Far Past the Frontier Part 8

"We will think about this matter," said Ree, "and let you know. You will be here a day or two?"

"Yaas, a day or two," said Tom Fish. "But don't let me influence ye; it's mighty reesky business you kittens is bent on."

"It seems to me like a good plan," Ree reflected aloud, when he and John were alone. "If we went to General Putnam's settlement we would still feel that we must go up the Muskingum river to reach the Indians and profitable trading, and would have to build a raft or buy a boat to carry our goods. Moreover, people here say that within a few years the country all about Pittsburg will be settled up and that land will become valuable."

"Whatever you say suits me," said John with a laugh; and then and there Ree gave him a talking to for being so ready to accept the judgment of another, instead of having thoughts and opinions of his own.

But one or two ridiculously low offers the boys received for their horse and cart, and the discovery that they could not find room on the boat down the Ohio except at a fancy price, resulted in their decision to join Tom Fish. They talked all day of the subject, but when they went to bed that night, they knew that not for many months to come would they sleep again within the borders of civilization.

A frosty November morning ushered in another day, and early as they were astir Ree and John found the little town wide awake. Tom Fish was sky-larking all about saying good-bye to friends, and just a little under the influence of whiskey. It seemed that everybody knew him; and people having found out from Tom what they had not already found out from others, about the venturesome lads from Connecticut, quite an a.s.semblage gathered to wish the travelers good luck.

A repeated suggestion which had been made to the boys was that they should abandon their cart and take with them only such goods as they could carry by using old Jerry as a pack-horse. It was true that for a portion of the distance they proposed to travel, there was a rough road, but beyond Fort McIntosh, at the mouth of the Beaver river, they would have no road but the rough Indian trail. But Tom Fish said he "reckoned old Colonel Boquet's road was still there," and that they should take the cart; and they did so.

Tom had joined the boys as their clumsy vehicle creaked along a muddy street, a little more serious than usual, because of some news he had heard, he said, but boastful as ever.

"I was talkin' to a big seven-footer in the tavern last night," he said--"A feller that had a grudge ag'in' me once. He never liked me till I threw him over a house one day;--threw him clean over a house. It makes me larff!"

John laughed, too, at this, but he said: "Tom Fish, you weigh a good three stone (forty-two) more than I do, but I believe I could throw you in a wrestle. When we stop for dinner, I am going to put you on your back!"

A laugh long and loud came from the woodsman's throat. "Why, what a playful kitten ye be!" he exclaimed. "Why, I could toss ye up in the air and ketch ye nigh a dozen times whilst ye were only thinkin' of throwin'

me."

"I'd like to see you try it," cried John.

"Put aside your nonsense, you two, until noon, now do," Ree laughingly urged, "and tell us, Tom, of that Colonel Boquet whose road we are to follow."

"Waal, that's quite a yarn," said Tom Fish. "But le' me see now; le' me see. It was back when I was jes a young buck, 'long 'bout '64, that this Colonel Boquet, who was a mighty decent citizen for a Frenchman, made up his mind to get a whack at the pesky Injuns which had been killin' an'

scalpin' an' burnin' an' robbin' all along the border of Pennsylvania an'

Virginia an' Lord knows where all.

"Waal, the state of Pennsylvania an' the state of Virginia helped him with sojers an' he mustered scouts enough so that in all he had nigh onto 2,000 men. He marched 'em straight into the woods, the whole caboodle on 'em, clearin' a road as he went, an' takin' along a lot o' sheep an'

cows, and provender for the sojers without end. He went straight along till he come to the Muskingum river, an' there he camped out, makin' a show with all his men an' pack-horses an' everything, that scared the Mingoes an' the Delawares half to death for fear he'd stay right there an' build a town amongst 'em.

"They was willin' to do most anything to get rid of him, an' there was only one thing that he would hear to. He give 'em jes' ten days to trot into his camp every prisoner they had in all their towns far an' near, an' told 'em that if ary a one was held back, he'd march on every pesky village an' knock 'em sky high an' burn 'em down.

"Waal! them Injuns was so scared, they commenced gettin' their prisoners together right off, and they trotted two hundred on 'em up to the front door of Colonel Boquet's tent inside them ten days. An' there was doin's for sartin then!--Pow wows among the sojers who found all sorts of relations that the Delawares or the Wyandots or the pesky Mingoes had carried off, an' pow wows among the men, an' the women an' the children that was brought out o' their captivity like the Children of Israel.

"Then Colonel Boquet marched 'em all back to Fort Pitt an' he sent for me an' told me what he'd done, an' asked me what I thought on it. I was scoutin' out of Fort Pitt then, and I jes' shook his hand an' says: 'Colonel Boquet ye're a reg'lar rip-snorter.'"

"Did you ever hear of the terrible Captain Archer, the outlaw of war times?" asked the fun-loving John, inventing the name to see what Tom would say; for he had his own opinion as to Colonel Boquet having asked Thomas Fish what he thought of that Indian expedition.

