CHAPTER XV
THE PAGES OF A BOOK
None of the five knew how far they were down the lake, but they wereable to guide their course by the sun, and, keeping the low bank offorest far beyond gunshot on their right, they moved before a favoringwind. The schoolmaster regained his strength fast. He was old, but atemperate life in the open air reenforced by plenty of exercise, hadkept him wiry and strong. Now he sat up and listened to the long tale ofthe adventures of the five, whom he had not seen for many monthsprevious to their great journey to New Orleans.
"You have done well--you have done more than well," he said. "You haveperformed magnificent deeds. It is a beautiful land for which we fight,and, although our enemies are many and terrible and we suffer much, weshall surely triumph in the end. Bird with his cannon was compelled togo back. He could have battered down the palisade walls of any of thestations, but he feared the gathering of the white hunters and fighters.Above all he feared the coming of George Rogers Clark, the shield of theborder."
Henry's heart throbbed at the name of Clark, renowned victor ofVincennes and Kaskaskia.
"Clark!" he exclaimed. "Is he in Kentucky?"
"There or to the northward. It is said that he is gathering a force toattack the Indian villages."
"If it could only be true!" said Paul.
The others echoed the wish.
Henry remained silent, but for a long time he was very thoughtful. Thenews that Wareville was untouched by the raid had relieved himimmensely, and he was very hopeful also that George Rogers Clark wascoming again to the rescue. The name of Clark was one with which toconjure. It would draw all the best men of the border and moreover itwould cause Timmendiquas, Caldwell and their great force to turn aside.Once more hope was in the ascendant. Meanwhile, the sparkling breezeblew them southward, and the eyes of all grew brighter. Fresh lifepoured into the veins of the schoolmaster, and he sat up, looking withpleasure at the rippling surface of the lake.
"It reminds me in a way of the time when we fled from the place of thegiant bones," he said, "and I hope and believe that our flight will endas happily."
"That looks like a long time ago, Mr. Pennypacker," said Tom Ross, "an'we hev traveled a mighty lot since. I reckon that we've been to placesthat I never heard uv until Paul told about 'em, Troy and Rome an'Alexander--"
"Tom," broke in Shif'less Sol, "you're gettin' mixed. Troy's dead, an'we may hev got close to Rome, but we never did ackshally reach the town.An' ez fur Alexander, that wuz a man an' not a city."
"It don't make no difference," replied Tom, not at all abashed. "What doall them old names amount to anyhow? Like ez not the people that livedin 'em got mixed about 'em themselves."
Mr. Pennypacker smiled.
"It doesn't make any difference about Rome and Troy," he said. "You'vebeen all the way down to New Orleans and you've fought in the East withthe Continental troops. Your adventures have been fully as wonderful asthose of Ulysses, and you have traveled a greater distance."
They sailed on all through the day, still seeing that low shore almostlike a cloud bank on their right, but nothing save water ahead of them.Henry was sure that it was not above sixty miles across the lake, but hecalculated that they had been blown about a great deal in the storm, andfor all they knew the island might have been far out of their course.
It was evident that they could not reach the south shore before dusk,and they turned in toward the land. Shif'less Sol hailed the turning ofthe boat's course with delight.
"Boats are all right fur travelin'," he said, "when the wind's blowin'an' you've a sail. A lazy man like me never wants nothin' better, butwhen the night comes on an' you need to sleep, I want the land. I neverfeel the land heavin' an' pitchin' under me, an' it gives me more of asafe an' home feelin'."
"Watch, everybody, for a landing place," said Henry, "and Paul, yousteer."
The green shore began to rise, showing a long unbroken wall of forest,but the dusk was coming too, and all of them were anxious to make land.Presently, they were only three or four hundred yards from the coast andthey skimmed rapidly along it, looking for an anchorage. It was fullnight before Henry's sharp eyes saw the mouth of a creek almost hiddenby tall grass, and, taking down the sail, they pulled the boat into it.They tied their craft securely to a tree, and the night passed withoutalarm.
