University of Virginia Library

13. CHAPTER XIII.

And I did dream of happiness; for I threw my
self upon my pillow, full of hope. I could account
for this in part, but not fully. How it was I knew
not; but I found myself relying on the resources

of my new ally, as on the instincts of a sagacious
log. They are totally different from any faculty
we possess, and quite incomprehensible to us; but
we trust to them none the less. We watch his
movements; we note the expression of his eye
and action; and, whether we would seek our
game, or shun danger, we are sure that he will
admonish us truly and in time. Thus I found myself
noting all the movements of Balcombe's expressive
countenance, nothing doubting, that, by
he time I had gotten to the end of my tale, he
would know more about it than I did.

We had scarcely done breakfast the next morning
before all things were ready for the road.

“I have mounted you on a fresh horse,” said
Balcombe, after handing his wife into the carriage.
“There is no knowing what need we may have of
him. A man who goes on a warfare in this wild
region should be prepared for anything. Are you
well armed?”

“I have a dirk,” said I.

“That will do for to-day; but you must be
better equipped before we go into action.”

“Why so?”

“Because it may be necessary. A canting
hypocrite, when once necessity drives him to overcome
his scruples, is the most desperate of all villains.
Let Montague see us hedging him around,
and it will soon occur to him that you alone are
interested to detect his villany, and that I know
what is known to no one else. If our lives were

in his power at this moment, they would not be
worth an hour's purchase. But he shall know
nothing of us until I choose.”

“And what do you propose to do?”

“Reconnoitre, and make my dispositions accordingly.”

“Do you still protest against the incognito?”

“That is as hereafter may be. We might throw
away an advantage by disclosing our hand prematurely.
It may be well to give a false lead at first
by way of feeler. But we shall see. Look around
you; do you admire this scenery?”

“It is beautiful, but too uniform. The monotony
of such an extent of champaign country must be
tedious after a while.”

“It would be so, were it not occasionally exchanged
for views of very opposite character.”

“But I see none such in the country.”

“That is because you keep the high roads, which
follow the windings of the prairie ridges. Look
before and behind. Do you not see how very
crooked the road is?”

“I do; but I see no reason for it.”

“The reason is that nature has made a good
road here. A straighter one would require labour,
and we have none to spare on such objects.”

“But the obstacles must be very trivial.”

“Have you a mind to see some of them? Tom,
we are going the near way; if we get to the fork
of the road before you, we will wait for you. If
not, wait for us.”

So saying, we struck off to the right, and presently
fell into a dim path, which we had just passed,
and which led directly towards a point of timber
jutting into the prairie. On entering this we presently
began to descend a hollow, the sides of which
became steeper as we went, and soon wound our
way down to the bank of a small brawling stream.
Along this our path led. On the farther side of it
lay a wooded flat of considerable extent; but our
path was fenced in by the stream on the right, and
on the left by a lofty precipice, rising perpendicuearly
to the height of a hundred feet, and presenting
an unbroken wall of naked limestone. Presently
the hill closed in on the other side, and we followed
the stream through a narrow dell, resembling in
rugged wildness the gorges of the Allegany.

“What say you?” said Balcombe. “Is it not
is well to compromise with nature, and take such
roads as she gives us, as to battle with these
rocks?”

“Half an hour ago,” said I, “I should have been
incredulous, had I been told there was such a scene
as this within fifty miles.”

“I am glad I brought you this way. Besides,
I told you last night that I liked sometimes to be
the hero of my own tale, and here is the scene of
one of my adventures. Were you ever on a battle
ground?”

“At little York.”

“In company with any who had fought there?”

“No. I should delight to traverse the scene of
a battle with one of the combatants.”

“Well, you shall have that pleasure. The
windings of this rill will lead us to the place, and
in the mean time I will give you the preliminaries.

