At War with Pontiac by Kirk Munroe (best book reader txt) 📕

CHAPTER   I.   TAWTRY HOUSE II.   THE MAJOR GAINS A FRIEND AND MAKES AN ENEMY III.   TRUMAN FLAGG'S STORY IV.   ESCAPE OF THE PRISONERS V.   A BABY LOST AND RECOVERED VI.   THE WILDERNESS VII.   THE MAJOR RE-ENTERS ACTIVE SERVICE VIII.   DONALD SETS FORTH ON A PERILOUS MISSION IX.   ST. AUBIN'S STARTLING INFORMATION X.   PONTIAC DECLARES WAR XI.   MAJOR HESTER IS TAKEN PRISONER XII.   DONALD AT JOHNSON CASTLE XIII.   PAYMASTER BULLEN AND HIS WONDERFUL TUB XIV.   A WHITE MEDICINE MAN XV.   DONALD AND CHRISTIE CEMENT A FRIENDSHIP XVI.   QUICKEYE AND THE "ZEBRA" XVII.   A BRAVE GIRL CAPTIVE XVIII.   SURPRISE AND DESTRUCTION OF THE BOAT BRIGADE XIX.   THE TOTEM SAVES DONALD'S LIFE XX.   BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT AT FORT DETROIT XXI.   IN SEARCH OF A LOST SISTER XXII.   AMID THE RUINS OF FORT SANDUSKY XXIII.   DISCOVERED AND PURSUED BY SAVAGES XXIV.   CHRISTIE'S BRAVE DEFENCE OF HIS POST XXV.   DONALD FIRES THE MINE AND SAVES THE BLOCKHOUSE XXVI.   FRIENDS IN CAPTIVITY XXVII.   HOW THE PAYMASTER NAVIGATED LAKE ERIE IN A TUB XXVIII.   THE PAYMASTER IN WAR-PAINT AND FEATHERS XXIX.   DONALD AND THE PAYMASTER ESCAPE XXX.   IMMINENT DANGER OF THE SCHOONER GLADWYN XXXI.   PONTIAC RECOGNIZES THE TOTEM XXXII.   LAST CRUISE OF THE PAYMASTER'S TUB XXXIII.   FORT DETROIT IS REINFORCED XXXIV.   AH-MO, THE DAUGHTER OF PONTIAC XXXV.   A NIGHT OF FIGHTING AND TERROR XXXVI.   BRAVE DEATH OF THE OLD MAJOR XXXVII.   THE CURSE OF THE MAGIC CIRCLE XXXVIII.   A WINTER IN THE WILDERNESS XXXIX.   AN ADOPTED DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST XL.   THE PRINCESS ANSWERS DONALD'S QUESTION

ILLUSTRATIONS

DONALD IS UNEXPECTEDLY SAVED FROM A TERRIBLE
DEATH . . . . . . Frontispiece "THESE TWO PADDLED THEIR WAY AGAINST THE SWIFT CURRENT
OF THE MOHAWK" DONALD AND HIS TWO COMPANIONS ARE PURSUED BY INDIANS PONTIAC DISCOVERS THAT DONALD IS TATTOOED WITH THE MAGIC CIRCLE

AT WAR WITH PONTIAC OR THE TOTEM OF THE BEAR

A TALE OF REDCOAT AND REDSKIN

CHAPTER I TAWTRY HOUSE

A glorious midsummer day was drawing to a close; its heat had passed; the tall forest trees, whose leaves were pleasantly rustled by the cool breeze of approaching night, flung a bridge of tremulous shadows across the surface of Loch Meg, and all nature was at peace. The tiny lake, though bearing an old-world name, was of the new world, and was one of the myriad forest gems that decked the wilderness of western New York a century and a half ago. It was embraced in a patent recently granted by the English king to his well-approved servant Graham Hester, whose bravery and wounds had won for him an honorable retirement, with the rank of major in a Highland regiment, ere he was forty years of age. Being thus provided with an ample estate, Major Hester, with his young wife and half a dozen trusty followers, left the old world for the new, and plunged into its wilderness. Though somewhat dismayed to find his property located a score of leagues beyond that of his nearest white neighbor, the major was at the same time gratified to discover in that neighbor his old friend and comrade, William Johnson, through whose diplomacy the powerful Iroquois tribes of the Six Nations were allied to the English and kept at peace.

On a crest of land overlooking and sloping gently down to the blue lakelet which Major Hester had named in honor of his wife, he erected a substantial blockhouse of squared timbers. Behind it were ranged a number of log outbuildings about three sides of a square, in the centre of which was dug a deep well. Having thus in a time of peace prepared for war, the proprietor began the improvement of his estate with such success that, within three years from the felling of the first tree, several acres of gloomy forest were replaced by smiling fields. A young orchard was in sturdy growth, a small herd of cattle found ample pasturage on the borders of the lake, and on all sides were evidences of thrift and plenty.

