CHAPTER XII

STARTING FOR THE NEW WEST

"THE great day has come at last!" said Sandy, early one morning, as they started down toward the river from the blockhouse, where they had been quartered ever since the flood, their cabin having been occupied by a family with a numerous brood of young children, whose shelter had been carried away by the ruthless waters.

"Yes," Bob replied, stretching himself; "days and weeks have crept along, and this has been a busy hamlet, what with the rebuilding of cabins, planting crops for those who expect to stay, and the fashioning of our flatboat, with its strong cabin on deck. A busy time, everybody says."

"But our boat is done at last!" Sandy declared, joyfully; "and most of our things are packed aboard, for to-day we make a start, headed for the Mississippi!"

Bob looked at his brother a little uneasily. He himself was feeling more or less sad, because there were friendships that must be severed; and the chances seemed to be that they would never again shake the hands of some of those who had come out from Virginia with them.

But Sandy seemed to have no thought of this. His father, mother, sister and brother were going along; and what need then to feel distressed? That was the way the light-hearted lad felt about it; and the one great dream of his young life seemed about to be realized. For many months he had yearned to set eyes on that mysterious and mighty river, that rolled toward the far-off gulf; and whose source was as yet a sealed book to the world.

Sandy had hardly slept a wink all through the preceding night. Instead, he tossed on his pillow, and kept picturing what the future would have in store for them in that beautiful land toward the setting sun.

No doubt the little mother also lay awake; but for different reasons. Brave wife of a pioneer that she was, surely Mrs. Armstrong must have looked into the future with something of uneasiness. Many wild stories had she listened to from the lips of Pat O'Mara and other valiant souls, who had penetrated part of the distance toward the Mississippi; and doubtless these all came to haunt her now, magnified by the fact that they themselves were about to go forth into that wilderness to build a new home, under conditions that no one could faithfully picture.

She managed, however, to conceal much of her womanly fears from the eyes of her loved ones. There were dangers everywhere, and as they supped with them each day that they lived, it was no wonder that by degrees even the women learned to hold peril in contempt.

"Looks like it might be a fine morning for a start," Sandy remarked, as they drew near the edge of the flowing current, at a place where a ledge afforded an excellent foothold, when they wished to bend over and wash their faces.

"Yes, the spring is here in truth," replied Bob, "and the birds are singing in every tree. After all, this is a beautiful spot, and I fear our mother is not one-half so anxious to leave it as the rest may be."

"But just wait till she sees what a glorious country we are going to," declared the ever-sanguine Sandy. "The birds may sing here, but it's nothing to what they will do out there, where the land is so rich that it grows everything they want to eat. And as for game, why, just think of seeing a whole herd of buffaloes that no man could count! Oh! I do wish we were there right now. It has been a long time since we shot a buffalo."

"That's so, Sandy," replied Bob, just a little enthusiastic himself; "and if things are half as fine as we've been told, we ought to soon have a splendid little settlement, with a stockade, and gardens, and cabins that will make it home to us."

Sandy bent over, and splashed for a minute. He thoroughly enjoyed the cooling water, and, indeed, the boy was never so happy as when swimming, having taken to it when a mere lad.

Then he broke out again, showing that, try as he might, he could not keep his thoughts away from the one great subject that held them like a magnet.

"We've got all our traps oiled, and stowed away on board the flatboat, you know, Bob; and won't we have the time of our lives, once we get settled in our new home, with the snow beginning to fly next autumn? I'm glad now that I traded for those five traps Adam Shell had. It gives us nearly double as many as we had before."

So they chatted as they finished their cleaning up. Meanwhile the women were busily engaged in getting the last meal that they expected to take among those whom they had known so long.

There were not many tears shed, for these hardy souls were accustomed to meeting all sorts of happenings with the fortitude that makes heroines. Indeed, Mrs. Armstrong admitted to herself that this parting did not cause one-half the wrench that came when they pulled up stakes, away off in Virginia, and first set out on the trail over the mountains, headed into the great West. Then they knew nothing of the Indian country, and a thousand fears assailed them; but now, the yell of the savage foe had become familiar in their ears, and surely little that was new in the form of peril could be awaiting them on their further journey. It was but the turning over of the page and beginning a second chapter in a tale that had already been started.

After breakfast had been disposed of, there was a great confusion all through the little settlement. Work of all kinds was at a standstill for that morning, as all wished to add their mite to giving the adventurous families a hearty send-off.

Before the sun had mounted three hours high in the eastern heavens the last word had been spoken; and amid the cheers of the assembled people, old and young, the ropes that held the large flatboat to the shore were cast off.

At last they were afloat on the Ohio, bound into the unknown country that lay far away to the westward. Day after day, and week after week, they expected to continue to float ever onward, spending the daylight in making such progress as lay in their power, and either anchoring at night in the stream, or else, if it were deemed safe, tying up to the shore.

