" Then I told him all
I had gathered about the unknown force in the hills, and the apparent
strategy of a campaign which was beyond an Indian's wits. "There is a
white man at the back of it," I said, "a white man who talks in Bible
words and is mad for devastation."
His face had grown very solemn. He went to a bureau, unlocked it, and
took from a drawer a bit of paper, which he tossed to me.
"I had that a week past to-morrow. My servant got it from an Indian in
the woods."
It was a dirty scrap, folded like a letter, and bearing the
superscription, "_To the man Francis Nicholson, presently Governor in
Virginia_." I opened it and read:--
"_Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield:
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied_."
"There," I cried, "there is proof of my fears. What kind of Indian
sends a message like that? Trust me, sir, there is a far more hellish
mischief brewing than any man wots of."
"It looks not unlike it," he said grimly. "Now let's hear what you
propose."
"I can have my men at their posts by the week end. We will string them
out along the frontier, and hold especially the river valleys. If
invasion comes, then at any rate the Tidewater will get early news of
it.
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