The Border Watch: A Story of the Great Chief's Last StandAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
General
The Border Watch: A Story of the Great Chief's Last Stand
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Juvenile fiction
They came to the wide and deep mouth of the Kentucky, a splendid stream
flowing from the Alleghany Mountains, and thence across the heart of
Kentucky into the Ohio. Henry thought that its passage might be
disputed, and the five, Boone, Thomas and some others crossed cautiously
in one of the larger boats. They watched to see anything unusual stir in
the thickets on the farther shore of the Kentucky, but no warrior was
there. Timmendiquas was not yet ready, and now the land portion of the
army was also on the further shore, and the march still went on
uninterrupted. Paul began to believe that Timmendiquas was not able to
bring the warriors to the Ohio; that they would stand on the defensive
at their own villages. But Henry was of another opinion, and he soon
told it.
"Timmendiquas would never have come down to Louisville to look us over,"
he said, "if he meant merely to act on the defensive at places two or
three hundred miles away. No, Paul, we'll hear from him while we're
still on the river, and I think it will be before Logan will join us."
Boone and Thomas took the same view, and now the scouting party doubled
its vigilance.
"To-morrow morning," said Boone, "we'll come to the Licking. There are
always more Indians along that river than any other in Kentucky and I
wish Logan and his men were already with us."
The face of the great frontiersman clouded.
"The Indians have been too peaceful an' easy," he resumed. "Not a shot
has been fired since we left Louisville an' now we're nearly to
Tuentahahewaghta (the site of Cincinnati, that is, the landing or place
where the road leads to the river). It means that Timmendiquas has been
massing his warriors for a great stroke."
Reasoning from the circumstances and his knowledge of Indian nature,
Henry believed that Daniel Boone was right, yet he had confidence in the
result. Seven hundred trained borderers were not easily beaten, even if
Logan and the other three hundred should not come. Yet he and Boone and
all the band knew that the watch that night must miss nothing. The
boats, as usual, were drawn up on the southern shore, too far away to be
reached by rifle shots from the northern banks. The men were camped on a
low wooded hill within a ring of at least fifty sentinels. The Licking,
a narrow but deep stream, was not more than five miles ahead. Clark
would have gone on to its mouth, had he not deemed it unwise to march at
night in such a dangerous country. The night itself was black with
heavy, low clouds, and the need to lie still in a strong position was
obvious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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