They resumed the voyage early the next morning, and that day reached thesouthern coast of the lake. Here they reluctantly left the boat. Theymight have found a river emptying into the lake down which they couldhave gone a hundred or more miles further, but they were notsufficiently acquainted with this part of the country to spend theirtime in hunting for it. They drew their good little craft as far as theycould among the weeds and bushes that grew at the water's edge.
"That's two good boats we've got hid on the water ways," said Shif'lessSol, "besides a half dozen canoes scattered here an' thar, an' mebbewe'll find 'em an' use 'em some day."
"This cost us nothin'," said Jim Hart, "so I reckon we ain't got anyright to grieve, 'cause we're givin' up what we never paid fur."
They took out of the boat all the supplies that they could convenientlycarry, and then started toward the southwest. The course to Kentucky nowled through the heart of the Indian country. Between them and the Ohiolay the great Indian villages of Chillicothe, Piqua and many others, andthe journey in any event would be dangerous. But the presence of the oldschoolmaster was likely to make it more so, since he could not travelwith any approach to the speed and skill of the others. Yet no onethought, for a moment, of blaming him. They were happy to have rescuedhim, and, moreover, he had brought them the good news that Wareville wasuntouched by the Bird invasion. Yet speed was vital. The scatteredstations must be warned against the second and greater expedition underCaldwell and Timmendiquas. Mr. Pennypacker himself perceived the factand he urged them to go on and leave him. He felt sure that with a rifleand plenty of ammunition he could reach Wareville in safety.
"You can give me a lot of food," he said, "and doubtless I shall be ableto shoot some game. Now go ahead and leave me. Many lives may dependupon it."
They only laughed, but Shif'less Sol and Henry, who had been whisperingtogether, announced a plan.
"This here expedition is goin' to split," said the shiftless one. "Henryis the fastest runner an' the best woodsman of us all. I hate to admitthat he's better than me, but he is, an' he's goin' on ahead. Now youneedn't say anything, Mr. Pennypacker, about your makin' trouble,'cause you don't. We'd make Henry run on afore, even ef you wuzn't withus. That boy needs trainin' down, an' we intend to see that he gits thetrainin'."
There was nothing more to be said and the rest was done very quietly andquickly. A brief farewell, a handshake for everyone, and he was gone.
Henry had never been in finer physical condition, and the feeling ofresponsibility seemed to strengthen him also in both body and mind. Inone way he was sorry to leave his comrades and in another he was glad.Alone he would travel faster, and in the wilderness he never feared theloneliness and the silence. A sense, dead or atrophied in the ordinaryhuman being, came out more strongly in him. It seemed to be a sort ofdivination or prescience, as if messages reached him through the air,like the modern wireless.
He went southward at a long walk half a run for an hour or two before hestopped. Then he stood on the crest of a little hill and saw the deepwoods all about him. There was no sign of his comrades whom he had leftfar behind, nor was there any indication of human life save himself. Yethe had seldom seen anything that appealed to him more than this bit ofthe wilderness. The trees, oak, beech and elm, were magnificent. Greatcoiling grape vines now and then connected a cluster of trees, but therewas little undergrowth. Overhead, birds chattered and sang among theleaves, and far up in the sky a pair of eagles were speeding like blackspecks toward the lake. Henry inhaled deep breaths. The odors of thewoods came to him and were sweet in his nostrils. All the wildernessfilled him with delight. A black bear passed and climbed a tree insearch of honey
. Two deer came in sight, but the human odor reached themand they fled swiftly away, although they were in no danger from Henry.
