CHAPTER XXIV
A NEW HOME ON THE MISSISSIPPI
"THE little box in which mother kept her few treasures!" exclaimed Bob.
"And our wampum belt, which Pontiac presented to us with his ownhands!" echoed Sandy, as he once more let his gaze rest on the objecthe had discovered, thrown aside in the grass near the ashes of thedeserted fire.
"Those rascally French traders have been right here on this spot,brother," remarked Bob, glancing around, and unconsciously half-raisinghis gun, as though he partly expected to see the vicious faces ofJacques Larue and Henri Lacroix peering at them out of the undergrowth.
"And only a day or two ago, just think of that!" exclaimed Sandy, asudden glow coming into his face. "Oh! what if, after all, we shouldhave the great good luck to meet the robbers some fine day; wouldn'twe demand that they return our property, though? And if so much as onesingle thing belonging to our dear mother were missing, they wouldhave to account for it!"
But Bob shook his head. He did not possess the same sanguine spirit ashis younger brother, and consequently could not see things in the samelight.
"It is true they have been here, and lately, too," he remarked,seriously; "but you must not allow yourself to hope too much that thereis any chance for our meeting them. We are far below the mouth of theOhio River now; and the fact of their having been here seems to saythat even now these Frenchmen may be on their way down to the towntheir countrymen have started on the lower waters of the Mississippi,and which they call New Orleans."
"But we could follow them!" exclaimed Sandy.
"As well look for a needle in a haystack," observed the far-seeing Bob.
"Just to think, if only we could have come upon them while they wereseated here, eating their supper, and never dreaming that those theyhad robbed were at their elbows! Wouldn't we have given the wretches ascare, though, Bob?" and Sandy gritted his white teeth savagely, as hestared at the dumb ashes, just as if they might be to blame for themisfortune that had befallen the brothers in arriving too late.
"Of course there is one little hope that we will yet run across them,"Bob said, as though he, himself, wanted to cling to such a shred."Perhaps they may be lingering around this part of the country, meaningto rest and hunt, after the long trip they have just made from away upthe Ohio. And if they do, Sandy--"
"Yes, if they do!" echoed the impulsive lad, shaking his gunimpressively, so that further words were unnecessary.
"Let us go and show father what we've found," remarked Bob. "Poormother will feel so sad when she sees this little box, for it helda number of pretty trinkets which she valued more because they wereconnected with the past, when her children were small, than on accountof their worth in a money sense. To think of those big thieves carryingthem around in their pockets or medicine bags; it will make fatherfurious."
"But how does it come, do you think," Sandy went on, "that, aftercarrying the box all this distance, they threw it away here?"
"That is hard to say, Sandy; and I can only guess at it. Perhaps, now,they liked the looks of this pretty little casket, which a cabinetmakeronce fashioned for our mother when she lived in Jamestown, back inVirginia. But, in the end, it began to get in the way; and, tired ofcarrying it, the men took out the contents while sitting here by thisfire, and threw the box into the bushes."
"Never dreaming that the Armstrong boys would come along a day or twolater, and find their property again," mused Sandy. "Finding this boxseems to tell me that next we will be fortunate enough to run acrossour wampum belt."
"I hope so," was all Bob said, as he turned around, to return to wherethe rest of the party were busily employed.
Great indeed was the surprise of Mr. Armstrong when he saw what theboys had discovered on the very spot where they meant to build theirnew home. As for the little mother, she took the quaint casket in herhands again with a look that told of renewed hope in her heart. It wasall so very remarkable that the final recovery of the lost articles nowseemed to lie within the bounds of possibility.
The balance of that day was given up to settling themselves ascomfortably as they could. Already, the pioneers liked the situation somuch that they were unanimously agreed upon staying there permanently.Nowhere could they hope to find a location uniting more naturaladvantages than here. Long years ago the wandering Indians and whitetrappers had discovered this fact, as witness their stopping to pitchtheir camps in the vicinity. It was noted as a country teeming withgame, and offering the adventurous settler the finest soil possible.
Then there was the great river close at hand, from which considerableof their needed stock of food might be procured--fish the live longyear, and ducks and geese during the colder months.
