The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-11-16

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they thort 1t wur q mighty good joke
but 'twarn't no laughin' matter - least
ways. to me, and my shipmates 'peared t
be of the same 'pinion. They called +
thur kumrades on the bank to hurry u
and git the canoe and take 'em of.
Meanwhile we had foated two or thre
hundred yards down stream, an wur
sittin' straddle O. the small eend, Just a
quiet as deer listenin' fur the hounds
an wonderin' how l wur goin' to git ou
of the scrape.
All to Onct one of the Injuns, in tryin
to shift his position on the log, rolled tn
thing PARKWAY over, and come durnet
near spillin me inter the water. II
tryin' to save myself must made con
siderabul noise, fur, when l got fixeC
again cud hear 'em mutterin' to eacl
other, an seed that they knowed thu
wur somebody or sumthing onto the lol
beside themselves.
How the Injuns looked I cudn't tell
fur it wur so dark cudn't see thu
faces, but they must hev been wus!
skeered than 1 was, fur knowed wht
they wur, but they didn't know who .
wur.
They kept on jabberin' to each other
and at first l thort mebbe they wur goin
to quit the float and streak it, bu'
Directly they stopped talkin and begar
peepin' to'rd whar l wur cached, like {
cnpple of cock-turkeys lookin' fur worms
Then one of 'em said:
Don't you see something's
eyes," answered the other; "darh
lump-bear, perhaps"
And then the first spe aker called out
"Who's tbeTeY'
! he'd nothin' to say, an 1 growed
small so fast, tryin' to squeeze myself ou,
of sight that my skin hung as loose as q
Mackinaw blanket on lodge pole. They
kept peepin' at me, an finally l heerd
one say:
otis no bear; it'sa man. Look at his
head I"
Jist about then wur go mad at myself
fur gittin into such burned fix that
wished my head wur under the log, or
anywhere else 'cept on my shoulders; /;
but l sot up straight, fur knew they'd
seen me, and thort it warn't no use to
play 'possum no longer.
Wal, when l Strengthened up, the
Injun nearest me calls out again:
"Who's there?"
81 am here" says l speakin' in thur
own language.
The minute opened my meat.trap he
laughed an says to the other niggur:
"He's pale face"
The reesin he knowed thet so quick
wur bekase cudn't speak thur burned
jaw-breakin' lingo 'zactly right. Then
he turned to'rd meagin and said:
"What are you doin' there ?'
"Sittin' down 'straddle of the small
eend," says l.
When said this they bust out into a
chuckle, but wurn't in no laughin' hui
NOR just then. Then one of the niggurs
says to his kumrade:
"He's pale face, lean dog, sleepin'
on log; we did catch him good" and
then they both gave the war whoop.
] tell you, young fellow, it made me
feel skeery, fur it did seem rs if 1 wur
scooped sure. Then they told the other
redskins on shore to get the canoe and
be quick. The others answered 'em, and
ran down the shore, laughing an tryin'
to find the canoe. l kinder made up my
mind thet somethin' he'd got to be done
mighty quick, an my dandur begun to
rise.
"Come here" says one of the Injuns
on the log, beckonan' to me. "Come
quick, before the others come. l want
your scalp"
Wall, when he said that cudn't stand
it no longer. My har want goin' to
hang in no Injun's lodge, not eff / cud
help it, 80 l throwed up my rifle, took
aim at the red niggur an blazed away.
He give yell, jumped up like buck,
an fell splash in the water. As soon as
1 fred the Injuns on the bank screamed
out the war whoep, and the other red
skin on the log yelled out to 'em to come
quick and bring his gun. jumped up
and crawled to him; he gathered himself
up and stood his ground. The fust
thing l knowed he cum down on me all
of heap, breakin' an old limb inter a
dozen pieces over my head and shoul-
ders-lucky fur me the limb wur rotten.
His blow staggered me fur a minute,
but soon rekivered myself, and, catch
ing my rifle with both hands, l give him
a side-wipe with the bar'l that knocked
him off inter the water. As he cum up
l grabbed him by the har, an, as he
tried to git up on the log, jest held him
under water.
Bein' on the log an he in the river,
/ ruther had him in a fix, and l jest kept
bobbin' his head under. At first the
bubbles cum up like Iwur film bottle
with water. You know when a bottle is
full it won't bubble. Wal, ! KEEP on
bobbin' his head under till he wudn't
bubble; then .jedged he wur full of wa
ter, 30 let him go, an he went down to
the bottom, an l didn't see no more of
him.
was jest tryin' to load my rifle when
l heerd the Injuns push of their canoe,
and the splashin' Of the water as they
padded to'rd me. 'Twur too late to
load, an 1 knowed / cudn't killed
more n one of 'em anyway. An idee kim
inter my noddle that mayhap / mought
fool 'em agin, so showed my rifle under
the log and made it fast with piece OF
lariat / had fur a sling. Then
ckucked away my cOon-skin cap, and
crawlin' clean to the eend of the log
eased myself of inter the water, leavin'
nothin' outer water 'cept my head.
Thar war small limb stickin' out from
the underside of the log, an l jest KEEP
holt of it with both hands and never
stirred muscle.
'Twan't more'n q mint arter I got
fixed fore the canoe run aginst the log.
The Injuns looked for thur kumrades,
and called 'em by name; but they didn't
find 'em, not very much. Then one on
'em got on the log and crawled to'rd the
eend whar / wur cached. SOon's he got
near me, sunk altogether an held my
breath. Bein' the small eend of the log,
it began to sink, an the redskin crawled
back agin Eastern he cum.
When he got out of the way l jest
throwed my head back, and put my
mouth out SOS at / cud breathe.
didn't make the least mite of noise, an
twur 20 thunderin' dark they cudn't see
me. i heerd 'em jabberin' to one an
other, an one says, "They must have
killed him." and another said, "They
are all gone"