THE COUNTER-STROKE
Colonel Benjamin Logan was standing in a small opening near the banks of
the Licking about five miles south of its junction with the Ohio. Dawn
had just come but it had been a troubled night. The country around him
was beautiful, a primeval wilderness with deep fertile soil and splendid
forest. His company, too, was good--several hundred stalwart men from
Lexington, Boonesborough, Harrod's Station and several other settlements
in the country, destined to become so famous as the Bluegrass region of
Kentucky. Yet, as has been said, the night was uneasy and he saw no
decrease of worry.
Colonel Logan was a man of stout nerves, seldom troubled by insomnia,
but he had not slept. His scouts had told him that there were Indians in
the forest ahead. One or two incautious explorers had been wounded by
bullets fired from hidden places. He and the best men with him had felt
that they were surrounded by an invisible enemy, and just at the time
that he needed knowledge, it was hardest to achieve it. It was important
for him to move on, highly important because he wanted to effect a
junction for a great purpose with George Rogers Clark, a very famous
border leader. Yet he could learn nothing of Clark. He did not receive
any news from him, nor could he send any to him. Every scout who tried
it was driven back, and after suffering agonies of doubt through that
long and ominous night, the brave leader and skillful borderer had
concluded that the most powerful Indian force ever sent to Kentucky was
in front of him. His men had brought rumors that it was led by the
renowned Wyandot chief, Timmendiquas, with Red Eagle, Black Panther,
Moluntha, Captain Pipe and the renegade Girty as his lieutenants.
Colonel Logan, brave man that he was, was justified when he felt many
fears. His force was not great, and, surrounded, it might be overwhelmed
and cut off. For the border to lose three or four hundred of its best
men would be fatal. Either he must retreat or he must effect a junction
with Clark of whose location he knew nothing. A more terrible choice has
seldom been presented to a man. Harrod, Kenton and other famous scouts
stood with him and shared his perplexity.
"What shall we do, gentlemen?" he asked.
There was no answer save the sound of a rifle shot from the woods in
front of them.
"I don't blame you for not answering," said the Colonel moodily,
"because I don't know of anything you can say. Listen to those shots! We
may be fighting for our lives before noon, but, by all the powers, I
won't go back. We can't do it! Now in the name of all that's wonderful
what is that?"
Every pair of eyes was turned toward the muddy surface of the Licking,
where a white body floated easily. As they looked the body came to the
bank, raised itself up in the shape of a human being and stepped ashore,
leaving a trail of water on the turf. It was the figure of a youth, tall
and powerful beyond his kind and bare to the waist. He came straight
toward Logan.
"Now, who under the sun are you and what do you want!" exclaimed the
startled Colonel.
"My name is Henry Ware," replied the youth in a pleasant voice, "and
what I want is first a blanket and after that some clothes, but
meanwhile I tell you that I am a messenger from Colonel Clark whom you
wish to join."
"A messenger from Colonel Clark?" exclaimed Logan. "How do we know
this?"
"Simon Kenton there knows me well and he can vouch for me; can't you
Simon?" continued the youth in the same pleasant voice.
"And so I can!" exclaimed Kenton, springing forward and warmly grasping
the outstretched hand. "I didn't know you at first, Henry, which is
natural, because it ain't your habit to wander around in the daytime
with nothing on but a waist band."
"But how is it that you came up the Licking," persisted Colonel Logan,
still suspicious. "Is Colonel Clark in the habit of sending unclothed
messengers up rivers?"
"I came that way," replied Henry, "because all the others are closed.
I've been swimming nearly all night or rather floating, because I had a
little raft to help me. I came up the Ohio and then up the Licking. I
ran the Indian gauntlet on both rivers. At the gauntlet on the Licking I
lost my raft which carried my rifle, clothes and ammunition. However
here I am pretty wet and somewhat tired, but as far as I know, sound."
"You can rely on every word he says, Colonel," exclaimed Simon Kenton.
"I do believe him absolutely," said Colonel Logan, "and here, Mr. Ware,
is my blanket. Wear it until we get your clothes. And now what of
Clark?"
