Tom kept his vow and had his revenge.
The threat of Tom Quick mentioned in the preceding chapter was one
that was not made in vain. It was made while he was standing in the
presence of his dead father. On finding the body, he turned it over and
exclaimed, “dead and scalped.” Tradition says that from that moment he
was a changed man. His love for the society of the Indians forsook him,
and his only thought was revenge; and turning to his mother and other
friends said, “You will see that father is properly buried, I have other
work to do. From this time my work will be to avenge my father’s death.”
Then followed the vow recorded in the former chapter—“To kill all and
spare none.” And left his friends to perform the last office to the dead,
and went forth on his mission of revenge. For two years after this he
was seldom seen in the settlements, and then only long enough to procure
powder and shot, which was his chief stock in trade. Tom seldom talked
and then only to hunters or those he could rely on to keep his secrets;
except to himself and to his gun, which was of the largest size, being
seven feet four inches long and weighed 21 pounds, and carried a ball one
inch in diameter. It was an old saying that when one of Tom’s bullets
went through an Indian, that it made two windows in him and a hall
between them. I have said that Tom seldom talked except to himself and
he did the most of this when he was alone, or at least when he thought
he was alone. But he was heard on several occasions, and tradition has
handed down to us several of his soliloquies. The following is a fair
sample of his home talk. He had been out on a hunt and had returned to
his cabin in the edge of evening with a saddle of venison. He hung the
venison up on the corner of the house and looked toward the east where he
saw a full moon, when he soliloquized as follows:
“This is rather a nice evening. Let me see, it is a full moon; a good
coon night. What say you long Tom, (raising his gun) how would you like
to drop one of the red coons before morning. I would; that would make
just 87 red devils that I have sent to the Spirit land since Muswink
murdered my father. Tell me, O ye stars, (looking up) for what was he
murdered. For being a friend to the Indian, for furnishing them with
shelter and food, for being a good man, a kind neighbor, a God-fearing
and God-loving man. Father, my father, you sleep on the banks of the
Delaware; no only your body lies there, your spirit is here, there,
everywhere it is now hovering round and about me. It is continually
whispering in my ear revenge, revenge. It is God’s will, father that your
death should be avenged. It is God’s will that your son Tom Quick should
be the avenger. For this I have left home and the comforts of civilized
life and burrowed in the ground like a rabbit. For this I left the mother
that gave me birth, and taught me to say: ‘Now I lay me down to sleep, I
pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray the
Lord my soul to take.’ That kind good and generous mother now kneels on
the old family hearth and mourns the loss of the living as though dead.
Maggie too; God bless her. She is here; I feel her continually knocking
at my heart, saying ‘Uncle Tom, come home.’ Pray on dear girl, and when
my mission is ended, may father, son, mother and child meet in that happy
hunting ground where there will be no father’s blood to avenge.”
Here Tom was interrupted in his soliloquy by an unusual noise in his
pig pen. He was always on the alert, knowing that the Indians intended
to shed his blood and take his scalp. Therefore he took notice of every
sound. It was uncommon for the pig to squeal. This squeal sounded
unnatural, and Tom concluded that the squealing emanated from the throat
of an Indian. “Some new deviltry is going on; that squeal sounds more like
a two legged devil than a four legged hog. Come Tom, (taking his gun)
let us look around and see if one of those pesky red skins is trying to
steal our pork, (Pig squeals.) That is pretty well done, yet the genuine
hog grammar is left out. You forget to dot your I’s and cross your T’s.
(Squeals again.) That is a little better, and might deceive a boy, but
it won’t me. Tom is too old for that. You had better stop squealing and
go to praying for the devil will have a new comer before morning, or my
name is not Tom Quick. Come Tom (taking up his gun) let us walk around
and see how his porkship looks in the rear.” Tom passes through his
cabin and appears to the left of the pig pen. He was not mistaken in his
calculation, for there he saw a powerful Indian holding the hog with the
left hand, while he held the gun in his right, ready to shoot Tom when
he came to see what was the matter with the pig. Tom aimed and fired.
The Indian gave one whoop, leaped in the air, and fell on the outside of
the pen dead. A ball had pierced his head. Tom placed his foot on the
Indian’s breast.
Well done, Tom, patting his gun. Well done. Let me see. That makes the
record just eighty-seven red devils that I have sent to the Spirit World
since Muswink murdered my father. Let me see. According to old Daball, it
will take just thirteen more to make an even hundred. Tom, let us pray.
He kneels, holding the gun before him.
Good Lord, or good devil—either one or both, I do hereby pray that I may
be permitted to remain in this mortal coil until I have sent thirteen
more Indians to the Spirit Land. Then I shall be ready and willing to
depart to the Hunter’s Paradise. Amen.
Tom gets up off his knees and turns the Indian over with his foot.
Well, Mr. Squealer, why don’t you squeal now? I guess that Long Tom has
taken all the squeal out of you. I suppose that when the bullet went
in, the squeal went out. But I must get rid of you. You will smell bad
here and will invite the bears and wolves to view your miserable carcass.
Come, take your last leap down the rocks.
Then Tom threw his carcass down the rocks and went on his way rejoicing.
The stories of Tom’s adventures are legion, and for nearly one hundred
years have been told. The author heard them related nearly seventy years
ago. His father lived in the days of Tom Quick and was conversant with
his history.
