St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-09-19

could ma no trace OF MS boy. Every
thing was in disorder-goods thrown
about and ransacked. He could find
no food except little raw pork that
had escaped the savages' notice. Their
COW had been driven from the yard and
the chickens and pigs stolen.
For three days they managed to sub
sist, not daring to return, as the Indi-
ans remained in the neighbOrhOOd.
When at last the frightened people be-
gan to come back it was found not a
house had been burned, but thorough
ly plundered, and two or three children
carried off captives, among them the
boy left playing by the woodpile when
the Indians came.
Great grief was felt for the poor lit
tie ones and fears for their fate. 1t
was certainly known they had not been
killed, as they had been seen with the
band, as they retreated, for party of
soldiers, stationed at rude fort, upon
hearing of the settlers danger, had
come to their relief.
A month passed and comparative
quiet had been restored, though the
settlers suffered severely for want of
provisions for a time until supplies
could reach them.
One night Mr.. Baldwin was about re-
firing to rest, when knock was heard.
Thinking it neighbor, he went half
undressed to the door, to be confronted
to his dismay, by tall, stalwart In
dian, leading by the hand little boy
in Indian costume. Before he could
speak the child sprang with the glad
cry, Gather !" into his arms. The In
dian gave a grunt of satisfaction :
''Ugh boy come back. Weetampket
no forget no harm white man." and he
vanished like deer in the distance.
1t was so. The deed of kindness to
that wounded Indian had rescued the
boy, and at the earliest moment Wee
tampket had slipped away from his
tribe and brought him back. No one
can describe the joy in that household
that night. They Rugged, laughed and
cried over the boy and he fell asleep at
last in his mothers arms.
This boy, as 1 told you, was my
grandfather. He never forgot his brief
stay in the Indian camp. The little
Indian dress, bow and arrows which bis
dusky friend gave him he kept until
his death, when they were divided
among the heirs, and are now among
their relics of the past.
"What became of Weetampket 2" do
you say sand what became of the
other two young captives 2" Weetamp-
ket was never seen again. Whether
the others of his tribe slew him for his
treachery to them, or whether he went
far away l cannot say, as no one ever
knew. OF the other two children, one,
little girl, died soon after, not being
strong enough to endure the privations
to which she was subjected. The other,
her little brother, was ransOmed two
years after, by some friendly Indians of
the Narragansett tribe, and returned to
the whites, who sent him to his sorrow
ing parents.
Yesterday 1 visited the locality of
these scenes and graves of my ances-
tors, and as looked around upon the
broad fertile fields, far as the eye could
reach, dotted with pleasant farm houses
in the distance, with pretty villages
whose slim, white church spires pointed
to the sky, 1 thought what a change
from one hundred years ago! How
thankful we ought to be for the homes
that have been secured to us amid so
much danger and suffering!