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diff --git a/26234.txt b/26234.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..29ff0a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/26234.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5485 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Far Past the Frontier, by James A. Braden + +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: Far Past the Frontier + +Author: James A. Braden + +Illustrator: W. H. Fry + +Release Date: August 9, 2008 [EBook #26234] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAR PAST THE FRONTIER *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: He met the hot-mouthed, vicious brute, his rude spear +clasped in both hands] + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +FAR PAST THE FRONTIER + +By +JAMES A. BRADEN + +Illustrated by +W. H. FRY + +C + +Akron, Ohio +THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO. +New York--Chicago + +MADE IN U. S. A. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Copyright, 1902 +By +The Saalfield Publishing Company + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I The Flight of Big Pete Ellis. 5 + II A Bound Boy's Story. 19 + III The Beginning of a Perilous Journey. 32 + IV The Man Under the Bed. 47 + V A Mysterious Shot in the Darkness. 62 + VI On Lonely Mountain Roads. 76 + VII On Into the Wilderness. 91 + VIII Friends or Foes? 105 + IX The Scalp at Big Buffalo's Belt. 121 + X A Night With the Indians. 134 + XI Again a Hidden Enemy. 150 + XII Building a Cabin. 164 + XIII The Strange Story of Arthur Bridges. 179 + XIV Treed by Wolves. 192 + XV A Maple Sugar Camp in the Wilderness. 206 + XVI The Hatred of Big Buffalo. 219 + XVII Danger. 232 + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +FAR PAST THE FRONTIER. + +CHAPTER I. + +The Flight of Big Pete Ellis. + + +"Look out thar!" + +A young, red-bearded man of herculean frame fiercely jerked the words +between his teeth as he leaped between two boys who were about to enter +the country store, from the door of which he sprang. + +Diving aside, but quickly turning, the lads saw the cause of their sudden +movement bound into a wagon standing near, and with a furious cry to the +horses, whip them to such instant, rapid speed that the strap with which +the animals were tied, snapped like a bit of string. With a clatter and +rumbling roar the team and wagon dashed around a corner, the clumsy +vehicle all but upsetting, as the wheels on one side flew clear of the +ground. + +Running forward, the boys were in time to see, fast disappearing down the +road toward where the September sun was setting, the reckless driver +bending over, lashing the horses to a frantic gallop. The wagon swayed +and jolted over the ruts and holes, threatening momentarily to throw the +fellow headlong. An empty barrel in the box bounced up and down and from +side to side like a thing alive. + +"Something has happened! Big Pete isn't doing that for fun!" the larger +of the boys exclaimed. + +"Run for Dr. Cartwright, quick! Big Pete has killed Jim Huson, I'm +afraid!" + +The speaker was Marvel Rice, proprietor of the store in which Huson was a +clerk. "Tell him to hurry--hurry!" the merchant cried again, as without a +second's hesitation the two boys sped away along the tan-bark path. + +"Are you coming, Ree?" asked the more slender lad, glancing over his +shoulder with a droll smile. He was a wiry chap of sixteen and ran like a +grey hound, easily taking the lead. + +His companion made no reply, but his spirit fired by the sarcastic +question, he forged ahead, and the other found it necessary to waste no +more breath in humor. + +An admirer of youthful strength and development would have clapped his +hands with delight to have seen the boys' close race. Return Kingdom, +whom the slender lad had called "Ree," was a tall, strongly built, +muscular fellow of seventeen. His fine black hair waved under the brim of +a dilapidated beaver as he ran. His brown eyes were serious and keen and +his mouth and chin emphasized the determination expressed in them. Though +his clothes were of rough home-spun stuff, and his feet were encased in +coarse boots, an observing person would have seen that he was possessed +of the decision and strength in both mind and body which go to make +leaders among men. + +The smaller boy was John Jerome--quick, vigorous, brown-haired, +blue-eyed, freckled, and his attire was like that of his companion whose +follower he was in everything save foot-racing. In that he would give way +to no one, not excluding the trained Indian runners who sometimes came to +the neighboring village. + +"Easy, easy!" Dr. Cartwright sang out, the boys nearly colliding with him +as he was driving from his dooryard. "Somebody dying?" he asked as the +runners halted. + +"Jim Huson's been hurt; they want you at the store, quick," Ree Kingdom +breathlessly explained. + +"Badly?" asked the doctor with provoking deliberation, drawing on his +gloves. + +"Pretty nigh killed, I guess; Big Pete Ellis did it," put in John Jerome, +amazed that the physician did not at once drive off at lightning speed. + +"And they want me to finish the job do they?" smiled Dr. Cartwright, who +was never known to become excited. "Well, I'll see what I can do. Daisy, +get up." + +The latter words were for the faithful mare that had drawn the doctor's +chaise, or two-wheeled carriage, summer and winter for so many years that +she was as well known as the physician himself. The horse set off at a +leisurely jog, but the master's second "Get up Daisy," though drawled out +as if haste were the last thing to be thought of, quickened the animal's +speed to a lively trot. + +The boys started back at a walk, speculating on what could have provoked +Big Pete's assault and how serious Jim Huson's injury might be. + +"It upsets all our plans," said John; "for Jim was just the fellow to +tell us the price of everything and just what western emigrants should +take along. We can't talk to Mr. Rice about our going, as we could talk +to Jim." + +"Mr. Rice is so excitable he may have thought Huson worse hurt than he +is," Ree answered. "Anyway, we are not to start for three weeks, and Jim +may be up and around long before we go. So don't be blue. There is more +than one way to skin a cat. If we can't have Jim's advice we can talk +with some one else, or use our own judgment as to what we must buy. In +the end we will have to depend entirely on ourselves as to what we should +or should not do, anyway; but come what may, three weeks from this very +Monday, we shall go, if we live and have our health." + +"Bully for you, Ree! In three weeks our faces will be turned toward the +setting sun!" + +"Our backs will be toward the rising sun in three weeks, less one day," +Ree answered. "But scamper along; let's get back to the store and find +out first how Jim was hurt and how badly. It will be a sorry job for Pete +Ellis, if they catch him." + +The assault on the clerk at the Corners' store had aroused the +neighborhood. Coming at the hour of sundown when the day's work was +nearly over, it found people with leisure to hurry to the scene to learn +all about the affair. A dozen men and boys and a few women and children +were gathered near when Return Kingdom and John Jerome arrived. The boys +found that their injured friend had been carried to the inn across the +street, where Dr. Cartwright was attending him, and all were anxiously +waiting that good man's opinion. + +The story of the assault as it was told, over and over again, as the +crowd about the store increased, was that Big Pete had attempted to pass +counterfeit money on Jim Huson. The latter refused it, accusing Ellis of +having brought spurious coin to him at other times as well, and +threatening to cause his arrest. Without warning Big Pete seized a heavy +butter firkin and threw it squarely at the clerk's head. + +Huson dropped unconscious to the floor, and Mr. Rice, who ran to his aid, +received a similar blow. Ellis lost no time in dashing through the open +door, then adding to his other crimes the theft of horses and wagon to +assist in his escape. + +"Well, there is no great loss without some small gain," said one man. "We +are quit of Big Pete, that's certain, and it is a good riddance of bad +rubbish. He was the worst man in this bailiwick, and I am thinking that +more than one job of pilfering might safely be laid at his door." + +It was, indeed, true. Big Pete was not looked upon as a desirable +citizen. So bad had his name become that he could scarcely find +employment where he was known. The honest people of old Connecticut had +little liking for dishonesty, notwithstanding the stories of the +money-making ingenuity of that state's inhabitants. + +Leaning against a post, apart from the other men, Ree Kingdom presently +noticed an aged farmer, alternately wringing his hands and burying his +face in them. He was the owner of the team which had been stolen, and, +heedless of all else idly lamented his loss, complaining that no one went +in pursuit of the thief to secure his horses, but wholly forgetful of the +best of scriptural proverbs that God helps those who help themselves. The +boy was about to speak to him, when two men dashed up on horseback. + +"There's the constable," John Jerome exclaimed--"The constable and his +brother, and they are going after Big Pete." + +Before Ree could answer, the officer called for volunteers to assist in +his undertaking, for Ellis was known to be a dangerous man. + +"Here, some of you young bucks that can ride bare-back, strip the harness +off my team an' help ketch that murderous heathen! Only wish't I wasn't +all crippled up with rheumatics, I'd show him!" + +The speaker was Captain William Bowen, who had fought in the +Revolutionary War, ending seven years earlier, (1783) and was proud of +it; and who, though really sadly crippled by rheumatism, was still a sure +shot and not the man to be trifled with by law-breakers. He would permit +no one to call him anything but "Captain." His old rifle was always +within reach and two big pistols were ever his companions. + +For a minute no one made a move to accept the captain's offer, and then +with: "Come on, John," Ree Kingdom waited no longer. In a twinkling the +boys unharnessed the horses, leaving only the bridles on them, and were +mounted. Tom Huson, the blacksmith and Peter Piper, a half-breed Indian, +a sort of roustabout in the neighborhood, had also hurriedly prepared to +join in the chase. + +"Take my twins, lads, they bite as hard as they bark," called Captain +Bowen, passing his brace of pistols up to Ree and John, and in another +moment the party was galloping in pursuit of the big fellow whose crime +might yet be murder, Dr. Cartwright having reported that only time could +tell. + +"Who-ho-ho-ho-ho!" John Jerome could not resist the temptation to give an +Indian war-whoop. There is an exhilaration in a rapid ride by moonlight +at any time, and with the clatter of the hoofs of a half dozen horses +upon the beaten road, the forms of other riders, shadowy and ghost-like +on either side to lend a feeling of companionship, and a knowledge of +danger's presence to make every sense the more alert, there is no finer +excitement. Little wonder is it that John could not repress a yell, and +though of a much quieter disposition, Ree felt like shouting, also. + +"Who-ho-ho-ho!" John yelled again, a half hour later, and the women and +children ran to the door of a house they were passing to see who it might +be that was dashing by at such breakneck speed. The air came soft and +cool to the riders half hidden in the shadows of the trees which bordered +the road, though the moon was shining gloriously. + +"We will send you on ahead to tell Pete we are coming, if you are so fond +of making it known, youngster," exclaimed the constable as John gave +still another whoop. + +"He'd have a cat fit if he knew you were after him, I'll wager," the boy +answered, nettled by the man's sarcasm. "Suppose I do ride on and let him +know." + +John leaned back and slapped his horse's flank. The animal, scarcely more +than a colt, sprang forward at great speed. At the same time the young +rider raised up on his knees, then on his feet and keeping his balance +with seeming ease, standing nearly erect, the horse running its fastest, +he held the reins in one hand, waved his hat in the other, and again +yelled like an Indian. + +"That young dare-devil will kill himself one of these days," said the +blacksmith. "That colt of Captain Bowen's is likely to take it into her +head to bring up short at any minute. Better call him back, Kingdom." + +Ree had no fear that his friend could not take care of himself, but in +answer to the suggestion, he gave a shrill, peculiar whistle which made +the woodland ring. Like a shot John dropped to a sitting posture as he +heard the call, and in another minute Ree had ridden up beside him. +Before either could speak, a black object loomed up in the narrow road +and they had barely time to rein their horses in before they were upon +it, the animals leaping sidewise to avoid a collision. + +"Big Pete's wagon, sure as shooting! It's broken down!" ejaculated Ree. + +"Scotland! Where would I have landed if I had been standing up and this +colt had run into it?" John exclaimed. As he spoke the others of their +party came up. + +"Here's the wagon, but Pete and the horses are gone," called Ree. "He +can't be far ahead." + +"There's no telling. Hurry on," answered the constable who had hastily +sprung off his horse to examine the wreck. "Here are the harnesses, but +Pete is trying to get away with both horses. Keep your wits about you, +boys, there is likely to be some shooting!" + +Ree had been the first to start forward, and was one hundred yards in +advance of the others when his quick eye detected the dim outlines of a +man on horseback in the shadow of a low branching oak just before him at +the roadside. He recognized the huge figure of Big Pete and without a +word guided his horse straight toward the fellow. The criminal saw him +and with a yell started off. + +Ree's horse with a splendid bound cleared the ditch beside the highway, +and in another moment the boy had seized the bridle of the horse Big Pete +was leading, just as the fellow was getting the animal he bestrode under +rapid way for a race for his liberty. It was clear that he had been +delayed by the breaking down of the wagon, and had hidden at the roadside +hoping his pursuers would pass him by. With a determined grip Ree clung +to the bridle of the lead horse, though he was nearly jerked to the +ground. With his other hand he sought to check his own animal, but the +skittish young thing had taken fright and was now running ahead of the +flying criminal's horses. + +A great out-cry came from the constable and his party as they saw what +had happened and dug spurs into their mounts. Down the road the pursued +and pursuers raced, Ree Kingdom wholly unable to retard Big Pete's +progress but still clinging to the bridle of the horse between them, the +constable and his men trying their best to overtake the fugitive, but +unable to gain on him. + +"Shoot! why don't you shoot?" yelled Ree to his friends at last, and a +pair of pistols cracked simultaneously, a third and fourth rapidly +following. + +Ree heard the bullets whistle near his head and realized that he was in +almost as much danger of being hit, as Big Pete. But again he cried: + +"Shoot!" + +The pursuers were slowly but surely falling behind in the race. The burly +Ellis, glancing back, was quick to see that fortune favored him. He +leaned far over from his horse and before Ree Kingdom could detect his +purpose in the dusky light, seized the boy by the neck. With a giant's +strength he pulled the lad partially from his seat, endeavoring to hurl +him to the ground. Failing, he relinquished his hold on the reins, and +using both hands, succeeded in drawing Kingdom over the unridden horse +between them to the shoulders of his own horse. And then with herculean +efforts he tried to throw the boy to the earth. + +But Ree held to his own horse's reins with bull dog ferocity, and with +all his strength resisted the other's effort. As he was jerked from his +seat, however, the strain on the reins caused his horse to sharply swerve +inward, crowding against the other animals, and in a twinkling the three +of them, already frantic with the fury of their wild race, left the +course and sped across a woodland at the unfenced roadside. + +Gasping an oath, the enraged giant tried again to push Ree to the ground, +and this time he succeeded; but he himself went off head-foremost with +the boy, who held to his arm with a grip of steel, dragging him suddenly +down. Freed of their burden, the horses ran on, Big Pete cursing +frightfully as he sprang to his feet to find them far beyond his reach. + +Lying still, bruised but not seriously hurt by his fall, Ree Kingdom was +thinking fast. He felt for his pistol inspired by the thought that he +would capture the criminal yet, and wishing he had used it earlier. But +the weapon was gone--lost in the wild ride, no doubt. The next instant +Ellis swiftly turned and seized him by the throat; and he knew that his +life was in the giant's hands. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A Bound Boy's Story. + + +With the horses gone beyond recapture, Big Pete must needs depend on his +own legs if he meant to escape. The constable's party could not be far +behind, and with the boy, whose throat he clutched, to point the way in +which he had gone, when the officer came up, his chance of getting away +was much less than it would be should that boy be powerless to give any +information. + +Ree Kingdom thought of this and lay perfectly still, feigning +insensibility but keenly wondering what disposition would be made of him, +and resolved to fight to the last breath if his pretense of +unconsciousness were discovered. Then the giant's grip about his throat +grew tighter, and he felt that a terrible struggle and perhaps death were +just at hand. Between his almost closed eyelids he saw the man's big +frame bending silently over him and thus moments which seemed like hours +passed. + +The slow-thinking fugitive could not at once decide what he should do. He +was hoping Ree would spring to his feet and run. Then, pretending to try +to catch him, he would escape among the darker shadows before the boy +could see in which direction he had gone. He was not deceived by the +pretense of unconsciousness, as Ree thought, and really hoped to be saved +the necessity of killing the lad or of knocking him senseless, to a +certainty, lest such a blow might produce death. He shuddered as he +remembered that his hands were probably already stained with blood. + +If Ellis had but known it, flight was far from Kingdom's thoughts. He was +steadfast in his every purpose, to a fault, and having set out to capture +Big Pete, the idea of running away just as he was face to face with the +giant fellow, did not so much as occur to him, though he well knew his +peril. + +"Scoot!" With sudden fury Ellis dragged Ree to his feet and violently +pushed him as he spoke, expecting to see the boy dash away. + +Ree could not prevent a grim smile from crossing his lips as he turned +quickly toward the giant again, realizing that the fellow had intended to +frighten him. Each moment, however, he looked for a deadly conflict to +begin, and as he stood in quiet defiance, trying to determine what the +fugitive's next move would be, and momentarily expecting a struggle, +there was in the background of his thoughts a vision of an unmarked, +flower-strewn grave in a quiet church-yard. Strongly intertwined with it +was memory of his past life. But hark! + +"Clockety-clack-clockety-clack!" It was the sound of horses' hoofs close +by. The constable had discovered them at last. Big Pete heard the +hoof-beats and knew he had paused too long. + +"Death to ye!" he cried with an oath, and lodged a hammer-like blow on +Kingdom's head, sending the lad staggering, while he swiftly took to his +heels. + +Dazed, but still conscious, Ree sprang after him, shouting "Come on!" to +the party of horsemen now but a few rods distant, "Ellis has just this +minute run into the woods!" + +For an hour the men searched for the fugitive, but in vain. He had +disappeared completely and in the deep darkness pervading the +thickly-grown brush and trees of the forest he eluded his pursuers with +ease. + +In disappointment the chase was abandoned and attention given to +capturing the escaped horses. This was at last accomplished, and as the +early moon was waning, the constable and his volunteers turned homeward. +One source of satisfaction was theirs--they had, at least, recovered the +stolen team and wagon, though the latter would need many repairs before +again being fit for service. + +Ree briefly told of his adventure as the party rode along. John Jerome +could not withhold his words of regret that his horse had been too slow +for the race, nor could he quite understand how the stolen team had been +able to outstrip the others. + +"I'll tell you how that was," said the constable's brother. "The nags Big +Pete had was really runnin' away. I guess you know how much faster a dog +will run when he has a rattle tied to his tail, than when he's jest +runnin' for the fun on it! Wall, this here's a parallel case." + +Although it was nearly midnight, a small crowd of curious ones was found +still lingering about Mr. Rice's store, anxious to learn all that had +been done. Ree Kingdom received a large share of the praise for the +return of the stolen horses. Captain Bowen was delighted over his +behavior and would not listen to one word about the lost pistol. + +"I'll drive over that way an' pick it up along the road somewheres in the +mornin'," he said. "An' to-morrow night I want you to come an' try some +o' the new cider. You come too, son," he added, turning to John. + +The boys thanked him heartily, for well they might esteem it a great +favor and an honor to receive this invitation from the warlike old +veteran. Again they inquired for the latest news of Jim Huson, and +learning that he was likely to recover, set out for their homes. + +"I have a presentiment that we shall see Big Pete again," said Ree +thoughtfully. + +"Are you afraid of him?" John quietly asked. + +"No, I am not afraid of him, yet I would rather we should never meet +again. But I think he will go west and though it is a big country, we +might find him there. By the way, John, Capt. Bowen is just the man to +give us advice about our expedition. Meet me about sundown at the old +place. We will have a lot to talk about as we are on the way to make our +call." + +A few minutes later the boys separated. John going to the overcrowded +little house of his parents; Ree to the Henry Catesby farm, which was the +only home he had known since childhood. As he crept into bed in his attic +room, and stretched his full length restfully on the straw-filled tick, +again there came to him a vision of an unmarked grave in the quiet +burying-ground, bringing an influence of sadness to all his thoughts. + +"Oh, mother, my memory of you is the dearest thing in life," he softly +whispered to himself, and his mind turned fondly to his childhood. +Faintly he remembered his father. More vividly he recalled the coming of +a neighbor with the news of his father's death--killed by Gen. Howe's +troops as they advanced on Philadelphia, after succeeding in defeating +the American soldiers at Wilmington, because Gen. Washington was misled +by false information. + +Poor Ree! How well did he remember his mother's grief, though he was too +young to understand--too care-free to grieve long or deeply himself. Many +times he had heard the story in after days, how his father and two +companions were fired upon as they were hurrying forward to give notice +of the enemy's coming; and one of the three being wounded, his father +would not leave him, though in trying to save him, his own life was +sacrificed. It was the third man, who escaped, who spread the news of the +bravery and death of the elder Return Kingdom. + +Ree did not know how long a time had elapsed, but it seemed a very little +while after this sad story reached his mother that she removed with him +to a newer part of Connecticut, where she earned a living for them both +by weaving and spinning. A happy year or two slipped by and then--ah, +well, he remembered the dreary day when some neighbors had taken him to +see her whom he loved so well, buried beneath the elm trees, and he knew +he was left alone. + +Memory of the bitter tears he shed came freshly to the boy as he recalled +it all--how, in but a few days, he was "bound out" to Henry Catesby with +the promise that he should have a home and want for nothing. + +Had he been in want? Oh, he had been supplied with food and clothing and +a roof over his head. Could he ask more? Yes, a thousand times, yes! He +wanted friends, companionship, love. He remembered no one who had cared +for him in those early days, except--Mary Catesby, his hard master's +little daughter. And she was still but a child when she was told to have +no association with the "bound boy;" learning of which, he had steeled +his proud young heart and had spoken to her only when necessary. + +So with work, day in and day out, save for a few winter weeks in school, +the years had passed, until he made the acquaintance of John Jerome, the +son of a distant neighbor. Too poverty-distressed to be proud, he had +known little happiness except a sort of sad pleasure he found in visiting +the church-yard, where in summer he placed great bunches of wild flowers +on the mound to him most sacred. + +For two years he and John had been intimate friends. The latter being +sometimes employed by Mr. Catesby, gave the boys additional opportunities +of being with one another. Late at night after a long, hard day in the +harvest fields, they had gone swimming together. They had borrowed a gun, +and John's money bought the ammunition they used in learning to shoot, to +practice which they had risen before sunrise; for at Old Sol's first peep +the day's work must be begun. Many a time they had labored all day, then +tramped the woods all night, hunting 'coons, coming home in time only to +catch a wink of sleep before jumping into their clothes and away to work +again. + +Sometimes in winter when, by reason of John helping him with his work, +Ree was able to secure a half-day off, the boys had sought other game, +and shared the profits arising from their hunting and trapping. What with +the knowledge they thus picked up themselves, and the instruction given +them by Peter Piper and others, there were no two boys in Connecticut +better versed in woodcraft. + +Ree thought of all these things as he lay awake looking out through his +window at the stars in the western sky. And as his thoughts ran on, he +reflected on the death of Mr. Catesby a short eight months ago, and the +great change it had brought into his life. From the moment Mrs. Catesby +had called him to go for the doctor when her husband was taken ill, she +had depended on him in nearly everything. It was he who took charge of +all the farm work of the spring and summer, and the neighbors had said +the Catesby place never produced better crops. With scarcely a pause +except on Sundays, he had toiled early and late to accomplish this. Only +within the past few weeks when the rush of the harvest was over, had he +allowed himself any time for recreation. Yet it had been a happy summer, +he thought. Mrs. Catesby, appreciative of his splendid services, had been +all kindness; Mary Catesby had been agreeable as his own sister might +have been. Both had forgotten, or at least no longer observed, the bar of +social inequality which Mr. Catesby had set up against the "bound boy." + +Then in August had come Mrs. Catesby's decision to remove to the city +that her daughter might have educational advantages. It was with genuine +regret that Ree had learned her plans. He would never have admitted even +to himself that he had, in a certain boyish, vague way, dreamed of a dim, +distant time when he and Mary might be more than friends; but maybe some +such thought had been in his mind at some time. Strange it would be had +nothing of the kind occurred to him. + +Thus as he lay awake still pondering on the past, the present and the +future, in the depths of Ree's heart of hearts there may have been a wish +that he should become a successful man, wealthy perhaps, well-to-do +certainly; but in any event, looked up to and respected. + +But, oh!--What obstacles confronted him! How could he ever be more than a +rough, uneducated "bound boy" that he was! The subject was not a pleasant +one, but he gave it most serious thought, and determined for the +hundredth time, that, come what might, he would make the most of his +opportunities and ever be able to hold up his head in any company. + +So his reflections passed to the future. He was to receive $100 for his +summer's work. He also had some money which he had secured in odd sums +from time to time, safely put away in the chest beneath his bed. + +John Jerome had a hoard of savings, too. How should they best invest +their joint capital for their proposed journey to the western wilderness, +where, they planned, they would make homes and secure farms for +themselves amid savages and wild beasts! They must be obtaining this and +other information at once. They would have learned much that very evening +had not the man to whom they were going in quest of advice, been +assaulted by Big Pete Ellis. And what of that burly giant, by the way? + +"But this will never do. I must be getting to sleep," Ree said to +himself. + +Going to sleep just when one wishes, however, is not always easy. Ree +found it the very opposite. Tired as he was, his mind went over the +adventure of the night, and in a round-about way to his future home in +the wilderness, again, before his eyes closed. At last dreams came to +him, and in one of them he saw Big Pete waving a white handkerchief as a +flag of truce. He could not make out for whom the sign of peace was +meant; for a war party of Indians seemed to be hot on the giant's trail, +and it was in the opposite direction that Pete waved the handkerchief. + +Ree recalled the dream when pulling on his boots in the morning, and +pondered over the possibility of its having some significance. + +Many times during that day the young man had occasion to remember the +incidents of the night preceding. Everyone he met, it seemed, had heard +of his adventure with Big Pete and they all congratulated him. More than +one, too, warned him against the giant Ellis, saying the fellow would +surely seek revenge. + +Ree gave but little heed to this talk. Big Pete had had the chance to +kill him, or at least to attempt it, and had not done so, evidently +wishing to avoid blood-shed. But Peter Piper came along during the +afternoon with a story which he had heard in the adjacent village, that +gave the boy some uneasiness. Big Pete had sent word by a farmer he had +seen at daybreak, that he would return to his old haunts and that not a +man would dare to touch him; that he would not be driven off, though he +had killed both Jim Huson and Marvel Rice, and that those who had +interfered with him would suffer for it. + +"He's a braggart," said Ree contemptuously. + +"Jes' what he says, he will do. He's bad, bad, bad," said Peter Piper in +his simple, earnest way. + +So Ree came to look upon the matter with much seriousness. Somehow it +occurred to him that the giant might seek revenge by burning the barn or +poisoning the horses, or some such cowardly thing--he knew not what. For +himself he was not afraid, and it is not strange that in the wildest +flights of his lively fancy he did not for a moment imagine under what +startling circumstances he was destined to next behold the fugitive +criminal. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Beginning of a Perilous Journey. + + +"Hitch yer cheers up t' the blaze; it's a cool night fer September," said +Captain Bowen, drawing his own splint-bottom chair toward the great +fire-place of his homely but thoroughly comfortable home, and slowly +sipping new cider, just old enough to sparkle, from the bright pewter mug +containing it. + +"An' help yerselves to some more cider, naow dew; I like a man to feel at +home," he went on as Return Kingdom and John Jerome gave heed to his +kindly bidding. + +"Naow as I was a sayin'," Captain Bowen continued, "I r'ally kent advise +yeu youngsters t' undertake these plans yer minds air set on. The Injuns +hev hated us whites worse than ever sence the British turned their back +to 'em after the war was over, an' comin' so soon after their hevin' +helped the pestiferous Redcoats so much--they fit fer 'em tooth an' +toe-nail as the sayin' is, ye know--as I was sayin' it rankles in their +in'ards. General Washington--peace to him--he's did all he kin toward +pacifyin' 'em, an' it ain't no wonder they call him the 'Great Father'; +but so many other men hev cheated 'em, an' so many settlers air crowdin' +into their huntin' graounds thet they air jist ready to lift the hair of +any white man they catch sight on, a'most. Ye air takin' long chances, +boys, I do tell ye." + +"We want to hear both sides of the matter," Ree answered, and Captain +Bowen resumed, saying in his own slow, homely but kindly way, that it was +into the very thick of the savages that the boys were planning to go. He +reminded them of the barbarous cruelties the Indians had practiced as +allies of the King's troops in the war, and told them briefly the story +of the battle Col. Crawford had fought with the savages in the Ohio +country, ending with the burning of Col. Crawford at the stake. + +He cautioned his young friends further of the hazardous nature of the +journey through an unsettled country, a long part of the way lying over +the Allegheny mountains. He told them of the cutthroats they would be +likely to encounter--rough men, who, for adventure's sake, had gone into +the war, and had never been satisfied to settle down to lives of peace +and respectability after the close of the Revolution. As he paused at +last, there was quiet for a minute or two. Then Return Kingdom said: + +"We have thought of these things, Captain, and maybe we are head-strong, +but we are bent on going. There is little future for a young man here. I +will soon have no home, and John can well be spared from his. All we can +do, if we do not emigrate and secure homes of our own, is to hire out as +farm hands, and, as you know, labor is not greatly in demand. And as we +have said, we expect to go among the Indians partly as traders. The land +we shall settle upon, we expect to buy from them. + +"Traders who have behaved themselves have not had much trouble, and we +hope to make peace with every tribe we fall in with. The truth is, +Captain, we really have more fear of finding ourselves in the woods with +a lot of stuff we do not need, taking up the room in our cart and adding +to our load, while that which we should have will not be within reach, +than we have of trouble with the Indians." + +"People say it will be only a few years until all the country about the +Ohio river will be settled," put in John Jerome. + +"Y-a-as, land agents say that," smiled Captain Bowen, "but I ain't so +sure on it. Folks kin still find plenty of hardships right here in +Connecticut 'thout pokin' off t' the Ohio Valley or the northwest kentry. +But I tell you what, youngsters," he exclaimed with sudden enthusiasm, "I +wish I was ten years younger, I'd go with ye, bless me if I wouldn't! +They do bring tales of a marvelous kentry from the valley where my ol' +friend General Putnam an' his colony settled!" + +From that moment Ree and John had smooth sailing so far as getting advice +and information from Captain Bowen was concerned. Then and there, +however, the Captain had to tell them all he knew about the colony of +brave men who had founded Marietta on the Ohio river, nearly three years +earlier. "An' they do tell that game is thick there as fleas on a +homeless, yaller dog," he said. + +Though he knew that his wish that he might accompany the boys could never +be gratified, Captain Bowen entered into the spirit of their plans and +hopes with whole-souled ardor. He took great delight in telling the boys +of his own youth and his adventures. He seemed to grow young again in +their presence. Many times, too, he told them of sixteen-year-old Jervis +Cutler, who, as a member of General Putnam's party, was the first to leap +ashore and the first to cut down a tree in the new country whose +settlement their enterprise had started. + +Throughout, the boys found Captain Bowen's assistance of the greatest +value. He went to town with them and helped them make their purchases, +which he took into his own home, as a central point of assembling, the +articles bought for the expedition, and helped to pack them in the +handiest and most compact manner; and many a thing of value and use which +he paid for with his own money, found its way at his hands into the +outfit the lads were getting together. + +The route of the journey Captain Bowen also aided the boys in planning, +and his knowledge of the country stood them in excellent stead. He +prepared maps for them--home-made affairs it is true, and not absolutely +accurate, but yet worth much to those who planned to cross a thinly +settled country to the wilderness beyond. It was by the way of Braddock's +road that he advised the boys to go, following for the most part the +course Gen. Putnam's party had taken after leaving Hartford in 1788. This +party had made the trip in three months, including a long wait while +boats were built in which to float down the Ohio river. + +Captain Bowen figured that Ree and John could make better time and reach +Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) before November first. There they could probably +secure passage down the river without difficulty. In many other ways the +genial old man lent his aid, and the boys never went to him that they did +not find him brimming over with ideas for their benefit. + +The news that Ree and John were going to the Ohio wilderness, and +alone--soon spread through the surrounding country. Men who hitherto had +scarcely noticed them, now came up to shake hands and advise the lads as +to this or that, whenever they chanced to meet them. Others shook their +heads gloomily and lost no opportunity to throw cold water on the +project. The young people of the community talked more of Ree Kingdom and +John Jerome going west than of anything else. There were envious ones who +predicted that the boys would return a great deal faster than they went, +or that they would not live to return at all. There were those of better +dispositions, however, who, while recognizing the peril of the proposed +venture, hoped and promised for the chums, all success. + +It was with one of the former that John had an encounter which was talked +about for weeks afterward. Jason Hard, the cobbler, a stocky Englishman, +thirty years old perhaps, had been making slighting remarks about both +John and Ree and their plans in the presence of a small company of men +who were at the tavern awaiting the coming of the stage. As John +approached the inn someone said: + +"Now here's young Jerome himself, just say to his face what you were +saying behind his back, Jason Hard!" + +"I was sayin' that if his father wasn't shiftless, the young 'un wouldn't +need to be leavin' 'ome, an' I say it again," ejaculated the cobbler, +with arms akimbo, standing directly in front of John in an insolent +manner. + +"Look here! Take that back, you son of a Tory; my father has worked too +hard to help his son get a start in life, for me to stand by and hear +such talk! I say, take it back!" John bristled up like a porcupine. + +The insolent Englishman sprang toward him as though to strike him, paused +a moment, then suddenly let fly a blow straight for the boy's jaw. Most +luckily John dodged in time, then with the agility of a cat he jumped +toward the fellow and planted one fist just below his ear and the other +squarely on his chin tumbling him to the ground. + +Captain Bowen, who drove up just in time to see the encounter, was +tickled amazingly. Others enjoyed the exhibition almost as much, and gave +a cheer for the boy, while the badly bruised cobbler stood by rubbing his +head, as though he wondered what had occurred. + +Captain Bowen cautioned John against being too prone to take offense, +especially as he would soon have Indians to deal with, but he secretly +rejoiced in the lad's spunk. The Captain drove out of his way to take +John home in his light wagon, while he was thus advising him. + +The day of their separation was drawing quickly nearer, and John was +spending as much time with his parents, brothers and sisters as he +conveniently could. Often they urged him to abandon his preparations, but +as it was with Return Kingdom that he was going, neither the father nor +mother was willing to say he must not go. Both felt that he would be in +good hands and in good company. + +And Mrs. Catesby and Mary more than once, also, sought to dissuade Ree +from emigrating. It was kind of them and their words of sympathy did Ree +good, but he smiled at their fears and promised that he would return to +assist in welcoming them home from the city, if they should be returning +when Mary's education was completed. + +How often Ree had cause to remember these promises so light-heartedly +made, and the comforts he was leaving behind, within a few short +months--when days of danger and sleepless nights of peril came! + +There was so much to be done that time passed quickly. The Sunday +preceding the Monday morning on which they were to start, Ree and John +went to church together, and heard the good old preacher make special +reference to them in his prayer--that God would guide and protect the +young wayfarers and that they would not forget His mercy and wisdom. +Every eye in the church was turned toward the boys, embarrassing them +more than a little and making them wish they were safely started and well +away from their excellent but altogether too curious friends. + +Ree went home to dinner with John, and on his way to the Catesby farm in +the evening he went across the fields to the quiet church-yard. Under the +clear, cold stars he sat beside a grassy mound and for an hour was quiet +as the grave itself. Many tender memories crept through his heart and in +his thoughts was an unspoken prayer. Thus he took leave of the spot to +him most sacred--his angel mother's grave. + +To his surprise Ree found Mrs. Catesby and Mary waiting for him in the +combined sitting-room and kitchen, when he entered the house. + +"As you will be leaving so very early, sir, we thought to say good-bye to +you to-night," said Mary with feigned solemnity. And a little later she +said as they were talking, "I do hope you will be as good as your name +and will bring your scalp safely home with you when you do 'return'." + +Ree laughed and promised he would do so, but he blushed, and seeing +which, Mary Catesby did the same, and looked her very prettiest. + +"We shall think of you often, Return, and maybe you will be able +sometimes to send us a letter. We shall be glad to hear from you, and oh, +my boy, be careful--careful in all things," Mrs. Catesby said. + +There were more teasing words from Mary, and more advice and real tears, +from Mrs. Catesby and her daughter, too, before the final good-byes were +said at last. + + * * * * * + +The late September sun spread a soft, warm haze over old Connecticut. A +great, two-wheeled, canvas-covered cart lumbered slowly along the country +road. Walking beside the one large horse which drew the vehicle, was +Return Kingdom, his battered beaver hat on the back of his head, a smile +of buoyant hope upon his lips. Sitting on a chest, his feet hanging over +the front of the wagon box, his back against a bundle of blankets which +made a fine cushion, was John Jerome. Joy in living and satisfaction with +himself and all mankind were written in every line of his face. It was +eight o'clock of a Monday morning. Two hours earlier the long journey +toward the unknown Northwest had begun. + +"Why, ye'r in a terrible hurry, youngsters! Thought I'd never ketch ye!" + +It was Captain Bowen who called out, driving his spirited team alongside +of the emigrant wagon as he did so. + +"After ye'd gone, it come to me all of a sudden that ye'd stand a chance +of meetin' an old friend of mine. He is an Iroquois Injun of the Mohawk +tribe an' his name is High Horse. General Putnam gave him this knife fer +doin' some thin' or other one time, an' High Horse gave it to me 'cause I +shared powder an' bullets with him when he was out, an' durin' the war at +that. Seems t' me naow, tew, that I pulled him through some sick spell or +somethin'. Any haow he give me the knife. If ye see him tell him ye know +me. I heerd that he was livin' up some crick emptyin' into the Ohio." + +Almost before the boys could thank the Captain he had turned and was +gone, having thrown a long-bladed knife with a curiously carved ivory +handle--a relic of some Dutch trader perhaps--to Ree. + +"I say! Maybe ye didn't hear as haow Jim Huson was able to git about +t'day! Ye'll be hungry enough fer news I was thinkin', before ye air back +agin!" + +John waved his old cap and Ree shouted their thanks again, but if Captain +Bowen heard he gave no heed; at least he did not look back. + +At noon a halt was made at the roadside, close to a running brook, while +the horse was fed and watered and the boys ate their lunch. They would +not have exchanged places with a prince, now that they felt themselves +fairly launched upon their long-talked-of enterprise. Their hopes were +unblemished by any unhappy circumstance and the fine weather was as a +tonic to their already lively spirits. They carefully examined their +goods and wagon to see that all was in proper order before starting on, +resolving to be attentive to every detail and let no mishap come to them +through carelessness. On the road, too, they exercised care, remembering +that a steady gait and not too fast, was necessary. And so the first day +of their journey was passed most pleasantly. + +For the novelty of it the boys camped out the first night, beneath a +clump of beech trees, and no two young men ever more fully enjoyed a +campfire's cheerful blaze. + +Another and another day passed. It was in the afternoon of the fourth day +of the journey that John stopped whistling "Yankee Doodle" to inquire of +his companion who was taking his turn riding on the box: + +"Ree, do you know much about this Eagle tavern where we are to stop +to-night? I just happened to remember a story that was told in war time, +that the house was haunted." + +"Haunted by Redcoat spies, I guess," Ree answered. "The whole kit of them +there at that time were the worst kind of Tories at heart, I have heard +folks say, and Captain Bowen said something about it, too, you remember? +But I guess they are all right now--got on the right side of the fence +after the war was over." + +"I don't mind Indians or wild animals--fact is, I'm just hankering to +kill a bear, but I don't want anything to do with spooks or witches or +anything of that sort," returned John. "I'll keep my eyes wide open for +ghosts and robbers if we stay at the Eagle, at any rate." + +"There is probably more reason to be afraid of bed-bugs," laughed Ree. "I +don't believe the Eagle is so very bad a place or Captain Bowen would not +have marked it as a stopping place. There was a man robbed and murdered +there, it is true; but that was years ago, and needn't worry us." + +So with talk of their journey and the progress they hoped to make in view +of the necessity of reaching the wilderness before winter set in +severely, the lads whiled away the time. It was nearly sundown when, +passing through a woods which skirted both sides of the road, they found +the Eagle tavern in view. + +"See any spooks about?" asked Ree with a smile. + +"No," said John quite seriously, "but I did see a mighty wicked looking +man peeking out of the window of the barn across the road from the tavern +there, just now. He seemed to be wanting to find out who we were and what +sort of an outfit we had, without being seen by us. Without joking, Ree, +I tell you I don't like it!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +The Man Under the Bed. + + +The Eagle tavern was a long, low structure and stood close beside the +highway, on the opposite side of which was the weather-beaten log and +frame barn to which John had referred. Near the tavern was a well and an +old-fashioned sweep towering above it. At the roadside there was a +moss-covered log trough at which horses were watered. An air of +loneliness, such as is noticed about old, deserted houses, whose +door-yards have grown up to rank weeds and briars, hung over the tavern, +and the deep shadows cast by the setting sun heightened this effect. +Little wonder is it that a feeling of depression came over the young +travelers as they approached. + +No other houses were near the tavern and guests were evidently few. The +road which passed it was not a main thoroughfare, and no stage-coach made +the Eagle a regular stopping-place. It may have been a handsome; +much-frequented place at one time, but those days had long since +departed. + +Up to the watering-trough Ree drove, however, and unreined the horse, +that it might drink. + +"It does look kind of creepy around here," he remarked in an undertone; +"but put on a bold front, John, we are going to stay, just to prove to +ourselves that we are not afraid." + +"I would a great deal rather camp out," John frankly confessed, "but you +are the captain, Ree. I can stand it if you can." + +A skulking fellow of about thirty years, none the handsomer for having +lost nearly all his front teeth, came to help put up their horse when the +boys had made their wants known inside the tavern. No unusual thing +occurred, however, and the young travelers had shaken off the gloomy +feelings which the lonely place inspired by the time their supper was +ready. As they were by themselves at the table, a man whom Ree had not +seen before approached and took a chair nearby, tilting back against the +wall and calmly surveying them. + +John kicked Ree's shins under the table. It was not, perhaps, a polite +way of imparting the information that this was the fellow he had seen +peering out of the barn, but Ree understood perfectly. + +Having eyed the boys for a minute or two, the stranger said, in a gruff, +indifferent tone: + +"Good evenin'." + +"Good evening, sir," spoke Ree, and John's voice repeated the words like +an echo. + +"Traveled far?" growled the stranger. + +"Far enough for one day," Ree answered, little inclined to engage in +conversation with the man, for the fellow's appearance was far from +favorable. The sneaking glance of his eyes, his unshaved face and uncouth +dress, half civilized, half barbarian, gave him an air of lawlessness, +though except for these things he might have been considered handsome. + +For a minute the stranger did not speak, and John suppressed a laugh as +he saw with what cool unconcern Ree returned the fellow's stare whenever +he looked at them. + +"Don't show off your smartness, bub," sharply spoke the man at last, as +he fully comprehended that Ree had purposely given him an evasive answer, +"I asked a civil enough question." + +"And got a civil answer," Ree quickly replied. + +"I see you are emigrating," the stranger went on, trying to make his +coarse voice sound friendly. "I just had in mind puttin' a flea in your +ear. Because it is the wrong time of year to be goin' west, in the first +place, and the woods are full of Indians and the roads alive with +cutthroats, in the second place. If I was you young shavers I'd sell out +and wait a year or two, or till next spring anyhow, before goin' any +further. I s'pose you have a lot of goods in your cart; goin' to do some +tradin' with the Mingoes, maybe." + +John pricked up his ears at this reference to the nature of their cart's +contents, but waited for Ree to speak. This the latter did at once, +respectfully but firmly. + +"We are much obliged for your advice and the interest you take in us, but +we expect to be able to take care of ourselves both on the road and in +the woods. Aren't you the man we saw in the barn as we were coming up?" + +The question was an experimental thrust. Ree wished to learn whether the +fellow would give a reason for having spied upon them. The man looked at +him searchingly before replying. + +"I never clapped eyes on you till you come into this room," he coolly +said, however. "What do you take me for? I was only goin' to tell you +that I know a man that will buy your outfit if you want to sell!" + +"Which we do not," said Ree with moderate emphasis. + +"You would find a little ready money mighty handy; I don't s'pose you +have any too much," the stranger replied with assumed carelessness. + +"Say; tell us what you are trying to get at, will you!" John spoke up, +with a show of spirit. + +"Hold your horses, sonny!" the fellow growled. "You are almost too big +for your breeches!" + +"Well what do you take us for! Maybe you have some more questions to +ask!" John exclaimed, and Ree smiled to see how heated he had become. + +The stranger relapsed into silence, and presently arose and strolled +away. + +Having finished their supper, the boys went into the general sitting-room +of the tavern, a long room in one end of which there was a bar, and sat +down by themselves to talk. As their conversation flagged, Ree drew from +his belt beneath his coat, the ivory handled knife Captain Bowen had been +at such pains to give them. In an idle, listless way he began stropping +the blade on his boot-leg. + +A tall, lank man of fifty, with a thin, sharp face and nose, whom the +lads had noticed sitting opposite them, reading a pamphlet of some kind, +came nearer and seemed to take an unusual interest in the sharpening of +the knife. His keen eyes watched every movement the blade made. Coming +close up, he quietly said: + +"If that ar ain't Cap. Bowen's knife over to Bruceville, he hes the mate +to it! His'n is the only knife I ever see with a handle like that." + +"Do you know Captain Bowen?" asked Ree, and as the man said he did, and +told them who he was, both lads held out their hands which the newcomer +shook cordially. It was like meeting someone from home; for the lanky +individual was a peddler who had often visited at Captain Bowen's house +and knew many of their friends. + +As they talked further the peddler said, sinking his voice to an +undertone, "I want yeow youngsters to hev some advice; it won't cost ye +nothin', an' it may save ye a heap of trouble. There's a bad 'un stayin' +at this old tavern, an' he's likely to want yeow boys to pay fer his rum. +Naow, he won't ask ye fer money, but be all-fired keerful that he don't +git it from ye anyhow. Jes sleep with one eye open, an' hev a hick'ry +club handy t' yer bed." + +Ree told the peddler of their conversation with the stranger at the +table, and as he described the fellow, their new friend said: + +"He ar the one, an' him an' the hos'ler here are bad 'uns." + +As the hour grew late Ree and John went to the barn to see that their +cart and horse had been properly cared for, and returning, went +immediately to bed. For half an hour they lay awake talking of their +journey. Their money was between them in the big four-poster and each had +a pistol within reach. At last they said "Good night" to one another, and +settling themselves in comfortable positions, composed themselves to +sleep. + +All had grown quiet about the old tavern. The ticking of the big clock +down stairs, and the baying of a hound off in the woods somewhere, were +the only sounds which reached the ears of the young emigrants. And thus +they forgot their travels and where they were, and the danger which +hovered near. + +It was sometime after midnight when Ree was suddenly awakened. He had +heard no sound, nor could he tell what had disturbed his slumber; but he +had instantly found himself, eyes wide open, every sense alert. Without +the slightest noise or movement he lay listening. A minute later he felt +for just an instant the touch of something cold against his skin. + +"A snake," was his first thought, and a little thrill of horror crossed +him as the idea of a reptile being in their bed, flashed over his brain. +Again he felt the touch, cold and clammy against his side; and, intending +to grab the serpent, if such it was, and hurl it from the bed, with a +quick movement of his arm he made a desperate grab. He caught and for but +an instant held a human hand, large and coarse. + +"John!" Ree spoke the name with startled emphasis, and its owner rose up +in bed like a flash. + +"What? What is it?" + +"There is some one in this room! He has been reaching into the bed, +trying to rob us." + +As he spoke Ree sprang out upon the floor. "And here's the window open! +That shows where he came in. Get your pistol and be ready to fire if he +tries to jump out. I am going to skirmish for the rascal!" + +Faint rays of moonlight made the room not entirely dark, but Ree could +see no sign of the intruder as he stepped softly to the middle of the +floor. It was a useless action; for, as he was between the three dark +walls and the window in the outer wall, the robber could easily see him +without being seen himself. It was a fault of Return Kingdom's that he +did not properly consider his own safety, and the wonder is that he did +not in this instance become the target for a bullet. + +"I'd better yell for help," suggested John. + +"You'd better not!" said Ree emphatically, peering into the dark corners. +"I cannot be mistaken, but if I should be--well we don't care to be +laughed at." + +Not a sound was heard as both boys remained perfectly quiet. Then on +tip-toe Ree went to all the corners of the room, his left hand +outstretched before him while his right held a pistol ready for instant +use. + +"John, did you sneeze?" he demanded as a smothered "kerchoo" came from +the direction of his friend. + +"He's under the bed, Ree! He's under the bed! Call help!" This was John's +answer and his tone was sharp with excitement. + +In a trice Ree was at the foot of the bed and looking beneath it. A dark +object there moved slightly. + +"Come out of that!" Ree sternly demanded, and the click of his pistol as +he cocked the weapon sounded loud and clear. At the same moment the +object beneath the four-poster began to crawl and soon coming forth, +stood erect--the stranger the boys had met at supper. + +"Oh, it's you, is it?" ejaculated Ree with an inflection of contempt in +his voice; but the next instant the intruder's hands were about his +throat. + +"Help! Help!" yelled John Jerome. + +Finding the young man he had seized, a much harder problem than he was +prepared to handle, and frightened by John's cries, the stranger gave Ree +a shove and sprang toward the window. + +"Help! Robbers!" yelled John again, and now the stranger had one leg out +of the window. But he got no further. Ree seized him about the body; the +robber seized him in turn, and his foot striking the ladder by which he +had climbed up, it went tumbling to the ground. With a frightful oath the +fellow endeavored to throw Ree after it. For a second they both balanced +on the window sill at the very verge of falling. Then John seized the +robber's hair, and dealt him a blow with the butt of his pistol. He +raised the weapon to strike again, but Ree had now secured his release +from the villain's grasp and fired at him just as the fellow plunged to +the ground, leaving a bunch of his black hair quivering in John's hand. + +The bullet took effect, for the boys found blood on the ground beneath +the window next morning; but the robber dashed around a corner out of +range at such speed that there was no opportunity to fire a second time. + +A pounding on the door told the youthful travelers that the house had +been aroused, and they lost no time in admitting the landlord, +accompanied by the greatly excited peddler. + +"What's all the row about?" demanded the tavern-keeper, holding a lighted +candle over his shoulder. + +"I want to investigate before I say what it is _all_ about," Ree +answered, emphasizing the "all." + +"A pretty sort of a place, this is!" put in John indignantly. "We might +have been murdered in our beds!" + +"How can I help it, boy? Just you keep your breeches on!" + +"I'll have to put them on first," John ejaculated, and forthwith +proceeded to do so. + +Ree took the landlord's candle and turned back the bed clothing. He found +the leather wallet containing their money, undisturbed, but as he picked +it up, he noticed a hole in the sheets and tick of the bed. + +"Look, here," he exclaimed, "here is where the row you complain of, +began. The man who has just gone out of the window, evidently crawled +under the bed and having cut a hole through the tick, reached for our +wallet. His cold hand on my bare skin waked me up. The question is, how +did he know where the money was?" + +"The skunk!" exclaimed the peddler, eyeing the tavern-keeper sharply. + +"How should I know anything about it?" the landlord hotly responded. "I +ain't responsible for there being robbers about, am I?" + +Ree had joined John in the task of dressing, while the proprietor of the +establishment sat on the bed, the least concerned of any, over what had +taken place. + +"Haow should yeow know anythin' about it?" cried the peddler suddenly +turning toward the man. "Why, yeow ain't even asked who the thief was! +Yeow wouldn't 'a come up stairs if I hadn't 'most dragged ye! It looks +consarned strange, that's what I say! An' yeow settin' there like a +stick, sayin', 'Haow kin I help it!'" + +The landlord winced and squirmed, and was glad enough to hurry down +stairs when Ree said authoritatively: "Now let's have no further talk +about this matter, but get our breakfasts at once, if you please. It will +soon be daylight." + +"Ree Kingdom, you make me mad!" cried John Jerome, as the landlord +disappeared. "Why didn't you let me crack that old villain on the head? +If I didn't know that you are the only one here who has kept cool, I'd be +mad in earnest. If any of our goods have been disturbed, I'll show the +old Tory!" + +Ree smiled at his friend's blustering tone, but the peddler slapped him +on the back and told him he was a "reg-lar man-o'-war with flags +a-flyin'." + +The gray glimmer of dawn was in sight as the boys crossed the road to the +barn and by the light of the tallow candle in the old-time lantern, +inspected their cart and horse. All was secure. Recognizing his young +masters by the fine instinct some animals have, Jerry, their horse, +whinnied loudly, as though saying he was all right but ready to move as +soon as convenient. Hay and grain were given the faithful animal, and the +boys went in to their own breakfast. + +The meal of potatoes and bacon was soon disposed of, the peddler sitting +at the table with them. He was going in their direction for a mile or two +and would accompany the lads, he said. + +"We'll be glad to have you," Ree answered. + +"Whatever Ree Kingdom says, I say--only he always gets the words out +first," said John. "I am like the old trapper who came hurrying up to +General Washington saying he could lick all the Redcoats on earth with +one hand tied behind his back. But the war was all over then, though he +did not know it, and so he didn't get a chance to try. He meant well, you +see, but was a little behind hand." + +"That's a pert yarn," smiled the peddler, "an' there ain't nobody gladder +than I be tew see yeow so chipper; but I swan, lads, I only hope ye'll be +as jolly as ye be naow, come six months--I only hope ye will be!