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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Virginia Scout, by Hugh Pendexter
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Virginia Scout
+
+Author: Hugh Pendexter
+
+Illustrator: D. C. Hutchison
+
+Release Date: September 16, 2008 [EBook #26631]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A VIRGINIA SCOUT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "You were never meant for the frontier."]
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+A VIRGINIA SCOUT
+
+By
+HUGH PENDEXTER
+
+Author of
+Kings of the Missouri, Etc.
+
+Frontispiece by
+D. C. Hutchison
+
+INDIANAPOLIS
+THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
+PUBLISHERS
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Copyright 1920
+The Ridgway Company
+
+Copyright 1922
+The Bobbs-Merrill Company
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+PRESS OF
+BRAUNWORTH & CO.
+BOOK MANUFACTURERS
+BROOKLYN, N. Y.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+To
+Faunce Pendexter
+
+My Son and Best of Seven-Year-Old Scouts
+This Story Is Lovingly Dedicated
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                 PAGE
+     I.  Three Travelers                   1
+     II  Indian-Haters                    23
+    III  Over the Mountains               55
+     IV  I Report to My Superiors         81
+      V  Love Comes a Cropper            106
+     VI  The Pack-Horse-Man's Medicine   133
+    VII  Lost Sister                     167
+   VIII  In Abb's Valley                 193
+     IX  Dale Escapes                    229
+      X  Our Medicine Grows Stronger     265
+     XI  Back to the Blue Wall           289
+    XII  The Shadows Vanish              311
+   XIII  Peace Comes to the Clearing     352
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+A Virginia Scout
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THREE TRAVELERS
+
+
+It was good to rest in the seclusion of my hollow sycamore. It was
+pleasant to know that in the early morning my horse would soon cover the
+four miles separating me from the soil of Virginia. As a surveyor, and now
+as a messenger between Fort Pitt and His Lordship, the Earl of Dunmore,
+our royal governor, I had utilized this unique shelter more than once when
+breaking my journey at the junction of the Monongahela and the Cheat.
+
+I had come to look upon it with something of affection. It was one of my
+wilderness homes. It was roughly circular and a good eight feet in
+diameter, and never yet had I been disturbed while occupying it.
+
+During the night I heard the diabolic screech of a loon somewhere down the
+river, while closer by rose the pathetic song of the whippoorwill. Strange
+contrasts and each very welcome in my ears. I was awake with the first
+rays of the sun mottling the bark and mold before the low entrance to my
+retreat. The rippling melody of a mocking-bird deluged the thicket.
+Honey-bees hovered and buzzed about my tree, perhaps investigating it with
+the idea of moving in and using it for a storehouse. The Indians called
+them the "white man's flies," and believed they heralded the coming of
+permanent settlements. I hoped the augury was a true one, but there were
+times when I doubted.
+
+Making sure that the priming of my long Deckhard rifle was dry, I crawled
+out into the thicket and stood erect. As far as the eye could roam
+stretched the rich bottom-lands and the low ridges, covered with the
+primeval growths of giant walnuts, maples, oaks and hickory. Small wonder
+that the heart of the homeseeker should covet such a country.
+
+Groves of beeches, less desired by settlers, were noisy with satisfied
+squirrels. From river to ridge the air was alive with orioles and
+cardinals and red-starts. And could I have stood at the western rim of my
+vision I would have beheld the panorama repeated, only even richer and
+more delectable; for there was nothing but the ancient forest between me
+and the lonely Mississippi.
+
+Birds and song and the soft June air and the mystery of the Kentucky
+country tugging at my heartstrings. I felt the call very strong as I stood
+there in the thicket, and gladly would I have traveled West to the richest
+game-region ever visited by white men. From some who had made the trip I
+had heard wonderful stories of Nature's prodigality. There were roads made
+through tangled thickets by immense herds of buffaloes smashing their way
+five abreast. Deer were too innumerable to estimate. To perch a turkey
+merely required that one step a rod or two from the cabin door. Only the
+serious nature of my business, resulting from the very serious nature of
+the times, held me back.
+
+On this particular morning when the summer was in full tide of song and
+scents and pleasing vistas, I was bringing important despatches to
+Governor Dunmore. The long-looked-for Indian war was upon us. From the
+back-country to the seaboard Virginians knew this year of 1774 was to
+figure prominently in our destiny.
+
+In the preceding spring we realized it was only a question of time when we
+must "fort" ourselves, or abandon the back-country, thereby losing crops
+and cabins. When young James Boone and Henry Russell were killed by
+Indians in Powell's Valley in the fall of 1773, all hope of a friendly
+penetration of the western country died. Ever since Colonel Bouquet's
+treaty with the Ohio tribes on the collapse of Pontiac's War the frontier
+had suffered from many small raids, but there had been no organized
+warfare.
+
+During those ten years much blood had been spilled and many cabins burned,
+but the red opposition had not been sufficient to stop the backwoodsmen
+from crowding into the Alleghanies. And only a general war could prevent
+them from overflowing down into the bottoms of the Ohio. The killing of
+friendly Shawnees at Pipe Creek below the mouth of the Little Kanawha in
+April, followed three days later by the cruel slaughter of John Logan's
+relatives and friends at Baker's groggery opposite Yellow Creek, had
+touched off the powder.
+
+But the notion that the massacre of Logan's people at Joshua Baker's house
+was the cause of the war is erroneous. For any one living in the country
+at the time to have believed it would be too ridiculous. That brutal
+affair was only one more brand added to a fire which had smoldered for ten
+years.
+
+It happened to be the last piece of violence before both red and white
+threw aside make-believe and settled down to the ghastly struggle for
+supremacy. Hunters bound for Kentucky had suffered none from the Indians
+except as they had a brush with small raiding-parties. But when Daniel
+Boone undertook to convey his wife and children and the families of his
+friends into the wonderland the natives would have none of it. In killing
+his son and young Russell, along with several of their companions, the
+Indians were merely serving notice of no thoroughfare for home-builders.
+
+So let us remember that Dunmore's War was the inevitable outcome of two
+alien races determined on the same prize, with each primed for a
+death-struggle by the memories of fearful wrongs. It is useless to argue
+which race gave the first cause for retaliation; it had been give and take
+between them for many years. Nor should our children's children, because
+of any tendency toward ancestor-worship, be allowed to believe that the
+whites were invincible and slaughtered more natives than they lost of
+their own people.
+
+There were white men as merciless and murderous as any Indians, and some
+of these had a rare score of killings to their discredit. Yet in a
+man-for-man account the Indians had all the best of it. Veterans of
+Braddock's War insisted that the frontier lost fifty whites for each red
+man killed. Bouquet and other leaders estimated the ratio in Pontiac's War
+to have been ten to one in favor of the Indians.
+
+This reduction proved that the settlers had learned something from the
+lessons taught in the old French War. Our people on the border knew all
+this and they were confident that in the struggle now upon them they would
+bring the count down to one for one.[1] So let the youngsters of the new
+day learn the truth; that is, that the backwoodsmen clung to their homes
+although suffering most hideously.
+
+Virginia understood she must sustain the full brunt of the war, inasmuch
+as she comprised the disputed frontier. It was upon Virginia that the red
+hatred centered. I never blamed the Indians for this hate for white cabins
+and cleared forests and permanent settlements. Nor should our dislike of
+the Indians incite sentimental people, ignorant of the red man's ways and
+lacking sympathy with our ambitions, to denounce us as being solely
+responsible for the brutal aspects such a struggle will always display.
+
+It should also be remembered that the men of Pennsylvania were chiefly
+concerned with trade. Their profits depended upon the natives remaining
+undisturbed in their ancient homes. Like the French they would keep the
+red man and his forests unchanged.
+
+Naturally they disapproved of any migrations over the mountains; and they
+were very disagreeable in expressing their dissatisfaction. We retorted,
+overwarmly doubtless, by accusing our northern sister of trading guns and
+powder to the Indians for horses stolen from Virginia. There was bad blood
+between the two colonies; for history to gloss over the fact is to
+perpetrate a lie. Fort Pitt, recently renamed Fort Dunmore by the
+commandant, Doctor John Connolly, controlled the approach to the Ohio
+country. It was a strong conditional cause of the war, peculiar as the
+statement may sound to those born long after the troublesome times of
+1774.
+
+Pennsylvania accused our royal governor of being a land-grabber and the
+catspaw or partner of land-speculators. His Lordship was interested in
+land-speculation and so were many prominent Virginians. It is also true
+that claims under Virginia patents would be worthless if Pennsylvania
+controlled the junction of the Monongahela and the Alleghany Rivers and
+sustained her claims to the surrounding country.
+
+It is another fact that it was the rifles of Virginia which protected that
+outlying region, and that many of the settlers in the disputed territory
+preferred Virginia control. Every one realized that should our militia
+push the Indians back and win a decisive victory our claims would be
+immensely strengthened. And through Doctor Connolly we were already
+handling affairs at Fort Pitt.
+
+Because of these and other facts there was an excellent chance for an
+intercolonial war. I am of the strong opinion that an armed clash between
+the hotheads of the two provinces would have resulted if not for the
+intervention of the Indian war.
+
+At the beginning of hostilities the Indians proclaimed they would whip
+Pennsylvania and would roast Virginians. However, when Benjamin Speare,
+his wife and six children were massacred on Dunkard Creek early in June,
+with similar bloody murders being perpetrated at Muddy Creek, all on
+Pennsylvania soil, by John Logan, the Mingo chief, there was less foolish
+talk north of the line.
+
+All these thoughts of raids and reprisals, of white striving to outdo red
+in cruelty, may seem to harmonize but ill with that soft June morning, the
+flight of the red-start, the song of the oriole and the impish chatter of
+the squirrels. Beech and oak urged one to rest in the shade; the limpid
+waters of the river called for one to strip and bathe.
+
+To heed either invitation incautiously invited the war-ax to be buried in
+the head. However, we of the border always had had the Indian trouble, and
+each generation had taken its pleasure with a wary eye and ready weapons.
+Although the times were very dangerous and I was serving as scout for
+thirty-three cents a day I could still enjoy the sweet aromas and
+sympathize with the song of birds and yet keep an eye and ear open for
+that which concerned my life.
+
+In ascending the Monongahela I had seen many settlers crossing the river
+to make the eastern settlements. I was told that a thousand men, women and
+children had crossed during the space of twenty-four hours. Down on the
+Clinch and Holston the settlers were either "forting" or fleeing.
+
+Much of this retirement was compelled by the sad lack of powder and lead,
+even of guns. More than one settler depended entirely upon ax or scythe
+for protection. Such were prevented from using the advantage of their
+stout walls and could do the foe no mischief until after the door had been
+battered down, when of course all the advantage shifted to the side of the
+invader.
+
+By this I do not mean to disparage such tools as implements of war. A
+sturdy fellow with both hands gripping a scythe can do an amazing amount
+of damage at close quarters, as more than one Shawnee war-party has
+learned.
+
+Briefly summed up, there were dissensions between some of the colonies
+over the land-disputes; sparks were flying between the colonies and the
+mother-country; every day brought gruesome news from the back-country;
+there was a scarcity of guns and ammunition; militia captains were eagerly
+stealing one another's men to fill their quotas.
+
+Yet regardless of all these troubles let it be understood that for once
+the borders welcomed war and insisted upon it. As early as March, a month
+before the Pipe and Yellow Creek outrages, the Williamsburg _Gazette_
+printed an address to Lord Dunmore, stating that "an immediate declaration
+of war was necessary, nay inevitable." Not only did the whites want the
+war, but the natives also were eager for it.
+
+But enough of whys and wherefores, as they make poor story-telling, and
+leave me, Basdel Morris, overlong in quitting the thicket about my tree.
+And yet the wise man always looks backward as well as forward when
+entering on a trail, and children yet unborn may blaze a better trace if
+they understand what lies behind them.
+
+I ate my breakfast there in the thick growth, packing my hungry mouth with
+parched corn and topping off with a promise of turkey, once I drew beyond
+the danger-belt. Trying to make myself believe my appetite was satisfied,
+I began the delicate task of leaving cover without leaving any signs. My
+horse was a fourth of a mile from my tree, so that in finding him the
+Indians would not find me.
+
+The river sang a drowsy song a short distance from my tree and down a
+gentle slope. I knew of a spring beneath its bank, and I was impatient to
+taste its cold waters. I moved toward it slowly, determined that if an
+Indian ever secured my long black hair it would not be because he caught
+me off my guard. With ears and eyes I scouted the river-bank.
+
+The flights and songs of birds and the boisterous chatter of the squirrels
+now became so many helps. There were no intruders in the grove of beech.
+There was no one between me and the river. At last I passed under some
+overhanging boughs and slipped down the bank to the water's edge.
+
+Once more I searched both banks of the river, the Cheat, and then ventured
+to drink. Like an animal I drank a swallow, then threw up my head and
+glanced about. It took me some time to drink my fill, but I was not
+tomahawked while at the spring. At last I was convinced I had the bank to
+myself; and satisfied that the screen of overhanging boughs screened me
+from any canoe turning a bend up- or down-stream I removed my clothes and
+very softly slipped into the water.
+
+There could be no hilarious splashing nor swimming, but the silent
+immersion was most refreshing. It was while supine on my back with only my
+nose and toes above water that I received my first alarm for that morning.
+My position being recumbent I was staring up at the sky and in the
+direction of up-stream, and I saw a speck.
+
+It was circling and from the west a smaller speck was hastening eastward.
+A third tiny speck showed on the southern skyline. Turkey-buzzards. The
+one circling had sighted dead beast or man. The others had seen the
+discoverer's maneuvers advertising his good luck; and now each scavenger
+in hastening to the feast drew other scavengers after him.
+
+I crawled ashore and hurriedly began slipping into my few garments. I drew
+on my breeches and paused for a moment to part the shrubbery and stare
+into the sky. I was startled to observe the buzzards--there were three of
+them now--were much nearer, as if following something. I pulled on my
+leggings and finished fitting my moccasins carefully about the ankles to
+keep out all dust and dirt and took my second look.
+
+The buzzards were five, and in making their wide circles they had again
+cut down the distance. Then it dawned upon me that they were following
+something in the river. I watched the bend, the buzzards ever circling
+nearer, their numbers continually being augmented by fresh arrivals. At
+last it came in sight--a canoe containing one man.
+
+Hastily drying my hands on my hunting-shirt, I picked up my rifle and drew
+a bead on the distant figure. The man was an Indian and was allowing the
+canoe to drift. But why should the turkey-buzzards follow him? As I
+pondered over this problem and waited to learn whether he be friendly or
+hostile, there came the _spang_ of a rifle from my side of the river and
+above me.
+
+A second shot quickly followed and I thought the figure in the canoe
+lurched to one side a bit. Still there was no attempt made to use the
+paddle. The shrill ear-splitting scream of a panther rang out, and this
+like the two shots was on my side of the river. That the Indian made no
+move to escape was inexplicable unless the first shot had killed him
+outright.
+
+The canoe was deflected toward my hiding-place, and I expected to hear
+another brace of shots from above me. But there was no more shooting, and
+the canoe swung in close enough for me to observe the Indian was holding
+something between his teeth. I now recognized him as a friendly native, a
+Delaware; and anxious to protect him from those lurking on the bank I
+showed myself and softly called:
+
+"Bald Eagle is in danger! Paddle in here."
+
+He paid no attention to my greeting, although the canoe continued its
+approach until it grounded against the bank. I slipped down to the water
+to urge him to come ashore and take cover. He was a well-known chief, and
+for years very friendly to the whites. The thing he held in his mouth was
+a piece of journey-cake, only he was not eating it as I had first
+supposed. As I gained the canoe I noticed a paddle placed across it so as
+to support his back, and another so braced as to prop up his head.
+
+The man was dead. There was a hideous wound at the back of his head. He
+had been struck down with an ax. While I was weighing this gruesome
+discovery the scream of the panther rang out again and close by, and the
+bushes parted and I wheeled in time to strike up a double-barrel rifle a
+young man was aiming at the chief.
+
+"You've fired at him twice already, Shelby Cousin," I angrily rebuked.
+"Isn't that about enough?"
+
+"Nothin' ain't 'nough till I git his sculp," was the grim reply; and
+Cousin, scarcely more than a boy, endeavored to knock my rifle aside. "At
+least you ought to kill before you scalp," I said.
+
+His lips parted and his eyes screwed up into a perplexed frown and he
+dropped the butt of his rifle to the ground. Holding the barrels with both
+hands, he stared down at the dead man.
+
+"Some one bu'sted him with a' ax most vastly," he muttered. "An' me
+wastin' two shoots o' powder on the skunk!"
+
+"Without bothering to notice the turkey-buzzards that have been following
+him down the river," I said.
+
+He looked sheepish and defended himself:
+
+"The cover was too thick to see anything overhead."
+
+"He was a friend to the whites. He has been murdered. His killer struck
+him down from behind. As if murder wasn't bad enough, his killer tried to
+make a joke of it by stuffing journey-cake in his mouth. The cake alone
+would tell every red who sees him that a white man killed him."
+
+"Only trouble with the joke is that there ain't a couple o' him," hissed
+young Cousin. "But the fellor who played this joke owes me two shoots of
+powder. I 'low he'll pay me."
+
+"You know who he is?"
+
+"Seen Lige Runner up along. I 'low it will be him. Him an' me look on
+Injuns just the same way."
+
+"It's fellows like him and Joshua Baker and Daniel Greathouse who bring
+trouble to the settlements," I said.
+
+His face was as hard as a mask of stone as he looked at me. His eyes,
+which should have glowed with the amiable fires of youth, were as
+implacably baleful as those of a mad wolf.
+
+"You don't go for to figger me in with Baker an' Greathouse?" he fiercely
+demanded.
+
+"I know your story. It wouldn't be just to rank you with them."
+
+"Mebbe it's my story what turns other men ag'in' these critters," he
+coldly suggested. "There was a time when I had a daddy. He talked like you
+do. He called some o' the red devils his friends. He believed in 'em, too.
+Cornstalk, the Shawnee devil, was his good friend.
+
+"Daddy an' mammy 'lowed we could live on Keeney's Knob till all git-out
+bu'sted up an' never have no trouble with friendly Injuns. That was ten
+years ago. I was eight years old. Then Cornstalk made his last visit.
+Daddy had just brought in some deer meat. Made a feast for th' bloody
+devils.
+
+"I happened to be out in the woods when it was done. Or, happen like, I'd
+'a' gone along t'others. There's two things that'll make me hunt Cornstalk
+an' his Shawnees to the back-country o' hell--my little sister, an' their
+overlookin' to wipe me out."
+
+He turned and stood by the canoe, glaring down at the dead man. All
+Virginia was familiar with the terrible story of the Cousin massacre at
+Keeney's Knob. Fully as tragic and horrible to me, perhaps, was the
+terrible change in the only survivor. He became an Injun-killer as soon as
+he was able to handle a rifle; and a Virginia boy of twelve was ashamed
+when he failed to bring down his squirrel shot through the head.
+
+At eighteen Cousin was hated and feared by the Ohio tribes. He was not
+content to wait for Shawnee and Mingo to cross the river, but made
+frequent and extremely hazardous trips into their country. His
+panther-scream had rung out more than once near the Scioto villages to
+proclaim a kill.
+
+Isaac Crabtree was a killer, but his hate did not make him rash. Jesse
+Hughes would have been one of our best border scouts if not for his insane
+hatred of Indians. He killed them whenever he met them; nor did he, like
+Crabtree, wait until the advantage was all on his side before striking.
+William White, William Hacker and John Cutright massacred five inoffensive
+Indian families at Bulltown on the Little Kanawha as a reprisal for the
+Stroud family, slain on Elk River.
+
+Elijah Runner, who Cousin believed had killed Bald Eagle, was yet another
+with an insatiable thirst for red blood. Many others were notorious
+Injun-killers. Some were border ruffians; some were driven to the limits
+of hate because of scenes they had witnessed or losses they had suffered.
+But none was like Shelby Cousin.
+
+Other killers would drink and make merry at times, keeping their hate in
+the background until a victim appeared. Young Cousin carried his hate in
+his face as well as in his heart at all times. There was nothing on earth,
+so far as I ever learned, no friendships, no maiden's smile, which could
+divert him from the one consuming passion of his life.
+
+His mention of his sister revealed the deepest depth of his anguish. His
+parents were beyond all suffering and the need of pity. His sister, a year
+older than he, had been carried off. The pursuers found her clothing by a
+creek near the ruined cabin; but it had never been proved that she was
+dead. It was this, the uncertainty of her fate, which daily fed the boy's
+hate and drove him to the forest, where he sought to learn the truth and
+never relinquished an opportunity to take his revenge.
+
+"If Lige Runner done for him he sure did a good job," Cousin muttered. "He
+sure did make tomahawk improvements on him."[2]
+
+"You never kill in or near the settlements as some of them do," I said.
+
+His eyes closed and what should have been a rarely handsome boyish face, a
+face to stir the heart of any maiden to beating faster, was distorted with
+the pain he was keeping clamped down behind his clenched teeth.
+
+"That's only because o' what I seen at Keeney's Knob," he hoarsely
+whispered. "When I meet one of 'em in a settlement I skedaddle afore I
+lose my grip. I mustn't do anything that'll fetch a parcel of 'em down to
+carry off some other feller's little sister. If I know'd she was
+dead----"
+
+"If you'd stop killing long enough to question some of the Shawnees you
+might learn the truth."
+
+He shook his head slowly, and said:
+
+"I stopped--just afore the killin' at Baker's Bottom. Kept my Injun alive
+all night. But he wouldn't tell."
+
+I shuddered at the cold-bloodedness of him.
+
+"You tortured him and perhaps he knew nothing to tell," I said.
+
+"If he didn't know nothin' it was hard luck for him," he quietly agreed.
+"But I was sartain from things he had boasted that he was at the Knob that
+day. What you goin' to do with this varmint?"
+
+And he nodded toward the dead voyager.
+
+"My business won't allow me to take the time necessary to dig a grave
+where his friends can't find him or wild animals dig him out. We'll set
+him afloat again and hope he'll journey far down the river before his
+friends find him. He was friendly to us----"
+
+"Friendly----" interrupted the boy. "So was Cornstalk friendly!"
+
+I removed the journey-cake from the grinning mouth and placed the rigid
+figure in the bottom of the canoe. Before I could push the craft into the
+current young Cousin grunted with satisfaction and pointed to two
+bullet-holes, close together, just back of the ear.
+
+"Knew I must hit pretty close to where I was shootin'," he muttered as he
+made up the bank.
+
+I shoved the canoe from shore and called after him: "If you will wait
+until I get my horse we might travel together."
+
+He waved his hand in farewell and informed me: "I've got some business
+west o' here. It's out o' your path if you're makin' for the Greenbriar."
+
+"But a bit of gossip. I'm just back from Fort Pitt," I said.
+
+He halted and leaned on his rifle and stared at me with lack-luster eyes,
+and in a monotonous voice said:
+
+"Ed Sharpe, Dick Stanton, Eph Drake an' Bill Harrel are scoutin' the head
+o' Powell's Valley. Wanted me to go but the signs wa'n't promisin' 'nough.
+Logan says he'll take ten sculps for one. He still thinks Michael Cresap
+led the killin' at Baker's--an' Cresap was at Red Stone when it happened.
+Cresap wants to be mighty keerful he don't fall into Logan's hands alive.
+
+"Half the folks on the South Fork o' the Clinch can't raise five shoots o'
+powder. Folks on Rye Cove been movin' over to the Holston, leavin' their
+cattle behind. Mebbe I'll scout over that way by 'n' by.
+
+"Augusta boys ain't goin' to have any man in their militia company that
+stands under six feet in his moccasins. Folks between the heads o'
+Bluestone an' Clinch so skeered they prob'ly won't stay to lay by their
+corn. Injuns signs up Sandy Creek has made some o' Moccasin an' Copper
+Creek folks come off. I 'low that's 'bout all."
+
+"Any signs of the Cherokees coming in?"
+
+"Some says they will. T'others says they won't. Sort o' depends on whether
+they can keep Ike Crabtree from killin' of 'em off."
+
+He threw his rifle over his shoulder and with a curt nod turned into the
+bushes and followed the bank to find a crossing. He was away on his
+fearful business; his youth was hopelessly corroded.
+
+I scouted the spot where I had left my horse and discovered no signs of
+Indians. Unspanceling and mounting, I picked up my journey. I was passing
+through a mountainous country which contained many large meadows. These
+pleasant openings would accommodate many cattle if not for the Indian
+danger. They were thick with grass and enough hay could be cured on them
+to feed large herds throughout the winter.
+
+The bottom-lands, although smaller, were very rich. Along the hillsides I
+had no doubt but that grain could easily be grown. Altogether it was a
+most pleasing country if lasting peace ever could come to the border.
+While I observed the natural advantages and fancied the glades and bottoms
+dotted with happy cabins, I did not forget the dead Delaware floating down
+the river, nor ignore the probability of some of his kin discovering the
+murder before sundown and taking the path for reprisals.
+
+There was no suggestion of war in the warm sunshine and busy woods-life.
+Birds rejoiced in their matings, and the air was most gracious with the
+perfume of growing things. The stirring optimism of spring lingered with
+me. My heart was warm to rejoin old friends, to enjoy women's company; but
+never a moment did I neglect to scrutinize the trace ahead.
+
+The day passed with no hint of danger. I had the world to myself when the
+sun was cradled by the western ridges. I found it a wonderful world, and I
+believed it was never intended that any race of savages, whites or red,
+should hold such fair lands for hunting-preserves only.
+
+That night, according to my custom, I spanceled my horse at a considerable
+distance from my camp. I had selected a spot on top of a ridge, where the
+maples and walnuts grew thick. I perched a turkey in the gloaming and
+roasted him over a small fire. Having eaten, I walked to the edge of the
+growth and gazed toward the west. Across the valley a light suddenly
+twinkled on the side of a ridge. I first thought that hunters were camping
+there; and as the light increased to a bright blaze I decided there was a
+large company of them and that they had no fear of Indians.
+
+But as I watched the flames grew higher. What had been a white light
+became a ruddy light. The fire spread on both sides. My heart began to
+pound and I tilted my head to listen. The distance was too far for me to
+hear tell-tale sounds, still I fancied I could hear the yelling of demons
+dancing around a burning cabin.
+
+A dead man floating down the river; a boy seeking vengeance somewhere near
+the blazing home, and a scout for Virginia traveling toward the
+Greenbriar.
+
+-----
+
+  [1] It is estimated that the whites lost three to the Indians'
+      one in Dunmore's War.
+
+  [2] Tomahawk improvements. Settlers often took possession by blazing
+      trees with axes and carving their names thereon. Such entry to land
+      was not legal, but usually was recognized and later made valid by
+      legal process. Such was the claim made to the site of modern
+      Wheeling, West Virginia, by Ebenezer Silas and Jonathan Zane
+      in 1770.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+INDIAN-HATERS
+
+
+I journeyed up the Cheat and left its head waters and proceeded down the
+Greenbriar without observing any signs of the red peril which was creeping
+upon the country. A great gray eagle, poised at the apex of my upturned
+gaze, appeared to be absolutely stationary; a little brown flycatcher,
+darting across my path, made much commotion. Red-crested woodpeckers
+hammered industriously in dead wood for rations. So long as their tappings
+resounded ahead of me I feared no ambush.
+
+Wherever nut-trees stood the squirrels made more noise than did the House
+of Burgesses when dissolved by Governor Dunmore for expressing
+revolutionary sentiments. A most gracious country, and because of its
+fairness, most fearfully beset. That which is worthless needs no
+sentinels. I met with no humans, white or red; but when within a few miles
+of Patrick Davis' home on Howard Creek I came upon a spot where three
+Indians had eaten their breakfast that very morning.
+
+I knew they must be friendly to the whites as they had not attempted to
+hide their temporary camp. They had departed in the direction of the
+creek, which also was my destination. I planned resting there over night
+and then crossing the main ridge of the Alleghanies during the next day,
+stopping the night with the Greenwood family on Dunlap's Creek.
+
+Thence it would be an easy ride to Salem where I would find Colonel Andrew
+Lewis, commander of the county militia. I hoped he would provide a
+messenger for forwarding my despatches to Governor Dunmore in
+Williamsburg. I had no desire to visit the seat of government, nor was my
+disinclination due to the bustle and confusion of its more than a thousand
+inhabitants.
+
+A mile from where the Indians had camped I came upon two white men. They
+were at one side of the trace and curiously busy among some rocks at the
+top of a fifty-foot cliff. They were hauling a rope from a deep crack or
+crevice in the rocks and were making hard work of it.
+
+We discovered each other at the same moment, and they called on me to lend
+them a hand. Leaving my horse in the trace, I hastened over the rough
+ground to learn what they wanted. As I drew nearer I recognized them as
+Jacob Scott and William Hacker, confirmed "Injun-haters."
+
+"How d'ye do, Morris," greeted Hacker. "Catch hold here and help haul him
+up."
+
+"Who is it?" I asked, seizing the rope which was composed of leather belts
+and spancel-ropes.
+
+"Lige Runner," grunted Hacker, digging in his heels and pulling in the
+rope hand over hand. Runner, as I have said, was another implacable foe of
+all red men.
+
+"All together!" panted Scott.
+
+My contribution of muscle soon brought Runner's head into view. We held
+the rope taut while he dragged himself on to the ledge.
+
+"Did you git it?" eagerly demanded Hacker.
+
+The triumphant grin was surety for his success down the crevice. He rose
+and tapped a fresh scalp dangling at his belt.
+
+"I got it," he grimly replied. "Had to follow him most to the bottom where
+his carcass was wedged between the rocks. Morning, Morris. Traveling far?
+Seen any Injun-signs on the way?"
+
+I shook my head, preferring they should not learn about the three Indians
+making for Howard's Creek.
+
+"What does all this mean, Runner? Do scalps grow at the bottom of holes?"
+
+"This one seemed to," he answered with a deep chuckle. "Didn't git a fair
+crack at him, as he was running mighty cute. Rifle held fire the nick of a
+second too long. I knew he was mortal hit, but he managed to reach this
+hole. Then the skunk jumped in a-purpose to make us all this bother to git
+his scalp."
+
+"Who was he?"
+
+"Don't know. He was a good hundred and fifty yards away and going like a
+streak when I plugged him. It's too dark down in the hole to see
+anything."
+
+"For all you know he was a friendly."
+
+"We never see no friendlies," Hacker grimly reminded.
+
+"'Cept when they're dead," ironically added Scott. "Our eyesight's
+terribly poor when they're alive."
+
+"I call it dirty business. I wouldn't have hauled on the rope if I had
+known."
+
+Runner lowered at me and growled:
+
+"You're too finicky. A' Injun is a' Injun. Sooner they're all dead, the
+better. I kill 'em quicker'n I would a rattlesnake. A rattler gives notice
+when he's going to strike."
+
+"If you've killed a friendly this work will cause much suffering among the
+outlying cabins."
+
+"Bah! If we took good corn cakes and honey to the red devils they'd kill
+us every chance they got. We ain't forgitting what happened at Keeney's
+Knob, at the Clendennin farm on the Greenbriar; nor the scores of killings
+up in Tygart's Valley, and in other places. Give 'em the pewter every
+chance you can! That's my religion."
+
+"That's the talk, Lige!" cried Scott. "Ike Crabtree would 'a' liked to
+been in this fun."
+
+"He'll feel cut up when he hears about our luck," said Hacker.
+
+"Crabtree's feelings do him credit," added Runner. "But his natural
+hankering to raise hair is stronger'n his courage when he thinks there's
+more'n one Injun to dicker with. Young Shelby Cousin would be the best one
+for this business if it wa'n't for his fool notions about killing near a
+settlement."
+
+"Cousin says you killed old Bald Eagle. I saw the Delaware floating down
+the Cheat in his canoe."
+
+Runner laughed in huge delight, and cried:
+
+"The world's mighty small after all. Ain't it the truth! So you seen him?
+Did he have the chunk of johnny-cake in his meat-trap?"
+
+"He was friendly to the whites and harmless. It was a poor piece of
+work."
+
+"The reason why we didn't sculp him was that it would 'a' spoiled the
+joke," defended Hacker. "With his hair on and the johnny-cake in his
+mouth, folks would think he was still alive till they got real close."
+
+"The three of us done that," informed Scott, as though jealous of Runner's
+receiving all the credit.
+
+"Morris means it was a poor job because the chief was said to be friendly
+to white folks," explained Runner, scowling at me.
+
+"Morris, you'd better go up to David's and tell Ike Crabtree that," jeered
+Hacker.
+
+"Crabtree is there, is he?" I said, deeply concerned for the safety of the
+three Indians.
+
+"He started for there. He'll feel mighty well cut up when he hears about
+us and this Injun in the hole," gravely declared Scott.
+
+"How many cabins on Howard's Creek now?" I asked; for a cabin could be put
+up in a few hours and the population at any point might greatly increase
+in the space of twenty-four hours. I had no desire to quarrel with the
+three men, and I realized that there was nothing I could say which would
+change their natures, or make them act in a human manner toward friendly
+Indians.
+
+Runner was inclined to harbor resentment and refused to answer me. Hacker,
+however, readily informed me:
+
+"There was five when I come through there last. With outlying settlers
+pouring in, there may be a dozen by this time. All I know is that the
+call's gone out for fifteen or twenty miles, asking every one to come in
+to the big log-rolling.
+
+"Davis and t'others swear they won't come off the creek till they've
+harvested their corn. So they're going to have a rolling and build a fort
+and stick it out. We fellers reckon we'll go up there and have a hand in
+the fun-making."
+
+"Up near the Pennsylvania line and west of the Cheat a cabin was burned a
+few nights ago," I said, hoping they might feel disposed to scout north in
+search of Indians who were not friendly.
+
+If the trio should go to Howard's Creek and happen upon the three Indians
+I feared that nothing could prevent another ghastly affair. Possibly
+Crabtree already had struck, but I hoped not. The men were interested in
+my news and listened closely. I continued:
+
+"It was a cabin. I know that, although I was too far away to investigate.
+I have a notion that young Cousin was somewhere near it when it burned."
+
+"Then you can bet the young cuss gave his panther-screech and made his
+kill," exclaimed Scott.
+
+"If you men want to do the settlers on Howard's Creek a good turn you
+might scout up there and look for signs."
+
+"I 'low the signs wouldn't be very fresh now," said Runner. "Show me a
+fresh footing and I'm keen to follow it. But just looking round after the
+skunks move on ain't my notion of a good time."
+
+"I 'low Lige is right," decided Hacker. "If the reds was there a few
+nights ago they may be down this way by this time. Either that or they've
+sneaked back across the Ohio. I 'low there'll be more up to the creek."
+
+"That's my notion," chimed in Scott. "Show us fresh signs and we're like
+good dogs on the scent. We'd better go to the rollin'."
+
+"There's many Indians who need killing badly," I said. "But if you men
+persist in killing friendly Indians we'll have the Delawares joining in
+with the Shawnees and Mingos."
+
+"We don't hanker for any more Moravian missionary talk," coldly warned
+Runner. "As for the Delawares dipping into the dish, let 'em come. Let 'em
+all come together! The sooner we smoke their bacon, the sooner the Holston
+and Clinch and Tygart's Valley will be safe for our women and children. As
+for that old cuss of a Bald Eagle, we're right glad you seen him. It shows
+others will see him. That's the sort of a notice we're serving on every
+redskin in Virginia."
+
+It was obvious they would not relinquish their plan of visiting Howard's
+Creek, and it was equally plain they preferred to travel without my
+company. So I returned to the trace and mounted and rode on.
+
+As I neared the creek I came upon several settlers hurrying in from their
+isolated cabins, and I was pleased to see they had taken time to collect
+their few cattle and bring them along. Of the five men I talked with there
+were only two who had guns. The others were armed with axes and big clubs
+of oak.
+
+One lean fellow carried a long sapling to the end of which he had made
+fast a long butcher-knife. One of the gunmen said to me that he hoped
+there would be "a lively chunk of a fight" although he and his friend had
+only one charge of powder apiece. These two were young men, and like many
+of their generation they imitated the Indian to the extent of wearing
+thigh-leggings and breech-clouts.
+
+The ends of the latter were passed through the belt in front and behind,
+and were allowed to hang down in flaps. These flaps were decorated with
+crude beadwork. Around their heads they wore red kerchiefs. Two of the
+older men had wives. These women would impress a resident of the seacoast
+as being stolid of face.
+
+In reality the continuous apprehension of an Indian raid had frozen their
+features into a wooden expression. Their eyes were alive enough. I counted
+ten children, six of whom were girls. I do not think one of the youngsters
+was more than twelve years old.
+
+The boys were continually bemoaning their lack of guns. The girls seemed
+happy over the adventure and prattled a stream about the new people they
+would see at the creek. I think every one of them had brought along a doll
+made from rags, corn-cobs or wood. The maternal was very strong in their
+stout little hearts.
+
+One flaxen-haired miss consented to ride before me after my solemnly
+assuring her that horseback travel would not make her dollie sick. She
+shyly confessed her great joy in attending "rollin's." Her folks, she
+said, had not been invited to the last "rollin'," although they lived
+within fifteen miles of it; and her daddy and mammy had been greatly
+incensed.
+
+But this, fortunately, was a bee where no one waited to be invited, each
+settler, living far or near, having an equal equity in the work. Long
+before we reached the scene of activities we heard the loud voices of the
+men, the hilarious cries of young folks and the barking of several dogs.
+My little companion twisted nervously, her blue eyes wide with excitement.
+Then she was sliding from the horse and with her doll clutched to her
+side, was scampering ahead with the others.
+
+Then we grown-ups reached the edge of the clearing. Hacker had reported
+five cabins. Now there were seven, and if the people continued to arrive
+there must soon be twice that number. At the first of it the overflow
+would take up quarters among those already housed, or in the fort when it
+was finished.
+
+Ordinarily a settler girdled his trees and chopped them down when they
+were dead, and then burned them into long logs. Not until the trees were
+down and burned into suitable lengths were invitations to the rolling sent
+out. As this was an emergency rolling the usual custom could not be
+followed.
+
+Some of the dead trees were being burned into sections with small fires
+built on top and pressed against the wood by butt-ends of logs we called
+nigger-heads. Boys and girls were feeding small fuel to these fires.
+Charred logs left over from former rollings were being yanked out and
+built into the walls of the fort. As not enough seasoned timber was
+available for such a large structure green logs were being utilized.
+
+The settlers behind me handed their two guns, clubs and other belongings
+over to the small boys, and with a nod and a word of greeting joined the
+workers. The women and girls looked after the cattle. Those of the women
+who were not working among the logs were busy in the cabins cooking large
+quantities of food, for we ate marvelously in those old days.
+
+As in peaceful times, when a happy home was to evolve from the "rollin',"
+the usual pot-pie, composed of boiled grouse, pigeon and venison, and
+always with dumplings, was the principal dish of the feasting. On a stump,
+accessible to all who needed it, rested a squat jug containing rum.
+
+I turned my horse loose near the fort and sought out Davis. He was inside
+the fort, superintending the work. The walls of this were well up. As the
+first need was shelter, and as the Indians might strike at any moment, no
+time was lost with a puncheon floor. The earth must do until the men could
+have a breathing-spell. Four tight walls and a stout roof was the best
+they could hope for.
+
+Davis paused long enough to inform me that if time permitted they would
+build the fort two stories high and stockade it with twelve-foot posts.
+From his worried expression and obvious anxiety to get back to his work I
+did not believe he had any hope of building more than a one-story shell.
+
+When the Indians struck they would strike with a rush. They would plan on
+a quick assault taking the settlers by surprise. They dared not remain to
+conduct a prolonged siege. The fort when completed would not be any
+stronger than the average cabin; it would simply accommodate more
+defenders.
+
+The nearest water was a spring some twenty yards from the fort. This
+failure to provide for a water-supply was an amazing characteristic of
+many frontier defenses. There was no reason why the fort should not have
+been built close by the spring, or even over it. I said as much to Davis,
+but he defended:
+
+"It would place us too near the woods. Their fire-arrows could fall on us
+too easy."
+
+I reminded him that as the fort was now they would have but little water
+to extinguish a fire, whereas the spring would have afforded an
+inexhaustible supply. However, it was too late to change their plans and I
+volunteered to collect kettles and tubs and organize a water-squad so
+there might be plenty of water in the fort each night.
+
+"Might be a good plan," agreed Davis. "But I 'low if the Injuns come it'll
+be all over, one way or t'other, afore we have time to git thirsty."
+
+I briefly explained to Davis my business as despatch-bearer, so he might
+understand my reason for departing in the morning. He was generous enough
+to insist that I ran a greater risk in crossing the mountains alone than I
+would encounter by remaining at the creek.
+
+I left him and levied on kettles to be delivered after supper and then
+returned to the fort. I had barely arrived when the dogs began barking and
+several horses came running through the stumps from the north end of the
+clearing. Before the alarm could find expression in shouts and a semblance
+of defense a deep voice called from the woods:
+
+"White men! Friends! Hacker, Scott and Runner."
+
+A rousing cheer greeted these newcomers, and one enthusiast grabbed up the
+jug and ran to meet them. Each of the three drank deeply and were rewarded
+with more cheers. If they were murderous in their hatred they would be
+stout defenders. As for their attitude toward all Indians, there were but
+few along the border who did not have some cause for hating the natives.
+
+This sentiment of the frontier was shown when Henry Judah, arrested for
+killing some friendly Indians on the South Branch, was rescued by two
+hundred pioneers. After his irons were knocked off the settlers warned the
+authorities it would not be well to place him in custody a second time.
+Nor was Judah the only man thus snatched from the law.
+
+Men like Hacker and his companions would do very little manual labor. They
+did not build homes, but were always roaming about the country. This trait
+was of value to men of the Davis type, inasmuch as the killers brought in
+much game when the home-makers were busy with their cabins or planting.
+
+"Any news, Lige?" bawled Davis, his deep voice booming across the clearing
+and overriding the clamorous welcome of his neighbors.
+
+"Found some footing and hoss-tracks," Runner yelled back.
+
+"They'll be coming this way, the yaller dogs, and we're here to rub 'em up
+a bit!" boasted Scott.
+
+"Jesse Hughes oughter be here," said one of the men who was notching the
+long logs.
+
+"He'll be along if there's promise of a fight," assured Hacker. "Young
+Cousin and Ike Crabtree, too."
+
+"I 'low them red devils would skin back to the Ohio like a burned cat if
+they know'd you boys was after 'em!" cried Widow McCabe, who was as strong
+as the average man and could swing an ax with the best of them. Her
+husband was killed on the Kanawha the year before, and her hatred of
+Indians was as intense as that of any killer.
+
+"They'll sure know they've met with some trouble, Missus," modestly
+admitted Hacker.
+
+The three men seated themselves on a knoll and watched the busy scene. I
+joined them and inquired about the footing they had observed. Scott
+informed me they had followed the trail toward the creek and then lost
+it.
+
+"It was a small party of scouts, mebbe not more'n three," he said. "We
+sort o' reckon that they 'lowed they might be followed and so took to
+water. We 'lowed it was best to hustle along here and git in front of the
+fighting, instead o' losing time trying to find where they quit the creek.
+You're sticking along, we 'low."
+
+"No need with all you men. I must carry my despatches over the mountains
+to-morrow."
+
+"Better think twice afore trying it alone. By to-morrow the mountain trace
+will probably be shut in by the reds," declared Hacker ominously.
+
+"Then I must take my chances of breaking across country. His Lordship must
+have the despatches at the earliest possible minute."
+
+"Of course," Runner agreed. "Wish you luck even if you got a Quaker
+stomick when it comes to killing the vermin. But if you want to git across
+you'd better start at once. Them two or three scouts shows the devils are
+closing in. Every hour saved now means a dozen more chances for your hair
+to grow."
+
+As I believed the footing the fellows found was left by the three Indians
+I had pronounced to be friendly, I was not much exercised in my mind by
+the warning. I did not believe the Indians would seek to cut off the
+settlement. They must strike and be off, and they would prefer to have the
+settlers in flight over the mountains, with the inevitable stragglers
+easily cut off, than to have them stubbornly remaining in the cabins and
+fort.
+
+If time was not vital, and providing the Shawnees could bring a large
+force, then an encircling movement would be their game. But Cornstalk and
+Logan would not lead a big force into any of the valleys. They knew as
+well as the whites that the war was to be won by one decisive battle.
+
+These isolated raids up and down the western valleys were simply of value
+in that they might unnerve the settlers and keep them from leaving their
+cabins to join the army Dunmore proposed to send against the Shawnee
+towns. And last of all I was fagged by my long ride and would have one
+night's unworried sleep, let the risk be ever so great.
+
+The dinner, much belated, was now ready, and the workers were asked to
+assemble in and around the Davis cabin. Four men were left to do sentinel
+duty, and the children were told to keep on with their work and play as
+they would be served after the men had eaten. Huge pot-pies were hurried
+from all the cabins to where the backwoodsmen were waiting to prove their
+appetites.
+
+Several jugs of rum garnished the feast. The Widow McCabe contributed a
+scanty stock of tea, but the men would have none of it on the grounds that
+it did not "stick to the ribs."
+
+My helping of pie was served on a huge china plate that had been packed
+over the mountains with much trouble and when every inch of room was
+needed for the bare necessities. Thus tenacious were the women in coming
+to this raw country to preserve their womanliness. I might have thought I
+was being favored had not Mrs. Davis frankly informed me that her few
+pieces of china were shunned by her men-folks on the plea the ware "dulled
+their sculping-knives."
+
+Finishing my meal, I seated myself on a stump and proceeded to remove my
+moccasins and mend them. Davis joined me in a similar task; for while it
+required only two or three hours to make a pair of moccasins it was
+necessary to mend them almost daily. Davis greatly admired the awl I
+bought over the mountains, although it was no more serviceable than the
+one he had made from the back spring of a clasp-knife.
+
+A settler might be unfortunate enough not to possess a gun, but there was
+none who did not carry a moccasin-awl attached to the strap of his
+shot-pouch, a roll of buckskin for patches and some deerskin thongs, or
+whangs, for sewing. While we sat there barefooted and worked we discussed
+the pending big battle. He held what I considered to be a narrow view of
+the situation. He was for having every valley act on the defensive until
+the Indians were convinced they were wasting warriors in attempting to
+drive the settlers back over the mountains.
+
+While we argued back and forth those children having finished their dinner
+took to playing at "Injun." The boys hid in ambush and the little girls
+endeavored to steal by them without being "sculped." Along the edge of the
+clearing were five or six sentinels. They were keeping only a perfunctory
+watch, their eyes and ears giving more heed to the laughter and banter
+than to the silent woods. At the northern end of the clearing some
+lovesick swain surrendered to sentiment and in a whimsical nasal voice
+began singing:
+
+        "Come all ye young people, for I'm going for to sing
+        Consarnin' Molly Pringle and her lov-yer, Reuben King."
+
+The thin penetrating shriek of a child somewhere in the forest pricked our
+ears, the clear falsetto of its fright silencing the singer and leaving
+his mouth agape. I began drawing on my moccasins, but before I could
+finish a wonderful transformation had taken place in the clearing. As if
+the cry had been a prearranged signal, six of the young men filed silently
+into the woods, moving one behind the other, their hunting-shirts now
+inside their belts leaving their thighs bare, as if they had been so many
+Shawnees.
+
+They moved swiftly and silently with no more show of confusion or emotion
+than if they had been setting out on routine scout-duty. The child
+screamed again, but not before feasters and workers had become
+fighting-units. Those possessing guns ran quietly in scattering groups
+toward the forest, leaving the women to guard the clearing and children.
+
+And the women! They were marvelous in their spirit. With scarcely a word
+they caught up the axes dropped by the men and formed a long line with the
+children behind them. Little girls became little mothers and hurried still
+smaller tots to the unfinished fort.
+
+The woodsmen advanced to the woods, the women slowly fell back, herding
+the youngsters behind them. As I ran my best to make up for the time lost
+over my moccasins I passed the Widow McCabe. I shall never forget the
+ferocious gleam of her slate-gray eyes, nor the superb courage of the thin
+lips compressed in a straight line.
+
+She moved with the grace of a forest cat, reluctant to fall back, her
+muscular arm swinging the heavy ax as if it were a toy. Abreast of her,
+and likewise refusing to retreat, was Moulton's wife, mother of three. She
+was a thin, frail-appearing little woman with prominent blue eyes, and her
+gaze was glassy as she stared at the woods, and her lips were drawn back
+in a snarl.
+
+"Moulton gal missin'," ran down the line. "Git t'other younkers back."
+
+The line began bending at the ends to form a half-circle. The distracted
+little mother left her place in it. Without a word to betray the anguish
+tearing at her heart she gathered her linsey petticoat snugly about her,
+and grasping an ax, ran swiftly toward the direction of the screaming. The
+Widow McCabe hesitated, glanced over her shoulder. Satisfied the other
+women had the children well grouped and close to the fort, she darted
+after Mrs. Moulton.
+
+"Keep back, you women!" yelled Elijah Runner. "Stay with the children!
+They're letting the child scream to fetch us into a' ambush!"
+
+This was excellent advice, but the widow and Mrs. Moulton gave it no heed.
+One was impelled by hate, the other by love; and as they crashed into the
+growth behind me each was worth a woodsman or two in hand-to-hand
+fighting. With unnerving abruptness a man laughed boisterously directly
+ahead of me. Yells and questions filled the arches of the deep wood.
+
+"Everybody back! False alarm! Nothin' but the gal gittin' skeered," he
+shouted. "I'm fetchin' her in, an' th' feller what skeered her."
+
+Explosive laughter from the men and much crude banter marked our relief.
+Mrs. Moulton dropped her ax and with both hands held to her face stumbled
+into the clearing. The Widow McCabe walked with her head bowed, the ax
+held limply. Although rejoicing over the child's safety, I suspected she
+regretted not having had a chance to use her ax.
+
+"Here they come! Two babies!" some one shouted.
+
+Mrs. Moulton turned and ran toward the woods again, much as a
+hen-partridge scurries to its young.
+
+The bush-growth swayed and parted. First came the frightened child, and
+she redoubled her weeping on finding herself in her mother's arms. Behind
+the child came a grinning woodsman and back of him rode a tall man of very
+powerful build, but with a face so fat as to appear round and wearing an
+expression of stupidity.
