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[Illustration:

  “I DREW MY SWORD, AND WITH THE HILT GAVE SEVERAL BLOWS ON THE DOOR.”
]

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                          WITH FORCE AND ARMS




                           A TALE OF LOVE AND
                           SALEM WITCHCRAFT.




                                   BY

                            HOWARD R. GARIS.





                             --------------

                               NEW YORK:
                    J.S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
                            57 ROSE STREET,
                    11 Paternoster Building, London.




                             --------------

          Copyright, 1908, by J.S. Ogilvie Publishing Company.

                          All Rights Reserved.

                     Copyrighted in Great Britain.

                             --------------

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                                PREFACE.


The showman, crying his attractions, lifted up his voice at the flap of
his tent. So, at this, the entrance to that which is within, those who
stop to read may gain a hint of what is beyond. Only a little, though,
to whet your appetite and make you wish for more, it is to be hoped.

So, then, this is a tale of love, of witchcraft, and of fighting. A tale
of a brave man, and as brave a maid. Herein may be found the doings of
witch-finders, Puritans and Indians. Also there is set down the struggle
of two men for the love of a woman, and it may be learned who won. You
may read of the lifting of the great rock, of the killing of the
serpent, of the battle at the fort, of the trial of death, and the
bursting of the mighty press. This much and more, until the tale is at
an end.

The author hopes you, reader, and the many of you who make up the
public, will like the story. He has tried to make it interesting. If it
serves to help you pass a pleasant hour or two, the writer will have
accomplished his purpose.

So, then, having had patience thus far, you may enter, and read.

                                                              H. R. G.




                               CONTENTS.

                                                                 PAGE
                              CHAPTER I.
  The Governor’s Commission                                         9

                              CHAPTER II.
  Of the Scarlet Snow                                              20

                             CHAPTER III.
  The Trial                                                        32

                              CHAPTER IV.
  How I Cast the Knife                                             41

                              CHAPTER V.
  Of the Stone by the Brook                                        51

                              CHAPTER VI.
  Lucille                                                          63

                             CHAPTER VII.
  Of the Horseman on the Beach                                     72

                             CHAPTER VIII.
  The Battle at the Fort                                           82

                              CHAPTER IX.
  How the French Took Pemaquid                                     96

                              CHAPTER X.
  The Man at the Inn                                              111

                              CHAPTER XI.
  A Man and His Wife                                              123

                             CHAPTER XII.
  The Time of Peril                                               130

                             CHAPTER XIII.
  In Salem Gaol                                                   140

                             CHAPTER XIV.
  A Sentence of Death                                             150

                              CHAPTER XV.
  Peine Forte et Dure                                             161

                             CHAPTER XVI.
  How We Broke Gaol                                               172

                             CHAPTER XVII.
  The News Nanette Brought Me                                     183

                            CHAPTER XVIII.
  How the Eagle Sailed                                            192

                             CHAPTER XIX.
  How I Found Lucille                                             204

                              CHAPTER XX.
  A Watch in the Night                                            216

                             CHAPTER XXI.
  Of the Voyage of Lucille                                        227

                             CHAPTER XXII.
  A Duel on the Sands                                             240

                            CHAPTER XXIII.
  Shadows in the Night                                            256

                             CHAPTER XXIV.
  How Simon Kept His Oath                                         267

                             CHAPTER XXV.
  In the Name of the King                                         282

                             CHAPTER XXVI.
  The Last Fight                                                  294

                            CHAPTER XXVII.
  Simon                                                           306

                            CHAPTER XXVIII.
  The End of Captain Amherst                                      316

                             CHAPTER XXIX.
  An Order from the King                                          328

                             CHAPTER XXX.
  Love, Honor and Obey                                            338

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                          WITH FORCE AND ARMS.

                               ----------




                               CHAPTER I.
                       THE GOVERNOR’S COMMISSION.

As I left the presence of His Excellency I encountered, in the doorway,
a man who was entering with every appearance of haste. We came against
each other full tilt. For the moment the shock threw us apart.

“Zounds! But you are a clumsy fellow!” he exclaimed, limping toward me,
the expression of pain on his face showing that I must have hurt him.
“Could you not look whither you were going? You stepped on my foot like
a very horse,” and the words came testily.

He scowled as he prepared to pass by me.

My hand was on my sword, for he was most insulting.

“Sir!” I exclaimed, “for the pain I have caused you I am regretful. As
for ‘clumsy fellows,’ look to yourself, sir!”

My weapon was out on the instant. He was not a second behind me. The
steel blades crossed with a clash.

“What is this, sirs?” cried Sir William Phips, Massachusetts’s Governor,
whose room I had just left. He hastened toward us.