Again and again had they listened to the sober warnings from those who expected to stick to the old settlement. And now the current had taken hold of their clumsy, but staunch, craft, and was commencing to hurry it along, as though anxious to sever the last ties binding them to these good friends.

By degrees the shouts died out in the ever-increasing distance, and the bold pioneers began to pay more attention to their duties.

Then a bend of the river shut out the last glimpse of the waving hats and kerchiefs, and a great silence came upon the scene, broken only by the creak of the big steering oar, or the gurgle of the river against the planking below.

The start had been made, and all seemed well. They were headed into a wilderness that was next to unknown, and it had required almost as much courage for these valiant souls to thus break away from the settlement, and start upon this voyage of discovery, looking for a new homestead in the wilds, as was shown by Christopher Columbus, when, braving the traditions that declared the world to be flat, he set sail into the western seas, under the firm conviction that in this manner he could reach the East Indies.

On board the flatboat things soon began to assume a settled condition. Mr. Armstrong had been unanimously elected the leader of the expedition, and every member was bound to yield him obedience.

System had been early established, and each one knew just what was to be expected of him or her, so that there was no confusion.

The household goods, save what might be needed in the way of coverings for the night, or additional clothing, had been stowed away in as compact shape as their ingenuity could devise; and in the hold of the boat a place had been found for the accommodation of this material. It consisted chiefly of a few household treasures, handed down from ancestors across the seas. The pioneers did not possess much in the way of furniture. Tables, beds and chairs they expected to make afresh when they had reached the Promised Land. A few strong oaken or cedar chests, bound in brass it might be, contained their belongings for the most part; with what few cooking utensils that were needed, these latter also in brass or copper, which was much used in those early days.

Besides the Armstrongs, the passengers and crew of the flatboat consisted of three families. First there was Mr. Harkness and his wife, a fourteen-year-old daughter named Susan, and also a nephew, one Amos Terry, from New England, and with some of the peculiarities of speech that even at this early day marked the difference between those whose ancestors came over on the _Mayflower_, and the descendants of those settling in Virginia or Carolina.

Then there were the Bancrofts, father, mother, and three children, all of the latter rather small; and the Waynes, who had a boy, Rufus, about eight years of age, and a small baby.

Two more persons there were aboard the boat at the time of leaving. Pat O'Mara, the good-natured Irish trapper, meant to stick to his friend, Mr. Armstrong, through thick and thin, in this new venture, feeling partly responsible through having told the wonderful tales that had so stirred the ambitions of these voyagers. Blue Jacket, also, was with them, though he only expected to go a few days' journey into the west, when he would say good-bye, and return to his people, never expecting to see these white friends again.

Seven men and two boys capable of bearing arms constituted their full fighting force; a pitiful company when one considers the nature of the dangers that were always awaiting the hardy pioneers whenever they cut adrift and pierced the wilderness. But such a thing as fear was next to unknown to any of them; and, as they turned successive bends of the river, always unfolding some new and beautiful feature of the remarkable scenery, both men and women felt that surely good fortune must await them in the favored land beyond.

They were not much given to sentiment. The hardships of that time made people very practical; and yet no nature could withstand the magnificent sunset that greeted their eyes, hours later, when many miles had been left behind.

It must have seemed to some of those who stood and drank in the glorious picture with a feeling almost of awe, as though the sun had never before gone down in the midst of such splendor and that he was beckoning them onward to where their new homes were to be founded.

And yet, no doubt, as some of the women glanced at the grim forest-lined shore so near by, they must have shuddered, remembering how somewhere in the dark recesses of that wood, savage foes lurked, hating the venturesome paleface who threatened to steal away their lands, and only too eager to pounce down upon the little expedition, could they find the means.

Blue Jacket went ashore as soon as the boat was tied up for the night, in order to scout around, and ascertain whether there might be any signs of hostile Indians in the vicinity. Pat O'Mara also took a little turn, and both reported that the coast appeared to be clear, so the voyagers took heart of grace, and supper was cooked in comfort.

There was no loud talking or laughter. Even the children had been admonished to keep quiet, leaving their boisterous play until the morrow, when, safe on the bosom of the broad stream, they might give vent to their exuberant spirits.

All through the night a watch would be kept. Much of that duty was to be undertaken by Blue Jacket and Pat, who had no family cares to attend to; but every man slept on his arms, as it were, ready to leap to his feet at the first alarm, with a clear idea as to the duties devolving upon him in case of an attack.

The ropes were arranged so that they could be instantly cast off, and the boat swung out into the stream, which, being quite deep just there, would prevent the enemy from wading out after them.

While part of the force performed this duty, the others would send a hot fire in among the Indians; and it must be remembered that in pioneer days every woman had learned to handle a gun almost as well as the male members of the family.

