CHAPTER VII
THE TAKING OF HENRY
"I'm sorry my foot slipped," whispered Paul.
"Don't you worry, Paul," Henry whispered back. "We're as anxious to meetthem as they are to meet us. If they are willing to stay and have theargument out, we're willing to give them something to think about."
"An' I'd like to get a shot at that harelipped villain," interjectedShif'less Sol. "I'd give him somethin' he wouldn't furgit."
"Suppose we move a little to the right," said Henry. "They've noted thedirection from which the sound came, and they may send a bullet into thebushes here."
They crept quietly to the right, a distance of perhaps ten yards; andthey soon found the precaution to be a wise one, as a crack came fromthe forest, and a bullet cut the twigs where they had lately been.Shif'less Sol sent a return bullet at the flash of the rifle and theyheard a suppressed cry.
"It doesn't do to be too keerless," said the shiftless one in acontented tone as he reloaded his rifle. "Whoever fired that shot oughtto hev known that something would come back to him."
Several more bullets came from the forest, and now they cut the bushesclose by, but the comrades lay flat upon the ground and all passed overtheir heads.
After Shif'less Sol's single shot they did not return the fire for thepresent, but continued to move slowly to the right. Thus a full halfhour passed without a sign from either side. Meanwhile a wind, slowlyrising, was blowing so steadily that all the trees and bushes weredrying fast.
Neither Henry nor his comrades could now tell just where their enemieswere, but they believed that the hostile band had also been circlingabout the open space in which the ruined village stood. They felt surethat the Indians and the three white men would not go away. The Indianswere never keener for scalps than they were that year, and with a forceof nearly two to one they would not decline a combat, even if it werenot the surprise that they had expected.
"We may stay here until daylight," whispered Henry. "They are now surewe're not going to run away, and with the sunrise they may think thatthey will have a better chance at us."
"If the daylight finds them here, it will find us too," said Shif'lessSol. They shifted around a little further, and presently another shotwas fired from a point opposite them in the forest. Henry sent a bulletin return, but there was nothing to indicate whether it had struck afoe. Then ensued another long silence which was broken at last by a shotfrom the interior of the old Council House. It was sent at random intothe bushes, but the bullet cut the leaves within an inch of Henry'sface, and they grew exceedingly cautious. Another bullet soon whistlednear them, and they recognized the fact that the Indians who hadsucceeded in creeping into the Council House had secured an advantage.
But they succeeded in keeping themselves covered sufficiently to escapeany wounds, and, turning a thought over in his mind, Henry said:
"Sol, don't you think that this wind which has been blowing for hourshas dried things out a good deal?"
"It shorely has," answered Sol.
"And you have noticed, too, Sol, that we are now at a point where theold village touches the forest? You can reach out your hand and put iton that ruined wigwam, can't you?"
"I kin shorely do it, Henry."
"You have noticed also, Sol, that the wind, already pretty fair, isrising, and that it is blowing directly from us against the old CouncilHouse in which some of the savages are, and across to the forest at thepoint where we are certain that the rest of the enemy lie."
"Sounds like good and true reasonin' to me, an eddicated man, Henry."
"Then you and I will get to work with our flint and steel and set thisold wigwam afire. It's still high enough to shelter ourselves behind it,and I think we ought to do the task in two or three minutes. Tom, youand Paul and Jim cover us with your rifles."
"Henry, you shorely hev a great head," said Sol, "an' this looks to melike payin' back to a man what belongs to him. That harelipped scoundreland his fellows warmed by our fire in the Council House, and now we'lljest give 'em notice that thar's another warmin'."
Lying almost flat upon their faces they worked hard with the flint andsteel, and in a minute or two a little spark of light leaped up. It laidhold of the thin, dry bark at the edge of the old wigwam and blazed upwith extraordinary rapidity. Then the flames sprang to the next wigwam.It, too, was quickly enveloped, and the bark cracked as they ate intoit. Not even the soaking given by the rain offered any effectiveresistance.
Henry and Shif'less Sol put away their flint and steel and quicklyslipped into the bushes whence they looked with admiration at the workof their hands. The lodges were burning far faster than they hadexpected. All the old Indian village would soon go, and now they watchedattentively the Council House where the sharpshooters lay. Meanwhileseveral shots were fired from the forest without effect and the fivemerely lay close, biding their time.
