The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-04-30
P x.

was learning that the service of his
country was not always to bring him
nearer to the girl he loved. That sad day,
when he made sure that no one in Marietta
had heard of any Titcomb party, or ex-
pected them, he had gone back in poor
enough spirits to his pack-saddles, his
homesick friend Clendenin, to Captain
Zapoly, and to General Harmar's hospital
ity. After dinner, General Harmar
showed to him the orders which he had
brought. In substance they directed
Harmar to withdraw all the efficient force
he could from Fort Harmar, and thus to
strengthen the new post at Fort Wash
ington. He was, at the same time, left
to his own discretion as to a movementin
Knox still hoped, and the President
hoped, that the Indian chiefs would see
the folly of war with the United States,
and that, before the arrival of the dea-
patches, they might be peacefully en-
gagged in the easy business of hoeing their
summer crops of corn. But General
Harmar said, what Curwen had already
learned in substance at Marietta, that
they were more insolent than ever. His
own wish had been to do all but dis
mantle the fort in which they were, and
to make arrangements for a campaign.
Now that he had full permission, he
should do this Immediately.
$50 if you gentlemen lave seen all you
want Of the Campus Marcus" he said in
conclusion, "you need not take a comb
nor a biscuit nor a cartridge from your
boat. You may go on board at g~un-fre
tomorrow morning, and work your way
down to Fort Washington. And tell
them to look out for me, and to be sure
do not pass them in the night" And at
his own little joke he laughed heartily.
Curwen joined ruefully in the laugh;
Zapoly joined more heartily, without the
slightest understanding of what the Joke
was. Such is the necessity, alas, of those
who are forced to converse in languages
they do not understand. To poor Harry,
who had come by a zig-zag route mora
than a thousand miles to see the woman
he loved, it wa a wretched blow which
fell in the announcement that he was to
go two hundred more directly away from
the only hope he had of seeing her. But
he knew too well the place of a young
officer indeed, he was governed too much
by the feeling Of respect to a man in every
way his superior; to venture on any Wig
orous protest. All he could say was that
he would go as soon as the General
thought best, but that he had carelessEy
made some arrangements in the new city,
and that he must send his servant over t0
cancel them. So unused was he to life
in camps, that he was amazed when the
good-natured General replied:
"Cancel them? Don't think of a
ceiling them. We are not so hard-pressed
as that. Oh, no, Lieutenant, a day more
or less is nothing-I mean a day Of your
arrival-for, to tell the truth, I shall not
break up here for a fortnight or more,
and, as Bob Kidd said when they hanged
him, there will be no fun till I come. Oh,
no, my dear young friend, we are in no
such hurry as that. Only, as your boat in
all ready, and / have nothing half so swift
as she, I thought you had better take my
commands to St. Clair yonder. Wednes-'
day, Friday-when you will-only take
care l do not pass you on a food some
day. / can tell you that when there is
fresh a feet of arks make speed which
would have frightened Shem and
Japheth."
And he laughed good-naturedly again.
Harry Curwen was frightened at his own
success. He did not dare presume upon
it. He said modestly that he would take
care no one passed him on the way, and
retired early to the room which had been
assigned to him and Zapoly. Here he
summoned Clendenin, and gave him his
orders for the next day.
And the next day he and Clendenin
crossed to the new town again, and then,
in a canoe, worked their way up to see
some Boyntons from Ne wbury, who, it
was thought, might know something of
the Titcombs. But they, while they
knew of people of that Z anne in Newbury,
had not had tidings Of their removal In
a similar f~ruitless search the next day was
spent. And on the next day, from mere
pride, the young officer had to give up
this inquiry which he could not explain
either to Harmar, to Zapoly, or to Glen
d. min, and as soon as his awkward squad
was released from the school Of the
soldier in the morning, he ordered them
on board the barge and took up the voy-
age, now 50 odious to him, to the fort,
newly established where we now see the
city of Cincinnati.
And now he was to spend months there
on duties wholly new to him, among com
panions everyone of whom would have
been a study, were the young man one of
the critical or of thu speculative kind
Kentucky militia-men came from time to
time. At least they succeeded in eating
Uncle Sans r~ations, though the officers
on Uncle Sans regular line looked very
doubtfully on their performances. Queerly
enough, they had none of the skill OF the
rife for which the ideal Kentuckian was
even then famous. zapoly, who watched
their manual of arms, declared that they
did not know one end of a gun from the
other.
Thefamous pack-saddles, to the constitute
ton of which Curwen had given so much
time in Pennsylvania, proved to be useful
when the Indian horses were brought In
upon which they were to be used. SThey
are big enough for elephants, :" said the
officer who received them, and poor Cur
wen had to stand chaff untold, because he