Part 31 (1/2)
”I was through here once with the Mohawk chief, Daganoweda,” replied Tayoga. ”It is mostly in heavy forest, and, since the war has gone on so long and the settlers have gone away, there has been a great increase in the game.”
”Aye, I know there'll be no trouble on that point. If our own supplies give out it won't take long to find a deer or a bear. It's a grand country in here, Tayoga, and sometimes it seems a pity to one that it should ever be settled by white people, or, for that matter, by red either. Let it remain a wilderness, and let men come in, just a little while every year, to hunt.”
”Great Bear talks wisdom, but it will not be done his way. Men have been coming here a long time now to fight and not to hunt. See, Great Bear, here is a footprint now to show that some one has pa.s.sed!”
”'Twas made by the moccasin of a warrior. A chance hunter.”
”Suppose we follow it, Great Bear. It is our business to keep guard and carry word to Amherst.”
”Good enough. Lead and I'll follow.”
”It is not the step of a warrior hunting,” said Tayoga, as they pursued the traces. ”The paces are even, regular and long. He goes swiftly, not looking for anything as he goes, but because he wishes to reach a destination as soon as possible. Ah, now he stopped and he leaned against this bush, two of the stems of which are broken! I do not know what he stopped for, Great Bear, but it may have been to give a signal, though that is but a surmise. Now he goes on, again walking straight and swift. Ah, another trail coming from the west joining his and the two warriors walk together!”
The two followed the double trail a mile or more in silence, and then it was joined by the traces of three more warriors. The five evidently had stood there, talking a little while, after which they had scattered.
”Now, what does that mean?” exclaimed the hunter.
”I think if we follow every one of the five trails,” said Tayoga, ”we will find that the men lay down in the bush. It is certain in my mind, Great Bear, that they were preparing for a battle, and they were but a part of a much larger force hidden in these thickets.”
”Now, that's interesting, Tayoga. Let's look around and see if we can find where more of the warriors lay.”
They circled to the right, and presently they came upon traces where three men had knelt behind bushes. The imprints of both knees and toes were plain.
”They were here a long time,” said Tayoga, ”because they have moved about much within a little s.p.a.ce. In places the ground is kneaded by their knees. And lo! Great Bear, here on the bush several of the young leaves are burned. Now, you and I know well what alone would do that at such a time.”
”It was done by the flash from a big musket, such a musket as those French Indians carry.”
”It could have been nothing else. I think if we go still farther around the curve we will find other bushes behind which other warriors kneeled and fired, and maybe other leaves scorched by the flash of big muskets.”
A hundred yards more and they saw that for which they looked. The signs were just the same as at the other places.
”Now, it is quite clear to you and me, Great Bear,” said the Onondaga, ”that these men, posted along a curving line, were firing at something.
They were here a long time, as the numerous and crowded footprints at every place show. They could not have been firing at game, because there were too many of them, and the game would not have stayed to be fired at so long. Therefore, Great Bear, and you know it as well as I, they must have been in battle. All the points of ambush to which we have come are at an almost equal distance from some other point.”
”Which, Tayoga, is that hill yonder, crowned with bushes, but with bare slopes, a good place for a defense, and just about a long rifle or musket shot from the forest here.”
”So it is, Great Bear. It could be nothing else. The defenders lay among the bushes on top of the hill, and the battle was fought in the night, because those who attacked were not numerous enough to push a combat in the day. The defenders must have been white men, as we know from the footprints here that the a.s.sailants were warriors. Ah, here are other traces, Great Bear, and here are more, all trodden about in the same manner, indicating a long stay, and all at about an equal distance from the hill! I think the warriors lay in the forest all night firing upon the hill, and probably doing little damage. But they suffered more hurt themselves. See, here are faint traces of blood, yet staining the gra.s.s, and here is a trail leading out of the bushes and into the gra.s.s that lines the slopes of the hill. The trail goes forward, and then it comes back. It is quite clear to both of us, Dagaeoga, that a warrior, creeping through the long gra.s.s, tried to stalk the hill, but met a bullet instead. Those who lay upon the hill and defended themselves were not asleep. They could detect warriors who tried to steal forward and secure good shots at them. And they could fire at long range and hit their targets. Now, soldiers know too little of the forest to do that, and so it must have been scouts or rangers.”
”Perhaps some of the rangers belonging to Rogers. We know that he's operating in this region.”
”It was in my thought too, Great Bear, that the rangers of the Mountain Wolf lay on the hill. See, here is a second trace of blood, and it also came from a warrior who tried to stalk the hill, but who had to come back again after he had been kissed by a bullet. The men up there among the bushes never slept, and they allowed no one of their enemies to come near enough for a good shot with a musket. The chances are ninety-nine out of a hundred that they were rangers, Great Bear, and we may speak of them as rangers. Now, we come to a spot where at least a dozen warriors lay, and, since their largest force was here, it is probable that their chief stayed at this spot. See, the small bones of the deer picked clean are lying among the bushes. I draw from it the opinion, and so do you, Great Bear, that the warriors kept up the siege of the hill until dawn, because at dawn they would be most likely to eat their breakfast, and these little bones of the deer prove that they did eat this breakfast here. Now, it is very probable that they went away, since they could win nothing from the defenders of the hill.”
”Here's their broad trail leading directly from the hill.”
They followed the trail a little distance, finding those of other warriors joining, until the total was about forty. Willet laughed with quiet satisfaction.
”They had all they wanted of the hill,” he said, ”and they're off swiftly to see if they can't find easier prey elsewhere.”
”And you and I, Great Bear, will go back and see what happened on the hill, besides discovering somewhat more about the ident.i.ty of the defenders.”
”Long words, Tayoga, but good ones upon which we can act. I'm anxious about the top of that hill myself.”