The flames made a great leap and caught the Council House. It burned sofast that it seemed to be enveloped all at once, and three men, two redand one white burst from it, rushing toward the forest. Henry and hiscomrades could easily have shot down all three, but Silent Tom Ross wasthe only one who pulled a trigger and he picked the white man. At thecrack of his rifle the fugitive fell. By the flare of the flames Henrycaught a glimpse of his face and saw that it was Perley. He fell just atthe edge of the forest, but where the fire would not reach him.
The village was now a mass of flames. The whole open space was lightedup brilliantly, and the sparks flew in myriads. Ashes and burningfragments carried by the wind fell thickly through the forest. The vividflare penetrated the forest itself and the five men saw their foescrouching in the bushes. They advanced, using all the skill of those towhom the wilderness is second nature and a battle from tree to treeensued. The five were more than a match for the eight who were nowagainst them. The man who had passed as Fowler was quickly wounded inthe shoulder, the harelipped leader himself had his cap shot from hishead, and one of the Indians was slain. Then they took to flight, and,after a pursuit of some distance, the five returned toward the village,where the flames were now dying down.
Paul had been flicked across the hand by a bullet and Jim Hart shook twobullets out of his clothing, but they were practically unhurt and it wastheir object now to see the man Perley, who had been left at the edge ofthe forest. By the time they reached the open where the village hadstood, the day was fully come. The Council House had fallen in and thepoles and fragments of bark smoked on the ground. Nothing was left ofthe wigwam but ashes which the wind picked up and whirled about. Thewounded man lay on his side and it was quite evident that his hurt wasmortal, but his look became one of terror when the five came up.
"We do not mean to hurt you," said Henry; "we will make it as easy foryou as we can."
"And the others," gasped the man. "You have beaten them in the battle,and they have fled, the Colonel with them."
"Yes," replied Henry, "they are gone, and with them Colonel--?"
The man looked up and smiled faintly. At the edge of death he readHenry's mind. He knew that he wished to obtain the name of theharelipped man and, sincere enemy of his own people though Perley was,he no longer had any objection to telling.
"Prop me up against that tree trunk," he gasped.
Henry did so, and Paul brought some water from the spring in his cap.The man drank and seemed a little stronger.
"You're better to me perhaps than I'd have been to you if it had beenthe other way round," he said, "an' I might as well tell you that theman with the harelip was Colonel Bird, a British officer, who is mostactive against your settlements, and who has become a great leader amongthe Indians. He's arranging now with the people at Detroit to strike yousomewhere."
"Then I'm sorry my bullet didn't find him instead of you," said TomRoss.
"So am I," said the man with a faint attempt at humor.
Paul, who had been trying to remember, suddenly spoke up.
"I heard of that man when we were in the East," he sa
id. "He fell inlove with a girl at Oswego or some other of the British posts, and sherejected him because he was so ugly and had a hare lip. Then he seemedto have a sort of madness and ever since he's been leading expeditionsof the Indians against our settlements."
"It's true," said Perley, "he's the man that you're talking about andhe's mad about shedding blood. He's drumming up the Indian forceseverywhere. His--"
Perley stopped suddenly and coughed. His face became ghastly pale, andthen his head fell over sideways on his shoulders.
"He's dead," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I'm sorry, too, Tom, that yourbullet didn't hit Colonel Bird 'stead o' him."
"Do you think," asked Paul, "that they are likely to come back andattack us?"
"No," replied Henry, "they've had enough. Besides they can't attack usin broad daylight. Look how open the forest is. We'd be sure to see themlong before they could get within rifle shot."
"Then," said Paul, "let's bury Perley before we go on. I don't like tothink of a white man lying here in the forest to be devoured by wildbeasts, even if he did try to kill us."
Shif'less Sol heartily seconded Paul's suggestion, and soon it was done.They had no spades with which to dig a grave for Perley's body, but theybuilt over him a little cairn of fallen timber, sufficient to protecthim from the wolves and bears, and then prepared to march anew.