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A Mysterious Shot in the Darkness. + + +"I am going to keep my eyes open for that cut-throat that was under the +bed. There's no telling what he might not do," said John with quiet +determination, to Ree, when the peddler had left them and they were +fairly under way for the journey of another day. + +"I have thought of that," Ree answered, "and you see I have put the +rifles where they will be handy. There is no use of carrying them, I +guess, but the time is coming when they must always be within reach." + +The peddler had accompanied the boys to a cross-roads a couple of miles +from the Eagle tavern, enlivening them with many odd tales of his +experiences. Now they were alone again, and as the country through which +they passed became rougher and wilder, the lads realized more fully than +ever that theirs was a serious undertaking. + +Yet they were happy. The trees were putting on bright colors; the air was +fragrant with the odor of autumn vegetation. The water in every stream +they crossed was fresh and clear, and fall rains had made green the +woodland clearings. Quail called musically from time to time, and once +the "Kee-kee-keow-kee-kee" of a wild turkey was heard. + +At noon, beside a dashing brook which tumbled itself over a stony bed as +though in glee with its own noisiness, the travelers halted. They +unhitched Jerry that he might graze, and kindled a fire to boil some +eggs. These with brown bread, a generous supply of which Mrs. Catesby had +given them, and ginger cake which Mary Catesby had announced she had made +with her own hands, made a meal which anyone might have relished. To the +boys, their appetites sharpened by the fine air, every morsel they put +between their lips seemed delicious. + +"We won't long have such fare," they reminded one another. + +"We will have venison three times a day though," said John. + +"Yes, we will have so much meat we will be good and tired of it; because +we must be saving of our meal this winter, and until our own corn grows," +Ree answered thoughtfully. + +"Well, don't be so melancholy about it, Old Sobersides," cried John. +"Why, for my part, I could just yell for the joy of it when I think how +snug we will be in our cabin this winter! And what a fine time we are +going to have choosing a location and building our log house!" + +"That, as I have so often said," Ree answered, "is the one thing about +our whole venture that I do not like. We will be 'squatters.' We won't +own the land we settle upon except that we shall have bought it of the +Indians; and that is a deed which the government will not recognize. But +we will have to take our chances of making our title good when the time +comes, though we may have to pay a second time to the men or company, or +whoever secures from the government the territory where we shall be. Or +we might settle near enough to General Putnam's colony to be able to buy +land of them. We must wait and see what is best to do." + +"Ree," said John, earnestly, "I know you are right; you always are. But I +don't like to think of those things--only of the hunting and trapping and +fixing up our place, and eating wild turkey and other good things before +our big fire-place in winter--and all that. You see we will have to sort +of balance each other. You furnish the brains, and I'll do the work." + +"Oh that sounds grand, but--" Ree laughed and left the sentence +unfinished. + +When, by the sun, their only time-piece, the boys judged they had been an +hour and a half in camp, they resumed their journey. They had secured so +early a start that morning, that they had no doubt they would reach the +Three Corners, the next stopping-place designated on Captain Bowen's map, +before night; and indeed it lacked a half hour of sundown when they drove +up to the homely but pleasant tavern at that point. It was so different a +place from the Eagle tavern that the boys had no fear when they went to +bed, that the unpleasant experience of the night before would be +repeated. + +Several days followed unmarked by any special incident, except that the +lads were delayed and a part of their goods badly shaken up by their cart +upsetting into a little gully. Fortunately, however, little damage was +done. + +At the end of two weeks so thinly settled a country had been reached that +nearly every night was spent in camp. Yet these were not disagreeable nor +was there much danger. Only one man who answered the general description +of a "cut-throat" had been seen, and he seemed inclined to make little +trouble. He rode out on a jet black horse from a barn, near which a house +had at one time stood, its site still marked by charred logs and a +chimney. Perhaps it had been burned in the war-time; at any rate the +place had a forsaken, disagreeable appearance, and the rough-looking +stranger emerging suddenly from the barn, put the young emigrants on +their guard at once. + +For two hours the man rode in company with the boys, and finding out who +they were, proposed to spend the night with them. Ree would have +permitted it, but by his actions John so plainly gave the fellow to +understand what he thought of him, that the stranger at last rode back in +the direction he had come, cursing John for the opinions which the latter +had expressed. The boys slept with "one eye open" that night. + +Daily the road became worse and worse. For great distances it was +bordered on both sides by forests and the country was rough and broken. +There were wild animals and, undoubtedly, Indians not far away, but the +settlements were yet too near for the young travelers to have much fear. +So when their camp fire had burned low in the evening, they piled on +large sticks of wood, put their feet to the blaze, and, wrapped in their +blankets, slept splendidly. One night when it rained--and the water came +down in torrents--they made their bed inside the cart; but if the weather +was pleasant they preferred to be beside the glowing coals. + +An adventure which had an important bearing on the future, befell the +boys early in the fourth week of their travels. They had resolved to be +saving of their ammunition, and wasted no powder in killing game for +which they had no use, though they twice saw wild turkeys and once a +bear, as they left civilization farther and farther behind. But when +provisions from home began to run low, it happened, as so often it does, +that when they felt the need of game to replenish their larder they +chanced upon scarcely any. + +"One of us must go through the woods, keeping in line with the road, and +shoot something or other this afternoon," said Ree, at dinner one day. +"The other will not be far away when he returns to the road again." + +"Which?" John smiled. + +"I don't care. You go this time and I will try my luck another day," Ree +answered. "Get a couple of turkeys, if you can, old boy; or, if you can +get a deer, the weather is cool and the meat will keep." + +So John set off, planning to work his way into the woods gradually and +then follow the general direction of the road and come out upon it +sometime before sun-set. He waved his hand to Ree, a smile on his happy +freckled face as he disappeared amid the timber. + +Slowly old Jerry plodded on; slowly the miles slipped to the rear; slowly +the time passed. Ree thought of many things during the afternoon and +planned how he and John should spend the winter hunting and trapping and +secure, he hoped, a large quantity of furs. Two chests they had were +filled with goods for trade with the Indians, also, and they would +receive skins in return. These would add greatly to the store they +themselves accumulated, and they should realize a considerable sum when +they came to market them. Ree hoped so. It was no part of his plan to go +into the forest fastnesses merely to hunt and trap and lead a rough life. +No, indeed! He wished to make a home, to grow up with the country and "be +somebody." + +Lower and lower the sun sank behind the darkness of the trees which +seemed to rise skyward in the western horizon, and as the early October +twilight approached, Ree began to watch for John's coming. He had +listened from time to time but had heard no gun discharged, and he +laughed to himself as he thought what John's chagrin would be if he were +obliged to come into camp empty-handed. And when Old Sol, slipped out of +sight and his chum had not appeared, he inwardly commented: "You went +farther into the woods than was good for you, my boy! I suspect I have +already left you a good ways behind." + +So he drove to a little knoll beneath an old oak, and unhitched. He +kindled a fire, then busied himself straightening up some of the boxes +and bundles which had slipped from position during the day, often +stopping to look back along the trail in hope of seeing John; and when +the darkness had become so dense he could see but a few rods from the +camp-fire and still his chum was missing, alarm invaded Ree's thoughts. +He could not imagine what detained the boy. But he toasted some bread and +broiled some bacon for his supper. + +A sense of loneliness over his solitary meal added to Ree's anxiety, +because of John's non-appearance, and presently he walked back along the +road a considerable distance, whistling the call they had adopted years +before. The darkness gave every object an unnatural, lifelike look; +bushes and tree trunks assumed fantastic shapes. No human habitation was +within miles of the spot, and as the echoes of the whistling died away +and no answer came, Ree was almost frightened. Not for himself but on +John's account was he conscious of a gloomy foreboding in all his +thoughts. What should he do if the boy had fallen a victim of some bear, +perhaps, or lawless men. + +Slowly he retraced his steps to the campfire's light. Weighing the whole +question carefully, however, as to whether he had not better go in search +of his friend, he decided he could do no wiser thing than to remain where +he was until daylight; then if John had not arrived, he would set out to +find him. + +Piling more wood on the fire that the light might help to guide John to +camp, the lonely boy wrapped a blanket about his shoulders and sat down, +resolved to remain awake to watch and listen. He heard only the soughing +wind and old Jerry nibbling the short grass nearby, and the hooting of an +owl in the forest gloom. Thus an hour passed, and then suddenly a sound +of soft footsteps broke upon the boy's ear. Was it John slipping up +stealthily to try to scare him? Ree thought it was, but in another +instant he detected the foot-falls of more than one person, and sprang to +his feet. + +"How!" The word was spoken in a deep guttural tone almost before Ree had +time to face about. At the same moment he saw two Indians stalking toward +him. + +"Howdy!" Ree promptly answered, though filled with misgiving; for at a +glance he saw that the savages were fully armed. One was of middle age, +tall and stately as a king. The other was much younger. As they came +within reach Ree held out his hand, but the Indian either did not see or +refused to accept the proffered greeting. + +Nevertheless Ree spread a blanket near the fire and asked the savages to +sit down. They made no reply. The older of them looked at him intently +and gazed around in evident surprise to see the lad alone. The younger +stepped around the fire and looked inquiringly into the cart. + +"I am just a trader," said Ree, with an open frankness in his tones which +even a savage must have appreciated. "There are two of us, but my partner +went hunting and has not yet come back. Sit down, brothers; I have no +fresh meat to offer you, but my friend will soon return with some, I +hope." + +The elder Indian seated himself saying: "White men steal, Indians no +steal." + +"There are good Indians and good white men," answered Ree, but he was +keeping an eye on the younger savage, who seemed to have found something +in the cart which interested him, for he slyly put his hand inside. + +"Oh, do be seated!" Ree exclaimed as he noticed this. There was irony in +his voice which made the older Indian shrug his shoulders, but the young +white man led the Indian brave, a chap but little older than himself, +away from the cart. With some force he drew the buck to a blanket and +motioned to him to sit down. + +Appearing to give the matter no further thought, Ree placed bacon before +the Indians saying simply "Eat." They drew out their knives and cut and +broiled each a slice of the meat. This they ate, and it was rather +remarkable that they did so, for Ree well knew that the Redskins had no +relish for food which had been freely salted. He therefore judged their +eating to be a sign of friendliness, and seated himself quietly by the +fire. + +"White man go far--goes to Ohio? Yes--long way--far--far. Snow comes; +hurry fast," said the older Indian. + +"Yes," said Ree, guessing at the speaker's meaning. "We have a long way +to go, and must be in our cabin before deep snow comes." + +"Delaware country--much game," the Indian was saying, Ree having told him +whither they were bound, when suddenly a rifle cracked behind them and a +bullet whistled past Ree's ear. The young Indian at the opposite side of +the fire, gasped and fell backward. + +Seizing his rifle, Ree instantly sprang away from the firelight. The +elder redskin did likewise and just as quickly. + +Who could have fired the shot? Ree trembled with dread that it had been +John. All was quiet save for the night wind rustling the leaves and +branches overhead. There came no sound to indicate whose hand had sped +the bullet from out of the forest gloom. + +A minute passed. It seemed like ten, to Return Kingdom, and, forgetting +prudence, he stepped from behind the cart's protection, full into the +campfire's ruddy glow, making of himself an easy target. He bent over the +wounded Indian and found the blood flowing from a wound in the young +brave's neck. Quickly he tied his handkerchief about the injury, then +bathed the fellow's forehead and temples with water from the bucket he +had filled at supper time. The older Indian crept up to watch this +operation, but did not come fully within the lighted circle. + +"Who fired that shot, my friend?" Ree asked, very earnestly. + +"White men steal," the Indian answered, and shook his head. + +It was evident then that the savage suspected some white person of having +made this attack with intent to commit robbery. Ree hoped this was the +truth of the matter but there was a terrible suspicion growing in his +mind that his own friend and partner, through some awful mistake, had +fired upon the Indian. He drew the wounded man to the rear of the cart +and placed him on a blanket beyond the campfire's light. The other savage +made no move to help him, but crouched in the darkness intently +listening, watching. + +Of a sudden the Indian's rifle flew like a flash to his shoulder. At the +same instant Ree heard John Jerome's familiar whistle, and springing +forward, seized the red man's weapon in time to prevent the speeding of a +leaden messenger of death to his friend's heart. He answered John's call +as he did this, praying and hoping that it could not--must not, have been +his friend who had fired the shot which would probably end the younger +Indian's life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +On Lonely Mountain Roads. + + +"What's happened, Ree?" + +The tone in which John asked the question, satisfied Kingdom that his +friend knew nothing of the shooting. Better than this, however, it +satisfied the Indian who knelt silently nearby, still listening, that the +boy he had so nearly shot, knew nothing of the person who had fired from +the darkness. + +Quietly, but in tones the Indian could hear, Ree related what he knew of +the mysterious occurrence. + +"Who could it have been, Chief!" John asked, turning to the Redskin and +addressing him with the easy familiarity he used toward every one. + +The Indian shook his head. "Paleface," he grunted at last; "no tried to +kill Indian; tried to kill white brother there. Black Eagle thinks long +and knows how bullet flew. Man-that-shoots-from-the-dark wishes much to +steal." + +Black Eagle's theory was far from satisfying Ree, but the Indian's manner +persuaded the boy that the redskin at least knew nothing of the attack +himself. Yet both boys knew the necessity of keeping a sharp eye turned +in all directions. They could not tell positively as yet whether the +Indians were friends or foes, nor at what moment an attack might be made +by a hidden enemy. + +"What kept you, John? I was worried," Ree said in an undertone, yet +taking care that Black Eagle should hear, lest the savage should suspect +him of plotting. But before John could answer, the red man, bending low, +darted away in the darkness. + +"What's the old chap up to?" asked John, startled by the Indian's sudden +movement. + +"I think he is only scouting around to see what he can discover; but keep +your eyes and ears open, it has been mighty ticklish around here +to-night." + +As they watched and listened, John told of his afternoon's experience. He +had gone a long way into the woods without seeing any such game as he +wished, and had about decided to content himself with some squirrels, and +return to the road, when he came upon a deer-lick--a pool of salt or +brackish water, in a flat, level place, to which deer and other animals +came to drink, or to lick the earth at the water's edge to satisfy the +craving which all animals have for salt. As it was then nearly sundown he +determined to hide nearby, confident he would get a shot at a deer as +soon as darkness came. Concealing himself in some brush at the north side +of the lick, the wind being from the south, he waited. + +Scarcely had the sun set when a fine young doe approached the brackish +pool. One shot from his rifle brought the pretty animal down, and in a +few more minutes he had secured the skin and best portions of the meat. +Slinging these over his shoulder, he set out to find the road and Ree's +camp-fire. But he had been careless in keeping his bearings, and walked a +long way in the wrong direction. When he did find the road at last, he +knew not which way to go to find the camp. He secured a light, however, +by flashing powder in his gun, and thus found the tracks of old Jerry and +the cart. He then knew which way to go, but traveled a couple of miles +before coming within sight of the camp-fire. + +He heard a rifle shot but paid little attention to it, and saw nothing of +any prowler, though he came up in the direction from which the mysterious +attack was made. When Ree called to him, he had dropped the venison and +it still lay at the roadside a hundred yards from camp. + +"We must have an understanding with one another that when either of us +leaves camp, he shall return at a given time unless something happens to +prevent it," said Ree; "then the other will know that something has +happened and can act accordingly. I was probably not more than a mile +away when you found that deer-lick. If you had let me know, it would have +saved a lot of worry on my part. Why, I was just on the point of going in +search of you. And as it was, old boy, you whistled just in time. That +Indian heard you coming before I did, and a little more--" + +"And he would have sent me to Kingdom come," said John, finishing the +sentence, very soberly. "Your watchfulness saved me, and I can't--" + +"You better get your venison into camp," Ree whispered, interrupting +John's thanks, "I'll crawl over and see how that young Indian's getting +along--poor chap." + +The wounded Redskin was conscious as Ree bent over him. + +"Don't speak if it will hurt you, but if you can, tell me who fired that +shot at you," Ree urged. + +"Black Eagle come soon," was the buck's only answer; and indeed it was +but a few minutes until the other Indian returned. Ree met him and +inquired calmly. "What luck, Black Eagle?" + +"Gone. Paleface robber gone." + +"Who was it? Where has he gone?" + +"Gone," the savage repeated. + +"Turn in and get some sleep, John; Black Eagle and I will watch a while," +said Ree. + +"Gone," growled the Indian with gruff dignity; and wrapped himself in a +blanket and was soon asleep. + +John likewise lay down, but Ree, resolving to exercise every care, +remained awake through the whole night. Twice John awoke and wanted to +take a turn at guard duty but each time he was told to go back and "Cover +up his head." Reluctantly he did so. He felt that he would do anything in +his power for Ree Kingdom, but he was far from guessing what Fate had in +store for him to do in his friend's behalf before they should see +Connecticut again. + +With the first light of morning Ree went reconnoitering hoping to find +the trail of the young Indian's mysterious assailant. Scarcely had he +started when Black Eagle joined him, and in the road three hundred paces +from the camp they came upon the trail together. A single man had +approached the camp on foot--a white man it was certain, for he wore +boots--and from behind a thick thorn bush had fired the shot. Then the +trail led back along the road, but soon disappeared in the woods. + +"If North Wind die, scalp will hang here," said Black Eagle, pointing to +his belt. "Black Eagle follows trail long--even many moons, but he will +get the paleface scalp." + +What to do Ree did not quite know. He disliked to lose time in helping +the Indian to find the man who had shot his son, yet disliked to leave +the wounded North Wind without doing something for him. + +"White brothers go far; go now," said Black Eagle as they returned to the +camp. "Go long way off and never mind. North Wind stays with Black +Eagle," the Indian added. + +Ree made no objection to this arrangement. Reaching camp they found that +John had some venison steaks ready. The young Indian arose and greeted +Ree by silently shaking his hand. It was plain to be seen that he was +suffering greatly, but he said nothing and when the breakfast was ready +he tried to eat. + +Thankful that the night of watching was past, Ree and John prepared to +pursue their journey. They watered Jerry at the little brook hard by and +hitched him to the cart. When they were ready, Ree took a knife from +their stock of goods and gave it to Black Eagle, who with North Wind +stood looking on, saying: + +"Maybe we will never meet again, but here is a present which we wish you +to keep. We do not know the enemy who fired upon us, but we were in +danger together and whether it was your foe or ours, who attacked us, we +would have fought together. Good-bye." + +"We journey to the fires of the Mohawks," Black Eagle answered. "North +Wind now goes forward but Black Eagle, his father, follows the trail of +snake which shoots from the dark." + +As he spoke the Indian turned and strode away. North Wind followed, Ree's +handkerchief still about his neck. He was really too sick to travel, but +it is a severe wound, indeed, which makes an Indian unable to move when +necessity demands it. + +For a moment the young travelers looked after the red men; then a word to +their horse and they were once more upon their way. + +It was a glorious morning. Particles of frost glistened on the leaves and +grass and in the road; a light wind set the trees and brushes rustling, a +rabbit went bouncing across the path, and still neither boy spoke as they +tramped along beside the cart, Ree in advance, driving. + +"Who fired that shot?" John asked at last, as though speaking to +himself. + +"May as well ask old Jerry, or the wind," Ree answered. "The same +question has been on my mind so long I am trying to think of something +else." + +"But I can't help wondering," John persisted, "if it could have been the +lone horseman we saw the other day. Could it have been Big Pete Ellis, +trying to kill you, Ree? I have been expecting to meet that fellow." + +"We must keep our eyes about us," was the only reply. + +Several days passed and the mystery of the shot from the darkness was +still unsolved. The boys had now reached the mountainous country and the +nights were often cold. The days, too, gave promise of winter's coming, +and had it not been that they were hopeful of Indian summer weather in +November the young travelers would have been discouraged. Their progress +had not been so rapid as they had planned. The roads were too bad to +permit fast traveling. In many places they were little better than paths +through the woods, and though there were stretches of smoother going, +occasionally, there were other spots in which fallen trees or other +obstructions blocked the way. + +Old Jerry stood the strain of the journey well, and that was certainly a +consolation; for some of their friends back in Connecticut had told the +boys they had better stay at home, than attempt to make the trip with +only one horse. Often, too, it was the case that the lads drove far out +of their course to pass around great obstacles, and they eventually found +that they had gone miles out of their true course. Many were the +hardships they encountered, and one adventure which they had must be +related here. + +For days at a time no human being was met on those lonely mountain trails +and it was this fact which gave rise to much uneasiness when John one +day, for just a moment caught sight of a rough-appearing fellow in their +rear. He had gone back along the road to search for a bolt which was lost +from the cart box, when he chanced to look up and saw the strange fellow +a quarter of a mile away, coming toward him. The man raised his rifle and +sprang in among some trees as he caught sight of John, his movement being +so quick that the boy did not get a good look at him, and neither in +going on beyond the spot where the fellow had been, nor in returning +after he had found the lost bolt, did John see him again. + +"We must be on the watch-out constantly," said Ree when told of the +incident. "I would have thought nothing of it, but for the man's desire +to hide." + +"That is what I can't understand," said John, and as he thought the +matter over it added to a downcast feeling which had seized upon him. It +was by his looks more than by words that he betrayed his low-spirited +condition, then, and at other times, as day after day nothing save the +trees, great rocks and wooded hills and frowning mountain sides were +seen. + +On the other hand, Ree's quiet disposition seemed almost to disappear in +the face of hardships and difficult obstacles. If the cart broke down he +whistled "Yankee Doodle," while he managed to mend it. If the road was +especially rough and their progress most unpleasantly slow, he was +certain to sing. Even Jerry could not fail to catch the spirit of his +cheerfulness no matter what bad luck they had, and from looking glum, +John would change to light-heartedness every time. Ree's smile was a +never failing remedy for his blues. + +"Time enough to be blue and all put out when you have utterly failed," +Ree exclaimed one day. "And if you only make up your mind to it, it is +the simplest thing in the world not to fail. If I were the general of an +army, I wouldn't own up that I was whipped as long as I had a breath +left. Now just suppose that Washington had given up at Valley Forge!" + +"Well, I want to say that the chap who starts out west thinking he is +going on a frolic, will be mighty badly fooled," John answered. "I am +learning, but it is like the Indian who believed powder didn't amount to +much unless it was in a gun; so he filled his pipe with it. He learned a +heap." + +"Ho, ho, pardners both!" + +The voice came so suddenly to the young travelers, they started and +looked around questioningly. With a flying leap from some brush which +bordered the road, came an odd looking woodsman. + +"Lift my ha'r if ye ain't the nearest bein' kittens of anythin' I've +clapped my old goggles on in the emygrant line in all my born days!" +Putting his hands to his sides the stranger laughed uproariously. + +"Oh, it's funny, ain't it!" exclaimed John Jerome, witheringly. + +"Age is not always a sign of wisdom," said Ree Kingdom in much the same +tone. + +"Right ye be, lad; right ye be," said the woodsman, quieting himself. +"But I swan I'm that glad to see ye so young an' bloomin', both, that it +jes does me old eyes good. Where ye bound fer, anyhow?" + +The speaker was tall and rugged, his age probably fifty years. A grizzled +beard clustered round his face and his unkempt hair hung almost to his +shoulders. On his head was a ragged coon-skin cap. All his dress was made +of skin or furs, in the crudest frontier fashion. He was not a +disagreeable appearing person, nevertheless, for his eyes twinkled +merrily as a boy's. Each in his own way, Ree and John noted these facts. + +"I might say that we are going till we stop and that we came from where +we started," said John in answer to the stranger's inquiry. + +"What a peart kitten ye be!" smiled the man, looking at him quizzically. + +"To be honest with you, we are going to the Ohio country," said Ree +Kingdom, satisfied that the stranger wished to be friendly. + +"Ye've got spunk, I swan!" the fellow exclaimed. "Don't let me be keepin' +ye though; drive along, we kin swap talk as we're movin'." + +"How far do you call it to old Fort Pitt?" asked Ree. + +"Well, it ain't so fer as a bird kin fly, an' its ferder than ye want to +walk in a day. If ye have good luck ye'll come on to Braddock's road +afore supper time, an' if ye don't have good luck, there's no tellin' +when ye'll get thar. It want such a great ways from here that Braddock +had _his_ bad luck. If he _hadn't_ had it--if he'd done as George +Washington wanted him to, he'd 'a' got along like grease on a hot +skillet, same as you youngsters." + +"Hear that John? We will make Fort Pitt in a day or two," cried Ree. + +"Yaas, it was forty odd years ago that Braddock had his bad luck when he +bumped into a lot of Injuns in ambush. I was jest a chunk of a boy then, +but I've hearn tell on it, many's the time, by my old gran'sire who +learned me how to shoot. I was a reg'lar wonder with a gun when I was +your age, kittens. I've picked up some since then though! See the +knot-hole in that beech way over yonder? Waal, I'm going to put a bullet +in the middle of it." + +Taking aim, the stranger fired. "Ye'll find the bullet squar' in the +center," he said, in a boastful way. + +"Shucks!" exclaimed John, who was often too outspoken for his own good. +He raised his rifle and fired. "There's another bullet right beside your +own, mister," he said. + +"Well I swan! So there is!" called out the woodsman in great surprise. +"But I'll bet a coon-skin my tother kitten can't do the like." + +Like a flash Ree's rifle flew to his shoulder and he seemed to take no +aim whatever; yet the bullet flew true. But just an instant after he +fired the crack of another rifle sounded behind him. A leaden ball +shrieked close to his head and a lock of his hair fell fluttering to the +ground. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +On Into the Wilderness. + + +Great as the shock of the sudden attack and his narrow escape was, Ree +gave only a little yell of surprise and anger, and ran in the direction +from which the shot had come, drawing his pistol as he went. He found no +one. Though utterly regardless of the danger he might be in by thus +exposing himself, he made a careful search. + +"Land o' livin', boy, ye'll be meat for the redskins before ye've crossed +the frontier, if ye don't be keerful!" cried the woodsman, quickly coming +up, springing from tree to tree, and thus always keeping their protecting +trunks between himself and the point from which the mysterious shot had +been fired. "What is the varmint pepperin' away at ye so, for?" + +"I haven't the least idea, for I don't know who it is," Ree answered. + +But he was glad the woodsman's frank manner left no room to suspect him +of treachery, although there had been grounds for this suspicion in the +circumstance of the shot having been fired just as his own rifle and that +of his friend had been discharged. + +John had remained on guard beside Jerry and the cart, watchful for any +sign of their strange enemy, completely mystified by the attack. +Presently he joined Ree and the hunter who were searching for the trail +of the would-be assassin. Tracks were found at last (high up on the rocky +hillside)--those of a white man, for he wore boots; but they were very +faint and Ree declared he would waste no time in attempting to follow +them. + +"But I do believe, John," he said, "that the shot which wounded North +Wind was intended for me, and the fellow who shot, then, fired again +to-day." + +"You are thinking of Big Pete; I know you are!" John answered. "But I am +sure you are mistaken, Ree. Why it was miles and miles away that North +Wind was shot, and there hasn't been a day since then but what we could +have both been killed, perhaps, by some one hidden along the road." + +The woodsman, when he had heard the story, coincided with John's opinion +and Ree said nothing more, though he was not convinced that he was +wrong. + +The brisk talk of the stranger turned the boys' thoughts to other +subjects as the journey was resumed. He was by no means a disagreeable +fellow. His real name was "Thomas Trout," he said, but he was everywhere +known as "Tom Fish." He had tramped over all the hills and valleys for +miles around and seemed to know the country thoroughly. He accepted the +boys' invitation to eat dinner with them, and gave a share of the pounded +parched corn he carried in a pouch at his belt, in return for venison and +coarse corn bread, John having baked the latter on a flat stone beside +their camp-fire, the previous night. + +When in the afternoon, Tom Fish left the boys he told them they would be +likely to see him at Fort Pitt, and gave them many directions as to where +they had better "put up" while at Pittsburgh, as he called the place, +such being its new name at that time. + +John declared he would not sleep a wink that night, but remain on guard +until morning. "For we must be prudent," he said, in a very sober tone, +which from him sounded so funny that Ree laughed outright. + +And yet John was probably as prudent a boy as Ree; for the latter was so +almost entirely fearless that he rushed into danger in a way not prudent +at all, and many severe lessons which he learned afterward did not make +him cautious as he should have been. + +The night passed without one disturbing incident and the rising sun found +the boys on their way once more; before its setting they reached +Pittsburg. + +"Fort Pitt," as they were accustomed to call the straggling hamlet, stood +at the foot of the hills at the confluence of the Allegheny and +Monongahela rivers. Because of its location it was an important place and +even at the time of which this is written (1790) was a point much +frequented by traders, trappers and hunters. + +It was with a feeling of awe, that Ree and John drove into the town, and +noticed its old fort, its brick and log buildings and general air of +pioneer hospitality. People stared at them, and some called to them in +the familiar way of the border; but everyone was good-natured and helpful +and almost before the boys knew it their horse had been unhitched and fed +and they themselves were eating supper in a long, low brick building +which served as a sort of public house. + +From the first it had been the young travelers' intention to sell their +horse and cart at Fort Pitt and secure passage for themselves and goods +on some flat-boat going down the river. They spoke of the settlement +which General Putnam and others had made at a place they called Marietta +(still known by that name) as their destination, and gave a general idea +of their plans to the men who talked with them as they gathered about the +big fire-place in the evening. They found they would probably be able to +secure transportation down the Ohio within a few days, in company with a +party of emigrants who had been building boats for the trip, expecting to +go to Kentucky. + +When the young travelers started out next morning to find