Elsie at the World's Fair

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER XIV.

  Sight-seeing was resumed again the next day, much time being spent in theManufactures and Liberal Arts Building, the marvel of the Exposition,covering more than forty acres of ground, and filled with curious andbeautiful things from almost every quarter of the globe. Hours were spentthere, then a ride in an electric boat on the lagoon was taken as arestful form of recreation.

  The greater part of the afternoon was spent in the ever-fascinating MidwayPlaisance, then they returned to the yacht for their evening meal and anhour or two of restful chat in the easy-chairs on its deck, and with thesetting of the sun the older ones returned to the Court of Honor, leavingthe children in bed and under the ever-watchful care of their nurse.

  Much the same sort of life continued for a week or more; then many of thefriends found it necessary to return to their homes. The cousins fromPleasant Plains were among that number, and the day before leaving youngPercy seized a rare opportunity for a word in private with CaptainRaymond.

  "I have been coveting such a chance as this, sir," he said, coloring withembarrassment, "but--but couldn't find it till now. I--I--want----"

  "Speak out, my young friend," said the captain kindly, "I am ready tolisten to whatever you may have to say, and if in my power to assist youin any way, shall feel it a pleasure to do so; particularly as you are arelative of my wife."

  Percy had had but little opportunity for showing his penchant for Lucilla,and the young girl's father was not thinking of her, but imagined theremight be some business venture in which the young man desired hisassistance.

  "You have perhaps something to tell me of your plans and prospects for thefuture," he said enquiringly, "and if so, possibly I may be able to exertinfluence, or render assistance, in some way; it will give me pleasure, Iassure you, to do anything in my power; so do not be afraid to speak out."

  "You are very kind, captain, very kind indeed," stammered Percy, flushingmore hotly than before, "but that--that is not it exactly. I hope youwon't be angry, but I have been trying to screw up my courage to askfor--something far more valuable than money, influence, or anything elsethat could be thought of. I--I love your daughter, sir,--MissLucilla--and--and I hope you won't forbid me to tell her so."

  He drew a sigh of relief that at last the Rubicon was crossed--his desireand purpose made known; but a glance at the captain's grave and troubledface dashed his hopes to the ground.

  A moment of silence followed, then Captain Raymond spoke in gentle,sympathetic tones.

  "I am sorry, very sorry to disappoint you, my young friend; but I cannotgrant your request. Lucilla is but a child yet--a mere school-girl; andsuch I intend to keep her for some six years or more to come. I have noobjection to you more than to any other man, but cannot consent toallowing her to be approached on that subject until she reaches much moremature years."

  "And in the meantime somebody else will in all probability get ahead ofme," sighed Percy. "Oh, sir, can I not persuade you to revoke thatdecision and let me at least learn from her own lips whether or not shecares for me?"

  "I think I can furnish all the information you wish in that line,"returned the captain, laying a kindly hand on the young man's shoulder,"for hardly an hour ago she told me--as she has many times before--thatshe loved no one else in the wide world half so dearly as her father."

  "Well, sir, I am glad of it, since you won't let me speak yet," said Percywith a rueful sort of smile. "But--please don't blame me for it--but Ican't feel satisfied to be forbidden to speak a word, considering how veryfar apart our homes are, and that we may not meet again for years--ifever--and that--Chester Dinsmore, who is, I can see plainly enough, overhead and ears in love with her--will be near her all the time and haveevery chance to cut me out."

  "No," said the captain, "I shall give him no chance either. I fully intendkeeping my little girl to myself--as I have already told you--for at leastsix or eight years to come."

  "And you have no objection to me personally, sir?"

  "None whatever; in fact, from all I have seen and heard I am inclined tothink you a fine fellow; almost equal to my own boy, Max," Captain Raymondsaid with a smile: "and if my daughter were of the right age, and quiteready and willing to leave her father, I should have but one objection toyour suit--that you would take her so far away from me."

  "Possibly I might not, sir, should there be an opening for me near whereyou reside. I think the Bible says it is the man who is to leave fatherand mother and cleave to his wife."

  "True, my young friend," returned the captain; "but the time I have set istoo far away to make it worth our while to consider that question atpresent."

  With that the interview closed, and the two parted, the captain to beconfronted a few minutes later by Chester Dinsmore, with a like request tothat just denied to Percy.