But they took a last look at the large open space in which the abandonedIndian village had stood. Nothing was left there but ashes and dyingcoals. Not a fragment of the place was standing. But they felt that itwas better for it to be so. If man had left, then the forest shouldresume its complete sway. The grass and the bushes would now cover it upall the more quickly. Then they shouldered their rifles and went ahead,never looking back once.
The morning was quite cool. It was only the second week in April, thespring having come out early bringing the buds and the foliage with it,but in the variable climate of the great valley they might yet havefreezing and snow. They had left Pittsburg in the winter, but they werelong on the way, making stops at two or three settlements on thesouthern shore of the Ohio, and also going on long hunts. At anothertime they had been stopped two weeks by the great cold which froze thesurface of the river from bank to bank. Thus it was the edge of springand the forests were green, when they turned up the tributary river, andfollowed in the trail of Timmendiquas.
Now they noticed this morning as they advanced that it was growing quitecold again. They had also come so much further North that the spring wasless advanced than on the Ohio. Before noon a little snow was flying,but they did not mind it. It merely whipped their blood and seemed togive them new strength for their dangerous venture. But Henry wastroubled. He was sorry that they had not seen an enemy in the man Birdwhose name was to become an evil one on the border. But how were they toknow? It is true that he could now, with the aid of the dead man's storyrecall something about Bird and his love affair, his disappointmentwhich seemed to have given him a perfect mania for bloodshed. But againhow were they to know?
They pressed on with increased speed, as they knew that Timmendiquas,owing to their delay at the abandoned village must now be far ahead. Thebroad trail was found easily, and they also kept a sharp watch for thatof Bird and his band which they felt sure would join it soon. But whennight came there was no sign of Bird and his men. Doubtless they hadtaken another course, with another object in view. Henry was greatlyperplexed. He feared that Bird meant deep mischief, and he should haveliked to have followed him, but the main task was to followTimmendiquas, and they could not turn aside from it.
They would have traveled all that night, but the loss of sleep the nightbefore, and the strain of the combat compelled them to take rest aboutthe twilight hour. The night winds were sharp with chill, and theymissed the bark shelter that the ruined Council House had given them. Asthey crouched in the bushes with their blankets about them and ate coldvenison, they were bound to regret what they had lost.
"Still I like this country," said Jim Hart. "It looks kinder firm an'strong ez ef you could rely on it. Then I want to see the big lakes. Wecome pretty nigh to one uv them that time we went up the Genesee Valleyan' burned the Iroquois towns, but we didn't quite git thar. Cur'us somuch fresh water should be put here in a string uv big lakes on ourcontinent."
"And the Canadian _voyageurs_ say there are big lakes, too, away up inCanada that no white man has ever seen, but of which they hear from theIndians," said Paul.
"I reckon it's true," said Jim Hart, "'cause this is an almighty bigcontinent, an' an almighty fine one. I ain't s'prised at nothin' now. Ididn't believe thar wuz any river ez big ez the Missip, until I saw it,an' thar ain't no tellin' what thar is out beyond the Missip, all thethousands uv miles to the Pacific. I'd shorely like to live a thousandyears with you fellers an' tramp 'roun' and see it all. It would bealmighty fine."
"But I wouldn't like to be spendin' all that thousan' years tryin' tokeep my scalp on top o' my head," said Shif'less Sol. "It would bepow'ful wearin' on a lazy man like me."
Thus they talked as the twilight deepened into the night. The feel ofthe North was in them all. Their minds kindled at the thought of thevast lakes that lay beyond and of the great forest, stretching, for allthey knew, thousands of miles to the great ocean. The bushes and theirblankets protected them from the cold winds, and it was so dark that noenemy could trail them to their lair. Moreover the five were there,intact, and they had the company of one another to cheer.
"I imagine," said Paul, "that Timmendiquas and the officers at Detroitwill make this the biggest raid that they have ever yet planned againstKentucky."
"By surprise an' numbers they may win victories here an' thar," saidShif'less Sol, "but they'll never beat us. When people git rooted in theground you jest can't drive 'em away or kill 'em out. Our people willtake root here, too, an' everywhar the Injuns, the British an' theTories will have to go."
"An' as our people ain't come up here yet, we've got to look out for ourscalps before the rootin' season comes," said Tom Ross.
"An' that's as true as Gospel," said Shif'less Sol, thoughtfully.
