CHAPTER XXIII
ON THE OFFENSIVE
Boone, Kenton, Henry, Sol, and Ross were returning in the night throughthe forest. They had stolen near enough to the Indian camp to seesomething of what had occurred, and now and then a word of the speech ofTimmendiquas had reached them. But they did not need to see everythingor to hear everything. They were too familiar with all the signs to makeany mistake, and they knew that the savage horde was preparing foranother great attack.
"I was hopin'," said Daniel Boone, "that they'd go away, but I didn'thave any faith in my hope. They think they've got to hit hard to keep usback, an' they're right. I s'pose these are the finest huntin' groundsin the world, an' I wouldn't want to give them up, either."
"The attack led by Timmendiquas will be most determined," said Henry."What do you think we ought to do, Mr. Boone?"
"Hit first, an' hit with all our might," said Boone with emphasis. "Mr.Colfax is takin' ammunition to the east, but he's got to use some of ithere."
A happy thought occurred to Henry.
"They had cannon, which we sunk," he said, "and of course they've got alot of ammunition for these guns left. What if we should capture it? Itwould more than make up for what he will have to expend."
"And why couldn't we raise them guns?" said Shif'less Sol. "It ain'tlikely that the explosion tore 'em up much, jest sunk 'em, an' even efthey wuz dented about a bit they could be fixed up all right."
"That is certainly worth thinkin' about," said Boone. "We must lay thatnotion before Adam Colfax and Major Braithwaite. If the guns are raisedit ought to be done to-night."
They hurried toward the spot where they had left their canoe, but theydid not forget caution. Their message was too important for themessengers to be caught by scouting Indian bands. They trod softly, andstopped at frequent intervals to listen, hearing now and then the hootof owl or whine of wolf. They knew that the warriors were signaling toone another, but they felt equally sure that these signals had noreference to themselves, and they pressed steadily on until they came tothe river.
They found their canoe untouched, and rowed out into the middle of thestream, where they stopped at Daniel Boone's command.
"You know just where them boats were when you sunk 'em?" he said toHenry.
Henry pointed to a spot upon the water.
"It was within three feet of that place," he replied. "I'd stakeanything upon it."
"Then it'll 'pear strange to me if they don't belong to us beforemornin'," said Boone. "The fleet has all kinds of men, an' some of 'emwill know about raisin' things out of water. What do you say, Simon?"
"Why, that them cannon are just as good as ours already," replied Kentonwith energy.
Boone laughed softly.
"Always the same Simon," he said. "You see a thing that ought to bedone, an' to you it's as good as done. I don't know but that it's wellfor a man to feel that way. It helps him over a heap of rough places."
The boat resumed the passage, and without interruption reached thefurther shore, where they hid it again, and then entered the woods ontheir way to the fort.
"All of us must talk mighty strong about this attack," said Boone. "Wemust hit while we're all together, an' we must make Adam Colfax andMajor Braithwaite feel the truth of what we're sayin'. If the Indianshave the biggest force that was ever gathered here, so have we, an' thatmustn't be forgot."
Daniel Boone spoke with great emphasis. His usually mild voice rose alittle, and his words came forth sharp and strong. Henry felt that hetold the truth, a truth most important, and he resolved, boy though hewas, to second the famous woodsman's words, with all his power.
They reached the fort without incident, noticing with pleasure thatcommunication between fort and fleet was still sustained by a strongdouble line of sentinels. Daniel Boone asked at once for a conferencewith Adam Colfax and Major Braithwaite, and it was held in the chiefroom of a great, double log house, the largest in the place. Besides thetwo commanders, the five, Drouillard, Thrale, Lyon, Cole, Wilmot, andseveral others of importance were present. Boone, as became hisexperience and fame, was the first spokesman, and he laid before thecommanders and their lieutenants all that the party had seen and heard.He urged with great vigor the necessity of attack. He believed that theywould have a much greater chance of victory if they struck first insteadof standing on the defensive, and he spoke, also, of the cannon in theriver, and the ammunition for them in the Indian camp. If they weresuccessful, the ammunition taken from the Indians would more than fillthe place of that used by the fleet in the battle. The eyes of AdamColfax glowed appreciatively at the mention of the cannon.
"It would be a great thing for us," he said, "if we could arrive atPittsburgh with more cannon than we started with at New Orleans. We'vegot divers and the best of boatmen in our fleet, and I'm in favor ofgoing out at once to salvage those guns."
"An' do we attack?" asked Boone persistently. "Remember there is a greattreasure in the Indian camp, the ammunition they brought for the guns,which you can take with you to Pittsburgh. The harder we strike now thebetter it will be for us hereafter."
The stern face of Adam Colfax began to work. The battle light came intohis eyes.