+
+It was my first glimpse of him, but I recognized him instantly from the
+many descriptions border men had given of him. He was known as "Baby"
+Kirst, and he was a Nemesis the Indians had raised against themselves, a
+piece of terrible machinery which their superstitions would not permit
+them to kill.
+
+His intelligence was that of a child of seven. When about that age his
+people were massacred on the Greenbriar and he had been left for dead with
+a portion of his scalp ripped off and a ghastly wound in his head. By some
+miracle he had survived, but with his mental growth checked. Physically he
+had developed muscle and bone until he was a giant in strength.
+
+The red men believed him to be under the protection of the Great Spirit,
+and when they heard him wandering through the woods, sometimes weeping
+like a peevish child because some little plan had gone awry, more often
+laughing uproariously at that which would tickle the fancy of a
+seven-year-old, they made mad haste to get out of his path.
+
+His instinct to kill was aroused against Indians only. Perhaps it was
+induced by a vague memory of dark-skinned men having hurt him at some
+time. Nor was he always possessed by this ungovernable rage. Sometimes he
+would spend a day in an Indian camp, but woe to the warrior who even
+inadvertently crossed his whims.
+
+He was not skilled in woodcraft beyond the cunning necessary for
+surprising easy game such as turkeys, squirrels and rabbits. Regardless of
+his enormous appetite food was gladly given him at every cabin; for
+wherever he sought shelter, that place was safe from any Indian attack.
+
+While Mrs. Moulton hurried her child to the fort and hushed its weeping
+with pot-pie the young men raised a yelping chorus and came dancing into
+the clearing with all the prancing steps of the red men. Deep-voiced oaths
+and thunderous welcomes were showered upon Baby Kirst as he proudly rode
+among them, his huge face further distended by a broad grin.
+
+Awkwardly dismounting from his rawbone horse, he stared around the circle
+and with one hand held behind him tantalizingly said:
+
+"Got something. Sha'n't let you peek at it."
+
+"Let's see it, Baby," coaxed Runner, his tone such as he might use in
+pleading with a child.
+
+"No!" And Baby shook his head stubbornly and grinned mischievously.
+
+"'Lasses on mush. Heaps of it, Baby," bribed Davis.
+
+Baby became interested. Davis repeated his offer. Slowly Baby drew from
+behind him the scalp of a white man. It was long, dark brown hair, burned
+to a yellowish white at the ends by the sun.
+
+"That's Ben Kirby's hair!" gasped Scott, staring in horror at the exhibit.
+Then aside, "Good God, he ain't took to killing whites, has he?"
+
+"Where'd you git it, Baby?" coaxed Hacker. "Davis will give you a big bowl
+of mush and 'lasses."
+
+"That man had it," proudly informed Baby, and he fished from the bosom of
+his hunting-shirt a hank of coarse black hair.
+
+"A Shawnee sculp or I'm a flying-squirrel!" yelled Runner. "Don't you
+understand it, men? Some dog of a Shawnee rubbed out Kirby. His hair's
+been off his head these six weeks. No wonder he ain't come in to help you
+folks to fort.
+
+"Baby meets this Shawnee and gives him his needings. The red devil's sculp
+ain't more'n three days old. Good for you, Baby! Good boy! Give him all
+the 'lasses he can hold. Needn't worry about any raid s'long as he stays
+here, Davis. You can just take your time in finishing that fort."
+
+"If we could only keep him!" sighed Davis.
+
+"But you can't," spoke up a young man. "Every one has tried. A day or two,
+yes. Then he must go back to the woods. When the Injuns failed to finish
+him off they did a bad job for themselves."
+
+"We'll keep him long's we can," said Davis. "Hi, mother! Fill the
+mixing-bowl with mush and cover it with sweeting."
+
+As proud as a boy being praised by his elders, Baby started to strut to
+the Davis cabin, but quickly fell into a limping walk and whimpered a
+bit.
+
+"Crippled on account of rheumatiz," sighed Runner. "Rheumatiz has put more
+hunters and fighters out of business than the Ohio Injuns ever did. And
+poor Baby can't remember to always sleep with his feet to the fire. If we
+could git him a stout pair of shoes to wear in place of them spongy
+moccasins it would pay us."
+
+Kirst was too grotesque to laugh at, and the settlers were grotesque when
+they smiled at his ferocious appetite, and in the next moment tried to buy
+the protection of his presence. Let him regularly patrol a dozen miles of
+frontier each day, and I would guarantee no Indian would knowingly cross
+his path.
+
+More than one party of red raiders had unwittingly followed his trail,
+only to turn in flight as if the devil was nipping after them once they
+glimpsed his bulky figure, heard his whimpering or his loud laughter. The
+men followed him to the Davis Cabin, each eager to contribute to the
+general gossip concerning the child-man's prodigious strength.
+
+As my horse was straying toward the west side of the clearing I went to
+fetch him back and spancel him near the fort. I had secured him and was
+about to ride him back when a rifle cracked close at hand in the woods,
+and I heard a voice passionately jeering:
+
+"I 'low that cotched ye where ye lived, didn't it?"
+
+I drove my horse through the bushes and came upon a sickening scene. An
+Indian man and a squaw were seated on a horse. On the ground was another
+Indian. A glance told me he was dead from the small blue hole through the
+forehead. The man and woman on the horse remained as motionless as if
+paralyzed.
+
+Isaac Crabtree stood reloading his long rifle, his sallow face twisted in
+a smile of vicious joy. As he rammed home the charge I crowded my horse
+against him and sent him sprawling. Turning to the Indians I cried:
+
+"Ride away! Ride quick!"
+
+"We are friendly Cherokees!" cried the woman in that tongue. "That man
+there is called Cherokee Billy by white men." And she pointed to the dead
+man.
+
+With that she swerved the horse about, kicked her feet into his ribs and
+dashed away, the man clinging on behind her, his dark features devoid of
+expression. An oath brought my head about. Crabtree was on his feet, his
+hand drawing his ax, his face livid with rage.
+
+"Curse you!" he stuttered. "Ye sp'iled my baggin' the three of 'em!"
+
+"You've bagged Cherokee Billy, the brother of Oconostota, the great chief
+of the Cherokees," I wrathfully retorted. "It would have been well for the
+frontier if I could have arrived in time to bag you before you did it. The
+Cherokees have kept out of the war, but it'll be a wonder if they don't
+swarm up this creek when they hear of this murder."
+
+"Let 'em come!" he yelled. "That's what we want. It'll take more'n you,
+Basdel Morris, to keep my paws clear of the critters once I git a bead on
+one of 'em. Git out of my way so's I can git my rifle. I'll have the three
+of 'em yet."
+
+"If you make a move to follow them I'll shoot you," I promised.
+
+By this time men were crashing through the bushes. Then came a louder
+noise and Baby Kirst, mounted on his big horse, his broad face bedaubed
+with molasses, burst on the scene. A dozen settlers crowded into the spot
+behind him. Hacker and Runner were the first to see the dead Indian. With
+a whoop they drew their knives and rushed in to get the scalp. I drove
+them back with my horse and loudly informed them:
+
+"It's Cherokee Billy, brother of Oconostota, who can send the whole
+Cherokee nation against you, or hold it back."
+
+"I don't care what Injun it is," howled Hacker. "Hair's hair. Git out the
+way, or you'll git acquainted with my ax. I'll have that scalp."
+
+"Not so fast," I warned. "The hair belongs to Crabtree here. Kill your own
+scalps. Crabtree doesn't care to take that scalp. He knows Oconostota has
+a long memory." And I swung about, my rifle across the saddle and in a
+direct line with the murderer's chin.
+
+"It's my kill," growled Crabtree. "Morris held me up with his gun, or I'd
+bagged t'other two of 'em."
+
+"I'd like to see him hold me up when there's red meat to be run down!"
+snarled Runner.
+
+There were four killers present in addition to the irresponsible Kirst. I
+was helpless against them, I could not shoot a man down for proposing to
+follow two Indians, let the reds be ever so friendly toward the whites.
+But Patrick Davis had come to Howard's Creek to stay, and it was a problem
+he could handle. It at once developed that he did not fancy the prospect
+of a Cherokee reprisal. He stepped in front of Runner and in a low ugly
+voice said:
+
+"You fellows quit this talk. 'Nough mischief has been done. Unless
+Oconostota can be smoothed down there'll be trouble from Rye Cove to
+Tygart's Valley. As for following t'other two, you'll reckon with me and
+my neighbors first."
+
+"A dead Injun ain't worth quarreling over," spoke up Widow McCabe from the
+edge of the group; and her eyes glowed as they rested on Cherokee Billy.
+
+Mrs. Moulton now came on the scene. She still had her husband, and she
+frantically called on her friends to prevent further bloodshed. The
+greater number of the men, while unwilling to criticize Crabtree for his
+dastardly murder, did not care to add to the Cherokees' anger, and they
+took sides with Davis. I believed the whole affair had ended, but Crabtree
+was crafty, and he caused fresh fear by reminding them:
+
+"You folks are fools to let the only witnesses to that dawg's death git
+away and take word back to the Cherokees. If Morris hadn't took a hand
+there wouldn't 'a' been that danger."
+
+Many settlers were long used to classifying the red men with the wild
+animals along the border. Therefore, the question of killing the two
+fleeing Cherokees became a matter of policy, rather than of sentiment. But
+Davis, although he wavered, finally declared he would have none of it. He
+reminded his friends that they would soon be called by Dunmore to march
+against the Ohio tribes, and that it would not do to leave hostile
+Cherokees behind them to attack the valleys. Hacker, Runner, Scott and
+Crabtree perceived that the settlers were opposed to further bloodshed,
+but Crabtree still had a card to play. Turning to Baby Kirst, who was
+staring intently down on the dead man, he suddenly cried:
+
+"Sweet sugar, Baby, if you ride and find two Injuns just gone away."
+
+And he pointed in the direction taken by the man and woman. With a yelp of
+juvenile delight Baby slapped his horse and rode away down the valley.
+
+"Now you've done it!" growled Davis, scowling blackly at Crabtree. "You've
+made trouble atween us and the Cherokees, and you've drove away the best
+defense against Injuns we could 'a' had."
+
+"I don't have to have no loose-wit to stand 'tween me and Injuns," sneered
+Crabtree.
+
+"You're better at killing unarmed Indians than in putting up a real
+fight," I accused. "You're not fond of traveling very far from a
+settlement when you draw blood. Shelby Cousin was telling me down on the
+Cheat that you like to be near a white man's cabin when you make a kill."
+
+His sallow face flushed red, but he had no harsh words to say against
+young Cousin. Without replying to me he made for the Davis cabin to get
+something to eat, leaving Cherokee Billy for others to bury. I noticed it
+was the Widow McCabe, with her slate-gray eyes half-closed and gleaming
+brightly, who waited on Crabtree and heaped his plate with food.
+
+What with the interruptions and the nervous tension of the men it was
+after sunset before the roof of the fort was finished. It was agreed that
+the men with families should sleep in the fort that night with the single
+men occupying the cabins nearest the fort. I took up my quarters in the
+Davis cabin, after reminding my friends again that I must start early in
+the morning to cross the mountains on my way to Colonel Lewis who lived
+near Salem.
+
+"Why, land sake! To Salem! Why, look here! You'll be seeing my cousin,
+Ericus Dale!" excitedly exclaimed Mrs. Davis.
+
+My emotion was far greater than that expressed by Mrs. Davis, but the dusk
+of early evening permitted me to conceal it. It was three years since I
+had seen the Dales, father and daughter. They were then living in
+Williamsburg. It was most astonishing that they should be now living in
+Salem. But this was going too fast.
+
+It did not follow that Patricia Dale was in Salem because her father was
+there. In truth, it was difficult to imagine Patsy Dale being content with
+that little settlement under the eastern eaves of the mountains. Before I
+could find my tongue Mrs. Davis was informing her neighbors:
+
+"My cousin, Ericus, ain't got many warm spots in his heart for Governor
+Dunmore. He's sure to be sot ag'in' this war. He's a very powerful man in
+the colony." Then to me, "I want you to see Patsy and tell her not to
+think of coming out here this summer. She's not to come till the Injuns
+have been well whipped."
+
+"Coming out here?" I dully repeated.
+
+"They was opinin' to when I last got word from 'em last March. They was at
+their home in Williamsburg, and the girl wrote she was going to Salem with
+her father, who had some trading-business to fix up. 'Spected to be there
+all summer, and was 'lowing to come out here with her daddy. But seeing
+how things is going, it won't do. Mebbe Salem even won't be safe for 'em.
+It won't put you out any to see her and tell her?"
+
+I trusted to the dusk to conceal my burning cheeks. I had supposed I had
+secured control of myself during my three years on the border. It would be
+impossible for any man who had looked into Patsy Dale's dark blue eyes to
+forget her; and we had been something more than friends. I promised Mrs.
+Davis I would do her errand, and hurried from the cabin.
+
+The ride ahead of me suddenly became momentous. I was thrilled with the
+prospect of seeing Patsy again; and I was afraid the interview would
+disturb me vastly. To be alone and arrange my jumbled thoughts I helped
+drive the horses into a small inclosure, well stockaded, and watched the
+boys coming through the clearing to drive the cattle into their stalls in
+several hollow sycamores. These natural shelters, once the openings were
+enlarged and protected with bars, made excellent pens for the domestic
+animals and fowls. I was still thinking about Patsy Dale and the time when
+her young life touched mine when the cabin doors were barred and it was
+time to sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+OVER THE MOUNTAINS
+
+
+When I opened my eyes a young man was surveying the clearing through a
+chink above the door. This morning vigilance was customary in every cabin
+along the frontier and revealed the settler's realization of the ever
+present danger. No wonder those first men grew to hate the dark forest and
+the cover it afforded the red raiders. A reconnaissance made through a
+peephole could at the best satisfy one that no stump in the clearing
+concealed an Indian.
+
+It was with this unsatisfactory guarantee that the settler unbarred his
+door. He could never be sure that the fringe of the woods was not alive
+with the enemy. And yet young men fell in love and amorously sought their
+mates, and were married, and their neighbors made merry, and children were
+born. And always across the clearing lay the shadow of the tomahawk.
+
+Now that I am older and the blood runs colder, and the frontier is pushed
+beyond the mountains, I often wonder what our town swains would do if they
+had to risk their scalps each time a sweetheart was visited!
+
+The man at the door dropped back to the puncheon floor, announcing: "All
+clear at my end."
+
+A companion at the other end of the cabin made a similar report, and the
+door was opened. Two of the men, with their rifles ready, stepped outside
+and swiftly swung their gaze along the edge of the forest. The early
+morning mists obscured the vision somewhat. A bell tinkled just within the
+undergrowth. Instantly the fellows outside dropped behind stumps, while we
+inside removed the plugs from loopholes.
+
+"All the cattle is in," murmured a youth to me, so young his first beard
+had barely sprouted. "Injun trick to git us out there."
+
+Several minutes passed, then Davis loudly called from the fort:
+
+"It's all right! Hodge's critter wa'n't fetched in last night."
+
+Even as he spoke the cow emerged from the bushes.
+
+Smoke began issuing from the cabin chimneys and the women came from the
+fort to warm up the remains of the pot-pies, to bake corn bread and
+prepare mush. The men scattered through the clearing. Some chopped down
+bushes which might mask a foe's stealthy advance, others cleared out logs
+which might serve as breastworks for the raiders.
+
+Labor did not appeal to the four killers, and their part was done when
+they slipped into the forest, each taking a different course, and scouted
+for signs and bagged some game. As my business demanded an early departure
+I was not expected to participate in any of these precautions.
+
+I saw that my horse had his feed and water and led him back to the cabin,
+and gave my weapons their daily overhauling. Mrs. Davis paused in her
+labors long enough to remind me of her message to Patricia Dale. I
+reassured her so earnestly that she turned from her corn-bread baking in a
+flat pan before the open fire and stared at me rather intently. There was
+no dodging her keen eyes.
+
+"See here," she exclaimed; "you've met Patsy already, I 'low."
+
+I hesitated between the truth and a lie, and then nodded my head. She
+brushed a limp strand of hair from her face, and in so doing left a
+smut-streak across her nose, and half-closed her eyes while a smile tugged
+at the corners of her mouth.
+
+"I can't say yet whether you're lucky, or just the opposite," she demurely
+remarked.
+
+A loud call from the forest relieved my answering this insinuating remark,
+and I stepped outdoors to find the men leaving their work and the women
+leaving their cooking. "White man coming!" bawled a young man.
+
+"Ain't any of the scouts," said Davis. "Better gather the children in.
+White man sure enough, but it may be one of the renegade breed. Surveyors
+from the Kanawha say Tavenor Ross is out with the reds ag'in."
+
+There was no haste or confusion in preparing for this possible attack led
+by a white man. The children scuttled to their mothers; the men slowly
+fell back to fort and cabins. The fact that four Indian-haters were
+carefully scouting the woods satisfied us that no enemy could get very
+close without being fired upon. The white man called again. This time he
+was answered from two directions.
+
+"It's all right," shouted Davis. "Ike Crabtree answered him. So did Lige
+Runner. Crabtree never would 'a' yipped till sure there wa'n't no Injun
+waiting to be shot down. Prob'ly some one from the Holston."
+
+"Hooray!" howled a seventeen-year-old lad, who painted his face in
+addition to wearing Indian leggings. "It's Jesse Hughes!"
+
+His endorsement of the passionate, reckless man evoked more enthusiasm
+from the younger men than from their elders. So implacable was Hughes in
+his hatred of the natives that he was incapable of any self-restraint. His
+participation in the massacre of the Bulltown families had made him a
+well-known character wherever Indian-fighters met.
+
+Crabtree loved to kill Indians, but he always weighed his chances and
+never scorned an advantage. Hughes killed on sight, whether in a
+settlement or in the woods, whether the act brought one or a score of
+dusky avengers on his trail. Nor did it matter if the Indian be friendly
+to the whites and known to be perfectly harmless. His skin condemned him.
+
+Although a master of woodcraft and possessing a knowledge of western
+Virginia equaled by few men, Hughes was never asked to lead a command of
+rangers sent to rescue prisoners, or punish a village. He was too
+irresponsible. He would imperil the lives of a score of friends bent on a
+surprise attack by firing upon the first savage he saw.
+
+The young men saw in him the successful killer. Their elders preferred to
+travel the forests without him. His presence in a settlement once war came
+to the frontier, however, was always desirable, as in case of a fight he
+would do the enemy much damage.
+
+When he rode from the forest the four scouts came with him; and there was
+no question as to their admiration of the fellow. Greetings were called
+out by men and women. He saw me mounted and some one told him of my
+journey. He rode up to me and warned me to be watchful as he had found
+tracks a few miles south of the mountain-trace I proposed following.
+
+His errand at Howard's Creek was to secure a few men and attempt to cut
+off this band. Eager queries for news induced him to say he had just come
+from Clinch River, and that Captain William Russell, in charge of the
+rangers along the Clinch, had started Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner for
+the Falls of the Ohio to warn the surveyors along the river that the
+Indians were out and would soon be attacking the frontier and combing the
+Kentucky country clean.
+
+With much gusto he added that three Cherokees had been killed recently at
+the head of the Clinch. The thoughtless, in unison with Hacker and his
+companions, cheered this announcement most lustily. The men with families
+looked very grave. Of Baby Kirst, Hughes had seen no signs.
+
+His report of Indian-signs near my route over the mountains influenced me
+to return to the cabin and check up my ammunition more carefully. I spread
+a double handful of small bullets on the table, running seventy to the
+pound, and let each slip through my fingers to make sure none was
+irregular. Only those which were round and smooth were returned to the
+pouch.
+
+My flints and greased linen patches were examined a second time. An aged
+man, known as Uncle Dick, came in and watched me curiously, and grinned in
+approval of my caution. It was seldom a man reached his advanced age on
+the frontier. I had never heard Uncle Dick's last name, nor do I believe
+there was any one on the creek who had heard it.
+
+According to rumor he had gone against some law in South Carolina and had
+fled to the frontier. Despite his many years he was sturdy and strong, but
+his failing eyesight made him dependent upon knife and ax. Much travel in
+wet weather had crippled him with rheumatism, and he remained close to
+whatever settlement he happened to visit.
+
+"Fill the breast o' yer shirt with hunks o' corn cake, younker. Be sure
+yer ax is hitched so it won't be snagged from the loop when ye ride
+hellitiflicker through the bushes," he warned me.
+
+I nodded, and he seated himself on a three-legged stool and whetted a long
+knife against one of the fireplace stones, and mumbled:
+
+"Don't make no differ about me, but for the sake o' these younkers here
+such men as love killin' Injuns oughter keep clear o' the settlements an'
+do their stent on t'other side the Ohio. Old Cornstalk's powerful keen to
+git them fellers. When he hears they're here at the creek he's likely to
+strike quick an' mighty pert. Wal, if they come an' I can make it
+hand-grips with 'em I 'low there'll be some new Injuns in the Happy
+Huntin'-grounds."
+
+When I bid the people good-by and received their kindly wishes for a safe
+journey, Uncle Dick was still at the fireplace, trying to improve the
+razor-edge of his blade.
+
+I rode through the woods without spending any time in looking for signs.
+Runner and his mates had scouted a circle around the clearing in a
+thorough fashion, and I could spare my eyes until I reached the first
+slope of the mountains. When the path began to ascend and I was afforded a
+better view of the heavens, thunder-clouds were piling in sullen
+massiveness above the western horizon.
+
+The heat was very oppressive. The dull rumble of thunder came across the
+valley behind. It was as much of a vibration as a sound, something to be
+felt as well as heard. The song-birds were keeping close to the thickets
+and fluttering about nervously. By the time I was well committed to the
+first rugged ascent, a yellowish gray wall filled the western sky. Across
+this the lightning played.
+
+As the curtain of rain drove in toward the Greenbriar I knew that any
+savages lurking west of Howard's Creek would be bothered to keep their
+priming dry. No rain fell on my path, however, and at no time did I lose
+the early morning sun. On gaining a higher elevation I could see the storm
+was following the valley down to the head waters of the Clinch.
+
+I had not neglected Uncle Dick's advice in regard to provisions, and the
+front of my loose hunting-shirt held a bag of corn cakes and some cooked
+venison. On reaching the first slope I had watched carefully for the
+tracks Hughes had seen south of the trace, but found none.
+
+There could be no question of Hughes' ability to read Indian-signs; and
+his warning recalled the Grisdols to my mind. These people--two brothers
+and two children--had their cabin in a hollow close by a tumbling brook
+and to one side of the trace. I planned to make a slight detour and pass a
+word with them and to warn them to be watchful.
+
+The fact that Hughes had found signs near the mountains would indicate the
+Indians had planned a raid against some isolated home, and as there was no
+footing in the trace I followed, it might easily be that the enemy had
+entered lower down.
+
+Along toward the noon hour I topped a ridge and decided I would halt and
+eat at the first spring or brook I came to. My horse, an old campaigner in
+wilderness work, pricked his ears as we began dipping down the gentle
+slope. I studied the path ahead and the timbered slopes on both sides to
+discover the cause of this attention.
+
+The animal was intelligent. I knew it could be no wild creature as there
+was no suggestion of fear in the attentive ears. Dissatisfied at remaining
+in ignorance, I reined in to investigate more carefully. Almost at once
+the horse swung his head to the right and gazed curiously. On this side
+the space was bordered by a beech grove. Owing to the rank bush-growth
+lining the path, little could be seen of the grove from any point below
+where I had halted until a brook, which cut the path, was reached.
+
+I leaned forward and looked between the horse's ears and discovered a bear
+down in the hollow, nosing about for nuts and grubs on the bank of the
+brook. A bear was always acceptable meat to a settler, and I at once
+decided to stalk the brute and pack his carcass to the Grisdol cabin.
+
+After the first moment he passed behind some trees, but as I continued to
+glimpse him I knew he had not taken alarm. I slid from my horse and
+started him down the trace, and then ducked into the grove and rapidly
+descended toward the brook. I had no fear of my horse losing himself, as
+he would make for the stream where I would join him within a few minutes.
+
+As I flitted from tree to tree I repeatedly sighted the animal as he poked
+his nose about in search of ants or grubs, and yet when I reached a point
+within sixty or seventy-five yards of where he should have been feeding I
+could not locate him.
+
+A half-formed suspicion popped into my mind from nowhere. My horse had
+shown no nervousness in drawing nearer to the bear. The bushes prevented
+my seeing the horse, but I could hear him as he quickened his pace to
+reach the tumbling brook. Now for a second I saw the bear again, and my
+suspicion grew stronger.
+
+The brute impressed me as being very lean, whereas the season was enough
+advanced to have grown some fat on his bones. I was fairly startled next
+to behold the creature emerge from behind a tree and walk upright toward
+the opening made by the brook, cutting across the trace. Had I not been
+partly primed for the surprise I should have been astounded at my second
+discovery; the bear was armed with a gun.
+
+Expecting to behold me on the horse when the animal reached the brook the
+fellow's only thought was to remain unseen by any one in the trace. He
+halted behind a tree, but in full view of me, and standing with his left
+side exposed to me. Had I the instincts of a killer I would have shot him
+forthwith, and as he was obviously stalking me, having discovered I was
+traveling over the trace, I would have been justified. As it was I
+whistled shrilly.
+
+Like a flash the bearskin fell back and a painted Shawnee wheeled to face
+me. Even as he turned his smoothbore banged away and half a dozen buckshot
+rained through the branches over my head. He was slipping behind the tree
+when I fired.
+
+He went down with a foot and part of his leg exposed. Controlling an
+impulse to close in I reloaded, taking great care in wrapping the greased
+patch about the bullet. I believed I had done for him, but to make sure I
+sent another pellet through the exposed foot. It twitched, as a dead limb
+will, but without muscular reaction. Reloading, and circling warily to
+avoid being taken by surprise by any companion, I reached the beech. My
+first shot had caught him through the base of the neck, killing
+instantly.
+
+He wore a necklace of bear's claws and was hideously painted. He had the
+snake totem on his chest and was nude except for his breech-clout and
+moccasins. Fastened to his clout were four awful exhibits of his
+predaceous success--four scalps. One was gray, another streaked with gray,
+and two--oh, the pity of it--were soft and long.
+
+I removed them and placed them in the roll of buckskin that I carried for
+moccasin-patches. And my heart being hardened, I scalped the murderer with
+never a qualm. No warning was longer needed at the Grisdol cabin. The
+Indians had struck.
+
+Furtively scanning the grove, I stole to the trace where my horse stood
+fetlock-deep in the brook. The dead warrior had known of my coming, or of
+some one's coming, and had had time to masquerade as a bear. He had
+thought to catch his victim off his guard.
+
+The four scalps proved the raiders were out in numbers, for a small party
+would not venture so far east. But the dead warrior's attempt to ambush me
+in a bearskin also proved he was working alone for the time being. Yet
+gunshots carry far, and I might expect the Shawnees to be swarming into
+the hollow at any moment.
+
+Mounting my horse, I turned north, left of the trace, and picked a course
+where no trail ran, and from which I could occasionally catch a glimpse of
+the path some fifty feet below. I discovered no signs of the enemy, and
+there was no way of telling whether they were ahead or behind me. That
+they must have heard the roar of the smoothbore and the whip-like crack of
+my Deckhard was not to be doubted. Nor would they fail to guess the truth,
+inasmuch as the rifle had spoken last.
+
+It became very difficult to keep along the side of the slope and I
+dismounted and led the horse. The prolonged howl of a wolf sounded behind.
+My horse was greatly afraid of wolves, yet he did not draw back and
+display nervousness. I increased my pace, then halted and half-raised my
+rifle as there came a shuffling of feet above me, accompanied by a tiny
+avalanche of forest mold and rotten chestnuts. I rested the rifle over the
+saddle and endeavored to peer through the tangle of beech and inferior
+growth which masked the flank of the slope.
+
+The sliding, shuffling sound continued with no attempt at concealment that
+I could discover; and yet there was nothing to shoot at. Suddenly the
+noise ceased. I was still staring toward the spot where it had last
+sounded when a calm voice behind me called out:
+
+"They're after you."
+
+It was Shelby Cousin, with the hate of the border making his young face
+very hard and cruel.
+
+"I've been scouting 'em," he informed me. "I seen you take to the side o'
+this ridge. I seen 'em streamin' down the trace. They picked up your trail
+mighty smart. Now they're scattered all along behind you."
+
+I opened the roll of buckskin and disclosed the terrible trophies. He
+straightened and threw his head back, and for a moment stood with his eyes
+closed, his slight figure trembling violently. Then he fiercely
+whispered:
+
+"How'd you git these from the devils?"
+
+There was an expectant glare in his gaze. I showed him the hair of the
+Shawnee.
+
+"Good! Good!" he repeated exultantly as he gloated over the repulsive
+thing. Then gloomily:
+
+"But why couldn't I 'a' took it? Luck's been ag'in' me for days. Found a
+burned cabin after I quit you on the Cheat, an' 'lowed to ambush the party
+when they made for the Ohio. 'Stead o' goin' to their villages they fooled
+me by strikin' across to here. Now they've made this kill! Who be they?"
+
+"The Grisdols. Only a short distance from here. Two men and the two
+children. No women. I knew them. I must go there and bury them and these
+scalps."
+
+"I'll help," he mumbled. "I ain't heard no discovery-yell yet. They're
+still huntin' for your signs along this ridge." Trailing his double-barrel
+rifle, he took the lead and began a diagonal descent to the trace I had
+abandoned. I murmured a protest, but he assured me:
+
+"They're all behind us. We can make quicker time in the trace. They'll hop
+on to your trail sure's shootin'. Speed is what we hanker for."
+
+His woodcraft was remarkable. He seemed to possess the gift of seeing that
+which was concealed. With a glance he would observe land formations and
+the nature of the growth, and confidently circle a heavy grove and tell me
+what would be the nature of the traveling beyond, and whether wet or dry.
+
+"We could slide down into the trace in a minute any time, but I don't want
+to take to it till we round the bend ahead; then we'll be out o' sight o'
+the reds strung along the ridge."
+
+He had halted as he explained this and I was almost abreast of him, and he
+startled me by whipping up his rifle and firing. As the shot rang out he
+rejoiced:
+
+"One!"
+
+I had heard nothing, seen nothing, and yet he had both heard and seen, and
+had made his kill.
+
+"No use coverin' up any longer," he said. "They're closin' in. Make for
+the trace shortest way. Hold back once you hit it for me to come up.
+There's not more'n two or three close at hand, but the whole kit an'
+b'ilin' know we're here."
+
+The spiteful _spang_ of his rifle barely interrupted the woods life close
+about us. Only for a moment did the squirrels cease their chatter. A
+grouse drummed away in alarm, but only for a short flight. No cries of
+rage, nor war-whoops, warned that the enemy were closing in on us. Had I
+been new to the border I should have disbelieved my companion's statement.
+Leading the horse, I started down the bank while Cousin climbed higher.
+
+It was not until my horse slid down a ten-foot bank that I heard a hostile
+sound--the rush of many feet through last year's dead leaves. I heard the
+Deckhard fired once, and instantly the side of the ridge was as quiet as a
+death-chamber. Then came the scream of a panther, Cousin's way of
+announcing a kill.
+
+They must have attempted rushing him, thinking his rifle was empty; for he
+fired again, and once more gave voice to his war-cry. Then the old eternal
+quiet of the forest dropped back in place. Until I heard a Shawnee
+scalp-cry I could rest easy as to my companion. I slipped into the trace
+and mounted, and pushed ahead.
+
+The Indians were abreast of me and there was the danger of their cutting
+into the trace ahead. That they had not followed at my heels made me
+believe they were concentrating all their energies on making a surround
+and killing, or capturing their much feared enemy. They would prefer to
+dance Cousin's scalp than to dance a dozen of men of my caliber.
+
+There were no more shots up the ridge, and I found it hard to decide just
+what gait I should permit my horse to take. I could not leave the boy
+behind, nor did I care to risk being intercepted. I was worrying my mind
+into a fine stew over this point when the bushes stirred ahead. I dropped
+to the ground behind the horse, but it was young Cousin. He motioned for
+me to hurry.
+
+"You dodged them!" I said.
+
+"Black Hoof's band. They're hard to dodge," he whispered, striding rapidly
+along and swinging his head from side to side. "How far to the Grisdol
+cabin?"
+
+"Two miles."
+
+"Then ride for it. I'll run at your stirrup. We'll need that cabin if it
+ain't been burned. I 'low it'll be a close race."
+
+There was no sign of pursuit. I was no novice in Indian warfare, but in
+this instance I scarcely believed the Shawnees would draw near enough to
+make the chase interesting. So far as I could observe Cousin had succeeded
+in stealing away from them, and there was no Indian who could overtake
+him, especially if he ran at my stirrup.
+
+"They've took four sculps on this side the valley," he murmured as he
+loped along at my side. "I bagged three on 'em. You fetched one. Black
+Hoof is too big a chief to call it quits. He's back there leadin' the
+chase. So I 'low it'll be close."
+
+A curious little thrill chilled my spine. Catahecassa, or Black Hoof, was
+one of the most redoubtable and resourceful savages to be found in the
+Shawnee nation. If below Cornstalk's intellectual plane he made up for
+much of any such discrepancy by his fiery courage and deep cunning.
+
+The long-drawn howl of a wolf sounded up the slope on our left and was
+soon answered by a similar call directly in our rear. For a third time the
+signal menaced us, on our right and at a considerable distance.
+
+"They're still scoutin' the ridge for me," murmured Cousin, his lean face
+turning to the left. "The heft of 'em are comin' along the trace behind
+us. Those over to the right are hustlin' to find out what's up. We must
+git along faster!"
+
+My mount responded eagerly, for he sensed the danger. And it was wonderful
+to observe how Cousin kept up, with one hand on my stirrup, the other
+holding the rifle. We were well beyond the brook where I shot my Shawnee,
+and within half a mile or less of the Grisdol cabin, when our flight was
+interrupted for a few moments by the behavior of my horse.
+
+It was just as we turned from the main trace to strike into the path
+leading to the cabin that the animal bolted sidewise, crowding Cousin deep
+into the bushes. I reined in and stared down on a terrible sight--that of
+the four Grisdols. They lay in the path, head to head, in the form of a
+cross. I felt my stirrup shake as Cousin's hand rested on it. He gave a
+little gasping sob and whispered:
+
+"How near to the cabin now?"
+
+"Less than half a mile," I told him as I soothed my horse and permitted
+him to pick his way around the dead.
+
+Once more we were off, but now Cousin ran behind, for the way was winding
+and narrow, and at places the overhanging boughs tried to brush me from
+the saddle.
+
+There was no need of glancing back to make sure my companion was keeping
+up, for his impatient voice repeatedly urged me to make greater speed.
+
+"If the cabin ain't standin' we've got to have 'nough of a lead to let us
+lose 'em in the woods," he reminded.
+
+The path completed a detour of some tangled blackberry bushes and ended in
+a natural opening, well grassed.
+
+"There it is! The roof is partly burned!" I encouraged.
+
+"The walls stand. The door's in place. Faster!"
+
+Across the opening we raced. From the woods behind arose a ferocious
+yelling. The Shawnee were confident they had driven us into a trap. We
+flashed by two dead cows and some butchered hogs, and as yet I had not
+seen an Indian except the one masked in a bear's pelt. The cabin roof was
+burned through at the front end. The door was partly open and uninjured.
+
+It was simple reasoning to reconstruct the tragedy even while we hastened
+to shelter. The family had offered resistance, but had been thrown into a
+panic at the first danger from fire. Then it was quickly over. Doubtless
+there had been something of a parley with the usual promise of life if
+they came out. The fire crackled overhead, the victims opened the door.
+
+Cousin said they had been conducted to the main trace before being
+slaughtered. As I leaped from my horse a fringe of savages broke from
+cover and began shooting. Cousin dropped the foremost of them. I led the
+horse inside the cabin and my companion closed and barred the door.
+
+The interior of the place mutely related the tragic story. It is the
+homely background of a crime that accents the terrible. On the table was
+the breakfast of the family, scarcely touched. They had been surprised
+when just about to eat. An overturned stool told how one of the men had
+leaped to bar the door at the first alarm. I spied through a peephole but
+could see nothing of our foes. A low cry from Cousin alarmed me. He was
+overcome at the sight of a small apron.
+
+"I wish I'd stuck to the open," he whispered. "The air o' this place
+chokes me."
+
+"If we can stand them off till night we can send the horse galloping
+toward the woods to draw their fire. Then we can run for it."
+
+"There won't be no darkness to-night," morosely replied Cousin. "They'll
+make big fires. They'll try to burn us out. We're well forted till they
+git the roof blazin' ag'in. We'll 'low to stick here s'long we can. They
+won't dare to hang round too long."
+
+He took a big kettle from the fireplace and thrust it through the hole in
+the roof. Bullets whistled overhead, with an occasional _whang_ as a piece
+of lead hit the kettle and ricochetted. After the first volley the Indians
+refused to waste their ammunition, either realizing it was useless, or
+suspecting the kettle was some kind of a trick.
+
+"I 'lowed they'd git tired," muttered Cousin, sticking the top of his head
+into the kettle and lifting the edge a crack so he could scrutinize the
+forest. After a minute of silence his muffed voice called down to me: "Had
+a notion that cow we passed nearest the woods was dead. Try a shot that'll
+just graze the rump."
+
+I fired and a Shawnee began rolling toward the bushes. The iron kettle
+rattled to the ground, and young Cousin, with head and shoulders thrust
+through the roof, discharged both barrels of his rifle. The Indian stopped
+rolling. I was amazed that Black Hoof's men had not instantly fired a
+volley. I exclaimed as much as he dropped to the floor.
+
+"Here she comes!" he cried as the lead began plunging into the thick logs.
+"If they keep it up we can dig quite a lot o' lead out the timbers. It
+took 'em by surprise to see me comin' through the roof, an' it surprised
+'em more to see two shoots comin' out of a gun that hadn't been reloaded.
+Mighty few double barrels out here. Huh! I 'low somethin' cur'ous is goin'
+to happen."
+
+I could discern nothing to warrant this prophecy. No Indians were to be
+seen. Cousin called my attention to the sound of their tomahawks. I had
+heard it before he spoke, but I had been so intent in using my eyes that I
+had forgotten to interpret what my ears were trying to tell me. There was
+nothing to do but wait.
+
+Cousin discovered the horse had drunk what water there had happened to be
+in the bucket, leaving us scarcely a drop. Half an hour of waiting seemed
+half a day; then something began emerging from the woods. It resolved
+itself into a barrier of green boughs, measuring some fifteen feet in
+length and ten feet in height.
+
+Its approach was slow. The noise of the axes was explained. The Indians
+had chopped saplings and had made a frame and filled it with boughs.
+Behind it was a number of warriors. About half-way across the clearing
+were half a dozen long logs scattered about.
+
+"They're thinkin' to make them logs an' while hid by their boughs yank 'em
+together to make a breastwork. Then they'll pepper us while 'nother party
+rushes in close. New party will pelt us while the first makes a run to git
+ag'in' the walls where we can't damage 'em from the loopholes. That Black
+Hoof is a devil for thinkin' up tricks."
+
+I fired at the green mass. Cousin rebuked me, saying:
+
+"Don't waste lead. There's three braves with long poles to keep the
+contraption from fallin' backward. They're on their feet, but keepin' low
+as possible. There's t'others pushin' the bottom along. There's t'others
+huggin' the ground. You'll notice the ends an' middle o' the top stick up
+right pert, but between the middle an' each end the boughs sort o' sag
+down. If the middle pole can be put out o' business I 'low the weight of
+it will make it cave in. Loaded? Then don't shoot less you see
+somethin'."
+
+With this warning he fired at the middle of the screen, and the middle
+support developed a weakness, indicating he had wounded the poleman. He
+fired again, and the whole affair began to collapse, and a dozen warriors
+were uncovered. These raced for the woods, two of them dragging a wounded
+or dead man.
+
+For a few seconds I was incapable of moving a muscle. I was much like a
+boy trying to shoot his first buck. Or perhaps it was the very abundance
+of targets that made me behave so foolishly. Cousin screamed in rage. My
+bonds snapped, and I fired. If I scored a hit it was only to wound, for
+none of the fleeing foe lessened their speed. "Awful poor fiddlin'!"
+groaned Cousin, eying me malevolently.
+
+"I don't know what was the matter with me. Something seemed to hold me
+paralyzed. Couldn't move a finger until you yelled."
+
+"Better luck next time," he growled, his resentment passing away.
+
+He loaded and stood his rifle against the logs and began spying from the
+rear of the cabin. Whenever he glanced at the apron his eyes would close
+for a moment. No women had lived there. One of the Grisdols, the father of
+the two children, had brought it as a reminder of his dead wife. Cousin's
+great fight was not against the red besiegers, but against his emotions. I
+knew he was thinking of his sister.
+
+"Come here!" I sharply called. "They want a pow-wow. One's waving a green
+bough."
+
+Cousin climbed to the hole in the roof, holding his rifle out of sight by
+the muzzle. He yelled in Shawnee for the man to advance alone. The warrior
+strode forward, the token of peace held high. So far as I could see he did
+not have even a knife in his belt. Overhead Cousin's rifle cracked and the
+Indian went down with never a kick.
+
+"Good God! You've fired on a flag of truce, after agreeing to receive it!"
+I raged.
+
+He stood beside me, a crooked smile on his set face, his eyes gleaming
+with triumph, his shapely head tilted to enjoy every note of the horrible
+anger now welling from the forest. "You fired----"
+
+"I 'low I did," he chuckled. Then with awful intentness, "But the folks
+who lived here an' was happy didn't fire on the Injun fetchin' 'em a
+bundle o' peace-talk. They believed the Injuns meant it. Do you reckon I
+treated that dog any worse than the Shawnees treated my father and mother
+and little sister ten years ago? If you don't 'low that, just keep shet.
+When a Injun sends you a flag o' truce you want to tie your scalp down, or
+it'll blow off."
+
+The chorus of howls in the forest suddenly ceased, then were succeeded by
+sharp yelps of joy. Cousin stared at me in bewilderment. Darting to the
+back of the cabin, he peered through a chink. "Come here," he softly
+commanded. I joined him and took his place at the peephole. There was a
+haze of smoke in the eastern sky.
+
+"That's why Black Hoof an' his men are hangin' round here," he sighed. "He
+sent a small band farther east. They've made a kill. That's a burnin' over
+there."
+
+"That would be Edgely's cabin," I decided. "But they moved back to
+Dunlap's Creek three months ago."
+
+"Thank God for that!" he exclaimed. "But we'll have more Injuns round us
+mighty soon. I wish it was dark."
+
+"They've stopped their yowling. Look out for fresh deviltry!"
+
+He nodded and walked to the front of the cabin. The horse neighed shrilly.
+The call was repeated in the forest. The Indians continued silent. I heard
+it first; that is to recognize it. For I had heard it the day before. The
+voice of a man shouting fretfully, much as an angry child complains.
+Cousin understood it when a whimpering note was added.
+
+"Baby Kirst!" he softly cried. "Black Hoof will 'low his medicine is
+mighty weak. Baby's out there an' in a bad frame o' mind. Somethin' is
+goin' ag'in' the grain. It's good medicine for us that he wandered up this
+way."
+
+I began sketching the happenings at Howard's Creek, but before I could
+finish the bushes on the hem of the woods were violently agitated and Baby
+Kirst rode into the clearing, his horse in a lather. When he beheld the
+dead cows and hogs he yelled like a madman and plucked his heavy ax from
+his belt, and turned back to the woods. He disappeared with a crash, his
+hoarse voice shouting unintelligible things.
+
+"Now you can go," quietly said Cousin as he unbarred the door. "Be keerful
+o' the Injuns to the east. They'll be a small band. I 'low I'll foller
+Kirst. If he don't drive 'em too fast there oughter be good huntin' for
+me."
+
+That night I rode into the Greenwood clearing on Dunlap's Creek without
+having seen any Indians along the way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+I REPORT TO MY SUPERIORS
+
+
+A night at the Greenwood cabin and I resumed my journey to Salem on the
+Roanoke. Near this hamlet lived Colonel Andrew Lewis, to whom I was to
+report before carrying or forwarding Doctor Connolly's despatches to
+Governor Dunmore. The trip was free from any incidents and seemed
+exceedingly tame after the stress of over-mountain travel. All the
+settlers I talked with were very anxious to know the true conditions along
+the border.
+
+As I pressed on and found the cabins more thickly strewn along the various
+waters I was impressed by the belief of many that the Cherokees would join
+the Ohio tribes before the war ended. One would expect to find this
+apprehension to be the keenest where the danger would be the greatest. But
+not so. Whenever I related how Isaac Crabtree had murdered Cherokee Billy,
+brother of the powerful Oconostota, the pessimists were positive that the
+Cherokee nation would lay down a red path.
+
+Notwithstanding these natural fears the war remained popular with
+practically all the men with whom I talked. Various companies were being
+formed, and militia captains, to make sure of seeing active service, were
+not punctilious as to where and by what means they secured their men.
+There was much ill-natured bickering over this rivalry, with several
+matters assuming such proportions that only Colonel Lewis could straighten
+them out.
+
+The war was popular because the people realized a farther western
+expansion would be impossible until the Indians had been crowded back and
+firmly held behind the Ohio. Anything short of a permanent elimination of
+the red menace was cried down.
+
+Much resentment was felt against the hotheads in Pennsylvania for openly
+accusing the Virginians of inciting the war to establish their land
+claims. It was widely known that the Pennsylvania _Gazette_ had published
+charges against Doctor Connolly to the effect that his agents, acting
+under his orders, had fired on friendly Shawnees who were escorting white
+traders into Fort Pitt. Among these settlers east of the mountains the
+common complaint was about the scarcity of powder and lead.
+
+When within a few miles of my destination I came upon a group of settlers
+who were gathered about a travel-stained stranger. For the first time
+since leaving Dunlap's Creek I found myself of second importance. This man
+was tanned by the weather to a deep copper color and wore a black cloth
+around his head in place of a cap.
+
+I halted on the edge of the group and waited for him to finish his
+narrative which must have been of lively interest if the rapt attention of
+the men and women was any gage.
+
+"--and using the ax I jumped over his body, got to the horse and rode
+away," his deep voice concluded. He spoke with a palpable effort and
+almost with a sing-song intonation.
+
+I dismounted and pressed forward, and told him:
+
+"You talk like an Indian."
+
+"God's marcy, young sir!" cried an old dame. "An', please sweet grace, why
+shouldn't he? Isn't he Johnny Ward, took by the Injums when a boy, an'
+just managed to scoot free of 'em?"
+
+The man slowly looked me over, his face as immovable as any Shawnee
+chief's. Then with the slightest of hesitation between each two words he
+calmly informed me:
+
+"Escaped as the white woman says. Named John Ward. Indian name, Red Arrow.
+Now I am back with my people. Now I am John Ward again. I talk bad. I
+talked with Indians most the time all these years. With my old friends I
+will grow to talk better."
+
+I congratulated him on his return to civilization. Many a man holding a
+high place in the colony's government and in the affection of the people
+had been held in captivity; but few were the men who returned after
+spending so many years with the Indians. In that respect Ward's case was
+unusual.
+
+"Your talk sounds all right to us," said one of the men. "Mayhap you
+l'arned some things about the red hellions that'll help our boys to give
+'em pepper."
+
+"I can lead you to their towns by the shortest trails. I can lead you to
+their new towns that white men can not find quick," he replied, after a
+few moments' pause, just as an Indian would wait before answering a
+question.
+
+Young Cousin flashed into my mind, and I asked:
+
+"Do you know of a white woman--she would be nineteen years old now--named
+Cousin? She was captured by Shawnees at Keeney's Knob ten years ago."
+
+For half a minute I was doubtful if he understood my query. Then he shook
+his head. I was disappointed as it seemed to be an excellent chance to
+learn whether the girl be dead or alive. Still talking in his peculiar,
+halting way, he said:
+
+"She, the white woman, was killed, probably. If not that she would be
+taken to Detroit and sold. Now married and living on a Canada farm,
+probably. Whites taken prisoners were not let to see each other. No whites
+were ever kept in the village where I lived."
+
+"What village were you kept in?"
+
+"First in Lower Shawnee Town. Then in more towns. As I grew old they took
+me to the towns farthest from the Ohio. Then came a time when I went where
+I pleased, but they never took me on their war-paths south the Ohio."
+
+By this time the country folk began to remember that I, too, was a
+newcomer, and should have much information or gossip. They turned from
+Ward and plied me with questions. I briefly recited for the twentieth time
+since leaving Dunlap's Creek the conditions west of the mountains.
+
+Detailed cross-examination brought forth the happenings at Howard's Creek
+and the murder of the four Grisdols, and the firing of the Edgely cabin.
+When I said that Black Hoof was in command of the Grisdol raiders my
+audience displayed nervousness, and more than one glance was cast toward
+the west. The effect on Ward was pronounced, also. Rising, he asked:
+
+"Catahecassa led that path? I must be going. It was from his band I
+escaped. His warriors followed me. I will go to the east before camping
+for the night."
+
+"He'll never dare come east of the mountains!" loudly declared one of the
+men.
+
+Ward's face was inscrutable as he walked to his horse. As he vaulted into
+the saddle he remarked:
+
+"Black Hoof has a long arm."
+
+So it happened that John Ward, the returned captive, and I finished the
+distance to Salem. Temptation assailed me as we reached the edge of the
+settlement. I had planned all the time to finish my business with Colonel
+Lewis at his home at Richfield. I had planned this even after learning
+from Mrs. Davis of the Dales' presence in Salem.
+
+Now, of a sudden, it seemed that I must hunt them up and look on Patricia
+once more. But Colonel Lewis was waiting for me. I had endured three years
+without a glimpse of the girl; and leaving Ward to ride on and relate his
+experience to the Salem people I skirted the town and pressed on to
+Richfield.
+
+Arriving at the Lewis home I was informed by a colored man that the
+colonel was not at the house, but somewhere about the grounds.
+
+"An' please goodness, massa, I's gwine to fotch him in two shakes of a
+houn' dawg's tail," he told me.
+
+I threw myself on the grass and waited. Either the servant's powers of
+"fotching" had been exaggerated, or else the colonel was quite indifferent
+to my arrival. Nearly an hour passed before my meditations were
+interrupted.
+
+This was not my first visit to Richfield to report to the colonel, but I
+felt no better acquainted at the last meeting than at the first. There was
+a certain reserve in his manner which held folks at arm's length. This
+impression of aloofness was increased by his personal appearance. His tall
+figure and stern dark eyes made for austerity.