Then he, too, resumed his journey, and sped swiftly toward the souththrough the unbroken forest. He came after a while to marshy country,half choked with fallen wood from old storms. He showed his wonderfulagility and strength. He leaped rapidly from one fallen log to anotherand his speed was scarcely diminished. Now and then he saw wide blackpools, and once he crossed a deep creek on a fallen tree. Night foundhim yet in this marshy region, but he was not sorry as he had left notrail behind, and, after looking around some time, he found a littleoasis of dry land with a mighty oak tree growing in the center. Here hefelt absolutely secure, and, making his supper of dried venison, he laydown under the boughs of the oak, with one blanket beneath him andanother above him and was soon in a deep and dreamless sleep.
He awoke about midnight to find a gorgeous parade of the moon and allthe stars, and he lay for a while watching them through the leaves ofthe oak. Powerful are nature and habit, and Henry's life was inaccordance with both. Lying alone at midnight on that little knoll inthe midst of a great marsh in the country of wary and cruel enemies, hewas thankful that it had been given to him to be there, and that his lothad been cast among the conditions that surrounded him.
He heard a slight noise to the left of him, but he knew that it was onlyanother hungry bear stealing about. There was a light splash in the poolat the foot of the knoll, but it was only a large fish leaping up andmaking a noise as it fell back. Far to the south something gleamedfitfully among the trees, but it was only marsh fire. None of thesethings disturbed him, and knowing that the wilderness was at peace helaid his head back on the turf and fell asleep again. At break of day hewas up and away, and until afternoon he sped toward the south in thelong running walk which frontiersmen and Indians could maintain forhours with ease. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon, he stopped assuddenly as if he had come to a river's brink. He had struck a greattrail, not a path made by three or four persons but by hundreds. Hecould see their road a hundred yards wide. Here so many feet had troddenthat the grass was yet thinner than elsewhere; there lay the bones ofdeer, eaten clean and thrown away. Further on was a feather trimmed anddyed that had fallen from a scalp lock, and beyond that, a blanketdiscarded as too old and ragged lay rotting.
These were signs that spoke to Henry as plainly as if the wordsthemselves were uttered. A great wilderness army had passed that way andfor a while he was in doubt. Was it the force of Bird coming back to theNorth? But it was undoubtedly a trail several weeks old. Everythingindicated it. The bones had been bleached by the sun, the feather wasbeaten partly into the earth by rain, and the tattered old blanket hadbeen pawed and torn still further by wolves. But none of these thingstold what army it might be. He hunted, instead, for some low place thatmight have been soft and marshy when the warriors passed, and which,when it dried, would preserve the outline of a footstep. He advanced afull mile, following the broad trail which was like an open road to himuntil he came to such a place. Then he kneeled and examined itcritically. In a half dozen places he saw held in the hard earth theoutline of footsteps. They would have been traces of footsteps to mostpeople and nothing more, but he knew that every one of them pointed tothe south. A mile further on and in another low place he had fullverification of that, which, in fact, he already knew. Here the printswere numerous. Chance had brought him upon the trail of Timmendiquas,and he resolved, for the present, to follow it.
Henry came to this determination because it was extremely important toknow the location and plans of the invading army. More news of an attackwould not be nearly so valuable as the time and place at which theattack was to be delivered. The course seemed plain to him and hefollowed the broad trail with speed and ardor, noting all along theindications that the army took no care to conceal itself or hide itstrail. Why should it? There was nothing in these woods powerful enoughto meet the Anglo-Indian combination.
For four days and for a part of every night he followed without a break.He saw the trail grow fresher, and he judged that he was moving at leasttwice as fast as the army. He could see where English or Tory boots hadcrushed down the grass and he saw also the lighter imprints ofmoccasins. He passed numerous camps marked by ashes, bones of deer,buffalo, bear and smaller animals, and fragments of old worn-outgarments, such as an army casts away as it goes along. He read in thesethings unlimited confidence on the part of both Indians and white men.
An unusually large camp had been made at one place and some barkshelters had been thrown up. Henry inferred that the army had spent twoor three days here, and he could account for the fact only on the groundthat some division of counsels had occurred. Perhaps the weather hadbeen stormy meanwhile, and the bark shelters had been constructed forthe officers and chiefs.
