Part 8 (1/2)
”We will think about this matter,” said Ree, ”and let you know. You will be here a day or two?”
”Yaas, a day or two,” said Tom Fish. ”But don't let me influence ye; it's mighty reesky business you kittens is bent on.”
”It seems to me like a good plan,” Ree reflected aloud, when he and John were alone. ”If we went to General Putnam's settlement we would still feel that we must go up the Muskingum river to reach the Indians and profitable trading, and would have to build a raft or buy a boat to carry our goods. Moreover, people here say that within a few years the country all about Pittsburg will be settled up and that land will become valuable.”
”Whatever you say suits me,” said John with a laugh; and then and there Ree gave him a talking to for being so ready to accept the judgment of another, instead of having thoughts and opinions of his own.
But one or two ridiculously low offers the boys received for their horse and cart, and the discovery that they could not find room on the boat down the Ohio except at a fancy price, resulted in their decision to join Tom Fish. They talked all day of the subject, but when they went to bed that night, they knew that not for many months to come would they sleep again within the borders of civilization.
A frosty November morning ushered in another day, and early as they were astir Ree and John found the little town wide awake. Tom Fish was sky-larking all about saying good-bye to friends, and just a little under the influence of whiskey. It seemed that everybody knew him; and people having found out from Tom what they had not already found out from others, about the venturesome lads from Connecticut, quite an a.s.semblage gathered to wish the travelers good luck.
A repeated suggestion which had been made to the boys was that they should abandon their cart and take with them only such goods as they could carry by using old Jerry as a pack-horse. It was true that for a portion of the distance they proposed to travel, there was a rough road, but beyond Fort McIntosh, at the mouth of the Beaver river, they would have no road but the rough Indian trail. But Tom Fish said he ”reckoned old Colonel Boquet's road was still there,” and that they should take the cart; and they did so.
Tom had joined the boys as their clumsy vehicle creaked along a muddy street, a little more serious than usual, because of some news he had heard, he said, but boastful as ever.
”I was talkin' to a big seven-footer in the tavern last night,” he said--”A feller that had a grudge ag'in' me once. He never liked me till I threw him over a house one day;--threw him clean over a house. It makes me larff!”
John laughed, too, at this, but he said: ”Tom Fish, you weigh a good three stone (forty-two) more than I do, but I believe I could throw you in a wrestle. When we stop for dinner, I am going to put you on your back!”
A laugh long and loud came from the woodsman's throat. ”Why, what a playful kitten ye be!” he exclaimed. ”Why, I could toss ye up in the air and ketch ye nigh a dozen times whilst ye were only thinkin' of throwin'
me.”
”I'd like to see you try it,” cried John.
”Put aside your nonsense, you two, until noon, now do,” Ree laughingly urged, ”and tell us, Tom, of that Colonel Boquet whose road we are to follow.”
”Waal, that's quite a yarn,” said Tom Fish. ”But le' me see now; le' me see. It was back when I was jes a young buck, 'long 'bout '64, that this Colonel Boquet, who was a mighty decent citizen for a Frenchman, made up his mind to get a whack at the pesky Injuns which had been killin' an'
scalpin' an' burnin' an' robbin' all along the border of Pennsylvania an'
Virginia an' Lord knows where all.
”Waal, the state of Pennsylvania an' the state of Virginia helped him with sojers an' he mustered scouts enough so that in all he had nigh onto 2,000 men. He marched 'em straight into the woods, the whole caboodle on 'em, clearin' a road as he went, an' takin' along a lot o' sheep an'
cows, and provender for the sojers without end. He went straight along till he come to the Muskingum river, an' there he camped out, makin' a show with all his men an' pack-horses an' everything, that scared the Mingoes an' the Delawares half to death for fear he'd stay right there an' build a town amongst 'em.
”They was willin' to do most anything to get rid of him, an' there was only one thing that he would hear to. He give 'em jes' ten days to trot into his camp every prisoner they had in all their towns far an' near, an' told 'em that if ary a one was held back, he'd march on every pesky village an' knock 'em sky high an' burn 'em down.
”Waal! them Injuns was so scared, they commenced gettin' their prisoners together right off, and they trotted two hundred on 'em up to the front door of Colonel Boquet's tent inside them ten days. An' there was doin's for sartin then!--Pow wows among the sojers who found all sorts of relations that the Delawares or the Wyandots or the pesky Mingoes had carried off, an' pow wows among the men, an' the women an' the children that was brought out o' their captivity like the Children of Israel.
”Then Colonel Boquet marched 'em all back to Fort Pitt an' he sent for me an' told me what he'd done, an' asked me what I thought on it. I was scoutin' out of Fort Pitt then, and I jes' shook his hand an' says: 'Colonel Boquet ye're a reg'lar rip-snorter.'”
”Did you ever hear of the terrible Captain Archer, the outlaw of war times?” asked the fun-loving John, inventing the name to see what Tom would say; for he had his own opinion as to Colonel Boquet having asked Thomas Fish what he thought of that Indian expedition.
”Cap. Archer? Old Cap. Archer! Well I rayther guess I knew him, an' if he ain't forgot it, he carries a little lead pill out of my old steel bottle of Injun medicine, clean to this day. Yaas, many a scrimmage I had with old Cap. Archer.”
John was for carrying his questioning further, though he could hardly keep from laughing, but Ree shook his head, unwilling to make fun of one who was so kind to them.
The travelers made excellent progress that morning, finding a very fair road for that rough country, along the river. They met occasional settlers and hunters and whether he knew them or not, Tom Fish always stopped to talk and always asked whether everything was quiet along the border. Many shook their heads, and spoke gloomily of the outlook for peace with the Indians remaining long unbroken.