After that they spoke little more, but they drew and matted the thickbushes over their heads in such manner that the chill winds were turnedaside. Beneath were the dry leaves of last year which they had raked upinto couches, and thus, every man with a blanket beneath and anotherabove him, they did not care how the wind blew. They were as snug asbears in their lairs, but despite the darkness of the night and theexceeding improbability of anyone finding them both Henry and Tom Rosslay awake and watched. The others slept peacefully, and the twosentinels could hear their easy breathing only a few feet away.
In the night Henry began to grow uneasy. Once or twice he thought heheard cries like the hoot of the owl or the howl of the wolf, but theywere so far away that he was uncertain. Both hoot and howl might be aproduct of the imagination. He was so alive to the wilderness, it was sofull of meaning to him that his mind could create sounds when noneexisted. He whispered to Tom, but Ross, listening as hard as he could,heard nothing but the rustling of the leaves and twigs before the wind.
Henry was sure now that what he had heard was the product of a too vividfancy, but a little later he was not so sure. It must be the faint cryof a wolf that he now heard or its echo. He had the keenest ear of themall, and that Tom Ross did not hear the sound, was no proof. A vividimagination often means a prompt and powerful man of action, and Henryacted at once.
"Tom," he whispered, "I'm going to scout in the distance from which Ithought the sounds came. Don't wake the boys; I'll be back beforemorning."
Tom Ross nodded. He did not believe that Henry had really heardanything, and he would have remonstrated with him, but he knew that itwas useless. He merely drew his blanket a little closer, and resolvedthat one pair of eyes should watch as well as two had watched before.
Henry folded his blankets, put them in his little pack, and in a minutewas gone. It was dark, but not so dark that one used to the night couldnot s
ee. The sounds that he had seemed to hear came from the southwest,and the road in the direction was easy, grown up with forest butcomparatively free from undergrowth. He walked swiftly about a mile,then he heard the cry of the wolf again. Now, the last doubt was gonefrom his mind. It was a real sound, and it was made by Indian calling toIndian.
He corrected his course a little, and went swiftly on. He heard the cryonce more, now much nearer, and, in another mile, he saw a glow amongthe trees. He went nearer and saw detached cones of light. Then he knewthat it was a camp fire, and a camp fire built there boldly in thatregion, so dangerous to the Kentuckian, indicated that it was surely theIndians themselves and their allies. He did not believe that it was theforce of Timmendiquas which could only have reached this spot by turningfrom its course, but he intended to solve the doubt.
The camp was in one of the little prairies so numerous in the oldNorthwest, and evidently had been pitched there in order to secure roomfor the fires. Henry concluded at once that it must be a large force,and his eagerness to know increased. As he crept nearer and nearer, hewas amazed by the number of the fires. This was a much larger band thanthe one led by Timmendiquas. He also heard the sound of many voices andof footsteps. From his place among the trees he saw dark figures passingand repassing. He also caught now and then a metallic glitter fromsomething not a rifle or a tomahawk, but which he could not clearly makeout in the dark.
This was a formidable force bent upon some great errand, and hiscuriosity was intense. The instinct that had sent him upon the journeythrough the woods was not wrong, and he did not mean to go away until heknew for what purpose this army was gathered. He lay upon the ground inthe thickest shadow of the woods, and crept forward a little closer.Then he saw that the camp contained at least five hundred warriors. Asnearly as he could make out they were mostly Shawnees, probably from themost easterly villages, but there seemed to be a sprinkling of Delawaresand Miamis. White men, Tories, Canadians and English, fifty or sixty innumber were present also and a few of them were in red uniform.
All the Indians were in war paint, and they sat in great groups aroundthe fires feasting. Evidently the hunters had brought in plenty of gameand they were atoning for a fast. They ate prodigiously of buffalo,deer, bear and wild turkey, throwing the bones behind them when they hadgnawed them clean. Meanwhile they sang in the Shawnee tongue a wildchant:
To the South we, the great warriors, go To the far, fair land of Kaintuckee; We carry death for the Yengees, Our hands are strong, our hearts are fierce; None of the white face can escape us.
We cross the river and steal through the woods; In the night's dark hour the tomahawk falls, The burning houses send flames to the sky, The scalps of the Yengees hang at our belts; None of the white face can escape us.