"He is only about six miles away with seven hundred veterans. He was
attacked night before last by Timmendiquas, Girty and all the power of
the allied tribes, but we drove them off. Colonel Clark and his men are
in an impregnable position, and they await only your coming to beat the
whole Indian force. He has sent me to tell you so."
Colonel Logan fairly sprang up in his joy.
"Only six miles away!" he exclaimed. "Then we'll soon be with him.
Young sir, you shall have the best clothes and the best rifle the camp
can furnish, for yours has been a daring mission and a successful one.
How on earth did you ever do it?"
"I think luck helped me," replied Henry modestly.
"Luck? Nonsense! Luck can't carry a man through such an ordeal as that.
No, sir; it was skill and courage and strength. Now here is breakfast,
and while you eat, your new clothes and your new rifle shall be brought
to you."
Colonel Logan was as good as his word. When Henry finished his breakfast
and discarded the blanket he arrayed himself in a beautifully tanned and
fringed suit of deerskin, and ran his hand lovingly along the long
slender barrel of a silver-mounted rifle, the handsomest weapon he had
ever seen.
"It is yours," said Colonel Logan, "in place of the one that you have
lost, and you shall have also double-barreled pistols. And now as we are
about to advance, we shall have to call upon you to be our guide."
Henry responded willingly. He was fully rested, and at such a moment he
had not thought of sleep. Preceded by scouts, Logan's force advanced
cautiously through the woods near the Licking. About a score of shots
were fired at them, but, after the shots, the Indian skirmishers fell
back on their main force. When they had gone about two miles Logan
stopped his men, and ordered a twelve-pound cannon of which they were
very proud to be brought forward.
It was rolled into a little open space, loaded only with blank
cartridges and fired. Doubtless many of the men wondered why it was
discharged seemingly at random into the forest, because Colonel Logan
had talked only with Henry Ware, Simon Kenton and a few others. But the
sound of the shot rolled in a deep boom through the woods.
"Will he hear?" asked Colonel Logan.
"He'll hear," replied Simon Kenton with confidence. "The sound will
travel far through this still air. It will reach him."
They waited with the most intense anxiety one minute, two minutes, and
out of the woods in the north came the rolling report in reply. A half
minute more and then came the second sound just like the first.
"The signal! They answer! They answer!" exclaimed Colonel Logan
joyously. "Now to make it complete."
When the last echo of the second shot in the north had died, the
twelve-pounder was fired again. Then it was reloaded, but not with blank
cartridges, and the word to advance was given. Now the men pressed
forward with increased eagerness, but they still took wilderness
precaution. Trees and hillocks were used for shelter, and from the trees
and hillocks in front of them the Indian skirmishers poured a heavy
fire. Logan's men replied and the forest was alive with the sounds of
battle. Bullets cut twigs and bushes, and the white man's shout replied
to the red man's war whoop. The cannon was brought up, and fired
cartridges and then grape shot at the point where the enemy's force
seemed to be thickest. The Indians gave way before this terrifying fire,
and Logan's men followed them. But the Colonel always kept a heavy force
on either flank to guard against ambush, and Henry was continually by
his side to guide. They went a full mile and then Henry, who was
listening, exclaimed joyfully:
"They're coming to meet us! Don't you hear their fire?"
Above the crash of his own combat Colonel Logan heard the distant
thudding of cannon, and, as he listened, that thudding came nearer.
These were certainly the guns of Clark, and he was as joyous as Henry.
Their cooeperation was now complete, and the courage and daring of one
youth had made it possible. His own force pushed forward faster, and
soon they could hear the rifles of the heavier battle in the north.
"We've got 'em! We've got 'em!" shouted Simon Kenton. "They are caught
between the two jaws of a vice, and the bravest Indians that ever lived
can never stand that."
Logan ordered his men to spread out in a longer and thinner line,
although he kept at least fifty of his best about the cannon to prevent
any attempt at capture. The twelve-pounder may not have done much
execution upon an enemy who fought chiefly from shelter, but he knew
that its effect was terrifying, and he did not mean to lose the gun. His
precaution was taken well, as a picked band of Wyandots, Shawnees and
Miamis, springing suddenly from the undergrowth, made a determined
charge to the very muzzle of the cannon. There was close fighting, hand
to hand, the shock of white bodies against red, the flash of exploding
powder and the glitter of steel, but the red band was at last driven
back, although not without loss to the defenders. The struggle had been
so desperate that Colonel Logan drew more men about the cannon, and then
pressed on again. The firing to the north was growing louder, indicating
that Clark, too, was pushing his way through the forest. The two forces
were now not much more than a mile apart, and Simon Kenton shouted that
the battle would cease inside of five minutes.
