CHAPTER XVIII

THE BIG WATER AT LAST

"WILL we ever get there, do you think, Bob?"

Sandy Armstrong asked this question for the tenth time one day, as the trio of young adventurers rested at noon, after tramping since early dawn.

They had persisted in heading into the north ever since the day of the storm. Weary days and nights they had been. Sandy, being less resolute than his older brother, had fretted under the strain, and kept asking whether they must not be near the end of their pilgrimage.

They had met many trials on the way. Rivers they had swam, holding their guns and ammunition, as well as their garments, on a log so as to keep them dry, which trick was in frequent use among the pioneers of the day.

It was the duty of Bob to constantly strengthen his brother; and thus he even smiled, a bit sadly it may be true, as he turned upon Sandy.

"Blue Jacket knows; and he tells me that he can smell the big water in the air right now," he observed.

"You mean the Great Lake, on the shore of which, somewhere, the Iroquois have their village--is that it?" demanded Sandy, brightening up wonderfully.

"Yes, and he also tells me that we are apt to come out upon it before the sun goes down to-night," Bob continued, encouragingly.

"Well," said Sandy, heaving a big sigh, "I shall be glad if it turns out to be so. I am so tired of waiting, day after day, and plunging into constant forests. If it wasn't for Kate's peril I could enjoy this journey, for you know I always said I meant to follow in the footsteps of Kenton, and look on new sights; but, as it is, I can think of nothing but these three things that trouble us."

"Three?" remarked Bob, as if surprised.

"Why, yes. There is Kate, to begin with," Sandy started to say.

"And you are also thinking of our mother, should the dreaded Indian attack come when we are away?" Bob pursued.

"Surely. There were many ugly signs of it. But, when I remember how our neighbor, Mr. Brewster, gave us his word that he would take her into his own family while we were gone, and look after her as if she belonged under his cabin roof, somehow I do not feel quite so bad."

"But you said three, and that is only two causes," Bob went on. "Are you still thinking about father, Sandy?"

"Surely," the younger brother answered back. "The more we plunge into this unbroken wilderness the greater become my fears for him. There were only four in the party. If the Indians ever discovered their trail, they would follow them like hungry wolves. Day and night they might hang about, seeking opportunities to ambush them. Oh! why did not Colonel Boone, or Simon Kenton, happen along at the time they were starting?"

"Cheer up!" cried Bob, slapping his brother on the shoulder encouragingly. "We shall be happy yet, and all together again, separated as we may be now. Our first duty is to find Kate, and steal her away from our enemies. Then, when we get home, we will only have to wait for our father to return, after the snow flies. I only hope he is able to cross those terrible mountains before the ravines are filled, neck high, with the drifts."

"But," said Sandy, suddenly, as if he suspected that these signs of despondency might be wrongly interpreted by his companion, "I hope you do not think I am weakening, Bob?"

"Not I," returned the older one, instantly. "By this time I ought to know your obstinate nature better than that, Sandy. You may complain, and seem downhearted at times; but there is no give up about you."

"That is true," nodded Sandy, as he set his teeth hard together. "We started out to rescue our sister from the hands of the Indians; and that we will do, if we live. But, Bob, have we not rested enough? I am just wild to set eyes on that wonderful inland sea about which Pat O'Mara and Simon Kenton have told us so much."

"Yes, we will go on," said Bob, quickly rising to his feet; and then, as Blue Jacket drew near, he asked further: "About how many hours' journey before we come upon the big water, Blue Jacket?"

Whereupon the young Shawanee brave deliberated a minute, after which he gravely held up two fingers of his right hand.

"Soon get there, Bob, Sandy," he said, quietly. "No can smell big water further two hours' walk. You wait, see Blue Jacket speak with straight tongue."

"And he ought to know, Sandy," continued Bob; "because, you see, Blue Jacket has once before looked on the big water which some men call Erie. Only a short two hours; that will soon pass. Come, let us put out our best foot now."

Once again they plunged into the thickets ahead, always with the Indian guide in the van. Blue Jacket had indeed proven a friend. Not only had he led them in almost direct line to the north, and managed to avoid contact with any roving band of Indians; but at the same time he had helped supply the little rescue party with fresh meat.

It happened that at the time he met the two young pioneers the brave carried his customary bow and arrows. Few of his race equalled Blue Jacket in the use of this old-time Indian weapon. He could send a feathered shaft with wonderful accuracy, whether aimed at a human foe or a wild animal of the forest.

Debarred from using their noisy guns on account of the dangers that an explosion might bring upon them, the boys would have suffered from lack of fresh food but for the dexterity with which their dusky ally used his hickory bow, with its flint-tipped arrows, feathered with quills from the wild goose.

Once he brought down a bounding deer that seemed in a fair way to escape, much to the admiration of both white lads, who had never before witnessed such an exhibition of fine shooting.

On another occasion he had discovered several wild turkeys roosting on the branch of a big pine tree on a knoll, and, after considerable creeping, managed to get close enough, on the leeward side of the wary birds, to bring a haughty gobbler to the ground, pierced through and through with an arrow, so that they feasted that night right royally.

