they drove their boat into the middleof it, striking out with hatchet and knife whenever an enemy came withinreach.
A shrill whistle presently rose over all the noise of battle, and itseemed to have a meaning in it.
"What is it, Tayoga?" shouted Robert.
"It is the whistle of the Great Bear himself, and I have no doubt it isa signal to retire. Reason tells me, too, that it is so. We havecaptured as much of the enemy's fleet as we may at this time, and wemust make off with it lest we be destroyed ourselves."
The whistle still rose shrill, penetrating and insistent, and at theother end of the line Daganoweda began to shout commands to theGaneagaono. Robert and Tayoga paddled away from the island, and oneither side of them they saw canoes and boats going in the samedirection. Flashes of fire came from the land, where the French andIndians, raging up and down, sought to destroy those who had capturedmost of their fleet. But the darkness made their aim uncertain, almostworthless, and only two or three of the invaders were struck, nonemortally. Twenty canoes and boats were captured, and the venture was abrilliant success. Areskoui had not worked his miracles in vain, and atriumphant shout, very bitter for the enemy, burst from rangers andMohawks. Willet, alone in a captured canoe, paddled swiftly up and downthe line, seeing like a good commander
"Ah, it is you, Robert!" he exclaimed. "And you, Tayoga! And bothunhurt!"
"Yes, except for scratches," replied Robert. "I think that Tayoga'sAreskoui was, in very truth, watching over us, and watching well. In thedarkness and confusion all the bullets passed us by, but I was attackedat the boat's edge by a Frenchman, the one whom I saw in Albany, the onewho I am quite sure is Achille Garay. Luck saved me."
"Some day we'll deal with that Achille Garay," said the hunter, "but nowwe must draw off in order, and see to our wounded."
He passed on in his canoe, and met Daganoweda in another. The youngMohawk chieftain was dripping from seven wounds, but they were all inthe shoulders and forearms and were slight, and they were a source ofpride to him rather than inconvenience.
"'Twas well done, Daganoweda," said Willet.
"It is a deed of which the Ganeagaono in their castles will hear withpride," said the Mohawk. "The fleet of Onontio and his warriors, or mostof it, is ours, and we dispute with them the rulership of the lake."
"Great results, worthy of such a risk. I'm sorry we didn't take everyboat and canoe, because then we might have cooped up St. Luc on hisisland, and have destroyed his entire force."
"It is given to no man, Great Bear, to achieve his whole wish. We havedone as much as we hoped, and more than we expected."
"True, Daganoweda! True! What are your losses?"
"Nine of my men have been slain, but they fell as warriors of theGaneagaono would wish to fall. Two more will die and others are hurt,but they need not be counted, since they will be in any other battlethat may come. And what have you suffered, Great Bear?"
"Five of the rangers have gone into the hereafter, another will go, andas for the hurt, like your Mohawks they'll be good for the next fight,no matter how soon it comes. We'd better go along the line, Daganoweda,and caution them all to be steady. The wind and rain are driving hardand Andiatarocte is heaving mightily. We don't want to lose a man or acanoe."
"No, Great Bear, after taking the fleet in battle we must not give itup to the waters of the lake. See, the flare of a great fire on themainland! The Mountain Wolf and the rest of the men await us with joy."
Then Daganoweda achieved a feat which Willet himself would have said amoment before was impossible. He stood suddenly upright in his rockingcanoe, whirled his paddle around his head, and uttered a tremendousshout, long and thrilling, that pierced far above the roar of wind andrain. Then Mohawks and rangers took it up in a tremendous chorus, andthe force of Rogers on land joined in, too, adding to the mighty volume.When it sank into the crash and thunder of the storm, a shrill whoop ofdefiance came from the island.
"Are they trying pursuit?" asked Robert.
"They would not dare," replied Tayoga. "They do not know, of course,that we have only the edges of our tomahawks and hunting knives withwhich to meet them, and even in the darkness they dread our rifles."
