Big Brother: A Story of Indian War
Page 6
CHAPTER VI.
SURPRISED.
The baked corn and mussels made a savory dish, or one which would havebeen savory enough but for the absence of salt. The boys knew wellenough that salt was not to be had, however, and so they made a joke ofits absence, and even pretended that they did not like their food saltedat any time. Little Judie was so hungry that she cared very littlewhether food tasted well or not, provided it satisfied her appetite.
The rest and the more wholesome food seemed to restore Sam to somethinglike his customary strength during the first ten days of his stay in the"root fortress," as he had named their singular dwelling. His woundedfoot got better, though it was still far from well, and, better thanall, his fever left him. As he regained strength he began to lay plansagain. To stay where they were was well enough as a temporary device forescaping the savages, but Sam's main purpose now was to get the littlepeople under his charge back to civilization somewhere, and then to dohis part in the war between the Indians and whites. He must first find away to get Tom and Judie and Joe into one of the forts or into some safetown, and how to do this was the problem. He was unwilling to take themaway from their present pretty secure hiding-place until he could decideupon some definite plan offering a reasonable prospect of escape. If hecould have known as much as we now know of the movements of the savages,he would have had little difficulty. The larger part of the Indians hadleft the peninsula now forming Clarke County, and crossed to thesouth-eastern shore of the Alabama river,--the side on which Sam's rootfortress stood, and if he could have known this, he would have made aneffort to cross the river again and reach Fort Glass. The chiefdifficulty in the way of this undertaking would have been that ofcrossing the river, which was now swollen by recent rains. He knewnothing about the matter, however, and as Fort Mims, the first pointattacked by the savages, was on the south-east side of the river, hereasoned that having afterwards crossed to Clarke County the Indianswould not again cross to the south-east side in any considerable force.In this, as we know, he was mistaken, and the error led him into somedanger, as we shall see. Thinking the matter over, he decided that hisfirst plan of a march down through the Tensaw Country to theneighborhood of Mobile would be the safest and best thing to undertake.He was unwilling, however, to begin it with his companions withoutmaking a preliminary reconnoissance. Accordingly he explained the planto Tom and Joe, and said:
"I'm going to-night down towards old Fort Mims, to see if the country ispretty free from Indians, and to find out what I can about the chance ofgetting away from here. I'll leave you here with Judie, and you must beextra careful about exposing yourselves. You've corn and mussels andsweet potatoes enough already cooked, to last you a week, and I'llprobably be back before that; if not you must eat them raw till I docome: it won't do to build a fire while I'm away." After giving minutedirections for their guidance during his absence, Sam put a sweet potatoin one pocket and an ear of corn in the other, and set out on hisjourney, walking with a stout stick, having discarded his crutch as nolonger necessary. How far he walked that night, I am unable to say, hiscourse being a very circuitous one. The moon rose full, soon after dark,and shone so brightly that Sam dared not cross the fields, but skirtedaround them keeping constantly in the woods and the edges of canebrakes.The next night and the next he continued his journey, though he foundthe country full of Indians. He saw their "sign" everywhere, and now andthen saw some of the Indians themselves. The fourth evening found him solame (his foot having swelled and become painful again) that he couldnot possibly go on. He had already gone far enough to discover that thecountry on that side of the river was too full of Indians for him tocarry his little party safely through it, and so he determined to workhis way back to the root fortress, and try the other side. Seeing ahouse in a field near by the place in which he had spent the day, heresolved to visit it for the purpose of bringing away any article hecould find which might be useful to him in his effort to provide for hislittle band. In a grove near the house he found a horse,--a young andpowerful animal, and as he feared his lameness would not permit him toreach his root fortress again on foot, he determined to ride the animalin spite of the fact that on horseback he would be in much greaterdanger of discovery by the Indians than on foot. The horse had a bridleon, and had evidently escaped, probably during a skirmish, from itswhite or red master.
Sam tied him in the grove, and went on to the house, which had beensacked and partially burned. Looking around in the moonlight, Samdiscovered a hatchet, and, in the corner of what had once been astore-house, the remains of a barrel of salt. These were two valuablediscoveries. The hatchet would be of great service to him not only inthe root fortress but even more in forcing a pathway through thecanebrakes when he should again cross the river and try to reach one ofthe forts. The salt he must have at any cost, and as he had no bag hemade one by ripping off the sleeve of his coat and tying its ends withstrips of bark. He had just filled it, and tied up the ends when,hearing a noise, he turned, and saw two Indians within six feet of him.