Books: Hardscrabble
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John Richardson >> Hardscrabble
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"I say, Collins," remarked the corporal, good-naturedly,
"we shall have poor fare for the officers' mess, let
alone our own, if we all follow your example, and give
up so soon. But, as you say, it's time to have some grub,
and we'll try our luck afterwards."
"Rome wasn't built in a day," said the man who had been
fishing next to Collins, and drawing in his line also,
"we've a good many hours left yet."
Following the recommendation of the corporal, the rest
of the party sat down on the edge of the bank, and,
opening their haversacks, produced each his allowance
of corn bread and venison, or salted pork, after dispatching
which, with the aid of their clasp knives, they took a
refreshing "horn" from the general canteen that Collins
carried suspended over his shoulder, and then drew forth
and lighted their pipes.
As the latter puffed away with a vigor that proved either
a preoccupied mind, or extreme gratification with the
weed, he cast his eyes carelessly down the stream, where
a large description of duck, called by the French natives
of the country, the cou rouge, from the color of their
necks, were disporting themselves as though nothing in
the shape of a fire arm was near them--now diving--now
rising on their feet, and shaking their outstretched
wings, now chasing each other in limited circles, and
altogether so apparently emboldened by their immunity
from interruption, as to come close to the bank, at a
distance of little more than fifty yards from the spot
where he sat.
"It's very ridiculous," he at length remarked, pouring
forth at the same time, an unusual volume of smoke, and
watching the curling eddies as they rose far above his
head--"it's very ridiculous, I say, the captin's order
that we sha'nt fire. Look at them ducks--how they seem
to know all about it, too!"
"By gosh!" said another, "I've a good notion to fetch my
musket, and have a slap into them. Shall I, corporal?"
"Certainly not, Green," was the answer. "If it was known
in the Fort I had permitted any of the party to fire, I
should be broke, if I did'nt get picketed for my pains,
and none of us would ever get out again."
"No great harm in that, either," said the man who had
made the novel observation that Rome had not been built
in a day.
The corporal looked sharply at the last speaker, as if
not fully comprehending his meaning.
"Jackson means no great harm if we never got out again,"
interposed Collins, "and I think as he does, for I see
no fun in rowing four or five miles to fish, and scarcely
getting a sight of one."
"Well, but Collins, that's not always our luck. I'm sure
we've had sport enough before. It must be because the
weather's rather cold today, that the fish won't bite."
"It's of no use his grumbling, Philips," remarked Corporal
Nixon, "we're here, not so much for own sport as on a
duty for the garrison. Let me hear no more of this,
Collins."
"Well, corporal that's true enough," said Green, "but
dash me if it isn't temptin' to see them fellows there
stealin' upon us, and we lookin' on, and doin' nothin'."
"What fellows do you mean?" inquired the corporal, suddenly
starting to his feet, and looking down the river.
"Why, them ducks to be sure, see how they come sailin'
up to us, as if they knowed all about the captin's
order--no jumpin' or friskin' now, but all of a heap
like."
"Yes, but I say, what's that black looking thing beyond
the ducks?" asked one who had not hitherto spoken, pointing
his finger.
"Where, where, Weston?" exclaimed one or two voices, and
the speakers looked in the direction indicated.
"Hang me if it isn't a bear," said Collins in a low,
anxious tone; "that's the chap that has sent the ducks
so near us. Do let me have a crack at him, corporal. He's
large enough to supply us all with fresh meat for three
days, and will make up for the bad fishing. Only one shy,
corporal, and I engage not to miss him"
Sure enough, there was, in the centre of the stream, a
dark object, nearly half a mile distant, which all joined
in pronouncing to be a bear. It was swimming vigorously
across to their aide of the river.
"I think we might take him as he lands," observed Green.
"What say you, corporal; I reckon you'll let us try THAT,
if you won't let us fire?"
"Stay all where you are," was the reply. "I can manage
him myself with a spear, if I can only be in time before
he reaches the shore. If not, it's no matter, for I won't
allow a trigger to be pulled."
Corporal Nixon was a tall, active, strong-limbed Virginian.
He soon cleared the space that separated them from the
boat, and jumping to the stern, seized one of the fishing
spears, and then moved on through: the wood that densely
skirted the bank. But he had not been five minutes gone
when he again made his appearance, not immediately by
the half-formed path he had previously taken, but by a
slight detour to the rear.
