The Young Trailers: A Story of Early KentuckyAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
History
The Young Trailers: A Story of Early Kentucky
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Kentucky -- History -- To 1792 -- Juvenile fiction
Three other warriors came in presently, and Henry judged that all the
party were now gathered there. He was still lying near the river on
whose banks he had been struck down, and the shifting clouds let the
moonlight fall upon him. He put his hand to his head where it ached, and
when he took it away, there was blood on his fingers. He inferred that a
heavy blow had been dealt to him with the flat of a tomahawk, but with
the stained fingers he made a scornful gesture. One of the warriors,
apparently a chief, noticed the movement, and he muttered a word or two
which seemed to have the note of approval. Henry rose to his feet and
the chief still regarded him, noting the fearless look, and the hint of
surpassing physical powers soon to come. He put his hand upon the boy's
shoulder and pointed toward the north and west. Henry understood him.
His life was to be spared for the present, at least, and he was to go
with them into the northwest, but to what fate he knew not.
One of the warriors bathed his head, and put upon it a lotion of leaves
which quickly drove away the pain. Henry suffered his ministrations with
primitive stoicism, making no comment and showing no interest.
At a word from the leader they took up their silent march, skirting the
river for a while until they came to a shallow place, where they forded
it, and buried themselves again in the dark forest. They passed among
its shades swiftly, silently and in single file, Henry near the middle
of the column, his figure in the dusk blending into the brown of theirs.
He had completely recovered his strength, and, save for the separation
from his friends and their consequent wonder and sorrow, he would not
have grieved over the mischance. Instinct told him--perhaps it was his
youth, perhaps his ready adaptability that appealed to his captors--that
his life was safe--and now he felt a keen curiosity to know the outcome.
It seemed to him too that without any will of his own he was about to
begin the vast wanderings that he had coveted.
Hour after hour the silent file trod swiftly on into the northwest, no
one speaking, their footfalls making no sound on the soft earth. The
moonlight deepened again, and veiled the trunks and branches in ghostly
silver or gray. By and by it grew darker and then out of the blackness
came the first shoot of dawn. A shaft of pale light appeared in the
east, then broadened and deepened, bringing in its trail, in terrace
after terrace, the red and gold of the rising sun. Then the light swept
across the heavens and it was full day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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