The Forest Runners: A Story of the Great War Trail in Early Kentucky

by Joseph A. Altsheler

  CHAPTER VI

  THE BATTLE ON THE HILL

  Six men were sitting around a camp fire, and they showed every sign ofcomfort and cheerfulness. It was a big fire, a glowing fire, a warm fire,and it took all trace of damp from the rain or cold of the autumn morning.They were just having breakfast, and their food was buffalo hump, verytender as it came from beneath a huge bed of red-hot embers.

  The men seemed to have no fear of an enemy, perhaps because their fire wasin an open space, too far from the forest for the rifle shot of anambushed foe to reach them. Perhaps, too, they felt security in theirnumbers and valor, because they were certainly a formidable-looking party.All were stalwart, dressed in wilderness fashion--that is, in tanneddeerskin--and every one carried the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifle,with knife and hatchet at his belt. There was Tom Ross, the guide, ofmiddle years, with a powerful figure and stern, quiet face, and near himlounged a younger man in an attitude of the most luxurious and indolentease, Shif'less Sol Hyde, who had attained a great reputation for lazinessby incessantly claiming it for himself, but who was nevertheless a hunterand scout of extraordinary skill. Jim Hart, a man of singular height andthinness, whom Sol disrespectfully called the "Saplin'"--that is, thesapling, a slim young tree--was doing the cooking. The others were typicalfrontiersmen--lean, big of build, and strong.

  The shiftless one curled himself into an easier position against a log,and regarded with interest a particularly juicy piece of the buffalo humpthat lay on the grass some distance from him.

  "Say, Saplin'," he drawled, "I wish you'd bring me that piece o' hump. Ithink it would just suit my teeth."

  "Git it yourself," replied Saplin' indignantly. "Do you think I'm goin' tocook for a lazy bag o' bones like you, an' then wait on you, too?"

  "Well, I think you might," said Shif'less Sol sorrowfully. "I'm pow'fultired."

  "If I wuz to wait on you when you wuz tired, I'd wait on you all my life."

  "Which 'ud he puttin' yourself to a mighty good use," said Sol tolerantly."But if you won't bring it to me, I reckon I'll have to go after it."

  He rose, with every appearance of reluctance, and secured the buffalomeat. But he stood with it in his hand and regarded the forest to theeast, from which two figures were coming. Ross had already seen them, buthe had said nothing. The keen eyes of the shiftless one were not at faultfor a moment.

  "Paul Cotter an' Henry Ware," he said.

  "Yes," said Tom Ross.

  "And Paul's just about done up."

  "Yes," said Tom Ross.

  "Looks like they've had a big fight or a big run, one or t'other or both."

  "Yes," said Tom Ross.

  Then all went forward to meet the two boys, so well known to them. Paulwas staggering a little, and there was a high color, as of fever, in hisface, but Henry showed signs of neither fatigue nor excitement.

  "We're glad to find you," said Henry briefly.

  "We're glad, awful glad!" began Paul, with more fervor; but he suddenlyreeled, and everything grew dim about him. Shif'less Sol caught him.

  "Here, Paul," he said, "stand up. You're a heavy weight for a tired man tohold."

  His words were rough, but his tone was kindly. Paul, all his pridearoused, made a great effort and stood straight again. Slowly the worldabout him swam back, into its proper position.

  "Who said I wasn't standing up?" he asked.

  "Nobody," replied Shif'less Sol; "but if I'd been through what I reckonyou've been through, I'd fall flop on the ground, an' Jim Hart would haveto come an' feed me or I'd starve to death right before his eyes."

  Paul laughed, and then he felt more like himself. Ross, too, had beenregarding him with sympathy, but he glanced inquiringly at Henry.

  "You've had it hot an' hard?" he said.

  "Yes," replied the boy laconically; "we've run against Shawnees, and abouteverything that could has happened to us."

  "Then it's fire, warmth, meat, rest, an' sleep for Paul right away," saidRoss.

  Henry nodded.

  Paul was looking at the fire, which seemed to him the most glorious oneever built, and he did not notice anything more until he was lying besideit, stretched on a blanket, and eating the very piece of tender buffalomeat that Shif'less Sol had coveted for himself. Despite his relaxed andhalf-dreamy condition, his imagination leaped up at once to magnificentheights. All danger and hardship were gone. He was surrounded by a ringof dauntless friends, and the fire glowed splendidly.

  Shif'less Sol sat down near him, and regarded him with the deepestsympathy, mingled with a certain amount of envy.

