Far Past the Frontier

by James A. Braden

  CHAPTER X.

  A Night With the Indians.

  To shut out from his thoughts the horrid memory of the bloody scalp atBig Buffalo's belt, Ree turned and busied himself with the fire, whichhad 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 hisface such as was seldom seen there. If John had noticed this he might nothave 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 anybodytell?" asked the boy.

  Tom made no reply, and Ree deftly changed the subject by saying that oneof them had better stand guard that night. He expected no trouble withthe Indians, but he was not willing to be caught napping by the unknownfoe whose work had now cost the life of their horse.

  Tom was gloomy all the evening as they sat before the fire, but he toldthe 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 forthe burning of Col. Crawford at the stake eight years earlier.

  That and other stories of this noted chief made the boys curious to seehim, and anxious to put themselves on friendly terms with him. It wasdecided that the next day they should visit the Delaware town and makearrangements for securing land. Without a horse they could move theirgoods only with great labor, and they were desirous of knowing just wherethey were taking their property, therefore, before they undertook to moveit 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 aspeaceful as a little lamb--plague take their greasy skins! Not if Iclapped my eyes on that Buffalo critter ag'in!"

  "Look a-here, Tom," Ree answered, earnestly. "We boys are on a peaceablemission and we don't want to get into trouble on your account. We knowthat the horrible sight of that scalp, and your belief that you know fromwhere it came, has made you want revenge, but John and I have had nospecial trouble with the Delawares and it would be very foolish, situatedas 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 thesentence. Instead he began talking of other things and advised the boysto take every precaution against being treacherously dealt with when theyshould find Big Buffalo at his own home--the Delaware town.

  It was a windy, cloudy morning that found Ree and John tramping throughthe valleys and over the hills of a fine, thickly wooded country towardthe Indian village. Early in the afternoon they came to a slopinghillside 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 smokewas rising from the town of the Delaware tribe of Indians.

  As the boys approached the water, planning to walk around the lake, theywere discovered by three Indians in a canoe, which seemed almost tospring out of the water, so quickly did it appear from around a bushypoint. The savages headed directly toward the boys, without a sound.

  The lads laid down their rifles as a sign of friendliness, and in anotherminute a swift stroke of a paddle grounded the Indians' craft upon thebeach. The Redskins bounded ashore and with some reluctance shook handswith the boys.

  Without loss of time Ree gave them to understand that he wished them toinform their chief, Hopocon, or Capt. Pipe, that two young Palefaces werewaiting to call on him, and tell of their friendly wish to buy some landof the Delawares, and that they would remain where they were while heshould send a canoe to carry them over.

  None of the three Indians had been in the party of the previous day, butthey seemed readily to comprehend what was desired of them and turned togo.

  One of the Redskins, quite a young fellow, lingered behind. After theother two had taken their places in the canoe he pushed it out into deepwater, then he made a running jump to leap, aboard. He might have done sovery nicely, had he not slipped just as he jumped. As it was, he wentsprawling in the water most ridiculously.

  The other Indians grunted derisively. John laughed heartily and Reesmiled, amused to see the proud young buck get just such a ducking as hedeserved for trying to "show off."

  However, the lithe young fellow seized the canoe and was safely in it ina very brief space of time. Soon it was far out on the lake, rocking anddancing lightly as a feather on the fierce little waves, which a strongwind was blowing up.

  Ree and John made themselves comfortable on the grassy bank beside thewater, and waited. It seemed a long time until they saw a canoe comingfor them. The fact was, and the boys shrewdly surmised it, that Capt.Pipe, or Hopocon, desirous of impressing the strangers with hisgreatness, purposely kept them waiting awhile.

  The canoe sent for the boys was manned by two of the Indians they firstmet, and the lads were taken aboard. Although frail in appearance, thelight little craft was capable of carrying seven or eight persons. It wasmade of the bark of a bitter-nut hickory, and was the first of the kindin which the Connecticut lads had ever ridden. They quickly found thatthey must aid in keeping the canoe balanced to prevent its upsetting, andtheir efforts to do this, before they caught the knack of it, ratheramused the Indians.

