Part 7 (2/2)
”Several months more, please to remember, sir.”
”And you can remember, I suppose, a dozen years; that is a good while.
But it is not so bad as all that. Kenton explained matters yesterday when I was talking with him. There is what is called a flurry among the Indians, and as long as it lasts we must keep under the wing of some block-house or in some settlement.”
”But how long is it to last?”
”There is only One who can answer that question. It may be in a few weeks, or months, or possibly a year or two. You know that such expeditions as Crawford's and St. Clair's make matters worse than before.”
”Why?”
”Colonel Crawford, as you remember, was not only defeated, but he was made prisoner and burned to death at the stake. Then President Was.h.i.+ngton sent General St. Clair, and the combined tribes smote him hip and thigh. All this makes the Indians bolder and more open in their hostility, until I have no doubt that hundreds of them believe they are strong enough to drive every white man out of Ohio and Kentucky.”
”Why doesn't General Was.h.i.+ngton send some one who knows how to fight the Indians, and with men enough to whip them?”
”St. Clair had enough men to whip the enemy, but the general didn't know how to handle them when he got into the Indian country. You have learned of the dreadful mistake that Braddock and his regulars made more than thirty years ago, during the French and Indian war, when all of the British soldiers would have been killed if it had not been for Was.h.i.+ngton and his Virginians.”
”I should think General Was.h.i.+ngton himself would take command of a force. I know he would end all this trouble,” added Agnes, with a glow of pride in the ill.u.s.trious Father of his Country.
”I have no doubt he would if he wasn't President; but he has to stay in Philadelphia and make the other officers do their duty. But if he can't come himself, he knows enough now to send the right men. The next battle will see the Indians so badly whipped that they will stay so for many, many years to come.”
”And then?”
”Hundreds and thousands of people will come from the East and settle in the West. The land will be cleared off and planted; cities and towns will spring up, and that clearing of ours, with the other acres we shall add, will make you and I wealthy, Agnes.”
”It may make you wealthy, George; but how can it help me?”
He gave the dainty hand a warmer pressure than before and lowered his voice, so that only the sh.e.l.l-like ear, so close to his own, could catch his words.
”If it benefits me it must benefit you; for, G.o.d willing, long before that time we shall be one. Am I wrong in that hope, dearest?”
”George,” said Agnes, when they had walked a little further in silence, ”there is one prospect which causes me some discomfort.”
”And what is that?”
”Of all our people being cooped up in the block-house for weeks, and perhaps months, until the trouble with the Indians is over. We stopped there the other day when we were coming down the river. It is a large, roomy structure, but there is nothing beside the single building. A good many men make their homes there at different times, and though they are all as kind as they can be, it will be anything but pleasant when your folks and ours are added to them.”
”I don't wonder that you feel thus. The same thought has occurred to me and Kenton, and I guess every one else. Some other arrangement will have to be made. Captain Bushwick will have several strong cabins put up, if it looks as though you will have to stay more than a few days, or he may do better than that.”
”How?”
”Send us all to Boonesboro. That's where the great Daniel Boone, that's helping us just now, makes his home. It was named for him. It is a regular stockade, with a number of cabins inside, and abundant room for twenty families or more.”
”How far off is it?”
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