The Backwoodsman; Or, Life on the Indian Frontier

by Unknown

I impatiently waited for Tiger to obtain an explanation from him, as I feared lest the shot man might be a Delaware. The evening came and Tiger was not back yet. A thousand suppositions, a thousand suspicions involuntarily crossed my mind. Could Tiger be a traitor? could the Delawares have broken their long-tried friendship with the white men? We drove our cattle in earlier than usual, rode them down to water, laid our weapons ready to hand, and prepared to oppose any possible attack. I went to the eastern turret and gazed over the wide prairie, when I suddenly noticed far on the horizon a black point that seemed strange to me. I looked through my glass, and to my great delight recognised the large white spots of Tiger's piebald.

I now felt lighter at heart, ran down and waited for him at the gate. At length he rode up to me from the last hollow, loaded with deer and bear meat, and the hide of a small bear, leapt from his horse and heartily shook my hand. I told him what had happened, and he listened most attentively. His eyebrows were contracted and his usually pleasant eyes flashed savagely. He said nothing but "kitchi kattuh," made me a sign to enter the fort, and when we reached the dining-room where the dead man's hunting-bag lay, he cried, "Kitchi," placed two fingers of his right hand before his mouth, so that they seemed to be emerging from it, and repeated "Kitchi," i.e. two tongues. He then led me out of the fort, when he stopped, and said to me that the false kitchi had laid watch for him in the garden and intended to take his life, so that the Delawares might fancy we had killed him and take their revenge on us. It had indeed gradually grown a custom in the fort that Tiger, when he was at home, fetched fresh water from the spring before supper, and his supposition appeared to be well founded; still the unexpected appearance of one of my men seemed to have turned the kitchi from his original purpose, because he was on the point of sending the bullet intended for Tiger through the chest of the latter.

We now helped to hang up the meat brought in by Tiger, and sat down to supper, when the occurrence naturally became the sole subject of conversation, and was regarded from every side. We agreed to bury the Indian, and I went, accompanied by Antonio and Tiger, with a spade and a cedar-wood torch, through the garden to the dead man. Tiger drew him out of the brushwood, took off his beads, armlets, and leathern breech clout, and then dragged him with Antonio's help nearer the river, where we dug a deep hole and buried the corpse.

We soon forgot this incident, and went on with our winter avocations as before. We slightly enlarged our field, which was a fatiguing job, as it lay in the wood, and the bushes grew very close together there. These and the smaller trees were cut down and piled up round the larger ones, after the latter had been out into the wood. After they had dried for a week, they were kindled, which dried the bark of the large trunks, and thus killed the tree. We then set to work with a heavy plough to turn up the ground: this operation is always performed twice or thrice through the winter, before the seed is put in the ground in spring. It may be asked why we did not lay out our field in the prairie, as we should thus have saved this labour? The reason is that the prairie soil is remarkably difficult to plough, because it consists of a black hard earth, in which the delicate young plants have unusually large roots, as hard as glass. I afterwards cultivated land of this sort, and at the first breaking up had six or eight draught cattle fastened to the plough. Then again, this land, owing to its hardness, produces scarce no crop in the first year, in the second a very poor one, in third a moderate one, and not till the fourth a full crop. It is always much more difficult to cultivate than the forest land, as the heavy rains in the winter season always more or less restore its firmness, while the forest soil bears prolifically in the first year.

In the garden we had plenty of work too; the potatoes were laid in beds, in order to grow the tap roots, which are cut off in spring and planted out in the field. Then the tobacco beds were put in order, from which the young plants were transplanted in February. The same plant produces among us three or even four crops, as we always leave a young shoot to grow, when the leaves are ripe enough to cut. Then there were vegetables to sow, vines to prune, fruit-trees to graft; in short, we had our hands full, and I only went with Tiger away from the fort to hunt bears, whose fat we were obliged to collect at this time, as it is not nearly so abundant at other seasons.

One morning I resolved to go to Mustang Creek, and choose a suitable spot where I could build a carriage bridge across it, as I frequently had meat to fetch from the prairies on the other side, and I also intended to make, by degrees, a passable road to the settlements. I rode away at an early hour, accompanied by Trusty, but at some distance from home I noticed that Milo, an old bear-finder, was running after me, which was a bore, as the good old dog, if he by chance hit on a fresh trail, would be sure to follow it, and I had not intended to hunt bears on this day. The dog was much too slow and deaf, and I only gave him food for the many faithful services he had rendered me: I did not care to ride back, and hence called him closer up to my horse, and continued my journey.

I soon reached the river and was busy examining the banks, when suddenly old Milo gave tongue, and had run too far into the bushes for me to check him. I was sorry, for if the old fellow had a row with a bear by himself, it would be all over with him. I heard his bark going farther and farther, and though I felt grieved, I was obliged to leave him to his fate. After a while I fancied that I heard him continually barking at the same spot. I listened, and it seemed more than probable that he had attacked a bear. I must hurry to his assistance, so I rode as far as I could into the bushes, tied up my horse, and forced my way through the thicket.

I soon leaped through the last bushes, and to my surprise saw Milo sitting in front of an old cypress and barking up at it. I examined the gigantic trunk, and clearly saw on its bark the traces of a bear which had climbed up it. In the first fork the tree was hollow from top to bottom, and I did not doubt for a moment but that Bruin was having his winter sleep in it. To cut down the tree was a heavy task, as it was above eight feet in diameter, and then, too, it stood among a number of other giants, against which it might easily lean in falling, when we should not be able to get at its occupant. I tapped round the tree to see whether it was hollow far down, but I could not settle the point satisfactorily, as I had no axe with which to hit hard enough.

I quickly formed my resolution, caught up Milo, carried him away from the trail, and hastened to my horse, which speedily bore me home. Tiger was at the river washing deer hides, when I arrived on the bank and informed him of my discovery: he quickly packed up his skins, ran to his tent, and hurried to the prairie to fetch the piebald. In less than half an hour we were en route for the bear, accompanied by Antonio and one of the colonists armed with axes, while Jack followed us with a large pack saddle, and Trusty leaped ahead of us. We soon reached the river, led our horses some distance down it, and tied them up in the thicket; then we went to the cypress in which our sleeper was. We examined it and found it quite sound for over eight feet from the ground, but from that point hollow, and more so on the western side.

We soon raised a framework of thin branches round the tree, on which one of us was raised by turns, and cut an opening in the trunk at the spot where the hollow began. While one was engaged in this way, the others brought up dry wood, which we piled up against the opening like a bonfire. We then lit it, and ere long the flames crept up the stem, and the dried bark fell off with a cracking sound into the fire. We arranged ourselves round the tree at some distance in such a way that we could cover it pretty well from all sides, and expected every moment to see the bear quit its winter quarters. We had been standing there, however, for above an hour, and the gentleman did not make his appearance, though the smoke was rising from the hollow. The bear probably lay below the hole, and the smoke passed over it without annoying it.