The military instinct of the proprietor caused all forest growth to be cleared from a broad space entirely around the rude fortress that held his life's treasures; but within the enclosure he left standing two superb oaks. These not only afforded a grateful shade, but gave a distinctive feature to the place that was quickly recognized by the surrounding Indians. Thus they always spoke of it as the house of the two trees, or two-tree house, a name that soon became "Tawtry House," under which designation it was known from the unsalted seas to the tide waters of the distant Shattemuc.

Tawtry House not only offered a ready welcome and bountiful hospitality to the occasional hunter, trader, or traveller tempted by business or curiosity into that wild region, but to the Indians who still roamed the forest at will and had established one of their villages at no great distance from it. With these, by the exercise of extreme firmness and an inflexible honesty, Major Hester succeeded in maintaining friendly relations, in spite of their jealousy of his presence among them. At the same time, his wife, through her gentleness and ready sympathy in their times of sickness or distress, gained their deep-seated affection.

Although the Iroquois were thus at peace with their English neighbors, there was a bitter enmity between them and the French settlers of Canada, who had espoused the cause of their hereditary foes, the tribes dwelling along the St. Lawrence and on both shores of the great fresh-water lakes. Most prominent of these were the Ottawas, Hurons or Wyandots, Ojibwas and Pottawattamies, who were allied in a defensive league against their powerful enemies. Their ancient hatred of the Iroquois, animated by the traditions of generations, was ever fanned into a blaze by Jesuit priests eager for the triumph of their faith, French traders anxious to monopolize the immensely profitable fur business of the new world, and French soldiers determined at any cost to extend the empire of their king. Thus, on one pretext or another, war parties were constantly coming and going, destroying or being destroyed, and it well behooved the adventurous frontier settler to intrench himself strongly behind massive timbers and stout palisades.

Under these conditions and amid such scenes, in the year 1743, when Tawtry House was still sweet-scented with odors of the forest from which it had been so recently hewn, was born Donald Hester, as sturdy a young American as ever kicked in swaddling clothes, and the hero of this tale of the forest.

On the midsummer evening with which our story opens, Major Hester and his wife walked, hand in hand, beyond the palisades of their fortress home, enjoying the marvellous beauty of their surroundings and talking of many things. Already had this wilderness home become very dear to them; for, representing years of toil and privation as it did, it was their very own and the heritage of their boy, now two years of age, who toddled behind them in charge of a ruddy-cheeked Scotch nurse. While they rejoiced over what had been accomplished, they planned for the future, and discussed the details of many projected improvements. At the outlet of the lake a grist-mill should be built, and the low lands beyond should be drained to afford increased pasturage for their multiplying herd.

As they talked there came a sound from the forest depths that caused them to pause and listen. Borne faintly on the evening breeze, was a distant firing of guns, and they fancied that it was accompanied by a confusion of yells from human throats.

"Oh, Graham! what can it mean?" exclaimed Mrs. Hester, as she clasped her husband's arm and glanced instinctively back, to make sure of the safety of her child.

"Nothing that need alarm you, my dear," answered the major, reassuringly. "It is only a token of some jollification among our Indian friends: a war dance, or a scalp dance, or the advent among them of a new lot of wretched captives, or something of that kind. I remember Truman mentioning, more than a week ago, that another war party had gone out. I do wish though that the Senecas would take it into their heads to move their village farther away. I used to think five miles quite a respectable distance, but now—"

"I would that this horrible fighting were ended," interrupted Mrs. Hester. "Will not the time ever come, Graham, when these poor heathen will cease from their dreadful wars, and live at peace with each other, like civilized beings?"

"Like civilized beings, my dear?" laughed Major Hester. "Yes, I think I may safely prophesy that if the time ever comes when those nations which we call civilized give over fighting, then even the red Indians may be persuaded to follow their example. As for their methods of warfare, they are but the counterparts of those practised by our own savage ancestors a few centuries ago; while in their torture of captives they are only reproducing the acts of civilized Romans, mediaeval knights, and the Holy Inquisition. It is not long since, even in England, Elizabeth Gaunt was burned to death at Tyburn for yielding to the dictates of compassion and giving shelter to a political offender; nor are the cries for mercy of the martyrs tortured at Smithfield stakes yet forgotten. The torture of New England witches is recent history, while the dismal record of devilish tortures inflicted by white men upon Indian captives is unbroken from the days of Columbus. Did not Frontenac cause an Iroquois warrior to be burned alive in order to terrorize his fellows? Did not—"

The honest major was so warmed to his subject that he might have discoursed upon it indefinitely, had he not been startlingly interrupted. He and his wife were retracing their steps toward the house, and, as before,