CHAPTER XV. "THE ALCOVE"
They arrived at the fort as evening was coming on, and as soon as foodwas served to them the five sought sleep. The frontiersmen usually sleptsoundly and for a long time after prodigious exertions, and Henry andhis comrades were too wise to make an exception. They secured a singleroom inside the fort, one given to them gladly, because Mary Newtonhad already spread the fame of their exploits, and, laying aside theirhunting shirts and leggins, prepared for rest.
"Jim," said Shif'less Sol, pointing to a low piece of furniture, flatand broad, in one corner of the room, "that's a bed. Mebbe you don'tthink it, but people lay on top o' that an' sleep thar."
Long Jim grinned.
"Mebbe you're right, Sol," he said. "I hev seen sech things ez that, an'mebbe I've slep' on 'em, but in all them gran' old tales Paul tellsus about I never heard uv no big heroes sleepin' in beds. I guess theground wuz good 'nough for A-killus, Hector, Richard-Kur-de-Leong,an' all the rest uv that fightin' crowd, an' ez I'm that sort uv a manmyself I'll jest roll down here on the floor. Bein' as you're tender,Sol Hyde, an' not used to hard life in the woods, you kin take that bedyourself, an' in the mornin' your wally will be here with hot water ina silver mug an' a razor to shave you, an' he'll dress you in a ruffledred silk shirt an' a blue satin waistcoat, an' green satin breeches jestcomin' to the knee, where they meet yellow silk stockin's risin' outuv purple satin slippers, an' then he'll clap on your head a big wiguv snow-white hair, fallin' all about your shoulders an' he'll buckle asilver sword to your side, an' he'll say: 'Gentlemen, him that hez longbeen known ez Shif'less Sol, an' desarvin' the name, but who in realityis the King o' France, is now before you. Down on your knees an' sayyour prayers!'"
Shif'less Sol stared in astonishment.
"You say a wally will do all that fur me, Jim? Now, what under the sunis a wally?"
"I heard all about 'em from Paul," replied Long Jim in a tone of intensesatisfaction. "A wally is a man what does fur you what you ought to dofur yourself."
"Then I want one," said Shif'less Sol emphatically. "He'd jest suit alazy man like me. An' ez fur your makin' me the King o' France, mebbeyou're more'n half right about that without knowin' it. I hev all theinstincts uv a king. I like to be waited on, I like to eat when I'mhungry, I like to drink when I'm thirsty, I like to rest when I'm tired,an' I like to sleep when I'm sleepy. You've heard o' children changed atbirth by fairies an' sech like. Mebbe I'm the real King o' France,after all, an' my instincts are handed down to me from a thousand royalancestors."
"Mebbe it's so," rejoined Long Jim. "I've heard that thar hev been apow'ful lot uv foolish kings."
With that he put his two blankets upon the floor, lay down upon them,and was sound asleep in five minutes. But Shif'less Sol beat him toslumberland by at least a minute, and the others were not more than twominutes behind Sol.
Henry was the first up the next morning. A strong voice shouted inhis ear: "Henry Ware, by all that's glorious," and a hand pressed hisfingers together in an iron grasp. Henry beheld the tall, thin figureand smiling brown face of Adam Colfax, with whom he had made thatadventurous journey up the Mississippi and Ohio.
"And the others?" was the first question of Adam Colfax.
"They're all here asleep inside. We've been through a lot of things, butwe're as sound as ever."
"That's always a safe prediction to make," said Adam Colfax, smiling. "Inever saw five other human beings with such a capacity for getting outof danger."
"We were all at Wyoming, and we all still live."
The face of the New Englander darkened.
"Wyoming!" he exclaimed. "I cannot hear of it without every vein growinghot within me."
"We saw things done there," said Henry gravely, "the telling of which fewmen can bear to hear."
"I know! I know!" exclaimed Adam Colfax. "The news of it has spreadeverywhere!"
"What we want," said Henry, "is revenge. It is a case in which we muststrike back, and strike hard. If this thing goes on, not a whitelife will be safe on the whole border from the St. Lawrence to theMississippi."
"It is true," said Adam Colfax, "and we would send an army now againstthe Iroquois and their allies, but, Henry, my lad, our fortunes are attheir lowest there in the East, where the big armies are fighting. Thatis the reason why nobody has been sent to protect our rear guard, whichhas suffered so terribly. You may be sure, too, that the Iroquois willstrike in this region again as often and as hard as they can. I makemore than half a guess that you and your comrades are here because youknow this."
