The Scouts of the Valley Part 11

They pulled triggers, there were two sharp reports terribly loud to both under the circ.u.mstances, and three of the biggest and fattest of the turkeys fell heavily to the ground, while the rest flapped their wings, and with frightened gobbles flew away.

Henry was about to rush forward, but Silent Tom held him back.

"Don't show yourself, Henry! Don't show yourself!" he cried in tense tones.

"Why, what's the matter?" asked the boy in surprise.

"Don't you see that three turkeys fell, and we are only two to shoot?

An Injun is layin' 'roun' here some whar, an' he drawed a bead on one uv them turkeys at the same time we did."

Henry laughed and put away Tom's detaining hand.

"There's no Indian about," he said. "I killed two turkeys with one shot, and I'm mighty proud of it, too. I saw that they were directly in the line of the bullet, and it went through both."

Silent Tom heaved a mighty sigh of relief, drawn up from great depths.

"I'm tre-men-jeous-ly glad uv that, Henry," he said. "Now when I saw that third turkey come tumblin' down I wuz sh.o.r.e that one Injun or mebbe more had got on this snug little place uv ourn in the swamp, an' that we'd hev to go to fightin' ag'in. Thar come times, Henry, when my mind just natchally rises up an' rebels ag'in fightin', 'specially when I want to eat or sleep. Ain't thar anythin' else but fight, fight, fight, 'though I 'low a feller hez got to expect a lot uv it out here in the woods?"

They picked up the three turkeys, two gobblers and a hen, and found them large and fat as b.u.t.ter. More than once the wild turkey had come to their relief, and, in fact, this bird played a great part in the life of the frontier, wherever that frontier might be, as it s.h.i.+fted steadily westward. As they walked back toward the hut they faced three figures, all three with leveled rifles.

"All right, boys," sang out Henry. "It's n.o.body but Tom and myself, bringing in our breakfast."

The three dropped their rifles.

"That's good," said s.h.i.+f'less Sol. "When them shots roused us out o'

our beauty sleep we thought the whole Iroquois nation, horse, foot, artillery an' baggage wagons, wuz comin' down upon us. So we reckoned we'd better go out an' lick 'em afore it wuz too late.

"But it's you, an' you've got turkeys, nothin' but turkeys. Sho' I reckoned from the peart way Long Jim spoke up that you wuz loaded down with hummin' birds' tongues, ortylans, an' all them other Roman and Roos.h.i.+an delicacies Paul talks about in a way to make your mouth water.

But turkeys! jest turkeys! Nothin' but turkeys!"

"You jest wait till you see me cookin' 'em, Sol Hyde," said Long Jim.

"Then your mouth'll water, an' it'll take Henry and Tom both to hold you back."

But s.h.i.+f'less Sol's mouth was watering already, and his eyes were glued on the turkeys.

"I'm a pow'ful lazy man, ez you know, Saplin'," he said, "but I'm goin'

to help you pick them turkeys an' get 'em ready for the coals. The quicker they are cooked the better it'll suit me."

While they were cooking the turkeys, Henry, a little anxious lest the sound of the shots had been heard, crossed on the stepping stones and scouted a bit in the woods. But there was no sign of Indian presence, and, relieved, he returned to the islet just as breakfast was ready.

Long Jim had exerted all his surpa.s.sing skill, and it was a contented five that worked on one of the turkeys--the other two being saved for further needs.

"What's goin' to be the next thing in the line of our duty, Henry?"

asked Long Jim as they ate.

"We'll have plenty to do, from all that Sol tells us," replied the boy.

"It seems that they felt so sure of you, while you were prisoners, that they often talked about their plans where you could hear them. Sol has told me of two or three talks between Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea, and from the last one he gathered that they're intending a raid with a big army against a place called Wyoming, in the valley of a river named the Susquehanna. It's a big settlement, scattered all along the river, and they expect to take a lot of scalps. They're going to be helped by British from Canada and Tories. Boys, we're a long way from home, but shall we go and tell them in Wyoming what's coming?"

"Of course," said the four together.

"Our bein' a long way from home don't make any difference," said s.h.i.+f'less Sol. "We're generally a long way from home, an' you know we sent word back from Pittsburgh to Wareville that we wuz stayin' a while here in the east on mighty important business."

"Then we go to the Wyoming Valley as straight and as fast as we can,"

said Henry. "That's settled. What else did you bear about their plans, Sol?"