He spent a night in this camp and used one of the shelters, as it beganto rain heavily just after dark. It was a little place, but it kept himdry and he watched with interest as the wind and rain drove across theopening and through the forest. He was as close and snug as a bear inits lair, but the storm was heavy with thunder and vivid with lightning.The lightning was uncommonly bright. Frequently the wet boughs and treesstood out in the glare like so much carving, and Henry was forced toshut his dazzled eyes. But he was neither lonely nor afraid. Herecognized the tremendous power of nature, but it seemed to him that hehad his part here, and the whole was to him a majestic and beautifulpanorama.
Henry remembered the fight that he and his comrades had had at thedeserted village, and he found some similarity in his present situation,but he did not anticipate the coming of another enemy, and, secure inthe belief, he slept while the storm still blew. When morning came, therain had ceased. He replenished his food supplies with a deer that hehad shot by the way and he cooked a little on one of the heaps of stonesthat the Indians had used for the same purpose. When he had eaten heglanced at the other bark shelters and he saw the name of Braxton Wyattcut on one of them. Henry shuddered with aversion. He had seen so muchof death and torture done on the border that he could not understand howSimon Girty, Braxton Wyatt and their like could do such deeds upon theirown countrymen. But he felt that the day was coming fast when many ofthem would be punished.
He began the great trail anew upon turf, now soft and springy from therain, and, refreshed by the long night's sleep in the bark shelter, hewent rapidly. Eight or ten miles beyond the camp the trail made anabrupt curve to the eastward. Perhaps they were coming to some largeriver of which the Indian scouts knew and the turn was made in order toreach a ford, but he followed it another hour and there was no river.The nature of the country also indicated that no great stream could beat hand, and Henry believed that it signified a change of plan, a beliefstrengthened by a continuation of the trail toward the east as hefollowed it hour by hour. What did it mean? Undoubtedly it was somethingof great significance to his enterprise, but now he grew more wary.Since the course of the army was changed bands of Indians might beloitering behind, and he must take every precaution lest he run into oneof them. He noticed from time to time small trails coming into thelarger one, and he inferred that they were hunting parties sent off fromthe main body and now returning.
The trail maintained the change and still bore toward the east. It hadbeen obliterated to some extent by the rains, but it was as wide asever, and Henry knew that no division had taken place. But he was yetconvinced that some subject of great importance had been debated at theplace of the long camp. On the following day he saw two warriors, and helay in the bush while they passed only twenty yards away, close enoughfor him to see that they were Miamis. They were proceeding leisurely,perhaps on a hunting expedition, and it was well for them that they didnot search at this point for any enemy. The most formidable figure onall the border lay in the thicket with both rifle and pistol ready.Henry heard them talking, but he had no wish for an encounter even withthe advantage of ambush and surprise on his side. He was concerned withfar more important business.
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The two Indians looked at the broad trail, but evidently they knew allabout it, as it did not claim more than a half minute's attention. Thenthey went northward, and when Henry was sure that they were a mile ortwo away, he resumed his pursuit, a single man following an army. Nowall his wonderful skill and knowledge and developed power of intuitioncame into play. Soon he passed the point where the trail had been madefainter by the latest rains, and now it became to his eyes broad anddeep. He came to a place where many fires had been built obviously forcooking, and the ashes of the largest fires were near the center of thecamp. A half circle of unburned logs lay around these ashes. As the logswere not sunk in the ground at all they had evidently been drawn thererecently, and Henry, sitting down on one of them, began to study theproblem.