+
+In military affairs he was said to be overstrict in discipline; this from
+those who had served under him in former wars. Yet he stood very high in
+the esteem of the county militia and his superiors. Perhaps his severe
+mien was the natural result of a life filled with stormy experiences. From
+early manhood he had been employed in fighting Indians.
+
+He was a captain of militia at the age of twenty-two. Twelve years later
+he was a major, serving under Colonel George Washington. He was seriously
+wounded at Fort Necessity. He would have played a prominent part in
+Braddock's first and last Indian battle had he not been detailed to
+complete a chain of frontier forts. He was in the disastrous Sandy Creek
+expedition the year following Braddock's defeat.
+
+In 1758 he was an officer under Forbes, and was one of those captured with
+Grant's detachment. He escaped the stake only to be held a prisoner in
+Montreal. Later he led a force against the Cherokees; and in Pontiac's War
+he commanded two hundred and fifty riflemen under Colonel Bouquet. Now he
+was picked to command one of the two armies that Governor Dunmore proposed
+to send against the Indian towns above the Ohio.
+
+Among the Indians the name of Lewis stood very high. The natives knew the
+colonel to be the son of that John Lewis who was long famed as an Indian
+fighter. It was commonly believed by red and white, and I have no reason
+to doubt the truth of it, that it was John Lewis who introduced red clover
+to America.
+
+Whether he did or did not, the Ohio Indians credited him with planting the
+first seed and said the color resulted from the blood of the red men he
+had slain. William and Charles Lewis, the colonel's brothers, also were
+noted border men. Charles undoubtedly ranked as high for courage and
+astuteness as any frontiersman in Virginia.
+
+The colored man at last turned the corner of the house. Behind him, and
+not yet in sight, was the colonel, and he was not alone for I could hear
+his grave voice addressing some companion.
+
+"De c'unel dat stubbo'n I jes' have to talk mighty plain 'fore I could
+make him pudge erlong," proudly whispered the servant as he passed me.
+
+I sprang to my feet, and Colonel Lewis and His Excellency, John Murray,
+Earl of Dunmore, our royal governor, leisurely strolled into view.
+
+Colonel Lewis wore no wig and was smoking a pipe, of which he was
+inordinately fond. It was characteristic of him to be more democratic and
+careless in personal presentment when with his superiors than when meeting
+the rough and ready people of the border.
+
+Nor was Governor Dunmore given to set forms. He was forty-two years of age
+and in his prime, a man among men. He could be most democratic, and on
+this day there was none of the town beau's fastidiousness in his dress.
+Yet his wig and his coat were a mode in themselves, while his shoe, knee
+and stock buckles were of gold. Ultra-genteel young bucks would have had
+such buckles set with brilliants, that they might twinkle and glitter at
+every mincing step.
+
+His Excellency walked with a man's stride and gave the impression of being
+careless in dress, whereas, in fact, he always was perfect in his points.
+He dominated his attire and left you scarcely conscious of it. The two of
+them had been discussing something with great earnestness for as they drew
+near me the colonel gestured with his pipe-stem, and His Excellency pushed
+back his wig and appeared inclined to disagree.
+
+"Lord, man! I tell you it's their cursed provincial jealousy. They malign
+the man."
+
+"Your Excellency, I am not the judge," Colonel Lewis calmly replied. "I
+simply repeat what I hear, and suggest how it may be disastrous to the
+campaign."
+
+"Jealousy and slander!" heatedly declared the governor. Then his lively
+gaze rested on me. He frowned, as if trying to remember, then smiled with
+that graciousness he could so charmingly display when he deemed it worth
+while and said:
+
+"I've been keeping you from your guest, Colonel. He looks brown and lean
+enough to have traveled far and to have brought a pretty earful. I know
+the face and ought to be calling him by name."
+
+Colonel Lewis advanced a few steps and bowed slightly, and refreshed the
+governor's recollection by saying:
+
+"He is Basdel Morris, Your Excellency. Of Prince William County
+originally. Before Your Excellency came to Virginia he came out here to
+act as scout and messenger between us and Fort Pitt."
+
+"Fort Dunmore," coldly corrected the governor, giving the name bestowed in
+honor of his earldom. Then with a genial smile:
+
+"I remember Mr. Morris distinctly. He has brought papers to me. I vow but
+he should have a good budget of news. If we could retire to the shade and
+escape this cursed heat----"
+
+"Inside, inside," brusquely interrupted the colonel, and he waved us
+through the door with his pipe-stem. "We'll find it cool in there."
+
+And we did; and very pleasant too, and with many little comforts for those
+who wish to be indolent, such as foot-rests, and low tables for holding
+decanter and glasses and a sheaf of long pipes and some of Virginia's
+superb tobacco.
+
+"No ceremony here, Mr. Morris. Sit down, man. We will play His Lordship is
+traveling in disguise."
+
+"Forsooth! He has that which we are hungry to receive! It's more fit we
+should stand while he takes his ease," gaily exclaimed His Excellency. And
+he removed his wig and mopped his cropped poll and sipped appreciatively
+of the tall glass a soft-footed servant placed at his elbow.
+
+This was a most pleasing trait about His Excellency, and one which in
+happier times should have endeared him even to people who have small use
+for earls. He could make the young or diffident man feel more at home than
+could the democratic and autocracy-hating Andrew Lewis. Nor was it any
+affectation; for we were soon to learn he could keep up with hardy
+borderers on long forest marches, and at that, proceed afoot and carry his
+own blanket and equipment like any backwoods volunteer.
+
+Colonel Lewis shot a glance at me and then at the governor, and I verily
+believed his dark eyes were laughing at one of us. Surely not at me, for I
+was too insignificant. I obtained an inkling as to the cause of his
+cynical amusement when he said:
+
+"Young Mr. Morris, while not forest-bred, has lived long enough in the
+woods as to make him blunt of tongue. Would Your Excellency prefer that he
+make a verbal report to me and that I reduce it to writing for your
+consideration?"
+
+"After what the Quakers have said I find my skin to be very thick except
+when it comes to something touching my personal honor," coldly replied the
+governor. "Let the man tell what he will. We want the truth."
+
+Until this moment I had barely opened my mouth. Now I produced the
+despatches committed to my care by Doctor Connolly. In presenting these to
+Governor Dunmore I remained standing, waiting to be dismissed.
+
+His Excellency, however, made no move to open and read his despatches, but
+fell to staring at me speculatively. Finally he said:
+
+"Let's have the personal side--the things you observed on your journey
+back here." And he motioned for me to be seated.
+
+I told them of Bald Eagle's murder, and His Excellency exhibited hot
+anger, and broke in on my recital long enough to exclaim:
+
+"Curse their black hearts! I drove John Ryan out of the country for
+murdering on the Cheat, Ohio, and the Monongahela. I've had others
+arrested, and their crazy neighbors have released them. I offer rewards
+for still others, and they come and go unmolested!"
+
+"Yes, it's unfortunate that some of our border men are as murderous as the
+Indians," quietly agreed Colonel Lewis. His Excellency subsided and nodded
+for me to continue.
+
+I next spoke of young Shelby Cousin, and the colonel's eyes grew hard as I
+related the youth's lament over his little sister, and, in his behalf,
+urged that some effort be made to ascertain the girl's fate. The governor
+wrinkled his nose and brows in an effort to remember something. Then he
+said:
+
+"I knew the name was familiar. I've sent word to Connolly to seek traces
+of the girl through the different traders. The war has closed that line of
+inquiry, I fear, as the traders have come in, or have been slaughtered.
+Very sad case. Very sad. The young man should go to England to begin life
+anew and learn to forget. I shall arrange it for him."
+
+"He would die before he would quit the woods, Your Excellency," said the
+colonel. "If he did consent and did go to England he would die of
+homesickness inside of ten days. Either that, or he would try to swim
+back."
+
+"Rather a poor opinion of England's charms," remarked the governor.
+
+When I took up the general scarcity of powder and lead and described how
+handicapped the settlers were by the lack of these vital necessities, it
+was Colonel Lewis's turn to show the most feeling.
+
+His anger was almost passionate, and none the less impressive because he
+held it in check. Staring wide-eyed at the governor he concluded his
+outburst by demanding:
+
+"What about it, Your Excellency?"
+
+"What about it? Why, that's something to ask of the House of Burgesses,
+wound all up in their red tape. His gracious Majesty suggested in
+'sixty-three that insomuch as the colonies implored England's aid against
+the French and Indians they should contribute something toward the cost of
+their defense in that war. Methinks they have taken the suggestion as an
+affront."
+
+"The French War is ten years old. It was fought so that England might gain
+Canada. Virginia is still a royal province and her people need powder and
+lead," the colonel replied. Perhaps he stressed "still" a bit. At least
+the governor's gaze dropped and concealed any impression he might have
+received.
+
+The governor drummed his fingers on the low liquor-stand, then lifted his
+head and stated:
+
+"This war will never be won by isolated groups of settlers fighting on the
+defensive along the many creeks and rivers. The decisive blow will be
+struck by the two armies soon to take the field. There will be plenty of
+powder for the men I lead and the men you are to lead. As to the
+back-country settlements, the House of Burgesses should have provided for
+them. His Majesty is eager to aid all his subjects, but there's scant
+policy in serving our powder and balls to be husbanded along the western
+slope of the Alleghanies and perhaps later used against England's
+soldiers."
+
+Colonel Lewis dropped his pipe and stared wrathfully at his noble guest.
+With an effort he restrained his temper and rejoined:
+
+"The talk seems to touch upon some war other than that with the Ohio
+tribes."
+
+His Excellency at once was all smiles and graciousness. Leaning forward
+and placing a hand on the colonel's knee, he earnestly declared:
+
+"The conversation has wandered, foolishly on my part, I admit. I have
+lacked in tact, but the first fault I swear is due to the attitude of the
+Burgesses in neglecting to take proper measures for defending the
+frontier. Before England can send sufficient supplies to Virginia this war
+will have ended. There is plenty of powder at Williamsburg. Why doesn't
+the House of Burgesses send it to the border?"
+
+"There is but a small store at the most, Your Excellency."
+
+"But why retain it when it is needed elsewhere?"
+
+"That is hardly a question I can answer," was the stiff reply. Then with a
+flash of heat:
+
+"It's a shame! We repeatedly urge those families to stick, not to come off
+their creeks until they've laid by their corn and harvested their oats;
+and they are denied the simple means of defending their lives. Whether the
+Burgesses or the royal governor be at fault the fact remains that the
+settlers pay in blood and anguish."
+
+"If there is any powder at Williamsburg or Norfolk that I can lay hands
+to, it shall go over the mountains. At least the royal governor will prove
+his hands are clean," solemnly declared His Excellency.
+
+"I'll warrant that Pennsylvania has traded enough guns and powder to the
+Shawnee and Mingos," moodily observed the colonel.
+
+"There's too much talk in Williamsburg over peoples' rights, and not
+enough concern for peoples' lives," declared His Excellency. "It would be
+a good thing if the House of Burgesses could be locked up in a fort and
+made to repel an Indian attack."
+
+"Well, well," sighed the colonel, "we'll never lick the Ohio tribes with
+proclamations and empty hands."
+
+"By gad, sir! We'll whip them with powder and lead! I've set myself to the
+task of crushing the Indian power. It shall be done!"
+
+They settled back and signaled for me to resume my narrative. When I
+mentioned Crabtree and the other killers both the governor and the colonel
+expressed a wish that the Indians might catch them, or else scare them
+from the border. I closed my story by speaking of John Ward, the returned
+captive. The military instinct of both my hearers was instantly aroused;
+for here was a source of inside information our spies could not hope to
+provide.
+
+"Find that man and send him here," ordered the governor. "But before you
+go tell us something of conditions about Fort Dunmore. You seem to have
+skipped that."
+
+This was what I had expected, and I did not relish the task. Had I been
+talking alone with Colonel Lewis it would have been the first topic I had
+touched upon.
+
+"Your Excellency has Doctor Connolly's despatches. Doubtless they will
+give you much more than I can," I faltered.
+
+"There isn't any danger of your duplicating Doctor Connolly's
+information," said His Excellency sharply.
+
+"His Excellency desires to learn those odds and ends which wouldn't be
+included in an official report, but which may throw some light on the
+whole situation," added the colonel, his gaze resting on me very
+insistently. And somehow I knew he wanted me to talk, and to speak
+plainly.
+
+If I reported according to my sense of duty I feared I was in for an
+unpleasant experience with His Excellency. If I would ever receive any
+favors from him it would be because I kept my mouth shut and steered clear
+of dangerous ground. The situation at Pitt, however, had offended me; and
+now that I must speak I grew reckless and decided to speak frankly.
+
+"Arthur St. Clair, representing the Pennsylvania proprietors, together
+with other eminent men in that colony, publicly declared that Your
+Excellency is in partnership with Doctor Connolly in various land-deals,"
+I began.
+
+"Doctor Connolly has acted as my agent, just as his uncle, Michael
+Croghan, has acted for Colonel George Washington," easily remarked His
+Excellency.
+
+"Croghan repudiates the acts of Connolly," I said.
+
+Dunmore frowned and spoke wide of the mark when he said:
+
+"What St. Clair and his friends see fit to believe scarcely constitutes
+facts. But go on."
+
+"They also say that this war with the Shawnees is being hurried on for the
+purpose of establishing our boundary-claims and making good our titles to
+grants under Virginia patents."
+
+"Scarcely news. They've been howling that ever since last April," growled
+Lewis.
+
+"I've been absent some months. I have no way of knowing what you've heard,
+or haven't heard. I'm afraid I have nothing new in the way of facts or
+gossip," I said, and my face flushed.
+
+Governor Dunmore laughed softly and good-naturedly nodded for me to
+continue. I said:
+
+"It is commonly believed in Pennsylvania that Connolly's circular letter
+to our frontier was meant to precipitate a war so that he might cover up
+the costs of rebuilding Fort Pitt. It is said on all sides that the
+commandant fears the House of Burgesses will repudiate his expenditures
+even after Your Excellency has endorsed them--providing there is no war."
+
+The governor's face colored, but his voice was quiet as he said:
+
+"Connolly may be a fool in many things, but he is right about the House of
+Burgesses. There isn't any doubt as to their repudiating anything which
+looks like a benefit to our frontier."
+
+"Your Excellency, I can scarcely agree to that," cut in Colonel Lewis. It
+was the second time their counter-views had struck out sparks.
+
+Both remained silent for half a minute, each, I have no doubt, controlling
+an impulse to explode. Relations between the colonies and England
+resembled an open powder-keg. With a bow that might indicate he desired to
+avoid a dangerous subject the governor shifted the conversation by
+remarking:
+
+"After all, it doesn't matter what Pennsylvania thinks, so long as we know
+her interests are hostile to Virginia's. I am governor of Virginia. I will
+serve her interests, and by gad! if the Quakers don't like our way they
+can chew their thumbs."
+
+"We are one in that!" heartily cried the colonel.
+
+Governor Dunmore frowned down at his gold shoe-buckles and wearily said:
+
+"They say I want war. But the Williamsburg paper has insisted on this war
+since last March. Truth is, the border wants the war. And let me confess
+to you, Colonel Lewis, that the Earl of Dartmouth, as Secretary of State
+for the colonies, will express His Majesty's great displeasure to me
+before this war is over.
+
+"England does not want his campaign to go through. Taking the position I
+have means I will meet with disfavor and criticism at home."
+
+Turning to me, he querulously complained.
+
+"And it's you people along the border who make the war necessary. It's the
+horrible massacres of harmless Indians that brought the trouble upon me."
+
+This was grossly untrue and I countered:
+
+"Even Logan doesn't claim that. It's been give and take as to the
+killings, with the Indians getting the better of it in scalps. A general
+war can result only from the Indians' belief that our settlers are
+crossing the mountains to settle in the Kentucky country."
+
+"Ah! There you go! True to the dot, too!" he cried. "You Americans are
+restless. You acquire no attachment to any place. Wandering about seems to
+be engrafted in your natures. It's your great weakness that you should
+forever be thinking the lands farther off are better than those on which
+you're already settled."
+
+"But land-grants on the Ohio are worthless without settlers," I meekly
+reminded. Colonel Lewis indulged in a frosty smile. His Excellency eyed me
+shrewdly, and said:
+
+"Of course the lands must be settled sometime. The trouble comes from the
+frontier people's failure to understand that His Majesty's government has
+any right to forbid backwoodsmen from taking over any Indian lands which
+happen to hit the fancy.
+
+"They have no idea of the permanent obligation of treaties which His
+Majesty's government has made with the various Indian nations. Why, some
+of the frontier people feel so isolated from the colonies that they wish
+to set up democratic governments of their own. A pretty kettle of fish!
+Then such creatures as this Crabtree murder such men as the brother of the
+powerful Cherokee chief. More trouble for the border.
+
+"I shall offer a reward of a hundred pounds for Crabtree's arrest. If he
+is arrested the border men will release him. And yet they demand that His
+Majesty supply them with powder to defend their homes. Good God! What
+inconsistency! And as if we did not have enough trouble inside our colony
+there is Mr. Penn, to the north. As proprietary governor he sullies the
+dignity of his communications to the House of Representatives by making
+the same a conveyance of falsehood, thereby creating trouble between
+Pennsylvania and Virginia.
+
+"He is even now trying to make my Lord Dartmouth believe that my zeal in
+carrying on this war is not through any sense of duty to my king, but
+because of a desire for personal emoluments. If he can make the people of
+Virginia believe that, then I am helpless." Certainly this defense of his
+motives was not meant to convert me. My ideas worried His Excellency none.
+He was testing Colonel Lewis, whose reserve made the broaching of delicate
+subjects very much of a difficulty. The colonel quickly declared:
+
+"Your Excellency knows that I thoroughly understand the true bias of
+Pennsylvania. We are with you in this war heart and soul. But I do think,
+to put it mildly, that Doctor Connolly has been indiscreet."
+
+He had come back to the one phase of the conversation which interested
+him. The governor hesitated a moment, then asked me:
+
+"What is your personal opinion of Doctor Connolly? Speak freely."
+
+"I consider him to be a very ambitious, intriguing man, and very much of a
+fire-eater."
+
+Both the gentlemen smiled, His Excellency being less genuine than the
+colonel. "To be an ambitious fire-eater is not a bad quality in these
+times," said the governor. "As to intrigue, so long as it is for Virginia
+I will not condemn it too strongly. What other charges are there in your
+arraignment?"
+
+"I do not arraign him," I retorted. Believing I had gone too far ever to
+retrieve myself in the governor's good graces, and being made angry by the
+thought, I boldly continued: "Connolly is too autocratic. He carries
+things with too high a hand. He takes measures which neither Your
+Excellency, nor any other of His Majesty's governors would dream of
+indulging in. He arrests and imprisons citizens without any pretense at
+legal procedure. It is because of such actions that many in Pennsylvania
+expressed the wish we might lose the war. I will add that I heard no such
+expressions of ill-will since the white families were murdered along the
+Monongahela."
+
+"It does make a difference as to whose ox is being gored," grimly
+commented Colonel Lewis.
+
+"Does Pennsylvania still blame Michael Cresap for the death of Logan's
+people?" asked the governor.
+
+"Many of them do, because Connolly reduced him in rank. His reinstatement
+at Your Excellency's command is not so generally known."
+
+"Confusion and bickering!" wrathfully exclaimed the governor. "Virginia
+demanding a decisive war--England opposed to it. Our militia captains
+stealing each other's men--Sir William Johnson's death is most untimely."
+
+Sir William Johnson dead! For the moment I was stunned. My facial
+expression was so pronounced that His Excellency kindly added:
+
+"The sad news has just reached us. Never was he needed more and wanted
+more. The colonies have been so used to having him hold the Iroquois in
+check that few have paused to picture what might happen if his influence
+were removed from the Six Nations."
+
+He rose and paced the room for a few turns. Then with a short bow to me he
+addressed the colonel, saying:
+
+"With your permission, Colonel, I believe I shall retire for an hour. When
+the man Ward comes I wish to question him."
+
+"By all means, Your Excellency, take a bit of rest. I shall call you if
+the fellow comes."
+
+I turned to go and the colonel walked with me to the door, urging me to
+return and remain his guest that night. I thanked him, explaining an
+acceptance of his kind offer would depend on circumstances. He walked with
+me to my horse and with a side-glance at the house softly inquired:
+
+"What do the people over the mountains and in Pennsylvania say about the
+Quebec Bill now before Parliament?"
+
+"I do not remember hearing it mentioned. I do not think any of the
+settlers are interested in it."
+
+"Not interested!" he groaned. "And if it is approved[3] by Parliament the
+American colonies will be robbed of hundreds of thousands of square miles
+of territory. They will lose the lands which already have been given them
+in their own charters. Think of Virginia and Pennsylvania quarreling over
+the junction of two rivers when we stand fair to lose all the country west
+of the Alleghanies. Young man, there's going to be war." This was very
+softly spoken.
+
+"We're in it now," I stupidly replied.
+
+"I am speaking of war with England," he whispered.
+
+I could scarcely accept it as being a true prophecy. I was not disturbed
+by it. The quarreling between colonies and the mother-country was an old
+story. Hiding my skepticism I asked, "When will it begin?"
+
+"It began in 1763, when the English Ministry decided to collect revenues
+from the colonies," was the quiet reply. "It will soon be open war. I
+verily believe I am entertaining in my humble home to-day the last royal
+governor of Virginia."
+
+-----
+
+  [3] The Quebec Bill, to take effect in 1775, was approved June 22, 1774,
+      or before Colonel Lewis and Morris had their conversation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+LOVE COMES A CROPPER
+
+
+"I am speaking of a war with England." These words of Colonel Lewis rang
+in my ears as I rode to Salem. They had sounded fantastic when he uttered
+them. Now that I was alone they repeated themselves most ominously. The
+flying hoofs of my horse pounded them into my ears. War with England was
+unthinkable, and yet the colonel's speech lifted me up to a dreary height
+and I was gazing over into a new and very grim world.
+
+For years, from my first connected thoughts, there had been dissension
+after dissension between England and America. My father before me had
+lived through similar disputes. But why talk of war now? Many times the
+colonies had boiled over a bit; then some concession was made, and what
+our orators had declared to be a crisis died out and became a dead issue.
+
+To be sure another "crisis" always took the place of the defunct one, but
+the great fact remained that none of those situations had led to war.
+Perhaps if some one other than Colonel Lewis had indulged in the dire
+foreboding it would have made less of an impression. At the time he spoke
+the words I had not been disturbed. Now that I was remembering what an
+unemotional level-headed man he was the effect became accumulative. The
+farther I left Richfield behind and the longer I mulled over his sinister
+statement the more I worried.
+
+As I neared Salem my meditations continued disquieting and yet were highly
+pleasing. I was on my way to meet Patricia Dale. I was born on the
+Mattapony and left an orphan at an early age. I had gone to Williamsburg
+when turning sixteen, and soon learned to love and wear gold and silver
+buckles on a pewter income.
+
+In my innocence, rather ignorance, I unwittingly allowed my town
+acquaintances to believe me to be a chap of means. When I discovered their
+false estimate I did not have the courage to disillusion them. My true
+spending-pace was struck on my eighteenth birthday, and inside the year I
+had wasted my King William County patrimony.
+
+Just what process of reasoning I followed during that foolish year I have
+never been able to determine. I must have believed it to be imperative
+that I live up to the expectations of my new friends. As a complement to
+this idiotic obsession there must have been a grotesque belief that
+somehow, by accident or miracle, I would be kept in funds indefinitely. I
+do recall my amazement at the abrupt ending of my dreams. I woke up one
+morning to discover I had no money, no assets. There were no odds and
+ends, even, of wreckage which I could salvage for one more week of the old
+life.
+
+Among my first friends had been Ericus Dale and his daughter, Patricia. To
+her intimates she was known as Patsy. As was to be expected when an
+awkward boy meets a dainty and wonderful maid, I fell in love completely
+out of sight. At nineteen I observed that the girl, eighteen, was becoming
+a toast among men much older and very, very much more sophisticated than
+I.
+
+She was often spoken of as the belle of Charles City County, and I spent
+much time vainly wishing she was less attractive. Her father, engaged in
+the Indian-trade, and often away from home for several months at a time,
+had seemed to be very kindly disposed to me.
+
+I instinctively hurried to the Dales to impart the astounding fact that I
+was bankrupt. One usually speaks of financial reverses as "crashing about"
+one's head. My wind-up did not even possess that poor dignity; for there
+was not enough left even to rattle, let alone crash.
+
+The youth who rode so desperately to the Dale home that wonderful day
+tragically to proclaim his plight, followed by fervid vows to go away and
+make a new fortune, has long since won my sympathy. I have always resented
+Ericus Dale's attitude toward that youth on learning he was a pauper. It
+is bad enough to confess to a girl that one has not enough to marry on;
+but it is hell to be compelled to add that one has not enough to woo on.
+
+How it wrung my heart to tell her I was an impostor, that I was going to
+the back-country and begin life all over. Poor young devil! How many like
+me have solemnly declared their intentions to begin all over, whereas, in
+fact, they never had begun at all.
+
+And why does youth in such juvenile cataclysms feel forced to seek new
+fields in making the fresh start? Shame for having failed, I suppose. An
+unwillingness to toe the scratch under the handicap of having his
+neighbors know it is his second trial.
+
+But so much had happened since that epochal day back in Williamsburg that
+it seemed our parting had been fully a million years ago. It made me smile
+to remember how mature Patsy had been when I meekly ran her errands and
+gladly wore her yoke in the old days.
+
+Three years of surveying, scouting and despatch-bearing through the
+trackless wilderness had aged me. I prided myself I was an old man in
+worldly wisdom. Patsy Dale had only added three years to her young life. I
+could even feel much at ease in meeting Ericus Dale. And yet there had
+been no day during my absence that I did not think of her, still
+idealizing her, and finding her fragrant memory an anodyne when suffering
+in the wilderness.
+
+The sun was casting its longest shadows as I inquired for the house and
+rode to it. If my heart went pit-a-pat when I dismounted and walked to the
+veranda it must have been because of anticipation. As I was about to rap
+on the casing of the open door I heard a deep voice exclaim:
+
+"This country's going to the dogs! We need the regulars over here. Using
+volunteers weakens a country. Volunteers are too damned independent.
+They'll soon get the notion they're running things over here. Put me in
+charge of Virginia, and I'd make some changes. I'd begin with Dunmore and
+wind up with the backwoodsmen. Neither Whigs nor Tories can save this
+country. It's trade we want, trade with the Indians."
+
+I could not hear that any one was answering him, and after a decent
+interval I rapped again. At last I heard a slow heavy step approaching
+from the cool twilight of the living-room.
+
+"Aye? You have business with me, my man?" demanded Dale, staring into my
+face without appearing to recognize me. He had changed none that I could
+perceive. Short, square as though chopped out of an oak log. His dark hair
+still kinked a bit and suggested great virility. His thick lips were
+pursed as of old, and the bushy brows, projecting nearly an inch from the
+deep-set eyes, perhaps had a bit more gray in them than they showed three
+years back.
+
+"Ericus Dale, you naturally have forgotten me," I began. "I am Basdel
+Morris. I knew you and your daughter three years ago in Williamsburg."
+
+"Oh, young Morris, eh? I'm better at remembering Indian faces than white.
+Among 'em so much. So you're young Morris, who made a fool of himself
+trying to be gentry. Sit down. Turned to forest-running, I should say."
+And he advanced to the edge of the veranda and seated himself. He had not
+bothered to shake hands.
+
+"I had business with Colonel Lewis and I wished to see you and Patsy
+before going back," I explained. I had looked for bluntness in his
+greeting, but I had expected to be invited inside the house.
+
+"Pat's out," he mumbled, his keen gaze roaming up and down my forest garb.
+"But she'll be back. Morris, you don't seem to have made much of a hit at
+prosperity since coming out this way."
+
+"I'm dependent only on myself," I told him. "Personal appearance doesn't
+go for much when you're in the woods."
+
+"Ain't it the truth?" he agreed. "In trade?"
+
+"Carrying despatches between Fort Pitt and Governor Dunmore just now.
+Surveying before that."
+
+"Then, by Harry, sir! You could be in better business," he snapped. "What
+with Dunmore at the top, and thieving, land-grabbing settlers at the
+bottom, this country is going to the devil! Dunmore cooks up a war to make
+a profit out of his land-jobbing! Settlers quit good lands on this side
+the mountains to go land-stealing in the Kentucky country and north of the
+Ohio. It riles my blood! I say you could be in better business than
+helping along the schemes of Dunmore and that trained skunk of his, Jack
+Connolly."
+
+I smiled pleasantly, beginning to remember that Ericus Dale was always a
+freely spoken man.
+
+"Do you mean that there is no need of this war? You say it is cooked up."
+
+"Need of war?" he wrathfully repeated. "In God's mercy why should we have
+war with the Indians? All they ask is to be let alone! Ever see a single
+piaster of profit made out of a dead Indian unless you could sell his
+hair? Of course not. The Indians don't want war. What they want is trade.
+I've lived among 'em. I know. It's Dunmore and the border scum who want
+war. They want to steal more land."
+
+I had no wish to quarrel with the man, but I, too, had been among the
+Indians; and I could not in decency to myself allow his ridiculous
+statements to go unchallenged.
+
+"How can the country expand unless the settlers have land? And if the
+Indians block the trail how can we get the land without fighting for it?
+Surely it was never intended that five or more square miles of the fairest
+country on earth should be devoted to keeping alive one naked red
+hunter."
+
+He fairly roared in disgust. Then with an effort to be calm he began:
+
+"Land? Settlers? You can't build a profit on land and settlers. Why, the
+colonies already refuse to pay any revenue to England. Line both sides of
+the Ohio with log cabins and stick a white family in each and what good
+does it do? Did the French try to settle Canada? No! The French weren't
+fools. They depended on trade."
+
+"But they lost Canada," I reminded.
+
+"Bah! For a purely military reason. The future of this country is trade.
+England's greatness is built up on trade." His trick of jumping his voice
+on that word "trade" was very offensive to the ears.
+
+"Pennsylvania has the right idea. Pennsylvania is prosperous. Pennsylvania
+doesn't go round chopping down bee-trees and then killing the bees to get
+the honey. What good is this land over here if you can't get fur from it?
+Settlers chop down the timber, burn it, raise measly patches of corn, live
+half-starved, die. That's all."
+
+His crazy tirade nettled me. It was obvious I could not keep in his good
+books, even with Patricia as the incentive, without losing my
+self-respect. I told him:
+
+"This country can never develop without settled homes. We're building
+rudely now, but a hundred years from now----"
+
+"Yah!" And his disgust burst through the thick lips in a deep howl. "Who
+of us will be alive a hundred years from now? Were we put on earth to
+slave and make fortunes for fools not yet born? Did any fools work and
+save up so we could take life soft and easy? You make me sick!"
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Dale, to hear you say that. However, the war is here----"
+
+"The war may be here, in Virginia, among the backwoodsmen. It is also in
+Dunmore's heart, but it ain't in the hearts of the Indians," he
+passionately contradicted. "The Indians only ask to be let alone, to be
+allowed to trade with us. Some canting hypocrites are whining for us to
+civilize the Indians. Why should they be civilized? Do they want to be?
+Ever hear of Indians making a profit out of our civilization? Did the
+Conestoga Indians make a profit when they tried to live like the whites
+near Lancaster, and the Paxton boys killed fourteen of them, men, women
+and children, then broke into the Lancaster jail where the others had been
+placed for their safety, and butchered the rest of them?
+
+"Did the ancient Virginia Indians prosper by civilization? I reckon if the
+old Powhatans could return they'd have some mighty warm things to say on
+that score. Why shouldn't the Indians insist we live as they do? They were
+here first. The only way to help the Indian is to trade with him. And when
+you help him that way you're helping yourself. That's the only point you
+can ever make a red man see.
+
+"I know the Indians. I can go into their towns now, be they Cherokee,
+Mingo, Shawnee or Delaware, and they'll welcome me as a brother. They know
+I don't want their land. They know I'm their true friend. They want me to
+make a profit when I trade with them, so I'll come again with more rum and
+blankets and guns, and gay cloth for their women."
+
+"You have the trader's point of view, and very naturally so," I said.
+
+"Thank God I ain't got the land-grabber's point of view! Nor the canting
+hypocrite's point of view! Nor a thick-headed forest-runner's point of
+view!" he loudly stormed, rising to end the discussion.
+
+But I was not to be balked, and I reminded him:
+
+"I called to pay my respects to Mistress Dale. I hope I may have the
+pleasure."
+
+"She's in the field back of the house. I'll call her," he grumbled. "I
+have a man in my kitchen, a white man, who has lived with the Indians ever
+since he was a boy. He knows more about them than all you border-folks
+could learn in a million years. He's the most sensible white man I ever
+met. He agrees with me perfectly that trade is what the Indian wants; not
+settlers nor Bibles."
+
+"Your guest would be John Ward!" I exclaimed, remembering the governor's
+errand. "I was asked by Colonel Lewis to find him and send him to
+Richfield. The colonel and Governor Dunmore wish to talk with him."
+
+"Ho! Ho! That's the way the cat jumps, eh? Want to milk him for military
+information, eh? Well, I reckon I'll go along with him and see they don't
+play no tricks on him. I've taken a strong liking to Ward. He's the one
+white man that's got my point of view."
+
+"He lived with the Indians so long he may have the Indians' point of
+view," I warned.
+
+"The sooner white men learn the Indians' point of view the better it'll be
+for both white and red. Ward knows the Indians well enough to know I'm
+their friend. He knows I'm more'n welcome in any of their towns. I'm going
+to carry a talk to Cornstalk and Black Hoof. If I can't stop this war I
+can fix it so's there'll never be any doubt who's to blame for it."
+
+"I tell you, Dale, that no white men, except it be Ward or Tavenor Ross
+and others like them, are safe for a minute with Logan's Cayugas,
+Cornstalk's Shawnees, Red Hawk's Delawares, or Chiyawee's Wyandots."
+
+"Three years ain't even made a tomahawk improvement on you," he sneered.
+"You mean to tell me that after all my years of friendship with the
+Indians I won't be safe among them, or that any friends I take along won't
+be safe among them? You talk worse'n a fool! I can send my girl alone into
+the Scioto villages, and once she gives belts from me she will be as safe
+as she would be in Williamsburg or Norfolk."
+
+"Such talk is madness," I cried. "The one message your cousin, Patrick
+Davis' wife, on Howard's Creek, asked me to deliver to your daughter is
+for her not to cross the mountains until the Indian trouble is over."
+
+"An old biddy whose husband is scared at every Indian he sees because he
+knows he's squatting on their lands. My cousin may not be safe on Howard's
+Creek, but my daughter would be. I'll say more; once the Indians know I am
+at Howard's Creek, they'll spare that settlement."
+
+It was useless to argue with the man. It was almost impossible to believe
+that he meant his vaporings for seriousness. With a scowl he walked to the
+rear of the house and entered the kitchen. All the windows were open, and
+his voice was deep and heavy. I heard him say:
+
+"Ward, I want you. We're going to have a talk with two white men, who
+don't understand Indians. Pat, that young cub of a forest-running Morris
+is out front. Hankers to see you, I 'low."
+
+My leather face was still on fire when I heard the soft swish of skirts.
+Then she stood before me, more beautiful than even my forest-dreaming had
+pictured her, more desirable than ever. She courtesied low, and the
+amazing mass of blue-black hair seemed an over-heavy burden for the slim
+white neck to carry.
+
+She smiled on me and I found my years dropping away like the leaves of the
+maple after its first mad dance to the tune of the autumn's wind. I felt
+fully as young as when I saw her in Williamsburg. And time had placed a
+distance other than that of years between us: it had destroyed the old
+familiarity.
+
+To my astonishment we were meeting as casual acquaintances, much as if a
+chin-high barrier was between us. It was nothing like that I had pictured.
+I had supposed we would pick up the cordiality at the first exchange of
+glances. I stuck out my hand and she placed her hand in it for a moment.
+
+"Basdel, I would scarcely have known you. Taller and thinner. And you're
+very dark."
+
+"Wind and weather," I replied. "It was at Howard's Creek I learned you
+were here. I was very anxious to see you."
+
+"Don't stand." And she seated herself and I took a chair opposite her. "So
+nice of you to have us in mind. It's some three years since."
+
+"I reckon your father doesn't fancy me much."
+
+"He's displeased with you about something," she readily agreed. "You
+mustn't mind what he says. He's excitable."
+
+"If I minded it I've forgotten it now," I told her. I now had time to note
+the cool creamy whiteness of her arms and throat and to be properly
+amazed. She had been as sweet and fresh three years before, but I was used
+to town maids then, and accepted their charms as I did the sunshine and
+spring flowers. But for three years I had seen only frontier women, and
+weather and worry and hard work had made sad work of delicate
+complexions.
+
+"Now tell me about yourself," she commanded.
+
+There was not much to tell; surveying, scouting, despatch-bearing. When I
+finished my brief recital she made a funny little grimace, too whimsical
+to disturb me, and we both laughed. Then quite seriously she reminded me:
+
+"But, Basdel, your last words were that you were to make a man of
+yourself."
+
+In this one sentence she tagged my forest work as being valueless. Had I
+been the boy who rode through the May sunshine frantically to announce his
+poverty, I might have accepted her verdict as a just sentence. Now there
+was a calculating light in her dark blue eyes that put me on my mettle.
+She was throwing down a red ax.
+
+"I am self-dependent," I said. "I never was that in Williamsburg. I have
+risked much. Before crossing the mountains, I did not dare risk even your
+displeasure. I have done things that men on the frontier think well of.
+When you knew me back East I only succeeded in making a fool of myself.
+The carrying of despatches between Fort Pitt and Botetourt County is
+considered to be rather important."
+
+"But, please mercy, there's more important things for young men to do than
+these you've mentioned," she softly rebuked.
+
+"If the work of surveying lands for homes and settlements, if the scouting
+of wild country to protect settlements already established, if keeping a
+line of communication open between the Ohio and the James are not
+important tasks, then tell me what are?" I demanded.
+
+She was displeased at my show of heat.
+
+"There's no call for your defending to me your work over the mountains,"
+she coldly reminded. "As an old friend I was interested in you."
+
+"But tell me what you would consider to have been more important work," I
+persisted. "I honestly believed I was working into your good opinion. I
+believed that once you knew how seriously I was taking life, you would be
+glad of me."
+
+"Poor Basdel," she soothed. "I mustn't scold you."
+
+"Pitying me is worse," I corrected. "If you can't understand a man doing a
+man's work at least withhold your sympathy. I am proud of the work I have
+done."
+
+This ended her softer mood.
+
+"You do right to think well of your work," she sweetly agreed. "But there
+are men who also take pride in being leaders of affairs, of holding office
+and the like."
+
+"And going into trade," I was rash enough to suggest.
+
+With a stare that strongly reminded me of her father she slowly said:
+
+"In trade? Why not? Trade is most honorable. The world is built up on
+trade. Men in trade usually have means. They have comfortable homes. They
+can give advantages to those dependent upon them. Trade? Why, the average
+woman would prefer a trader to the wanderer, who owns only his rifle and
+what game he shoots."
+
+"Patsy, that is downright savagery," I warmly accused. "Come, be your old
+self. We used to be mighty good friends three years ago. Be honest with
+me. Didn't you like me back in Williamsburg?"
+
+The pink of her cheeks deepened, but she quietly countered:
+
+"Why, Basdel, I like you now. If I didn't I never would bother to speak
+plainly to you."
+
+Three years' picture-painting was turning out to be dream-stuff. I tried
+to tell myself I was foolish to love one so much like Ericus Dale; but the
+lure was there and I could no more resist it than a bear can keep away
+from a honey-tree.
+
+She had shown herself to be contemptuous in reviewing the little I had
+done. She was blind to the glory of to-morrow and more than filled with
+absurd crotchets, and yet there was but one woman in America who could
+make my heart run away from control. If it couldn't be Patsy Dale it could
+be no one.
+
+"Back in Williamsburg, before I made such a mess of my affairs, you knew I
+loved you."
+
+"We were children--almost."
+
+"But I've felt the same about you these three years. I've looked ahead to
+seeing you. I've--well, Patsy, you can guess how I feel. Do I carry any
+hope with me when I go back to the forest?"
+
+The color faded from her face and her eyes were almost wistful as she met
+my gaze unflinchingly, and gently asked:
+
+"Basdel, is it fair for a man going back to the forest to carry hope with
+him? The man goes once and is gone three years. What if he goes a second
+time and is gone another three years? And then what if he comes back,
+rifle in hand, and that's all? What has he to offer her? A home in the
+wilderness? But what if she has always lived in town and isn't used to
+that sort of life?"
+
+"But if she loves the man----"
+
+"But what if she believes she doesn't love him quite enough to take him
+and his rifle and live in the woods? Has he any more right to expect that
+sacrifice than she has the right to expect him to leave the forest and
+rifle and make his home where she always has lived?"
+
+"I suppose not. But I, too, like the scenes and things you like. I don't
+intend spending all my life fighting Indians and living in the forest."
+
+"If your absence meant something definite," she sighed.
+
+"Meaning if I were in trade," I bitterly said.
+
+The kindly mood was gone. She defiantly exclaimed:
+
+"And why not? Trade is honorable. It gets one somewhere. It has hardships
+but it brings rewards. You come to me with your rifle. You talk sentiment.
+I listen because we were fond of each other in a boy-and-girl way. We
+mustn't talk this way any more. You always have my best wishes, but I
+never would make a frontier woman. I like the softer side of life too
+much."
+
+"Then you will not wait? Will not give me any hope?"
+
+"Wait for what? Another three years; and you coming back with your long
+rifle and horse. Is that fair to ask any woman?"
+
+"No. Not when the woman questions the fairness. 'Another three years' are
+your words, not mine. I shall see this war through, and then turn selfish.
+What I have done is good for me. It will serve to build on."
+
+"I'm sure of it," she agreed. "And you always have my best--my best
+wishes."
+
+"And down in your heart you dare care some, or you wouldn't talk it over
+with me," I insisted.
+
+"We liked each other as boy and girl. Perhaps our talk is what I believe I
+owe to that friendship. Now tell me something about our backwoods
+settlements."
+
+In story-writing the lover should, or usually does, fling himself off the
+scene when his attempt at love-making is thwarted. Not so in life with
+Patsy. I believed she cared for me, or would care for me if I could only
+measure up to the standard provided for her by her father's influence.
+
+So instead of running away I remained and tried to give her a truthful
+picture of border conditions. She understood my words but she could not
+visualize what the cabins stood for. They were so many humble habitations,
+undesirable for the town-bred to dwell in, rather than the symbols of
+many, happy American homes. She pretended to see when she was blind, but
+her nods and bright glances deceived me none. She had no inkling of what a
+frontier woman must contend with every day, and could she have glimpsed
+the stern life, even in spots, it would be to draw back in disgust at the
+hardships involved.
+
+So I omitted all descriptions of how the newly married were provided with
+homes by a few hours' work on the part of the neighbors, how the simple
+furniture was quickly fashioned from slabs and sections of logs, how a few
+pewter dishes and the husband's rifle constituted the happy couple's
+worldly possessions. She wished to be nice to me, I could see. She wished
+to send me away with amiable thoughts.
+
+"It sounds very interesting," she said. "Father must take me over the
+mountains before we return to town."
+
+"Do not ask him to do that," I cried. And I repeated the message sent by
+Mrs. Davis.
+
+She was the one person who always had her own way with Ericus Dale. She
+smiled tolerantly and scoffed:
+
+"Father's cousin sees danger where there isn't any. No Indian would ever
+bother me once he know I was my father's daughter."
+
+"Patsy Dale," I declared in my desperation. "I've loved you from the day I
+first saw you. I love you now. It's all over between us because you have
+ended it. But do not for your own sake cross the mountains until the
+Indian danger is ended. Howard's Creek is the last place you should visit.
+Why, even this side of the creek I had to fight for my life. The Indians
+had murdered a family of four, two of them children."
+
+She gave a little shudder but would not surrender her confidence in her
+father.
+
+"One would think I intended going alone. I know the Indians are killing
+white folks, and are being killed by white folks. But with my father
+beside me----"
+
+"If you love your father keep him on this side of the Alleghanies!"
+
+"You will make me angry, Basdel. I don't want to be displeased with you.
+My father has known the Indians for years. He has warm friends in every
+tribe. He is as safe among them as he is here in Salem. And if Howard's
+Creek is in danger he can request the Indians to keep away from it."
+
+"Good God! Are you as blind as all that?" I groaned.
+
+"Forest-running, Basdel, has made you violent and rough in your talk," she
+icily rebuked. "You hate the Indians simply because you do not understand
+them. Now I'm positive that the best thing for you to do is to keep away
+from the frontier and see if you can't start right on this side of the
+mountains."
+
+It would be folly to argue with her longer. I fished a pair of moccasins,
+absurdly small, from the breast of my hunting-shirt and placed them on the
+table. I had bought them from a squaw in White Eyes' village, and they
+were lavishly embroidered with gay beads. The squaw had laughed when I
+told the size I wanted.
+
+"If you will forget these came from the forest and will let me leave them,
+I shall be pleased," I said. "If you don't care for them, just chuck them
+aside. I had to guess at the size."
+
+"Oh, they are beautiful," she softly exclaimed, snatching them from the
+table. "Basdel, why not stay on this side of the mountains? You're a very
+clever young man if you would only give yourself a chance. Very soon you
+could go to the House of Burgesses. If you don't care to go into trade you
+could speculate in land. Father is against it, but if it will be done, you
+might as well do it as to leave the cream for others."
+
+"Even if I wished to stay, I could not," I replied. "I have much to do
+over there. Unfinished work. I have promised Colonel Lewis to carry
+despatches when not scouting. If they can send some one to Fort Pitt in my
+place I shall serve as scout in the Clinch River Valley. The people down
+there are badly upset."
+
+"Well, giving yourself for others may be very Christian-like. One must
+decide for one's self," she said.
+
+"The people over there help one another. They stand together. If I can
+help them, I shall be helping myself."
+
+"I wish my father could go there and make them see how silly they are,"
+she impatiently declared. "If they would only be friendly with the
+Indians! It is so simple----"
+
+"I know a fellow about your age," I broke in. "The Indians killed his
+people on Keeney's Knob ten years ago and stole his little sister. He
+doesn't know whether she is dead or a captive. His folks were friendly.
+They were butchered after making a feast for Cornstalk and his warriors.
+There are many such cases. It would do no good for your father to tell
+young Cousin and others, who happened to survive, that they are silly."
+
+"Do you mean they would resent it?" she demanded, her chin going up in a
+very regal manner.
+
+"He could scarcely change their opinions," I mumbled.
+
+We were interrupted by a colored woman bustling in with Colonel Lewis'
+servant in tow. The man bowed profoundly before Patsy and then informed
+me:
+
+"Please, Massa Morris, de c'unel 'mires fo' to see yo' at de house right
+erway. I 'spects it's business fo' de gun'ner. De c'unel mos' 'tic'lar dat
+say he wants to see yo' to once. Yas, sah. Please, sah."
+
+I dismissed him with a word of my immediate attendance on the colonel.
+Then I gave my hand to Patsy and said:
+
+"This ends it then. Patsy, my thoughts of you have helped me out of many
+tight places."
+
+"If you'd only be sensible, Basdel, and stay back here where you belong.
+Just say the word and father will place you in his office. I'm sure of
+it."
+
+"So am I sure of it, if you asked it. No, Patsy, it can't be that way. I
+thank you. I may be an awful failure, but I can always fool myself with
+hoping for better things. If I was pushed into trade, that would end me."
+
+"Of course you know your limitations better than I do," she coldly said.
+"Thanks for the pretty moccasins. I may have a chance to wear them soon."
+
+"Do not wear them over the mountains," I begged. "You were never meant for
+the frontier. Good-by."
+
+I had mounted my horse and was galloping back to Richfield almost before I
+had realized how definitely I had separated from her. There was so much I
+had intended to say. My thoughts grew very bitter as I repeatedly lived
+over our short and unsatisfactory meeting. I recalled patches of the
+bright dreams filling my poor noodle when I was riding to meet her, and I
+smiled in derision at myself.
+
+I had carried her in my heart for three years, and because daily I had
+paid my devotion to her I had been imbecile enough to imagine she was
+thinking of me in some such persistent way. Patsy Dale was admired by many
+men. Her days had been filled with compliments and flattery.
+
+My face burned as though a whip had been laid across it when I recalled
+her frank skepticism of my ability to support a wife. I had a rifle.
+Several times she had thrust that ironical reminder at me, which meant I
+had nothing else. I came to her carrying my rifle. It was unfair to tie a
+girl with a promise when the wooer had only his rifle.
+
+The damnable repetition kept crawling through my mind. She wanted to
+impress the fact of my poverty upon me. I worked up quite a fine bit of
+anger against Patsy. I even told myself that had I come back with profits
+derived from peddling rum to the Indians, I might have found her more
+susceptible to my approach. Altogether I made rather a wicked game of
+viewing the poor girl in an unsavory light.
+
+With a final effort I declared half-aloud that she was not worth a serious
+man's devotion. And it got me nowhere. For after all, the remembrance of
+her as she stood there, with her slim white neck and the mass of
+blue-black hair towering above the upturned face, told me she must ever
+fill my thoughts.
+
+I reached Richfield early in the evening. Governor Dunmore had retired
+against an early start for Williamsburg. It was Colonel Lewis' wish that I
+ride without delay to Charles Lewis' place at Staunton, something better
+than eighty miles, and confer with him over the situation on the
+frontier.
+
+"My brother has recently received intelligences from Fort Pitt which state
+the Indians are anxious for peace," explained the colonel.
+
+"A parcel of lies," I promptly denounced.
+
+"So say I. But the written statements are very plausible. They have made
+an impression on Charles. It is very important that he know the truth. It
+will be much better for you to talk with him than for me to try to send
+him your statements in writing. Haste is necessary. Leave your horse and
+take one of mine."
+
+"Have your man bring out the horse. I will start now."
+
+"A prompt response," he said. "And most pleasing. But to-morrow early will
+do. Spend the night here."
+
+"To-night. Now," I insisted. "I need action."
+
+He gave me a sharp glance, then called his man and gave the order. While
+my saddle was being shifted he informed me:
+
+"Ericus Dale and John Ward paid us a call. Dale and His Excellency had a
+rare bout of words. The fellow Ward didn't say much, but he agreed to
+everything Dale said."