Kenton was a prophet. Almost at the very moment predicted by him the
Indian fire stopped with a suddenness that seemed miraculous. Every
dusky flitting form vanished. No more jets of flame arose, the smoke
floated idly about as if it had been made by bush fires, and Logan's men
found that nobody was before them. There was something weird and uncanny
about it. The sudden disappearance of so strong and numerous an enemy
seemed to partake of magic. But Henry understood well. Always a shrewd
general, Timmendiquas, seeing that the battle was lost, and that he
might soon be caught in an unescapable trap, had ordered the warriors to
give up the fight, and slip away through the woods.
Pressing forward with fiery zeal and energy, Clark and Logan met in the
forest and grasped hands. The two forces fused at the same time and
raised a tremendous cheer. They had beaten the allied tribes once more,
and had formed the union which they believed would make them invincible.
A thousand foresters, skilled in every wile and strategy of Indian war
were indeed a formidable force, and they had a thorough right to
rejoice, as they stood there in the wilderness greeting one another
after a signal triumph. Save for the fallen, there was no longer a sign
of the warriors. All their wounded had been taken away with them.
"I heard your cannon shot, just when I was beginning to give up hope,"
said Colonel Clark to Colonel Logan.
"And you don't know how welcome your reply was," replied Logan, "but it
was all due to a great boy named Henry Ware."
"So he got through?"
"Yes, he did. He arrived clothed only in a waist band, and the first we
saw of him was his head emerging from the muddy waters of the Licking.
He swam, floated and dived all night long until he got to us. He was
chased by canoes, and shot at by warriors, but nothing could stop him,
and without him we couldn't have done anything, because there was no
other way for us to hear a word from you."
"Ah, there he is now. But I see that he is clothed and armed."
Henry had appeared just then with his comrades, looking among the
bushes to see if any savage yet lay there in ambush, and the two
Colonels seized upon him. They could not call him by complimentary names
enough, and they told him that he alone had made the victory possible.
Henry, blushing, got away from them as quickly as he could, and rejoined
his friends.
"That shorely was a great swim of yours, Henry," said Shif'less Sol,
"an' you're pow'ful lucky that the water was warm."
"My little raft helped me a lot," rejoined Henry, "and I'm mighty sorry
I lost it, although Colonel Logan has given me the best rifle I ever
saw. I wonder what will be our next movement."
Colonel Clark, who was now in command of the whole force, the other
officers cooperating with him and obeying him loyally, deemed it wise to
spend the day in rest. The men had gone through long hours of waiting,
watching and fighting and their strength must be restored. Scouts
reported that the Indians had crossed the Licking and then the Ohio, and
were retreating apparently toward Chillicothe, their greatest town. Some
wanted Colonel Clark to follow them at once and strike another blow, but
he was too wise. The Indian facility for retreat was always great. They
could scatter in the forest in such a way that it was impossible to find
them, but if rashly followed they could unite as readily and draw their
foe into a deadly ambush. Clark, a master of border warfare, who was
never tricked by them, let them go and bided his time. He ordered many
fires to be lighted and food in abundance to be served. The spirits of
the men rose to the highest pitch. Even the wounded rejoiced.
After eating, Henry found that he needed sleep. He did not feel the
strain and anxiety of the long night and of the morning battle, until it
was all over. Then his whole system relaxed, and, throwing himself down
on the turf, he went sound asleep. When he awoke the twilight was
coming and Paul and Shif'less Sol sat near him.
"We had to guard you most of the time, Henry," said Shif'less Sol,
"'cause you're a sort of curiosity. Fellers hev kep' comin' here to see
the lad what swam the hull len'th o' the Ohio an' then the hull len'th
o' the Lickin', most o' the time with his head under water, an' we had
to keep 'em from wakin' you. We'd let 'em look at you, but we wouldn't
let 'em speak or breathe loud. You wuz sleepin' so purty that we could
not bear to hev you waked up."
