THE MISSING CHILDREN
"Sam, there has been more fighting around here."
It was Dave who spoke, and as he did so, he pointed to the blackened
ruins of a cabin which had been located three miles from Fort
Cumberland. The ruins were still smoking.
"It's a general uprising, sure enough, Dave," returned the old
frontiersman. "I only hope we find all o' the folks we left behind safe
an' sound."
They had been pursuing a side trail, but now they reached the main
road, and as they did so, they heard a clatter of horses' hoofs and a
moment later a woman and two children, followed by a man, came into
sight.
"Hello, Mr. Dumphreys!" cried Dave. "Where are you bound?"
"Oh, Morris, is it you?" was the reply, from the man. "Bound for Fort
Cumberland. Have you seen anything of Polly, our young colored slave?"
"Polly? No."
"Then the Indians must have carried her off."
"Had a fight up to your house?" inquired Barringford.
"Yes. But we got away in the darkness last night and hid in the
thickets until this morning. Polly said she would join us, but we
couldn't see her anywhere. I can tell you, these are terrible times."
"What is the news from the fort, Mr. Dumphreys?" asked Dave.
"Two men were shot down day before yesterday--old Ike Slosson and Jerry
Kempley,--and the Indians visited the sawmill and stole Shag's team of
blacks. Then they went over to the Perry schoolhouse and shot at the
teacher, but he gave 'em some buckshot, and that brought the soldiers
over in jig time, and the redskins got out."
"Do you know anything of my folks?"
"Your uncle is not so well--his ankle got to swelling and he can't walk
on it. Your aunt is a good bit worried, and so is Rodney. I saw 'em
about a week ago. I don't know how they are now," added the settler.
As he rode along beside Dave and Barringford he related many of the
events which had occurred in the vicinity of Cumberland and Will's
Creek since they had gone away. It was the old story of attacks and
pilferings, one very much like another.
"The Indians are getting bolder every day," said Thomas Dumphreys.
"How it is going to end I don't know. They have sent for more troops,
and somebody told me that Colonel Bouquet was coming out to lick the
redskins, but I haven't seen anything of him yet."
It was not long after this that the party reached the outskirts of
Fort Cumberland. They found a great crowd assembled and it was with
difficulty that they located Mr. and Mrs. Morris and Rodney.
"Dave!" cried Joseph Morris. "I am glad to see you back in safety. And
glad to see you back, too, Sam."
"And we're glad to get back," answered Dave. He shook hands with his
uncle and aunt, and his cousin Rodney. "Where are Nell and the twins?"
he went on.
"Oh, don't you know?" burst out Mrs. Morris.
"Know what?" queried Barringford, for he saw that something was wrong.
"Don't tell me they--they are gone."
Joseph Morris nodded, while his wife turned away and buried her face in
her apron.
"Yes, they are gone," answered Rodney, who was the only one who seemed
able to speak. "We were out Wednesday, looking for berries and
fishing--we had to get something, you know--provisions are so low--and
as we couldn't leave Nell and the twins alone, we took them along. I
went up the stream a bit, and mother rambled over the field. All at
once I heard a terrible scream. I dropped my pole and ran back, and
found mother in a faint, with that cut you see on her cheek. Nell and
the twins were gone. I yelled for help, and pretty soon half a dozen
soldiers came up, and then we started after the Indians. We killed one
of the rascals, but the others got away and hid in the forest, and try
our best we couldn't get on to their trail."
"And you haven't found them since?" faltered Dave.
"No. We've hunted everywhere, and offered fifty pounds reward. We were
out two days and two nights, and I got hit in the shoulder by a bullet,
although it didn't amount to much. The Indians took one woman and four
children, and I reckon they traveled west as tight as they could go."
"Then the twins are gone!" said Barringford. "Poor Tom and Artie!" And
he turned away to hide his emotion.
Dave went over to his aunt and the good woman gave a sob, and rested
her head on his youthful shoulder.
"Oh, Dave! Dave!" she moaned. "Poor Nell! Poor, poor Nell!" She could
say no more. She had cried many times before, but now her tears started
afresh.
"Poor Nell!" murmured the youth. "But don't go on so, Aunt Lucy, we're
bound to find her again some day. Don't you remember how we found her
before, when they carried her away off to Niagara?" He stroked her
hair. "Don't cry," and then he kissed her.
"This is certainly the wust blow yet," said the old frontiersman. "O'
course you tried your best, Rodney?" he added, questioning.
"We surely did, Sam. I didn't sleep for two nights, and we traveled
around until we couldn't go another step. You don't think I'd let
them get away if I could possibly help it," added the former cripple,
reproachfully.
"What Injuns were they, do you know thet?"
"Not exactly, but I think they were Senecas, or Tuscaroras, and the
soldiers think so too. They have been very bold lately, and some think
we'll be attacked here before long."
After that the Morrises told their story in detail and then listened
to what Dave and Barringford had to say. It was easy to see that Mrs.
