True to the Old Flag: A Tale of the American War of Independence

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XVI.

  THE GREAT STORM.

  "Let us overhaul our packages," Harold said, "and see what provisionswe have left. It would be as well to know how we stand."

  It was found that they had a sufficient supply of flour to last, withcare, for a fortnight. The meal was nearly exhausted; of tea they hadan abundance; the sugar was nearly out, and they had three bottles ofspirits.

  "Could we not make the flour last more than the fourteen days byputting ourselves on half rations?" Harold asked.

  "We might do that," Peter said, "but I tell you the rations would besmall even for fourteen days. We've calkilated according to how muchwe eat when we've plenty of meat, but without meat it'd be only astarvation ration to each. Fortunately we've fish-hooks and lines,and by making holes in the ice we can get as many fish as we like.Waal, we can live on them alone, if need be, and an ounce or two offlour, made into cakes, will be enough to go with 'em. That way theflour would last us pretty nigh two months. I don't say that, if thewust comes to the wust, we might not hold on right to the spring onfish. The lake's full of 'em, and some of 'em have so much oil in 'emthat they're nigh as good as meat."

  "Do you think, Peter, that if the Indians make one great attack andare beaten off they will try again?"

  "No one can say," Peter answered. "Injun natur' can't never becalkilated on. I should say if they got a thundering beating theyaint likely to try again; but there's never no saying."

  "The sooner they attack and get it o'er the better," Cameron said. "Ihae na slept a wink the last twa nights. If I doze off for a moment Iwake up, thinking I hear their yells. I am as ready to fight as onyo' you when the time comes, but the thought o' my daughter, here,makes me nervous and anxious. What do you say, Jake?"

  "It all de same to Jake, Massa Cameron. Jake sleeps bery sound, buthe no like de tought ob eating nothing but fish for five or sixmonths. Jake neber bery fond ob fish."

  "You'll like it well enough when you get used to it, Jake," Pearsonsaid. "It's not bad eating on a pinch, only you want to eat a sightof it to satisfy you. Well, let's see how the fish'll bite."

  Four holes were cut in the ice at a short distance apart. The hookswere attached to strong lines and baited with deer's flesh, and soonthe fishing began. The girls took great interest in the proceeding.Nelly was an adept at the sport, having generally caught the fish forthe consumption of the household at home. She took charge of one ofthe lines, Harold of another, while Jake and one of the Senecassquatted themselves by the other holes. There had been somediscussion as to whether the fishing should take place on the side ofthe island facing the shore or behind the rocks, but the former wasdecided upon. This was done because all were anxious that theexpected attack should take place as soon as possible, and the eventwas likely to be hastened when the Indians saw that they wereprovided with lines and were thus able to procure food for aconsiderable time.

  It was soon manifest that, if they could live upon fish, they needfeel no uneasiness as to its supply. Scarcely had the lines been letdown than fish were fast to them. Harold and the other men soon hadtrout, from three to six pounds, lying on the ice beside them, butNelly was obliged to call Pearson to her assistance, and the fish,when brought to the surface, was found to be over twenty pounds inweight. An hour's fishing procured them a sufficient supply for aweek's consumption. There was no fear as to the fish keeping, for ina very short time after being drawn from the water they were frozenstiff and hard. They were hung up to some boughs near the huts, andthe party were glad enough to get into shelter again, for the coldwas intense.

  As before, the early part of the night passed quietly; but towardmorning Peter, who was on watch, ran down and awakened the others.

  "Get your shooting-irons and hurry up," he said. "The varmints arecoming this time in arnest."

  In a minute everyone was at the post assigned to him. A number ofdark figures could be seen coming over the ice.

  "There's nigh two hundred of 'em," Peter said. "War Eagle has broughtthe whole strength of his tribe."

  Contrary to their usual practice the Indians did not attempt to crawlup to the place they were about to attack, but advanced at a runacross the ice. The defenders lost not a moment in opening fire, forsome of their rifles would carry as far as the shore.

  "Shoot steady," Peter said. "Don't throw away a shot."

