Legends of the Shawangunk2 JR.pdf - Friends of the Sabbath ...

Catherine DuBois. 41
when the inhabitants went to labor in the fields they did go with their arms close at hand.
It was on the morning of the memorable 7th day of June that Lewis Du Bois arose
and went about his morning duties, returning to his log cabin for breakfast at the usual
time, and the meal not being ready, acting under the impulse of the moment, he gave vent
to his feelings in some unpleasant words. The gentle Catherine, who had left her beloved
home in the Fatherland, where she possessed every comfort, choosing to follow the
fortune of Lewis in a new and savage country, under all the privations of a backwoods
life,—Catherine looked at her husband in surprise at his unwonted words; a tear started to
trickle down the cheek of the young wife, as she seemed on the point of giving way to a
burst of sobs, but she suddenly checked herself, and assuming the dignity of injured
innocence, curtly answered him. In short this couple, on this eventful day, had their first
serious misunderstanding.
The breakfast was over at last. Unlike all other meals no brisk conversation was kept
up. In fact this particular breakfast was partaken of in silence, and at its close Lewis
arose to go. It was his turn to labor in the field; his work lay some distance from home,
and he was to take his noonday repast with him. His wife had prepared a choice venison
steak, some fresh fish from the creek, a cake of the sweetest corn bread; and butter made
by her own skilled hands; these she now handed him, packed carefully away in a neat
little basket fashioned of white birch-bark. This she did with an averted glance, without
proffering the accustomed good-bye.
Lewis was deeply pained at this; he could but think he was to blame for it all. Still
his pride stood in the way of an acknowledgement on his part. Once on the threshold he
was tempted to return and plead forgiveness; as he passed the little window he saw
Catherine seated at the puncheon table, with her face buried in her hands. He would have
gone back, but hearing his name called by other members of the working party who were
awaiting him, he turned to accompany them.
During the morning Lewis felt ill at ease. His companions noted his taciturnity and
vainly tried to elicit the cause. The day dragged wearily by; he longed for the hour to
come when he could hasten to her side and plead forgiveness. What if something should
occur, and he be not permitted to see her again! The thought startled him like a
presentiment.
Notwithstanding a guard had been left at Wildwyck, so long a time had transpired
since any act of atrocity had been committed, that those ordinary measures of safety that
prudence would have dictated were often disregarded. On this particular morning a
number of savages were noticed about the village, going from house to house ostensibly
to dispose of some maize and a few beans. They had entered by all of the gates, coming
in singly or by twos and threes; and the people were unsuspectful that a large body of
savages were in their very midst, ready at the favorable moment to enter upon the work
of merciless slaughter and pillage.