The Rulers of the Lakes: A Story of George and ChamplainAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
History
The Rulers of the Lakes: A Story of George and Champlain
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
United States -- History -- French and Indian War, 1754-1763 -- Fiction
Robert's slumber was not sound. Although the Onondaga might be watched
over by Tododaho, Areskoui and even Manitou himself, he had felt the
weight of responsibility. The gods protected those who protected
themselves, and, even while he slept, the thought was nestling somewhere
in his brain and awoke him now and then. Upon every such occasion he sat
up and looked out at the entrance of the cave, to see, as he had hoped,
only the darkness and black sheets of driving rain, and also upon every
occasion devout thanks rose up in his throat. Tayoga had not prayed to
his patron saint and to the great Areskoui and Manitou in vain, else in
all that wilderness, given over to night and storm, they would not have
found so good a refuge and shelter.
Tayoga's fever increased, and when morning came, with the rain still
falling, though not in such a deluge as by night, it seemed to Robert,
who had seen many gunshot wounds, that it was about at the zenith. The
Onondaga came out of his sleep, but he was delirious for a little while,
Robert sitting by him, covering him with his blanket and seeing that his
hurt was kept away from the air.
The rain ceased by and by, but heavy fogs and vapors floated over the
mountains, so dense that Robert could not see more than fifteen or
twenty feet beyond the mouth of the cave, in front of which a stream of
water from the rain a foot deep was flowing. He was thankful. He knew
that fog and flood together would hide them in absolute security for
another day and night at least.
He ate a little venison and regretted that he did not have a small
skillet in which he could make soup for Tayoga later on, but since he
did not have it he resolved to pound venison into shreds between stones,
when the time came. Examining Tayoga again, he found, to his great joy,
that the fever was decreasing, and he washed the wound anew. Then he sat
by him a long time while the morning passed. Tayoga, who had been
muttering in his fever, sank into silence, and about noon, opening his
eyes, he said in a weak voice:
"How long have we been here, Dagaeoga?"
"About half of the second day is now gone," replied Robert, "and your
fever has gone with it. You're as limp as a towel, but you're started
fairly on the road to recovery."
"I know it," said Tayoga gratefully, "and I am thankful to Tododaho, to
Areskoui, to Manitou, greatest of all, and to you, Dagaeoga, without
whom the great spirits of earth and air would have let me perish."
"You don't owe me anything, Tayoga. It's what one comrade has a right to
expect of another. Did you exert your will, as you said, when you were
delirious, and help along nature with your cure?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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