Tom made it his habit to watch the Indians and shoot them as they went up
and down the Delaware in their canoes and frequently waylaid them as they
traveled through the country on their trails or deerpaths.
With these paths he was well acquainted and would spend days and months
lurking in the vicinity of their haunts for the purpose of getting a shot
at one or more of them. Every few days an Indian was missed. He was last
seen in the company of Tom, but never after.
The Indians knew that Tom had sworn that he would kill them whenever
opportunity offered. Consequently, when an Indian was missing it was laid
to Tom.
Furthermore, Tom had a knack of finding a great many guns in his travels
through the woods. It was usually thought that he found the Indian that
owned the gun before he found the gun.
For this reason the Indians were not only anxious, but determined to
kill him. Many a ball had been fired at him, but they all went wide of
the mark. The Indians believed that the white man’s God protected him,
that he had a charmed life, and could not be hit by a bullet fired by an
Indian. They therefore resolved to take him alive, and to that end six
Braves were appointed to watch and capture him.
It so happened that about this time Tom was splitting rails for a Mr.
Westbrook who then lived in the Mamakating Valley. Tom wished to get the
rails split in the forenoon as he had been informed that there was to be
total eclipse of the sun about one o’clock in the afternoon, and that
it would then be so dark that he could not see to work. The log he was
trying to split was winding and cross grained, and the blows of the heavy
beetle on the wedges failed to open the log. Tom was nearly out of breath
and quite out of patience, and commenced talking to himself.
“Here I am at Westbrookville splitting rails. I should be at Shohola
splitting heads and scattering Indian brains. That would be more in
keeping with my conscience, than to stand here and pound these wedges.
Confound the log, it is as cross grained as a peperage, and sticks to
the bark as close as an Indian to his scalping knife. Curse the red
Devils, I long to see the last one killed and scalped. If there was more
Tom Quick’s there would be less Indians. Well, they are growing less
every day. Yesterday I sent five more to the Spirit land. Yesterday I
colored Butler’s Falls with blood. Yesterday the hawks at Hawk’s Nest
mountain wafted the spirits of five more to the Indians’ eternal hunting
ground. There were big spirits and little spirits. It was easy to pop
over the old man and his Squaw, but when it came to knocking out the
brains of the little babe, that kinder went against the grain. Confound
the little redskin, he looked me right in the eye and laughed—as much as
to say, ‘Uncle Tom don’t.’ I most wish that I had spared the boy to see
if anything could be made out of a redskin. But pshaw! Papooses become
Indians as surely as nits become lice. But I must go to work, or the
sun will darken before I get these rails split. To-day comes the great
eclipse of the sun and soon that orb from which we receive light and heat
will be obscured, and the earth will be wrapped in the mantle of night. I
see that it is approaching and darkness will soon prevail.”
This soliloquy nearly cost Tom his life. Whilst he was talking six dusky
Indians were noiselessly crawling toward him. So stealthily had been
their approach that Tom was not aware of their presence until he was
grasped by two stalwart Indians. He sprang for his rifle, dragging the
Indians with him, but the others came and Tom was overpowered. He saw his
peril and knew that it was only by strategy that he could escape. The
fact of the eclipse flashed across his mind and he resolved at once to
excite the superstition of the Indians by appealing to the white man’s
God.
Hawkeye was the first to break the silence. “Pale face, your time has
come. The Avenger of the Delaware Valley must die. At sun down you can
fight faggot and fire. Now call on the white man’s God and see if he will
save you.”
Tom replied: “The white man’s God is the Indian’s great spirit; that
spirit is here and talks with me.”
Hawkeye looked at Tom with astonishment. “What does the white man’s God
say?”
Tom replied: “He says that Indian tells the truth—that my time has
come—that I must die—that I must not fight the Indians anymore, but must
go with you as soon as my work is done.”
Hawkeye looked pleased and said: “What work?”
“Finish splitting this log,” replied Tom.
The Indians were so pleased to capture Tom without a fight that they were
thrown off their guard and laid down their arms.
What more does the white man’s God say, inquired Hawkeye?
He says, replied Tom, that you must help me split this log and that he
will darken the sun until you light the fire about me. See, the sun
darkens, the work of the Great Spirit has begun, and it will soon be
night at noon-day.
The sun was partially eclipsed and the Indians gazed with astonishment.
Hawkeye seemed dumbfounded and stammered out: White man’s God great and
powerful. How did he say Indian help?
Tom replied: Get three on a side and pull when I strike the wedge. The
Indians obeyed and arranged themselves three on each side of the log with
their fingers in the crack of the log.
We ready, strike the wedge, said Hawkeye.
Tom struck; but instead of striking the wedge in, he struck it out, and
the Indians were fast in the log as much so as if they had been screwed
in a vice.
Tom was jubilant. He now had the six Indians in his power and could kill
them at his leisure. He gave one of his peculiar laughs and said: Ha! Ha!
Mr. Indians, the white man’s God says more. He says you Indians must die.
Look at the waning sun. When that becomes dark, you Indians will be in
the Spirit world. It grows darker, darker. Your time has come—now you die.
The eclipse was now nearly total, and Tom proceeded to the execution of
his purpose; by knocking their brains out with the beetle. And then left
for the house, leaving the Indians still fast in the log to become food
for bears and wolves.