Robert glanced back, catching only the dark outline of the islandthrough the rain and fog, and that, too, for but a moment, as then theunbroken dark closed in, and wind and rain roared in his ears. Herealized for the first time, since their departure on the greatadventure, that he was without clothes, and as the fierce tension ofmind and body began to relax he felt cold. The rain was driving upon himin sheets and he began to paddle with renewed vigor in order to keep uphis circulation.
"I'll welcome the fire, Tayoga," he said.
"And I, too," said the Onondaga in his precise fashion. "The collapseis coming after our mighty efforts of mind and body. We will not reachshore too soon. The Mountain Wolf and his men build the fire high, sohigh that it can defy the rain, because they know we will need it."
A shout welcomed them as they drew in to the mainland, and the spectacleof the huge fire, sputtering and blazing in the storm, was grateful toRobert. All the captured boats and canoes were drawn out of the water,well upon the shore, and then, imitating a favorite device of theIndians, they inverted the long boats, resting the ends on logs beforethe fires, and sat or stood under them, sheltered from the rain, whilethey warmed white or brown bodies in the heat of the flames.
"'Twas a great achievement, Dave," said Rogers to Willet, "and improvesour position wonderfully, but 'twas one of the hardest things I've everhad to do to stand here, just waiting and listening to the roar of thebattle."
"Tayoga says we were helped by Areskoui, and we must have been helped bysome power greater than our own. We paid a price for our victory, thoughit wasn't too high, and tomorrow we'll see what St. Luc will do. 'Tisaltogether possible that we may have a naval fight."
"It's so, Dave, but this is a fine deed you and Daganoweda and your menhave done."
"Nothing more than you would have done, Rogers, if you had been in ourplace."
They spoke in ordinary tones, being men too much hardened to danger andmighty tasks to show emotion. Robert stood under the same inverted boatthat sheltered them, and he heard their words in a kind of daze, hisbrain still benumbed after the long and terrible test. But it was apleasant numbing, a provision of nature, a sort of rest that was akin tosleep.
The storm had not abated a particle. Wind and rain roared acrossAndiatarocte and along the slopes and over the mountains. The waters ofthe lake whenever they were disclosed were black and seething, and allthe islands were invisible.
Robert looked mostly at the great fire that crackled and blazed so near.It was fed continually by Indians and rangers, who did not care for therain, and it alone defied the storm. The sheets of rain, poured upon it,seemed to have no effect. The coals merely hissed as if it were oilinstead of water, and the flames leaped higher, deep red at the heartand often blue at the edges.
Robert had never seen a more beautiful fire, a vast core of warmth andlight that challenged alike darkness, wind and rain. There had been atime, so he had heard, in the remote, dim ages when man knew nothing offire. It might have been true, but he did not see how man could haveexisted, and certainly no cheer ever came into his life. He turnedhimself around, as if he were broiling on a spit, and heated first oneside and then the other, until the blood in his veins sparkled with newlife and vigor. Then he dressed, still pervaded by that enormous feelingof comfort and content, and ate of the food that Rogers ordered to beserved to the returned and refreshed men. He also resumed his rifle andpistol, but kept his seat under the inverted boat, where the rain couldnot reach him.
He would have slept, but the ground was too wet, and he waited with theothers for the approach of day and the initiative of St. Luc. Therangers and Mohawks had made the first move, and it was now for theFrench leader to match it. Robert wondered what St. Luc would attempt,but that he would try something he never doubted for a moment.
A log was rolled beneath the long boat under which the leaders stood,and, spreading their blankets over it, they sat down on it. There wasroom at the end for Robert and Tayoga, too, and Robert found that hiscomfort increased greatly. He was in a kind of daze, that was verysoothing, and yet he saw everything that went on around him. But hestill looked mostly at the great fire which zealous hands fed and whichstood up a pillar of light in the darkness and cold. He reflected dimlythat it was a beautiful fire, a magnificent, a most magnificent fire.How the first man who saw the first fire must have rejoiced in it!