Then Blue Jacket also knew just how to build a fire with very dry wood that might not give forth any smoke, such as keen and suspicious eyes would discover. It was always started in a cleft, or a hole in the ground, nor did they ever keep it going after night set in.

All these precautions were absolutely necessary, for they were in a hostile country, where every human being must be considered an enemy, whether he might be a red man or a French Canadian trapper.

The summer was now gone. Touches of frost appeared each morning, now that the pilgrims of the great forest ascended continually further north. But they were young, hardy and vigorous, so that little they cared for this. The thought of the mission that drew them thus far away from their Ohio River home proved sufficient to make their pulses throb, and all minor troubles be ignored.

An hour passed. Blue Jacket plodded on, showing not the faintest sign of weariness. Indeed, it seemed to Sandy that the young Shawanee brave must be made of iron to be able to stand up under all they had passed through without exhibiting the least symptom of fatigue.

Even the brothers by now seemed to feel a peculiar dampness to the air, that in a way betrayed the near presence of a large body of water.

"At any time, Sandy, you can expect to set eyes on the Great Lake," remarked Bob, while they were pushing through an unusually dense patch of woods, where the close growing trees ahead shut out all sign of what lay beyond.

Blue Jacket heard, and gave him a nod that seemed to tell Bob they might have their first view of that wonderful inland sea before many minutes passed.

A short time later they came upon the verge of the forest. All at once a vacancy appeared beyond, a vast open expanse, and Bob had himself caught a musical ripple that he knew must proceed from waves gently rolling up the beach.

The Great Lake was before them, and, standing thus among the bordering trees, the three gazed wonderingly out upon that mighty expanse.

Although they had lived for a number of years in Richmond, both Bob and Sandy had only a hazy recollection of ever having seen the vast ocean so close by; so that this, their first introduction to what seemed a boundless expanse of water, was startling.

As far as their eyes could reach nothing but a level horizon seemed to exist, where the water met the lowering sky line. To the east and west the same monotonous view was presented. To-day, where dark smoke from the funnels of countless busy steamers may greet the eye of the onlooker, there was at that time absolutely nothing, not even a canoe, at first appearing to the sight of the three youths.

"Oh!" exclaimed Sandy, his breast heaving with the sensation of a rover who delights in new and novel sights, "it is glorious, Bob! If I could only forget about Kate for a minute, I'd say it was well worth all our trials and suffering. One of my dreams has come true, and some day I am determined that the other will, too."

"Yes," replied his brother, soberly; "I know that you are fairly wild to set eyes on that wonderful river De Soto discovered, and which they call the Mississippi. Perhaps some day you may have your wish, Sandy; but pray Heaven that no such mission takes you to its shores as has fetched us hither."

"That could never be," replied Sandy. "If we are blessed with the recovery of our dear sister this time, she will never again be allowed to leave the sight of those who can and will protect her. But, see, Blue Jacket has noticed something. He moves back into the woods, and beckons to us to do the same. What can it be, do you suppose, Bob?"

"He seems to be watching the point of land that stands out into the water," said Bob. "It has trees on it; but there are open spaces, too. Blue Jacket must have discovered something moving there."

"Perhaps it is a deer, and he means to get a shot with his bow and arrows?" suggested the younger brother.

"Not so, for he is not handling his bow," remarked Bob; and immediately added: "There! I saw it move myself; and, Sandy, unless I was mistaken, it must have been a canoe gliding along the other side of the tongue of land, heading outward."

Both lads immediately stepped further back among the trees. They understood that the chances were ten to one, at least, that, if they came upon any human being along the shore of the Great Lake, it must be an Indian, and therefore one to be distrusted on sight.

Though the Iroquois, or Six Nations, had always been friendly with the English, and opposed to the French Canadian trappers and traders, still, the new conditions that were beginning to arise, where the Colonies had begun to defy the king, made them separate the sheep from the goats. They favored the Tories, who remained in league with the king's policies; but were ready to take up arms against the insurgents, already beginning to call themselves Americans.

Three minutes later a canoe darted out from behind the point of land, and started along the lake, about a quarter of a mile from the shore.

"Oh! look!" said Sandy, who had the keener eyesight; "there are just five in it, Bob, and one of them is a girl!"

"Yes," replied the other, whose lips were colorless as he gazed eagerly at the moving craft, where several flashing paddles were working industriously; "just the same number as Black Beaver's band. But, Sandy, we do not know. To me it looks as if the girl might be a squaw. She is surely dressed like one, and, as well as I can see, her face seems to be that of an Indian."

"Oh! but you forget, Bob," declared the other lad, earnestly, "that we believe Black Beaver means to make our sister into a Seneca girl. Four braves and a girl--it must be those we seek!"

"Even Blue Jacket is puzzled, if I read his face rightly," said Bob. "And so all we can do is to try and keep up with the canoe until it comes ashore. Then we will soon learn the truth. I only pray that what you think may turn out to be so, for it would make our mission the easier."