“Our guns are wet,” Big Bear said. “It is a bad time to fight. Let us go in to them. We will tell them we are poor and they will give us food and drink.”
They went on. The rain stopped. In the middle of the afternoon they sighted the Englishmen’s camp in a clearing of the forest upon the north bank of the upper Potomac of northern Maryland.
Then they whooped the scalp whoop and ran in. The English were eight Long Knives of Virginia, and stayed firm. Trader Cresap was here; two of the others were young; and when Big Bear asked who was the captain, Trader Cresap pointed to the younger of the two.
This captain appeared to be few in years, but was large and well formed, and had the grave air of a chief.
“Wah! A boy!” White Thunder grunted.
Big Bear shook hands with the boy, intending to grip him hard and make him cry out, which was an Indian joke. Instead it was Big Bear who cried out, astonished, for the young Englishman had gripped him first and had squeezed his hand so that the bones were almost crushed.
“Ugh!” Big Bear exclaimed. “A strong boy. As strong as a man.”
After they had shown the Catawba scalp and had received presents, Big Bear ordered a war dance, to celebrate the scalp. They built a large fire and all sat around while Big Bear made a speech, telling of the deeds of the Delawares and of the love they had for the English. Then the dance began, and so did the music. One warrior thumped a deer hide stretched tightly over a pot half full of water; and another shook a rattle, of a dry gourd with shot inside it and a horse tail tied to it. The other Delawares, and Silver Heels, pranced around the fire, whooping.
White Thunder and Robert the Hunter looked on, with the English. The English, especially the young captain, were much pleased, for it was a fine dance.
After a time the young captain moved and sat beside White Thunder and Robert, as if curious to ask questions. The friend whom he had left was slender and tall and handsome, in three-cornered hat and red wool blanket-coat and decorated leather belt and deerskin trousers and knee boots. His name was Fairfax. The young captain himself was not so handsome; but he had steady blue eyes and large, straight nose, and a kind, but sober face tanned brown; and he was as heavy and as muscular as White Thunder.