"They're to break up the village here soon and then they'll march to a place called Tioga. The white men an' I hear that's to be a lot uv 'em-will join 'em thar or sooner. They've sent chiefs all the way to our Congress at Philydelphy, pretendin' peace, an' then, when they git our people to thinkin' peace, they'll jump on our settlements, the whole ragin' army uv 'em, with tomahawk an' knife. A white man named John Butler is to command 'em."

Paul shuddered.

"I've heard of him," he said. "They called him 'Indian' Butler at Pittsburgh. He helped lead the Indians in that terrible battle of the Oriskany last year. And they say he's got a son, Walter Butler, who is as bad as he is, and there are other white leaders of the Indians, the Johnsons and Claus."

"'Pears ez ef we would be needed," said Tom Ross.

"I don't think we ought to hurry," said Henry. "The more we know about the Indian plans the better it will be for the Wyoming people. We've a safe and comfortable hiding place here, and we can stay and watch the Indian movements."

"Suits me," drawled s.h.i.+f'less Sol. "My legs an' arms are still stiff from them deerskin thongs an' ez Long Jim is here now to wait on me I guess I'll take a rest from travelin."

"You'll do all your own waitin' on yourself," rejoined Long Jim; "an' I'm afraid you won't be waited on so Pow'ful well, either, but a good deal better than you deserve."

They lay on the islet several days, meanwhile keeping a close watch on the Indian camp. They really had little to fear except from hunting parties, as the region was far from any settled portion of the country, and the Indians were not likely to suspect their continued presence.

But the hunters were numerous, and all the squaws in the camp were busy jerking meat. It was obvious that the Indians were preparing for a great campaign, but that they would take their own time. Most of the scouting was done by Henry and Sol, and several times they lay in the thick brushwood and watched, by the light of the fires, what was pa.s.sing in the Indian camp.

On the fifth night after the rescue of Long Jim, Henry and s.h.i.+f'less Sol lay in the covert. It was nearly midnight, but the fires still burned in the Indian camp, warriors were polis.h.i.+ng their weapons, and the women were cutting up or jerking meat. While they were watching they heard from a point to the north the sound of a voice rising and failing in a kind of chant.

"Another war party comin'," whispered s.h.i.+f'less Sol, "an' singin' about the victories that they're goin' to win."

"But did you notice that voice?" Henry whispered back. "It's not a man's, it's a woman's."

"Now that you speak of it, you're right," said s.h.i.+f'less Sol. "It's funny to hear an Injun woman chantin' about battles as she comes into camp. That's the business o' warriors."

"Then this is no ordinary woman," said Henry.

"They'll pa.s.s along that trail there within twenty yards of us, Sol, and we want to see her."

"So we do," said Sol, "but I ain't breathin' while they pa.s.s."

They flattened themselves against the earth until the keenest eye could not see them in the darkness. All the time the singing was growing louder, and both remained, quite sure that it was the voice of a woman.

The trail was but a short distance away, and the moon was bright. The fierce Indian chant swelled, and presently the most singular figure that either had ever seen came into view.

The figure was that of an Indian woman, but lighter in color than most of her kind. She was middle-aged, tall, heavily built, and arrayed in a strange mixture of civilized and barbaric finery, deerskin leggins and moccasins gorgeously ornamented with heads, a red dress of European cloth with a red shawl over it, and her head bare except for bright feathers, thrust in her long black hair, which hung loosely down her back. She held in one hand a large sharp tomahawk, which she swung fiercely in time to her song. Her face had the rapt, terrible expression of one who had taken some fiery and powerful drug, and she looked neither to right nor to left as she strode on, chanting a song of blood, and swinging the keen blade.

Henry and s.h.i.+f'less Sol shuddered. They had looked upon terrible human figures, but nothing so frightful as this, a woman with the strength of a man and twice his rage and cruelty. There was something weird and awful in the look of that set, savage face, and the tone of that Indian chant. Brave as they were, Henry and the s.h.i.+ftless one felt fear, as perhaps they had never felt it before in their lives. Well they might!

They were destined to behold this woman again, under conditions the most awful of which the human mind can conceive, and to witness savagery almost unbelievable in either man or woman. The two did not yet know it, but they were looking upon Catharine Montour, daughter of a French Governor General of Canada and an Indian woman, a chieftainess of the Iroquois, and of a memory infamous forever on the border, where she was known as "Queen Esther."

s.h.i.+f'less Sol shuddered again, and whispered to Henry:

"I didn't think such women ever lived, even among the Indians."

A dozen warriors followed Queen Esther, stepping in single file, and their manner showed that they acknowledged her their leader in every sense. She was truly an extraordinary woman. Not even the great Thayendanegea himself wielded a stronger influence among the Iroquois.