Boys' Book of Frontier FightersSabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
History
Boys' Book of Frontier Fighters
Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
Frontier and pioneer life -- United States; Indians of North America -- Wars
He knew better than to turn south for Fort McIntosh. That was expected
of him, but only in the unexpected might he find safety. So he headed
eastward for the Pennsylvania border. He ran steadily, using every
trick in his pack. Up hill and down he ran, day and night, scarcely
pausing to rest; a party of the Indians continued to press him closely,
and at the end of one hundred miles he was being forced to the Cuyahoga
River in present Portage County, northeastern Ohio.
He knew of a ford there--the Standing Stone, it was called. But when
he had almost arrived, naked and torn and bleeding, he found himself
out-guessed. The Indian whoops sounded; the enemy were there before
him--they held the ford and they hemmed him in on either flank.
Straight onward, in front, the river had cut a gorge, thirty feet deep
and some twenty-five feet in width: a sheer up-and-down. That was the
trap laid for him; and just a moment he despaired. Had he come so far,
merely to be taken at last?
No! Not yet. He increased his speed, and set all his muscles. The
Indians were yelling triumphantly. They had Sam Brady again. But
their yells suddenly died. What was that? They had witnessed a
marvelous sight. From the brink of the gorge the figure of Sam Brady
had launched itself into the air; arms and legs extended it had been
out-lined for an instant, in space, then had landed--Crash!--amidst the
thin bushes clinging to the opposite edge, had scrambled, recovered,
hauled itself a few feet, and was disappearing.
Their rifles cracked hastily. But with a bullet in his leg Captain
Brady ran on.
The Indians clustered for just a moment, to stare with amazement.
"White man jump; Injun no jump," they jabbered, excited. So they
crossed by the ford, and striking his blood spatters easily followed
his trail.
Captain Brady was about all in. His wounded leg bothered him, his
great leap had shaken him. But he knew of a lake, ahead, and made for
it. It was his last resort. He got there, in time, and like a mad
thing surged neck deep among the pond lilies. By quick work (he heard
the yells coming nearer) he snapped a lily stem; and sinking to the
bottom he held himself down, with the hollow stem in his mouth and the
other end at the surface. He might stay there, and breathe!
The broad leaves of the pond lilies covered his hiding place; the stem
gave him air. The Indians reached the pond, and saw his tracks leading
in. He faintly heard them splashing about. All that day they searched
and waited; they were there until late into the night; soaked and cold
and cramped, he felt as though he could not stand it much longer; but
he gritted his teeth and determined that he would die, of himself,
rather than yield them his scalp.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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