Black Nick, the hermit of the hills guide

Summary

Characters

• BurgoyneAlso Sir JohnGatekeeperFrom Chapter 1
• SchuylerAlso General Philip SchuylerHelperFrom Chapter 1
• DianaLoveFrom Chapter 2
• AdrianLeadFrom Chapter 3
• BearskinVillainFrom Chapter 4
• ButlerVillainFrom Chapter 5
• Baron ReideselOtherFrom Chapter 8
• FrancisAlso ClarkVillainFrom Chapter 9
• StarkHelperFrom Chapter 10
• Colonel GansevoortHelperFrom Chapter 14
• CavannesVillainFrom Chapter 17
• HarleyVillainFrom Chapter 17
• Baroness ReideselGuardianFrom Chapter 19

Chapter by chapter

Storylines

• The Mohawk scouts must meet the British messenger at the clearing; Night Hawk's arrival and delivery of intelligence fulfill the rendezvous.

• Rebel pickets and patrols obstruct Night Hawk's movements, firing on him and forcing him off his intended route.

• The rebel relief expedition threatens St. Leger's rear, prompting an effort to warn him.

  • The threatened relief becomes an approaching force; the besiegers flee, Adrian's Rangers enter their abandoned camp, and the fort is declared saved.

• Send the other four warriors back to Burgoyne with warning that his enemies are gathering; Black Nick's assault prevents their orderly departure.

• Send Panther Cub to warn St. Leger of the impending attack on his rear; the assault on the scouts interrupts preparations, and the messenger's departure is unconfirmed.

• Night Hawk promises to reach Burgoyne by way of the lakes with further intelligence; his flight from the clearing leaves this undertaking unfulfilled.

• Black Nick attacks the assembled scouts and threatens Night Hawk, leaving four warriors down and carrying off the fifth; Night Hawk escapes the clearing on horseback.

• The young officer resolves to investigate the habitation on Haunted Hill, suspects its inhabitant is connected to the demon mystery, and discovers a smoking hut and a girl surrounded by tame animals; the suspected connection remains unexplained.

  • Schuyler learns Diana's name and hears her warnings about the demon's lethal activity, while maintaining that it is a man. The attack interrupts his investigation, Diana disappears from his sight, and he resolves to return with force; the mystery remains unexplained.
  • Adrian recognizes Haunted Hill, connects his rescue to its supposed demon, and follows Diana to investigate. He loses her but reaches the clearing and enters the hut; the mystery remains unexplained.

• The young officer undertakes a secret mission from Schuyler, choosing the Haunted Hill route to avoid Burgoyne's outlying Indigenous fighters; his curiosity temporarily distracts him from the mission.

  • Schuyler escapes the glade, regains the road to Derryfield, and resumes his journey; completion of his secret mission remains unconfirmed.
  • Adrian's capture prevents him from continuing his secret mission, and the paper he carried passes into Butler's possession.
  • Adrian protects the secrecy of his mission, but remains bound even after his captors flee.
  • Adrian recommits to reaching Derryfield and departs toward it on Diana's horse, resuming travel after captivity and renewed distraction; completion of his secret mission remains unconfirmed.
  • Adrian reaches Stark and delivers Schuyler's request for assistance at Bemis' Hights. The delivery is complete, though Stark refuses compliance.

• An Indigenous scout and accompanying warriors follow the young officer toward Haunted Hill, establishing a concealed, step-by-step pursuit as he ascends.

  • The concealed pursuit becomes an overt attack at the glade. Schuyler escapes their immediate grasp, but infers from the whooping behind him that pursuit continues.

• Adrian Schuyler seeks Diana's confidence and grows attracted to her; her initial displeasure softens, but his compliment embarrasses her. After escaping the attack, he remains anxious for her safety.

  • Diana shows urgent concern for Adrian and provides his means of escape. His desire to see her persists, and he accepts her help and promises secrecy, strengthening their bond.
  • Diana comes to warn Adrian of danger, and he seeks her assurance that she will not endanger herself for his party.
  • Adrian repeatedly urges Diana to seek safety, but she insists on accompanying him into battle; he subsequently leads her horse out of danger.
  • Diana bathes and binds Adrian's head wounds, extending her practical care for him.
  • Adrian and Diana are now introduced as betrothed and leave the tent together.
  • Adrian and Diana marry and depart for Europe together.

• Mohawk warriors attack Schuyler and Diana's animal companions. Schuyler fights free despite a grazing wound, but the warriors pursue him into the forest.

