by James Otis
CHAPTER XII.
A NOVEL BATTLE.
It was yet so dark in the forest that one must needs strain his eyes todistinguish objects ten paces in advance, therefore it can be readilyunderstood how near to us were the howling wolves, when I say that theyset up a shout of mingled triumph and menace as we thus brought the raceto a close.
It was evident they believed we were now in their power, and indeedthere was much the same thought in my mind when I had aroused from thestupor of exhaustion sufficiently to take note of our surroundings.
Simon Kenton had led us into the midst of a pile of fallen timberovergrown with vines and young bushes, which covered a space of perhapsan hundred square feet. It was a place of refuge which stood in apartially cleared spot, and might readily be surrounded, while, to makeour way out, it would be necessary to offer one's body as a target towhomsoever might be on watch.
In the gloom of the morning it had appeared to be a better place fordefense than really was the case, and I question if the scout would havehalted here had he understood what it really was.
While we remained in the very center of the mass we were screened fromview, and could see a goodly portion of all that might be going onaround us; but when that has been said all the advantages of the placehave been described.
In order to get out of it, once we were inside, it would be necessary,as I have already said, to expose ourselves to the fire of the enemy,and before many hours should elapse we would be forced to take to ourheels unless we were minded to die of hunger or thirst.
We no longer had any food with us, and there was not a drop of waternearer than the river. Already it seemed as if my mouth was parched tothe point of swelling, and because it was beyond my reach, I longed mostintensely for something to quench thirst.
The knowledge of our situation, as I have set it down here, came upon meimmediately after I recovered slightly from the effects of the fatiguecaused by the swift race, and, looking into Simon Kenton's face, I knewfull well he had become aware of our disagreeable situation.
Little Paul Sampson, plucky lad that he had proven himself to be, wasthe only one who appeared indifferent to the danger.
When it was possible for him to sit upright, for he had been more nearlyexhausted than I was, instead of trying to discover all thedisadvantages of the place, he began to do his share toward the defenseby crawling beneath the fallen timber until he could command a good viewof that portion of the forest from which we had come, and at the sametime screen his own body from those who were most likely searching withtheir keen eyes for a living target.
I believe Simon Kenton read from my face the thoughts which were in mymind, for he said slowly, as if weighing well each word:
"It must be a battle rather than simply a time of defense. We can holdour position without any great sufferin' for four-an'-twenty hours; butat the end of that time there's bound to be a change if we count onseein' Corn Island again."
"How will you bring about a battle unless the savages are disposed togive us the chance?" I asked petulantly. "They can remain under coverany length of time, and yet keep us in view. It isn't a case ofstarvation with them."
"A man is never beaten until he loses hope," the scout replied cheerily,and the words were no more than spoken before Paul's rifle rang outsharply.
"There's one the less!" the lad cried triumphantly. "They're creeping upto get a shot at us, an' we've only to keep our eyes open in order tolessen their number greatly 'twixt now and sunrise."
These brave words brought me out of my fit of despondency in atwinkling, and with a sense of shame that this lad from the east shouldshow himself more of a man than myself, I crept down to the edge of ourbarricade.
Now we three lay where could be had a view of all our surroundings, andduring the next hour, at the end of which time the sun was sending longshafts of light through the openings in the forest, we succeeded insending five of the scoundrels to their happy hunting-grounds, or backunder cover disabled by serious wounds.
Such a beginning gave me great courage, until I came to realize that itwas not probable the reptiles would expose themselves so readily afterhaving received such a sharp lesson.
Simon Kenton had evidently made up his mind to some course of actionwhich promised success, for he said cheerily when it was certain the redsnakes had withdrawn to a safe distance:
"You two lads are to bottle up some sleep now, for unless I'm mistakenwe shall make a change of quarters by sunset."
"There's little hope they'll let us go out of here with our lives," Ireplied despondently, and the scout added sharply:
"Thus far we have no reason to complain, an' we won't prove ourselvesfools by lookin' into the future for trouble. Get to sleep, lads, for atnoon I shall claim the same privilege."
Weary as we were, it was not a difficult task to close our eyes inslumber, and within five minutes from the giving of the order we weresleeping soundly, not to awaken until the sun was directly overhead,when the scout shook us into wakefulness.
"You've had a good six hours of rest, an' I'm countin' on scoopin' inonly three. Keep a sharp watch till the afternoon is half spent, an'then rouse me."
"Why should you not sleep as long as we have?" I asked as Paul creptthrough the logs to where he could best have a view of our surroundings.
"Because then will have come the time when we must make ready for such abattle as will satisfy yonder brutes that it is not safe to run downthree white men with the idea of cornerin' them in a forest like this."
Without explaining what he proposed to do, Simon Kenton betook himselfto his well-earned rest, and we lads stood guard to the best of ourability.
Three hours passed in silence, and during that time we had not seen evena tuft of feathers to betoken the whereabouts of an enemy.
By allowing my mind to dwell upon the disagreeable fact that we werewithout food or water, I was suffering intensely from both hunger andthirst, and because of thus yielding free rein to imagination, I wasdispirited and hopeless.
Paul took it upon himself to arouse the scout, and once Kenton's eyeswere open he set about bringing on the battle of which he had spoken.
A few moments' work with our knives sufficed to provide each of us witha long pole, and then he explained his plan.
According to his orders, we were to lie on the ground with our riflesready for use, and with the poles make such a rustling of the foliage aswould cause the enemy to believe we were creeping out.
It would be but natural the savages should fire whenever they saw aswaying of the bushes or branches; but, because of the length of thepoles, we would not be near enough to the point of disturbance to runany great chance of being hit by the bullets.