On the other side of the ashes where no logs lay were slight traces inthe earth. It seemed to him that they had been made by heels, and healso saw at one place a pinch of brown ashes unlike the white ashes leftby the fire. He went over, knelt down and smelled of the brown pinch.The odor was faint, very faint, but it was enough to tell him that ithad been made by tobacco. A pipe had been smoked here, not to soothe themind or body, but for a political purpose. At once his knowledge andvivid imagination reconstructed the whole scene. An important councilhad been held. The logs had been drawn up as seats for the British andTory officers. Opposite them on the bare ground the chiefs, after theircustom, had sat in Turkish fashion, and the pipe had been passed fromone to another until the circle was complete. It must have been a mostvital question or they would not have smoked the pipe. He came back tothe logs and found in one of them a cut recently made. Someone had beenindulging in the western custom of whittling with a strong clasp knifeand he had no doubt that it was Braxton Wyatt who had cut his name withthe same knife on the bark shelter. It would take one whittling casuallya long time to make so deep a cut. Then they had debated there for twoor three hours. This meant that the leaders were in doubt. PerhapsTimmendiquas and Caldwell had disagreed. If it could only be true! Thenthe little stations would have time to renew their breath and strengthbefore another great attack could be made.
He sat on the log and concentrated his mind with great intensity uponthe problem. He believed that the master mind in the council had beenthat of Timmendiquas. He also had inspired the change of route andperhaps Caldwell, Girty and Wyatt had tried to turn him back. Doubtlessthe course of Timmendiquas had been inspired by news from the South.Would the trail turn again?
He renewed the eager pursuit. He followed for a full day, but it stillran toward the east, and was growing fresher much faster than before. Heargued from this fact that the speed of the army had slackened greatly.On the day after that, although the course of the main body wasunchanged he saw where a considerable band had left it and gonenorthward. What did this mean? The band could not have numbered lessthan fifty. It must be making for some one of the great Indian towns,Chillicothe or Piqua. Once more the reader of the wilderness pagetranslated. They had received news from the South, and it was not suchas they wished. The Indian towns had been threatened by something, andthe band had gone to protect or help them.
Shortly before nightfall he noticed another trail made by perhaps twentywarriors coming from the south and joining that of the main body. Thebriers and grass were tangled considerably, and, as he looked closely,his eyes caught a tint of red on the earth. It was only a spot, and oncemore the wilderness reader read what was printed in his book. This bandhad brought wounded men with it, and the tribes were not fighting amongthemselves. They had encountered the Kentuckians, hunters perhaps, or alarger force maybe, and they had not escaped without damage. Henryexulted, not because blood had been shed, but because some prowling bandintent upon scalps had met a check.
He followed the ruddy trail until it emerged into the broader one andthen to a point beside it, where a cluster of huge oaks flung a pleasantshade. Here the wounds of the warriors had been bandaged, as fragmentsof deerskin lay about. One of them had certainly suffered a broken armor leg, because pieces of stout twigs with which they had made splintslay under one of the trees.
The next day he turned another page in his book, and read about thegreat feast the army had held. He reached one of the little prairies socommon in that region. Not many days before it had been a great berryfield, but now it was trampled, and stripped. Seven or eight hundredwarriors had eaten of the berries and they had also eaten of much solidfood. At the far edge of the prairie just within the shade of the foresthe found the skeletons of three buffaloes and several deer, probablyshot by the hunters on that very prairie. A brook of fine clear waterflowed by, and both banks were lined with footsteps. Here the warriorsafter eating heavily had come to drink. Many of the trees near bycontained the marks of hatchet strokes, and Henry read easily that thewarriors had practiced there with their tomahawks, perhaps for prizesoffered by their white leaders. Cut in the soft bark of a beech he readthe words "Braxton Wyatt." So he had been at work with the clasp knifeagain, and Henry inferred that the young renegade was worried andnervous or he would not have such uneasy hands.
Most of the heavier footprints, those that turned out, were on one sideof the camp and Henry read from this the fact that the English andTories had drawn somewhat apart, and that the differences between themand the Indians had become greater. He concentrated his mind again uponthe problem, and at length drew his conclusion from what he had read.
