NATIVE SON by J M Hochstetler

Author:J M Hochstetler
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Sheaf House Publishers, LLC
Published: 2012-04-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

There could no longer be any doubt that disaster had befallen Carleton’s expedition. Why else would Stern have taken the risk of summoning her in a terse letter to come to his headquarters as quickly as possible?

Levi was waiting to pick her up in an old hay wagon just outside Winisimmit. Uncharacteristically silent, he ventured no answer as to what his father wanted. Most of the way to Roxbury, they rode in strained silence.

When they reached Tess’s mansion, Elizabeth jumped down from the wagon without waiting for assistance and hurried into the house. Stern met her at the door of the parlor, which served as his office. His face grave, he drew her into the room without speaking.

She came to a halt just inside the threshold, taken aback, staring across the room at Washington, whose face reflected a gravity equal to her uncle’s. At sight of him, fear closed over her throat.

A movement to her left caught her eye. She turned toward it, then, with a cry of relief and delight, tore off her woolen fisherman’s cap and ran to Andrews’ arms.

“Charles! Oh, I’m so glad you’re safely back! It’s surely been years since I’ve seen you. Where’s Jonathan? Is he at Cambridge—?”

She stopped abruptly. If his commander and aide were here, then it made no sense for Carleton not to be.

Stepping back out of Andrews’ embrace to scrutinize his face, she noted several details she had at first missed. A ragged scar angled across his cheek. His face was haggard, and his eyes were dark with exhaustion and an emotion that brought the terror flooding back.

“Where’s Jonathan?” she repeated, glancing fearfully at Stern and Washington, then back to Andrews. “Didn’t he come back with you?”

“Please sit down, Miss Howard,” Washington said.

Stern brought forward a chair. She stared at it blankly as though it were an object with which she had no acquaintance. Rounding on Andrews, she grabbed him by the arms, all but shaking him.

“What happened? Tell me!”

In a voice that shook he gave a terse account of the events at Buck Tooth, disbelief and horror etching his features at the memory. “They were on Jon so quickly he didn’t have a chance,” he concluded. “The rest of us were forced back into the council house. Aupaumut and Konkapot said the Seneca were debating whether they should sell us to the British, torture us to death, or make us slaves.

“Finally the sachem of the town came in with some of the elders. He insisted that since we were his guests, we must be allowed to leave. We demanded they free Jon, too, but they wouldn’t even acknowledge they had him or answer any of our questions. We were taken immediately to our horses and escorted a good distance south, out of Seneca lands.”

She heard him out in stunned silence, unable to comprehend what he was saying. Clearing his throat, Andrews went on.

“Trying to circle back would have been foolhardy without a large armed force. So we followed the

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