"Yes, as far as regards the men portion," said De Courcy, with a malicious smile; "but what became of the lady all this while, my conquering hero? Did you find her playing a very active part in the skirmish?"
"Active—no!" replied Gerald, slightly coloring as he remarked all eyes directed to him at this demand, "but passively courageous she was to a degree I could not have supposed possible in woman. She sat calm and collected amid the din of conflict, as if she had been accustomed to the thing all her life, nor once moved from the seat which she occupied in the stern, except to make an effort to prevent me from disarming her uncle. I confess that her coolness astonished me, while it excited my warmest admiration."
"I hope it may be nothing beyond admiration," observed the captain of Grenadiers; "I tell you as a friend, Gerald, I do not like this account you give of her conduct. A woman who could show no agitation in such a scene must have either a damn'd cold, or a damn'd black heart, and there's but little claim to admiration there."
"Upon my word, Captain Cranstoun," and the handsome features of Gerald crimsoned with a feeling not unmixed with serious displeasure, "I do not quite understand you—you appear to assume something between Miss Montgomerie and myself that should not be imputed to either—and certainly, not thus publicly."
Nonsense, man, there's no use in making a secret of the matter," returned the positive grenadier. "The subject was discussed after dinner yesterday, and there was nobody present who didn't agree, that if you had won her heart you had given your own in exchange."
"God forbid!" said Henry Grantham with unusual gravity of manner, while he looked affectionately on the changing and far from satisfied countenance of his conscious brother, "for I repeat with Captain Cranstoun, I like her not. Why, I know not; still I like her not, and I shall be glad, Gerald, when you have consigned her to the place of her destination."
"Pooh! pooh! nonsense!" interrupted Captain Granville; "never mind, Gerald," he pursued, good-humoredly, "she is a splendid girl, and one that you need not be ashamed to own as a conquest. By heaven, she has a bust to warm the bosom of an anchorite, and depend upon it, all that Cranstoun has said arises only from pique that he is not the object preferred. Those black eyes of hers have set his ice blood upon the boil, and he would willingly exchange places with you, as I honestly confess I should."
Vexed as Gerald certainly felt at the familiar tone the conversation was now assuming in regard to Miss Montgomerie, and although satisfied that mere pleasantry was intended, it was not without a sensation of relief that he found it interrupted by the entrance of the several non-commissioned officers with their order-books. Soon after the party broke up.
[CHAPTER X.]
Before noon, on the following day, the boat that was to convey Major Montgomerie and his niece to the American shore, pulled up to the landing-place in front of the fort. The weather, as on the preceding day, was fine, and the river exhibited the same placidity of surface. Numerous bodies of Indians were collected on the banks, pointing to and remarking on the singularity of the white flag which hung drooping at the stern of the boat. Presently the prisoners were seen advancing to the bank, accompanied by General Brock, Commodore Barclay, and the principal officers of the garrison. Major Montgomerie appeared pleased at the prospect of the liberty that awaited him, while the countenance of his niece, on the contrary, presented an expression of deep thought, although it was afterwards remarked by Granville and Villiers, both close observers of her demeanor, that as her eye occasionally glanced in the direction of Detroit, it lighted up with an animation strongly in contrast with the general calm and abstractedness of her manner. All being now ready, Gerald Grantham, who had received his final instructions from the General offered his arm to Miss Montgomerie, who, to all outward appearance, took it mechanically and unconsciously, although, in the animated look which the young sailor turned upon her in the next instant, there was evidence the contact had thrilled electrically to his heart. After exchanging a cordial pressure of the hand with his gallant entertainers, and reiterating to the General his thanks for the especial favor conferred upon him, the venerable Major followed them to the boat. His departure was the signal for much commotion among the Indians. Hitherto they had had no idea of what was in contemplation; but when they saw them enter and take their seats in the boat, they raised one of those terrific shouts which have so often struck terror and dismay; and brandishing their weapons, seemed ready to testify their disapprobation by something more than words. It was however momentary—a commanding voice made itself heard, even amid the din of their loud yell, and, when silence had been obtained, a few animated sentences, uttered in a tone of deep authority, caused the tumult at once to subside. The voice was that of Tecumseh, and there were few among his race who, brave and indomitable as they were, could find courage to thwart his will. Meanwhile the boat, impelled by eight active seamen, urged its way through the silvery current, and in less than an hour from its departure had disappeared.