History, Manners, and Customs of the North American IndiansOld Humphrey
History
History, Manners, and Customs of the North American Indians
Old Humphrey
Indians of North America
_Brian._ That man deserves to be rewarded. I shall not forget James
Shields.
_Hunter._ When Nikkanochee had afterwards become a little more
reconciled to his situation, he gave some account of the way in which
he was taken. He said, that as he was travelling with his father and
the Indians, the white men came upon them. According to Indian
custom, when a party is surprised, the women and children immediately
fly in different directions, to hide in the bushes and long grass,
till the war-men return to them after the fight or alarm is over. Poor
little Nikkanochee, in trying to cross a rivulet, fell back again into
it. Besides this misfortune, he met with others, so that he could not
keep up with the party. He still kept on, for he saw an old coffee-pot
placed on a log; and Indians, in their flight, place things in their
track, and also break off twigs from the bushes, that others of their
tribe may know how to follow them. Nikkanochee came to a settlement of
whites, but he struck out of the road to avoid it. He afterwards
entered a peach orchard, belonging to a deserted house, and here he
satisfied his hunger. It was then getting dark, but the soldiers saw
him, and set off after him at full gallop. In vain he hid himself in
the grass, and lay as still as a partridge, for they discovered him
and took him away.
_Austin._ I wonder that Econchatti-mico, his father, or the brave
Oseola, his uncle, did not rescue him.
_Hunter._ It is thought that they did return upon the back trail, for
the place they had been in was shortly after surrounded by Indians,
with Oseola at their head; but just then a reinforcement of soldiers
arrived, and the Indians were obliged to retire. Had not the soldiers
come up just in time, the whole garrison might have fallen by the
rifles and scalping-knives of enraged Seminoles. Nikkanochee passed a
year with the family of Colonel Warren, and was beloved by them all
There was, no doubt, much sympathy felt for him, as the nephew of a
well-known warrior, and the son of the king of a warlike people.
Nikkanochee was afterwards taken under the protection of a gentleman,
who became much attached to him. He was educated with other children,
and taught to bend the knee in prayer, and to offer praise to the King
of kings and Lord of lords. Thus, in the providence of God, was
Nikkanochee brought from being a heathen to be a worshipper of the
true God and Jesus Christ.
_Brian._ How much longer did he remain abroad?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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