"Hist, hist," he said in an audible whisper, as soon as
he saw that he was perceived, motioning at the same time
with his hand to enjoin silence, and concealment. Then,
beckoning to Weston to join him; he again moved along
the path with the light tread of one who fears to alarm
an object unconscious of interruption.
All had the sense to understand that there was some good
reason for the caution of the corporal, and with the
exception of Weston, who had promptly obeyed the signal,
busily, but silently resumed their morning's occupation.
First, a quarter of an hour, and then minute after minute
passed slowly away, yet there was no sign of the return
of their companions. What could be the meaning of this?
If the bear had not proved to be too much for them, they
ought to have killed him, and rejoined them before this.
Curiosity, nay, apprehension finally overcame the strong
sense of obedience to orders, which had been literally
drilled into them, and they all, at the suggestion of
Green, dropped their rods on the bank, and moved cautiously
in the direction that had been taken by the corporal and
Weston. Great, however, was the surprise of Collins, then
a little in advance, when, on nearing the spot where the
boat lay moored, he beheld, not those of who they were
in search, but a naked, and hideously painted savage, in
the very act of untying the rope by which the skiff was
fastened to the knotted and projecting root of the tree.
Sensible that there was impending danger, although he
knew not of what precise kind, inasmuch as there was no
Reason to apprehend anything hostile from the Indians,
with--all of whom around the fort, they had always been
on friendly terms, he sprang forward to arrest the
movement. But the distance was several rods, and the
savage, alarmed by the rustling made among the foliage
and brushwood in his rear, now put his shoulder to the
boat, and, in the next instant would have had it far
across this stream, had not a hand suddenly protruded
from beneath the hollow clump of earth on which the tree
grew, grasped him firmly by the ankle, even while in the
act of springing into the forcibly impelled skiff. In
a moment or two, he grappled tightly with his hands upon
the bow of the boat, but, finding the pressure on his
imprisoned limb too great for resistance, he relinquished
his hold, falling upon his face in the water, from which
he was dragged, although without violence, by Corporal
Nixon, who had emerged from his hiding-place.
When the Indian was suffered to rise, there was a
threatening expression on his countenance, which, not
even the number of those by whom he was now surrounded
could check, and he made an involuntary motion of his
hand to his scalping knife, the only weapon with which
he was armed, that lay in the sheath dangling from his
girdle. Seeing, however, that there was no hostile
disposition manifested by the party, he speedily
relinquished his first impulse, and stood upright before
them with a bold, but calm look.
"What you want with boat?" asked the corporal, almost
involuntarily, and without the slightest expectation that
his question would be understood.
"Me want 'em cross," replied the Indian, pointing to the
opposite woods.
"But why you come in bear skin?" and, in his turn, the
corporal pointed with his finger in the direction in
which the supposed bear had been seen.
"Ugh!" grunted the savage doggedly, finding that he had
been detected in his disguise.
"What nation you?--Pottawattamie?"
"Wah! Pottawattamie!"
"Curious enough," pursued the corporal, addressing himself
to his comrades. "I don't half like the look of the
fellow, but I suppose it's all right. We musn't offend
him. You chief?", he continued, pointing to a large silver
medal suspended over the breast of the athletic and
well-proportioned Indian.
"Yes, me chief. Pottawattamie chief," and he made a sign
in the direction of the Fort, near which the encampment
of that tribe lay.
"You friend, then?" remarked the corporal, extending his
hand.
"Yes, me friend," he answered promptly, brightening up
and taking the proffered hand; "you give 'em boat?"
"Do you see any thing green in my eye?" asked the Virginian,
incapable, even under the circumstances, of repressing
the indulgence of his humor.
But the party questioned, although speaking a little
English, was not sufficiently initiated in its elegancies
to comprehend this; so, he merely answered with a "ugh!"
while the greater portion of the men laughed boisterously,
both at the wit of the corporal, and at the seeming
astonishment it excited.
This mirth by no means suited the humor of the Indian.
He felt that it was directed towards himself, and again
he stood fierce, and with a dilating frame before them.
Corporal Nixon at once became sensible of his error. To
affront one of the friendly chiefs would, he knew, not
only compromise the interests of the garrison, but incur
the severe displeasure of the commanding officer, who
had always enjoined the most scrupulous abstinence from
any thing offensive to them.
