Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-01-01

CHAPTER iii

Hepsihah Adams, for this time Hep
sibah had come with set and de-
teFmined purpose to his sisters home
| The traders countenance had grown
stern. and GATHERINGS cheeks were
| like those OF pale nun in the candle
| light In. Henri Bulain's face were
| still the cheer and good humor and nm
rufi'ed equanimity Of confidence and
faith that Hepsibah. with the darkest
pictures he had painted, had been un-
able TO disturb.
| They were talking about war. Al
early MS this spring OF 1T49. the Amer
lean wilderness had begun to stir with
whispers OF the impending conhagra-
| ton which WAS destined soon to tnrn
the eastern part OF the continent into
seething pot Of fury and death.
While George the Second OF England
and Louis the Fifteenth Of France
were playing at friendship after the
peace Of -Chapelle. France gasp
ing for breath with the flower of her
armies buried on European battle
fields, and England with her fighting
forces reduced on land to eighteen
| thousand men and to less than seven
teen thousand on the sea, the vast
colonies of the two countries, working
out their own salvations, were steadily
and surely and with deadly intent en-
| croachlng upon each other.
The stage was set for the writing
| OF the bloodiest and most picturesque
pages in American history South
ward from the Richelieu were the bit.
| terest OF all the white mems enemies,
the warriors OF the Six Nations, and
northward. sweeping east and west
| through the Canadas, were the forty
scattered tribes who bore allegiance
| to New France Behind these savage
vassals, on one Side, were eleven hun
dred thousand English colonists hold
Ing the sea-c0ast lands from Maine to
Georgia, and on the other less than
eighty thousand souls, counting women
and children as we'll as men. to de-
fend and hold the illimitable domains
OF New France, which reached from
the upper canadas to the Gulf Of Mex
leo and from the Alleghanies to the
Rocky mountains.
OF this alarming disparity In power
or fghtlng men. .and of the piflless
scourge which he swore would some
DAY sweep through all the. country of
Lake Champlain and the Richelieu.
Hepsibah Adams had spoken at length
but with small effect on Henri Bnlain.
Let war come IL it must" said
Henri. 'The heart OF New France Is
set behind an Impenetrable wall OF
rock and forest, and with these ram
parts In our favor, eighty thousand
will be match for the million Eng
lish of they come this way. AS for
me, should fighting chance to come
why, | shalt be friend to both sides
and strike ut neither. For no matter
what cause should bring about the
strife, | could not strike at the people
OF my GATHERINGS blood, nor would
she have me turn against my own. So
why move from here? 1t Is neutral
ground, and We, being neutral, are
fifty placed here. Oneidas and Mo-
hawks have eaten under our reof as
well as Hurons and Algonquins, and
when deadly enemies such as these
meet thus on common ground, what
cause have we for fear?"
A light OF pride glowed in Cath
crimes eyes as she listened to her hus-
bands words, and she added
Henri loves the Indians, and / have
grown to love them, too. They are
all our friends"
"Friendsl smiled Hepsibah. Henri,
1t - because OF Catherine and Jeems
that l call you fool Take them
where this danger does not hang day
and night along the edges OF the
frontiers. Take them to the ST. Law
renee, II you win, or bring them south
into GATHERINGS country. But do one
or t'other. for Gods sake, or the day
via come when Christ himself cannot
save YOU" and his voice shook with
earnestness.
There will be no war" insisted
Henri stubbornly. England and
France have bled Themselves white on
Continental battlefeidx. and the peace
which WAS signed only last October
will surely not be broken again while
you and ! are living, for Hanover and
Austria have had their FIJI, az we'll as
the others, and are, like two dead men
on their backs"
That Ii right" nodded Catherine,
with ! shudder. Il think all fighting
Is over for many years.
Fools - innocents r her brother
growled. Il tell You neither George
nor Louis will have anything to-do
with the running of this war until
every mile Of woods between our col
onies and your citr1of Quebec LIS red
with fire and blood. God love me, 1t
has already begun French and Eng
fish traders are fighting wherever they
come together along the frontiers. and
the hired Indians of one are taking
scalps for t'other. Even white men
nave Joined In that pretty game, for
Massachusetts has sent out LovewelI
and his fifty men to hunt the heads OF
Indians and Iran r,,.,lxae ~ Jtf