Henry laughed.
"Quit making fun of me, Sol," he said, "and tell me what's happened
since I've been asleep."
"Nothin' much. The Indians are still retreatin' through the woods across
the Ohio an' Colonel Clark shows his good hoss sense by not follerin'
'em, ez some o' our hot heads want him to do. Wouldn't Timmendiquas like
to draw us into an ambush,--say in some valley in the thick o' the
forest with a couple o' thousand warriors behind the trees an' on the
ridges all aroun' us. Oh, wouldn't he? An' what would be left of us
after it wuz all over? I ask you that, Henry."
"Mighty little, I'm afraid."
"Next to nothin', I know. I tell you Henry our Colonel Clark is a real
gin'ral. He's the kind I like to foller, an' we ain't goin' to see no
sich sight ez the one we saw at Wyomin'."
"I'm sure we won't," said Henry. "Now have any of you slept to-day?"
"All o' us hev took naps, not long but mighty deep an' comfortin'. So
we're ready fur anythin' from a fight to a foot race, whichever 'pears
to be the better fur us."
"Where are Paul and Tom and Jim?"
"Cruisin' about in their restless, foolish way. I told 'em to sit right
down on the groun' and keep still an' enjoy theirselves while they
could, but my wise words wuz wasted. Henry, sometimes I think that only
lazy men like me hev good sense."
The missing three appeared a minute or two later and were received by
the shiftless one with the objurgations due to what he considered
misspent energy.
"I'm for a scout to-night," said Henry. "Are all of you with me?"
Three answered at once:
"Of course."
But Shif'less Sol groaned.
"Think o' going out after dark when you might lay here an' snooze
comf'ably," he said; "but sence you fellers are so foolish an'
headstrong you'll need some good sens'ble man to take keer o' you."
"Thank you, Sol," said Henry, with much gravity. "Now that we have your
reluctant consent we need only to ask Colonel Clark."
Colonel Clark had no objection. In fact, he would not question any act
of the five, whom he knew to be free lances of incomparable skill and
knowledge in the wilderness.
"You know better than I what to do," he said, smiling, "and as for you,
Mr. Ware, you have already done more than your share in this campaign."
They left shortly after dark. The united camp was pitched at the
junction of the Ohio and Licking, but along the bank of the larger
river. Most of the boats were tied to the shore, and they had a heavy
guard. There was also a strong patrol across the mouth of the Licking,
and all the way to the northern bank of the Ohio.
The five embarked in a large boat with four oarsmen and they lay at ease
while they were pulled across the broad stream. Behind them they saw the
numerous lights of the camp, twinkling in the woods. Clark meant that
his men should be cheerful, and light ministers to good spirits. Ahead
of him there was no break in the dark line of forest, but they
approached it without apprehension, assured by other scouts that the
Indian retreat had not ceased.
They were landed on the northern bank and stating to the boatmen that
they would be back in the morning, they plunged into the woods. There
was some moonlight, and in a short time they picked up the trail of the
main Indian force. They followed it until midnight and found that it
maintained a steady course toward Chillicothe. Henry was satisfied that
Timmendiquas meant to fall back on the town, and make a stand there
where he could hope for victory, but he was not sure that smaller bands
would not lurk in Clark's path, and try to cut up and weaken his force
as it advanced. Hence, he left the great trail and turned to the right.
In a mile or so they heard sounds and peering through the woods saw
Braxton Wyatt, Blackstaffe and about a dozen Shawnee warriors sitting
about a small fire. Paul incautiously stepped upon a dead bough which
cracked beneath his weight, and the Indians at once leaped up, rifle in
hand. They fired several shots into the bushes whence the sound had
come, but the five had already taken shelter, and they sent bullets in
return. Rifles cracked sharply and jets of smoke arose.
A combat did not enter into Henry's calculation. It was one thing that
he wished especially to avoid, but neither he nor any other of the five
could bear to make a hasty retreat before Braxton Wyatt. They held their
ground, and sent in a fire so rapid and accurate that Wyatt and
Blackstaffe thought they were attacked by a force larger than their own,
and, fearing to be trapped, finally retreated. The result appealed
irresistibly to Shif'less Sol's sense of humor.