The first night passed, fortunately, without any alarm; which was a good thing, since it gave them all a chance to get accustomed to their strange surroundings. Later on, after they had fallen into the new ways, if trouble came, as they fully anticipated, it would find them better prepared to meet the situation.

All were early astir on the following morning, except that Pat and Blue Jacket still lay under their blankets, since they had been ashore part of the night, and secured scarce any sleep at all until an hour before dawn. The men were busy, getting wood aboard with which to make a small fire if necessary, a stone hearth having been constructed for this purpose, when, suddenly, Sandy made a startling discovery.

"Oh! look! Bob, look, up there on the roof of the cabin!" he exclaimed; and Bob, turning his eyes toward the boat, quickly saw the object that had thus excited the other.

"Another arrow, with a birch-bark message, just as sure as anything," he cried, turning a puzzled face toward Sandy.

"Let me climb up and get it!" cried the younger lad; and, with the words, he immediately started to clamber up the rough side wall of the cabin, which had been made as near bullet-proof as possible, so as to afford protection in case of an Indian attack; for the French traders were selling the savages hundreds of firearms, and even teaching the warriors how to use them in place of the more primitive bow and arrows.

Presently Sandy came back, bearing the arrow in his hand.

"It is exactly like the other, which Blue Jacket told us was surely made by the hands of a Delaware brave," he said, holding the object up before his brother.

Bob, just as he had expected, found a small piece of thin birch bark rolled about the arrow, near the head, and secured there by means of fibres taken from some plant.

Opening this, he discovered a series of crude, but plain pictures, made after the fashion of the Indians.

"This time there are many figures, and, as they have scalplocks, they must be Indians," Bob remarked, as he and Sandy eagerly examined the message that had come from their unknown friend.

"Yes," the other boy went on, "and see how they are lying flat behind bushes; while this must be the river flowing along. Some have guns, and others bows. And, if you please, Bob, this must be meant for our fine flatboat, though it looks more like an old ark than anything else. What do you make of that part of the message!"

"Oh! it stands but for one thing, a warning to beware of the foes who lurk on the shore, waiting to take us by surprise. But we already have been told all about such dangers, though this kind friend may not know that."

"But see, Bob, there is more to it this time," Sandy continued, eagerly. "Here is our proud boat again on the river, and on the shore stands a man, holding both his hands out. He is surely a white man, because he has a hat on. And I think he must be begging us to come to the shore and take him aboard."

"That is just it," Bob remarked, "and you remember what Daniel Boone warned us against. This must be that terrible Simon Girty, or his companion, McKee, for if you look once again, you will see those forms concealed behind the grass and bushes, just as the panther lies in wait for a deer at the salt lick. Is that all plain to you, Sandy?"

"Yes, and I would have seen through it, even if you hadn't spoken. But here, for the third time, we have received a message from this friend, who keeps his face hidden, so that we do not know who he is. What does it mean, do you think, and who can he be?"

"He must have some object," replied Bob, his brow marked by a line of perplexing thought; "and he certainly has a reason for not letting us know who he is. If it is that young Delaware you helped, he has a queer way of paying back his debt. But, after all, he is only an Indian, and how can a white man understand his ways? We must show this to father, even if it doesn't seem to tell us anything new."

"Yes," said Sandy, drawing a long breath, and glancing at the forest so close at hand; "anyhow, it's nice to know we've got a friend who watches over us all the time. There may come a day when his warning will save us from a terrible danger. Delaware brave or not, I am going to thank him for it, if ever I meet him face to face."

As they had already been told all about these perils, the men did not experience any fresh alarm from seeing the message of the arrow. Mr. Armstrong, thinking it wise to keep all such causes for uneasiness away from the women as much as possible, bade the boys not to mention finding it on the roof. Plainly the unknown Indian must have shot it from some point close at hand, though how he had managed to approach the boat, unheard by the keen, listening ears of Blue Jacket or Pat O'Mara, was a mystery to both Bob and Sandy.

If he could do this, what was to prevent a dozen, or fifty, of his kind from accomplishing the same thing? It was a thought calculated to cause a timid person considerable uneasiness; and possibly this was what had influenced Mr. Armstrong in his desire to keep the women from hearing about the arrow that bore the new warning.

Again they were floating on the current, that bore the adventurers along at the rate of some four miles an hour. While the river changed its course from time to time, so that they headed now southwest, and again toward the northwest, still their constant progress was such that they had the morning sun behind them; and, when the orb of day passed the zenith, it beckoned them onward until, nearing the horizon, its slanting rays warned them that another night lay ahead, with the dangers that darkness must ever bring in its train.

And so it would go, as the days slipped by, many miles being covered between daybreak and darkness, and each span taking them further into the unknown country.