THE INDIANS PROPOSE TO KILL ME--I AM BOUND READY FOR THE TORTURE--MY
GUESTS FIND THE FIRE-WATER, AND I FIND THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING ABSTAINED
FROM IT--A FEARFUL CONFERENCE--A TOMAHAWK SENT AT MY HEAD--THE SPIRITS
TAKE EFFECT--I WORK MY LIMBS FREE--SHALL I KILL MY ENEMIES?--I FLY--A
RUN FOR LIFE--MY TERRIBLE JOURNEY--I SINK EXHAUSTED--A FRIENDLY INDIAN--
A KIND RECEPTION--I HAVE CAUSE TO REJOICE THAT I DID NOT REDDEN MY HANDS
WITH BLOOD.
The Indians sat round the fire, devouring with dreadful composure the
remainder of my scanty stock of provisions. I could not withdraw my
eyes from them. I felt as if I was in a horrid dream, and yet I was too
certain of the reality of what had occurred to doubt it. "Even were
they to spare my life, I must starve," I thought to myself, "so it
matters little what they do to me." They ate up all their own food and
all mine, till nothing remained. The Red man, although he can go a long
time without food, is a complete glutton when he gets a quantity, and is
utterly regardless of what may be his future exigencies. When they had
eaten up all the food exposed to view, they began to hunt about the tent
for more. I watched them anxiously, for I was afraid that they would
get hold of the gunpowder, and still more did I dread their finding the
brandy. The chief, a villainous-looking old warrior, was the most
active in the search. He went round and round the tent, poking his
fingers into every package, and sniffing up with his nose, till at last
his keen scent enabled him to discover the existence of the spirit cask,
which I had already broached. With a grunt of satisfaction, in which
the whole party joined, he dragged it forward, and made signs to his
followers that all should share in the much-prized fire-water. I
trembled at what would be the consequences. "They would have treated me
badly enough while they were sober, but with all their evil passions
inflamed by liquor, they will be perfect demons," I thought to myself.
"How wrong I was not to have let the dangerous spirit run out long ago."
How brightly their eyes glared, how eagerly they pressed forward to get
a share of the coveted fire-water, which the old chief was serving out.
I observed that he took care to help himself more largely than he did
anybody else. Scarcely had they drunk off what was first distributed to
them than they put forward their leathern drinking-cups to ask for more.
The old chief having helped himself, gave some to his followers. Then
their eyes began to glitter; the calm, sedate bearing of the Indian was
thrown off; they talked rapidly and vehemently, and laughed loudly, and
their fingers began to play with the handles of their tomahawks and
scalping-knives in a way that made my blood run cold. The red-skins,
when they take a captive for whom for any reason they have an especial
hatred, generally wait two or three days, that they may have the
satisfaction of tormenting him before they commence actually to torture
him to death. As I watched them, however, I felt that any moment they
might spring up and begin to torture me.
It is difficult to describe the horrible ingenuity they exhibit in
tormenting their victims. Talk of the virtues of the savage--I do not
believe in them. He may have some good qualities, but he is generally
the cruel, remorseless monster sin has made him. Civilisation has its
vices--I know that full well--and bad enough they are, but they are mild
compared to those of the true unadulterated savage, who prides himself
on his art in making his victims writhe under his tortures, and kills
merely that he may boast of the number of those he has slaughtered, and
may exhibit their scalps as trophies of his victories. It is a
convincing proof to me that the same spirit of evil, influenced by the
most intense hatred to the human race, is going continually about to
incite men to crime. The Dyak of Borneo, the Fijian of the Pacific, and
the red savage of North America, are much alike; and identically the
same change is wrought in all when the light of truth is brought among
them, and the Christian's faith sheds its softening influence over their
hearts. Many such ideas as those I have alluded to passed through my
mind as I sat, unable to move, watching the proceedings of the savages,
and I felt with a pang of intense remorse how utterly I had neglected
doing anything towards sending the gospel of salvation in which I
believed and thought I trusted, to them or any other of the heathen
nations of the world.