+
+"I know about the way Dale talked," I gloomily said. "I talked with him
+before he came here. He thinks that Virginia is made up of fools, that
+only Pennsylvania knows how to handle the Indians."
+
+I swung into the saddle and the colonel kindly said:
+
+"I hope this business of mine isn't taking you away from something more
+pleasant."
+
+"I thank you, Colonel, but I am quite free. All I ask is action and an
+early return to the frontier."
+
+I knew the colonel knew the truth. He knew I had paid my respects to the
+girl and had been dismissed. He stretched out a hand in silence and gave
+me a hearty handshake; and I shook the reins and thundered up the road to
+Staunton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PACK-HORSE-MAN'S MEDICINE
+
+
+Charles Lewis was as popular as he was widely known. He had the gift of
+attracting men to him on short acquaintance and of holding them as
+life-long friends. His fame as an Indian-fighter was known throughout the
+South, his adventures possessing those picturesque elements which strongly
+appeal to border-folk. During the Braddock and Pontiac Wars his service
+was practically continuous.
+
+In his home-life he was a kindly, gentle man. I found him playing with his
+five small children. He greeted me warmly and displayed none of his
+brother's austerity. During the greater part of two days which I was in
+his hospitable home I succeeded, I pride myself, in showing him the truth
+concerning the various reports sent over the line from Pennsylvania.
+
+I know that when I left him he was convinced the war must be fought to a
+decisive finish before any of our western valleys could be safe. On one
+point he was very positive: the Cherokees, he insisted, would not join the
+Ohio tribes, despite the murder of Oconostota's brother. Could the people
+of the Clinch and Holston have felt the same confidence, they would have
+spared themselves much nagging.
+
+I took my time in returning to Salem, for there was much to think over.
+The bulk of my meditations concerned Patsy Dale. I decided to see her once
+more before crossing the mountains. I had no hope of finding her changed,
+but I did not intend to leave a shadow of a doubt in my own mind. I would
+leave no room for the torturing thought that had I been less precipitate
+she would have been more kindly.
+
+Yet I had no foolish expectations; I knew Patricia. This last interview
+was to be an orderly settlement of the whole affair, and assurance that
+self-accusation should not accompany me to the wilderness. Then with the
+war over there would be no over-mountain ties to hold me back from the
+Kentucky country, or the Natchez lands.
+
+I reached Richfield just as Colonel Lewis was setting forth to settle some
+wrangling between two of his captains. It was the old contention over
+enlistments, each leader charging the other with stealing men. I stopped
+only long enough to get my horse and to induce the colonel to let me have
+twenty pounds of powder and ten pounds of lead for the settlers. The lead
+was sufficient for seven hundred rounds and, divided into one-fourth
+portions, the powder would give a consciousness of power of eighty
+riflemen.
+
+It was late afternoon when my fresh mount brought me to Salem, and without
+any hesitation--for I must move while my resolve was high--I galloped out
+to the Dale house. The low sun extended my shadow to a grotesque length as
+I flung myself from the saddle and with an attempt at a bold swagger
+advanced to find the maid. I am sure my bearing suggested confidence, but
+it was purely physical.
+
+Inwardly I was quaking and wondering how I should begin my explanation for
+this second call. I was a most arrant coward when I mounted the veranda.
+The carefully rehearsed calm of my leather face vanished and I made the
+discouraging discovery that my features were out of control. The door of
+the house was open. I rapped loudly and frowned. A shuffling step, which
+never could be Patricia's, nor yet heavy enough for Dale, finally rewarded
+by efforts. A colored woman came to the door and ducked her portly form.
+
+I began asking for Patricia, but she recognized me as a recent caller and
+broke in:
+
+"De massa 'n' de young missy done gwine 'way. Dat onery white man gone wif
+dem."
+
+"Gone away? John Ward went with them?" I mumbled. "Which way did they
+ride, Aunty?"
+
+"Dat a-way." And she pointed to the sun, now sliced in half by Walker's
+Mountain.
+
+"You are sure they made for the mountains?"
+
+"Dey gwine to slam right ag'in' 'em, den ride ober dem," she declared.
+
+So after all my warnings the Dales were foolhardy enough to ride into
+danger. Ericus Dale would not only stake his own life but even his
+daughter's on his faith in red men. I recalled Cornstalk's pretended
+friendship for the whites at Carr's Creek and on Jackson's River and the
+price the settlers paid for their trustfulness.
+
+"When did they ride?"
+
+"Two days ergo. Bright 'n' early in de mornin'."
+
+I ran to my horse and mounted. As I yanked his head about the servant
+called after me:
+
+"De missy have dem mogasums wif her."
+
+The first stage of my journey was to Dunlap's Creek, although there was no
+certainty that the Dales and Ward were taking that route. I had small
+doubt, however, but that Dale was bound for the home of his cousin on
+Howard's Creek. Unless he knew of some secret trace over the mountains he
+would follow the open trail.
+
+He would be more likely to go boldly and openly, I reasoned, because of
+his belief there was nothing for him to fear. His daughter's convenience
+would be better suited by the main traveled trails. As I hurried to the
+west I paused at every habitation and inquired for the travelers. Always
+the same reply; two men and a woman had been observed.
+
+When I finally reached the Greenwood cabin at Dunlap's Creek I learned I
+had gained a day because of Patricia's need for rest. She was an odd
+bundle of contradictions. She felt superior to frontier women, and how
+they would have smiled at the thought of recuperating after the easy
+travel from Salem to the creek! Many of the women on the Greenbriar had
+walked the entire distance over the mountains so that the pack-animals
+might be used in carrying the jealously guarded and pitiably few
+household-goods.
+
+It was amazing to contemplate what a difference two or three hundred miles
+could make in one's environment. Patricia Dale, soft and dainty, was used
+to the flattery of the town, and, I feared, the attention of many beaux.
+Her parents had known none of the comfortable places in life at her age;
+and yet she had responded to her environment, had been petted by it, and
+now she was a domestic kitten. I wondered if she would respond to her
+ancestry if placed among arduous experiences. I knew the kitten would, and
+therein I found hope for Patsy Dale.
+
+I had been greatly shocked when told the girl was being taken over the
+mountains. Now by some peculiar mental twist I was beginning to enjoy
+secretly the prospect of seeing her again and in surroundings which
+harmonized with long rifles and hunting-shirts. On the surface I persisted
+in my anger at Dale and vehemently wished her back at Salem. Yet my guilty
+anticipation endured, and as a sop to conscience I tried to make myself
+believe there was no danger.
+
+Howard's Creek could not be conquered so long as the settlers kept close
+to the cabins and fort. I believed that or I should have urged a return of
+all the women to the east side of the mountains. If the enemy, in force,
+should lay a protracted siege, Howard's Creek would be remembered among
+other bloody annals.
+
+But I knew there would be no prolonged attempt to massacre the settlement.
+Cornstalk was too wise a warrior to weaken his forces for a score of
+scalps when a general engagement was pending. Let him win that and he
+could take his time in blotting out every cabin west of the Alleghanies.
+So after all it was neither difficult nor illogical to convince myself the
+girl would be safe as long as she kept close to the creek.
+
+Even Dale would not plan to take his daughter beyond the creek. If he
+attempted it there were men enough to prevent the mad act. Across this
+line of thought came the recollection of the Grisdols' fate. The girl
+would be safe at Howard's Creek, but death lined the trace leading
+thereto. My reason assured me Black Hoof's band had long since departed
+from the mountains.
+
+My fear that the girl was being led into an ambush threw me into a fine
+sweat; and I pushed on the faster. I reviewed all the circumstances which
+would preclude the possibility of an Indian attack on the three travelers.
+There could be no Indians between Dunlap's and Howard's. Black Hoof's
+losses at the Grisdol cabin, the venomous hatred of young Cousin stalking
+them day and night and the appearance of Baby Kirst would surely hasten
+their retreat.
+
+But there would obtrude the terrible possibility of a few raiders hiding
+along the trace, determined to strengthen their medicine with more white
+scalps. But never once did I count in favor of the girl Dale's boasted
+friendship with the Shawnees. Even my most visionary listing of assets
+could not include that. I made a night-camp half-way across the mountains
+and dined on cold provisions procured from the Greenwoods.
+
+The morning brought optimism. By this time the girl was safe in the Davis
+cabin. I finished my prepared food and resumed my journey. I had covered a
+mile when a mounted figure turning a twist in the trace ahead sent me to
+the ground. The two of us struck the ground at about the same moment. Our
+rifles slid across the saddles as if we were puppets worked by the same
+string. Then a voice called out:
+
+"I won't shoot if you won't."
+
+Of course he was white.
+
+"Jesse Hughes!" I exclaimed, vaulting into the saddle. "These are queer
+hunting-grounds for you." Then in sudden terror, "Are the Indians back
+here in the mountains?"
+
+"Devil take worse luck! No," he grumbled as he trotted to meet me. "I'm
+going out to Greenwood's to see if I can't git a few shoots of powder."
+
+"Have you seen Ericus Dale, the trader?" I anxiously asked.
+
+"Yes, I seen the fool. He was making the creek when I come off. His gal
+was with him and John Ward. Come pretty nigh potting that Ward feller.
+He's a white man, but I can't git it out of my noodle that he ain't a'
+Injun."
+
+"How did Dale's girl stand the journey?"
+
+The query surprised him, and he looked puzzled.
+
+"Stand it?" he slowly repeated. "Why, she ain't sick or hurt, is she?"
+
+I said something about her not being used to riding long distances.
+
+"Long distances!" he snorted. "Wal, if a woman can't foller a smooth trace
+on a good hoss for a day's ride, she ain't got no business west of the
+mountains. I can't stick here swapping talk. I've got to push on and git
+that powder. Curse the luck!"
+
+"The Greenwoods have no powder to spare. He has less than half a pound."
+
+"Black devils in a pipe! Howard's Creek will have to go to making bows and
+arrers!"
+
+"I've brought twenty pounds of powder and ten of lead from Salem," I
+added. "Howard's Creek is welcome to it after I've outfitted myself."
+
+"Hooray! That ends that cussed trip. Twenty pounds! Wal, I declare if
+there won't be some rare killings! Now I'll hustle right back along with
+you. I've felt all the time that some one would be gitting hair that
+belonged to me if I come off the creek. Ten pounds of lead! Seven hundred
+little pills! That'll let Runner, Hacker, Scott 'n' me strike for the
+Ohio, where we can catch some of them red devils as they beat back home.
+They'll be keerless and we oughter nail quite a few."
+
+"Crabtree isn't going with you?"
+
+"Ike ain't got no stummick for a reg'lar stand-up fight. He'll hang round
+the creek and kill when he catches a red along."
+
+"He'll get no powder from my stock to use around the creek," I declared.
+
+Hughes eyed me moodily.
+
+"What odds where they're killed so long as they're rubbed out?" he harshly
+demanded.
+
+"Women and children are the odds," I retorted. "Crabtree kills friendly
+Indians. Even young Cousin, who hates reds as much as any man alive, won't
+make a kill in a settlement unless the Indians are attacking it."
+
+"That's the one weak spot in Cousin," regretted Hughes. "He's a good
+hater. But he'd have a bigger count for that little sister of his if he'd
+take them wherever he finds them. It's all damn foolishness to pick and
+choose your spot for killing a red skunk. And this friendly Injun talk
+makes me sick! Never was a time but what half the Shawnees and other
+tribes was loafing 'round the settlements, pretending to be friends, while
+t'other half was using the tomahawk and scalping-knife.
+
+"That sort of medicine won't do for me. No, siree! Injuns are a pest, just
+like wolves and painters, only worse. They must be wiped out. That's my
+belief and I make it my business to wipe them out. Few men that's got
+more'n me."
+
+It's a waste of time to talk with a bloody-minded man. Hughes' brother was
+killed by the Indians. As for that, there was hardly a settler in Virginia
+who had not lost some dear friend or relative. When the history of the
+country is written, it will surprise the coming generations to read the
+many names having opposite them, "Killed by the Indians."
+
+I was sorry I had met Hughes. His company grated on me. It was impossible
+to think of Patsy Dale with the fellow's cruel babble ringing in my ears.
+I remained silent and he garrulously recounted some of his many exploits,
+and with gusto described how he had trapped various victims. It was his
+one ambition of life. He cared nothing for land.
+
+Offer him all of Colonel Washington's thirty-odd thousand acres on the
+Ohio and Great Kanawha as a gift, and he would have none of them unless
+they contained red men to slaughter. He had laid down a red path and it
+was his destiny to follow it. I had no love for Shawnee or Mingo, but my
+mind held room for something besides schemes for bloodletting.
+
+And yet it was well for me that I had met Hughes the Indian-hater, and
+doubly well that I had brought powder and lead so that he had turned back
+with me. We were riding down the western slope and about clear of the
+mountains, I trying to think my own thoughts and he talking, talking, his
+words dripping blood, when ahead in the trace I spied something on the
+ground that caused me to exclaim aloud.
+
+It was a brightly beaded moccasin, very small, and strangely familiar even
+at a distance. Hughes saw it and stared at it through half-closed lids. I
+leaped from my horse and started forward to pick it up.
+
+"Don't touch it;" yelled Hughes. "Come back! Come back!"
+
+I heard him and understood his words, and yet I continued advancing while
+I mechanically endeavored to guess his reason for stopping me.
+
+"Jump, you fool!" he yelled as I stretched out my hand to pick up the
+moccasin. And his horse was almost upon me and covering me with dirt as he
+pivoted and slid into the bushes, his hindquarters hitting me and hurling
+me over, half a dozen feet beyond the little moccasin. I landed on my head
+and shoulders with the crack of a rifle echoing in my dazed ears.
+
+Instinct sent me rolling out of the trace and into the bushes. By the time
+I gained my knees and had cleared the dirt from my eyes Hughes was working
+rapidly up the right-hand slope. His horse stood at the edge of the
+bushes, rubbing noses with my animal. I kept under cover of the growth and
+halted abreast of the moccasin.
+
+There was a furrow within a few inches of its embroided toe. I broke a
+branch and pawed the moccasin toward me and picked it up and went back to
+the horses. Then I took time to examine my prize. It was one of the pair I
+had given to Patsy Dale. She must have carried it carelessly to drop it in
+the trace without discovering her loss. I slipped it into my hunting-shirt
+and sat down to wait for Hughes. It was fully an hour before he came
+back.
+
+"Couldn't git a crack at him," he growled, his face grim and sullen. "But
+you was a fool to be took in by such a clumsy trick as that."
+
+"It's an old trick," I conceded, taking the moccasin from my shirt. "If it
+had been any Indian finery I would have kept clear of it. But this happens
+to belong to Ericus Dale's girl. She dropped it coming down the slope."
+
+He heard this in astonishment and scratched his head helplessly.
+
+"Then I must 'a' been asleep, or in a hell of a hurry when I come to this
+slope," he muttered. "And it ain't just the right kind of a slope to go
+galloping over. I don't understand it a bit. They was riding into the
+settlement when I come out. I called to Dale and asked if he'd seen any
+Injun signs. He told me he hadn't seen any. Then that feller Ward come
+trotting out the woods, looking like a' Injun, and I was bringing up my
+rifle to give him his needings when Dale let out a yelp and said he was a
+white man. Wal, it'll tickle the gal to learn how near her moccasin come
+to killing you."
+
+"The Indian knew it was there and knew we were coming, and used it for
+bait," I mused.
+
+"A five-year-old child would know that," was the scornful rejoinder. "But
+what no five-year-old on Howard's Creek would 'a' done was to go for to
+git it after I'd called a halt. You must 'a' been foolish in your mind.
+The Injun took a spot where he could line his gun on the moccasin. The
+growth cut off any sight of the trace 'cept where the moccasin lay. All he
+had to do was to line it and shoot when you stooped over it. The second he
+couldn't see the moccasin he'd know some one's body was between it and
+him. He heard me bawl out, but he didn't git sight of you till you was
+over it, and by that time my old hoss give you a belt and made you keep on
+moving."
+
+"He undershot, yet as I was bending close to it he would have bagged me,"
+I said. "I have to thank you for saving my life."
+
+"Part of a day's work," he carelessly observed. "Wal, seeing as the skunk
+has skedaddled, we might as well push on rather smart and tell the fellers
+there's a loose red round these parts."
+
+When we entered the settlement we saw men and women gathered in front of
+the Davis cabin, frankly curious to see the newcomers and eager to volley
+them with questions. I joined the group and through a window beheld Patsy
+in animated conversation with what women could crowd inside. Mrs. Davis
+was very proud of her cousin's daughter and was preening herself
+considerably.
+
+Patsy's cheeks were flushed and her tongue was racing as only a woman's
+can. As she talked I could see she was trying to get used to the table of
+split slabs and its four round legs set in auger-holes, the pewter
+tableware and the spoons and bowls fashioned from wood, and the gourds and
+hard-shell squash hollowed out for noggings.
+
+With a slant of half-veiled eyes she also was studying the women's linsey
+petticoats and bare feet, for now that it was warm weather many dispensed
+with any foot-covering. In turn the women were openly examining the
+texture and style of her town gown, and shrilly calling on one another to
+come and admire her soft leather boots.
+
+I did not see Dale, and Davis informed me he was inspecting the fort. As
+Ward was not in sight I assumed he, too, was at the fort. Making my way to
+the window, I caught Patsy's eye and handed her her lost moccasin.
+
+She stared at the moccasin in bewilderment, but what with the newness of
+her experience and the voluble praise of the women and the open-eyed
+admiration of the men, she was finely excited. She forgot to ask where I
+found the moccasin or how I happened to be there. She was in the act of
+giving me a smile and a nod when Mrs. Davis tugged her to the
+right-about.
+
+Realizing it was useless to strive for the girl's attention until the
+neighbors returned to their cabins, I walked to the fort, leading my
+horse. Hughes was there ahead of me and stood with a group of sullen-faced
+men who were being addressed by Ericus Dale.
+
+"I say there ain't going to be any war," he cried as I took a position
+behind him. "The Indians don't want war. They want trade. Take a pack of
+goods on your horse and walk into a Shawnee village and see how quick
+they'll quit the war-post to buy red paint and cloth.
+
+"Open a keg of New England rum among the Mingos and see how quick they'll
+drop their axes and hunt for tin dippers. Take blankets and beads to the
+Wyandots and watch them hang up white wampum. Take----"
+
+"Oh, that's all fool talk!" thundered Hughes crowding forward and staring
+angrily into the trader's deep-set eyes. "You can't lead a pack-hoss fifty
+miles from this creek without losing your hair, neighbor."
+
+"I can! I will!" wrathfully replied Dale. "I've traded for years with the
+Indians. I never yet went to them with a gun in my hand. If ever I need
+protection, they'll protect me. They are my friends. This war is all
+wrong. You can have it if you insist. But if you'd rather have trade, then
+you needn't build any more forts west of the Alleghanies."
+
+Hughes laughed hoarsely and called out to the silent settlers:
+
+"What do you fellers say to all this twaddle? Any of you believe it?"
+
+Uncle Dick, whom I had left whetting his knife on the stones of the Davis
+fireplace, gave a cackling laugh and answered:
+
+"Believe it? No! But it's fun to hear him splutter."
+
+The men smiled grimly. They had held back from affronting their neighbor's
+cousin. They looked upon Dale much as they looked on Baby Kirst when he
+came to the settlement and whimpered because he could not find ripe
+berries to pick. They were deciding that Dale was mentally irresponsible;
+only his malady took a different twist than did Baby's. He was an
+Indian-lover instead of hater. Dale's dark face flushed purple with anger.
+By an effort he controlled himself and said:
+
+"All right. You men want a fight. I'm afraid you'll have it. But I tell
+you that if Dunmore would call off that dog of a Connolly at Fort Pitt I
+could go among the Ohio Indians and make a peace which would last."
+
+"How about the Injuns being willing for us to go down into the Kentucky
+country?" spoke up Moulton.
+
+"If you want peace with the Indian, you must let him keep a place to hunt
+and live in. He can't live if you take away his hunting-grounds."
+
+"Then let's take 'em away so they'll die out tarnation fast," cried Elijah
+Runner.
+
+Drawing himself up and speaking with much dignity, Dale said:
+
+"I am sorry for any of you men who came out here to make homes if you will
+let a few Indian-killers, who never make homes, spoil your chances for
+getting ahead."
+
+"We don't go for to kill every Injun we see," said Davis, heretofore
+silent. "I'm a fambly-man. I don't want Injuns butchered here in the
+settlement like as Ike Crabtree done for Cherokee Billy. No sense in
+that."
+
+"That's what I say, too," agreed another. And this endorsement of Davis'
+view became quite general. Of course I had known right along that the
+settlers as a whole did not look with favor upon indiscriminate slaughter
+of the natives. Dale nodded his approval and said:
+
+"Well, that's something. Only you don't go far enough."
+
+Hughes angrily took up the talk, declaring:
+
+"You cabin-men are mighty tickled to have us Injun-hating fellers come
+along when there's any chance of trouble. I've noticed that right along."
+
+"Course we are, Jesse," agreed Davis. "But that don't mean we're mighty
+glad when some of you kill a friendly Injun in the settlement and, by
+doing so, bring the fighting to us."
+
+"I 'low we've outstayed our welcome," Hughes grimly continued. "You folks
+foller this man's trail and it'll lead you all to the stake. I'm moving on
+to-night."
+
+"Don't go away mad, Jesse," piped up old Uncle Dick. "Talk don't hurt
+nothin'. Stick along an' git your fingers into the fightin' what's bound
+to come."
+
+"I'm going away to kill Injuns," was the calm reply. "That's my
+business."
+
+"Hacker, Scott 'n' me will go along with you," said Runner. "Now that
+Howard's Creek has got a trader to keep the Injuns off, we ain't needed
+here no more."
+
+"I can keep the Indians away," cried Dale. "When I offer them my belts,
+they'll be glad to receive them. You send them a few trade-belts in place
+of the bloody ax and they'll be your friends, too."
+
+"Bah!" roared Hughes, too disgusted to talk.
+
+"What does the white Injun say?" yelled one of the young men.
+
+He had barely put the query before John Ward stalked through the fort door
+and stood at Dale's elbow. Speaking slowly and stressing his words in that
+jerky fashion that marks an Indian's speech in English, he said:
+
+"The trader is right. I have been a prisoner among Indians for many years.
+I know their minds. Dale can go anywhere among Indians where he has been
+before, and no hand will be lifted against him."
+
+"You're a liar!" passionately cried Hughes, his hand creeping to his
+belt.
+
+Ward folded his arms across his deep chest and stared in silence at Hughes
+for nearly a minute; then slowly said:
+
+"No Indian ever called me that. It's a man of my own race that uses the
+word to me."
+
+"And a mighty cheap sample of his race," boomed Dale, his heavy face
+convulsed with rage. "A cheap killer, who must strike from behind! Faugh!
+It's creatures like you----" With an animal screech Hughes jumped for him.
+Before we could seize the infuriated man Ward's arm was thrust across his
+chest and with the rigidity of a bar of iron stopped the assault. Before
+Hughes could pull knife or ax from his belt we hustled him into the
+background. His three friends scowled ferociously but offered no
+interference. It was obvious that the settlers as a body would not
+tolerate any attack on Dale.
+
+Inarticulate with rage, Hughes beckoned for Hacker, Scott and Runner to
+follow him. A few rods away he halted and called out:
+
+"Dale, I'll live to hear how your red friends have danced your scalp. Then
+I'll go out and shoot some of them. That white Injun beside you will be
+one of the first to stick burning splinters into your carcass. He's lived
+with redskins too long to forget his red tricks. Come on, fellers."
+
+This sorry disturbance depressed the spirits of the settlers. War was on,
+and there was none of the Howard's Creek men who believed that any change
+in their attitude could prevent the Ohio Indians from slaying at every
+opportunity. No matter how much they might decry the acts of Hughes and
+his mates in time of peace, there was no denying the fighting-value of the
+quartet when it came to war.
+
+No word was spoken until the last of the four killers had filed away to
+secure their horses and be gone. Then Davis said:
+
+"Time to eat, Ericus. Let's go back and see how the women-folks is gettin'
+along."
+
+"Keep that white scum from this creek until I can carry a bag of talk to
+Cornstalk and Logan and you won't need any armed bullies to protect you,"
+said Dale.
+
+"We ain't askin' of 'em to look after us, nor you with your white belts,
+neither," shrilly proclaimed Uncle Dick.
+
+Some of the younger men laughed.
+
+Dale reddened, but turned to walk with his cousin without making any
+answer. He all but bumped into me.
+
+"Why, Morris!" he greeted, staring at me in surprise. "You bob up
+everywhere. Will you go with me to the Scioto villages?"
+
+"Go as what?" I cautiously asked. The men gathered closer about us.
+
+"Go as a trader, carrying white wampum. Go to make peace with the
+Shawnees," slowly replied Dale, his eyes burning with the fire of
+fanaticism.
+
+"Not hankering for slow fires, nor to have squaws heap coals on my head, I
+must refuse," I retorted. "But I'll go with you or any man, as a scout."
+
+"In your blood, too," he jeered. "I didn't suppose you'd been out here
+long enough to lose your head."
+
+"I'd certainly lose it if the Shawnees got me," I good-naturedly retorted.
+My poor jest brought a rumble of laughter from the men and added to Dale's
+resentment, which I greatly regretted.
+
+John Ward glided to my side and said:
+
+"You talk like a child. I have been long among the Indians. They did not
+take my head."
+
+I didn't like the fellow. There was something of the snake in his way of
+stealthily approaching. I could not get it out of my head that he must be
+half-red. Had he been all Indian, I might have found something in him to
+fancy; for there were red men whom I had liked and had respected
+immensely. But Ward impressed me as being neither white nor red. He
+stirred my bile. Without thinking much, I shot back at him:
+
+"Perhaps they did something worse to you than to take your head. Are you
+sure they didn't take your heart?"
+
+He turned on his heel and stalked away. Dale snarled:
+
+"You're worse than Hughes and those other fools. You even hate a poor
+white man who has been held prisoner by the Indians. He comes back to his
+people and you welcome him by telling him he's a renegade. Shame on you!"
+
+"No call for that sort of talk to Ward at all!" denounced Davis.
+
+"What call had Ward to say he was a fool?" loudly demanded one of the
+young men.
+
+"I shouldn't have said that," I admitted, now much ashamed of my
+hot-headedness. "I'll say as much to Ward when I see him next. If he'd
+look and act more like a white man then I'd keep remembering that he is
+white. But I shouldn't have said that."
+
+"Morris, that's much better," said Dale. "I'll tell him what you said and
+you needn't eat your words a second time in public. I admire you for
+conquering yourself and saying it."
+
+Uncle Dick did not relish my retraction, and his near-sighted eyes glared
+at me in disgust.
+
+"Too much talkin'. Scouts oughter be out. Our friends, th' killers, have
+quit us."
+
+Glad to be alone, I volunteered:
+
+"I'll scout half the circle, striking west, then south, returning on the
+east side."
+
+Moulton, a quiet, soft-spoken fellow, but a very demon in a fight, picked
+up his rifle and waved his hand to his wife and little girl and trotted in
+the opposite direction, calling back over his shoulder:
+
+"I'll go east, north and half-down the west side."
+
+I finished on the north leg at the point where Moulton had commenced his
+scout. I made no discoveries while out. I walked to the fort and was glad
+to see that Moulton had but recently come in. I returned to the Davis
+cabin and passed behind it. So far as I could observe no sentinels had
+been posted on the east side of the clearing. In front of the cabin burned
+a big fire and there was a confusion of voices.
+
+I gained a position at the end of the cabin, and from the shadows viewed
+the scene. It was old to me, but new to Patsy, and she was deeply
+interested. The young men had erected a war-post, and had painted the
+upper half red. Now they were dancing and cavorting around the post like
+so many red heathens, bowing their heads nearly to the ground and then
+throwing them far back. They were stripped to the waist and had painted
+their faces, and as they danced they stuck their axes into the post and
+whooped and howled according to the Indian ceremony of declaring war.
+
+"I don't like it!" I heard Dale protest.
+
+"But the boys only wanted Patsy to see how the Injuns git ready for war,"
+defended Mrs. Davis. "An', lor'! Ain't she all took up by it!"
+
+"But it's the way the border men declared war after the murder at Yellow
+Creek," declared Dale. "They stripped and painted and struck the post and
+danced around it."
+
+"They'll be through mighty soon now, Ericus," soothed Davis, who was
+uneasy between his fears of displeasing his wife's cousin and giving
+offense to the young men. "They meant well."
+
+"All such actions mean ill for the settlers," growled Dale. "They'd best
+finish at once."
+
+Davis did not have to incur his neighbors' ill-will by asking the dancers
+to cease their ceremony, as Dale's speech was closely followed by a volley
+from the west side of the clearing. A dancer went down, coughing and
+clawing at his throat, while yelps of surprise and pain told me others had
+been wounded. I raised my rifle and fired toward the flashes.
+
+With the promptness of seasoned veterans the young men kicked the fire to
+pieces and grabbed up their rifles and advanced toward the hidden foe,
+their movements being barely perceptible even while within reach of the
+light streaming from the cabins.
+
+It was not until I had fired and was reloading that I was conscious of
+Patsy's ear-splitting shrieks. I heard her father fiercely command her to
+be still, then command Davis to recall the young men now lost in the
+darkness. A stentorian voice began shouting:
+
+"All women to the fort! Put out all lights!"
+
+One by one the candles were extinguished. Patsy was silent, and across the
+clearing came the low voices of the women, driving their children before
+them and urging them to hurry. Dark forms were discernible close at hand
+and were those settlers apportioned to defend the fort.
+
+Davis was commanding his wife to take Patsy to the fort while there was
+yet time, and she was refusing. The savages must have heard the men and
+women leaving the outlying cabins, for they started to rush from the woods
+only to fall back before a brisk volley from the young men now scouting
+well to the front.
+
+I walked to the cabin door just as the war-whoop of the Shawnees announced
+an attack in force. I was standing by Patsy's side, but she did not see
+me. She had both hands clapped over her ears, her lips parted but uttering
+no sound. Now there came a rush of feet and the young men fell back, some
+making into the fort, others, as previously assigned, entering the cabins
+close to the fort. Three came to the Davis cabin, and I entered with them,
+leading Patsy. Some one, I think it was Davis, dragged Dale inside.
+
+The trader seemed to be paralyzed, for he had remained voiceless during
+the stirring events. And it had all been a matter of a few minutes. I
+jumped through the doorway just as a young man began closing it. The
+Shawnees were yelling like demons and approaching to close range very
+cautiously, feeling out each rod of the ground.
+
+The sally of the young men had taught them they could not have all things
+their own way. I scouted toward the fort to make sure all the women and
+children had made cover, but before I could reach the log walls I heard
+Dale's voice shouting for attention. I dropped behind a stump, and as the
+savages ceased their howling I heard him hoarsely crying:
+
+"It is the Pack-Horse-Man speaking. Do the Shawnees fire guns at the
+Pack-Horse-Man? My friends live here. Do the Shawnees hurt the friends of
+the Pack-Horse-Man? I give you a belt to wash the red paint from your
+faces. I give you a belt to make the road smooth between the Greenbriar
+and the Scioto. By this belt the nettles and rocks shall be removed from
+the road. I will cover the bones of your dead, if any fell to-night, with
+many presents."
+
+He was either very brave or crazy. For now he left the cabin and began
+walking toward the hidden Shawnees, his confident voice repeating the fact
+he was the red man's friend, that he brought white belts, that the red and
+white men should eat from one dish, and that a hole should be dug to the
+middle of the earth and the war-ax buried there and a mighty river turned
+from its ancient bed to flow over the spot so that the ax could never be
+found.
+
+His amazing boldness brought the hush of death over cabins and forts. My
+horse, secured in the small stockaded paddock near the fort, whinnied for
+me to come to him, and his call in that tense stillness set my nerves to
+jumping madly. Dale was now close to the warriors. Every minute I expected
+to see a streak of fire, or hear the crunch of an ax. Trailing my rifle
+and bent double, I stole after him. From the forest a deep voice shouted:
+
+"The belts of the Pack-Horse-Man are good belts. Black Hoof's warriors do
+not harm the friends of the Pack-Horse-Man. Sleep with your cabin doors
+open to-night and you shall hear nothing but the call of the night birds
+and the voice of the little owl talking with the dead."
+
+I now discovered that the Shawnees had silently retreated to the woods at
+the beginning of Dale's advance. The declaration of peace as given by the
+Indian--and I was convinced it was the famous Black Hoof talking--was in
+the Shawnee tongue. Dale faced to the cabins and fort and triumphantly
+interpreted it. From deep in the forest came a pulsating cry, the farewell
+of the marauders, as they swiftly fell back toward New River. I was
+suspicious of some Indian trick and yelled a warning for the men to keep
+in the cabins.
+
+Dale became very angry, and upbraided me:
+
+"It's the like of you that spoils the Indian's heart. You men have heard
+what the Black Hoof says. You men and women of Howard's Creek are foolish
+to believe this young fool's words. The Shawnees have gone. You heard
+their travel-cry. They have left none behind to harm by treachery. I told
+you I could keep the Indians from attacking this settlement. Could your
+friends, the killers, have sent them away so quickly? I think not. Open
+your doors. Light your candles. Make merry if you will. There is nothing
+in the forest to harm you."
+
+"Keep inside till I and some of the young men have scouted the woods.
+Three men from the fort will be enough," I loudly shouted.
+
+Dale was furious, but that was nothing when the women and children had to
+be remembered. Soon a soft pattering of moccasins, and three youths stood
+before me. Choosing one, I set off in the direction the Indians apparently
+had taken. The other two were to separate, one scouting south and the
+other north, to discover any attempt at a surprise attack by swinging back
+to the creek in a half-circle.
+
+My companion and I, although hampered by the darkness, penetrated some
+miles toward New River. In returning, we separated, one swinging south and
+the other north. The first morning light was burning the mists from the
+creek when I reentered the clearing. My companion came in an hour later.
+The other two had returned much earlier, having had a much shorter course
+to cover. We all made the same report; no signs of Indians except those
+left by them in their retreat.
+
+I sat outside the Davis cabin and Patsy brought me some food. She was very
+proud of her father and carried her small figure right grandly. Her
+attitude toward the women was that of a protector; and they, dear souls,
+so thankful to be alive, so eager to accept the new faith, fairly
+worshiped the girl.
+
+The one exception was the Widow McCabe. She paid homage to no one. And
+while she said nothing to the chorus of admiring exclamations directed at
+the trader there was the same cold glint in the slate-gray eyes, and she
+walked about with her skirts tucked up and an ax in her hand.
+
+I made no effort to talk with Patsy. Her frame of mind was too exalted for
+speech with a skeptical worm. She smiled kindly on me, much as a goddess
+designs to sweeten the life of a mortal with a glance. She smiled in
+gentle rebuke as she noted my torn and stained garments and the moccasins
+so sadly in need of patching.
+
+"You silly boy! It wasn't necessary. When will you learn, Morris?" It was
+not intended that I should answer this, for she turned away graciously to
+receive the blessings of the women. Thus, vicariously, was Ericus Dale
+recognized as a great man. And the trader walked among the morning clouds.
+For some hours the savor of his triumph stifled speech, and he wandered
+about while the women paid their tribute through his daughter.
+
+Nor were the men lacking in appreciation. The younger generation remained
+silent, secretly wishing their bravery and marksmanship had scattered the
+foe, yet unable to deny that Dale's medicine had been very powerful. Those
+with families stared upon him as they might gaze on one who had looked on
+David.
+
+They congregated around the Davis cabin after the morning meal and forgot
+there was much work to be done. They were eager to renew their fires of
+this new faith by listening to him. And after his exaltation had softened
+enough to permit of speech the trader once more harangued them on his
+influence over the natives. He was constantly in motion, his swinging arms
+keeping a path clear as he strode through the group and back again and
+addressed the mountains and horizon. He was too full of the sweets of a
+peaceful victory to confine his utterance to any individual, and he spoke
+to the whole frontier.
+
+He concluded a long and eloquent speech by saying:
+
+"So after all, as you settlers have learned, the Ohio tribes, yes, and all
+tribes, will always hark to the one word--trade. They are now dependent
+upon the white man for traps and guns, even their women's clothing. Trade
+with them and they will remain your friends, for your goods they must
+have.
+
+"You can plant your war-posts three feet apart along the whole length of
+Virginia, and you'll always have work for your rifles and axes until the
+last Indian-hunter is killed. I admit they can be exterminated, but you'll
+pay an awful price in doing it. But give them a chance to live, carry
+trade-belts to them, and you shall have peace."
+
+Even Uncle Dick, the aged one, had nothing to say. But it was Patsy I was
+watching while Dale talked. She never took her eyes from him, and her gaze
+was idolatrous in its love. She believed in his powers implicitly; and to
+bask in the reflection of his greatness was the sweetest triumph she had
+ever experienced. Throughout that day the scouts were busy in the forest,
+ranging very far on the track of Black Hoof's band. When they began
+dropping in after sundown all their reports were alike.
+
+There were no Indian-signs besides those left by the departing Shawnee
+band. This band, said the scouts, was very large and quite sufficient to
+cause the settlement much trouble and inevitable losses. There was no
+mistaking the story told by the trail. The Indians had marched rapidly,
+swinging north.
+
+Every emotion, unless it be that of love, must have its ebb; and by
+nightfall the settlers were returning to their old caution. Dale did not
+relish this outcropping of old habits. Throwing open the door of the Davis
+cabin after Davis had closed and barred it, he cried: "Let us have air.
+There is no danger. You're like silly children afraid of the dark. Your
+scouts have told you there are no Indians near. Yet the minute the sun
+sets you imagine the woods are full of them. I will go out alone and
+unarmed and I will shout my name. If any Shawnee who was not in Black
+Hoof's band hears my voice he will come to me. After he learns I have
+friends here on Howard's Creek, he will go away. Give me time to act
+before that scoundrel Connolly can stir up more trouble and I'll make a
+lasting peace between the Greenbriar, the Clinch and the Holston and the
+Ohio tribes; and I'll make Dunmore look like a fool."
+
+His overpowering personality, his massive way of asserting things made a
+deep impression on the simple folks. They asked only for a chance to plant
+and reap. When he went out alone that night he brought them deep under his
+spell. As he plunged into the forest and stumbled about he took pains to
+advertise his presence. Unknown to the settlers, I trailed him. I was
+within ten feet of him when he halted and shouted his name, and in their
+language called on the Shawnees to come to him.
+
+For half an hour he wandered about, proclaiming he was the Pack-Horse-Man,
+the ancient friend of the Shawnees and Mingos. Let him be a fool according
+to Jesse Hughes' notion, yet he was a very brave man. He had the courage
+to attempt proof of his belief in the honesty of the Shawnees.
+
+I trailed him back to the cabin door. I saw the girl's radiant face as she
+proudly threw her arms about his neck. I saw the great pride in his own
+face as he stood in the middle of the floor and harshly demanded:
+
+"Now, who will you believe; Dale, the trader, or Hughes, the killer?"
+
+It was all mighty dramatic, and it was not surprising that it should
+affect the settlers keenly. It shook my skepticism a bit, but only for the
+moment. If I could not feel a full confidence in John Ward, born white,
+how could I place a deep and abiding trust in those who were born red? Had
+not Cornstalk and other chiefs, the best of their breed, sworn friendship
+to the whites in Virginia in 1759 and during Pontiac's War? Had they not
+feasted with old friends, and then, catching them off their guard, chopped
+them down? Black Hoof had drawn off his raiders; so far, so good. But I
+looked to my flints none the less carefully that night and made the rounds
+to see that reliable men were on guard. The night passed with nothing to
+disturb the settlement's rest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LOST SISTER
+
+
+Patsy stood in the doorway of the Davis cabin when I approached to pay my
+respects. She was wearing a linsey petticoat and a short gown for an
+overskirt. Her mass of wonderful hair was partly confined by a calico cap,
+and on her feet were my gift moccasins. She believed she was conforming to
+the frontier standard of dress, but she was as much out of place as a
+butterfly at a bear-baiting. Before I could speak she was advancing toward
+me, her hands on her hips, her head tilted back, and demanding:
+
+"What do you say now about the influence of trade and the trader?"
+
+She did not ask that she might learn my opinion; she firmly believed there
+was but one thing I could say. She was in an exultant mood and happy to
+parade her triumph. Of course she was proud of her father and was viewing
+him as the deliverer of the settlement. Without waiting for me to answer
+she excitedly continued:
+
+"And your long rifle! And the rifles of all these other men! What good
+would they have done? They spoke night before last, and the Indians kept
+up their attack. Then my father spoke and the Indians have gone! John
+Ward, who was out scouting when the Indians attacked, says they greatly
+outnumbered us and were led by Black Hoof, one of their greatest chiefs.
+He says they would have captured or killed us if not for my father. Now,
+Mr. Rifleman, what do you think about the influence of an honest trader?"
+
+I would not have shaken her pride in her father even had that
+accomplishment been possible. To convince her--which was not
+possible--that her father's success was no success at all, that Black
+Hoof's behavior was simply an Indian trick to lull us into a foolish sense
+of security, would mean to alienate even her friendship, let alone killing
+all chance of her ever reciprocating my love.
+
+While not deeply experienced with women, my instinct early taught me that
+my sex is most unwise in proving to a woman that she is wrong. She will
+hold such procedure to be the man's greatest fault. It is far better to
+let her discover her own errors, and even then pretend you still cling to
+her first reasoning, thereby permitting her to convince you that she was
+wrong.
+
+On the other hand there was, I sensed, a peril in the situation, a peril
+to Howard's Creek, that made my seeming acquiescence in her opinion very
+distasteful to me. I had no proof of my suspicions except my knowledge of
+Indian nature and my familiarity with frontier history. A red man can be
+capable of great and lasting friendships. But to judge him, when he is at
+war, by the standards of the white race is worse than foolish.
+
+Cornstalk, according to his blood, was a great man. Under certain
+conditions I would trust him with my life as implicitly as I would trust
+any white man. Under certain conditions I would repose this same trust in
+him although he was at war with my race. But when placed among the
+combatants opposing him, I knew there was no subterfuge even that great
+warrior would not use to attain success.
+
+So I said nothing of my doubts, nothing of my vague suspicions concerning
+John Ward. I felt a strong antipathy toward the fellow, and I realized
+this dislike might prejudice me to a degree not warranted by the facts. To
+put it mildly, his status puzzled me. If he were an escaped prisoner then
+he had committed one of the gravest sins in the red man's entire
+category.
+
+To be taken into the tribe, to be adopted after his white blood had been
+washed out by solemn ceremony, and then to run away, meant the stake and
+horrible preliminary tortures should he be recaptured. As a prize such a
+runaway would be more eagerly sought than any settler. And yet the fellow
+was back on the fringe of imminent danger and ranging the woods
+unconcernedly. His captivity must have taught him that every war-party
+would be instructed to bring him in alive if possible.
+
+"What's the matter with you, Basdel?" demanded the girl sharply as she
+turned and walked by my side toward the Davis cabin. "You act queer. Do
+you begrudge giving my father his due? Aren't you thankful he was here to
+stop the attack?"
+
+"If he were here alone, yes. But I am terribly worried because you are
+here, Patsy."
+
+"But that's doubting my father's influence!" she rebuked, her eyes
+lighting war-signals.
+
+"When one has loved, one stops reasoning," I quickly defended. "I can not
+bear to see even a shadow of a chance of harm come to you."
+
+"That was said very pretty," she smiled, her gaze all softness.
+
+Then with calm pride she unfastened several strings of white wampum from
+around her slender waist and holding them up simply said:
+
+"My father's belts."
+
+Among the strings was a strip some seven or eight rows in width and two
+hundred beads long. It was pictographic and showed a man leading a
+pack-horse along a white road to a wigwam. The figures, like the road,
+were worked in white beads, the background being dark for contrast.
+
+Refastening them about her waist, she said:
+
+"There is no danger for me here so long as I wear my father's belts. There
+are none of the Ohio Indians who would refuse to accept them and respect
+them. When they see the Pack-Horse-Man walking along the white road to
+their villages they will lift that belt up very high."
+
+"When one sees you, there should be no need of belts," I ventured.
+
+She smiled graciously and lightly patted my fringed sleeve, and ignoring
+my fervid declaration, she gently reminded:
+
+"Even if I had no belts I am no better than any of the other women on the
+creek. Don't think for a moment I would hide behind my father's trade
+wampum. The belts must protect all of us, or none of us. But there is no
+more danger for me than there is for them even if I threw the belts away.
+Not so much; because I am Ericus Dale's daughter. Basdel, it makes me
+unhappy to fear that when we leave here the danger may return to these
+people. I carry my safety with me. I wish I could leave it for them. I
+wish a general and lasting peace could be made."
+
+"God knows I wish the same," I cried. "As for being no better than these
+other women, I agree to that." And she became suddenly thoughtful. "In
+judging from a Howard's Creek standpoint you are not so good in many ways.
+Rather, I should say, not so valuable."
+
+"You measure a woman's value as you do your guns and horses," she
+murmured.
+
+Her calmness was rather ominous, and I feared I had bungled. Yet my
+meaning should have been transparent even to a child. To make sure she had
+not misconstrued me I explained:
+
+"You know what I mean, no matter how I appear to measure you. In making a
+new country a woman on the edge of things must have certain qualities that
+the town woman does not possess, does not need to possess. It's because of
+these qualities that the new country becomes possible as a place to live
+in; then the town woman develops. Two hundred miles east are conditions
+that resulted from the rugged qualities of the first women on the first
+frontier.
+
+"Those first women helped to make it safe for their children's children.
+Now it's behind the frontier and women of your kind live there. In other
+words"--I was growing a trifle desperate, for her gaze, while persistent,
+was rather blank--"you don't fit in out here. I doubt if you know how to
+run bullets or load a gun or throw an ax. I'm sure you'd find it very
+disagreeable to go barefooted. It isn't your place. Your values shine when
+you are back in town. That's why I'm sorry you're here."
+
+"I haven't shot a rifle, but I could learn," she quietly remarked.
+
+"I believe that," I heartily agreed. "But could you take an ax and stand
+between a drove of children and what you believed to be a band of Indians
+about to break from cover and begin their work of killing? I saw the Widow
+McCabe do that. I saw the little Moulton woman, armed with an ax, run to
+meet the attack."
+
+"It's hardly sensible to ask if I could have done this or that. Who knows
+what I could have done? I shall never have to deal with what is past. And
+there was a time, I suppose, when all these women were new to the
+frontier. At least I should be allowed time to learn certain things before
+you apply your measuring-rod, sir!"
+
+"That's right," I admitted. "I was rather unjust, but the fact remains
+that just now you are out of place and not used to this life and its
+dangers."
+
+"I feel very cross at you. You pass over my father's great work for the
+settlement with scarcely a word. You complain because I am here and look
+different from Mrs. Davis. I can't help my looks."
+
+"You are adorable. Already see the havoc you've wrought among the
+unmarried men. Observe how many times each finds an errand that takes him
+by this cabin door. How slow they are to scout the woods and seek signs.
+No; you can't help your looks, and it results there are few men who can
+resist loving you. There's not a youngster in this settlement who's not up
+to his neck in love with you already. And there's not one of them who does
+not realize that you would be the poorest mate he could pick so long as he
+must live on the border."
+
+"I'm glad to hear just what you believe about me," she muttered. "But
+you're bewildering. It seems I'm a rare prize for any man and a most
+uncomfortable burden."
+
+"Oh, dash it all, Patsy! You understand that what I've said applies to
+Howard's Creek. If we were standing two hundred miles due east I should
+say directly the opposite."
+
+Of course she understood my true meaning, and of course in her heart she
+agreed with it. She was town-bred and therefore was intended for the town.
+Yet so strangely stubborn and eccentric is a woman's reasoning that she
+can feel resentment toward a man because he has brains enough to
+comprehend the same simple truth that she comprehends.
+
+Had there been no danger from the Indians I could have scored a bull's-eye
+with her by baldly declaring her to be the most valuable asset the
+frontier ever had received; and she would have dimpled and smiled and but
+faintly demurred, knowing I was a rock-ribbed liar for asserting it, and
+yet liking me the more for the ridiculous exaggeration. That is one reason
+why it is more sensible and much more satisfactory to quarrel with a man
+than a woman.
+
+With the tenacity which her sex displays when believing a male is trying
+to avoid some issue, she coldly reminded:
+
+"Talk, talk, but not a word yet as to what my father did two nights ago."
+
+"It was one of the most splendid exhibitions of faith and moral courage I
+ever witnessed."
+
+Her gaze grew kindly again and she halted and stared up into my eyes,
+flushed with pleasure, and waited to hear more encomiums.
+
+"I never before saw one man rush out and confront a war-party. Then his
+going out alone last night and prowling about through the dark forest!
+That was magnificent. Your father is one of the bravest men I ever saw."
+
+She rubbed a pink finger against her nose and tilted her head and weighed
+my words thoughtfully. Obviously I had omitted something; for with a
+little frown worrying her fair forehead she began:
+
+"But--but there's something else you haven't said. What about his
+influence over the Indians? You thought him foolish to take me over the
+mountains. You now admit you were foolish to think that?"
+
+She was waiting for me to complete my confessional. If the element of
+danger had been absent how gladly I would have lied to her! How quickly I
+would have won her approval by proclaiming myself the greatest dolt in
+Virginia and her father the wisest man in the world! But to accede to
+everything she said and believed would be an endorsement of her presence
+on the creek. I had had no idea of ousting myself from her good graces
+when I went to find her that morning. Now the test had come, and her
+welfare was involved; to be true to her as well as to myself I was forced
+to say:
+
+"I still think it was most dangerous for you to come here. I believe your
+father acted very unwisely, no matter how much be believes in his
+influence over the Indians. And I would thank God if you were back in
+Williamsburg."
+
+Her hands dropped to her side. The smiling eyes grew hard.
+
+"Go on!" she curtly commanded.
+
+"I've damned myself in your opinion already. Isn't that enough? Don't make
+me pay double for being honest."
+
+"Honest?" she jeered. "You've deliberately dodged my question. I asked you
+what you thought of my father's power with the Indians. You rant about his
+wickedness in bringing me here. For the last time I ask you to answer my
+question and finish your list of my father's faults."
+
+As if to make more steep the precipice down which from her esteem I was
+about to plunge there came the voice of her father, loudly addressing the
+settlers.
