The Scouts of the ValleyAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
General
The Scouts of the Valley
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Chemung River Valley (N.Y. and Pa.) -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Wyoming Valley (Pa.) -- Fiction
Henry did not offer a word 'of explanation until his breakfast was over.
Then lie leaned back, sighing twice with deep content, and said:
“Boys, I've got a lot to tell.”
Shif'less Sol moved into an easier position on the leaves.
“I guess it has somethin' to do with them scratches on your leggins.”
“It has,” continued Henry with emphasis, “and I want to say to you boys
that I've seen Timmendiquas, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.”
“Timmendiquas!” exclaimed the others together.
“No less a man than he,” resumed Henry. “I've looked upon his very face,
I've seen him in camp with warriors, and I've had the honor of being
pursued by him and his men more hours than I can tell. That's why you
see those briar scratches on my leggins, Sol.”
“Then we cannot doubt that he is here to stir the Six Nations to
continued war,” said Paul Cotter, “and he will succeed. He is a mighty
chief, and his fire and eloquence will make them take up the hatchet.
I'm glad that we've come. We delayed a league once between the Shawnees
and the Miamis; I don't think we can stop this one, but we may get some
people out of the way before the blow falls.”
“Who are these Six Nations, whose name sounds so pow'ful big up here?”
asked Long Jim.
“Their name is as big as it sounds,” replied Henry. “They are the
Onondagas, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. They
used to be the Five Nations, but the Tuscaroras came up from the south
and fought against them so bravely that they were adopted into the
league, as a new and friendly tribe. The Onondagas, so I've heard,
formed the league a long, long time ago, and their head chief is the
grand sachem or high priest of them all, but the head chief of the
Mohawks is the leading war chief.”
“I've heard,” said Paul, “that the Wyandots are kinsmen of all
these tribes, and on that account they will listen with all the more
friendliness to Timmendiquas.”
“Seems to me,” said Tom Ross, “that we've got a most tre-men-je-ous big
job ahead.”
“Then,” said Henry, “we must make a most tremendous big effort.”
“That's so,” agreed all.
After that they spoke little. The last coals were covered up, and the
remainder of the food was put in their pouches. Then they sat on
the leaves, and every one meditated until such time as he might have
something worth saying. Henry's thoughts traveled on a wide course, but
they always came back to one point. They had heard much at Pittsburgh of
a famous Mohawk chief called Thayendanegea, but most often known to
the Americans as Brant. He was young, able, and filled with intense
animosity against the white people, who encroached, every year, more and
more upon the Indian hunting grounds. His was a soul full kin to that of
Timmendiquas, and if the two met it meant a great council and a greater
endeavor for the undoing of the white man. What more likely than that
they intended to meet?
“All of you have heard of Thayendanegea, the Mohawk?” said Henry.
They nodded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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