Everybody seemed fully satisfied that they could not possibly farebetter by continuing on down the river; while there were many chancesthat they would never run across so splendid a site for a settlement.
That night passed peacefully, and, with the advent of another day,operations immediately commenced. They were so wearied of the closeconfinement aboard the cumbersome flatboat, which had really beenovercrowded, that all of them longed to possess their own homes.Humble though these log cabins might be, at least they would prize themhighly, with their few possessions giving the interiors the air ofhome, so dear to the hearts of women the world over.
The merry sound of axe blades biting eagerly into the trees could soonbe heard. Every head of a family selected the site where he wished tobuild his cabin. These were so arranged that, while the structuresthemselves were close together, each had a gradually increasing stripof land running back, which could be quickly cleared, so that a smallcrop of corn and some vegetables might yet be planted, for the seasonwas not late.
As they worked, the men always kept their guns within easy reach. Theyhad been brought up to know how trouble often springs out of a clearsky, and did not mean to be taken unawares.
Until the separate homes were completely done, the women and childrenlived aboard the boat, secure within that stout log cabin which hadsheltered them all so long during the cruise down the Ohio.
Several days passed, and the four cabins were fast nearing completion.Indeed, another twenty-four hours would see the finishing touches givento a couple of the rough log buildings; and that of the Armstrongs wasone of the most advanced, since the two boys assisted their fatherconsiderably in the work.
The chimney was partly built, out of slabs and mud that would hardenwith the heat and smoke until it became like granite. That generousfireplace they anticipated would ere long take on the "homey" lookthat had always marked the gathering place of the little family afterthe candle or the crude lamp was lighted for the evening; though, as arule, they depended altogether upon the glow of the blaze itself forillumination, since the candles, made mostly from bear fat, were tooprecious to waste.
Kate had been greatly pleased with the situation of the new home inthe western wilderness. Often she had heard her father talking aboutwhat Washington advocated in connection with giving every survivor ofthe French and Indian wars a large tract of fine land in the bountifulwest, and thus start a movement that sooner or later would oust theFrench from that debatable territory. And, when she saw the charmingnature of the land, Kate felt in full sympathy with all her father hadsaid upon that subject.
She spent half her time wandering around, picking the most wonderfulwild flowers she had ever seen, listening to the birds singing in thetrees, or paddling in the little dugout upon the sluggish currentof the river; for, owing to a point of land that extended out somedistance above, the eddies had formed what was almost a great pond infront of, and below, their camp.
Of course she had been warned many times to be exceedingly careful,and not go far away; but, as Pat O'Mara kept circulating around thevicinity, and reported seeing absolutely no signs of Indians, Kate soonlost all fear.
On the fourth day, which was near the end of the week, the girl hadallowed the boat to drift a little way down the river, as she watchedthe shore for a
good spot where she might land and find new treasuresin the form of curious flowers. She knew that the boys had gone offon a hunt that morning, as there was need of fresh meat in the camp;and, besides, the cabin was by this time so far advanced that Mr.Armstrong declared himself able to complete it, and move in their fewpossessions; so that, when they came back, Bob and Sandy might expectto be invited to take their first meal in their own home.
The afternoon was half spent, and the sun well on his journey towardthe horizon that Sandy so often viewed with yearning, because it heldso much of mystery that appealed to his adventurous nature.
Kate had drawn the dugout up on the sandy beach, and, landing, strolledinto the edge of the great woods. She had promised her mother never togo out of hearing of the busy axes; and even now she could catch theirsteady fall, as the men hewed the logs they had secured from the fallentrees and adapted them for the walls of their cabin homes.
In a short time the girl had her arms filled with the most beautifulflowers she could remember ever having come across. Each new treasureexcited her afresh, and she almost forgot her promise not to wandertoo deeply into the forest, where there was always a chance that somesavage wildcat might be lurking.
Kate had just turned around, meaning to head back toward her boatagain, which could just be seen through the forest aisles, when shethought she heard a stick snap. Turning around with a half-laugh, underthe impression that it might be her two brothers stealing up with theintention of surprising her, the poor girl was amazed and horrified tosee a rough man, whom she immediately knew must be a French trapper,standing within five feet of her. Before she could think of screaming asecond man arose from the bushes, and clapped a hand over her mouth.