Henry's heart began to pump heavily. Little specks danced before hiseyes. Here was a great war party, one that he had not foreseen, one thatwas going to march against Kentucky. Evidently this enterprise wasdistinct from that of Timmendiquas. In his eagerness to see, Henry creptnearer and nearer to the utmost verge of the danger line, lying in aclump of bushes where the warriors were passing, not twenty feet away.Suddenly he started a little, as a new figure came into the light,thrown into distinct relief by the blazing background of the fires.
He recognized at once the harelipped man, Bird, now in the uniform of aColonel in the King's army. His ugliness was in no whit redeemed by hismilitary attire. But Henry saw that deference was paid him by white menand red men alike, and he had the walk and manner of one who commanded.The youth was sorry now that they had not hunted down this man and slainhim. He felt instinctively that he would do great harm to thosestruggling settlers south of the Ohio.
While Henry waited three loud shouts were heard, uttered at the far endof the camp. Instantly the eating ceased, and all the warriors rose totheir feet. Then they moved with one accord toward the point from whichthe shouts proceeded. Henry knew that someone of importance was coming,and he crept along the edge of the forest to see.
Colonel Bird, several subordinate officers, and some chiefs gathered infront of the mass of warriors and stood expectant. Forth from the forestcame a figure more magnificent than any in that group, a great savage,naked to the waist, brilliantly painted, head erect and with the air ofa king of men. It was Timmendiquas, and Henry realized, the moment heappeared, that he was not surprised to see him there. Behind him cameRed Eagle and Yellow Panther, Simon Girty, Braxton Wyatt andBlackstaffe. Bird went forward, eager to meet them, and held out hishand in white man's fashion to Timmendiquas. The great Wyandot took it,held it only a moment, and then dropped it, as if the touch were hatefulto him. Henry had noticed before that Timmendiquas never seemed to carefor the white allies of the Indians, whether English, Canadian or Tory.He used them, but he preferred, if victory were won, that it should bewon by men of his own race. The manner of the chief seemed to him toindicate repulsion, but Wyatt, Girty and the others greeted the Colonelwith great warmth. They were birds of a feather, and it pleased them toflock together there in the great forest.
Timmendiquas and his chiefs walked toward the larger and central fire,whither Bird and his men showed the way. Then pipes were lighted andsmoked by all who were high enough in rank to sit in the Council, whilethe mass of the warriors gathered at a respectful distance. But thefires were replenished, and they blazed up, filling all the camp withruddy light. Then Henry found the meaning of the metallic gleam that hehad seen from the forest. Near the center of the camp and standing in arow were six cannon, fine, bronze guns of large caliber, their darkmuzzles, as if by some sinister chance, pointing toward the South. Thenfull knowledge came in all its gloomy truth. This was an expeditionagainst Kentucky more formidable than any of the many that had yet gone.It carried a battery of large cannon, and plenty of white gunners to manthem. The wooden palisades of the new settlements could not stand fiveminutes before great guns.
In his eagerness to see more of these hateful cannon, Henry, for thefirst time in years, forgot his customary caution. He made a bush rustleand he did not notice it. A scouting Indian passed near, and he did nothear him. But the scouting Indian, a Shawnee, alert and suspicious,heard the rustling of the bush. He dropped down, crept near and saw thelong figure among the bushes. Then he crept away and signaled to hiscomrades.
Henry was straining forward for a better view of the cannon, when therewas a sudden sound behind him. He drew his body quickly together like apowerful animal about to spring, but before he could reach his feet ahalf dozen warriors hurled themselves upon him.
He fell under the impact of so great a weight and the rifle which hecould not use at close quarters was torn from his hands. The warriorsuttered a triumphant shout which caused all those sitting by the fire tospring to their feet.
