CHAPTER XXVI-DOWN THE SUN-KISSED SLOPE TOGETHER

Beside their campfire, near the spot where a mossy stone marked Lobb's last resting place, the two boys and their friends discussed their future movements. All were interested in visiting the murderer's camp in the ravine, and Jim Small declared his intention of making search for the Seneca's lead mine. He believed the Indian had some good reason for telling the Delawares he knew of such a mine, and, though the others did not agree with him, he held to his theory.

In substance Small's idea was that, inasmuch as out-and-out lying was not an Indian trait, Lone-Elk must have had some basis for his story more than had been discovered. However, time proved that this theory was not well founded. Jim was right in his a.s.sertion that Indians did not make lying a practice, but in this as well as in his ambition to be a leader, whatever the cost, the Seneca was less honorable than Indians were as a rule, before trickery and firewater had corrupted them.

Despite their fatigue and the day's exciting events, the woodsmen and the two boys remained awake far into the night. They were alert and watchful, however, for the older men placed no confidence whatever in the savages, and all screened themselves from sight by lying down among the bushes near which their fire was built.

Besting thus, and speaking in low tones, John told the story of his adventure and in turn heard with great interest the story of Lobb's capture and confession. There were tears in Ree's eyes when Jerome described the burning of the cabin, and for the first time he felt in his heart a hatred deep and endless toward the Indians as a whole.

The Sergeant and his men were astonished to learn of the many lively skirmishes the two pioneer boys had had with the savages at different times, and expressed their wonder that both had not been scalped long ago.

"Ye'll desarve it, too, if ever ye come to these hostyle parts ag'in," Quayle told them. "Whist! It beats all, so it do, that mere spalpeens get through where whiskers a full foot long can't go!"

The morning came, cold and raw, with a feeling of show in the air. With some haste the little party ate a breakfast of roasted smoked meat and resumed the march toward the gully. They paused for half an hour in the clearing and Ree and John soon found Neb, sheltering himself from the wind, back of a clump of bushes. Every particle of harness had been destroyed by the fire, and only a strip of buckskin could be found wherewith to lead the horse. Neb was very docile, however, and upon his willing back a roughly fashioned pack was soon placed. It contained corn and potatoes from the fields the boys had cultivated, and various articles of baggage of which the woodsmen were glad to be relieved.

Before leaving the clearing Ree and John went again to the heap of ashes which marked the cabin site. Together they surveyed the ruins and were glad of the opportunity to speak to each other some words of sympathy their companions would not hear. As they did so, John noticed sticking in the half-burned end of a log a blood-stained tomahawk.

"Look! Lone-Elk came here!" he said.

"I declare," returned Kingdom solemnly, "his hatred is something almost more than human. Venting his feelings by leaving that hatchet at this spot! I suppose he intends it as a warning!"

Neither boy was disposed to touch the weapon and they left it-left it and the remnants of their fallen hopes and castles among the ashes of the cabin. Ree sighed as they turned away. "But still," he said, brightening, "we have enough to be thankful for, after all."

It was nearly noon when the camp in the gully was reached. Apparently no one had been near since the capture of Lobb, and no reason to doubt the truthfulness of the story the guilty wretch had told could be discovered, excepting that no gold was found.

"We'd orter got that 'fore we took the heathen away," said one of the woodsmen, and the others agreed.

Ree and John, however, did not greatly care. With the others, they made careful search of the vicinity, however. Nothing did they find except a few articles of food, some cooking utensils, a bullet mold and a quant.i.ty of lead and powder in the low, shallow cave concealed among the bushes. All the afternoon was given up to hunting for the lead mine and the gold thought to be hidden near by. But the Seneca's mine, if he had one, remains undiscovered to this day. Neither was the slightest trace of the treasure sent for the Indians, but who never received it, found.

The searchers made camp at night near the hollow whitewood, whose sheltering trunk protected Ree, John and the Sergeant. The others scoffed good-naturedly, saying the first three were no better than bears. Nevertheless the tree was a very comfortable place, and especially on this occasion, for during the night much snow fell.