The red-skins went on talking fast and furiously; then they put out
their hands, and called on the old chief to serve them out further
draughts of their loved fire-water. He dared not deny them. He helped
himself, and his eyes began to roll round and round with a frightful
glare, and every now and then they turned upon me, and I thought my last
moment had come; but one of his companions, in a tone which had lost all
respect for him, called off his attention for a moment, and I had a
reprieve. It was but for a few minutes. I became once more the subject
of conversation. Again the cups were filled and quaffed. I sat as
motionless as a statue. A sign of fear, or even of consciousness, would
only tend to enrage my captors. The countenance of the old chief grew
more terrific. He grasped his deadly tomahawk, and, drawing it from his
belt, lifted his arm to hurl it at my head. I expected that instant to
feel the horrible crash as the sharp weapon entered my skull. I,
notwithstanding, fixed my eye steadily on him. He bent back his arm;
the tomahawk flew across the tent, but the spirits he had swallowed had
unnerved his limbs and confused his sight, and, unconscious apparently
of what he had done, he rolled over on his side. His companions were
too far gone to take notice of his state. They rather seemed to rejoice
at it, that now they could help themselves to as much liquor as was to
be got. As the savages went on drinking, and I saw the condition to
which they were reducing themselves, hope once more revived in my
breast. I might work my way out of the leather thongs which bound me,
and get clear of my captors; but then where was I to go? I was again
tolerably strong, and I could run some miles, but in what direction
should I bend my steps? I could scrape together a little food from that
left by the Indians; but had I any chance of reaching any fort or
settlement in the depth of winter? I should, too probably, be frozen to
death, or be devoured by wolves, or be scalped by hostile Indians. The
prospect was not cheering. Still all risks were far preferable to being
tormented to death by my present captors. I was beginning to indulge in
a prospect of escaping, remote though it might be, when two more of the
Indians all of a sudden took it into their heads to hurl their hatchets
at me. It was the last effort of expiring intelligence, and they both
fell back overpowered by liquor. In a very short time, one by one, the
rest of their companions yielded to its influences, and the whole band
of Indians lay perfectly drunk and helpless at my feet.
No time was to be lost; how long they might continue in that state I
could not tell. At all events it was important to get a long start of
them. I found that I might in time gnaw away the thongs which bound my
wrists. I set to work; they were very tough, but by perseverance I got
through one, and then the other, and my hands were free. Still I had a
tough thong round my neck, secured to one of the posts of the bed, and
another round my ankles fastened to another below me. If I attempted to
stoop down, I tightened the thong round my neck, nor could I draw my
feet up to meet my hands. The savages had taken my own knife from me.
I struggled, and pulled, and tugged, to get my feet clear, till I almost
cut through my ankles to the bone. At last I thought of the tomahawks
the savages had thrown at me. I leaned back and felt about behind me.
To my great joy my fingers clutched the handle of one, the blade of
which was sticking deep into the frame of the bed. I dragged it out,
and very soon cut through the thong round my neck. To clear my feet was
a work of less trouble: I was free. I can scarcely describe my
sensations as I stood among my now helpless enemies. My first thought
was to make preparations for my flight. I collected all the food of
every description and packed it away in a bag, which I fastened round my
waist. I took my rifle and filled my powder-flask, with a further
supply in a leathern case which had been Obed's, and all the
percussion-caps, and as much shot as I could carry. I took the
precaution also of collecting all the bows and arrows, and other
weapons, of the Indians, and of piling them upon the fire, where they
were quickly consumed. Then I threw over my shoulder my buffalo-skin
coat, and stood prepared for flight. "Whither shall I fly? How can I
escape from my swift-heeled enemies with all this weight of things to
carry? Need I fly?" A dreadful thought came into my head. "They
intended to kill me. There they lie utterly helpless. A few
well-directed blows from one of their own tomahawks which they hurled at
my head, and not one of them can harm me more. I may dispose of them as
I disposed of their two brethren who tried to kill me. I have a right
to do so. Surely I have a right to destroy them." If I did not say, I
thought all these things. Whence did the suggestion come? "Oh, may I
be guided to do what is right," I mentally ejaculated. I gazed at the
helpless beings scattered around. "They are human. `Forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass against us.' What does that
mean?" I asked myself. "Oh, no, I dare not injure them. Never mind
what the rough backwoodsman would say to my conduct. I am sure it is
braver to refrain than to kill. Certainly, as a Christian, I cannot
kill them--I dare not. To His guidance and protection who formed the
world and all living creatures, I commit myself." With these words, not
daring to look behind me, I rushed from the tent.