"Ef they hadn't run, we would," he said. "Jest think how often that's
the case. Many a feller gits beat 'cause he don't wait for the other to
beat hisself."
They were all buoyant over the affair, and they followed some distance,
until they saw that Wyatt and Blackstaffe had changed their course in
order to join the main band, when they started back to Clark, having
seen all they wished. They arrived at the river about daylight, and were
ordered to the southern shore where they made a report that was greatly
satisfactory to the commander. Clark passed his whole force over the
Ohio the next day and then built a small fort on the site of Cincinnati,
placing in it all the surplus stores and ammunition.
Several days were spent here, and, throughout that time, Henry and his
comrades scouted far and wide, going as far as thirty miles beyond the
fort. But the woods were bare of Indians, and Henry was confirmed in his
belief that Timmendiquas, after the failure at the mouth of the Licking,
was concentrating everything on Chillicothe, expecting to resist to the
utmost.
"Thar's bound to be a pow'ful big battle at that town," said Shif'less
Sol.
"I think so, too," said Henry, "and we've got to guard against walking
into any trap. I wish I knew what thought is lying just now in the back
of the head of Timmendiquas."
"We'll soon know, 'cause it won't take us many days to git to
Chillicothe," said Tom Ross.
The army took up its march the next day, going straight toward
Chillicothe. It was the most formidable white force that had yet
appeared in the western woods, and every man in it was full of
confidence. It was not only an army, but it marched in the shape and
fashion of one. The borderers, used to their own way, yielded readily to
the tact and great name of Clark. The first division under Clark's own
command, with the artillery, military stores and baggage in the center,
led; Logan, who ranked next to Clark, commanded the rear.
The men walked in four lines, with a space of forty yards between every
two lines. On each flank was a band of veteran scouts and skirmishers.
In front of the white army, but never out of sight, marched a strong
detachment of skilled woodsmen and marksmen. In the rear and at a
similar distance, came another such band.
Clark also took further precautions against surprise and confusion. He
issued an order that in case of attack in front the vanguard was to
stand fast while the two lines on the right of the artillery were to
wheel to the right, and the two on the left were to wheel to the left.
Then the cannon and the whole line were to advance at the double quick
to the support of the vanguard. If they were attacked from behind, the
vanguard was to stand fast, and the whole proceeding was to be reversed.
If they were attacked on either flank, the two lines on that flank and
the artillery were to stand where they were, while the other two lines
wheeled and formed, one on the van and the other on the rear. The men
had been drilled repeatedly in their movements, and they executed them
with skill. It now remained to be seen whether they would do as much
under the influence of surprise and a heavy fire. Everyone believed they
would stand against any form of attack.
The commanders seemed to think of all things, and the training of the
army excited the admiration of Henry and his comrades. They felt that it
would be very hard to catch such a force in a trap, or, if it should be
caught, there was nothing in the wilderness to hold it there. The five
were not in the line. In fact, they kept ahead of the vanguard itself,
but they often came back to make their reports to Clark. It was now the
beginning of August, and the heat was great in the woods. The men were
compelled to rest in the middle of the day and they drank thirstily
from every brook they passed.
Clark expected that they would be annoyed by the Indian skirmishers, but
the first day passed, and then the second and not a shot was fired. The
five and the other scouts assured him that no warriors were near, but he
did not like the silence. Bowman and a strong force had attacked
Chillicothe the year before, but had been repulsed. Undoubtedly it would
now have a still stronger defense and he wondered what could be the plan
of Timmendiquas. A border leader, in a land covered with great forests
was compelled to guard every moment against the cunning and stratagem of
a foe who lived by cunning and stratagem.