• Schuyler resolves to return to Haunted Hill with sufficient force to investigate its mystery.

  • Captivity prevents Adrian from gathering a force and returning to Haunted Hill.
  • Adrian returns to investigate alone rather than with the intended force, then leaves for Derryfield without resolving the mystery.

• The mountain hermit seeks revenge against the patriots despite being called a renegade.

  • Butler gains power over Adrian, plans a specific act of revenge against him and obtains his paper.

• The mountain hermit and Bearskin cooperate in commanding warriors; the hermit credits Bearskin with keeping faith and relies on his reports and obedience.

• The hermit will join the waiting warriors when the moon sinks for an attack on the surrounded town before morning.

  • Butler abandons the surprise attack because Adrian's escaped horse can warn Derryfield; apparent signs of alarm confirm his concern, and signals recall the attacking force.

• Bearskin is to watch the road and stop travelers silently with arrows, avoiding gunfire.

• Bearskin is to intercept the approaching traveler, take him into the forest and hold him alive; he leaves to carry out the order.

  • The warriors capture Adrian alive, secure him and take him from the road into the woods, fulfilling the interception's objective.

• Adrian prevents the hermit from leaving their encounter, defeats his attempted armed resistance, disarms him and takes him prisoner.

  • The confrontation reverses Adrian's earlier victory: although he wounds Butler, the warriors capture Adrian and transfer the handcuffs from Butler to him.

• Adrian intends to take the captive hermit into Derryfield dead or alive; he binds him to his saddle and sets off toward town.

  • Adrian loses his prisoner, his horse and his freedom before reaching Derryfield.
  • Adrian remains bound and cannot take Butler to Derryfield; Butler's flight removes him from Adrian's immediate reach.

• Adrian is held captive by Butler's force, disarmed and handcuffed, and subjected to an exhausting march into the woods.

  • Adrian is bound hand and foot and prevented from escaping. The apparition then drives away his surviving captors, ending their immediate watch, but he remains bound at dawn.
  • His captors flee, and Adrian cuts his foot bonds, recovers his weapons and leaves their camp. Their custody ends, although the handcuff key remains with the fleeing chief.

• Butler intends to take revenge on Adrian by burning him.

  • Adrian expects imminent torture, but the apparition's attack scatters the captors before Butler carries out his revenge.
  • The captors' flight and Adrian's escape prevent Butler from carrying out the threatened burning; no abandonment of his revenge is established.

• Adrian discovers that his former prisoner commands Rangers and Indians and calls himself Tony Butler; Butler also obtains the paper Adrian carried, whose contents remain unrevealed.

  • The paper is identified as Adrian's commission, which reveals his rank and identity to Butler. His orders and his commander's identity remain withheld.
  • Cavannes addresses the man calling himself Tony Butler as Pierce Harley, introducing another name for him without explaining the discrepancy or revealing Adrian's captured paper.

• Learning of Adrian's service with the Zieten Hussars increases Butler's respect and reduces his hostility, though Adrian's refusals subsequently vex him.

• Butler seeks to learn Schuyler's orders and his commander's identity; Adrian commits to keeping his errand secret despite threats.

• Butler attempts to induce Adrian to defect to the king's service, but Adrian refuses.

• Adrian seeks to escape by obtaining a sleeping guard's knife; a hidden sentry stops his first attempt, and the apparition interrupts his renewed attempt.

  • Adrian uses a dead Indian's knife to cut his foot bonds, recovers his weapons and escapes the camp, fulfilling the escape objective by a different opportunity.

• The identity and purpose of the horned apparition remain unknown. It kills four captors and drives the survivors away, leaving Adrian bound; he fears it will kill him too, but dawn reveals it has disappeared.

  • Adrian finds further physical traces and interprets the apparition's attack as his rescue while doubting its supernatural nature. Diana's fear and response to the horn deepen the mountain mystery, but the apparition's identity and purpose remain unknown.
  • Further appearances extend the apparition mystery: the forest stranger apparently withstands bullets and a sword thrust, claims to be Burgoyne's fate and the demon of the forest, urges retreat, and disappears after extinguishing the lights. These events disclose an intention toward Burgoyne without establishing the stranger's identity or explaining the apparent invulnerability.
  • Adrian learns the Mountain Devil's public name and supernatural reputation and associates it with his liberation; reports extend its alleged activities, but its identity and purpose remain unexplained.
  • Adrian identifies the rider as the Mountain Demon. The figure warns Stark of reinforcements and leads a successful charge against the enemy, revealing support for Stark's force while leaving his identity unexplained.
  • The apparition continues disrupting Butler's plans and appears at English outposts in changing guises despite pursuit and gunfire. Butler now has a strengthened suspicion of its identity, but that identity remains unrevealed.
  • Cavannes is identified as Diana's father and linked explicitly to a diabolical appearance that frightened Burgoyne's company and previously frightened Adrian. His scientific training provides context, but the apparition's methods remain unexplained.
  • Cavannes's disclosure explains the apparent supernatural manifestations as deliberate impersonations using scientific effects and fear.