I took a westerly course, for I thought that I should more likely fall
in with Obed in that direction, should he have reached a fort in safety,
and succeeded in obtaining help to come and rescue me. On I went as
fast as I could move, but my limbs were stiff, and the weight I carried
was considerable. I tried to turn my thoughts from the savages, but I
could not help calculating how long they might continue in their state
of stupor. There was still some brandy left in the cask; when they
recovered their senses, rather than pursue me they might be tempted to
drink again. It was a question which was the strongest passion, whether
the love of drink or the desire for revenge would prevail. On I went,
the snow was now tolerably hard, so I made pretty good progress, yet the
red-skins would go twice as fast when once they began to pursue me.
I went a mile before I stopped. Then, on reaching an elevation, whence
I could have a clear view over the white glittering plain, I looked back
at the spot where I had spent so many days and nights of pain and
suffering, and where also I owned that I had been most mercifully
preserved from so many dangers. The tent stood where it had been for
many months, the smoke was curling out of the top into the calm sky, and
all around looked so unchanged that I could scarcely persuade myself
that in the interior was collected a band of malignant foes, who would
rejoice in my destruction. I looked but a few seconds, and then away I
went on my course. I walked on, sometimes breaking into a run where the
snow was harder and would allow it, till sunset, and then the stars came
out brightly in the firmament of heaven, and I was able to steer my
course with greater certainty even than in the daytime. I could not
think very much; but I did feel thankful that I had not yielded to the
temptation of drinking the spirits myself, when I had felt low and
almost hopeless. Had I done so, I should have destroyed the very means
presented for my deliverance. I got over the plain with tolerable ease,
for the sun had at times melted the snow, which when it froze again had
become hard and rough. As I ran on, however, I was trying to devise
some plan by which the Indians might be turned off my track. To
obliterate it, however, was hopeless, unless a heavy fall of snow should
come on, and even then the cunning rascals, by scraping away the snow at
intervals, were very likely to find me out.
It was nearly midnight, I calculated, when I felt that I must stop to
rest and take some food. I sat down on what I took to be a mound of
earth covered with snow. I ate a handful of rice and a little biscuit,
and chewed a piece of wolf's flesh, and felt somewhat revived. I should
have liked to have gone to sleep, but I dared not, even for a moment.
It would have been, had I given way to the feeling, the sleep of death.
I scarcely know why, but as I sat on the heap I struck the butt-end of
my rifle into the snow; it gave way. I found there was something
beneath it. With eager haste, for I remembered that every moment was
precious, I threw off the snow. The body of a man lay beneath. A
dreadful sensation came over me. It must be that of Obed, slaughtered,
perhaps, on his way to succour me; the idea almost overcame me; I
resisted, however, the feeling of despair, and roused myself up. I
threw off more of the snow; I could see, by the faint light of the moon,
that little more than a skeleton remained; the dress, however, was
there; it was that of a backwoodsman. With horrible eagerness, yet with
loathing, I examined the tattered clothes. I felt sure that they where
those Obed had worn. In my search my hand struck against something; I
took it up, it was an old silver watch; such a one Obed had not got, but
often had I seen it in the hands of his brother Joab.