He looked shrewdly at the boy.
"Yes," said Henry, "that is so. Somehow we were drawn into it, but beinghere we are glad to stay. Timmendiquas, the great chief who fought usso fiercely on the Ohio, is with the Iroquois, with a detachment of hisWyandots, and while he, as I know, frowns on the Wyoming massacre, hemeans to help Thayendanegea to the end."
Adam Colfax looked graver than ever.
"That is bad," he said. "Timmendiquas is a mighty warrior and leader,but there is also another way of looking at it. His presence here willrelieve somewhat the pressure on Kentucky. I ought to tell you, Henry,that we got through safely with our supplies to the Continental army,and they could not possibly have been more welcome. They arrived just intime."
The others came forth presently and were greeted with the same warmth byAdam Colfax.
"It is shore mighty good for the eyes to see you, Mr. Colfax," saidShif'less Sol, "an' it's a good sign. Our people won when you were onthe Mississippi an' the Ohio'--an' now that you're here, they're goin'to win again."
"I think we are going to win here and everywhere," said Adam Colfax,"but it is not because there is any omen in my presence. It is becauseour people will not give up, and because our quarrel is just."
The stanch New Englander left on the following day for points farthereast, planning and carrying out some new scheme to aid the patriotcause, and the five, on the day after that, received a message writtenon a piece of paper which was found fastened to a tree on the outskirtsof the settlement. It was addressed to "Henry Ware and Those with Him,"and it read:
"You need not think because you escaped us at Wyoming and on the Susquehanna that you will ever get back to Kentucky. There is amighty league now on the whole border between the Indians and the soldiers of the king. You have seen at Wyoming what we can do, and you will see at other places and on a greater scale what we will do.
"I find my own position perfect. It is true that Timmendiquas does not like me, but he is not king here. I am the friend of the great Brant; and Hiokatoo, Sangerachte, Hahiron, and the other chiefs esteem me. I am thick with Colonel John Butler, the victor of Wyoming; his son, the valiant and worthy Walter Butler; Sir John Johnson, Colonel Guy Johnson, Colonel Daniel Claus, and many other eminent men and brave soldiers.
"I write these words, Henry Ware, both to you and your comrades, to tell you that our cause will prevail over yours. I do not doubt that when you read this you will try to escape to Kentucky, but when we have destroyed everything along the eastern border, as we have at Wyoming, we shall come to Kentucky, and not a rebel face will be left there.
"I am sending this to tell you that there is no hole in which you can hide where we cannot reach you. With my respects, BRAXTON WYATT."
Henry regarded the letter with contempt.
"A renegade catches something of the Indian nature," he said, "andalways likes to threaten and boast."
But Shif'less Sol was highly indignant.
"Sometimes I think," he said, "that the invention o' writin' wuz amistake. You kin send a man a letter an' call him names an' talk mightybig when he's a hundred miles away, but when you've got to stan' upto him face to face an' say it, wa'al, you change your tune an' sing apow'ful sight milder. You ain't gen'ally any roarin' lion then."
"I think I'll keep this letter," said Henry, "an' we five will give ananswer to it l
ater on."
He tapped the muzzle of his rifle, and every one of the four gravelytapped the muzzle of his own rifle after him. It was a significantaction. Nothing more was needed.
The next morning they bade farewell to the grateful Mary Newton andher children, and with fresh supplies of food and ammunition, chieflyammunition, left the fort, plunging once more into the deep forest. Itwas their intention to do as much damage as they could to the Iroquois,until some great force, capable of dealing with the whole Six Nations,was assembled. Meanwhile, five redoubtable and determined bordererscould achieve something.
It was about the first of August, and they were in the midst of thegreat heats. But it was a period favoring Indian activity, which was nowat its highest pitch. Since Wyoming, loaded with scalps, flushed withvictory, and aided by the king's men, they felt equal to anything.Only the strongest of the border settlements could hold them back. Thecolonists here were so much reduced, and so little help could besent them from the East, that the Iroquois were able to divide intoinnumerable small parties and rake the country as with a fine toothcomb. They never missed a lone farmhouse, and rarely was any fugitivein the woods able to evade them. And they were constantly fed from theNorth with arms, ammunition, rewards for scalps, bounties, and greatpromises.