  "Paul," he said, "I wish I wuz in your place for an hour or two. They'vejest got to wait on you. Nobody ever believes me when I say I'm sick,though I'm took pow'ful bad sometimes, an' they don't care whether I'mtired or not. Now, Paul, take all the advantages o' your position. Don'tyou reach your hand for a thing. Make 'em bring it to you. Ef I can't getwaited on myself, I like to see another fellow waited on. Here, Saplin',some more o' that buffalo steak for Paul, who is mighty hungry."

  Saplin' cast a look of scorn upon Shif'less Sol, but he brought the steak,and Paul ate again, for he was voraciously hungry. But one cannot eatalways, and by and by he had enough. Then his restful, dreamy feelinggrew. He saw Henry and the men talking, but he either did not hear whatthey said or he was not interested. Soon the whole world faded out, and heslept soundly. And as he slept the touch of fever left him. Shif'less Sollooked down at him kindly.

  "I'm tired, too," he said, "but I suppose if I wuz to go to sleep some o'you 'ud be mean enough to shove me in the side with his foot."

  "I'd try to be the first," said Jim Hart, "an' I'd shove pow'ful hard."

  "It 'ud be jest like you," said Shif'less Sol, "but I suppose you can'tany more help bein' mean, Jim, than I can help bein' tired."

  Jim shrugged his shoulders and returned to his cooking, his tall, leanform bent over like a hoop. Paul slept peacefully on the blanket, but theothers talked much and earnestly. Henry, as he ate of the buffalo meat,told them all that had happened to him and Paul in that brief period whichyet looked so long. That the band would pick up the trail, daylight nowcome, and follow on, he did not doubt. There he stopped, and left theconclusion to the others. Shif'less Sol was the first to speak.

  "This gang," he said, "come out to hunt buffalo, an', accordin' to whatHenry says, a war party--he don't know how big--is comin' this way huntin'him an' Paul. Well, ef it keeps on huntin' him an' Paul, it's bound to runup agin us, because Paul an' Henry are now a part o' our gang. Ez fur me,I've done a lot o' trampin' after buffalo, an' I feel too tired to run, Ijest do."

  "I ain't seen no better place for cookin' than this," said Jim Hart,undoubling himself, "an' I like the looks o' the country round herepow'ful well. I'd hate to leave it before I got ready,"

  "'Tain't healthy to run afore you're ready," said Ike Stebbins, a short,extremely thick man. "It ain't good for the stomach. Pumps the blood rightup to the heart, an' I ain't feelin' very good just now, noway. Can'tafford to take no more risks to my health."

  A slight smile passed over the stern, bronzed face of Tom Ross.

  "I expected to hear you talk that way, boys," he said, "it's in yourblood; but thar's a better reason still for our not goin'. If this warband stays around here, it'll be pickin' off settlers, an' it's fur us tostop it. Now, them Shawnees are comin' a-huntin' us. I jest wish to saythat we don't mean to be the hunted; we're to be the hunters ourselves."

  Sharp exclamations of approval broke from all these fierce spirits of theborder. But the deepest and most dangerous gleam of all was in the eyes ofHenry Ware. All his primeval instincts were alive, and foremost among themwas the desire to fight. He was tired of running, of seeking to escape,and his warlike blood was up and leaping. Two more men who had been outranging the woods for buffalo, or any other worthy game that might happenin their way, came in presently, and the little army, with the additionof the two boys, was now raised to the number of ten. And a real littlearmy it w
as, fortified with indomitable hearts and all the skill andknowledge of the wilderness.

  When Paul awoke beneath the pressure of Henry's hand on his shoulder, thesun was much higher, and the forest swam in limpid light. He noticed atonce that the fire was out, trampled under strong heels, and that all themen looked as if ready for instant conflict. He rubbed his eyes and sprangto his feet, half in shame that he should have slept while others watched.It was Shif'less Sol who came to his rescue.

  "It's all right, Paul," he drawled. "We all know you were pow'ful tired,an' I'd have slept, too, ef them fellows hadn't been mean enough to keepme from it. You wuz just nacherally overpowered, an' you had to do it."

  Paul looked around at the little group, and he read the meaning in the eyeof every man.

  "You are going to fight that war band?" he said.

  "It 'pears to me that it's a sight less tirin' than runnin' away," repliedShif'less Sol, "though we hate to drag you, Paul, into such a fracas."

  The blood flushed into Paul's face.

  "I'm ready for it!" he exclaimed. "I'm as ready as any of you! Do youthink I want to run away?"

  "We know, Paul, that you've got ez much grit ez anybody in the world,"said Tom Ross kindly; "but Sol maybe didn't think a boy that's a bigscholar, an' that kin read an' understand anything, would he as muchinterested in a real hair-raisin' fight as the rest o' us."

  Paul was mollified. He knew their minds now, and in a way it was anunconscious tribute that these wild borderers paid to him.