"Cap. Archer? Old Cap. Archer! Well I rayther guess I knew him, an' if he ain't forgot it, he carries a little lead pill out of my old steel bottle of Injun medicine, clean to this day. Yaas, many a scrimmage I had with old Cap. Archer."

John was for carrying his questioning further, though he could hardly keep from laughing, but Ree shook his head, unwilling to make fun of one who was so kind to them.

The travelers made excellent progress that morning, finding a very fair road for that rough country, along the river. They met occasional settlers and hunters and whether he knew them or not, Tom Fish always stopped to talk and always asked whether everything was quiet along the border. Many shook their heads, and spoke gloomily of the outlook for peace with the Indians remaining long unbroken.

From a couple of friendly Indians they met, Ree secured a quarter of venison in exchange for a cheap trinket, and although he accompanied the performance with a great deal of bragging, Tom did show the boys that he was a past-master in the art of broiling venison steaks. The fine dinner they had as a result, set his tongue wagging more than ever, however, and John Jerome was more than anxious to take some of the vanity out of him.

They had camped upon a hillside sloping down to the river--the Ohio. The day had come on bright and warm as Indian summer could be, and John had thrown off his coat.

"Now, Mr. Fish," he said with a laugh, "You see the river down there?

I've been thinking there may be some one of the same name as yourself in that water, and I've a mind to send you to visit your relations."

The merry laugh of the hunter rang shrill and clear.

"Be ye? Oh, be ye?" he cried, jumping to his feet. "If it wa'n't fer hurtin' ye, I'd throw ye clean across to yon hillside!" and he pointed to a spot nearly a mile away, across the river.

"It's a good thing for you there are so many leaves on the ground to break your fall," John answered, rolling up his sleeves.

"Don't wrestle so much with your mouths," Ree admonished them.

"Why, I could handle both of ye; come on, the two of ye to onc't!" the hunter cried.

But the next moment he found in John, alone, about as much of a task as he cared to undertake. For two minutes they heaved and tugged, John's wiry frame seeming to be all around the woodsman, who was by no means clumsy, though he could not put him down. Then they broke apart and for a minute made feints at one another, each hoping to secure an advantage.

At last the hunter's arms shot out, his hands seized John's arms so quickly, and he lifted the boy off his feet and keeled him over with such dexterity, that the lad lay sprawling on his back almost before he knew what was happening.

The glee of Tom Fish was quite ridiculous. He danced about and almost screamed with laughter.

"It is your turn, Ree," said John good-naturedly.

"Whenever our friend is ready," Ree responded.

"Come on! Come on!" Tom cried. "Oh, what frisky kittens ye be!"

Peter Piper, the half-breed, had taught Return Kingdom a trick or two at wrestling. And now he allowed the hunter to lift him off the ground, then he let his muscles relax, his dead weight falling in his opponent's arms.

Suddenly getting his feet to the ground in this way, he sprang against the hunter's muscular frame with such rapidity of thought and motion that he was able by a tremendous lightning-like effort to jerk one of the man's legs from under him, sending him down, while he, himself, came uppermost.

"Ye're pretty fair," Tom Fish muttered; but it was plain to be seen that something he very little expected had happened to him.

CHAPTER VIII.

Friends or Foes?

Tom Fish had a profound respect for Return Kingdom from the moment the latter threw him; but he was no less pleasant and agreeable than before, and he proved himself a valuable friend then and in days long afterward.

When night came, as the wind was blowing cold, Tom very deftly built a shelter of branches and small saplings. His way of bending two little trees down and fastening them together with their own branches, making of them the support of the "shack," was a method Ree and John had never seen used and was the secret of his being able to "build a house" in very little time.

It was very comfortable sitting before the fire, thus sheltered from the wind. Tom especially enjoyed it for his tongue ran on at a tremendous rate as he told stories of extraordinary adventures.

John urged him to tell more and more, and he might have gone on talking all night had not Ree admonished him and John that they must turn in promptly in order to make an early start in the morning. Wolves were howling not far away, and the plaintive but terrorizing cry of a panther could be heard in the distance, as the little party lay down to sleep. No doubt the young emigrants thought many times before dreams came to them, of what the depths of the wilderness must be, if the foreboding sounds which reached them were a fair example of what the outer edge of the forest fastnesses afforded; but they rested well and were early astir.

Crossing a fine, level country, though thickly grown with great trees, on this day, the boys saw plainly the evidences of the road made by the Boquet expedition. There were the stumps of big and little trees and the half-decayed remnants of the trees which had been cut down, on both sides of them. Although so many years had pa.s.sed since Col. Boquet had made this trail, the work his men had done made the progress of the Connecticut boys and their hunter companion faster than it would otherwise have been, and three days pa.s.sed rapidly without other adventure than the meeting of a small party of Indians who scowled and pa.s.sed on, and the killing of a large panther by Ree, the animal having terribly frightened old Jerry by dropping from a tree squarely upon the faithful horse's back, one night.