  "No, no, Chester," he said, "it is not to be thought of; Lucilla isentirely too young to leave her father's fostering care and take up theduties and trials of married life. I cannot consent to your saying a wordto her on the subject for years to come."

  "You have no objection to me personally, I trust, sir?" returned the youngman, looking chagrined and mortified.

  "None whatever," Captain Raymond hastened to say. "I have just given thesame answer to another suitor, and there is one consideration whichinclines me to prefer you to him; namely, that you are a near neighbor tous at Woodburn; so that in giving up my daughter to you I should feel theparting much less than if she were about to make her home so far North asthis."

  "Well, sir, that's a crumb of comfort, though to be often in hercompany--seeing her lovely face and watching her pretty ways--will make itall the more difficult to refrain from showing my esteem, admiration,love. In fact, I don't know how to stand it. Excuse me, captain, but whatharm could there be in telling her my story and trying to win my way toher heart, provided--I spoke of marriage only as something to be lookedfor in the far-off future?"

  "No, I cannot consent to that," returned the captain with decision. "Itwould only put mischief into her head and rob her of her child-likesimplicity. She is still too young to know her own mind on that subjectand might fancy that she had given her heart to one who would, a few yearslater, be entirely distasteful to her. But I trust you, Chester, not tobreathe a word to her of your--what shall I call it?--admiration until youhave my consent."

  "It is more than admiration, sir!" exclaimed Chester. "I love her as Inever loved anything before in my life, and it would just about kill me tosee her in the possession of another."

  "Then comfort yourself that for years to come no one's suit will belistened to any more favorably than yours," returned the father of thegirl he so coveted, and with that the interview came to an end.

  Their conversation had been held at one end of the deck while the rest ofthe party sat chatting together at the other. The captain and Chesterjoined them now and entered into the talk, which ran principally upon thefact that all the relatives from Pleasant Plains must leave for home thenext day.

  "How would you all like to go by water?" asked Captain Raymond, as if thethought of such a possibility had just struck him.

  "I do not believe the idea has occurred to any of us," replied Annis, "andsince the building of the railroad so few make the journey by water thatthe boats running on our river are few, small, and I presume notremarkably comfortable."

  "How would this one answer?" he asked. "It is but thirty-eight milesacross the lake; I think we would find your river navigable nearly orquite up to your town, and to reach it from here would not take more thansix or eight hours."

  "Then they could all go, as they need not all spend the night, or any partof it, on board," exclaimed Violet in tones of delight. "Oh, Cousin Annis,and all of you, do agree to it, and we will have a charming little trip!"

  "Indeed, so far as I am concerned nothing could be pleasanter, I am sure,"said Annis, looking highly pleased; "but--I fear it would be giving you agreat deal of trouble, captain."

  "Not at all," he returne
d, "but on the contrary it will, I think, be avery enjoyable little trip to me and my wife and children."

  "Oh, I should like it very much!" exclaimed Lucilla; "there would be sucha nice large party of us all the way to Pleasant Plains--supposing yourriver is navigable so far for a vessel of this size--and then the trip upthe lake, a little visit to Mackinaw, and the sail back again, would be arestful and enjoyable break in the visit here to the Fair."

  "What do you say to the plan, Grandpa and Grandma Dinsmore, and mother?"asked the captain, turning toward them. "And you, Cousin Ronald?"

  All expressed themselves as well pleased with the idea, and it was decidedto carry it out.

  "We will be happy to have you accompany us also, Chester and Frank, shouldyou care to do so," said the captain cordially, "though I fear it will robyou of some of the time you had planned to spend at the Fair."

  "Thank you, captain," said Frank, "I, for one, accept your very kindinvitation with great pleasure. It will give me a glimpse of a part of ourbig country that I have never seen--in the pleasantest of company, too;and as to our visit to the Fair, we can prolong it by another week, if wechoose."

  "So we can," said his brother, "and I, too, accept your kind invitation,captain, with cordial thanks."

  "Then let me advise you of Pleasant Plains to be on board here, bag andbaggage, by eight, or at the latest nine, o'clock to-morrow morning," saidCaptain Raymond. "We will be happy to have you take breakfast here withus, and we may as well be on our way across the lake while eating. Then Ihope to have you at your destination by seven or eight in the evening,and, leaving you there, steam on down the river and up the lake, the restof my passengers resting in their berths as usual."