The doubts of Timmendiquas concerning his allies were growing stronger,so Henry construed. The great Wyandot chief had been induced withdifficulty to believe that the soldiers of the British king would repaytheir red allies, and would defend the Indian villages if a large forcefrom Kentucky were sent against them. The indications that such a forcewas moving or would move must be growing stronger. Doubtless theoriginal turn to the eastward had been in order to deflect the attackagainst the settlements on the upper Ohio, most probably against FortHenry. Now it was likely that the second plan had been abandoned for athird. What would that third be?
He slept that night in a dense covert about half a mile from the camp,and he was awakened once by the howling of wolves. He knew that theywere prowling about the deserted camp in search of remnants of food, andhe felt sure that others also were following close behind the Indianarmy, in order to obtain what they might leave at future camps. Perhapsthey might trail him too, but he had his rifle and pistol and, unafraid,he went to sleep again.
The broad trail led the next day to a river which Henry reached aboutnoon. It was fordable, but the army had not crossed. It had stoppedabruptly at the brink and then had marched almost due north. Henry readthis chapter easily and he read it joyfully. The dissatisfaction amongthe Indian chiefs had reached a climax, and the river, no real obstaclein itself, had served as the straw to turn them into a new course.Timmendiquas had boldly led the way northward and from Kentucky. He, RedEagle, Yellow Panther and the rest were going to the Indian villages,and Caldwell and the other white men were forced either to go with themor return to Detroit. He followed the trail for a day and a half, saw itswing in toward the west, and theory became certainty. The army wasmarching toward Chillicothe and Piqua.
After this last great turn Henry studied the trail with the utmost care.He had read much there, but he intended to read every word that it said.He noticed that the division, the British and Tories on one side and theIndians on the other, continued, and he was quite sure now that he wouldsoon come upon some important development.
He found the next day that for which he was looking. The army hadcamped in another of the little prairies, and the Indians had held agreat dance. The earth, trampled heavily over a regulated space, showedit clearly. Most of the white men had stayed in one group on the right.Here were the deep traces of military boot heels such as the officersmight wear.
Again his vivid imagination and power of mental projection into the darkreconstructed the whole scene. The Indians, Wyandots, Shawnees, Miamisand the others, had danced wildly, whirling their tomahawks about theirhe
ads, their naked bodies painted in many colors, their eyes glaringwith the intoxication of the dance. Timmendiquas and the other chiefshad stood here looking on; over there, on the right, Caldwell and hisofficers had stood, and few words had passed between officers andchiefs.
"Now the division will become more complete," said Henry to himself, ashe followed the trail anew into the forest, and he was so sure of itthat he felt no surprise when, within a mile, it split abruptly. Thegreater trail continued to the west, the smaller turned abruptly to thenorth, and this was the one that contained the imprints of the militaryboot heels. Once more he read his text with ease. Timmendiquas andCaldwell had parted company. The English and Tories were returning toDetroit. Timmendiquas, hot with wrath because his white allies would nothelp him, was going on with the warriors to the defense of theirvillages.
Without beholding with his own eyes a single act of this army he hadwatched the growth of the quarrel between red and white and he had beena witness to its culmination. But all these movements had beeninfluenced by some power of which he knew nothing. It was his businessto discover the nature of this power, and he would follow the Indiantrail a little while longer.
Henry had not suffered for food. Despite the passage of the Indian armythe country was so full of game that he was able to shoot what he wishedalmost when he wished, but he felt that he was now coming so near to themain body that he could not risk a shot which might be heard by outlyinghunters or skirmishers. He also redoubled his care and rarely showedhimself on the main trail, keeping to the woods at the side, where hewould be hidden, an easy matter, as except for the little prairies thecountry was covered with exceedingly heavy forest.
