The silver pomp of the night began to be oppressive to him. There was
beauty, but it was a beauty cold and distant, infinitely withdrawn from
man and his concerns. Woods and mountains held aloof, communing with the
stars. They were kindred and of one house; it was man who was alien, a
stranger and alone. The hilltop cared not that he lay thereon; the grass
would grow as greenly when he was in his grave; all his tragedies since
time began he might reenact there below, and the mountains would not bend
to look.
He flung his arm across his eyes to shut out the moonlight, and tried to
sleep. Finding the attempt a vain one, and that the night pressed more and
more heavily upon him, he sat up with the intention of shaking the negro
awake, and so providing himself with other company than his own thoughts.
His eyes had been upon the mountains, but now, with the sudden movement,
he faced the eastern horizon and a long cleft between the hills. Far down
this opening something was on fire, burning fiercely and redly. Some one
must have put torch to the forest; and yet it did not burn as trees burn.
It was like a bonfire ... it was a bonfire in a clearing! There were not
woods about it, but a field--and the glint of water-The negro, awakened by foot and voice, sprang up, and stood bewildered
beside his master. "It is the valley that we have been seeking, Juba,"
said the latter, speaking rapidly and low. "That burning pile is the
cabin, and 't is like that there are Indians between us and it! Leave the
horses; we shall go faster without them. Look to the priming of your gun,
and make no noise. Now!"
Rapidly descending the hill, they threw themselves into the woods at its
base. Here they could not see the fire, but now and then, as they ran,
they caught the glow, far down the lines of trees. Though they went
swiftly they went warily as well, keeping an eye and ear open and muskets
ready. But there was no sound other than their own quick footfalls upon
the floor of rotting leaves, or the eager brushing of their bodies through
occasional undergrowth; no sight but the serried trees and the checkered
light and shade upon the ground.
They came to the shallow stream that flashed through the valley, and
crossing it found themselves on cleared ground, with only a long strip of
corn between them and what had been a home for English folk. It was that
no longer: for lack of fuel the flames were dying down; there was only a
charred and smoking pile, out of which leaped here and there a red tongue.