"I only meant to say," he added, as he again extended
his hand. "I can't give 'em boat. White chief" and he
pointed in the direction of the Fort, "no let me."
"Ugh!" exclaimed the Indian, his stern features again
brightening up with a last hope. "'Spose come with Injin?"
For a moment or two, the corporal hesitated whether or
not to put the man across, but when he reflected on the
singular manner of his advent, and other circumstances
connected with his appearance among them, his customary
prudence came to his aid, and while avoiding all ground
for offence by his mode of refusal, he gave him peremptorily
to understand that there was an order against his suffering
the boat to leave its present station.
Again the countenance of the Indian fell, even while his
quick eye rolled incessantly from one to the other of
the group. "You no give 'em boat--Injin swim," he at
length observed.
"Just as you please," answered corporal Nixon. "By and
bye, sogers go to the Fort--take Injin with 'em."
"Wah! Injin cross here," and as he spoke, he sprang again
to the bow of the boat, and at a single bound cleared
the intervening space to the very stern.
Several heavy splashes in the water.--a muttered curse
from the corporal--some confusion among his men, and the
savage was seen nearly half-way across the river, swimming
like an eel to the opposite shore.
"Damn the awkward brute!" exclaimed the former, angrily.
"How many muskets are there overboard, Jackson?"
"Only three--and two cartouch boxes."
"ONLY three indeed! I wish the fellow had been at old
Nick, instead of coming here to create all this confusion.
Is the water deep at the stern?"
"Nearly a fathom I reckon," was the reply.
"Then, my lads, you must look out for other fish to-day.
Jackson, can you see the muskets at the bottom?"
"Not a sign of them, corporal," answered the man, as
lying flat on the boat, he peered intently into the water.
"The bottom is covered with weeds, and I can just see
the tails of two large pikes wriggling among them. By
Gemini, I think if I had my rod here, I could take them
both!"
"Never mind them," resumed the corporal, again delivering
himself of a little wit; "muskets will be of far more
use to us just now than pikes. We must fish them up--there
will be the devil to pay if we go home without them."
"Then there's no other way than diving for them," said
Jackson, still looking downwards. "Not even the glitter
of a barrel can I see. They must have buried themselves
in the weeds. I say, Weston," slightly raising his head
and turning his face to the party named, "You're a good
diver?"
"Yes, and Collins is better than me."
"Well then, here's at it," resumed Jackson, rising and
commencing to strip. "It's only by groping and feeling
that we can find the arms, and when once we've tumbled
on 'em, it will be easy enough to get 'em up with one
hand, while we swim with the other. We must plunge here
from the stern," he added, as the men whom he had named
jumped on board and commenced stripping themselves.
"How came the Injin to knock the muskets overboard,
Corporal?" inquired one of the party who had not yet
spoken--a fat, portly man, with a long hooked nose, and
a peaked chin.
"I'm dashed," replied Nixon, "if I can tell myself, though
I was looking at him as he jumped from one end of the
boat to the other. All I know is, the firelocks were
propped against the stern of the boat as we placed them,
with the backs of the cartouch boxes slung under the
ramrods, and I suppose, for I don't know how else it
could be done, that instead of alighting on the seat, he
must have passed it, and putting his foot on the muzzles,
tipped them with the weight of his body, head over heels
into the water."
"Corporal," Ventured Collins, as he removed his last
garment, "you asked that painted chap if he saw anything
green in your eye. Now, that's as it may be, but hang
me, if it wasn't a little green to take him for a
Pottawattamie?"
"And how do you know he was'nt a Pottawattamie? Who made
you a judge of Indian flesh?" retorted the corporal, with
an air of dissatisfaction.
"Didn't he say he was, and didn't he wear a chiefs medal?"
"Say? Yes, I'll be bound he'd say and wear anything to
gull us, but I'm sure he's no Pottawattamie. I never seen
a Pottawattamie of that build. They are tall, thin,
skinny, bony fellows--while this chap was square, stoat,
broad-shouldered, and full of muscle."
Corporal Nixon pondered a little, because half-convinced,
but would not acknowledge that he could have been mistaken.
"Are you all ready?" he at length inquired, anxious, like
most men, when driven into a corner on one topic, to
introduce another.
"All ready," answered Jackson, taking the first plunge
in the direction in which he knew the muskets must have
fallen.
