Part 11 (1/2)

CHAPTER X.

A Night With the Indians.

To shut out from his thoughts the horrid memory of the b.l.o.o.d.y scalp at Big Buffalo's belt, Ree turned and busied himself with the fire, which had 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 his face such as was seldom seen there. If John had noticed this he might not have 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 anybody tell?” asked the boy.

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

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

That and other stories of this noted chief made the boys curious to see him, and anxious to put themselves on friendly terms with him. It was decided that the next day they should visit the Delaware town and make arrangements for securing land. Without a horse they could move their goods only with great labor, and they were desirous of knowing just where they were taking their property, therefore, before they undertook to move it 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 as peaceful as a little lamb--plague take their greasy skins! Not if I clapped my eyes on that Buffalo critter ag'in!”

”Look a-here, Tom,” Ree answered, earnestly. ”We boys are on a peaceable mission and we don't want to get into trouble on your account. We know that the horrible sight of that scalp, and your belief that you know from where it came, has made you want revenge, but John and I have had no special trouble with the Delawares and it would be very foolish, situated as 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 the sentence. Instead he began talking of other things and advised the boys to take every precaution against being treacherously dealt with when they should find Big Buffalo at his own home--the Delaware town.

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

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

The lads laid down their rifles as a sign of friendliness, and in another minute a swift stroke of a paddle grounded the Indians' craft upon the beach. The Redskins bounded ash.o.r.e and with some reluctance shook hands with the boys.

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

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

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

The other Indians grunted derisively. John laughed heartily and Ree smiled, amused to see the proud young buck get just such a ducking as he deserved for trying to ”show off.”

However, the lithe young fellow seized the canoe and was safely in it in a very brief s.p.a.ce of time. Soon it was far out on the lake, rocking and dancing lightly as a feather on the fierce little waves, which a strong wind was blowing up.

Ree and John made themselves comfortable on the gra.s.sy bank beside the water, and waited. It seemed a long time until they saw a canoe coming for them. The fact was, and the boys shrewdly surmised it, that Capt.

Pipe, or Hopocon, desirous of impressing the strangers with his greatness, purposely kept them waiting awhile.

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