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[Illustration: The dance of the magicians lasted fully a quarter of
an hour.]
Colonial Series
ON THE TRAIL OF PONTIAC
OR
THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO
BY
EDWARD STRATEMEYER
Author of "With Washington in the West," "Lost on the Orinoco," "Two Young
Lumbermen," "American Boys' Life of William McKinley," "Old Glory Series,"
"Ship and Shore Series," etc.
ILLUSTRATED BY A. B. SHUTE
PREFACE
"On the Trail of Pontiac" is a complete story in itself, but forms the
fourth volume of a line known by the general title of "Colonial Series."
The first volume, entitled "With Washington in the West," related the
adventures of Dave Morris, a young pioneer of Will's Creek, now Cumberland,
Va. Dave became acquainted with George Washington at the time the latter
was a surveyor, and served under the youthful officer during the fateful
Braddock expedition against Fort Duquesne.
The Braddock defeat left the frontier at the mercy of the French and the
Indians, and in the second volume of the series, called "Marching on
Niagara," are given the particulars of General Forbes' campaign against
Fort Duquesne and the advance of Generals Prideaux and Johnson against Fort
Niagara, in which not only Dave Morris, but likewise his cousin Henry, do
their duty well as young soldiers.
The signal victory at Niagara gave to the English control of all that vast
territory lying between the great Lakes and what was called the Louisiana
Territory. But war with France was not yet at an end, and in the third
volume of the series, entitled "At the Fall of Montreal," I have related
the particulars of the last campaign against the French, including General
Wolfe's memorable scaling of the Heights of Quebec, the battle on the
Plains of Abraham, and lastly the fall of Montreal itself, which brought
this long-drawn war to a conclusion, and was the means of placing Canada
where it remains to-day, in the hands of England.
With the conclusion of the War with France, the settlers in America
imagined that they would be able to go back unmolested to their homesteads
on the frontier. But such was not to be. The Indians who had assisted
France during the war were enraged to see the English occupying what they
considered their own personal hunting grounds, and, aroused by the cunning
and eloquence of the great chief Pontiac, and other leaders, they concocted
more than one plot to fall upon the settlements and the forts of the
frontier and massacre all who opposed them. The beginning of this fearful
uprising of the red men is given in the pages which follow.
As in my previous books, I have tried to be as accurate historically as
possible. The best American, English, and French authorities have been
consulted. I trust that all who read the present volume may find it both
entertaining and instructive.
EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
July 1, 1904
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST
II. THE CABIN IN THE CLEARING
III. BARRINGFORD'S STRANGE DISCOVERY
IV. SEARCHING FOR CLEWS
V. A LIVELY ELK HUNT
VI. SURRENDER OF FORT DETROIT
VII. PREPARING FOR THE EXPEDITION WESTWARD
VIII. ON THE OLD BRADDOCK ROAD
IX. HENRY'S STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
X. A WAIT IN CAMP
XI. HAPPENINGS OF A STORMY NIGHT
XII. THE RUINS OF THE OLD TRADING-POST
XIII. BUILDING THE NEW TRADING-POST
XIV. JEAN BEVOIR HAS HIS SAY
XV. DAVE'S UNWELCOME VISITOR
XVI. DAVE MEETS PONTIAC
XVII. THE ATTACK ON THE PACK-TRAIN
XVIII. AFTER THE ENCOUNTER
XIX. THE TRAIL THROUGH THE FOREST
XX. GUARDING THE TRADING-POST
XXI. SAM BARRINGFORD BRINGS NEWS
XXII. THE ROCK BY THE RIVER
XXIII. DAVE AND THE FAWN
XXIV. SOMETHING ABOUT SLAVES AND INDIAN CAPTIVES
XXV. THE RESULTS OF A BUFFALO HUNT
XXVI. STRANGE INDIAN MAGIC
XXVII. THE TRAIL OF PONTIAC
XXVIII. AN UNDERGROUND STOREHOUSE
XXIX. PONTIAC'S TRAIL ONCE MORE
XXX. IN THE CAMP OF THE ENEMY
XXXI. HELD AS A SPY
XXXII. A FIGHT AND A VICTORY--CONCLUSION
ILLUSTRATIONS
The dance of the magicians lasted fully a quarter of an hour
(Frontispiece)
The report was followed by a mad yelp of pain
Henry ... rolled over and over down a long hill
"Let go!" cried Dave. "Let go, I say!"
"Where are your furs?" asked James Morris
He let the animal have a bullet directly in the head
"Tis one of the English" said the taller of the Indians
"The white young man is sorry to be a prisoner," he said slowly
CHAPTER I
A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST
"Two wild turkeys and seven rabbits. Not such a bad haul after all, Henry."
"That is true, Dave. But somehow I wanted to get a deer if I could."
"Oh, I reckon almost any hunter would like to bring down a deer," went on
Dave Morris. "But they are not so plentiful as they were before the war."
"That is true." Henry Morris placed the last rabbit he had brought down in
his game-bag. "I can remember the time when the deer would come up to
within a hundred yards of the house. But you have got to take a long tramp
to find one now."
"And yet game ought to be plentiful," went on his younger cousin. "There
wasn't much hunting in this vicinity during the war. Nearly everybody who
could go to the front went."
"There were plenty who couldn't be hired to go, you know that as well as I
do. Some were afraid they wouldn't get their pay and others were afraid the
French or the Indians would knock 'em over." Henry Morris took a deep
breath. "Beats me how they could stay home--with the enemy doing their best
to wipe us out."
"I can't understand it either. But now the war is over, do you think we'll
have any more trouble with the Indians?" continued Dave Morris, as he and
his cousin started forward through the deep snow that lay in the woods
which had been their hunting ground for the best part of the day.
