No smoke rose from any of the
chimneys, but the sharp eyes of the scouts saw loaded figures
departing through a great field of ripe and waving corn. It was
the last of the inhabitants, fleeing with what they could carry.
Two or three warriors might have been in that group of fugitives,
but the scouts made no attempt to pursue. They could not
restrain a little feeling of sympathy and pity, although a just
retribution was coming.
"If the Iroquois had only stood neutral at the beginning of the
war, as we asked them," said Heemskerk, "how much might have been
spared to both sides! Look! Those people are stopping for a
moment."
The burdened figures, perhaps a dozen, halted at the far edge of
the corn field. Henry and Paul readily imagined that they were
taking a last look at their town, and the feeling of pity and
sympathy deepened, despite Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and all the
rest. But that feeling never extended to the white allies of the
Iroquois, whom Thayendanegea characterized in word and in writing
as "more savage than the savages themselves."
The scouts waited an hour, and then entered the town. Not a soul
was in Kanawaholla. Some of the lighter things had been taken
away, but that was all.
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