Poor Joab, then, had been killed on the first attack of the red-skins.
What had become of the rest of the party? I dreaded lest I should find
their remains as I had that of Joab. Taking the watch, I secured it
about me to restore to his family should I ever meet them. I hunted
about for his rifle; it was nowhere to be found. It had been carried
off, I concluded, by the Indians. With a heavy heart I ran on, after my
brief rest, expecting every instant to come on more of the remains of my
old friends, but I saw no indications of them, and there was no time to
carry on the search.
I went on after this for some time without halting even for a moment. I
had now been several hours on foot. Had I enjoyed my usual strength,
such as I possessed before being wounded, I should have made light of
the fatigue. I was, however, again obliged to sit down. I reckoned on
having a long start of the red-skins. I hoped to retain my strength so
as to redouble my speed when I thought they would be pressing after me.
I had deprived them of their arms, and they had no food; so that, could
I contrive to keep beyond their reach for two or three days, they must
be delayed to obtain it, if they attempted to follow me. Unless also
their lodges were in the neighbourhood, and they could go and get arms,
I possessed another very great advantage over them. Of course if
pursued I would not hesitate for a moment about shooting them down.
These ideas occurred to me as I ran on, and I began to feel that my case
was not so hopeless as I at first considered it. My great dread was of
the wolves. As yet I had not heard any of those cries which make night
hideous in the desert regions; but I knew that if a pack once scented me
out and gave chase, I should have little chance of escaping them, unless
I could find a tree, up which I might climb out of their way.
I ran on all night, keeping nearly due west, and daylight found me
pursuing my way with unflagging speed. At last I struck what I took to
be a branch of the Nebraska river. A wood was not far-off on the other
side. "I'll try if a white man cannot manage to deceive the acuteness
even of a red-skin," I thought to myself. The wind had blown the snow
completely off the ice on the river. I crossed the river and made
towards the wood. I stirred up the snow in a way which I knew would
puzzle the Indians, and then treading backwards on my footmarks, I once
more reached the river.
Then away I went up the stream over the smooth ice as hard as I could
run. Now and then I tumbled down, but I quickly picked myself up again,
and was off as fast as ever. When a man believes that a body of
red-skins or a pack of wolves are at his heels, he is likely to run
pretty fast. I sat down once for breakfast for five minutes, and once
at noon for dinner of raw rice and wolves' ribs, and away I went again.
At last I found that the river was making so many bends that it would be
necessary to land, which I did on the north shore. Night came on, but I
did not relax my speed; the stars came out and guided me as before. I
was beginning, however, to feel much distressed. I bore up as well as I
could, but I fancied that I could not continue my course much beyond the
morning, even if I could go through the night. I came to some bushes
growing above the snow; they would afford me shelter from the wind, and
I might, I thought, venture to rest for half an hour or so. I should
have wished to light a fire, but I dared not, lest the smoke might
betray me.
I sat down and began searching in my bag for some food, when a distant
and faint cry struck my ear. I listened; again I heard it. I knew too
well what it was. The cry of a pack of wolves. Could they have gained
scent of me and be following in my rack? The bare thought of such a
thing made me start up, and again set forth at full speed. For what I
knew to the contrary, I had both wolves and Indians following me. The
wolves were gaining on me, that was certain. I could distinguish the
yelps and barks through the still midnight. They might yet be some way
off. I tried to pierce through the gloom ahead in the hopes of seeing
some clump of trees rising out of the snowy plain in which I might take
shelter. On I ran. It, at all events, would not do to stay where I
was. The sound of those horrid yelps, if anything had been required to
make me exert myself would have added fleetness to my feet. I longed
for day; I thought they would be less likely to attack me. For a whole
hour I ran on, I believe. It seemed more like three or four with those
dreadful sounds ringing in my ears. I thought they were coming nearer
and nearer. At last I saw some object rising up before me in the
darkness. It might be a distant hill, or it might be the outline of the
wished-for wood.