+
+"You people ought to wake up," he was saying. "Was it your rifles, or was
+it trade that stopped an attack on these cabins night before last? When
+will you learn that you can not stop Indian wars until you've killed every
+Indian this side the mountains? Has there ever been a time when you or
+your fathers could stop their raids with rifles? Well, you've seen one
+raid stopped by the influence of trade."
+
+As he paused for breath the girl quietly said:
+
+"Now, answer me."
+
+And I blurted out:
+
+"I don't have any idea that Black Hoof and his warriors will hesitate a
+second in sacking Howard's Creek because of anything your father has said
+or could say. I honestly believe the Shawnees are playing a game, that
+they are hoping the settlers are silly enough to think themselves safe. I
+am convinced that once Black Hoof believes the settlers are in that frame
+of mind he will return and strike just as venomously as the Shawnees
+struck in the old French War and in Pontiac's War, after feasting with the
+whites and making them believe the red man was their friend."
+
+She straightened and drew a deep breath, and in a low voice said:
+
+"At last you've answered me. Now go!"
+
+I withdrew from the cabin and from the group of men. Dale's heavy voice
+was doubly hateful in my ears. The settlement was a small place. Patsy had
+dismissed me, and there was scarcely room for me without my presence
+giving her annoyance. I went to the cabin where I had left my few
+belongings and filled my powder-horn and shot-pouch. I renewed my stock of
+flints and added to my roll of buckskins, not forgetting a fresh supply of
+"whangs" for sewing my moccasins. While thus engaged Uncle Dick came in
+and began sharpening his knife at the fireplace.
+
+"Why do that?" I morosely asked. "You are safe from Indian attacks now the
+trader has told the Shawnees you are under his protection."
+
+He leered at me cunningly and ran his thumb along the edge of the knife
+and muttered:
+
+"If some o' th' varmints will only git within strikin'-distance! They sure
+ran away night before last, but how far did they go? Dale seems to have a
+pert amount o' authority over 'em; but how long's he goin' to stay here?
+He can't go trapezin' up 'n' down these valleys and keep men 'n' women
+from bein' killed by jest hangin' some white wampum on 'em."
+
+"What do the men think?"
+
+"Them that has famblies are hopin' th' critters won't come back. Younger
+men want to git a crack at 'em. Two nights ago th' younkers thought Dale
+was mighty strong medicine. A night or two of sleep leaves 'em 'lowin' th'
+creek may be safe s'long as he sticks here. Some t'others spit it right
+out that Black Hoof is playin' one o' his Injun games. If that pert young
+petticoat wa'n't here mebbe we could git some o' th' young men out into
+th' woods for to do some real scoutin'.
+
+"If my eyes was right I'd go. As it is, th' young folks keep runnin' a
+circle round th' settlement, lickety-larrup, an' their minds is on th'
+gal, an' they wouldn't see a buf'lo if one crossed their path. Then they
+hustle back an' say as how they ain't seen nothin'. I 'low some o' th'
+older men will have to scout."
+
+"I'm going out. I'll find the Indians' trail and follow it," I told him.
+
+"That'll be neighborly of you. If they chase you back an' git within
+stickin'-distance I'll soon have their in'ards out to dry."
+
+I decided to leave my horse, as the travel would take me through rough
+places. Shouldering my rifle, I struck for the western side of the
+clearing. Dale had disappeared, gone into the Davis cabin, I assumed, as
+John Ward was lying on the ground near the door. I hadn't seen much of
+Ward for two days. Davis and Moulton were drawing leather through a tan
+trough, and I turned aside to speak with them. They noticed I was fitted
+out for a scout and their faces lighted a bit.
+
+"Ward's been out ag'in and says the reds went north toward Tygart's
+Valley. He follered 'em quite some considerable. If you can find any new
+signs an' can fetch us word----"
+
+"That's what I'm going out for, Davis. How do you feel about the doings of
+night before last?"
+
+He scratched his chin and after a bit of hesitation answered:
+
+"Wife's cousin is a mighty smart man. Powerful smart. I 'low he knows a
+heap 'bout Injuns. Been with 'em so much. But we're sorter uneasy. More so
+to-day than we was yesterday. This waiting to see what'll happen is most
+as bad, if not worse, than to have a fight an' have it over with. Once a
+parcel of Injuns strikes, it either cleans us out or is licked an' don't
+want no more for a long time. Still Dale has a master lot of power among
+the Injuns. But we'll be glad to know you're out looking for fresh
+footing. Their trail oughter be easy to foller, as there was a smart
+number of 'em had hosses."
+
+"I'll find the trail easy enough, and I'll satisfy myself they are still
+making toward the Ohio or have swung back," I assured him. "While I'm gone
+keep the young men in the woods and post sentinels. Don't get careless.
+Don't let the children wander from the cabins. I'm free to tell you,
+Davis, that I don't believe for a second that you've seen the last of
+Black Hoof and his men. Have all those living in the outlying cabins use
+the fort to-night."
+
+After reaching the woods, I turned and looked back. Dale was standing in
+the doorway with one hand resting on the shoulder of John Ward. Ward was
+talking to Patsy, whose dainty figure could not be disguised by the coarse
+linsey gown.
+
+The man Ward must have lost some of his taciturnity, for the girl was
+laughing gaily at whatever he was saying. I observed that Dale was still
+feeling very important in his role of protector, for as he stepped from
+the doorway he walked with a swagger. Well, God give that he was right and
+that the menace had passed from Howard's Creek.
+
+I found the trail where it turned back toward Tygart's Valley, even as
+John Ward had reported, and followed it up the Greenbriar. The country
+here was very fertile on both sides of the river and would make rich farms
+should the danger from the Indians ever permit it to be settled. Farther
+back from the river on each hand the country was broken and mountainous
+and afforded excellent hiding-places for large bodies of Indians, as only
+rattlesnakes, copperheads, wolves and wildcats lived there.
+
+My mood was equal to overdaring, and all because of Patsy Dale. When the
+sun swung into its western arc I halted where a large number of warriors
+had broken their fast. I ate some food and pushed on. After two miles of
+travel I came to a branching of the trail. Two of the band had turned off
+to the northeast. My interest instantly shifted from the main trail to the
+smaller one, for I assumed the two were scouting some particular
+neighborhood, and that by following it I would learn the object of their
+attention and be enabled to give warning.
+
+That done, the footing would lead me back to the main band. The signs were
+few and barely sufficient to allow me to keep up the pursuit. It was not
+until I came to a spring, the overflow of which had made muck of the
+ground, that I was afforded an opportunity to inspect the two sets of
+tracks. One set was made by moccasins almost as small as those I had given
+to Patricia Dale.
+
+But why a squaw on a war-path? It was very puzzling. From the amount of
+moisture already seeped into the tracks I estimated the two of them had
+stood there within thirty minutes. My pursuit became more cautious. Not
+more than twenty rods from the spring I came to a trail swinging in from
+the east, as shown by a broken vine and a bent bush.
+
+The newcomer had moved carelessly and had fallen in behind the two
+Indians. I stuck to the trail until the diminished sunlight warned me it
+would soon be too dark to continue. Then I caught a whiff of burning wood
+and in ten minutes I was reconnoitering a tiny glade.
+
+My first glance took in a small fire; my second glance dwelt upon a scene
+that sent me into the open on the jump. An Indian sat at the foot of a
+walnut-tree, his legs crossed and his empty hands hanging over his knees.
+At one side crouched a squaw, her long hair falling on each side of her
+face and hiding her profile. In a direct line between me and the warrior
+stood Shelby Cousin, his rifle bearing on the warrior.
+
+My step caused him to turn, expecting to behold another native. The man on
+the ground made no attempt to take advantage of the interruption; and in
+the next second Cousin's long double-barrel rifle was again aiming at the
+painted chest.
+
+"Don't go for to try any sp'ilin' o' my game," warned Cousin without
+looking at me.
+
+"They're scouts from a big band of Shawnees now making toward Tygart's
+Valley," I informed him. "Can't we learn something from them?"
+
+"I'm going to kill this one now. The squaw can go. Crabtree would snuff
+her out, but I ain't reached the p'int where I can do that yet."
+
+"You coward!" cried the squaw in excellent English.
+
+Cousin darted a puzzled glance at her. His victim seemed to be indifferent
+to his fate; nor did the woman offer to interfere.
+
+"She's a white woman!" I cried. For a sunbeam straggled through the growth
+and rested on the long hair and revealed it to be fine and brown and never
+to be mistaken for the coarse black locks of an Indian.
+
+"White?" faltered Cousin, lowering his rifle. "Watch that devil, Morris!"
+
+I dropped on a log with my rifle across my knees. Cousin strode to the
+woman and caught her by the shoulder and pulled her to her feet. For a
+long minute the two stared.
+
+"Shelby?"
+
+The words dropped from her lips in a sibilous crescendo as her blood drove
+her to a display of emotion.
+
+Cousin's hands slowly advanced and pushed back the long locks. He advanced
+his face close to hers, and I knew his slight form was trembling. Then he
+staggered back and jerkily brought his arm across his eyes.
+
+"God! It's my sister!" I heard him mutter.
+
+I leaped to my feet, crying out for him to be a man. He remained
+motionless with his arm across his face, helpless to defend himself. I
+turned to the woman. Whatever light had shone in her eyes when memory
+forced his name from her lips had departed.
+
+Her face was cold and immobile as she met my wild gaze. There was a streak
+of yellow paint running from the bridge of her nose to the parting of her
+brown hair. Her skin was as dark as any Shawnee's, but her eyes held the
+blue of the cornflower.
+
+I tried to discover points of resemblance between her and the boy and
+succeeded only when she turned her head in profile; then they were very
+much alike. He lowered his arm to look over it, and she watched him
+without changing her expression.
+
+With a hoarse cry he straightened and answering the impulse in his heart,
+sprang toward her, his arms outstretched to enfold her. She gave ground,
+not hastily as though wishing to avoid his embrace, but with a sinuous
+twist of her lithe body, and she repulsed him by raising her hand. He
+stared at her stupidly, and mumbled:
+
+"You remember me. You called my name. You know I am your brother. You know
+we lived on Keeney's Knob. You remember the creek----"
+
+"I remember," she quietly interrupted. "A very long time ago. Very long. I
+am a Shawnee now. My heart is red."
+
+Her words stunned him for a bit, then he managed to gasp out, "Who is this
+man?" And he glared at the warrior seated at the foot of the tree.
+
+"My husband."
+
+The boy's mouth popped open, but without uttering a sound he stooped and
+grabbed for his rifle. I placed my foot on it and seized his arm and
+pleaded with him to regain his senses before he took any action. During
+all this the warrior remained as passive as the tree-roots against which
+he half-reclined.
+
+After a brief hysterical outburst Cousin stood erect and ceased struggling
+with me. And all the time his sister had watched us speculatively, her
+gaze as cold and impersonal as though she had been looking at a rock. It
+was very hideous. It was one of those damnable situations which must end
+at once, and to which there can be no end. For the boy to kill his
+sister's husband was an awful thing to contemplate.
+
+I pulled the lad back and softly whispered:
+
+"You can't do it. The blood would always be between you two. She has
+changed. She believes she is red. Take her aside and talk with her. If she
+will go with you make for the mountains and get her to the settlements."
+
+"An' him?"
+
+"I will wait an hour. If you two do not return before an hour--Well, he
+will not bother you."
+
+At first he did not seem to understand; then he seized my free hand and
+gripped it tightly. Taking his rifle, he approached the girl and took her
+by the arm.
+
+"Come," he gently told her. "We must talk, you and I. I have hunted for
+you for years."
+
+She was suspicious of us two, but she did not resist him.
+
+"Wait," she said.
+
+She glided to the savage and leaned over him and said something. Then she
+was back to her brother, and the two disappeared into the woods.
+
+I drew a line on the savage and in Shawnee demanded:
+
+"Throw me the knife she gave you."
+
+Glaring at me sullenly, he flipped the knife toward the fire and resumed
+his attitude of abstraction. I had never killed an unarmed Indian. I had
+never shot one in cold blood. The office of executioner did not appeal,
+but repulsive as it was it would not do for the boy to kill his savage
+brother-in-law. Lost Sister and the savage were man and wife, even if
+married according to the Indian custom.
+
+Nor would it do for a woman of Virginia to be redeemed to civilization
+with a red husband roaming at large. No. The fellow must die, and I had
+the nasty work to do. The glade was thickening with shadows, but the
+sunlight still marked the top of an elm and made glorious the zenith. When
+the light died from the heavens I would assassinate the man.
+
+This would give him a scant hour, but a dozen or fifteen minutes of life
+could make small difference. Then again, once the dusk filled the glade my
+impassive victim would become alert and up to some of his devilish tricks.
+He did not change his position except as he turned his head to gaze
+fixedly at the western forest wall. One could imagine him to be ignorant
+of my presence.
+
+"Where does Black Hoof lead his warriors?" I asked him.
+
+Without deflecting his gaze he answered:
+
+"Back to their homes on the Scioto."
+
+"The white trader, the Pack-Horse-Man, spoke words that drive them back?"
+
+It was either a trick of the dying light, or else I detected an almost
+imperceptible twitching of the grim lips. After a short pause he said:
+
+"The Shawnees are not driven. They will pick up the end of the peace-belt.
+They will not drop it on the ground again. Tah-gah-jute (Logan) does not
+wish for war. He has taken ten scalps for every one taken from his people
+at Baker's house. He has covered the dead. The Pack-Horse-Man spoke wise
+words."
+
+"This white woman? You know she must go back to her people."
+
+Again the faint twitching of the lips. When he spoke it was to say:
+
+"She can go where she will or where she is made to go. If she is taken to
+the white settlements she will run away and go back to the Scioto. Her
+people are red. After the French War, after Pontiac's War, it was the
+same. White prisoners were returned to the white people. Many of them
+escaped and came back to us."
+
+His voice was calm and positive and my confidence in the girl's
+willingness to return to civilization was shaken. She had been as stolid
+as her red mate in my presence, but I had believed that nature would
+conquer her ten years' of savagery once she was alone with her brother.
+
+The light had left the top of the elm and the fleecy clouds overhead were
+no longer dazzling because of their borrowed splendor. I cocked my rifle.
+The savage folded his arms as he caught the sound, but his gaze toward the
+west never wavered. To nerve myself into shooting the fellow in cold blood
+I made myself think of the girl's terrible fate, and was succeeding
+rapidly when a light step sounded behind me and her low voice was saying:
+
+"My brother is at the spring. You will find him there."
+
+I rose and dropped the rifle into the hollow of my left arm and stared at
+her incredulously. It had happened before, the rebellion of white
+prisoners at quitting their captors. Yet the girl's refusal was
+astounding.
+
+"You would not go with him?"
+
+"I am here. I go to my people," she answered. "He is waiting for you. The
+squaws would laugh at him. He is very weak."
+
+With an oath I whirled toward the Indian. Had he made a move or had he
+reflected her disdain with a smile, his white-red wife surely would have
+been a widow on the spot. But he had not shifted his position. To all
+appearances he was not even interested in his wife's return. And she too
+now ignored me, and busied herself in gathering up their few belongings
+and slinging them on her back. Then she went to him, and in disgust and
+rage I left them and sped through the darkening woods to the spring where
+I had first seen the imprints of her tiny moccasins.
+
+Cousin was there, seated and his head bowed on his chest, a waiting victim
+for the first Indian scout who might happen along.
+
+I dragged him to his feet and harshly said:
+
+"Come! We must go. Your white sister is dead. Your search is ended. Your
+sister died in the raid on Keeney's Knob."
+
+"My little sister," he whispered.
+
+He went with me passively enough, and he did not speak until we had struck
+into the main trail of the Shawnees. Then he asked:
+
+"You did not kill him?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It's best that way. There're 'nough others. They'll pay for it."
+
+I abandoned my plan of following the war-party farther and was only
+anxious to get my companion back to the protection of Howard's Creek. We
+followed the back-trail for a few miles and then were forced by the night
+to make a camp. I opened my supply of smoked meat and found a spring. I
+did not dare to risk a fire. But he would not eat. Only once did he speak
+that night, and that was to say:
+
+"I must keep clear o' the settlements. If I don't I'll do as Ike Crabtree
+does, kill in sight o' the cabins."
+
+In the morning he ate some of my food; not as if he were hungry, but as if
+forcing himself to a disagreeable task. He seemed to be perfectly willing
+to go on with me, but he did not speak of the girl again.
+
+When we drew near the creek he began to look about him. He at once
+recognized the surroundings and made a heroic effort to control himself.
+When we swung into the clearing there was nothing in his appearance to
+denote the terrible experience he had passed through.
+
+Now that we were back I was beset by a fear, that the sight of Patricia in
+all her loveliness would be an overwhelming shock to his poor brain. It
+was with great relief that I got him to the Moulton cabin without his
+glimpsing Patsy.
+
+"You can tell 'em if you want to. S'pose they'll l'arn it some time," he
+said to me as we reached the door and met Mrs. Moulton and her little
+girl. With that he passed inside and seated himself in a corner and bowed
+his head.
+
+I drew Mrs. Moulton aside and briefly explained his great sorrow. With
+rich sympathy she stole into the cabin and began mothering him, patting
+his shoulders and stroking the long hair back from his wan face.
+
+My own affairs became of small importance when measured beside this
+tragedy. I had no trepidation now in facing Patricia. I walked boldly to
+the Davis cabin and thrust my head in the door. Only Davis and his wife
+were there.
+
+"Where are the Dales?" I bruskly asked.
+
+"Gone," grunted Davis in disgust.
+
+"Gone back home?" I eagerly asked.
+
+"What do you think!" babbled Mrs. Davis. "Cousin Ericus has took that gal
+down toward the Clinch. He 'lows now he's goin' to keep the Injuns out of
+that valley--"
+
+"Good God! Why did you let them go?"
+
+Davis snorted angrily, and exclaimed:
+
+"Let 'em go! How ye goin' to stop her? 'Twas she that was bound to be
+movin' on. Just made her daddy go."
+
+"When did they start?"
+
+"Right after you lit out. Seems 's if th' gal couldn't git shut o' this
+creek quick 'nough."
+
+I ran from the cabin to get my horse and start in immediate pursuit. By
+the time I reached the animal, well rested during my absence, I became
+more reasonable. After all Black Hoof was traveling north. There would be
+small chance of another band raiding down the Clinch for some time at
+least. I needed rest. Night travel would advance me but slowly. I would
+start early in the morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN ABB'S VALLEY
+
+
+Orioles and mocking-birds sang in the openings, and startled deer fled
+before our advance as Shelby Cousin and I rode for the Clinch. The heat of
+July was tempered by a breeze out of the north, and the heavens were
+filled with hurrying white argosies. So it had ever been since the white
+man came to these pleasant ridges and rich bottom-lands; perfume, song,
+gracious valleys, and the lurking red evil.
+
+Cousin had regained his self-control overnight and outwardly appeared to
+be thoroughly composed. He talked but little, and then only when I took
+the lead. I refrained from mentioning the tragedy of yesterday and the sun
+was noon-high before he brought the matter up.
+
+"I couldn't kill that feller," he abruptly informed me.
+
+There was no preface to indicate whom he meant, but I knew and nodded
+sympathetically.
+
+"An' I'd ruther kill him than all the rest o' the Injuns 'tween here 'n'
+Detroit," he added after a long pause.
+
+"She will never come back to us?" I asked; for he had given no details of
+his interview with his sister.
+
+"She'll never come back. For a time I'd a mind to drag her away, but she
+was so cold to me, so Injun-like in her way of lettin' me know it wouldn't
+do no good, that I give it up. You see she was only a child when captured.
+Women caught when much older'n her have gone for to choose a wigwam to a
+cabin."
+
+"Do you wish I had shot him?"
+
+"No. If it could happen in a open fight--that's different. It wouldn't do
+any good to hurt her by killin' him. But I wish he was dead!"
+
+We stopped and ate and rode several miles before either of us spoke again.
+Then I said:
+
+"There's a girl ahead, about your age."
+
+He was disturbed to hear it and I feared he would wish to leave me.
+
+"I don't want her captured by Indians," I added.
+
+"God forbid it!" he hoarsely cried.
+
+Having prepared him for seeing Patricia, I shifted his line of thought by
+asking, "What do you think of John Ward?"
+
+"Injun."
+
+I said nothing and after a few minutes he went on:
+
+"Took by Injuns when a little boy, just like Tavenor Ross and George
+Collet was took. I've heard traders tell about the three of 'em. When
+they're took so young they grow up just as much Injuns as if they was born
+red. Ward's that way. Must be. Look at the sister I lost!"
+
+"But Ward comes back to settlements. He even crosses the mountains. He
+says he escaped."
+
+"He wouldn't be travelin' round these parts if he was a' 'scaped prisoner.
+As for crossin' the mountains he might 'a' gone for to see what he could
+see. Cornstalk has spies all up an' down the frontier. I 'low them two we
+met yesterday was bent on spyin'. God! That's a' awful thought! But I
+ain't got no sister. It was a red woman we seen. She 'n' her man was
+spyin'. If not that why should they be makin' east into the mountains? I
+'low he was to stay hid while 'nother 'scaped prisoner rode down into some
+settlement."
+
+From that speech on I do not remember that he spoke of his sister as being
+any kin of his. When he must mention her he usually styled her, "That
+woman who's turned red."
+
+To get his thoughts away from her I rattled on about my trip to Richfield
+and told of my experiences in returning over the mountains. After I had
+narrated Hughes' quick action in saving me from an assassin's bullet
+Cousin jerked up his head and said:
+
+"Moccasin, one you give to that there young woman we're now followin'?"
+
+I nodded, and he continued:
+
+"I 'low it was John Ward who tried to pot you. He stole the moccasin and
+sneaked back an' laid the trap. Prob'ly laid it for whoever come along
+without knowin' who would walk into it. You was mighty lucky to have
+Hughes there." I had never connected Ward with that attempt on my life.
+
+"The Dales believe Ward to be what he pretends--an escaped prisoner," I
+said.
+
+"Course they do," sighed the boy. "The country's full of fools. After he's
+led 'em to the stake an' they begin to roast they'll wake up an' reckon
+that there's something wrong with his white blood."
+
+His matter-of-fact way of expressing it made my blood congeal. It was
+unthinkable to imagine Patsy Dale in the hands of the Indians. I urged my
+horse to a sharper clip, but Cousin warned me:
+
+"No use hurryin'. Save your nag for the time when you'll need him mighty
+bad. I 'low we can overtake 'em afore anything happens."
+
+We had discovered no fresh Indian-signs. Black Hoof and his braves were
+far north of us. We knew scouts were ranging up the Clinch and Holston,
+and that the people were forting from Fort Chiswell to the head of the
+Holston, and that practically all the settlers had left Rich Valley
+between Walker's Mountain and the north fork of the Holston.
+
+Nearly all the settlers had come off the heads of Sandy and Walker's
+Creeks and were building forts at David Doack's mill on the Clinch and on
+the head waters of the middle fork of the Holston, as well as at Gasper
+Kinder's place in Poor Valley.
+
+Cornstalk must know the time was near when the whites would send an army
+against the Shawnee towns north of the Ohio, and he was too cunning a
+warrior to risk sending many of his men into southwestern Virginia. Black
+Hoof was there with a large force, but he could not tarry without leaving
+the Scioto towns uncovered.
+
+Therefore my opinion coincided with my companion's, once my first flurry
+of fear was expended. The Dales were in no immediate danger, and if any
+hostile band was below New River it would be a small one. Once more I
+allowed my horse to take his time. I began to find room for wondering how
+I was to overcome my embarrassment once we did come up with the Dales.
+
+Ericus Dale would rant and indulge in abuse. Patricia would be remembering
+my lack of faith in her father's influence over the natives. She would
+want none of my company. But if Cousin and I could trail them unseen until
+they entered a small settlement at the head of the Bluestone, where they
+would be sure to pause before making for the head of the Clinch, we could
+pretend we were scouting far south and had met them by accident; then we
+could ride on ahead of them.
+
+Their trail was simple to follow. The Dales were mounted and Ward was
+afoot and leading a pack-horse. We came to their several camps, and at
+each of these I observed the girl was wearing my moccasins. When Cousin
+would behold the small imprint his face would twist in anguish. Poor
+devil!
+
+For three days we leisurely followed them, and each sunrise found me
+entertaining fewer fears for the girl's safety. We timed our progress so
+as to pitch our last camp within a mile of the settlement in Abb's Valley
+on the Bluestone, intending to reconnoiter it for signs of the Dales
+before showing ourselves.
+
+The valley was about ten miles long and very narrow and possessing
+unusually fertile soil. It was named after Absalom Looney, a hunter, who
+claimed to have discovered it. Cousin informed me there were three cabins
+and a small fort in the valley when he last visited it. At that time one
+of the families was planning to cross the mountains and sacrifice the
+summer's planting.
+
+"Mebbe they've all come off since then. Or them that's stayed may be
+killed an' sculped by this time," he added.
+
+"Whatever may have happened to the settlers is all finished by this time
+and there can be no danger for the Dales," I declared.
+
+"I 'low they're packin' their worst danger along with 'em," he mumbled.
+
+"Meaning John Ward?"
+
+"Meaning him," was the terse answer.
+
+This set all my fears to galloping again, and they rode one another close.
+What if Ward were the creature Cousin pictured him? Then he must have
+designs on the Dales, and he would persuade them to travel in a direction
+which would lead them into a trap. If Ward were "red" he already had
+planned just where he would bag his game.
+
+Against this line of reasoning was our failure to discover fresh signs,
+and the fact that Black Hoof's band was making north. Then one fear drew
+ahead of all others, and I was thrown into a panic lest Ward plotted to
+count his coup unaided and would murder the trader and his daughter. I
+rose from the fire and announced my intention of proceeding to the valley
+settlement that night. I told Cousin my fears.
+
+"That's just so much foolishness," he told me. "If Ward's up to them sort
+o' tricks he'd 'a' made his kill when only a few miles from Howard's
+Creek, when he was that much closer to Black Hoof's band. Then he'd 'a'
+sneaked north to j'in his red friends and dance his sculps. But we've
+found all their camps, and nothin' has happened. They're safe so far."
+
+It was near morning before I could sleep and I awoke at sunrise. Cousin
+was missing. I investigated and discovered he had gone on foot, so I
+assumed he was out to kill some meat to pack into the settlement. I
+prepared something to eat and finished my portion and was kneeling to
+drink from a spring when I heard him coming through the woods. He was
+running and making much noise, and I had a presentiment that something
+very evil had happened. Before he came into view he called my name
+sharply.
+
+"All right! I'm here! What is it?" I answered.
+
+"Devil's come for his pay!" he snapped as he burst through the last of the
+growth. "Only two miles west fresh tracks of big war-party makin' south.
+They're makin' for Abb's Valley. That white-Injun devil fixed it up. Goin'
+to gobble the settlers along with your fool friends. If we can't stop 'em
+they'll git every white in the valley sure's Sabba'day preachin'!"
+
+Until that moment I had never dreamed of the exquisite torture that the
+threat of an Indian raid could induce. I secured my weapons and mounted
+without realizing what I was doing. My first coherent thought was one of
+amazement to behold Cousin stuffing smoked meat into his pack with one
+hand while the other held a tough morsel for his teeth to tear at. He ate
+like a famished wolf.
+
+"Can't fight without some linin'," he mumbled. "An' we'll take what's left
+along. May git in a corner an' have mighty little time for cookin'."
+
+I urged my horse into a gallop. Cousin tore after me, angrily calling on
+me to wait. I was in no mood to wait, and endeavored to get even more
+speed out of my animal. Then Cousin brought me to my senses by yelling:
+
+"All right! Kill 'em if you want to!"
+
+I pulled in and he drove alongside, crying:
+
+"First thing you know you'll be runnin' into a nest o' them devils. Their
+path and our path draws together an' enters the valley as one path."
+
+"But we must reach the valley ahead of them!"
+
+"Can't be did," he discouraged. "Best we can do is to sneak up on 'em
+without bein' seen."
+
+As a last hope I suggested:
+
+"Perhaps after all they know nothing about the Dales."
+
+"They know 'bout Abb's Valley. It's Black Hoof's band. Made off north,
+then swung back down here, keepin' clear o' Howard's Creek. If they clean
+out Abb's Valley they'll clean out the creek on their way home."
+
+Scant consolation in all this. It was a great relief to reach the
+Bluestone and prepare for action. We spanceled our horses in a tiny
+opening well surrounded by woods. Cousin was familiar with the country and
+led the way. Instead of making for the mouth of the narrow valley we
+gained the end of one of its enclosing ridges and scouted along the
+slope.
+
+When we halted and Cousin carefully parted the bushes I observed we were
+behind three cabins and high enough up the slope to see over them. The
+valley at this point was not more than fifty rods wide, and appeared to be
+even less because of the long walls stretching away for ten miles.
+
+Some children were laughing at their play and were hidden from view as
+long as they kept close to the door of the middle cabin. A dog was
+growling and barking, but as he did not join the sport of the little ones
+we concluded he was tied. One of the red cabins, that nearest to the mouth
+of the valley, did not appear to be occupied.
+
+Through the small window of the cabin farthest up the valley I glimpsed
+two persons moving about when they passed between the window and the open
+door. A few rods farther out toward the middle of the valley and nearer
+the Bluestone than the unoccupied cabin, were the four walls of what had
+been intended for a fort. It lacked the roof. For some reason the men had
+suspended work on it, being too few to complete it, or else deciding the
+cabins furnished sufficient protection.
+
+Three men, all strangers to me, now entered our line of vision as they
+walked out from the shelter of the middle cabin. Cousin told me their
+names. The tall man with the long black beard was Granville, one of the
+original settlers. He and his wife and two children, with Mrs. Granville's
+sister, lived in the middle cabin. A short swarthy man was Nate Dicks. He
+had sent his family over the mountains and was staying behind to gather
+the season's crops, explained Cousin. The third man was along in years and
+walked with a limp.
+
+"That's the old Englishman. All the name he goes by. No kin to any one on
+this side the ocean, he says. He lives with the Granvilles. The empty
+cabin belonged to the Drakes. They pulled out early this spring. Dicks
+lives in the t'other-end cabin."
+
+"I make out at least two people in there now," I murmured.
+
+"They'll be the Dales. Dicks's prob'ly sleepin' in the Granville cabin."
+
+My heart behaved badly for a minute.
+
+"Listen to that pup!" softly exclaimed Cousin, his brows drawing down.
+"The fools have him tied up, an they ain't got sense 'nough to hark to
+what he's tryin' to tell 'em."
+
+"We're here ahead of the Indians. Let's go down," I urged.
+
+"Wait! Look across!" He pointed to the wall of woods opposite our
+hiding-place. John Ward had broken cover and was stalking toward the
+cabins. The black cloth he wore around his head gave him a sinister,
+piratical appearance and his feet tracked like an Indian's.
+
+I would have descended the slope but Cousin clutched my arm, whispering:
+
+"If there ain't no Injuns across the valley we can afford to wait a bit.
+If there is, our goin' down would hurry up their attack. It won't do to
+call out an' scare 'em so they'll scatter. As they are now they can fort
+themselves in the shake of a dog's tail."
+
+Two women, Mrs. Granville and her sister, now walked back of the middle
+cabin and picked up some wood. Both were barefooted, and I was close
+enough to read the expression of constant fear on each face. As they
+stooped for the wood their gaze was continually roving over the woods on
+our ridge, and often their fingers fumbled for a fagot while their eyes
+persisted in examining the forest.
+
+Now Dale and Patsy emerged from their cabin and walked to meet Ward.
+Cousin groaned aloud as he beheld the girl. There was something in her
+appearance to remind him of his lost sister. Ericus Dale greeted Ward with
+a wide flourish of his hand. Ward was emotionless as a Shawnee chief.
+Granville and Dicks hurried to join the three, anxious no doubt to learn
+the result of Ward's scouting.
+
+His report seemed to please the men, for Granville laid aside his rifle
+and began chopping a long log into fireplace lengths. Dicks walked toward
+the middle cabin, lustily singing:
+
+                "Ye patriot souls who love to sing,
+                What serves your country and your king,
+                In wealth, peace, and royal estate;
+                Attention give whilst I rehearse
+                A modern fact in jingling verse."
+
+This song, six or seven lengthy stanzas in all, was written by Mr. George
+Campbell, an Irish gentleman, and was popular along the frontier. It was
+sung to the tune of the Black Joke, and commemorated the successful
+efforts of Captain James Smith to prevent Philadelphia traders from
+sending weapons of war to the northwest tribes shortly after the treaty of
+1765 was concluded.
+
+Dicks was finishing the first stanza as he entered the cabin. He broke off
+sharply to rebuke the dog. Soon he came out with a bag. At about a hundred
+yards from the cabin, and farther up the valley than any of them, was the
+lick-block. Dicks was walking toward this. Several horses broke from the
+growth across the valley and ran toward the cabins.
+
+"Almost act like they was skeered," whispered Cousin.
+
+"Coming in to be salted," I corrected as the horses swerved and galloped
+toward the block. Dicks was ambling along slowly and reverting to his
+song. The dog suddenly darted from the cabin and streaked after Dicks, a
+piece of rawhide trailing from his neck. As he ran he made a great outcry.
+Dicks was very angry to have his vocal efforts interrupted, and he halted
+and swung the bag of salt in an attempt to hit the dog, all the while
+commanding him to go back. The horses were now at the block and stepping
+about uneasily.
+
+"I never guessed that! Come on! Something will bu'st loose in a minute!"
+groaned Cousin.
+
+We started to slide down the bank, when a terrible tragedy took place
+before our eyes. As Dicks was emptying the salt on to the lick-block the
+horses sprang back and bolted in alarm, and an Indian's topknot, decorated
+with wild-turkey feathers, bobbed up from behind the block. Dicks seemed
+to be paralyzed. The savage struck him with his ax and the unfortunate man
+went down, dead before he lost his footing. In the next second the dog, a
+huge brute of mongrel breed, cleared the block and closed his jaws on the
+murderer's neck.
+
+This was a signal for Cousin's prophecy to come true. A deafening chorus
+of howls burst from the woods opposite the cabins, and a volley of bullets
+rained among the settlers. Mrs. Granville and the two children dropped.
+The old Englishman, standing nearer the cabins, staggered and turned
+around two or three times. Granville, unharmed, picked up the body of his
+wife.
+
+The old Englishman was very brave, for he limped forward and managed to
+gather up the children, one under each arm. Granville's sister was
+practical enough to secure her brother-in-law's rifle and ax. The three,
+with their dead, made for the middle cabin.
+
+All this happened in the wink of an eye. The Dales and Ward, walking
+toward the end cabin when Dicks was killed, halted and stood as if
+stupefied. None of the bullets had reached them. The girl seized her
+father's arm and led him to shelter. He was unhurt, but he moved with
+shuffling steps, much like a tavern-loafer soggy from rum.
+
+We ran to enter the nearest cabin, which happened to be Granville's, but
+the door was slammed and barred before we could round the corner.
+
+"In here!" sharply cried Cousin, darting through the doorway of the empty
+cabin.
+
+As I piled in after him I saw Patsy and Dale entering their cabin, but
+Ward, the white Indian, was running to cover up the valley. And not a
+savage had shown himself with the exception of the one who had counted
+coup at the lick-block. This fellow was still in sight and extremely
+busy.
+
+With our door ajar we watched the ghastly struggle between the faithful
+mongrel and the assassin. The Indian had lost his ax but had managed to
+draw his knife. The dog's teeth were buried in his throat before he could
+get his blade loose. I raised my rifle but Cousin laughed and knocked it
+aside and cried:
+
+"Let him make his kill! It's his coup!"
+
+The warrior staggered clear of the block, his desperate plight blinding
+him to all else. His eyes were protruding. He stabbed blindly. I cried out
+in pain as I saw the knife sink to the hilt. But the faithful beast had
+locked his jaws and the weight of his body was already ripping the red
+throat open. Dead dog and dying warrior fell side by side. The dog had
+counted the first coup for the whites.
+
+Now we caught our first view of the enemy. A long line of Shawnees emerged
+from the woods, running and leaping and jumping from side to side, sinking
+behind stumps and vanishing behind the scattered trees.
+
+"We've got time to make the ridge back o' here," spoke up Cousin. "We's
+fools to come in here. S'pose we go."
+
+"You go! I must stick," I told him.
+
+"We can do 'em more good out in the open than by bein' cooped up in here,"
+he quietly reasoned.
+
+"You go. I can't leave the girl."
+
+"Then bar the door," he commanded.
+
+I did so, and through a loophole knocked over a savage who had paused in
+the open to brandish a war-ax thickly decorated with either feathers or
+scalps.
+
+"Good! We'll make a fine fight of it!" grimly said Cousin as he stepped
+from a loophole at the back of the cabin. "It's too late for us to make
+the ridge now. It's crawlin' with the vermin."
+
+His bearing was exceedingly cheerful as he posted himself at the front of
+the cabin, his double-barrel rifle ready for a snap-shot. He fired the two
+barrels almost together, and laughed boisterously.
+
+"Two tryin' to hide behind one small tree," he explained. "Got one dead
+an' sp'iled t'other."
+
+As yet not a shot had been fired from the other two cabins. A voice called
+from the Granville cabin. I found a chink in the wall and beheld the face
+of the Englishman peering from the small end window.
+
+"Who's there?" he kept demanding in a shrill voice.
+
+"Two white scouts. Get to shooting!"
+
+He could not see me but he heard me, and vanished to help in the defense.
+Cousin had reloaded and was watching the valley closely. Bullets were
+plunking into the log walls, but I knew none of the savages were exposing
+themselves, else my companion would be shooting. From the Granville cabin
+several shots were fired without any effect so far as we could make out.
+Then again the Englishman was calling us. I went forward.
+
+"Hear what I say?" he cried.
+
+I answered that we could.
+
+"Ericus Dale says for us to stop shooting or he can't save us," he
+informed us.
+
+"He can't save himself!" I yelled back.
+
+"He thinks he can save all of us."
+
+"He couldn't save the man at the lick-block," I reminded.
+
+"Aye. There's sorry truth in that."
+
+"This valley's a trap. John Ward, the white Indian, led him and his
+daughter into it," I shouted.
+
+"God help and pity us!" he groaned. Then more calmly, "Ward came back from
+the woods this morning and said there were no signs of Indians."
+
+"He met them and talked with them, and planned how they should surprise
+you people. The warrior at the lick-block knew Dicks would discover him,
+so he showed himself and made his kill."
+
+"Aye. That is reasonable thinking."
+
+"What losses in there?" I asked. I thrust my knife-blade between the logs
+so he might know where I was standing and cease rolling his eyes in his
+efforts to locate me.
+
+His old face screwed up in pain.
+
+"Mistress Granville and the two children, shot dead. Perhaps it's best
+that way. I'm wounded--that don't count. You going to keep on shooting?"
+
+"As long as we can pull trigger."
+
+"I'll tell Granville. He wants to save his sister if he can."
+
+"Then he must fight. Tell him so," I warned.
+
+I turned back to Cousin. He was scowling savagely through his peephole.
+"Take the back side 'n' watch for signs on the ridge," he mumbled. "Them
+out front are huggin' dirt an' not tryin' to git nearer. They're waitin'
+for somethin'."
+
+At the back of the cabin I found a tiny chink and applied my eye. My first
+thought was that a comet was streaming down into my face. The long
+war-arrow, weighted with a blazing mass of pitch-smeared moss, stuck in a
+log a few inches below my peephole. From the ridge came a howl of
+triumph.
+
+By thrusting my knife-blade through the hole and against the shaft of the
+arrow I managed to dislodge it, and it burned itself out against the huge
+bottom log. We did not fear fire until the arrows stuck in the roof. The
+same thought was in Cousin's mind. He did not look around, but he had
+smelled the smoke and he directed:
+
+"Climb up an' work the roof-poles apart a bit so's you can knock 'em off
+the roof when they land."
+
+I soon had the poles slightly separated in two places. As I finished a
+dozen flying brands poured down on the Granville cabin and ours. One arrow
+lodged on our roof close to the eves. Two were burning on the ridgepole of
+the Granville cabin. The others either stuck harmlessly in the logs or
+overshot and stood so many torches in the ground. By means of the table I
+scrambled back to the roof and managed to knock the menace to the ground.
+While I was thus engaged Cousin fired both barrels.
+
+"What luck?" I asked as I jumped to the floor.
+
+"Just bein' neighborly," he growled as he rapidly loaded. "Shot them two
+arrers off the next roof."
+
+Suddenly the savage howling ceased; nor were there any more fire-arrows.
+Then the Englishman began shouting. He was once more calling us. I
+answered and wriggled the knife-blade between the logs. Sure of my
+attention he loudly informed us: "Dale passes the word for us to stop
+fighting. Says he's going to save us."
+
+"To the devil with Dale!" snarled Cousin, showing his teeth like a wolf.
+
+"He's going out to talk with 'em," added the Englishman.
+
+"Lord! What a fool!" lamented Cousin.
+
+"He's going now," continued the Englishman.
+
+I darted to Cousin's side and peered out. We heard the bar drop from the
+end cabin; then Dale came into view, walking with a swagger toward the
+concealed savages. In one hand he held up a string of white wampum. And as
+he slowly advanced he shouted in the Shawnee language:
+
+"Do my brothers fire on their brother? Do they harm their brother's
+friends? Does the Pack-Horse-Man ask his red brothers to be kind only to
+have his words fall on dead ears? I bring you belts. My daughter in the
+cabin also brings belts to the Shawnees and Mingos and the Delawares."
+
+"Let our white brother come close," called a deep guttural voice.
+
+"That'll be Black Hoof himself," excitedly muttered Cousin, darting his
+gaze over the valley in search of the stone or log which hid the great
+chief from view.
+
+"Don't shoot! They'll butcher him if you do!" I warned.
+
+"They'll worse'n butcher him if I don't," gritted Cousin. Yet he held his
+fire, for the excellent reason he could see nothing to shoot at.
+
+"Tell your people not to fire," again called Black Hoof's powerful voice.
+
+Dale faced the cabins and waved his white wampum, crying:
+
+"I am saving your lives. You men in the lower cabin, throw down your
+arms!"
+
+"Like thunder!" grunted Cousin.
+
+"He's fairly among them!" I gasped.
+
+Dale had come to a stop and was turning his head and glancing from one
+point to another on the ground as he talked. His voice had its old
+confident ring, and there was a slight smile on his lips as he rehearsed
+his friendship for the red people and reminded them how often he visited
+their villages and smoked their pipes.
+
+When he ceased Black Hoof called out:
+
+"We will lift a peace-pipe to our good friend, the Pack-Horse-Man. We will
+cover his friends with the smoke. Let him tell his friends not to be
+afraid and to throw down their guns."
+
+Dale was sure of Granville's and the Englishman's behavior, and he
+addressed his warning to Cousin and me, calling on us in a stentorian
+voice to offer no resistance if we valued our lives. He ended by yelling:
+
+"Catahecassa, war-chief of the Shawnees, spares your lives."
+
+Without giving us time to speak, he waved a hand and commanded:
+
+"It's all right, Patricia! Come out!"
+
+"Stay where you are!" I screamed, my voice muffled by the four stout
+walls. I jumped to tear the bar from the door, but Cousin hurled me aside,
+panting:
+
+"Too late! God! To think such a woman should walk into their bloody
+trap!"
+
+His words sent me to the loophole. Patricia Dale was walking composedly
+toward her father, her slim hands holding up her belts. She winced as she
+passed the lick-block and got a glimpse of the dead savage and the dead
+dog. Then her gaze remained steady on her father's calm face.
+
+Black Hoof said something, but there was a pounding in my ears which
+prevented me from hearing it. I guessed it, though, when Dale called out:
+
+"All you who would be spared come out and leave your guns behind!"
+
+He had barely spoken before the Englishman's voice excitedly called:
+
+"You two scouts in there."
+
+I gave him heed and he informed me: "Granville and his sister say they are
+going out. Do you go out?"
+
+"We shall stay here. It's better for you to die where you are," I told
+him.
+
+"Ay, I think it's better myself. Well, I'm old and hungry to be with the
+children again."
+
+The Englishman was a brave man, and very sensible. He recognized Fate when
+it paused to stare him in the eye. My companion was panting for breath and
+was standing back so as to rest the muzzle of his rifle just inside the
+loophole. A glance revealed his deadly purpose. A tall warrior was now on
+his feet. I knew him to be Black Hoof. I had seen him at Fort Pitt during
+one of those rare lulls between wars.
+
+Cousin was fairly out of his head with the lust to kill the chief, but the
+Shawnee took no chances. He was careful to keep the girl and her father
+between him and the cabins. I pushed Cousin's gun aside and fiercely
+upbraided him for placing the Dales' lives in jeopardy.
+
+"You fool!" he cried. "They're gone already. Are you, too, blind? If you
+love that gal out there and want to do her the greatest kindness a man can
+ever do to a border woman, shoot her!"
+
+Granville began shouting:
+
+"Me 'n' my sister are comin' out. We surrender. Tell 'em, Mr. Dale! God
+knows 'nough blood's been spilt."
+
+I heard their cabin door open. Then it closed with a bang and we heard the
+heavy bar drop into place. For a moment I believed they had changed their
+minds; then they crossed our line of vision, the man walking ahead with
+empty hands held high, his sister walking behind and wildly waving a white
+cloth. It was the Englishman, skeptical, because of our advice, who
+dropped the bar.
+
+Cousin began muttering under his breath. I soon discovered the reason.
+John Ward was approaching the group from the opposite side of the valley
+and trying to keep some of the whites between him and our cabin. The
+nearer he drew to the group, the easier this maneuver was. Ward had made a
+half-circuit of the valley and was advancing through the lines of hidden
+braves. Cousin would have tried a shot at the renegade if not for fear of
+instant reprisal on the girl. It was horrible to hear him curse and moan
+as he nursed the set of triggers.
+
+"Shut up!" I whispered. "Watch them close!"
+
+I meant Granville and his sister; for as they entered the zone held by the
+enemy I observed a clump of low bushes dipping and swaying behind them.
+The woman saw something that frightened her, for she pressed close to her
+brother and shook the white cloth toward the ground. The grotesque fancy
+came into my head that she would do the same thing if she wanted to shoo
+some chickens out of a garden.
+
+Granville and his sister walked up to Black Hoof, the woman still waving
+the cloth to make sure the chief beheld it and recognized its sacred
+character. Dale turned to give Cousin, the Englishman and me one last
+chance to save our lives; and the hideous work began.
+
+John Ward seized Patricia from behind, holding her by her arms as a
+bulwark against our lead. Black Hoof with a lightning gesture raised his
+ax and struck Dale with the flat of it, sending him crashing to the
+ground. Almost at the same moment two devils leaped from the ground and
+with their axes struck Granville and his sister from behind. Black Hoof
+dropped behind his log the moment he struck Dale.
+
+Ward remained standing, sheltered by the girl. But the two who had killed
+Granville and his sister forgot us in their lust to secure the scalps. I
+got one as he was kneeling on the man, and Cousin shot the other through
+the head before he could touch the woman. I shall never forget the
+terrible scream which burst from the lips of Patricia Dale. Then she went
+limp and her head sagged over Ward's arms, and he began to walk backward
+with her to the forest.
+
+I ran to the door and Cousin stuck out his foot and tripped me, and my
+head hit against the logs, and for a minute confused me beyond the
+possibility of action. When I would have renewed my efforts to pursue and
+die in attempting the rescue of the girl Ward was dragging her into the
+woods. Cousin's arm was around my neck, and as he pulled me back he
+passionately cried:
+
+"Will it help her to git killed? The ground's alive with 'em! You can't
+more'n show your head afore they'd have your hair!"
+
+I got to a loophole and looked out. Several guns banged and the bullets
+pattered into the logs. There was no sign of life in the valley beyond
+this scattering volley, however. Ward and the girl were gone. The dead
+Indian and dog were partly in view among the weeds beside the lick-block.
+The gown of the dead woman made a little patch of melancholy color against
+the green of the grass and ranker ground growth. Granville had been
+dragged behind some bushes to be scalped. I came near firing when I beheld
+two Shawnees making for the timber.
+
+"Fellers we potted," murmured Cousin. "They've hitched cords to 'em an'
+are draggin' 'em to the woods so's no one'll git their hair."
+
+From the Granville cabin a gun roared loudly; and an Indian, clawing at
+his bloody breast, shot up in the heart of a clump of bushes and pitched
+forward on his face.
+
+"Lawdy! But the Englisher must 'a' used 'bout a pint o' buckshot!"
+exclaimed Cousin admiringly. "Pretty smart, too! He traced the cord back
+to where th' Injun was haulin' on it, an' trusted to his medicine to make
+the spreadin' buckshot fetch somethin'. Wish he had smoothbores an' a few
+pounds o' shot!"
+
+Yells of rage and a furious volley against the two cabins evidenced how
+the enemy viewed the Englishman's success. Again the smoothbore roared and
+a handful of balls scoured another thicket. A warrior leaped from cover
+and started to run to the woods. Cousin shot him off his feet before he
+could make a rod.
+
+Our admiration for the smoothbore and its wholesale tactics was beyond
+expression. The Indians, also, thoroughly appreciated its efficacy, and
+there was a general backward movement toward the woods. No savage showed
+himself except for a flash of bronze leg, or the flutter of a hand, too
+transient for even Cousin to take advantage of. The Englishman fired
+again, but flushed no game.
+
+"We oughter be goin'," Cousin mused. "But the ridge behind us is still
+alive with 'em. Reckon we must wait till it gits dark."
+
+"Wait till night? Oh, I can't do that!" I cried.
+
+"Your gal may be skeered to death, but she ain't been hurt any yet," he
+encouraged. "She's safe till they git her back to the towns. Black Hoof is
+too smart to hurt her now. If he gits into a tight corner afore he reaches
+the Ohio he'll need her to buy an open path with. She ain't in no danger
+s'long as he wants her on hand to swap if the settlers git him penned."
+
+"No danger? And in the hands of that damned renegade!"
+
+"Catahecassa is boss o' that band. Ward was only a spy. They may burn your
+gal when they git back on the Scioto where every one can enjoy it. But she
+won't be hurt any this side o' the Ohio. Our first job is to git clear o'
+this cabin an' valley. Then we must head those dogs off an' do the next
+job right."
+
+His words cleared my mind of madness. Instead of the dark forest, forty
+rods away, marking the end of everything, I need not entirely despair
+until the girl reached the Scioto.
