Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-05-18
ntisfeIlaneolls.
THE TWO SPIES.

AS curly US tne yeaI lioO, tlo pioch-houso
snd stockade above the mouth of the Hooking
river, was frontier post for the hardy pioneers
of the Northwestern Territory. There Nature
was in her undisturbed livery of dark and thick
forests, interspcrsed with green and Towering
prairies. Then the forest had not heard the
sound of woodman's axe, nor had the plow of
the husbandman opened the fruitful earth. Then
those beautiful prairies waved their golden
plume to the God of Nature, and among the
most luxuriant of these were those that lie along
the Hooking Valley, and especially that portion
of it on which the town of Lancaster now stands.
Here the tribes of the North and West met
to counsel, and from this spot led forth the war;
path in different directions. Upon one Of these
occasions when the war-spirit moved nightly
among the sons of Nature, and the tomahawk
eaped in its sheath and the spirit of their friends
who had died in the field of bate, visited tho
warrior in his night visions, and called loudly
for revenge, it was ascertained at the garrison,
above the mouth of the Hooking river, that the
Indians were gathering in great numbers for the
purpose of striking blow on some post of the
frontiers. To meet this crisis, two Of the most
skilled and indcfatigable spies were despatched
to watch their movements, and report
McCleland and White, two spirits that never
quailed at danger, and as unconquerable as the
Lybian lion, in the month of October, and on
one of the balmy days of Indian Summer, took
leave of their fellows and moved on through the
thick plum and hazel bushes with the noiseless
tread of panthers armed with thcir unerring
and trusty rifles. They continued tIleir march,
skirting the praires, till they reached that most
remarkable prominence, now known by the
name of Mount Pleasant, the western termina-
ton of which is aSerpendicular cliff of rocks
of some hundreds of feet high, and whose sum
nit, from a western view, towers to the clouds
and overlooks the vast plains below. When this
point was gained, our hardy spies had position
from which they could see every movement of
the enemy below in the valley.
Every day added new accession of warriors
to the company. They witnessed their exercises
of horse racing, running foot-races, jumping,
throwing the tomahawk, and dancing; the old
sachems looking on with their Indian indiffer-
ence, the squaws engaged in their usual druid
gerry, and the children engaged in their playful
gambols. The arrival of new warrior was
greeted with terrible shouts, which, striking the
rural face of Mount Pleasant, were driven back
in the various indentations of the surrounding
hills, producing reverberations and echoes, as if
ten thousand fends were gathered at a universal
lcvee. Such yells would have struck terror to
the hearts Of those unaccustomed to Indian
revelry. . .... .........
To our spies this was but martial music
strains which walked their watchfulness, and
newly strung their veteran courage. From their
early youth they had always been on the front
ier, and were well practised in all the subtlery,
craft, and cunning of Indian warfare, as well as
the ferocity and blood-thirsty nature of these
savage warriors. They were, therefore, moi
likely to be cnsnared by their cunning, nor
without desperate conflict, to fall victims tc
their scalping- g-knives or tomahawks. On sever
al occasions small parties left the prairie anc
assembled the Mount from the eastern side. Or
these occasions the spies would hide in the deeI
assures of the rocks on the west, and agair
leave their hiding place when their unlimited
and unwelcome visitors had disappeared.
For food, they depended on jerked venison an(
corn bread, with which their knapsacks wer'
well stored. They dare not kindle a fire, ant
the report of one of their rifles would hav,
brought upon them the entire force Of the In
dians. For drink they depended on some rail-
water which still stood in the hollows of SOM
I: of the rocks, but, in short time this store wa
: exhausted, and McCleland and White must sool
! abandon their enterprise or find q new supply
: TO accomplish this most hazardous ENTERPRISE
r McCleland, being the oldest, resolved to max
, the attempt; and with his trusty rife in hi
hand, and their two canteens strung across hi
, shoulders, he descended, by circuitous route
to the prairie, skirting the hill on the north, an
under the cover of the hazel thickets he reache
the river, and turning to bold point of tn
> hill, he found beautiful spring within a fe,
feet Of the river, now known by the name
Cold Spring, on the farm of d. Talmadge, Esc
lie filled his canteens, and returned in safety I
r his watchful companion. Itwasnow determir
ed to have fresh supply Of water every da!
! and this duty was performed alternately.
On one of these occasions, after White ha
9 filed his canteens, he sat q few moments watcl
y ing the limpid element as it came gurgling OF
h of the bosom of the earth, when the light sour
e of footsteps caught his practised ear, and upc
J, turning around he saw two squaws a few fe
: from him. Upon turning around the foot
: the hill, the eldest squaw gave far reachir
Is whOOp peculiar 10 the Indians White at on
.f-.... G.