  "Then it will take about all of the next day to get to Mackinaw, won't it,papa?" asked Grace.

  "Probably."

  "And how long will we stay there?"

  "I suppose that will depend upon how we enjoy ourselves. I think it likelyyou will all be satisfied with a day or two, as there is so much that willinterest you here which you have not yet seen."

  "Cousin Annis," said Violet, "would you not be willing to make one of ourparty? I am sure that with a little crowding we could accommodate you veryeasily."

  "Thank you very much, cousin," replied Annis, "but I fear my company wouldnot repay you for the necessary crowding."

  At that several voices exclaimed that it certainly would; the young girlsadding that they could crowd a little closer together without feeling itany inconvenience, and the captain saying laughingly that impromptu bedswould have to be provided in the saloon for Chester and Frank, and hewould join them there, so leaving a vacant place for her with his wife;and with a little more persuasion Annis accepted the invitation, knowingthat she could be well spared for a time from the large circle of brothersand sisters, nephews and nieces: the dear old father and mother havingbeen taken, some years before, to their heavenly home.

  "I wish we could take Cousin Arthur, Marian, and Hugh with us," saidViolet; "though they are not here to-night, they must still be in thecity, I think."

  "Yes," said her husband, "and I think we might manage to accommodate themalso, should they care to go; but probably they will prefer having thatmuch more time to spend at the Fair."

  It was a beautiful moonlight evening, and after a little more chat inregard to the arrangements to be made for the morrow's journey, allexcept the children, who were already in bed, went together to the Courtof Honor: from there to the Midway Plaisance, then to the Ferris Wheel, inwhich everyone was desirous to take a ride by moonlight; nor were they byany means disappointed in it.

  On leaving the Wheel they bade each other good-night and scattered totheir several resting places--the cousins to their boarding-house, theothers to the yacht.

  A little before eight o'clock the next morning there was a cheerful bustleon board the _Dolphin_. The extra passengers arrived safely and in goodseason, with their luggage, and found everything on the boat in good trim,and an excellent breakfast awaiting them and the others.

  The weather was all that could be desired; they were congenial spirits,and the day passed most delightfully. But though the young people werevery sociable, no one seeming to be under any restraint, neither Chesternor Percy found an opportunity for any private chat with Lucilla. The factwas that the captain had had a bit of private talk with his wife and hermother, in which he gave them an inkling into the state of affairs asconcerned the two young men and his eldest daughter, and requested theirassistance in preventing either one from so far monopolizing the younggirl as to be tempted into letting her into the secret of his feelingstoward her.

  They reached Pleasant Plains early in the evening, landed the cousinsbelonging there, with the single exception of Miss Annis Keith, thenturned immediately and went down the river again, reaching the lake aboutthe usual time for retiring to their berths.

  The rest of their voyage was as delightful as that of the first day hadbeen, and spent in a similar manner. As they sat together on the deck,toward evening, Grace asked her father if Mackinaw had not been the sceneof something interesting in history.

  "There was a dreadful massacre there many years ago," he replied; "it wasin 1763, by the Indians under Pontiac, an Indian chief. It was at the timeof his attack on Detroit. There is a cave shown on the island in which thewhites took refuge, but the Indians kindled a fire at its mouth and smokedthem--men, women, and children--to death."

  "Oh, how dreadful, papa! how very dreadful!" she exclaimed.

  "Yes," he said, "those were dreadful times; but often the poor Indianswere really less to blame than the whites, who urged them on--the Frenchagainst the English and the English against the Americans.

  "Pontiac was the son of an Ojibway woman, and chief of that tribe, also ofthe Ottawas and the Pottawattamies, who were in alliance with theOjibways. In 1746 he and his warriors defended the French at Detroitagainst an attack by some of the northern tribes, and in 1755 he took partin their fight with Braddock, acting as the leader of the Ottawas."

  "I wonder," said Grace, as her father paused for a moment in hisnarrative, "if he was the Indian who, in that fight, aimed so many timesat Washington, yet failed to hit him, and at last gave up the attempt tokill him, concluding that he must be under the special protection of theGreat Spirit."

  "That I cannot tell," her father said. "But whoever that Indian may havebeen I think he was right in his conclusion--that God protected andpreserved our Washington that he might play the important part he did insecuring his country's freedom.

