Old Ninety-Nine's Cave

by Elizabeth H. Gray

Eletheer came in, having forgotten to remove her gingham apron, and seemed pleased to repeat the story.

“Old Ninety-Nine,” Neopakiutic, was a Wawarsing chief and supposed to have been the sole remnant of the Ninety-ninth Tribe. He was a great hunter and after the Revolution lived for some years among the settlers, doing nothing in summer, but hunting and trapping in the winter. Benny Depuy was a well-known resident of Wawarsing and as he was a lazy, good soul who loved to fish and hunt and tell stories, he became a great favorite of “Ninety-Nine,” and one day the Indian told him that he would show him a sight he would never forget, and one that he would not show his own brother; that in Benny he had much confidence and was willing to take him along on his next trip up the mountain. The two started up the mountain above Port Ben and after travelling several miles, often over fallen rocks and decayed trees, they came to the dry channel of a mountain creek. Here Benny was blindfolded and after going up the bed of the creek for about an hour, as nearly as he could estimate, the bandage was taken from his eyes and he found himself at the foot of a high ledge of rocks. The old Indian, who was a muscular giant, rolled aside a boulder and a passage-way was disclosed that seemed to run directly under the cliff. The old Indian told Benny to follow and he went into the passage for a short distance, Benny holding him by his shirt-sleeves so as not to lose him, for he thought there was nothing to come of this adventure, but expected to be carried away by goblins. A short piece of candle was lighted and they found themselves in a large, vaulted room that seemed cut out from the solid rock. It looked like the abode of fairies. On the floor were rich and costly carpets so thickly spread that the heavy boots of the hunters gave no sound. The sides of the cavern were hung with tapestry. The cave was lined with beautiful vases and rare things of many kinds. In one corner of the cave was a large chest which “Ninety-Nine” opened and told Benny to look in, holding over it the lighted candle. Benny looked and beheld “heaps upon heaps of gold, silver and precious stones.” “Ninety-Nine” raked his fingers back and forth through the shining treasures and finally, after bandaging Benny’s eyes, they started down the mountain.

“What became of the Indian?” Hernando inquired.

“No one knows. He was very old and the people lost sight of him. This valley is full of Indian legends, and some of them are beautiful,” said Eletheer.

“Now, Eletheer,” said Jack, “you recited that so well, let us hear how well you remember your catechism.”

Hernando smiled, and said, “The settlers of this valley seem to have been engaged in constant warfare with the Indians.”

“Well,” said Eletheer, “in the first place the whites seized their hunting-grounds and corn-patches. They never purchased the land as the settlers on the other side of the mountain did. The Indians were peaceable until the French war, during which one family was massacred. After that they were still on good terms, but during the Revolution, the British were at the bottom of all their depredations, telling them that the settlers had stolen their lands and that they were cowards not to be avenged. The British offered them a guinea for every white scalp they obtained and gave them every assistance. If the Indians had been let alone, they would never have committed the fearful outrages which they are now charged with. As it was, the Indian hesitated where the Tories did not; the latter would sneak into the home when the men were laboring in the fields and plunge his knife into the bosom of a sleeping infant or a defenseless woman. Can you wonder that the word Tory is hated by every descendant of the early settlers of this town?”

“I should think they could have been convicted of Toryism,” Hernando continued.

“It was a hard thing to do. They lived out in the woods disguised as Indians, whom they kept posted in regard to the doings in the settlements, but pretended to be friends of the whites. Talk of the treachery of an Indian! He can’t begin where a Tory left off,” said Eletheer warmly.

Just then the clock struck eleven, and soon after Mr. De Vere and Mr. Genung entered the dining-room.