"I'm a good member of the church," he said, "and I'm a man of peace,that is, I want to be, though it seems to me that Providence has oftenset my feet in other ways, and I believe that what you tell us, Mr.Boone, is true. If we don't strike hard at this chief Timmendiquas andhis men, they will strike hard at us. I shall put it to the men in myfleet; if they favor it we will go. What do you say about yours, Major?"
Major George Augustus Braithwaite looked at the men about him, and thebattle light came into his eyes, also.
"It shan't be said, Mr. Colfax, that my men stayed behind when yourswere willing to go. I shall take the vote, and if they say fight--andthey certainly will say it--we go with you."
Messengers hurried forth and polled the two camps. An overwhelmingmajority were in favor of making the attack. In the fleet the men, usedto danger and loving it as the breath of their nostrils, werepractically unanimous. But Adam Colfax and Major Braithwaite agreed todrag first for the cannon.
At three in the morning a dozen boats went forth upon the river. Theycontained the two commanders, Boone, Kenton, Henry, and others, besidesthe divers and the men with grappling hooks. It was a dark night, and,in addition, Simon Kenton and a dozen good men went upon the northernshore to search the woods for a watching enemy.
Henry and Seth Cole were in the boat with Adam Colfax and MajorBraithwaite, and the two sought to mark the exact spot upon the water atwhich the cannon had been sunk. This might seem a most difficult task,but the last detail of that eventful night had been photographed uponHenry's mind. It seemed to him that he could remember, within a foot,the exact spot at which the guns had gone beneath the current of theOhio.
"It is here," he said to Adam Colfax, and the scout nodded. All theboats anchored, and the divers dropped silently into the muddy stream.Henry watched eagerly, and in a minute or so they came up sputtering.Their hands had touched nothing but the bottom. Adam Colfax and MajorBraithwaite looked disappointed, but both Henry and the scout insistedthat it was the right place.
"Try again," said Adam Colfax, and the divers went down a second time.The last of them to come up looked over the side of their boat, and whenhe wiped the water from his eyes, triumph showed there.
"They are here," he said. "I touched one of them. It is sunk in the mud,but we can raise it."
They uttered a little suppressed cry of triumph, and presently thedivers touched the other, also. The grappling hooks were sent down, andthose in the boats watched eagerly to see if the cannon could be raised.Every big gun was precious in those early days of war, and if AdamColfax could add two such prizes to those he already had on the fleet hewould be repaid for much that they had suffered on their great voyage.
The hooks at last took hold. The gun was lifted two or three feet, butit slipped from their grasp and buried itself deep
er than ever in themud. A second trial was made with a like result, but the third was moresuccessful, and the gun was lifted from the water. It came, muzzlefirst, presenting a grinning mouth like some sea monster, but thesuppressed little cry of triumph broke forth again as the cannon wasloaded, with toil and perspiration, upon one of the larger boats. Theirjoy increased when they saw that it was practically unharmed, and thatit would be indeed a valuable addition to their armament.
Salvage was also made of the second gun, which was damaged somewhat, butnot so much that the armorers of the fleet could not put it in perfectcondition within a week. Fortunately they were not interrupted in theirtask, and when Kenton and the scouts rejoined them, and they startedback to Fort Prescott, Adam Colfax and Major Braithwaite shook hands inmutual congratulation.
"I never expected to pick up two good guns in this manner," said AdamColfax. "Suppose you mount them upon your own walls until we are readyto go."
Henry, Ross, and Shif'less Sol, after sleeping through the morninghours, were joined by Paul and Long Jim, and spent the afternoon inscouting. They crossed the Ohio in a canoe some distance below the fort,and once more entered the deep woods, bearing back in a northeasterlydirection toward the Indian camp. Here Henry and the shiftless one wentforward alone, leaving the others to wait for them.
They did not dare approach near enough to the camp to observe withminuteness what was going on, but they saw that a great stir was inprogress. Fresh detachments of warriors from the Shawnees and Miamis hadarrived, but the Wyandots, the least numerous of them all, still heldthe first place. The palm for courage, energy, and ability was yetconceded to them and their great chief, Timmendiquas, by all the rest.
"I don't think they'll be ready to move against us again for about twodays," said the shiftless one.
"And we'll strike before then," said Henry. "They won't be suspectingsuch a movement by us, for one reason, because a river is between."
"That's so," said Sol, "an' they've been doin' so much attackin'themselves that they won't think about our takin' the job from 'em."
They returned with their news, and at midnight the white army startedforth on its great but hazardous attempt. The night was fairly clear,with a good moon and many stars, and the departure from the fort was insilence, save for the sobbing of the women and children over those whomthey might never see again.
It was a formidable little army that issued from the southern gate ofthe fort, the one away from the river, perhaps the strongest that hadyet been gathered in the west, and composed of many diverse elements,the Kentuckians who had been Kentuckians only a year or two, the wildhunters of Boone and Kenton, the rivermen, a few New Englanders, Frenchand Spanish creoles, and men from different parts of Europe. It was apicturesque group without much semblance of military discipline, butwith great skill, courage, and willingness in forest warfare.