Morris was completely broken in spirits, and that Mr. Morris and
Rodney were also greatly depressed. Mr. Morris sat in an easy chair and
said that walking around was very painful for him.
"But I shouldn't care about my ankle, if only I knew Nell and the twins
were safe," said Dave's uncle. "I'd rather lose my hand than have any
harm befall Nell."
"We've got to rescue all on 'em," said Barringford, decidedly. "We hev
simply got to do it."
It was a gloomy home-coming, and Dave felt heavy-hearted enough when
he went to sleep that night. There were no house accommodations, and
all slept on the ground, with nothing but a rude shack, which Rodney
and Joseph Morris had constructed, to cover them. Settlers who had lost
their homes were all about them, and misery and want were on every hand.
"I never thought it could be so bad," said the youth, on the following
morning. "Rodney, where is this going to end?"
"Don't ask me, Dave. Perhaps, after all, we'll have to give up our farm
at the Creek and move further eastward."
"Yes, and what of my father's trading-post?"
"He'll have to give that up, too."
"It's a consarned shame the government can't send us some troops!"
cried Sam Barringford, savagely. "Troops is our only salvation. I'd
like to raise a company o' rangers myself, hang me ef I wouldn't!"
Barrington's ideas found ready indorsement, and a few days later
thirty-six of the settlers formed themselves into a company, known as
Pattersall's Rangers, because one Aubrey Pattersall was the captain.
They drove the Indians from the vicinity of Fort Cumberland, and for
the time being matters became a little more quiet in that vicinity.
Reports were now coming in thick and fast, and soon it became
definitely known that every fort and settlement in the west and along
the lakes had been attacked by the Indians, and only Niagara, Detroit,
and Fort Pitt were still holding out. The attacks at Venango, Presque
Isle, St. Joseph, Le Boeuf, and other points had been brutal in the
extreme, and atrocities were committed which have few parallels in
history. Where the whites were taken prisoners, they were tortured to
death, and in some cases the Indian women and children took part in the
barbarous proceedings.
From one old trapper Dave at last learned that his father and Henry,
with some others, had reached Fort Pitt, and had attached themselves
to the garrison at that stronghold. This trapper likewise told the
commandant at Fort Cumberland that a large body of Indians had
surrounded Fort Pitt and expected to capture the place, and this news
was quickly forwarded to General Amherst, now in command of the English
forces in America.
General Amherst was already doing all in his power to gather troops for
a march against the red men. But soldiers were scarce, and all he could
get were mere handfuls from here, there, and anywhere. Some of these
he sent to reinforce Fort Niagara, and one expedition, under Captain
Dalzell, was sent to Detroit. But Dalzell was surprised by Pontiac and
defeated, while the gallant English officer himself was cruelly slain.
The commander of the English troops at Philadelphia at this time was
Colonel Henry Bouquet, who, like Captain Ecuyer, of Fort Pitt, was a
Swiss by birth, but had served for a long time under the banner of St.
George. General Amherst now communicated with Colonel Bouquet ordering
him to collect as large a force as possible, and move across the
Allegheny Mountains, to the relief of Carlisle, Bedford, Fort Pitt, and
other forts and posts along the old western army road.
Colonel Bouquet was a man of action, and without delay he gathered
together a force of about five hundred men, principally Highlanders,
who had come in from service in the West Indies. He also sent out
orders, through his agents, to collect horses, carts, and supplies, and
have them in readings upon his arrival at Carlisle and other points
along the proposed line of march.
"Colonel Bouquet is coming from Philadelphia to fight the Indians!" was
the announcement at Fort Cumberland one morning late in June. "He wants
horses, wagons, and other things, and he is ready to take along any men
who volunteer."
"I'm going!" cried Dave, as soon as this news reached him. "If he is
going to march for Fort Pitt, that is just what I want."
"I shall go, too," came from Sam Barringford. "Every man as has the
good o' his country at heart ought to go," he added.
"I'd like to go, first-rate," said Rodney, wistfully. "But I suppose
I've got to stay here with mother and father."
"You can go if you wish, Rodney," said Joseph Morris. "We'll get along
somehow. Perhaps, while you're soldiering, you'll learn something of
Nell and the twins."
"If I only could!"
"I'm going to keep my eyes open, too," said Dave. "And I want to see
father and Henry again. It seems an age since we parted."
"It's the twins and Nell thet's a-taking me out," said the old
frontiersman. "I won't never rest ontil I know what's become o' 'em."
Colonel Bouquet was expected at Carlisle about the first of July, and
to that point marched Barringford, Dave, Rodney and a dozen others who
wanted to join the army as volunteers. Some were on horseback and some
on foot, and every one carried a heavy pack and his rifle and hunting
knife.
"I wish you luck," said Joseph Morris, on parting.
"Yes, and all of you be sure and come back safe and sound," added Mrs.
Morris.
Fort Cumberland was soon left behind, and they took the road that led
to Carlisle. All were sober and but little was said. They knew that
many perils lay ahead of them.