Frontier and pioneer life -- United States -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Lord Dunmore's War, 1774 -- Fiction
It was plain that the fighting men of the tribe were gathering somewhere,
probably at Chillicothe. Patricia was believed to be in touch with the
manito, and was feared and respected accordingly. The days that followed
were not unhappy for me; and Patricia appeared to be contented in a numb
sort of way.
My own reaction to the anxieties and fears of our captivity devitalized me
to a certain degree, I believed; else, I would not have been contented to
settle down to the drowsy existence of village life. I did no hunting. I
was a companion to the girl when she wished for my company. Aside from
that capacity the Indians looked on me as if I had been a tree.
I talked on general subjects with Lost Sister, always waiting for her to
blaze the trace our words were to follow. Her red husband remained aloof
from her from the day she took charge of Patricia. Whether he resented her
companionship with us I do not know, and after our arrival he disappeared
for a time.
I discovered I was lacking in curiosity as to what each morrow had in
store for us. It savored of the indifference of the fatalist. But I did
come to the alert when I observed Patricia was rapidly returning to
normal. I remembered Lost Sister's warning, "She must keep close to her
manito." I was forced to repeat these words to her.
It was one of the hardest tasks I ever undertook. She suffered deeply when
she began to grasp my meaning. She began to remember things concretely.
Yet life was the stake, and the fact that my life was also involved helped
her much. With the aid of Lost Sister I taught her how to be ever on her
guard, how to carry herself when in the presence of the silent but ever
watchful Indians.
Once the shock wore off somewhat she found it was not difficult to keep up
her role. The most effective way to allay any suspicion was for her to
talk aloud to herself. The savages believed she was holding conversation
with inmates of the invisible world, and drew away from her. But while she
improved, my lethargy continued. My physical and mental strength seemed to
be sapped. I was content to lie on the bank of the creek, my mind idling
with vagaries.
Some six weeks passed in this desultory fashion, then Cornstalk and Black
Hoof returned to the village with three warriors and a negro woman. The
woman had been captured at Sapling Grove within three hundred yards of
Captain Evan Shelby's house, the woman told me. She also informed me that
her captors were led by a very large man, much whiter than any of his
companions, and that he talked good English.
This description fitted either John Logan or Will Emery, the Cherokee
half-breed. I decided the man was Logan. The woman was treated kindly.
Immediately on arrival the two chiefs retired to a wigwam for a long talk.
Then Black Hoof sent for me and Patricia. I warned her to pay no attention
to them, and to talk much to herself. She acted admirably and was kept in
the wigwam only a few minutes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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