  In a short time, however, the canoe touched shore before the Indian townand 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 itssides and roof being of bark. It was open at one end, and at the otherend skins were hung up to shut out the wind. In the center of the rudestructure, whose floor was only the hard-trodden earth, was a fire, thesmoke escaping through a large hole in the roof.

  All these things were observed by the boys in time, but first to attracttheir notice as they entered, were the Indians, especially one of greatsize--elderly and very dignified, seated on a bear skin spread over a matof 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 hestammered: "How do you do, sir?" in a manner which bored him a greatdeal, as Ree jokingly recalled the circumstance long afterward.

  But Capt. Pipe knew from the lad's tone that he spoke respectfully and itpleased him. Other Indians seemed to feel the same, and the several minorchiefs and medicine men who were present, shook hands with the boys witha great show of dignity and formality. Then the young traders stated theobject of their visit and were shown to a seat opposite Capt Pipe andpipes were brought out. They all smoked, the boys soon discovering thatit was not tobacco but "kinnikinick"--the inner bark of young willowsprouts dried and pulverized--which was in the pipes.

  Presently the great chief laid aside his pipe, a long-stemmed affair witha curiously carved clay bowl, and all others immediately followed hisexample. In another minute the speech-making began.

  Capt. Pipe's was the first address, a brief preliminary statement. Hemade 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 ofwhat was said. As Big Buffalo arose, however, there was a scowl on hisface which was far from pleasant. His gestures indicated hostility andthe Paleface lads knew that at heart he hated them. They wished FishingBird were present to say a friendly word.

  Capt. Pipe, himself, spoke a second time a little later, however, andvery earnestly Ree and John studied his grave and stern, but not unkind,face, to learn how he felt toward them. They could scarcely believe thathe was the savage, who, only a few years before, had been a leadingspirit in the torture of Colonel Crawford.

  Occasionally the chief used a few English words and the boys gatheredfrom the general trend of his remarks that they would be welcome if theycame only as traders; but that settlers were not welcome, and the Indianswished no one to come among the
m who would clear land or do anythingwhich might lead to the establishing of a settlement of the whites intheir country. A reasonable number of hunters and traders might come andgo unmolested but there must be no building of permanent cabins; theremust be no different life than that led by the children of theforest--the Indians themselves.

  A long silence followed this address, and then Ree arose to speak. Hisheart beat fast, and John trembled inwardly as his friend began. Butnervous as he was, there was no weakness in Ree's tones. He spoke slowlyand distinctly, using every sign which could be expressed by look orgesture to make his meaning clear; and looking the Indians squarely inthe eyes they did not fail to understand as the boy thus told them in hisown way, that he and his friends hoped to live at peace with them; thatthere was but a very small party of them, himself and one other, besidesa woodsman who was temporarily with them, and that they had journeyed tothat beautiful country of the Delawares to hunt and trade and makethemselves a home.

  They had not been taught to live as the Indians lived, he said, and theycould not have a home without some cleared land about it for the cropswhich they would need. For this land, Ree went on, they were willing topay a fair price, and they were desirous of selecting a location thatthey might get their cabin built. The spot they had chosen was where thecourse of the river had changed at some time, years before, leaving alittle clearing.

  As Ree finished speaking he stepped up and laid his presents--two smallmirrors and a handsome hunting knife--before Capt. Pipe. John followedhis example in this, and there were grunts of approval from all theIndians except Big Buffalo, as the boys sat down.

  More speech-making followed, however, taking so much time that Johnwhispered: "If they don't stop soon, or ask us to stay all night, we willhave to climb a tree, somewhere."

  At last a decision was reached that the boys were to have a piece of landincluding the clearing to which Ree had referred, and as much of theriver valley and adjacent hillsides as they reasonably needed, inexchange for articles to be selected from their stock of goods.

  By close attention Ree had been able to understand the matter fairlywell, but as the talk of the Indians had seemed so monotonous, John hadlet his thoughts run to other subjects. He had been wondering what hadbecome 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; andif so, who that person might be. He did not know then, all that he cameto know afterward.

  With hand-shaking all around the council was concluded, and Capt. Pipeconducted the boys to the feast which the squaws had been preparing.There was broiled venison (without salt) and a sort of soup containingbroken corn and beans cooked together in a large kettle.