The second night a council was held, and Henry and all his comrades were
summoned to it. Would or would not the Indians fight before the white
force reached Chillicothe? The country was rough and presented many good
places for defense. Colonel Clark asked the question, and he looked
anxiously around at the little group. Daniel Boone spoke first. He
believed that no resistance would be offered until they reached
Chillicothe. Simon Kenton and Abe Thomas shared his opinion. Henry stood
modestly in the background and waited until Colonel Clark put the
question. Then he replied with a proposition:
"I think that Colonel Boone is right," he said, "but I and four others
have been associated a long time in work of this kind. We are used to
the forest, and we can move faster in it. Let us go ahead. We will see
what is being prepared at Chillicothe, and we will report to you."
"But the risk to you five?"
"We're ready to take it. Everybody in the army is taking it."
Henry's plan was so promising that he soon had his way. He and the
others were to start immediately.
"Go, my boy, and God bless you," said Colonel Clark. "We want all the
information you can bring, but don't take excessive risks."
Henry gave his promise, left the council, and in five minutes he and his
comrades were deep in the forest, and beyond the sight of their own camp
fires. The weather was now clear and there was a good moon and many
stars. Far to the right of them rose the hoot of an owl, but it was a
real owl and they paid no attention to it.
"Jest what are you figurin' on, Henry?" asked Shif'less Sol.
"I think that if we travel hard all of to-night," replied Henry, "and
then take it easy to-morrow that we can reach Chillicothe early
to-morrow night. We ought to learn there in a few hours all that we want
to know, and we can be back with the army on the following day."
None of the five had ever been at Chillicothe, but all of them knew very
well its location. It was the largest Indian village in the Ohio River
Valley, and many a foray had gone from it. They knew that the forest ran
continuously from where they were almost to its edge, and they believed
that they could approach without great difficulty. After a consultation
they settled upon the exact point toward which they would go, and then,
Henry leading the way, they sped onward in a silent file. Hour after
hour they traveled without speaking. The moon was out, but they kept to
the deepest parts of the forest and its rays rarely reached them. They
used the long running walk of the frontiersman and their toughened
muscles seemed never to tire. Every one of them breathed regularly and
easily, but the miles dropped fast behind them. They leaped little
brooks, and twice they waded creeks, in one of which the water went far
past their knees, but their buckskin trousers dried upon them as they
ran on. The moon went behind floating clouds, and then came back again
but it made no difference to them. They went on at the same swift, even
pace, and it was nearly morning when Henry gave the signal to stop.
He saw a place that he thought would suit them for their informal camp,
a dense thicket of bushes and vines on a hill, a thicket that even in
the daylight would be impervious to the keenest eyes.
"Suppose we crawl in here and rest awhile," he said. "We mustn't break
ourselves down."
"Looks all right," said Tom Ross.
They crept into the dense covert, and all went to sleep except Henry and
Ross who lay down without closing their eyes, theirs being the turn to
watch. Henry saw the sun rise and gild the forest that seemed to be
without human being save themselves. Beyond the thicket in which they
lay there was not much underbrush and as Henry watched on all sides for
a long time he was sure that no Indian had come near. He was confirmed
in this opinion by two deer that appeared amid the oak openings and
nibbled at the turf. They were a fine sight, a stag and doe each of
splendid size, and they moved fearlessly about among the trees. Henry
admired them and he had no desire whatever to harm them. Instead, they
were now friends of his, telling him by their presence that the savages
were absent.
Henry judged that they were now about two-thirds of the way to
Chillicothe, and, shortly before noon, he and Tom awakened the others
and resumed their journey, but in the brilliant light of the afternoon
they advanced much more slowly. Theirs was a mission of great importance
and discovery alone would ruin it. They kept to the thicket, and the
stony places where they would leave no trail, and once, when a brook
flowed in their direction, they waded in its watery bed for two or three
miles. But the intensity of their purpose and the concentration of their
faculties upon it did not keep them from noticing the magnificence of
the country. Everywhere the soil was deep and dark, and, springing from
it, was the noblest of forests. It was well watered, too, with an
abundance of creeks and brooks, and now and then a little lake. Further
on were large rivers. Henry did not wonder that the Indians fought so
bitterly against trespassers upon their ancient hunting grounds.
The twilight of the second night came, and, lying in the thicket, the
five ate and drank a little, while the twilight turned into dark. Then
they prepared their plans. They did not believe that Chillicothe was
more than three miles ahead, and the Indians, knowing that the army
could not come up for two days yet, were not likely to be keeping a very
strict watch. They meant to penetrate to the town in the night. But they
waited a long time, until they believed most of the children and squaws
would be asleep, and then they advanced again.