From out of our barricade whistled three bullets, and every one found its mark. Page 259. _On the Kentucky Frontier._]
Kenton had given the name of "battle" to this maneuver of his; but itwas neither more nor less than a trick, and such an one as thesavages themselves most delighted in.
They had no good cause to be joyous over this one, however, for itworked as Kenton had counted on, and before the painted wolvesunderstood the game, they had received a lesson such as I warrant theynever forgot.
When the three of us were in position Simon Kenton gave the signal, andwe prodded vigorously with the poles.
In a twinkling half a dozen rifles were discharged from different pointsamid the foliage, thus showing that the enemy was keeping sharp watch,and we each had a target.
From, out of our barricade whistled three bullets, and every one foundits mark!
It was only with difficulty that I repressed a cry of triumph, for now Ibegan to understand that we might soon clear a way for ourselves, unlessthis band of reptiles had more real courage than their race usuallydisplayed when pitted against white men.
After an interval of five minutes or more we repeated the maneuver,receiving a similar reply as before, and were able to deal death orwounds to another trio.
"Six wiped ou
t or disabled in as many minutes!" Simon Kenton said in alow tone of triumph. "What do you think now of my battle, lads?"
"If they will fall into the trap twice more, we can count on having thisbank of the river to ourselves," I replied incautiously loud, and thescout said warningly:
"Have a care, Louis, have a care. If they suspect what kind of a game weare playin' there'll be little chance of their doin' as we wish."
Well, lest I draw this poor tale out to such length as to weary him whomay read, it is enough if I say that three times more did we succeed infinding targets for our rifles by using the poles vigorously, and I wascertain that from the moment the scout was awakened until the savagesrefused to come out at our bidding, we had sent bullets into no lessthan thirteen of them.
Considering the fact that their number could not have exceeded forty,judging from what we had seen and heard, this work of ours was wellcalculated to discourage them.
They had poured into the pile of logs no less than an hundred bullets,and yet we had not received a scratch!
I almost forgot that I was hungry or thirsty, for the fever of killingwas upon me, and my one hope was that we might draw them two or threetimes more in order to give the villainous brutes such a lesson inblood-letting as they had never learned before.
In this I was disappointed, however, for the snakes had either come tounderstand our game, or were drawn off to nurse their wounds, and we sawno more of them.
At nightfall we stole cautiously out from among the fallen timber, andnot a shot was sent after us.
A mile or more from the scene of our greatest triumph we made a haltthat we might quench our thirst from the river, and during the night ourmarch was less hurried than when we began the race.
We stopped for breakfast next morning, after shooting a turkey, and bythis time it was certain that the painted reptiles who had relied onspilling our blood, no longer retained such desire at the price we setupon it.
After this we pushed forward at a leisurely pace, and in comparativesecurity, until we arrived at Corn Island, where my mother greeted Pauland me as if we were come from the dead.
What we did there, or what further adventures befell Simon Kenton beforehe was able to revisit his home in Virginia, is not for me to set downhere, since it forms a tale by itself. Neither can I relate how I made ahome for my mother in that new settlement which came to be known by thename of Louisville; but it seems necessary I should copy from whatanother has written, the story of how Major Clarke succeeded inwresting the valley of the Mississippi from the clutches of the British,and with such account I bring this writing to an end, hoping others mayfind as much pleasure in the reading as I have in the writing of it.
* * * * *
"On the twenty-ninth of January, 1779, intelligence was received thatGovernor Hamilton had marched an expedition against Vincennes, fromDetroit, nearly a month previously, and that the town was again inpossession of the enemy. It was also said that another and moreformidable expedition was to be sent out in the spring to recaptureKaskaskia, and to assail the various posts on the Kentucky frontier.With his usual promptness and energy Colonel Clarke (the Virginialegislature had recently promoted him) prepared to anticipate the enemy,and strike the first blow.
"He planned an expedition against Vincennes, and on the seventh ofFebruary commenced his march through the wilderness, with one hundredand seventy-five men. He had previously despatched Captain Rogers andforty men, two four-pounders, and a boat, with orders to force their wayup the Wabash to a point near the mouth of White River, and there waitfor further orders.
"For a whole week Colonel Clarke's party traversed the drowned lands ofIllinois, suffering every privation from wet, cold and hunger. When theyarrived at the Little Wabash, at a point where the forks of the streamare three miles apart, they found the intervening space covered withwater to a depth of three feet. The points of dry land were five milesapart, and all that distance those hardy soldiers waded the coldsnow-flood, sometimes armpit deep.
"On the evening of the eighteenth they halted a little distance from themouth of Embarrass Creek, and so near Vincennes that they could hear thebooming of the evening gun. Here they encamped for the night, and thenext morning at dawn, with their faces blackened with gunpowder to makethemselves appear hideous, they crossed the river in a boat they hadsecured, and pushed on through the floods toward the town.
"Just as they reached dry land, in sight of Vincennes, they captured aresident, and sent him into the town with a letter demanding theimmediate surrender of the place and fort. The people, taken bysurprise, were greatly alarmed, and believed the expedition to be fromKentucky, composed of the fierce and strong of that advancingcommonwealth. Had armed men dropped in their midst from the clouds, theycould not have been more astonished, for it seemed impossible for thislittle band to have traversed the deluged country. The people weredisposed to comply with the demand, but Governor Hamilton, who commandedin person, would not allow it.
"A siege commenced, and for fourteen hours a furious conflict continued.The next day the town and fort were surrendered, and the garrison weremade prisoners of war. The stars and stripes took the place of the redcross of St. George; a round of thirteen guns proclaimed the victory,and that night the exhausted troops of Colonel Clarke reposed incomfort."
THE END