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.One standing on the ramparts of the fort, and gazing on the waste of glittering water that bounded the view all along the northern horizon, and on the slumbering and seemingly boundless forest, that filled the other half of the panorama, would have fancied the spot the very abode of peacefulness and security; but Duncan of Lundie too well knew that the woods might at any moment give up their hundreds bent on the destruction of the fort and all it contained, and that even the treacherous lake offered a highway of easy approach, by which his more civilized, and scarcely less wily foes, the French, could come upon him, at an unwelcome and unguarded moment.Parties were sent out, under old and vigilant officers, men who cared little for the sports of the day, to scour the forest, and one entire company held the fort, under arms, with orders to maintain a vigilance as strict as if an enemy of superior force was known to be near.With these precautions, the remainder of the officers and men abandoned themselves, without apprehension, to the business of the morning.The spot selected for the sports, was a sort of esplanade a little west of the fort, and on the immediate bank of the lake.It had been cleared of its trees and stumps, that it might answer the purpose of a parade ground, as it possessed the advantage of having its rear protected by the water, and one of its flanks by the works.Men drilling on it, could be attacked, consequently, on two sides only, and as the cleared space beyond it, in the direction of the west and south, was large, any assailants would be compelled to quit the cover of the woods, before they could make an approach sufficiently near to render them dangerous.Although the regular arms of the regiment were muskets, some fifty rifles were produced on the present occasion.Every officer had one, as a part of his private provision for amusement, many belonged to the scouts and friendly Indians, of whom more or less were always hanging about the post, and there was a public provision of them, for the use of those who followed the game with the express object of obtaining supplies.Among those who carried the weapon were some five or six, who had reputations for knowing how to use it particularly well – so well indeed as to have given them a celebrity on the frontier – twice that number who were believed to be much better than common, and many who would have been thought expert, in almost any situation, but the precise one in which they now happened to be placed.The distance was a hundred yards, and the weapon was to be used without a rest.The target a board, with the customary circular lines in white paint, having the bull's eye in the centre.The first trials in skill commenced with challenges among the more ignoble of the competitors, to display their steadiness and dexterity in idle competition.None but the common men, engaged in this strife, which had little to interest the spectators, among whom no officer had yet appeared.Most of the soldiers were Scotch, the regiment having been raised at Stirling and its vicinity, not many years before, though, as in the case of Serjeant Dunham, many Americans had joined it since its arrival in the colonies.As a matter of course, the provincials were generally the most expert marksmen, and after a desultory trial of half an hour, it was necessarily conceded that a youth, who had been born in the colony of New York, and who, coming of Dutch extraction, bore the euphonious name of Van Valtenburg, but was familiarly called Follock, was the most expert of all who had yet tried their skill.It was just as this opinion prevailed, that the oldest captain, accompanied by most of the gentlemen and ladies of the fort, appeared on the parade.A train of some twenty females of humbler condition followed, among whom was seen the well turned form, intelligent, blooming, animated countenance, and neat, becoming attire of Mabel Dunham.Of females who were officially recognised as belonging to the class of ladies, there were but three in the fort, all of whom were officers' wives; staid matronly women, with the simplicity of the habits of middle life, singularly mixed in their deportment, with their notions of professional superiority, the rights and duties of caste, and the etiquette of rank.The other women were the wives of non-commissioned officers and privates, Mabel being strictly, as had been stated by the Quarter Master, the only real candidate for matrimony among her sex.There were a dozen other girls it is true, but they were still classed among the children, none of them being yet of an age to elevate them into objects of legitimate admiration.Some little preparation had been made for the proper reception of the females, who were placed on a low staging of planks, near the immediate bank of the lake.In their vicinity the prizes were suspended from a post.Great care was taken to reserve the front seat of the stage, for the three ladies and their children, while Mabel, and those who belonged to the non-commissioned officers of the regiment, occupied the second.The wives and daughters of the privates, were huddled together in the rear, some standing and some sitting as they could find room.Mabel, who had already been admitted to the society of the officers' wives, on the footing of a humble companion, was a good deal noticed by the ladies in front, who had a proper appreciation of modest self-respect and gentle refinement, though they were all fully aware of the value of rank, more particularly in a garrison.As soon as this important portion of the spectators had got into their places, Lundie gave orders for the trial of skill to proceed, in the manner that had been prescribed in his previous orders.Some eight or ten of the best marksmen of the garrison now took possession of the stand, and began to fire in succession.Among them were officers and men, indiscriminately placed, nor were the casual visiters in the fort excluded from the competition.As might have been expected, of men, whose amusements and comfortable subsistence equally depended on skill in the use of their weapons, it was soon found that they were all sufficiently expert to hit the bull's eye, or the white spot in the centre of the target.Others, who succeeded them, it is true were less sure, their bullets striking in the different circles that surrounded the centre of the target, without touching it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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