The boy waited expectantly, and, in a moment, his father continued:
“All that summer, the summer after the scalping, I was on the lookout for squalls, but nothing happened. The ‘Pioneers’ didn’t seem to be trying to get their revenge, or if they were trying, we were too much on the alert. I afterwards found out that they had been laying plans all summer, but that none of them had worked. It was not until the autumn that their plot came to a head.
“One evening, late in October, when it was already beginning to get dark early, I was delayed in going to the cave. It was one of the regular evenings for a meeting and we had something very important to do—I forget what, now—so I was running at a good clip. Just as I struck the little hidden path that diverged toward the cave, I heard the fellows talking loudly, in excited tones. Wondering what could have happened, for it was one of the rules always to approach the hiding place in silence, I quickened my run still more, and in a minute or two, burst upon the fellows who were gathered in a clump not far from the entrance to the cave. The second I appeared, three or four of them shouted, in a breath:
“‘Chief! There’s a dragon in the cave!’
“I told you, Perry, that I’d always done a lot of talking about dragons, and this ought to have made me suspicious. But I’d been reading, a day or two before, about Regulus, and all my early interest had been suddenly awakened. As I look back on it now, I don’t think doubt even entered my mind. The gang was evidently so scared that the scare got into my bones, too.
“I found out that one of the smallest of the boys had come early and gone into the cave, and that he had rushed out again, screaming to another fellow, who was just coming up the path, that in the cave there was a huge dragon, with a shining tail, breathing out flames. He said it had roared at him and that it was as long as a barge.
“The older boy, he was ‘Chief Brave’ and second in command of the gang, had laughed at him, picked up a chunk of wood for a club, and started for the opening. Half-way down, he heard the growling of some beast and his courage oozed out. Without going in to see what it was, he bolted out again as promptly as the little lad had done. He was afraid the dragon would follow him, but nothing appeared. None of the rest of the gang had volunteered. They waited for me to show up, and tell them what to do. It wasn’t that I was any bigger, son, but, after all, I was ‘War Chief’ and it was my part to lead them on.
“If there had only been the little fellow’s story,” the old merchant continued, “I don’t think I’d have felt the same way about it. But the ‘Chief Brave’ was not only a plucky sort, but I depended a good deal on his judgment. As I saw it, there was only one thing to do, and that was—to face the monster and find out what could be done. If I could really slay a dragon, I thought, I should go down in history with Siegfried and Beowulf and all the rest of them. So I loaded an old horse pistol that we had, and, more for show than anything else, stuck a bowie knife in my belt and started into the tunnel-like opening of the cave, the gang following cautiously behind.
“I tell you, my boy, it was mighty uncomfortable, creeping through that long, black passage, hearing nothing but the hard breathing of the frightened fellows behind. And when, about halfway down, the silence was suddenly broken by a savage, whining snarl, I had a feeling that ice was being rubbed down my spine. It wasn’t quite my idea of a dragon’s roar, it was worse, there was such an evil relish in the sound that the flesh under my hair just crawled.
“If I had been alone, I’d have done the same thing as the others did, I’d have turned tail and got out of that place as quickly as I could. But the gang was behind me. I was afraid, afraid to death, of that snarl in front, but the fear of ridicule was even stronger. I would rather be clawed to death by a dragon than be guyed as a coward. So, gripping the pistol closer, I crawled forward.