• Diana seeks to save Adrian from the feared man on the mountain, first urging him to leave and then supplying a horse with instructions to ride to Derryfield and release it.

  • Adrian reaches Derryfield and relinquishes custody of the black horse, completing the escape Diana enabled.
  • Adrian releases the borrowed horse to return to the Haunted Mountain, completing the remaining instruction attached to Diana's assistance; it subsequently returns carrying her.

• Diana asks Adrian to keep their secret, and he promises silence; the horn's summons and her concealed assistance disclose a connection to the mountain's mystery without explaining it.

  • Butler's terrified recognition supplies another unexplained connection involving Diana, without revealing her secret.
  • Diana's connection to the mountain mystery becomes clearer through the identification of her father as Cavannes and the accounts of his diabolical appearances.
  • The disclosed history explains Diana's woodland life and her connection to Cavannes's concealed activities, including the horse supplied to Adrian.

• Desertion, public hostility after the McCrea affair, and fear of the forest stranger undermine Burgoyne's army; the panic spreads to British pickets.

  • The reported killing and escape are followed by another appearance, which alerts the picket line and ends in a vidette's death despite repeated attempts to stop the horseman.
  • Reports claim that the Mountain Devil has frightened Indigenous fighters out of the country and is driving Burgoyne's men home; these remain reported effects rather than independently confirmed departures.
  • All Indigenous allies desert, depriving the army of scouting and intelligence support; supernatural fears and repeated raids further demoralize its sentries.
  • The deserted Mohawks remain terrified of the supposed demon, and renewed apparitions rout both them and the British dragoons despite Butler's efforts to restore confidence.

• Burgoyne resolves to maintain alert rounds and visit the pickets himself to counter their fear.

  • Burgoyne persists despite opposition, reaches the picket reserve with his staff and questions its officer, carrying out his intended personal visit. Continued alert rounds remain unconfirmed.

• Burgoyne seeks to capture and hang the forest stranger; his attempt to overpower him fails, and the stranger escapes.

  • The headquarters search ends without capture. Burgoyne recognizes the returning visitor and orders Francis to capture or kill him, but the horseman escapes the armed interception and ultimately loses Francis in a concealed gully.
  • Burgoyne authorizes Butler's proposed capture expedition, which departs and reaches the end of Francis's trail; no capture has yet occurred.

• Burgoyne plans a grand inspection with his generals and an attack on Schuyler's militia once supplies arrive; Reidesel leaves to invite the officers.

• The forest stranger penetrates Burgoyne's headquarters, is blamed by Burgoyne for the sentry's murder, and overpowers him before escaping in front of the arriving officers.

  • Burgoyne recovers from the headquarters encounter and recognizes its intruder in the returning horseman. Their conflict extends to the outposts, where the horseman kills a vidette and escapes into the forest under pursuit.
  • Reidesel's account identifies Cavannes as the figure who entered Burgoyne's quarters despite the sentries and terrified those present.

• The forest stranger seeks to persuade Burgoyne to retreat before disaster overtakes him.

• Francis intends to return by daylight and follow the horseman to his haunt, using the trees he marks to retrace his route.

  • Francis returns with an armed expedition and successfully retraces his marked route to the disappearance site, but the quarry's haunt remains undiscovered.

• Stark refuses Schuyler's request to join him at Bemis' Hights, frustrating Adrian's effort to secure his assistance.

• Adrian's indignation at Stark's refusal gives way to cooperation, gratitude for his release from irons, and amusement at Stark's informal command.

  • Adrian discovers the unexpected discipline of Stark's troops and contributes to their victory, extending their cooperation in battle.

• Adrian seeks to recover his charger and return to Schuyler; enemy dragoons obstruct the road, and he agrees to postpone his departure until it clears.

• Stark intends to attack the enemy dragoons that night under his independent command; Adrian agrees to help, and Stark vows to capture English flags or die trying.