+
+"They've hitched a rope to Dale an' are draggin' him to the woods. The
+damn fool ain't dead yet. Black Hoof fetched him a crack with the flat of
+his ax, but they'll roast him to a frizzle by 'n' by if our medicine don't
+fetch him out of it."
+
+The man had been grossly mistaken and I pitied him. I wondered what he
+would think of the influence of trade on red heathens at war when he
+regained his senses! Surely he would learn the torments of hell when he
+beheld his daughter a prisoner.
+
+The cabin was like an oven and the sting of powder-smoke made our eyes
+water. Outside the birds were fluttering about their daily tasks. High
+among the fleecy cloud-bundles were dark specks which we knew to be
+turkey-buzzards, already attracted by the dead. For some time the only
+sign of the enemy's presence was when three horses galloped down the
+valley, running from the savages in the edge of the woods. As the animals
+drew near the cabins and showed an inclination to visit the lick-block a
+volley from the Indians sent one down. The other two dashed madly toward
+the Bluestone.
+
+Cousin studied the ridge back of the cabin and failed to discover any
+suggestion of the hidden foe.
+
+"Which ain't no token they ain't there," he muttered.
+
+"If they hadn't scared the horses we could have caught a couple!" I
+lamented.
+
+"We'd been shot off their backs afore we'd gone two rods," assured my
+companion. "Let me show you."
+
+With that he took a big gourd from the corner and painted a face on it
+with a piece of charcoal found in the fireplace. To a few small wooden
+pegs stuck in the top he made fast some long strings of tow, shredded out
+to resemble hair. Then he placed my hat on top of the gourd and the effect
+was most grotesque. Yet from a distance it easily would be mistaken for a
+human face.
+
+It was a vast improvement on the old trick of hoisting a hat on a stick.
+His next maneuver was to enlarge one of the holes I had made in the roof.
+When he thrust his hands through the hole, as if about to draw himself up,
+he focused every savage eye on the back of the cabin roof. Through the
+opening he slowly pushed the gourd, topped by the hat and having long hair
+hanging down the sides.
+
+The decoy was barely in place before he was on the floor while a volley of
+lead and a flight of arrows rained against the roof.
+
+"I 'low that they're still there," he said.
+
+"They'll wait till dark and then rush us."
+
+"They'll use fire-arrers first," he corrected. "The Hoof has a poor
+stomick for losin' more warriors. He'll need lots o' sculps an' prisoners
+to make up for the men he's lost. He'll take no more chances. When it gits
+dark they'll start a blaze on the roof. They'll creep mighty close without
+our seein' 'em. The minute we show ourselves they'll be ready to jump us.
+The chief is reckonin' to take us alive. The towns on the Scioto will need
+more'n one stake-fire to make 'em forgit what this trip to Virginia has
+cost 'em."
+
+The business of waiting was most dreary. There was no water in the cabin,
+and the sweat from our hands would spoil a priming unless care was taken.
+At the end of this misery was almost certain captivity, ended by torture.
+Cousin had the same thought for he spoke up and said:
+
+"I'll live s'long's there's any show to even up the score, but I ain't
+goin' to be kept alive no three days over a slow fire just to make some
+fun for them damn beggars."
+
+I watched the bar of sunlight slowly move over the rough puncheon floor.
+The time passed infernally slowly for men waiting to test a hopeless
+hazard. By all logic the minutes should have been very precious and should
+have fairly flashed into eternity. The best we could reasonably wish for
+was death in combat, or self-inflicted. Yet we cursed the heat, the
+buzzing flies, the choking fumes of powder, the lack of water, and wished
+the time away.
+
+I wanted to open the door a bit for a breath of outside air. Cousin
+objected, saying:
+
+"We could do it, an' there ain't no Injuns near 'nough to play us any
+tricks. But they'd see the door was open, even if only a crack, and they'd
+know we was gittin' desperate, or sufferin' a heap, an' that would tickle
+'em. I'm ag'in' givin' 'em even that bit of enjoyment. If we can make a
+break when it gits dark afore the fire-arrers begin lightin' things up
+we'll try for the Bluestone. If we could git clear o' this damn bottle
+we'd stand a chance o' makin' our hosses."
+
+I glanced down at the floor, and my heart tightened a bit. The bar of
+sunlight had vanished.
+
+"We've just 'bout come to it," gravely remarked Cousin. "I ain't no
+talkin' cuss, but I'll say right here that I sorter like you, Morris. If
+things could 'a' been different, an' I could be more like other folks, I
+'low we'd been good friends."
+
+"We're the best of friends, Shelby. As long as I can think I shall
+remember how you came with me into this trap to help rescue the girl."
+
+"Shucks! Don't be a fool!" he growled. "That ain't nothin'. Once I bu'sted
+up a Mingo camp to git my dawg. They'd caught the critter an' was
+cal'latin' to sculp him alive. Got him free, too, an' the damn pup was
+that stirred up by his feelin's that he couldn't tell who was his friends,
+an' he chawed my thumb somethin' cruel."
+
+He stepped to the loophole, and after peering out mumbled:
+
+"Changin' mighty smart."
+
+I glanced out and the ridges were losing their outlines and the valley was
+becoming blurred. Cousin mused.
+
+"It'll be comin' right smart now. Don't overlook anything."
+
+We made a last examination of flints and primings, and Cousin softly
+arranged the heavy door bar so it might be displaced with a single
+movement. He startled me by abruptly standing erect and cocking his head
+to one side and remaining motionless.
+
+"The old Englishman!" he exclaimed. "He ain't fired a shot, or tried to
+talk with us for a long time."
+
+I went to the front end of the cabin and put my eye to the peephole. The
+small window showed black. I called to him several times and received no
+answer. There was only one conclusion. A chance ball through a loophole or
+a window had killed the old fellow. Cousin agreed to this. A signal at the
+mouth of the valley brought us to our toes. It was about to begin. The
+signal was answered from the ridge behind us.
+
+"They've put the stopper in the bottle," Cousin whispered. "But here's an
+idea. The upper cabin, where the Dales was, is empty. If we could sneak in
+there without bein' seen we'd have the slimmest sort of a chance to duck
+back to the ridge while they was shootin' their fire-arrers at this cabin.
+There would be a few minutes, when the first flames begin showin', when
+every eye would be on this place. If we could only reach the flank o' the
+ridge we'd be fools if we couldn't dodge 'em."
+
+This appealed to me as being excellent strategy. Knowing the Dales' cabin
+was empty, the Indians would not think of paying it much attention at
+first. To leave our shelter and make the short distance would require
+darkness. Our greatest danger would be from the Indians on the ridge back
+of us. By this time they were lined up at the foot of the slope and were
+all ready to break from cover.
+
+In our favor was the Granville cabin, which would shelter us from the
+ridge for a bit of the perilous way. Already it was possible, I decided,
+to crawl the distance without being detected by the enemy across the
+valley. Cousin refused to run the risk, and argued.
+
+"Every minute gained now gives us that much more of a chance. The Injuns
+out front ain't all across the valley any more. They begun creepin' into
+the clearin' the minute it begun growin' dark. Reckon it's time they
+l'arned who's cooped up in here, so's they won't git too bold."
+
+He removed the bar of the door and through the crevice sounded his
+terrible war-cry, the scream of a panther. It stabbed the dusk with
+ear-splitting intensity.
+
+"There! They'll stop an' count a dozen afore gittin' too close," he
+muttered as he softly replaced the bar. "They'll lay mighty low an' won't
+bother to do much but watch the door. I 'low it'll be hard work to crawl
+out without they guessin' somethin's wrong."
+
+"Then let's rip up the floor and dig a hole under the logs," I suggested.
+
+"We'll do that," he quietly agreed.
+
+As cautiously as possible we removed several of the puncheon slabs next to
+the wall. The base logs were huge fellows and held the floor several feet
+from the ground. To excavate a hole under either of the four would have
+required more time than we believed we had to spare. Our plan threatened
+to be hopeless until Cousin explored the length of the log with his
+fingers and gave a little cry of delight. He found a hole already dug near
+the front end of the cabin. It had been the work of the dog. Working with
+our hunting-knives we loosened the dirt and pawed it behind us and made it
+larger. At last Cousin pressed me back and ducked his head and shoulders
+into the hole. Then he drew back and whispered:
+
+"I can git my head an' shoulders through. 'low I could squirm out o' hell
+if I could git my shoulders through. I'll go ahead an' you pass out the
+rifles. Ready?"
+
+I pressed his hand. There followed a few moments of waiting, then a
+handful of dirt fell into the hole and informed me my companion had
+squeezed clear of the log and that the ultimate test was to be faced. I
+passed the rifles, butts first, and felt them gently removed from my
+grasp. Working noiselessly as possible I soon squirmed out into the
+refreshing evening air and lay motionless. Cousin was ahead and already
+worming his way toward the third cabin. My outstretched hand touched the
+butt of my rifle, and I began creeping after my friend.
+
+I nearly suffocated in crawling by the opening between our cabin and the
+Granville cabin, for I scarcely ventured to breathe. It seemed as if any
+one within pistol-shot of me must hear the pounding of my heart. The
+silence continued, and at last I was hugging the ground at the end of the
+cabin and for the time sheltered from spying eyes at the foot of the
+ridge.
+
+A quavering cry rang out at the mouth of the valley. This time it was
+answered from the clearing on our right as well as from the ridge. The
+Indians had crept closer, just as Cousin had predicted.
+
+Half a minute passed, then the signal sounded directly ahead of us, or
+from beyond the Dales' cabin. The circle was completed. From the ridge
+soared a burning arrow. It fell short, landing behind the cabin we had
+vacated. As it gave off no light I surmised it went out on striking the
+ground.
+
+Cousin drew away from the end of the Granville cabin and was risking the
+second and last gap. I hurried a bit, fearing more arrows. As I came
+abreast of the door I wondered what had become of the Englishman. Either
+the night was playing a trick, or else the door was partly open. I reached
+out my hand to learn the truth, and touched a cold hand hanging limply
+over the threshold.
+
+My nerves jumped, but I mastered them by reasoning that the Englishman had
+been shot by a chance ball and had attempted to leave the cabin, thinking
+to gain our shelter and to die there. Death had overtaken him as he was
+opening the door. That it was the Englishman's hand I had touched was
+evidenced by the shirt-sleeve, puckered in at the wrist.
+
+I released the poor hand and was resuming my way when a slight sound
+caused me to hold my breath. Then a heavy weight landed on my back,
+knocking the breath from my lungs with an explosive grunt. Next, the night
+was ripped from horizon to horizon with a jagged streak of red.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+DALE ESCAPES
+
+
+When I recovered my senses I was being dragged over the ground by means of
+a cord around my chest and under my arms. My wrists were lashed together
+and my ankles were likewise secured. The first thing my eyes beheld were
+the red loopholes and window of the lower cabin, and the flames crawling
+through the two holes I had made in the roof.
+
+My capture had revealed our desertion of the cabin, and the Indians had
+lost no time in entering and firing it. Smoke and flames were pouring from
+the end window of the Granville cabin also. As the red tongues licked
+across the top of the doorway they threw into relief the arm and hand of
+the old Englishman still hanging over the threshold.
+
+My head felt as though it was cracked wide open and it throbbed most
+sickeningly. I managed to lift it a bit to escape further bruises as my
+captor roughly hauled me to the forest. The third cabin, the one occupied
+by the Dales, burst into flames as I was being yanked into the first
+fringe of bushes. The valley was now brightly lighted, and my last view of
+it included the lick-block. One phase of a successful Indian raid was
+missing; there were no warriors madly dancing about the burning homes. Far
+up the ridge rang out the infuriated cry of a panther, and I knew it was
+fear of young Cousin's deadly rifle that was keeping the savages under
+cover.
+
+"Let me stand up and walk," I said in Shawnee.
+
+"Alive are you?" growled a white man's voice in English.
+
+"You'll be John Ward," I said as some one lifted me to my feet.
+
+"I am Red Arrow, a Shawnee. And don't you forget it."
+
+"Where are the Dales?" I asked.
+
+"Keep your mouth shut!" he ordered.
+
+They untied my hands only to fasten them behind me. They shifted the
+waist-cord to my neck, and then released my feet. Some one walked ahead,
+pulling on the cord, and I followed as best I could to escape being
+strangled. On each side of me walked a warrior, invisible except as when
+we crossed a glade where the starlight filtered down. Ward walked behind
+me, and warned:
+
+"Any tricks and you'll get my ax."
+
+"You were in the cabin with the dead Englishman?"
+
+He chuckled softly and boasted:
+
+"I killed him. When you two were fighting fire I got my chance to steal
+down to the Dale cabin. Then it was easy to make the Granville cabin. The
+old fool thought I was one of you when he heard my voice, and drew the
+bar. I was inside and had his life before he knew he had made a mistake. I
+waited. Then you crawled along. Curse that damned young devil who yells
+like a panther! He was the one I wanted. I'd give a thousand of such as
+you to get his hair! But he got by the door without my hearing him. A
+little more, and you'd have passed, too."
+
+There was much crashing and running through the bushes behind us, and
+occasionally I could make out dark shapes hurrying by. These were the
+warriors who had fired the cabins, and now they were in haste to leave the
+spot. Owing to their fear of Cousin they dared not leave the valley except
+as they did so under cover. We made good time through the woods, however,
+although more than once my gasping cry warned Ward, or one of the savages
+at my side, that I was being choked to death.
+
+As a premature demise was not on their program the cord was quickly
+loosened each time, and the man ahead warned to be more careful. These
+partial strangulations resulted from the fellow's anxiety to escape from
+the neighborhood of the double-barrel rifle. On reaching the Bluestone we
+halted while the savages collected their horses. From the few words
+exchanged I estimated that half the band was mounted. Without building a
+fire or eating we started up the Bluestone. Neither Black Hoof nor the
+Dales were with our party when we halted at daybreak. We paused only long
+enough to bolt some half-cooked deer-meat. I asked for the trader and his
+daughter, and Ward laughed and shook before my face the scalps he had
+taken in the Granville cabin. Two of them were pitiably small.
+
+"You scalp other men's kills," I observed.
+
+"You'll not say that when I scalp you."
+
+"What does Dale now think of his Indian friends?"
+
+This seemed to amuse him tremendously, and he laughed like a white man.
+
+"He doesn't seem to know what has happened," he finally replied with much
+relish. "He stares at us, then at the girl, as if trying to understand."
+
+"What about the girl?"
+
+"That's enough. Keep still," he warned, and made a threatening gesture
+with his ax.
+
+My hands, which had been released long enough for me to eat, were trussed
+up again. My rough usage and the travel had worn on me, but I had no
+desire to rest so long as Patricia Dale was to be found. My captors also
+had a definite plan--one that demanded haste. By daylight I perceived by
+the signs that the greater number of the band had gone ahead, probably
+under the lead of Black Hoof.
+
+Unless the Dales had been butchered in the woods they must be with the
+chief; and I could not believe they were dead. They would be too valuable
+as hostages should the settlers gather in force to block the Shawnees'
+return to the Ohio. Those of the Indians who had horses, with the
+exception of two, rode off. One of the mounted men to remain was Ward, who
+came behind me. The other was the Indian holding the cord.
+
+It was plain that every savage in the band was eager to advance with all
+possible haste, nor was it fear of Cousin that was now driving them.
+Finally my aching head understood it all; the Howard's Creek settlement
+was to be attacked and the savages afoot were afraid they would arrive too
+late to participate.
+
+On our left rose the wall of Great Flat Top Mountain, a short chain, in
+reality a continuation of Tug Ridge. On the right rose ridge after ridge
+of the Alleghanies, punctuated by Peter's Mountain, where New River burst
+through the wall in its quest for the Ohio. A wild land, and yet birds,
+bees and deer were here, and the soil was ripe for happy homes.
+
+I managed to keep up until after midday, when my legs suddenly refused to
+carry me farther. I told Ward to tomahawk me if he wished, but that I must
+rest before moving another step. There was no question as to his
+inclination, for his brown hand fondled his ax most longingly. He
+dismounted and boosted me on to his horse. The rest of the day was covered
+with me riding first Ward's and then the savage's animal.
+
+We camped at dusk that night, and I was too exhausted to swallow more than
+a few mouthfuls of food before falling asleep. Before sunrise we were up
+and hurrying through the gray mists and reversing the route Cousin and I
+had followed on traveling to the valley. I recognized several of the camps
+where the Dales and Ward had halted when the brute was leading them into
+the death-trap.
+
+"You nearly got me by dropping the girl's moccasin in the mountains," I
+informed him.
+
+The abruptness of the accusation took him off his guard. With a wide grin
+he said:
+
+"Stole it from her just before we entered the settlement. Saw Hughes
+striking into the hills and planned to catch him. But he got too far ahead
+for me to ride around him. Dogged him until he met you, then rode back and
+laid my trap. Hughes was the man I was after. His hair would count for a
+dozen scalps like yours."
+
+"But you didn't care to try a shot unless it could be from behind and sure
+to kill," I taunted.
+
+"You'll pay a high price for that," he quietly assured me. "The chief says
+you are to be brought in alive. We will soon see how brave you are with
+the girl looking on. Men should be very brave men when their squaws are
+watching."
+
+I was afoot and walking at his side. I lowered my head and tried to butt
+him from the saddle. He kicked me in the chest and the warrior yanked on
+the cord and threw me down on my face and all but strangled me. After that
+Ward and I had no more words. He rode either ahead, or some distance
+behind, leaving one of the Indians to walk at my heels. I have no doubt he
+did this to avoid any temptation to brain me. I lost track of time, for we
+traveled far into the night when the footing was good. We snatched a few
+hours' sleep when absolutely necessary and fed indifferently. When I could
+walk no farther I was placed on one of the two horses. I hoped that Cousin
+in escaping from Abb's Valley had taken our horses with him; and I prayed
+he would reach Howard's Creek ahead of Black Hoof.
+
+At last we came to the outskirts of an Indian camp, which I estimated to
+be within less than half a mile of the creek settlement. A dozen warriors
+swarmed forward to greet us, welcoming me with exaggerated courtesy. While
+they were thus mocking me Black Hoof appeared, moving with great dignity,
+and dispersing my tormentors with a gesture.
+
+I was led into the camp and my cord made fast to a tree. There was no air
+of triumph about the place. A warrior reclining on a pile of boughs and
+nursing a shattered shoulder suggested a futile attack on the cabins. I
+glanced about for a display of fresh scalps and rejoiced at beholding
+none.
+
+The Indians stared at me malevolently, but offered me no abuse. Ward
+proudly flourished the hair he had retrieved from the Granville cabin, and
+the trophies were soon fastened to a tall pole and paraded around the
+camp, after which demonstration the pole was stuck upright in the ground.
+
+It required a second examination of the place to locate Dale. Like myself
+he was tied to a tree with sufficient length of cord to permit him to lie
+down. His face was heavy with unspeakable horror. When he met my gaze he
+did not seem to recognize me at first. Then he muttered:
+
+"You, too!"
+
+My heart ached when I failed to discover any trace of Patricia. Before I
+could question the trader, Ward yanked me to my feet and turned me about,
+and I found myself looking into the eyes of Black Hoof.
+
+"The young man made a very brave fight," he said.
+
+"It is sad to know a skunk and not a Shawnee warrior captured me," I
+replied.
+
+Ward glared murder at me. Black Hoof gave him a warning glance, and
+informed me:
+
+"Red Arrow is a Shawnee warrior. Very brave. Very cunning. He will help us
+take the cabins on the creek."
+
+"You have tried once?" I asked, glancing at the man with the broken
+shoulder.
+
+The chief's brows contracted.
+
+"Some of my young men were very foolish," he replied. "When Catahecassa
+tries, the first time will be the last."
+
+From the direction of the settlement came the scream of a panther, and at
+the sound the camp seemed to stir uneasily. With a fiery glance at the
+warriors Black Hoof gave an order, and a score of men glided into the
+forest. To me he quietly said:
+
+"There was a panther's whelp in the little valley we did not get. The
+Shawnees would dance his scalp ahead of all the hair growing in any of
+these valleys. He rode to the settlement ahead of me. But we shall get
+them now. We shall get him. Then we will see if his war-cry is strong when
+he feels fire."
+
+"Where is the white woman? Did you kill her?" I asked, and I had to fight
+myself to keep my voice from shaking.
+
+Without deigning to answer he turned and walked over to Dale. At almost
+the same moment Patricia and Shelby Cousin's sister entered the camp.
+Patricia walked ahead, the Cousin girl a few feet behind her. I forgot the
+cord and eagerly started to join her.
+
+Ward snarled like an animal and jerked on the cord and pulled me violently
+back. Patricia glanced in our direction, and I saw her hand fly to her
+heart as she stared at me with lips parted. Black Hoof noticed this bit of
+drama, and wheeling about, he harshly commanded:
+
+"Let Red Arrow remember I am chief. If the white man would talk to the
+white woman do not stop him. See that his hands are well tied and put
+hobbles on his legs."
+
+"If I had my way with you!" hissed Ward.
+
+An Indian slipped the cord from the tree and with it trailing behind me I
+hurried to the girl. She dropped on a log, her face a white mask of
+terror. Cousin's sister remained a few paces behind her. Her face was
+expressionless, but she did not remove her gaze from Patricia. Perhaps
+Patsy was the first white woman she had seen whose freshness suggested her
+own youth. Recognizing my desire to talk with the prisoner she withdrew,
+keeping in sight but out of hearing.
+
+"At least they have not tied you," I said.
+
+"I go and come as I will," was the listless answer.
+
+"With the woman to watch you?"
+
+"Not if I want to be alone."
+
+"You mean you are free to go and come unwatched?" I demanded.
+
+She nodded her head.
+
+"Then why haven't you tried to make the settlement? It is near. Listen.
+Shelby Cousin is here. The Indians can't afford the time it will take to
+capture the place. Walk along into the woods. Go due east. By God's grace
+I believe you can make it!"
+
+"Basdel, you forget," she sorrowfully reproached. "You forget my father is
+here. That is why they give me my freedom."
+
+"He would rejoice and thank God if you would do as I say."
+
+"But the Indian woman with the blue eyes has told me in English that if I
+run away they will hurt him terribly."
+
+Poor child! As if her presence could save Ericus Dale from dying the death
+once Black Hoof found time to indulge in his favorite pastime. I
+vehemently begged her to flee, promising all sorts of absurd things if she
+would but do so, even to assuring her I would effect her father's
+release.
+
+She slowly shook her head, tempted not the least by my pleas.
+
+"Even the Indians know me better than that. And to think we trusted them!
+Oh, Basdel, it doesn't seem possible! You were right. Father was wrong.
+God help him! And now they have taken you!"
+
+"All will be well yet," I faltered.
+
+"Yes, all will be well," she gently said. "All will be well, when we are
+dead and at peace."
+
+"Patsy! Patsy!" I begged. "Don't give up hope. Don't lose your courage!
+Why, there's a dozen chances for us to fool these devils."
+
+She patted my tied hands, and murmured:
+
+"You're a good boy, Basdel. You were patient when I abused you. You told
+me the truth. I am out of place out here. If I were a pioneer woman I
+could help you plan to escape, but I am only a silly fool from over the
+mountains. I am absolutely helpless. But you've been good to me, Basdel.
+You followed me into that horrible valley. You were caught because you
+tried to help us. Oh, the shame of it! The hideous cruelty of it! That you
+were caught--Basdel, I pray my last thought will be about your goodness to
+me. Just that."
+
+She was at the limit of her endurance and I backed away and Cousin's
+sister glided forward. I flogged my mind for a scheme of escape which
+would include her; her father, if possible. But it was as she had said;
+she was no pioneer woman, resourceful and daring. The Shawnees saw her
+helplessness, else they never would have allowed her the freedom of the
+camp and surrounding woods.
+
+They knew she would never leave her father, and that she lacked the border
+woman's daring initiative so necessary in any attempt to free him. As I
+was casting about for some plan to save her Black Hoof glided to my side
+and took me by the arm and led me toward the tree where Dale was lying.
+
+This closer inspection of the trader revealed how fearfully he had
+suffered in his mind. The flesh of his strong face hung in folds as if his
+skin had suddenly become many sizes too large for him. His eyes had
+retreated deeper into the sockets, and his thick lips, once so firm and
+domineering, were loose and flabby. Black Hoof stirred him contemptuously
+with his foot. Dale dragged himself to a sitting posture and began
+shivering as if suffering from ague.
+
+"Oh, my God, Morris!" he groaned.
+
+"The Pack-Horse-Man can save his life," sententiously began Black Hoof.
+
+"My daughter?" gasped Dale, rising on his knees.
+
+"He shall save his daughter's life," added the chief.
+
+Dale moistened his lips and tried to recover some of his old spirit.
+
+"Never mind, Morris. Give me a little time. I'll get us all out of this
+fix. They're angry now. When they've had time to think they'll be
+reasonable. If they kill me, they'll kill their trade with the whites." It
+was the first time I ever heard him pronounce the word without stressing
+it.
+
+Black Hoof glowered at the miserable man ferociously and said:
+
+"You will go to the edge of the clearing with my warriors. You will speak
+to the settlers and tell them they shall save their lives if they put down
+their guns. After they put down their guns you and your daughter shall go
+free."
+
+The picture of Abb's Valley and the result of his trusting in the
+Shawnees' promises must have flashed across the unhappy man's mind. He
+sank, feebly moaning:
+
+"No, no! Not that! The blood of the Granvilles--the little children--is on
+me. Kill me, but I'll lead no more into your trap."
+
+These were brave words even if brokenly voiced. But Black Hoof heard with
+grim amusement in his small black eyes.
+
+"You weak-hearted dog!" he hissed. "So you tell Catahecassa what he will
+and what he will not, do. Ho! You fat white man who always planned to
+cheat the Indians in a trade. You fill your ears against Catahecassa's
+words? Ho! Then you are a brave man. The Shawnees have been blind not to
+see your brave heart. Now, white trader, hear my talk. You will do as
+Catahecassa says, or you will be tied to a tree and your daughter shall be
+put to the torture before your eyes."
+
+With a terrible cry Dale fell over on his side and remained unconscious.
+There was a second shriek, and the girl was pushing Black Hoof aside as
+she hastened to kneel by her father. The chief darted a glance of
+admiration at her for her display of courage. The girl was blind to our
+presence as she fondled and petted the stricken man until he opened his
+eyes. Black Hoof was pleased to have her there as a means of breaking down
+the trader's will. Leaning over her shoulder to stare down into the
+terrified eyes of his victim the chief warned:
+
+"Unless the settlers give themselves up it shall be as I have said. It
+must be before the sun goes down. Tell her all I have said."
+
+With that he dragged me back to my tree. For a few minutes the chief's
+horrible threat dulled my mind to the point of stupidity. He waited for me
+to collect my thoughts. At last I managed to ask:
+
+"What you said back there was a trick of course? You would never torture
+the daughter of the Pack-Horse-Man?"
+
+"Unless he does as told she must die," he calmly assured me. "She will die
+soon anyway. She is not strong enough to live our life, like the blue-eyed
+squaw over there." And he glanced toward Cousin's sister. "Her children
+would be neither red nor white. They would have squaw-hearts. If the
+trader does not speak words that will bring the settlers from their cabins
+with empty hands she shall be tortured until he does speak."
+
+I do not remember falling, yet I found myself on the ground, and Black
+Hoof had departed. In his place stood Ward, staring at me curiously.
+
+"You went down as if hit with an ax," he grunted.
+
+"My legs are weak from hard travel and poor food," I said.
+
+Patricia Dale passed quite close to us, a gourd of water in her hands. She
+was carrying it to her father. Ward exclaimed in English:
+
+"What a woman!"
+
+His brawny figure seemed to dilate and he made a queer hissing noise as he
+looked after her. Turning to me he hoarsely said:
+
+"I was born white. It's her blood that calls me. When I saw her in Salem I
+said I would have her for my squaw if I could get her and her fool of a
+father into the mountains."
+
+My mental paralysis lifted.
+
+"Is she promised to you?" I asked.
+
+"I am to have any two prisoners to do with as I like," he answered.
+"Catahecassa said that when I started to enter the villages beyond the
+mountains to get news. There was little chance of bringing any whites
+back, but if I did I was to have two of them."
+
+"Then you had better remind your chief of his promise," I warned. "He says
+he will torture the girl before her father's eyes if the father does not
+help in betraying the settlers."
+
+"Ugh! I have his promise. He dare not break it."
+
+The girl would kill herself before submitting to Ward's savage caresses.
+She would go mad if forced to witness the torture of her father. I had
+seized upon Ward's passion as a means of gaining a bit more time. If he
+could successfully claim the girl then she must be rescued from him. But
+viewed from any angle I could find nothing but horrors.
+
+Release by death would be very kind. If any harm were suffered by the girl
+I should lose my reason; my life, if God were merciful. No longer did our
+time of grace extend to the Scioto villages. At any moment our little
+destinies might come to a fearful ending. In my soul I railed at the curse
+of it. Such a little way to go, and so much pain and sorrow.
+
+Ward left me and strode up to the chief. They talked rapidly, and I could
+read from Ward's mien that he was very angry. When he returned to me he
+was in a rare rage.
+
+"Catahecassa dodges by saying you and the trader are the two prisoners I
+must take. He says he will burn the girl unless the trader makes the talk
+as told. If I can find a way of capturing the settlers the girl will be
+given to me in place of either you or her father."
+
+"I don't want to be your prisoner," I said.
+
+"I do not believe you do," he agreed. "But I would take you if I did not
+need the trader. If the girl refuses to become my squaw then I will build
+a little fire on Dale's back. That will make her accept my belts."
+
+He left me with that thought in my mind. On the one hand the girl was to
+be utilized in forcing Dale to betray the settlement. On the other, the
+trader was to be used to make the girl submit to the renegade. I could not
+imagine a more horrible situation. I was still wallowing deep in my hell
+when the camp became very active. Dale was lifted to his feet and his
+cords were removed.
+
+The time had come for Black Hoof to try him as a decoy. There remained a
+good hour of light. Patricia, not understanding, yet fearing the worst,
+hovered about her father, her eyes wildly staring and her whole appearance
+denoting a weakening of her reason. As they started to lead her father
+into the woods she attempted to follow him, and Black Hoof pushed her
+back. Cousin's sister spoke up, saying:
+
+"I will keep her."
+
+The warriors disappeared in the direction of the settlement. The two women
+left the camp on the opposite side. Ward went along with the Indians, and
+I knew this was my golden opportunity to escape. Before I could make a
+beginning at freeing my hands a noose fell over my head and clutched at my
+throat. The guards were taking no chances.
+
+Great mental anguish is accompanied by no clarity of thought and graves no
+connected memories on the mind. I know I suffered, but there are only
+fragments of recollections covering that black period of waiting.
+
+I have a clear picture of the warrior holding the end of the cord calling
+for some one to bring a gourd of water. I do not remember drinking, but as
+later I found the front of my shirt soaked I assume the water was for me.
+Coherent memory resumes with the noise the warriors made in returning to
+the camp. I shall never forget their appearance as they emerged from the
+undergrowth. Black Hoof walked ahead. Close behind him came two warriors
+dragging Dale.
+
+I was amazed to behold Patricia in the procession. She was leaning on Lost
+Sister's arm, and there was a lump on her forehead as though she had been
+struck most brutally. Then came the warriors and Ward. Dale was roughly
+thrown to the ground. Several men began trimming the branches from a stout
+sapling. Others became busy searching the fallen timber for dry wood.
+
+Ward walked over to me and kicked me in the side. I must have groaned
+aloud, for he commanded:
+
+"Shut up! I'm ripe for a killing."
+
+Matters had gone against his liking. He played with his ax nervously, his
+baleful gaze darting about the camp. I waited and at last his race
+heritage compelled him to talk, and he commenced:
+
+"The old man was scared into doing what the chief told him to do. He would
+not at first, and the men were sent to bring the girl along. When he faced
+her he made a noise like a sheep bleating. Then he ran to the clearing and
+began his talk. The girl heard his words. She broke away and ran into
+sight of the cabins and screamed for them not to listen, that it was a
+trap. Black Hoof struck her with the flat of his ax. Now he swears he'll
+roast the fool."
+
+"She is your prisoner!" I cried.
+
+"He says she must burn."
+
+"There must be some way, something you can do!" I wildly insisted, my only
+thought being to spare her the immediate danger.
+
+"I want her for my squaw bad enough to get her if I can," he growled. "But
+if I'm to think of any plan I must be quick. They've got the stake nearly
+ready."
+
+He walked to where the warriors were collecting small fuel from between
+the fallen trees. One of them hauled a hollow maple log out of the debris
+and threw it to one side as being too heavy for a quick fire. Ward halted
+and rested a foot on it and bowed his head. Next he began tapping it with
+his tomahawk. His actions attracted the attention of the men, and Black
+Hoof asked:
+
+"What does Red Arrow think is in the log? A snake?"
+
+Ward startled the savages, and also me, by curtly replying:
+
+"He sees a white man's cannon in the log. The fort holds all the settlers
+on the creek. Its walls are stout. If they can be broken down the Shawnees
+will take many scalps and prisoners. It will be an easy victory. Black
+Hoof's name will be repeated far beyond Kaskaskia and the Great Lakes in
+the North. He will be given many new war-names."
+
+Black Hoof's eyes glittered as he pictured the glory and prestige the
+hollow log might confer upon him. He examined the log carefully and
+perceived only that it was hollow.
+
+"Have you medicine to make it into a cannon?" he asked.
+
+"I have big medicine. Before it will work for me I must be given the white
+squaw. There must be no taking back of the gift. If the medicine-cannon
+does not give the settlers into our hands still the white squaw must be
+mine to do with as I will."
+
+Black Hoof took some minutes to ponder over this proposition. He could
+only see a hollow log. Ward's intellect permitted him to see greater
+possibilities. While he waited for the chief to make a decision he
+examined the maple more thoroughly, and smiled quietly.
+
+Black Hoof at last said:
+
+"Catahecassa gives the white woman to the Red Arrow. Tell your medicine to
+make the big gun shoot."
+
+Ward was exultant. To the wondering savages he explained:
+
+"It must be bound tight with much rawhide. Small stones must be packed
+tight in the butt-end. I will make a hole for the priming. Then we will
+draw it to the clearing and load it with powder and rocks."
+
+This simple expedient, superior to the best plans of the Indians, was
+greeted with yells of triumph. The chief said:
+
+"Red Arrow is a medicine-man."
+
+The wooden tube was reinforced under Ward's directions. This done, the
+savages danced and whooped about the grotesque cannon for some minutes.
+Ward stood with folded arms, his gaze gloating as it rested on the girl,
+and haughty with pride as he observed Black Hoof's respectful bearing.
+Coming back to me he said:
+
+"You wanted that woman. You will die among the Shawnees. You showed you
+wanted her when you followed her into that valley. Her father spoke of you
+and by his words I knew you wanted her. Now I have her."
+
+The girl came forward, attracted by Ward's speech to me, although she
+could understand none of it. She drew aside in passing the renegade and
+dropped on her knees at my side.
+
+"What do they plan? What will they do with me?" her dry lips demanded.
+
+Ward, enraged by her show of aversion, seized her by the shoulder, ripping
+the cloth, and dragged her to her feet, and informed her:
+
+"Catahecassa ordered his men to burn you. I made him give you to me. You
+are my woman. You are lucky I am not a red man."
+
+"No! No! I'll burn, you monster! I'll burn a hundred times," she panted.
+And she struck her hand into his face, whereat the savages shouted in
+merriment.
+
+I believed he would kill her then and there, for he groaned aloud from
+rage and raised his ax over his head.
+
+"Strike me!" she begged, facing the uplifted ax unflinchingly; and
+although not of the border she displayed the fine courage of the Widow
+McCabe and other frontier women.
+
+With a whimpering, bestial note Ward managed to say:
+
+"No! You shall live, and many times beg me to kill you. But you shall
+still live till I trade you to some red hunter."
+
+"I will kill myself some way before you can harm me!" she defied.
+
+Ward slowly lowered his ax and began chuckling. He told her, pointing to
+me:
+
+"This man. He loved you. He was a fool. I say was because his life is
+behind him. It is something that is finished, a trace followed to the end.
+He is a dead man as he lies there. He loved you. I believe you loved him.
+He is my prisoner. Now you can guess why I know you will not harm
+yourself."
+
+I knew. She was suffering too much to reason clearly. But he was eager to
+help her to understand He amplified by explaining:
+
+"It will be for you to say if he is to be tortured. He is young and
+strong. We could keep him alive many days after the fire began to burn
+him. It will be a fine game to see whom you love the better, yourself or
+him. You will be free to go about the camp. But this man will be watched
+all the time. After we take the fort to-night you will come to me and ask
+to be my woman.
+
+"I had planned to take your father for my second prisoner. My medicine
+tells me to take this man as he will live longer. Remember; you will ask
+to be my squaw. That sapling was trimmed for you; it will do for this man.
+You will come to me, or he goes to the stake. Now, go!"
+
+And he reached out his hand and sent her spinning and reeling toward her
+father.
+
+"You dog! Set me free, empty-handed, and you take a knife and ax, and I
+will show the Shawnees what a poor dog you are," I told him in Shawnee.
+
+But he was not to be tempted into any violence just now. He mocked:
+
+"You are something to be watched and guarded. When my new wife is ugly to
+me I will order you to the fire. Then she will be kind and you will be
+kept alive. Some time you will go to the fire. When I get tired of her and
+wish a new wife."
+
+Patricia crawled to her father and laid her head on his breast. No one
+gave her any heed except as the Cousin girl walked by her several times,
+watching her with inscrutable eyes. The Shawnees were impatient to try
+their new cannon.
+
+At Ward's suggestion Black Hoof sent some of his warriors to make a feint
+on the east side of the fort, so that the cannon could be hurried forward
+and mounted across a log while the garrison's attention was distracted. It
+was now dusk in the woods although the birds circling high above the glade
+caught the sunlight on their wings. The clearing would now be in the first
+twilight shadows, and Black Hoof gave his final orders.
+
+Acting on Ward's command two warriors fell upon me and fastened cords to
+my wrists and ankles and staked me out in spread-eagle style, and then sat
+beside me, one on each side. Half a dozen of the older men remained in the
+camp. Dale was mumbling something to the girl and she rose as if at his
+bidding.
+
+The Cousin girl glided forward and in English asked what she wanted. It
+was Dale who told her, asking for water in Shawnee. She motioned for
+Patricia to remain where she was and in a few minutes brought water in a
+gourd, and some venison. Patricia drank but would eat nothing.
+
+The Cousin woman tried to feed Dale, and succeeded but poorly. I asked for
+food and water, and one of them brought a gourd and some meat. They lifted
+my head so I might drink and fed me strips of smoked meat, but they would
+not release my hands.
+
+After a time we heard much shouting and the firing of many guns. This
+would be the mock attack, I judged. It increased in volume, this firing,
+until I feared that what had been started as a feint was being pushed
+forward to a victory.
+
+Suddenly the firing dropped away and only the yelling continued. This
+would mean the savages had succeeded in rushing their wooden cannon close
+enough to do damage.
+
+Every Indian left in the camp, including my two guards, were now standing
+listening eagerly for the voice of the cannon. It came, a loud explosion
+that dwarfed all rifle-fire any of us had ever heard. With screams of joy
+the guard began dancing about me and the older men danced around the
+Dales. They went through all the grotesque attitudes and steps which they
+use in their pantomimes of great victories.
+
+This savage play was quickly stilled, however, as groans of pain and
+shouts of furious anger came to us. Now the cheering was that of white
+voices only. There was the noise of many feet hurrying back to the camp.
+Black Hoof came through the bushes first, and only the dusk saved my head
+from being split, as with a howl he threw his ax at me. Then came Ward,
+staggering like a drunken man and clawing at his left shoulder.
+
+The full force of the catastrophe was revealed when four broken forms of
+dead warriors were hurried into the little opening, followed by a dozen
+braves bearing wounds, which would appall a town-dweller. Ward's medicine
+had lied to them. The cannon had burst and had scattered its charge of
+stones among the Shawnees. One of the corpses had been beheaded by a piece
+of rock.
+
+Several warriors rushed toward the Dales; others ran to me.
+
+"Stop!" roared Black Hoof. "Do not touch the prisoners!"
+
+Some one lighted a fire. Other fires sprang up until the glade was well
+illumined. Black Hoof sent some of the younger men to scout the creek so
+the camp might not be surprised by a sally. To the warriors remaining the
+chief announced:
+
+"We must march for the Ohio. Bad medicine has dogged us for many sleeps. I
+will make a feast to my medicine and will tell you what it says shall be
+done with the prisoners."
+
+"That man and that woman are my prisoners!" hoarsely cried Ward.
+
+"They were your prisoners while we believed your medicine was strong. Now
+that we know your medicine is weak and foolish they belong to all the
+Shawnees. Red Arrow's medicine is bad at heart. It told him to make a big
+gun. Four of my warriors are dead. Many are hurt. It will take blood to
+cover the bodies of the dead. Red Arrow has no prisoners until he goes and
+catches them."
+
+Ward pulled his ax and limped toward me. No warrior made an effort to stop
+him. But Black Hoof reminded:
+
+"When the Red Arrow is no longer a Shawnee he will be tied and left at the
+edge of the settlement. The prisoners are not to be harmed until my
+medicine directs."
+
+Ward halted. He was close enough for me to see that while he had escaped a
+wound from the flying stones his shoulder was blown full of powder. The
+sweat streamed down his face and intimated something of the agony he was
+suffering.
+
+"Black Hoof is a great warrior and a mighty chief!" he said huskily. "But
+Red Arrow's medicine is weak because it has not been fed. Only blood will
+make it strong. Let this man die before we break our camp." And he stirred
+me with his foot.
+
+"The prisoners belong to the Shawnees. My medicine may whisper to kill one
+of them, but the warriors in sound of my voice must decide. Those who
+would see one of the three die show the ax."
+
+Almost as soon as he had spoken the air was filled with spinning axes,
+ascending to the boughs and then falling to be deftly caught, each ax by
+its owner.
+
+"It is good," said the chief. "My medicine shall pick the prisoners to
+die."
+
+The explosion of the wooden cannon and the chief's ruling that we were no
+longer Ward's prisoners appealed to me as a reprieve. At least the girl
+was snatched from Ward's clutches. But the unanimous vote that one of us
+must die threw me back on the rack.
+
+It was inconceivable that Patricia Dale should thus die. And yet I had had
+an earnest of the devil's ferocity. East of the mountains I could not have
+imagined a hand ever being raised against her. And I had seen her buffeted
+and struck down this day. Therefore, I did comprehend the inconceivable.
+
+I called out to the chief:
+
+"Catahecassa, listen to a white medicine, for the red medicine is far away
+or else is asleep. If the white woman is harmed you will shed tears of
+blood before you reach your Scioto towns. The settlers are swarming in to
+head you off. You have no time to spend in torturing any prisoner.
+
+"But had you many sleeps of time it would be bad for you to harm the white
+girl. If you harm her you will have nothing to trade for an open path to
+the river. If you are wise in war, as your enemies say you are, you will
+guard her carefully at least until you make your villages above the
+Ohio."
+
+The chief's eyes shifted uneasily, but his voice was ominous as he tersely
+advised:
+
+"The white man had better ask his strong medicine to keep him from the
+fire. One of the prisoners shall roast this night. I have said it."
+
+He had not liked my words as they set his superstitions to working, but it
+would never do for him to bow before the threats of a white medicine. So
+he remained inexorable in his determination to cover his dead with a white
+victim.
+
+His raid into Virginia had been disastrous even though he could count the
+four Grisdols, the seven men, women and children in Abb's Valley in his
+death score. And he had taken three prisoners. Doubtless there were other
+victims at the fire I had seen when on the Cheat. But the price he had
+paid for these various kills and us three prisoners was too heavy.
+
+Every Indian slain had been a prime fighting man, one it would take years
+of training to replace. After counting his losses in the mountains about
+the Grisdol clearing, the warriors killed in Abb's Valley, and now his
+losses here at Howard's Creek, the score was distinctly against him. No
+matter how mighty and famous a chief may be, he will surely and quickly
+lose his following if disaster dogs his war-paths.
+
+So I could understand Black Hoof's mental attitude. He attributed his
+misfortunes to his weakening medicine. Let the cost be ever so dear he
+must strengthen that medicine; and he firmly believed a human sacrifice
+would be the most acceptable offering he could make.
+
+"Bring that man over to the fire," he directed, pointing to me.
+
+My wrist-cords were loosed, my ankles were fastened only with a spancel,
+and strong hands jerked me to my feet. Taking short steps I advanced to
+where the girl lay with her head on her father's breast.
+
+Black Hoof selected a charred stick from the fire and stood staring at us,
+his eyes blank as though he did not see us. His warriors watched him with
+much awe. His spirit was far away up in the mountains communing with his
+medicine. He was asking his manito which of the three victims would be
+most acceptable.
+
+Ward stood behind him, his lean face working in helpless rage for fear the
+girl would be the choice, thereby costing him a new wife. I felt deathly
+sick, physically sick, fearing she was marked for death, fearing she was
+reserved for worse than death.
+
+Suddenly Black Hoof began shivering, then threw back his head and for a
+moment stared about him as if to collect his scattered senses. Reaching
+down he pulled the girl from her father. She had swooned and was at least
+spared these few minutes of awful dread. The charred stick hovered over
+her white face, then was withdrawn and darted at mine.
+
+Instinctively I closed my eyes, but as the stick failed to leave its mark
+I opened them and beheld Dale had been chosen: A black smooch extended
+from the tip of his nose to the roots of his hair, and was bisected by
+another mark across the bridge of his nose, and extending to his ears.
+
+"Paint that man black," Black Hoof ordered.
+
+Dale was very composed. He knew the worst. Perhaps he believed his death
+would save the girl. In a steady voice he said to me:
+
+"Morris, I am sorry for you. Only God knows how I feel about Pat. I've
+been worse than a fool. Don't tell her when she wakes up. Get the Cousin
+woman to take her out of sight. It will be very hard but I will try to go
+through it like a man."
+
+"If there is anything I could do!" I cried.
+
+He shook his head and threw it back and his lips were drawn tight.
+
+"I am to blame. It's best this way. You came after me to help me. That was
+good and foolish of you. Pray God she will be spared. Pray God you will be
+spared. They'll be satisfied with my death for a while. I think I shall go
+through it very well."
+
+They pulled me away and fell to rubbing the unfortunate man's face and
+neck with charcoal. Cousin's sister with a magnificent show of strength
+gathered the unconscious girl in her arms and walked toward the woods.
+Ward would have stopped her, but she hissed like a snake in his face, and
+there was a hardness in the blue eyes he could not withstand.
+
+As she disappeared with her burden Black Hoof said something to Lost
+Sister's red husband. This warrior, very loath to miss the spectacle of a
+burning, sullenly glided after the woman. I feared he was sent to bring
+them back, but as they did not return I knew he was ordered to stand guard
+over them.
+
+Now the opening was filled with the Shawnees, word having passed that
+Black Hoof was about to appease his war-medicine. Only the scouts and Lost
+Sister's man remained out. Dale was stood on his feet and his upper
+garments were torn off from him. As they offered to lead him to the stake
+he struck their hands aside and with firm step walked inside the circle of
+brush which had been heaped up some five feet from the stake.
+
+I closed my eyes and endeavored not to witness the scene but was unable to
+keep them closed. With a spancel rope fastened to his ankles Dale was
+further secured by a long cord tied around one wrist and fastened some
+fifteen feet up the trimmed sapling.
+
+When the flames began to bite on one side he could hobble around the post
+to the opposite side. As the flames spread he would become very active,
+but each revolution around the post would shorten the slack of the
+wrist-cord. With the entire circle of fuel ablaze he would slowly roast.
+Black Hoof muttered some gibberish and applied the torch.
+
+As the first billow of smoke rose and before the savages could commence
+their dancing and preliminary tortures, Ericus Dale threw back his head
+and loudly prayed:
+
+"O God, protect my little girl! O God, have mercy upon me!"
+
+Black Hoof jeered him, sardonically crying:
+
+"The white man makes medicine to his white manito. Let Big Turtle[4] try
+him with a mouthful of fire. We will see if the white manito is weak or
+afraid to help his child."
+
+A burly warrior scooped up coals on a piece of bark and with a fiendish
+grin leaped through the smoke. Two rifle shots, so close together as to be
+almost one, shattered the tense silence as the savages held their breath
+to enjoy every symptom of the excruciating agony. Dale went down on his
+knees, a small blue hole showing where the bullet mercifully had struck
+his heart. Big Turtle leaped backward and fell into the burning brush. A
+warrior, acting mechanically, dragged the Turtle clear of the flames. He
+was stone-dead.
+
+For several moments the Indians were incapable of motion, so astounding
+was this interference with their sport. It was the scream of a panther
+that awoke them to furious activity. Black Hoof shouted for his men to
+catch the white scout. Then he turned on me and raised his ax. The act was
+involuntary, for at once dropping his arm he ordered his men to extinguish
+the fire and to see I did not escape. Then he hurried into the forest.
+
+The fire was stamped out and Dale's body removed to one side. I asked them
+to cover the dead man with a blanket, which they readily did. Now Lost
+Sister returned, this time leading Patricia. I called to her in Shawnee:
+
+"Bring the white girl here. Does she know her father is dead?"
+
+"I told her. The men said he was killed by a white bullet," was the sullen
+reply.
+
+"Leave her with me and wash the black from his face," I said.
+
+She brought her charge to me. Patricia's eyes were hot as if with fever.
+She dropped beside me and stared wildly. Then she began to remember and
+said:
+
+"My father is dead, they tell me."
+
+"He is dead. He suffered none. It is as he wished. He could not escape. He
+is at peace."
+
+"Life is so terrible," she mumbled. "Death is so peaceful. Death is so
+beautiful. Then one is so safe."
+
+She gave a little scream and collapsed with her head resting on my bound
+hands. But although her slender frame shook convulsively she shed no
+tears.
+
+I tried to talk to her as I would to a little child. After a while she
+rose and her composure frightened me. She walked to her father. Lost
+Sister had removed the tell-tale black. The girl kneeled and kissed him
+and patted his hair. Then returning to me, she quietly said:
+
+"He looks very peaceful. Very happy. I am glad he did not have to suffer.
+The bullet that took his life was very kind. It must be very beautiful to
+be dead."
+
+She ceased speaking and slowly began stretching her arms above her head,
+and with a long-drawn scream she fell over backward and I knew she had
+lost her reason.