a purchaser for +old Jerry, however, they discovered that at that time of year, the demand +for such property was far from brisk. As they walked along the main +street or road, they chanced upon Tom Fish, who hailed them in his rough, +but happy way, and they told him just how they were situated. + +"Don't sell the nag, then; come right along with me. I'll show you the +way into a country full of Injuns and game enough to suit ye, in short +order; an' ye won't have to pay no passage down river. Why, there's jes +the spot ye're lookin' for west o' here--rivers an' little lakes, an' +fish an' game--no end o' game. Good place for tradin' too; Injun towns +every forty rods or so." + +The woodsman then went on to tell the boys that several years earlier, a +fort, known as Fort Laurens, had been erected on the Tuscarawas river, in +the woods beyond Pittsburg. He was planning to go in that direction, for +a purpose he did not state, and would willingly act as guide. He +cautioned the boys, however, that there was little sign of a broken road +for them to travel upon and that Fort Laurens had long been abandoned +because of the hostility of the savages. But the confidence of the young +traders that they could make friends with the Indians, and Tom's glowing +accounts of the country of which he spoke, caused them to look with favor +upon his proposition. + +"We will think about this matter," said Ree, "and let you know. You will +be here a day or two?" + +"Yaas, a day or two," said Tom Fish. "But don't let me influence ye; it's +mighty reesky business you kittens is bent on." + +"It seems to me like a good plan," Ree reflected aloud, when he and John +were alone. "If we went to General Putnam's settlement we would still +feel that we must go up the Muskingum river to reach the Indians and +profitable trading, and would have to build a raft or buy a boat to carry +our goods. Moreover, people here say that within a few years the country +all about Pittsburg will be settled up and that land will become +valuable." + +"Whatever you say suits me," said John with a laugh; and then and there +Ree gave him a talking to for being so ready to accept the judgment of +another, instead of having thoughts and opinions of his own. + +But one or two ridiculously low offers the boys received for their horse +and cart, and the discovery that they could not find room on the boat +down the Ohio except at a fancy price, resulted in their decision to join +Tom Fish. They talked all day of the subject, but when they went to bed +that night, they knew that not for many months to come would they sleep +again within the borders of civilization. + +A frosty November morning ushered in another day, and early as they were +astir Ree and John found the little town wide awake. Tom Fish was +sky-larking all about saying good-bye to friends, and just a little under +the influence of whiskey. It seemed that everybody knew him; and people +having found out from Tom what they had not already found out from +others, about the venturesome lads from Connecticut, quite an assemblage +gathered to wish the travelers good luck. + +A repeated suggestion which had been made to the boys was that they +should abandon their cart and take with them only such goods as they +could carry by using old Jerry as a pack-horse. It was true that for a +portion of the distance they proposed to travel, there was a rough road, +but beyond Fort McIntosh, at the mouth of the Beaver river, they would +have no road but the rough Indian trail. But Tom Fish said he "reckoned +old Colonel Boquet's road was still there," and that they should take the +cart; and they did so. + +Tom had joined the boys as their clumsy vehicle creaked along a muddy +street, a little more serious than usual, because of some news he had +heard, he said, but boastful as ever. + +"I was talkin' to a big seven-footer in the tavern last night," he +said--"A feller that had a grudge ag'in' me once. He never liked me till +I threw him over a house one day;--threw him clean over a house. It makes +me larff!" + +John laughed, too, at this, but he said: "Tom Fish, you weigh a good +three stone (forty-two) more than I do, but I believe I could throw you +in a wrestle. When we stop for dinner, I am going to put you on your +back!" + +A laugh long and loud came from the woodsman's throat. "Why, what a +playful kitten ye be!" he exclaimed. "Why, I could toss ye up in the air +and ketch ye nigh a dozen times whilst ye were only thinkin' of throwin' +me." + +"I'd like to see you try it," cried John. + +"Put aside your nonsense, you two, until noon, now do," Ree laughingly +urged, "and tell us, Tom, of that Colonel Boquet whose road we are to +follow." + +"Waal, that's quite a yarn," said Tom Fish. "But le' me see now; le' me +see. It was back when I was jes a young buck, 'long 'bout '64, that this +Colonel Boquet, who was a mighty decent citizen for a Frenchman, made up +his mind to get a whack at the pesky Injuns which had been killin' an' +scalpin' an' burnin' an' robbin' all along the border of Pennsylvania an' +Virginia an' Lord knows where all. + +"Waal, the state of Pennsylvania an' the state of Virginia helped him +with sojers an' he mustered scouts enough so that in all he had nigh onto +2,000 men. He marched 'em straight into the woods, the whole caboodle on +'em, clearin' a road as he went, an' takin' along a lot o' sheep an' +cows, and provender for the sojers without end. He went straight along +till he come to the Muskingum river, an' there he camped out, makin' a +show with all his men an' pack-horses an' everything, that scared the +Mingoes an' the Delawares half to death for fear he'd stay right there +an' build a town amongst 'em. + +"They was willin' to do most anything to get rid of him, an' there was +only one thing that he would hear to. He give 'em jes' ten days to trot +into his camp every prisoner they had in all their towns far an' near, +an' told 'em that if ary a one was held back, he'd march on every pesky +village an' knock 'em sky high an' burn 'em down. + +"Waal! them Injuns was so scared, they commenced gettin' their prisoners +together right off, and they trotted two hundred on 'em up to the front +door of Colonel Boquet's tent inside them ten days. An' there was doin's +for sartin then!--Pow wows among the sojers who found all sorts of +relations that the Delawares or the Wyandots or the pesky Mingoes had +carried off, an' pow wows among the men, an' the women an' the children +that was brought out o' their captivity like the Children of Israel. + +"Then Colonel Boquet marched 'em all back to Fort Pitt an' he sent for me +an' told me what he'd done, an' asked me what I thought on it. I was +scoutin' out of Fort Pitt then, and I jes' shook his hand an' says: +'Colonel Boquet ye're a reg'lar rip-snorter.'" + +"Did you ever hear of the terrible Captain Archer, the outlaw of war +times?" asked the fun-loving John, inventing the name to see what Tom +would say; for he had his own opinion as to Colonel Boquet having asked +Thomas Fish what he thought of that Indian expedition. + +"Cap. Archer? Old Cap. Archer! Well I rayther guess I knew him, an' if he +ain't forgot it, he carries a little lead pill out of my old steel bottle +of Injun medicine, clean to this day. Yaas, many a scrimmage I had with +old Cap. Archer." + +John was for carrying his questioning further, though he could hardly +keep from laughing, but Ree shook his head, unwilling to make fun of one +who was so kind to them. + +The travelers made excellent progress that morning, finding a very fair +road for that rough country, along the river. They met occasional +settlers and hunters and whether he knew them or not, Tom Fish always +stopped to talk and always asked whether everything was quiet along the +border. Many shook their heads, and spoke gloomily of the outlook for +peace with the Indians remaining long unbroken. + +From a couple of friendly Indians they met, Ree secured a quarter of +venison in exchange for a cheap trinket, and although he accompanied the +performance with a great deal of bragging, Tom did show the boys that he +was a past-master in the art of broiling venison steaks. The fine dinner +they had as a result, set his tongue wagging more than ever, however, and +John Jerome was more than anxious to take some of the vanity out of him. + +They had camped upon a hillside sloping down to the river--the Ohio. The +day had come on bright and warm as Indian summer could be, and John had +thrown off his coat. + +"Now, Mr. Fish," he said with a laugh, "You see the river down there? +I've been thinking there may be some one of the same name as yourself in +that water, and I've a mind to send you to visit your relations." + +The merry laugh of the hunter rang shrill and clear. + +"Be ye? Oh, be ye?" he cried, jumping to his feet. "If it wa'n't fer +hurtin' ye, I'd throw ye clean across to yon hillside!" and he pointed to +a spot nearly a mile away, across the river. + +"It's a good thing for you there are so many leaves on the ground to +break your fall," John answered, rolling up his sleeves. + +"Don't wrestle so much with your mouths," Ree admonished them. + +"Why, I could handle both of ye; come on, the two of ye to onc't!" the +hunter cried. + +But the next moment he found in John, alone, about as much of a task as +he cared to undertake. For two minutes they heaved and tugged, John's +wiry frame seeming to be all around the woodsman, who was by no means +clumsy, though he could not put him down. Then they broke apart and for a +minute made feints at one another, each hoping to secure an advantage. + +At last the hunter's arms shot out, his hands seized John's arms so +quickly, and he lifted the boy off his feet and keeled him over with such +dexterity, that the lad lay sprawling on his back almost before he knew +what was happening. + +The glee of Tom Fish was quite ridiculous. He danced about and almost +screamed with laughter. + +"It is your turn, Ree," said John good-naturedly. + +"Whenever our friend is ready," Ree responded. + +"Come on! Come on!" Tom cried. "Oh, what frisky kittens ye be!" + +Peter Piper, the half-breed, had taught Return Kingdom a trick or two at +wrestling. And now he allowed the hunter to lift him off the ground, then +he let his muscles relax, his dead weight falling in his opponent's arms. +Suddenly getting his feet to the ground in this way, he sprang against +the hunter's muscular frame with such rapidity of thought and motion that +he was able by a tremendous lightning-like effort to jerk one of the +man's legs from under him, sending him down, while he, himself, came +uppermost. + +"Ye're pretty fair," Tom Fish muttered; but it was plain to be seen that +something he very little expected had happened to him. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Friends or Foes? + + +Tom Fish had a profound respect for Return Kingdom from the moment the +latter threw him; but he was no less pleasant and agreeable than before, +and he proved himself a valuable friend then and in days long afterward. + +When night came, as the wind was blowing cold, Tom very deftly built a +shelter of branches and small saplings. His way of bending two little +trees down and fastening them together with their own branches, making of +them the support of the "shack," was a method Ree and John had never seen +used and was the secret of his being able to "build a house" in very +little time. + +It was very comfortable sitting before the fire, thus sheltered from the +wind. Tom especially enjoyed it for his tongue ran on at a tremendous +rate as he told stories of extraordinary adventures. + +John urged him to tell more and more, and he might have gone on talking +all night had not Ree admonished him and John that they must turn in +promptly in order to make an early start in the morning. Wolves were +howling not far away, and the plaintive but terrorizing cry of a panther +could be heard in the distance, as the little party lay down to sleep. No +doubt the young emigrants thought many times before dreams came to them, +of what the depths of the wilderness must be, if the foreboding sounds +which reached them were a fair example of what the outer edge of the +forest fastnesses afforded; but they rested well and were early astir. + +Crossing a fine, level country, though thickly grown with great trees, on +this day, the boys saw plainly the evidences of the road made by the +Boquet expedition. There were the stumps of big and little trees and the +half-decayed remnants of the trees which had been cut down, on both sides +of them. Although so many years had passed since Col. Boquet had made +this trail, the work his men had done made the progress of the +Connecticut boys and their hunter companion faster than it would +otherwise have been, and three days passed rapidly without other +adventure than the meeting of a small party of Indians who scowled and +passed on, and the killing of a large panther by Ree, the animal having +terribly frightened old Jerry by dropping from a tree squarely upon the +faithful horse's back, one night. + +On the fifth day after leaving Pittsburg the travelers crossed a high +ridge and obtained a glorious view of the country toward which they were +pressing on. In the distance rivers of water and great oceans of tree +tops, deep valleys and wooded hillsides were seen. + +"Ye ain't fer from the 'Promised Land,'" said Tom Fish, lightly, much +less moved by the grandeur of nature's display than were the boys. Then +he indicated the location of a point, far beyond and out of view, at +which the old trail they were following, turned to the southwest and an +Indian trail turned toward the northwest, leading on to the "Sandusky +Plains" near Lake Erie. + +It was apparent that Tom had settled in his own mind the locality in +which the boys should erect their cabin and make their home. He had their +interest at heart, the lads did not doubt, but they were unwilling to +accept his judgment absolutely. It was arranged between them, therefore, +that Ree should go ahead and spy out the lay of the land--and especially +investigate the "lake country" of which Tom had so often spoken. If he +should find it all that was represented, well and good; if not, they knew +that along almost any of the rivers to the south and west of them, were +fertile lands and Indian villages which would afford that which they +sought--crops and trade. + +And so on the morning of the fourth day after their having taken to the +Indian trail toward the "Sandusky Plains," the matter having been +explained to Tom Fish, Ree left his friends behind. It was a perilous +undertaking upon which he set out. They had now reached a wild and rugged +country whose hills and valleys almost swarmed with game. Deer, bears and +wolves were abundant. Panthers, wildcats and smaller game were frequently +seen, and Indians were all about, though the party had thus far met but +few. + +But Return Kingdom had no fear--that was something he did not then know. +He was only anxious to quickly find the right place for their residence +and to make no mistake in selecting it. A light snow had already fallen, +making it desirable that he and John should get themselves settled +without delay. This was his thought as he hurried on alone. + +Under a big beech tree Ree camped at night, building no fire lest it draw +unwelcome guests toward him, but wrapping his blanket about himself and +sitting, not lying, on the ground, his rifle between his knees. Any one +passing, even very near, would have supposed his dark figure to be that +of an old stump, and he spent the night with a feeling of safety, not +entirely comfortable in his position, but little disturbed by the +snapping of twigs and the rustle of leaves which told that forest +prowlers were near. + +Crossing a river at a shallow place next day, Ree mounted a hill and +climbed a tall hickory whose upper branches rose above all other trees +near it. + +The weather had become warm and pleasant again and he would be able, he +knew, to obtain a fine view. Just what he expected to see, he had not +thought, but the grandeur of the scene he beheld was magnificent. Far as +he could see the ocean of nearly leafless treetops rose and fell in giant +waves, broken here and there by lakes or rivers, he knew not which, +glimpses of whose waters and bushy banks, he caught. Here were +lowlands--there highlands, and through the latter he traced for a long +distance the course of the river he had crossed earlier in the day. Ree +drew out a chart he had obtained at Pittsburg. + +"It must be the Cuyahoga river--or Cayuga as some call it--and I am right +in the heart of the lake country," he whispered, as he steadied himself +in the tree top. "We will build our cabin near the river." + +Without more delay the boy climbed down and strode forward in the +direction of a valley which he had seen two or three miles to westward. +In time he came to a sloping hillside and looking beyond he saw a +splendid stream of swiftly flowing water. At the foot of the hill was a +narrow tract of about four acres almost bare of trees, though deep grass +spoke of the soil's fertility. Rising above the river was a large knoll +sloping down to the natural clearing. + +With every sense delighted by the fine prospect, Ree ran down the hill, +across the clearing and to the summit of the knoll or bluff. The ripple +and splash of the river, the bright sunshine and his discovery of this +ideal spot delighted him. + +"The very place we are looking for!" he exclaimed aloud. "Here is grass +for Jerry, a fine clearing for the beginning of a farm--wood--water-- +game--everything!" + +Anxious to join his friends and tell them of this good fortune, Ree +dashed down the bluff and ascended the wooded hillside opposite. Panting, +he reached the summit and suddenly,--stopped. + +As though they had been waiting for him, there stood watching him a party +of Indians. They were dressed entirely in savage costume. Not one wore +any garment of civilization as did many of the savages farther east. With +stolid composure the Redskins looked at the boy, though they must have +wondered what the young Paleface was doing, alone in the forest's +depths. + +Quickly recovering his presence of mind, Ree coolly stepped toward them, +holding out his hand to one he supposed to be the chief, saying, "How, +brothers?" + +The Indian shook his hand but did not speak. The same second another +Indian stepped up and seizing Ree's hat, put it on his own bare head. +Another grabbed the boy's rifle, as though to take it from him. + +Ree smiled, but he held firmly to his gun, and snatched his hat from the +young brave who had seized it. One of the Indians now ordered that Ree be +let alone. But this was not the one the boy had taken to be the chief, +and Kingdom quickly perceived that he had made a rather serious mistake. +But he nodded his thanks to the Redskin and explained, using signs when +words would not do, that he was a trader and that his friends and store +of goods were not far away. + +It caused Ree some alarm, however, when at a signal from the chief the +Indians gathered about in such a way as to hem him completely in. And +this alarm was decidedly increased as he noticed at the chief's belt, a +white man's scalp. There could be no mistaking it. + +The savages made no move to molest the boy further than to prevent his +leaving them, but gave him to understand that they believed him to be a +spy. Seeing this the boy offered to conduct them to his friends and +merchandise. To this they agreed after some parleying and placing Ree +between two big, swarthy fellows, they set off in single file, +suspicious, it may be, that he would lead them into an ambush. + +Ree gave little thought to this. He knew that if John and Tom had made +good progress that he could reach them by nightfall and the suspicions of +the Indians would be allayed. + +It was wonderful how easily the savages followed Ree's back trail, and +they traveled at good speed. But hours passed and no sign of the wagon of +which the lad had told them was found. The doubt of the Indians increased +and they became ugly and impatient. + +In vain Ree tried to explain that his friends must have been delayed, but +he himself could not understand why no gleam of light, no smoke of their +camp-fire, even, was visible as the day wore away, and soon he found that +he was indeed a prisoner; for as the savages presently prepared to go +into camp, their first act was to bind the white boy's hands behind him +and tie his feet with strong ropes of bark. + +A full sense of his danger came to Ree's thoughts, but he put on a bold +front and emphatically objected to being tied, saying he had no thought +of running away and that early the next day his statement that he was a +trader would be found true. + +The Indians gave no heed to his indignant words. They built a small fire +by flashing sparks with flint and steel, and ate their supper consisting +only of pounded parched corn and dried meat. This they shared with Ree, +and though he ate heartily he was thinking of other things. Every time he +looked across the fire he could see the gruesome scalp at the belt of the +chief of the party. Little wonder that he became apprehensive for his +safety. It would not do, however, he thought, to let the Indians see that +he was worried, and he began to whistle. The savages gazed at him in +wonder. Suddenly one young buck arose, stepped over to the boy and struck +him viciously on the cheek. + +His temper instantly fired, Ree shot out his feet, bound together though +they were, striking the savage full in the stomach and sending him +headlong, partly into the fire. + +As a tremendous howl of rage arose, Ree forgot that he was bound--forgot +that his better plan would have been to keep cool. He sprang up, breaking +the strings of bark which tied him, with seeming ease, and, as the +enraged Indian rushed toward him, he dodged the club the savage +brandished, and landing a tremendous blow on the redman's neck with his +fist, grabbed his rifle from the ground and sped away into the forest and +the darkness. + +With terrific yells the Indians took up the pursuit. On and on Ree dashed +among the bushes and over brush and logs, springing wildly aside at times +to save himself from dashing out his brains against a tree--hurrying fast +and faster, he knew not whither, his pursuers crashing after him. + +The pursued nearly always has the advantage over the pursuer. Ree found +himself drawing slowly away from the Indians, who made so much noise +themselves they could scarcely hear him, and suddenly halting, he crept +softly away in another direction. Soon the savages went past, pell mell, +certain that the boy was ahead of them, and the sounds of the chase died +away. + +Listening intently, to be ready for the slightest alarm, Ree turned to go +back the way he came. It was difficult in the darkness to do this, but he +believed that if he could return to the vicinity of the Indians' +camp-fire he could easily get his bearings and travel without loss of +time in the direction of his friends. The darkness seemed less intense +now that he had become accustomed to it, but he must exercise every care. +To step on a dry stick or to stumble and fall might be fatal--might mean +his capture and death. + +Fortune favored the brave lad, for presently the dim light of the +smoldering camp-fire came into view. He paused a moment, then turned +confidently in the direction in which he thought John and Tom Fish must +be. He had not taken forty steps, however, when a dark figure loomed up +suddenly before him, and with exceeding quickness and quietness glided +behind a tree. + +It was well indeed for Return Kingdom that his quick eye saw this +movement. Turning again, he ran, but instantly the dark figure darted in +pursuit. Discovering that he was in danger of being driven into the very +arms of the Indians he had so recently eluded, Ree changed his tactics. +Certain that but a single savage was behind him, he wheeled and ran +toward the Indian at full speed. + +They were not far apart. Before the Redskin had made out what the boy was +doing, the latter had hurled himself upon him and thrown him to the +ground. + +Fiercely the savage struggled; with tremendous energy Ree retained the +upper hold, his grip secure on his opponent's throat. Neither spoke. The +Indian could not, and Ree had no wish to add to the noise made by their +thrashing about among the leaves and dry twigs. He knew that he could +kill the savage warrior but he dreaded to do that. It would mean trouble +with the Indians for a long time to come, upsetting his most cherished +plans. And yet his own life was in danger, and--he dared not relax his +hold. + +Yet something must be done, and quickly, for soon the other Indians would +be returning, and more than this he could not hold out long against the +greater strength of his red antagonist. Ree resolved, therefore, to make +the Indian understand that he did not wish to kill him, then let go and +take his chances in a foot race. + +But at this instant, the Redskin, by a mighty effort raised himself +partially upon his feet, secured the release of his right arm, on which +Ree's knee had been, and clutched the boy's throat with a vise-like grip. +Never had the venturesome Connecticut lad been so near death as he was at +that moment. Steadily the Indian continued to gain the upper hand, and as +he tightened his grasp on Ree's throat the boy's tongue seemed to be +forced from his mouth. + +Then it was that Return Kingdom's grim, unyielding determination which +meant victory or death--a determination which, once formed, would have +stopped for nothing though it swayed the earth, asserted itself. With the +power of an unbending purpose, Ree raised to his feet, dragging the +savage with him. He grasped the Indian's body and with strength most +extraordinary, lifted him from the ground, then suddenly he cast him +violently down as though the brave were a great stone which he wished to +break. + +Astonished, bruised, exhausted, the Indian lay as he had fallen. The +whole struggle had occupied but a minute or two, but it had been furious. +Both the combatants were panting like dogs. Now was Ree's opportunity. He +stooped down, grasped the redman's hand and shook it gently. + +"We should be brothers. I would not try to kill you," he spoke in a low, +friendly way. + +The Indian made no answer. Again Ree shook his hand, then picked up his +rule and walked rapidly away. Looking back, he saw the savage rising to +his feet and returning to the camp-fire. He was sure then that he had +made a friend of an enemy. But he lost no time. There were but a few +hours of darkness remaining to cover his escape while he searched for his +friends, and with every sense alert he hastened on, though faint and +weary from the violence of his exertions. He felt the necessity of +finding and giving warning to John and Tom and the thought kept him +going. + +At last the morning came--slowly at first and then with a rush of light +which set the crows a-cawing and wood-birds singing; and still the +worn-out, lonesome boy looked in vain for his friends. But he wavered not +for a moment, though ready to acknowledge himself completely lost, and +thus, pressing on, he came soon after sunrise to the bank of a deep, wide +ravine. He remembered having crossed it the day he left John and Tom, and +soon he found a path leading down into the gully. + +Assuring himself by careful scrutiny that the coast was clear, Ree pushed +through the bushes and trotted down the bank's steep side; and in another +moment came squarely upon the cart and the camp of his friends. But where +were John and Tom? Consternation filled the lad as he wholly failed to +find them, and as he also discovered that the camp-fire was no fire at +all--only a heap of dead ashes. Where was old Jerry, too? + +A great fear came into Ree's heart, which was increased a thousand fold, +as in another moment he saw the faithful horse a few rods away--dead. +There was a bullet hole in the gentle, patient animal's head. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The Scalp at Big Buffalo's Belt. + + +A great lump came in Ree's throat as he looked upon the body of honest +old Jerry, and stood for a few seconds watching in a dazed, helpless way +the big blue flies which buzzed about the lifeless animal in the morning +sunlight. Then he saw for the first time that carion birds, buzzards, +perhaps, had been feeding on the horse's flesh. + +The oppressive silence and desolation of the camp were as dead weights on +the lad's spirits, already burdened with most unhappy thoughts, and +standing as still as the motionless trees about him, he could not summon +back the resolution and courage which had kept him unfaltering throughout +the night. The snapping of a twig recalled his scattered senses, however, +and his sudden movement frightened a gaunt wolf which had crept up almost +to the lifeless horse, and now went skulking away. + +"I cannot understand--cannot think, I must get my wits to working, some +way!" the boy exclaimed in a half whisper, "what in the world can have +happened?" + +Again Ree's mind gained the mastery over his fatigued body and his +powerful determination seemed again to drive the weariness away. He +stooped and stroked but once or twice the dead horse's damp foretop, then +hastened to the cart. Nothing in it had been disturbed. He looked +carefully about the shelter of poles and brush which had been built, and +found everything in comparatively good order. Surely things would not be +in this state if his friends had been driven off or killed by Indians. It +must be that they were attacked, had repulsed the enemy and had now gone +in pursuit. + +But why had they not returned? There was no doubt but that old Jerry had +been dead at least a day, and John and Tom would, in that case, have been +absent nearly as long. + +With feverish anxiety Ree searched for a trail which would show the +direction taken by the enemy or his friends, or both, but the sound of a +stealthy footstep on the bank above caused him to spring to the shelter +of a tree. + +As he watched and listened, he heard voices, and quietly stepped into the +open; for he would have known John's tones among ten thousand. And at the +same minute John and Tom Fish saw Ree gazing up at them, and both ran +toward him, John crying excitedly: "Return Kingdom! Oh, but I am glad to +see you!" + +"Dutch rum an' fire-water, it's happy I am y'er back!" Tom Fish +exclaimed. + +"What has happened, John?" asked Ree in his usual quiet way, grasping his +friend's hand. + +"What ain't happened? It beats me as I ain't ever been beat yet," Tom +Fish made answer. + +"It was another of those mysterious shots, Ree--the very morning you left +us," said John, putting his hand affectionately on his chum's arm. + +"Another?" Ree spoke more to himself than to either John or Tom, and +something made him think of Big Pete Ellis and the fellow's threats. + +"It was the same sort of a shot as before, but in broad daylight," John +answered. "We had just got the cart down into this gully and were +preparing to get it up the other side, when we heard a rifle shot +and--old Jerry fell dead. I saw the smoke curling out from the bushes +just half a minute later, and Tom and I both ran back up the hill. But +there was no one near. We did find a trail but it was mingled with the +tracks of the horse and cart, and the snow being gone, we could not +follow it. For miles around the woods seemed as quiet as a Sunday at +home. We looked all about but--" + +"Only one thing is plain, some Mingo or somebody has a grudge ag'in ye, +or else there's been some consarned queer coincidences," broke in Tom +Fish. "It beats me!" + +"I don't see what we are to do, Ree! Tom and I decided just to wait here +until you came back. But what have you been doing? Why, your hands and +face are frightfully scratched, and you look all played out!" + +"I guess I've had my hands full," said Ree with a sad little smile. "But +tell me where you two were. Why is there no fire?" + +"Such a time as we have had!" was John's sorrowful answer. "Poor old +Jerry was scarcely dead before there were hawks or buzzards circling +around above us, and when night came, wolves and other animals howled all +around us, and so near we would have been afraid, had we not had a big +fire. Toward morning it became quieter and I was asleep, and Tom on +watch, when a bear came poking around." + +"Biggest bear ye ever seen," interrupted Thomas Fish. + +"Well," John went on, "we both set out after that bear, though it was +pitch dark. We had a long chase for nothing, though, for we caught sight +of the big fellow only once, and not long enough to get a shot at him. +Coming back, it was light, and we stopped to explore the gully. But we +did not expect to find you here, Ree. We would not have come back when we +did, only to keep the buzzards away from the horse till we can burn the +body. And I don't see what we are to do. But you haven't told a word +about yourself." + +Ree was busily thinking, and for a little time made no answer. Then Tom +and John spoke again, asking where he had been and what he had found. + +"Why, I'll tell you," he answered them. "I came upon a first-class place +for a cabin, on a bluff right at the bank of a splendid little river, and +a little natural clearing