"But if I succeed in reaching it and climbing a tree, will not the delay
enable the Indians to overtake me?" I thought. "I will keep outside
the wood till the near approach of the brutes compels me to climb a tree
to get out of their way." I kept to this resolution. It proved to be a
wood that I had seen. I skirted it as I continued my course. All the
time I kept listening with a feeling of horror to the hideous chorus of
the wolves.
Suddenly I was conscious that the sounds were growing fainter. In
another twenty minutes I was certain of it. They were in pursuit of
some wild beast or other, perhaps of some unfortunate Indian traversing
the prairie. How thankful I felt when the sounds altogether ceased.
This circumstance gave me fresh courage. I pursued my course steadily
onward. I stopped even five minutes to rest and take a little food.
The sun rose, still I was going on, but I began to feel that nature
would not hold out much longer. I felt a dizziness in my eyes, and my
knees began to tremble, and I drew my breath with difficulty. I was
again in a vast plain. The sun was behind me; I followed my own shadow.
Sometimes I could distinguish nothing before me, then the giddiness
went away.
Suddenly, as I looked up, I saw before me eight or ten figures moving in
a line across my path. Could they be the Pawnees who had lost my track,
and were thus making a circuit in the expectation of coming on it? If
they were, I would defend myself to the last. I felt for my rifle, and
tried to get it ready to fire, but I had miscalculated my strength. The
agitation was too much for me; I stumbled blindly forward a few paces,
and then sank down helplessly in the snow. I tried to rise--to move--I
could not, so I gave myself up for lost, and prepared for death. I was
not afraid, I was not unhappy; indeed, I had no very acute feelings
whatever, and very soon lost all consciousness. I was aroused by a
human voice.
"Why, stranger, where have you dropped from? You seem to be in a sad
plight!"
I looked up to discover whence the voice came, and there, instead of a
white face, as I expected, I saw a tall Indian, as he seemed by his
dress, though perhaps he was rather fairer than his people usually are,
bending over me. I could not reply, but, with a sort of hysterical
laugh, I made signs that I had come from the eastward, and that some one
was in pursuit of me.
"Well, never mind talking now; we must first set you on your feet
again," he said in a kind voice. "My companions will be here presently.
You want food and rest, and then you can tell us what has happened."
"Food, food," I whispered.
"Yes, poor fellow, you shall have it," he answered, in a tone of
commiseration, taking from his wallet some pemmican, which I ate with a
keen relish.
The food revived me, and I felt much better by the time my new friend's
companions came up. They stood round me while I continued eating, with
looks of pity and wonder on their expressive countenances. I saw by
their dress and appearance that they were Ottoes, a tribe dwelling to
the south of the Nebraska, and always friendly to the whites. My friend
was the only one who could speak English, which he did perfectly. He
saw me examining his countenance.
"I am half an Englishman," he observed. "I am called John Pipestick.
My father came from Kent, in the old country, I have often heard him
say; the garden of England he called it. A poor place for buffaloes and
wild turkeys, I should think, so it would not suit me. He sometimes
talked of going to have a look at the hop fields and a taste of its ale,
but he was killed by the Pawnees, who carried of his scalp. I've not
left him unavenged, though. My mother was a red-skin, and belonged to
this tribe, and I have no wish to quit them. But come, friend, you have
done eating, and a man who can eat is not in a very bad way. Lean on
us, and we will take you to our tents. They are not more than three
miles off."
Supported in the arms of the kind Ottoes, I walked along with tolerable
ease. They were very fine fellows. One was fully six feet six inches
in height, and proportionably strong limbed. The rest were not much his
inferiors. John Pipestick was shorter, but very strong. As I walked
along I found my tongue loosed, and I gave a succinct account of what
had occurred. John interpreted. The Indians pricked up their ears, and
had an animated discussion among themselves. We reached at length what
is called a cedar swamp in the States. The cedar trees form a dense,
tangled thicket, perfectly impervious to the wind, and in winter, when
the moist ground is frozen hard below, such a locality is perfectly
healthy. Woe betide the unfortunate wretch who has to take up his
quarters within one in the summer time, when mosquitoes and rattlesnakes
abound. He will wish himself well out of it before the morning.