Their surmise was correct. In a half hour they were on the outskirts of
Chillicothe, the great Indian town. It was surrounded by fields of maize
and pumpkin, but it seemed to the five to consist of several hundred
lodges and modern houses. As they made this reckoning they stood at the
edge of a large corn field that stretched between them and the town. The
stalks of corn were higher than a man's head, and the leaves had begun
to turn brown under the August sun.
"We must go nearer," said Henry, "and it seems to me that this corn
field offers a way of approach. The corn will hide us until we come to
the very edge of the town."
The others agreed, and they set off across the field. After they entered
it they could see nothing but the corn itself. The dying stalks rustled
mournfully above their heads, as they advanced between the rows, but no
sounds came from the town. It was about three hundred yards across the
field, and when they reached its far edge they saw several lights which
came from Chillicothe itself. They paused, while still in the corn, and,
lying upon the ground, they got a good view of the big village.
Chillicothe seemed to run a long distance from north to south, but Henry
at once noticed among the buildings, obviously of a permanent character,
many tepees such as the Indians erect only for a night or two. His
logical mind immediately drew the inference. Chillicothe was full of
strange warriors. The Wyandots, Shawnees, Miamis, Delawares, Ottawas,
Illinois, all were there and the circumstance indicated that they would
not try to lay an ambush for Clark, but would await him at Chillicothe.
He whispered to his comrades and they agreed with him.
"Can you see how far this corn field runs down to the right?" he asked
Tom Ross.
"'Bout two hundred yards, I reckon."
"Then let's drop down its edge and see if the new tepees are scattered
everywhere through the town."
The trip revealed an abundance of the temporary lodges and farther down
they saw signs of an embankment freshly made. But this breastwork of
earth did not extend far. Evidently it had been left incomplete.
"What do you make of that, Henry?" asked Ross.
"That the Indians are in a state of indecision," replied Henry promptly.
"They intended to fortify and fight us here, and now they are thinking
that maybe they won't. If they had made up their minds thoroughly they
would have gone on with the earthwork."
"That certainly sounds reasonable," said Paul, "but if they don't fight
here where will they fight? I can't believe that Timmendiquas will
abandon the Indian towns without resistance and flee to the woods."
"They have another big town farther on--Piqua they call it. It may be
more defensible than Chillicothe, and, if so, they might decide to
concentrate there. But we can be sure of one thing. They have not yet
left Chillicothe. It is for us to discover within the next few hours
just what they mean to do."
At the lower end of the corn field they found a garden of tall pea and
bean vines which they entered. This field projected into the village and
when they reached its end they saw a great increase of lights and heard
the hum of voices. Peeping from their precarious covert they beheld the
dusky figures of warriors in large numbers, and they surmised that some
sort of a council was in progress.
Henry was eager to know what was being said at this council, but for a
long time he could think of no way. At last he noticed a small wooden
building adjoining the garden, the door of which stood half open,
revealing ears of corn from the preceding season lying in a heap upon
the floor. He resolved to enter this rude corncrib knowing it would
contain many apertures, and see and hear what was being done. He told
the others his plan. They tried to dissuade him from it but he
persisted, being sure that he would succeed.
"I'm bound to take the risk," he said. "We must find out what the
Indians intend to do."
"Then if you're bent on throwin' away your life," said Shif'less Sol,
"I'm goin' in with you."
"No," said Henry firmly. "One is enough, and it is enough to risk one.
But if you fellows wish, lie here behind the vines, and, if I have to
make a run for it, you can cover me with your fire."
The four at last agreed to this compromise, although they were loth to
see Henry go. Every one of them made up his mind to stand by their
leader to the last. Henry left the shelter of the vines, but he lay down
almost flat, and crept across the narrow open space to the corncrib.
When he saw that no one was looking he darted inside, and cautiously
pushed the door shut.
As he expected, there were plenty of cracks between the timbers and also
a small open window at one end. The ears of corn were heaped high at the
window, and, pushing himself down among them until he was hidden to the
shoulders, he looked out.