"It's really hard to tell, Dave. Father thinks we'll have no more trouble,
but Sam Barringford says we won't have real peace until the redskins have
had one whipping they won't forget as long as they live."
"Well, Sam knows the Indians pretty thoroughly."
"No one knows them better. And why shouldn't he know 'em? He's been among
them since he was a small boy, and he must be fifty now if he's a day."
"I can tell you one thing, Henry," continued Dave warmly. "I was mighty
glad to see Sam recover from that wound he received at Quebec. At first I
thought he would either die or be crazy for the rest of his life."
"It's his iron constitution that pulled him through. Many another soldier
would have caved in clean and clear. But hurry up, if you want to get home
before dark," and so speaking, Henry Morris set off through the woods at a
faster pace than ever, with his cousin close at his heels. Each carried his
game-bag on his back and a flint-lock musket over his shoulder.
The time was early in the year 1761, but a few months after the fall of
Montreal had brought the war between France and England in America to a
close. Canada was now in the possession of the British, and the settlers in
our colonies along the great Atlantic seacoast, and on the frontier
westward, were looking for a long spell of peace in which they might regain
that which had been lost, or establish themselves in new localities which
promised well.
As already mentioned, Dave and Henry Morris were cousins, Henry being the
older by several years. They lived in the little settlement of Will's
Creek, Virginia, close to where the town of Cumberland stands to-day. The
Morris household consisted of Dave's father, Mr. James Morris, who was a
widower, and Mr. Joseph Morris, his wife Lucy, and their children, Rodney,
several years older than Henry, who came next, and Nell, a girl of about
six, who was the household pet. In years gone by Rodney had been a good
deal of a cripple, but a surgical operation had done wonders for him and
now he was almost as strong as any of the others.
James Morris was a natural born trapper and fur trader, and when his wife
died he left his son Dave in the care of his brother Joseph and wandered to
the west, where he established a trading-post on the Kinotah, a small
stream flowing into the Ohio River. This was at the time that George
Washington, the future President of our country, was a young surveyor, and
in the first volume of this series, entitled "With Washington in the West,"
I related how Dave fell in with Washington and became his assistant, and
how, later on, Dave became a soldier to march under Washington during the
disastrous Braddock campaign against Fort Duquesne.
General Braddock's failure to bring the French to submission cost James
Morris dearly. His trading-post was attacked and he barely escaped with his
life. Dave likewise became a prisoner of the enemy, and it was only through
the efforts of a friendly Indian named White Buffalo, and an old frontier
acquaintance named Sam Barringford, that the pair escaped to a place of
safety.
War between France and England had then become a certainty. France was
aided greatly by the Indians, and it was felt by the colonists that a
strong blow must be struck and without delay. Expeditions against the
French were organized, and in the second volume of the series, called
"Marching on Niagara," are given the particulars of another campaign
against Fort Duquesne (located where the city of Pittsburg, Penn., now
stands) and then of the long and hard campaign against Fort Niagara. Dave
and Henry were both in the contest, for they had joined the ranks of the
Royal Americans, as the Colonial troops were called.
With the fall of Fort Niagara the English came once again into possession
of all the territory lying between the Great Lakes and the lower
Mississippi. But Canada was not yet taken, and there followed more
campaigns, which have been described in the third volume of the series,
called "At the Fall of Montreal." In these campaigns both Dave and Henry
fought well, and with them was Sam Barringford, who had promised the
parents that he would keep an eye on the youths. Henry had been taken
prisoner and Barringford had been shot, but in the end all had been
re-united, and as soon as the old frontiersman was well enough to do so,
the three had left the army and gone back to the homestead at Will's Creek.
It had been a great family re-union and neighbors from miles around had
come in to hear what the young soldiers and their sturdy old friend might
have to tell. Because of the ending of the terrible war, there was general
rejoicing everywhere.
"I never wish to see the like of it again," Mrs. Morris had said, not once,
but many times. "Think of those who have been slain, and who are wounded!"
"You are right, Lucy," her husband had returned. "There is nothing worse
than war, unless it be a pestilence. I, too, want nothing but peace
hereafter."
"And I agree most heartily," had come from James Morris. "One cannot till
the soil nor hunt unless we are at peace with both the French and the
Indians."
"Be thankful that Jean Bevoir has been removed from your path," had come
from his brother.
"And from our path, too, Joseph," Mrs. Morris had put in quickly.
Jean Bevoir had been a rascally French trader who owned a trading-post but
a few miles from that established by James Morris on the Kinotah. Bevoir
had claimed the Morris post for his own, and had aided the Indians in an
attack which had all but ruined the buildings. Later on the Frenchman had
helped in the abduction of little Nell, but the girl had been rescued by
Dave and her brother Henry. Then Jean Bevoir drifted to Montreal, and while
trying to loot some houses there during the siege, was shot down in a
skirmish between the looters on one side, and the French and the English
soldiers on the other. The Morrises firmly believed that Jean Bevoir was
dead, but such was not a fact. A wound thought to be fatal had taken a turn
for the better, and the fellow was now lying in a French farmhouse on the
St. Lawrence, where two or three of his old companions in crime were doing
their best to nurse him back to health and strength. Jean Bevoir had not
forgotten the Morrises, nor what they had done to drag him down, as he
expressed it, and, although the war was at an end, he was determined to
make Dave, Henry, and the others pay dearly for the ruin they had brought
to his plans in the past.
"I shall show them that, though France is beaten, Jean Bevoir still lives,"
he told himself boastingly. "The trading-post on the Kinotah with its
beautiful lands, shall still be mine--the Morrises shall never possess it!"
Sometimes he spoke to his companions of these things, but they merely
smiled at him, thinking that what he had in mind to do would prove
impossible of accomplishment.