+
+-----
+
+  [4] Also Daniel Boone's Shawnee name in later years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+OUR MEDICINE GROWS STRONGER
+
+
+The Shawnees' anxiety to start for the Ohio almost became a panic. The
+tragic manner in which they had been robbed of their victim, the screaming
+defiance of young Cousin, together with their losses in warriors,
+convinced them something was radically wrong with their war-medicine.
+Outwardly Black Hoof remained calm but I knew he was greatly worried. His
+medicine had designated Dale for the torture, and then had permitted a
+bullet to release the man.
+
+Nor was it any small influence which the girl's condition exerted in this
+desire to retreat. She seemed to be stunned. She walked about, but without
+appearing to hear or see her captors. There was none of the savages who
+did not believe her terrible scream prefaced her crossing the
+dividing-line between reason and insanity.
+
+As an insane person she was under the special protection of the great
+manito, and black woe to him who interfered with her. The chief was eager
+to abandon her to be picked up by the settlers at Howard's Creek, but she
+clung tenaciously to Cousin's sister. The latter displayed no emotion over
+this preference, yet she did not repulse the girl. She even was gentle in
+caring for her.
+
+Ward was for finishing me out of hand, but Black Hoof insisted I should
+carry packs and make myself useful before being dispensed with. Then again
+I would be something to display at the villages and something to dance
+about when it came to appeasing the ghosts of the slain warriors. We broke
+camp that night, and with malicious ingenuity Ward strapped packs on my
+shoulders until my back buckled. As he finished and was promising to
+thrust his knife into my legs if I displayed any weariness, Cousin's
+sister came up and sharply directed him to remove the packs as I was to
+serve as a litter-bearer.
+
+"The white woman asks for him," she said. "Catahecassa gives him to me to
+help carry the medicine-woman."
+
+Ward raged, but Black Hoof upheld the girl; and although I knew Patricia
+was too insensible of her surroundings to ask for any one, I was keen to
+serve her. Lost Sister had fashioned a rude litter out of rawhide and two
+saplings, slack between the poles so the girl could not roll out. To my
+surprise she stepped between the saplings at the forward end and called on
+me to pick up the other end and march. I considered it to be a man's work,
+but she made nothing of it, and never called a halt that she might rest.
+
+In the morning the hunters brought in some deer-meat and turkeys, and we
+camped long enough to eat. Once more Ward endeavored to prevail upon the
+chief to put me out of the way. He played upon Black Hoof's superstitions
+very cunningly by declaring the war-medicine would be very weak until I
+was killed. The chief was impressed, else he never would have come to
+stare at me.
+
+It happened, however, that Patricia was delirious, and it was my hand on
+her head that seemed to quiet her. Lost Sister told a noble lie by
+volunteering the information that it was my presence that kept the girl
+quiet. Black Hoof and his braves had a great fear of the girl when she
+began her rambling talk. They believed she was surrounded by ghosts and
+talking with them. So Ward's request was refused, and stern orders were
+given that I should not be harmed. When the home villages were reached, he
+added, I might be burned.
+
+When we made our second camp on the Kanawha I called Black Hoof to me. I
+had been staked out in spread-eagle fashion and my guards had placed
+saplings across my body and were preparing to lie down on the ends at each
+side of me. I assured the chief there was no danger of my running away, as
+my medicine would wither and die, did I forsake the great manito's child;
+and I asked him to relieve me of the cords and saplings. He told the
+warriors to omit the cords.
+
+The next time we halted to snatch a few hours' sleep he ordered that no
+more saplings be placed across me, that it would be sufficient to tie my
+ankles and wrists. This was a great relief. During this portion of the
+march the girl seemed oblivious to her surroundings, also to the fact that
+she was a captive. She showed a strong preference for Lost Sister's
+company, and would glance about worriedly if the young woman left her
+sight.
+
+So it devolved on the two of us, both white, to care for her. There were
+times when she babbled of faraway scenes, of Williamsburg and her old
+home, of the streets of Norfolk and Richmond. She talked with those she
+had known as children. When in this condition the Indians were glad to
+keep away from us. Even Ward would not willingly remain within hearing of
+her sweet voice could he avoid so doing. And alas! There were other times
+when she was almost violent, when only Lost Sister could soothe and quiet
+her.
+
+By the time we reached the mouth of the Great Kanawha no guard was kept
+over me that I could perceive; nor were my limbs any longer bound at
+night. At each camp Lost Sister ranged the woods and brought in roots and
+herbs and made strange-smelling messes in a camp kettle and assiduously
+dosed the girl.
+
+Rafts were quickly knocked together and the crossing made to the Indian
+shore. I had expected the band to dig out hidden canoes and descend to the
+mouth of the Scioto. Instead we struck into a trail across-country. The
+path was well worn, and the fork we followed ended at the Scioto above
+Chillicothe, the principal Shawnee town.
+
+Much of the distance Patricia walked, although the litter was taken along
+for her convenience. Lost Sister talked with me at times and I began to
+feel that the barrier between us was much lower. But she never spoke of
+the settlements or her brother. Her talk was always a red talk and she
+never addressed me except in Shawnee.
+
+From her I learned we were making for Cornstalk's Town, some twenty-five
+miles above Chillicothe, located on Scippo Creek. Among border men this
+region was known as the Pickaway Plains. Near our destination was
+Grenadier Squaw's Town, named after Cornstalk's gigantic sister.
+
+I suffered no incivility during the overland march. My status became that
+of an attendant on the great manito's medicine-child. Patricia continued
+in a dazed state of mind, but after two days of arduous travel I detected
+her weeping. Lost Sister enigmatically warned:
+
+"She is another woman. She is more like the woman she once was. She must
+keep close to her manito."
+
+I could interpret this only to mean that the girl was recovering from her
+mental shock and was recalling bits of the past, and that she was safe
+only so long as the savages believed her to be insane. At our last camp
+from Cornstalk's Town Patricia insisted on walking beside me when the
+trace would permit it and she startled me by saying:
+
+"My father was good to me."
+
+"Do you remember me?" I asked.
+
+"Remember you, Basdel? Why, of course. What a queer question." Then with a
+little frown she sighed and complained. "But I don't understand why I am
+here with you and these Indians. I wonder if it is a bad dream, if I will
+soon wake up."
+
+I blundered along the best I could, striving to say nothing which might
+upset her. She suddenly refused to talk and began displaying much physical
+nervousness. Lost Sister promptly took her in hand and led her some
+distance in advance of me. That was the day the band split up, the bulk of
+the warriors leaving to go to their different villages. Half a dozen
+remained to press on to Cornstalk's Town.
+
+Ward was among those who left us and he was unwilling to go. His departure
+was a great relief to me. His presence frightened the girl, although she
+gave no sign of remembering him as having been a factor in her life. It
+was due entirely to Lost Sister's appeal to Black Hoof that the renegade
+was ordered to Chillicothe.
+
+As he was leaving us he promised me:
+
+"I'll yet see you eating fire. That white squaw will see me again."
+
+"I'll dance your mangy scalp some time," I retorted.
+
+Whereat he used terms of abuse he had picked up from traders, and I struck
+him with my fist. Black Hoof stopped him from killing me, and threatened
+me with torture if I offended again. Then he ordered Ward to go.
+
+The chief continued with us to Cornstalk's Town, but Cornstalk was not
+there; so he went in search of him at Grenadier Squaw's Town. Before
+leaving he gave orders that I was not to be molested so long as I did not
+attempt to escape. The town was inhabited by women and children largely,
+with a dozen men left to act as hunters.
+
+It was plain that the fighting men of the tribe were gathering somewhere,
+probably at Chillicothe. Patricia was believed to be in touch with the
+manito, and was feared and respected accordingly. The days that followed
+were not unhappy for me; and Patricia appeared to be contented in a numb
+sort of way.
+
+My own reaction to the anxieties and fears of our captivity devitalized me
+to a certain degree, I believed; else, I would not have been contented to
+settle down to the drowsy existence of village life. I did no hunting. I
+was a companion to the girl when she wished for my company. Aside from
+that capacity the Indians looked on me as if I had been a tree.
+
+I talked on general subjects with Lost Sister, always waiting for her to
+blaze the trace our words were to follow. Her red husband remained aloof
+from her from the day she took charge of Patricia. Whether he resented her
+companionship with us I do not know, and after our arrival he disappeared
+for a time.
+
+I discovered I was lacking in curiosity as to what each morrow had in
+store for us. It savored of the indifference of the fatalist. But I did
+come to the alert when I observed Patricia was rapidly returning to
+normal. I remembered Lost Sister's warning, "She must keep close to her
+manito." I was forced to repeat these words to her.
+
+It was one of the hardest tasks I ever undertook. She suffered deeply when
+she began to grasp my meaning. She began to remember things concretely.
+Yet life was the stake, and the fact that my life was also involved helped
+her much. With the aid of Lost Sister I taught her how to be ever on her
+guard, how to carry herself when in the presence of the silent but ever
+watchful Indians.
+
+Once the shock wore off somewhat she found it was not difficult to keep up
+her role. The most effective way to allay any suspicion was for her to
+talk aloud to herself. The savages believed she was holding conversation
+with inmates of the invisible world, and drew away from her. But while she
+improved, my lethargy continued. My physical and mental strength seemed to
+be sapped. I was content to lie on the bank of the creek, my mind idling
+with vagaries.
+
+Some six weeks passed in this desultory fashion, then Cornstalk and Black
+Hoof returned to the village with three warriors and a negro woman. The
+woman had been captured at Sapling Grove within three hundred yards of
+Captain Evan Shelby's house, the woman told me. She also informed me that
+her captors were led by a very large man, much whiter than any of his
+companions, and that he talked good English.
+
+This description fitted either John Logan or Will Emery, the Cherokee
+half-breed. I decided the man was Logan. The woman was treated kindly.
+Immediately on arrival the two chiefs retired to a wigwam for a long talk.
+Then Black Hoof sent for me and Patricia. I warned her to pay no attention
+to them, and to talk much to herself. She acted admirably and was kept in
+the wigwam only a few minutes.
+
+Cornstalk had watched her closely, and both he and Black Hoof were uneasy
+and relieved when she departed. Toward me their manner was incisive, and
+they demanded certain information. As I knew conditions had changed vastly
+since I was captured I talked freely and improvised considerably. There
+was no military value whatever to the news that I imparted.
+
+Cornstalk, who was a large man and of a commanding appearance, and
+possessing unusual intellectual powers, was keen to learn about
+individuals, especially about Daniel Boone. He asked how many men Boone
+could lead against the Shawnees. I told him all the border men would be
+glad to serve under him, that he was collecting fighting men when I was
+taken prisoner.
+
+"Your tongue is split," Cornstalk warned. "Be careful, or we will say that
+young medicine-woman does not need a liar to care for her. Be careful, or
+your tongue will be pulled out. The Shawnees will be glad to warm
+themselves at your fire. That man was sent to the Falls of the Ohio. He
+has returned to the settlements. He commands three forts in the lower
+valleys. Will he head riflemen to battle, or stay at the forts?"
+
+I truthfully answered that I believed he would be given an important
+command. And I explained how Colonel Lewis would be over him as he would
+be over many other brave leaders. They knew Lewis and feared him. Their
+faces were very glum until I repeated Connolly's message to Charles Lewis
+that peace with the tribes was very possible. Then they smiled grimly and
+Cornstalk informed me.
+
+"Your Dunmore ordered his Long Knives to march against Shawnee towns ten
+sleeps after you were captured."[5]
+
+I was startled at the information and glanced through the opening of the
+wigwam as if expecting to see the lean militia men breaking from the
+woods. The chief added:
+
+"But they seem to have trouble in starting. Perhaps they are very old men
+and can not walk fast. I shall send my young men across the Ohio to dig
+them out of the mud."
+
+"The Cherokees will not join the Shawnees," I ventured.
+
+Cornstalk eyed me menacingly.
+
+"They will not because they have old women among them. They put their
+powder in bags, and put the bags in caves. Their powder is spoiled. After
+I whip your army the Cherokees will carry their axes into the Carolinas."
+
+I believed the Cherokees would do this, if our army were whipped. Turning
+to Black Hoof, Cornstalk asked:
+
+"How long before you roast this white man?"
+
+"After we have whipped the army of Dunmore and Lewis and Boone. Now he
+waits on the medicine-woman. After the battle there will be many white
+women to wait on her."
+
+I was dismissed and on reaching the open air I discovered I had left all
+my apathy behind me. The importance of time and the imperative need of
+immediate action was burned into my brain by Black Hoof's words. I sought
+Patricia and found her seated on the bank, staring into the sluggish
+waters.
+
+"I was thinking of you, Basdel," she greeted, and she reached her hand to
+me. "I was remembering what I said in Salem about your rifle. I'm sorry. I
+did wrong."
+
+"Heavens, child! Abuse the rifle all you will!"
+
+"It was abuse of you and of all that your rifle stood for. I mocked you
+because you were from the border. Poor father! He knew many Indians, but
+he did not understand them. Town ways seem mighty small and of no account
+now."
+
+"Patsy, you must get a grip on yourself. We must get clear of this village
+at once. We must get back to Virginia."
+
+She shivered and her eyes dilated as she stared at me and she muttered:
+
+"I dread the woods, the silence, the darkness. The wolves howling at
+night. Worst of all is the creeping horror of being chased. No! No! I
+can't stand any more, Basdel. The black horror comes over me when I let
+myself think of it. The dank woods--the silence--the awful stealth of
+night. No, no, Basdel. Let me die here."
+
+"Patsy, grip yourself! You can't stay among these beggars. They think you
+are insane. That's why they've spared you. But there's going to be a
+battle soon. If they win they'll bring many prisoners here. You must not
+be here then."
+
+She interrupted me with a little heart-broken cry and clapped her hands to
+her eyes to blot out some horrid picture. It was harsh, but the way she
+was inclining led to permanent madness.
+
+"We will steal away and make the Ohio. The Indians are busy planning for
+the big battle. They'll not spare many men to seek us. I will take you
+back to Virginia and across the mountains."
+
+"Or we will both die," she whispered. "That wouldn't be bad. To die and be
+out of it all--But I mustn't speak for you, Basdel."
+
+"You speak for both of us," I comforted. "Death isn't terrible. This is."
+And I swept my hand in a half-circle at the Shawnee wigwams forming the
+village. "Say nothing to Cousin's sister. I will make my plans at once. A
+gun, some powder and lead, and then we will go."
+
+"And never come back to them alive?" she insisted, and she leaned forward
+and stared intently into my eyes.
+
+"Never alive, sweetheart."
+
+"That is much better," she quietly remarked. "And here comes my sister.
+She has been very good to me. I wish we could take her with us. Over the
+mountains, or to death."
+
+"She refused to go over the mountains with her brother. We must tell her
+nothing," I warned.
+
+Lost Sister gave me a quick glance as she came up. She gazed at Patricia
+in silence for a moment, then warned:
+
+"The white woman must keep close to her manito. The eyes of the eagle and
+the ears of the fox are in this village."
+
+"She is having bad thoughts," I told her. "Lead her thoughts through new
+paths."
+
+As I strolled away I heard her beginning a Shawnee myth, in which it was
+explained why the wet-hawk feeds while flying, and how the small
+turkey-buzzard got its tufted head.
+
+According to the notches cut in my long stick it was the first day of
+September. Now that Cornstalk was back and in conference with Black Hoof
+the village became a center of importance. Notable chiefs and medicine-men
+of the northern tribes began to assemble. Lost Sister pointed out to me
+Puck-e-shin-wa, father of a six-year-old boy, who was to become one of the
+most remarkable Indian characters in our history, under the name of
+Tecumseh.
+
+Young Ellinipsico, son of Cornstalk, was there, gay in his war-trappings
+and eager for the battle. Blue Jacket, another famous Shawnee chief and
+warrior, was in attendance. Of the allied tribes I saw Chiyawee the
+Wyandot, Scoppathus the Mingo, Redhawk the Delaware, and most interesting
+of all, John Logan, chief of the Mingos.
+
+He was the son of a French man, who was adopted by the Oneidas, but he
+always claimed kin to the Cayuga, the term "Mingo" being loosely applied
+by our border men to any fragments of the Iroquois living outside the Long
+House in New York Province. Logan came and went inside an hour, spending
+all his time in a secret conference with Cornstalk.
+
+I saw him as he strode through the little village, looking neither to
+right nor left, saturnine of countenance. He showed his white blood, being
+much lighter in complexion than the full-bloods. A warrior walked behind
+him, carrying his gun. The chief himself carried a long wand decorated
+with the ten or twelve scalps he had taken since Baker and Greathouse
+massacred his people at Baker's Bottom.
+
+Young Cherokees, stolen away from their nation to be in at the death of
+the white race in Virginia, were present without leaders. Black Hoof's
+long absence from the villages was explained when a full score Ottawas
+filed into the opening and sang their war-song. Their spokesman loudly
+announced that they were but the advance of many of their tribe.
+
+I feared I had waited too long, and was much relieved to learn from Lost
+Sister that warriors and chiefs were to move to Chillicothe at once and
+there await the coming of the western bands. Their going would leave our
+village practically deserted except for aged and broken men and the women
+and children.
+
+Lost Sister said her husband was eager to take the path, and that it was
+Cornstalk's plan to cross the Ohio instead of waiting to be attacked in
+his own country. She was vague as to the chief's exact plans once he had
+crossed the river, but by joining her brief statements together I was led
+to believe Cornstalk had learned that the Virginia forces had been split
+into two armies, and that the masterly red strategist planned to surprise
+and annihilate one, and then attack the second. This information alone was
+of sufficient importance for me to risk my life many times in order to
+apprise my superiors of the trap being set for them.
+
+By the time the sun was half-way down the afternoon sky all the chiefs
+were moving down the river bound for Chillicothe. Young Ellinipsico and a
+mixed band of warriors were left to arrange for guarding the girl. He
+would depart for Chillicothe on the morrow. I went in search of the girl
+and met Lost Sister standing by a big honey-tree. She asked me if I had
+seen her husband, and looked worried when I shook my head.
+
+"He said he would not go without seeing me, and yet he is not here in the
+village. Your white woman--she walks far from her manito. It is bad for
+her."
+
+"She must leave here," I boldly said. "I must take her away." I had had no
+intention of taking her into my confidence, but I realized it would be
+impossible to make a start without her missing the girl. So I took the
+desperate course and did what I had warned Patricia not to do.
+
+She drew her knife and cut some straight marks on the honey-tree.
+
+"You see those?" she asked.
+
+I bowed my head. Without explaining the relevancy of her question, she
+turned and walked rapidly toward the village. I stared at the marks and
+they told me nothing. There was nothing pictorial about them. I followed
+her among the wigwams, and was in time to see her leading Patricia into
+her wigwam. I sauntered after them, obsessed by the notion that strange
+forces were at work. The village seemed to be quiet and sleepy and yet the
+air was surcharged with threats of things about to happen.
+
+When the storm broke it was from a quarter entirely different from
+anything I could have imagined. My first intimation that something unusual
+was happening was when a Shawnee ran into the village and began talking to
+Ellinipsico, who was lounging sleepily on the grass before his father's
+wigwam. I heard Ellinipsico exclaim:
+
+"He must not be hurt. He has felt the hand of the great manito on his
+head."
+
+I looked about for a weapon, so that I might go down fighting, for I first
+thought the stranger Indians were demanding me for a plaything, not
+understanding my true status as servant to the medicine-woman. I knew this
+was not the solution of the affair when Ellinipsico jumped to his feet and
+ran to the edge of the village, at every bound shouting to the Ottawas to
+hurry back to the village.
+
+A loud outcry answered him from the forest. To my amazement Ellinipsico
+slowed down his mad pace and appeared to be reluctant to enter the woods.
+The few Shawnees and Mingos in the village followed his example in
+timidity. Then above the war-cry of the Ottawas rose the roar of Baby
+Kirst, punctuated by the crack of a rifle and the death-yell of a savage.
+
+Now I understood. The Ottawas, ignorant of Kirst's condition, had met him
+blundering through the woods and had essayed to halt his progress. He
+promptly had offered fight, and they were at it, with the odds greatly in
+favor of the Indians. In my excitement I ran to where Ellinipsico stood.
+He was dancing with rage and fright. Beholding me, he ordered me to dive
+into the growth and stop the fight.
+
+I glanced back and saw Lost Sister and Patricia leaving the wigwam. Lost
+Sister began leading her charge toward the south end of the village and
+jerked her head at me as though calling on me to follow. It was driven
+into my mind that this was the time to escape with the girl. I plunged
+into the woods and no Indian cared to dog my steps.
+
+I made as if to go to the scene of the fearful confusion, but once out of
+sight of Ellinipsico and his men I turned to intercept the course taken by
+Lost Sister and Patricia. I miscalculated the distance, or else the
+combatants made a rapid shift of ground, for before I knew it I was
+standing on the edge of a most ferocious struggle. Kirst was still mounted
+and bleeding from a dozen wounds. His long rifle was being swung for a
+club.
+
+My first view of him was as he splintered the butt on an Ottawa head. He
+bawled in triumph. The Ottawas, expecting no diversion so near the
+village, were armed only with their knives and axes. A fellow leaped on to
+the horse and tried to stab him from behind, and one immense hand reached
+back and caught him by the neck and held him in midair, and squeezed the
+life from the painted body, and then hurled him among the remaining
+warriors.
+
+The girl must come first, but it was not in my heart to pass without
+contributing something to Kirst's advantage. I snatched up a war-club,
+dropped by a slain savage, and hurled it into the thick of them, bowling
+over two. Kirst's horse went down, disemboweled. Now Kirst was at a great
+disadvantage, but his long arms gathered up two of the Ottawas, and I
+heard their ribs crack, as with a pleased grunt the simple fellow
+contracted his embrace.
+
+But now they were piling upon him, striking and stabbing, a living mound
+which for the moment concealed the big fellow. Then the mass began to
+disintegrate, and savages staggered back and fell dead, or suffering from
+terrible wounds. Kirst rose to his feet only to fall on his face as if
+shot through the head, although he received no wound at the time that I
+could perceive.
+
+My last glance was fleeting, but it sufficed to count six silent forms of
+Ottawas who would never cross the Ohio to attack Lord Dunmore's armies.
+One Indian, gasping with pain, with both arms hanging like rags, lurched
+by me but not seeing me, his gaping mouth trying to sound his death-song.
+Ellinipsico was calling on his men to follow him, and I sped away.
+
+Baby Kirst had fulfilled his destiny and would babble his way through the
+forests no more. The force which had destroyed his reason had paid the
+full price the law of compensation had worked out.
+
+Could I find the girl without returning to the village I hoped the
+confusion resulting from the bloody struggle would permit me to steal away
+with her. I swung back toward the opening and soon discovered Patricia and
+Lost Sister. The latter on beholding me called me by name, the first time
+she had ever done so. As I ran to them she fiercely said:
+
+"Take your white woman and go! Cross the Ohio but do not go up the
+Kanawha. Follow the Guyandotte or Sandy, into the valley of the Clinch.
+You must hurry!"
+
+As if the day had not been hideous enough a bepainted warrior burst
+through the undergrowth as she finished, with his bow raised and an arrow
+drawn to the head. Beneath the war vermilion, I recognized Lost Sister's
+husband. She threw out her arms and smiled scornfully and cried:
+
+"You hide in the bushes to watch me? I thought so."
+
+Then she was down with an arrow buried to the feathers.
+
+I leaped into the bushes and grappled with the murderer before he could
+draw another arrow from his quiver. He dropped his bow and endeavored to
+hurl me to the ground. As we whirled about I saw Patricia kneeling beside
+Lost Sister and striving to pet her back to life. One glimpse, and then
+all my attention was needed for my adversary. He was quicker than I, and
+his freshly oiled body made him hard to hold; but I was far the stronger.
+
+"His knife, Basdel; Look out;" screamed Patricia; and I was glad to note
+there was no madness in her voice.
+
+I had him by his right wrist, my left arm shoved under his chin and into
+his red throat. The girl's gaze sent my gaze downward. He was trying to
+work the knife from its sheath before I could force him backward or break
+his neck. But the sheath was too long for the knife and he could not reach
+the handle with his fingers until he had forced the blade upward by
+pinching the tip of the sheath. I did not try to interfere with his
+maneuver, but settled myself solidly to hold him from escaping.
+
+"The knife, Basdel!" she shrilly repeated. Then she nearly upset my
+calculations by trying to thrust a bough between my foe's feet. Only by a
+nimble maneuver did I escape being tripped; but it was heartening to know
+Patricia could respond to my needs.
+
+"Stand clear!" I panted. "I have him!"
+
+"But the knife!" she despairingly cried.
+
+"He's getting it for me!" I replied.
+
+Now he had managed to work the haft clear of the leather and his left hand
+was closing on it. His eyes told me that much. Instantly I changed my
+tactics. I dropped my left arm to seize his left wrist. I released his
+right wrist and with my free hand tore the weapon from his grasp. He
+struck me in the head with his free fist, but I felt it none as he did not
+have the white man's trick of delivering a buffet. We went down side by
+side, and by the time we had rolled over once he was dead by his own
+knife.
+
+Retaining the weapon, I ran to Patricia as she collapsed by the side of
+the dying woman.
+
+"I am all right! Get up!" I commanded.
+
+Cousin's sister smiled grimly, and whispered:
+
+"He has been watching us. He saw me come here when I scratched the tree.
+He has been hiding--The marks I made on the honey-tree--Look behind
+it--the pea-vines--. Tell Shelby I send him a little sister--" And she had
+solved all her problems, and had passed into the compassion of the manito
+whose gentleness and understanding surpass all comprehension.
+
+Patricia was weeping softly, as one who sorrows with an aching heart, but
+not as one who is afraid. I gathered her up in my arms and made for the
+honey-tree close by. I stood her on her feet, and exhorted her to be brave
+as the time had come for us to take to flight. I plunged into the
+pea-vines behind the tree. A new thrill of life fired me as I fished out
+my own rifle, a powder-horn, shot-pouch and linen patches. Cousin's sister
+had even remembered to provide a roll of buckskin and an awl for mending
+our moccasins, and a small package of smoked meat.
+
+Thus armed once more I took the girl's hand and stole through the woods,
+following the well-beaten path that led to Chillicothe, and planning to
+swing to the east and skirt the town under the cover of darkness. I
+desired to emerge on the Ohio at a point opposite the mouth of the Big
+Sandy. For some time we could hear the wailing and howling of the Shawnees
+in Cornstalk's Town as they mourned for the dead Ottawas, and Patricia was
+sadly frightened. My ears were tingling for fear they would catch the cry
+of discovery, but young Ellinipsico was there instead of Black Hoof, and
+our flight was undiscovered.
+
+-----
+
+  [5] Expedition against Indian towns ordered July 24th. Boone
+      returned from Kentucky to the settlements August 27th.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+BACK TO THE BLUE WALL
+
+
+We reached the Ohio and I soon found a canoe. The trip down the Scioto had
+its danger thrills, and twice we narrowly escaped meeting bands of
+warriors on the main trace. I stuck to the path because of its advantages.
+None below us knew we had left the upper town, and would not be looking
+for us. In the beaten path there was much less chance of leaving signs for
+some scout to pick up and follow. I knew warriors would be scouring the
+country in all directions once the news of our escape was carried to
+Chillicothe, but the Scioto path was the last one they would expect us to
+take.
+
+I had remembered Lost Sister's warning and planned to follow the Big Sandy
+until its head waters interlocked with those of the Clinch and Holston. It
+was nerve-wearing work, that crossing of the Ohio. With each dip of the
+paddle I expected rifles to crack behind me and canoes to poke their noses
+through the overhanging foliage and make after us. I could not see that
+the girl breathed during the crossing, and I kept her in front of me as
+her face was a mirror to reflect instantly any danger on the Indian
+shore.
+
+We landed at the mouth of Four-Mile Creek without any disturbing
+incidents. I told her we were four miles above the mouth of the Scioto and
+she was for placing more distance between us and that river at once. But
+it was impossible to travel all the time. Now we were foot-free, and as I
+had my rifle the Shawnees would pay high before catching up with us, I
+assured her. I had been at Four-Mile Creek the year before to survey five
+hundred acres of good bottom-land for Patrick Henry, and was of course
+familiar with the locality.
+
+Five hundred yards back from the Ohio was an old fort. I took the girl
+there to rest while I patched our moccasins. The Indians said this
+structure was so ancient that no one knew who built it. As a matter of
+fact it was the remains of George Croghan's stone trading-house. Traces of
+an Indian town, antedating the fort, were also to be observed. Very
+possibly it was occupied by the Shawnees before they built their first
+town at the mouth of the Scioto on the west bank. It was from this Scioto
+town that Mary Ingles escaped in 1755, and the history of her daring and
+hardships rather belittled my feat in bringing Patricia from the upper
+town.
+
+The poor girl continued extremely nervous and I feared she would collapse.
+Now that she had tasted freedom she feared the Indians were hot on our
+trail. Her gaze was constantly roving to the Ohio. She was fearing to
+behold the Shawnees paddling across to recapture us. The moccasins had to
+be mended, however, as the night travel down the Scioto path had sadly
+damaged them.
+
+As I sewed the whangs through the rips and hastily patched the holes I
+could see her worriment was increasing. That period of delay was more
+trying to her fortitude than when we were making the detour around
+Chillicothe and our very lives hung on luck, or the mercy of her manito.
+
+"There is something in the river," she whispered, her slight figure
+growing rigid.
+
+"Only a log," I told her.
+
+"Look! Isn't there something moving in the bushes?" And she clutched my
+arm.
+
+"Only the wind ruffling the tops," I soothed.
+
+She was silent for a few minutes and then confessed:
+
+"I dread and hate the river, Basdel. I wish we could get out of sight of
+it."
+
+"It's a short trip in the canoe to the Big Sandy."
+
+"And with the possibility of an Indian hiding behind every stump and log
+along the shore!"
+
+"Then we will hide the canoe and strike across the bend. A few creeks to
+cross, and inside of two days we should reach the Big Sandy. It's about
+thirty-five miles and there is the blaze left by the surveyors. Do you
+wish that? It will be harder for your feet than riding in the canoe. It
+may be easier on your nerves."
+
+"Anything, Basdel, to get away from the river! And can't we start now? I
+know we shall see the Indians coming across to catch us if we stay here
+much longer."
+
+I tossed her her moccasins and quickly mended mine and put them on.
+Leaving her to wait until I could draw up the canoe and hide it, I
+proceeded to conceal all traces of our landing as best I could, and then
+told her I was ready.
+
+The bottoms on this side of the river are narrower than on the Indian
+shore, and the old surveyors' blaze proved to be a wet path. The small
+creeks were bordered with cane and when we encountered them it was hard on
+the girl. But she minded hardships none, and once we were out of sight of
+the river she regained some of her spirits. But a glimpse of the blue
+river brought back her old fears as though the Ohio were some monster able
+to reach out and seize her.
+
+Before night I proved the river could be good to us. Against her will I
+had swung down to the shore and was leading her along a narrow beach in
+order to escape a bad tangle of briers when I had the good fortune to
+discover a bateau lodged against the bank. The girl begged me not to go
+near it although it was obviously empty. I insisted and was rewarded with
+a bag containing a bushel of corn. Now we could have cooked it in our
+kettle had we been provided with that indispensable article. As it was
+there was life in munching the corn.
+
+The undergrowth was a nuisance, being composed of pea-vines, clover,
+nettles, cane and briery berry bushes. I would not stop to camp until I
+could reach a tract free from the stuff. As a result it was nearly sunset
+by the time we halted in a mixed growth of hickory, ironwood and ash on
+the banks of a tiny creek. Here we could pick a path that left no signs.
+We rested a bit and then followed the creek toward its outlet for half a
+mile and came to a log cabin.
+
+The girl dropped to the ground, glaring as if we were beholding the
+painted head of a Shawnee. I assured her it was a white man's cabin and
+probably empty. Leaving her behind an elm, I scouted the place and
+satisfied myself there had been no recent visitors there. I called to her
+to join me and proudly displayed an iron kettle I had found by the door.
+But when I would have left her to make the kettle boil while I looked for
+a turkey, she refused to stay and insisted on accompanying me.
+
+Fortunately I perched a turkey within two hundred feet of the cabin. I
+hung the kettle in the fireplace and built a good fire under it and then
+dressed the turkey. For some reason the girl preferred the open to the
+cabin and remained outside the door. As I finished my task she called to
+me excitedly. Grabbing my rifle, I ran out. She was pointing dramatically
+at a big blaze on a mulberry-tree. The scar was fresh, and on it some one
+had written with a charred stick:
+
+Found some people killed here. We are gone down this way. Douglass.
+
+"What does it mean?" she whispered, her eyes very big as she stared at the
+dusky forest wall.
+
+"That would be James Douglass," I mused. "He came down here with Floyd's
+surveying-party last spring. I wonder who was killed."
+
+"Enough to know the Indians have been here," she said, drawing closer to
+me. "Can't we go the way they did and be safe?"
+
+"We might make it. But 'gone down this way' means they started for New
+Orleans. A long, roundabout journey to Williamsburg."
+
+"Oh, never that! I didn't understand," she cried. "I will be braver. But
+if the nearest way home was by the Ohio I would go by land. Anything but
+the river! Remember your promise that we are not to be taken alive. Now
+let's push on."
+
+"And leave this excellent shelter?" I protested.
+
+"Men have been killed here. I can't abide it. A few miles more--please."
+
+Of course she had her own way, but I made her wait until we had cooked
+some corn to a mush and I had broiled the turkey. I could have told her it
+would be difficult for us to select any spot along the river which had not
+been the scene of a killing. So we took the kettle and left a stout, snug
+cabin and pushed on through the darkness to the top of a low ridge, where
+I insisted we must camp. We made no fire.
+
+I estimated the day's travel to have been twelve miles at the least, which
+was a good stint for a man, let alone a girl unused to the forest. Nor had
+the work wearied her unduly. At least she had gained something from her
+captivity--a strength to endure physical hardships which she had never
+known before. With good luck and half-way decent footing I believed
+another sunset would find us at the Big Sandy. That night was cold and I
+sorely regretted our lack of blankets.
+
+Before sunrise I had a fire burning and the kettle of mush slung on a
+green sapling for further cooking. Patricia was curled up like a kitten,
+and I recovered my hunting-shirt and slipped it on without her knowing I
+had loaned it to her for a covering. She opened her eyes and watched me a
+few moments without comprehending where she was. With a little cry she
+jumped to her feet and roundly unbraided me for not calling her to help in
+the work.
+
+I pointed out a spring, and by the time she was ready to eat the hot mush
+and cold turkey, the fire was out and we were ready to march. Our lack of
+salt was all that prevented the meal from being very appetizing. We were
+not inclined to quarrel with our good fortune, however, but ate enough to
+last us the day. As the first rays touched the tops of the trees we
+resumed the journey.
+
+We covered a good ten miles when we had our first serious mishap since
+leaving the Indian village. Patricia had insisted she be allowed to take
+the lead where the blazed trees made the trace easy to follow. I humored
+her, for she kept within a rod of me. We struck into a bottom and had to
+pick our way through a stretch of cane.
+
+Afraid she might stumble on to a bear and be sadly frightened, I called on
+her to wait for me. But she discovered a blaze on a sycamore beyond the
+cane and hurried forward. Half-way through the cane she slipped on a wet
+root and fell on her side. Ordinarily the accident would not have been
+serious, but the moment I saw the expression of pain driving her face
+white I knew she was hurt. I dropped the kettle and picked her up. She
+winced and groaned and said it was her arm. I carried her to the high
+ground and made her sit while I examined her hurt. I expected to find the
+bone broken. I was happily disappointed, and yet she was hurt grievously
+enough. A section of cane had penetrated the upper arm near the shoulder,
+making a nasty wound. As the cane had broken off in the flesh it was
+necessary for me to play the surgeon. Using a pair of bullet-molds I
+managed to secure a grip on the ugly splinter and pull it out. She gave a
+little yelp, but did not move.
+
+"The worst is over," I told her. "Now we must dress it."
+
+Returning and securing the kettle, I dipped water from a spring and
+lighted a fire and hung the kettle to boil. Then I hunted for Indian
+medicine. I soon found it, the bark of a linn or bee-tree root. This I
+pounded and bruised with the butt of my rifle and threw it into the kettle
+to boil. Patricia remained very patient and quiet, her eyes following my
+every move.
+
+"You're as useful as a housewife, Basdel," she remarked. "More useful than
+most women could be."
+
+"Only a trick learned from the environment," I lightly replied. "Does it
+hurt much?" This was rhetorical, for I knew a stab wound from the cane
+smarted and ached most disagreeably.
+
+"Not much," she bravely replied. "I'm sorry to bother you, though."
+
+"You'll soon be as fit as a fiddle," I assured her. "Border men are
+continually helping each other in this fashion."
+
+As soon as the kettle boiled I washed the wound in the liquid and made
+sure all of the cane had been removed. This additional probing caused her
+pain but she showed no signs not even by flinching. The application at
+once had a soothing effect. We waited until the medicine had cooked down
+to a jelly-like consistency, when I applied it as a salve, working it into
+and thoroughly covering the wound. Then I tied it up with a strip torn
+from her skirt. Rather rough surgery, but I knew it would be effective.
+
+She bitterly lamented over the time we were losing, and blamed herself so
+severely that I finally consented to go on, providing she would keep
+behind me. Had the hurt been in her foot we would have been forced to camp
+for several days.
+
+Toward night the country grew more broken and much rougher, and I knew we
+were nearing the Sandy. I feared she might trip over some obstacle, and we
+camped before the light deserted us. I told her we were within a few miles
+of the river and that we ought to strike it at the mouth of Savage Creek,
+some four or five miles from the Ohio. After starting a fire, she
+volunteered to remain and feed it while I looked for game. This in the way
+of doing penance, perhaps. I had the good luck to shoot a deer and we
+dined on venison.
+
+After we had eaten she sat close by the fire and was silent for many
+minutes. That she was meditating deeply was shown by her indifference to
+the night sounds which usually perturbed her. The howling of the wolves,
+and the scream of a panther, leaping to make a kill, passed unheard.
+Suddenly she declared:
+
+"You were right, Basdel."
+
+"About what, Patsy?"
+
+"About my not fitting in west of the mountains."
+
+"That was said before you were tried. No woman, even border-born, could be
+more brave than you have been."
+
+"And I was so woefully wrong when I made fun of your long rifle. I want
+you to forgive me."
+
+"Patsy, don't. You are wonderful."
+
+"Still being good to me, Basdel. But I know the truth now. Back over the
+mountains I was wicked enough to feel a little superior to frontier folks.
+No. Don't wave your hands at me. I must say it. I even felt a little bit
+of contempt for those brave women who went barefooted. God forgive me! I
+was a cat, Basdel. A vicious cat!"
+
+"Good heavens, Patsy! Say it all and have done with it. Call yourself a
+pirate."
+
+She would not respond to my banter, but fell to staring into the handful
+of coals. Then the tears began streaming down her face, and at last she
+sobbed:
+
+"Poor girl! Poor girl! She was a wonderful friend to me. She never had any
+chance, and you can never know how hard she tried to keep my spirits up;
+how ready she was to stand between me and harm--me, who has had every
+chance! And to end like that! And yet it was far worse to live like that.
+It's best as it is, but God must be very good to her to make up for what
+she lost. Tell me, Basdel, did she suffer much when she died?"
+
+She could be talking only of Cousin's sister. I declared:
+
+"She suffered none. It's best for her as it is."
+
+She fell asleep with her back against a black walnut, and I spread my
+hunting-shirt over her, for the air was shrewdly cool. In the dying coals
+I saw pictures, wherein Kirst, Dale, and Lost Sister paraded in turn; the
+fate of each the result of race-hatred, and a race-avidity to possess the
+land. And a great fear came over me that the girl leaning against the
+walnut, the mass of blue-black hair seeming to bow down the proud head,
+was destined to be added to the purchase-price the frontier was ever
+paying.
+
+It was her talk and tears that induced this mood, for I knew the Shawnees
+would have overtaken us by this time had they found our trail on the
+Kentucky shore. Common sense told me that for the remainder of our journey
+we would, at worst, be compelled to avoid small scouting-parties that had
+no intimation of our presence on the Big Sandy.
+
+But so many gruesome pranks had been played by Fate that I was growing
+superstitious. And I feared lest the girl should be snatched from me at
+the last moment, just as safety was almost within sight. I slept poorly
+that night and what little rest I did obtain was along toward morning.
+
+The girl awoke me; and I felt my face burning as I beheld her standing
+there, staring down accusingly, the hunting-shirt spread across my chest.
+I sprang to my feet and slipped into the shirt, which was made like a
+coat, and waited for her to speak.
+
+"So you've been sleeping cold," she said.
+
+"Nay. Very warm," I replied, becoming busy with my moccasins.
+
+"After this I will keep awake nights."
+
+"I did not need it. I always take it off at night It makes me too warm."
+
+"You lie most beautifully, Basdel."
+
+"How is the arm this morning?"
+
+"Much better. But you must be more honest with me. You must not lie any
+more."
+
+"You're making a mountain out of a hunting-shirt. It is too warm to wear
+at night in this mild weather."
+
+"You're hopeless. Of course it is not too warm in the warm sunshine."
+
+I was glad to let it go at that. And there was no warm sunshine this
+morning. The heavens were overcast with gray cold clouds that rode high
+and brought wind rather than rain. We missed the sun. Town-dwellers can
+never know the degree of dependence the forest wanderer places on the
+sunlight for his comfort and good cheer. Despair becomes gaiety under the
+genial rays. It is not surprising the sun should be the greatest of all
+mysteries to the Indians, and therefore their greatest medicine or god.
+
+We ate of the venison and mush and started for the river. The distance was
+not great, but the way was very rough, and there were no more blazed trees
+to guide us, the surveyors' trace passing below us and closer to the
+shore. But I was familiar with the lay of the land and it was impossible
+for me to go far wrong as long as all streams flowed into the Ohio and we
+crossed at right angles with their general course.
+
+I carried the kettle slung on my rifle and with my right hand gave the
+girl aid when the path became unusually difficult. A wrenched ankle would
+leave us as helpless as a broken leg. It required three hours of painful
+effort to bring us to the Sandy.
+
+I found a fording and carried her across to the east shore and soon
+located a trader's trace. She never dreamed that her father often had
+traveled along this faint path in his visits to the Ohio Indians. Now that
+the footing was easier she had time to gaze about, and the aspect
+depressed her.
+
+The immense hills of sandrock were worn into deep and gloomy ravines by
+the streams. In the walls of the ravines black holes gaped, for caves were
+almost as numerous as springs. To encourage a lighter mood I explained
+that these very caves made the country an ideal place for hiding from the
+Indians.
+
+She broke into my talk by moaning:
+
+"May the good God help us! See that!"
+
+She was pointing to a dark opening across the river. This framed the face
+of the devil. For a moment I was sadly startled, then laughed hysterically
+in relief.
+
+"It's a bear, with a white or gray marking on his face," I explained. "He
+is harmless. See! He's finished looking us over and goes back into his
+den."
+
+But the effect of the shock to her nerves did not wear off for some time.
+To prepare her against more glimpses of bruin I told her how the broken
+nature of the country made it a favorite region for bears, and that it had
+been long known along the border as a famous hunting-ground for the big
+creatures.
+
+"I feel just as if it was the guardian spirit of an evil place, that it is
+spying on us and plotting to harm us," she confessed.
+
+Whenever the trace permitted I swung aside from the river and took to the
+ridges. The tops of these were covered with chestnuts and their sides with
+oaks. More than once on such detours I sighted furtive furry forms
+slipping away from their feast on the fallen nuts, but Patricia's gaze was
+not sufficiently trained to detect them; and she wandered through the
+groves without knowing we were literally surrounded by bears.
+
+While a wild country, it was relieved by many beautiful touches. Such were
+the tulip-trees, or yellow poplar. Many of them towered a hundred feet
+with scarcely a limb to mar the wand-like symmetry of the six-foot boles.
+Scarcely less inspiring were the cucumber-trees, or mountain magnolias,
+which here reached the perfection of growth.
+
+Scattered among these tall ones were white and yellow oaks; and they would
+be considered giants if standing alone. These were the serene gods of the
+forest, and they had a quieting influence on my companion. It was with
+regret that I led her back along the rough shore of the river.
+
+I shot a young bear, but Patricia displayed a foolish repugnance and would
+eat none of it. Later in the day I killed a deer with such a minute charge
+of powder as emphatically to establish my excellence as a marksman for
+that one shot at least. We were nearly three days in making the Tug Fork
+of the Sandy.
+
+The girl bore the hardships well. The wound on her arm healed rapidly, and
+whatever she actually suffered was mental rather than physical. Our kettle
+proved second only to my rifle in importance, and if the fare lacked the
+savor of salt our appetites made up for the deficit. When we reached the
+Tug we were in the region celebrated for Colonel Andrew Lewis' "Sandy
+Creek Voyage of Fifty-six," as it was styled with grim facetiousness.
+
+It was one instance when Colonel Lewis failed of carrying out an
+enterprise against the Indians. It was a retaliatory raid against the
+Shawnees and his force was composed of whites and Cherokees; and his lack
+of success was due largely to the inefficiency of the guides who undertook
+to pilot him to the mouth of the Sandy. I told the girl of the expedition
+as it was lacking in horrible details, and with other carefully selected
+narratives tried to keep her from brooding.
+
+She seldom mentioned her father, and when she did it was usually connected
+with some phase of life over the mountains. I believe that she was so
+thankful to know he escaped the torture that his death lost much of
+poignancy. Only once did she revert to his taking off, and then to ask:
+
+"Was there a single chance for him to escape?"
+
+And I emphatically declared he never had the ghost of a chance from the
+moment he fell into Black Hoof's hands.
+
+Another ruse to keep her mind engaged was to trace out our course with a
+stick on a patch of bare earth. I showed how we should travel to the north
+fork of the Sandy and then strike to the head of Bluestone, and follow it
+nearly to the mouth before leaving it to cross New River; then a short
+journey to the Greenbriar and Howard's Creek.
+
+Had I had any choice I should have preferred to take her over the
+mountains to Salem, but my time was not my own and it was imperative that
+I leave her at the first place of safety and be about Governor Dunmore's
+business. My decision to make Howard's Creek was strengthened by an
+adventure which befell us near the end of our first day on the Tug. We
+were casting about for a place to camp when we came upon five Indians,
+three squaws and two hunters.
+
+Patricia was greatly frightened on beholding them, and it was some time
+before I could make her understand that they were friendly Delawares,
+accompanied by their women, and not painted nor equipped for war. After
+calming her I addressed them and learned they were from White Eye's
+village. They were afraid to go near the settlements.
+
+Many "Long Knives," as they called the Virginia militia, were flocking to
+the Great Levels of the Greenbriar, and a forward movement of a whole army
+was shortly to be expected. As the presence of a large force of our
+riflemen so near Howard's Creek would insure the safety of that settlement
+I knew it to be the proper ending of our journey.
+
+I induced Patricia to remain in camp with the Indians while I went out and
+shot a bear. The bear was very fat and I gave all the meat to the natives,
+for which they were grateful. One of them had a smoothbore, but no powder.
+I could spare him none.
+
+Patricia was now convinced the Indians would not harm us, but she would
+not consent to making camp near them. We walked several more miles before
+she was willing to stop and cook the kettle.
+
+My tally-stick gave the thirteenth of September as the date of our arrival
+at Howard's Creek. The settlers informed me I had lost a day somewhere on
+the long journey and that it was the fourteenth. Nearly all the young and
+unmarried men were off to fight in Colonel Lewis' army, and many of the
+heads of families, including Davis and Moulton.
+
+Those who were left behind gave us a royal welcome. Uncle Dick, the aged
+one, fell to sharpening his long knife with renewed vigor. Patricia and I
+had been counted as dead. Dale's death had been reported by young Cousin,
+and it caused no great amount of sorrow. The girl was never allowed to
+suspect this indifference. In reply to my eager inquiries I was told that
+Shelby Cousin was at the Great Levels, serving as a scout.
+
+For once Howard's Creek felt safe. With nothing to worry about the men and
+women became garrulous as crows. The children played "Lewis' Army" from
+sunrise to sunset. The Widow McCabe swore she would put on a hunting-shirt
+and breeches and go to war. The passing of men between the levels and the
+creek resulted in some news and many rumors. The meeting-place at the
+levels was called Camp Union. Colonel Lewis, pursuant to orders from
+Governor Dunmore, had commenced assembling the Augusta, Botetourt and
+Fincastle County troops at the levels on August twenty-seven. Cornstalk's
+spies had served him well!
+
+His Lordship was to lead an army, raised from the northwest counties and
+from the vicinity of Fort Pitt, down the Ohio and unite with Colonel Lewis
+at the mouth of the Great Kanawha. Colonel Charles Lewis, with some
+Augusta and Botetourt troops, had left Camp Union on September sixth to
+drive the cattle and four hundred pack-animals to the mouth of the Elk,
+where he was to make canoes for transporting provisions to the Ohio.
+
+The main army had marched from Camp Union on the twelfth, although Colonel
+Lewis had received a letter from Dunmore, urging that the rendezvous be
+changed to the mouth of the Little Kanawha. Colonel Lewis had replied it
+was impossible to alter his line of march.
+
+From a fellow sent out to round up stray bullocks I learned the army would
+avoid the deep gorge and falls in the river by marching ten miles inland
+and parallel to the east bank, joining Colonel Charles Lewis at the Elk.
+
+By another man I was told how the militia men were given to shooting away
+their precious ammunition, and how the colonel had warned that unless the
+practise ceased no more powder would be given out. That the Indians were
+active and not afraid of the troops was evidenced by an attack on
+Stewart's Fort, only four miles from Camp Union. And this, before the
+troops marched.
+
+Colonel William Christian was in command of the rear-guard, and his men
+were much disgruntled at the thought of not being in the forefront of the
+fighting. What was most significant to me, although only an incident in
+the estimation of the men left at Howard's Creek, was the attack made by
+two Indians on two of Lewis' scouts, Clay and Coward by name.
+
+The scouts had separated and one of the Indians fired on and killed Clay.
+Thinking him to be alone, the Indians ran to get his scalp, and Coward at
+a distance of a hundred yards shot him dead. Coward then ran back toward
+the line of march and the surviving Indian fled down the Great Kanawha to
+inform the Shawnee towns that the Long Knives were coming.
