Legends of the Skyline Drive and the Great Valley of VirginiaWillis, Carrie Hunter
History
Legends of the Skyline Drive and the Great Valley of Virginia
Willis, Carrie Hunter
Shenandoah National Park (Va.); Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History
James tried to break off pieces of bushes so his father could tell which
way he had gone. Black Wolf tapped his shoulder and shook his head. Then
he tried to leave signs by digging his toes down into the soft earth.
Again Black Wolf shook his head.
After they had gone a long way, about sundown Black Wolf gave a long
war-whoop. He did the same the next morning at sunrise. The Indians did
this to show they had a prisoner. They gave one cry for each prisoner
taken. If they had taken scalps, the cry would have been a different
kind.
Before they lay down in the thicket that night, Black Wolf searched
James to see if he carried a knife. Then he took out a halter and tied
it fast to James' neck and wrapped the other end around his hand.
The next morning Black Wolf left James with the other two Indians and
went off to get a Dutch oven which he had taken on one of his other
expeditions. He gave this to James to carry. He fastened it to James'
back, but after it rubbed a sore place, James threw it down and refused
to carry it further. Black Wolf then took off the huge bundle which he
carried and told James to take it. But he could not even lift it from
the ground. The Indian then pointed to the Dutch oven, and he found it
was not so bad to carry after he padded it with leaves.
He found out how long the Indians could go without much food. For three
whole days they had only water in which poplar bark had been steeped. On
the fourth day they shot a buffalo. They took a small bit of the meat
and made a clear broth which they drank but Black Wolf did not let them
eat any of the meat until the next day, this being their custom after
fasting.
James said he travelled the whole way barefooted. Of course his feet
became sore from bruises. He saw many rattlesnakes, but he was not
allowed to kill them as the Indians considered them to be their friends.
James knew that the Shawnees, of whom Black Wolf was a member, lived far
to the West. He believed they must be nearing their town after he had
travelled for twenty days. He told of how they made a raft of logs on
which they crossed the Ohio and other streams. He learned how to twine
the long grapevines around the logs to make the raft. He saw how the
Indians made crude pictures in the banks of the streams to let other
Indians know they had a prisoner. Black Wolf stopped and drew three
Indians and a boy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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