  Each man loaded and fired as quickly as he could, taking a steadyaim, and the dark figures which dotted the ice behind the advancingIndians showed that the fire was an effectual one. The Indians didnot return a shot. Their chief had, no doubt, impressed upon them theuselessness of firing against men lying in shelter, and had urgedthem to hurry at the top of their speed to the island and crush thewhites in a hand-to-hand fight.

  It was but three or four minutes from the time the first shot wasfired before they were close to the island. They made, as Peter hadexpected, toward the little cove, which was indeed the only place atwhich a landing could well be effected. Harold ran down and hidhimself in a bush at the spot where the train terminated, carryingwith him a glowing brand from the fire.

  "War Eagle means to have our sculps this time," Peter said toPearson. "I never seed an uglier rush. White men couldn't have donebetter."

  The Indians had run in scattered order across the ice, but theyclosed up as they neared the cove. As they rushed toward it four fellbeneath the shots of half the defenders, and another four a fewseconds later from a volley by the other section.

  In a wonderfully short time the first were ready again, and theIndians wavered at the slaughter and opened fire upon the breastwork,behind which the defenders were crouching. Those behind pressed on,and, with terrific yells, the mass of Indians bounded forward.

  Harold had remained inactive, crouching behind the bush. He saw thehead of the dark mass rush past him and then applied the brand to thetrain.

  There was a tremendous explosion. Yells and screams rent the air, andin an instant a dark line of water, twenty feet wide, stretchedacross the mouth of the cove.

  In this were pieces of floating ice and numbers of Indians strugglingand yelling. Some made only a faint struggle before they sank, whileothers struck out for the side furthest from the island.

  The main body of the Indians, appalled by the explosion, checkedthemselves in their course and at once took to flight; some, unableto check their impetus, fell into the water upon the wounded wretcheswho were struggling there. Those who had crossed stood irresolute,and then, turning, leaped into the water. As they struggled to getout on the opposite side the defenders maintained a deadly fire uponthem, but, in two or three minutes, the last survivor had scrambledout, and all were in full flight toward the shore.

  "I think we've seen the last of the attacks," Peter said, as theycame down from their breastwork and joined Harold in the cove. "Thatwas a first-rate notion of yours, lad. Ef it hadn't been for that weshould have been rubbed out, sure enough; another minute and we'dhave gone down. They were in arnest and no mistake; they'd got steamup and was determined to finish with us at once, whatever it cost'em."

  The instant the attack had ceased Cameron had hastened to the hutwhere the girls were lying, to assure them that all danger was overand that the Indians were entirely defeated. In an hour a fresh skimof ice had formed across the streak of water, but, as through itsclear surface many of the bodies of the Indians could be seen, themen threw snow over it, to spare the girls the unpleasantness of sucha sight every time they went out from the cove. The bodies of all theIndians who had fallen near the island were also covered with snow.Those nearer the shore were carried off by the Iroquois in theirretreat.

  "I suppose, Peter," Harold said as they sat round the fire thatevening, "you have been in quite as awkward scrapes as this beforeand have got out all right?"

  "Why, this business aint nothing to that affair we had by LakeChamplain. That were as bad a business, when we was surrounded inthat log hut, as ever I went through--and I've been through a goodmany. Pearson and me nigh got our
har raised more nor once in thatbusiness of Pontiac's. He were a great chief and managed to get upthe biggest confederation agin us that's ever been known. It werewell for us that that business didn't begin a few years earlier whenwe was fighting the French; but you see, so long as we and they wasat war the Indians hoped as we might pretty well exterminate eachother, and then they intended to come in and finish off whoever gotthe best of it. Waal, the English they drove the French back andfinally a treaty was made in Europe by which the French agreed toclear out.

  "It was jest about this time as Pontiac worked upon the tribes to layaside their own quarrels and jine the French in fighting agin us. Hegot the Senecas, and the Delawares, and the Shawnees, the Wyandots,and a lot of other tribes from the lakes and the hull country betweenthe Niagara River and the Mississippi.