around it. About five minutes later I came upon +some Delaware Indians and as they wouldn't believe me when I told them +who I was, they made me a prisoner. I got away in the night, and here I +am." + +John's eyes opened wide, and excitedly he demanded to know all the +particulars of Ree's adventure. Tom Fish whistled a long, low note and +almost closing his eyes, he looked toward Ree with a squint which was +more expressive of his astonishment and interest than words could have +been. + +As the three of them sat on the thills of the now useless cart, Ree told +them more fully of his experiences. Many were John's outbursts of +interest, and Tom whistled in his peculiar way more than once. + +"Can't more than kill us, and we may as well die that way as starve to +death," said the old hunter, as Ree spoke of the probability of the +Indians soon finding their camp, and straightway he began preparations +for breakfast. As they gathered about the savory meal which soon was +ready, the conversation turned again to the mysterious attack which had +ended the life of their horse. + +John could not be persuaded that it was not some prowling Indian who had +fired the shot, but Ree urged both him and Tom to be on their guard +constantly and he would be the same, he said, for there was no knowing +when another bullet might come whizzing toward them, nor when one of +their own lives might not be thus snuffed out. + +As breakfast was finished, John and Tom pleaded with Ree that he should +lie down and get some rest, but he took a cold bath in the brook close +by, instead, and would not listen to them further. All three were keeping +their eyes open to detect the approach of Indians, for they did not doubt +the savages would soon come, especially since the re-kindling of the fire +had sent a stream of smoke steadily skyward, and now this signal of their +whereabouts was made all the more plain by the building of a much larger +fire upon and about the body of the unfortunate horse. + +"Let them come," was the confident declaration of Return Kingdom, as Tom +Fish had suggested that the savages could not be far away. "We will meet +them as friends," he went on, "and I honestly believe that when they find +that we are peaceable traders, there will be no trouble whatever." + +Tom whistled and squinted as Ree took this bold stand, but he had learned +that the boy "had a long head," and made no further remonstrance against +the plan proposed. + +About noon the savages arrived. John discovered a dark face peering out +from some bushes on the bluff, and waved his hand in that direction in a +friendly way. The searching eyes instantly disappeared. It required +courage to follow the program Ree had mapped out, now when it was known +that vengeful and cruel Delawares were lurking so near, themselves fully +protected by the bank and brush, and trees; but when, a few minutes later +Ree saw an Indian looking down at them, and the fellow put down his gun +as a sign of friendliness, they knew they had acted wisely. + +Notwithstanding the show of friendliness, however, Tom Fish said: "Keep +your wits about ye, kittens, there ain't no snake in the woods as +treacherous as them varmints." + +Two savages were soon seen coming down the path, and Ree and John, laying +down their guns, as the Indians had done, walked forward to meet them. +Thus peace was secured for the time being, at least, and as the boys +shook hands with the Redskins, the latter gave them to understand that +their chief was in waiting to be met and conducted to the camp. + +Ree went to the cart and secured from their stock of merchandise a small +hand-mirror in a round, pewter frame with a pewter lid over it, and with +this for a present to the chief, he and John were guided to a spot not +far away where the savage warrior and his braves were assembled. He was a +tall muscular young fellow and would have been handsome had it not been +for a look of malicious cunning and wickedness in his small dark eyes. +But the gift of the mirror pleased his savage fancy greatly and he +accepted it with a show of friendliness. + +There were eleven Indians in the party. John could not repress a smile +when he saw the singed hair and burned face of the young brave whom Ree +had knocked into the fire, but even Kingdom failed to recognize the +savage with whom he had battled for his very life alone in the darkness. +By sign or otherwise neither of the boys made any reference to the +adventure of the day and night before, but with perfect friendliness +conducted the Indians to their camp. + +Tom Fish's spirits had grown lighter when he saw that a fight would be +avoided and he greeted each Indian in his happy-go-lucky fashion. + +"You're a good un," he said to the chief. "Got a little muscle, too, +ain't ye? Ain't no religion in that eye o' your'n, though!" + +And so it went with the whole party. As he noticed the buck who was +burned Tom laughed aloud. "Pretty near took the hide off, didn't it, +Smart Alec?" he exclaimed. "Doubled ye up like a two-bladed jack-knife, I +should guess. Oh, these here boys are frisky! No foolin' with them!" + +John laughed at this, but no one took heed of him except Tom, who laughed +boisterously, as he always did when anyone showed an appreciation of his +crude jokes. + +Almost immediately upon reaching the camp the Indians asked for +"fire-water," but Ree shook his head. It was true that in one of the +several packages of goods there was a large stone bottle of whiskey which +Capt. Bowen had provided for the boys together with other medicines, but +not for a great deal would Kingdom have let the Indians know it; and he +hoped that Tom would not find it out, either; for the truth was that Fish +had drunk more than was good for him at Pittsburg. But all the savages +ate of the meat which was placed before them, and Tom Fish, never +neglecting an opportunity of this kind, made out a square meal also. The +boys joining in, too, there was quite a feast. + +One of the Indians, a good looking young buck, showed for Ree a warmer +friendship than any of the others. He was the one whom the boy had +mistaken for the chief of the party the day before. His name was Fishing +Bird and the chief's name was Big Buffalo. The latter was far from +showing entire friendship and a dispute arose between these two savages +when Ree told them that he and John wished to purchase land. + +Fishing Bird indicated that the boys must go to the great chief of their +tribe, Hopocon, or Captain Pipe, as the whites called him, at the village +of the Delawares. Big Buffalo, on the other hand, contended that he +himself had power to sell land. + +Ree rightly judged as he saw an ugly feeling between these two, that he +had made a serious mistake when he had mistaken Fishing Bird for the +chief the day before, arousing the other's jealousy very much. He thought +now, that he recognized in Fishing Bird the Indian with whom he had +grappled in the forest. If this were true, it was evident that that +Indian, unwilling to confess how he had been vanquished, had said nothing +to the others of his struggle with the escaped prisoner. + +However, seeing that the land question might cause trouble, both Ree and +John dropped it, having learned from the savages that a day's journey to +the south and west would take them to the Delawares' town. They +determined, therefore, to visit the village of Captain Pipe and talk with +the great chief himself. + +The afternoon was nearly spent before the Indians departed. They were +scarcely gone when Tom Fish called Ree and John to him and the boys +noticed for the first time that a great change had come over the old +hunter, who for some time had little or nothing to say. + +"Did ye see that fresh scalp hangin' at that Buffalo varmint's belt?" he +asked. "That means blood. It means fightin'! I've seen many a Redskin, +but I never seen a wickeder one than that Buffalo. An' there's no more +play for Thomas Trout, which some calls Fish, my kittens, both! I tell ye +now, that from what I seed, there was nothin' kept us out of a fight this +day but the friendliness o' that chap Fishin' Bird. If Big Buffalo had a' +dared, he'd a' pitched onto us. Them's my honest sentiments; an' more'n +that, did ye see the scalp at that red devil's belt? Don't tell me they +ain't been on the warpath! Did ye see that scalp, an' the blood on it +hardly more 'n dry? Oh, sorry day! Oh, sorry day--the blood on it hardly +more'n dry. 'Cause I'm a plagued sight mistaken, kittens both, if I don't +know whose scalp that is! Oh, sorry day!" + +Tom's voice had sunk almost to a whisper and involuntarily John +shuddered. The sinking sun cast thick, dark shadows in the narrow valley, +and a death-like silence was broken only by the soughing wind and the +tinkle of the brook. + +These melancholy surroundings and the gruesome way in which Tom spoke, +were enough to remove all cheerfulness which might have existed, but Tom +said again, slowly and with a mournful emphasis, "I know--I know whose +scalp it is, lads; an' the blood on it hardly more'n dry." + +The rough woodsman put his arm across his eyes and leaned mournfully on +his rifle, as he spoke. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A Night With the Indians. + + +To shut out from his thoughts the horrid memory of the bloody scalp at +Big Buffalo's belt, Ree turned and busied himself with the fire, which +had burned quite low, and soon a roaring blaze was leaping skyward, +shedding good cheer around. + +The woodsman still stood leaning on his rifle, a look of sadness on his +face such as was seldom seen there. If John had noticed this he might not +have asked in the tone in which he did: + +"Well, whose scalp is it?" + +"It ain't your'n, kitten, an' ye can be glad o' that." + +"Shucks! How can you tell whose it might have been? How could anybody +tell?" asked the boy. + +Tom made no reply, and Ree deftly changed the subject by saying that one +of them had better stand guard that night. He expected no trouble with +the Indians, but he was not willing to be caught napping by the unknown +foe whose work had now cost the life of their horse. + +Tom was gloomy all the evening as they sat before the fire, but he told +the boys of the great chief of the Delaware's, Hopocon, or Capt. Pipe, +and reminded them that he was one of the Indians who were responsible for +the burning of Col. Crawford at the stake eight years earlier. + +That and other stories of this noted chief made the boys curious to see +him, and anxious to put themselves on friendly terms with him. It was +decided that the next day they should visit the Delaware town and make +arrangements for securing land. Without a horse they could move their +goods only with great labor, and they were desirous of knowing just where +they were taking their property, therefore, before they undertook to move +it from their present camp. + +"Guess I will stay an' watch here, whilst you youngsters go to see Capt. +Pipe," said Tom, as the subject was under discussion. "I might not be as +peaceful as a little lamb--plague take their greasy skins! Not if I +clapped my eyes on that Buffalo critter ag'in!" + +"Look a-here, Tom," Ree answered, earnestly. "We boys are on a peaceable +mission and we don't want to get into trouble on your account. We know +that the horrible sight of that scalp, and your belief that you know from +where it came, has made you want revenge, but John and I have had no +special trouble with the Delawares and it would be very foolish, situated +as we are, for you or any of us to start a fight with them now." + +"I see all that--I ain't so blind! But--" Tom did not finish the +sentence. Instead he began talking of other things and advised the boys +to take every precaution against being treacherously dealt with when they +should find Big Buffalo at his own home--the Delaware town. + +It was a windy, cloudy morning that found Ree and John tramping through +the valleys and over the hills of a fine, thickly wooded country toward +the Indian village. Early in the afternoon they came to a sloping +hillside beyond which lay a swampy tract grown up to brush and rushes. +Close by was a beautiful little lake and at the opposite side the smoke +was rising from the town of the Delaware tribe of Indians. + +As the boys approached the water, planning to walk around the lake, they +were discovered by three Indians in a canoe, which seemed almost to +spring out of the water, so quickly did it appear from around a bushy +point. The savages headed directly toward the boys, without a sound. + +The lads laid down their rifles as a sign of friendliness, and in another +minute a swift stroke of a paddle grounded the Indians' craft upon the +beach. The Redskins bounded ashore and with some reluctance shook hands +with the boys. + +Without loss of time Ree gave them to understand that he wished them to +inform their chief, Hopocon, or Capt. Pipe, that two young Palefaces were +waiting to call on him, and tell of their friendly wish to buy some land +of the Delawares, and that they would remain where they were while he +should send a canoe to carry them over. + +None of the three Indians had been in the party of the previous day, but +they seemed readily to comprehend what was desired of them and turned to +go. + +One of the Redskins, quite a young fellow, lingered behind. After the +other two had taken their places in the canoe he pushed it out into deep +water, then he made a running jump to leap, aboard. He might have done so +very nicely, had he not slipped just as he jumped. As it was, he went +sprawling in the water most ridiculously. + +The other Indians grunted derisively. John laughed heartily and Ree +smiled, amused to see the proud young buck get just such a ducking as he +deserved for trying to "show off." + +However, the lithe young fellow seized the canoe and was safely in it in +a very brief space of time. Soon it was far out on the lake, rocking and +dancing lightly as a feather on the fierce little waves, which a strong +wind was blowing up. + +Ree and John made themselves comfortable on the grassy bank beside the +water, and waited. It seemed a long time until they saw a canoe coming +for them. The fact was, and the boys shrewdly surmised it, that Capt. +Pipe, or Hopocon, desirous of impressing the strangers with his +greatness, purposely kept them waiting awhile. + +The canoe sent for the boys was manned by two of the Indians they first +met, and the lads were taken aboard. Although frail in appearance, the +light little craft was capable of carrying seven or eight persons. It was +made of the bark of a bitter-nut hickory, and was the first of the kind +in which the Connecticut lads had ever ridden. They quickly found that +they must aid in keeping the canoe balanced to prevent its upsetting, and +their efforts to do this, before they caught the knack of it, rather +amused the Indians. + +In a short time, however, the canoe touched shore before the Indian town +and the Paleface visitors were conducted at once to the council house. +This was a long low building, its lower part being built of logs but its +sides and roof being of bark. It was open at one end, and at the other +end skins were hung up to shut out the wind. In the center of the rude +structure, whose floor was only the hard-trodden earth, was a fire, the +smoke escaping through a large hole in the roof. + +All these things were observed by the boys in time, but first to attract +their notice as they entered, were the Indians, especially one of great +size--elderly and very dignified, seated on a bear skin spread over a mat +of bark. He shook hands with each as they stepped up, saying only "How." + +Ree answered in the same fashion but John was so flustrated that he +stammered: "How do you do, sir?" in a manner which bored him a great +deal, as Ree jokingly recalled the circumstance long afterward. + +But Capt. Pipe knew from the lad's tone that he spoke respectfully and it +pleased him. Other Indians seemed to feel the same, and the several minor +chiefs and medicine men who were present, shook hands with the boys with +a great show of dignity and formality. Then the young traders stated the +object of their visit and were shown to a seat opposite Capt Pipe and +pipes were brought out. They all smoked, the boys soon discovering that +it was not tobacco but "kinnikinick"--the inner bark of young willow +sprouts dried and pulverized--which was in the pipes. + +Presently the great chief laid aside his pipe, a long-stemmed affair with +a curiously carved clay bowl, and all others immediately followed his +example. In another minute the speech-making began. + +Capt. Pipe's was the first address, a brief preliminary statement. He +made a most imposing appearance as he stood very erect, his arms folded, +his head-dress of feathers reaching half way to the ground behind him, +the fringes of his shirt-like coat rustled by the movements of his body, +as he talked. Others followed, but the boys understood very little of +what was said. As Big Buffalo arose, however, there was a scowl on his +face which was far from pleasant. His gestures indicated hostility and +the Paleface lads knew that at heart he hated them. They wished Fishing +Bird were present to say a friendly word. + +Capt. Pipe, himself, spoke a second time a little later, however, and +very earnestly Ree and John studied his grave and stern, but not unkind, +face, to learn how he felt toward them. They could scarcely believe that +he was the savage, who, only a few years before, had been a leading +spirit in the torture of Colonel Crawford. + +Occasionally the chief used a few English words and the boys gathered +from the general trend of his remarks that they would be welcome if they +came only as traders; but that settlers were not welcome, and the Indians +wished no one to come among them who would clear land or do anything +which might lead to the establishing of a settlement of the whites in +their country. A reasonable number of hunters and traders might come and +go unmolested but there must be no building of permanent cabins; there +must be no different life than that led by the children of the +forest--the Indians themselves. + +A long silence followed this address, and then Ree arose to speak. His +heart beat fast, and John trembled inwardly as his friend began. But +nervous as he was, there was no weakness in Ree's tones. He spoke slowly +and distinctly, using every sign which could be expressed by look or +gesture to make his meaning clear; and looking the Indians squarely in +the eyes they did not fail to understand as the boy thus told them in his +own way, that he and his friends hoped to live at peace with them; that +there was but a very small party of them, himself and one other, besides +a woodsman who was temporarily with them, and that they had journeyed to +that beautiful country of the Delawares to hunt and trade and make +themselves a home. + +They had not been taught to live as the Indians lived, he said, and they +could not have a home without some cleared land about it for the crops +which they would need. For this land, Ree went on, they were willing to +pay a fair price, and they were desirous of selecting a location that +they might get their cabin built. The spot they had chosen was where the +course of the river had changed at some time, years before, leaving a +little clearing. + +As Ree finished speaking he stepped up and laid his presents--two small +mirrors and a handsome hunting knife--before Capt. Pipe. John followed +his example in this, and there were grunts of approval from all the +Indians except Big Buffalo, as the boys sat down. + +More speech-making followed, however, taking so much time that John +whispered: "If they don't stop soon, or ask us to stay all night, we will +have to climb a tree, somewhere." + +At last a decision was reached that the boys were to have a piece of land +including the clearing to which Ree had referred, and as much of the +river valley and adjacent hillsides as they reasonably needed, in +exchange for articles to be selected from their stock of goods. + +By close attention Ree had been able to understand the matter fairly +well, but as the talk of the Indians had seemed so monotonous, John had +let his thoughts run to other subjects. He had been wondering what had +become of the scalp they had seen at Big Buffalo's belt the day before, +and whether Tom Fish really knew the person whose death it signified; and +if so, who that person might be. He did not know then, all that he came +to know afterward. + +With hand-shaking all around the council was concluded, and Capt. Pipe +conducted the boys to the feast which the squaws had been preparing. +There was broiled venison (without salt) and a sort of soup containing +broken corn and beans cooked together in a large kettle. + +Nearly all of the Indians who had been in the council partook of these +dainties and many others did likewise. Ree and John ate heartily though +they did not exactly relish the lack of cleanliness displayed by the +savages in their manner of cooking, and in their eating. + +The squaws and Indian boys and girls, and many a young brave for that +matter, watched the young Palefaces curiously, and their eyes followed +the lads closely as Capt. Pipe led them away to his own bark cabin. It +was then that John first saw Gentle Maiden, Capt. Pipe's daughter. She +was truly handsome for one of her race, but she stepped behind a screen +of skins and was gone before Ree had even noticed her. + +The chief of the Delawares told the boys to make themselves comfortable, +and a squaw, who seemed to be his wife, spread skins for them to sit upon +or lie upon, as they chose. Capt. Pipe then gave his guests to understand +that they might come and go as they chose and remain with him as long as +they wished. He then withdrew and presently the boys did go for a stroll +about the queer town of the Indians. Fortunately they met Fishing Bird +and he walked all about with them then, leading the way to a fire before +which a game like dice was being played. + +The seeds of wild plums, colored black on one side and scraped white on +the other, were shaken up in a box made of bark and thrown out upon a +smooth spot on the ground. The Indians endeavored to throw as many as +possible of the seeds with the white sides up, and he who did the best at +this, won the game. It seemed very dull amusement to John, but Ree +watched the game with much interest, until Fishing Bird beckoned him +away. And then something took place which made Ree quite certain that +this was the Indian whom he might have killed as they struggled alone in +the forest solitude only the second night previous. + +It was a wrestling match which Fishing Bird proposed, and he called to a +strapping young savage and challenged him to undertake to put Ree down. +The brave smiled and stepped up willingly. Ree would have preferred that +such a contest had not been suggested, but as the young Indian looked at +him in a way which seemed to say, "It will not take me long to put you on +your back," he decided to throw the proud young redskin if he could. + +With many manifestations of delight the Indians gathered around, as they +quickly learned what was taking place; for there was nothing in which the +forest rovers had a greater delight than trials of strength and +endurance. + +Ree stipulated but one thing, as he threw off his coat and made ready, +this was that the wrestling should be "catch-as-catch-can." + +Ready assent was given, a space was cleared and an Indian clapped his +hands as a signal for the contest to begin. Like a panther the young +brave sprang toward his sturdy white opponent to catch him "Indian hold." +But he reckoned without knowledge of his man. Ree had not forgotten the +teachings of Peter Piper, and so cleverly did he dodge, and so quickly +seize the Indian about the legs, that in a twinkling the proud buck was +stretched upon the earth. + +There were expressions of wonderment from the Indians, but in a second +the vanquished redskin was on his feet, anxious for another trial. + +John, with utter disregard of good manners, was laughing heartily over +his friend's success, and as Ree declined to wrestle any more, the Indian +turned to him, and somewhat fiercely demanded that he should try +conclusions with him. + +John glanced at Ree and the latter nodded for him to go ahead. In another +minute then, a match, the closeness and desperation of which delighted +the savages beyond measure, was in progress. + +Tightly clasping each other's arms, the contestants strained every muscle +and struggled back and forth and round and round--now slowly, now with +movements most rapid, neither gaining an advantage. Longer and longer the +contest continued in this way, and Ree saw that John was becoming worn +out. He must act quickly or succumb to the Indian's greater weight and +power of endurance. + +"You can throw him if you only say to yourself that you must and that you +will, and then do it," Ree whispered, as John was pushed near him, and +his advice was taken. + +With a show of strength which surprised them all, John forced his +opponent backward, and tried again to trip the fellow, but could not. +Then he allowed the savage to try to trip him, and seizing the +opportunity, gave the redskin so sudden and violent a pull that he was +taken off his feet and fell heavily, dragging John down with him. Both +the Indian's shoulders touched the ground, however, and with savage glee +the redskins acknowledged John to be the victor. To do them justice, they +seemed not at all put out that their man was defeated. Only one who was +present scowled. He was Big Buffalo, and with an ugly look he strode away +from the campfire's light. + +Ree could not help but notice the savage fellow's hostile manner. "We +better watch out for him," he said to John as they discussed the incident +sometime later, when they had sought rest for the night on the skins in +Capt. Pipe's house. + +"It makes me feel--well, not exactly comfortable, Ree," John answered. +"Here we are a hundred miles from civilization sleeping in the hut of one +of the bloodiest Indians of the Northwest Territory; Indians all around +us, and Goodness knows what else in the woods, on every side!" + +"Why, John," said Ree, "I believe we are safer to-night than at any time +since we left Fort Pitt. Capt. Pipe may be a bad Indian, but he would +fight for us, if need be, while we are his guests. He might scalp us +to-morrow after we have said good-bye, but when we are in his house as +friends, we will be protected." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Again a Hidden Enemy. + + +The boys were early astir the following morning. As soon as they were up +Capt. Pipe's wife placed a dish of boiled corn, like hominy, before them, +and this was their breakfast. A little later, telling Capt. Pipe of the +great amount of work they had to do, the lads bade him good-bye, the +chief giving them each a pouch of parched corn, and sending an Indian to +take them in a canoe across the lake. + +It was two hours past noon when Tom Fish suddenly started up from the +broiled turkey with which he was regaling himself, as he heard some one +approach, and discovered Ree and John returning. He greeted them gladly, +but not in his usual hilarious fashion, and they could not but notice how +unlike himself he was as he carved for them some juicy slices from the +fine young gobbler he had cooked. Yet he listened with interest to Ree's +account of their trip, John often breaking in with such jolly comment as: +"You should have heard those Indians talk! Why they beat a quilting bee +for gabbling, except that they didn't all talk at once." + +"But they are real orators," added Ree quite soberly. "I've heard that an +Indian has three ambitions--to be a mighty hunter, a great warrior and a +grand orator; and there are some splendid speakers among the Delawares." + +"The's some red-handed, bloody murderers among 'em, too, I kin tell ye," +Tom Fish growled. "I got no rest whilst ye was gone, a thinkin' of it." + +"Has anything happened, Tom?" asked Ree, struck by his friends grave +manner. + +"Cheer up, Thomas, cheer up!" cried John. "You've been about as cheerful +company as a box of indigo ever since you saw that--that hideous thing at +Big Buffalo's belt." + +"Well, it's a wonder the' didn't nothing happen, an' somethin's goin' to +happen, I know," the hunter replied to Ree's question, ignoring John's +bantering, as he often did. "That Buffalo varmint means harm. I've been +thinkin' it all over an' the' ain't no two ways about it. If I ain't a +sight mistaken, I seen him peekin' down from the hill back there, not a +half hour ago--either him or some dirty Mingo; I didn't exactly see him, +but I heard some one, an' I'd a' peppered away at him if you kittens +hadn' 'a been gone an' me not knowin' just where ye might be. So I've +been thinkin' it all over, an' mighty sorry I am I ever piloted ye into +this hostyle kentry. The's only one thing to do, an' that's to take what +stuff ye kin an' get back to Pittsburg fast as yer legs kin take ye. Now +as fer me, I kin take care of myself, but I'll see ye part way anyhow, +an' I'd go clear back with ye if I didn't have somethin' very important +to 'tend to." + +Ree could not help but smile at Tom's drooping spirits, though the +discouraging talk made it necessary for him to appear really more +cheerful than he felt, as he realized that Big Buffalo really seemed +anxious to cause trouble. But he shook his head at John, as he saw the +latter about to scold Tom for bringing them into this part of the +wilderness only to advise them to leave it; for his chum's face showed +that he was not pleased with Tom's manner. + +"There is just one thing to be done," Ree exclaimed. + +"An' that's get right back--" Tom Fish was saying. + +But the youthful leader of the party interrupted: "Go back? No, sir! The +one thing to do is to go forward, and take our goods with us without +further loss of time. We will get a good, stout cabin up and then we'll +be better prepared for trouble if it comes. And that prowler, you heard, +Tom, must have been the same cowardly wretch who shot old Jerry. We must +watch for him. We cannot be too careful, but if he is the same fellow who +fired on us and nearly killed Black Eagle's son, 'way back on the +Pennsylvania border, I think I can guess who it is, and I can tell you, +he is a coward. But let's get to work." + +"I like yer spunk, lad, an' I like you, but what I want to say is, that +Tom Trout as some calls Fish, will stick by ye till ye get some sort of a +shack throwed up, anyhow." + +"Bully for you, Tom! And bully for you, too, Ree," exclaimed John +springing up to begin whatever task awaited him. "I was beginning to get +away down in the mouth, the way Tom was talking a minute ago." + +"We must take the goods out of the cart and pack them in convenient shape +for carrying," Ree directed, without further ado. "By dragging a few +things forward a hundred rods or so, then coming back for more and so on, +we should reach the river in a couple of days." + +And so all fell to work with a will. The cart did not contain a heavy +load, as it would have been impossible for old Jerry to have hauled it +through the woods, up hills, across streams and boggy places. But when it +came to carrying forward everything except the cart, which must be +abandoned, without the aid of a horse, the task was found to be a most +laborious one. + +The unpacking and rearranging consumed so much time that darkness had +come on before the last bundle of the merchandise and provisions had been +carried forward to the first stopping place, a little way beyond the top +of the bluff, in the valley below which the camp had been. + +While John and Tom erected a shelter for the night, for the wind was cold +and raw, Ree returned to the valley to procure coals with which to start +a fire at the new camp. He found it necessary to enliven the dying embers +with a few fresh sticks of wood, and as he stooped over to blow greater +life into the struggling blaze which started up, he heard a rustling in +the leaves on the hill behind him, in the direction opposite that in +which his friends were. Like a flash he sprang away from the fire into +the half-darkness which filled the valley. He was in the nick of time. A +rifle cracked and a bullet threw up the ashes and sent the sparks flying +where his head had been just a second before. + +With the speed of the wind Ree ran in the direction from which the shot +had come, his own rifle cocked and ready. He thought he heard some one +making off in the darkness as he reached the top of the hill, but whether +white man or Indian--Delaware or Mingo, he could not tell. He called out +a command to halt, but no attention was given his order for the uncertain +sound of fleeing footsteps continued. He chanced a shot in the direction +of the unknown enemy, although he realized it would probably do no good. + +While he reloaded his rifle Ree stepped behind a tree, and a few seconds +later John came running up. As it was too dark to continue the chase, +both boys returned to camp, stopping in the ravine to secure a fire brand +to start a blaze to prepare their supper. In vain did John ask questions +as to whom Ree believed the would-be murderer was; they could not be +answered, for, as Ree said, he had not seen the person. + +Tom