The Riflemen of the Ohio: A Story of the Early Days along "The Beautiful River"Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
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The Riflemen of the Ohio: A Story of the Early Days along "The Beautiful River"
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Juvenile fiction; Ohio River -- Juvenile fiction
A wind, gentle and musical, began to blow. "Wabun (the East Wind)," he
murmured. He personified the winds, because it was in his nature to do
so, and because the Indians with whom he had dwelt did it. It was this
gift of his, based on a powerful imagination, that now made him hear the
human voice once more in the wind. It was a low voice, but penetrating,
thrilling him in every nerve, and its note was hope. He had heard it
before at crises of his life, and its prophecy had not failed to come
true. Nor did he believe that it would do so now.
The wind shifted. "Kabibanokka (the North Wind)," he murmured. But the
note was unchanged. It was still a voice that brought courage. They
would find Jim and Paul, and the fleet and the fort alike would triumph.
He heard, soon, light sounds in the bush, but they were not the
footsteps of enemies. He knew it because he had heard them all before. A
tawny beast came down through the grass, but halted at a respectful
distance. Henry caught a glimpse of one yellow eye, and he felt a sort
of amused sorrow for the panther. The rightful owner of this house had
been driven out, as Tom Ross confessed, and he was there not far away
looking reproachfully at the robbers. Well, he should have his house
back on the next night, and perhaps he could then keep it all the rest
of his life.
The yellow eye disappeared. The sorrowful and reproachful panther had
gone away. The wind shifted, and its odor was fresh with the dawn, which
would soon be whitening the east. A troop of deer, led by a splendid
stag, passed so close that Henry could see their forms in the dusk. The
wind was taking the odor of himself and his comrades away from them, and
he watched the dusky file as it passed. Even had the country been clear
of Indians, he would not have taken a shot at them, because he had no
desire to slay merely for the sake of slaying.
The deer passed. Light sprang up in the east. The white turned to red,
the red to gold, and the gold at last became blue. An eagle, in an early
search for food, sailed far above Henry's head, outlined--wing, beak and
talon--against the blue. The whole world, grass and leaves wet with dew,
basked in the morning light, wonderfully fresh and beautiful.
Henry awoke his comrades, who instantly sat up, every trained faculty
thoroughly alive.
"All been quiet, Henry?" asked Shif'less Sol.
"Nothing happened," replied the boy, "except that the owner of this
house looked in once, called Tom Ross here an infamous robber, and then
went away, saying he would have revenge if he had to live a hundred
years to get it."
"Ef he's ez dang'rous ez that," said Shif'less Sol, lightly, "I say
let's move on right now, an' give him back his gor-gee-yous mansion."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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