  "I'm with you to the end of it," he said. And they, too, were satisfied.Then the entire party moved forward into the deep woods, watching andlistening for the slightest sign of the Shawnee advance. Tom Rossnaturally took command, but Henry Ware, as always, was first scout. Noother eye was so keen as his, nor any other ear. All knew it, and alladmitted it willingly. His form expanded again, and fierce joy surged upin his heart. As Ross truly said, the hunted had turned into the hunter.

  It was the purpose of the men to circle to the east, and to strike the warparty on the Hank. They knew that the Shawnees had already discovered thejunction of the fugitives with a larger force, but the warriors could notyet know that the new party intended to stand and fight. Ross, therefore,like the general of a great army going into battle, intended to seek thebest possible position for his force.

  They traveled in a half circle for perhaps two hours, and then Henrystruck a trail, calling at once to Ross. They examined it carefully, andjudged that it had been made by a force of about twenty warriors,undoubtedly the band that was following Henry and Paul.

  "We're behind 'em now," said Henry.

  "But they'll soon be coming back on our trail," said Ross. "They know thatthey are more than two to one, and they will follow hard."

  "I'm gittin' mighty tired ag'in," said Shif'less Sol. "It 'pears to methar's a pow'ful good place fur us to rest over thar among all them bigtrees on that little hill."

  Ross and Henry examined the hill, which was not very high, but small, andcrowned with mighty beeches. The great tree-trunks would offer admirablecover for the wilderness fighter.

  "It does kinder invite us," said Ross meaningly, "so we'll jest go overthar, Sol, an' set a while longer."

  A few minutes later they were on the hill, each man lying behind a tree ofhis own selection. Shif'less Sol had chosen a particularly large one, andluckily there was some soft turf growing over its roots. He stretchedhimself out luxuriously.

  "Now, this jest suits an easy-goin' man like me," he said. "I could layhere all day jest a-dreamin', never disturbin' nobody, an' nobodydisturbin' me. Paul, you and me ain't got no business here. We wuz cut outfur scholars, we wuz."

  Nevertheless, lazy and luxurious as he looked, Shif'less Sol watched theforest with eyes that missed nothing. His rifle lay in such a positionthat he could take aim almost instantly.

  There was a long and tense silence, full of strangeness to Paul. He couldnever get used to these extraordinary situations. When preparing forcombat, as well as in it, the world seemed unreal to him. He did not seewhy men should fly at each other's throats; but the fact was before him,and he could not escape it.

  The little hill was so situated that they could see to a considerabledistance at all points of the compass, but they yet saw nothing. Shif'lessSol stretched himself in a new position and grumbled.

  "The wust thing about this bed o' mine here," he said to Paul, "is thatsooner or later I'll be disturbed in it. A fellow never kin make peoplelet him alone. It's the way here, an' it's the way back in the East, too,I reckon. Now, I'm only occupyin' a place six feet by two, with the landrollin' away thousands o' miles on every side; but it's this very spot,six feet by two, that the Shawnees are a-lookin' fur."

  Paul laughed at the shiftless one's complaint, and the laugh greatlyrelieved his tension. Fortunately his tree was very close to Sol's, andthey could carry on a whispered conversation.

  "Do you think the Shawnees will really come?" asked Paul, who was alwaysincredulous when the forest was so silent.

  "Come! Of course they will!" replied Shif'less Sol. "If for no otherreason, they'll do it jest to make me trouble. I ought to be back thar inthe East, teachin' school or makin' laws fur somebody."

  Paul's eyes wandered from Sol to his comrade, and he saw Henry suddenlymove, ever so little, then fix his gaze on a point in the forest, three orfour hundred yards away. Paul looked, too, and saw nothing, but he knewwell enough that Henry's keener gaze had detected an alien presence in thebushes.

  Henry whispered something to Ross, who followed his glance and then noddedin assent. The others, too, soon looked at the same point, Jim Hartcraning his long neck until it arched like a bow. Presently from a denseclump of bushes came a little puff of white smoke, and then the stillnesswas broken by the report of a rifle. A bullet buried itself in one of thetrees on the hill, and Shif'less Sol turned over with a sniff of contempt.

  "If they don't shoot better'n that," he said, "I might ez well go tosleep."

  But the forest duel had begun, and it was a contest of skill againstskill, of craft against craft. Every device of wilderness warfare known tothe red men was practiced, too, by the white men who confronted them.

  Paul at first felt an intense excitement, but it was soothed by the calmwords of Shif'less Sol.

  "I'd be easy about it, Paul," said the shiftless one. "That wuz jest afeeler. They've found out that we're ready for 'em. There ain't no chanceof a surprise, an' they shot that bullet merely as a sort o' way o'tellin' us that they had come. Things won't be movin' fur some time yet."

