I finished on the north leg at the point where Moulton had commenced his scout. I made no discoveries while out. I walked to the fort and was glad to see that Moulton had but recently come in. I returned to the Davis cabin and passed behind it. So far as I could observe no sentinels had been posted on the east side of the clearing. In front of the cabin burned a big fire and there was a confusion of voices.
I gained a position at the end of the cabin, and from the shadows viewed the scene. It was old to me, but new to Patsy, and she was deeply interested. The young men had erected a war-post, and had painted the upper half red. Now they were dancing and cavorting around the post like so many red heathens, bowing their heads nearly to the ground and then throwing them far back. They were stripped to the waist and had painted their faces, and as they danced they stuck their axes into the post and whooped and howled according to the Indian ceremony of declaring war.
“I don’t like it!” I heard Dale protest.
“But the boys only wanted Patsy to see how the Injuns git ready for war,” defended Mrs. Davis. “An’, lor’! Ain’t she all took up by it!”
“But it’s the way the border men declared war after the murder at Yellow Creek,” declared Dale. “They stripped and painted and struck the post and danced around it.”
“They’ll be through mighty soon now, Ericus,” soothed Davis, who was uneasy between his fears of displeasing his wife’s cousin and giving offense to the young men. “They meant well.”
“All such actions mean ill for the settlers,” growled Dale. “They’d best finish at once.”
Davis did not have to incur his neighbors’ ill-will by asking the dancers to cease their ceremony, as Dale’s speech was closely followed by a volley from the west side of the clearing. A dancer went down, coughing and clawing at his throat, while yelps of surprise and pain told me others had been wounded. I raised my rifle and fired toward the flashes.
With the promptness of seasoned veterans the young men kicked the fire to pieces and grabbed up their rifles and advanced toward the hidden foe, their movements being barely perceptible even while within reach of the light streaming from the cabins.
It was not until I had fired and was reloading that I was conscious of Patsy’s ear-splitting shrieks. I heard her father fiercely command her to be still, then command Davis to recall the young men now lost in the darkness. A stentorian voice began shouting: