Part 15 (2/2)

The ”Chevalier” was not familiar with Indian methods of fighting and held them in contempt. He and the boy had several arguments about the matter, the former contending that a savage was dangerous only when one was running away from him.

In the work they were now a.s.signed to, it was a part of wisdom to screen one's self behind trees, advancing quickly from one to another.

The ”Chevalier” declared he was not out in that country for the ”fun of dodging.” Rodney, however, adhered to the practice, luckily for both.

The ”Chevalier” was striding along as though an enemy were not within a hundred miles, when the lad's trained eye caught sight of the heel of a savage, who was kneeling behind a big tree and waiting for his foe to pa.s.s. The ”Chevalier” was walking on, his head up, and in three paces would have exposed himself to the redskin's rifle.

Rodney yelled an alarm and took a quick shot at the Indian's heel, the only part of him exposed.

”Jump behind a tree and hold your fire,” the boy had cried, for, if he missed the savage, he would need the protection of the ”Chevalier's”

rifle before he could reload. But his shot went true, as a howl from the savage bore witness.

Startled by the cry and the report of the rifle, the ”Chevalier,” for once, moved quickly to cover, and, between the two, they compelled the Indian to surrender. He had a painful wound in his ankle and finally, after being disarmed, was left behind, though some of the men wanted to kill him.

The ”Chevalier” extended his hand to Rodney, saying, ”I have you to thank for my poor existence. You did ill trying to do well, but of course you didn't know it. Perhaps I will find a way to repay.”

The man spoke seriously, not in a spirit of banter, and Rodney wondered. When he told one of the men later what the ”Chevalier” had said, the fellow remarked: ”So the Chevalier was solemn, was he?

Kain't be possible his mightiness is sufferin' from liver complaint with only one ear o' corn a day.”

All were glad to be back at Wheeling, where Major McDonald decided to wait for the arrival of Governor Dunmore. The governor finally arrived in all the pomp of war and with enough men to raise the total number to about twelve hundred.

Up to the time of his arrival it had been supposed that he would take his army down the Ohio River and join that of General Lewis before making an attack on the Indians. Now he announced that the army would proceed in boats down the Ohio to the Hockhocking River and up that river to the falls, whence he would march across country to the Indian towns on the Scioto River. He sent messengers to General Lewis ordering him to join the main body at that point.

”If the redskins learn what's up they'll have a chance to wipe Lewis off the earth,” remarked one frontiersman in Rodney's hearing.

The Indians did learn Dunmore's plan and almost succeeded in defeating the division under Lewis.

CHAPTER XVI

RODNEY MEETS WITH REVERSES

All historical accounts of the battle between the forces under Lewis and the allied Indians commanded by the Shawnee chief, Cornstalk, which occurred at Point Pleasant on the Ohio River, October 10, 1774, agree that it was the fiercest conflict which had been fought in this country between white men and Indians led by an Indian, unaided by the advice of any white officer.

Cornstalk was a chief of unusual ability and good sense. He had been opposed to the war, but, finding it inevitable, succeeded in raising a formidable army of the various tribes, and commanded them with such skill and bravery that, in the battle, which lasted all day, the Indians fought doggedly and all but achieved a victory, which would have made a very different affair of what is known as Dunmore's war.

His spies had kept him informed of the movements of the two Virginia expeditions, and he resolved to attack them separately before they could join their forces.

Leaving scattering bands of Indians to delay the advance of Dunmore, he marched his main body of warriors to the Ohio River, crossed, and attacked the troops under General Lewis.

This commander had wisely chosen a position on a point, having the Ohio River on his left, Crooked Creek on his right, and the Great Kanawha at his rear. He was a veteran seasoned in the French and Indian war. With him was the courtly John Sevier, a French Huguenot planning for fortune in the lands of Kentucky, James Robertson, a wise leader of pioneers, and others of but slightly less distinction in the eyes of the hardy men who had gathered under their leaders.h.i.+p.

All day long the battle raged there among the trees of the forest. The colonists could hear the voice of Cornstalk as he pa.s.sed from tree to tree among his men, encouraging them. Rarely did they see more of their foes than a coppery gleam from behind a tree trunk, perchance the arm or leg of a savage or a glimpse of his warlock, and it was sure death to leave the shelter of the trees.

Toward night the company, with which David Allison at the time was a.s.sociated, was ordered to make a flank movement. This was done with great difficulty and danger. When the movement was nearly accomplished, the men leaping from tree to tree as they advanced, he fell with a bullet through the neck. A brawny savage leaped from his cover, knife in hand and greedy for a fresh scalp, when a ball from a colonist's gun stopped him half-way and he too went down in the brush by the side of his victim. Over them leaped friend and foe without heeding.

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