The Ransom of Mercy Carter Read Online Free PDF Page A

they did, they wouldn’t recognize a warning; they’d ride faster to save her.
    Mercy hoisted Daniel and Marah one on each hip, and climbed on, feet sideways in the snow to get a purchase on the slippery tilt. At the top of the hill, she set them down. Her knees were trembling and her ankles hurt from being skewed around. When she lowered her exhausted arms, she wanted to cry along with Marah.
    Jemima and Ruth had halted to enjoy the rescue. Ruth was clapping, while Jemima waved her hat and scarf.
    The French vanished over the snow and across the brook, in the opposite direction from the hill up which the prisoners floundered. A few Indians were gathering the last plunder when the men of Hadley galloped up. A great cheer rose from the Deerfieldersstill fighting. It was a stirring sound, as full of joy as a shouted
Amen!
    Jemima forgot her fear and Ruth forgot her anger and they too cheered.
    Tears wet Mercy Carter’s face as she watched. From the besieged houses, the surviving English poured out. There was no pause. The men of Hadley rode right past the stockade, while the men of Deerfield raced on foot after them, hoisting long dark flintlock muskets.
    Don’t go after the Indians! she prayed. Stay where you are.
    But nothing would stop this pursuit; the English would hurl themselves against the enemy to get a hundred captives back.
    Mercy held Marah and Daniel tight against her so they could not watch.
    The Indians pulled back, coaxing the pursuit forward.
    One Indian was shot down, body twisting and arms flailing, and another great cheer came from the English. Then the French exploded out of the trees and Indians stepped from a cleft in the ground.
    Sunlight caught the snow and the world took on an odd pewtery shine and Ruth’s brother, marked out by the persimmon-dyed cap Ruth had knit him last fall, was the first one killed in the meadow.
    L AST TO REACH THE TOP of the hill, Eben supported the heavy burden by tucking his hands behind him, so he could straighten a little and look back.
    The English flag blew in a light wind, as if it did not know or care that its sons and daughters had died.
    Eben’s house was burning.
    In spite of its heavy covering of snow, the wood-shingled roof had caught fire. Fire was melting the snow, but snowmelt was not putting out the fire. A window fell in, cracked by heat, and flames leaped out. For a moment the flames were small and yellow, and then something caught; ammunition perhaps, or grease in the pan by the hearth.
    Spires of orange and scarlet streaked from the house and smoke blackened the snow.
    The men of Hadley died in the meadow and Eben Nims died in his heart.
    Molly and Mary and Hittie would be silent forever now.
    T HE CAPTIVES HAD NOT RESTED five minutes when the Indians moved them on. The French did not join them, nor were they visible. Those glorious uniforms and startling swords might have been swallowed by the frozen river.
    The prisoners went down the other side of the hill, and Deerfield vanished. They could neither see their home nor smell it burn, because the wind was blowing the other way and the smoke stayed behind. Ahead of them, snow sparkled rose and gold and the sun shone bright.
    A few Indians walked first, trampling out a path, while the prisoners trudged in single file after them. There were about twenty adult men, tied at the wrists and elbows. Around their necks were leather collars with two leashes, one held by the Indian in front, the other by the Indian behind. About the same number of grown women walked alone, because the Indians weren’t letting husbands walk with wives. The mothers were stunned and heartsick and, above all, slow.
    It was frightening to see their fathers treated like dogs and their mothers without hope. The children kept to themselves.
    Mercy’s legs throbbed, Daniel got heavier and Marah would not stop crying.
    Eliza walked fast enough but had to be guided in the right direction. She didn’t say anything about what had happened