Before following his example, the others waited for his
report. This was soon made. He had got hold of one of
the muskets, and partly lifted it from its bed, but the
net-work of strong weeds above it, opposing too much
resistance, he had been compelled to quit his hold, and
came to the surface of the water for air.
"Here's for another trial," shouted Collins, as he made
his plunge in the same direction. In a few seconds he
too, reappeared, bearing in his right hand, not a firelock,
but the two missing cartouch boxes.
"Better luck next time," remarked corporal Nixon. "I
think my lads, if two of you were to separate the weeds
with your hands, so as to clear each musket, the other
might easily bring it up."
The suggestion of the corporal was at once acted upon,
but it was not, until after repeated attempts had been
made to liberate the arms, from their Web-like canopy,
that two were finally brought up and placed in the boat.
The third they groped for in vain, until at length, the
men, dispirited and tired, declared it was utterly useless
to prosecute the search, and that the other musket must
be given up as lost.
This, however, did not suit the views of the correct
corporal. He said, pointedly, that he would almost as
soon return without his head as without his arms, and
that the day having been thus far spent without the
accomplishment of the object for which they were there,
he was determined to devote the remainder to the search.
Not being a bad diver himself, although he had not hitherto
deemed it necessary to add his exertions to those of his
comrades, he now stripped, desiring those who had preceded
him to throw on their shirts and rest themselves for
another plunge, when he should have succeeded in finding
out where the missing musket had lodged.
"What's that?" exclaimed Jackson, pointing to a small,
dark object, of a nearly circular shape, which was floating
about half way between the surface of the place into
which the divers had plunged, and the weeds below.
His companions turned their eyes in the direction indicated,
but, almost immediately after Jackson had spoken, it had
disappeared wholly from view.
"What did it loot like?" asked the corporal.
"It must have been a mush rat," returned Jackson, "there's
plenty of them about here, and I reckon our diving has
disturbed the nest."
Corporal Nixon now took his leap, but some paces farther
out from the shore than his companions had ventured upon
theirs. The direction was the right one. Extending his
arms as he reached a space entirely free from weeds, his
right hand encountered the cold barrel of the musket,
but as he sought to glide it along, in order that he
might grasp the butt, and thus drag it endwise up, his
hand disturbed some hairy substance which rested upon
the weapon causing it to float slightly upwards, until
it came in contact with his naked breast. Now, the corporal
was a fearless soldier whose nerves were not easily
shaken, but the idea of a nasty mush rat, as they termed
it, touching his person in this manner, produced in him
unconquerable disgust, even while it gave him the desperate
energy to clutch the object with a nervous grasp, and
without regard to the chance of being bitten in the act,
by the small, sharp teeth of the animal. His consternation
was even greater when, on enclosing it within his rough
palm, he felt the whole to collapse, as though it had
been a heavy air-filled bladder, burst by the compression
of his fingers. A new feeling-a new chain of ideas now
took possession of him, and leaving the musket where it
was, he rose near the spot from which he first started,
and still clutching his hairy and undesirable prize,
threw it from him towards the boat, into the bottom of
which it fell, after grazing the cheek of Collins.
"Pooh! pooh! pooh," spluttered the latter, moving as if
the action was necessary to disembarrass him of the
unsightly object no longer there.
A new source of curiosity was now created, not only among
the swimmers, but the idlers who were smoking their pipes
and looking carelessly on. All now, without venturing to
touch the loathsome looking thing, gathered around it
endeavoring to ascertain really what it was. "What do
you make of the creature?" asked corporal Nixon, who,
now ascending the side of the boat, observed how much
the interest of his men had been excited.
"I'm sure I can't say," answered Jackson. "It looks for
all the world like a rat, only the hair is so long. Dead
enough though, for it does not budge an inch."
"Let's see what it is," said the man with the long hooked
nose, and the peaked chin.
By no means anxious, however, to touch it with his hands,
he took up the spear and turned over and over the clammy
and motionless mass.
"Just as I thought," exclaimed the corporal, with a
shudder, as the weapon unfolding the whole to view,
disclosed alternately the moistened hair and thick and
bloody skin of a human head.
"Gemini," cried Jackson, how came this scalp here, it
has been freshly taken--this very day--yet how could it
get here?"
"Depend upon't," said Green, "that chief that was here
just now, could tell somethin' about it, if he had a
mind."