“What mean you two, with your swords out in the Council Chamber, like a
pair of swashbucklers over a card game? Put them up at once, you Captain
Amherst; and you, also, Sir George. You are both at fault. This must go
no further; do you hear? If it does, you may reckon with me on the
quarter deck.”

My opponent and I were startled. Somewhat abashed, he whom the Governor
called Sir George, sheathed his weapon, I following his action.

I looked at the man. He was tall and well built. His clothing was of
good quality, with fine lace and ruffles; his sword a trusty blade, set
in a hilt, studded with red stones. On his face there was a haughty
look, yet withal, a trace of sadness. He gazed sharply at me, seeming
about to put a question, but the Governor was beckoning him, and he
passed me without a word, scowling darkly, into the chamber of His
Excellency. Then I went out.

There came a time, afterward, when I wished with all my heart, that our
swords had come into use, that day; a time when I would have given much
to have seen him dead before me. But there was another way.

I felt within my jacket to see if my papers were safe, for on them, now,
depended my good fortune. I had come to Boston town without friends, and
almost on a forlorn hope, for England was no longer a safe place for me,
with a relentless enemy following close on my heels at every step. My
mission had succeeded better than I had dared to hope, and I was leaving
now, carrying with me a captain’s commission, duly signed and sealed by
His Excellency. I also had a letter of introduction to one, Samuel
Willis, a tavern keeper at Salem.

Of the things which had come to pass before I found myself in Boston
town, in the year of grace 1692, I will relate none for the present. At
any rate here I was, Captain Edward Amherst, in age not yet a score and
a half, in stature say a bit over six feet; in weight--but there, you
will doubtless have more than enough of me ere I have finished.

Sufficient to say that I was a soldier by trade, and one of fortune, by
necessity, and that I sought service in their Majesties’ American
Colonies. I had left London eight weeks ago, bearing letters to Governor
Phips, from old comrades in arms, some of whom had sailed the seas with
him. Arriving in Boston I had put up at the inn, and had sought an
audience with His Excellency, which interview was just over, with the
ending I have described.

When I was ushered into the presence of Sir William I explained in few
words why I came, and what I wanted. He extended his hand for my
letters, and, when he had them, he gave me no more heed for a time, but
read the missives. I watched his face as he scanned the pages, the while
he kept up a running fire of comments.

“Ha! Tyler Anderson,” he said, “I know him well. He has a steady hand,
and can use a cutlass famously. Sir Arthur Kent, too; a sly rascal with
the women. Bob Frenchard; he never could get enough of fighting. John
Powell; little Nat Edwards, also. Why, man, you might have all Boston as
far as I am concerned, with these letters. You are very welcome,
Captain. Now what can I do for you?”

“Much,” I answered, surprised and pleased at his welcome; and then I
told him what I desired; a soldier’s chance to mend his fortunes.

“How would a Captain’s commission, on this side of the water, suit you?”
he asked, when I had finished. “You tell me that was your rank before.”

“I would desire nothing better,” I said warmly.

“It is yours, then,” was the reply, and he drew out a parchment,
partially covered with writing.

“You probably have heard of the activity of the French and Indian enemy
on our borders,” said the Governor, while he prepared a quill. “We are
about to proceed against them. You have come at a time when certain
currents are like to drift you just where you want to go; into the thick
of the fight.” Then he opened his ink horn.

I listened for a while to the scratching of his quill. It was some time
before he had finished, and, looking up he handed a folded parchment
across the table to me.

“There is your commission, Captain,” he said, rising. “As for your
instructions, they are, in brief, these. You are to ride to Salem town,
and enlist a company of one hundred men. Drill them well, against the
time when we shall unite, and smite the French Philistine and his Indian
allies, with fire and with sword. We will rake them fore and aft. An
expedition against Canada is timed for this season next year. I hope it
will be more successful than the one I led two years ago, for indeed
that was a grievous failure, though, of a truth, it was against heavy
odds.”

I had heard of the manner in which Frontenac had scattered Phips and the
English fleet sent against him, but I held my peace; for failure is no
happy subject with any man. Sir William told me in few words that
Admiral Sir Francis Wheeler was expected to arrive in March, with his
fleet from the Caribbee Islands. Governor Phips had undertaken to raise
small companies of men throughout the Colony, to act with the Admiral on
his arrival. This much he told me, then, bidding me a pleasant farewell,
and wishing me success, he took up his quill again, to indicate that the
audience was at an end.

My encounter with the man in the doorway passed from my mind, as I
descended the steps of the Town Hall, and trudged along the street, to
where I had stabled my mare