  "Jack Pearson and me, we happened to be with the Miamis when thebloody belt which Pontiac were sending round as a signal for wararrived at the fort there. Jack and me knew the redskins pretty well,and saw by their manner as something unusual had happened. I went tothe commandant of the fort and told him as much. He didn't think muchof my news. The soldier chaps always despises the redskins till theysee 'em come yelling along with their tomahawks, and then as often asnot it's jest the other way. Howsumdever, he agreed at last to payany amount of trade goods I might promise to the Miamis if the newsturned out worth finding out. I discovered that a great palaver wasto be held that evening at the chief's village, which was a mile awayfrom the fort.

  "I'd seen a good deal of the Miamis and had fought with 'em againstthe Shawnees, so I could do as much with 'em as most. Off Pearson andI goes to the chief; and I says to him, 'Look ye here, chief, I'vegood reasons to believe you've got a message from Pontiac and that itmeans trouble. Now don't you go and let yourself be led away by him.I've heard rumors that he's getting up a great confederation agin theEnglish. But I tell you, chief, if all the redskins on this continentwas to jine together, they couldn't do nothing agin the English. Idon't say as you mightn't wipe out a number of little border forts,for no doubt you might; but what would come of it? England would sendout as many men as there are leaves in the forest, who would scorchup the redskin nations as a fire on the prairie scorches up thegrass. I tell yer, chief, no good can come on it. Don't build yerhopes on the French; they've acknowledged that they're beaten and areall going out of the country. It'd be best for you and your people tostick to the English. They can reward their friends handsomely, andef you jine with Pontiac, sooner or later trouble and ruin will comeupon you. Now I can promise you, in the name of the officer of thefort, a good English rifle for yerself and fifty guns for your bravesand ten bales of blankets ef yer'll make a clean breast of it, andfirst tell us what deviltry Pontiac is up to and next jine usfreely--or anyway hold aloof altogether from this conspiracy till yersee how things is going.'

  "Waal, the chief he thought the matter over and said he'd do his bestat the palaver that night, but till that was over, and he knew whatthe council decided on, he couldn't tell me what the message was. Iwas pretty well satisfied, for Prairie Dog were a great chief in histribe, and I felt pretty sartin he'd git the council to go the way hewanted. I told him I'd be at the fort and that the governor wouldexpect a message after the council was over.

  "It was past midnight when the chief came with four of his braves. Hetold us that the tribe had received a bloody belt from Pontiac and amessage that the Mingoes and Delawares, the Wyandots and Shawneeswere going to dig up the hatchet against the whites, and calling uponhim and his people to massacre the garrison of the fort and thenmarch to jine Pontiac, who was about to fall upon Detroit and FortPitt. They were directed to send the belt on to the tribes on theWabash, but they loved the English and were determined to take nopart against them; so they delivered the belt to their friend thewhite commander, and hoped that he'd tell the great king in Englandthat the Miamis were faithful to him. The governor highly applaudedtheir conduct and said he'd send the news to the English governor atNew York, and at once ordered the presents which I promised to bedelivered to the chief for himself and his braves. When they'd gonehe said:

  "'You were right, Peter. This news is important indeed, and it'sclear that a terrible storm's about to bust upon the frontier.Whether the Miamis will keep true is doubtful; but now I'm on myguard they'll find it difficult to take the fort. But the great thingis to carry the news of what's happened to Detroit, to put them ontheir guard. Will you and Pearson start at once?'

  "In course we agreed, though it was clear that the job was a risksomeone, for it wouldn't be no easy matter to journey through the woodswith the hull redskin tribes on the war-path.

  "The commander wanted me to carry the belt with me, but I said, 'Imight jest as well carry my death warrant to the first redskins as Icome across.' Major Gladwin, who commanded at Detroit, knew me, and Ididn't need to carry any proof of my story. So, afore the Miamis hadbeen gone half an hour, Jack and me took the trail for Detroit. Wehad got a canoe hid on the lake a few miles away, and we was soon onboard. The next morning we seed a hull fleet of canoes coming downthe lake. We might have made a race with 'em, but being fully mannedthe chances was as they'd have cut us off, and seeing that at presentwar had not been declared, we judged it best to seem as if we weren'tafeared. So we paddles up to 'em and found as they were a lot ofWyandots whose hunting-grounds lay up by Lake Superior. In course Ididn't ask no questions as to whar they was going, but jest mentionedas we was on our way down to Detroit. 'We're going that way, too,'the chief said, 'and 'll be glad to have our white brothers with us.'So we paddled along together until, about noon, they landed. Nothingwas said to us as how we were prisoners, but we could see as how wewas jest as much captives as ef we'd been tied with buckskin ropes.