  "But to return to my story. Pontiac hated the English, though after thesurrender of Quebec, some years after Braddock's defeat--finding that theFrench had been driven from Canada, he acquiesced in the surrender ofDetroit to the English, and persuaded four hundred Detroit Indians, whowere lying in ambush, intending to cut off the English there, torelinquish their design.

  "But he hated the English, and in 1762 he sent messengers to every tribebetween the Ottawa and the Mississippi to engage them all in a war ofextermination against the English."

  "Americans too, papa?" asked little Elsie, who, sitting upon his knee, waslistening very attentively to his narrative.

  "Yes," he replied, "our States were English colonies then, for the War ofthe Revolution did not begin until about thirteen years later. Themessengers of Pontiac carried with them the red-stained tomahawk and awampum war-belt, the Indian fashion of indicating that war was purposed,and those to whom the articles were sent were invited to take part in theconflict.

  "All the tribes to whom they were sent joined in the conspiracy, and theend of May was decided upon as the time when their bloody purpose shouldbe carried out, each tribe disposing of the garrison of the nearest fort;then all were to act together in an attack upon the settlements.

  "On the 27th of April, 1763, a great council was held near Detroit, atwhich Pontiac made an oration detailing the wrongs and indignities theIndians had suffered at the hands of the English, and prophesying theirexterminatio
n.

  "He told also of a tradition that a Delaware Indian had been admitted intothe presence of the Great Spirit, who told him that his race must returnto the customs and weapons of their ancestors, throw away those they hadgotten from the white men, abjure whiskey, and take up the hatchet againstthe English. 'These dogs dressed in red,' he called them, 'who have cometo rob you of your hunting-grounds and drive away the game.'

  "Pontiac's own particular task was the taking of Detroit. The attack wasto be made on the 7th of May. But the commander of the fort was warned oftheir intentions by an Indian girl, and in consequence when Pontiac andhis warriors arrived on the scene they found the garrison prepared toreceive them. Yet on the 12th he surrounded the fort with his Indians, butwas not able to keep a close siege, and the garrison was provided withfood by the Canadian settlers."

  "They supplied the Indians also, did they not, my dear?" asked Violet.

  "Yes," replied the captain, "receiving in return promissory notes drawn onbirch bark and signed with the figure of an otter, and it is said thatall of them were afterward redeemed by Pontiac, who had issued them."

  "That speaks well for the honesty of the Indians if they were savage andcruel," remarked Walter; "and in fact they were hardly more cruel thansome of the whites have been to them, and to other whites with whom theywere at war."

  "Quite true," said the captain.

  "But didn't the rest of the English try to help those folks in that fortat Detroit, papa?" asked Elsie.

  "Yes; supplies and reinforcements were sent in schooners, by way of LakeErie, but they were captured by the Indians, who then compelled theirprisoners to row them to Detroit, concealed in the bottom of the boat,hoping in that way to take the fort by stratagem; but, fortunately for thebesieged, they were discovered before they could land.

  "Afterward another schooner, filled with supplies and ammunition,succeeded in reaching the fort, though the Indians repeatedly tried todestroy it by fire-rafts.

  "Now the English thought themselves strong enough to attack the Indians,and in the night of July 31 two hundred and fifty men set out for thatpurpose.

  "But the Canadians had learned their intention and told the Indians; soPontiac was ready and waiting to make an attack, which he did as soon asthe English were far enough from their fort for him to do so withadvantage, firing upon them from all sides and killing and woundingfifty-nine of them. That fight is known as the fight of 'Bloody Bridge.'

  "On the 12th of the next October the siege was raised, and the chiefs ofthe hostile tribes, with the exception of Pontiac, sued for pardon andpeace. Pontiac was not conquered and retired to the country of theIllinois. In 1769 he was murdered in Cahokia, a village on theMississippi, near St. Louis. The deed was done by an Indian, who had beenbribed to do it by an English trader."

  "Papa, you have not told us yet what happened at Mackinaw," said Lucilla.

  "It, as well as many other forts, was taken by Pontiac's Indians and allthe inhabitants of the island were massacred," replied the captain. "Thereis a cave shown in a hill-side some little distance out from the villagein which the French sought refuge, and where they were smoked to death,the Indians kindling fires at its mouth."

  "Oh," exclaimed Grace, "I am glad I didn't live in those dreadful days!"

  "Yes," said her father, "we have great reason for gratitude that the lineshave fallen to us in such pleasant places, and times of peace."