The second day after the parting of the two forces he saw smoke ahead,and he believed that it was made by the rear guard. It was a thin columnrising above the trees, but the foliage was so heavy and the underbrushso dense that he was compelled to approach very close before he saw thatthe fire was not made by Indians, but by a group of white men, SimonGirty, Blackstaffe, Quarles, Braxton Wyatt and others, about a dozen inall. They had cooked their noonday meal at a small fire and were eatingit apparently in perfect confidence of security. The renegades sat inthe dense forest. Underbrush grew thickly to the very logs on which theywere sitting, and, as Henry heard the continuous murmur of their voices,he resolved to learn what they were saying. He might discover then thenature of the menace that had broken up or deferred the great invasion.He knew well the great danger of such an attempt but he was fullyresolved to make it.
Lying down in the bushes and grass he drew himself slowly forward. Hisapproach was like that of a wild animal stalking its prey. He lay veryclose to the earth and made no sound that was audible a yard away,pulling himself on, foot by foot. Yet his patience conquered, andpresently he lay in the thickest of the undergrowth not far from therenegades, and he could hear everything they said. Girty was speaking,and his words soon showed that he was in no pleasant mood.
"Caldwell and the other English were too stiff," he said. "I don't likeTimmendiquas because he doesn't like me, but the English oughtn't toforget that an alliance is for the sake of the two parties to it. Theyshould have come with Timmendiquas and his friends to their villages tohelp them."
"And all our pretty plans are broken up," said Braxton Wyatt viciously."If we had only gone on and struck before they could recover from Bird'sblows we might have swept Kentucky clean of every station."
"Timmendiquas was right," said Girty. "We have to beware of that fellowat the Falls. He's dangerous. His is a great name. The Kentucky riflemenwill come to the call of the man who took Kaskaskia and Vincennes."
The prone figure in the bushes started. He was reading further into thismost interesting of all volumes. What could the "Falls" mean but theFalls of the Ohio at the brand new settlement of Louisville, and thevictor of Vincennes and Kaskaskia was none other than the great GeorgeRogers Clark, the sword of the border. He understood. Clark's name wasthe menace that had turned back Timmendiquas. Undoubtedly the hero wasgathering a new force and would give back Bird's blows. Timmendiquaswished to protect his own, but the English had returned to Detroit. Theprone figure in the bushes rejoiced without noise.
"What will be the result of it all?" asked Blackstaffe, his tone showinganxiety.
Girty--most detested name in American history, next to that of BenedictArnold--considered. The side of his face was turned to Henry, and thebold youth wished that they were standing in the open, face to face,arms in hand. But he was compelled to lie still and wait. Nor could heforesee that Girty, although he was not destined to fall in battle,should lose everything, become an exile, go blind and that no manshould know when he met death or where his body lay. The renegade atlength replied:
"It means that we cannot now destroy Kentucky without a supreme effort.Despite all that we do, despite all our sieges and ambuscades, new mencontinually come over the mountains. Every month makes them stronger,and yet only this man Clark and a few like him have saved them so far.If Caldwell and a British force would make a campaign with us, we mightyet crush Clark and whatever army he may gather. We may even do itwithout Caldwell. In this vast wilderness which the Indians know so wellit is almost impossible for a white army to escape ambush. I am, forthat reason, in favor of going on and joining Timmendiquas. I want ashare in the victory that our side will win at the Indian towns. I amsure that the triumph will be ours."
"It seems the best policy to me," said Braxton Wyatt. "Timmendiquas doesnot like me any more than he does you, but the Indians appreciate ourhelp. I suppose we'd better follow at once."
"Take it easy," said Girty. "There's no hurry. We can overtakeTimmendiquas in a day, and we are quite sure that there are noKentuckians in the woods. Besides, it will take Clark a considerabletime to assemble a large force at the Falls, and weeks more to marchthrough the forest. You will have a good chance then, Braxton, to showyour skill as a forest leader. With a dozen good men hanging on hisflank you ought to cause Mr. Clark much vexation."