+
+I lost no time in securing a horse and a supply of powder and in hurrying
+to say good-by to Patricia. She was very sober when I told her I was off
+to overtake the army. Placing both hands on my shoulders, she said:
+
+"Basdel, I know you've forgiven all the disagreeable things I've said to
+you. I will wait here until I hear from you. I will pray that you have an
+equal chance with the other brave men."
+
+"I will come back and take you over the mountains."
+
+"If you will only come back you may take me where you will, dear lad, even
+if it be deeper into the wilderness," she softly promised.
+
+And Mrs. Davis bustled out of the cabin and energetically shooed the
+curious youngsters away.
+
+And now I was riding away to battle, riding right joyously over the
+chestnut ridges and through the thick laurel, through stretches of pawpaw,
+beech and flowering poplar, with the pea-vine and buffalo grass soft
+underfoot. And my heart was as blithe as the mocking-bird's and there was
+no shadow of tomahawk or scalping-knife across my path.
+
+I knew the destiny of the border was soon to be settled, that it hinged on
+the lean, leather-faced riflemen ahead, but there was nothing but sunshine
+and glory for me in that September day as I hastened to overtake the
+grim-faced man who believed His Lordship, John Murray, fourth Earl of
+Dunmore, Viscount Fincastle, Baron of Blair, Monlin and of Tillimet, was
+Virginia's last royal governor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE SHADOWS VANISH
+
+
+I followed the river, the cord of the bow, and made good time where the
+army would have had difficulty to get through. A dozen miles below the
+falls and near the mouth of Kelly's Creek, where Walter Kelly was killed
+by the Indians early in August, I came upon a scout named Nooney. We were
+on the west bank and the river was two hundred yards wide at that point.
+Nooney begged some tobacco and pointed out a fording-place and gave me the
+"parole." This, very fittingly, was "Kanawha." He said I would speedily
+make the camp and that Colonel Lewis was with the first troops.
+
+I lost no time in crossing and had barely cleared the river-bank before I
+was held up by an outpost. This fellow knew nothing of military red-tape.
+He was plain militia, a good man in a fight, but inclined to resent
+discipline. He grinned affably as I broke through the woods and lowered
+his rifle.
+
+"Gim'me some tobacker," he demanded good-naturedly.
+
+"I suppose you'd want the parole," I replied, fishing out a twist of
+Virginia leaf.
+
+"I got that. It's 'Kanawha.' What I want is tobacker. Don't hurry. Le's
+talk. I'm lonesome as one bug all alone in a buffler robe. See any footin'
+over 'cross? I'm gittin' tired o' this outpost business. All foolishness.
+We'll know when we strike th' red devils. No need o' havin' some one tell
+us. Your hoss looks sorter peaked. S'pose we'll have a mess of a fight
+soon? We boys come along to fight, not to stand like stockade-timbers out
+here all alone."
+
+I told him I had important news for Colonel Lewis and must not tarry. He
+took it rather ill because I would not tell him my news, then tried to
+make me promise I would come back and impart it. I equivocated and led my
+horse on toward the camp, concealed from view of the river-bank by a
+ribbon of woods. The first man I met was Davis, and the honest fellow was
+so rejoiced to see me that he dropped his gun and took both my hands and
+stood there with his mouth working, but unable to say a word. Big tears
+streamed down his face.
+
+I hurriedly related my adventures, and his joy was treble when he heard
+that Patricia was safe at Howard's Creek.
+
+"Shelby Cousin shot and kilt Dale. He told us 'bout that. Ericus thought
+he knew it all. Wal, them that lives longest learns th' most," he
+philosophically observed. "Powerful glad to see you. We'll be seein' more
+of each other, I take it. How's my woman? Good. She's a right forward,
+capable woman, if I do say it. Moulton's out on a scout. Silent sort of a
+cuss these days from thinkin' 'bout his woman an' th' children. But a rare
+hand in a mess."
+
+"And Cousin?"
+
+"Say, Morris, that feller acts like he was reg'lar happy. Laughs a lot,
+only it don't sound nat'ral. He's a hellion at scoutin'. Poor Baby Kirst!
+I must 'low it's best for him to be wiped out, but it's too bad he
+couldn't 'a' made his last fight along with us. There's th' colonel in his
+shirt-sleeves smokin' his pipe."
+
+I passed on to where Lewis was sitting on a log. It was fearfully hot, as
+the high hills on each side of the river shut out the free air and made
+the camp an oven. On recognizing me, the colonel's eyes flickered with
+surprise, as the report of my capture had spread far. He rose and took my
+hand and quietly said:
+
+"I knew they couldn't hold you unless they killed you on the spot. What
+about Miss Dale?"
+
+I informed him of her safety and his face lighted wonderfully.
+
+"That's good!" he softly exclaimed. "A beautiful young woman, the kind
+that Virginia is always proud of. Ericus Dale was lucky to die without
+being tortured. Now for your news; for you must be bringing some."
+
+I told him of the mighty gathering at Chillicothe and of the influx of the
+fierce Ottawas. Lost Sister's warning to me to keep clear of the Great
+Kanawha impressed him deeply. It convinced him, I think, that the astute
+Cornstalk had planned to attack the army before it could cross the Ohio,
+and that the Shawnees on learning of the assembling at the levels knew the
+advance must be down the Kanawha. The Indian who escaped after Clay was
+killed was back on the Scioto by this time. After musing over it for a bit
+he insisted that it did not necessarily follow the attack would be in
+force.
+
+"That was Cornstalk's first plan. But now he knows Governor Dunmore has an
+army at the mouth of the Little Kanawha. He may choose to attack him
+instead of me. I hope not, but there's a strong chance he'll do that while
+making a feint to fool me, and then float down the river and give me a
+real battle."
+
+He kindly offered to attach me to one of the companies as sergeant, with
+the possibility of appointing me an ensign, but I preferred to act as
+scout and enjoy more independence of action.
+
+"That's the trouble," he remarked. "All these fellows want to be scouts
+and range the woods free of discipline. They want to whip the Indians but
+they want to do it their own way. They persist in wasting ammunition, and
+it now looks as if we would go into battle with less than one-fourth of a
+pound of powder per man.
+
+"If any man speaks up and says he is the best marksman in Virginia then
+every man within hearing challenges him to prove it. And they'll step one
+side and have a shooting-match, even if they know Cornstalk's army is
+within a couple of miles of us. They're used to bear- and deer-meat. They
+don't want to eat bullock-meat. I'll admit the beef is a bit tough. And
+every morning some of them break the rules by stealing out to kill game.
+This not only wastes powder, but keeps the outposts alarmed."
+
+Before I was dismissed I asked about Cousin. The colonel's face became
+animated.
+
+"Oh, the young man with the sad history? He's out on a scout. That fellow
+is absolutely fearless. I am surprised every time he lives to return to
+make a report. It's useless to lay down a route for him to scout; he
+prowls where he will. But he's valuable, and we let him have his own
+way."
+
+On the next day we marched to the mouth of the Elk where Colonel Charles
+Lewis was completing arrangements for transporting the supplies down the
+river. While at that camp I went on my first scout and found Indian
+tracks. One set of them measured fourteen inches in length. The men went
+and looked at the signs before they would accept my measurements.
+
+The camp was extremely busy, for we all knew the crisis was drawing close.
+Our armorer worked early and late unbreeching the guns having wet charges.
+Three brigades of horses were sent back to Camp Union for more flour. I
+went with Mooney on a scout up Coal River and we found Indian signs four
+miles from camp. Other scouts were sent down the Kanawha and up the Elk.
+
+On returning, I found Cousin impatiently waiting for me to come in. He had
+changed and his bearing puzzled me. He was given to laughing loudly at the
+horse-play of the men, yet his eyes never laughed. I took him outside the
+camp and without any circumlocution related the facts concerning his
+sister and Kirst.
+
+"Tell me again that part 'bout how she died," he quietly requested when I
+had finished. I did so. He commented:
+
+"For killing that redskin I owe you more'n I would if you'd saved my life
+a thousand times. So little sister is dead. No, not that. Now that woman
+is dead I have my little sister back again. I took on with this army so's
+I could reach the Scioto towns. To think that Kirst got way up there! I
+'low he had a man's fight to die in. That's the way. Morris, I'm obleeged
+to you. I'll always remember her words 'bout sendin' a little sister to
+me. Now I've got two of 'em. We won't talk no more 'bout it."
+
+With that he turned and hurried into the woods.
+
+The men continued firing their guns without having obtained permission,
+and Colonel Lewis was thoroughly aroused to stop the practise. He directed
+that his orders of the fifteenth be read at the head of each company, with
+orders for the captains to inspect their men's stock of ammunition and
+report those lacking powder. This reduced the waste, but there was no
+stopping the riflemen from popping away at bear or deer once they were out
+of sight of their officers.
+
+I had hoped Cousin would return and be my companion on the next scout, but
+as he failed to show up I set off with Mooney for a second trip up the
+Coal. This time we discovered signs of fifteen Indians making toward the
+Kanawha below the camp. We returned with the news and found a wave of
+drunkenness had swept the camp during our absence.
+
+The sutlers were ordered to bring no more liquor into camp, and to sell
+from the supply on hand only on a captain's written order. This served to
+sober the offenders speedily. The scouts sent down the Kanawha returned
+and reported two fires and five Indians within fifteen miles of the Ohio.
+It was plain that the Indians were dogging our steps day and night, and
+the men were warned not to straggle.
+
+We were at the Elk Camp from the twenty-fourth to the thirtieth, and on
+the latter date the canoemen loaded their craft, and the pack-horse men
+and bullock-drivers drew two days' rations and started down-river. It
+rained for three days and on October second we were camped near the mouth
+of the Coal. It was there that Cousin appeared, a Mingo scalp hanging at
+his belt. He informed Colonel Lewis he had been to the mouth of the river,
+making the down-trip in a canoe, and that as yet no Indians had crossed
+except small bands of scouts.
+
+Breaking camp, we encountered rich bottom-lands, difficult to traverse
+because of the rain. Every mile or two there were muddy creeks, and the
+pack-horses were nearly worn out. Several desertions were now reported
+from the troops, a hostility to discipline rather than cowardice being the
+incentive. Another trouble was the theft of supplies.
+
+As we advanced down the river signs of small bands of Indians became
+numerous; scarcely a scout returned without reporting some. I saw nothing
+of Cousin until the sixth of October, and as we were finishing an
+eight-mile march through long defiles and across small runs and were
+entering the bottom which extends for four miles to the Ohio. The first
+that I knew he was with us was when he walked at my side and greeted:
+
+"There's goin' to be a screamin' big fight."
+
+He offered no explanation of his absence and I asked him nothing. It had
+required five weeks to march eleven hundred men one hundred and sixty
+miles and to convey the necessary supplies the same distance.
+
+As we scouts in the lead entered the bottom Cousin called my attention to
+the high-water marks on the trees. Some of these measured ten feet. The
+Point itself is high. From it we had a wide view of the Ohio and Kanawha,
+up- and down-stream. It was Cousin who discovered a writing made fast to a
+tree, calling attention to a paper concealed in the hollow at the base of
+the tree. We fished it out and found it was addressed to Colonel Lewis.
+Cousin and I took it to him. Before opening it, he gave Cousin a shrewd
+glance and remarked:
+
+"I am glad to see you back, young man."
+
+"If I've read the signs right I 'low I'm glad to git back," was the grave
+reply.
+
+The letter was from Governor Dunmore, and he wrote to complain because our
+colonel had not joined him at the Little Kanawha. He now informed our
+commander he had dropped down to the mouth of the Big Hockhocking, and we
+were expected to join him there. After frowning over the communication,
+Colonel Lewis read it aloud to some of his officers and expressed himself
+very forcefully. It was soon camp gossip, and every man was free to
+discuss it.
+
+Much anger was expressed against Governor Dunmore. And it did seem absurd
+to ask our army to move up the Ohio some sixty miles when such a tedious
+maneuver would lead us farther from the Indian towns than we were while at
+the Point. Had the order been given for the army to go to the Hockhocking
+there would have been many desertions.
+
+I learned later that the letter was brought to the Point by Simon Kenton
+and Simon Girty, who with Michael Cresap were serving as scouts with
+Dunmore. While the camp was busily criticizing the governor our scouts
+from the Elk came in and reported seeing Indians hunting buffalo. When
+within six miles of the Point, they found a plowshare, some
+surveying-instruments, a shirt, a light blue coat and a human under
+jaw-bone.
+
+Shelby Cousin said the dead man was Thomas Hoog, who with two or three of
+his men were reported killed by the Indians in the preceding April while
+making improvements. Cousin insisted his death had been due to wild
+animals or an accident, after which the animals had dragged his remains
+into the woods. He argued that an Indian would never have left the coat or
+the instruments.
+
+We passed the seventh and eighth of the month in making the camp sanitary
+and in building a shelter for the supplies yet to arrive down the river.
+Preparations also went ahead for moving the army across the Ohio. Most of
+the scouts were sent out to hunt up lost beeves, while a sergeant and
+squad were despatched with canoes to the Elk after flour.
+
+Three men came in from the Elk and reported that Colonel Christian was
+camped there with two hundred and twenty men, that he had only sixteen
+kettles, and was fearing his men would be ill from eating too much roast
+meat "without broth." On the eighth there arrived more letters from
+Governor Dunmore, in which His Lordship expressed his surprise and
+annoyance because of our failure to appear at the Hockhocking.
+
+This time Colonel Lewis was quite open in expressing his disgust at the
+governor's lack of strategy. The Kanawha was the gate to Augusta,
+Botetourt and Fincastle Counties. To leave it and move up-river would
+leave the way open for the red army to stream into Virginia and work its
+savagery while the colonials were cooped up on the Ohio or hunting Indian
+wigwams in the wilderness.
+
+In the package was a letter to our colonel from Colonel Adam Stephens,
+second in command to His Excellency, which was given wide publicity.
+Colonel Stephens reported very disagreeable news from Boston. It was to
+the effect that General Gage had fired on the people at Cambridge. Later
+we learned that while some gun-powder and two cannon had been seized by
+His Majesty's troops there had been no massacre of the provincials. But
+while the rumor remained uncontradicted it caused high excitement and
+great rage.
+
+On the evening of the ninth Cousin and I were ordered out to scout up the
+river beyond Old Town Creek. Our camp was near the junction of the Kanawha
+and the Ohio, almost at the tip of the Point. About a fourth of a mile to
+the east is Crooked Creek, a very narrow stream at that season of the
+year, with banks steep and muddy. It skirts the base of some low hills and
+flows nearly south in emptying into the Kanawha. Half-way between our camp
+and Old Town Creek, which empties into the Ohio, is a small stretch of
+marsh-land extending north and south, with bottom-lands on each side.
+
+Cousin and I planned to keep along the Ohio shore until a few miles above
+Old Town Creek, when we would separate, one returning along our course to
+keep an eye on the river, the other circling to the east and swinging back
+through the low hills drained by Crooked Creek. This double reconnaissance
+should reveal any spies.
+
+The men were very anxious to cross the river and come in contact with the
+Indians. They believed they would have the allied tribes within their
+grasp once they reached the Scioto. They were cheered by the report that
+the army would cross on the morrow. One tall Watauga boy boastfully
+proclaimed that all the Shawnees and Mingos beyond the Ohio wouldn't "make
+more'n a breakfast for us." Davis, because a man of family and more
+conservative, insisted it would be a "pretty tough chunk of a fight."
+
+This was the optimistic spirit Cousin and I left behind us when we set out
+at sunset. Cousin was in a new mood. There was a certain wild gaiety,
+rather a ferocious gaiety, in his bearing. His drawn face had lost some of
+the hard lines and looked almost boyish and his eyes were feverishly
+alight. He seemed possessed of superabundant physical strength, and in
+pure muscular wantonness went out of his way to leap the fallen timbers
+which littered the shore.
+
+As darkness increased he ceased his wild play and became the prince of
+scouts. We advanced most leisurely, for we had all night if we cared to
+stay out. We halted when abreast of the marsh-land and seated ourselves on
+the banks of the Ohio and watched the starlight find a mirror in the
+water. After a protracted silence he abruptly asked:
+
+"My sister said she was sendin' me a new sister, you say?"
+
+"Those were her words."
+
+"I wish she could know to-night I ain't needin' any new sister. Wish she
+could know right now that she's always been my sister. When I reckoned I'd
+lost her I was just mistook. She was just gone away for a little while.
+She found a mighty hard an' rough trace to travel. I 'low the Almighty
+will have to give her many belts afore He smooths out the path in her
+mind. I 'low it'll take a heap o' presents to make up for the burrs an'
+briers an' sharp stones she had to foot it over. Thank God she died
+white!"
+
+"Amen to that!"
+
+After another silence he asked:
+
+"You 'low she's with daddy an' mammy?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"That's mighty comfortin' to figger on," he slowly mused. "Much like a
+younker gittin' mighty tired an' goin' back home to rest. Daddy an' mammy
+will do a heap to make it up to her for what she had to go through. Yes, I
+can count on 'em, even if the Almighty happened to be too busy to notice
+her when she first crossed the border."
+
+Dear lad! He meant no irreverence.
+
+The night was calm and sounds carried easily. We had passed beyond where
+we could hear the men singing and merry-making in camp, but the uneasy
+movements of a turkey and the stealthy retreat of a deer seemed very close
+at hand. The soft pad-pad of a woods cat approached within a few feet
+before the creature caught the scent, and the retreat was marked by a
+series of crashings through the undergrowth.
+
+After a while we rose and continued up the river.
+
+"No Injuns along here," murmured Cousin.
+
+We reached Old Town Creek and crossed it without discovering any signs of
+the enemy; nor were we looking for anything more serious than a stray
+scout or two. We went nearly two miles above the creek and turned back
+after deciding we would separate at the creek, he taking the hills route
+and I following the river. We reached the creek and he was about to leave
+me when we both heard a new note, a splashing noise, very faint. Our hands
+met in a mutual desire to grab an arm and enforce attention.
+
+"No fish made it," I whispered.
+
+"No fish," he agreed. "There!"
+
+The splashing came from across the several hundred yards of the Ohio's
+deep and silent current. It was repeated until it became almost
+continuous, and it gradually grew louder.
+
+"Rafts!" shrilly whispered Cousin.
+
+"They are paddling fast."
+
+"No! But there are many rafts," he corrected.
+
+We retreated up-stream a short distance and concealed ourselves in a deep
+growth. To the sound of poles and paddles was added the murmuring of
+guttural voices. Then for a climax a raft struck against the bank and a
+low voice speaking Shawnee gave some sharp orders.
+
+"One!" counted Cousin.
+
+As he spoke another raft took the shore, and then they grounded so rapidly
+that it was impossible to count them. Orders were given, and the Indians
+worked back from the river and proceeded to make a night-camp. The landing
+had been made at the mouth of the creek, but the savages had spread out,
+and some of them were due east from us.
+
+"There's a heap of 'em!" whispered Cousin. "Lucky for us they didn't fetch
+any dawgs along, or we'd be smelled out an' have to leg it."
+
+"I hear squaws talking."
+
+"Kiss the devil if you don't! There's boys' voices, too. They've fetched
+their squaws an' boys along to knock the wounded an' dyin' in the head."
+
+"Then that means they feel sure of winning."
+
+And my heart began thumping until I feared its beating would be audible at
+a distance. And before my inner gaze appeared a picture of Lewis' army
+defeated and many victims being given over to the stake.
+
+"Keep shet!" cautioned Cousin. "There it is again! A Mingo talkin', a
+Seneca, I'd say--Hear that jabber! Delaware--Wyandot--Taway (Ottawa). With
+a blanket o' Shawnee pow-wow. By heavens, Morris! This is Cornstalk's
+whole force. They've learned that Dunmore is at the Hockhockin' an' will
+be j'inin' up with Lewis any day, an' old Cornstalk thinks to lick Lewis
+afore Dunmore's men can git along!"
+
+It was now after midnight, and I knew we should be back at camp and
+warning Colonel Lewis of his peril. I knew from my last talk with him that
+he did not expect to meet the Indians in any numbers until we had crossed
+the Ohio. Our failure to find any Indians at the Point and our prospects
+for an immediate crossing conduced to this belief.
+
+The day before all the scouts had been instructed as to our maneuvers once
+we crossed the river and were searching for ambushes. It was terrible to
+think of our army asleep only three miles away. I urged an immediate
+return, but Cousin coolly refused to go until he had reconnoitered
+further.
+
+"You stay here till I've sneaked down to the mouth o' the creek," he
+whispered. "'Twon't do for both of us to git killed an' leave no one to
+take the word to Lewis."
+
+"But why run any risk?" I anxiously demanded; for I feared he had some mad
+prank in mind which would betray our presence and perhaps stop our warning
+to the army.
+
+"We must l'arn somethin' as to how many o' the red skunks there be," he
+replied.
+
+"To venture near their camp will mean discovery. They're very
+wide-awake."
+
+"I ain't goin' near their camp," he growled in irritation. "I want to look
+over them rafts. I can tell from them how many warriors come over, or
+pretty close to it."
+
+He slipped away and left me to do the hardest of the work--the work of
+waiting. It seemed a very long time before I heard the bushes rustle. I
+drew my ax, but a voice whispering "Richmond," the parole for the night,
+composed me. Feeling his way to my side he gravely informed me:
+
+"There's seventy-eight or nine rafts an' a few canoes. It's goin' to be a
+fine piece o' fightin'. At least there's a thousand warriors on this side
+an' a lot o' squaws an' boys."
+
+I estimated our army at eleven hundred and I thanked God they were all
+frontiersmen.
+
+Cousin now was as eager to go as I; and leaving our hiding-place, we
+worked north until we felt safe to make a detour to the east. Our progress
+was slow as there was no knowing how far the Indian scouts were ranging.
+Once we were forced to remain flat on our stomachs while a group of
+warriors passed within a dozen feet of us, driving to their camp some
+strayed beeves from the high rolling bottom-lands to the east. When the
+last of them had passed I observed with great alarm a thinning out of the
+darkness along the eastern skyline.
+
+"Good God! We'll be too late!" I groaned. "Let's fire our guns and give
+the alarm!"
+
+"Not yet!" snarled my companion. "I must be in the thick o' that fight.
+We're too far east to git to camp in a hustle. We must sneak atween the
+hills an' that small slash (Virginian for marsh). Foller me."
+
+We changed our course so as to avoid the low hills drained by Crooked
+Creek, and made after the warriors. About an hour before sunrise we were
+at the head of the marsh, and in time to witness the first act of the
+day's great drama. Two men were working out of the fallen timber, and
+Cousin threw up his double-barrel rifle. I checked him, saying:
+
+"Don't! They're white!"
+
+"Renegades!"
+
+"John Sevier's younger brother, Valentine. T'other is Jim Robertson."
+
+"Then Lewis knows. He sent 'em to scout the camp."
+
+"They're after game. James Shelby is sick with the fever. Yesterday
+morning he asked them to perch a turkey for him. Signal them. They know
+nothing about the Indians!"
+
+Cousin risked discovery by standing clear of the bushes and waving his
+hat. "There comes two more of 'em!" he exclaimed.
+
+This couple was some distance behind the Watauga boys, but I recognized
+them. One was James Mooney, my companion on the Coal River scout. The
+other was Joseph Hughey.
+
+I jumped out and stood beside Cousin and waved my arms frantically. One of
+them caught the motion and said something. The four paused and stared at
+us. We made emphatic gestures for them to fall back. At first they were
+slow to understand, thinking, as Sevier told me afterward, that I was
+pointing out some game. Then they turned to run, Robertson and Sevier
+firing their rifles to the woods to the north of us.
+
+These were the first guns fired in the battle of Point Pleasant. From the
+woods came the noise of a large body of men advancing. A ripple of shots
+was sent after the hunters. Hughey and Mooney halted and returned the
+fire. A streak of red some distance ahead of the Shawnees' position, and
+close to the river-bank, dropped Hughey dead. This shot was fired by
+Tavenor Ross, a white man, who was captured by the Indians when a boy and
+who had grown up among them.
+
+Mooney, Robertson and young Sevier were now running for the camp, passing
+between the Ohio bank and the marsh. We raced after them just as a man
+named Hickey ran from the bushes and joined them. The Indians kept up a
+scattering fire and they made much noise as they spread out through the
+woods in battle-line. They supposed we were the scouts of an advancing
+army.
+
+It is the only instance I know of where insubordination saved any army
+from a surprise attack, and possibly from defeat. To escape detection
+while breaking the orders against foraging, the five men named had stolen
+from the camp at an early hour.
+
+By the time Cousin and I passed the lower end of the marsh small bodies of
+Indians were making for the hills along Crooked Creek; others were
+following down the Ohio inside the timber, while their scouts raced
+recklessly after us to locate our line of battle. The scouts soon
+discovered that our army was nowhere to be seen. Runners were instantly
+sent back to inform Cornstalk he was missing a golden opportunity by not
+attacking at once.
+
+Mooney was the first to reach Colonel Lewis, who was seated on a log in
+his shirt-sleeves, smoking his pipe. Mooney shouted:
+
+"More'n four acres covered with Injuns at Old Town Creek!"
+
+Rising, but with no show of haste, Lewis called to Cousin and me: "What
+about this?"
+
+"An attack in force, sir, I believe," I panted.
+
+He glanced at Cousin, who nodded and then ducked away.
+
+"I think you are mistaken," the colonel coldly remarked. "It must be a big
+scouting-party." I tried to tell him what Cousin and I had seen and heard.
+But he ignored me and ordered the drums to beat To Arms. But already the
+border men were turning out and diving behind logs and rocks even while
+the sleep still blurred their eyes.
+
+Colonel Lewis ordered two columns of one hundred and fifty men each to
+march forward and test the strength of the enemy. The colonel's brother
+Charles led the Augusta line to the right. Colonel William Fleming
+commanded the left--Botetourt men. The two columns were about two hundred
+yards apart, and their brisk and businesslike advance did the heart good
+to behold.
+
+No one as yet except the hunters and Cousin and I realized the three
+hundred men were being sent against the full force of the Ohio Indians.
+Colonel Lewis resumed his seat and continued smoking.
+
+"You're nervous, Morris. It can't be more than a large scouting-party, or
+they'd have chased you in."
+
+"They came over on seventy-eight rafts!" I replied, turning to race after
+Colonel Charles Lewis' column.
+
+The Augusta men were now swinging in close to Crooked Creek where it
+skirts the foot of the low hills. As I drew abreast of the head of the
+column we were fired upon by a large force of Indians, now snugly
+ensconced behind trees and fallen timber along the creek. We were then not
+more than a quarter of a mile from camp. The first fire was tremendously
+heavy and was quickly followed by a second and third volley. The Augusta
+men reeled, but quickly began returning the fire, the behavior of the men
+being all that a commander could desire. They were forced to give ground,
+however, as the odds were heavy.
+
+On our left crashed a volley as the Botetourt men were fired on. Colonel
+Lewis ordered his men to take cover, then turned to Captain Benjamin
+Harrison and cried:
+
+"This is no scouting-party! But my brother will soon be sending
+reinforcements."
+
+He had hardly spoken before he spun half-way around, a surprised
+expression on his face.
+
+"I'm wounded," he quietly said.
+
+Then handing his rifle to a soldier, he called out to his men:
+
+"Go on and be brave!"
+
+With that he began walking to the camp. I ran to help him, but he motioned
+me back, saying:
+
+"Your place is there. I'm all right."
+
+So I left him, a very brave soldier and a Christian gentleman, to make his
+way alone while his very minutes were numbered.
+
+Half a dozen of our men were down and the rest were slowly giving ground.
+Up to the time Colonel Lewis left us I had seen very few Indians, and only
+mere glimpses at that. Now they began showing themselves as they crowded
+forward through the timber, confident they were to slaughter us. Above the
+noise of the guns, the yells and shouts of red and white combatants, rose
+a deep booming voice, that of Cornstalk, and he was shouting:
+
+"Be strong! Be strong! Push them into the river!"
+
+We dragged back our dead and wounded as with a reckless rush the Indians
+advanced over logs and rocks up to the very muzzles of our guns. But
+although the Augusta line gave ground the men were not suffering from
+panic, and the smashing volley poured into the enemy did great damage and
+checked their mad onslaught.
+
+Never before did red men make such a determined charge. In an instant
+there were a score of individual combats, backwoodsman and savage being
+clinched in a death-struggle with ax and knife. Now our line stiffened,
+and the very shock of their attack seemed to hurl the Indians back. Still
+we would have been forced back to the camp and must have suffered cruel
+losses if not for the timely reinforcements brought up on the run by
+Colonel John Field, veteran of Braddock's and Pontiac's Wars.
+
+He led Augusta and Botetourt men, for it was no longer possible to keep
+the two lines under their respective commanders, nor did any captain for
+the rest of the day command his own company as a unit. With the coming up
+of Colonel Field the Indians immediately gave ground, then charged most
+viciously as our men pursued. This maneuver was one of Cornstalk's cunning
+tactics, the alternate advance and retreat somewhat confusing our men.
+
+The second attack was repulsed and the riflemen slowly gained more ground.
+The firing on our left was now very heavy and Colonel Field directed me to
+learn how the fight there was progressing. Some of our fellows were
+screaming that Fleming's column was being driven in, and our colonel had
+no intention of being cut off.
+
+As I started toward the river I could hear Cornstalk exhorting: "Shoot
+straight! Lie close! Fight and be strong!"
+
+As I withdrew from the right column I had a chance to get a better idea of
+the battle. The Indians lined the base of the hills bordered by Crooked
+Creek, and were posted on all the heights to shoot any whites trying to
+swim either the Ohio or the Kanawha. On the opposite side of the Ohio and,
+as I later learned on the south bank of the Kanawha, red forces had been
+stationed in anticipation of our army being routed.
+
+As I neared the Botetourt men I could hear between volleys the Indians
+shouting in unison:
+
+"Drive the white dogs over!" meaning across the river.
+
+The Botetourt men were well posted and considerably in advance of the
+right column, as they had given but little ground while the right was
+retiring after Lewis was shot. At no time did either column fight at a
+range of more than twenty yards, and when I crawled among Fleming's men
+the range was not more than six yards, while here and there in the deeper
+growth were hand-to-hand struggles.
+
+"A big chunk of a fight!" screamed a shrill voice, and Cousin was beside
+me, wearing a brilliant scarlet jacket. As he was crawling by me I caught
+him by the heel and dragged him back.
+
+"You fool! Take that coat off!" I yelled. For the vivid splotch of color
+made him a tempting target for every Indian gun. And the Shawnees were
+skilful marksmen even if less rapid than the whites because of their
+inability to clean their fouled weapons.
+
+Cousin drew up his leg to kick free, then smiled sweetly and said:
+
+"It's my big day, Morris. Don't go for to meddle with my medicine.
+Everything's all right at last. I've found the long trace that leads to my
+little sister. She's waitin' to put her hand in mine, as she used to do on
+Keeney's Knob."
+
+With that he suddenly jerked his leg free and sprang to his feet and
+streaked toward the savages, his blood-curdling panther-screech
+penetrating the heavier vibrations of the battle.
+
+He was lost to view in the brush and I had my work to do. I kept along the
+edge of the timber, and answered many anxious queries as to the fate of
+the right column. I reassured them, but did not deem it wise to tell of
+Colonel Lewis' wound. I found the column quite close to the river and by
+the stubborn resistance it was meeting I knew the Indians were strongly
+posted.
+
+"Why don't you whistle now?" they kept howling in concert, and referring
+to our fifes which were still.
+
+"We'll kill you all, and then go and speak to your big chief (Dunmore),"
+was one of their promises.
+
+And there were other things shouted, foul epithets, which I am ashamed to
+admit could only have been learned from the whites. And repeatedly did
+they encourage one another and seek to intimidate us by yelling:
+
+"Drive the white dogs over the river! Drive them like cattle into the
+water!"
+
+While I kept well covered and was completing my reconnaissance I was
+horrified to see Colonel Fleming walk into the clear ground. He fired at
+an Indian who had showed himself for a moment to make an insulting
+gesture. He got his man, and the next second was struck by three balls,
+two passing through his left arm and the third penetrating his left
+breast.
+
+He called out to his captains by name and sharply ordered them to hold
+their ground while he went to the rear to be patched up. He was answered
+by hearty cheers, but his absence was to be keenly felt by his officers.
+He started to work his way to the Point, but the exertion of bending and
+dodging from tree to stump sorely taxed him. I ran to his aid just as
+Davis, of Howard's Creek, sprang from behind a log and seized his right
+arm. Between us we soon had him back in camp and his shirt off. The lung
+tissue had been forced through the wound a finger's length. He asked me to
+put it back. I attempted it and failed, whereat he did it himself without
+any fuss.
+
+On returning to the right column to make a belated report to Colonel Field
+I ran across the body of Mooney, my partner on several scouts. He had been
+shot through the head. It may here be said that nearly all the dead on
+both sides were shot through the head or chest, indicating the accuracy of
+marksmanship on both sides.
+
+I found the Augusta men steadily pushing the Indians back. But when they
+gave ground quickly, as if in a panic, it was to tempt the foolhardy into
+rushing forward. The riflemen had learned their lesson, however, and
+maintained their alignment. The advance was through nettles and briers, up
+steep muddy banks and over fallen timber.
+
+The warriors rushed repeatedly to the very muzzles of our guns, and thus
+displayed a brand of courage never surpassed, if ever equaled, by the
+North American Indian before. It was Cornstalk who was holding them to the
+bloody work. His voice at times sounded very close, but although we all
+knew his death would count a greater coup than the scalps of a hundred
+braves we never could get him. He was too shrewd and evasive.
+
+Once I believed I had him, for I had located him behind a detached mound
+of fallen timber. He was loudly calling out for his men to be brave and to
+lie close, when a warrior leaped up and started to run to the rear. Then
+Cornstalk flashed into view long enough to sink his ax into the coward's
+head. It was all done so quickly that he dropped to cover unharmed.
+
+That was one of his ways of enforcing obedience, a mode of terrorization
+never before practised by a war-chief to my knowledge. It was told
+afterward by the Shawnees that he killed more than that weak-hearted one
+during the long day. I saw nothing of the other chiefs who attended the
+conference in Cornstalk's Town while I was a prisoner. And yet they were
+there, chiefs of Mingos, Wyandots, Delawares and Ottawas.
+
+"They're fallin' back! They're fallin' back!" yelled a voice in advance of
+our first line.
+
+And the scream of a panther told us it was Cousin. He had worked across
+from the left column, and we were soon beholding his bright jacket in a
+tangle of logs and stumps.
+
+The men advanced more rapidly, but did not break their line; and it was
+evident the savages were giving ground in earnest. Our men renewed their
+cheering and their lusty shouts were answered by the column on the
+river-bank, still in advance of us.
+
+As it seemed we were about to rush the enemy into a panic we received our
+second heavy loss of the day. Colonel Field was shot dead. He was standing
+behind a big tree, reserving his fire for an Indian who had been shouting
+filthy abuse at him. Poor colonel! It was but a ruse to hold his attention
+while savages up the slope and behind fallen timber drew a bead on him.
+Captain Evan Shelby assumed command and ordered the men to keep up the
+advance.
+
+The Indians gave ground, but with no signs of confusion. Observing our
+left column was in advance of the right, Cornstalk was attempting to
+straighten his line by pulling in his left. As we pressed on we discovered
+the savages were scalping their own dead to prevent their hair falling
+into our hands. From the rear of the red men came the sound of many
+tomahawks. Cousin, who for a moment found himself at my side, exulted:
+
+"Curse 'em! Their squaws an' boys are cuttin' saplin's for to carry off
+their wounded! They'll need a heap o' stretchers afore this day is over!"
+
+The sun was now noon-high and the heat was beastly. The battle was at its
+climax. The left column was near a little pond and about fifty yards from
+the river, or a fourth of a mile beyond the spot where Lewis was shot. We
+had evened up this lead, and the battle-line extended from the river and
+pond to Crooked Creek and half-way down the creek, running from west to
+east and then southwest.
+
+Cornstalk's plan was to coop us up in the Point and drive us into the
+Kanawha and Ohio. There were times when our whole line gave ground, but
+only to surge ahead again. Thus we seesawed back and forth along a mile
+and a quarter of battle-line, with the firing equal in intensity from wing
+to wing. Nor had the Indians lost any of their high spirits. Their retreat
+was merely a maneuver. They kept shouting:
+
+"We'll show you how to shoot!"
+
+"Why don't you come along?"
+
+"Why don't you whistle now?"
+
+"You'll have two thousand to fight to-morrow!"
+
+But the force that held them together and impelled them to make the
+greatest fight the American Indian ever put up, not even excepting the
+battle of Bushy Run, was Cornstalk. Truly he was a great man, measured
+even by the white man's standards!
+
+"Be strong! Be brave! Lie close! Shoot well!" flowed almost
+uninterruptedly from his lips.
+
+Davis, of Howard's Creek, went by me, making for the rear with a shattered
+right arm and a ghastly hole through his cheek. He tried to grin on
+recognizing me. Word was passed on from our rear that runners had been
+sent to hurry up Colonel Christian and his two hundred men. Among the
+captains killed by this time were John Murray and Samuel Wilson. It was a
+few minutes after the noon hour that Cousin emerged from the smoke on my
+right and howled:
+
+"There's old Puck-i-n-shin-wa!"
+
+He darted forward, clearing all obstacles with the ease of a deer. I saw
+the Shawnee chief, father of Tecumseh, snap his piece at the boy. Then I
+saw him go down with Cousin's lead through his painted head. Two savages
+sprang up and Cousin killed one with his remaining barrel. The other fired
+pointblank, and by the way Cousin fell I knew his object in wearing the
+scarlet jacket was attained. He had wished to die this day in the midst of
+battle.
+
+William White killed Cousin's slayer. The boy was in advance of the line
+and his coat made him conspicuous. Doubtless the savages believed him to
+be an important officer because of it.
+
+Five of them rushed in to secure his scalp, and each fell dead, and their
+bodies concealed the boy from view. Up to one o'clock the fighting raged
+with undiminished fury, with never any cessation of their taunts and
+epithets and Cornstalk's stentorian encouragement.
+
+Now it is never in Indian nature to prolong a conflict once it is obvious
+they must suffer heavy losses. They consider it the better wisdom to run
+away and await an opportunity when the advantage will be with them.
+Cornstalk had been confident that his early morning attack would drive us
+into the rivers, thus affording his forces on the opposite banks much
+sport in picking us off.
+
+But so fiercely contested had been the battle that none of our dead had
+been scalped except Hughey and two or three men who fell at the first
+fire. By all that we had learned of Indian nature they should now, after
+six hours of continuous fighting, be eager to withdraw. They had fought
+the most bitterly contested battle ever participated in by their race.
+
+Nor had they, as in Braddock's defeat, been aided by white men. There
+were, to be true, several white men among them, such as Tavenor Ross, John
+Ward and George Collet; but these counted no more than ordinary warriors
+and Collet was killed before the fighting was half over. According to all
+precedents the battle should have ended in an Indian rout by the time the
+sun crossed the meridian. Instead the savages stiffened their resistance
+and held their line.
+
+Our men cheered from parched throats when word was passed that Collet's
+body had been found and identified. Poor devil! Perhaps it opened the long
+trace to him, where everything would be made right. He was captured when a
+child and had responded to the only environment he had ever known.
+
+The case of such as Collet--yes, and of John Ward and Ross--is entirely
+different from that of Timothy Dorman, and others of his kind, who was
+captured when a grown man and who turned renegade to revenge himself for
+wrongs, real or fancied, on his old neighbors.
+
+It was not until after seven hours of fighting that we detected any
+falling off in the enemy's resistance. Even then the savages had the
+advantage of an excellent position, and to press them was extremely
+hazardous business. We continued to crowd them, however, until they were
+lined up on a long ridge which extended from the small marsh where Cousin
+and I first saw Robertson and Sevier, for half a mile to the east, where
+it was cut by the narrow bed of Crooked Creek.
+
+None of us needed to be told that so long as the enemy held this ridge our
+camp at the Point was in grave danger. From the riflemen along the Ohio
+word came that the Indians were throwing their dead into the river, while
+squaws and boys were dragging back their wounded.
+
+This had a heartening effect on us, for it indicated a doubt was creeping
+into the minds of the savages. Once they permitted the possibility of
+defeat to possess them their effectiveness would decrease. Company
+commanders called on their men to take the ridge, but to keep their line
+intact.
+
+With wild cheers the men responded and buckled down to the grueling task.
+Every patch of fallen timber proved to be an Indian fort, where the
+bravest of the tribes fought until they were killed. It was stubborn
+traveling, but our riflemen were not to be denied.
+
+From along the line would come cries of:
+
+"Remember Tygart's Valley!"
+
+"Remember Carr's Creek!"
+
+"Remember the Clendennins!"
+
+And always Cornstalk's voice answered:
+
+"Be strong! Be brave! Fight hard!"
+
+So we struggled up the slope, gaining a yard at a time and counting it a
+triumph if we passed a pile of dead timber and gained another a few feet
+beyond.
+
+When we were most encouraged the Indians began mocking us and shouting
+exultingly and informing us that the warriors across the Kanawha and Ohio
+had attacked our camp and were massacring the small force retained there.
+This statement, repeatedly hurled at us with every semblance of savage
+gloating, tended to weaken the men's one purpose. We could capture the
+ridge--but! Behind our determination crawled the fear that we might be
+assailed in the rear at any moment.
+
+Captain Shelby was quick to realize the depressing influence of this kind
+of talk, and shouted for the word to be passed that it was an Indian
+trick, that our troops were guarding the Kanawha for half a mile up the
+stream and that the warriors on the Indian shore could not cross over
+without the column on our left discovering the move.
+
+This prompted our common sense to return to us, and we remembered that
+Andrew Lewis was too cool and shrewd to be caught napping. The Point was
+sprinkled with huge trees and it would take a big force to clear it of our
+reserves; and the bulk of the enemy was before us on the ridge.
+
+With renewed vigor we made greater exertions and at last reached the top
+of the ridge and cleared it. But even then the Indians were not defeated.
+They charged up with ferocious energy time after time, and the best we
+could do was to cling to our position and let them bring the fighting to
+us. So different was their behavior from any we had been familiar with in
+previous engagements we began to wonder if they would violate other Indian
+precedents and continue the battle into the night.
+
+It was not until three or four o'clock that we noticed any lessening in
+their efforts to retake the ridge. At the best this afforded us only a
+short breathing-spell. There were many warriors still hidden along the
+slopes drained by Crooked Creek. Our line was so long there was always
+danger of the Indians concentrating and breaking it.
+
+So long as we stuck to the ridge on the defensive the enemy had the
+advantage of the initiative. A runner brought up word from Colonel Lewis
+to learn the strength of the savages in the hills along the creek, and I
+was directed to reconnoiter.
+
+I made for the creek from the south slope of the ridge. Sliding down the
+muddy bank, I ascended the opposite slope and began making my way toward
+the point where the creek cut through the ridge. I encountered no Indians,
+although axes and knives on the ground showed where they had been
+stationed before retiring.
+
+I passed through the cut and was suddenly confronted by what I thought at
+first must be the devil. The fellow was wearing the head of a buffalo,
+horns and tangled forelock and all. Through the eye-slits gleamed living
+eyes. The shock of his grotesque appearance threw me off my guard for a
+moment. He leaped upon me and we went down the bank into the bed of the
+creek.
+
+He had his ax ready to use but I caught his hand. His hideous mask proved
+to be his undoing, for as we rolled about it became twisted. I was quick
+to see my advantage. Relying on one hand to hold his wrist, I used all my
+quickness and strength and succeeded in turning the mask half-way around,
+leaving him blind and half-smothered. I killed him with his own ax before
+he could remove his cumbersome headgear.
+
+As none of his companions had come to his rescue I knew this marked their
+most advanced position in the hills. Having learned all I could without
+sacrificing my life, I began my retreat down the creek and narrowly
+escaped being shot by one of our own men.
+
+Captain Shelby ordered me to report to Colonel Lewis, which I did, running
+at top speed without attempting to keep under cover. I found the reserves
+had thrown up a breastwork from the Ohio to the Kanawha, thus inclosing
+the camp on the Point. It lacked half an hour of sunset when I reached the
+camp.
+
+Colonel Lewis heard me, then ordered Captains Isaac Shelby, Arbuckle,
+Matthews and Stuart to lead their companies up Crooked Creek under cover
+of the bank until they could secure a position behind the Indians and
+enfilade their main line. I scouted ahead of this force. We circled the
+end of the Indian line, but were at once discovered.
+
+Instead of this being our undoing, it proved to be all in our favor.
+Cornstalk's spies had kept him informed of Colonel Christian's presence a
+few miles from the Point. He took it for granted that this force in the
+hills behind his line was reinforcements brought up by Christian, and this
+belief caused him to order a general retirement across Old Town Creek. At
+that time Christian was fifteen miles from the Point. Sunset found us in
+full possession of the battle-field.
+
+Leaving strong outposts, we retired to the well-protected camp, rejoicing
+loudly and boasting of more than two-score scalps. We carried off all our
+dead and wounded. The exact Indian loss was never definitely settled but
+it must have equaled, if not exceeded, ours. More than a score were found
+in the woods covered deep with brush, and many were thrown into the
+river.
+
+This battle ended Dunmore's War, also known as Cresap's War and the
+Shawnee War. So far as actual fighting and losses are considered it was a
+drawn battle. But as Cornstalk could not induce his men to renew the
+conflict, and inasmuch as they retreated before morning to the Indian
+shore, the victory must be held to be with the backwoodsmen.
+
+And yet the tribes were not entirely downcast, for during the early
+evening they continued to taunt us and to repeat their threats of bringing
+an army of two thousand on to the field in the morning. In fact, many of
+our men believed the savages had a shade the better of the fight, and
+would renew hostilities in the morning.
+
+That night we buried Shelby Cousin on the bank of the Kanawha and built a
+fire over his grave to conceal it. Colonel Christian arrived at midnight,
+and there was some lurid profanity when his men learned they had arrived
+too late for the fighting. One week after the battle eleven hundred troops
+crossed the Ohio to carry the war to the Indian towns for a final
+decision.
+
+When thirteen miles south of Chillicothe, the town Governor Dunmore had
+ordered us to attack and destroy, a message arrived from His Lordship,
+directing Colonel Lewis to halt his advance, for peace was about to be
+made. Hostile bands had fired upon us that very morning, and the position
+was not suitable for a camp. Colonel Lewis continued the march for a few
+miles. Another messenger arrived with orders for us to halt, for the peace
+was about to be consummated.
+
+We went into camp on Congo Creek, about five miles from Chillicothe. The
+men raged something marvelous. They insisted that no decisive battle had
+been fought and that we had thrown away nearly a hundred lives if the
+fighting were not renewed. The Shawnees were in our power. What folly to
+let them escape!
+
+Dunmore and White Eyes, the friendly Delaware chief, rode into camp and
+conferred with Colonel Lewis; and as a result we started the next day for
+Point Pleasant and Virginia. The men were all but out of bounds, so
+furious were they at not being loosed at the Shawnees.
+
+Then began the talk that Dunmore brought on the war to keep our
+backwoodsmen busy in event the colonies rebelled against England; also,
+that he closed it prematurely so that the Indians might continue a menace
+to the border and thus keep the frontier men at home.
+
+I was as hot as any against His Lordship for the way the campaign ended.
+We demanded blood for blood in those days; and never had the Virginia
+riflemen a better chance for inflicting lasting punishment on their
+ancient foes. And we were quick to blame His Lordship for a variety of
+unwholesome motives.
+
+But with political rancor long since buried we can survey that campaign
+more calmly and realize that as a result of the battle the northwest
+Indians kept quiet for the first two years of the Revolutionary War, and
+that during this period Kentucky was settled and the vast continent west
+of the Alleghanies was saved to the Union.
+
+If the battle of Bushy Run took the heart out of the tribes confederated
+under Pontiac's masterly leadership, then Dunmore's War permitted us to
+begin life as a republic without having the Alleghanies for our western
+boundary. Nor can I hold in these latter days that His Lordship was
+insincere in waging the war; for England was against it from the first.
+
+I believed he pushed the war as vigorously and shrewdly as he knew how;
+and I believe his was the better judgment in securing the best peace-terms
+possible instead of heaping defeat on defeat until the allied tribes had
+nothing left to bargain for. So I give His Lordship credit for making a
+good bargain with the Indians, and a bargain which aided the colonists
+during the struggle almost upon them. But I was very happy when Colonel
+Andrew Lewis drove him from Virginia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+PEACE COMES TO THE CLEARING
+
+
+Early winter, and the wind was crisp and cold as I rode into Howard's
+Creek. Smoke rose from the cabins. I limped toward the Davis cabin, a
+strange shyness holding me back. Some one inside was singing:
+
+              "Ye daughters and sons of Virginia, incline
+                Your ears to a story of woe;
+              I sing of a time when your fathers and mine
+                Fought for us on the Ohio.
+              In seventeen hundred and seventy-four,
+                The month of October, we know,
+              An army of Indians, two thousand or more,
+                Encamped on the Ohio."
+
+There was a whirl of linsey petticoats behind me, and two plump arms were
+about my neck; and her dear voice was sobbing:
+
+"They didn't know! I feared you were dead beyond the Ohio!"
+
+"But I sent you a message!" I protested, patting her bowed head. "I sent
+word by Moulton that it was only an arrow-wound in the leg, and that I
+must wait."
+
+"And he never came, nor brought your word! He stopped in Tygart's Valley
+and sent his brother to bring Mrs. Moulton and the children. One man said
+he heard you had been hurt. I wrote to Colonel Lewis but he was not at
+Richfield. So I never knew!"
+
+We walked aside, and I petted her and listened to her dear voice and
+forgot the cold wind biting into my thin blood, forgot I would always walk
+with a slight limp. When we did awake, because the early dusk was filling
+the clearing, the singer was finishing his seventeen-stanza song:
+
+           "As Israel did mourn and her daughters did weep,
+             For Saul and his host on Gilbow,
+           We'll mourn Colonel Field and the heroes who sleep
+             On the banks of the Ohio."
+
+And I thought of Shelby Cousin and the others, who gave their lives that
+we might meet thus without the war-whoop interrupting our wooing. And I
+wondered if our children's children would ever realize that the deaths
+died at Point Pleasant made life and happiness possible for them. I prayed
+it might be so, for lonely graves are not so lonely if they are not
+forgotten.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Virginia Scout, by Hugh Pendexter
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