But toward the close of August the Iroquois began to hear of a silentand invisible foe, an evil spirit that struck them, and that struckhard. There were battles of small forces in which sometimes not a singleIroquois escaped. Captives were retaken in a half-dozen instances, andthe warriors who escaped reported that their assailants were of uncommonsize and power. They had all the cunning of the Indian and more, andthey carried rifles that slew at a range double that of those served tothem at the British posts. It was a certainty that they were guided bythe evil spirit, because every attempt to capture them failed miserably.No one could find where they slept, unless it was those who never cameback again.
The Iroquois raged, and so did the Butlers and the Johnsons and BraxtonWyatt. This was a flaw in their triumph, and the British and Tories saw,also, that it was beginning to affect the superstitions of their redallies. Braxton Wyatt made a shrewd guess as to the identity of theraiders, but he kept quiet. It is likely, also, that Timmendiquas knew,but be, too, said nothing. So the influence of the raiders grew. Whiletheir acts were great, superstition exaggerated them and their powersmanifold. And it is true that their deeds were extraordinary. They wereheard of on the Susquehanna, then on the Delaware and its branches, onthe Chemung and the Chenango, as far south as Lackawaxen Creek, and asfar north as Oneida Lake. It is likely that nobody ever accomplishedmore for a defense than did those five in the waning months of thesummer. Late in September the most significant of all these eventsoccurred. A party of eight Tories, who had borne a terrible part inthe Wyoming affair, was attacked on the shores of Otsego Lake with suchdeadly fierceness that only two escaped alive to the camp of Sir JohnJohnson. Brant sent out six war parties, composed of not less thantwenty warriors apiece, to seek revenge, but they found nothing.
Henry and his comrades had found a remarkable camp at the edge of one ofthe beautiful small lakes in which the region abounds. The cliff at thatpoint was high, but a creek entered into it through a ravine. At theentrance of the creek into the river they found a deep alcove, or,rather, cave in the rock. It ran so far back that it afforded ampleshelter from the rain, and that was all they wanted. It was abouthalfway between the top and bottom of the cliff, and was difficult ofapproach both from below and above. Unless completely surprised-a veryunlikely thing with them-the five could hold it against any force aslong as their provisions lasted. They also built a boat large enough forfive, which they hid among the bushes at the lake's edge. They were thusprovided with a possible means of escape across the water in case of thelast emergency.
Jim and Paul, who, as usual, filled the role of housekeepers, took greatdelight in fitting up this forest home, which the fittingly called "TheAlcove." The floor of solid stone was almost smooth, and with the aid ofother heavy stones they broke off all projections, until one could walkover it in the dark in perfect comfort. They hung the walls withskins of deer which they killed in the adjacent woods, and these wallsfurnished many nooks and crannies for the storing of necessities. Theyalso, with much hard effort, brought many loads of firewood, which LongJim was to use for his cooking. He built his little fireplace of stonesso near the mouth of "The Alcove" that the smoke would pass out and belost in the thick forest all about. If the wind happened to be blowingtoward the inside of the cave, the smoke, of course, would come in onthem all, but Jim would not be cooking then.
Nor did their operations cease until they had supplied "The Alcove"plentifully with food, chiefly jerked deer meat, although there was noway in which they could store water, and for that they had to taketheir chances. But their success, the product of skill and everlastingcaution, was really remarkable. Three times they were trapped within afew miles of "The Alcove," but the pursuers invariably went astray onthe hard, rocky ground, and the pursued would also take the precautionto swim down the creek before climbing up to "The Alcove." Nobody couldfollow a trail in the face of such difficulties.
It was Henry and Shif'less Sol who were followed the second time, butthey easily shook off their pursuers as the twilight was coming, halfwaded, half swam down the creek, and climbed up to "The Alcove," wherethe others were waiting for them with cooked food and clear cold water.When they had eaten and were refreshed, Shif'less Sol sat at the mouthof "The Alcove," where a pleasant breeze entered, despite the foliagethat hid the entrance. The shiftless one was in an especially happymood.
