The Eyes of the Woods: A Story of the Ancient WildernessAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
General
The Eyes of the Woods: A Story of the Ancient Wilderness
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Fiction
Although the country was new to him, Henry believed that he was about
two hundred and fifty miles north of the Ohio and in the region
inhabited by the warlike northwestern tribes. Several of their great
villages must lie not very far to the east of him, and he smiled at the
thought that he was leading the pursuit back to the homes of the
pursuers. He wondered what his comrades were doing, but he believed that
they would remain in the swamp, or near it, until he came back.
Not knowing what else to do, he moved northward again, and presently
heard a low, monotonous sound, which after a little listening he decided
to be Indian squaws chanting. Further listening convinced him that there
were only two voices, and he approached cautiously among the trees.
Two Indian women, one quite young and the other quite old, were cooking
by the side of a small brook, in which they had evidently been washing
deerskin clothing earlier in the day, as it now lay drying on the bank.
Probably they were the wife and mother of some warrior preparing for his
return from the hunt. Henry took little interest in the deerskins they
had washed, but his attention was concentrated quickly upon their
cooking.
They were broiling a fat, juicy wild turkey. He had an especially tender
tooth for wild turkey, particularly when it was young and fat. It, more
than anything else, was his staff of life, and now he set covetous eyes
upon the one that was broiling over the coals. He did not like to rob
women, but it must be done, and he bethought himself of his painted
coat. Pulling it high over his head, concealing his rifle under it and
uttering a tremendous woof, he stalked into the open in which the fire
was burning.
The two Indian women, when they beheld the apparition, uttered
simultaneous screams and fled into the forest, while the hungry young
robber, lifting their turkey from the fire, where it was already well
broiled, disappeared among the trees in the opposite direction, happy to
have secured his rations through the aid of fright only and without
violence. He knew, however, that he could not afford to satisfy his
hunger just then. Warriors, and perhaps a village, could not be far
away, and the men, divining that the fright of the women was caused by a
human being, would soon come in pursuit. So he went at least two or
three miles before he sat down and ate a substantial dinner, reserving
the remainder for future use. Truly the wild turkey was his best friend.
That night he lay again in the forest, and he was devoutly glad that he
had saved the painted robe. The climate of the great valley is fickle,
and it rapidly turned colder again. Raw winds whistled through the
woods, and he had difficulty in finding a sheltered place where, even
with the aid of the robe, he could keep warm. He selected at last a tiny
glen, well grown with tall bushes on every side, heaped up parallel rows
of dead leaves, and then, lying down between them, wrapped in the robe,
fell asleep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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