With the white hunters and trappers it was different. All were willing to
trust James Morris, and simply left their goods at the post, to be paid for
when the pack-train arrived. It may be added here that Barringford and
Henry had been told, in secret, to bring with them one hundred pounds
(about five hundred dollars) in gold and silver money, for not a few wanted
cash for their pelts.
In the meantime came news that Jean Bevoir and Jacques Valette had been
seen among the Indians on the upper Muskingum River. They had done a little
trading with the Indians in that neighborhood, and had become very friendly
with a young chief named Flat Nose, and with some warriors under him who
went by the name of the Wanderers.
"Did you ever hear of this Flat Nose?" asked Dave of the frontiersman who
had brought in the information.
"Not I, but Jadwin has," said the hunter. "He says he is as treacherous as
they make 'em, and so are all the Wanderers under him. They move from place
to place, taking whatever they can lay their hands on."
"Then they will just suit a fellow like Jean Bevoir."
"I don't doubt but that you are right, lad, and they'll suit Jacques
Valette, too."
"What has become of Hector Bergerac, do you know?"
"I think he has cut company with Bevoir and Valette. He was too honest for
them, I reckon."
In the meantime, matters between the English and the Indians all over the
Colonies were going from bad to worse. Those in authority would not listen
to such a man as Sir William Johnson, who knew the red men thoroughly, and
such a wise statesman as Benjamin Franklin, who believed in giving the
Indian his just due. The war had cost a great deal, and now it was decided
to cut down expenses, which meant that in the future the Indians would get
but few of the presents which, in the past, had been presented to them.
More than this, English traders of all sorts were allowed to go among the
red men and barter as they pleased, and some of these literally robbed
those who were too ignorant or simple of heart to trade intelligently.
The coming of so many English traders made the French traders furious, and
as they saw their business slipping away from them they did all they could
to get the English into "hot water" with the red men. They told the Indians
that the English meant to take everything from them, their lands, their
wigwams, and their possessions, including their squaws and children--to
make slaves of the latter--and that the red men must fight or be wiped out.
And they always added that, if the Indians would make war, they, the
French, would help them in every possible manner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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