Henry was at the very summit of his youthful strength. There was no onein the forest who matched him in either height or muscular strength,save, possibly Timmendiquas, and with a tremendous effort he rose to hisfeet, the whole yelling pack clinging to him, one on each arm, one ateach leg, and two at his shoulders and waist. He hurled loose the one onhis right arm and snatched at a pistol in his belt, but quick as aflash, two others loosing their hold elsewhere, seized the arm. Thenthey pressed all their weight upon him again, seeking to throw him.Evidently they wished to take him a captive. But Henry remained erectdespite the immense weight pulling at him. He was bent slightly forward,and, for a few moments, his efforts exactly balanced the strength of thesix who sought to pull him down. In that brief space they remainedimmovable. The sweat broke out on his forehead in great beads. Then withan effort, convulsive and gigantic, he threw them all from him, standingclear for one brief instant. His hand was on the pistol butt, but theyelling pack were back too quick, leaping at him like wolves. He wasdragged to his knees, but once more he struggled to his feet, drenchedin perspiration, his heart beating loudly as he made his mighty efforts.
In their struggle they came free of the woods, and out into the
openwhere the light from the fires cast a red glow over the tall figure ofthe white youth, and the six naked and sinewy brown forms that tore athim. The chief and the white men in the camp rushed forward.
Braxton Wyatt cried exultingly: "It is Ware!" and drew his pistol, butTimmendiquas struck down his arm.
"It is not for you to shoot," he said; "let him be taken alive."
Bird was commander in that camp, and the Wyandot was only a visitorthere, but the tone of Timmendiquas was so strong and masterful thatBird himself recognized his predominance, and did not resist it.
And there were others among the Indians who looked with admiration uponthe tall youth as he made his magnificent struggle for life and liberty.A deep hum ran through the great circle that had formed about thefighters. Excitement, the joy of a supreme sport, showed upon theirsavage faces. One or two started forward to help the six, butTimmendiquas waved them back. Then the circle pressed a little closer,and other rows of dark faces behind peered over brown shoulders. Henrywas scarcely conscious that hundreds looked on. The pulses in templesand throat were beating heavily, and there was a mist before his eyes.Nobody was present for him, save the six who strove to pull him down.His soul swelled with fierce anger and he hurled off one after anotherto find them springing back like the rebound of a rubber ball.
His anger increased. These men annoyed him terribly. He was bathed inperspiration and nearly all the clothing was torn from his body, but hestill fought against his opponents. The ring had come in closer andcloser, and now the savages uttered low cries of admiration as he sentsome one of his antagonists spinning. They admired, too, his massivefigure, the powerful neck, the white shoulders now bare and the greatmuscles which bunched up as he put forth supreme efforts.
"Verily, this is a man," said the old chief, Yellow Panther.
Timmendiquas nodded, but he never took his absorbed eyes from thecontest. He, too, uttered a low cry as Henry suddenly caught one of thewarriors with his fist and sent him like a shot to the earth. But thiswarrior, a Wyandot, was tough. He sprang up again, the dark bloodflowing from his face, but was caught and sent down a second time, tolay where he had fallen, until some of the watchers took him by the legsand dragged him out of the way of the struggle. Henry was rid of one ofhis opponents for the time, and the five who were left did not dare usetheir weapons in face of the command from Timmendiquas to take himalive. Yet they rushed in as full of zeal as ever. It may be that theyenjoyed the struggle in their savage way, particularly when the prize tobe won was so splendid.
Henry's successful blow with his fist reminded him that he might use itagain. In the fury of the sudden struggle he had not thought before tofight by this method. A savage had him by the left shoulder. He struckthe up-turned face with his right fist and the warrior went downunconscious.
Only four now! The hands of another were seeking his throat. He tore thehands loose, seized the warrior in his arms, and hurled him ten feetaway, where he fell with a sprained ankle. A deep cry, and following it,a long-drawn sigh of admiration, came from the crowd.
Only three now! He tripped and threw one so heavily that he could notrenew the combat, and the terrible fist sent down the fifth. Once morecame that cry and long-drawn sigh from the multitude! A single opponentwas left, but he was a powerful fellow, a Wyandot, with long thick armsand a mighty chest. His comrades had been much in his way in thestruggle, and, now comparatively fresh and full of confidence, he closedwith his white antagonist.
Henry had time to draw a breath or two, and he summoned his last reserveof will and strength. He grasped the Wyandot as he ran in, pinned hisarms to his sides, tripped his feet from under him, and, seizing him byshoulders and waist, lifted him high above his head. He held him poisedthere for a moment while the multitude gazed, tense and awed. Then,hurling him far out, he turned, faced the Wyandot chief, and said:
"To you, Timmendiquas, I surrender myself."