Wacousta by John Richardson Read Free Book Online Page B

the prisoner the Governor had taken no notice; but on this repetition of the expression of her feelings he briefly summoned, in the absence of the Adjutant, the sergeant-major of the regiment to his side.
    “Sergeant-major Bletson, I desire that, in future, on all occasions of this kind, the women of the regiment may be kept out of the way. Look to it, sir!”
    The sergeant-major, who had stood erect as his own halbert, which he held before him in a saluting position, during this brief admonition of his colonel, acknowledged, by a certain air of deferential respect and dropping of the eyes, unaccompanied by speech of any kind, that he felt the reproof, and would, in future, take care to avoid all similar cause for complaint. He then stalked stiffly away, and resumed, in a few hasty strides, his position in rear of the troops.
    “Hard-hearted man!” pursued the same voice: “if my prayers of gratitude to Heaven give offence, may the hour never come when my lips shall pronounce their bitterest curse upon your severity!”
    There was something so painfully wild–so solemnly prophetic–in these sounds of sorrow as they fell faintly upon the ear, and especially under the extraordinary circumstances of the night, that they might have been taken for the warnings of some supernatural agency. During their utterance, not even the breathing of human life was to be heard in the ranks. In the next instant, however, Sergeant-major Bletson was seen repairing, with long and hasty strides, to the barrack whencethe voice proceeded, and the interruption was heard no more.
    Meanwhile the officers, who had been summoned from the ranks for the purpose of forming the court-martial, still lingered in the centre of the square, apparently waiting for the order of their superior, before they should resume their respective stations. As the quick and comprehensive glance of Colonel de Haldimar now embraced the group, he at once became sensible of the absence of one of the seniors, all of whom he had desired should be selected for the court-martial.
    “Mr. Lawson,” he remarked, somewhat sternly, as the Adjutant now returned from delivering over his prisoner to Ensign Fortescue, “I thought I understood from your report the officers were all present!”
    “I believe, sir, my report will be found perfectly correct,” returned the Adjutant, in a tone which, without being disrespectful, marked his offended sense of the implication.
    “And Lieutenant Murphy–”
    “Is here, sir,” said the Adjutant, pointing to a couple of files of the guard, who were bearing a heavy burden, and following into the square. “Lieutenant Murphy,” he pursued, “has been shot on the ramparts; and I have, as directed by Captain Blessington, caused the body to be brought here, that I may receive your orders respecting the interment.” As he spoke, he removed a long military grey cloak, which completely enshrouded the corpse, and disclosed, by the light of the still brightly flaming torches of the gunners, the features of the unfortunate Murphy.
    “How did he meet his death?” enquired the governor; without, however, manifesting the slightest surprise, or appearing at all moved at the discovery.
    “By a rifle shot fired from the common, near the old bomb proof,” observed Captain Blessington, as the adjutantlooked to him, for the particular explanation he could not render himself.
    “Ah! this reminds me,” pursued the austere commandant,–“there was a shot fired also from the ramparts. By whom, and at what?”
    “By me, sir,” said Lieutenant Valletort, coming forward from the ranks, “and at what I conceived to be an Indian, lurking as a spy upon the common.”
    “Then, Lieutenant Sir Everard Valletort, no repetition of these firings, if you please; and let it be borne in mind by all, that although, from the peculiar nature of the service in which we are engaged, I so far depart from the established regulations of the army as to permit my officers to