At the end of that time three other Indians appeared, including
Foot-in-His-Mouth. The latter listened intently to what had happened.
"The fight is over," he said. "Two Indians are dead, and a white man and a
Delaware squaw named White Buffalo have retreated in the direction of Fort
Pitt. Let us away from here without delay, for I must report this new
happening to Pontiac."
"And the stripling, what of him?"
"Bring him along."
Dave was just returning to his senses when the Indians shook him roughly. A
scalping knife was brandished before his eyes, and he was given to
understand that he must either walk with them or suffer death.
"Where are you going to take me?" he asked, when he felt strong enough to
speak.
This question the Indians would not answer. But two of them shoved him
roughly, and he was compelled to walk to where a number of horses were in
waiting. With his hands tied behind him, and his head aching severely, he
was mounted on one of the animals, and the entire party set off northward
through the forest.
"If only Sam was here," thought the young pioneer dismally. He did not know
that a fierce hand-to-hand conflict had taken place near the waterfall, and
that Barringford and White Buffalo had barely escaped with their lives, yet
such was a fact.
The ride was a rough and hard one for Dave, and long before it came to an
end he was ready to sink into a faint from exhaustion. Every time he reeled
in the saddle one of the red men would shove him up roughly, or prick him
with the end of a scalping knife.
At last the Indians called a halt at the foot of a small cliff. They
dismounted and forced Dave to the ground, and the entire party ascended to
the top of the cliff. Here was a well-defined path, and along this they
journeyed for a short distance, coming out presently at a point where there
was a small sheet of water, fed by several brooks. On the edge of the
pond--it can scarcely be called a lake--was an Indian village containing
perhaps a hundred inhabitants. It was known as Shanorison, and here dwelt
an aged chief named Mamuliekala, looked up to by many of the red men
because he had once made a trip to Boston and to England. Mamuliekala never
ceased to tell of the wonders of the land across the ocean, but only a
handful of the red men believed all he said, contending that the English
and the rolling of the ship on the ocean had cast a spell over his mind, so
that his eyes had deceived him.
Having been brought into Shanorison, Dave was brought before one of the
under chiefs, and his captors told their tale. The talking was in a dialect
the young pioneer could not understand, and he was asked no questions. Then
one of the Indians took him by the arm and led him away.
"What are you going to do with me?" asked the youth.
"Hold white young man a prisoner," was the answer.
"What for?"
"The white young man must tell Pontiac how he came into the cave under the
waterfall."
"Did you see any other white people there?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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