His face lightened, and he told me about his flight from the Lodge, four or five of his own men close behind him, and the Loyalists running into them, to be delayed while he escaped into the darkness.
“Only the trail I meant to take was washed away by the rain—ouch—and I got lost for a bit, looking for another. Then it began to thunder and the lightning was strikin’ close enough I could smell it, but at least I could see my way now and then.”
He’d struck back in the direction he thought home to be, hoping to encounter some of his men, whom he’d told to guard the New House from the rear and capture such men of Cunningham’s as came that way.
“Capture them?” I said, tying a suture, clipping it, and picking out a fresh thread. “Where did you mean to put them? Not the root cellar, I hope.” Our food levels were perilously low after a long winter, and such dried fruits and early vegetables as we had were all in the root cellar, along with bags of chestnuts, walnuts, and peanuts, and I could just imagine the havoc a lot of resentful captives might wreak in there.
He shook his head. His eyes were open now, fixed on the ceiling joists in order to avoid looking at what I was doing to his chest.
“Nay, I’d told Bobby they should put anyone they caught into the pigs’ cave, tied up.”
“Dear God. And what if the White Sow took it into her mind to show up?” While the legendary Beast of the Ridge had declined to establish a new lair under the present house—thank God—she did still roam the mountainside, eating her fill of chestnut mast and anything else that took her fancy, and she did, now and then, visit the pigpen and liberate a few of its inhabitants, most of these her own descendants.
“The fortunes of war,” he said callously. “They should ha’ kent better than to follow a man who canna choose between the King and God. Ng!”
“We’re more than halfway,” I said soothingly. “As for the captain … most Loyalists would assure you that as God appointed the King, His interests lie in the same direction. Go on telling me about last night.”
He grunted and shifted his weight uneasily, but then settled again and took a cautious breath.
“Aye. Well, by the time I could tell for sure where I was, I was close to Tom MacLeod’s place—did Gillebride say Tom’s nose is broken?—and I thought I’d best take refuge there. So I was sloggin’ through the mud and bushes, trying to keep track of where I was by what I could see when the lightning went, and all of a sudden there was a thunderclap that split the sky and a monstrous flash that left me blind, and the rain turned to poundin’ hail, just like that—” He snapped his fingers. “So I pulled my plaid over my head to shield it, and next thing I ken, the captain’s run into me in the dark. Only I didna ken who it was, and neither did he, and then the lightning went again and I went for my pistol and he went for his cutlass and …” He waved a hand at the half-sewn gash in his chest.
“I see. You said you fired at him?”
“Well, I tried. My powder was damp, and little wonder. The gun fired, but I doubt the ball even reached him.”
“It might have,” I observed, reaching for another length of suture. “I took one ball out of his forearm.”
“Good. Can I have a wee drop, Sassenach?”
“Since you’re already lying down, yes.”
I’d been paying no attention to anything beyond Jamie’s chest for the last little while, but when I rose to get the whisky, I heard voices downstairs. Raised voices. One seemed to be Lieutenant Esterhazy’s, and I thought there was a female voice—Elspeth? Someone else that sounded familiar, but—
Jamie sat up abruptly and made a noise like a stuck pig.
“Bloody lie down!”
“That’s Cloudtree,” he said urgently. “Go fetch him, Sassenach.”
I grabbed the discarded compress, slapped it into his hand, and shoved the hand against the unstitched side of his chest, which was now bleeding freely.
“Bloody lie down and I will!”
As it was, though, I didn’t have to. Feet came pounding up the stairs amidst an agitation of voices, and with a cursory knock the door opened.
“I told him he couldn’t—” Agnes began, scowling over her shoulder, but her stepfather pushed past her, only to be grasped by the arm by an irate Lieutenant Esterhazy.
“You stop right there, sir!”
“Leave go o’ me, you shit-sucker! I have somethin’ to tell the colonel.”
“Lieutenant!” I said, raising my own voice to command level. I didn’t have occasion to use it often, but I remembered how, and the lieutenant stopped, mouth open as he looked at me. So did Agnes and Aaron Cloudtree.
“The colonel wants to speak to him,” I said mildly. “Agnes, take the lieutenant downstairs. Go and see how the captain is doing.”
He glared at me for a long moment, turned the glare on Cloudtree—who was elaborately brushing his rain-damp sleeve as though to remove finger marks—and left, followed by Agnes, who tossed her stepfather a glare of her own, though he didn’t seem to notice.
“I seen Scotchee, Colonel,” Cloudtree began, advancing on the bed. Then he noticed the state of Jamie’s chest and his eyes sprang wide. “Jesus Christ, man! What happened to you?”
“Quite a few things,” I said shortly. “Perhaps you—”
“And what did Scotchee say, then, Mr. Cloudtree?” Jamie was still sitting up, apparently oblivious of the slow drops of blood oozing down his ribs.
“Oh.” Aaron took a moment to recollect, but then nodded reassuringly at Jamie.
“He said to tell you, you owe him big for this, but he doesn’t think you’re gonna live long enough to pay him back, so dinna fash unless there’s whisky.”
113
And We Parted on the Square
March 30, A.D. 1780
Fraser’s Ridge, North Carolina
From James Fraser, Proprietor of Fraser’s Ridge
To the Following Men:
Geordie Hallam
Conor MacNeil
Angus MacLean
Robert McClanahan
William Baird
Joseph Baird
Ebeneezer Baird
William MacIlhenny
Ewan Adair
Peadair MacFarland
Holman Leslie
Alexander MacCoinneach
Lachlan Hunt
As you have, each and all, conspired and acted to attack and arrest me, with the desired End of causing my Death, the Contract of Tenancy signed between us is, as of this Date, rendered Null and Void in its Entirety.
By such Actions as you have undertaken, you have broken my Trust and betrayed your sworn Word.
Therefore, you are, each and all, hereby Evicted from the Land you presently occupy, dispossessed of your Title to said Land, and are required to depart, with your Families, from Fraser’s Ridge within the Space of Ten Days.
You may carry away such Food, Clothing, Tools, Seedcorn, Livestock, and Personal Property as you possess. All of your Buildings, Outbuildings, Sheds, Corncribs, Pens, and other Structures are forfeit. Should these be burnt or damaged by way of Spite, you will be apprehended and your Belongings confiscated.
Should you seek to return privily to Fraser’s Ridge, you will be shot on Sight.