"It's a pow'ful comf'table feelin'," he said, "to set up in a nice safeplace like this, an' feel that the woods is full o' ragin' heathen,seekin' to devour you, and wonderin' whar you've gone to. Thar's a heapin knowin' how to pick your home. I've thought more than once 'bout thatold town, Troy, that Paul tells us 'bout, an' I've 'bout made up my mindthat it wuzn't destroyed 'cause Helen eat too many golden apples, but'cause old King Prime, or whoever built the place, put it down in aplain. That wuz shore a pow'ful foolish thing. Now, ef he'd built it ona mountain, with a steep fall-off on every side, thar wouldn't hev beenenough Greeks in all the earth to take it, considerin' the miserableweepins they used in them times. Why, Hector could hev set tight on thewalls, laughin' at 'em, 'stead o' goin' out in the plain an' gittin'killed by A-killus, fur which I've always been sorry."
"It's 'cause people nowadays have more sense than they did in themancient times that Paul tells about," said Long Jim. "Now, thar wuz'Lyssus, ten or twelve years gittin' home from Troy. Allus runnin'his ship on the rocks, hoppin' into trouble with four-legged giants,one-eyed women, an' sech like. Why didn't he walk home through thewoods, killin' game on the way, an' hevin' the best time he ever knowed?Then thar wuz the keerlessness of A-killus' ma, dippin' him in thatriver so no arrow could enter him, but holdin' him by the heel an'keepin' it out o' the water, which caused his death the very first timeParis shot it off with his little bow an' arrer. Why didn't she hevsense enough to let the heel go under, too. She could hev dragged it outin two seconds an' no harm done 'ceptin', perhaps, a little more yellin'on the part of A-killus."
"I've always thought Paul hez got mixed 'bout that Paris story," saidTom Ross. "I used to think Paris was the name uv a town, not a man, an'I'm beginnin' to think so ag'in, sence I've been in the East, 'cause Iknow now that's whar the French come from."
"But Paris was the name of a man," persisted Paul. "Maybe the Frenchnamed their capital after the Paris of the Trojan wars."
"Then they showed mighty poor jedgment," said Shif'less Sol. "Ef I'dnamed my capital after any them old fellers, I'd have called it Hector."
"You can have danger enough when you're on the tops of hills," saidHenry, who was sitting near the mouth of the cave. "Come here, youfellows, and see what's passing down the lake."
They looked out, and in the moonlight saw six large war canoes beingrowed slowly down the lake, which,
though narrow, was quite long. Eachcanoe held about a dozen warriors, and Henry believed that one of themcontained two white faces, evidently those of Braxton Wyatt and WalterButler.
"Like ez not they've been lookin' fur us," said Tom Ross.
"Quite likely," said Henry, "and at the same time they may be engaged insome general movement. See, they will pass within fifty feet of the baseof the cliff."
The five lay on the cave floor, looking through the vines and foliage,and they felt quite sure that they were in absolute security. The sixlong war canoes moved slowly. The moonlight came out more brightly, andflooded all the bronze faces of the Iroquois. Henry now saw that he wasnot mistaken, and that Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler were really inthe first boat. From the cover of the cliff he could have picked offeither with a rifle bullet, and the temptation was powerful. But heknew that it would lead to an immediate siege, from which they might notescape, and which at least would check their activities and plans for along time. Similar impulses flitted through the minds of the other four,but all kept still, although fingers flitted noiselessly along riflestocks until they touched triggers.
The Iroquois war fleet moved slowly on, the two renegades never dreamingof the danger that had threatened them. An unusually bright ray ofmoonshine fell full upon Braxton Wyatt's face as he paused, and Henry'sfinger played with the trigger of his rifle. It was hard, very hard, tolet such an opportunity go by, but it must be done.
The fleet moved steadily down the lake, the canoes keeping closetogether. They turned into mere dots upon the water, became smaller andsmaller still, until they vanished in the darkness.
"I'm thinkin'," said Shif'less Sol, "that thar's some kind uv a movementon foot. While they may hev been lookin' fur us, it ain't likely thatthey'd send sixty warriors or so fur sech a purpose. I heard somethingthree or four days ago from a hunter about an attack upon the Iroquoistown of Oghwaga."
"It's most likely true," said Henry, "and it seems to me that it's ourbusiness to join that expedition. What do you fellows think?"
"Just as you do," they replied with unanimity.
"Then we leave this place and start in the morning," said Henry.
The Scouts of the Valley Page 15