“It was five years ago, just after the treaty of
peace with England. The Indians had not made
peace, but we, anticipating it, had become secure
and supine. A poor fellow in this neighbourhood
was standing near his cabin with his wife and two
little children, when a party of Indians suddenly
appeared. They immediately ran for the house.
The Indians, with characteristic coolness, did not
fire, but took deliberate and steady aim at the
door. As each entered, a rifle went off. The
woman fell dead into the house. The man, badly
wounded, tumbled over her. A girl, who was
within, barred the door. The children were tomahawked
in the yard. The girl fired a random shot
between the logs, and sounded a large tin trumpet,
such as was kept in every house to give signals of
alarm. The Indians made off, and the whole settlement
assembled in arms.

“Besides the inhabitants, there was part of a
company of rangers billeted there, among whom
was their captain, as brave a fellow as ever
breathed. I happened to be hereabout, and joined
the party.

“We were soon ready to pursue, well armed and
well mounted. The captain took command of all.
I had some name in the country, as a man familiar

with danger, and he requested me to take charge
of the rear. In the pursuit of Indians the centre
is the point of greatest danger. There the captain
placed himself. The rear is next in peril,
and first in importance of the whole. I agreed to
take it, if I could have ten steady men assigned to
my command, who should take their orders from
me. There was something like that number present,
who had faced danger in company with me;
and these gladly joined me. Keizer was one.
The march commenced, and the trail led us into
this valley. You see where it stretches away to
the right towards the Missouri. It extends, in
fact, to the river, and there was a populous settlement.
We knew, therefore, that our right flank
was safe, for the enemy, after alarming the country,
would not venture in that direction. On the
left you see this lofty barrier, which nothing without
wings could pass. Just here we were safe.
Not far beyond us was the point of danger. There
comes down from the left a rapid stream, with
high and steep banks, which cuts through this
wall of rock, and affords an opening into the plain
above. At the mouth of that gorge this path
crosses the stream. The rivulet along which we
have been riding bears away to the right, and
here, you see, leaves a wide plain next the hill.
We are now near the spot. A bend in the hill
just hides the ford of the creek, which is not fifty
yards off. Here I halted my ten men, and commanded
them to secure their horses, and stand
close under the rock, while I went forward to assist
in reconnoitring the ground about the ford.
Let us ride on to it.”

We turned the corner of the rock, and the stream
was just before us. On the side where we were,
the hill came down close to it, affording no more
than room for a single horseman to pass up the
bank to the stream. On the other side the flat
was a swampy thicket. No hill was to be seen,
though Balcombe told me that at the distance of
fifty yards the same wall of rock again bounded the
valley on the left hand. We stopped our horses on
the bank, just above the deep narrow track by
which alone one horseman could at a time descend.
Just below us, on the opposite side, came in another
stream, with high, steep, and muddy banks,
obviously impassable. This ran alongside the
road as far as we could see, leaving barely room
for it between the bank and the thicket.

“You see,” said Balcombe, “that a body of men
on the other side of this stream, if attacked from
that thicket, must fight it out at a great disadvantage,
or push on up the opposite valley, or recross
this stream here. A small force well posted might
check them in front, and ten good marksmen here
could kill a hundred before one could rise this
bank. Here, then, was the point of danger. We
accordingly examined the ground carefully on this
side, and satisfied ourselves that no one had gone
up that narrow pass along this bank before we
suffered a man to cross. A few experienced

woodsmen then went over, and skirted the whole
thicket as far as the foot of the hill on the other
side, but found no sign that any person had entered
it. At the same time the trail of the whole party
was traceable with great distinctness leading right
ahead, along the way we were going. Now, would
you believe it? the indefatigable, sagacious, vindictive
devils had actually gone on a mile or more
till they issued into the prairie, had made a circuit
to the left, worked their way to this creek and
along its banks back to this spot, and were, at the
very moment, lying within ten yards of our scouts,
as they were examining the edge of the thicket.

“A part had halted right in front, to stop us there,
and half a dozen were here, on this side, just behind
this rock.”