  "Jack and me talked it over and agreed as it was no manner o' usetrying to make our escape, but that as long as they chose to treat usas guests we'd best seem perfectly contented and make no show ofconsidering as they was on the war-path; although, seeing as they hadno women or children with 'em, a baby could have known as they wereup to no good.

  "The next morning they started again at daybreak, and after paddlingsome hours landed and hid away their canoes and started on foot.Nothing was said to us, but we saw as we was expected to do as theydid. We went on till we was within ten mile of Detroit and then wehalted. I thought it were best to find out exactly how we stood, soJack and I goes up to the chief and says that as we was near Detroitwe would jest say good-by to him and tramp in.

  "'Why should my white brothers hurry?' he said. 'It is not good forthem to go on alone, for the woods are very full of Indians.' 'But,'I said, 'the hatchet's buried between the whites and the redskins, sothere's no danger in the woods.' The chief waved his hand. 'My whitebrothers have joined the Wyandots, and they will tarry with themuntil they go into Detroit. There are many redskins there, and therewill be a grand palaver. The Wyandots will be present.'

  "Jack and me made no signs of being dissatisfied, but the positionweren't a pleasant one, I can tell you. Here was the redskinsa-clustering like bees around Detroit, ready to fall upon thegarrison and massacre 'em, and we, who was the only men as knew ofthe danger, was prisoners among the redskins. It was sartin, too,that though they mightn't take our lives till they had attacked thegarrison, they was only keeping us for the pleasure of torturing usquietly arterward. The situation was plain enough; the question was,what were to be done? There was about sixty of the varmints around ussitting by their fires and looking as ef they didn't even know as wewas there, but we knew as sharp eyes was watching us and that, aforewe'd gone five yards, the hull lot would be on our track.

  "Jack and me didn't say much to each other, for we knew how closelywe was watched and didn't want 'em to think as we was planning ourescape, so after a few words we sat down by one of the fires till itgot time to lie down for the night; but we had both been a-thinking.We saw, when we lay down, that the Injuns lay pretty well around us,while two on 'em, with their rifles ready to hand, sat down by a fireclose
by and threw on some logs, as if they intended to watch allnight.

  "It was a goodish-size clearing as they'd chose for a camping-ground,and we should have had to run some distance afore we got to theshelter of the trees. The moon too was up, and it were well-nigh aslight as day, and anxious as we was to git away, we agreed that therewere no chance of sliding off, but that it'd be better to wait tillnext day.

  "When we woke our guns was gone. We complained to the chief, who saidcoldly that his young men would carry the guns and give 'em back tous when we got to Detroit. It were no use saying more, for he mightat any moment have ordered us to be bound, and it were better to keepthe use of our legs as long as we could.

  "For two days we stayed there, not seeing the shadow of a chance ofgitting away. Several redskin runners come in and spoke to the chief,and we got more and more anxious to be off. We was still allowed towalk about, provided we didn't go near the edge of the clearing;whenever we went that way two Injuns, who kept guard by turns overus, shouted to us to go no furder.

  "The third morning, after a runner had come in, the chief gave theword for a move and we set out. We saw they wasn't taking the directline to Detroit, although still going in that direction, and aftertwo hours' marching through the woods we got down on to the DetroitRiver. Here was a big encampment, and some three or four hundredShawnees and Delawares was gathered here. A chief come up to us as weentered the open. He gave an order to the Wyandots, and in a minutewe was bound hand and foot, carried to a small wigwam, and chuckeddown inside like two logs of wood.