Fish, disconsolate as he well could be, sat on a big bundle of +merchandise as the boys rejoined him. + +"It's sure death to stay here, lads," were the first words he said, and +his tone was not calculated to make the young travelers comfortable; but +resolving to look on the brighter side, Ree cheerily answered: + +"A man is in some danger wherever he is. We will all feel better when we +smell some venison on the hot coals. And just wait till we get our cabin +built! We are going to get some beans and late squashes from the Indians, +and bake some corn bread, and have a regular old-fashioned Connecticut +supper!" + +"Did ye hit him, d'ye think, Ree?" asked Tom, brightening up. + +"No, but he scared him into eleven kinds of fits," John answered for his +friend, catching the spirit of the latter's courage and enthusiasm. + +"It ain't that I am caring for myself. Tom Fish, or Tom Trout didn't ever +lose a wink o' sleep bein' afraid he couldn't look out for number one," +the woodsman went on. "But after--after that--thing we saw the other +day--but I guess we've got our appetites left," he said, suddenly +changing the subject. + +It was not long until the supper was ready and eaten and all did feel +much the better for it, as Ree had predicted. The ordinary noises of the +forest, the howling of wolves, in pursuit of some poor deer, perhaps, the +far-away shriek of a panther balked of its prey, it may have been, gave +them little concern. Though the darkness was intense and enemies might +draw very near without being observed, the boys believed they had made +peace with the Indians and the presence of four-footed enemies did not +worry them. + +Tom Fish felt very differently about the matter of the Indians' +friendship, but he kept these thoughts to himself for the time being, and +though there are far more comfortable places than a camp in a great +wilderness on a cold November night, the lads from Connecticut would have +been entirely happy had it not been for the mystery of the strange +prowler, the thought that several times they had been secretly fired +upon, and that there was no knowing when another attack might be made in +which the aim of the dastardly assailant need be but a trifle better to +end the life of one or both of them, perhaps. + +Yet, even these gloomy facts could not dispel the good spirits which +accompany good health and the hopefulness of youth. Even Tom seemed to +forget his dark forebodings as he was persuaded to tell a number of +stories of his own adventures. Quite comfortable, therefore, though on +the alert to catch the first sound of danger's coming, the little party +sat for an hour or two beneath the rude shelter which had been erected, +while the firelight performed its fantastic feats around them. + +Tom volunteered to remain on guard the first part of the night, and crept +out at the back of their little house of poles and brush, that he might +not be observed, should anyone be watching. Then, softly through the +darkness he made his way to a convenient tree against which he leaned, in +the dark shadows. Ree and John, wrapped in their blankets on their beds +of deerskins spread over the autumn leaves, were soon asleep. + +A heavy snow was sifting through the swaying branches of the trees when +Tom called Ree and the latter went on watch. This change in the weather +gave the quick-witted sentinel an idea. With the first streak of dawn he +called John to prepare breakfast, then hurried back to the valley where +their cart had been left, taking care to observe that there were no +tracks of any human creature along the way. From the box of the abandoned +two-wheeled wagon he secured two good sized boards and carried them to +camp. + +John watched in open-mouthed astonishment as he saw Ree coming up with +the lumber, but in a minute or two he discovered what his friend designed +to do. With no other tools than an axe and auger he soon built a sled +large and strong enough to carry all their goods. + +Ree's idea proved an excellent one. The snow-fall was just enough to make +a sled run smoothly, and by a little after sunrise "all the property of +Kingdom and Jerome, Indian traders and home-seekers," as John expressed +it, was piled upon the pair of runners which the senior member of the +firm had contrived, and they and Tom Fish were steadily drawing it toward +their long-sought destination. + +"We must reach the Cuyahoga river by night," Ree urged, and his own +determination gave strength to himself and his companions. Up hill and +down hill they hurried, tugging, perspiring, making the best speed +possible through the silent forest. + +And as the sun burst through a sea of gray-black clouds, and shone +brilliantly just before night's coming, it seemed an omen of good to the +little party in the wilderness, for at almost the same moment, Ree, +running on a head a little way, cried: "Here we are!" + +Before the daylight closed, the site of the cabin, work on which was to +begin the next day, had been selected on the long irregular mound close +to the river, which has already been described. + +Ree called attention to the natural advantages of the place--its sides +sloping down in three directions while on the fourth side and thirty feet +below was the river. It was a point which could be defended in case of an +attack, and the additional fact of the natural clearing and fertile lands +surrounding it, made the place seem most desirable. + +"The's only one thing the matter with this location," said Tom Fish, +surveying the mound from the semi-circular valley around it, as the +twilight settled down. "The's likely to be ague in a place like this, it +bein' so nigh the water. It's a mighty good thing to steer clear of, ague +is." + +"But there are so many natural advantages," Ree persisted, "and our cabin +will be well up in the air and the sunlight." + +"That's a good point, Ree," John put in, "but think of it--we will have +to carry all our firewood up that hill." + +"I'll carry the wood if you play out, old chap," was the answer and the +matter ended by Ree having his own way, as was generally the case, not +because he was selfish or obstinate, but because he was sure he was right +before he made up his mind, and because he had that born spirit of +leadership which gave himself and all others confidence in his decisions +and actions. + +Although careful observation during the day had failed to reveal any sign +of their prowling foe, whoever he might be, Ree and John agreed to divide +the guard duty of the night between them. Ree took the first watch and +reported all quiet when John relieved him at midnight. + +When daylight came John went a little way up the wooded hillside opposite +the mound to pick up some dry wood for their fire. Suddenly he stopped +and a startled look came upon his face. There in the snow were +foot-prints made by moccasined feet. They followed the trail the sled had +made the day before, up to the very edge of the clearing in which their +camp was made. + +There, John found, as he guardedly investigated, they circled off to one +side a little way, hovered about, here and there, then re-crossed the +sled's track and disappeared in the woods. What could it mean? Instantly +he remembered that the foot-prints of the person who had several times +fired upon their camp, had been made by boots. He hurried to the camp +mentally ejaculating: "What will Tom Fish say of this?" + +Tom was still asleep, but Ree had commenced the breakfast. "It is too +bad," he said, thinking aloud, as he learned of John's discovery. "I +suppose we ought to follow those tracks if only for safety's sake, and +find out who made them, but I do hate to lose the time when we ought to +be getting a cabin built." + +The discovery was pointed out to Tom when he awoke a little later. + +"A prowlin' Mingo!" the old hunter exclaimed as he inspected the +foot-prints. "Kittens both, the's trouble brewin'. It's a wonder the +varmint didn't shoot. I don't see what he's up to, always doggin' us this +way! But I'll tell ye what I'll do. You lads get yer axes an' go to work, +an' I'll foller up them tracks. An' bust my galluses, kittens both, I'll +give the varmint a dose as'll make him think of his pore ol' granddad, if +I ketch him!" + +Tom's suggestion found favor at once, though the boys could not explain +the varying moods of their friend, which made him cool and courageous one +day and dejected and fearful another. But breakfast being over, Tom set +out. + +"Be careful," Ree called after him. "Don't get yourself or us into any +row with the Delawares, unnecessarily." The hunter made no answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Building a Cabin. + + +By reason of having been the first to see the strange foot-prints, and +having come upon them, too, in the gray light of the early morning, when +alone in the forest solitudes, John found it hard to shake off the dread +with which they filled him. On the other hand, Ree was bright and chipper +as a squirrel in the nutting season. He reasoned that the discovery of +the tracks was fortunate, rather than otherwise, for it proved that their +mysterious enemy was still hovering on their trail and gave them an +opportunity of finding out who the wretch might be. And they now knew +that they must be constantly on their guard, while except for the +discovery, they might have become careless and fallen easy victims to +their sneaking foe. + +So he cheered John up, and loud and clear the sounds of their axes rang +out in the crisp, delightful air of the woods. Both boys threw off their +coats as the healthful perspiration came to their faces and hands, and +their vigor and strength seemed to grow rather than decrease as they +worked. They had been careful to keep their axes sharp, and the chips +flew almost in showers. + +The trees selected for cutting were those from five to eight inches in +diameter, whose trunks were firm and straight. The lads would be able to +handle logs of this size, while larger ones would give them trouble, +especially as they no longer had a horse to draw them to the cabin site. +The work would be hard at best, but no more than the boys had expected, +and the hearty good will with which they set about the task before them, +promised its speedy accomplishment in spite of obstacles. + +For mutual safety the boys remained near one another as they worked, and +timber was so plentiful that their progress was not interfered with by +this arrangement. Their rifles were within reach, and their eyes and ears +were alert. + +The hour of noon brought a brief but pleasant rest, and the afternoon +slipped quickly away. As supper time drew near, John, having had only a +cold lunch at noon, was becoming very hungry and was about to mention +that fact, when, instead, he suddenly seized his rifle and sprang behind +a tree. At the same instant Ree did likewise. + +"As sure as shooting I heard some one cough!" exclaimed John in an +undertone. + +"I heard a footstep," Ree quietly answered. + +"Ho ho!" It was Tom Fish who called, and coming forward, he confessed +that he had been trying the boys' watchfulness by trying to steal up to +them without being discovered. He was decidedly surprised to find them so +quick to detect his approach, for he had scarcely come within gun shot. + +Tom declared to John, however, that he had not coughed, saying it must +have been John's alert instinct which told him that some one was drawing +near, and made him imagine he heard such a sound. The boys did not agree +with him, however, for he also undertook to say that Ree had not heard a +footstep at all, but being keenly alive to detect the approach of anyone, +had imagined he heard a noise before he really did, all through that +peculiar sense which he called instinct. + +"But anyway it's a good thing for you, Tom Fish, that you hollered when +you did," said John. "I was just on the point of giving you a dose of +these lead pills that you are so everlastingly talking about!" + +Tom's face lengthened. "You don't want to be too quick with your pill +box, boy," said he. "You want to see what an' who you're shootin' at. +Great Snakes, now! What if ye had peppered away at me?" + +"Well, don't come creeping up like a sneaking Mingo then," laughed John, +and Ree, who knew that John had not seen Tom until after he called, and +had been really frightened, joined in his chum's merriment. + +"But tell us what you found, Tom," urged Ree. + +"Well, I'll tell ye," Tom slowly and very soberly answered, "I don't know +what to make of it. Them tracks was made by a redskin an' they came +straight to the camp along the trail we made yesterday. Then after +leaving here, they strike off an' go straight to the little lake across +from the Delaware town, an' there they stop. It's plain as kin be, that +some varmint from that there town has been spyin' on us. Now was it the +same critter as killed the horse, or wa'n't it? An' if it was, was that +critter the Buffalo chap? An' what was he hangin' 'round here ag'in for +last night?" + +These questions furnished an abundance of material for conversation +during the evening meal, but no definite answers were agreed upon. Ree +would not admit that they were in danger from the Delawares, though he +agreed that Big Buffalo was a bad Indian. He was quite sure, however, +that Big Buffalo had not shot old Jerry, for the Indian was at the head +of the party of savages he had encountered the morning after the horse +was shot, and had plainly been surprised to see any white person so far +west. + +But these arguments did not satisfy Tom Fish, nor was John at all sure +that Ree was right. + +After supper Tom said he must go back for a deer which he had killed in +the morning, a couple of miles from camp, and which he had hung up beyond +the reach of the wolves, until his return. But he had made a short cut in +coming back to camp and so had not secured the venison. + +John jokingly cautioned him to let them know when he approached the camp +in returning, lest he be mistaken for the prowler, and Tom most soberly +promised he would, and was at great pains to do so; for he was always at +a loss to understand the younger of the two friends, and could not be +sure whether he was in sober earnest or only joking, no matter what was +said. + +The night passed without incident. Tom did more than his share of guard +duty, but it became apparent next day that he did not like to wield an +axe. He said he would go out for some fresh "provender" and "sort o' earn +his keep" that way. + +So while Fish went hunting, the boys toiled away. They could not complain +because Tom helped so little with the cabin, for they had no right to +expect it of him; they were thankful indeed, to have him keep the larder +well supplied and to let him sleep during the day, for he took the part +of sentinel a large part of every night. This gave the boys opportunity +to secure a good rest and to rise each morning eager to continue the task +of building. + +Their faithful efforts were rapidly being rewarded and in due time the +logs for the cabin were all ready. These were chopped into lengths with a +view to making their dwelling 12 by 14 feet--no longer than the average +bedroom of modern houses, but affording all the space necessary, and +being the easier to keep warm by reason of being compact. + +No time was spent on "fancy work," as John called it, at that time. A +floor and other improvements could be added later. For the main thing to +be accomplished was to get a secure shelter ready as soon as possible. + +The Indian summer was long since gone, and though there were still warm, +pleasant days now and then, cold rains and snow came frequently. No +matter what the weather, however, the work went on, though hands and +faces were cut and scratched by the brush and chapped by the raw winds. + +"Ree, you are a perfect fright," said John with a laugh, one day. "If +people from home were to see you now, they would say you would be lucky +to find a scare-crow which would trade places with you. And your +hair--why, it almost reaches your shoulders!" + +Ree smiled but did not at once reply. Then, looking up, he said: "Old +boy, we are going back to Connecticut some day, but the time is a long +way off. If we go with whole skins and with money in our pockets, it will +be an easy matter to get into good clothes and to get our hair cut. What +you want to do, is to watch out that some Indian barber does not cut that +long hair of yours, rather closer than you like." + +It was so seldom that Ree joked, and he spoke now in so droll a way, that +Tom Fish laughed boisterously. It had been long since the boys had heard +him so merry; for, though he never mentioned that subject, the +remembrance of the scalp Big Buffalo had carried, seemed always on his +spirits, bearing him down to a melancholy, unnatural mood. + +They did not understand it then; they did not know. + +When the time came to raise the cabin--that is, to fit the logs in place +one upon another, after they had been dragged and rolled to the summit of +the mound, to be in readiness, Tom's help was found most valuable, and +both Ree and John appreciated his work. But notwithstanding, they would +have been better pleased had he not remained with them. He had shown so +much ill-feeling toward the Indians who had come about from time to time, +that there was reason to believe he would commit some rash act which +would make trouble for all. + +They could not tell Tom they did not trust him. They could not tell him +to go. Ree's repeated cautions that they must avoid getting into +difficulty with the redskins, were the only hints that could be given. + +Capt. Pipe himself and a large number of his braves visited the camp when +the cabin was nearly finished, to make the settlement for the land the +boys had engaged to buy. The young pioneers had twice sent word to him by +Indians who were passing, that they wished to make their payment and +enter into a final agreement, and he had at last sent messengers to say +that he would visit them on a certain day. On the day before Capt. Pipe's +expected visit Ree and John went hunting to secure an abundance of meat +for a feast for their guests. It was the first day they had spent away +from the hard work on their cabin, except for Sundays when they bathed +and gave their clothes needed attention, and no two boys ever enjoyed a +holiday more. There was some snow--not enough to make walking difficult, +but really an advantage to the young hunters, for it showed them the +numerous tracks of the game they sought. + +To this day, men, who have heard the stories handed down from generation +to generation, of the hunters' paradise in what is now the Northern part +of Ohio, in the years before 1800, delight to tell of the abundance of +choicest game found in the valley of the Cuyahoga and about the small +lakes in its vicinity, and Ree and John were in that very locality years +before the white man's axe had opened up the country to general +settlement, driving the deer, the bear and wolves and all kindred animals +away. + +Little wonder is it that these hardy pioneer boys were constantly +reminding themselves that they must pass by many fine opportunities for a +good shot, because of the necessity of saving their powder and bullets +for actual use; there must be no shooting except when there was a good +chance of securing game of some value. + +Little wonder is it, that, even under these circumstances, Ree, by the +middle of the afternoon, had secured a deer and three turkeys besides a +big rabbit which he caught in his hands as it sprang from its burrow +beneath a fallen tree-top. And John had also shot a deer and had killed +their first bear--a half-grown cub which, late in finding quarters for +its long winter's sleep, rose on its hind legs, growling savagely, as the +boys came suddenly upon it, in passing around a great boulder in the +river valley. + +In good time on a certain Tuesday in December, Capt. Pipe and his party +arrived. Some of the braves were inclined to be very frolicsome and it +was necessary to watch that they did not get their hands on property +which was not their own. + +But their chief was all dignity. He seemed to take a fancy to Ree, who +was scarcely less dignified than himself,--being so grave and quiet in +his deportment, indeed, that a doughty warrior who had made up his mind +to challenge him to wrestle, had not the courage to suggest the contest. + +The business of the day sat lightly on John's mind, however, and he was +full of antics as any of the redskins. It resulted in his being +challenged to wrestle, and he was laid on his back in short order. Then +he remembered Ree's advice at the time he wrestled at the Delaware town, +and making use of it, threw his man after a most clever and spirited +contest. + +But the great feature of the day, in John's estimation, was the foot race +in which he defeated a young Indian known to be one of the best runners +of the tribe, winning a beautiful pair of leggings which Big Buffalo put +up in a wager. It was a short-distance race and he realized that in a +longer run the Indian would have defeated him; it made him decide to +practice running long distances. He might wish to outrun the redskins to +save his scalp, some day. + +Tom Fish sat silent and alone, a little apart from all the others, during +the whole time. He eyed Big Buffalo sharply when no one save Ree observed +him, but the gruesome scalp no longer hung at the Indian's belt. + +Fishing Bird was there and seemed especially friendly, though, not being +a sub-chief, as was Big Buffalo, he did not pretend to any special +dignity, but enjoyed himself in sports with the other young Indians and +John. + +When at last the Delawares settled down to business, there was a great +deal of talk before an agreement was reached, that the boys should have a +tract embracing about 200 acres, which the Indians marked off, in +exchange for three red blankets and a bolt of blue cloth. It was a rather +dear price, John thought, but Ree declared it was a bargain, for they +secured just the land they wanted. Moreover, they retained the friendship +of the Indians, and even though they should be obliged to pay for the +land a second time to the United States government or the State of +Connecticut, they could well afford to do so, under these circumstances. + +There was general hand-shaking as the Delawares went away, though Tom +Fish discreetly disappeared for the time, vowing he would give his hand +to "no bloody varmint." + +The Indians insisted that the young "Long Knives" (Ree and John) should +return their visit the second day following, for a ratification of the +bargain they had made. This the boys regretted, as it would probably +delay the completion of their cabin; but they were obliged to accept the +invitation, and did so. + +The next day, Wednesday, however, work on their rude dwelling was +resumed, and Tom Fish turned in and helped like a good fellow. A +fire-place and chimney had already been built of flat stones from along +the margin of the river, and this day, so industriously did all apply +themselves, that the roof and door were finished and the cabin +practically completed except for the improvements to be added from time +to time. + +Words can hardly express the boys' pleasure as they built a fire for the +first time in the big fire-place and found that their chimney did its +work admirably. Without loss of time they at once moved into their new +house from the brush shack in which their home had been; and by the +cheerful fire light, as the night came on, they placed their things in as +orderly a manner as possible, and found themselves quite comfortable, +though much remained to be done, the chinking of the walls being the +chief task unfinished. + +Notwithstanding how the wind crept in at the open cracks until this work +should be done, the boys were happy as they cooked and ate their supper +in their new home. The ripple and murmur of the river as it splashed on +the shore or washed over half-hidden stones, rose to them from the foot +of the mound, and was like sweet music in their ears. The wind gently +tossed the branches of the trees in harmony with the water's sound, and +the howling of wolves far off somewhere in the darkness, made the feeling +of security which the stout cabin walls gave all the more pleasing. Their +prowling foe had not been about since the first night of their arrival, +and they felt entirely safe. + +"I guess I'll turn in, then," said John, after trying in vain to brighten +up Tom Fish and get him to telling stories; and he was soon asleep on the +bed of leaves he had made in a corner. + +Ree, having had no chance to read since leaving home, resolved to improve +this opportunity. He got his "Pilgrim's Progress" from a chest, and +settled himself before the fire. + +All the evening Tom had sat in silence beside the big chimney, but soon +he leaned over, and placing one big hand on Ree's knee, said in a low +voice: + +"I've been wantin' to tell ye somethin', Ree; it's about that thar scalp +that has upset me so ever since I seen it." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +The Strange Story of Arthur Bridges. + + +Putting down his book, Ree looked thoughtfully into Tom's face. + +"Of course," said he, "John and I have wondered about that--that +matter--but we have considered that you had some reason for not talking +of it, or telling us what it meant; and it was really none of our +business. But I want to say, Tom, that I would rather you would not tell +me anything which I must keep from John. He and I--well, you know how we +have always been together, and we have no secrets from each other." + +"Bless ye, Ree, lad," exclaimed the old woodsman, "ye kin tell him all ye +please of what I'm goin' to tell ye. The only reason I don't talk before +him is--he's so full o' fun ye know; and ain't always keerful what he +says. I don't keer when we're spinnin' yarns; but this here--it ain't no +triflin' thing." + +"It's John's way. He would not hurt your feelings for anything, Tom." + +The hunter did not answer at once, but buried his face in his hands. Ree +could plainly see that some great trouble was on his mind. Presently, +however, he raised his head, and with a sigh clasped his hands over his +knee. + +"Arthur Bridges," he began, "was as fine a young feller as ever the +Colonies produced; an' excep' for bein' a little wild, ye wouldn't a' +asked to clap yer eyes on a promisin'er chap. It was odd he made up t' me +the way he did, me bein' old enough to be his father, a'most, but ye see +we was both at Valley Forge together, an' all men was brothers there. We +had jist one pair o' shoes betwist us,--Art an' me--an' he wore 'em one +day, an' me the next, an' so on. When grub was scant, we shared each with +t'other, an' when he got down sick I took keer on him. + +"Art tol' me all about himself then, an' it was pitiful. His ol' pap back +in Connecticut was as pesky an' ol' Tory as ever did the Continental +troops a bad turn; but his mother was loyal as anybody could be. She was +born an' bred in this kentry, an' her husband had come from England; that +was just the difference betwixt 'em, to start on. The upshot on it was, +that Art believed as his mother did, an' it was nat'ral as could be that +he should run off an' join General Washington's army. That is what he did +anyhow, an' his father swore that he hoped the lad would be killed, +though his mother was prayin' for his safety night an' day. + +"Once in a long time Art would get some word from home--always from his +mother, tellin' him to stick true through thick an' thin an' all would +come right by an' by. I guess maybe he believed it would, too; but I +didn't ever have much hope on it myself. Bein' a little wild, as ye might +say, Art got wilder yet in the army, though there was always a great love +for his mother in him. But he got so toward the last that he hated his +father--yes, hated him fearful. Then for a long stretch he didn't hear +nothin' from home an' didn't see anybody as had heard anything about his +folks. + +"That's how matters stood when the war was over. He says to me as how he +was goin' home, anyhow, an' I tol' him he better do that same. As for me, +I was always for rovin' an' I lit out for Kaintucky which we was hearin' +was a great place for fightin' an' huntin'. So that's how it come about +that Art an' me parted company. + +"I was in Kaintucky an' 'round thar for more'n four years; some o' the +time with Col. Boone an' some o' the time with other chaps. Then I got to +longin' to go back east an' I went. I wasn't thinkin' o' meetin' up with +Art Bridges again, as I reckoned on him bein' up in Connecticut all +settled down an' married, prob'ly. But who should I meet up with one day +but Art himself, lookin' wilder an' more reckless than when I seen him +last. He comes up to me and slaps me on the shoulder an' calls me by name +a'most before I knowed him. An' it did give me a big surprise to see how +he had changed; not so much in looks as in his ways. He was that rough +like. After a while he tol' me all about himself, an' I could a jist +cried tears for him like a baby. + +"He had got started home, he tol' me, after the fightin' was over, an' I +don't know but he might a' been pretty near there--I don't just +remember--but anyhow, who should he meet up with one day in a tavern, but +a cousin o' his who looked so much like him they would 'a passed for +twins anywhere. This here cousin's name was Ichabod Nesbit, an' the first +thing he did when he saw Art was to shake hands with him like they was at +a funeral an' say as how he had some awful bad news to tell him. An' then +he went on to tell him as how his mother had died months before, an' his +ol' pap was livin' on an' cursin' the Colonies with pretty nigh every +breath--an' cursin' his own son. This Nesbit feller told Art, too, as how +the ol' man had run through all his property an' was livin' alone an' +actin' like a crazy man. + +"Waal, Art was for goin' back to see the ol' man anyhow, to see if he +couldn't do somethin' to straighten him up some; but this cousin, +Ichabod, tol' him as how he hadn't better do it, sayin' as how if he +could come home an' bring a fortune, folks would say it was all right; +but if he was comin' home with only the clothes on his back, why, he had +better stay away; because he couldn't do nothin' with his father anyhow. +An' somehow this is jist the way Art was brought to look at it, an' it +upset him terrible. For of course the soldiers didn't have no pocket full +o' money an' it was pretty true, likewise, as how he didn't have much +more'n the clothes on his back, jist as Ichabod said. Pretty blue, an' a' +most sick from all his plans o' goin' home bein' spoiled, Art turned back +right thar and led a rovin' life for years. He was quick an' sharp, an' +picked up a livin', but that was 'bout all for he couldn't settle down no +place. + +"All this an' a lot more 'bout what he had been doin', Art tol' me there +in Philadelphia, an' I was for gettin' him to go back west with me. But +no, he wouldn't; an' me bein' no hand to make out around the towns, I +jist went back to the frontier an' beyond. I was in Kaintucky an' in this +northwest kentry clean to Detroit. I got to know Simon Kenton, the Injun +fighter, an' I made some big huntin' an' fightin' trips with him an' +other fellers. + +"An' so time run along till this last summer a year ago, I takes it into +my head one day to go east agin; an' when I had my mind made up there was +no stoppin' me. I didn't go to Philadelphia right off, but to New York. I +wanted to see the big piles o' furs that come in thar. + +"Now it turned out that one day in New York who should I meet up with but +Joel Downs who was with us--Art an' me--in the army. We was talkin' away +thar, when he asked me did I know what had ever become o' Art Bridges? +An' it turned out that he went on to tell me then all 'bout how Art's +father was dead, an' his mother left alone, workin' hard to manage the +farm, though they was well off, because she wanted Art to have a nice +place when he come home. For she wouldn't believe the stories that was +told around (by Ichabod Nesbit, I've been thinkin') that Art was dead. So +she was waitin' an' waitin' for Art to come an' never knowin' how the +poor boy had been lied to by his 'ornery cousin, an' thinkin' he'd come +some day. + +"Waal, ye kin jist guess how I felt when I heard all this! For I saw +through it quicker'n wink that that 'ornery Ichabod was tryin' to make +folks think Art was dead, an' schemin' to get hold of the property that +would be Art's if he ever come home alive. But I never says a word 'bout +this to Joel Downs. Not much! I wasn't goin' to have him goin' back to +Connecticut tellin' folks as how Art was leadin' a wild life an' goin' to +the dogs. + +"No, sir; I jist begun huntin' for Art Bridges. I went to Philadelphia +first, an' got some track on him, findin' out as how he had gone off to +Kaintucky--lookin' for me, I guess. I went off to Kaintucky too, jist as +fast as I could. I got some track on him again, as how he had gone back +to Philadelphia, We must 'a passed on the road somewheres. Back to +Philadelphia I went again, an' found out as how Art had gone west to +Duquesne--Fort Pitt, or Pittsburgh they call it now. So I started for +Fort Pitt, an' on the way I met up with you young kittens on your way +into this