"Then he must have had it in his breech-cloth," remarked
the corporal seriously, for not a rag besides had he
about him. "No, no it couldn't be him, and yet it's very
strange."
"Of course it couldn't be him," maliciously interfered
Collins, who had so far conquered his first disgust, as
to take the object of discussion into his own hands, "for
you know he was a Pottawattamie, and therefore wouldn't
scalp for the world."
"But whose can it be?" resumed Jackson, and how did it
get here, I am sure its that of a boy."
"Could it have floated here from the farm?" half questioned
Green musingly.
"Somethin' struck me like shots from that quarter, about
an hour before the Injin swam across, and dash me, now
I recollect it, I'm sure I heard a cry, just after the
corporal left us to go after that bear."
"Nonsense," said the Virginian, "how could it float
against the stream, and as for the shots you think you
heard, you most have taken Ephraim Giles's axe blows for
them. Besides, you couldn't hear shots at that distance.
If you did, it most be from some of the hunters."
"But the cry, corporal," urged Jackson, "what say you to
the cry Green says he heard when you left us?"
"All stuff; did anybody else hear it besides Green, you
were all sitting on the bank with him?"
No one answering in the affirmative, Corporal Nixon
declared the thing to be impossible, or he should have
heard it too; nor could he see what connection there was
between that cry--supposing there had been one--and the
facts that had come immediately under their own observation.
"Hist," interrupted Collins, placing one hand upon the
speaker's shoulder, and with the other directing his
attention to what, now seen by the whole of the party,
was ill calculated to re-assure them.
CHAPTER IV.
Stealthily gliding through the fresh and thinly foliaged
wood, that skirted the opposite shore, yet almost concealed
from view, Corporal Nixon now beheld the crouching forms
of several armed Indians, nearly naked, and evidently in
war costume. They were following the serpentine course
necessitated by the interposing trees, and seeking
cautiously to establish themselves behind cover on the
very verge of the bank.
"Back men for your lives, there's nothing friendly there,"
exclaimed the Virginian the moment that his glance had
taken in the scene, "out with the arms, and divide the
dry ammunition. Collins, you are a smart fellow, do you
and Green set to work and light a fire, but out of sight,
and dry the muskets as fast as you can. There are twelve
pounds in each of the five remaining cartouch boxes,
these will do for a spell. Jackson, Philips, tree
yourselves, while Cass lies flat in the stern, and keeps
a good look out on the devils, without exposing himself.
Now, my lads, do all this very quietly, and as if you
didn't think there was danger at hand. If they see any
signs of fear, they will pitch it into you directly. As
it is, they are only waiting to settle themselves, and
do it at their leisure."
"Pity they don't make a general of you, corporal," remarked
Collins, as he proceeded quietly with Green to the execution
of the duty assigned to them. "I guess Washington himself
couldn't better command a little army. Is your battle order
finished, general?"
"None of your nonsense, master Collins, this is no time
for jesting. Go and dry these arms, and when you have
them so that they can send a bullet from their throats,
join Jackson and Philips in covering the boat. Weston
and I will take up our first station."
And in less time than we have taken to describe the cause
of the alarm, and the instructions given in consequence,
the men had hastened to execute the several duties assigned
to them on shore, while Cass remained, not only with a
view of showing the Indians that the boat was not wholly
unguarded, but to be enabled to inform his comrades, who
could distinctly hear him without rendering any particular
elevation of the voice necessary, of any important movement
on the part of the former. This quietude of arrangement
on the part of Corporal Nixon had, seemingly, been not
without effect. It was evident that the Indians had no
suspicion that they had been seen, and even when the men
coolly quitted the boat, they showed no impatience
indicative of an impression that the party were seeking
to shield themselves from an impending danger.
"This silence is strange enough," said the corporal to
his companion, after they had been some minutes secreted
in the cavity from which the departure of the Indian with
the boat had been arrested. "I almost wish they would
fire a shot, for that would at once tell us how to act,
and what we are to expect, whether they are friendly
Indians or not."
But no shot was fired, and from the moment when the men
quitted the boat, and took up their positions, everything
had continued silent as the grave on the opposite shore,
and not the vestige of an Indian could be seen.
"But for that scalp," again remarked the corporal, "I
should take the party to have been friendly Indians,
perhaps just returned from a buffalo hunt, and come down
to the water to drink. They are surely gone again."
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