  • Adrian locates and examines the enemy camp and undertakes further reconnaissance in support of the intended attack.
  • Stark carries out the attack with Adrian's participation. The mounted breakthrough enables his troops to drive the dragoons from their position and achieve victory at Bennington.

• Congress has withheld Stark's earned Continental commission, while New Hampshire has granted him a state commission, establishing a grievance behind his insistence on independent command.

• Adrian intends to lead his party around the enemy camp to reconnoitre it from another quarter.

  • The enemy blocks the return route, and Adrian turns from further reconnaissance to fighting his way back toward Stark.

• Diana seeks to get Adrian's party to retreat from Butler and the Indigenous fighters.

  • Diana offers an unguarded escape route, which Adrian declines to take. She accompanies his charge and ultimately withdraws with him toward his Rangers.

• Butler and Indigenous fighters threaten Adrian's scouting party from behind, cutting it off from its own forces; fighters appearing at the wood's edge confirm the danger.

  • The threatened interception becomes a battle. The Rangers break through and Adrian wounds Butler, but enemies rally to cut off Adrian and Diana as they gallop after the Rangers; their complete escape is not yet confirmed.

• Adrian draws the enemy into an ineffective pursuit, then reverses his Rangers into a charge to break through their line.

• Adrian seeks to return to Stark's headquarters by the promised hour; he chooses to break through the enemy rather than take Diana's unguarded path.

• Butler recognizes Diana and flees in terror; Adrian witnesses his reaction, but its cause remains unexplained.

  • The account reveals Harley's love for Diana Harley and her death at Cavannes's hands, adding a possible basis for his terror without explicitly explaining his reaction to Diana.

• Stark seeks to deny Burgoyne provisions before sunset.

  • Burgoyne's reported loss of all his cavalry at Bennington establishes a major defeat for the enemy, though these events do not confirm whether Stark denied him provisions before sunset.

• Stark knows the Mountain Demon, but the basis of their acquaintance remains unexplained to Adrian.

• St. Leger's siege threatens Fort Schuyler through casualties, damaged defenses and dwindling provisions, but panic routs the besiegers and ends the siege.

  • St. Leger's flight confirms the abandonment of his former position and the end of the siege threat.

• Schuyler orders Gansevoort to hold Fort Schuyler until relief arrives; the delivered letter restores his resolve and rallies his officers.

• The stranger delivers the dead Benedict's letter and predicts unusual events harmful only to the enemy; the subsequent alarms and rout leave his role in causing them unexplained.

• St. Leger and John Johnson attempt to halt the rout, but their troops ignore them and both commanders abandon the camp.

• Butler undertakes an authorized expedition with dragoons and Francis as guide to capture the supposed Mountain Demon impostor and recover the deserted Indigenous allies.

  • Butler recruits the Mohawks and leads the expedition into the suspected haunt, but the fiery figures scatter his men and plunge him into the lake before he can capture anyone or recover the allies for Burgoyne.
  • Butler renews the search, but the Indigenous fighters refuse to reenter the caves and the dragoons find them empty. Tracks reveal the occupants' escape, and Butler abandons the cave area without capturing his quarry.
  • Harley learns that Cavannes is alive, but his final attempt to kill him ends in Harley's own death, terminating the capture expedition.

• Butler suspects the Mountain Demon's identity from a clue reinforced by Francis's account, but the suspected identity remains undisclosed.

• A ghostlike woman accompanies the apparition; the Indigenous allies believe she is the murdered Jenny McCrea's ghost, while her actual identity remains unknown.

• Fiery raiders repeatedly penetrate the English pickets, kill sentries and withdraw before resistance forms, depriving the soldiers of sleep and undermining their willingness to guard distant posts.

• On finding signs of nearby Indians, Butler resolves to locate them and enlist their assistance; an answering signal brings a Mohawk party into contact with the expedition.

  • Despite their initial fear, the Mohawks agree to follow Butler and join his exploration of the cavern.

• The cavern's fiery figures appear to fly and vanish, but Butler detects a nearby person lighting the flame and feels an attacker's solid feet; their identities and methods remain unexplained.

  • The search supplies no explanation of the apparitions, but fresh horse tracks and a second hillside opening establish that the occupants escaped toward Burgoyne's camp. Their identities and the methods behind the fiery appearances remain unexplained.
  • The account establishes the caves, red fire and scientific techniques behind the deceptions, though these events do not individually identify every cavern figure or explain every effect.
  • Adrian and Cavannes are identified as participants in the manifestations, and fixed ropes explain their apparent flight; the events do not specify every fiery effect.