  Nearly all of the Indians who had been in the council partook of thesedainties and many others did likewise. Ree and John ate heartily thoughthey did not exactly relish the lack of cleanliness displayed by thesavages in their manner of cooking, and in their eating.

  The squaws and Indian boys and girls, and many a young brave for thatmatter, watched the young Palefaces curiously, and their eyes followedthe lads closely as Capt. Pipe led them away to his own bark cabin. Itwas then that John first saw Gentle Maiden, Capt. Pipe's daughter. Shewas truly handsome for one of her race, but she stepped behind a screenof 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 uponor lie upon, as they chose. Capt. Pipe then gave his guests to understandthat they might come and go as they chose and remain with him as long asthey wished. He then withdrew and presently the boys did go for a strollabout the queer town of the Indians. Fortunately they met Fishing Birdand he walked all about with them then, leading the way to a fire beforewhich a game like dice was being played.

  The seeds of wild plums, colored black on one side and scraped white onthe other, were shaken up in a box made of bark and thrown out upon asmooth spot on the ground. The Indians endeavored to throw as many aspossible of the seeds with the white sides up, and he who did the best atthis, won the game. It seemed very dull amusement to John, but Reewatched the game with much interest, until Fishing Bird beckoned himaway. And then something took place which made Ree quite certain thatthis was the Indian whom he might have killed as they struggled alone inthe forest solitude only the second night previous.

  It was a wrestling match which Fishing Bird proposed, and he called to astrapping young savage and challenged him to undertake to put Ree down.The brave smiled and stepped up willingly. Ree would have preferred thatsuch a contest had not been suggested, but as the young Indian looked athim in a way which seemed to say, "It will not take me long to put you onyour back," he decided to throw the proud young redskin if he could.

  With many manifestations of delight the Indians gathered around, as theyquickly learned what was taking place; for there was nothing in which theforest rovers had a greater delight than trials of strength andendurance.

  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 hishands as a signal for the contest to begin. Like a panther the youngbrave sprang toward his sturdy white opponent to catch him "Indian hold."But he reckoned without knowledge of his man. Ree had not forgotten theteachings of Peter Piper, and so cleverly did he dodge, and so quicklyseize the Indian about the legs, that in a twinkling the proud buck wasstretched upon the earth.

  There were expressions of wonderment from the Indians, but in a secondthe vanquished redskin was on his feet, anxious for another trial.

  John, with utter disregard of good manners, was laughing heartily overhis friend's success, and as Ree declined to wrestle any more, the Indianturned to him, and somewhat fiercely demanded that he should tryconclusions with him.

  John glanced at Ree and the latter nodded for him to go ahead. In anotherminute then, a match, the closeness and desperation of which delightedthe savages beyond measure, was in progress.

  Tightly clasping each other's arms, the contestants strained every muscleand struggled back and forth and round and round--now slowly, now withmovements most rapid, neither gaining an advantage. Longer and longer thecontest continued in this way, and Ree saw that John was becoming wornout. He must act quickly or succumb to the Indian's greater weight andpower of endurance.

  "You can throw him if you only say to yourself that you must and that youwill, and then do it," Ree whispered, as John was pushed near him, andhis advice was taken.

  With a show of strength which surprised them all, John forced hisopponent backward, and tried again to trip the fellow, but could not.Then he allowed the savage to try to trip him, and seizing theopportunity, gave the redskin so sudden and violent a pull that he wastaken off his feet and fell heavily, dragging John down with him. Boththe Indian's shoulders touched the ground, however, and with savage gleethe redskins acknowledged John to be the victor. To do them justice, theyseemed not at all put out that their man was defeated. Only one who waspresent scowled. He was Big Buffalo, and with an ugly look he strode awayfrom the campfire's light.

  Ree could not help but notice the savage fellow's hostile manner. "Webetter watch out for him," he said to John as they discussed the incidentsometime later, when they had sought rest for the night on the skins inCapt. 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 oneof the bloodiest Indians of the Northwest Territory; Indians all aroundus, 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 timesince we left Fort Pitt. Capt. Pipe may be a bad Indian, but he wouldfight for us, if need be, while we are his guests. He might scalp usto-morrow after we have said good-bye, but when we are in his house asfriends, we will be protected."