The desirability of reaching Wayne's camp as soon as possible was apparent to all members of the party and rapid marching was agreed upon. A halt of a half day for hunting, with the result that a quant.i.ty of fresh venison and several turkeys were carried into camp, was the only delay in the journey to the east, and the distance of nearly one hundred miles was covered in a little more than five days.

Gen. Wayne sent for both Kingdom and Jerome the day following their arrival and from them heard a full account of the salt springs murder, the death of Lobb, and the indisputable evidence that the British at Detroit were extending aid to the redskins throughout the Northwest territory. He cautioned the boys that they must not think of returning to their clearing, and, thinking perhaps of the military ambitions of his own boyhood, the sham battles he had arranged and fought, and the sieges he had planned, asked them if they would like to join his "Legion." It was by this name that he always called the army he was a.s.sembling.

Thanking him, and saying they would like to think of his offer and talk it over, the lads took leave of the great soldier, feeling very well satisfied with themselves.

In the end, however, Ree and John did not join the "Legion." They were not lacking in courage, nor in patriotism. But within the next few days John was taken very sick. The injuries and exposure he had suffered were the cause of it, the army surgeon said. He was removed to Fort Pitt and the winter was half over before he was again able to be out of doors. He regained strength slowly and with the coming of spring he and Ree, mounted on Neb and Phoebe, made the trip by easy stages to Connecticut.

Three years pa.s.sed before the boys went west again, and along the whole frontier peace reigned supreme. Wayne's victory over the savages at the Battle of Fallen Timbers effectually ended their resistance to civilization's advance in the Ohio country, and never again did a serious outbreak occur in the region named. By the treaty of Fort Greenville in 1796 the extreme eastern boundary between the settlers and the Indians was definitely fixed at the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers and the portage path. It so remained until the treaty of Fort Industry in 1805 when the Indians sold the lands west of the path and the rivers named.

The village of Captain Pipe on the little lake had by this time long since disappeared. As a nation the Delawares were scattered and their numbers were small. Eventually they found homes in a far western reservation.

Although Ree and John never saw the honest, loyal Fishing Bird again, they heard of him as taking a gallant part, on the side of the Indians, of course, in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Report reached them also of a most bitterly hostile savage who was among the killed in this battle. He fought with his last breath. Though shot twice through the body, he raised himself on his elbow and sunk his knife into a wounded soldier who had fallen near him. That this redskin was Lone-Elk, the Seneca, there can be little doubt.

There is a tradition that the beautiful daughter of Captain Pipe so attracted a young warrior, whose admiration she did not like, that he poisoned himself when she rejected his attentions. Another tradition states that Gentle Maiden was cruelly shot by two white men, while walking alone in the woods. I do not know whether these legends are supported by fact nor do I know if there is any truth whatever in the tradition of there having been a lead mine in the Cuyahoga valley, the existence of which was known only to the Indians.

Return Kingdom and John Jerome did not settle again where their original clearing had been. There was a reason and it was that pretty Mary Catesby, a very early friend of Ree's, having become Mrs. Return Kingdom, was a party to the plans for the permanent removal west. She wanted to be somewhere within reach of neighbors. Woman-like, she had her way, and Ree bought land near Marietta. Where Kingdom was John Jerome was sure to be, and he owned the adjoining farm.

Both the boys, now to manhood grown, were active in the public affairs of the state of Ohio, organized a few years later, and many a day and evening found them together in conference concerning matters of mutual interest. They did not always agree, but it is certain they never quarreled. Their lives were blessed with many quiet joys and even when sorrows came they also were shared and each grief and burden seemed the lighter.

More and more often in later years, as the two went down the sun-kissed slope of lives well spent did they speak of the adventures of their youth. Maybe John was inclined to brag a little. Some say so. But both were liked by all.

To the end of his days John looked up to Ree as to an elder brother, and if he did brag it was of Kingdom's exploits, rather than his own, and the latter was wont to smile, "Well, well! They were days quite brisk enough, and pleasant now to talk about; but in quite a different way the present days are brisker, after all."

THE END.