Toward morning the wind sank, and the sheets of rain grew thinner. Onceor twice thunder moaned in the southwest, and there were occasionalstreaks of lightning, but they were faint, and merely disclosed fleetingstrips of a black lake and a black forest.
"Before the sun rises the storm will be gone," said Tayoga. "The miraclethat Areskoui worked in our behalf is finished, and the rest must bedone by our own courage and skill. Who are we to ask more for ourselvesthan the Sun God has done?"
"We've been splendidly favored," said Robert, "and if he does not helpus with another miracle he'll at l
"I feel the dawn already, Dagaeoga. The rain, as you see, has almoststopped, and the troubled wind will now be still. The storm will passaway, and it will leave not a mark, save a fallen tree here and there."
Tayoga's words came true. In a half hour both wind and rain diedutterly, and they breathed an air clean and sweet, as if the world hadbeen washed anew. A touch of silver appeared on the eastern mountains,and then up came the dawn, crisp and cool after the storm, and the worldwas more splendid and beautiful than ever. The green on slopes andridges had been deepened and the lake was all silver in the morninglight.
The islands stood up, sharp and clear, and there were the forces of St.Luc still on his island, and Rogers, through his powerful glasses, wasable to make out the French leader himself walking about, while whitemen and Indians were lighting the fires on which they expected to cooktheir breakfasts.
Several boats and canoes were visible drawn upon the shore, showing thatSt. Luc had saved a portion of his fleet, and it appeared that he andhis men did not fear another attack, or perhaps they wanted it.Meanwhile rangers and Mohawks prepared their own breakfasts and awaitedwith patience the word of their leaders. Apparently there was nothingbut peace. It was a camping party on the island and another on themainland, and the waters of the lake danced in the sunshine, reflectingone brilliant color after another.
"Reenforcements are coming for St. Luc," said Robert, who saw blackspecks on the lake to the eastward of the island. "I think that's afleet of Indian canoes."
"It's what I expected," said Tayoga. "The French and their allies hadcomplete control of Andiatarocte until we appeared, and it is likely,when the storm began to die, Sharp Sword sent for the aid that is nowcoming."
The canoes soon showed clear outlines in the intense sunlight, and, aswell as Rogers could judge through his glasses, they brought about fiftymen, ten of whom were Frenchmen. But there were no long boats, a fact atwhich they all rejoiced, as in a naval battle the canoes would be at agreat disadvantage opposed to the heavier craft.
"When do you think it best to make the attack?" Willet asked the leaderof the rangers.
"Within an hour," replied Rogers. "If we had been in condition we mighthave gone at them before their help came, but it was wise to let the menrest a little after last night's struggle."
"And it will be better for our purpose to beat two forces instead ofone."
"So it will, and that's the right spirit, Dave. You can always bedepended upon to take the cheerful view of things. It's good, oldfriend, for us to be together again, doing our best."
"So it is, and it's a time that demands one's best. The world's afire,and our part of it is burning with the rest. What do your glasses tellyou now?"
"The reenforcements are landing on the island. St. Luc himself has goneforward to meet them. He's a fine leader. He impresses red men and whitemen alike, and he'll make the new force feel that it's the mostimportant and timely in the world. Have you found anything in the woods,Black Rifle?"
"No," replied the swart forester, who had been circling about the camp."Nobody is there. It's just ourselves and the fellows out there on theisland."
"Do you see any more canoes, Rogers, coming to the help of St. Luc?"asked Willet.
The ranger searched long and carefully over the surface of the lake withhis strong glasses and then replied:
"Not a canoe. If they have any more force afloat it's too far in thenorth to reach here in time. We've all of our immediate enemy before us,and we'll attack at once."
The boats and canoes were lifted into the water and the little forcemade ready for the naval battle.