red devils' own kentry. + +"An' I come on into this kentry because I found out at Fort Pitt that Art +had gone on west intendin' to make his way to Detroit, huntin' an' +trappin' an' tradin'. He expected to go on to Detroit next spring an' get +a place with a big fur company in charge o' some tradin' post or other, +away off somewheres, he didn't keer where--he was jist that sick of the +kind o' life he was leadin', an' wanted to get 'way off from everybody. + +"But that ain't all! There was a man thar as said Ichabod Nesbit had been +seen 'round thar, an' he was lookin' for Art Bridges, too. An' I know +that that 'ornery cousin was lookin' for Art to murder him. I felt it in +my bones. He wanted to be sure Art was dead an' then he would go back an +'pass himself off as Art Bridges an' have the property anyhow. Then when +I heard as how Ichabod had passed himself off as Art in one place, I was +sure I was right. But he didn't need to do no murder 'nless it was him as +hired the bloody varmints to do it for him," and the hunter's voice grew +husky, "for that--that thar scalp--it was Art Bridges'--an' oh, if I had +been jist a day sooner! For the blood on it was hardly more'n dry!" + +Tom Fish sunk his face in his hands and a convulsive half-sob, half-sigh +shook his body from head to foot, as though with ague. + +Ree Kingdom drew nearer the sorrow-stricken man and took his big hand in +his own. + +"Tom," he said, "it is a sad, sad story. I know just what you suffer. But +listen, Tom. It is not absolutely certain that the scalp we saw was that +of your friend. No man could positively swear to it, just by seeing the +color of the hair. And here is another thing I have been wanting to tell +you, Tom, but I did not like to interrupt you. I know how Arthur Bridges' +mother has been waiting and waiting for him to come. I have heard what +she has suffered, for she is a sister of a Mrs. Catesby at whose home I +lived and who was like a mother to me. But Mrs. Catesby's husband, who is +now dead, was not an agreeable man and the sisters hardly ever saw each +other. They lived far apart, but now Mrs. Catesby has moved to town and +they will be nearer one another. Mrs. Catesby was so kind to me, Tom, +that I would be mean indeed if I would not try to help you find her +nephew. But I will help you, and if he is now in this part of the country +we will hear of him sooner or later through the Indians." + +"No, there is only one thing to do, an' it is for me to do it," Tom Fish +replied without looking up. "You can't help, Ree, an' ye'd only get into +a row an' spoil all yer own plans. It is fer me to squar' accounts--an' +I'll--do it. For I tell, ye, Ree, I ain't mistaken. I'd know that silky +dark ha'r of Art Bridges' if I seen it in Jerusalem. Oh, it's too +bad--it's too bad!" + +Ree could make no answer, and in another minute Tom Fish straightened up +and said he would turn in. He told Ree to do the same, and as he lay +himself down the boy heard him saying: + +"We must all die--all die--an' them that's left can only squar' +accounts." + +Never before had the land of friends and civilization seemed to Ree to be +so far away as it did that night. His busy thoughts kept him awake until +nearly morning. He knew what Tom Fish meant when he said he would "squar' +accounts." In other words he would make the Delawares pay for Art +Bridges' death. There would undoubtedly he trouble which would put an end +to their plans for trading and home-making in this new country. They +could not fight the redskins one day, and be received as peaceable +traders the next. + +And on the other hand, if Arthur Bridges, a peaceable trader, had been +murdered, might he and John not be in greatest danger of the same fate? +Was it not true that the Indians were treacherous and not to be trusted +though they seemed friendly? Even if Tom began the fight alone, would not +the Indians blame him and John as being friends of his, and attack them? + +At last Ree went to sleep, resolving to persuade Tom Fish to await +developments. He believed they could find out through Fishing Bird just +where and how the bloody trophy which was at the root of their +difficulty, had been secured. That might throw great light on the +problem. + +John was early astir next morning and began preparations for the visit to +the Indian town for the council meeting at which the bargain for their +land was to be finally confirmed. Ree was strangely silent as he also +arose and ate the breakfast which John had ready. + +Tom Fish likewise had nothing to say except that he stated that he would +remain at the cabin while the boys were away, and might be doing some +work at chinking the walls. + +It was in the early winter, but the day came out bright and clear. +Greatly the boys enjoyed the bright sunshine and the bracing air as they +took their way through the woods, crossing the river at last, and +following a much used trail which took them toward the Delawares' +village. This was a new route to them, but it was the course the Indians +traveled and they found it better than the unbroken way they had +previously taken in going to the lake beside which Capt. Pipe's people +lived. As they walked along Ree told the story of Arthur Bridges as Tom +had told it to him, and earnestly they discussed their situation. + +In three hours the boys came to the Indian town, and Capt. Pipe called a +council to settle the bargain for the land. There was speech making as +before, but less of it, and then came a feast. But this too, was less +formal than before. The Indians seemed about to go on a hunting +expedition and had less time for other matters. + +The Delawares promised to do much trading with the young Palefaces, and +the boys would have considered their prospects very bright had it not +been for the likelihood of trouble arising through Tom Fish's desire for +revenge. + +The little information Ree secured from Fishing Bird was not at all +re-assuring, either. That agreeable, but none the less wily, savage would +give him no satisfaction when he questioned him concerning the bloody +trophy Big Buffalo had had, declaring, indeed, that no white man had been +killed by the Delawares for a very long time. + +The boys started on their homeward way in time to arrive before dark, and +reached the clearing just after sundown. With a hop, step and jump John +ran forward and up the ascent, to the door. + +"Why, where is Tom?" he called as he entered. "The fire is out and there +is no sign of him anywhere. He said he would stay here all day." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Treed by Wolves. + + +The disappearance of Tom Fish caused both boys considerable uneasiness. +They at first thought that he might return during the evening, though the +fact that the fire had gone out, indicated that he had left the cabin +early in the day. As they crept into their rough but comfortable bunks, +however, and no sign of his coming had been heard, the lads realized the +strong probability that the woodsman had set out by himself to avenge the +death of Arthur Bridges, and that he had intended going when he told Ree +the strange story of that young man, the night before. + +What the consequences of Tom's undertaking might be, afforded grave cause +for alarm. By reason of his having been looked upon as a member of their +party, the Indians would consider the boys equally guilty in any offense +which he might give. + +"We will have to make the best of it, though and if it comes to fighting, +we will fight like Trojans," said Ree, with some cheerfulness as he saw +that John was quite depressed. "But our best plan will be to say nothing +to Capt. Pipe's people about Tom. It may be that he left us on purpose to +avoid getting us into trouble." + +John agreed to this way of reasoning, hoping as Ree did, that it would be +only a few days until they would see Tom and learn what his plans were. +But time passed rapidly and nothing was seen or heard of the missing man. +Had Tom been anything but a skilled woodsman the lads might probably have +worried for his safety. As it was, that phase of the situation was +scarcely thought of. + +By working early and late, thawing the frozen clay beside their fire, +when the weather was cold, that they might quickly get all the cracks in +the cabin walls closed up, the boys accomplished a great deal in a week's +time. Several times little parties of Indians came to trade with them, +but the savages never mentioned Tom Fish's name. Big Buffalo came once +and appeared more hateful than ever, suggesting the unpleasant thought +that perhaps he knew more concerning the absent man than he would have +been willing to tell. + +The Delawares were not the only Indians who passed along the river and +stopped to exchange skins for cloth, knives, beads or other articles. The +Wyandots, Chippewas and Senecas had villages to the west and north and +were coming or going quite frequently. Sometimes wandering Mingoes came +along, and for them it may be said that they were more disposed to make +trouble than any of the others. The reason probably lay in the fact that +they were still to some extent influenced by British traders who retained +feelings of hostility toward the colonies, and used their influence to +secretly cause Indian disturbances along the borders. + +At no great distance from the cabin was the Portage trail referred to in +the previous chapter as passing near the Delaware town. This path was +much used by all the Indians in traveling between the Great Lakes and the +Ohio river, as it was the only stretch of land they must cross in making +all the remainder of the journey by water. Thus they willingly carried +their canoes over eight miles or so of land from the Cuyahoga to the +Tuscarawas river, or vice versa, for the sake of paddling on their way +with ease and rapidity the rest of the way, either north or south. + +Thus, as their visitors were many, the loft the boys had built in their +cabin came to contain a richer and richer store, as they placed there the +furs they secured. Sitting before the fire at night they would sometimes +estimate their probable profits, and as they discussed this and other +subjects, the lads never forgot that their safety was the very first +thing with which they must reckon. In this connection they were glad when +they learned that Big Buffalo had gone away on a hunting trip with a +large party of Delawares and would probably not return until spring. + +There was another subject which was sometimes spoken of--the fact that +the prowling enemy who had killed their horse had not for a long time +given any sign of being in the vicinity. Out of these talks grew a theory +that, perhaps, that secret foe was Big Pete Ellis, and that having killed +old Jerry he had at last decided that his revenge was complete. + +Their health, too, was a matter for daily thought with the boys, and +remembering that they must be careful to guard against needless exposure, +but both being hardy and robust, they were little troubled. + +So the time passed and all promised well. They contrived many traps for +the capture of fur-bearing animals, and to catch turkeys and other game +for food. Chief of their traps was the dead-fall, made by propping up one +end of a short piece of puncheon or hewed plank, in such a way that it +would fall upon the animal which attempted to secure the bait placed on a +trigger beneath it. This trigger was a part of the prop under the +puncheon and gave way at the slightest jar. As the plank fell it caught +the creature which had disturbed it, and being weighted down with stones, +held its victim fast. + +Wolf pens were also made and very successfully used. These were built of +small logs on the same principle as a box trap, having a very heavy lid +which fell, shutting inside any animal which entered and attempted to eat +the bait placed on the spindle, which at the least pull, gave way, +letting the lid fall. + +The turkey traps were made in the Indian fashion. A small, low enclosure +was built with sticks, a small opening or door being made close to the +ground. The pen was then covered with brush except for a passage way +leading to the door, and along this path beechnuts or other bait, were +scattered, the trail of nuts extending into the enclosure. A turkey +finding the food would follow it, its head near the ground, enter the +pen, and having eaten all it could find, would raise its head and so be +unable to see its way out. + +The boys did not have so much time for hunting as they had planned upon, +and yet scarcely a day passed but one of them sallied forth, nearly +always coming home with valued furs or meat for their table. They found +it advisable that one should remain near the cabin, both for its +protection from Indians who might steal, and to trade with those who +passed. Thus, while Ree would be spending a day with his axe clearing the +land near their home, John would be miles away, perhaps, rifle in hand, +eyes and ears alert. + +The next day, perhaps, Ree would have his turn at hunting. Every day, +too, they visited their traps to secure any creatures which had been +captured and to reset the snares or change their location. Wood for the +fire must be gathered, also, and it was wonderful how great a quantity of +fuel the big fire-place consumed; and pine knots from the rocky ravine +farther up the river, or hickory bark from the hillsides in the opposite +direction, must be secured every few days to afford light for the +evenings. There were also furs to be cured, and much else to be done, all +uniting to make the short winter days very busy ones, and to keep the +long winter evenings from being tedious. + +Night was the favorite time for baking and for the preparation of such +dishes as they thought they would most enjoy. Many were the feasts the +young friends had, though their stock of supplies included little besides +meal and fresh meat. At first they had occasionally secured beans and +squashes from the Indians, but the improvident savages soon exhausted +their supplies and were themselves dependent on corn and game. + +December had gone and January was well under way when there came a great +snow storm, which, at the end of a week left drifts piled high in all +directions. The snow was soft and light but so deep that it was well nigh +impossible for one to make his way through it, and Ree and John quickly +agreed to occupy themselves with work in and near the cabin. They set +about adding new conveniences to their home, such as shelves and +cupboards, pegs, etc. They hewed and whittled out long, thin hickory +slats, which they placed lengthwise on the rough bedstead they had built +in one corner, and found them so springy and comfortable to sleep upon, +when a couple of skins and a blanket had been spread over them, that they +were sorry they had not sooner thought of this improvement. + +John made a broom of hickory splints which did its work to perfection, +and Ree sharpened up his knife and carved from a whitewood block several +plates and trays to add to their meager collection of dishes. Both boys +improved the opportunity also, while shut in, to give their wardrobes +attention, making themselves stout moccasins, coon-skin caps and buckskin +breeches. + +Ree found time during many evenings to read again and again the few books +he had. John was less given to reading, but with much care and diligence +he managed to make a fife by boring a maple stick through from end to end +with a thin piece of iron from their cart, much of which had been carried +piece-meal to the cabin. Having natural musical talent, he learned to +play the instrument he thus fashioned, and though Ree had declared, as he +practiced, that he would surely bring the savages down upon them in war +paint, he liked the music as well as its maker. + +So, for a fortnight the boys were scarcely out of sight of the cabin. The +weather was bitter cold much of that time and no Indians came near. There +at last came a day, however, when the wind blew steadily from the +southwest, bringing with it at night a cold rain. Changing to the north, +the wind turned the rain to sleet, followed by cold weather again. + +"We must have snow-shoes," said Ree, when he saw what was taking place, +and the third day the boys ventured forth on such contrivances as they +had made and did finely with them on the thick, slippery crust which had +formed. Taking their rifles, they made their way through the river +valley, which, farther up the stream, became quite narrow, steep, rocky +banks rising on both sides to a height of fifty feet or more. No sooner +had they entered this canyon than they found evidences of deer and other +animals having taken shelter there. + +Going quietly forward, the lads discovered four of the timid, beautiful +creatures huddled together. They went quite near before the deer leaped +away through the frozen snow, and Ree quickly brought one down. John did +better--or worse--killing one and wounding another. They secured the +skins and choice parts of the meat and hanging these in a tree for +safety, pushed on after the two which had escaped. They especially +desired to capture the doe which had been wounded, not so much for its +value, but because Ree insisted that it would be downright cruelty to let +the poor creature suffer from its injury for days, perhaps, then die at +last. + +But the young hunters traveled far before again coming upon the animals +they sought. The trail took them out of the narrow valley or canyon, and +a long distance through the woods to a locality they had never before +visited, where the earth was cut by deep ravines, zig-zagging in nearly +all directions, and great rocks often obstructing the way. Here the trail +of the deer they were following was lost amid the tracks of others which +had gone into the deep rugged gullies to escape the stinging wind. + +"We may as well give it up, Ree," said John, as they sat down to rest. + +"Oh no, we mustn't give up," Ree answered, "but I'll tell you what we'd +better do. It is more than likely the Indians will be out in snow shoes +the same as we are, and they may want to swap some dollar furs for penny +knick-knacks this afternoon. One of us should be at the cabin." + +"I'll go," John willingly responded, for he liked to trade with the +Indians, and could make much better bargains than Ree; not but what he +was honest, but because Ree was so generous that he was often imposed +upon. + +"Will you stop for the venison we left in the tree?" Ree asked. + +"I think I'd better; there is no knowing where you will be when you find +that wounded deer! But don't stay out all night!" + +With this sally John started homeward, and Ree resumed his search for +blood-stains in the snow which would show him the trail he sought. Going +about among the rocks he discovered an opening about half the size of a +door which seemed to lead straight back into a rocky cliff. + +"Some sort of a cave," he mused, inspecting it more closely and looking +into it. He saw nothing, and, stooping down, ventured in a little way. +His eyes accustomed to the bright light of the snow, he was unable to see +anything in the darkness, or he might not have been so bold; for the next +moment a chorus of fierce growls caused him to retreat. + +"Bears, or wolves--bears, most likely," said Ree to himself. "At least if +they are wolves there should be tracks about the mouth of the cave. I +must remember this place." + +Having first looked about to make sure of the exact location of the +cavern, and resolving to explore it at some future time, the youthful +hunter hurried on. Under a clump of low pines he presently discovered a +herd of seven deer. One lagged behind, as they fled at his approach, and +Ree knew at once that it must be the wounded animal. He followed at the +best pace possible, but the deer was soon lost sight of, though the poor +thing had a difficult time of it to make any progress through the crusted +snow. + +However, Ree kept to the trail for he was sure the doe could not go far; +yet hour after hour passed and he saw no hope of accomplishing his +purpose. Had it not been that the deer was traversing a circle, the trail +now taking him in the direction of the cabin, he would have been obliged +to give up the pursuit. But now he passed through the ravine where the +deer had been wounded and up a steep slope towards home. By this time the +sun was going down, and from not far ahead of him Ree heard the howling +of wolves. If he could have looked but a little way into the future, he +would have taken the shortest route to the cabin. + +However, wolves had never given much trouble and Ree had no thought of +being afraid, though the howling sounded nearer and nearer as he +continued on. Soon, however, he guessed what had happened. The wounded +deer, unable to escape, had been killed by the fierce dogs of the +wilderness which were now devouring it. And in another minute the boy saw +them at their awful feast. With anger and foolhardy courage he sprang +directly among the struggling beasts, clubbing them with his rifle. + +Mad with starvation and the taste of fresh blood, one big wolf leaped +toward the courageous boy and others followed. He was barely able to hold +them at bay while he backed away toward a tree, swinging his rifle right +and left with desperate energy as he went. Closer and closer still the +wolves pressed him, snapping, snarling, howling--their long sharp teeth +and red throats being so near that he could almost feel their hot breath +on his face. But he reached the tree--a beech, one of whose lower limbs +was almost within reach. He leaped upward to seize it, but as he did so +his rifle caught on a bush and was jerked from his hand. A great gray +foamy-jawed creature snapped closely at his heels and by a hair's breadth +he escaped, as he drew himself quickly upward. + +Howling like enraged demons the wolves gathered about the tree. They +seemed to know that sooner or later they would drink human blood. Ree +thought of this. His only weapon was the knife Capt. Bowen had given him, +which he always carried. But his active brain was busy and he determined +to take a desperate chance in an effort to secure his rifle. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A Maple Sugar Camp in the Wilderness. + + +Selecting a stout limb for his purpose, Ree set to work to cut and trim +it, making a short, heavy club. He believed that if he should jump +suddenly down among the wolves, their surprise would be so great as to +keep them away for perhaps a second--long enough to permit him to seize +his rifle, and again fight his way into the tree. As he trimmed the thick +branch, however, an increasing danger presented itself. The unusual +howling of the pack and the scent of blood were attracting other wolves +to the spot. Before his club was ready, he had counted seven newcomers +galloping through the snow to join their blood-thirsty brothers. + +To put his life in peril by jumping down among so many of the fierce +creatures was to run a greater risk than Ree thought wise; but his +fertile brain presented a new plan. He partially split one end of his +club and securely bound the handle of the knife in the opening thus made, +with strips of buckskin cut from his clothing. In this way he made a +strong but cumbersome spear, and holding to the lowest branch of the +tree, he leaned far down and stabbed and slashed at every wolf within +reach. + +Several were wounded and their yelps of pain and rage were added to the +hideous, hungry cries of the others. Again and again the bold boy cut and +thrust as the wolves kept coming within his reach. The snow was dyed with +blood. For half an hour the battle was carried on. + +At last by a lucky stroke Ree gave one of the howling mass beneath him so +deep a cut across the neck, that it sprang but a few yards away and fell +dead, its head half cut off. At once the others pounced upon the wolf's +body, tearing it to pieces, scrambling and fighting in a most horrible +manner. + +Now was Ree's chance. He leaped quickly to the ground and seized his +blood-stained rifle; in another moment he would have been safe. But he +was so chilled--so stiff from the cold, that he missed his hold when +first he sprang to catch the lowest branch, and before he could try +again, a monstrous gray wolf dashed toward him. With a hungry howl, its +jaws dripping blood, it launched itself through the air, straight for +Ree's throat. + +With wonderful nerve the boy stood his ground. He did not falter, nor +hesitate. He met the hot-mouthed, vicious brute, his rude spear clasped +in both hands, and drove the blade deep in its shaggy shoulder. With an +almost human shriek and ferocity the wolf sprang sidewise under the +impulse of the steel's sharp thrust, and the spear quivering in its +flesh, was jerked from the boys' hands. + +Ree's first impulse was to run in pursuit, as the wolf dashed into the +woods, to recover his knife; but in an instant the whole pack was upon +him again, having made short work of their cannibal-like feast, and only +by the greatest dexterity was he able again to seize his rifle and climb +to safety, ere they reached him. + +"Now some of you will smart!" the half-frozen boy exclaimed, and he +clenched his teeth in righteous anger. Shot after shot he poured into the +blood-thirsty brutes, and watched with horror as those remaining alive +pounced upon the dying ones. Four wolves he killed and two he wounded, +then sat still awhile to catch his breath and scrutinize the dozen +animals remaining, to see whether the one in whose body his knife had +been carried off, was there. He did not see it, though the twilight gloom +was now dispelled by bright moonlight. So, soon he resumed the terrible +execution he had wrought among the pack, and was firing as fast as he +could load, when he heard John's familiar whistle. + +"Watch out, John! There are still eight of the fiercest wolves you ever +saw here!" he called in warning, but almost simultaneously his chum's +rifle sounded, and but seven wolves remained. Another and another went +down to death and the five which were left, taking fright at last, sped +away among the timber, howling dismally. + +"You had me scared into fits, almost," John cried, as Ree climbed down. +"Why, how cold you are!" he exclaimed, grasping his friend's hand. "And +your teeth are chattering! How did it happen any way? Come along home!" + +"I'll tell you about it; but we'd better skin the wolves that have not +been half eaten, first. Bloody as a battle field, isn't it?" + +"Skin nothing! Come along! It is most terribly cold and you are half +frozen. We can get the skins in the morning if there is any thing left of +them." + +For once Ree yielded and when he had recovered his snow-shoes John +marched him off at a pace which soon put his blood in circulation. + +If ever the young pioneers appreciated the rude comforts of their cabin, +they did that night. It was sweet to feel snug and warm and safe, as Ree +told the story of his adventure more fully than at first; to stretch +their weary legs toward the crackling fire and lean back in the fur +covered seat they had constructed. It was pleasant to eat a lunch of nuts +secured from the Indians, and venison steaks cut thin and broiled crisp. +It was comfortable to creep into bed and lie awake and talk of their +plans; of their friends in far away Connecticut; of incidents of their +trip; of the strange absence of Tom Fish; of the sad story of Arthur +Bridges--of many, many things. + +And it was pleasant to watch with half closed eyes, the firelight dancing +on the rough cabin walls, shining in the little looking glass near the +door, showing the rifles within easy reach in the corner near the bed; +the two sets of pistols in their hostlers on the table they had made; the +gleaming blades of their axes, beside the fire-place; the books Ree loved +so well, arranged on a board from the old cart, which did duty as a +mantel, and John's fife beside them; the frying-pan and their few dishes +on and in a little cupboard in the corner. It was sweet, too, to fall +asleep at last and dream of the present, past and future--enjoying the +perfect rest which the fatigue of honest, hard work by those possessed of +honest hearts must ever bring. + +The boys were very tired this night, partly from the unusual exercise of +walking so far on snow-shoes, no doubt. But they slept soundly and were +early awake. Directly after breakfast they visited the scene of the fight +with the wolves. They little expected to find anything left of their +victims, excepting bones, but they greatly desired to find the knife +which had been Capt. Bowen's present. + +Bones they did find--but nothing else. There was every evidence of a +ghastly feast having been eaten by the wolves and other animals during +the night. Even the skeletons of those which had been slaughtered, were +torn to pieces, and for rods around the snow was dyed crimson. + +To cry over spilled milk was no part of Ree's disposition, and though he +deeply regretted the loss of his knife, he did not allow himself to be +dispirited, though little he thought how important a part in their +adventures the knife was yet to play. + +In their walks about the woods at different times, Ree and John had +observed that there were many sugar maples near their cabin and had +agreed that they must make some sugar when spring came. That very +afternoon, therefore, they began preparations. + +Blocks of wood, cut into lengths of about two feet, they hollowed out +with their axes, making troughs in which to catch the sap of maples. The +work was tedious and many a trough was split and spoiled when all but +completed, before they caught the knack of avoiding this by striking +curved strokes with their axes, and not letting the blades cut in deeply, +in line with the grain of the wood. + +This work, and the making of spouts by punching the pith out of sumac +branches occupied several days. Not all their time could be given to it, +however, as traps must be visited and Indians given attention; for now +that the weather was becoming warm the savages came frequently, often +with many furs secured during winter hunting expeditions. + +"We have made a pretty good living and a nice sum of money for each of +us, when our furs shall have been marketed, and have also made ourselves +a home," said Ree one day, as they were estimating the probable value of +their stores. "After deducting for all losses, we will still have done +splendidly if we are fortunate in getting the skins to Pittsburg or +Detroit and working a fair bargain with the buyers." + +"We better get a good canoe Ree, and learn to use it; then we can take +the furs from here to Detroit by water, traveling along the shore of Lake +Erie," John suggested. "Capt. Pipe has a couple of fine, big canoes of +his own, buried for the winter. I believe he would sell us one." + +"We will go and have a talk with him about it soon," Ree answered. But it +was not for many days that the lads found time to do this. + +Fine weather came sooner than they expected. The spring of 1791 was one +of the earliest known to the section which is now Northern Ohio. Even in +February the sun came out bright and warm and the cold winds +disappeared. + +John and Ree awoke one morning after a rainy night to find the water high +in the river, the ice gone and the air as mild as on a day in May. + +"Hooray! I've a mind to take a swim!" John shouted, looking with +enthusiasm at the high water. + +"I wish we had our canoe now," Ree joined in; "but I'll tell you, old +chap, we must get our maples tapped, if we are to get any sugar." + +John turned away from watching the swift, deep current with a sigh. +Somehow he did not feel like working; but under Ree's influence he soon +forgot his "spring fever" feeling, and with a small auger bored holes in +the trees. Into these holes Ree drove the spouts, placing a trough +beneath each one, to catch the sap which at once began to flow. + +As all the trees were near the cabin the boys might have carried the sap +to their fire-place for boiling, but as this would necessitate the +carrying of a great deal of wood, they hung their largest kettle on a +pole laid across two forked sticks driven in the ground for that purpose, +just at the top of the hill near the edge of the clearing. + +By noon enough sap was collected in the troughs to make it necessary to +begin the boiling, and from then on through all that day and the next, +one of the boys was constantly busy, keeping the fire blazing hot and +gathering sap to keep the kettle well filled, as the water was boiled +away, leaving only its sweetness. At last they added no fresh sap but +allowed the syrup in the kettle to boil down thicker and thicker making +in the end, most delicious molasses. + +The boys finished the boiling in the cabin that night, and when the syrup +had become thick enough, they were able by stirring and cooling it, to +make an excellent quality of sugar. And it had been so long since either +of them had tasted sweets, that the maple's fine product was indeed a +treat. The prospect that they would be able to make enough sugar to last +them until another spring, was highly agreeable, and they were willing +enough to work hard during many days which followed. + +One regret the boys had, was that they possessed but two kettles, neither +of which was very large; but they boiled sap in both and found that by +greasing the upper edges of the vessels that they could keep them quite +full and still the sap would not boil over. + +They also tried the very primitive method used by the Indians before they +had kettles in which to make sugar. Several large, nearly round stones +were washed clean, then heated very hot in the fire. With improvised +tongs they were then lifted into a large keg of cold sap. As this +operation was constantly repeated, the sap was heated and slowly +evaporated. + +The process proved so very slow and laborious, however, that the boys +soon abandoned it. But while the experiment was being tried, something +occurred which made John laugh until he held his sides. The keg of sap +had been heated to almost a boiling point, and putting a couple of large, +hot stones in it both boys left the camp, John to gather more sap and Ree +to chop some wood. + +As John was returning, he discovered a young bear prowling about the +camp. The animal evidently had not been long out of its winter quarters +and was hungry. It sniffed the sweet odor which came from the evaporating +maple water, and ambled up to the keg. + +Quietly John ran and called Ree, and they both hurried softly back just +as the bear put its nose deep into the hot sap. A squeal of pain +followed, and the poor cub nearly turned a backward somersault, with such +sudden energy did it take its nose out of the keg. Wild with the smarting +burns the creature rushed blindly about, almost burying its head in the +cool leaves and earth, and missing its footing, somehow, as it approached +a steep part of the hill, fell and rolled to the bottom, squealing and +growling woefully. Before John could check his laughter, the bear had +picked itself up and trotted swiftly away, and Ree was willing to let it +go unharmed, though he could have shot it. + +This incident set the boys to thinking. Bruin evidently knew the smell of +honey better than of sap. All bears delight in sweet things, and Ree said +he had no doubt there were bee trees in the neighborhood. At any rate, +the lads decided, it would be well worth while to be on the lookout for +them as they were about the woods during the spring and summer. + +Continued fine weather put an end to the maple season. In a fortnight the +buds began to open on the trees and the flow of sap ceased. About this +time, too, the Portage trail, not far away, was constantly traversed by +redskins, many of them strangers, and there were daily calls at the cabin +of the young Palefaces. So there was much to do; the spring crops must be +planted, the pile of furs must be taken to market and fences must be +completed to keep deer and other animals out of the cornfield they +proposed having. + +There was another thing needing early attention, and that was the +securing of land at the junction of the Portage trail and the river. For +the boys could not but see how advantageous that place would be as a +trading point, and they wished to build a new and larger cabin there. +Moreover, as the country was opened up and settled, the land about so +favorable a site for a town would probably become very valuable. + +"We will go to see Capt. Pipe to-morrow, and bargain with him for a +canoe, and for some land where the trail and the river meet," said Ree +one warm March night as they sat on the doorstep of their cabin, in the +moonlight. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +The Hatred of Big Buffalo. + + +The last of the sap had been reduced to sugar and made into a fine solid +cake weighing nearly two pounds, the night that the foregoing +conversation took place. With this as a present to the chief of the +Delawares, Ree and John set out early the following morning for Capt. +Pipe's town on the lake. + +It was a beautiful day. The red buds on the trees were bursting into +green, in places, and in many sunny spots the spring plants and flowers +were shooting forth. All nature seemed to feel the same joy and freedom +the young pioneers felt as they journeyed through the valley and over the +hills toward their destination. Birds were singing on every hand. Crows +were flying here and there and calling lustily to one another from all +directions. + +Once a young deer bounded toward the boys, then, after standing for a +moment, gazing with great, timid, bright eyes, wheeled and was away +again, springing over bushes and logs with a showy vigor as though it +were out only for a spring frolic. A wild turkey hen, wandering about in +search of a place for nesting, scampered softly out of sight as it caught +sight of the lads. A big woodchuck, fat and lazy, even after its +all-winter nap, circled around a tree, to whose trunk it was clinging, +thinking, perhaps, that it was always keeping just out of sight of the +human intruders upon its forest home, though it was badly fooled if such +were its opinion. A dozen times either boy could have shot it had he been +so disposed. + +A myriad of ducks flew noisily from a stream near the lake in which they +were feeding as John threw a stone among them. He and Ree could have +killed a score of the wild fowls had they wished to do so, but they were +in no mood for it. They had not set out to hunt, and moreover, the fresh, +balmy air and invigorating sunlight, together with the delightful odors +of the spring-time, put upon them both a spell--a joy in living which +made it seem inhuman to harm any living creature that day. + +This sense of gladness, of friendship with every thing the woods +contained, did not, however, prevent the boys from laying plans for the +capture of certain denizens of the forest's waters--the fish. They had +already noticed that the lake beside which the Delawares lived, also +other lakes not far away, and their own river, contained great numbers of +the finny tribe, but they had been too busy with other things to try +their hands at fishing. The opportunity for this fine sport, however, +caused them to deeply regret that they had brought nothing in the line of +fishing tackle with them. + +"The Indians will surely have hooks, and spears, though," John +suggested. + +"If they haven't, we can make nets and spears too; I shouldn't be +surprised if we could contrive hooks as well," Ree answered. + +"I wish we had a big mess of fish for dinner!" John exclaimed. "I'm +hungry as a bear." + +His wish was realized sooner than he expected. As was their custom, the +Indians at once placed food before their visitors, and the fare was just +what John had wanted. There was one objection--the savages cooked the +fish without cutting off the heads, but the boys did this for themselves. +That they could not be over-particular in the wilderness, they had long +since discovered. + +They learned that the Delawares had caught the fish with hooks made of +bones--evidently small wish-bones, and readily saw how they could make +just such hooks for themselves. + +Capt. Pipe himself had received the boys, and it was in his lodge that +they were eating. He sat nearby gravely smoking his pipe, seldom speaking +except when spoken to. Gentle Maiden, the chief's comely daughter, was +sitting in a pleasant, sunny place just outside the bark hut, sewing with +a coarse bone needle, on some sort of a frock, the cloth for which was +from the bolt her father had secured from the young traders. + +"Pretty as a picture, isn't she?" John whispered, glancing toward the +Indian girl. "Honestly, I never saw a white person more beautiful." + +Ree made no reply, for at that moment Big Buffalo put his head into the +lodge. The boys had not seen him since early winter and both arose to +greet him; but he ignored their action, and pausing only a second, strode +haughtily away. + +"What does that mean?" John asked in surprise. + +"Has the Big Buffalo cause to be unfriendly?" inquired Ree of Capt. Pipe, +wishing to call the chief's attention to the Indian's apparent +hostility. + +"Buffalo heap big fool," Capt. Pipe grunted, and then in the Delaware +tongue he spoke to his daughter, and she arose and took a seat inside the +lodge, behind her father. + +This incident filled Ree with misgiving though he was not sure enough +that he had cause for such feeling to mention it at that time. John was +differently impressed. + +"Why," he exclaimed, "Big Buffalo is on a mighty high horse to-day! He +acts like a child that has been told it must wait till second table at a +dinner! I wonder if there is any love lost between him and the Gentle +Maiden?" he added in a whisper. + +Ree did not answer, but now that they had finished dinner, signified +their wish to talk to Capt. Pipe about buying a canoe. + +The chief said he would make a trade with them and asked what the boys +had to give. In return they asked to see the craft he proposed swapping, +and were then conducted to a hillside where a canoe had but recently been +dug out of the dry muck and earth in which it was buried over winter to +save it from drying, cracking or warping. + +Ree and John examined the frail boat of bitter-nut hickory bark, with +much interest. It was about eleven feet in length, well constructed, and +water-tight. With it were a couple of light, nicely carved paddles. + +John promptly pronounced the canoe a "regular macaroni" and laid down a +pair of brass buckles, signifying that he would give them for the skiff. + +Capt. Pipe gravely shook his head. + +"I'll add this," said Ree, and laid down a brand new hunting knife, +having a leather sheath. + +The chief again shook his head, and a large number of Indians, who had +been lazily basking in the sun or idly paddling about the lake, and were +now gathered around to see the trade, also shook their heads. + +"The thing isn't worth as much as we have offered," cried John, good +humoredly, "but I'll put in this," and he produced a large yellow silk +handkerchief, shaking it out, and holding it up to view in an attractive +manner. + +Still Capt. Pipe shook his head and all his braves did the same, though +their eyes glistened. + +Ree hesitated before adding more to their offer and while he did so, John +picked up the handkerchief and with no thought but to display it to good +advantage, turned to Gentle Maiden, who stood at her father's side. With +a quiet sweep of his hand he draped the bright cloth over the girl's +shoulder and arm. + +The next instant a stinging blow struck him in the face and he staggered, +nearly falling. It was Big Buffalo's fist that had shot out at him. + +John sprang toward the burly Indian and they grappled in a terrible +struggle. All had taken place so quickly that before Ree could reach +John's side, his friend's throat was in the redman's grasp and the breath +squeezed nearly out of him. Capt. Pipe also rushed in, and amid the yells +of the Indians, the chief and Ree soon separated the combatants. + +The incident created so much excitement that the young Palefaces scarcely +knew what to do. But Ree's firm voice and quiet dignity, as he told the +chief that his friend had meant no offense, and should not have been +assaulted, had a quieting influence on the savages, and although John +could scarcely refrain from speaking the angry words he thought, he did +manage to hold his tongue, and Capt. Pipe soon restored order. + +Big Buffalo slunk away like a whipped dog, as the chief berated him, and +the boys saw no more of him that day. How much better it would have been +had they never seen him again! + +The bargain for the canoe was completed by Ree adding a second +handkerchief to their offer, as much as a peace offering as anything, and +then as it was growing late, and the disturbance had made the question of +buying more land a dangerous one to be brought up, at that time, the boys +departed. They shook hands with Capt. Pipe and the braves standing near, +and Fishing Bird went with them as they carried their canoe down to the +water and launched it. + +While pretending to show the lads about handling the canoe, this friendly +Indian warned them to watch out for Big Buffalo; that he supposed them to +be admirers of Gentle Maiden, with whom he was in love, and would kill +them if he got a chance. Moreover, that he had set out to kill them when +they first arrived and would have done so but through fear of Capt. Pipe +with whom they had made peace. + +The information Fishing Bird imparted, with the exception of the latter +part, was no news to the boys; but it was so disquieting that instead of +paddling about the lake until evening, as they had intended, they crossed +the water, carried their canoe overland to the river, and went directly +home. + +John was very blue over what had occurred, blaming himself for having +caused the trouble. Ree was not so much depressed. His nature was not one +of extremes; he was never hilariously merry, never completely dejected. + +"It was no more your fault than my own, John," said he, as they talked of +Big Buffalo's display of malice. "You meant no harm, and if the ugly +fellow had not hated us to start with, he would not have taken offense so +easily. We may have some trouble with him, and again we may not. Capt. +Pipe will be on our side, I'm sure, for you heard what the chief said +about the rascal. The fact is, that in spite of all the stories we have +heard about Capt. Pipe and his cruelty, he has certainly been friendly +with us, and honest." + +By talking in this way Ree restored John to a happier mood, and they were +both quite jolly again as they prepared and ate their supper. They looked +forward to many happy days in their canoe on the lake and river, and John +proposed to rig up a sail with the canvas which had been over their cart, +and by doing so to give the Indians quite a surprise. + +That evening the boys turned their attention to making spears for +fishing. They used some seasoned hickory which Ree had put in the loft +during the winter for the making of bows, and were able to whittle stout, +sharp prongs out of that hard, tough wood. It was too late when the task +was completed, however, to try the spears that night, but the boys went +to bed promising themselves good sport the next evening. + +Although it was still the month of March, the early spring of that year +enabled the young pioneers to begin at once active preparations for +planting corn, potatoes, beans and squashes. The brush cut during the +winter was so dry that it burned readily, and the green brush was easily +disposed of also, when piled upon the hot fires the dry wood made. In +this way the natural clearing was soon rid of the scattered undergrowth +upon it. + +In a week or two the boys were ready to put the seed into the ground, +digging up a space a foot square wherever they planted a hill of beans, +corn, potatoes or squashes. It was slow work, nevertheless, and the +sturdy, youthful farmers were obliged to toil early and late. + +The coming of Indians frequently interrupted the boys at their work, and +they came at last to continue their labor after greeting their visitors, +unless the latter wished to trade. This the redmen liked none too well. +They seemed to think their Paleface neighbors were devoting too much time +to agricultural pursuits, and they feared and hated any and all things +which threatened to turn their forests into farm lands. But Ree and John +agreed that, since they had bought the land of the Indians, they might as +well give the former owners to understand, first and last, that they +meant to do with it as they liked. + +Big Buffalo was among a party which stopped at the cabin one day. He +refused food and made himself generally disagreeable. The boys, however, +ignored his ill humor and by paying no attention to him, showed that they +neither cared for his hatred nor feared him, even though they knew there +was murder in his heart. + +Frequently strange Indians were among those who called and they asked the +boys to visit their towns, some of which were not many miles away, to +trade. As all of those Indians traversed the Portage trail or path, the +boys were reminded almost daily of the desirability of securing land for +a trading post, at the junction of the trail and the river. As they +talked the matter over and looked into the future, more and more did they +regret that the violent conduct of Big Buffalo had prevented their +prolonging their bargaining with Capt. Pipe on the occasion of their last +visit to him. + +About this time, also, another reason arose for the two friends wishing +to visit Capt. Pipe again. It was the discovery that he had secured some +horses. During the winter he had had none of which the boys knew. Now, +they reasoned, if they could buy a horse, they would rig up their cart +and carry their furs to Pittsburg. It would be a much shorter and safer +trip than to undertake to reach Detroit, and they would require no +assistance. There was some probability, too, that among their friends in +Pittsburg they might get some word concerning Tom Fish. + +It was one night when they had returned from fishing, bringing in a great +string of rock bass, that the lads talked this over, and at last +concluded to go again to the Delaware town, even at the risk of having +more trouble with Big Buffalo. + +It seemed like a holiday after their hard work when, next day, the boys +found themselves in their canoe, gliding over the river's rippling waters +on their way to Capt. Pipe's home. They carried the craft overland to the +lake and soon approached the Indian village. + +But suddenly as they drew near, the noise of many voices was borne to +them by the breeze. First loud, then low, the sounds came across the +water. Ree's face grew grave, and John, who had been whistling, abruptly +paused. + +"Ree," he exclaimed, "that is the song of the war dance!" + +"It means that the Indians are going on the warpath, as surely as we hear +it," was the answer. "Be on your guard, John. We will soon find out just +what it means; for we won't turn back now, even if we see the whole tribe +in war paint." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Danger. + + +As Ree spoke, a war whoop sounded clear and strong, instantly followed by +a weird, chanting song. In a minute or two this ceased, and then with +fiercer war whoops than before, broke out afresh. Quickly the young +pioneers floated nearer the scene of these warlike outbursts, and soon +ran the nose of their canoe upon the gravelly beach. With fast-beating +hearts they climbed the little bank which rose gradually a few feet back +from the shore. + +The boys had approached so quietly, and the Indians were so intent on +the war dance that their coming had not been discovered. And well +might the lads pause in uncertainty as to the manner of the reception +they would receive; for now they came into full view of the assembled +savages--half-naked warriors in paint and fighting costume, forming a +circle and dancing and yelling like the wild barbarians they were, while +old men and young braves and squaws and children looked on in savage +rapture. Before either boy could speak Big Buffalo espied them and +leaped forward brandishing a tomahawk. + +Instinctively Ree seized his rifle in both hands, ready for instant +action. John did the same, and with an ugly leer the Indian paused. His +action had attracted attention, however, and at this critical juncture +Capt. Pipe discovered the presence of the visitors, and called angrily to +Buffalo to put up his weapon. + +The chief was in full war costume himself, making anything but a +peaceable appearance as he met the boys half way, when they obeyed his +signal to approach. But without a word he conducted them to a place in +the circle of spectators gathered around the forty or fifty warriors, and +at once the dance went on as though there had been no interruption. + +With terrible gestures of their arms and throwing their bodies into all +sorts of warlike attitudes, the Indians danced about in a circle, +striking their feet down with great force as they kept time to the +beating of two rude drums and the uncanny song they sang. With a war +whoop a dance was begun and continued for about two minutes, the +outlandish music making the forest ring. Then the singing and dancing +stopped and the Indians walked more slowly around the circle. + +In a minute or so another war-cry would sound and the fierce, weird music +and dance would be resumed. Then some old Indian among the spectators +would clap his hands, signifying that he wished to speak. The dance would +cease and the dancers walk slowly 'round again, while a speech was made. +The address would occupy only a half minute or a minute perhaps, and then +with another of the horrifying war cries the dancing and singing were +started afresh. + +Ree and John might have been a thousand miles away for all the attention +that was given them at first. + +"Perhaps it is merely a festival dance," John whispered to his chum. + +"No, it would be given in the evening if that were true," was the answer. +"It means the warpath, I am sure." + +John was replying that, whether merely for entertainment or for war, the +dance was enough to scarce a civilized person into a trance, when Capt. +Pipe suddenly clapped his hands and, as the music ceased, stepped forward +and spoke. All the other speeches had been made in the Delaware tongue, +but the first man of the tribe now spoke partly in English. This was for +the purpose of giving them to understand just what was going on, the boys +were quite certain, and frequently the chief pointed toward them. + +In substance Capt. Pipe said that the whites were encroaching too far +upon the lands of the Indians and preparations were being made for a +great union of tribes to drive the "Long Knives" back. He promised to +lead a large party of his people to join with other Delawares and the +Wyandots, Shawnees and Miamies in a war which, he boastfully said, would +secure to the Indians again the forests in which the Palefaces had +already settled. He referred to the defeat of the whites eight years +before and the burning of Col. Crawford, and said there would be scalps +and plunder for every warrior who accompanied him. + +John found himself wondering whether the Indians might not undertake to +whet their appetites for blood by killing himself and Ree. It was of the +terrible torture of Col. Crawford which Ree was thinking, and he found it +hard to keep from hating the savages before him, horrible and cruel in +their war paint. + +And could he have looked but a few months into the future and have seen +the awful carnage in which Capt. Pipe and his braves had a prominent +part, at the defeat of General St. Clair near Fort Jefferson, in what is +now Mercer County, Ohio, he could not have restrained his hatred as he +did. He knew in after years what that battle was, and knew that the +Indians boasted that their arms ached from their work with the scalping +knife. + +The frightful dance went on when Capt. Pipe had finished speaking, his +words inspiring the warriors with new vigor who now whirled around the +circle with great rapidity, going through all the motions of attacking, +vanquishing and scalping an enemy. At a call from the chief, other +warriors, who were standing by, sprang into the ring, joining in the +singing and contortions of faces and bodies with furious energy. More and +more followed as from among the dancers Capt. Pipe called from time to +time, urging all who wished to win renown as warriors, and to hang scalps +of the hated whites at their belts, to join him. + +Each addition to the whirling, shrieking, blood-thirsty band was greeted +with thunderous whoops and in the end nearly one hundred and fifty braves +were going through all the barbarous awe-inspiring motions of the horrid +celebration. + +Well might Ree and John feel alarm for their own safety; but they looked +upon the terrifying scene quite calmly, notwithstanding that, as their +passions were kindled and their savage patriotism aroused by the fervor +of the dance, the Indians gave them many a glance which was far from +friendly. + +There were two things which Ree could not help but notice as the revel +continued; one was that Big Buffalo had not joined the dancers, the other +that Gentle Maiden kept her eyes downcast or looked away across the lake, +not once turning toward her father's painted braves. He could not help +thinking it strange that the Buffalo had not signified his intention of +joining the warriors, and sincerely wished the unfriendly fellow had done +so. There was no other Indian whom he had so much reason to dislike, nor +one whose absence was so greatly to be desired. + +For more than two hours the dance went on, interrupted only when some +one--usually an old Indian whose fighting days were past--clapped his +hands as a signal that he wished to make a speech. But at last Capt. Pipe +called a halt and stepped out from among the dancers. With a fierce look +toward Big Buffalo he demanded to know of him why he would not join the +war party. + +Ree and John could not understand all that was said, but they saw plainly +that the chief was angry. In substance the reason of Big Buffalo was that +it would not do for all the strong men to leave the village; that some +one must remain to provide meat for the women and children, and to +protect the town. + +Capt. Pipe heard these excuses with a scowl black as a thunder cloud. His +giant frame stretched itself to its greatest height and his voice was +filled with contempt as he flung forth but one word: + +"Squaw!" + +Perhaps the chief thought, as Ree was at that moment thinking, that the +Buffalo's main reason for wishing to remain at home, was that he might be +near Gentle Maiden. But had the truth been made known, it would have been +shown that the treacherous rascal had other and more wicked reasons in +his heart, as the young settlers were destined soon to learn. + +With a wave of his arm Capt. Pipe dispersed his followers as Big Buffalo +made no reply to his contemptuous outburst. The Indians threw themselves +on the ground to rest, or went away to their lodges to more fully prepare +for the warpath, and the chief, turning to Ree and John, motioned to them +to follow. He led the boys to his cabin and his wife placed food before +them. When they had eaten, Capt. Pipe produced pipes and all three +smoked. It was a silent compact of peace, and pleased indeed were the +Paleface lads that the Indian showed this disposition. + +Though it was not this act of friendship which made him bold, for he +would have spoken in the same way under other circumstances, Ree quietly +asked Capt. Pipe why he had determined to go on the warpath. + +The chief made no answer. + +"It is wrong," Ree continued gravely. "You are living here in happiness +and security. No Palefaces have molested you. Your people are contented; +they have but to step into the forests for an abundance of game; but to +approach the waters for all the fish they may desire. The ground yields +rich returns from the labor of the planting season. The Delawares are +well fed and well clothed. Why, then, should they give up the hunt and +the pleasures of their present pursuits to take up the hatchet? Why +should they seek the lives of others, whether white men or redmen? They +will only bring sorrow and weeping to their own villages, and sorrow and +weeping in many a Paleface home for those who never return. More than +this, Chief Hopocon, the Great Spirit looks with unhappy eyes upon his +children who go on the warpath not in defense of their own, but to kill +and murder those who have not harmed them." + +Knowing Ree even well as he did, John was surprised to hear him speak +thus fluently and strongly, but he greatly feared his friend had been +unwise in speaking so boldly. + +For a few seconds Capt. Pipe did not answer. And then he said: + +"The young brother speaks well, but he does not know. His heart is right, +but he does not know. With the young men who have come among us as +traders and hunters we have no quarrel. They will remain here. They will +send no word of the war dance to the forts. Other Palefaces are crowding +further and further. Faster and faster, they are driving the people of +the forest before them. The young brother does not know this. The young +brother does not know of the word which every day the runners bring, +which tells of the crowding of the Long Knives more and more upon the +forest. Now must they be warned to come no further. Now must they be +driven back to the eastward. Else the setting sun will be the home of the +Delawares. Too long--too long, have the hands of Hopocon and his warriors +been idle; too long--too long, have the Delawares borne in silence." + +Capt. Pipe spoke with emphasis but not violently. As he concluded he rose +slowly to his feet. Ree and John followed his example, and with meaning +in his gesture far greater than words could have expressed, the chieftain +motioned to them to depart. + +With shoulders thrown back, head erect as proud and dignified as the +Indians whom he felt had thus insulted him Ree turned to leave the cabin. +But John had no such feeling, nor was he so quick to see that Capt. Pipe +was offended by the words of one whom he probably considered a mere boy. +He saw only that the object of their visit was not likely to be +accomplished and turning to the Indian said: "Capt. Pipe, we wanted to +buy a little more land, and we need a horse." + +With an impatient, violent sweep of his right hand, the chief touched +John's shoulder with his left, and pointed across the lake in the +direction of the cabin by the river. + +Even in this brief time Ree's temper had cooled, and with proud dignity +he turned and offered Capt. Pipe his hand. The Indian took it and also +shook hands with John. His manner was haughty but not altogether +unfriendly. The boys still felt that they had nothing to fear from him as +they walked away. + +Fishing Bird was near by as usual, as the lads went down to the water's +edge. He was naked to the waist and was bedecked with paint and feathers. +He looked really fierce as he strode up to shove off the canoe, not in +his customary happy mood, but with cool indifference. He spoke to Ree in +an undertone as the canoe glided free of the beach. + +It was late in the day, and this fact taken in connection with the +unpleasant events of the afternoon caused the boys to decide to go +directly to their cabin rather than to go on to the Tuscarawas river upon +which the Indians were accustomed to travel toward the Ohio, and which +the lads had planned to explore. + +"What did Fishing Bird say to you, Ree?" asked John as they reached +mid-lake. + +"He said we should watch out for Big Buffalo." + +"Thunderation! I wonder if he isn't jealous of Big Buffalo that he is +always warning us against him? He must know that we know the old rogue +doesn't like us, and that is all there is of it!" + +"Oh, I guess Fishing Bird means well; and I'm sorry enough that Big +Buffalo isn't going with the war party. It may be that the chief's +daughter has something to do with his remaining at home, but I do not +think Fishing Bird is jealous. As for us, why the Buffalo has no reason +to hate us on the girl's account. We never even spoke to her." + +"But she has spoken to you, Ree." + +"Never." + +"Yes, she has--with her eyes." + +"What nonsense!" Ree ejaculated. "Big Buffalo is ugly by disposition and +has never forgotten the mistake I made when I overlooked him and supposed +Fishing Bird to be in command of the hunting party I met that time they +made me prisoner." + +Presently the talk drifted to other subjects, especially to the +disposition of the furs that had accumulated, and the plan to take them +to Detroit now seemed the best to follow. + +"But after all," Ree suggested, "we may be able to get a horse from the +Delawares when Capt. Pipe and his men have gone." + +"No, he is going to take all the horses. They will dance and feast +to-night, and to-morrow they start," John answered. + +"How do you know that?" + +For a moment there was no answer; and then in a hesitating way, "Gentle +Maiden told me," John confessed. + +"Oh, ho! You've been making love behind my back, have you? When did you +talk with her?" + +"Why, there was no love about it!" exclaimed John with some pretense of +indignation. "We were only talking as anybody has a right to talk. It was +while they were dancing. And Ree, she speaks better English than her +father. The missionaries among the Moravians who were massacred several +years ago, taught her. And she thinks it was right that Col. Crawford was +burned because of that massacre, too." + +"I guess you have talked to the Indian girl before to-day, haven't you? +Why didn't you tell me?" + +"She spoke to me first, and I--I didn't think you would be interested." + +Ree smiled but said no more. The canoe grated on the lake shore toward +their home, and the boys took up their task of carrying it overland to +the river. + +"We will write some letters to send home from Pittsburg; for I still hope +we will be able to take our furs there," said Ree, as they tramped +along. + +But in those days of more than one hundred years ago, as at the present +time, none could tell what changes another sunrise would bring; and +neither Ree nor John dreamed of the terrible danger which was closing in +around them, the story of which is told in "Two Boy Pioneers". + +THE END. +W.B.C. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Far Past the Frontier, by James A. 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