• Fiery figures confront Butler's expedition underground, rout his followers and knock him into the black lake, endangering his life.

  • Butler survives the lake, returns to search the caves and subsequently leaves for Burgoyne's camp, ending his immediate peril underground.
  • The later explanation establishes that fixed ropes enabled the apparent flights over the cavern lake.

• Francis leaves Butler's party to hasten to the General as battle begins.

• Butler seeks revenge on Cavannes, Adrian and Diana, even at the cost of his life, and recruits the German dragoons to pursue them as alleged spies.

  • Butler fells Adrian, but the dragoons flee and Butler withdraws without completing his vengeance.
  • Harley's attempt to kill Cavannes fails when Adrian intervenes and kills him, ending his pursuit of revenge.

• Cavannes turns to confront Butler near the American lines; they engage in lethal sword combat, and Cavannes declares his intention to kill Butler, addressing him as Pierce Harley.

  • The men recognize each other as old enemies and wound one another, but the dragoons interrupt their duel and Butler escapes. Cavannes maintains that Butler will eventually face justice.
  • The lethal confrontation culminates in Harley's attempted shooting and his death at Adrian's hands.

• Cavannes protects and reassures Adrian, saving him in combat, absolving him of blame for Butler's escape, and helping him away after examining his wounds.

  • Adrian now knows and respects Cavannes and receives permission to accompany him in the renewed pursuit.
  • Adrian has relieved Cavannes's isolation, passed his test of character and earned exceptional trust, expressed through the disclosure of his past.
  • Adrian reciprocates Cavannes's protection by saving his life; their trust extends to collaboration and departure for Europe together.

• Cavannes proposes withdrawing and postponing his shared purpose with Adrian until after the battle; he leads Adrian away.

  • The postponement ends when Cavannes orders immediate preparations to resume pursuit and secures Adrian's release to accompany him.

• Schuyler's kindness to the Reidesel children wins the baroness's affection, and his hospitality puts her at ease.

• Gates's intrigues displace Schuyler from command and give Gates credit for the victory achieved through Schuyler's generalship.

• A dispute concerning Miss McCrea escalates when Butler accuses Morgan of lying, is struck by Morgan's officer, and retaliates by hacking the officer to pieces before violently escaping.

• Cavannes orders departure on horseback within an hour to pursue his escaped enemy, obtaining permission for Adrian to accompany him.

  • The pursuit reaches a new encounter as Cavannes hears the approaching quarry and Butler enters the cave with Rangers following.
  • The pursuit reaches its final confrontation, ending with Harley's death.

• Cavannes has sworn to prevent his house's enemy from causing further harm.

  • Cavannes reveals the financial betrayal, marital catastrophe and attempted murder behind his vow, together with his sustained vengeance and unsuccessful search for Harley.
  • Harley's death prevents the enemy of Cavannes's house from causing further harm.

• Cavannes's brotherly patronage of Harley becomes bitter enmity after Harley steals his wealth, apparently betrays him with his wife, and leads the attack that leaves him for dead.

  • Harley's account supplies the romantic grievance behind his treachery; the enmity ends with his death, although the wife's alleged sexual betrayal remains disputed.

• Cavannes uses concealed caves, scientific effects and supernatural fear to conduct his campaign against Harley's Indigenous followers.

  • The cavern campaign's rope-assisted manifestations are disclosed, its enemy dies, and Cavannes departs for Europe.

• Schuyler supports Cavannes through financial ruin, helps expose Harley's fraud, nurses him after the attack, and supplies his subsequent impersonations.

• Butler enters the cave armed while Cavannes believes scouts are driving their quarry toward it; a dozen Rangers arrive behind Butler.

  • Harley confronts Cavannes inside the apartment, attempts to shoot him and is killed by Adrian.

• Harley's account explains the embrace Cavannes treated as proof of his wife's betrayal: she expressed enduring love from pity, while Harley denies sexual dishonor. Cavannes's disbelief leaves her innocence unsettled.

• Harley and Diana Harley were secretly engaged before her father forced their separation; her marriage to Cavannes left Harley seeking revenge against him.

• Adrian becomes Cavannes's trusted collaborator, learns the cavern's methods and participates in its apparent supernatural manifestations.

Places

Oriskany, Haunted Hill, Haunted Mountain, Derryfield, Europe, Saratoga, Bennington, America, Wollonsac, France, Fort Schuyler, Rome, Fort Edward, Stillwater, Paris