Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-21
CHAPTER VI.


sized boat, and swims ashore at an Indian
camp.
CHAPTER VI.
And now we must turn to Mr.. Harry
Curwen. In the enterprise in which he
found himself, pushing down the Monon-
gahela first, and then the Ohio, he had no
formal commission in the United States
army. He had distinctly told Washington
and Knox that he was not seeking an ap-
pointment, and though he was entrusted
with responsibilities really important, he
was acting with the freedom of a volunteer.
He held commission in Massachusetts as
a lieutenant in the militia, and had higher
rank as an aide to the local brigadier who
directed the musters and enrollments in
the militia organization. Knox had
entrusted to him this business Of the
pack-ssddles, and had given to him des-
patches for General Harmar; and it re
NAMED for the young man to make or find
for himself his position when he should
have reported to that officer, and had seen
for himself what was known as 'The Legion
of the West" Knox had placed under his
command dozen or more recruits for the
Second Regiment, whom he wanted to hurry
forward. And at Carlisle, in Pennsylvania,
the young man had fallen in with an Aus
trian gentleman, the Count Zapoly, who
was going West with romantic idea of
seeing the wilderness and joining in war at
the same time if he might be so happy.
The country, for ten years, was receiving
such people from Europe stimulated by the
attractive stories of Lafayette, Rochambeau,
St. Simon and the rest of the officers of the
auxiliary contingent of the Revolution.
This particular count had thrown up his
own commission in the French army, in
disgust at some of the reforms, so called,
just introduced by the ministry. For Harry
Curwen, he was an amusing, not to say an
agreeable companion. He was not above ga
certain condescension" in addressing people
! who had not seen Europe; few natives of
that continent were or are. But he was
gentleman, he was curious and intelligent
and could talk of something beside the
rations and the oars.
st shall not be difficult, my friend" he
said to Curwen on the first day. "GiYe me,
all the days, an omlet and little of soup,
and 1 shall be very content"
Harry was obliged to tell HIM that he had
named the two articles of food which could
not be prepared in America.
AS for the men--the crew, as Harry was
always calling them, in his Salem way
| they were but poor set. The Government
paid but little, the probable service was
| hard. In these days we should have called
the recruiting officer an agent of the Society
for Discharged Convicts, SO many gentry Of
doubtful reputation had he enlisted.
Uncle Sam could not be a chooser. He
had to take what he could get, And harry
found himself in company with motley
set of soldiers, so called, from every country
and every State, who had enlisted, some
for a love of adventure, some to get away
| from their wives, some to escape the sheriff,
| and others from no motive at all which
could be defined. At this moment they
had not even been formed into an awkward
squad.
Among them was tall, delicate looking
young Virginian, to whom Harry took
| fancy from the first moment when he met
the sergeant who had this party in charge.
He made chance to speak to the boy, who
was shy and lonely, and drew from him
without difficulty his whole story. He had
come from lonely home near Fort Cumber-
land. Years ago, when he was not more
than IL years old, in raid of Indians across
the mountains, they had carried off his
| sister, The boy, boylike, had even then
tracked the party of marauders in the child
ish hope of rescuing her. And now that he
had shot up to the height which gave him
the right to go about among men, he had en-
listed in the army in the hope of finding
her. It was clear enough to Harry, who was
endowed with the preternatural wisdom of
three and twenty, that the boy
[ had no other requisite for q soldiers
! life than the five feet nine inches
without which he could not have passed the
recruiting sergeant, unless, indeed, indom-
| liable will were to be counted as requisite.
| Of that the good lad had abundance. He
was simple in manners--very shy, as has
been said-and avoided as woman might
do the rough play and jokes of the reckless
men around him. Indeed, in the lonely
log cabin life of single family, he had not
learned all the English which came into the
| polyglut language of the boat, and one of
the many trials which the sensitive fellow
had to meet from hour to hour came from
his own utter inability to understand the
chaff which was thrown at him, the requests
| which were addressed to him, or even the
commands of his superiors.
The boat in which this voyage was made
differed entirely from the arks of the set
tiers. General Harmar, or some other Off
| III OOumduu, Adu odiu q DotRO
for the use of Fort Harmar or Fort Wash
ington would be needed, and six or eight
good shipbuilders had been enlisted, NOM
inally, as "artifcers, (" but with the under
standing that they might ask for their dis
charge whenever they chose, after they ar
rived at the forts. These men were quite
the superiors of the rest in bearing and in
education. But as navigators, they had to
do an extra turn of duty as the voyage went
on, because half the men hardly knew the
difference between one end of an oar and
the other. In truth the barge, so called,
was much too large for any such service as
| was proposed at the forts. She was
rather a galley" as the language
of the time had it. AS the
men always slept on shore, she was not an
uncomfortable vessel for the enterprise they
had in hand. Amidships, as the builders
chose to say, considerable space was taken
for the stores of the party, and for the all
important pack saddles. Fore and aft OF
this space were seats for rowers, who, with
very heavy oars or sweeps, could hasten the
vessel whenever the flow of the current was
not considered sufficient for the purpose. 1t
was not long before the boat builders, who
were all from New England ports. and
rowed a boat as well as they built it, had
trained the soldiers, as they were called by
courtesy, to handle the heavy sweeps.