Drawing aside a few boughs, the Ottoes led the way by a narrow path
towards the centre of the thicket, and we soon found ourselves in an
open space, in which were pitched a couple of tents. Several women and
three or four men came out to greet us, and warmly shook my hands. I
felt truly, as John Pipestick had called me, a brother among them. They
placed me in a tent before a fire, and gave me warm food, and chafed my
limbs, and then covered me up with a buffalo robe. I quickly fell
asleep, and never have I slept so soundly in my life, or with a sense of
more perfect security. At last I awoke; I had not stirred for fourteen
hours. It was night, but the Indians were sitting up round the fire
cleaning their arms. They seemed highly pleased when I awoke.
"We have been waiting for you to start on an expedition," exclaimed John
Pipestick. "How do you feel? Are you able, think you, to walk?"
I got up and stretched my limbs. They felt a little stiff, and pained
me slightly, but I thought, I said, that exercise would take that off.
"No fear then," said John; "take some food. Our people are anxious to
start. I'll tell you all about it as we go along."
I lost no time in putting on my moccasins and in getting ready for a
start, after I had partaken of some pemmican and a warm broth, of which
a wild turkey formed the chief ingredient. I found a party of ten
Indians besides Pipestick, all armed with rifles, besides hatchets and
knives, and some had likewise bows and quivers of arrows at their backs.
In their buffalo-skin coats they looked very like a troop of bears.
The remainder of the party were preparing to follow with a light wagon,
in which they carried their tents and provisions, and four shaggy little
ponies to drag it. I saw that we were taking an easterly course. I
asked where we were going.
"To your tent," was the answer.
"But the Pawnees will have gone," I remarked.
"No fear of that while any liquor remains," he observed.
I knew that I might as well have spoken to the winds as have attempted
to dissuade my wild friends from attacking their enemies. Still I tried
to explain my view of the case. John seemed much struck by what I said.
He observed that he had never seen it in that light before. He had
been taught to do good to your friends, but to injure your enemies to
the utmost of your power. He had no notion that such was not the
Christian's creed. His father was a Christian; so was he--not that he
knew much about religion. That was all very well for people who lived
in towns. I tried to show him that all men had souls; that one Saviour
died for all; that all would have to stand before the judgment-seat of
God; and that therefore religious faith and religious practice were
essential for all.
Such was one of the many subjects of our conversation which beguiled our
way. My long solitude had made me reflect and remember many things I
had before forgotten, and my late merciful escape had not been without
its effects in turning my heart to my Maker. I wish that I could say
that, like the compass, it has ever since kept true to the pole. I did
not feel, however, that I was making very deep impression on my
auditors. We pushed on, not as fast as I had come, but still at a very
rapid rate; and if I at all showed signs of flagging, two of the huge
Indians would lift me up by the shoulders and help me along, scarcely
allowing my feet to touch the ground. We camped in a wood for a short
time, making an arbour with fir branches to keep off the cold, and then
on we went. My heart beat quick as, soon after daylight, we approached
the height whence we could look down, I knew, on my tent. We reached
the spot--the one where I had been standing when I saw the Pawnees
coming to destroy me. I looked eagerly for the tent. It was no longer
there, nor was there a sign of living beings near. Two scouts went down
to examine all the places of concealment near. After a time they signed
to us to approach. We hurried down. There lay the remains of the tent,
almost burned to pieces, and among a confused mass of cinders and
various articles which the tent had contained, lay scattered about the
blackened and mangled remains of my late captors.
"Verily let not man attempt to avenge himself," I repeated. "Here is a
proof of those solemn words, `Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will
repay.'"