Indians of North America -- Juvenile fiction; Pioneers -- West (U.S.) -- Juvenile fiction; Slavery -- Juvenile fiction
Directly afterwards we caught sight of the animals making their way
through the brushwood and trees which surrounded the waggons. Above
their hideous yelps we could distinguish the deep honest bark of our own
dogs. Forgetting for the moment the risk we ran of being surprised, we
put spurs to our horses, and galloping over the uneven ground soon got
up to the spot. Neither cattle nor horses were visible, they had
evidently been carried off. The scene which soon met our eyes filled us
with horror.
On the ground lay half-a-dozen men, each of whom had been scalped and
their bodies partly stripped. Farther on were two or three more, who
had fallen between the waggons. Some of the wolves, more daring than
their companions, had advanced at the head of the pack, and would
already have commenced the horrible repast had not our two noble dogs,
barking furiously, kept them at bay.
"I am afraid we are too late here to be of any use except to bury the
dead," observed Mr Tidey as we surveyed the melancholy scene. "But
holloa! what is that among the bushes? A woman,--I see her moving.
Perhaps we may be in time to save her."
Forgetting that the Indians might still be at hand, we dismounted, and
fastening our horses to the wheels of one of the waggons, made our way
through the brushwood. As we did so, a couple of wolves approached from
an opposite direction, and were on the point of seizing the woman's
body, when Boxer and his companion springing forward, they took to
flight. We hurried to the assistance of the poor woman. We now saw
that it was not she who had moved, but a little girl whose arms were
thrown round her.
"Oh! come help Lily!" exclaimed the child, at once recognising us as
white men: "look up mother! oh, mother, mother! speak to Lily, one word.
White man come to help you, no fear now."
In vain, however, Lily called to her mother. While I took the child in
my arms, Mr Tidey knelt down by the side of the poor lady. The blood
which flowed from her breast, and dyed the ground on which she lay, too
plainly told that she had received a mortal wound.
"She is beyond our help," he said; "but I would prevent her body being
devoured by these abominable brutes. Do you carry the child, and I will
convey the poor mother into the nearest waggon. We can cover her up
sufficiently to prevent the wolves getting at her until we return, when
we can bury her decently, as well as the rest of the murdered people."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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