Every man carried a long-barreled rifle, and they were armed in additionwith pistols, tomahawks, and knives. The cannon were left behind as toounwieldy for their purpose. Adam Colfax, Major Braithwaite, GregoryWilmot, Thrale, Lyon, Cole, Drouillard, and the other lieutenants wereat the head of the little army, and Boone, Kenton, the five, and atleast fifteen more were in advance or on the flanks as scouts andskirmishers. The five, as usual, were close together.
The army marched southward about a half mile, and then, turning, marchedparallel with the river about two miles, in order to hide theirmovements from lurking Indian scouts. The fleet, meanwhile, dropped downthe Ohio, clinging closely to the shadows of the western shore.
The five were rather grave as they walked ahead of the army, examiningevery tree and bush for sign of a foe. None knew better than they thedangers to which they were about to be exposed, and none knew betterthan they the wilderness greatness of Timmendiquas.
"A lazy man always hez the most trouble," said Shif'less Sol in awhisper to the others. "Mebbe ef he wuzn't so lazy he'd be lively 'noughto git out o' the way o' trouble. I'm always takin' good resolutions,resolvin' to mind my own business, which ain't large, an' which wouldn'ttake much time, an' never keepin' 'em. I might be five hundred milesfrom here, trappin' beaver an' peacefully takin' the lives of buffalo,without much risk to my own, but here I am, trampin' through the woodsin the night an' kinder doubtful whether I'll ever see the sun riseag'in."
"Sol," said Long Jim, "I sometimes think you're the biggest liar theworld hez ever produced, an' that's sayin' a heap, when you think uv allthem history tales Paul hez told. You know you don't want to be off fivehundred miles from here trappin' innocent beaver an' shootin' theunprincipled buffaler. You know you want to be right here with the restuv us, trappin' the Injuns, an' shootin' the renegades ef the chancecomes."
"Wa'al, I reckon you're right," said the shiftless one slowly, "but I dowish it would come easier. Ef I could rest comf'table on my bed an' hev'em driv up to me, I wouldn't mind it so much."
The march down the river was attended by little noise, considering thenumber of men who made it, and at the appointed place they found thefleet ready to take them on board. The scouts reported that the enemyhad not been seen, and they believed that the advance was still asecret. But the crossing of the river would be a critical venture, andall undertook it with anxious hearts.
They had come back to one of the narrowest parts of the pass that hadcost them so much, but no enemy was here now, and silently theyembarked. All the five, as usual, were in one boat. It had turnedsomewhat darker, and they could not distinctly see the farther shore.Their eyes were able to make out there only the black loom of the forestand the cliffs. Their boat had oars, at which Tom Ross and Jim Hart werepulling, while the others watched, and, being scouts, they were wellahead of the rest of the fleet.
"S'pose," said Shif'less Sol, "them woods should be full o' warriors,every one o' them waitin' to take a shot at us ez soon ez we came inrange? Wouldn't that be hurryin' to meet trouble a leetle too fast?"
"But I don't think the warriors are there," said Henry. "It was goodtactics to come down the river before crossing, and if Indian scoutswere out they must have been fooled."
"I'm hopin' with every breath I draw that what you say is true," saidShif'less Sol.
Henry, as he spoke, kept his eyes on the dark loom of forest and shore.He did not believe that an Indian band would be waiting for them there,but he could not know. At any time a sheet of rifle fire might burstfrom the woods, and the boat of the five would be the first to receiveit. But he would not show this feeling to his comrade. He sat rigidlyerect, his rifle across his knees, and nothing escaped his eyes, nowused to the darkness.
Henry looked back once and saw the great fleet following a littledistance behind and in ordered column, making no noise save for theplash of oar, sweep, and paddle, and the occasional rattle of arms.Talking had been forbidden, and no one attempted to break the rule.
They came closer and closer to the shore, and Henry searched the forestwith straining eyes. Nothing moved there. The night was windless, andthe branches did not stir. Nor did he hear any of the slight soundswhich a numerous party, despite its caution, must make.
"They ain't waitin' for us," said Shif'less Sol.
"We've give them the slip."
"You must be right, Sol," said Henry. "We're within range if they arethere, and they'd have fired before this time."
Ross and Jim sent the boat toward a little cove, and it struck upon thenarrow beach, with the woods still silent and no enemy appearing. Henryleaped ashore, and was quickly followed by the others. Then they slippedinto the woods, reconnoitered carefully for a little while, findingnothing hostile, and returned to the river.
The landing of the whole force destined for the attack was made rapidly,and with but little noise. The boats, all with skeleton crews, swungback into the stream, where they anchored, ready to receive the army ifit should be driven back.
Then the white force, led by Adam Colfax and Major Braithwaite, thescouts going on ahead, plunged with high courage and great hopes intothe woods.
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