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I have a sufficient reason for this, as I have greater hopes of being able to conduct Miss Kearney to this fort than I have to reach her father's house; and if you are compelled to abandon the fort for want of provisions, my plan would be defeated." Both Captain Norton and my father agreed to Rochford's proposals, but it was a question whether the Indians could be trusted.
I missed Rochford greatly; and though I was interested by Lejoillie's remarks on the natural history of the country, I was very glad when we at length reached Castle Kearney. I watched my cousin Juanita when Carlos was giving her an account of Rochford's disappearance, "I am very sorry," she answered in quite an indifferent tone.
This is all that was originally demanded. The expedition is disavowed, and the island is restored. An injury is acknowledged by the reception of lord Rochford's paper, who twice mentions the word injury, and twice the word satisfaction.
As I stood near the judge and his wife, who were seated on the skylight, their little boy, guarded watchfully by black Rosa, playing near them, I heard the former say to Rochford that, as he intended to charter a schooner to convey himself and family up the Saint John River, he begged to have the pleasure of Rochford's company on board.
'We shall see these two old fellows very well without getting such a rheumatism as Lady Rochford's, and she pulled the window to against Katharine's face and laughed at the vacant and far-away eyes that the girl turned upon her. 'You are thinking of the centaurs of the Isles of Greece, she jeered, 'not of my knight and his old fashions of ironwork and horse dancing.
In the evening we agreed to camp out, hoping to kill the next morning as much deer as we and the horse could carry together. Lejoillie was in high spirits, his volubility contrasting with Rochford's taciturnity. We camped in the centre of a wood, so that the flames of our fire might be concealed; and we took good care to examine the neighbourhood, to ascertain that no one was concealed there.
He at last arrived, looking very crestfallen. We, of course, did not tell him that we already possessed most of the information he had to give. He told us, in addition to what we already knew, that a party of Indians had been seen following up Rochford's trail. Fears were entertained, therefore, that he had been overtaken, especially as one of the Indians was on horseback.
Captain Norton, on receiving this reply, no longer endeavoured to dissuade Rochford from his enterprise. "I believe that your plan, from its boldness, is more likely to succeed than any I can devise," he answered. "Go; and may success crown your efforts!" Rochford's dog, which stood by, looked up into its master's face, as if asking leave to accompany him.
While we were speaking, Carlos and the two other men came up, when Rochford's companion repeating what he had said to me, they invited him to accompany us back to the settlement. On our way I inquired of Rochford what could have caused our scout to suppose that a band of Indians was approaching. "He must have seen my new friend's followers in the distance," he answered.
The poor mother was about to thank me, supposing that I had been the means of saving him; but I pointed to Rochford, who stood dripping wet on deck, as the man who had performed the gallant act. The judge wrung his hand. "I thank you, sir! I thank you!" he exclaimed. The mother burst into tears as she held the child to her heart; then taking Rochford's hand, she pressed it to her lips.
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