The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-12-30


race. We are alone, and the desert offers
its solitldes for such!
left for ever the Lake of a Thousand
Islands, carrying with me only handful of
the ashes with which was mingled the dust
of my children and my wife. In my pro-
gress hither, l visited the great warrior
Tecumseh. He was then about to depart
from the borders of Canada, upon a journey
of thousand miles, to invite the Lower
Creeks to take up the Ratchet in defence of
the British against the Americans and Up
per Greeks. l joined him. was his COM
panion. | sat with him in the assembly
of the great council when, by the power OF
his talk, be obtained a solemn declaration
they fcootld take up the Ratchet at his call.
And tloy did. His enemies were the
Americans aniae were the WHITES and
my revenge ssiaked its thirst in their blood,
with the same refreshing sense that drink
o! the sparkling waters of the spring, with
out asking it's name. Seven of the scalps
you see belonged to those who fell beneath
my tomahawk but my arrows few thick
besides nor was my gun leyelled in vain.
When the Warrior persisted, the hope
persisted with him Of the gathering of the
Indian nation in some spot where the white
people would not follow, and where we
might live as our fathers had done. Te-
cumseh fell. left my brethren, and built
my cabin in the woods.
1t was in the season of the green corn,
when the Manufacturing is made to the
Great Spirit, that white man came to my
door. He had lost his path, and the sun
was going down. M mother shook, for
the fear of death was upon her. She spoke
to me. Her words were like the hurricane
that sweeps through the forest, and opens
for itself way amongthe hills. The stran-
ger was the same that had found my father
defenceless ard asleep, and who shot him
as he slept. Come with me and learn the
rest"
The Indian arose, went forth, and entered
the forest / followed, utterly incapable of
saving a word. There was something so
strange and overpowering in what had
seen and heard, so obscure and exciting in
what might still have to see and hear I; it
was so impossible for me to enter into the
dark feelings of revenge that had been
avowed, or to applaud the murderous spirit
in which they had been apPeased by this
unrelenting savage; while to rebuke either,
must obviously have been at once hazardous
and unayailing, that / could only mediate
fearfully and silently upon the whole:
The course he now took was indicated
by no path, but lay through thick under
wood, and among tangled bushes; while
overhead the gigantic plane and maple trees,
the lofty cedar, and the many different spe- !
cies OF oak, formed verdant roof impervi- |
Gus TO the rain which was falling IN torrents.
The fragrance of the woods was delicious,
and the notes of innumerable birds, the |
cooling of doves, with the incessans gambols |
of the squirrel, leaping from bough to bough |
in every direction, soothed and delighted !
me, in spite of the feelings with which |
was oppressed. At the distance of about |
a quarter of a mile from the cabin, | OBJ
served small stage, constructed between
four trees standing near each other, and
not more than four or fire feet from the
ground. On this stage saw human fig
ure extended, which, as l afterwards DIS |
covered, was the body of the Indians moth |
err, By her side was red earthen vessel
or pitcher, containing the bones OF his ia
Their. and that "handful of ashes" which he
had brought with him from the shores OF
Lake Ontario, under the impulse OF SEN
timent too we'll known to exist among the
Indian tribes,-the desire of mingling their
own dust, in death, with that OF their fathers
and their kindred | noticed, however, that
nv Euide passed this simple silvan sepnl-
chre, without once turning his eyes towards
it.
We continued our progress through the
forest and | soon began to perceive we
were ascending, rising ground, though
the dense foliage which hemmed us in on
every side, prevented me from distinguish
inc the height or the extent of the ACTIVITY.
Presently heard the loud din and roar OF
waters and we had proceeded in the d.
rection of the sound, whose increasing noise
indicated our gradual approximation to it,
for rather more than half mile, when the
Indian stopped, and found myself, all at
| once. on the brink of Tremendous whirl-
pool. looked down from height of near
| iy two hundred feet into the deep ravine
below, through which the vexed stream
| beloved and whirled, till it escaped through
another chasm, and plunged into the recess
I es of the wood. IL was an awful moment! !
| The profound gloom of the place-the up
( roar of the eddying vortex beneath-the
dark and rugged abyss which yawned be-
| fore me, where huge trunks of trees might
be seen, tossing and writhing about like
things of life, tormented by the angry spirit
! of the waters--the unknown purpose OF the
being who had brought US hither, and who
stood by my side in sullen silence, prophetic,
to my mind, of a thousand horrible Imagln-
ings,-formed, altogether, combination OF
circumstances, that might have summoned
! fear into holder heart than mine was at
that instant. At length the Indian spoke
"Do you mark that cedar, shooting out
midway from the rock +? Hither l brought
the white man who doomed me to be born
upon fathers grave. l said to him, You
slew nv father9 He shook as my mother
had done for the fear of death was then up
on him. my fathers blood hath left stain
upon YOU, which must be washed out in
these dark waters.' He would have fled to
the woods, like wounded panther; hut |
grasped him thus, winding his snewy arm
= .,,oN and criod gCnma with