Catherine DuBois
page 2

     During the morning Lewis felt ill at ease.  His companions noted his taciturnity and vainly tried to elicit the cause.  The day dragged wearily by; he longed for the hour to come when he could hasten to her side and plead forgiveness. What if something should occur, and he be not permitted to see her again!  The thought startled him like a presentiment.
     Notwithstanding a guard had been left at Wildwyck, so long a time had transpired since any act of atrocity had been committed, that those ordinary measures of safety that prudence would have dictated were often disregarded. On this particular morning a number of savages were noticed about the village, going from house to house ostensibly to dispose of some maize and a few beans. They had entered by all of the gates, coming in singly, or by twos and threes; and the people were unsuspectful that a large body of savages were in their very midst, ready at the favorable moment to enter upon the work of merciless slaughter and pillage.
      Presently some people on horseback were seen approaching from the direction of the new village.  They were enveloped in a cloud of dust, and were evidently under great excitement.  As they drew nearer the people collected to learn the cause of alarm.
     “Indians!” shouted the horsemen. “The Indians have burnt the new village; to arms! to arms!”
     Almost instantly the war-whoop sounded, and it seemed as if Indians rose up in the fated village of Wildwyck by magic, so rapidly did they pour out of the log cabins and places of hiding.  The work of shooting, tomahawking and scalping began.  The screams of affrighted women and children, the shouts of the men, the groans of the dying, were soon mingled with the roaring of the flames and the dreadful sounds of carnage.
     At the time of the attack Lewis was some miles away.  The alarm guns were fired-the signal for every man to return to the fort.  He knew some sudden and appalling danger was impending over the settlement.  Then immediately followed the rattle of musketry.  The fort was attacked.  He saw the smoke curling up in the summer sky-the smoke of burning dwellings, and what if his own house was among those marked for destruction!  Solicitude lent speed to his steps.  On every hand settlers were rushing in the direction of the fort, the deepest anxiety depicted on every countenance, for all, like Lewis, had dear ones in peril.



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
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