  "After a little talk Jack and I agreed as after all we had a betterchance of escaping now than when we was watched by a hull tribe, andwe concluded that there weren't no time to be lost. The Wyandots hadno doubt been brought up in readiness to strike the blow, and even ifwe'd known nothing about the belt we'd have been, sure that mischiefwas intended when these three bands of red varmints had gathered soclose to the fort. It was sartin we couldn't do nothing till night,but we both strained our cords as much as possible to get 'em tostretch a bit and give us a better chance of slipping out of 'em. Noone come near us for some time, and as we could hear the sound ofvoices we guessed that a great council was taking place, and weagreed at once to loosen the knots, so as to be in readiness forwork, as like enough they'd put a sentry over us at night.

  "It was a risky thing to try, for we might be disturbed at anyminute. Still we thought it were our only chance, so Jack set to workwith his teeth at my knots and in a quarter of an hour had loosenedthem; then I undone his. We unbound our thongs and then fastened 'emup again so that to the eye they looked jest the same as before butreally with a jerk they'd fall off.

  "I must teach you how to do that, Harold, some time; ye may find itof use. The knots was tied up as tightly as before, and it would haveneeded a close examination to see that we was not tied as tight asever. Not a word was spoken and, we was as quiet as mice, for wecould hear two redskins talking outside. You may guess we was prettyslick about it; and I don't know as ever I felt so thankful as whenwe laid ourselves down again, jest as we had been throwed, withoutthe slit in the tent having opened and a red face peered in.

  "A quarter of an hour later a redskin come in and looked at us.Seeing, as it seemed to him, as we hadn't moved, he went out again.Jest before nightfall two on 'em came in together, rolled us over,and looked at the knots; they found as these was all right; then onesat down jest in the door of the tent and the other took his placeoutside. We waited some hours.

  "At last the fires burned low and the camp got quiet. We knew it waswell-nigh hopeless to wait for 'em all to be asleep, for redskinnatur' is a restless one, and especially when there's anything onhand they'll turn out two or three times in the night to smoke theirpipes by the fires, and they'd be the more restless since, as we'dseen, there was only four or five wigwams and all would be sleepingon the ground. At last I thought the time were come and gave Jack anudge, and we both sat up.

  "It were a ticklish moment, young un, I can tell ye, for we knew thatit were scarce possible to get off without the alarm being raised. Efthe wigwam had stood close to the edge of the forest it would havebeen compar'tively easy, for once among the trees we might have hopedto have outrun 'em, though the moon was so pesky bright; butunfortunately it was built not far from the river, and we should haveto cross the hull clearing to gain the woods. The chances weren'tgood, I can tell you, but it was clear as we had to try 'em. We hadpurposely moved about pretty often, so that our movements would notattract the attention of the Injun now. It didn't take a minute toslip out of the cords, which, tight as they looked, really were notfastened at all, there being two loose double ends between our armsand our bodies. We could see the outside sentry through the opendoor, and we waited till he turned his back and looked out on theriver. Then suddenly I gripped the redskin sitting at the entrance bythe neck with both my hands, pretty tight, as you may reckon, andJack ketched his knife from his belt and buried it in his body.

  "That was soon over, and not a sound made as would have startled amouse. Then, standing up, I made a spring on to the sentry, whileJack used his knife as before. We let him drop softly down andprepared to bolt, when of a sudden the war-whoop sounded not twentyfeet away. One of the redskins, finding the ground hard, I suppose,was strolling up to speak to the sentry when he saw us tackle him.For a moment he were too much surprised to holler, but when he did hegave a yell as brought the hull tribe to their feet. Jack had takenup the sentry's rifle.

  "'Ye'd better have held yer tongue,' he said as he leveled on theredskin, and before the whoop was out of his lips the bullet hit himand he went down like a log. It didn't need to look round to see asthere was no chance of getting to the trees, for two hundred redskinswas between us and them. 'We must take to the river, Jack,' I said.It were but thirty yards away. I expected every moment, as we run, tohear the rifle bullets whistle round us, but I guess Pontiac hadgiven orders that no gun was to be fired lest it might be heard atthe fort. Anyhow, not a shot was fired and we got down safe to thebank."