  Paul found that Shif'less Sol was right. The long waiting customary insuch forest combats endured, but he was now becoming more of a stoic, andhe used the time, at least in part, for rest, although every nerve andmuscle was keyed to attention. It was fully an hour later when a shot camefrom behind a tree much nearer to them, and a bullet cut a fragment ofbark from the gigantic beech that sheltered Shif'less Sol. There was asecond report before the sound of the first had died away, and a Shawnee,uttering a smothered cry, fell forward from his shelter, and lay upon theground, quite still. Paul could see the brown figure, and he knew that theman was dead.

  "It was Tom Ross who did that," said Shif'less Sol. "The savage leaned toofur forward when he fired at me, an' exposed hisself. Served him right furtryin' to hurt me."

  Then Sol, who had raised himself up a little, lay down again in hiscomfortable position. He did not seem disturbed at all, but Paul keptgazing at the figure of the dead warrior. Once more his spirit recoiled atthe need of taking life. Presently came a spatter of rifle fire--a dozenshots, perhaps--and bullets clipped turf and trees. The Shawnees had creptmuch nearer, and were in a wide semicircle, hoping thus to uncover theirfoes, at least in part, and they had a little success, as one man, namedBrewer, was hit in the fleshy part of the arm.

  Paul saw nothing but the smoke and the flashes of fire, and he was wiseenough to save his own ammunition--he had long since learned the bordermaxim, never to shoot u
ntil you saw something to shoot at.

  But the enemy was creeping closer, hiding among rocks and bushes, and asecond and longer spatter of rifle fire began. One man was hit badly, andthen the borderers began to seek targets of their own. Their long,slender-barreled rifles flashed again and again, and more than one bulletwent straight to the mark. The plumes of white smoke grew more numerous,united sometimes, and floated away in little clouds among the trees.

  Paul saw that his comrades were firing slowly, but with terrible effect,as five or six still, brown figures now lay in the open. Shif'less Sol, atthe next tree, only four feet away, was stretched almost perfectly flat onhis face on the ground, and every movement he made seemed to be slow anddeliberate. Yet no one was firing faster or with surer aim than he, andfaint gleams of satisfaction showed now and then in his eyes. Paul couldnot restrain speech.

  "It seems to me, Sol, that you are not tired as you said you were," hesaid.

  "Perhaps not," replied Sol slowly, "but I will be."

  The savages suddenly began to shout, and kept up a ferocious yelling, asif they would confuse and terrify their opponents. The woods echoed withthe din, the long-drawn, whining cry, like that of a wolf, and despiteall the efforts of a strong will, Paul shuddered as he had not shudderedat the sound of the rifle fire.

  "'Tain't no singin' school," said Shif'less Sol, in a clear voice thatPaul could hear above the uproar, "but, then, yellin' don't hurt nobody,either. I'd be pow'ful tired ef I used my mouth that way. But jest youremember, Paul, that noise ain't bullets."

  It seemed to Paul that the Shawnees had come to the same conclusion,because all the yelling suddenly ceased, and with it the firing. Brownforms that had been flitting about disappeared, too, and all at once therewas silence in the wilderness, and nothing to be seen save the hunters andthe still, brown figures among the rocks and bushes. To Paul it waswonderful, this melting away of the battle, and this disappearance of thefoe, all in a flash. He rubbed his eyes, and could scarcely believe thatit was real. But there were the still, brown figures, and by a tree nearhim lay another still figure, in hunting shirt and leggings, with his faceupturned to the sky. One of the hunters had been shot through the heart,and had died instantly and without noise. Three others had been wounded,but they were not complaining.

  Presently a little hum of talk arose, and Shif'less Sol once more movedcomfortably.

  "Bit off more'n they could chaw," he said reflectively. "Will wait awhile before takin' another bite. Guess I'll rest now."

  He stretched himself luxuriously, took out a piece of venison and began toeat it, at the same time handing a piece to Paul.

  "Atween fights I allus eat," he said. "Better do the same, Paul."

  But Paul had no appetite. He crawled over to Henry, and asked him what heexpected to happen next.

  "They won't give up," replied Henry, "that is sure. They know that theyoutnumber us two or three to one, and I've an idea that this is a band ofpicked warriors."

  "You think, too, they'll want to revenge their losses?"

  "Of course. And they're likely to attack again before night. It's not noonyet, and they have lots of time."

  Paul crawled back to his tree, and, knowing that he would have to waitagain, forced himself to eat the venison that Shif'less Sol had given tohim.

  The Shawnees remained silent and hidden in the forest, and the white men,voiceless, too, lay waiting behind the trees. Between them stretched thefallen, their brown faces upturned to the red sun, which sailed peacefullyon in a sky of cloudless blue.