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every sign of weakness had disappeared. He gave his orders promptly, and the
men even started when he spoke, so bent on obtaining obedience did he appear
to be.
The rifles were converted into a bier, the body was placed upon it, and the
four men then raised the burthen, and began to retrace their footsteps, in
melancholy silence. Nick led the way, pointing out the difficulties of the
path, with a sedulousness of attention, and a gentleness of manner, that none
present had ever before witnessed in the Tuscarora. He even appeared to have
become woman, to use one of his own peculiar expressions.
No one speaking, and all the men working with good will, the retreat,
notwithstanding the burthen with which it was encumbered, was made with a
rapidity greatly exceeding the advance. Nick led the way with an unerring eye,
even selecting better ground than that which the white men had been able to
find on their march. He had often traversed all the hills, in the character of
a hunter, and to him the avenues of the forest were as familiar as the streets
of his native town become to the burgher. He made no offer to become one of
the bearers; this would have been opposed to his habits; but, in all else, the
Indian manifested gentleness and solicitude. His apprehension seemed to be,
and so he expressed it, that the Mohawks might get the scalp of the dead man;
a disgrace that he seemed as solicitous to avoid as Joyce himself; the
serjeant, however, keeping in view the feelings of the survivors, rather than
any notions of military pride.
Notwithstanding the stern resolution that prevailed among the men, that
return march was long and weary. The distance, of itself, exceeded two miles,
and there were the inequalities and obstacles of a forest to oppose them.
Perseverance and strength, however, overcame all difficulties; and, at the end
of two hours, the party approached the point where it became necessary to
enter the bed of the rivulet, or expose their sad procession by marching in
open view of any who might be straggling in the rear of the Hut. A species of
desperate determination had influenced the men in their return march,
rendering them reckless of discovery, or its consequences; a circumstance that
had greatly favoured their object; the adventurous and bold frequently
encountering fewer difficulties, in the affairs of war, than the cautious and
timid. But an embarrassment now presented itself that was far more difficult
to encounter than any which proceeded from personal risks. The loving family
of the deceased was to be met; a wife and daughters apprised of the fearful
loss that, in the providence of God, had suddenly alighted on their house.
 Lower the body, men, and come to a halt, said Joyce, using the manner of
authority, though his voice trembled;  we must consult together, as to our
next step.
There was a brief and decent pause, while the party placed the lifeless body
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on the grass, face uppermost, with the limbs laid in order, and everything
about it, disposed of in a seemliness that betokened profound respect for the
senseless clay, even after the noble spirit had departed. Mike alone could not
resist his strong native propensity to talk. The honest fellow raised a hand
of his late master, and, kissing it with strong affection, soliloquized as
follows, in a tone that was more rebuked by feeling, than any apprehension of
consequences.
 Little need had ye of a praist, and extreme unction, he said.  The likes of
yerself always kapes a clane breast; and the knife that went into yer heart
found nothing that ye need have been ashamed of! Sorrow come over me, but yer
lass is as great a one to meself, as if I had tidings of the sinking of ould
Ireland into the salt say, itself; a thing that nivercan happen, and niver
will happen; no, not even at the last day; as all agree the wor-r-ld is to be
burned and not drowned. And who ll there be to tell this same to the Missus,
and Miss Beuley, and phratty Miss Maud, and the babby, in the bargain? Divil
bur-r-n me, if  t will be Michael O Hearn, who has too much sorrow of his own,
to be running about, and d aling it out to other people. Sarjeant, that will
be yer own jewty, and I pities the man that has to perform it.
 No man will see me shrink from a duty, O Hearn, said Joyce, stiffly, while
with the utmost difficulty he kept the tears from breaking out of a fountain
that had not opened, in this way, for twenty years.  It may bear hard on my
feelings--I do not say it willnot --but duty is duty, and it must be done.
Corporal Allen, you see the state of things; the commanding officer is among
the casualties, and nothing would be simpler than our course, were it not for
Madam Willoughby -- God bless her, and have her in His holy keeping--and the
young ladies. It is proper to deliberate a little aboutthem . To you then, as
an elderly and experienced man, I first apply for an opinion.
 Sorrow s an unwelcome guest, whether it comes expected, or without any
previous knowledge. The hairts o the widow and fairtherless must be stricken,
and it s little that a our consolations and expairiments will prevail ag in
the feelin s o natur . Pheeloosophy and religion tall us that the body s no
mair than a clod o the valley when the speerit has fled; but the hairt is
unapt to listen to wisdom while the grief is fraish, and of the severity of an
unlooked-for sairtainty.I see little good, therefore, in doing mair than just
sending in a messenger to clear the way a little for the arrival of truth, in
the form o death, itsal .
 I have been thinking of this -- will you take the office, Jamie, as a man of
years and discretion?
 Na--na--ye ll be doing far better by sending a younger man. Age has weakened
my memory, and I ll be overlooking some o the saircumstances in a manner that
will be unseemly for the occasion. Here is Blodget, a youth of ready wit, and
limber tongue.
 I wouldn t do it, mason, to be the owner of ten such properties as this!
exclaimed the young Rhode Islander, actually recoiling a step, as if he
retreated before a dreaded foe.
 Well, sairjeant, ye ve Michael here, who belangs to a kirk that has so
little seempathy with protestantism as to lessen the pain o the office. Death
is a near ally to religion, and Michael, by taking a religious view o the
maither, might bring his hairt into such a condition of insensibility as wad
give him little to do but to tell what has happened, leaving God, in his ain
maircy, to temper the wind to the shorn lamb.
 You hear, O Hearn? said the serjeant, stiffly-- Everybody seems to expect
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that you will do this duty.
 Jewty!--D ye call it a jewty for a man in my situation to break the hearts
of Missus, and Miss Beuly, and phratty Miss Maud, and the babby? for babbies
has hearts as well as the stoutest man as is going. Divil bur-r-n me, then, if
ye gets out of my mout so much as a hint that the captain s dead and gone
from us, for ever and ever, amen! Ye may send me in, for ye re corporals, and
serjeants, and the likes of yees, and I ll obey as a souldier, seein that he
would have wished as much himself, had the breat staid in his body, which it
has not, on account of its l aving his sowl on  arth, and departing with his
corporeal part for the mansions of happiness, the Blessed Mary have mercy on
him, whether here orthere -- but the captain was not the man to wish a
fait ful follower to afflict his own wife; and so I ll have not in to do with
such a message, at all at all.
 Nick go -- said the Indian, calmly --  Used to carry message -- carry him
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