"It could be done," replied Wyatt, "but there are not many white men outhere fighting on our side. In the East the Tories are numerous, and Ihad a fine band there, but it was destroyed in that last fight at thebig Indian town."
"Your old playmate, Henry Ware, had something to do with that, did henot?" asked Girty, not without a touch of sarcasm.
"He did," replied Wyatt venomously, "and it's a good thing that he's nowa prisoner at Detroit. He and those friends of his could be both theeyes and ears of Clark. It would have been better if Timmendiquas hadlet the Indians make an end to him. Only in that manner could we be surethat he would always be out of the way."
"I guess you're right," said Girty.
The prone figure in the bushes laughed silently, a laugh that did notcause the movement of a single muscle, but which nevertheless was fullof heartfelt enjoyment. What would Wyatt and Girty have thought if theyhad known that the one of whom they were talking, whom they deemed aprisoner held securely at Detroit, was lying within ten feet of them, asfree as air and with weapons of power?
Henry had heard enough and he began to creep away, merely reversing theprocess by which he had come. It was a harder task than the first, buthe achieved it deftly, and after thirty yards he rose to his feet,screening himself behind the trunk of an oak. He could still see therenegades, and the faint murmur of their voices yet reached him. Thatold temptation to rid the earth of one of these men who did so much harmcame back to him, but knowing that he had other work to do he resistedit, and, passing in a wide circle about them, followed swiftly on thetrail of Timmendiquas.
He saw the Indian camp that night, pitched in a valley. Numerous fireswere burning and discipline was relaxed somewhat, but so many warriorswere about that there was no opportunity to come near. He did not wish,however, to make any further examination. Merely to satisfy himself thatthe army had made no further change in its course was enough. Afterlingering a half hour or so he turned to the north and traveled rapidlya long time, having now effect
ed a complete circuit since he left hiscomrades. It was his purpose now to rejoin them, which he did notbelieve would prove a very difficult task. Shif'less Sol, the leader inhis absence, was to come with the party down the bank of the Scioto,unless they found Indians in the way. Their speed would be that of theslowest of their number, Mr. Pennypacker, and he calculated that hewould meet them in about three days.
Bearing in toward the right he soon struck the banks of the Scioto andfollowed the stream northward all the next day. He saw several Indiancanoes upon the river, but he was so completely hidden by the densefoliage on the bank that he was safe from observation. It was not a warparty, the Indians were merely fishing. Some of the occupants of theboats were squaws. It was a pleasant and peaceful occupation, and for afew moments Henry envied them, but quickly dismissing such thoughts heproceeded northward again at the old running walk.
On the afternoon of the second day Henry lay in the bushes and utteredtheir old signal, the cry of the wolf repeated with certain variations,and as unmistakable as are the telegrapher's dots and dashes of to-day.There was no answer. He had expected none. It was yet too soon,according to his calculations, but he would not risk their passing himthrough an unexpected burst of speed. All that afternoon and the nextmorning he repeated the signal at every half hour. Still the samesilence. Nothing stirred in the great woods, but the leaves and bushesswaying before the wind. Several times he examined the Scioto, but hesaw no more Indians.
About noon of the third day when he uttered the signal an answer, veryfaint, came from a point far to the west. At first he was not sure ofthe variations, the sound had traveled such a great distance, but havinggone in that direction a quarter of a mile, he repeated it. Then itcame back, clear and unmistakable. Once more he read his book withease. Shif'less Sol and the others were near by and they would awaithim. His pulse leaped with delight. He would be with these bravecomrades again and he would bring them good news.
He advanced another two or three hundred yards and repeated the cry. Theanswer instantly came from a point very near at hand. Then he pressedboldly through the bushes and Shif'less Sol walked forward to meet himfollowed by the others, all gaunt with travel, but strong and well.
The Border Watch: A Story of the Great Chief's Last Stand Page 17