I could not help starting at this intimation; and
looking round, half expected to see the black eye
of an Indian glaring on me.

“You see,” continued Balcombe, “that my little
party could not be seen by them, nor even by us,
where we stand. I explained their situation to the
captain, telling him I proposed to remain there
until his rear should have passed the point of danger.
If attacked, I could cover his retreat, if not,
I could follow. I accordingly advised him to
order his men, if attacked, to retreat this way.
He did not understand my plan, made some foolish
and rude speech, and in my hearing ordered
his men, if attacked, to push right ahead. It was
no time for quarrel, and he was not a man for

me to quarrel with, so I let him go on, while I
slipped back to my men. I then ordered them to
advance one by one to the bend of the hill, where
they would come in sight of the ford, and to creep
cautiously from thence to trees commanding the
bank. This was hardly accomplished before one
whole party had crossed. Just as the rear disappeared
I heard a shot, another, another, and then
a general firing. At this moment half a dozen Indians
were seen to steal from behind that rock, and
crawling to trees on the bank, to await the return
of our party. Seeing nothing of us, they were quite
exposed, and their backs were to us. My party
were all near together, and I gave the word in a low
voice, `Take time; every man his man, and all together.'
We all fired; but, several firing at the
same man, one escaped. He sprung immediately
behind the rock, and, as it seems, chose a position secure
from us, but commanding the spot where we
now are. I saw Keizer immediately run to the
foot of the cliff, and tipping lightly along towards
the corner which the Indian had turned, he set
down his rifle, felt for his knife, and drew his tomahawk.
In the next moment the head of one of
our men appeared above the bank; and, by the
time his whole body was in view, the crack of a
rifle was heard from behind the rock, and down he
went into the water. As quick as lightning John
sprung over the low point which just separated him
from the Indian, and was upon him with his tomahawk.

“It is hard to take any advantage of these fellows.
If any man can do it, Keizer is the man.
But he was not so quick but that the Indian met
him, tomahawk in hand. John is resolute and active
as a wildcat, but you see he is a little fellow.
I feared he might want help, and hastened to his
assistance. It was well I did; the Indian was
slightly wounded, and John had lost his tomahawk
in the scuffle. He caught at his knife with his
right hand, but the Indian seized the wrist with
his left, and with the other lifted his tomahawk to
strike. John returned the compliment by catching
his arm, and when I came up they were then holding
each other; the Indian making awkward half
blows, and John holding his life by no better
tenure than his hold on the Indian's arm. The
odds were against him, for the savage was a powerful
man; but, entangled as he was, he was at
my mercy, and I had none to spare just then. I
have very kind feelings towards these poor devils:
I admire their sagacity, courage, and fortitude, and
lament their wrongs and sufferings; but when the
matter is to kill or be killed, we have no time to
think of these things. Besides, the bodies of that
poor woman and her children were still before my
eyes.

“In the mean time, my little party had manned
the bank, and a shot or two fired by them into the
thicket disclosed to the enemy the failure of that
part of their plan. They immediately drew off,
and gave our party leave to bring off their dead

and wounded. The captain had fallen at the fir
fire, with two or three more. Those who, according
to his order, had pressed on to the front, were
driven back with the loss of two men. In the
rear, the bodies of the five Indians, each lying at
his tree, and that of one poor fellow, who lay
weltering at the bottom of the bank, told what
might have happened had we all crossed. The
captain, who was brought over still alive, saw it
and with his voice gurgling with the blood that
rose in his mouth, tried to apologize for his rude
ness to me. Poor fellow! he lived but a few
minutes. How he was avenged we had no means
of knowing, for the enemy had carried off all
their dead but those which lay on this side of the
creek.”

We now rode on, and I could not help admiring
the judgment with which the savages had
chosen their position. But for Balcombe's stratagem,
the whites could have had no alternative but
to fight as well as they could an unseen enemy.