Strange Stories of the Great Valley: The Adventures of a Boy PioneerGrosvenor, Abbie Johnston
General
Strange Stories of the Great Valley: The Adventures of a Boy Pioneer
Grosvenor, Abbie Johnston
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ohio River Valley -- Juvenile fiction
On the plain white inner side of the bark his stone knife carved
plainly, THE FOX TAIL IS ON HOLMAN'S FLATBOAT IN CINCINNATI HE IS A
FINE DOG WE HELPED HIM OBADIAH HOLMAN. Carefully rolling and tying it,
he fastened it inside the dog's collar as messages were sometimes sent.
He carried the dog ashore and released him. He was sure that all his
hopes for going with the scouts vanished with the dog.
A strange feeling of being grown up came over him. "After this when I
ought to do a thing, I'll just go ahead and do it, and not hesitate so
long about the deed I know is right."
Acting on this decision, he was silent and showed no childish regrets,
when the scouts, gathering on the dock the next afternoon, made ready
for their start. They never noticed him. Their thoughts were on Simon
Kenton, who was to direct them. He was the pioneer's ideal. He had once
saved the life of Daniel Boone, that most famous of all the patriotic
Kentucky rangers, and had become his fast friend in consequence.
Kenton's services as an Indian-fighter had given him a name that filled
the Middle West. He was brave beyond belief. The number of times that
he had been captured and the great difficulties of his escapes never
prevented him from offering his help wherever his woodcraft could lead
soldiers to victory through savage-infested country.
Half a dozen times and more he had run the gauntlet. Three times he is
said to have been tied to the stake for torture and burning. During
several periods of captivity he was most brutally treated. Yet in every
important battle with the redskins in his own State and out of it he
was one of the directing powers. Between-times he was a matchless spy
and a fearless ranger. Even now, although he was past middle age, he
had a splendid body, a tireless mind, and a dauntless courage.
"If any one can rescue the besieged wagon-train from the Indians,
this is the scout who will do it," said Mr. Holman. And they all rose
respectfully as the gray-eyed giant came among them.
They knew him to be fond of animals and kind to pets, so there was no
surprise that a dog should be hanging on his heels. The wonder was that
this should chance to be Doby's dog--the so-called foxhound. In noisy
recognition the happy pup leaped upon the boy, licked his face, knocked
him over backward, and tried to eat him up.
"Oh, you bad bow-bow," laughed Doby, returning the embrace.
"Wow-wow," answered the hound, rolling over on his back in an ecstasy
of delight at the meeting.
Simon Kenton's speech was as old-fashioned as his big brave heart. He
asked the boy, "Be ye Obadiah Holman?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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